The room is dark, silent but for the sound of her heart beating against his. He can hear her soft breathing and feel the gentle fluttering of her eyelashes against his bare chest. She looks up at him, pale moonlight shining on her face, and he can hear her voice echoing through his mind.
"I wish I could stay like this forever"
He tries in vain to hold on to this last image of her, but even as she speaks she fades into the darkness, leaving him alone once again.
"ICHIGOOOO!"
Ichigo rolled over just in time to evade a kick on the face. "What are you doing? Aren't you too old to still be playing this game?"
Isshin lunged towards him again, but Ichigo merely stepped aside and watched his dad crash into the wall. Rubbing the painful bump forming on his head, Isshin stepped back and nodded his head solemnly. "I see your skills have not grown rusty over the years. But I must have surprised you because your eyes are red."
"It's just allergies," Ichigo snapped, and before his dad could prescribe a weird remedy he pushed him out of the room. "Don't you have work to do? Get out!"
After kicking his father out of his room, Ichigo headed to the bathroom and flushed his eyes with water. He was used to sleepless nights by now and he knew how to hide it well.
"Good morning onii-chan!" Yuzu exclaimed brightly when he came down the stairs, "Did you sleep well?"
Ichigo gave a noncommittal grunt and ate his breakfast without speaking. After he finished, he looked up and suddenly noticed how quiet the house was. "Where's dad and Karin? It's not like her to go anywhere without eating breakfast."
"She's been very busy at her job. She doesn't come home until really late sometimes, too. I told her it's not very safe to come in at night but, you know Karin-chan, I don't think she's really afraid of anything." Yuzu glanced at the wall clock and gave a small yelp. "Oh! I'm running late! It's very busy now in the clinic without Karin-chan's help. Bye bye!"
Ichigo watched his younger sister hurry away and then looked around the empty house. Not wanting to stay in it alone, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked outside.
He wandered the streets, looking up at the blue skies. At that moment he recognized a prickling sensation on the back of his neck, as if someone were watching him. Unable to shake away the feeling, he was about to turn and look behind him when he felt his body hit something. Or someone.. he realized, facing a mass of light brown hair. Without warning, the head snapped up and Ichigo swore he could hear his face bones cracking from the impact.
"Gomen nasai!" The female cried out, bowing her head repeatedly, only to hit Ichigo's head once more. "Ah! S-s-sorry! I have such a hard head! Are you okay?"
The voice, her reaction, it was all so familiar that he didn't even have to see her face to know who she was. "Inoue?"
Her head was still bowed, facing the ground, but the sound of his voice saying her name silenced her apologies and she froze. She lifted her head slowly and found herself face to face with the steady eyes that she had been waiting to see for years. "K-Kurosaki-kun?"
"Are you okay?" he asked, though his own head ached like hell.
"Huh? Oh! Yes, yes, I'm fine!" she waved her arms wildly in front of her, "see? Still functioning properly! But.. but are you okay, Kurosaki-kun?"
Her voice softened and Ichigo turned away from her gently searching eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Everything's fine. What are you doing out today?"
She smiled and held up the bag she held in her hands. "It's my day off so I went outside, and the clouds looked so much like marshmallows so I just wanted to eat some!"
Staring at the bag and then up at her strangely, the wrinkle in Ichigo's brow deepened. "But Inoue, you don't have any marshmallows in there.."
"Oh!" She looked quickly in the bag, "Oops! Hahaha! I got distracted because I was thinking how they look like rice balls, and how good rice would be with fish cakes and red bean paste! But they didn't have any red bean, so I bought black beans instead!"
Not really following along with her reasoning, Ichigo just nodded. "Well, then if you're not doing anything today, do you wanna just walk around with me?"
"What? Huh? Um.." his offer took Inoue by surprise and she found herself stumbling over words. She could almost picture a small Tatsuki sitting on her shoulder telling her 'Are you stupid? Hurry up and tell him yes! Go for it! Take him down!' "Ah! Okay, okay, Tatsuki-chan!"
He watched her brush wildly at her shoulders and yell their friends name. Inoue definitely had not change much since he was gone. "Here, let me take that for you," he offered, holding out his hands and taking the grocery bag from her. Inoue paused when she felt his hand on hers as if reassuring herself that it wasn't one of her many daydreams.
"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun" for coming back, she added silently, as she followed after him down the street.
"So, how do I look?"
Rukia sat up from her leisurely position on the futon and glanced at Renji over her papers.
"You look ridiculous," she replied, and promptly turned her eyes back to what she was reading.
"Yeah, well, you don't look so great yourself" he retorted as he examined himself in the mirror. He had stole- borrowed some manga the last time he was on earth and he had dressed himself like what all the spy characters wore, complete with a black suit, tie, and sunglass. He thought he looked pretty damn cool. "What's wrong with it?"
"No real human dresses like that. Besides, I thought the whole point was that you weren't going to be seen." He grumbled but went back in the room to change and emerged back in his regular robes, but still sporting his specially made sunglasses. "Renji, are you sure this is a good idea?"
He dropped onto the empty spot next to her and pushed her off. "Of course, idiot. In fact, it's great idea, because I thought of it."
"Yeah, well last time we followed through with one of your stupid 'great' ideas, we almost burned the Kuchiki house down." She picked herself off the floor and rubbed her offended bottom as Renji leapt to his feet.
"Oi, that was your fault, peabrain. Anyway, I'm off, see ya-aaa!"
And with a wave he had left her in his office alone. If he had known what this following business had entailed, he probably would not have volunteered for it so eagerly. For most of the morning he had seated himself in a tree waiting for the punk to wake up. But it would be worth it, he decided, if it would stop Rukia from moping around like she had for the past five years.
When Ichigo finally came out of the house, Renji sat up and adjusted his sunglasses. For the rest of the morning he followed behind him, close enough to see everything he was doing, but a good distance away so that Ichigo wouldn't be able to sense his presence. He had almost been caught when the kid was about to turn suddenly, but he was rescued by a girl with enormous- I bet she's even bigger than Rangiku. What kind of relationship do they have? Renji wondered when he saw Ichigo reach for Inoue's hand, and if they aren't just friends, what do I tell Rukia? But he pushed the thought away and decided to cross that bridge when he got there. For now, all he could do is wait and watch.
For the rest of the morning the pair strolled around town talking about various things, stopping only to eat lunch at a small café in the middle of town.
"Thanks for tagging along with me today, Inoue. It would have been pretty boring by myself." Ichigo commented as they stepped back out on the busy street.
"Oh! No, no, it was my pleasure. I had a great day, Kurosaki-kun!" She smiled warmly and threw her arms up enthusiastically. But as her arms went up, she lost her center of balance and she found herself falling through the air. Being quite used to tripping, Inoue closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact with the street. When she never felt the ground, she peeked one eye open at a time and found Ichigo staring straight into them.
"Ah!" Inoue realized suddenly that Ichigo's arms wrapped around her middle, holding her up. Backing away slowly, she hung her head sheepishly. "I zone out a lot still.. haha"
Ichigo just nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets awkwardly. He had caught her as an instant reflex and he was glad she wasn't hurt, but for some reason he felt guilty. "Yeah. As long as you're okay. But you should probably work on that zoning out thing, its kind of dangerous."
"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun." Her voice softened and when she looked up at him again she was determined to tell him all the things she had been unable to say. "I-"
But even before she had began speaking, something had caught Ichigo's attention. A black swallow-tail butterfly, he spotted it across the street amidst the crowds of people. He didn't hear what Inoue was saying, his full concentration spent on following it with his eyes. When he glimpsed a spot of black robes, he couldn't stay still any longer.
"Hey, Inoue, I'm really sorry. I'll be right back-" Without taking his eyes off the black spot he ran, chasing after the dark glimmer of hope.
"I missed you." Inoue whispered to the empty spot next to her. Sheknew what Ichigo was chasing after, and she knew she could never even wish to compete. But even still, I wish to stay by Kurosaki-kun's side. As she thought to herself, she didn't notice the footsteps of the person approaching behind her.
"It's been a long time, Inoue-san."
Ichigo weaved in and out of the crowds, desperate not to lose sight of the figure. He heard the honking of the car before he saw it, standing in it's path and unable to move away in time. Right when he was about to get hit, a man grabbed him out of the way and stood in front of the vehicle. Coming to a screeching halt, the driver stared incredulously at the large man who had just stopped his car with one hand. After Ichigo's feet were set back safely on the ground he turned to thank his unexpected savior.
"Ch-Chad?"
"Yo." Without a change in his facial expression, Sado greeted his friend with a nod. "Were you chasing someone?"
Ichigo turned his head, but he already knew that he had lost the trail. His face darkened as he stared down the empty street. "No, it was nothing. Nothing at all."
Shit. Renji cursed at himself for having let the orange brat see him. It was carelessness on his part, he would admit, but caused only because of his sudden flare of anger. At first he had been unable to believe his eyes, but even after he removed his glasses, he still saw Ichigo embracing the big-boobed girl. That bastard! It was what Rukia said she wanted, but he knew her better than that. He knew how much it would hurt her to know that the boy had moved on. And now, he would have to be the one to break it to her.
Renji arrived back at his office only to find Rukia still in the room, asleep at his desk. He watched her sleeping form silently, debating whether or not to wake her up. She stirred slightly and he made up his mind, knocking her gently on the head.
"Kuchiki-san!" he roared in a deep voice.
"Yes, sir!" Rukia snapped her head up and tried to look alert before she realized that Renji was laughing at her.
"Yes, sir? You should talk to me like that all the time now." She sent him a death glare, but he just smirked and then prodded her with his finger. "Get your lazy ass out of my chair, you're drooling all over my papers."
"I don't drool, I'm not a dog like you." She replied coolly as she got up and shuffled the papers so that he wouldn't be able to see the evidence. "And by the way, your handwriting is atrocious. I thought you would actually learn how to write at the Academy, but apparently you were too busy drawing little pictures like these," she said, pointing to crude drawings of her brother with fangs dripping with blood.
Renji shrugged, "Yeah, well at least I stayed awake. But I'm beat now, so I'm gonna go to sleep." He headed towards his room, but when he passed by her he felt a sharp tug on his sleeve.
"Renji," her eyes looked up at him pleadingly and he knew that he couldn't get away that easily.
"Oh yeah, you probably wanna know what I saw today!" His voice raised a notch and he knew she could see through his fake smile, but he went on anyway. "That kid is so boring! He just sat at home all day! All alone! Okay, good night!"
"Renji," she said again, this time as more of a command, "you're a horrible liar."
The smile dropped from his face and he shifted under her steady gaze. "He met up with a girl and I saw them.. I saw them hugging in the streets."
"Oh? " The news seemed to have no effect on her and Renji finally relaxed.
"Yeah. She was just normal looking, but she had huge-" he used his hands to demonstrate just exactly how big they were.
Rukia's lips thinned as she stared at the ground and thought for a moment. "Inoue. He must have been with Inoue." When she raised head again, Renji was surprised to see that she was smiling. "That's great news! I'm glad that he realized what a nice and caring person she is. I'm happy for them."
"Really?" His eyes searched hers, making sure that she was all right. "Are you really okay?"
"I-" Before Rukia could finish answering him, she was interrupted by a loud voice booming across the Seireitei. "Attention all Captains and Vice-Captains! Attention all Captains and Vice-Captains! Your presence is required for an emergency meeting! I repeat.."
Rukia turned to Renji, her eyes wide in surprise. "What's going on?"
"I don't know." Renji hurriedly pulled on his white Captain robe and grabbed his zanpaktou. Halfway out the door he paused and glanced at Rukia. "I'll be back. You stay here until I get back."
He was about to leave when a messenger appeared before them. "Abarai-taichou! An emergency order sent from Commander Yamamoto! You are to appear at the meeting immediately accompanied by Kuchiki Rukia!"
"What?" They both jumped slightly when they heard her name and stared at the messenger disbelievingly, but he was already gone.
"Renji, do you think it's about-"
"We'll see when we get there. Come on, we better go get your zanpaktou before we go to that meeting. No matter what, stay right beside me." Renji grabbed her hand firmly and cast a worried glance up at the sky. "Whatever they have to say at that meeting, it can't be good."
"Sado-kun!" Inoue's eyes lit up as she saw him and Ichigo approach. "What are you doing here?"
"Mm.. I went to Mexico. And then.. I came back." He stated simply, leaving out what he believed were unnecessary details.
Ichigo stared at him for awhile, but when he realized that was the end of Chad's explanation he shook his head. "Just once I want to hear you respond to a question in detail, like that Ishida idiot."
"I didn't know you held me in such high regards, shinigami."
"Ah!" Inoue exclaimed happily as a figure stepped out from behind her, "Look who else is here! It's-"
"Ishida. Ishida Uryuu." He stood as tall as he could and glared at Ichigo over the rim of his glasses.
"We already know who you are, dumbass. What the hell are you doing here?" Ichigo's mouth curled into a sneer as he glared right back at him.
"Ishida-kun just came back from America! He finished college already and is studying to become a doctor!" Inoue said brightly, trying to relieve the tension in the air.
"I'm sorry for running off like that, Inoue. I thought.. I saw someone I knew." Ichigo stuffed his hands in his pockets and shifted uncomfortably. "It sure is a coincidence that everyone is here today, eh?"
"Fool. There are no such thing as coincidences." They all turned their heads and stared at Ishida, who looked down on Ichigo haughtily. "Do you really think we are all here because of chance?"
Ichigo could feel his temper rising as a vein popped out on his forehead. "What? You damn Quincy, you think you know everything! Of course it's chance! If none of us have spoken to each other, how else would we know to come at the same time!"
Ishida's eyes locked with all of theirs as he pushed his glasses up. "Are you really that dimwitted? That makes it even less possible that it's chance that brought us here. Someone wanted us all back. Did you not feel it? Something within you telling you to come back home?"
Opening his mouth to argue, Ichigo suddenly realized that he had nothing to say. He couldn't explain why he had decided to come back, it just felt like the right time. He looked around and saw a slight flicker of surprise cross Chad's face, which was merely a lifting of one large brow, as he realized it too.
"So what are we supposed to do? Why would anyone want us to all come back now?" Ichigo demanded, clenching his fists as his side.
A ray of light glinted against Ishida's glasses as he lifted them with his finger again, "for once, I don't know." Gazing up, he pointed at the black clouds rolling across the quickly darkening sky. "But I have a feeling that we're going to find out very soon."