A/N: This chapter doesn't have any IR interactions, but I had to lay it out for the future chapters to connect. Some of u r curious as to y is Rukia like that, it's not bc of a dramatic incident that changed her past or anything like that. Everyone is different, some of the traits that Rukia displays could be just what's instilled in her. Her circumstances also play a role shaping her a lot.
Special thanks to xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx for betareading this chapter and the previous one as well.
Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach.
Responds to reviews
chellythemadhatter- I hope ur finals went well and I also hope to keep updating regularly and not procrastinate.
StrawberriBunnehz- Thank you for the compliment and I'm glad that u didn't find the characters OOC. And it will be a slow romance, thus the reason for Ichigo just being curious and not too interested. I do have trouble with descriptions and background info, so I hope I've improved in this chapter, especially since my beta helped out a lot.
lunar- Thank you, I also hope I can do justice to that change of feelings that Ichigo will have, Rukia as well, she'll also be changing.
chibiyukia- now u'll know what happens ^_^
ichirukitard- I know it's moving slow, but Ichigo will start to talk to her, but he won't be her first friend.
sleeplygirl- The reasons will start to be revealed in the next chapter.
falconrukichi- I'm glad u liked the previous chapter, I hope u'll like this one too.
BathroomConcert- Well we all judge others, consciously or unconsciously and Ichigo's no different. He's never seen Rukia act another way, so like others he's formed a bad opinion of her.
It was Friday already and I only had two classes today, I didn't see Inoue at all today. I had a date with her tomorrow, I determined it would have to be normal for now; we would eat and go see a movie. At least we'll get to know each other more. Deciding that, I texted Inoue that I'll meet her at ten tomorrow near the campus' main entrance, she texted back confirming the time and date.
I was excited for our upcoming date, but I wasn't excited like a hormonal high school boy. I was past that stage and been on too many dates to get too excited. Sure, I have a crush on Inoue and was excited when she accepted. I've had other crushes in the past, some that returned the feeling and some that didn't, but it never worked out between the ones that returned the feelings. There was always something missing, it became too boring too soon. Well, for me, that is.
It's the same way now with Inoue. I don't know if we're meant for each other or if we'll be together forever, right now I want to give our friendship a chance to develop into something more.
I never believed in love at first sight bullshit. I'm not looking for someone to be with forever right now, but I do want to experience dating right now. If I find someone good enough to commit to then I will, but I probably won't marry until I want to commit myself.
ooOOooOOoo
I wanted to see if I could hang out with one of my friends named Chad, or Sado, as I like to call him, is not a student anymore, but we still hang out together even after finishing high school together. Chad is of Mexican origin, so his features are very distinct and make him stand out. Maybe that's the reason he decides to stay quiet most of the time, also being more tan and standing at 6'6" doesn't help when people judge him based on just those physical characteristics. Even me being a guy with orange spiky hair, tan skin and I'm reasonably tall for a Japanese person, I wasn't really judged as harshly as he was.
Sometimes I think about how we became friends in the first place. Sure, I helped him once when some petty gang members were trying to provoke him to fight, something I could identify with since I was also constantly being provoked into fighting. But that wasn't the only thing we had in common, I found that Chad preferred to be quiet and he didn't want to meddle into people's business, I found that a rare quality in a person. One thing that I did use to find odd about him was his unreasonable fondness of cute things. Cute things such as parakeets, puppies, cats, etc... He even once got gravely injured while trying to help a parakeet that had gotten tangled in some electrical wires.
Anyways, after high school, Chad decided that he wanted to pursue his musical career instead of going to college, so he officially formed a band compromising of four other people with him being the vocalist and the lead guitarist. I've heard his music, and he's extremely talented with music.
I thought about taking Inoue to one of his underground shows as a date if we ever become a couple. I flipped open my phone and dialed his number to check if he was home.
"Hey Chad, long time no see." I said into the phone.
"Hey Ichigo." I could hear some hissing, meowing and other weird noises in the background. This surprised me since I was sure that he couldn't have pets because he wouldn't be able to find the time to raise them, with him being in a band.
"Are you available today? We haven't seen each other in a while, so I was thinking we could hang out today." I asked as I leaned against a pole.
"Yeah, sure come over." Chad said after a few seconds.
"I'll be over there in fifteen minutes." And I snapped my phone shut and walked to the bus station.
ooOOooOOooOOoo
Chad didn't live that far from me, if I took the bus it would take me fifteen minutes, which is faster anyways, considering he lives downtown near the club he works at. I took the bus and was at his door shortly. From the outside I could hear the distinct animal sounds that filled his apartment. I knocked on his door, after the first knock I was facing a tall and dark man.
"Hey," I said entering his apartment, proceeding to take my shoes off in favor of the house slippers. Chad greeted back and went into the kitchen, I followed him and my eyes opened wide in surprise when I saw a black kitten with white pattern and another brown with splotches of white sitting on his counter on a makeshift bed out of his winter coat.
Chad was placing milk and some food in front of them.
"Chad, are you raising kittens?" I asked curiously.
"I've been given some kittens recently, so I've decided to raise them." he said it casually, that was just his style.
"Chad, I thought you didn't have time because of your band and part time job at the club?" I said as I leaned against the counter.
"I've already given away two kittens away by advertising online, I only have two left. The person who gave these to me is going to help me raise them as well." He responded. Well, I guess that about solves the time and caring dilemma.
"Okay, that's good I suppose. But why did he or she not want to keep them then?" Really, that person could be duping Chad into raising these felines alone while making fake promises.
"She was raising them by herself for a week near the park. She's not allowed to have pets where she lives." He answered while trying to feed the food to the kittens out of his hand.
"That doesn't make any sense. Why didn't she try to find someone to adopt them herself?" I asked still kind of surprised.
"Ah well she was sort of." He went behind the counter and bent down to pick up a brown box and showed it to me. It had the three words in black written on it, "Adopt me please" and then some cat paws and faces drawn on it. It was kind of cute.
"I found them two days ago when I was at the park. I met her there and after I took them from her, she looked sad, so I asked her if she wants to raise them with me."
Apparently it was two days ago when it was raining hard and she had wrapped them in a scarf to keep them warm. Chad saw her trying opening her umbrella trying to put it over the box, but she was unsuccessful trying to keep it upright over them. Chad felt bad for her and the cats, and told her he'll take care of them.
She agreed and gave him the umbrella seeing that Chad didn't have one, saying, "It's not for you, it's for the kittens since they're prone to being ill because of their young age."
I went over to the fridge after listening to this tale of bizarre encounter to get a beer. Chad was already sitting on the couch with the kittens' "bed" placed on the floor besides it. I guess he was excited to play video games as much as I.
After three hours of playing, Chad got up to get a drink. I went to the bathroom, coming back I passed by his bedroom and outside it I saw a purple umbrella. I picked it up taking it with me to the kitchen to tease him about carrying such a girlie color looking umbrella.
"Actually, it's not mine, it's the one that girl at the park gave me for the kittens." He answered taking a gulp of his beer.
I examined it carefully, especially the brown handle that had some rabbit heads drawn on it by some permanent black marker. I saw the letters "K" and "R" on it written in between the rabbits' heads. I guess it must be that girl's initials.
"Do you know the co-owner's name Chad?" With Chad it wouldn't be surprising if he didn't, because he usually doesn't try to inquire a lot of information.
Chad stopped drinking his beer and stood looking pensively as if to remember her name.
"I don't think she told me. But she's meeting me tomorrow at the vet's clinic to get their shots." Problem solved, he went back to drinking.
"But tomorrow's Saturday, is there a clinic open tomorrow?"
"Yeah, near the shopping center in the town, there's a vet clinic open until noon on Saturdays."
In middle of our conversation Chad's phone rang. It was his drummer wanting to meet early for practice before tonight's show. He hung up after saying he'll meet them in a couple of hours at the club, which was a walking distance from his apartment.
After pocketing his phone he looked towards me, "Ichigo, do you want to see us play tonight? We've written some new songs since last time and I want to hear your thoughts on them."
Sure why not, not like I had anything to do tonight except go to a party thrown by Tatsuki's friend, who I didn't know well.
When we left his apartment a few hours later, the kittens had fallen asleep peacefully.
ooOOooOOoo
Even though I got in late from Chad's amazing show, I managed to get up on time for my date. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, my face was bloated, my eyes a bit puffy and red, all the aftereffects of a hangover. I'll have to wash my face extra long with cold water to not look tired.
I texted Inoue half an hour before our scheduled time to tell her again, she texted back reconfirming.
I wore an ivory colored t-shirt with a brown blazer that my kind sister Yuzu gave me on my birthday. I went with khaki pants and cream colored casual shoes. I examined myself in the mirror, not too casual or too dressy. Feeling satisfied I left the apartment.
ooOOooOOoo
As I approached the school main gates, I could make out Inoue's silhouette. Getting closer, I observed that she was wearing a pastel green knee length skirt with short sleeved pink top and white flat shoes. She looked beautiful and the top really fit her well being of sort of stretchy, accentuating her chest.
She saw me and smiled widely waving her right arm excitedly, "Kurosaki-kun, here."
I heard her and walked faster towards her with a silly smile on my face, because I was taken in by her energy and beauty, which contrasted with my current mood.
"Hi Inoue, how are you?" I was still a little shy to talk alone to her openly like I did with my friends. I furrowed my brows unconsciously, which probably made it look like I was scowling. She blushed a little when I looked into her eyes.
"Hi K-Kurosaki-kun, I'm fine. But are you okay, you look a little tired?" She asked worriedly while getting closer to look at my face. My after hangover look hadn't completely gone away, unfortunately.
"Ah...yes, I went to bed late last night, so I guess it must be because of that."
Brightening up Inoue clasped her hands, "Oh that's good, I thought you were getting sick."
ooOOooOOoo
We took the train to the shopping district where we could eat, see a movie and just walk around since the park was near it as well.
In an hour since we left we were standing in the middle of the plaza near a water fountain.
"Do you want to get something to drink Inoue? There's a café here that serves really good European pastries and cakes." The café is a little expensive, but I thought it would make a nice impression on Inoue because the food is really good. And she likes food. She agreed saying she had a light breakfast anyways.
I ordered us coffee with a flan slice for me and macaroons for Inoue. After looking at her food, Inoue pouted because, "It's strange that they didn't have these in sweet bean paste flavor. But I'm glad to eat whatever Kurosaki-kun recommends." Her food tastes are what's strange, but it's one of those things that's cute about her, though I wouldn't ever try her food combinations.
"Thank you for treating me Kurosaki-kun. It was really kind of you." Well isn't this what a guy is supposed to do at a date anyways. She must not be that hard to please the way she thanked me profusely, I'm glad.
We saw a movie based on Hamlet by Shakespeare, though I tried to ask which one she'd prefer. She answered me simply with, "Oh, I don't know Kurosaki-kun; I'm sure whichever you want to see I'll like it." Well that didn't help much, but Hamlet is a good movie full of drama and good acting.
The café and the movie were off the list, now it was time for a proper meal, I took her to an Italian themed restaurant where Inoue could happily eat any weird combination to her heart's content like pasta with sardines.
"This is a great recommendation Kurosaki-kun, this spaghetti is like ramen noodles except they're thicker and served with a sauce instead of soup."
After eating I suggested to window shop walking around in the shopping plaza. Walking around, I led us into the park to get away from the crowd and appreciate nature instead.
ooOOooOOoo
"Here Inoue, I hope you like vanilla flavor." I handed her the vanilla flavored ice cream cone, which she took happily.
"Thank you Kurosaki-kun." She accepted it so excitedly as if I'd made the ice cream myself. We talked about our classes and clubs. Inoue was in the nursing club whose members went into hospitals to volunteer. She went two times a week after her classes were finished and she liked it. She talked about the patients she sometimes got acquainted with; people who craved company, some who preferred to be left alone or some who threw tantrums a lot. All in all she enjoyed it.
I was in the drama club, not because I want to be an actor or anything like that, but because I want to direct plays. I told her about a play we were putting up soon, though I'm not the directing it, I am the director's assistant and invited her to come see it. She replied that she wouldn't miss it for the world.
I told her how early on Western playwrights such as Shakespeare inspired me to see their plays come into life which lead me to see a show every month at the theater.
We talked so much about our classes and what we hoped to do we didn't notice that it was almost five o'clock. While leaving the park, I saw Rukia Kuchiki sitting on the ground with something small in her lap. It was too far from me to see what it was, I could only make out that she was petting it. Once again, she was alone and looked unperturbed by it.
I did feel a sense of relief that I knew she was alright, since she didn't come to class on Thursday, which I assumed that she was sick. Thinking about that made me feel guilty, I saw her a few days ago thoroughly wet, yet didn't help her. I could've given her my jacket so she wouldn't get sick, but I was too preoccupied in my excitement for having a date. It was also partially due to my slight prejudice as well, I, like others, had formed an opinion of her that she put herself on a pedestal, thought of herself better than others.
I pushed all these thoughts away, while I was still on a date. We boarded the train and Inoue got off at her stop.
The date had gone well, but it seems that my excitement of being alone with Inoue was starting to wane already. She agreed with almost any point of view I had, anything I suggested or recommended. It was flattering, but I had a thought that she wasn't doing that because she was being nice to me. It was her personality, she was too nice to cause any disagreement or have a debate. To Inoue a debate or discussion with a friend meant that she didn't agree with their opinion. I wonder if she has another side that she'll open up to me as she gets comfortable with me.
Sorry if the chapter wasn't what u were expecting, but I really wanted to show y it wouldn't work bw Ichigo and Orihime. I didn't want to use Rukia as the reason to y it won't work out bw them, bc that would be like comparing them as if 'shopping' for a gf. The next chapter will def have a lot of IR interactions, as u can probably guess from this chapter. Also, I didn't make Orihime too much like her character where she's fidgeting or nervous around Ichigo, cus I figured she's in college now, so she's past that high school girl blushes and nervousness.
And, sorry for the long A.N in the beginning, I'll start responding to them thru PMs from now on.