'Damn it,"
Ichigo cursed in his head, staring up at the gargantuan hollow above him. He thought quickly, reaching into his bag in search of his pendant so he could turn into a Shinigami. When he split apart from his human form, he told it to run back to the dorm and as it ran he held Zangetsu, ready for battle.
He was about to charge towards it, but he stopped when suddenly the hooded person jumped in front of him, their back to him.
"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked aloud as the person stood in between him and the hollow. It was silent for a moment until the hollow started to move towards them.
"Get out of the way!"
The person pulled out their weapon, a strikingly black katana. Ichigo gasped as the person high jumped into the air, dodging the hollows swipe. The person raised their katana and struck downward, splitting the hollow perfectly in half.
As the hollow dissolved and disappeared, Ichigo stared at the hooded figure in awe. The person stood in place of the hollow, the black garment dancing in the wind as the person stood still, their back still to Ichigo until they turned their head slightly, looking at Ichigo at the corner of their eye.
"Hey," Ichigo said, stepping forward and reaching out his hand. "Wai-,"
Before Ichigo could finish, the person shunpo'd and disappeared, leaving a confused Ichigo. He shunpo'd and appeared on the roof of the dorms; he tried to focus on sensing the person's spiritual pressure but….nothing. He couldn't feel a thing.
"Damn it."
The next day when classes were over, Ichigo alone again still thinking about last night. Strange enough, he noticed Kurohime wasn't present in class this morning, apparently she had run a fever. He shook his head, catching himself worrying about her and hoping she was okay.
Ichigo stood in front of the apartment door, finding it hard to just knock on it. This was Kurohime's apartment, at least that's what Orihime told him when she told him to go check up on the poor girl. Earlier on when she caught up with him, Orihime gave her a bento box for Kurohime, although Ichigo wouldn't be surprised if this was the stuff that made her sick.
He finally brought up and hand and knocked on the door a few times. He waited as he heard a faint 'I'll be right there' from the other side. When the door opened, there stood Kurohime; hair down, skin clean and bright, dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt.
"Kurosaki," Kurohime said, a bit of surprise in her voice. "What are you doing here?"
"I uh…" Ichigo stuttered, finding it hard to come up with the right words as he brought up the wrapped bento box. "Just came to bring you this."
"Did Inoue-chan make this?"
"Yeah. She got kind of worried about you when you didn't show up for class."
"I'll be sure to thank her."
"A-Are you okay? I heard you were running a fever."
"I was this morning but I'm fine now. Listen…you're already here and it's already the weekend, why don't we get a little studying done?"
"Uh…are you sure? You don't need rest or anything?"
"I already told you, I'm fine. Come in!"
After Kurohime walked in, Ichigo walked in after her, taking off his shoes on the way. He glanced around the apartment, it was quite homely and comfortable for a student on a budget. As Kurohime put away the bento box, Ichigo noticed a picture she had on the counter. She picked it up and saw three men and one other woman in the picture. He assumed it was her family, seeing how close they were in the picture and how much they resembled each other.
"Let's get to it shall we?" Kurohime suggested as she walked in with her textbook in hand. Ichigo nodded as he put down the picture and sat across from Kurohime at the kitchen table. "Why don't you show me your test, that way we can correct your wrong answers."
Ichigo dug into his book bag and pulled out his old test and handed it to Kurohime. She looked over it a few times, her face blank and hard to read.
"Wow…" Kurohime said as she finished looking it over. "You suck."
"Yeah well…" Ichigo said, veins of anger popping. "I work on the weekends so I don't really have time to study."
"You just might not be focusing as much as you should."
Kurohime sat up and walked over to Ichigo's side of the table, taking a seat next to him. He stiffened when Kurohime sat n=down beside him, scooching closer for show him correctly. The more Kurohime explained the material to him, the more he understood how to do it. He found out it was a lot easier when someone lent a helping hand.
"*Tadaima," A low voice spoke as the front door opened. Both young adults looked up to see Grimmjow walking inside. Ichigo's eyes met Grimmjows, both in shock to see each other in Kurohime's home.
"*Okaerinasai," Kurohime greeted, giving him a soft smile. She looked over to Ichigo when she noticed the dumbfounded look on his face. "You alright, Kurosaki?"
"Uh, fine, fine!" Ichigo said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Okay…..uh Grimmjow-kun, this is my classmate, Ichigo Kurosaki."
"What's going on?" Grimmjow asked, an eyebrow raised. He walked over to the table and stood next to Kurohime.
"The teacher assigned us to study together so we decided to get a head start."
"Good. I thought you decided to go and cheat on me."
Ichigo almost gasped when he saw Grimmjow place a hand on top of her head, lean in and place a kiss on her forehead.
"Is this your test?" Grimmjow asked Kurohime as he picked up Ichigo's test.
"No," Kurohime answered. "That's Kurosaki's."
"Wow kid, you suck."
Ichigo banged his head on the table as Grimmjow laughed, and she swore he could hear Kurohime giggle beside him. Kurohime sat up, excusing herself to the bedroom to a phone call and leaving Ichigo and Grimmjow alone in the room.
"So you're the kid that spied on me and Princess eh?" Grimmjow asked, a smirk on his face.
"Uh, n-no I-,"
"Relax kid, I'm not gonna hit you or anything. How come I never hear of you? Princess always talks about her classmates."
"R-Really?"
"Yeah, she's always complaining about them. 'Cept for her English Literature class though, guess she's pretty fond of them. 'Specially the chick that makes her that weird looking food."
"Well, we didn't really notice each other until a few days ago."
"Eh? Haven't you been in her class since the beginning of the year?"
"I guess?"
"I'm not surprised, she's always focused in class until she gets out."
"So….you and Takana…are you guys..?"
"Huh? Oh no, no I just tease her like that. She knows it's not serious."
"How did you two meet?"
"She answered an ad when I announced I was looking for a roommate for school, she was the only one I could tolerate. All the others were either too loud, too dirty, or didn't pay attention at all. I went through a bunch of stuck up pricks before I could get to her, even though I wasn't really looking for a female as a roommate."
"So you two have known each other since the beginning of the year."
"Has it only been half a year? Feels like eternity."
Ichigo shuffled in his seat at the light joke Grimmjow made, watching him chuckle a little.
"It's only been half a year but I feel like I've known her all my life."
Ichigo looked at Grimmjow with surprise as he could see a change in his eyes as he spoke. Grimmjow looked down at the table, his eyes looked soft but serious all in the same.
'How could he just talk to me like nothing happened?' Ichigo thought to himself. 'Did he just forget…' He opened his mouth to say something hadn't the bedroom door open and Kurohime walk out suddenly.
"Everything okay?" She asked.
"We're fine," Grimmjow said. "Right Kurosaki?"
"Uh…right…" Ichigo said. "I should go."
"You sure Kurosaki?" Kurohime asked as Ichigo stood up.
"Yeah. Look, thanks for helping me Takana. I think we're good with the studying from now on."
"If you say so."
When he said his goodbyes, it was only Kurohime and Grimmjow alone in the room.
"Freak," Grimmjow said.
Kurohime stayed quiet, her eyes hardening but at the same time blank.
*Tadaima = I'm back/I'm home
*Okaerinasai = Welcome back/Welcome home
It's pretty short I guess, but it'll do for now. I think I'm already getting writers block.
Don't forget to review!
