-1It's Only Love
By Ryukansen
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Chapter 5: No Good Reunion
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Author's Notes: I am officially failing two out of six of my classes. So I won't be on for a while…I need to study…and procrastinate on video games.
"Sorry…" Rukia sat in her mansion in depression. Her brother was too concerned over her well-being; he had to lock her up in Soul Society for a while. "I really am." Renji replied, after revealing to Byakuya about her random encounter with the Quincy and the Strawberry boy, the said Captain found it necessary to domesticate her under his rooftop.
"It's okay." She replied quite solemnly. She had no idea, exactly why she was being locked up, but it felt strange and lonely. It felt familiar… "I know Nii-sama loves me very much. He means well." She shivered in the dark corner and looked miserable at the floor. How long was it, since she felt this bad? She didn't know, but one thing for sure, she knew it wasn't a long time ago she felt like a trapped butterfly.
"Ah." Renji could only respond back, and was sent back to do whatever he was sent to do for the sixth division. "I'll be back from the Human World, later." He smiled a rather painful grin and fled from her sight. She only sighed at his absence.
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"Oi…Ishida." Ichigo whispered quietly at their study room. The whole classroom was silently reading their college books, creating outlines, for the future DBQ test.
"What?" The Quincy hissed, apparently annoyed by the constant jabber of the idiotic man. He closed his book, and gave him one hell of a glare. Ichigo wasn't phased though, and tossed a crumpled note at him with no effort. The Quincy cursed at him quietly and unfurled the note with little excitement.
Can you tell me more about that Rukia girl after class?
"Is that it?!" Ishida shouted, and caused the whole class and professor to stare at him with silent amusement. Ichigo put a finger to his lips as if no one was watching him. "Jeez. If you want to know more about her…" Ishida inhaled. "GO ASK HER YOURSELF!" Ichigo felt a pang of embarrassment as the Quincy promptly sat back down and continued to scribble more random notes.
Another letter flew, this time in a paper airplane fashion, and hit Ishida in the back of the head. The Quincy sighed and looked at the paper with irritation.
But I don't know where she is.
God. This was going to be one damn long day. Ishida pushed the rim of his glasses, and reassured his friend he would find Rukia and let them meet up again. Though of his apparent irritation growing, he was (inside) thrilled to know that Ichigo had (once again) gained interest in the petite Shinigami.
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After class, Ichigo and Ishida were walking back to their apartments. With one bag slung over his shoulder, Ichigo looked at Ishida with anxiety. "So…" He replied gazing at the four eyed nerd with little emotion. "Do -"
"Relax, Kurosaki." Ishida replied quietly. "I'm trying to figure out where she is." Now this confused the young man. Figure out?
"You just told me you knew where she was!" He screeched, and Ishida glared at him and sighed. Of course Ichigo would never understand Reiatsu like he used to as a Shinigami, so explaining about spiritual power was no help. "What do you mean figure out!? You aren't some damn, psychopath are you?" Ichigo growled with frustration, and stared at him suspiciously. Ishida whitened his knuckles, ready to destroy that loser with his spiritual bow, but he restrained himself quite perfectly.
"No. I'm not a psychopath, Kurosaki." He whispered quietly and closed his eyes. Ichigo gazed at him as if he were crazy.
After a few minutes, Ishida looked rather flustered. He was red with embarrassment and frustration as he attempted to find Rukia's reiatsu. But he couldn't find it at all. "Funny…she should be here by this time." He checked his watch and Ichigo leaned against a light post giving him a death glare. "I've analyzed her time period and everything!" The Quincy looked miserable and attempt once more, but Ichigo stopped him.
"Maybe she's just busy?" Ichigo replied trying to ease his weirdo friend. "Well…I'm going home okay?" He chuckled strangely and left to go to his complex. Ishida nodded, and after his friend's figure disappeared he gazed at the skies.
"That only means one thing." The Quincy replied staring at the clouds passing by. "She's in Soul Society…" He whispered looking defeated.
"You GOT that right." Renji's voice echoed from above, and Ishida gazed behind him after hearing a small thud. The pineapple was standing behind him with a rather big scowl across his face. His eyes narrowed and his eyebrows in a tensed position. "Rukia's being jarred up in her own mansion by her brother's orders." He grumbled, and Ishida just stared at him with silence and exasperation.
"Why?"
"…It's your fault."
"Mines?"
"Yes. Yours! Yours and Ichigo's!" The red-head was in a little fury. But Ishida knew that somehow, someway Renji was also part of Byakuya's plans to keep Rukia away from Ichigo.
"You didn't…tell him, about them meeting…did you?" Damn! The Quincy was as perceptive as ever.
"Well…I uh…"
"DUMBASS!" Ishida glared at him. "You've ruined something IMPORTANT!" Renji winced. "Now what? Ichigo's going to forget everything important-"
"He's not going to forget." Renji insisted. "Word got out that Yamamoto was having complications with Ichigo's reiatsu and must give the idiot's powers back in order to survive." Ishida tensed up. "Thus, his power returning…and his memories will also come back." He sighed. "Along with Inoue's too." He added. Ishida looked at him with disbelief, but lately Inoue and Ichigo were repeating a few words of the past lately.
"…But from what I see…the memories are only coming back gradually." Yes, he was perceptive as ever. "So…based on how slow they're returning to Ichigo…" Ishida trailed off with contemplation.
"It'll take about his lifetime to remember." Renji whispered.
"What about Orihime?" Ishida asked, with fear.
"Well…her memories are recovering a little faster than Ichigo." Renji grumbled. "Based on the 12th divisions knowledge, she'll remember everything in only forty years." Yeah, now that ticked the Quincy off a little. In only fort years? Humans didn't live as long as death gods. So those forty years maybe her lifetime. "…But…" Renji looked at Ishida with a serious eye. "Don't tell anyone I told you." He grumbled. Ishida just gazed at his retreating form. "Byakuya would take my guts out if he heard about this." He laughed and left.
"How sad life is." Ishida grumbled after Renji took his farewell in such an abrupt manner. "Maybe Ichigo will have a better afterlife, I suppose." He sighed and opened the doorway to his room.
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"You hungry?" Rukia looked up to stare at one of the captains in the lunch room. She was given permission to converse with the other Shinigami but lately she felt really ill, and decided to just remain silent while everyone busily chatted with another. "Aw, come on Kuchiki. You aren't going to just laze all day and pity yourself are you?" Hisagi asked with amusement and a hint of irritation. He had chosen (with Matsumoto) to accompany Rukia in the cafeteria to ease her loneliness.
"I'm sorry…I just don't feel well." The little girl replied quietly as she stared at the food in front of her. Matsumoto and Hisagi looked at one another with concern. It had been nearly a week, and all she did was pity herself in the corner of her mansion or pity herself in front of everyone in the captain lounge. "I just feel…really bad, for some reason." She piped up and sighed, leaning her head against the rough surface of the wooden table.
"AWWW! Dear Rukia is love-sick!" Matsumoto shouted and Hisagi covered her mouth with annoyance. Rukia's head shot up, and she gazed at Matsumoto as if she were crazy.
"Lovesick?" The girl asked with concern. "What are you talking about?" She murmured, and Hisagi told her to forget everything.
"Just relax, and eat…enjoy your time." The tattooed man grinned while taking a big swig of alcohol. Rukia stared at him with little pleasure, and took a small sip of her orange juice. Matsumoto, though, was trying to tell Rukia all about Ichigo, but Hisagi and other captains (who were now sitting with her) prevented her from doing so.
"Relax, Matsumoto." Hitsugaya grumbled as he took a seat next to his vice. "Yamamoto and Byakuya wouldn't like to hear you talking about-"
"PISHPOSH!" The orange-haired idiot shouted, as she was already drunk from her earlier chug of alcohol. Hisagi grunted at her behavior, and Rukia just gazed at the two drunkards with suspicion and anxiety. "THE GIRL deserves the RIGHT to KNOW!" Now this got Rukia's attention, but Hitsugaya told her to forget what his idiot vice was talking about.
"She's drunk." He pointed the obvious. "So she's saying all these stupid lies."
But these lies, could also be truths. Rukia thought with curiosity. At this point, Ukitake noticed her eyes shimmering with some plan in her head, and he decided to bring her outside of the lounge with a more friendly and peaceful atmosphere.
"Now, Rukia." Her captain spoke her name softly as they sat down on their favorite hilltop. The hill in which Kaien used to eat with her every day. "You can tell me everything." He smiled warmly, and she tensed up. "I'll be happy to answer your questions and doubts." His eyes shimmered as the sun above him radiantly glowed.
"Well…it's just…" She began, but someone cut her off.
"Rukia…you're lunch hour ended." Her brother appeared, and Ukitake smiled benevolently with a mysterious grin. "Time to go home." Byakuya announced, and she got up thanking her captain and following her brother behind.
As the two Kuchiki walked silently back to the household, Byakuya took one glance at his little sister. "Did Ukitake tell you anything?" He asked suspiciously and her eyes glowed with small curiosity. She was too focused on her lonely day than her conversation with anyone.
"No…" She whispered, and as they reached their room. She quickly bid him goodnight and left to her quarters.
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"So…she moved?" Ichigo asked with a defeated sigh. Ishida had nothing else to say, and only nodded. He was such a terrible liar, but Ichigo could sense that whatever else Ishida had to say would hurt more. "Well…it's not like I really liked her." Ichigo glanced at the Quincy with a small smile. "I just…well, she seemed familiar, you know?" He grinned, but it hurt Ishida to see Ichigo force up a smile. It was pathetic, and low.
"Well…you still have Orihime, right?" Ishida asked feeling his heart sink. Ichigo shrugged. He really had no mood to talk about the orange-haired girl. He was too depressed and confused. How could he miss someone he just met?
"Yeah. I guess." He grumbled and stuck his hands in his pocket. "But…I just don't feel a connection between us." He replied solemnly and kicked a rock across the street. Ishida and Ichigo crossed the busy path after the cars zoomed by and were now walking in a shopping district.
"I know what you mean." The Quincy turned red, as Ichigo just gazed at the sky. He swore Ichigo was thinking hard. He looked it to, as the boy was glaring at the sky as if he had a grudge against it.
"Soul Society is a damn place." He grumbled, and literally did not hear his own words escaping from his mouth. Ishida's smile widened a little, and he followed Ichigo to the theatres where Tatsuki and Orihime were waiting for them.
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"I was beginning to feel you ditched us." Tatsuki grumbled as the two finally came into the theatres, tickets in hand. Orihime smiled brightly as she found Ichigo with a small worn out a smile across his face.
"Hey." He called out and she waved too energetically. "Shall we?" He smirked and Orihime nodded walking alongside him with Tatsuki and Ishida trailing behind with their own little world's playing in their heads.
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"Are you alright, Kuchiki-san?" Hanatarou came to check in on Rukia who was resting on her bed with a high fever.
"Hai." She replied quietly and breathed heavily. Hanatarou had come with her medicine and entered her room.
"You'll get better don't worry." He smiled gently and handed her a cup of water and a pill. She took them gratefully and lay back on her bed. She gazed at the bamboo ceiling with little interest, and Hanatarou could easily tell what she was thinking about.
"I'm sure, that one day…you'll remember." He whispered quietly, and she blinked furiously with confusion.
"W-What?" She asked laughing. Hanatarou just smiled at her cowardly and bid her goodnight.
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"My sister has been getting worse, lately…" Byakuya's voice crept up in the 4th division office. "Explain." He said in such few words, but he also spoke threateningly. Retsu Unohana gazed at him with a calm composure and a small frown.
"Her memories are getting restored…and some of them are confusing her." She replied. "Eventually, she'll get used to the pain, and it'll be over." She replied as-matter-of fact. Byakuya sighed. How could this be so frustrating?
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Three Weeks//THREE YEARS
"Do you think I'm dying?" Rukia asked quietly, gazing outside staring at the small moon. Renji glared at her.
"Stop acting like an idiot!" He grumbled, and punched her on the shoulder lightly. She looked at him with deadpan and looked really weak. "You aren't dying…this is just a phase, for normal Shinigami like me!" He smiled, and he received a kick.
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"Hey…Ishida…" Ichigo looked at the Quincy with little ease.
"Yeah?"
"Well…it's almost been three years…and it's our senior year now…" He scoffed. The Quincy's eyes softened. Three years, without even feeling Rukia's reiatsu. To his knowledge the equivalent of their three years, were around 3 weeks. And he could just imagine Rukia staring down at them with amusement.
"Yeah…so what?" Ishida grumbled while sighing.
"I've been…planning to do something for her." Ichigo smiled with red tinted on her face. "After all…I mean…ever since that day in the theatre…" He sighed, and rummaged through his bag looking for something. Ishida closed his eyes praying to himself it wasn't what he thought it was. "I was going to ask her to…"
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Seven Weeks //SEVEN YEARS
"Hey, you're feeling better, right?" Renji smiled and took a glance at Rukia who smiled at him with effort. He sighed. This memory restoration thing was really getting to her.
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"AH! Hiiragi!" Orihime shouted at the small child looking at the blood on his finger. He had cut his small hand with the paper airplane he was constructing. "Come here…" The young orange-haired lady sighed and kissed his forehead while bandaging his damaged finger. "When your father comes, he'll make you even MORE happy." She giggled and let the toddler play more with the paper airplane. She began to cook.
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10 Weeks // TEN YEARS
"Ishida…" Orihime whispered with confusion. Ichigo was away in a business trip and she was fearing something that had recently popped up in her head. "I-I suddenly…" Tears poured down her eyes.
"So you remember…now…" He sighed. And she nodded feeling guilty and cradling herself.
"He'll be mad….I used him!" She cried and Ishida sighed. This was so dramatic. Why was he even in this situation?
"AND MY CHILD!" She cried. "He was a mistake…" She sobbed more and wiped her tears away. "And he's ten years too." She was pitying herself, and he was reassuring her that nothing could be done to prevent this. "Kuchiki-san…she'll be in despair." And she continued.
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"So you remember now?" Renji asked. Rukia stared at him emotionless and only nodded. "Well…are you…"
"I'm so tired Renji…I don't have enough energy to go see him." She sighed with boredom and lay her head against the small pillow.
"But you want to see him badly." Renji grinned, but she didn't get up.
"I'm tired of him…" She sighed. "Don't worry…we weren't really mean to be." His grin turned to a frown and he gazed at her with a mere look of disgust.
"When he dies-"
"Be quiet. I'm sleeping." She commanded and fell to a light sleep.