Disclaimer: All Bleach characters belong to Kubo Tite.
Rukia: My Life As A Rabbit
Chapter 10 –Life Is But A Dream
Rukia: In the moments between waking and dreaming –sometimes I wonder if my life as a rabbit wasn't just some wild fantasy of my imagination. Then, I open my eyes and realize the truth…
In the night, Rukia crouched on the floorboard of the darkened landing. Her eyes tightly shut –for one heartbeat… two... Then, the shinigami released the breath she had been holding and quickly looked down to check on herself –apprehensive of what she would see.
Through the dimness, she could faintly make out her own hand pressed to the floor. Rukia snatched it up and silently rejoiced her own success. Self-congratulations all around! Clever me.
Rukia held her hands out before her and tentatively flexed her digits in delight. Then, she fastidiously adjusted the collar of her school uniform and reached down to smooth her palms out on her skirt.
I definitely miss having hands like these!
The girl was so self-absorbed in the rediscovery of her gigai form that she never noticed the soft swish of the door being pulled open behind her. The weak light from the open window of Ichigo's room spread out to dimly illuminate the hallway.
It took a few seconds for the drowsy Ichigo to register that there was a person standing right outside his door, and then it took another few heartbeats for him to realize just who he was looking at.
Ichigo and Rukia stared at each other –eyes wide in surprise.
Then, they both snapped out of astonishment and moved on to immediate commotion.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
"What do you think you're doing? You nearly gave me a heart attack –suddenly appearing out of nowhere like that!"
"Where on earth have you- !"
Ichigo stopped, listened nervously for the sounds of his family members waking up, and then continued in a lower voice.
The boy hissed indignantly, "Where the hell have you been, huh? Disappearing from the face of earth without a single word! Would it have killed you to take a single second to inform me before you wandered off to…to... Yeah, where did you go?"
Rukia watched Ichigo go off on his nonstop tirade without a word. Usually, she would have cut in to give one of her acerbic comments by now. But, it had been quite some time since she had the happy ability to give voice to her opinions.
When he finally paused expectantly in his outburst, Rukia merely offered a crooked smile in reply. It shouldn't have been enough as an answer to all his questions, but somehow, it pacified the exasperated boy.
Ichigo looked down at the girl with the faint smile on her face and gave a sigh of defeat. He couldn't understand why she was being so quiet. Where were the flying-kicks and skinny elbows geared up to bloody his nose?
Well, if she was going to be secretive about what she had been up to recently, that was fine –for now. But, don't think he was just going to let her off so easily. He would get his questions damn well answered later.
Then, a slight smile traced his own features as he said, "I've got a surprise for you. Guess what? We have a pet."
He never noticed Rukia's eyes widening. Ichigo pulled her to his room by her wrist.
"You've really missed out on a lot of things. Come on; meet the new member of this household. She's a real…"
"Ichigo…" Rukia interrupted in a soft voice. But he didn't hear her.
The boy carefully nudged the pile of blankets on the floor, waiting for a rabbit to hop out –possibly pounce out with teeth ready to give his invading toe a reprimanding bite for waking her up in the middle of the night.
He muttered, "Hey, where did the furball run off to?"
Ichigo bent down and peered under his bed. "She loves to hide sometimes…"
Rukia felt a tugging in her heart at the sight of Ichigo looking for the missing rabbit that could never possibly be found. How could the rabbit be present –when Rukia was here.
She wished Ichigo would stop looking for her. Rukia gritted her teeth as the wrenching feeling in her heart grew fiercer. She pressed a palm to her chest in pain.
The shinigami quickly stumbled out of Ichigo's room –unseen since his back was turned to her. Rukia closed her eyes and collapsed to the floor.
Ichigo looked up and realized that the petite girl was gone. She was here just a moment ago. Brows knitted together in confusion, he called out uncertainly, "Rukia?"
The room was empty.
In the landing outside, Rukia opened her eyes, and got back to her feet as a rabbit once more.
Ichigo pushed open his door. "Hey!" he called out anxiously into the hallway, missing the rabbit that quietly slipped unnoticed past his ankles. "Hey, Rukia!"
He peered around in the darkened landing and turned when he heard the click of a door opening. A sleepy Yuzu looked out. "Onii-chan, what's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"
Ichigo stood still for a moment and put his head in his palms.
A dream? A dream…It was just a dream.
He scrubbed his eyes shortly. "You're right, Yuzu. It's nothing… just a nightmare." When his sister didn't budge from the doorway, Ichigo looked up and ordered in a voice slightly tinged with anger, "It's very late. Go back to bed.."
Yuzu gave her brother one last worried look. "Oyasumi, Onii-chan," she said softly.
Ichigo slumped onto his bed, hands pressed feverishly over his eyes. He turned on his side and stared blankly at the 'burrow' of blankets. Ichigo's eyes fell on the rabbit nestled between the folds of material. Her eyes glittered faintly back at him in the darkness.
The boy didn't even utter a single word. But, in a sudden tempered move that made the rabbit recoil, Ichigo's fingers clenched bitterly into his pillow and he flung it forcefully across the room at the empty futon closet.
Damn you, Rukia! Where the hell have you gone?
Author's Note: Feel like knocking my head off because of this chapter? ;) Let me know.. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Have a good weekend!
grandmaster p –Wow.. I don't think anyone has ever held back from swearing at me. (Not that I go around inducing swearing feelings..) The sentiment is very sweet:beams:
kittyblah –Tried to control the killer Fluff and Sap. But, they will be attempting to break free many more times to come. ;)
Umi Kanshisha –Urahara doesn't appear (yet..) but when he does, I have no idea what I'm going to do with him now that you've put very strange images of emo songs and pimp canes in the same picture.
ShinigamiLenne –Rukia's just defending her –coughs!- property. Taking her seat isn't a very good idea. ;)
Zero-Vision –Jealous bunnies, a thing to be feared -especially when they have no reservations about biting.
inugrlluvsanime –Speaking of necessary. Rukia turning back to rabbit form in this chapter would be quite uncalled for. I'm going to get knocked on the head for doing this. ;)
roxy-san –Thank you for giving me the feedback that those lines worked! But, you know every time there's a cliffhanger, the next chapter follows pretty quickly. I want to know how it works out too. ;P
Ahria –I'm glad you're having fun. This is my tribute to the genius Kubo Tite for his masterpiece.
seal-chan –It is as I feared. I miss Rukia (in non-rabbit form) too. After reading your review I was afraid that this would be a mistake.
Syneiam –"Ichigo is mine.." You've picked out the very line that made me hover over the delete button for the longest time. Rukia would never say that out loud. But I guess it's okay since no one can hear her now.
flOofymikO –Updating soon.. so I'm not evil anymore, right? The mystery of Komamura –that one ain't gonna be solved here though..
MultipleCyrosis –It was all due to animal instincts. :)
Procrastinator-starting2moro –Yes, Rukia putting her foot down. I bet Ichigo's hand was twitching uncontrollably at that!
ButaNdINg –I'll be trying my best all the way! Hope you enjoyed this chapter too.
