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 8: Extra Special I
"Ichigo look!"
"Oh wow! What's that!?"
"Hurry up! Come on! Over there!"
The young carrot top let out an exasperated sigh. He's been walking around... scratch that, DRAGGED around town by the ecstatic midget from the future for awhile now. To top it off, he was beginning to regret ever volunteering to take her here before he went to work.
But then again...
She stood in the middle of the plaza and twirled with her arms wide open. She was laughing like a little girl who just got out of her house for the first time.
Honestly, it wasn't such a bad sight. Ichigo didn't even notice that his lips have curved up into a smile while he watched her. Suddenly, she stops and she went running off again.
But then again... Fuck.
He cursed and went running after her with a vein in his head throbbing in annoyance.
Damn this girl's speed. She may be cute and small but she runs like a cheetah. Ichigo couldn't count how many times he's yelled out the words "Slow down!" or "Don't run!" or "Fuck! Will you just stay put!?" like a parent scolding a hyperactive seven year old. Awhile ago they passed by a pet store and she went all crazy over some bunnies. It took everything and a hell of a lot of bickering to get her out of there without actually bringing home one of those big-eyed creatures.
Why the fuck did he have to be the good cousin and insist for Kon to attend the remedial classes today?
Oh that's right because his aunt is going to kill them if Kon fails to graduate college. He simply cringed at the thought.
You did the right thing. He told himself while mentally patting himself on the back. His running legs slowed down once he spotted Rukia ogling another store. Once he saw what store it was, his mind definitely begged him to retreat...
Oh no...
The girl then turned to look at him with pleading eyes. He clearly knew what that gesture meant.
And the answer is none other than...
No.
There is no way in hell he is entering that store filled with stuffed animals and all that crap. Just no.
The girl began to approach him and before she could even begin to speak, he cut her off.
"D-don't start! I have to go to work now," he spoke with his arms held up as a shield against her. She blinked twice and nodded. Even Ichigo was surprised by that reaction.
"Y-you're not going to argue with me?"
"Well you have to go to work. It can't be helped. Right?" She reasoned.
"Right..." He repeated agreeing with her but he kept looking at her suspiciously. Then they began walking, effectively passing the big and fluffy looking plush store. He let out a relieved sigh when the store was out of sight.
Thank god...
He then noticed that the two of them were simply walking... They're actually walking now.
Once again, thank god...
Out of the blue, a couple went passing by them, going on the opposite direction. Ichigo didn't even notice them but Rukia did. She observed how the girl clung to the young man tightly feeling so contented to be in each other's arms. Slowly and unconsciously, Rukia's arm reached for Ichigo's and instinctively wrapped around it. The young man, on the other hand, froze at that gesture.
"W-what are you doing?"
She looked up at him and shrugged. "I'm not sure. Does it bother you?"
"N-not really..." He murmured, looking away to try and hide the light blush that graced his cheeks.
"Okay, then let's keep going."
Ichigo's eyes kept glancing at the girl wrapped around his arm. For some unknown reason, he could feel something stir inside him.
What was the big deal anyway? It's just Rukia, right? Little miss midget from the future?
But then why was he feeling all giddy inside like he's out on a first date or something cheesy like that.
He took in a deep breath and smirked.
Maybe he just missed the feeling... but then again... digging up those kinds of feelings only bring about painful memories. This time his face let out a sad smile and unbeknownst to him, the girl was watching his expression change into that of a somewhat hurt look. She couldn't help but wonder and wish that she could read his mind right now.
As the two continued to make their way, three girls from afar had their mouths hanging at the scene they just saw.
"Oh my... This is worse than we thought." The one with the glasses spoke while the other two nodded enthusiastically.
"I know! How dare Ichi cheat on our little Hime, that insensitive bastard!" cried Momo with a quick sip from her blueberry slushie. Rangiku, the last to comment, fluffed her beautiful blonde hair back and stood up with determination as she spoke.
"I think it's time we do something about this, right girls?" The other two got up from their chairs in the same manner as well. And their plan is born.
Tatsuki and Ichigo watched the raven haired girl play with their customer's little boy. The kid, whose mother was outside busy making a phone call, had a toy car with him and he was showing its unique features to Rukia, which of course made the girl awe to no end.
"But you two came in here holding each other like that!" Tatsuki pointed out while she tried to imitate them in an exaggerated way.
"So? That doesn't make her my girlfriend! You sound like a ten year old bringing up issues like that."
She shook her head, "Am not! And you're just all defensive!"
"I'm not defensive. I told you, she's just an acquaintance."
"Acquaintance? So that's what they call it now huh?" Tatsuki then burst into a fit of laughter. "Anyway, isn't she a little too young for you?" Ichigo felt a vein pop in his forehead in annoyance.
"Shut up," he said through gritted teeth.
"I mean come on, your type has always been..." Quite lost in her statement, she didn't know what to say next and ended up with just a single word. "...different."
Ichigo sighed. "Why do you do that?"
"Sorry..."
"That! Why does everyone treat me like I'm some fragile boy who's so intolerant to a mere break-up!? I'm over that, okay!?" He burst. And then there was silence but it was also Ichigo who broke it.
"Sorry. Let's just get back to work."
"R-right." Tatsuki agreed snapping out as well. She glanced at the kid and the mysterious girl he was showing the car to. The girl was also looking back at them.
"Do you want to see it move?" The kid asked catching Rukia's attention. She nodded with a smile. Rukia glanced outside where the kid's mother seems to be in an argument on the phone while the kid got started on setting up the car on the floor.
"Hey, who's your mother talking to?"
"My dad. They're always fighting like that. I'm used to it. My grandparents said they'll be splitting up soon," he explained while focusing on his toy.
"Oh. I'm sorry," she replied feeling really bad for the little boy.
There weren't many customers in the diner today, except for the mother and her child and Rukia who doesn't really count as a customer. Tatsuki could hear the cranking sound coming from one of the ceiling fans over the sound of the kid and Rukia's laughter.
"Hey, checkout that one. Looks like it's about to fall off."
Ichigo looked at where his companion pointed and indeed the huge fan really is on the verge of breaking down. He volunteered to get some tools from the back to try and fix it while Tatsuki ran to the switch to turn it off. Once it was off, the fan's spinning slowed down and at the same time, the little toy car stopped underneath. The owner of the said toy went after it. Before Tatsuki could even let out a warning, the fan came into a complete stop. It made a huge cranking sound and went quickly falling down.
Everything happened so fast—too fast for anyone to do anything about it. Well, except for one, because the next thing you know, someone had caught the falling fan.
"You alright?" Rukia asked the little kid with a genuine smile as she let down the huge mechanism on the floor with a thud. She bent down to be levelled with him and with this position the boy clearly saw how she blinked her eyelids a few times until her glowing eyes returned to normal. He then nodded enthusiastically as if nothing big just happened.
Tatsuki felt frozen on her spot. She saw everything from where she stood and she couldn't help but gape at the scene. It kept replaying over and over in her head. Only the sound of a toolbox falling down and Ichigo crying out "Rukia!" in a frantic voice as he ran towards the other two, did Tatsuki felt time moving forward again. Even the mother who used to be outside was now catering to her little boy.
"I'm fine mama! You should have seen it! Nee-san caught the huge fan! It was so cool!" The little boy told his worried mother who was smouldering him with relieved hugs and kisses. On the other hand, Ichigo was equally as worried and even more so after overhearing what the boy said. Without any second thoughts, he bent down and scooped up the midget who gasped in shock. She began protesting but he paid no attention to her struggles and went on to carry her through the backdoor to the storage room. In there, he sat her on a table and he rummaged one of the cabinets until he found the first aid kit and placed it beside her on the table. His hands were positioned astride her legs as if locking her in place.
"Okay," was the first thing he said looking at her with a dead serious look. "Where does it hurt?"
She blinked twice at the question. "What do you mean?"
Ichigo felt a vein pop in his head in frustration at her innocent answer. "What do I mean!? Rukia, that was a huge ass fan! There has bound to be some injury here!" He began to frantically check her limbs for any signs of bruises. He caught her cheeks and checked her head for bumps.
She chuckled at the way he's acting. "You're worried about me," she pointed out.
He ended up staring at her face with their eyes locked on each other. After a brief pause, he retrieved back his hands that were busy savouring the feeling of holding her smooth cheeks and he turned to look away from her completely.
"O-of course I'm worried! If you're injured in our establishment; we could get closed down if this gets out," he cleared out.
"Oh... thank you for worrying then." Rukia smiled her oh-so-charming smile which always makes Ichigo blush like a little boy.
Curse that smile. He thought and turned away to hide his face. Just then, an idea popped inside Rukia's head after seeing his reaction.
"Wait. I think... I feel something aching over here," she began kneading her left shoulder, which of course caught the carrot top's attention.
"What's wrong? Does it hurt?" He quickly bent down to take a better look at it.
"A little, I can't really tell..." She pulled the shirt's neck hole to reveal her creamy white shoulder. He held it gently and lightly massaged it.
"Mmnn," she moaned softly, biting her lower lip. And that sound alone sent a surge of feeling that went straight to his nether regions.
Oh no. This can NOT be good.
"Maybe you should go a little lower..." she whispered huskily, pulling the hem of the neck hole to reveal a little more of her chest. Ichigo gulped at the sight of the exposed skin. His hand stopped its movements and all his attention was focused on her hand that was ever so slowly unravelling her supple breast to him. Rukia smirked in victory at the reaction she got from him.
Gotcha.
But just before it was able to reveal the best part, Ichigo's hand grabbed her wrist, effectively making her stop.
"Stop, I know what you're doing and you don't want this to go there. Trust me," he warned.
"Oh but YOU do," she corrected. He took in a few deep breaths.
"Look, I just came here to treat your injuries, if you have any but it clearly seems that you don't since you have enough energy to tease me like that." He then took the first aid kit and returned it back into the cabinet.
Rukia began to mumble, "I didn't have to tease you, if you just gave in—"
But clearly, that mumble was loud enough for him to hear. "Rukia! We're in the storage room! At my workplace! There is NO WAY in hell that I'm gonna have sex with you in here!" He bellowed in frustration. Rukia just kept quiet until someone else spoke to break the silence.
"Um... is this a bad time?" Tatsuki asked with her head poking out of the open door. Ichigo practically jumped up in shock.
"H-how long have you been—"
"You know, if you guys wanna do it in here, just don't make too much noise," she casually advised. Rukia tried her best to hold back her laughter while Ichigo turned beet red in embarrassment.
"I-it's not—"
Again, Tatsuki didn't even let him finish his statement. "Look, I just need some help to carry that huge ceiling fan."
"I'll do it," Ichigo quickly volunteered as he dashed out of the storage room without another word so as to save himself from more embarrassment. Both the two girls burst into laughter when he was completely out of sight then Tatsuki walked towards the midget seated on the table.
"The kid and his mom had to leave but they told me to thank you. You okay?" Rukia simply nodded in response.
"Good. I do believe we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Tatsuki Arisawa." Tatsuki then held out her hand to Rukia who took it without any second thoughts.
"I'm Rukia."
Tatsuki wanted to ask the girl badly about what happened back there. But then again she thought that maybe it was just some sort of adrenaline rush. That's possible right?
Right. The important thing is that no one is hurt.
"So Rukia... You and Ichigo... you going out?" She asked and the little eve blinked twice at the question.
"Going out?" Rukia repeated.
"Yeah, you know, you're together. Like dating or something," Tatsuki elaborated.
"Oh..." There was a pause before she smiled and nodded, "yes."
The diner was closed now and the pair was on their way back home. Ichigo stretched his arms up and began yawning. "God I'm so tired! I can't wait to get home and take a rest!"
"Today was really fun and I made a new friend!" Rukia cheered but it only made Ichigo scowl more.
Right. Rukia and Tatsuki ganging up on him throughout the rest of their shift, what an amazing day this really turned out to be. He told himself sarcastically.
He sighed as they continued walking, "Why are you always so cheerful? Can't you be giddy somewhere else? It's like you're sucking my energy."
"Well it's not my fault that you're—" She didn't even finish her statement when all of a sudden she sensed a familiar surge of energy coming from afar which made her froze. Its presence was so quick to pass that she had barely noticed it.
"Hey, I didn't really mean that literally," Ichigo said when he noticed that his companion had stopped walking and her face lost all traces of the smile she wore before. It was replaced with that of a very serious one. Ichigo scowled in worry.
That expression can't be good.
"Rukia? What's wrong?" He asked hoping that she'd tell him everything.
"Impossible..." She murmured trying to concentrate on tracing the energy again but it was long gone now.
No. This can't be.
Her heart began to race in panic. For a slight measly second, she was sure she felt it. She can't be mistaken. She knew this feeling like the back of her hand.
It was definitely...
A Xephilin.
A/N: Hey guys! I'm still alive btw, it just took me a really long while to write this. Mainly because I kept stopping because of all the other shit I had to do. I know this isn't much, I wanted to write something longer to make up for the long time I've been gone but it's really not easy to write and to find the writing feels, sorry. Plus, I've wanted to update for awhile now. Anyway, it's been a long time since I updated and I'm glad I got positive reviews from all of you. I hope you continue to support this story and inspire me to continue. Thank you so much for reading! I'll try to update as soon as possible! ILY guys and God bless.
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