Today sucked. No, scratch that - this whole week sucked.
Right at the corner of the hallway, Ichigo could see the person he had been looking for these past days. He could easily recognize those pair of violet eyes anywhere in the crowds. However, before he could actually approach her, she had fled from his sight - again.
He sniffed the spot Rukia had been; the stink of another alpha was thick enough to overlap her own scent. Ichigo snarled - That's it. He didn't care if Rukia was still mad. He had to talk to her.
To live up to his determination, he stormed out to the places Rukia usually went to the university. However, the omega in her was so fast to figure out how near he was, he didn't even catch anything besides her leftover smell.
A vein popped on his forehead. She thought she can get away avoiding him like this? Oh no, today she wouldn't. Ichigo could barely hold his anger for a second, let alone another twenty-four hours.
Ichigo sighed - he was going crazy with all these pent-up frustrations. They both had a fight and for the whole week, Rukia decided to avoid him like the plague. Ichigo would have tried to approach her faster if only she didn't have different alpha's scent marks covering her every day. Pissed was putting it mildly.
This was all Rukia's fault. Usually, he would let her cool off a bit before actually chasing her down, but his patience was running thin. She really had the nerve to let another alpha marked their scent on her just to drive him off. Contrary to her belief, the scent of another alpha taunted him. If he knew who the alpha was, he definitely would have ripped their head off.
He almost fist-bumped himself when he discovered her figure from the distance- near enough for him to recognize her, but far enough for Rukia to not discover him. This was it. His chance was handed to him on a silver plate; he just had to figure out the best approach so she could never squirm her way out.
The best course of action was the last thing expected. Ichigo decided to face Rukia upfront, and once she was caught off guard, he had his grip locked on her wrist; firm enough to keep her movements in bay.
His eyes glowered, his teeth gritted, "Where do you think you're going?" He bit out harshly. He knew the woman in front of him would not be fazed by his intimidation; or even if she was, she would never show it. Yet there was something inside him roaring to be shown - to be acknowledged and needed attention.
The stink of another alpha was thicker once they met; he noted that she didn't even try to conceal with blockers. The actuality nerved him. He felt her slight shudder when he instinctively growled, "Where I'm going is none of your business," despite her secondary sex told her to submit, violet eyes glared back unwaveringly at his strong stare.
"Look, Rukia," Ichigo began, "the least you can do is tell me what went wrong."
"Nothing went wrong," Rukia replied in matter-of-fact tone.
"Then what the fuck are you so pissed off about?!"
"I am not pissed."
Ichigo glares, "Don't lie. You are mad because of what happened with Senna."
"What happened? Oh, how you were on top of Senna that night when you knew she had been pining on you since the first semester?" Rukia fumed. "That has nothing to do with me."
"You say that," Ichigo deadpanned, "but you doused yourself with another alpha's scent right the very next day."
"That is an entirely different matter," Rukia justified, "and you have no right to inquire about this subject."
Ichigo scowled, "You don't understand-"
"You're right, I don't," Rukia cut off sharply, "and I don't want to so just fuck off."
Everyone knew Rukia was intensely furious once she emphasized swearing words in public. This time, he didn't try to resist when she tried to break off his grip and walked away.
It came close to blowing out of proportion.
The moment he interrupted, he wasn't even trying to. Ichigo didn't even plan on bothering her tonight, he only wanted to take a look at her from afar. He assumed he should wait for Rukia to calm down by the weekend and maybe the next Monday, they could talk. The plan was thrown out of the window, however, once he saw Rukia on the barstool with someone next to her.
At first he was only watching, his eyes attentively trying to make out their dialogue. The insistent alpha was coming close - too close to actual cross personal boundaries. It was palpable how much Rukia constrained herself - trying to lay the alpha gently despite her lips pressing into a thin line unamusedly. The crossing line was the moment that alpha actually tried to cop a feel.
It didn't take long until Rukia decided to kick the alpha in the shin. Ichigo restrained himself on butting in, trying as hard as he could to deny what his thoughts were feeding him. He knew Rukia could handle herself and for the love of Chappy, everyone knew how much she needed to blow off her steam. His plan went well until he saw Rukia getting hurt; the alpha actually dared to attack back and land a punch on her.
He just, snapped.
Everything went red. He didn't think when he furiously launched. Ichigo didn't even realize what happened after - his thoughts filled with unyielding killing intent. He tried to calm himself but he was downright enraged. His shoulders were rigid, his throat felt tight. His whole muscles were tense and his eyes flared with full animosity.
A tug was felt on his sleeve. The familiar sweet scent reached out slowly - crippled his senses and successfully altered his attention. The alpha he just attacked fled in such hurry at the chance, lost in the crowds, and forgotten by the more important presence across.
Once his head was getting clearer, the first thing he felt was a pair of soothing palms cupping his cheeks. His sights were still blurry and his knuckles felt sore.
"Ichigo, focus."
And he did.
He tried to center his sight to one point, soon the blurry lines slowly came into apparent picture. The first thing he noticed was pair of violet eyes staring intensely towards him, locking him with a gaze that pierced something within him. He was heaving, gasping for air as sweats trickled his facial features - his whole body was trembling.
"Rukia," he instinctively called out, flinching at his weakened voice as he frantically scanned her whole body. He searched for any possible bruises or scratches, but his roaming hands were halted before he could finish his attempt.
"You fool," she barked, "you are more hurt than I am."
He didn't even realize until she stated so. Now that his attention was averted to his own self, he noticed his sore knuckles were dripping with a mixture of his wound and the opponent's blood. The sight was enough to make an eleven-year-old grimace but-
"This is nothing," Ichigo replied, "you've seen me worse."
Rukia frowned. She opened her mouth as if she was ready to counter back but then paused with no words coming out of the syllables. She decided to settle with a sigh, eyes still glaring irritatedly as she tugged his shirt - an order for him to follow her - so he did.
She led him to the parking lot, telling him to get his ass inside the car before drove it herself. The whole journey was filled with a heavy silence, then Rukia decided to drag him inside her flat so she can tend to his wound. Again, Ichigo complied - most of his intentions were to make sure her flat wasn't raided with the stink of another alpha.
He was ecstatic to learn it wasn't. The living room was filled with the usual scent, no leftover of another person's sleepover which meant Rukia did not actually sleep with anybody else. Once Rukia left to retrieve her first aid kit, Ichigo sat on the couch - the usual spot he trademarked inside Rukia's flat.
Rukia came back with a box of kits with her. Once she began to treat his hands, Ichigo decided to break the silence.
"So," he cleared his throat, "you didn't bring anyone here after all."
"Bold of you to assume we weren't doing it in his flat instead." Rukia countered, head not looking up as she still concentrated on the task at hand.
Ichigo's eyes hardened, "Did you?"
She paused for a moment; contemplating before she finally decided to answer with a sigh, "No."
It was to be expected. No matter how angry Rukia was, she wasn't the type to throw all common senses out of spite. There was no way she would actually bring herself to another alpha's flat just to piss him off. Still, Ichigo needed to ask for confirmation anyway.
Once Rukia finished her treatment, she closed the kit; about to head to the kitchen and return it to the shelf. But before she could, her wrist was locked by Ichigo - his amber eyes now filled with certainty as he spoke, "We need to talk."
The tone was final; without room for Rukia to argue. He was drained as hell and he was sure Rukia knew that - probably being most of the reason why Rukia actually relented despite a full week of stubbornness. She sat back but her stare was anything but comfortable - eyes reluctant for him to start the dreaded conversation.
"I don't think there is anything we actually need to discuss."
"Rukia," Ichigo groaned in frustration, "tell me. What was the actual reason you have been avoiding me?"
There was the silence. It was always that pause of silence whenever Ichigo guessed something right. Something was bothering her but he didn't know what.
Rukia sighed, finally relenting. "I know what you want to say."
Ichigo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "What do I want to say?"
"Don't do this, Ichigo. Senna already reached out to me." She avoided his curious stare, "I just- I just needed time to prepare-"
"Hold on," Ichigo cut her off with a frown, "prepare for what?"
"For bracing myself to actually listen to you," She inhaled, eyes still averting his stare as she proceeded to say the next word she had tried so hard to avoid, "because you want to say that Senna is your true mate."
Ichigo blanked out, thinking he had actually heard her wrong.
"I'm sorry, you were saying?"
"… That you and Senna are true mates."
"And how the hell did you come up with that conclusion?"
Rukia frowned, "What do you mean? That night at the party proved everything."
"You mean by me falling on top of Senna, either of us fully clothed, with no single strand of hair misplaced?"
"Wha- Fine, I was there before you two started, so what?" Rukia huffed, "Not changing the fact you two actually did the deed."
"Oh my God," Ichigo gaped, "you can't be this stupid. I never did anything with Senna, there was nothing going on between me and her."
"What?" Her brain trying to register the sudden take of information, "that can't be, Inoue testified and everything…"
"I can't believe you actually believed in Inoue."
She glared, "Inoue likes you, Ichigo. Why would she actually said that about you and Senna if she wanted people to believe you like her?"
"Because," Ichigo breathed, "she wanted us to grow apart," then he actually delved deeper, "because I love you."
Her eyes glistened in the soft flickering light, "You drank too much."
"I didn't drink. I was at the bar because I wanted to watch over you."
Her train of thoughts stopped its tracks. Love was a heavy thing to weigh on, especially for Ichigo. He did not confess with a simple 'like', it was as if he was so sure about the way he was feeling - about where this was heading. Rukia couldn't help but wonder how long had he known and controlled it by himself. Alphas were known to be adversely possessive.
Rukia did not immediately reply because this was not what she prepared herself for. There was Ichigo, her best friend in this lifetime professing his actual feeling they both had never bring up in their relationship.
"You can't say that out of the blue," Rukia muttered, "we never talked about any of this."
There were many things to consider between them. What was the becoming of their relationship? What will go differently? What if they decided things were not working out - will they still be friends then? Even if they were, will things ever go the same?
"I've got to get it off my chest," Ichigo admitted, "you keep speculating each time and I know this might ruin everything, but we can't keep pushing it down- I can't keep pushing it down because it's driving me crazy. And," he took a deep breath, "and if you don't feel the same then-"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down your horses," Rukia interjected, eyes widened, "and you say I'm the one who keeps speculating."
Ichigo arched an eyebrow, "So does that mean you feel the same?"
Did she?
There were so many things she was worried about, so many unanswered questions she had yet to ask. Her mind screamed that she needed to think this through - they needed to think this through because going over the border of friendship was a step they could never turn back from.
However, that wasn't the question Ichigo was asking - he asked how she felt. And she was never so sure about anything else as she was about what she was currently feeling.
She didn't even know when it started.
"It's funny, isn't it." Rukia considered with a glint of amusement. "That we both knew, but never said anything."
"Never felt like it needed saying." Ichigo's gaze was intent, a finger teased over her lip as he leaned closer in half-whisper, "except, you want me to say it again now?"
Rukia hummed, slightly parting her lips in complement as she decided to reduce the distance between them. Once they were mere few centimeters apart, she swore her stomach did a flip.
"Maybe after,"
Then their lips met.
Author's Note: Review for this fic would be great ahahhaha