Chapter 10
Pink hair, black hair
Rukia didn't know how to feel, it was strange, she started to think that perhaps humans were too complex for her liking. Her peaceful time was completely ruined by some pictures and she wanted to be mad about it but at the same time she couldn't help but to feel bad about Orihime's situation.
She was also excited, after listening to Yumichika's proposal she couldn't help but think that having such a job sounded fun, extremely fun but then she remembered her sister's warnings about the press and how troublesome that was for the Kuchiki clan so she felt like it was her responsibility to avoid unwanted attention for now. These were too many emotions for someone as her, did humans feel like this all the time? Hell, no wonder why the world was going crazy, well… at least that was what her granddad used to say.
She groaned.
"Midget" Ichigo said while putting on his seatbelt, she did the same "stop overthinking, you'll just get a headache."
She frowned.
"You heard your grandfather" Ichigo continued "you don't need to make a choice right now, you can let everything calm down for a while."
Her brother's face popped into her memory and Rukia felt like crying again. She wished that she could back to the lamp for a little while and hide from everyone, having her brother being mad at her was something that she had never experienced and it was eating her alive. He had saved her and she failed him. She blinked the tears that were threatening to come out, she didn't want to keep crying.
"I hate it" she said finally.
Ichigo decided to wait for her to talk before turning on the car and going home. They had time anyway and he was pretty sure that she didn't want his family to see her like that.
"Hate what?" Ichigo asked.
"All of these emotions" she said and crossed her arms "how do you live like this?! Before all of this happened I was fine, I was at least unknown to everyone and my brother wasn't mad at me and my nose didn't hurt" she groaned "why the tears don't stop?! I don't even know why I'm crying."
"It's okay to cry" Ichigo told her "it's healthy."
"Well, I don't like it." She said stubbornly.
"Genies don't cry?" he asked curiously.
"That's not what I meant" she said and turned to look at him "we obviously have the ability to cry, but inside the lamp we have no reason to do it. We just have to wait for someone to come and to grant wishes, that's how it supposed to be and we do not complain."
Ichigo thought that such a life was depressing and a good reason to cry but he didn't say it.
"Besides" she continued "Lamp Society wasn't like this, it was much nicer and warm, people used to live without attacking one another."
He wanted to ask what Lamp Society was but she wasn't paying attention to him anymore, her eyes were unfocused as if she was remembering something from her past, she looked so damn melancholic and gorgeous. As she saw her sitting there with teary eyes and red cheeks he couldn't help but feel too attached to her. Whatever magic she had used on him was powerful as fuck because he wanted to go back to the building and punch Byakuya for making her cry and he wanted to kneel in front of her and offer her everything he had.
She rubbed her eyes and sighed.
"Let's go home carrot top" she ordered and looked outside the window.
"As you wish" he said and obeyed.
Hisana grabbed her purse.
She needed to go back to her home immediately.
"Leaving already?" Byakuya asked while standing up.
"We both know that you'll be too busy" she said "and I have things to do too, I want to see the press conference, I think I need to go shopping with Rukia and to fix whatever happened to her nose, I'll call her tonight and arrange the whole thing."
Byakuya nodded.
He was about to offer her at least to have lunch together but a knock on the door interrupted them.
"Come in" Byakuya ordered and a guard, who looked as if he had been facing the most dangerous animal on the planet, stepped into the office. He was breathing heavily and looked flustered.
Byakuya looked at him questioningly.
"Is everything okay?" Hisana asked cautiously, the poor man looked as if he was considering quitting his job and moving to another country.
"Ma'am" the guard said "I tried to tell her that not a single one member of the Kuchiki family was available but she insists, she threatened me several times and somehow she managed to describe terrible scenarios each time, the last thing she did was to point at me with the palm of her hand and yelled something about demon magic, I guess."
Hisana's eyes widened.
"Kidō." she whispered.
"That exactly" the guard said nodding "she says that her name is Riruka Doku…"
Hisana didn't let him finish, instead she ran at full speed at the front door of the building. She couldn't believe it, it was impossible. She hadn't see her in centuries, if she was here it would be like witness a miracle. Once she reached the first floor the secretaries, Inoue and Matsumoto, looked at her with widened eyes. She ignored them and reached the entrance.
"Took you long enough, Hisana-san. I actually thought about visiting tomorrow but I got bored."
Hisana gasped.
Riruka was in front of her, her usual tails and her long pink hair.
"Don't look at me like that" Riruka said frowning "had I known that we were living in the same city I would've looked for you sooner, but you and that loser Rukia completely forgot about me."
Hisana didn't answer her, instead she threw herself at the younger girl and hugged her with all her might.
"Idiot" Hisana said while starting to sob "how could we forget about you?!"
Riruka blushed madly and got teary eyed.
They had a lot to talk about.
Once Rukia and Ichigo reached their floor they noticed a short, black haired girl knocking quite violently on Renji's door. Rukia exchanged a look with Ichigo but he gave her a reassuring smirk.
"Open up idiot!" the girl was saying "I won't hesitate to use my fists if you don't open up!"
Ichigo chuckled at the sight of her.
"Tatsuki!" Ichigo called with a smile "what did the idiot do this time?!"
Rukia frowned confused.
Who was this girl? Why was she threatening Renji? Sighing she walked alongside Ichigo until they were next to her. She was really pretty, white skin, black short hair and big brown eyes. She smiled cockily at Ichigo when she saw him and punched him on the shoulder.
"Yo" she greeted cheerfully "he's been avoiding me for a while, he thinks that I haven't noticed, but I bet that he's inside pretending to be asleep."
Ichigo looked at his best friend's door.
"Do you want my key?" he asked smirking.
"Nah" Tatsuki said casually "he'll open in a minute otherwise I'm breaking up with him."
She winked at Ichigo after saying this and Rukia assumed that Renji was listening at the other side of the door and this was simply psychological pressure. She shook her head confused, humans were weird. It was then when Tatsuki noticed her, her eyes widened a little and she smiled politely.
"Are you going to introduce us?" she asked Ichigo.
"Oh yeah, sorry, Rukia this is Tatsuki, Renji's girlfriend and friend of mine." Ichigo said and Tatsuki nodded while shaking Rukia's hand "and this is Rukia, my girlfriend and my boss's little sister."
Tatsuki's eyes widened.
"Oh, you're a Kuchiki?" she asked surprised and Rukia nodded "no wonder why you look so classy and pretty, is this asshole treating you well?"
Rukia smiled, she could tell that this girl was a good person, talking with her was like breathing fresh air after a suffocating day.
"Ichigo is truly kind with me" she answered "I couldn't find someone better."
Ichigo scratched the back of his head awkwardly and Tatsuki smiled.
"Great!" Tatsuki said "just let me know if he upsets you, I'll beat the shit out of him for you."
"Deal!" Rukia said smiling.
"Why don't you come to our apartment?" Ichigo asked Tatsuki "at least until Renji decides to open."
She nodded.
"Cool"
Once they entered the apartment they noticed that the twins and Isshin were nowhere to be found, Rukia thanked God for that, she liked them a lot but she was sure that they had seen her on the news and she didn't know if she was going to be able to handle the questions, not to mention that her nose was bruised, she didn't want them to see her like this.
"Nice TV Ichigo" Tatsuki said approvingly and Ichigo's eyes widened.
"Karin must've bought it!" he said impressed "mine was destroyed just a few days ago!
Tatsuki whistled.
"I need a sister like that" Tatsuki said "where are they by the way?"
Ichigo sighed and took out his cellphone out of his pocket, he dialed his father's number and he answered almost immediately.
"Ichigo" he said breathlessly "come over to the sports shop, I'm at the Karakura Mall"
Ichigo frowned.
"What are you doing there?" he asked confused "I thought that we could have lunch together."
"I'm trying to stop Karin for buying the whole store! She was fine until she saw this store! Hurry up!"
Ichigo cursed under his breath and hung up.
"Okay I have to run to the mall to save the old man" he said "you order something to eat, make sure to ask for something big because I think my sisters will eat here too, I'll come back soon!"
He was about to run towards his door when Rukia grabbed his arm.
"You're forgetting something!" she said urgently to him. The last thing she needed right now was another crisis.
Ichigo looked at her questioningly and then he remembered.
"Right" he said and looked at her seriously, he didn't know how to do it or what to say but he supposed that ordering someone around shouldn't be so hard, not that he liked the idea but it was necessary "I order you to stay here and calm down, enjoy yourself, just wait for me here." He said and blushed when Rukia chuckled.
"Yes, Master" Rukia said jokingly and he groaned before running at full speed out of the apartment.
"What was that?" Tatsuki asked amused "some silly role-play?"
Rukia simply shrugged.
"What do you want to eat?" she asked.
"Sushi" Tatsuki answered without hesitation.
"Great!" Rukia said happily "I haven't eaten that! I would love to try it!"
Tatsuki thought that it was weird that she haven't had sushi but she brushed it aside.
Orihime sighed as she observed how everything was going back to normal. With the press gone and Kuchiki Rukia out of the building most of the employees decided to go back to their work without commenting on the whole thing, she was grateful for that, luckily no one from the top branch, not Kuchiki Byakuya or Ginrei, had come to demand the head of whomever leaked Rukia's identity, so her little press conference had obviously worked out wonderfully.
She smiled.
She was safe.
"Kuchiki Rukia is truly an idiot" she whispered with a satisfied sing-song voice and chuckled.
"I happen to disagree" someone said behind her and she paled immediately, she turned around to come face to face with Ishida Uryuu "and I haven't seen you interact with her so I'm guessing that you don't know her well enough."
Orihime frowned.
"Do you?" she asked.
Uryuu glared at her.
"I know enough about her to know that she doesn't deserve what happened today."
Orihime shrugged.
"It's not as if that changes anything" she said "the boss hasn't complained."
She tried to keep a serious, uninterested face while saying this but Uryuu wasn't buying her act, if anything it made him suspicious to see her like this. He had known Inoue Orihime for a while, he even confessed his undying love to her and she ended up using him to make Ichigo jealous, which didn't work at all because the idiot was unaware of the busty girl's feelings towards him.
"Besides" she added when she realized that he wasn't speaking "she doesn't work here, what business does she has in here?"
Uryuu raised an eyebrow at her.
"Besides being the daughter of the owner?" he asked and her eyes widened.
"That was a lie" she said "she's his sister, there's no way she's next in line on the Kuchiki clan."
Uryuu smiled inwardly at her panicked stricken face so he pushed a little further.
"Well, I don't think it's impossible, the resemblance with Kuchiki Hisana is amazing after all." He said.
"But, no, I don't think so, if that was the case then she wouldn't have believe me when…" she shut up after seeing Uryuu's inquisitive look "never mind."
"It was you, wasn't it?" Uryuu asked surprised "you leaked her identity to the press."
Orihime stepped back out of instinct and shook her head.
"Of course not!" she said worriedly.
Uryuu didn't believe her.
"I would be very careful" he warned her "she's Kuchiki Byakuya's daughter, don't forget that."
"Are you threating me?" she asked angrily.
"Take it as you want." Uryuu said and left towards his office leaving a nervous Orihime behind him.
"A convent, uh?" Tatsuki asked surprised "no wonder why you haven't had sushi before."
Rukia nodded. She didn't feel bad about lying anymore, after the press conference she got to the conclusion that this was simply self-care. Although Tatsuki had a good vibe, she felt really comfortable with her and she had an amazing taste, the restaurant the she chose to order sent them the food really fast and everything was delicious.
"I was really restricted" she said "but I'm glad to be finally back with my family, even after today's fiasco."
Tatsuki nodded.
"I guess that you'll have some problems" she said "hopefully those vultures will calm down after a while."
"Hopefully" she said "besides, I want to think positive, I mean some people have worst problems, right? For example Orihime, she works at my father's place as a secretary, she has a sick mother…"
"What do you mean?" Tatsuki interrupted her, confused "Orihime's mom is not sick."
Rukia stopped eating immediately.
"Do you know her?" she asked surprised.
Tatsuki nodded.
"Yeah" she said "she's my best friend, well we used to be closer in school but we still talk a lot, where did you get the idea that she has a sick mother?"
Rukia gulped while thinking about what to say.
"But, I thought that… I mean she's so young, so I thought that she was working to help her parents to pay the bills and stuff like that." Rukia said and almost punched herself for such a lame lie, she didn't even know how old Orihime was.
Tatsuki chuckled.
"She's always being pretty independent" she said "her brother raised her, and he got married recently so she decided to buy her own apartment, I go visit her quite often."
"Her brother raised her?" Rukia asked confused "what about her parents?"
Tatsuki sighed.
"Don't tell anyone that I told you but her parents weren't nice people" she explained "they had crappy jobs so Orihime's brother decided to run away with her, as far as I know she hasn't seen her parents ever since she was a child."
"That's… sad." Rukia said.
"Not really" Tatsuki said "she's pretty happy with her life right now and she works in your brother's enterprise, the payment is pretty good there."
Rukia smiled politely at that although deep down she felt as if someone had punched her on the gut. Orihime lied, she tricked her and made her lie to her brother and sister, she felt like an idiot. She had exposed herself foolishly to the press and now she could only imagine everything that was going to be on the magazines by tomorrow morning, she ruined her peaceful time out of the lamp for a filthy liar. She felt pure rage flowing through her, it was such a strong emotion, one she hadn't felt in a while that she felt sick as hell.
"Excuse me a minute" she said and Tatsuki nodded while paying attention to her food.
Rukia stood up from the couch and made her way to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and once she reached the toilet she threw up violently. She felt disgusted and angry, she couldn't stop the tears and it upset her not to know why she was crying, why did she feel so damn stupid? How could she trust a girl like Orihime? Once she was done she looked at herself on the mirror.
This wasn't going to stay like this.
She wanted payback.
When Ichigo arrived at his apartment door, dragging a quite angry Karin behind him, he saw that Kuchiki Hisana was at his door and another girl he didn't know was with her. He blinked confused, it was an unusual sight considering how he didn't know that she knew where he lived.
"Oh" Yuzu said while approaching her "for a moment I confused you with Rukia-chan!"
Hisana smiled kindly at her.
"It's been a while Yuzu" she said "how have you been?"
"Amazing" she answered and then looked curiously at the girl next to her "uh…"
"Oh" Hisana said "how rude of me, this is Riruka, she's a dear friend, we don't wish to impose but we're here to see Rukia."
Ichigo nodded.
He was going to look for his key inside his pocket but Tatsuki opened the door before he could do it, she smiled at everyone.
"Sorry" she said "I couldn't help but hear you so I thought that I would open the door for you."
Karin and Yuzu smiled widely at Tatsuki and she greeted them, then everyone stepped into the apartment. Riruka started to look around nervously, thing that didn't go unnoticed by Ichigo. He was about to ask where Rukia was but when she came out of his room.
"Oh" Rukia said eying Ichigo "you're back, sorry I was in the bath…"
She never finished the sentence, her eyes drifted towards Riruka and she gasped.
She was wearing her usual pigtails and her usual mean expression, Rukia couldn't believe her eyes and judging by Riruka's widened eyes she couldn't believe it either. No one moved a muscle as both girls looked at each other with astonishment written all over their faces, no one dared to say a word, it looked like a tense moment and Ichigo wasn't sure whether he should say something, he didn't even know who the pink haired girl was.
Hisana sighed heavily.
She suspected that she would have to intervene but she didn't know what to say, both girls were awfully difficult and after being so much time apart there was going to be some difficulties before getting back to their normal self, or at least that's what she thought.
"You're alive" Rukia said shocked "I thought… I never saw you! You weren't there and I thought..."
Riruka sneered at her.
"You're a dead woman" she said threateningly and threw herself at Rukia.
Ichigo was about to stop her but Hisana put a hand on his arm and shook her head.
To everyone's surprise Rukia laughed when Riruka tackled her. The pink haired girl fell on top of Rukia on the floor and when she saw Rukia's delightful expression she started to laugh too, it was so confusing that Tatsuki, Yuzu and Karin exchanged a look. Rukia couldn't believe it, all of her previous anger fade away because right now, on top of her, was her best friend, a friend she thought she had lost in the war.
"Idiotic piece of shit!" Riruka said between laughs "how did you get this size?! What are you doing giving press conferences?!"
Rukia rolled over so she was on top of Riruka now.
"Where were you?!" she asked instead of answering her questions "I swear that I cried your death! I suffered for you! I can't believe that you're alive!"
"Well" Hisana said clapping her hands once and ignoring the Kurosaki family's astounding looks "I think that you both should come with me to the mansion, the three of us have to catch up!"
Both girls nodded at her.
From: Boss
"We have things to discuss, come after your work, usual place."
Grimmjow sighed as he read the message, his day was far from over.
Well, it's been a while.
So, listen, if anyone is still reading this: THANK YOU!
I know that perhaps the excitement faded away a while ago but I'm not going to abandon my stories, even if it takes forever I'll give them a proper ending. I have no excuses but I apologize and hey, I'm a few months away from graduating from college, so wish me luck, okay?
I seriously appreciate all of you and this time I'm back for sure.
Pd. I apologize for my grammar mistakes.
