Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bleach characters. They belong to the great Tite Kubo.
Please Read and Review. Drop a small little note in the reviews section. :)
Chapter Two - Arabesque Heart
She had gone through a stack of music sheets but not one called to her attention. All of them seemed so uniform and bland. Not one of these says what I am feeling. She shuffled through the sheets, deciding to pick a random one.
"Bach?" She sighed with discontent, discarding the sheets up in the air.
"What are you doing in here all by yourself?"
Rukia picked up the scattered sheets thinking it was her mother only to look up and see it was Isane. She let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, just deciding what I will play at the recital."
"That's in a couple of weeks right?"
Rukia nodded, piling up the sheets in one neat stack.
"Come. I will treat you to an ice cream."
Though she was a maid in the Kuchiki household, Rukia saw Isane as a friend. Her mother didn't let her form any friendships at school. She did not want any outside influences to affect her. Thus, Isane was the person Rukia could turn to whenever she was in a slump. Besides her sister Hisana, who was a major part of her life.
"Only you know how to lure me, Isane." Rukia smacked her lips together, eyes dancing on the delicious confection in front of her. "Strawberry!"
Exiting the ice cream shop with their shopping of groceries in hand, Rukia led the way back home. Sweet goodness! She had forgotten the taste of ice cream. She had to finish her ice cream cone quick or else...
"Ah!"
Intense brown eyes met dark indigo ones. Little did Kurosaki Ichigo know that those eyes would haunt him everyday and every hour of his life. His very existence would hang on a thin thread because of those indigo eyes that where at that moment dissapointed at the sudden fate of her ice cream cone.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"Sorry is not going to cut it." Rukia didn't know what had gotten into her. A more haughty persona that she didn't know had existed inside her arose from within her at the sudden encounter of this orange haired boy. Something about his loud hair...
Ichigo scratched the back of his head, those pair of eyes making him nervous. I have to punch Keigo in the face, Ichigo made a mental note. City girls are mean.
"Well?" He was speechless; she stood waiting for his response.
"Rukia."
Rukia and Ichigo's attention was turned to Isane. For the first time, Ichigo noticed that the girl was not alone. Rukia had forgotten all about Isane behind her. The whole world had been reduced to just the two of them.
"Its ok, young man."
"No, its not, ma'am." He turned to look at the young girl, "I promise I will make it up to you."
"How?" Rukia's arms where crossed in front of her, eyes challenging him.
"I will treat you," Ichigo offered. "Any day you are available."
"Good luck with that," Rukia muttered, Ichigo's ears unable to catch her words. She pulled Isane with her, leaving the tall boy behind without a second glance. Isane had another plan in mind.
"She is available Tuesdays around four!"
"No I am not!" Rukia pulled at Isane's arm, but the older was too strong for the tiny girl.
"I will see you in front of the clock tower." Its the only place Ichigo knew how to get to in the large, unknown city.
"She will be there." With that Isane let herself be pulled by Rukia who would berate her all the way home.
Rukia, huh?
Keigo looked at his watch for the billionth time that hour, offering his sincerest apologies to the young man sitting across from him.
Pushing up his thin silver frames up his nose, he excused Keigo's 'friend' tardiness by giving another five minutes of his time.
"Sorry! My apologies for being late!"
"Ichigo!"
The other young man sitting across stood up from his seat, his eyes unprepared to the bright orange hair Kurosaki Ichigo sported. "Ishida Uryuu."
"Kurosaki Ichigo."
"This is the acquaintance I was telling you about, Ichigo." Keigo stated excitedly. "His father is Doctor Ishida Ryuuken. You have heard much about him."
"Your father is a master at his profession."
Ishida nodded, very well aware of his father's acomplishments in the medical field. "My father has been wanting to take up an apprentice. Someone who is passionate of the medical field."
"Believe me, he is! His father is a trusted doctor in our town!" Keigo added enthusiastically, ignoring the fact that he had interrupted Ishida.
"I will discuss it with my father."
"Drinks are on me," Keigo added happily, converting the professional mood to a more casual one. Sometimes, it was beneficial to have someone like Keigo around.
"So how are you liking the big city Ichigo?"
He waved the question off, remembering his encounter with Rukia. "I just met a girl."
"Did you get her name? Phone number?" Keigo asked, serving Ishida another glass of sake which the other tried to refuse.
Ichigo could beat himself up. "No, I didn't get her number." He had completely forgotten.
Keigo patted his friend on the back, "Too bad my friend."
"Don't feel sorry for me just yet." Ichigo's face was smug with victory. "I got a date with her."
Ishida who hadn't said much, spoke up. "Everything seems to be in your favor, Kurosaki." All three raised their glasses up in toast.
For a new friendship. For love. For Rukia.
She tiptoed down the hall, turning the knob quietly and let herself inside Hisana's room. Sunlight teased through the white curtains of the windows. Climbing into her sister's bed, Rukia slipped inside the covers. Hisana slept peacefully, her chest rising up ever so gently.
"Sneaky as ever, eh, Rukia?" Hisana opened her left eye slightly, a smile on her lips.
"Ah, I didn't mean to wake you," Rukia apologized.
"Don't worry. I was awake."
"Now that you are here...Isane told me about what happened yesterday afternoon." Hisana looked at her teasingly. Rukia immediately blushed.
"I don't understand," she lied, eyes darting all over the room, except landing on her older sister.
"Isane told me he was handsome."
"I didn't even look at him!" Rukia denied.
"He was tall...orange hair."
Rukia rolled her eyes, recalling how she had to tilt her head up to look at him. She remembered his eyes, those intense eyes looking right into hers. "Soft brown eyes," she found herself saying.
"So you did notice something?" Hisana teased.
Rukia hid under the covers, curling into a ball. Hisana laughed at Rukia's silly antics. Pulling the comforter off herself, Rukia showed her bottom lip curling angrily, eyebrows furrowed.
"So, do you like him?" Hisana broke the silence, breaking Rukia's angry mask, cheek's flushing.
"I don't even know his name," Rukia snapped.
"But you will on Tuesday."
Rukia dug her face in a pillow and groaned. Her heart was shaking inside her; butterflies in her stomach. Is this...? Looking at Hisana, she saw the answer to her unfinished question in her sister's face. Giggling uncontrollably, Rukia hugged Hisana, feeling the happiest that she had ever felt in her entire life.
The days in between dragged on for Rukia. Feeling restless; she sat, she stood up, she walked, back and forth. Back and forth, inside the house that was much to small for her elated emotions and much too big to put her lonely heart at ease.
Hisana and Isane where in on her secret, while her mother was unaware of the secret floating around in the Kuchiki house.
Finally, after much idling in her thougths, Rukia found comfort in the piano.
Sitting down, piano sheets in hand, she began to play.
Her thin fingers fused with the piano keys, her emotions blended with the music pouring out straight from her soul. Debussy's work filled the sitting room and her heart. She played the last notes to perfection, the light sweet notes as silent as the wind.
"Arabesque?" her mother questioned from the doorway.
"Yes." Rukia closed the piano. "I think I will play this at the recital."
"Too romantic, dont you think?" Her mother had seen right through her! Rukia's gaze fell to the expensive carpet on the floor, hiding her thoughts that had become flooded with her encounter with a certain orange haired young man. "Its perfect. A better improvement than what you wanted to play previously."
A smile crept up on her face, different from any other smiles. Thank you.