Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo while RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth
Chapter 15: Regrets and Reconciliation
~Flashback: 10 years ago~
Uryū was crying. A bunch of kids were bullying him because of his Quincy heritage. So what? He wasn't doing anything wrong. He was invited here. Soon, the bullies were gone and was replaced by Weiss Schnee, who hands him a handkerchief, colored white with the Schnee family emblem embroidered in blue. Uryū looks at the girl through his tears, confused. Weiss smiles at him sweetly. Slowly, the corners of Uryū's lips turned upwards in a small smile.
He takes her handkerchief.
~Present Day~
Weiss stirs away, the sun barely over the horizon. She could hear Ruby's snoring from above, in that surprisingly stable bed. The heiress pushes her covers away as she gets up from her bed. She walks over her desk, a single picture frame rests near her textbooks. She stares at the photo forlorn.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Guardians of Remnant *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rukia stretches as to get rid of any kinks from sleeping. She looks over to her roommate, who appears to be still sleeping, his white comforter and white sheets up to his chin. Quietly, Rukia tip toes over.
"Uryū? Are you still asleep?" Rukia asked quietly.
"No, I'm training to die," Uryū said tiredly. Rukia playfully hits his shoulder. Releasing his breath through his nose, he seats up. He retrieves his glasses from the shelf next to him and puts them on. He makes a mental note to take another pill from the pack on the shelf later. "What is it?"
"Do you know what you are gonna do today?" Rukia asked. When Uryū raises a brow at her, she sighs exasperatedly, "Don't tell me you forget."
Uryū adjusts his glasses. "Of course not. Just... give me some time to think about what I should do. It's been...a long time. I'm not sure if we could be friends again.
Rukia shrugs as she strode to her wardrobe, gathering her clothes. "Well, do what you need to do. Despite being as stubborn as a mule at times, you're kind and caring. Like Ichigo." Uryū made an offended face at the comment. Rukia giggles. "Good luck and have a good day." She excited the room, leaving Uryū alone with his thoughts.
Meeting Weiss was the best thing to have happened to Uryū since his mother's death and his sister relocated to Mistral. She accepted him as a friend, probably his first friend, ever.
Uryū gets up from his bed. He's got a few calls to make.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Guardians of Remnant *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Ichigo realized that he was more occupied with balancing his pencil between his upper lip and nose, he figured he had enough studying for the day. In fact, there's something he needs to do and it involves a certain silver-eyed girl in a red hood and an heiress in white. He gets up from his desk to leave the dorm he and Renji shares. Before he exits, his eyes wondered to an item on a table next to the door. Seating near a potted plant on the table is a ragdoll. He sighs and closes his eyes before finally leaving. He sees Uryū reentering the dorm with bags of groceries.
"Ishida, what are you doing?" Ichigo asked. Uryū silently points at his Scroll nestled between his shoulder and cheek, a dial tone humming. Ichigo mouths an 'Oh' before leaving the building.
"Yes, is this Klein Sieben?" Uryū asked over the Scroll. "This is Uryū. Uryū Ishida." The Quincy nearly dropped everything when the man on the other end exclaimed with great happiness about hearing from Uryū again after so many years. "Yes. It has been a long time. Listen, I need your help with something."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Guardians of Remnant *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ichigo makes his way to dorm 1-A. He enters the building and heads to Ruby's and Weiss' door. He knocks on the door. "Come in!" He heard Ruby say. He turns the knob to open and enters.
"Hey, Ruby. I was thinking we could-the fuck?" Ichigo said, seeing the makeshift bunk bed for the first time.
Ruby, who has been studying on her hanging bed, grins at him. "You like? I can do the same for you, if you want."
"Yeah, no thanks," Ichigo declined. "Where's Weiss?"
"I think she went off to train. There's something I've been wanting to ask you," Ruby told him.
"Ask away," Ichigo said.
"Why do you want to become a Huntsman?" She asked.
Ichigo crossed his arms in thought. "At first, I wanted to be just like my mother. I wanted to be a hero and save people, like she did."
"Did?" Ruby wondered.
"She...died. About 10 years ago, actually."
"Oh...I'm sorry," Ruby apologized.
"It was after her death that I've found a new reason to become a Huntsman: To prevent the same sadness and grief me, my sisters, and my dad had to go through."
"I see. That's a nice thought," Ruby said softy with a smile.
Ichigo smiles warmly. "Well, now we got that out of the way, why don't you and I head to the training grounds after you study?"
"Ooooh, what are we gonna do? Target practice? Sparring with our weapons?" Ruby excitedly asked.
"Actually, I was thinking we could try hand-to-hand." Ichigo said. Ruby glowered. "Yang told me about how she tried to teach you hand-to-hand before you guys came to Beacon. And how you failed miserably."
"But why would I need to learn hand-to-hand combat when I have Crescent Rose?" Ruby whined.
"What if you get attacked and Crescent Rose isn't there?" Ichigo questioned. "Yes, having a melee-ranged combo weapon is all awesome and all, but there is gonna be a point where a Huntsman has to rely on their own hands, or legs, or both. Sometimes their head, both figuratively and literally."
"...On one condition," Ruby said. Ichigo raises a brow. "Please help me with my science study!"
Ichigo chuckled. "Okay."
Ruby grins and scooches over to give room for Ichigo on her bed. "You can sit up here with me!"
"N-no, it's fine. I can help from here," Ichigo said, moving over to Weiss' desk. Upon seating, he notices a framed photo. In the photo is two children. One was a 12-year-old boy and the other looks to be a 10-year-old girl. They were dressed in the pristine uniforms of the Atlesian Elite Elementary School. The boy was fair-skinned and have deep blue eyes behind big, round glasses. His hair was short and black with blue tips. He has the pointed ears of the Quincy. Is that...Ishida? As for the girl, she is also fair-skinned and her eyes are a light blue color. Her white reaches to her shoulders with a barrette in her bangs, the Schnee Family emblem attached to it. The girl must be Weiss then. They both look happy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Guardians of Remnant *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Okay Weiss, concentrate. Concentrate.' Weiss thought, Myrtenaster at the ready. She is currently within the forest edge near Beacon, training. Surrounding her are dozens of small logs dangling from the tree branches. Weiss poses, a yellow glyph with the face of a clock appears below her. Time Dilation: A Glyph technique that requires Lightning Dust. This Glyph greatly increases the speed of the person it's cast on. The hands of the clock begin to turn clockwise in a fast pace as Weiss glowed faintly. "Start stopwatch." Weiss said to her Scroll. As soon as the stopwatch function began, she dashed around with her enhanced speed. Using said speed, she slices the hanging wood. After about 15 seconds, the power fades away. Weiss lands gracefully back on the ground to see her results. 1,2,4,8...about 25 of the logs have been cut down. This is an improvement. Last time, she was only able to get 18 in the same amount of time. She's getting faster.
"I see you're starting to use your Time Dilation." A familiar voice said from behind. Weiss whips around to see Uryū inspecting a sliced piece of lumber, a wicker basket with a light blue cloth in the opposite hand.
"What do you want?" Weiss asked, turning back around.
"I want to talk."
"Then talk," Weiss said, not turning around.
"And to apologize," Uryū added. Weiss turns back around to see Uryū is now seating at the base of a tree. He motioned her to join him. She complies, seating down next to the Quincy, placing her trusty Myrtenaster on her other side. Light blue eyes meet dark slate blue ones. "I... I'm..." Uryū sighs. "I...have been immature in the past few days. I guess the pains of the past was still haunting me, but that is no excuse for my behavior. And for that, I'm sorry."
"Okay. So, why have you been avoiding me? Why were you trying to push me away?" Weiss asked, almost dreading the answer.
"...Guilt." Uryū said. "It was guilt. After being sent to live with my sister and grandmother, I lost all respect for my father. I grew to resent him. Then I grew to resent the Ishida family, then Atlas and then pretty much anyone else that had nothing to do with my anger. That included you." He draws his knees up towards his chest, resting his arms on them. "I wanted to keep in touch with you, but that would mean I'm still attached to Atlas, to Solitas. It wasn't until two years ago that my cycle of blind hate was finally over. But, even then, it didn't feel right to try to make contact with you again. After everything. I guess...I felt that I no longer deserved your friendship."
The two sat in silence after Uryū was done talking. Weiss places a hand on Uryū's shoulder. "You are more than deserving of it."
"Still that doesn't condone that I basically put you up there with the rest of them." Uryū said.
"You were going through the death of your grandfather. As well as the aftermath, what everyone was saying about you." Weiss said. Uryū looked shocked at her. "I've heard of it from Klein. Albeit late, my condolences. Your grandfather was a great and kind man and a good friend of my own grandfather, who is also no longer here." Weiss started to fumble with the white ribbon on her sash. "It wasn't until later that I started hearing people saying how you let your grandfather die and even called you a kinkiller. How could they have said that? You were 12, a kid. I wasn't aware of what happened because at the time..." Weiss paused for a moment. "... On the same day, your grandfather was killed, my mother and I learned that my father had married my mother solely for the name and profit." Uryū's eyes widened in disbelief. "After that, everything changed. Father became unethical and cold, Mother sought refuge in a copious amount of wine, and Winter was barely there. It was just me, Whitley, and Klein. There were times where I wanted to call you, but I didn't want to burden you with my problems. Not when you were suffering much more than I was. But, even so, I should have been there when you needed someone. Some friend I was."
"Weiss, you are my first friend and I still cherish that," Uryū said. He put a hand in his pocket and pulls out a handkerchief. He removes his glasses so he could wipe the lenses with it. He puts his glasses back on. A smile graced his lips at the cloth. "I've always had." Weiss looks closer at it. It was white with her family's emblem embroidered in blue. Weiss remembered she gave that to Uryū when they first met to dry away his tears. She hadn't seen the handkerchief in years. It looks like it's still good condition too. "We were both suffering. Please, don't bare the blame on your own."
"I could say the same to you." Weiss said, reaching up at the tiara-esque barrette in her ponytail. She looks at the basket Uryū brought. "What's that?"
Uryū puts away the handkerchief safely back in his pocket. "A baker's dozen of homemade blueberry apple muffins, sprinkled with sugar powder, that I made in the dorms," Uryū said, lifting the fabric to reveal the contents. Weiss stares in awe at the baked goods.
"How did you get the recipe?" Weiss asked, picking up one of the muffins.
"I had to call your sister to ask for Klein's contact address so I can ask him," Uryū explained, setting down the basket between them. "He helped me through the process over the Scroll via ChatView. I hope they are good. It's another attempt at reconciliation."
Weiss takes a bite of the muffin, being careful not to drop crumbs on his combat skirt. After chewing a few times, she swallows. She smiles. "Apology accepted." She reaches for another muffin and hands it to Uryū. The male was surprised at first, but graciously accepts it. The two and ate in a much more comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company after so long.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Guardians of Remnant *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The sun was beginning to set as Ruby flops down, spread eagle and tired. Ichigo looms over her, unimpressed.
"That was..." Icchigo pause to think of the right word. "...pathetic."
"What did you think was gonna happen?" Ruby groaned.
Ichigo gives her a hand to help her up. "Let's try this one more time." Ruby groans before getting a 'fighting' stance. After a few moments, Ruby charges at Ichigo with a fist. Ichigo easily grabs her wrist before twisting her around, throwing her over his shoulder. Ruby finds herself back on the ground for the umpteenth time.
"I hate this!" Ruby complained.
"What's going on here?" Uryū asked as he and Weiss walked up to them.
"Oh, hey Uryū," Ruby greeted.
"What are you two doing?" Weiss asked.
"I would say we're sparring hand-to-hand, but..." Ichigo said.
"She's so reliant on her weapon that even a toddler could beat her at hand-to-hand combat," Uryū said.
"Bingo."
"Honestly Ruby. You can't always rely on your weapon like that," Weiss lightly scolded.
"I wouldn't scold Ruby if I were you, Princess," Ichigo said. "You're just as bad."
"I'll have you know that I am perfectly capable without them, thank you," Weiss said. Uryū gives her a look. "What?"
"However, given what time it is, we would have to put it on hold for now," Uryū said.
"I second that," Ruby said, getting up.
"Why don't we go out to eat? My treat," Ichigo said.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh! Let's go to Royal Burger!" Ruby suggested with new energy.
"Royal Burger? What's that?" Weiss asked.
Ruby gasped dramatically. "You've never heard of Royal Burger? Weiss, my dearest friend, how can I not see that you were depraved of such delicacy. That settles it. We're going to Royal Burger! Come on!" With that said, she grabs Weiss' hand to lead her, the latter looking confused. Ichigo and Uryū follow in suit.
"I see that you and the heiress are getting a long," Ichigo said.
"Well, I needed to get my act together and to get a lot of things off my chest," Uryū said.
"That's good. I wasn't sure how long I could stand you being all mopey."
"Says the pot calling the kettle black," Uryū quipped. "By the way: What did you do to Kon after what happened yesterday? I haven't seen or heard him running amok today."
Ichigo gives him a Cheshire grin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Guardians of Remnant *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A ding chimed as a dryer finished. It opened as a familiar plush fell out, exhausted. Seven loads. Seven loads of clothes Kon had to go through. And all of it were men's clothes.
Next Chapter: Red vs Blue