The Eve Project
Ichigo is just your average, smart, healthy, young, virile male college student. Besides having a part-time job and three horny friends who's always after their hot and sexy neighbours, all seems normal. Until the fateful night he decided to help a girl he found naked on a dumpster who insists that she was sent from the future to search for a healthy human male and save the human race.
Disclaimer: I don't own bleach :P (but I want to haha)
Chapter 7: Maintenance
Getting out of the bathroom, Ichigo begrudgingly ran a towel over his drenched orange hair. His scowl was so deep that it'd scare away any living creature that dared cross his path. He got dressed for school with his sour mood still intact.
Yes, it seems that taking a cold shower, quite a few times, and even jerking off while in the shower doesn't really help much in alleviating that feeling... "that" meaning his arousal.
He groaned at the horrible familiar feeling of being like a kid deprived of his favourite candy on his birthday. And boy, did he want that candy badly.
He ran downstairs and was greeted by the aroma of newly cooked breakfast. He hoped to the gods that scrumptious breakfast would be enough to get his mind to focus on something else.
It wasn't.
Just as he arrived in the dining area to eat, his eyes became fixated on the only person present downstairs. She gracefully moved around as she set up the table like she's been doing it hundreds of times before. The raven haired girl then carefully placed a plate filled with freshly cooked scrambled eggs on the table with an approving smile. Immediately, Ichigo was hungry for something else and it was NOT for eggs.
The girl looked up and her purple orbs met his.
Rukia sucked in a quick breath in shock at the look the young man was giving her. He looked like he was going to pounce on her or something, like an eagle eyeing his prey. Little did she know that he really was close into doing just that. He wanted to clear away every goddamn thing on the dining table to push her on top and start ravishing her there so that she can start eliciting those sexy sounds—
"I'm not hungry," Ichigo snapped and quickly turned his back on her.
Great, he's late and he's thinking about sex. Just like back in high school. Awesome.
Meanwhile, Rukia was readying herself to use defensive maneuver just in case he does anything stupid but then again she was quickly taken aback by his words. She ran to catch up to him but someone else stopped him in his tracks.
"Woah! Great! You're still here! It's nice to see you're running late too, Ichigo! Welcome to the club!" Kon greeted putting an arm around his annoyed cousin who simply tried to shake the said arm away.
"I've made the others breakfast, are we going now?" Rukia asked approaching the two with her arms wrapped around a red shoebox.
Kon quickly composed himself at the sight of the girl. "Ah. Thanks a lo—"
"Wait. Did she just say "we"!?" Ichigo posed hoping that his ears had deceived him but his cousin was quick to answer.
"Yes, we, as in you, me and Rukia."
Ichigo's jaw practically dropped. "What!? No. No way. No. She is NOT coming with us!" He protested to Kon while pointing a finger at Rukia.
"Um... yes I am," the girl retaliated. "And it's not polite to point at people!" She jerked his hand away.
"But why!? There's nothing to do there, it's boring!" He tried to change her mind with some more useless arguments but it seems that her mind and his cousin's mind were made up. Arguing about this matter will not only get them late but could also get them in big trouble.
"Oh god, this cannot be happening," Ichigo groaned in defeat.
Once again... FUCK.
"Yes! I win again!" Rukia cheered in a whisper. It's been an hour since Kon introduced to her the game SOS and she grew to like it a little. It's like tic-tac-toe but instead of making XXX or OOO, you need an SOS to score.
"Man, you're really good at this. It's a good thing, you're here. Or I'd probably die of boredom." Kon began drawing some gridlines again to restart the game.
"Really? Doesn't Ichigo play?" Rukia asked assuming that they've played this game countless of times.
Kon shook his head. "Nah, Ichigo tends to do stuff that aren't fun like listening to the professor blab about shit that none of his students actually understand."
Ichigo felt a vein pop in his forehead. He definitely heard what Kon said and sure enough, he wanted to punch the idiot for that comment but he chose to stay civilized and seated so as not to make a scene inside the classroom. He looked back at the whiteboard filled with gibberish equations, symbols and numbers. For some reason, class was extra boring today and he couldn't get the hang of what the professor was talking about. He relentlessly tapped his pen over his open textbook and tried hard to concentrate on the lesson. He scowled at his failed attempts to learn.
How the hell was he suppose to focus on studying when the midget from the future kept giggling beside him while his cousin kept groaning whenever he loses?
Ichigo groaned inwardly and slumped his head on his desk.
"I seem to be seeing people playing and someone sleeping at the back. And since not everyone is interested in our lesson for today, we are going to have a pop quiz." The professor announced with his arms crossed over his chest, which made the whole class groan in disapproval.
"What the fuck!? Ichigo, did you study!?" Kon whispered in panic.
"Fuck it. Does it look like I studied!? I couldn't even sleep in class because of you two," Ichigo mumbled eyeing his two companions.
"This test will be worth all your student participation, which means if you don't pass this one, you're doomed to repeat my subject, next year." Another round of groans, grunts and curses were heard but the professor didn't seem to mind, actually, he seems to be enjoying it.
The bastard.
He then began to write an equation on the board. After writing, he faced his class with an eerie grin.
"I'm really not that harsh, so if one of you solves this equation correctly, I will grant everyone a guaranteed perfect score. However, if that one person answered incorrectly, you will all fail. How's that?" Everyone began to protest but the professor wasn't open to any of their comments. In fact, he even added that they'll have an early dismissal if the fucking equation was correctly answered immediately however, again, if no one attempts to answer until the end of the period, they'll all still fail.
Yes, it was a lose-lose to the students. And so most of them turned to the geekiest ones in class who were now scraping their brains for answers, while the evil professor simply sat down on his chair and revelled on his students' misery.
"Fuck, do you have an answer now? Ichigo! Oi! Did you get it right? Are you done? Did you figure it out? Fuck man, hurry. Hey—"
"FUCK KON! JUST SHUT UP OKAY!? YOU ARE NOT HELPING!" Ichigo snapped. Everyone turned to look at them for a moment. And in that brief moment, Ichigo wished for the ground to just eat him up and yes, he was going to bring Kon with him to wherever the ground was taking him if such a strange thing were to happen. Right now, he regretted ever going to school on this horrid day. And to top it off, he needed to endure sitting next to the raven haired temptress who was innocently playing with a fucking pen.
Minutes passed and still, no one attempted to answer. They were all too afraid to drag everyone down. Even the smartest ones in class wouldn't risk it.
Rukia huffed and lightly blew the bang that covered her face. Since that quiz thing began, everyone became all serious. She had to watch Kon cheer Ichigo on while the other simply yelled back curses in frustration. It was funny at first but then it became uninteresting. She observed the other students giving up. She even heard them say something about seeing each other next year to attend the same class. Rukia pouted. She was really excited to go to class today. It was another first after all. She knew that class can be dull sometimes but don't they have games, storytelling and shit like that to make it more interesting? In this class, the only person talking was the professor and no one seems to be having fun at all.
"Hey, can we go now?" She asked turning to the two young men with a dull look.
"Er... we can't yet, not until someone solves the equation on the board," Kon explained with a nervous chuckle.
Rukia pouted some more, "But no one seems to know the answer!"
"Exactly. Which is why, we are stuck here. In this class... until next year. Fuck this advanced algebra." Ichigo closed his textbook and threw aside his pen.
"Woah, wait! You mean to say if no one answers that correctly, everyone has to suffer this dull class for another year!?" Rukia was horrified.
"That's pretty much it," Kon affirmed with a big disappointed sigh. Of course, with or without the test, he was bound to fail the subject anyway so there's really nothing much to do. And he kept that kind of thinking to cheer himself up but Rukia wouldn't have that. She grabbed Ichigo's textbook and spoke with much protest, "No, that can't be!"
"And what do you plan to do? Do you even know advanced algebra?" Ichigo asked with a raised eyebrow.
Rukia smirked. "Nope. That's why I'm going to study."
"How are you going to—" Before Ichigo could finish his question, Rukia held the book up in a reading position, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Once she opened her eyelids, the purple orbs began to glow the way they did last night and the leaves of the book flipped from one page to another in a fast motion. By instinct, the two young men immediately stood up in panic and quickly tried to cover Rukia before anyone else sees her way of "studying". Then the two ended up watching her with dumbfounded eyes until the flipping pages stopped and the book closed. She blinked her eyes a few times until they were purple again.
She smiled and stood up. "I got it!" She yelped with confidence and quickly went down to approach the board.
"She... got it?" Ichigo spoke with his eyes following the girl who was writing her really long solution in front.
"I... think so...?" Kon added doing the same thing until another thought hit him.
"The cookbook," he said.
"What?"
"She did the same thing to our cookbook," Kon began. "At around 3 am, the night she arrived, we heard some strange noise coming from the kitchen. When we went down to check it out, we saw Rukia trying to cook but man, she was bad at it. And I mean really bad. But then we saw her did that thing to one of our cookbooks and boom! Breakfast is served."
"I studied it... last night. I couldn't sleep."
Okay, that seems to be making sense now. So if what Kon told him was true, then she'll definitely get this one right, right?
RIGHT!?
"Wrong answer," the professor spoke when Rukia stopped writing.
What!?
"WHAAAT!?" Everyone in the room bellowed.
The professor snickered, "Well, it was a good try miss but it seems everyone will be failing n—"
"Wait. I'm not yet done," Rukia spoke holding a hand up to shut him. And it seems everyone was once again holding their breaths with a tinge of hope that the mysterious girl could set them free from their misery. But all hope was lost when Rukia erased the equation that the professor wrote and replaced it with a different one.
"There! Now, I'm done," she said with a proud smirk. She turned to the professor, "Can we go now?"
Silence.
"Is this some kind of insult?" the professor posed with an annoyed look.
Everyone gasped, "WHAT THE HELL DID SHE DO!?"
"Because of this young lady over here, all of you get a failing score."
The students begin to grunt. "Noooo!"
It was too good to be true.
"What? Stop! You can't do that! I answered correctly—"Rukia tried to retort.
"Tsch, you think you know everything, missy? Well, you don't. That goes to all of you," he faced the class. "Let this be a lesson to everyone. All of you are idiots. Nothing will become of people like you when all you know is fool around like a bunch of uneducated creatures."
As the professor continued his speech about being the superior and all that shit, Ichigo noticed Rukia frowning and shaking in what seems to be... anger.
Not good. An angry little midget from the future will only equal to more disaster.
"Kon, let's go," the orange head whispered while pulling his cousin with him.
"What?"
"We have to stop Rukia before she starts zapping anyone."
Point well made. Then the two discreetly ran down. They saw Rukia begin to approach the professor with a raised hand.
"Rukia don't!" Ichigo yelped. Once again, everyone turned to look at them. And for the second time around, if the ground doesn't eat him alive, he'd rather bury himself in it than live with this embarrassment.
God I hate math. He groaned.
And the only good thing about this was that, no zapping occurred. Although Ichigo wished that he got stung into unconsciousness. That way, he didn't have to deal with the rest of this day.
Anyway, Rukia simply took the marker from the professor's breast pocket and began writing on the board once again. Ichigo and Kon stopped in their tracks to see what she wrote. It was the old equation with the solution underneath. At the end of it was a huge "undefined" symbol.
Rukia turned to the class and spoke, "Page 357. He copied this from page 357 set B, number 12. He simply changed the variables, unfortunately, he got this, one part wrong." She then encircled the erroneous part. "...which made the whole thing, unanswerable." Everyone with textbooks flipped to the page she was talking about and indeed, she was correct.
"You!" She pointed to the professor. "This math is too advanced for them. How dare you give them a question that is in unit 12 when your lesson was only in unit 3!? You, as a teacher, shouldn't be talking horribly to your students and threatening them into failure like that! What become of your students is a big reflection on what you are as a teacher. And from what I've seen, you're a horrible teacher! And you," She turned to her audience, "as students, you should pay more attention to what your professors are teaching you! He could be teaching you crap and you don't even know it! Don't just nod your heads or you'll be taken advantage of!"
The professor looked aghast while he reviewed everything that the young woman wrote on the whiteboard. She didn't even wait for him to speak or for anyone else to speak for that matter. She simply looked at Ichigo and Kon with a warning look and said, "Let's go."
The damn place was definitely pissing her off.
Although the two males felt conflicted about leaving, they followed her out nonetheless.
"Tsch. I bet even that geezer can't answer his own question, how dare he act so high and mighty," Rukia mumbled then took a big bite of cake to ease her nerves.
Ichigo let out a huge sigh. "Well, we're definitely failing it now."
The comment only made Kon shrug. "Who cares? What Rukia did back there was awesome. She did us all a favour," he said with a thumbs-up but Ichigo simply rolled his eyes.
"Of course you don't care, you were failing either way. You don't need Rukia for that."
Rukia took another forkful of strawberry cake and moaned at the explosion of flavours in her mouth. Strawberry cake definitely did the trick to lighten her mood. "Mmm... Aren't you going to eat?" She turned to the two men watching her eat.
"Nah, I'm good," Kon assured her while Ichigo eyed the icing that conveniently placed itself at one corner of her mouth.
"You have some... on your..." He tried to gesture to it. And when Rukia got the message she tried to reach it with her tongue. He couldn't stop the blush that crept his face after seeing that pink tongue of hers and remembering the places it travelled in his dream.
Shit. Was she doing this on purpose!?
"Just... gah... here." He took a napkin and wiped it off himself. It was frustrating enough that her damn tongue couldn't reach the damn icing. It had to stop.
"Thanks," she said innocently. Of course she was unaware of the effect she had on him. He ignored the statement and just looked the other way.
"Oh look! There she is!" A voice by the doorway of the pastry shop cried out. All heads turned to where it came from but Ichigo couldn't care less until of course the voice became so close that the source was standing by their table. "It's you! The girl who stood up to professor Aramaki!"
This time Ichigo actually looked up and saw a young man with two girls standing behind him. They sort of look familiar but he didn't really give a damn about who they are.
"After you guys left, everyone started protesting and then professor Aramaki agreed to give us all a perfect score on the quiz!" One of the girls stated followed by a "Thank you so much!" from the other.
"Yes, yes, thank you! How can we ever repay you?" The young man faced Rukia with eyes filled with gratitude. Her eyebrows shot up at what the boy said.
"Repay me?" She repeated and placed down her fork beside her cake. She then inserted her finger inside the boy's ear hole and closed her eyes.
The boy blinked a few times in surprise but made no attempt to move. "W-what is she doing?" He asked Ichigo and Kon who both had their mouths hanging.
Rukia retrieved her finger. "Mmm. Nope, you can't help me. Sorry," said the girl as she went back to eating her cake like nothing happened.
"What did she...?" Before the guy could even question what Rukia just did, Kon began laughing. "Okay! Why don't you guys tell me more about what happened to Aramaki, waaaaay over there!" He then gathered the crowd away from his two companions.
"What... the fuck..." Ichigo breathed and he wasn't even aware that he held his breath.
"What?"
"Y-you can't just shove your finger into people's ears like that!"
Rukia scowled at hearing that and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well what do you expect me to do? You don't want to have sex with me. That's fine. But I'll have to find someone else who fits the requirement."
He wanted to retort but somehow he couldn't find a valid argument to counter her with. She really did have a point. His mind began to imagine Rukia with some poor sap and he felt his blood boil at the thought. After remembering her reaction the first time he tried to do her, something in him stirred as if telling him that he won't allow such a thing to happen to some random guy. This guy's going to go through him first, that is if they could actually pass that health status test thing. And Rukia did mention it was rare to get someone with a higher than average status. For some reason, that made him feel relieved. Meaning she can't just have any guy do her, right? ...and that was good because?
Because... he fits in the requirement? He shook his head.
Fuck these thoughts.
She finally snapped. "What's wrong with you? You've been acting strange all morning."
"I-it's nothing. Hey by the way, why's there a need for the health status to be higher than average," he quipped trying to change the subject. It wasn't the best topic, but it was the first one he had in mind. Rukia took another bite of cake before answering.
"Simple. So that the sperms won't die before they reach the egg."
His eyebrows furrowed, regretting that he asked the question. "Die? Why would it... die?"
"Because—"
And before any answer came out, Kon arrived back at their table with a huff. "Okay! Wohoo! Man, I finally got rid of them. So Rukia, what's in the shoebox?" He nodded towards the red shoebox that she's been carrying.
"Oh, it's the pieces of the T-cube. I was hoping to get it fixed here."
"How?"
"By asking help from the person who built it."
Ichigo and Kon looked at each other then back at Rukia. "But I thought you were from the future?"
"I am, but the guy who built this is a lot older than I am and apparently he's here, just a little younger though."
"Who?" the two young men questioned in unison and Rukia took in the last bit of cake then smiled.
"Kisuke? KISUKE THE MAINTENANCE MAN IS THE GUY WHO BUILT THE TIME MACHINE!?" Kon bursted once they arrived at Kisuke Urahara's sanctuary/office/home found on one side of the university. It was very small, somewhat like a condo, and it's paid by the academe as a thank you for his services and to keep him close, in case he's needed.
"Yes," Rukia replied to Kon's outburst.
"Are you really sure about this?" It was Ichigo's turn to question her and she simply nodded as if it was the easiest matter in the world.
Kon began to pace around while he tried to piece everything together. "This is so bizarre! So he's not just a maintenance man, apparently he builds time machines on his spare time, who would have thought?"
"Well, let's find out." Ichigo knocked three times on the door and waited for a response. When nothing came up, it was Rukia's turn to knock.
"Maybe he's not here or maybe he's busy somewhere else," she figured when she got nothing in response as well.
"Yo! Crazy man!" Kon called out. Immediately, two hands came up and hit his head.
"Don't call him that!" Rukia scolded.
"Yeah idiot, he might not help us if you do that!" Ichigo added.
"What? He's a perverted old geezer, he can't say no to Rukia." And that earned him another hit on the head.
"Well yeah, he can be a real pervert but you know what, in my time, he's married. And he loves his wife very much."
"Kisuke? Married?" The two boys asked in chorus.
"Mmm. She had him completely wrapped around her finger. It's quite funny actually."
Ichigo smirked. "Boy, what I'd pay to see that."
Their conversation was cut off when the man they're in search of joined in. "Oh my, look at all my visitors today. Why don't we go inside? Instead of making noise out here."
He offered them some tea and sat down on the bed while his young guests sat on the small sofa found just beside it.
"So... how may I help you?" was the first question. Rukia handed him the red shoebox and explained to him the situation. Well, covering the basics, she told him that she was from the future, about the aliens that invaded the earth, Kisuke's role in the resistance and of course, a little bit about Project Eve.
Kisuke said nothing even after Rukia's explanation. He simply listened until he felt that Rukia has said all that's need to be said. Even Ichigo predicted that he'll laugh or at least not believe what the girl just spoke of, but alas, the young man was wrong. The maintenance man simply opened the shoebox and observed its contents.
Inside, he picked out a thin piece of transparent glass that was about the same size as one side of the T-cube. He examined it for a moment and once he finally seem to understand what it was; he stood up and grabbed a flashlight from one of the drawers of his small cabinet. He asked Kon to turn out the lights.
When darkness enveloped the room, he opened the flashlight with its ray projected on the ceiling. He then placed the glass over the light until it began projecting symbols that seem to be imprinted on it. The three visitors watched in astonishment as Kisuke, the maintenance man, read the printed symbols.
"What do those symbols mean?" Ichigo couldn't help but voice out.
Rukia shook her head while eyeing the symbols on the ceiling. "I don't... know..."
"I see..." Kisuke said to no one in particular then asked Kon to open the lights. Once the lights were back on, the older man turned to his guests.
"Alright, I'll try to have it fixed in a few days," was all he said as he put back the glass inside the shoebox and closed it. The three blinked a few times unsure of what really happened.
"So... that was it?" Kon asked still really confused.
"Yes."
"And what were those symbols? Was that some sort of manual?" Rukia tried to get some answers as well but the strange man shook his head.
"No. It was simply a message. From my future self to me and a few other things that I don't really need to elaborate. Don't fret little Eve. You're in good hands," he assured her and that's all Rukia really needed to hear right now.
"Oh... then, thank you very much for your help." She bowed to him to express her gratitude and the other two followed her gesture.
"That was it huh? He didn't even question us? And what was that crap about a message from his future self and all that shit?" Kon mumbled with his hands behind his head. They were back in the university grounds now but it seems that their heads were left back inside the maintenance man's quarters since they were still waiting for everything to sink in or to truly understand what just happened.
Rukia shrugged. "Well, Kisuke is a very intellectually gifted person. He even has his own language as you have seen. Even I couldn't decipher it."
"What do you think? Oi Ichigo, you haven't said anything since we left there. Oi!"
"I don't know. Something just doesn't seem right," said the orange head who was in deep contemplation. He turned to the two who were giving him questioning looks. He ended up sighing.
Maybe it's best to just let the thought go.
He hated having his guts tell him that something was wrong because his gut feeling...
... would ALWAYS be right.
Year 2033
A wounded up woman with violet hair was carefully placed down on a white sheeted bed. She began to cough up blood and the sheets were stained by the color of crimson. "Kisuke, you idiot. What did you do!? Why couldn't you just let me die!?" She shouted as she pushed away the medical kit and violently grabbed the blonde man's collar.
"You know I won't do that, Yoruichi. Now, get some rest..." said the guilty man.
"How could you be so selfish!?" She yelled with her voice cracking a bit. She hit him again and again. What he did was unforgivable, and he did it because of her. Fact is, she hated herself more.
"That monster is gonna go after our child, oh my god," Hisana spoke covering her mouth with one hand and feeling her knees give in as she realized that their poor daughter's life was once again in danger. Her husband was able to grab her and hold her up before she completely melded with the floor.
He glared at Kisuke with so much anger that he would have killed him already if he wasn't such an important asset to the resistance. "What the hell were you thinking Urahara? Giving the enemy a T-cube in exchange for—"
"Ara... ara... Where are all these reactions coming from?" said the blonde man as he picked up the scattered medical items on the floor. "Have you really no faith in Rukia? You're her parents after all, have you really forgotten how special your daughter is? You of all people should know that Rukia was made to handle the worst case scenario. Have you truly forgotten what she had to go through for this mission? I haven't. And trust me, once you remember, you'll have nothing to worry about."
A/N: Oh! This one is loooong! My rusty writing gets rustier when I do long updates, so sorry about that. I was planning on updating tomorrow but oh well, here it is. It takes me about half a day to write, and this was literally 10 pages. I hope this wasn't too boring. I don't really have much to say. Anyway, my grammar isn't the best (I know) but I still hope that this wasn't so bad. I just felt really happy because I got a lot of positive reviews from you guys last chapter. Thank you so much. So I pushed this out of my brain for you haha. Anyway, this'll be the last update for this month. I really hope I could update next week. Please continue to review and inspire me. Tell me what you think about this chapter. Any suggestions or predictions on what would happen next? I really like long reviews :D ILY guys and God bless!
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