OUR LOVE TOWARDS THE FUTURE
by: Mari Kia Aishiteru
One: Curiosity
"Ichigo! Hurry up! We'll be late if we don't leave now!" A girl with long straight orange hair called out from downstairs. She wore her gray uniform which was composed of long sleeve jacket and skirt with a white blouse inside and a red ribbon in between her collar. She held her school bag in her right hand as she waited for her twin brother to come out from his room.
"Don't be too loud Orihime," the orange haired boy replied as he walked down the stairs. He also donned the same gray uniform as his twin sister but instead of skirt, he wore gray pants and he didn't wear any red ribbon between his collars. That was pretty obvious.
"I'm being loud because you are too deaf to hear me." Orihime said sarcastically.
Ichigo's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "Oh, Is that so? For your information, my ears are very sharp. I can even hear an ant conversation, you know." He said mockingly.
"Oh, I see. You're already an ant now huh?!" she shot back.
"What did you—"
"Are you two already leaving?" Kurosaki Masaki, a woman with long blonde curly hair, asked with a smile. The Kurosaki twins turned to her and smiled, bantering forgotten.
"Yes mom. We are." Orihime answered, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek.
"Take care then." Their mother said with a smile.
"Yes Mom!" Orihime replied happily as she hugged her mother who returned her gesture.
"See you later mom." Ichigo said as the two ladies pulled themselves away from each other.
"Bye Mom!" Orihime called out one last time as she and Ichigo walked out of the house for school.
"Good Morning, Kurosaki-kun! Kurosaki-san!"
Orihime just smiled at the student who just greeted them as they walked towards their homeroom. Ichigo looked at his twin sister. When they were out of hearing range, Ichigo asked her.
"Hime, aren't you getting tired of being the most popular female student here in this school?"
The orange haired girl raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Ichigo put a finger on his chin while thinking. "Well, because every day, every time we go to school, other students always treated us like king and queen of this school. It's boring you know." He said.
He really didn't know what his sister thought of this kind of treatment. Even though she was his twin sister, he found it difficult to read her thoughts sometimes. Most of the time, he thought that she was just oblivious about her life so he was very protective of her. But, in contrary, his sister could easily read him like a book.
"I'm not tired. However, I'm also getting bored like you. I don't really fancy being treated like a noble princess in a castle. I just want to be treated normally, like any other students here. I know you know what I mean, right?" Orihime asked her brother as she smiled at him.
Ichigo returned the gesture. He loved her smile. It resembled their own mother. That was the reason why he loved his mother and twin sister so much and swore that he would protect them both and make them happy.
"Yeah, I know. I understand you. You're my twin sister after all." He said as he patted her head.
Orihime knew that he was only giving that kind of smile to her and to their mother. Sometimes at their father but, that was rare since their father, Kurosaki Isshin, always do crazy antics and often jump at him every morning just to wake him up. She was happy and she knew that Ichigo was happy too despite of their father's crazy actions. She giggled when she thought of that.
Ichigo looked at her questioningly. "Why are you giggling?"
"Oh, nothing. Come on, we'll be late." She told him as she walked ahead. Ichigo dismissed this with a shrug as he followed her in their classroom. As soon as they came in, they were greeted by their friends.
"Good morning, Orihime!" a spiky-haired girl greeted.
"Good morning too, Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime waved happily as she placed her bag at the side of her desk.
Arisawa Tatsuki gazed at Ichigo who sat on his chair, with a bored look on his face.
"Morning, Ichigo."
"Ah. Good morning, Tatsuki."
Arisawa Tatsuki was the Kurosaki twins' childhood friend.
"Oi, Ichigo!" a red-haired guy said as he went up to the three.
"Ah, Renji. Ishida."
"Good morning! Renji-kun! Ishida-kun!" greeted Orihime enthusiastically.
"Good morning, Orihime-chan." Renji greeted back.
Ishida Uryuu just smiled at her warmly. Orihime blushed and Ichigo looked up at his sister and then at Ishida to see that he was also reacting the same as her.
Ichigo reminded himself to make a mental note to tell Orihime later that she was being all too obvious as days goes by. He sighed. Maybe his little twin sister, who was a very oblivious girl, was now a lady because she was in love with his best friend. He cringed at the thought. He really didn't mind Ishida Uryuu. He was a nice guy and that was besides the point that he was the smartest student in the whole school. He knew that Ishida was also in love with his sister, even though he didn't want to admit it to the girl's overprotective twin brother. Even though he was his best friend, Ishida was still afraid that Ichigo might not accept him as his brother-in-law. Ichigo smirked at the thought of Ishida being afraid of him. It was very rare that Ishida Uryuu got afraid of other people. He was known as a serious and cold person and was the one getting afraid of.
"How was your judo tournament, Tatsuki-chan?" Orihime asked her childhood friend.
"It turns out really well, Orihime. I won the first prize!" Tatsuki replied grinning.
"Wow! Congratulations! You're really great, Tatsuki-chan!" she praised happily.
"Thanks, Orihime."
Orihime grinned at her.
"And I also won the Kendo Competition yesterday." Renji exclaimed with pride in his voice.
"Congratulations, Renji-kun!" Orihime said.
"Thanks." He said with a smile.
"That's not really surprising since you always go home late for practice." Ichigo commented lazily, sitting on his chair.
"He's right." Ishida nodded at Ichigo.
"Of course! I need to win the competition you know. That's my greatest dream." Renji explained dreamily.
Suddenly, they heard loud claps and saw their teacher coming in.
"Go back to your seats now students! We are going to start the class!" Their homeroom adviser, Ochi-sensei, ordered. Students went back to their seats.
"Today, we have a new transfer student." She began.
Students murmured from their seats. Ichigo just shrugged. He didn't really care about transfer students.
"That's just another pain." He thought.
"Come in here now." He heard his teacher ordered to the transfer student.
He stared at her as she walked up inside. She had beautiful violet eyes and short raven black hair. He felt something different in her as she bowed briefly and stood strongly as she introduced herself.
"My name is Kuchiki Rukia. Nice to meet you all." She said.
He stared at her. He saw her eyes roaming around the classroom and finally, their eyes met. He could tell the emotions in those purple orbs. It was full of sadness and pain. He was sure of it. It was common for him to know it since he could also read his family and friends by just looking them in their eyes. He never saw that kind of eyes before. She was acting calmly that was why people didn't seem to notice. He was now curious about this transfer student.
"Kuchiki-san, please take your seat now, we will start the lesson."
"Yes, Ochi-sensei."
There was only one vacant seat in the classroom, and that was near the window, next to Kurosaki Ichigo's seat. He turned at the seat next to him as she slowly sat down. She looked at him briefly but she really didn't show any action to acknowledge him. She turned away from him when Ochi-sensei started explaining the lesson.
The class turned out well as usual except for a very quiet girl next to him. When she was called to read, or participate, she was doing it. But, she really didn't do anything else. Was she really that shy? Or… was she hiding something?
Ichigo was curious about this girl. This was the first time he felt this way. He couldn't really dismiss the thought even if he wanted to. It was really bothersome.
…
"But, what was it?" he thought as the bell indicating the lunch break rang. He saw Orihime walking up to him at the corner of his eye because he was still looking at the mysterious girl as she prepared her bentou for lunch.
"Ichi, come on. It's lunch." Orihime told him as she stopped at the middle desk, between his and Rukia's.
"I know. I'm coming." He answered. He saw Orihime turned to Rukia.
"Hi Rukia-chan! I'm Kurosaki Orihime. Nice to meet you." Orihime exclaimed with a wide grin. She looked at her and answered, "Ah. Nice to meet you too. Kurosaki-san." She answered calmly.
"Rukia-chan, would you like to have lunch with us?" she offered.
Actually, Ichigo wanted to ask her too. Well, it was fine. He was thankful to his sister that she did that. He wanted to see if he can do something about his suspicions.
Rukia stopped rummaging her things in her bag for a brief moment before doing it again. She looked up at Orihime's smiling face as she answered politely, "I'm sorry but I can't."
Ichigo looked at her. He noticed something in her. It seemed to him that she wanted to but, she was controlling herself from accepting the invitation.
Was she afraid of other people?
If she was, there was no way she'd looked at him like she did earlier, right?
But, why was she refusing his little sister?
What might be the reason behind this?
"Why? Do you have a relative studying here? Do you have other friends joining you for lunch?" Orihime asked.
"Well, not really. But I can't really join you. I'm sorry." She replied as she stood up from her seat and walked out of the room.
"I wonder why she refused me..." Orihime thought out loud with a pout gracing her lips. They were eating at the rooftop, like always.
"Maybe she's just afraid of us. She's new to this school after all." Ishida explained.
"Or maybe, she's having a trauma. You know, maybe she had bad memories from her old school. Like, her classmates bullying her or something like that." Renji commented as he bit on his bread.
"Hmm… that may be possible. But, I asked her nicely. Right, Ichi?"
"Hmm? Y-yeah…" he answered, eating quietly. He couldn't helped but think about the girl. Ishida and Renji's opinions seemed possible but he was sure that there was more to that.
"But, what was it?" he thought once again.
"Guys, come over here." Tatsuki called out as she continued to look down at the fence. They all went up to her.
"What is it?" asked Renji.
"Look down. Under that tree." She said as she pointed at the big old tree down below.
They saw her, sitting under the tree, eating her lunch alone. At times, it looked like, she was lost in her own thoughts and after taking a bite, she was lost again. This girl was really hiding something.
"Really! What is the problem of that girl? Orihime-chan asked her to join us right? Why did she refuse when she really didn't have someone to join with?!" Renji asked with a sigh.
"Just leave her alone. If she wanted to have friends, she will approach us so just be patient," Tatsuki explained.
"Tatsuki's right. Maybe she's just waiting for the right time to ask, don't you think?" Ishida added.
"You're all right. Well… Come on, let's go back to class." Orihime said as she walked towards the door.
Everyone followed her except Ichigo who was still looking at Rukia down below. Orihime noticed her twin brother's gaze at the mysterious girl. She made a mental note to asked him later at home. But, for now, they needed to get to class or they would be late.
"Ichi, come on." She called.
"Y-Yeah, I'm coming." He replied, as he gazed at her for the last time before following his twin sister out of the rooftop.
"Ichi, what do you think about Rukia-chan?" Orihime asked as she sat down on Ichigo's bed. Her look was steely at the back of his head.
Ichigo stopped writing something on his notebook. Probably, doing his homework.
"Why are you asking me that?" he asked. Still, not sparing a glance at her.
"Don't you dare lie to me Kurosaki Ichigo, I know you. I know that something is bothering you about her. I saw you earlier, at the rooftop. You looked at her differently." She explained seriously.
"What do you mean by 'I looked at her differently'?" he asked. This time, he looked at her.
"Ichigo, you looked at her with interest. Are you interested in her?" she asked, smirking widely, voice teasing.
"Eh?! Of course not! Why would I be? Are you totally out of your mind?" he turned his gaze away.
"Ichigo, you're staring at her far too long! That is an evidence that you're interested in her! Don't you dare lie! I already saw you! After lunch, you're staring at her and not really paying attention in class. This is the first time I saw you like this Ichigo, what's your problem really?!" she exclaimed, losing her temper at her twin brother's denial mode. She really hated it when he acted this way.
Ichigo rolled his eyes at his sister's exaggerated reactions. He was used to it because this wasn't the first time he watched his sister act like this.
Was his curiosity about that mysterious classmate of theirs that big of a deal?
Well, probably yes. Considering his cheerful, kind, oblivious little twin sister, acting like she had discovered something but she couldn't really tell it to others that was why she was forced to hide it or something.
He sighed.
"Hime, I think you're just making it such a big deal."
"It is, Ichigo. It is really a big deal, considering it's you." She said, arms crossed against her chest.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean by that?"
Orihime smiled sweetly as she shrugged. "Exactly as I said it. Now, tell me, what do you think about Rukia-chan?" she asked one more time. Calmly.
"Why are you even calling her by her given name? Are you two close friends or something?"
"Ichigo!" she yelled.
He put up his hands, surrendering. "Fine! fine! I think she's different."
"What do you mean by that?" she asked with a defiant aura.
"Well, when I saw her eyes, I saw sadness and pain. I don't know but I'm pretty sure of it. She's acting normal but I can tell that she's really hiding something. She's avoiding all of our classmates, including you. I'm just curious about her, you know." He finished, avoiding his sister's gaze.
Orihime smiled.
"Ichigo, if you think that she's sad and she needs someone, would you be there for her?" she asked gently.
Ichigo stared at his sister in surprise. What would be his answer? He didn't even really know that girl. But…
"Ichigo, would you be her friend?"
He looked at his sister who smiled at him genuinely. He smiled slightly.
"Yeah. I would be willing to. If she would let me in her life, that is." He answered truthfully. Actually, he didn't even know why he said it but something inside of him tells him to say that and do it. But, why her?
Ichigo stopped his train of thought when their mother yelled from downstairs.
"Ichigo! Orihime! Dinner's ready!" she informed them.
"Coming!" Orihime yelled back. She turned to her twin brother and asked him, "You coming?"
"Yeah. Come on." He replied.
As they walked out of his room, he continued his train of thought about that mysterious classmate of theirs.
Who was she? What would be her role in his life?
He stopped his thoughts when he remembered something.
"Oh, Orihime, I want to tell you something."
The sister glanced behind her. "What?"
"You're being all too obvious about Ishida, you know." He said as he walked past her.
Orihime just blushed madly. Her pale face lit up with crimson. She caught up at her twin brother as she yelled, "ICHIGO!!!!"
Ichigo smiled slightly.
.: END OF CHAPTER ONE :.