Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's notes: Happy New Year! I hope everyone had fun on their holidays!
I just came back from my vacation and I'm ready for 2006... not. ((sweatdrops)) Ah, school... But anyways... Thank you so much for over 300 reviews! And yes, Sevetenks the Ultimate F, you are review number 300, so special thanks, hehe. DeathAngel-Lavenda, you came back! :D
I'm glad so many people liked the last one-shot, I had a lot of fun writing it. For those asking if I'd make sequels for Jitters, to be honest I did came up with some ideas while writing it (some short scenes came popping here and there), but I don't know when these future-fics would come along, if they ever do. Besides, I haven't decided yet how Ichigo's boy would look like, and that itself is breaking my head... Ah, we'll see, we'll see...
Thanks again to everyone who's reading!
Waiting
19.09.2005 / Revised 07.01.2006
Ichigo trudged with Rukia on the way home, a frown set on his face almost permanently. He swiftly turned down to look at the petite-sized woman beside him and then back ahead to the street. "So…" he began speaking with an indifferent air about his tone, "Who the heck is Renji?"
"Huh?" The question threw her off guard. Rukia stopped on the road, staring at him like he had said he'd tap dance and sing along with his father on the next school festival.
"I said: Who the heck is Renji?" He wasn't attempting to stop walking. Yet, his eyes shone inquisitively as he voiced out once again the issue that had been troubling him all day.
"No, idiot, not that!" she hissed, yanking his arm as he pretended to continue walking. She placed both hands on her hips, getting serious, and her voice lowered to a deliberately solemn tone. "How do you know about Renji?"
He also turned his head to look down at her pointedly, pausing briefly on his walk at last, brows knitted together in mild annoyance. His lips were drawn in a thin, sour line. "You were mumbling that guy's name in your sleep," he muttered.
"In my…?" she paused and her eyes widened, "Wait! What did you say? You were watching me sleep…?"
"Like hell I was…" Ichigo grumbled and pocketed his hands inside his jeans; his eyes landed on the street lamp behind her and the road sign nailed onto the wooden post.
Regaining composure, Rukia tilted her head sideways and began her assessment of the boy's reactions. She momentarily forgot about the subject of him spying her as she slept and instead narrowed her blue eyes at him. "Is that the reason why you are so grumpy since morning?"
"No." The pitch of his voice betrayed his definite answer.
"It is!" Her voice, on another hand, grew loud with surprise. She was staring again and pointing at him like he was an odd animal.
"Of course not, bitch." He knocked her hand down and resumed his walk, making his pace faster as she struggled to catch up. Rukia did at last and elbowed him to force him into a normal speed. He grunted exasperatedly. "And why would I care about your old boyfriend or whatever he is, anyway!"
"Hn… Renji isn't my… boyfriend, bastard," she emphasized the word. She wasn't completely sure what it meant; nevertheless just by the way he had said the word, it couldn't be good. He grunted one more time, not daring to look at her in the eyes. And at last, something clicked in her mind as she finally became aware of what was going on. A wicked grin spread on her lips. "Well, Ichigo, I didn't think you'd be the jealous type."
He knew she was teasing, but did nothing to deny her. Instead, his cheeks tinted slightly pink, contrasting with his orange hair, and he scoffed in annoyance. Rukia smirked arrogantly at his reaction.
"Renji… was my childhood friend," she began softly, wistfully. "We grew up together in Rukongai, and we entered the shinigami academy together too."
Ichigo frowned. He didn't get what Rukongai was (logically, it had to be a neighborhood of some sorts, right?) and he still couldn't imagine a school for shinigami existing. And, why was she talking in past tense? "What happened to him?"
"I don't want to talk about these things now," she snapped suddenly serious, the cold demeanor and harsh, shinigami façade fell into place instantly. As Ichigo looked at her with startled eyes, her face softened once again apologetically, and she whispered, "Later, I promise."
He nodded in understanding and feeling a tinge of jealousy that he'd never admit as such as he concluded this Renji guy might know more about Rukia's past than he did.
(Although, he thought somewhat proudly, he was still the one who knew the present her best. Right?)
"But Ichigo," Rukia grinned childishly to him and Ichigo swore these mood swings would surely make him go crazy one day, "there's nothing to worry about."
She clasped her hands together tightly, blinked innocently (making her eyes shine), and tiptoed towards him to grow a little taller (whatever she could anyways). He looked down at her confusedly, and she made sure to lock gazes with him and look naïve. Ichigo was completely unprepared for what followed. Oh, no, he certainly wasn't.
It was all too sudden when she suddenly smiled brightly and simply launched at him.
"You know that the only one I can love is you, I-chi-go!"
And she actually clung to him.
She clung to him.
"Rukia!" he jumped away from her, clutching his chest, where his heart wanted to break free. "What the hell is wrong with you, bitch?"
The black-haired woman was doubling in laughter when he finally looked up from the ground to stare at her. He glared, hard, grunting in irritation as well but not managing to make his blush fade. It occurred to Ichigo that Rukia must be blessing God for her shoujo mangas. It also occurred to him that he may need to burn some of those things, preferably soon.
ФOФ
When Ichigo finally meets Renji face-to-face in combat he almost forgets about that time when Rukia had fallen quiet and refused to talk about this red-haired, tattooed man. In the heat of the battle and in his haste to reach the white tower, his mind and his thoughts are in anything but a blur, but still they wander to the memory of that day.
The moment when Renji questions his motives, Ichigo can only scream what his head yells at him. The only thing he can think of is that he has to fight because he has to save her, he needs to save Rukia. He needs to save her because she still has to tell him all those things about her childhood, about Renji and her family, about the things of Soul Society no one but her could explain. He needs to save her because he hasn't fulfilled his promise of telling her his share of secrets about his mother and the incident on that rainy June day.
And right then, the boy begins to realize that he also wants to save her.
ФOФ
'It's something personal…' she had said at the woods by the graveyard in that June day, 'When you want to talk about it, I'll listen to you then.'
"Hey, Rukia… When you feel like talking about it, I'll be here to listen," he said to her while looking up at the sky, "Okay?"
She looked up from her shoes only to meet his profile lightened up the orange rays from the sun. She smiled at him. "Alright, Ichigo."
He grinned and came closer to her, daring to ruffle the black hair of the now startled woman. "Come on, idiot, let's go home."
Yeah, he could wait too.