Chapter 3: "Pokemon" by Vero

Ichigo had never seen someone so beautiful in all his life. She was like a frost-touched Spring morning after months of harsh winter, with hair the colour of midnight.

And she didn't even know his name.

They were marching out into the dazzling stadium of the Indigo Plateau. The stadium itself was huge, the crowds cheering, deafening. Ichigo had done his best to dress for the occasion, but was now worried he'd gone overboard with the red and black blazer. They had been allowed to walk out into the stadium with one Pokemon. Ichigo had selected his lifelong partner, Zangetsu and dressed to match him.

The large black and red Charizard drew stunned and confused gazes whenever he went. No one had ever seen a Charizard like him. Ichigo had tried not to be annoyed that no one here knew him. In his own town, he was a renowned Gym Leader, specialising in fire type Pokemon. Everyone knew his name and everyone knew Zangetsu.

The Charizard in question stretched his wings proudly as he walked out behind his master, looking majestic and terrifying as he did so. Around them, Ichigo could see some trainers flinch back away from the sheer heat and power that radiated from Zangetsu in waves.

It wasn't until they were standing in the middle of the stadium watching the opening ceremony commence that he saw her.

From behind, she looked no different to any of the other competitors. She was short, her raven hair falling down her back, bunched slightly by the white scarf around her neck. The scarf was all she wore to keep herself warm, her arms bare to the brisk air and her pale blue dress blowing in the slight breeze.

Many people had brought their most intimidating Pokemon with them, to walk by their side. Even beside her stood a tall man with face tattoos and a Rillaboom flexing beside him, but beside her, sitting dutifully, was a small Glaceon.

As far as Glaceon went, this one was on the shorter side for its species and Ichigo suppressed a smile wondering if Pokemon grew alongside their owners. He'd always been told that his Charizard was much larger than most, probably because he was taller than most. Looking at this petite woman with her diminutive Glaceon, he wondered if it were true.

As he watched the tall man beside her leaned over and whispered in her ear, then she turned to meet his gaze.

Embarrassed he'd been caught staring he quickly looked to the front of the stadium where they were being welcomed by the head of the Pokemon League.

The brief glimpse he'd gotten of her had been enough to solidify his thought that she was probably one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen. He replayed the last few seconds back in his head, seeing large violet eyes turn on him and look curiously beneath heavy dark lashes.

'Fuck,' he breathed, shuffling uncomfortably on the spot. He knew he couldn't risk getting caught staring again, so he kept his eyes forward for the rest of the opening ceremony, which included the lighting of the torch.

When they left the stadium that night, Ichigo lost sight of her, and only saw her again when he was sitting with two of his friends for dinner. Everyone competing in the Pokemon League got to eat for free, so Ichigo used his tab to cover his friends. Orihime was a certified Pokemon nurse who had come to help offer support and tend to the injured Pokemon and Chad was on hand to help provide security.

Ichigo was glad to have the two of them around, they helped him keep a level head.

'That's her,' he whispered, his eyes following the petite woman as she entered the restaurant and was seated with the tall red head.

'Wait, RUKIA?' Orihime asked loudly, causing Ichigo to hush her.

'You know her?' he asked.

'Yeah, everyone knows her,' she frowned, 'she's the Inuzuri gym leader!'

Inuzuri was much further North than Ichigo had ever ventured. He'd collected his badges by travelling South and wondered where Rukia had gotten hers. There was no rule that gym leaders couldn't enter the Pokemon League, in fact it was the only way they could progress their careers if they wished to become members of the Elite Four.

Despite all that, Ichigo had heard of the Inuzuri gym. It was meant to be one of the most challenging gyms, usually one of the last gyms a trainer would attempt to get a badge from. Ichigo's gym was more middle ground, fire pokemon had a lot of weaknesses, which is why it was surprising for him to find out that Rukia Kuchiki was an ice type trainer.

'She's the only ice type gym leader in the country,' Orihime stated proudly.

Next to pure rock and grass, ice pokemon had the most weaknesses in battle and very few resistances.

Ichigo gaped at Orihime as she gushed about being a fan of Rukia's for a long time.

He felt foolish, he'd never known that the owner of the Inuzuri gym was a woman.

'What are you doing?' Orihime hissed at him as he stood up.

'I'm going to go over there and talk with her,' Ichigo's eyes were on the petite woman who hadn't spotted them yet. She sat opposite the same man with the face tattoos he'd seen her beside earlier that day.

'You can't just "talk" to Rukia Kuchiki,' Orihime was getting frantic now, flapping her hands about and trying to get Ichigo to sit back down. Ichigo simply smiled patiently at her.

'Is that guy her boyfriend?' he asked.

'No, Renji Abarai is dating her brother,' Orihime replied.

'Cool,' with a wicked grin and wink at Orihime, Ichigo turned and walked confidently toward Rukia.

Ichigo wouldn't consider himself a ladies man, but he was used to having ladies fawning over him. It was a perk of being a gym leader, it usually came with a fanbase.

But one look at Rukia and he was pretty sure that she attracted the attention of a lot of men, so he'd have to play his cards right. He was certain he had the perfect way to… break the ice.

Rukia glanced once at him as he approached and sighed into her tea. She was so small in her seat, that she'd brought one of her legs up to fold under her, looking adorably comfortable. Beside her, the Glaceon sat dutifully in the long seat, close to the window.

'Are you Rukia Kuchiki?' he started, offering her a kind smile.

'That's me,' she still wasn't looking at him, but stared down into her cup as she lowered it onto the table in front of her.

'I was wondering if I could get some advice?'

Rukia's eyes snapped up to him, the beautiful round violet irises widened, her pale pink lips parted in shock. Ichigo grinned sheepishly back down at her, evidently, that had not been what Rukia had expected him to say. Slowly, her mouth closed, her eyes narrowing a little around the edges.

'What advice do you need?' she asked.

'My name is Ichigo Kurosaki-'

'Ichigo Kurosaki of the Karakura fire gym,' she nodded her head, 'I know.'

He felt a little perturbed that she knew who he was, and yet he was only learning about her tonight.

'Well, yes, that's me,' he chuckled then nodded toward her Glaceon, 'your Glaceon is beautiful, strong and she looks really happy.'

Rukia glanced at her Glaceon, then back at him, her Glaceon mirroring her expression. Both of them looked bemused, as if waiting for a punchline.

Ichigo pulled a pokeball from his belt and tapped the button to enlarge it in his hand, he frowned at the ball.

'Just a week ago, this kid came to me and said he'd found this little Flareon outside in the rain. The poor little thing evolved too early, she couldn't have been more than a month old before someone forced her to evolve, that much I can tell. I've never raised an evolution of an Eevee before, but I figured, because she was a fire type, it was worth trying.'

He let his eyes slide back to Rukia. The woman had lowered her other foot to the floor now and was leaning toward him, fully engaged, her eyes focused on the pokeball in his hand and her expression somber.

'She's full of anxiety, scared to battle, getting her to even eat and make friends is a challenge, so I thought maybe you could give me some advice?'

At once Rukia took the pokeball from his hand and placed it on the table close to her tea, which she then moved out the way.

'What's her name?' she asked.

'I named her after my baby sister, Yuzu,' Ichigo said, 'Yuzu is the only one who can elicit a positive response from her.'

'That's cute,' Rukia said, her smile genuine as she glanced up at Ichigo.

The ice was broken. This look wasn't the guarded look of a woman about to tell a man she wasn't interested, it was one of mutual respect and empathy.

'I thought so,' Ichigo laughed, his eyes sliding briefly to her friend who sat opposite her. Renji raised an eyebrow at him, like he still wasn't sure Ichigo wasn't trying to ask Rukia out.

'Little Yuzu,' Rukia called softly to the pokeball, 'do you feel like coming out? Me and my Glaceon would love to say hello to you.'

The pokeball gave a little shudder, but didn't open. The Glaceon stood on her hind legs to lean up onto the table, she moved toward the pokeball and nosed it, calling gently to the pokemon inside.

'Shirayuki is my Glaceon,' Rukia spoke at the ball again, 'she evolved from an Eevee too, she'd love to make a new friend of her own kind.'

Shirayuki gave a soft call of affirmation.

The pokeball began to rock in earnest, then the ball opened and the red light sprung forward, materialising a tiny Flareon who cowered on the table, close to Ichigo.

The first thing they all noticed was how incredibly small she was.

Yuzu turned and nuzzled her way into Ichigo's stomach, and he sighed, patting her gently and letting her shake into his black jacket.

'Aww sweetie,' Rukia cooed, 'look who's this?'

Yuzu glanced out and peered along the table toward Shirayuki who was wagging her tail happily, lowering herself closer to the table to appear smaller and less threatening. Yuzu turned around, blinking at the older pokemon and padded softly toward her.

Rukia was gentle and patient, waiting to pet her until she'd sniffed her hands curiously.

'I'll admit, I thought you were making it up,' Rukia said as their second round of drinks were delivered to the table, 'I thought you were coming over to ask me to battle you.'

'Really?' Ichigo frowned, 'why?'

'I've met three other fire gym leaders before,' Rukia said, rolling her eyes, 'one has become my good friend, but the other two just tried to ask me out and when I denied them, they challenged me to a battle. They thought they could win because they have fire types.'

Ichigo shrugged, 'I wouldn't assume I could beat you in a battle. I'd have assumed that you, like me, would have covered your most common weaknesses, and just attacking you with straight up fire would be not only insulting, but foolish.'

Rukia stared at him and Ichigo felt heat creeping up his neck.

'That's… probably the coolest thing anyone has ever said to me,' Rukia's voice sounded slightly impressed.

'I think that's my cue to leave,' Renji said, rolling his eyes, 'I'll take food back to the hotel with me. I don't want to be a third wheel.'

'Renji!' Rukia said, this time it was her turn to blush, a beautiful shade of pink dusted her cheeks as Renji stood up, giving Ichigo his entire seat.

'It's fine Rukia, you deserve to have a bit of fun,' he winked at her and turned to leave them. Ichigo tried not to feel too proud of himself, but thought it best to be honest.

'Look, I'm not going to deny it, I thought you were very beautiful, the moment I looked at you,' he said, 'but I didn't come here to make you feel uncomfortable, I promise, I just wanted to speak with you, and maybe get your help with Yuzu, and if I happen to get a number out of it, all the better.'

'Oh,' Rukia was shaking her head now, a soft smile on her lips and the heat still not dissipating from her face, 'you're very smooth.'

'Thank you,' Ichigo chuckled.

'Well sit down,' she nodded at the seat Renji had vacated and Ichigo slid into it. Yuzu was now pawing happily at the two glacial bands that hung down from Shirayuki's head. They looked content, playing gently with each other on the other side of the table.

'It's such a shame, who would want to hurt such a precious little pokemon?' Rukia sighed gazing at the Flareon.

'An asshole,' Ichigo sighed, then he shrugged, 'I just want her to be happy. I'd love to have her be a team member, but I want to respect her decisions, and it might just be that she's a companion pokemon rather than a battling pokemon.'

'You're a really sweet guy, aren't you?' Rukia asked, smiling at him. Ichigo tried to shrug it off, trying not to appear too un-manly as he did so, which just had her laughing at him.

'Alright,' she said, 'I'll help you with Yuzu.'

I really enjoyed this prompt, the pokemon league setting reminded me of the Winter Olympic fic I wrote for Rukia and Toshiro, and I love that kind of setting. I could happily write this as a full fic, including their battles in the league.

Maybe one day!

Comments are appreciated!

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