OnigiriKami: Hello, people! I'm back, sorry for the very late update, but i was seriously brain dead and I had no idea to start the chapter. So I asked for any ideas, and I thank glon morski a million times for helping me out! She gave me the inspiration to write this again! And she gave me some neat ideas! So everyone who is reading this, please thank her a trillion times!! XD! Well this chapter isn't much also, but the good part will be a little later! And if your pissed that I spent like a whole month to write something this short, then I'm very sorry!!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bleach!
Review and Enjoy! :)
Last Chapter...
He had to remember.
He squinted his eyes at Rukia and was searching through his memories. He heard a voice in his head:
"This is Kuchiki Rukia,"
"You're her guardian, starting today..."
Ichigo was interrupted by an extreme headache. It felt like thousands of needles were poking his brain. He put his two hands at each side of his head and started screaming in pain.
After a few minutes, the aching had slowed down, and his vision became blurry. He looked at Rukia, before he couldn't see her anymore. He felt himself tip over, and all the surroundings became darker. He heard the two girls screaming his name, before he was engulfed in darkness.
There was a young, 10 year old, orange haired boy who was smiling gently at the blushing raven haired girl. The boy had a light blue shirt and dark green trousers. The girl had a pink kimono on, with a red sash tightened to her waist. The boy reached out his hand to her, and tilted his head to smile.
"My name's Kurosaki Ichigo. What's your name?" he saw the girl turning her head away. She was frowning and her face got more red. She started to mumble a little.
"Kuchiki Rukia."
Ichigo had jolted awake from his dreams. Sweat had formed all over his body and he was panting. He lifted himself up and saw that he wasn't in his room. He laid on a futon and right next to him were Shoji doors. There were some luggages in the middle of the room also.
'A dream?' Ichigo thought, but he had doubts. Was meeting the mysterious dancer at a huge traditional house also a dream? Was this Kuchiki Rukia just a mirage? An optical illusion he just saw at the Kuchiki Manor?
No, she was definitely real. Her presence at their first encounter felt a bit nostalgic, almost as if it was a long time since he had met her. She was so familiar in many ways, but he couldn't remember her at all. It was like staring at a blank piece of paper. You could recognize the paper, but it was just white. No specific colors were on their, no pencil markings or anything. It was as if someone had erased these markings, these memories. Ichigo was like a blank piece of paper.
Ichigo quit thinking, because it had made his head throb more. He got up from his futon and dizzily walked to the Shoji doors. He slid it open to see his own father sleeping right outside of the room.
Ishiin looked almost dead. His eyes were swollen from staying up to long and he looked pale as he slept. What was even more crazy and weird was that he was sleeping outside when it was almost autumn.
"Ishiin-sa-- Otou-san." Ichigo said to wake him up. He saw his father slowly lifting himself up, and sneezed from the cold. "Where am I?"
"Your at the Kuchiki Manor," He looked up at Ichigo's face then turned the other way, "Follow me.." Ichigo went out of the door without question.
They went to the biggest house at the center again, and Ichigo was finally able to enter in it without his father stopping him.
"Come in." the monotonous voice said again behind the Shoji doors. Ichigo saw his father slowly sliding the door to reveal a man that was hidden in the dark with a sudare hiding his body.
"Byakuya-sama." Ichigo saw that Ishiin had a hard time of saying the word 'sama' as he greeted the mysterious man called 'Byakuya'.
"Ishiin." acknowledged Byakuya. "I see that Kurosaki Ichigo is here now."
"Yes." Ishiin gritted his teeth.
Byakuya's blurry face stared towards Ichigo's direction, "Kurosaki Ichigo, you will take on the duties as Kuchiki Rukia's bodyguard."
"B-Bodyguard?" Ichigo asked with confusion.
"Yes, Bodyguard. You must protect Rukia with your life, she is the pillar of this house hold. If that pillar were to ever fall, then the whole house comes down with it."
"But I don't know a thing about being a bodyguard!" Ichigo protested. He didn't even know what Byakuya was talking about. 'Pillar of this house hold'? Was Rukia that important?
"Silence, you are a Kurosaki. These duties are written in your blood. You have the instincts to be one." Byakuya paused for a while to make a decision, "You will be sharing the same house with Rukia, but you are not to go into her room without permission." Byakuya was interrupted by a sudden light tap at the Shoji doors.
"Nii-sama." said a petite shadow casting on Ichigo and the others in the room.
"Enter." with that single word that Byakuya said, the Shoji doors instantly slid open. There was the same petite girl that Ichigo had seen the other day.
"Kuchiki Rukia..." Ichigo said in a whisper. Rukia had caught who had said her name and she saw who it was that called her. Her eyes widened and her brows lowered, her face was full of sadness and anguish. She then shook her head and instantly turned back at Byakuya.
"Nii-sama, you wanted me?" Rukia asked politely.
Byakuya nodded his head in agreement to what Rukia had said. "Yes, Rukia."
"What is it?" she quirked her eyebrows a little. Her eyes forced not to look at Ichigo and she was sweating.
"Ichigo is to resume being your body guard." Byakuya said. Ichigo saw how Rukia's eyes had shown horror and shock. Her face had went red and it almost looked like she was holding her breathe, or trying not to retaliate.
"B-But Nii-sama, surely you could post a better one, than this one who has lost all his memories and abilities?" Rukia said. She was trying to persuade him as much as necessary.
"Nonsense, he is a Kurosaki. And Ishiin will provide him with training if Kurosaki Ichigo's instincts does not act up." Byakuya glanced at Ishiin, in which Ishiin had replied to a stiff nod.
"B-but!-" Rukia was interrupted by Byakuya.
"No more excuses Rukia. You know your duties as the next successor of the Kuchiki Clan." this time, Byakuya's voice had a stern tone to it.
Rukia gave one last desperate look at her brother before she bowed her head in defeat, "Y-Yes, Nii-sama."
Byakuya looked at the two people that would be living together. "Everyone is dismissed." With those final words, everyone had exited out of the room.
"This is your room." said the back of Rukia's head that did not want to meet Ichigo's eyes. She showed him a room that had a silky white futon, and a closet for his belongings. The floor was made out of thin reeds of bamboo, which were polished smoothly. The room was very barren and plain, like it was never used.
Rukia entered in the room first, and then Ichigo did. Her shoulders tensed when she heard him coming in. She walked slowly to the closet to get a big silky white blanket out. She laid it gently next to the futon and then turned back to Ichigo. "Get your stuff and unpack everything."
"Y-yes....uhhh...?"
"You may only call me Kuchiki-san, nothing more than that, understood?"
"Yes, Kuchiki-san." When Ichigo had addressed her like that, it had felt weird to call her that somehow. And he had a weird feeling the Rukia was trying to distance herself with Ichigo. He saw her leaving the room, and saw her pausing at the door way. He noticed that her fist clenched at her chest before she left the room.
Soon after she was gone, Ichigo went out of his room, to go to the other room, that he had slept at the previous night. He found his luggage and hauled them over to his room. He unpacked his clothing and fit them into the small closet. That was all, and he thought that maybe the other necessary things were provided here.
He grew bored in his room, so he thought that he might as well explore around the huge Kuchiki Manor. He slid open his door and walked out of another door that brought him outside. As he set foot on the ground, he took in a deep breath to smell the air. He needed to breath, to many things had happened, and for once he wanted to escape from it.
As he took a step in front of him, he was crashed into a girl with light orange hair and was holding a small drum in her hands.
"Ah! Sorry! I didn't mean too!" The girl picked herself up and rubbed her head. She looked up at who she had crashed into, and she jolted upright when she saw it was Ichigo. "K-Kurosaki-kun?!"
"Who are you?" Ichigo asked. He had no memories of her at all, she didn't even feel familiar like Rukia had. It was strange that she knew his name.
"Ah! Sorry! I forgot that you have amnesia! Remember me!? I'm Inoue Orihime." She paused for a while thinking if she forgot something, "Ah! You always called me 'Inoue'!" she said the Inoue part in a deep voice, and was trying to imitate Ichigo. "So what brings you out here, Kurosaki-kun?"
"I wanted some fresh air." Ichigo said, "What are you doing here.. Inoue?"
"Ah! I was looking for Kuchiki-dono! She needs to practice her dancing." Orihime peered through the little house that Ichigo came from, "Kuchiki-dono is still in her room right?"
"I think so.... why does she need to dance?" Ichigo asked. He needed to know the reason, because now it was Ichigo's responsibility to take care of Rukia and he needed information of who he was actually guarding.
"Oh, you didn't know? She's a traditional dancer, because she--"
"That's enough, Inoue!" came the voice of Rukia from the house.
"Kuchiki-dono!" Orihime said in surprise, then her eyes looked away from Rukia. Her cheeks were red and she said, "I am sorry, Kuchiki-dono..."
Rukia shook her head slowly meaning that Orihime shouldn't apologize, and then she turned to face Ichigo, "You will not follow me." she said in an order like tone. She walked away to follow Orihime with her fans in her hand, the black strings swaying at her side. She was then disruptively stopped by Ichigo's hand firmly restricting her to go alone.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that, Rukia." the name slipped out of his mouth without the formalities, he had said her name unconsciously, and somehow it had felt right to call her like that.
OnigiriKami: Again thanks glon morski! I'll surely put your ideas later in the story! So this chapter was a little weird and disappointing (yeah I didn't like this chapter much either......) but remember, the good stuff will be later! And to all the people who were patiently waiting, THANK YOU!! But don't expect a fast update (I'm always slow at updating...) because I'm a bit depressed and I have a family crisis right now..
Ah! One more thing! Please read and review for my latest story Orange Delinquent and please read and review for my friend ReDbEaNbUn-ChAn, it's his/her first fanfic and please read it! I'm the one who is proofreading again (so far I have proofread and gave advised to BleachedAngel13, ReDbEaNbUn-ChAn) and I know it'll be good and funny!!
REVIEW! If you don't then you can't have my french fries!!
