Chapter 3
"I have one question" Ichigo said while trying not to fall asleep all over his breakfast.
Yoruichi scoffed at him, Ichigo had some serious bags under his eyes and he had put on his T-shirt backwards. She wanted to ask him what the fuck did he do with Rukia the whole night but, considering how they barely knew each other, she probably just tortured him by talking the whole night.
"If you ask us once more about the witch..." she said warningly.
Ichigo shook his head while trying not to close his eyes, he didn't know at what time Rukia brought him back to the cottage but he was sure that it was almost dawn. She taught him how to climb towards his room's window, which she claimed was hers, and after walking like a zombie towards his bed he fell asleep. He decided to ignore the fact that now there was no door in his room.
Urahara would probably repair it at some point, right?
"Then," Yoruichi said "what is it?"
"How did you end up raising the Kuchiki heiress?"
Urahara chuckled.
"I'm surprised she told you who she was," he said "I thought she would keep up the witch act for a while longer."
Ichigo shrugged, he thought that his plate looked pretty comfortable to take a nap.
"She has a picture with you in her tree house," he explained "I got curious but she didn't give any details, she just said that you were her godparents."
"Doesn't that explain everything?" Yoruichi asked, Ichigo failed to notice her awkward tone.
"No," Ichigo said while resting his head on the table "I mean why isn't she living with Byakuya? She said that my room was actually hers, why doesn't she live at her cottage either?"
Yoruichi waited for a few seconds and when Ichigo closed his eyes and started to snore she sighed.
"Well," Urahara said casually "for you to let him sleep on the table is plain obvious that you won't answer his questions."
Yoruichi rolled her eyes.
She wasn't going to tell him that story, at least not yet.
Rukia smirked while eating breakfast with her granddaddy, she felt wide awake because she was used to stay up until really late at night, but she was sure that that wasn't the case with Ichigo. By the time she took him back to the cottage he was already falling asleep, she smiled widely as she thought how to make him suffer the whole morning.
"Someone's happy" Ginrei commented while seeing Rukia smiling.
Rukia nodded.
"I haven't told you," she said while smiling smugly "I made a new friend."
Ginrei raised an eyebrow.
"Really?" He asked curiously "who's this new friend that makes you smile during breakfast?"
Rukia couldn't wait to tell him everything that had happened the few last hours.
"His name is Kuro..." she started to say but she was interrupted by the phone ringing.
She frowned.
"Give me a second, please" Ginrei said as the maid handed him his cellphone, he checked the screen and sighed heavily.
"Rukia, I'm..."
"It's okay, granddaddy" Rukia said while smiling sadly "you have to take the call, I understand."
Ginrei nodded as he stood up from his chair and kissed her on the forehead.
"We'll talk today at dinner, okay?"
Rukia nodded as she extended her pinky, Ginrei sealed the promised with his and, after that, he left the dining room to answer the call. Rukia rolled her eyes as she observed the empty table, eating alone wasn't the same.
"Kon," she called and the dog wagged his tail happily at her feet "what should we do today? Do you think Ichigo is awake?"
Kon barked and Rukia nodded at him.
"You're right, I should check" she agreed smiling, although it was completely debatable that the dog had understood her "after all, I promised to give him a tour, didn't I?"
Ichigo was pretty sure that he was going to die, he was sweating under the sunlight and Urahara was making him carry buckets of water towards the stables, why was this happening to him? He was pretty sure that he wasn't a bad person, right? Why was he suffering on the countryside while all of his friends were probably having fun around Kaien's pool? The idiot Renji was probably eating all the food while Ishida was probably enjoying the air conditioner and watching a movie, God he hated them.
"You should try to smile, Kurosaki-san" Urahara said with a sing song voice "I gave you ten minutes to rest in our dining room table, didn't I?"
Ichigo scoffed, he was sure that Urahara was having the time of his life while looking at him losing his shit. Ichigo accepted that, lowkey, he deserved it, he created quite a ruckus last night with Rukia after all, although it was mostly her fault.
"Are you mad at me?" He asked frowning "should I apologize for escaping in the middle of the night with the witch?"
Urahara chuckled and Ichigo's eye twitched, the mad hatter was really happy.
"No, you shouldn't" he assured him while fanning himself "that was a kidnapping as far as I'm concerned, I didn't expect less from her."
"She's crazy, right?" Ichigo asked "I mean, she was literally dancing in the middle of the woods when I met her, who does that?"
"Witches do," Urahara said smiling "although they dance naked and worship the devil, I believe Rukia wasn't dancing like that."
"Fuck, no" Ichigo said with widened eyes "I would've run for my life if I had seen her doing that!"
Urahara laughed.
"So, it's her fault that the locals believe in the witch?" Ichigo questioned "she probably spread the rumors and..."
"The witch is real," Urahara said interrupting him, Ichigo recognized his serious tone "the legend existed way before Rukia was born."
"Wait," Ichigo said while leaving the buckets on the floor and looking at Urahara "do you really believe the witch is real? Really?"
Urahara blinked confused as he turned around to look at his godson.
"Why the incredulous face?" the mad hatter asked.
"You're a scientist and an atheist," Ichigo pointed out with widened eyes "but you weren't joking when you said the witch is real, how come?"
Urahara tilted his head.
"Well, it's not as if I can prove her existence" he explained calmly "but I saw her once when she granted a wish for Yoruichi, so the least I can do is to respect her by not denying the fact that she's real."
Ichigo frowned.
"But Yoruichi doesn't believe in the witch either, what wish are you talking about?"
"She saved..." Urahara started but was interrupted by a high pitched scream.
Ichigo and Urahara turned around at the same time to see Kuchiki Rukia riding a white horse, Jinta was running behind her while trying to stop her, it was useless of course Rukia looked pretty confident while riding the horse and Ichigo gulped after seeing her looking towards his way.
"Oh no!" Urahara said while running towards the stables, Ichigo noticed how he looked really worried "the horses are off limits for you!"
Rukia ignored him completely and rode towards where Ichigo was, Urahara wasn't able to stop the horse and Rukia looked determined as hell.
"Carrot top!" she yelled and Ichigo frowned.
"Carrot top?!" Ichigo asked offended.
"Give me your hand!" she ordered and Ichigo pondered his options for a second, this would mean to break Yoruichi's rules all over again and Urahara didn't look happy, but riding a horse with a pretty girl looked better than carrying buckets of water towards the stables.
He extended his arm and once Rukia rode right next to him she grabbed his hand and pulled him, Ichigo jumped swiftly on the horse and sat down behind Rukia, he was pretty sure that his rear was going to be in pain tomorrow but he decided to ignore that tiny detail.
"Where are we going?!" Ichigo asked fearfully while holding onto Rukia's waist. He had never rode a horse but it wasn't that comfortable, although the midget looked like an expert.
"To the plaza, I promised you a tour!" she said happily.
He wanted to tell her that he had already been there but he kept quiet, anything was better than Urahara's punishment for now.
Once they arrived at the plaza Ichigo sighed, he was definitely going to go back walking, his ass was killing him.
"Okay, we're here" Rukia said.
The plaza, for what Ichigo could see, was not that interesting. There was a fountain in the middle and it was surrounded by different stores, a bakery, a bookstore, another one in which you could buy fruits and vegetables and so on, everything was sort of rural. The street was a brick road and there were several trees on the sidewalk. Going further ahead there were a few little streets in which some of the town people lived, there were no fancy looking shops and Ichigo couldn't see a single teenager on sight.
Rukia got down of the horse and Ichigo imitated her.
There were three different roads that led outside the town, the first one was the one that was towards the north of the plaza, once the brick road was over there was a double gate in which some guards would welcome the outsiders and, after crossing the gate, was the main street.
The second one was on the east of the plaza, the brick road kept going until reaching a dirt road that led to another double gate where the residential area started, that's where the fancy cottages were, it was basically a high class residential area and it was called "Seireitei" and going farther away than the Seireitei was the farm area.
The third road to leave the town was the more risky one, it was the one going through the woods and it was forbidden, in order to explore the woods you had to get authorization from the authorities, and that included Urahara, and while crossing the woods guaranteed leaving the town it was almost impossible to make it, the road was tricky and most people would get lost.
"So," Rukia said while tying the horse's reins to a post "I have to buy a couple of stuff and then I'll show you a secret spot, okay?"
Ichigo frowned.
"Is it safe to leave the horse here? In the entrance of the plaza?"
Rukia looked at him and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, why?"
"Because what if someone…?"
"Steals her?" Rukia suggested smirking "listen, city boy. No one in this town would dare to steal or harm Sode no Shirayuki, she's my baby" she explained while caressing the horse lovingly "Urahara gave her to me for my birthday."
"Urahara gave you a horse?" Ichigo asked surprised "when I turned fifteen he sent me a get well card!"
Rukia frowned.
"That's sweet" she said confused.
"I wasn't even sick! He just thought I could do better!" Ichigo explained and Rukia laughed loudly.
"Come on, Ichigo" she said finally "since you'll be here the whole summer you have to get acquainted by the people."
Ichigo nodded as he followed Rukia, most of the people around were adults but to his surprise no one looked at him with distrust or threw nasty comments about his hair, he wondered if the people around the area were just really nice, was the countryside like this? He followed Rukia into the bookstore and he frowned.
"Oh my God," the boy behind the counter said "I heard about the city boy that arrived but I never expected him to visit my humble store."
"Yo Shinji," Ichigo greeted while putting his hands inside his pockets "I forgot that you lived in the countryside."
Rukia frowned as she looked between the two boys.
"You know each other?" Rukia asked and Ichigo nodded.
"This asshole" he said while pointing at Shinji "goes regularly to the city."
Shinji was a young boy with blonde hair and a silly smile, he was two years older than Ichigo.
Rukia shrugged.
"Well," she said "it's a small world, did you bring my package?" she asked Shinji.
"Of course, my lady!" he said while placing on the counter a small box "everything you requested, although your father included a few titles of his choice, he hopes you can also enjoy those."
Rukia huffed.
"Daddy will have to wait for me to finish the other ones" she declared while taking a seat in front of the counter. She opened the box and started to take out several manga tomes and a few books, Ichigo was about to approach her to ask what she was reading when Shinji left the counter and walked towards Ichigo.
"Now, what brings you here?" Shinji asked him while putting an arm around his shoulders and leading him outside the store "how did you manage to get lady Rukia's favor?"
"What do you mean, idiot?" Ichigo asked "she kidnapped me after almost convincing me that she was the witch, now she told me to tag along, what's the big deal?"
"That's the thing!" Shinji said surprised "she hates city boys, the only reason she doesn't hate me it's because Urahara told her that I wasn't bad news, and suddenly you appear here and she walks through the plaza with you! What's your deal?"
"Perhaps…" Ichigo said frowning "she's excited about having an outsider living near her, she might be curious about me?"
"Ichigo," Shinji said smirking at him "you do not know a thing about this town, do you?"
Ichigo crossed his arms.
"Why don't you explain?" he asked "all I know is that this is a private, protected area thanks to the woods and that some rich people live here, isn't this like the perfect place to spend summer vacations?"
Shinji nodded.
"Oh yes, it is" he agreed "so, how many tourists have you seen?"
Ichigo frowned as he realized what Shinji was talking about.
"None," Shinji continued saying "do you know why? Is because of a certain violet eyed girl, although if we're being fair here Urahara is the one who handles who can enter the town, he's quite selective."
"But…"
"Didn't you find it weird that no one here in town is looking at you questioningly? Or that there are no policemen?" Shinji questioned "that's because you're Urahara's godson, not because you're not interesting."
Ichigo was starting to have a headache.
"What does Rukia have to do with all of this?" he asked and then he remembered something that he found more interesting "is the witch real?"
"Uh," Shinji frowned "seriously dude, I literally implied that this town is basically controlled by Urahara and you, instead of freaking out because there are no other authorities, want to know about a legend?"
"Shinji," Ichigo said "I've known Urahara my whole life, he has business with important, loaded people, I wouldn't be surprised if the government gave him this town as a reward for his services and if Urahara owns and controls this town we're basically in the safest place in Japan."
Shinji gaped.
"You're not fun to tease!" he said "but you're right, I guess."
"Did the government give this land to Urahara?" Ichigo asked.
"Sort of" Shinji said "anyway, I don't know if the witch is real, I have my doubts because Urahara believes in her and he's not the kind of man who would say that with a straight face."
"That's what surprised me too!" Ichigo said "he told me the witch granted a wish for Yoruichi, what was it about?"
"According to Urahara the witch saved their child" Shinji said.
"What child?" Ichigo asked "Urahara and Yoruichi do not have children."
Shinji chuckled.
"You're seriously an idiot!" he said smiling "she just gave you a horse ride and you still don't know who she is?"
Ichigo scoffed.
"Rukia is their goddaughter" he said rolling his eyes "not their child."
Shinji frowned.
"Moron," he muttered "not biologically speaking of course! But those two have raised her since she was four, all of the servants of the Kuchiki's cottage answer to Yoruichi's orders and, as far as everyone in here knows, Rukia has fought with teeth and nails to stay by their side and not even Kuchiki Byakuya has managed to take her to the city, although he has tried."
Ichigo thought that that was interesting information.
"But if you want the details…" Shinji said "you'll have to ask her directly."
Ichigo sighed.
"Perhaps another day," he said, after all he knew that Rukia didn't want to talk about parents and Ichigo wasn't looking forward to touch the subject either "so what about the outsiders and tourists? Why does Urahara keeps them away?"
Shinji was about to answer until he heard a high pitch scream inside the bookstore, both boys ran as fast as they could towards the commotion and once they stepped inside they found Hiyori, Shinji's little sister, fighting with Rukia over one manga, both girls were on the floor while trying to grab the tome that was a few meters away from them on the floor.
"Hiyori!" Shinji said scandalized "that's not the way to treat our number one client!"
"I'm trying to protect her!" Hiyori explained while pinning Rukia to the floor "look at what she wanted to read! Just look!"
Ichigo walked towards the tome and read the cover aloud.
"The titan's bride" he said and then his eyes widened "fuck! Why do you sell this?!" Ichigo asked Shinji.
The blonde boy blushed.
"Hey!" he excused himself while taking the tome "some adult clients have some weird tastes, my job is to bring them their books! Stop judging me!"
Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"Midget," he said while looking at Rukia who was pulling Hiyori's hair "weren't you going to show me some secret spot or something?"
"Oh," Hiyori smirked at Rukia "what would Yoruichi-sama say if she were to know that you're taking her godson to secret places? Should we inform her?"
Rukia lifted her knee and knocked the air out of Hiyori while smiling at her, the blonde girl rolled to her side and fell on the floor while holding her stomach.
"She already knows," Rukia said smugly as Ichigo helped her to get up "Shinji, please send everything towards granddaddy's cottage, put everything under daddy's account."
"Yes, my lady!" Shinji said while bowing slightly.
"See you around, Shinji" Ichigo said and, following Rukia, he left the bookstore behind.
"Repeat that," Yoruichi said while pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation "because I did not understand a single word."
Urahara couldn't speak, he was still laughing. When Rukia kidnapped Ichigo (again) he was a little bit worried but, after being informed about how they were in the plaza, he calmed down. The problem came when Yoruichi stepped into the farm area to offer Ichigo something to drink and he was nowhere to be found, so he ended up explaining how Rukia took Sode no Shirayuki and rode towards the sunset with the boy.
Urahara swore that his wife's expression was the best thing he had seen in a while.
Now he couldn't stop laughing.
"Kisuke…" Yoruichi warned.
"I believe," Lucy, a kind young maid that was accompanying Yoruichi, said "that he said that my lady kidnapped your godson again, Yoruichi-sama."
Yoruichi felt the need to kill someone.
"Does Ginrei-sama knows that his granddaughter is corrupting an innocent city boy?" Yoruichi asked Lucy.
The maid shook her head.
"Stella informed me that they were about to have breakfast together and that my lady was about to tell him about your godson," she explained smiling sadly "but Ginrei-sama had to take a call and my lady didn't have the chance."
Yoruichi sighed.
No wonder why Rukia decided to kidnap Ichigo so early, she was probably feeling alone. Well, it wouldn't do any harm, but she would've to talk with Rukia about having a decent schedule if she wanted Ichigo to make it alive by the end of his summer, since she was not going to give the boy a single, peaceful moment she would've to make sure that Rukia wouldn't mess up things by taking Ichigo to the limit.
Or to try to drown him in the lake.
"Where are you going, Yoruichi-sama?" Lucy asked her as Yoruichi turned around towards the cottage.
"Don't worry, I'll just make a couple of calls" Yoruichi said.
Being a responsible adult was hard sometimes, especially if you were taking care of Kuchiki Rukia and Kurosaki Ichigo.
"So, why did you bring me here?" Ichigo asked while looking at the abandoned house around him, it was on the edge of the woods and Rukia led him inside. It was a three story, wooden house and it looked like it was about to fall down, Ichigo wondered how Yoruichi would explain to his father that he had died while following a crazy violent girl to a haunted house.
"Well," Rukia said as she walked towards the stairs "believe it or not, when Yoruichi first told me about you I thought that we had a few things in common, and as you can see there are no many people our age around here so I thought that we could make a deal."
Ichigo nodded as he followed her to the last floor of the wooden house. He thought that they would stop there, but there was a trap door on the ceiling and another set of stairs, Rukia climbed them and Ichigo did the same.
"Well, welcome to my second secret spot" Rukia said "the first one is the tree house, by the way."
Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw the view, the little, abandoned house had a perfect view of the woods. Ichigo could see acres and acres of the top of the trees, it was wonderful.
"I bet you don't get these views in the city, right?!" Rukia asked him smiling.
Ichigo shook his head, dumbfounded.
It was still early in the morning so the sun was still rising, he thought about asking her if they could come back at sunset, it would probably look even better. Ichigo was sure that Rukia was not a witch, but now he was starting to think that she was using some kind of weird magic on him because just by watching this view he felt as if the weight of his problems was nothing.
He was far away from home, in the middle of nowhere, this was freedom.
"Thank you," Ichigo said to Rukia with pure sincerity "this is awesome."
Rukia nodded.
"Anytime, city boy" she answered smirking.
"What was this deal you were talking about?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"Right," she said sighing "I know I kind of forced you to spend summer with me."
"I don't mind," Ichigo said before she could regret kidnapping him "you're the coolest person around this town, as far as I can tell."
Rukia chuckled.
"The thing is," she continued "that I didn't take into consideration your personal opinion or anything, so I thought that with the woods and the sun as our witnesses we could start over."
Ichigo smirked as Rukia extended her hand.
"My name is Kuchiki Rukia, I'm a common girl, not a witch, and while I love this town with all my heart, sometimes it gets boring and lonely to be the only young one around" she said softly "so, if you accept to be my partner this whole summer I promise you to make your stay here totally worth it."
Ichigo thought that she was wrong, she was not a common girl but he decided not to correct her.
"Nice to meet you, Kuchiki Rukia" Ichigo said while taking her hand "my name is Kurosaki Ichigo, I'm just a common, city boy with a ridiculous hair color not a criminal" he said and she chuckled "I'm not lonely but my friends are probably having the summer of their lives right now so, as long as you give me some cool experiences to brag about when I go back, I totally accept this deal."
They shook hands and smiled at each other.
They didn't know the amazing and eventful summer they had ahead.
"Hey," Yoruichi greeted over the phone "what's up?"
"Hey, I wasn't expecting a call so soon, is everything okay? Is my useless son behaving?" Kurosaki Isshin asked at the other side of the line, he knew that Ichigo wouldn't call him so he was counting on Ichigo's godparents to tell him about his son's summer.
Yoruichi chuckled.
"I'm afraid that your son has been kidnapped, twice already" she said jokingly.
"Uh? By whom?" Isshin asked confused.
"By our local witch," Yoruichi said while smiling softly while remembering Rukia's prank "she goes by the name Kuchiki Rukia."
Isshin started to laugh.
"Sweet Jesus," he said surprised "how did they meet?"
"She was dancing in the woods when he stumbled upon her," Yoruichi continued "she told him he was cursed on the spot."
Isshin laughed harder.
"Let me guess..." he said "he believed her."
"Yes, he did" Yoruichi confirmed.
"He's so damn naïve! I want all the details!" he said excitedly "how does the girl who hates boys end up bewitching one to kidnap him?"
Yoruichi rolled her eyes.
"I'll let Kisuke give you all the details" she said "I just called you to ask for something, since I happen to be in charge around here there's certain documentation that I want."
"Documentation?" Isshin asked "sure, what are you planning to do?"
"Well, if they are going to make my life hard I'll make their lives harder" she reasoned "you told us we could deal with him as we saw fit, right?"
"Of course you can!" Isshin said without hesitation "what do you need?"
Yoruichi smirked, two could play Rukia's game.
Their summer was just starting.
Thanks for all the reviews! I'm running out of time so I'll thank you in the next one! Kisses!
Pd. I apologize for my grammar mistakes.
