I'm really sorry it took me almost 2 weeks to update **hides from angry readers**, but RL got in the way .
To make up for it, I tried to write a long chapter, as most of you asked, but then it got so ridiculously long (over 4000 words!) that I had to divide it in two, which means I'm posting Chapter 5 in a couple days! ('cause I still want to add a last little piece that I have yet to write)
Also, many many thanks to DeviantHollow23 for betaing!
CHAPTER 4
Rukia had just left Urahara's Shoten and was running in the general direction of the Kurosaki's house, hoping to catch up to Ichigo before he got home.
The last rays of sunlight illuminated her face, set in a firm expression that betrayed none of her inner turmoil.
She was now finally able to sense him, and he felt so…'normal', which was just 'weird'…
But 'normal' was good, right?
Now he could live his life peacefully, without the heavy responsibilities, the constant danger and violence her presence had forced on him. After all, that's what she'd always wanted for him, right?
So why was it that since she – as all the higher-ranking officers – had been informed of the news, she'd been hoping that it wasn't true, that Urahara had done something to stop it – which he'd just denied –, or that the sealing Bakudo hadn't worked – but it was a well-known fact it was infallible.
It's just that…
…I miss him.
She swallowed.
That was hard to admit.
What she didn't understand was that they'd been apart for months in the past and it didn' feel like this, so what was different now?
This time it's permanent.
But, she argued with herself, I've had to part with other people I cared for – Hisana's and Kaien's image flashed through her mind – and I'm OK, no problem.
She didn't sound convincing to her own 'ears'.
She bit her lip.
I'm being selfish, she scolded herself.
Ichigo deserves this, she told herself resolutely.
XXX
The sunset had already faded into night when she finally found him. He was walking down the street that run along the Karakura river.
She stopped a moment to stare at the back of his head. The bluish street-lights were creating some odd color effects on his bright hair. A random thought entered her mind. I've never seen such a shade of orange. Then she felt like rolling her eyes at herself.
Ok, so she was getting antsy… Why in hell was she getting antsy!
She took a breath. This is not like you, Rukia, she berated herself.
She ran up to him and tapped his shoulder.
He turned and blinked at her in surprise.
That's right, he doesn't know me, she reminded herself as she gave him her best school-girl smile. "Hi!"
"Um, hey…?" he tilted his head and looked her over. "Do we go to the same school, or something like that?"
She was slightly taken aback. Can he possibly…?
"I mean because of the uniform" he added motioning to her clothes.
She looked down. Of course, the uniform. She felt like kicking herself and that stupid selfish hope that dared to rear its ugly head.
She quickly repaired the crack in her mask then looked back up at him.
"Actually, yes!" she replied cheerfully. "We used to be in the same class."
"Really?" he frowned in thought. "I never noticed you. Must've been because you're so short, so you were hard to spot." he said with a smirk.
"What!" she exploded and kicked him in the shin. Hard. It was an instinctive reaction, really.
"Fuck." he scrunched his face in pain and bent to touch his bruised shin.
"That fucking hurts, midget!" he growled.
After a moment he looked up as if expecting some sort of reaction from her, but she was just staring at him motionless with a weird expression on her face.
He straightened himself and rose his eyebrows in question waiting for her to say something.
Rukia felt frozen to the spot. It was almost as if…
No! she yelled at herself angrily. It's just my stupid imagination!
Something in her chest tightened. She looked to the side and swallowed, but it was no use.
Ichigo doesn't remember me, she repeated to herself forcefully, pressing her lips together, and I should stop bothering him.
But then her gaze slid back to his face, and when she saw that familiar concern in his eyes…
She didn't even know she'd moved, but she found herself hugging him tightly, her face buried in his chest.
It was now Ichigo's time to freeze. His breath caught, his arms twitched slightly as if they wanted to rise of their own volition, but in the end he didn't move.
Rukia was too lost in the moment to notice any of this.
After just a few seconds she realized what she was doing and stepped back blushing furiously and looking everywhere but at him.
"Um, sorry." she muttered, then cleared her throat. "Don't know what came over me."
She expected him to either make fun of her or just shrug her off, but he did neither, so she dared to peek at his face and found him regarding her in a thoughtful way.
She stared back at him for a while, then smiled sadly. "Have a good life, Ok Ichigo?"
He raised an eyebrow in question.
Ok, so that sentence would sound strange to him, she conceded.
"Um, I mean, see you around." she said, then started to turn away, but before she could avert her eyes, he caught them with his own.
"See ya', midget." then he smiled, that warm wonderful smile that he gave only to her.
She blinked, then she nodded and turned her back to him.
As she walked away a tiny smile stayed fixed on her face.
No, that wasn't just my imagination.
XXX
Ichigo got home even more disgruntled than when he'd left.
He punched his dad in the face before Isshin even got the chance to leap at him, he sat through dinner in a moody silence, then walked up to his room muttering a 'g'night all' and shut his door.
He sat down on the edge of his bed and frowned at what used to be Rukia's closet.
That meeting with the petite shinigami had left his insides in quite a jumble. At first he'd been relieved to see her alright and uninjured, then he'd decided it would be fun to mess with her with his whole 'never seen ya' before' act – no matter how pissed she would get once she found out –, but when he'd noticed she really was upset, he just couldn't do it.
So he'd tried to make her understand without words – she was good at that, at getting him without him needing to explain anything, so good actually it sometimes got annoying. But what about this time?
And let's not forget the most important part.
The thing that had him totally floored (and why he actually couldn't make himself behave like an ass to her).
She'd hugged him.
Never in a million years I would've thought she would hug me…
…and she felt so warm, a faint blush crept up his cheeks.
Ooh…somebody's in looove! Hichigo singsonged and snickered mockingly.
What the hell? Ichigo yelled affronted. I – I was just stating a fact! Human bodies and – um – it seems gigais too produce heat, thus – um – they are warm! That's all there is to it!
Hichigo paused, blinked, then burst out laughing so hard he almost lost his footing. T-That's – HA HA HA – that's gotta be the lamest, most pathetic excuse I've ever heard!
It's not! Ichigo yelled even louder as his face flushed both in anger and embarrassment. If you don't stop it right now I'm gonna carve you a second hole in that albino chest! 'you hear me? But Hichigo only laughed harder. Getting a rise from his King was too easy, really. (1)
Ichigo, a deep familiar voice resounded in his mind.
Zangetsu? Ichigo said, pleased to hear his zanpakuto. The Old Man would help him shut that asshole up.
Ichigo, remember that a wise warrior is always aware of his emotions, because they will affect his inner balance, and consequently his fighting ability. Know thyself, Ichigo, the zanpakuto spirit concluded solemnly.
Ichigo groaned and slapped his face in frustration. No, not you too Zangetsu!
He let his head fall back on the pillow and scowled at the ceiling. As he turned his head slightly, he felt a piece of paper brushing against his check. It had a cat paw print on it.
He grabbed it eagerly and read the message: "LOOK INSIDE YOUR BED-SIDE DRAWER".
He immediately did so and found another message and a soul candy. That's Kon! Which means this waiting crap is finally over!
He peered inside and quickly read the message, without taking it out of the drawer.
"TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT SHARP WEAR THE WRISTWATCH.
USE KON TO GET OUT OF YOUR BODY AND COME TO THE SHOP.
YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES TO GET INSIDE.
NO SHUNPO."
Is he crazy? I have to run ten blocks in 5 minutes without using shunpo? And what wristwatch is he talking about? He opened the drawer a bit more and something silvery glinted inside. Ichigo looked at the object closely then smirked.
It was one of Urahara's special reiatsu sealing wristbands masked as a wristwatch.
XXX
Ichigo burst inside Urahara's Shoten wheezing and cursing. "Damn you Geta-Boshi! You can't leave me just 5 freaking minutes to come here from my house!"
He collapsed on one of the chairs and took several deep breaths.
"Good evening to you too, Kurosaki-kun!" the shop-keeper greeted pleasantly. "Actually you had a little more time, since I found out the 12th's Monitoring System is switched off for 8 minutes for backup, but I wanted to stay on the safe side." he explained with a smile.
Ichigo glared at him. "You better have some good news, 'cause at this moment I'm really itching to slice you in half." he growled.
"Oh, I see that after two weeks you are in a dreadful need of a good fight." the ex-captain said with a grin as his eyes glinted in challenge under his green striped hat. "We can talk later. Why don't you follow me downstairs for a spar? After all we have six hours before you can go home."
Ichigo smirked and nodded. That actually sounded like a good idea, and it would help him silence that stupid Hollow that was literally raving for some violence.
Since the end of the War – but even before during the brief periods of respite between the battles – he'd started once more to train with Urahara and Yoruichi, because his fights with the Espada and Aizen himself had made him realize a few things.
Even though he possessed a monstrous amount of reiatsu, it wasn't enough. Power is nothing without control.
If his opponent was equally powerful but more skilled, he would lose.
If his opponent was less powerful, but very skilled, he would lose just the same.
And that had almost happened one too many times for his liking, especially at the beginning.
(If it wasn't for his Hollow he wouldn't have survived many fights, and that just wasn't right)
So he'd gone and asked for help from his very first teachers.
Urahara could be a real pain in the ass, but nobody could doubt the ex-captain's mastery in zanjutsu and hakuda, as well as his ability to come up with the most innovative training methods, like the reiatsu sealing wristbands that forced Ichigo to rely less on his raw power and more on his technique and cunning. He'd even improved his reiatsu control, since he didn't have to learn to handle it all together.
Yoruichi, on the other hand, had graciously agreed to 'play tag' with Ichigo once a week, and after a year he could say proudly he was finally as fast as her.
XXX
"We're going to start with sealed zanpakuto, as always, alright?" Urahara said extracting
Benihime from his walking stick.
Ichigo nodded and adjusted the reiatsu sealing wristbands he always used for this kind of training, took his zanpakuto from his back and focused on it, absorbing the excess reiatsu that caused its constant released state.
After a minute Zangetsu still hadn't changed shape. He frowned. What's going on?
"Not that easy this time, is it?" Urahara asked with a knowing grin.
Ichigo looked up at him sharply, then back down at his sword. He tried to gauge the spiritual energy he was emitting, and then it finally clicked. He smirked. "You've changed the wristbands again, haven't you?"
"Yep!" his teacher's grin widened "Sealing Zangetsu with one third of you power was becoming too easy, so it was time to increase the difficulty-level. Now only half of your reiatsu is sealed."
Ichigo's eyes widened. What? But it took me six months to go from managing a tenth of my reiatsu to a third, and now we're jumping straight to a half !
Just focus Ichigo, Zangetsu's voice whispered in his ear, you know how to do it.
Alright, Old Man, Ichigo said, trusting his zanpakuto's words. If it hadn't been for Zangetsu's help he wouldn't have progressed as much as he did in the past year. The spirit had suggested him some new ways to use his Getsuga Tenshou, as well as how to seal his shikai, even though he still wasn't able to do it without the help of Urahara's wristbands.
After a couple minutes Ichigo finally felt the now familiar shift in Zangetsu's weight.
"I'm ready." the Substitute said raising the simple katana with a red hilt and silver blade.
As it moved, a long piece of white cloth unwrapped from around the hilt and hung from its end. (2)
The ex-captain studied him for a moment. Impressive, he did it in just a few minutes…but let's see how long he manages to keep his concentration, he smirked, noticing how tense his student was.
They lunged at each other, zanpakutos clashing in mid air…
TBC
XXX
NEXT CHAPTER: you get to see some more of Ichigo's progress after all his training and much much more!
So people, how did you like the IchiRuki moments? DeviantHollow23 told me it might be a bit too much for Rukia to HUG Ichigo, but I say the romance gotta start somewhere! ^_^ I hope though it was still InC!
(1) I wasn't exactly sure whether Hichigo does or doesn't have a hole in the chest, but I know that (SPOILER ALERT) when Ichi turns into a full Hollow, he does, so that thing Ichi says should be OK. If not, let me know, please.
(2) Remember the sword Ichigo had before he unsealed Zangetsu? The only difference is that now its size is normal, because Ichigo has finally learned to better control his reiatsu. BTW, I do remember it was broken, but I think Zangetsu wouldn't have any problems restoring it.
A last question for my readers: did anybody actually get in that in chapter 3 Yuzu and Karin are wearing Urahara's pink "lentils" too? And what that implies? Hmm…maybe it was too subtle.