Bittersweet
Disclaimer: I do not own neither Bleach nor any of the characters and stuff like that… I'm just a wannabe Kubo Tite. Not the real one. Nope.
Rated T for Teen: Violence, and suggestive language
Warning: Around Chapter 200 and all that fun shnazz.. If shnazz could be lucky enough to be a word….
Pairings (AKA, love triangle):
RukiaKaien
Kaien his wife
IchigoRukia
OrihimeIchigo
IshidaOrohime
RukiaIchigo
OrihimeIshida
Make since:D
I don't know WHEN was I put up chapter one, but I'm continuing now! Special thanks to hafewolfdemon!
Tuesday – The Afternoon of Questions
Rukia sat in her new room, reading a manga that Yuzu lent her entitled "Chi no Nihon". She giggled to herself that one of the figures in the manga looked like Ichigo. This thought suddenly struck her as random, and for some reason her heart sunk ten feet. She sat the manga down. He still doesn't know. Just as she was about to set down the manga and go find him, Ichigo barged in her room.
"Rukia," Ichigo started hastily, "Rukia, what's the matter?" His question sounded more like a demand than a question.
Rukia looked at him questionably and her eyes traced his. Although just a few seconds ago she planned on telling him everything, it was so much more difficult than she hoped. And just how apparent was it that there was something wrong with her, that even Ichigo noticed?
"Nothing, Ichigo." Rukia lied. "Nothing is the matter."
"Like hell it is!" Ichigo yelled, and then lowered his voice. "Please, tell me what the matter is; I want to help."
His amber eyes were so locked on her dark marble eyes, that she could do nothing but sigh.
She sat up strait on her bed and scooted to the side. She then signaled for Ichigo to sit next to her.
Ichigo sat down, keeping his eyes on her the whole time. It haunted him how much this bugged him, but he couldn't help it, he figured. I want to be there to protect her.
After what seemed forever, Rukia tried to speak. "Ich-Ichigo… It's hard to say this, it really is but…" She checked back at his eyes, and his deeper than normal scowl. How could she lie to him? "Ichigo, I feel very weird right now."
Ichigo nodded as if trying to understand. "If you want, I can get my dad or Striped-hat to—"
Rukia shook her head. "No, it's not anything physical." She sighed. "Ichigo! Kaien-dono is coming back!"
"Kaien… Isn't that the man… Isn't Kaien dead?"
Ichigo received a nod. Rukia's head sunk, thinking about the cursed night he died. "But… Renji said he's going to come back! That they've figured out how to bring him back to his former self!" She looked up at him now with a look of hope and happiness, like a child and a present.
Ichigo got a stabbing feeling at his heart, like maybe this isn't real. Maybe Rukia is being lied to. Maybe, just maybe, he doesn't want Kaien to come back. Hearing how much she admired him by the others; it kind of put him in a state up hate. Realizing he was in this state, he tried his best to snap out of it, and support Rukia. The best thing for her right now is for me to support her.
He smiled at Rukia, this wonderful, kind, loving smile, and loosing his voice to speak to her, his body reacted without thought, and he took her in his broad arms and held her tight. Finding the words that he so recently forgotten, he whispered in her ear "I'll always be by your side and I'll support you no matter what."
Her small lungs filled up with a gasp, but she embraced the hug, embraced him. "Thank you, Ichigo…"
Isshin leaned nearby the door on the outside, and frowned, pondering. He had a feeling this wasn't going to work out the way Rukia or Ichigo would expect.
Tuesday – The Night of Warning
Ichigo waited outside to stare at moon in thought. He didn't want Rukia to hurt, but he kept feeling as though she will by being pulled apart from his side. He didn't want that to happen. Still… Knowing that Kaien, the man she fell for, and ended up taking the very thing she loved away, his very life, with the blade of her… No, Kaien was bad news, and he knew this.
Ichigo's frowned deepened, when he thought just how it could be the other way around. Maybe he doesn't like him because he'll hurt her, but because he'll fill her up with feelings that Ichigo wanted to give her. He wanted her to be happy, but more importantly, he wanted to make her happy. He wanted to be the one that whenever she sees him, her heart would well up, just the way she makes his heart do.
"Yo, Anabaka," Came a deep familiar voice.
Ichigo jumped up in surprise. "Oi, Renji! Why do you just go around sneaking up on people!"
Renji narrowed his eyes. "Seeing how you couldn't even since my raitsu, or even worse, hear my footsteps, I'm guessing Rukia already told you." Renji sighed. "Not even mentioning your dark aura right now."
Ichigo glared for a moment, and then reverted back to normal. "Yeah, she did." His eyes dragged to the ground, wondering why he feels so awkward and awful.
"A word of advice,"
"M'm?"
"If you take away her happiness," Renji stopped himself. "No, if you take away Kaien from Rukia… …I will kill you." Renji seemed to glow with power.
"I wasn't even thinking about doing that, Idiot!" Ichigo defended himself.
"Nevertheless, Rukia is a very special person, and she's been hurting for Kaien-san for a long time. If you screw this up, Ichigo," Renji gave him a glare. "then I wont hold back."
"Listen, Renji,"
Ichigo couldn't get his word through. "I know how it will change for you! I know how you'll feel! I've been through this all before! But I swear! If you are a good man you will not—"
"Renji. You will not have to worry about me." Ichigo said sternly.
After they stared at one another's eyes as though they were giving a brotherly talk to one another, Renji's eyes parted. Ichigo noticed a hint of sadness in them as they did. "Ichigo… I'll see you tomorrow then… That's when… he'll be resurrected. He'll be recovering for a day, that's all it should take, but after that… Just take care of Rukia for me, okay?"
"Sure."
Wednesday – Morning of Pain
Rukia had gone to school early today, due to her excitement, leaving Ichigo to think in his room alone.
"He's being resurrected today…" Ichigo pondered. Trying to put the best spin on this, he tried to think about how they'll get along. "I wonder what Kaien looks like. Maybe he's one of those pansy bishounens that Rukia reads about in those mangas." He sighed. "Maybe he's a punk. I'd have an excuse to beat him up then! Or… maybe he's just a nice guy." Ichigo thought out loud. As he was putting on his school uniform, a pain occurred in Ichigo's chest.
He hunched over grabbing his chest, feeling as though his ribs were going to spring open on him. Soon later, still in mid chest-pain, he head also began to hurt immensely, and Ichigo began to topple down unto the floor.
He screamed uncontrollably for thirty minutes. This was much worse than any pain he's felt by a mere stab or slice. Oh no, this was much worse. His squirmed around trying to make it stop- he couldn't fail to a simple head ache and chest pain! It wasn't lighting up though…
His dad had to rush him into the clinic, but nobody could figure out what was wrong with him. They gave him some pain killers to calm down, but when the pain was still noticeably bad even through the pain killers, they had to put him out with oxygen.
Kurosaki Ichigo would not be attending school today.
A/N:
Chi no Nihon translates to "Bloody Japan", and is not a real manga.
+Anabaka translates to a kind of "you idiot".
WOW! How was that? Weird ending to this chapter, I know… ; But I swear! It will all make since one day, I'm sure of it.
… nya Reviews? Flames?
Thank you for reading. :3
