A/N: This is the fourth chapter.
Disclaimer:My ferbroom really likes this chapter... but I don't own Bleach.
Tatsuki Arisawa gave a melancholy sigh as she walked down the halls of Karakura High School after class. Ever since her first date with Chizuru she had been trying her hardest to move on, to abandon that great desire of hers that seemed likely to never be quenched, finding love with her best friend Orihime Inoue.
Of course it was just the desire she wanted to abandon, not Orihime herself. Orihime held a special place in Tatsuki's heart and Tatsuki had no desire to cast the girl out. Of course that made giving up on love with Orihime a terribly troubling prospect. This was especially true when she was forced to attend this school where her and Orihime had so many memories, where much of the day was wasted away staring at Orihime's empty chair.
"Damn Ichigo, where the heck does he just vanish off to all the time? We're his friends aren't we? Shouldn't he tell us stuff?!" A loud, whiny male voice brought Tatsuki out of her deep brooding thoughts. She turned to find her classmates Keigo Asano and Mizuiro Kojima conversing with one another in the hall. She stood out of the way and listened for awhile.
"I think you and me both know there's more to it than meets the eye. Ichigo's protecting us from something he doesn't want us to know about." Mizuiro replied to his friend calmly.
"Yeah...I've seen all that stuff too," Keigo said, "but I still don't like it. I mean Ichigo goes and tells strong guys like Chad, smart guys like Uryu, and cute girls like Orihime everything. Why doesn't he tell us? We're his best friends, right?"
"Maybe it has to do with neither of us being particularly strong or smart and neither of us being a cute girl." Mizuiro replied lightly, with a sarcastic air.
"I just don't like it. I don't like not knowing anything. It's like he doesn't trust us." Keigo said firmly, crossing his arms. Tatsuki gave a faint smile. Even if it was someone like Keigo Asano it still felt good to know she wasn't alone in her suffering.
"What about you Tatsuki? What's your take on this whole mess?" Mizuiro said, surprising the girl. She hadn't been hiding but she also hadn't realized her presence was known.
"It pisses me off. Ichigo thinks he's protecting us by leaving us in the dark but instead he's just leaving us blind to the very real danger we face." Tatsuki spoke bitterly, flexing the muscles of her bandaged hand to remind herself of the most recent physical harm that had been visited upon her by the otherworldly monsters. It had been a week since she injured her hand and truthfully there wasn't much pain left in it.
"So you see them too, the white-faced monsters?" Keigo asked with a degree of excitement.
"Yeah I've seen 'em. And real up close too." Tatsuki fumed. Even if she was trying to move on, the issue of Ichigo and the mysterious monsters was one that infuriated her to no end.
"Close? You don't mean you've actually been directly confronted by one of those things?"Mizuiro was surprised.
"Those things have attacked me actually a few times." Tatsuki gave a dark laugh "How'd you think I busted up my hand?"
"Whoa! No way! I thought you did that practicing karate. Your hand was really attacked by one of them?" Keigo was impressed.
"Not exactly. It'd be more correct to say I busted up my hand attacking one of them." Tatsuki said with a nervous smile as she recalled her pathetic struggle against the masked beast.
"That's crazy! Even if you're like some bad-ass black-belt karate champion that's not going to do anything against that type of opponent. You need a black robe and giant sword like Ichigo!" Keigo's eyes were wide.
"Has Orihime told you anything?" Mizuiro asked with a sigh, "Has she told you any part of the truth?"
Tatsuki looked at the man for a second before replying in a grim voice, "No. She hasn't told me anything."
"That must really hurt. You and her are closer than either of us is with Ichigo," Mizuiro said in a taciturn fashion.
"Hey, speak for yourself, Mizuiro. My friendship with Ichigo is deep!" Keigo declared proudly; his friend laughed at him.
"It's painful. I don't like not knowing where Orihime could be, when she could be in danger," Tatsuki spoke in a low voice.
"Dammit, that Ichigo! It's about time the three of us do something. What do you say about tomorrow us doing a massive full scale search of the entire town until we find Ichigo and get him to tell us what's happening?!" Keigo said with intensity.
"I'll pass. Sounds impossible and exhausting." Mizuiro said bluntly as if he was insulting the other.
"Well, what about you Tatsuki? Let's search all of Karakura Town till we find some clue to what's happening!" Keigo said, brimming with energetic stupor.
"No thank you. I'm busy tomorrow." Tatsuki sighed. The next day was scheduled to be her and Chizuru's fourth date together. Of course running around like an idiot with Keigo Asano wouldn't have been high on her to-do list even if she had a fairly blank schedule.
"Busy? Come on, I can't search the all of Karakura Town by myself! What could you possibly have to do with your hand all busted like that on a Saturday?" The boy didn't yield.
"Nothing..." Tatsuki said almost at once, a light blush appearing on her face.
"Nothing? So what, you don't care about finding Ichigo and solving these mysteries, or you just don't like me?" Keigo pouted.
In truth Tatsuki really didn't like Keigo so much, but she did very much desire finding Ichigo, kicking his ass and forcing him to tell everything. Still, she had promised Chizuru the date already.
"Could it be you just don't want to tell us what you have planned for tomorrow?" the less annoying male purported slyly.
"Y-yeah... something like that..." Tatsuki said blushing deep this time. No one outside of her circle of friends knew about her and Chizuru yet and she intended to keep it that way.
"Ooh, Tatsuki has a hot date..." Keigo chimed as he smiled stupidly. Tatsuki smacked him in the face with her good hand.
"Shut up!" She shouted while the boy gripped his jaw.
"So who's this lucky guy?" Keigo's relentless curiosity seemed to provoke him to further questions despite the fact that his lip was bleeding.
"Shut up! There aren't any guys..." Tatsuki didn't let out another punch but rather just said the conveniently true words violently through gritted teeth.
"Oh now you're trying to conceal stuff from us too?" Keigo said as if angered.
"Ever thought that maybe it's none of your business, Keigo?" Mizuiro said under his breath.
"B-but aren't you curious as to what type of guys someone like Tatsuki would like?"
"Not particularly." The black-haired boy shrugged.
Keigo glared at his friend a moment before turning back to Tatsuki. "Oh come on, you can at least tell me if it's someone in our class, right?"
"No." Tatsuki said coldly. She wasn't about to give someone like Keigo Asano any sort of hint that she was seeing Chizuru. In fact she was done with these fools. She turned to walk away from then. That's when a familiar sound hit her ears.
"Tatsuki!" Chizuru shouted as she rushed towards Tatsuki, stopping just short of jumping atop her as she used to Orihime. She smiled as she put a hand to the spiky-haired girl's cheek.
"Chizuru, what are you doing here?!" Tatsuki gasped out, her face completely red.
"Oh nothing. Just thought I'd find you and make sure you hadn't forgotten about tomorrow." The redhead chimed in a teasing voice.
"Yes! I remember. You can leave now." Tatsuki said hastily, almost demandingly. Chizuru looked behind her reluctant girlfriend and spied her two classmates
"Aww, you're embarrassed at having anyone else find out. How cute..." Chizuru swooned and Tatsuki's cheeks turned an even darker red.
"What's Tatsuki have to be embarrassed about?" Keigo asked obliviously.
Mizuiro glanced at him in a fashion that seemed to silently call him an idiot. He then spoke to the girls, "Certainly an interesting way for things to turn out... From my impression of how you two typically get along it seems like it would be an abusive relationship."
"It's not much of a relationship at all. It's only been a week." Tatsuki's voice became so meek and shy.
"What relationship? What's going on?" Keigo asked, clueless. Now everyone shot him a "you're an idiot" look..
"Even with the tomboy attitude it's surprising to find out this is where your interests lie, Tatsuki. And Chizuru, it's just surprising that you would ever give up on Orihime." Mizuiro gave a soft laugh.
"Is there something wrong with it?!" Chizuru asked as if angered. Mizuiro shook his head.
"Of course not. It's actually probably a pretty good match. Hope it works out," the black-haired boy said with a kind smile.
"Thanks." Chizuru smiled as well. She turned to her date and said with an enthusiastic nod, "Tatsuki, let's go."
"R-right..." Tatsuki murmured, still somewhat embarrassed.
As the two girls began walking off Tatsuki could hear Keigo asking his friend, "What was that all about?"
"You really can be a little thick some times," Mizuiro sighed, "Chizuru and Tatsuki are dating each other."
"But they're both—," Keigo cut himself off when it seemed to all sink in. Tatsuki sighed as she realized that with the knowledge in Keigo Asano's big mouth it wouldn't be long before the whole school knew about her new relationship. The more she thought about it, and the stronger Chizuru's grip on her hand got, the more she didn't care.
It was early Saturday morning, the sky was a perfect cloudless blue and the sun was shining brilliantly. Tatsuki looked nervously at her feet as she waited in front of Chizuru's house for the girl to emerge. The "date" label still unnerved her even though this was now their fourth. Since the first date they had actually taken to doing things together. The second date had been a movie, the third a dinner at a nice restaurant. For this date, their first full day date, Chizuru had actually managed to coax Tatsuki into venturing to a nearby beach to enjoy the sun, waves and each other's company.
"Tatsuki! You ready?!" Chizuru called out excitedly as she rushed toward her girlfriend. Tatsuki smiled at her. She wore a packed, heavy looking backpack on her back. Tatsuki gave her a brief peck on the lips before taking the pack and draping it over her back instead.
"Ooh, wow... I have a feeling today is gonna be lots of fun," Chizuru said dreamily at the brief kiss. Tatsuki slowly saw their hands interlocked.
"Yeah, should be nice. The weather's perfect at least." Tatsuki said. The dating thing still made her nervous but she was actually genuinely excited about the day.
"Yep. Now let's get going. It's not too long a walk to the station, " Chizuru said as they began moving briskly through Karakura Town. They were headed to a nearby train station, where they would find passage on a train headed for the coast.
"Yeah, but this certainly seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through just so you can see me in my swim suit..." Tatsuki murmured. She knew very well the other's motivation.
"You're wearing the same one in the picture, right?" Chizuru asked hopefully.
"Yeah..." Tatsuki blushed and sighed. She could feel the skimpy two piece swim suit against her skin underneath her t-shirt and shorts.
"I can't wait to see how it looks on you in person..." the redhead was bursting with excitement.
"Well, I'm sure I won't mind seeing what sort of thing you're gonna wear as well," Tatsuki said with a soft smile, still blushing.
"Oh believe me I'll make sure you get plenty to look at," Chizuru said with a sexy tone of voice.
"I can't wait," Tatsuki sighed, making it hard to tell if the words were truthful or sarcastic. Chizuru's hand tilted her head upward bringing her into a kiss with just a little tongue.
"Mmm, me neither... Just thinking about being able to stare at your nearly-exposed sexy body all day has me wanting to kiss you and rub you all over." Chizuru cooed desperately.
"Remember, 'one step at a time', Chizuru, " Tatsuki gave her typical retort since she started dating Chizuru. She knew a part of her long since desired to give into the other girl's perversion.
"I know, I know; it's only been a week. I'm just excited. It was sudden and happened quickly... but it actually happened... as opposed to anything with Hime..." Chizuru spoke somberly, her head held low.
"I understand how you feel, Chizuru. I just..." the black haired girl had a distant quality to her voice.
"I understand you as well, Tatsuki. Why you're hesitant to change and move forward. Why you don't want anything to happen. Why you don't want everyone to know right away." Chizuru spoke softly.
"Okay, so if you understand, why do you keep putting me in embarrassing situations in front of people at school." Tatsuki said with a bit of a leer.
"Do you really care if Mizuiro Kojima and Keigo Asano know you're a lesbian?" the bespectacled girl gave a hard laugh.
"Hey, it wasn't just them you know. You did the same thing the other day with Michiru and the others," the spiky haired tomboy said, reflecting on a relatively awkward lunch conversation a few days before, "Mahana already won't look at me the same way."
"Everyone will accept it eventually. You don't have to worry. No one will even care..." Chizuru said brightly.
"My parents will care..." Tatsuki said in a very low voice as she stared at her feet.
"Tch, so what? Still gotta tell 'em. Even if it was an ideal world for you and it was Hime and not me, you'd still end up in the same conversation eventually. They can't do anything about who you are " Chizuru's words caused the other to look up and stare at her soft smile.
"How did you do it?" Tatsuki asked, curiosity apparent.
"I didn't." Chizuru replied, shortly.
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't tell them. They found out on their own." Chizuru clarified , a wide smile forming on her lips.
"How'd they do that?" Tatsuki asked, a solemn tone to her voice.
"One day dad was tearing apart my room looking for a stapler when he stumbled upon my hidden collection of hot yuri ero-doujinshi." Chizuru recounted causing the serious look on the other's face to vanish and be replaced by laughter.
"Figure's yours wouldn't be a typical 'coming out' story..." Tatsuki sighed. "So what did they say about it?"
Well first they asked me why I had the stuff and I told them 'because it's sexy'. Then they said, 'but there are only girls in these manga' and I replied, 'girls are sexy' and then they were like, 'but you still like boys, right?' and I was like, 'no, not really; girls are sexy.'" Chizuru explained with energy. Tatsuki put her head in her hand and laughed softly.
"How long did it take for them to get used to it?" Tatsuki asked, once she had reclaimed her composure.
"Not long. Once the initial shock and disappointment sunk in, things were back to normal in less than a month. Now they're used to it; Mom was actually happy for me when I told her I finally got a girlfriend last week," Chizuru said with a soft laugh.
"Is that so?"
"Yep. She even said she'd like to meet you."
"Heh, 'one step at a time', Chizuru..." Tatsuki said despondently, a content smile on her face.
A silence soon fell between the two of them as they continued to walk. It wasn't a bad or awkward silence but more of a pleasant one. Neither of them was particularly looking for anything to say but rather was content with not saying anything. Tatsuki would just walk ahead, thinking to herself how preferable being with Chizuru was to being all alone. This wasn't the type of silence that was brought to a hurried end. This was the type of silence one wanted to last for awhile. Unfortunately, thought neither girl broke it herself, it didn't last.
A shrill shriek sounded through the air causing both girls to stop in place. Tatsuki looked ahead in fear of the inhuman sound and what it's source might be. Within seconds a fast-moving body was flying towards the two of them.
"Chizuru, let's run!" Tatsuki said forcefully as she grabbed the other's hand tightly. They turned swiftly and began running back in the direction they had come.
Tatsuki put all she had into running. She didn't know what was following her but she knew it wasn't human. It was one of them, she could only hypothesize, one of the white-faced monsters. She couldn't see it as it chased her but she could hear it and she could feel it, and she knew it was gaining on them rapidly.
Chizuru looked scared and as if she were becoming exhausted; Tatsuki firmed her grip on her hand. Their flying pursuer continued its chase at length. The people they passed on the street must have found it odd seeing two girls running hand-in-hand for their lives from an invisible threat. Soon the monster's cries were so loud that Tatsuki knew at once it was at her back. As it made a sweep at them, she pinned the other girl down onto the hard concrete. The beast flew so closely over them that it ripped the heavy backpack straight from Tatsuki's back.
"Oh... god..." Chizuru said out of breath as she looked up at Tatsuki, her face a mess of panicked emotion.
Tatsuki on the other hand was looking up at their attacker. This monster had a bird-like look to it. It had very short arms and legs that looked to be composed of razor-sharp blades, and very pronounced heavy wings. It had a flat white face and a strange circular hole at its center like any of the others. Tatsuki stared it down with hate in her eyes as she clenched her bandaged hand.
Never breaking her glare, Tatsuki got to her feet. Forcefully she yanked the bandages from her still slightly numb right hand. She was prepared to bust her hand to hell again if she need ed to. She wasn't about to let this monster win without a fight.
The monster screeched in delight as it made a sweep at Tatsuki. Tatsuki looked at it and then she looked at Chizuru on the floor. The hate in her was so intense at that moment it was overwhelming. Her hand clenched hard into a fist. As the monster reared it's talons her fist plunged mightily at its underbelly.
The beast screamed in agony as it used its wings to recoil. It began to snarl as it tried to recover from the blow. It wasn't given enough time though. While it was still stunned from Tatsuki's attack a second attack came from behind as a blunt object was forced against it. The monster fell out of the air and to the ground. As it began to dissipate, the thing that had hit it rolled before Tatsuki's eyes. It was a soccer ball.
"Hmm, that one was pretty weak..." said a nearby girl's voice. Tatsuki looked in the direction of the voice. She sighed as she realized her savior was Ichigo's ten year old kid sister, Karin Kurosaki.
"Karin! How did you do that?" Tatsuki asked once she realized how surprising it should be.
"I don't know exactly. I kick it hard enough and it can take out the weak ones sometimes. It's only 'cause of that blow you gave it that I got such a clear shot though, Tatsuki," the young girl said in a low voice.
"Did... did, I-Ichigo teach you how to fight them?" Tatsuki asked with a bit of a stutter. Chizuru began to brush herself off and find her feet.
"Please. That good-for-nothing brother of mine won't even tell me anything, much less actually teach me something," Karin replied snidely.
"So you don't know what's happening either?" Chizuru asked. She looked around the scene disappointedly. The monster had ripped apart the backpack she had prepared. Food and shredded towels were scattered everywhere
"I've at least picked up the basics of it all," the young girl said in a relaxed fashion.
"Please tell us what you know, Karin." Tatsuki said at once.
"Heh, fine," Karin said as if feeling pressed, "Shinigami. That's what Ichigo and Rukia are. The thing we just fought is apparently called a hollow. I don't know much more than that."
"S-shingami..." Chizuru shook at the word.
"Do you know what Orihime's part in all of this is?" Tatsuki asked, less phased by the new terminology.
"I wasn't even aware she had a part," Karin shrugged, "I said that was all I know."
"Thanks anyway," Tatsuki said with a distant expression.
"No problem" Karin said as she kicked the soccer ball up and caught it in her arms.
Once the young girl had left, Tatsuki allowed her focus to go to what Chizuru's had been on for some time.
"Let's clean this up." Tatsuki said under her breath as she stared at the mess around them. Chizuru looked at her.
"So much for our perfect date!" Chizuru spat angrily. The anger wasn't directed at Tatsuki but just more at the world in general.
"I don't know if the beach will happen now, but we can still manage something." Tatsuki tried to reassure the other as she began to collect their scattered beach supplies.
"And I was really looking forward to this one!" Chizuru shouted, seemingly aggravated as hell.
"Look, it'll be okay. It sucks it turned out like this, but we just have to make the best of it," Tatsuki said, taking a comforting voice typically reserved for dealing with Orihime.
"Yeah? And how do we do that?" Chizuru said, a frown hard on her lips.
"We'll go somewhere else. We can go anywhere you want," Tatsuki offered, letting her hand find Chizuru's.
"You promise?" Chizuru smirked deviously.
"W-what...? Y-yeah... I guess so..." Tatsuki said hesitantly, remembering Chizuru and Orihime's minds worked in very different ways.
"Great! In that case, I say we go in there!" Chizuru said with a enthusiastic point of finger. The black haired girl followed the motion and for the first time took in her surroundings.
The hollow had chased them all the way back to their starting point. They were standing in front of Chizuru's house. It was that very house at which the girl pointed.
"Chizuru, that's your house... what exactly are we going to do in there?" Tatsuki asked, in a low voice. She pretty much already had an idea of what Chizuru wanted to do.
"My parents are out of town for the weekend and I think it seems like a pretty good opportunity to show you my bedroom." Chizuru said with sexual intentions well defined.
Tatsuki sighed before deciding on her tired line,"Chizuru, 'one step at a—'."
Chizuru cut her off before she could finish, a serious expression graced her face as she said rather forcefully, "If you take enough steps you eventually get somewhere, Tatsuki. It's about time we stop staying still." A wild smile then graced the girl's face as she said in a much lighter fashion, "Besides, you did just promise you'd take me anywhere."
Tatsuki didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to protest. She didn't even know if she wanted to protest. "Let's go, Tatsuki," was all she heard as Chizuru grabbed her hand Slowly she was being lead toward the girl's home, unsure of whether she was frightened or eager at what might happen next.
A/N: Urgh, I'm late again. I really wanted to get this chapter out Friday since I knew I wasn't going to be able to get to a computer over the long weekend, but I just kept fighting with myself over it. I actually initially had them making it to the beach but decided against it since it really wouldn't be so interesting and this way I have an incredible set-up for the lemon next chapter. That's right, second time in a row I've waited till the final chapter for the sex. I was initially going to have it in this chapter but decided it would work better in the fifth. I had another brief fight in my mind over who should come to their aid with the hollow. I didn't want it to be another of the shinigami from Hitsugay's group and it couldn't be one of the main characters since they're supposed to all be busy training at the moment. I thought heavily about it being Yoruichi or maybe one of the other of the Urahara shop crowd, but decided in the end Karin would work best, because just like Keigo and Mizuiro she's another victim of Ichigo's secrets. Even if I was conflicted by this chapter I ended up liking it. Tatsuki and Chizuru's relationship is cute. Chizuru is just so much fun. I'd like reviews.
Okay, now about the poll. Vote was pretty well split. 11 say I should stay away from 1st person. 7 eagerly await a 1st person story from me, and seven say they don't mind either way. Essentially the slight majority of you would not mind me doing a 1st person story. I probably will eventually if I find a good pairing for it. When I inevitably end up doing Chizuru X Orihime (which hopefully won't be for a while) I just might do it first person from Chizuru's POV. It's good to know all my readers are passing English class or are at least willing to lie about it on an anonymous online poll.
Now unfortunately due to my delay it might be a shortened voting window for the new poll. Kinda sucks since it's an important one. Again I'm asking what pairing I should do next. This time to change it up a little I'm asking you to select the pairs from the list you don't want to see me do rather than the ones you do. Oh and don't not vote just because you don't hate any of the pairings and think they would all be fine; when I ask what pairings you want there are some you don't vote for. This si pretty much the same thing just reversed. So go vote and review. Reviews are nice. I like reviews.