Well, well, well it took ages... but I am still at it. Sorry, for everyone still following this story. It will continue and will probably be finished in a few chapters! I would be happy if you kept up with it till the end.
She blinked, a few single rays of sunlight falling onto her eyes. Rukia turned to the side a little disoriented, trying to get away from the dazzling light.
"Finally awake, huh?"
Ichigo's sudden presence nearly made her roll out of the bed. He, however, seemed rather unimpressed, casually sitting in his study chair a cup of coffee in his hand.
"H-how long have you been sitting there?" she stammered, still not fully present. The situation seemed familiar somehow, but their roles had been reversed. "Did you… watch me in my sleep?"
"Maybe…" He took a nonchalant sip of coffee without breaking eye contact. Rukia managed to get herself into a sitting position suddenly noticing the futon that was lying next to his bed on the floor. Oh. Her memories were slowly coming back.
"Have you ever been in love?"
She looked at him, motionless, like a deer caught in the floodlight of a car on a low frequented street. Just what on earth did she ask him? Yesterday. Drowsily. Dizzy from his comfortable, familiar and save presence.
"Have been? No."
Her face showed no movement, but on the inside she was boiling. Calm down, just calm down. Maybe she didn't really say it, only… thought it? Rukia tried to persuade herself.
"I think I…"
No! Stop!
She cleared her throat: "Ichigo?" Her gaze became more and more insecure: "Did I tell you anything weird yesterday?" She could hear her heartbeat ringing in her ears.
"I think I am."
Ichigo was looking to the side as if he was trying to remember, then turned back to her, a hint of irony in his voice: "You mean… apart from telling me you are in love?"
Damn it! She did say it. Rukia stared into a corner of the room, paralyzed, trapped in her own thoughts consisting of steadily increasing panic and a hectic search for an appropriate counter-argument that would eventually get her out of this situation.
"Did I… by any chance… tell you with whom?" she tried cautiously.
"No." The reply she had hoped for came. A sigh of relief escaped her.
Ichigo got up from his chair and sat down on the edge of the bed in front of her, still enough distance between them without making it awkward but still close enough to make her nervous. "But we both know that is pretty obvious, right?" He added, eyes fixed on hers as if he was genuinely asking her to confirm his assumption. Rukia wanted to avoid his gaze, but couldn't. She couldn't remember having ever felt this vulnerable in front of someone else. What was she supposed to do now? Why did she even tell him? That was too rushed. Everything was too rushed. And anyway, when had Ichigo become this… straightforward? Usually he would just… not talk about it at all? Or they would just make fun of each other, bicker a little and end of story.
"R-Really?" Her voice trembled somewhere between playing dumb and freaking out. Ichigo's expression became serious and his face dangerously close to hers: "It' s Renji."
She blinked trying to comprehend what he just said, before realizing what he had indicated. Her fear and insecurities were gone in the blink of an eye. She frowned deeply, somewhat pissed: "Are you kidding me?"
It took a moment but then Ichigo's serious face turned to a charming and self-confident smile: "Maybe…"
She wanted to retort something and protest but all of a sudden he got up and went towards the door: "Get dressed, we'll be leaving in half an hour."
"Huh?" She had nearly tripped out of bed, again. "What time is it?"
Ichigo nodded to the alarm clock next to his bed: "It's ten. So you have thirty minutes." Rukia put her hands on her hips, huffing: "Couldn't you have woken me earlier? Now I don't even have time for breakfast." Ichigo shrugged: "Not necessary. We'll be having breakfast there." "We'll be having breakfast… there?" She repeated after him, skeptically. He turned without paying attention to her light objection: "Well now you've got less than thirty minutes." "Shut up!" She tossed a pillow in his direction, but he was already gone.
"Ichigo-kun, is that you? My, the last time I saw you, you were just about… this." The female, seemingly older waitress held her hand roughly just above her hip, estimating Ichigo's height from their last encounter. "How is your father, and the twins?"
They were sitting in a small street café only about twelve minutes from the Kurosaki house. It was a peaceful neighborhood near the Karasu River. Although Rukia had never been here before, the cozy atmosphere of this place felt somehow familiar. It wasn't surprising though, given the fact that Ichigo and the owner obviously knew each other. The woman in front of them smiled, looking as if she was thinking about the good old days. Ichigo nodded, reciprocating her smile: "They are all doing great! They went to a lodge in the mountains for the weekend." The woman's eyes went to Rukia: "So, you two are on a date?"
He had already seen this question coming. After all these years he finally returned to this place with a girl, of course she would ask. What else would you think? But he had thought of an appropriate answer beforehand. Ichigo's head went from the owner to Rukia, looking determinedly into her eyes: "For today it doesn't matter what this is." The woman examined them. She didn't know about their background but that was not thw way two friends would look at each other. She felt as if there was more to it than your ordinary high school love story that usually ended as fast as it started. And then she remembered when she had seen such an expression on a young man's face and such a thrilling chemistry between two people before: "I was just dreaming a little. Would have been a nice family tradition, don't you think?" She shook her head barely noticeable, still smiling: "So, what can I get you?"
Ichigo suddenly broke eye contact with Rukia to take a brief look at the small menu in front of him then turned to the owner with quite the uncharacteristic smile: "Do you still have…?" She cut him off midway: "Ah, wait! Don't say it!" The woman pretended trying really hard to remember before predicting his order quite proud: "Curry bread and our homemade lemonade, wasn't it?" His grin widened: "Yes, exactly."
"And the young lady?"
Rukia glanced over to Ichigo a little helpless. She didn't really know how to act so she tried to take advantage of the obvious inside knowledge: "Can you recommend anything?" A mischievous smile appeared on the older woman's face: "Oh, I'm not sure. What do you think, Ichigo-kun?" It seemed he had understood her hint and pretended to ponder a little: "Mmh, the bagels are really good." He sighed, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed: "Especially the strawberry bagels."
"And a Darjeeling goes perfectly with that! I'll leave you two alone for the moment!" And with that she disappeared inside.
Rukia bent over to Ichigo as if the woman might still be able to hear her although she was long out of sight: "Ok, so… where are we?" He traced the edges of the menu with his finger. For a moment it seemed as if he was at a faraway place, his eyes staring at an imaginary point on the table: "When… my mom was still alive… we came here almost every weekend. … But after her death I've never visited this place again."
"I-I'm sorry…" She wished she didn't ask. Leaning back in her chair it felt as if her question was choking her from the inside. His mother had always been a delicate topic and maybe… she had just crossed a line she shouldn't have touched. "I… didn't know that…" Ichigo woke from his melancholic trance state waving his hand apologetically: "What? No! You shouldn't apologize or feel sorry. It was my idea to come here, I wanted to come here."
She looked into his eyes searching for the reassurance that everything was indeed alright with him and that he didn't just hide his true feelings behind a carefree remark, but she couldn't find any proof that would make her question his sincerity. However… there had to be a reason why he had the sudden urge to return to this place that held without a doubt a lot of precious memories of his mother.
"Why are you taking me here?"
It was Ichigo they were talking about. He wouldn't drag just anybody here that came to his mind first. So there had to be a reason he had chosen her. Rukia felt as if she wasn't worth that honor. She wasn't sure if she could handle him revealing things to her he'd usually hide away deep inside of him. It was exactly as Inoue had said:
'Sometimes I feel he can only be his true self when he is with you.'
Ichigo leaned back, looking completely relaxed to her surprise. Not, as if he had just been confronted with unwelcome, saddening memories from his once happy childhood. "You know… I think it's only thanks to you that I've been able to come to terms with my past and therefore… you should have the right, no the privilege to know about these things. You're the only one I'd show who I was back then, who I really am now."
'When you want to talk, when you think it's ok to talk… talk to me.'
She remembered again, the time she had told him those words. The time when she hadn't asked any further questions about his mother, because she knew it was a part of his life he didn't want to talk about – until now. She had respected his boundaries and had told him she did because she wanted him to know he could trust her. Rukia had never thought about the fact that the time for him to talk would eventually really come and she hadn't really expected to be the one he'd finally open up to.
"That's so unlike you." a mixture of surprise and thankfulness radiated in her voice. That was, what she said. 'Thank you for trusting me.' was the message Ichigo received.
"Well, I told you so." He grinned stupidly. 'I always did.' was what he actually meant. "So, if you don't like me anymore, now that you know a little more about my true self…" Ichigo shrugged a little too dramatically but with a hint of sarcasm. She smiled: "Don't be stupid." He returned her smile: "And that's exactly the reason I brought you here."
"Ara? Are you flirting with her, Ichigo-kun?" The Kurosakis' old acquaintance was back again with their order and commented the scenery that unfolded in front of her as she placed plates and glasses on the table. Rukia waved her hand evadingly, a little relieved the owner had returned in this exact moment: "Oh, no… I think you are getting the wrong idea… It's not…" The older woman's face turned surprisingly serious while placing the strawberry bagel in front of Rukia: "Oh, believe me, darling. I know very well what flirting looks like."
Rukia stared at her plate a little bewildered. She couldn't think of an appropriate retort. Her eyes travelled in slow motion from the – deliciously smelling bagel, she had to admit – to Ichigo's face: "You… were flirting with me?" He took a sip of his lemonade, looking completely unbiased and… calm? This sight seemed oddly familiar.
"Maybe…" came his nonchalant answer, his eyes not leaving hers.
This! It was exactly the same scenario as this morning! Same composure, same answer, same intonation, only the drink was different. His cryptic 'it could be possible'-statements were slowly starting to piss her off. Rukia clenched the fork in her hands and held it in front of her like a dagger: "I swear to you, if I'll hear your stupid 'maybe' only one more time today I will run this fork into your hand."
"Oh, do you want to keep it?"
She was honestly speechless for a moment.
Rukia looked at him dumbfounded, her eyes narrowing, her mouth slightly opened – she even thought she'd held her breath for a second. How…? What…? How dare he is saying that?
She leaned forward a little more, pointing the fork at Ichigo's nose: "I am serious here." Rukia made a meaningful pause to show her determination: "Were you… or were you not flirting with me?"
Ichigo sighed, placing his glass back on the table and looked at her a somewhat disappointed: "Well, if this is the first time you're noticing I'm probably quite bad at it."
Rukia lowered the fork: "W-what?" Her hand travelled back to her half of the table. "What do you mean by that?" Her voice gave away her insecurity. She wished the ground under her would just open up so she could get out of here. But running away was pointless, because he would stop her – that was their deal.
Ichigo sighed again, as if it was still embarrassing to further admit it: "I meant it exactly the way I've said it. … Yes, I was flirting with you. Yes, this was not the first time. And…" He looked at her plate: "Eat your bagel, it'll get cold."
Rukia followed his eyes down to her breakfast, taking her knife under silent protest: "We're not done here."
"Oh, I hope so."