Writer's Note:
I'm SO sorry for taking so long to write this, it's just that school can be hectic and also I kind of left it tot he side for some reason, plus each chapter is quite long, and I'm not the type to cut things up a lot. Anyways thanks for all your patience and support guys, every review, favourite or even follow makes me smile! :) I love getting all of your feedback! By the way, the setting for the story is still in fall, so I was thinking of doing a Halloween themed chapter soon, despite it being February already. Are you guys okay with that? just let me know! Obviously we will have a Christmas themed one too, hopefully unless I change my mind. Sorry for the horrible title of this Chapter - couldn't think of anything witty.
Chapter 5: Drinks and Scars
Friday - 7:00 pm
"Wait Jackie, please don't hang up! Rangiku didn't answer my call probably asleep or shopping out late - so you got to listen to this, I seriously need advice right now," Rukia practically pleads to her friend through her cell phone pressing firmly against her small right ear. Her violet eyes were set on her feet and she squirms slightly as she waits for Jackie's final response.
"Fine. Fill me in." Rukia swears she's never felt so relieved to hear her friend's voice calmly talking normally once again - she has been missing Jackie's straightforward advice, she is almost as addicted to it as much as she's addicted to buying Chappy merchandise off the Internet, but that was a whole other story for another time.
Rukia explains the entire story, filling Jackie in on their first meeting, since Rukia promised herself she wouldn't mention that infuriating weirdo carrot top or give him the satisfaction of being talked about to her friends. So this is all new to Jackie's ears - which is just how Rukia wants it to be. Jackie actually has a clear head, she'd definitely give helpful advice.
Jackie listens to the story, she's glad the conversation topic isn't on her, but on Rukia's problem instead. It's definitely a relief for her horrible day at work. Rukia is known for fretting over specifics, and freaking out or worrying in unnecessary situations. When Rukia finishes, Jackie feels like she just listened to an entire episode straight from a television drama show. She smiles slightly to that thought, finding it hard not to tell her friend about her initial thoughts on the matter.
"So? What do you think?" Rukia asks quickly, out of breath from retelling the entire story, and her voice sounding hopeful for some serious advice.
"I don't know what to think - I mean you just took in a four year old!"
"Not just any four year old, she's extremely adorable!" Rukia whispers immediately trying to defend Mai, who's currently sitting down at the kitchen table slowly poking at the cold Kraft Dinner her father left her with to eat. Rukia is currently sitting up against one of the walls in her kitchen, her legs pushed up against her torso - if anyone walked in right now she'd look like she is having a panic attack or an emotional breakdown.
"Whatever, it's not important how adorable she is. Anyways, why didn't you mention this weird guy before?"
"Because he was stupid and irrelevant!" Rukia remarks snidely, and she absentmindedly begins pulling at the stray bang that never seems to stay put.
"He's your neighbor!"
"Well, I didn't want to remember him, okay?" Now whisper please, I can't raise my voice with Mai eating in the kitchen."
Jackie ignores Rukia's statement, "You can't take care of this kid, Rukia. He could just be leaving her behind and what if the police investigate and he's some sort of drug dealer and you go to jail for just being involved with him! Even if he isn't a drug dealer, he could still abandon the kid, and you'll have to take her to an orphanage! I know how bad that can be Rukia, trust me - it's horrible."
Rukia sighs, she sometimes forgets that Jackie doesn't have any family and when she was a teen she was sent to an orphanage since her family passed away. Thinking of Jackie when she was young always causes her heart to break, Jackie is always serious and calculative, but was she always like that? Was she happier and more optimistic before the robbery occurred? She shakes her head to stop thinking about this, and decided to reassure her friend, "Trust me Jackie, he's not leaving her here. He took ten minutes deciding what toys she should bring over to my place. Plus he asked to see my driver's license, passport, and even my diploma before he left me with her!" She realizes she sounded loud, and notices Mai's head turning toward her curiously, her face seems to be not too happy with the cold meal she's stuck staring at. Rukia tries suppressing a giggle forming from the pouting little girl sitting at one of the two seats at her small dinner table. Rukia is so used to eating dinner on the couch while watching T.V., that she can't even remember the last time she used the wooden table.
"Okay, I guess he may be a good responsible Dad. But still, you aren't the babysitting type Rukia. Do you even know how to take care of a kid?"
"That's why I called you. You had two younger siblings, right? So tell me some tips, pretty please," Rukia begs quietly. Jackie rolls her eyes in defeat despite being suspicious of this Ichigo fellow, "Fine, okay. Did she eat dinner yet?"
Rukia's eyes trail unconsciously to stare at Mai, who seems to not have even taken a bite since her Father put the food in front of her when he initially left. She almost smiles at remembering him telling her multiple rules, almost as if every little detail actually mattered. She found Ichigo incredibly hilarious. For a moment she forgot about Jackie on the phone, until she hears Jackie's impatient sigh against her ear from the speaker on the cell. "Well, Ichigo gave her Kraft Dinner but it looks like it may not be as appetizing as it was an hour earlier," Rukia sums up, her eyes rolling at the idiotic carrot top man who didn't even think twice about leaving his daughter cold Kraft Dinner.
"Ichigo? You call him by his first name - wait I thought you guys never met!" Jackie questions, sounding serious about this topic. Jackie begins wondering if Rukia may have some hidden feelings for this strange weird man, but Rukia is oblivious to her friend's worries.
Rukia shrugs, as she gets up from the kitchen tiled floor, "uh, I guess I didn't even think about it. But he didn't seem the type to use formalities - and you know how I'm not a fan of them either."
Rukia is right, Jackie remembers that when they first met, Rukia automatically called her by her first name. But they knew each other well, became close almost immediately, and soon after that they met Rangiku when Toshiro came yelling about the busty woman's whereabouts on their office's floor. The only person Jackie knew of that Rukia referred to by their last name was Uryu Ishida, because he enforced that all employees address him formerly. "Fine, just make her something she'll like, if you can't cook anything up or maybe order in," Jackie concludes after pondering for a moment.
"I think I'll cook something, I don't want him to start going health crazy, food guide and all if I buy her fast food," the raven haired woman snorts haughtily.
Jackie agrees, "Good thinking, after that let her play, colour or draw with crayons, have her take a bath to get clean, and then get her to bed at the time he told you to," Jackie orders, Rukia nods, and she frantically grabs around the kitchen counter looking for a piece of paper to write on. Jackie hears the movements and sighs while rubbing her forehead, "You didn't write it down yet did you?"
"You know me Jackie, I'm pretty slow sometimes! Sorry," Rukia apologizes, and Jackie just laughs at her friend's attempts to find a pen around the apartment.
(^3^)
Rukia ends her call with Jackie a few minutes later, Jackie repeated it a couple of times just in case Rukia's brain wasn't processing things correctly; it happens more often than you may think. Rukia can be quite forgetful sometimes unless she has it written down somewhere, or has a reminder on her phone about it. She walks back into the small kitchen, and Mai is curiously staring at her, before she averts her gaze back to the cold dinner sitting in front of her. Rukia smiles warmly, this kid is just too cute to handle. She pats the child's shoulder before taking her bowl and the fork loose in her hands. "How 'bout we cook something? We can make some rice and chicken with peas, I haven't eaten much today anyways," Rukia states kindly to the young girl. Mai's green eyes brighten, and Rukia wonders what exactly her mother appeared like - she knew the girl got Ichigo's ridiculous bright hair, unless he secretly dyed it, or his wife had bright orange hair also. Those eyes reminded her of a lizard or a cat - they pierced through her equally astounding blue-violet eyes.
"That sounds good Rukia - I'd love to help! Dad never let's me help make dinner!" she slightly pouts, her bottom lip sticking out slightly. Rukia nods her head and turns on her heel towards the refrigerator, "Let's start getting the ingredients, then after we finish eating we can watch some cartoon shows - I've got some Chappy the Rabbit DVDs we can watch." Rukia pulls out some rice from another night she left in the fridge amongst all the other junk stuffed in there.
As she pulls out the glass bowl, she hears a loud squeal that nearly causes her to drop the entire rice container onto the floor. Rukia turns sharply, worry etching into her eyes until she witnesses Mai jumping up and down like a sugar induced two year old toddler who tasted pop for the first time. "YAY! You have Chappy DVDs?! Which ones! I love Chappy!" Mai continues squealing while holding soy sauce in her hands that she retrieved from the pantry. Rukia grins from ear to ear, liking this kid even more and more as the night went on, in fact if Ichigo never came back she'd probably be fine with raising Mai; she is just too sweet.
"Yes, I just got 'Chappy Vs. the World' on DVD," Rukia responds calmly but with a bright smile on her face - to others she may seem like an idiot but Chappy was her childhood best friend, her and Hisana used to stay up late to watch reruns when their Grandmother was sound asleep. Rukia ensured she took the soy sauce from Mai's small, clammy hands before anything could fall due to how excited the little toddler seems. "Really?!" Mai yells happily, while jumping around Rukia who's preparing the meal at the counter, "But that just came out on DVD a fews days ago!"
"I pre-ordered it before it was released, we can watch it after dinner if you want to," Rukia states kindly, and she bends down her hands on her knees, and her violet orbs focusing on the young girl. "But I need help to make dinner, okay?" Rukia questions, she thinks it's a good idea for kids to learn to be responsible now, it's always better learning earlier rather than later. Mai nods vigorously and Rukia finds her a stool to stand on so that she can reach the tall counters. Rukia is pleasantly surprised that Mai listens to all of her directions, and even helps retrieving their cups, plates, and cutlery without any problems.
"Rukia, Daddy never buys any new DVD's I know he wants to but he just can't do it! Do you think I can borrow some to watch so that Dad doesn't feel bad anymore?" Mai asks as she watched Rukia move the rice around in the frying pan. Rukia smirks slightly at the thought of Ichigo purchasing Chappy DVDs at the toy store for his daughter, she can't help but burst out in giggles. Mai looks at Rukia worriedly, "Are you okay, Rukia-chan?" Mai's small hand grabs onto her white blouse's sleeve trying to catch Rukia's attention. Rukia wipes the tears from pure laughter forming at the edge of her eyes, "Yeah, don't worry you can borrow them! I'm sure your Dad is trying his best - parent's have a lot on their plate you know."
Mai giggles, "Daddy always forgets things which is why we had Kraft Dinner, he didn't buy enough rice!" Mai is grinning so widely her green eyes are closed in between her laughs. Despite how strange things were today, and how bad she thought it was, listening to Mai has been the greatest thing that has happened to Rukia in awhile. Rukia continues to cook while Mai leans onto the counter her hands cupping her face and her elbows against the counter supporting her weight as she talks about everything she can think of on the spot to the small petite woman still wearing her work clothes this late at night.
(^3^)
Friday - 7:25 pm
Jackie after ending her phone call with Rukia could not seem to focus on her work at all, she is running out of stuff to busy herself with without work as a distraction she doesn't ever know what to do with herself. Jackie is wondering whether or not she should call Rangiku and tell about this strange weirdo Rukia got herself involved with, knowing Rangiku she would probably be ecstatic about it and ask her to go out for drinks in some form of celebration. Drinking right now surprisingly did sound extremely appealing, and she almost never drinks, she only drinks wine with Rukia most of the time but besides that she rarely ever drinks. She finds drinking horrible ever since she was young and her foster parents always drank beer so much she vowed to never look at alcohol ever again.
She could care less if she couldn't even hold her liquor she definitely needs something to distract her mind from all of these worries about Rukia, and how she's going to make things up with Renji without messing things up even more than they already are. Just when Jackie is about to grab her cellphone to call Rangiku it begins ringing loudly, the caller ID lighting up in the dark. She rubs her eyes, realizing that she's been sitting in the dark for awhile now, but just answers the phone without even reading the person's name.
"J-chan~!"
"Rangiku, I had a feeling it would be you. I was going to call you actually," Jackie states, trying to sound happy but failing miserably.
Rangiku doesn't seem to be affected by her friend's foul mood, "Jackie-chan! I'm planning on surprising Gin at work tonight~! It will be fun we can even get a couple of drinks!"
Jackie's ears perk up at the mention of getting drinks, "Do we have to go to Gin's workplace - today hasn't been a great day, and I don't think I would make a good impression on Gin if I'm spewing out my horrible life story to him while drunk," she groans, she isn't in the mood to put on fake smiles. She just wants to drown in her sad little miserable thoughts with Rangiku there to pat her on the back.
She can almost see Rangiku grinning from ear to ear, "Okie dokie~! We will go out somewhere else, then you can wait in the cab when I visit Gin's workplace. You okay with that?"
"As long as I get to have some red wine with only the two of us I'll be practically jumping for joy."
"Well, get your jumping on cause I'm calling the cab now~!"
"This is going to be great - two girls and many glasses of wine. Oh and also I have to tell you what happened with Rukia, but I can only tell you in person."
"Oooo, I wonder what it is?! Okay, see ya soon!"
"Bye." Jackie ends the phone call and immediately wonders just what she got herself into.
...
Friday - 7:45 pm
"I wish Dad and I can cook with you everyday Rukia!" Mai mumbles between mouthfuls of delicious rice that is still steaming from the big bowl they placed in the center of the small table. Rukia even put a table cloth over the old wood just in case anything spills during the meal, the table cloth is checkered red and white, practically ready for a picnic, it felt weird using it for once but Rukia literally had no other options. Rukia stops blowing onto her spoonful of rice, and averts her eyes to the little girl beside her, Mai's light eyes are peering over to her, almost wondering what Rukia's response will be. Rukia feels guilty she was planning to say her father wouldn't want all of them to eat together, and that he would rather just eat with Mai, but saying that to her face would seem cruel when she's so hopeful.
"Um, well maybe if your Dad doesn't mind we can all eat here for dinner sometime," Rukia replies, hoping this can satisfy the young girl enough that she won't ask anymore questions. "Yay! Rukia I think I'm done, can we watch the movie now?!" Mai pleads, her tone turning into a slight wine.
Rukia is still not finished her plate and notices Mai's uneaten peas, Rukia points at the alleged peas with her fork, "Not until you finish your peas." Mai slightly puffs out her cheeks, in momentary anger and Rukia ruffles the little girl's hair with a sly grin, "Pretty please? Your Dad won't let you eat here again if you don't eat your vegetables." Mai stares at the peas as if they offended her somehow, but sighs before quickly shoving practically all of the peas on her plate into her mouth in one go.
Rukia refills Mai's plastic Chappy cup with water scolding her, "Don't eat it all at once. Don't you know that slow and steady wins the race?" Mai sips at the the cup, and her bright eyes seem confused by her statement. Rukia just sighs, "Never mind - I can tell you about that another time." Rukia stands and grabs all of their dishes piling them neatly all onto her empty dish. Mai jumps up from her chair quickly, following Rukia's movements to the sink. Rukia places the dishes in, and turns to see Mai peering up at her through her long bangs. Rukia smiles flashing her white teeth to the mesmerized toddler, and the woman bends down so that the two are at eye level.
Rukia absentmindedly moves the little one's bangs to the left side of the girl's face, Mai's green eyes stare at Rukia's beautiful pale face and large violet eyes.
"Make sure you push away those bangs of yours or else no one can see your beautiful face sweetie," Rukia says softly, while flattening out the girl's hair that was so deranged she wonders how Ichigo can actually help the toddler brush through the thick wavy and frizzy orange locks. "Rukia, you're beautiful too. You're really pretty, you're prettier than everyone I know!" the young one exclaims loudly, sounding confident. Rukia feels slightly embarrassed by the young girl's comment.
Rukia laughs, "Nah, you're cuter, and prettier than everyone I know!" Mai didn't seem to listen to Rukia's words, the girl grabs onto Rukia's much larger hands tightly, "Rukia, are you okay with me calling you Rukia - or do you like Miss Rukia better?"
Rukia rolls her eyes, "Just Rukia is good, and you're happy with me calling you Mai right?"
"Of course!" Mai booms, and Rukia wonders whether anyone can hear through the walls how loud the girl is, after tonight Rukia may become deaf in one ear. Rukia notices that Mai's hands tighten around her larger ones, "Rukia, you should push your bangs to the side too, so everyone can see your pretty face! Daddy will love it!"
Rukia blinks, before her face becomes slightly red, the idea of pushing her bangs away for Ichigo is completely out of line and inappropriate, but Mai couldn't understand that. She turns her head, moving her hands out of the young girl's iron grip, she cover's her face with her left hand over her mouth and cheeks in hopes of seeming normal to Mai. "Maybe later Mai, I'll put on the movie for you to watch while I do the dishes," Rukia responds still seeming flustered by the four year old. This is ridiculous I'm being thrown off by a four year old girl, I guess kids are a lot more smart than we give them credit for Rukia thinks as she looks at her shelves filled with DVDs from horror movies, romantic comedies, action packed movies, to childhood cartoons. She finds the movie she recently got delivered to her mailbox, and pulls the case out from the shelf. She hasn't had the chance to sit down and watch it since she saw it in theatres, which wasn't a very pleasant experience. She somehow forced Renji and Jackie to go with her to see it, but they were just given strange looks by the ticket sellers, and by parents watching the movie with their kids. Rukia wasn't too bothered by it but Renji told her afterwards he couldn't go to the movies for months.
"You ready?" Rukia asks when the menu screen pops up onto the television, she thinks after the dishes are clean she should change out of her work clothes, but it may be a long shot since Mai just seems so excited over this. She can't possibly miss out on the opportunity to see her adorable reactions to Chappy the Rabbit saving the world. Mai nods, insistent on starting the movie, and Rukia presses play before setting the remote onto coffee table. Mai is huddled over a few pillows her legs crossed as if it is carpet time at preschool, she glances at Rukia for a moment before averting her gaze back to the television. Rukia chuckles before heading out to do the dishes. She wants to finish quickly; she couldn't miss singing the theme song with the four year old, since no one else but her sister, Hisana understood her love for Chappy and even now Hisana's far too busy to have time to watch old cartoon shows with her. Hisana is a newly wed, hoping to have kids of her own soon and raise a beautiful family, Rukia envies her older sister at times like these when she feels alone.
While washing these dirty dishes and hearing the Chappy Theme song playing in the other room, a faint noise over the loud tap water splashing against the plates she's scrubbing, her mind drifts to how she's the only one stuck in the past; even Jackie's growing up and getting through things with Renji. Time moves so fast she can't even believe how much has changed, her sister has a family of her own to worry about, but still the older woman always calls in hopes of helping out Rukia in some way. She thinks her sister worries too much but if the roles were reversed she would do the exact same thing.
Despite having a happy four year old in the other room, Rukia still felt alone in this old apartment building, the only sound evident is the loud water pouring down the drain, and the echo of the happy voices emitting from a childhood past that she longs to relive.
...
Friday - 7:55 pm
"Wait there's a mysterious man across her apartment, and he even has an adorable four year old daughter - and I was never even told about him?!" Rangiku shouts her mind shell-shocked by the fact that Rukia kept this from the two of them. This man seems like the perfect boyfriend potential but judging from the story Jackie told her, Rukia probably scared him off completely by accident. She can be stubborn and stand offish when in reality, she's just a little kid stuck in a woman's body. Yes, she can be serious, but Rukia isn't always serious once work's over, she's just like any normal person. She may seem snobby but Rukia isn't all that extravagant at all. She in fact rarely spends money, and only buys the essentials which is why she's in that crappy old apartment Rangiku refuses to set foot into unless something is seriously wrong.
"I don't trust him till I meet him," Jackie responds after witnessing up close Rangiku's excited expression.
Rangiku pouts, "J-chan, lighten up, Rukia definitely needs some serious boy time, even if it doesn't work out a girl needs some romance for needs, and think of how scandalous it sounds, a lonely workaholic woman, related to riches, meets a man struggling to take care of his adorable" -
Jackie snaps loudly, her wine glass clanging against their table in the small restaurant they stumbled upon, "I get it Rangiku! But still not everything is some stupid romantic comedy where the guy and girl magically end up together after sleeping together! My first guess is the guy in real life would leave afterwards, you two need to get your head out of the clouds and into the real world! Especially you, Rangiku, having Rukia get hopeful on something like this will only lead to" -
"Let me guess, heartbreak? Or what happened between you and Renji? Sweetheart, don't take out your anger on poor Ruks, hun. Tell me everything, just let it out already, so that she doesn't have to deal with it tomorrow after taking care of a rowdy four year old," Rangiku sighs sadly. She was hoping for a happy girl's night out while having drinks, but she's guessing this is supposed to be Jackie's way of asking her to be a listener to the problems she's having. She just hopes that there's enough liquor in this small restaurant that she can somehow liven up this night from turning disastrous. She promises not to get too drunk so that she can still go to Gin's workplace, she's been dying to make sure he's doing better and to see how good the place is. Gin says it's gotten extremely popular, and he knows she's never one to pass up a good party.
...
Friday - 8:10 pm
Ichigo rubs his temples, and involuntarily glances at his watch for the millionth time this night. He feels Gin boring a hole into his head despite the fact he already knows Gin's eyes are in small slits as usual, and so technically he isn't actually staring at him, he's just turning his head directly towards him. "Just say what you want to say," Ichigo snaps, sick of feeling like Gin's staring at him, like some snake suffocating him completely without doing much at all. Ichigo realizes that his 'friend' is very much like a snake in more ways than one.
"Something is wrong, Ichi." Gin states matter-of-factly as if he is stating the weather to Ichigo.
"Quit calling me that," Ichigo grumbles, "Nothing's wrong." His scowl comes off automatically and his eyebrows furrow forming the usual line on his forehead.
"Aw no need to hide it Ichigo, I know that look."
"What look?" Ichigo questions impatiently, as he slams a cup of beer in front of a woman who practically jumps out of her skin from Ichigo's loud voice. The said woman leaves immediately back to her table after apologizing to him quietly and taking her glass. Her group of friends sitting at the table start giving Ichigo strange looks. At the back of Ichigo's mind he swears that he will get Gin back for this, but that's what he always tells himself. He just wishes he found out who this mysterious Ran-chan was, if he knew he could definitely get dirt on Gin in some way. He wonders what her full name is, Ichigo was never too good with knowing names so he had no clue what her name could possible be.
Ichigo repeats his statement again since Gin has suddenly took refuge from the embarrassment by cleaning the large pile of dirty dishes. "What look, Gin?"
Gin chuckles at Ichigo's flabbergasted expression before answering completely content with himself, "The look of a man having troubles with a woman."
"What?!" Ichigo explodes angrily, grabbing Gin's shirt involuntarily in his irritation with the teasing man. Ichigo can normally stand Gin's musings but today is not one those days. Sure he had been thinking of Rukia, and her stone set face, and how when she smiles it's like she turns into a completely different person. He's only thinking of her cause he's worried about her taking care of Mai. That's what he keeps telling himself, there's seriously nothing else involved, she's just a replacement babysitter!
"Don't deny it Ichigo, I've been in the same boat plenty of times before, and trust me when I tell you this if you ignore it, you'll only hate yourself more later," Gin sighs and Ichigo wonders if Gin is even still talking to him anymore, Gin's blue eyes seem distant and he's not quite sure what the man's thinking of. Ichigo sighs releasing his grip on Gin's shirt, "nothing like that's going on, trust me, I just have a replacement new babysitter that I'm worried about taking care of Mai, nothing else."
Gin rolls his eyes, "I'm sure it isn't lover boy, just hurry up and get the customers their drinks, I'm going to get an update from everyone." Gin takes off his apron that Ichigo never understood why he wore since Gin never spills anything, and hands it to Ichigo roughly. He pats Ichigo on the shoulder before leaving the bar. After standing alone for a few seconds in front of the dirty dishes Ichigo briefly wonders why he can't have any sane friends.
...
Friday - 8:45 pm
"Rukia, that was amazing!" Mai shouts while rolling over on the large couch, and Rukia giggles at Mai's face upside down on the couch.
"What's your favourite part of the movie?" Rukia asks, she thinks it's always good to get opinions from kids, since the movie is for them anyways.
Mai gets up abruptly, and stands on the couch, nearly causing the pillows to fall off the ouch completely, Rukia isn't sure whether she should tell the young girl to sit down or if it would only cause her to throw a tantrum. "Hm... I like the part where Chappy saves the day! And he looks awesome too!" She plummets back down onto the cushions, and causes Rukia to bounce on her side of the couch. Rukia pats Mai's head appreciatively, before getting up and stretching her arms. Mai follows her, begins stretching and doing jumping jacks also. The ebony haired woman begins taking out the disc from the DVD player, and briefly wonders whether or not giving her ice cream as a desert was in fact a good idea.
She grabs their dirty bowls with the remnants of their ice cream and heads into the kitchen, while Mai begins playing with some of the toys Ichigo told her to bring. By the time Rukia turns around to head back to the living room, Mai is already in front of her, holding a colouring book triumphantly, with a small lion stuffed animal tucked underneath her armpit. "Can I pretty please borrow your crayons?! Daddy, was so busy he forgot 'em!" Rukia snorts at the girl's adorable expression, and the fact that Ichigo actually forgot something. She says, "don't worry I'll go get some from my room, I'll be back okay?"
Mai nods, and eagerly sits into her seat at the dinner table from before. Rukia heads to her room and takes a couple of minutes looking for her old crayons since she hasn't used them since she was in high school. Once finding them underneath all of her other belongings in her desk, she heads back to the kitchen and sees Mai ripping out one of the page's from the colouring book. Rukia smiles happily almost as excited as Mai when she realizes it's a Chappy colouring book. Rukia may seem childish to others but she could care less, colouring books were definitely awesome.
"You didn't have to rip it out you know," Rukia states as she sits beside the girl, and places the crayons beside the colouring sheet. "Yes I did! It's a present for you to put on the fridge!" Mai exclaims, as if it were obvious that was the reason she took it out. Rukia realizes that her fridge didn't really have anything on it except for her calender and some extra magnets. Her eyes soften at Mai who's rambling loudly about the events during the movie, and Rukia finds herself talking back to the girl seriously, and helping her with colouring the drawing. Rukia promises Mai that the drawing will make her Father proud and that they can even do one especially for him. "You pick the one for Dad!" Mai says, her voice not as loud as earlier due to it getting kind of late.
Rukia isn't sure which one to choose but she decides on picking the one with the hero about to take down the villain since it seems the least cutest of them all, despite the fact it had a lot of bows in the drawing. Mai agrees with her choice, and gives Rukia crayons to fill in certain parts that were too hard for her to colour into. "I don't know if Daddy will like it, he doesn't like messy things," Mai mumbles sounding sad, and Rukia puts her arm over Mai's shoulder. Pushing her tightly to her side Rukia exclaims loudly, "Your Dad's going to love it, trust me!"
Mai shouts a celebratory yell and begins running around with the said drawing that they both coloured in, and Rukia claps and shouts, "We did it!" with the young girl skipping around the kitchen table. If anyone were to walk in now, they would see a young girl running around crazily holding a sheet of paper in the air, with a woman clapping enthusiastically in a way she's never clapped before. It would be a very strange sight indeed.
Rukia looks back at the list of things Jackie told her to do, and realizes that Mai should definitely take a bath since it's getting near her bedtime, and they still have to wait until they dry out her hair before letting her go to sleep.
Rukia grabs her by the hand, and stops the little girl, pulling her back to the table. She lifts the little one up, her hands going under Mai's armpits. She sits Mai down into the chair, and asks her, "So, when do you usually take a bath?" Rukia is bent over now, looking Mai straight in the eyes.
"When?" Mai repeats, immediately.
"Yes, what day of the week?"
"Oh, normally on Sunday's! Daddy says once a week only!" Mai blurts out once remembering her father's words; the girl is still smiling her teeth peeking out.
Rukia's mind registers the fact that she only bathes once a week, which is definitely strange. Children normally get very dirty, from what Jackie told her she guessed parents cleaned them at least three times a week. It is then that she realizes that on Sunday night's water costs are lower priced than on any other day of week, Rukia feels like she maybe pried too far into this family's business. She didn't mean to know that they were struggling financially, but the fact he was freaking out so much over being late to work makes sense now. He can't miss it because he needs the money to pay for everything they need, and apparently he saves money any way they can.
She can't believe she didn't realize it before, but this fact Mai states is only further confirming the worrying thoughts seeping into her brain. The idea of any kid being malnourished or not having as many baths as the other kids makes her sad, and she feels pity for Mai. She wonders if maybe she'd be better off without Ichigo taking care of her, but then she remembers Ichigo's smile when he looked down at Mai and immediately threw that thought out the window. He's definitely a good father, and he has pretty good luck to have Rukia as his neighbor, who knows what would've happened if he asked somebody else in this building.
"Rukia, Rukiaaa!?" Mai yells and Rukia snaps back to reality, where Mai is giving her a worried look, her small chubby hands waving in front of Rukia's face.
"Sorry, okay. Well, we are going to change plans and you can have a bath at my place tonight!" Rukia sums up for Mai, who claps her hands in excitement immediately.
Rukia isn't sure when they head to the bathroom whether Ichigo would approve on her bathing his daughter, but she really couldn't stop herself since she would just feel guilty for the rest of her life knowing she didn't take care of Mai as fully as she should of. She places the towel to dry Mai off onto the closed toilet, along with the separate towel for drying off Mai's hair. Mai is jumping around with joy when they are near the bathtub with a shower-head also.
"Rukia I need a facecloth to cover my eyes, so no soap goes into them! I don't like how it stings my eyes," Mai mumbles, suddenly seeming shy. Rukia nods and tells her she will go and get her a facecloth as well. When she comes back, Mai is already beginning to take off her shirt. Rukia decides to begin filling the tub with warm water, and takes out all of the necessary cleaning products for the four year old. Rukia helps Mai with taking off her pants since she's having trouble with the button on her pants.
Once the tub is filled, Mai jumps in, and begins singing some Disney songs to herself, but she often messes up the lyrics. "I'll make a FAN out of YOUUU! Ten-quil as a porest, till the Hands arrive!" Mai sings loudly the song from 'Mulan' that Rukia knew definitely did not go like that. Rukia giggles as she washes off the soap on Mai's body, and begins pouring shampoo onto her hand before lathering the girl's orange locks.
Before Rukia can stop herself she begins humming a tune her Grandmother and older sister used to hum when they took care of her baths as a child. Washing Mai's hair reminds Rukia of when Hisana did the same for her when she was a toddler, and Hisana was only eleven or twelve. Since their parents were never home and Hisana didn't want their Grandmother getting hurt from bending down, Hisana began giving Rukia baths. Rukia was only a toddler she doesn't remember very much about it, but Hisana would always tease her when she got older that she would always be a toddler simply because she's always been that way. It's only now that Rukia really appreciates everything Hisana's ever done for her, and she never even complained about it once.
After rinsing out the shampoo, and repeating the process again, Rukia squeezed the remaining water out of Mai's now dark reddish hair due to it being wet. Mai's babbling about her pre-school and how Nel, her best friend, may possibly like Nnoitra despite nearly biting his hand off once. Rukia chuckles at the girl as she gives Mai a towel. She begins drying herself off, and Rukia decides to wrap up the girl's hair in a towel. "Rukia, can you help drying me off? I'm not too good at it..." Mai breathes out sounding worn out. Rukia thinks it's because it's getting late already, and the sugar has probably worn off.
Mai turns around so Rukia can dry off her back and Rukia begins rubbing the towel lightly against the girl's wet skin. She notices a scar across Mai's lower back that seems pretty large.
Rukia's eyes narrow slightly, "Mai, where did you get this scar on your back from?" Rukia asks curiously, wondering if she fell down or got into some accident or something.
"The scar? Oh, yeah that scar..." Mai mumbles, she looks away from Rukia's gaze, "Momma pushed me down the stairs and I got a big scratch on my back."
Rukia's eyes narrow momentarily, but she tries to push away her negative thoughts, still drying the girl's body, "I'm sure she didn't mean to push you."
"That's what Momma said, but Daddy said she was lying," Mai states in monotone, and the way Mai looks when Rukia turns her around to dry her face just tears Rukia's heart apart. Her shock is so apparent all she can think of is some woman who can actually push their own flesh and blood down the stairs and do it on purpose. Rukia almost feels dizzy from these new found facts, she doesn't even know how to respond to it, so she just continues drying Mai off, in hopes that somehow by rubbing the scar, and humming a song out loud could stray Mai's mind from those bad memories.
Mai was walking ahead of Mom and Dad, humming to herself as they walked down the apartment building's long string of staircases in order to go to the grocery store and stock up on food. Mom and Dad were bickering again, Mai only heard strings of the conversation when it escalated so much to even bother to notice how loud they actually were.
Her father sounded extremely impatient, "She needs you here, Naomi, okay?!"
Her mother is calm, and smiling for a reason Mai doesn't understand, "Please, she can take care of herself now, look at her, she's already walking fine!"
In that moment Mai felt someone's shoe step on the back of her right shoe, Mai nearly tripped but recovered, and continued her usual skip down the stairs. Her Dad notices her stumble and warns, "Mai slow down. Naomi watch where you place your feet, she nearly fell!"
"She isn't a baby anymore, Ichigo." Her Mother is serious, her voice hurting Mai's ears.
"I know that, but if she fell she could have gotten hurt!"
"All you ever do is complain, and nag about Mai - you know not everything in the world revolves around your daughter Ichigo!"
"She's your daughter too!"
"How many times do I have to tell you I'm not her fucking mother, I'm not some mother that's staying and helping her go to school, or with her homework."
"She's getting the hang of walking Naomi, because of your help."
"You did most of it Ichigo, I'm not a mother." Her mother sounds closed off, and desperate to not listen to her Father.
"You can do it, I know you can." her Father is hopeful, his voice is soft and Mai barely hears his words.
"You think I can because it's what you want to believe so that you don't have to drop out of your classes, your dream goal! Then I'll be stuck with a kid and give up my plans; not happening. You wanted her didn't you? You can fucking hold her hand okay!" Her Mother is stopping loudly down the stairs now, speeding up slightly.
Mommy continues, "This kid can barely walk anyways, she can't even hold herself up properly!" Mommy's foot snagged the end of Mai's shoe again, but this time Mai stopped in her tracks since she knew she would fall if she didn't.
Her Mom continued to move, pushing Mai forwards and yelling, "Come on kid, move!"
The next thing Mai remembers is being sprawled at the end of the staircase, unable to feel her back because she hit it on the railing somehow. Her back is burning and she isn't even sure why. "Am I on fire?" Mai thinks and her vision is blurry and all she can hear is her dad's screams echoing against the barren old walls of the empty stairwell. She feels warm liquid forming around her and she isn't sure what is going on, she sees a blur of orange, her Dad's pain filled face, and the blonde hair of her Mom, her face not even looking in her direction.
Mai does not remember too much about that day, but she just wanted her Mom and Dad to not fight, like when her Momma wasn't drinking any of that foul smelling liquid, or lighting any of those weird sticks she holds between her teeth. She knew her Mom never loved her, but she didn't know it truly until she fell down those stairs. The scar on her back may have faded since that day, but the memory is still vivid in Mai's memory. Ever since that day Mai hasn't been able to look at her mother the same way. Mai now has a bad feeling every time she walks down the stairs because of this 'accident'. Daddy always notices the scar, and Mai doesn't quite know what he thinks but his jaw tightens, and his face is cold as stone when his eyes land on it.
Her Father never let her mother come near her again after that. At least not without his supervision. They never went out together again, or played at the park like other families did. Her Father told her she would understand why one day, but Mai still can't quite grasp why he did this.
It seemed that Mai wasn't the only one who learned about her Mother's true intentions that day.
"Mai, you're dry now, so I guess you can get changed into your pajamas. Where did your Dad put them?" Rukia says brightly, somehow turning back to her good mood. The thoughts of that scar she just witnessed were pushed far back into the depths of her mind.
Mai blinks at Rukia's violet eyes staring into her own eyes. Rukia gives the girl a worried look, when she doesn't respond immediately. Mai shakes the memory from her mind, and struggles to remember where her Dad put the pajamas. "Uh..." Mai thinks out loud.
"It's okay, I'll just look for them, you can wait in here while I go get them." Rukia is already walking out of the bathroom before Mai can even think of a response. Mai hears the dirty water from her bath slowly draining out of the tub, and her eyes follow the spinning waters going down the drain. She gives a small smile at how cool it looks. She wishes her Dad was here too so that they could all have fun together. Her Daddy has been not very happy lately, and she thinks Rukia can cheer him up. Her Daddy was smiling more than she's ever seen when he talks with Rukia. After they stopped fighting at least. Mai thought Rukia was like her Mom and Dad when they were fighting, the words were very familiar and as angry as she remembered. But, once she came to stop them, Rukia's mean words vanished and she even apologized which her Mother never did once.
Mai thinks she could stay at Rukia's place all day, it's so much fun and she hasn't had a chance to meet anyone like her before, anyone Daddy wouldn't mind talking to. Her Dad is always shutting himself away from people, but he's really a nice person on the inside she knows it!
"Mai! I found them!" Rukia exclaims. Mai grins before giggling in response to the dark haired woman.
...
Friday - 9:20 pm
"I can't believe you took me to a gay bar," Renji deadpans despite having seconds of the drink he ordered. Ikakku rolls his eyes whilst taking a large swig from his own beer, his bald head attracting the light from the dance floor nearby. The bar they are sitting at is mostly dimly lit, and bright neon lights are flashing on the dance floor that many men are currently singing 'Firework' by Katy Perry so loud that Ikkaku wonders how none of their ears aren't bleeding by now.
"I didn't know it was one. Yumichika was excited about it, and it's not like their drinks are bad. Who gives a shit anyways?" Ikkaku points out seriously.
"Uh, never mind." Renji grunts, his eyes closing. He feels someone softly rubbing onto his shoulder. The red haired man glares at Yumichika who is giving a playful smirk to him, his hand still resting onto his shoulder as if Renji's glare was simply a smile of encouragement.
"Please, if I remember correctly you're trying to get away from womanly problems, and what other place is best for that than a gay bar?" Yumichika practically hums to Renji's ear and gestures to the dance floor hopefully getting his point across. Renji is merely relieved that Yumichika's hand is no longer on his shoulder. Renji's eyebrows furrow angrily at the man, but he doesn't even give Yumichika the satisfaction of responding to his statement.
Ikkaku snorts, "You got that right, man!"
Ikkaku clanks his large glass against Renji's now empty glass, before downing it all in one go. Yumichika looks at the bald man with disgust, his nose wrinkling with his legs still crossed on the tall bar stool. "Ew, at least try looking good while drinking."
"You know you like it!" Ikkaku winks, with a malevolent suggestive grin. Yumichika scoffs and flicks his black hair with a sweep of his hand. Renji is wondering if he's actually getting any support from his friends or if he's getting in the way of some sort of flirting. He hates being stuck in the middle of things. He was absolutely positive Ikkaku, and Yumichika weren't dating, but this conversation is definitely suggesting otherwise.
"God guys, just get a room already," Renji blurts out loud.
Yumichika and Ikkaku exchange an annoyed look for a moment before grinning mischievously at one another. Renji notices Yumichika's smirk before it even falls onto his light pink lips, "Oh Renji, I believe you and Jackie are the ones who need to get a room. And understand what it means to get into a relationship." Ikkaku immediately bursts into laughter at Yumichika's remark, and the two exchange an enthusiastic high five.
Yumichika's light eyes fall onto Renji's outfit in pure disgust at the plain plaid red shirt with boring blue jeans in an awful wash. He is nowhere near my level of fashion Yumichika thinks cockily as he glances over at his own beautiful purple wool sweater, and his wonderful, not too casual, black jeans.
Renji chuckles, "When was the last time either of you even been in a relationship?"
"You don't need to be in one to understand the facts!" Ikkaku responds, as he points at Renji's grimacing face.
Renji met Ikkaku and Yumichika in college, and at the time had been still totally in love with Rukia despite being turned down by his offer of going out on an actual date. When he was in college he was pretty bummed out, and didn't really know anyone, but by chance he met Yumichika and Ikkaku at the gym. Ikkaku was actually working out on the treadmill beside the one Renji was using, and Yumichika was just talking gossip to Ikkaku while the bald toned man just ignored him and listened to his earphones. Renji kept coming to the gym on that day, and the two weirdos were always there. Yumichika sometimes just sat cross legged in front of the treadmill, read through magazines and Renji wondered if the two were a couple or something, since Yumichika never did anything except watch him run or stare at models. He also didn't know why the employees allowed him to buy any gym passes if he doesn't even do anything but loiter around, but knowing how expensive gym passes can be they are probably willing to take anyone really.
The two would often fight, and Renji would try turning up his music's volume, but always found himself accidentally eavesdropping in their lives.
"And he totally looked at my ass, Ikkaku, can you believe that ugly buffoon even bothered to do that?!"
Ikkaku sighs, "Maybe, I don't know, he's always had a thing for you though."
"So you wouldn't mind if I suddenly decided to go out with him?"
Ikkaku nearly falls off the treadmill at Yumichika's awkward question. Ikkaku's face is flustered, "Of course I'm fine with that. Do whatever the fuck you want with him!"
Renji notices from Yumichika's cross legged position on the carpeted floor that he smirks, and tosses his long hair over his shoulder, "Nah. He really isn't my type." Ikkaku mutters something angrily under his breath as he glares at the smirking man teasing him from the ground.
Most of their fights would be just stupid things, but one day when Renji walked to his usual treadmill that was vacant, he noticed that neither of them were there. Renji thought maybe something bad happened to them, and for some reason decided to look at all the other sections and even the change-rooms for them. He couldn't explain why he even cared for these weird men, but over the past months he guesses he just became so invested in their conversations it almost felt like he was somehow friends with them. It was the closest thing Renji had to having friends.
Renji headed back to his treadmill and noticed Ikkaku dropping his gym bag roughly in front of the treadmill, Renji is slightly startled to see him, but is glad at least one of them showed up. Ikkaku saw Renji just as he get's onto the treadmill, "You're later than usual, pineapple head."
Renji groans, "Don't call me that, it's a horrible nickname. My hair may be weird, but it isn't a pineapple!" Renji goes onto his treadmill also, and takes his Iphone out of his pocket in hopes of drowning out this idiot's words. Before he puts the headphones into his ears the bald man laughs loudly, and Renji's head snaps to him, practically seeing red. Renji felt like punching the bald man in the face.
"I'm just pulling your leg! Relax, I didn't give you that nickname, okay?" the bald man states, his voice trails off towards the end, and he sounds bummed out about something.
Renji raises an eyebrow at the man who is looking at every direction except for him, "You mean the feather dude that comes with you to the gym? The gossip queen?"
Ikkaku smiles slightly at Renji's joke and mutters, "Yeah, him."
"Well when I see him Ill make sure he doesn't call me that again."
The bald man cackles, "Hah! Yumichika doesn't stop blabbing after getting shaken up by someone, it only encourages him to blab about you more. And if you didn't know, Yumichika knows about everything and everyone, the minute you get on his bad side, he'll throw you under the bus, drive over you, and back up to drive over you again. Then, he would get your remains and burn them to a pile of ash."
"Wow, well maybe I shouldn't talk to him them. Where is he, anyways?" Renji questions, "Did he not feel up to filing his nails today?" Ikkaku doesn't laugh and scratches his neck lightly, "I don't think you'll see him here again."
"What, he got sick of seeing my pineapple hair?" Renji asks, slightly wondering what happened with Yumichika and Ikkaku.
"Nah, he's just angry at me, that's all, no big deal."
"Ah, I see," Renji states.
After that Renji asked around to where Yumichika lived, he didn't ask Ikkaku since he didn't want the bald man to stop him from getting involved. Surprisingly it was easy to find out his location, and he then found himself standing in front of the weird feather haired man's door, and even got enough courage to knock.
"I'm coming!" he heard from behind the door. Yumchika unlocks the door, and opens it slightly, peeking his head out to see who it was. "Who exactly are you?" Yumichika asks, his noise wrinkling at Renji's presence.
"You don't recognize me, does pineapple head ring a bell?"
Before he knew it, he was standing inside Yumichika's dorm room, his roommate was apparently visiting family over the weekend so no one else was there. The silence was thick, and Renji notices how messy the place is, and the fact that Yumichika had a bunch of junk food on the coffee table, including a tub of ice cream with a spoon in it. The T.V. was paused at what it seemed to be a movie, and he was guessing a cheesy romantic comedy.
"Getting over a break up?" the red hair man asks, his eyebrows raised slightly. His small eyes focus on Yumichika's hunched form on the couch. Yumichika's hair is a mess and Renji doesn't think he would enjoy looking in the mirror he always brought to the gym. Yumichika sighs, "Look, I appreciate you coming here to help, but no offense, this isn't really any of your damn business. So I think you should leave."
Yumichika's light eyes bore a hole into Renji's brain, and the man wonders if maybe it was a bad idea to bother him in the first place. The man can be quite scary. "Listen, I know I'm nobody to you, but ignoring your friends, someone like Ikkaku, isn't going to solve anything. You need someone to help you out sometimes, even if you don't want any of it. Trust me, I know what it's like to feel like your alone - in fact I don't even have any friends yet from this fucking school. So if you want to wallow away in your self pity, and eat away your problems then" -
Yumichika puts his hand up, and Renji closes his mouth. Yumichika states flabbergasted, "Wait, you don't have ANY friends?! God, I've had like a million girls ask about who you were and you don't have any friends?!"
"Did you even listen to what I just said?" Renji protests, as he face palms.
Yumichika grins, and runs to the bathroom, "That's it, I can't wait till I tell Ikkaku about this! I will get ready as soon as I can, just make yourself comfortable!" Renji eyes the messy couch and coffee table. He stands there awkwardly as he listens to the sound of Yumichika humming in the shower. Renji rubs his forehead wondering why he wanted to make these two guys his friends in the first place.
Renji sighs to himself at remembering the horrible experiences throughout college, and being set up on a bunch of dates by Yumichika, who was distracting himself from getting over his own heartbreak. Ikkaku acted as though Yumichika's ex-boyfriend was irrelevant and didn't even care about what happened, but Renji remembered seeing the ex and that he was scared to even be in the same area as Ikkaku. Renji smiles at his two friends who were fighting over his love life, remembering how much Ikkaku didn't like showing he cared for the stylish man, known as Yumichika.
He wasn't sure how much they cared for one another, but he always thought the two would figure it all out on their own. He was glad the two of them were here tonight, despite not liking where they were, he knew if it were anyone in the world that could help him get over a woman it would be these two weirdos. Yumichika and Ikkaku did it once when he was heartbroken over Rukia, and now they will probably do it again. But he wonders whether he should really give up on this love so easily, when it's so obvious that she feels the same way.
...
Friday - 9:25 pm
"Welcome home!" Yoruichi grins, as Ururu and Jinta walk into their small but quaint home. Urahara follows into the door after the two kids, who immediately hug their adoptive mother by the legs. Yoruichi bends down while hugging them back and begins kissing both of their heads. Jinta groans out in protest but it only encourages the dark skinned woman to continue her kissing frenzy.
"Don't I get a welcome home kiss?" Urahara teases slightly, his grey eyes glinting in the bright room. Yoruichi rolls her eyes, before elbowing him angrily, "Yeah, right! You all left me here alone to have fun on your own! I'm not giving you anything fool!"
Urahara pouts in response to his wife's statement, before grinning wildly, "How about we all go out to eat for dinner, maybe at, 'Ken & Yachiru's' I'll pay for everything!" Ururu and Jinta yell an astounding yes to Urahara's offer, and begin rushing to their rooms to drop off their suitcases. "I'm getting sushi for sure!" Jinta yells loudly, and Ururu just mumbles something quietly to herself.
The two kids run back quickly, and they begin talking as Yoruichi sits down to put her shoes on, and Urahara begins getting her jacket out for her. Yoruichi whispers, "Isn't that Ichigo's workplace?"
Urahara grins as Yoruichi ties her boots, "Exactly, I get to see why he's turning down my numbers~!"
"They're not even real." Yoruichi deadpans.
"He doesn't know that though," Urahara suggests, with a wink at the end of his sentence. Her yellow eyes glare a hole at Urahara's head, with that ridiculous hat he's always wearing sitting just where her eyes could see it. She swears she will force Urahara to take off that horrible hat even if it means allowing him to have some fun.
Yoruichi sighs to herself from her husband's crazy ideas while putting on her leather jacket, but grins nonetheless, deciding to make the most out of Ichigo's misery. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's get going you guys," Yoruichi states with a soft smile to the kids, and the two young ones sprint outside towards their small van parked in the driveway at the side of their small house.
"This is going to be fun!" Jinta exclaims, as the family pile into the van. The two adults were thinking along the same lines, but with something totally different in mind.
...
Friday - 9:50 pm
"Hello, my young employee!" Urahara singsongs, "can you get my beautiful wife some beer please?"
Ichigo's head snaps to the sound of the familiar teasing voice, and Ichigo feels as if they entire world is just wanting him to have an even worse day than it already was. "Urahara?!" Ichigo yells, immediately moving towards where Urahara was standing squished against some other man's shoulders who is sitting at the bar drinking a cold beer.
Urahara grins from ear to ear, "Ichigo, this place is quite nice, and I'm surprised your a bar tender! Definitely didn't expect that!" Urahara's missing his usual weird striped hat, and he almost seems naked to Ichigo simply because Urahara always wears that hat. "What are you doing here?" Ichigo asks as he grudgingly pours the glass of beer his other boss ordered.
"I'm here to enjoy a meal since I just got back from my trip!" Urahara explains, his toothy grin still not fading.
"Who's this Ichigo?" Gin asks, after returning from getting an update from Riruka. Gin can tell from Ichigo's angered expression that he definitely knew the blonde man from somewhere. "He's my boss from my other job," Ichigo scowls, still not happy to see the smirking man.
"Here you go, and this is your extra bill that you have to pay along with dinner," Ichigo states after handing Urahara the beer, and the receipt. Urahara looks around as if looking for someone else, and Ichigo questions, "What are you looking for, Urahara?"
"Just wondering where the pretty girl is, there has to be one if you don't accept any of the numbers I give you," Urahara explains, his eyes challenging Ichigo, and glancing towards Gin. The silver haired man grins at Urahara and states, "Well, Inoue-chan has some interest in Ichi, but he doesn't seem to want any of it!"
Urahara just utters a resounding, "oh." Ichigo's cheeks heat up slightly, but his frown just deepens, hoping the two would just lay off of him already. Before Gin could add onto his statement with who knows what more knowledge he has on him, another much higher voice this time yells, "Hello~!"
A woman takes the seat of a man who just left the bar, and Ichigo notices her gaze brightening towards them. Ichigo glances at Gin, who's blue eyes are widening at the sight of her sitting at their bar. Urahara muses, "Ichigo, is this Inoue-chan? If it is, then she's very well endowed."
Gin immediately responds slightly offended, "No, that's my friend, I better go and talk with her." Ichigo's eyes widen in realization, he grab's onto Gin's shirt's collar before the man can walk any further, Ichigo saying, "Wait a minute, a friend? You mean, Ran-chan?"
Gin shrugs Ichigo's grip off, and grins slyly, "Hm, maybe."
Gin heads over to the bright woman, who is wearing a red dress and her long strawberry blonde hair is swept together into a high ponytail, the thick layers cascading down her exposed back. Her light blue eyes were almost white, and Ichigo definitely notices her extremely large chest practically spilling out of her dress. Ichigo thinks this woman is extremely beautiful, and probably model worthy, but the fact that Gin knows her opened his eyes in a way he never realized could be possible. The two may be different but Ichigo thinks they contrast each other well, the woman grabs onto Gin's hand, and he looks away slightly back at Urahara and himself who were watching them intently before looking back to the woman.
"Hm, your co worker seems to have someone, but really Ichigo, don't you have your eyes on a girl yet?" Urahara asks, this time his smile is gone, and his mouth is set in a straight line.
For some reason Ichigo's mind strays back to Mai, and specifically who's taking care of her right now. He was worried about what the two were up to before when he started work, but by now it felt like he could trust Rukia despite just meeting her again after their first meeting ages ago. Urahara notices Ichigo's look of thought and just closes his eyes with a small smile, "I guess you do, Ichigo. Well, don't worry I'll stop pestering you with numbers, just treat her well, okay?"
Ichigo is about to object to Uahara's statement but realizes that it may be alright to lie to Urahara since he wouldn't know otherwise, and also since he would now be left alone about dating someone. Urahara raises the glass at Ichigo before leaving with it, and Ichigo notices that Yoruichi and their two kids were laughing about something at their table right when Urahara sat down. Urahara smiles, and begins talking with them. Ichigo notices Yoruichi taking a sip from her beer, and intertwining her left hand with Urhara's since they were sitting side by side on the table. Ichigo's eyes look down at the bar counter and he wonders whether he should dismiss the idea of finding love again. He didn't want to get hurt again, but maybe love was worth trying again, no matter how much he got hurt. Ichigo shakes his head, immediately pushing away those strange thoughts. He 's thinking rubbish there's no way that would work out, he has Mai to worry about and he can't support anyone else.
...
Saturday - 12:50 am
Rukia nearly closes her tired lids as she stares at the muted news channel on her plasma screen T.V. She sighs and looks at the time once again wondering if she should just head to bed despite the young girl sleeping in it already. She has faith Ichigo would come, but he's almost an hour late form picking Mai up. She hopes nothing bad happened to him when driving home, there have been many car accidents in this side of town, and she couldn't take out the possibility he may have gotten in one. But he would call her if he was late , right? She gave him her landline's number in case of any emergency. Rukia rubs her eyes and decides to check on Mai again because she's just paranoid like that. She now understands why parents always worry about every little thing that their kids do, it's very scary being responsible for another person's life.
Before she opens the door to her bedroom, she hears a knock on the front door. She turns and can see the shadow of two shoes standing in front of the door through the crack at the bottom emitting light into the dark apartment. She's about to turn on her apartment's lights but decides to leave them off since she doesn't want to bother Mai in her beauty sleep.
Rukia opens the door slowly, wishing she had a peephole so that she knew before opening the door who it is. But then again, if she did have that, she probably wouldn't have opened the door for Ichigo when he need help. The fact that this happened in one day is crazy since it felt like this day was far longer than that. That's when she remember's it's already Saturday, in fact 12:50 am. So she guesses it's been past an entire day, which explains why it felt so long.
She sees the familiar work uniform that Ichigo left with, and opens the door fully to see Ichigo staring tiredly at her. He seems even more exhausted than her, and she's been awake since 6:00 am this morning. "Ichigo," Rukia whispers, and Ichigo almost jolts awake from her statement, his eyes locking onto hers. She feels bad for him since he seems to work so hard just to make ends meet all for his little girl.
She gives him a worried look, "Are you okay?"
Ichigo nods, and sidesteps her into her apartment, and she closes the door behind him. She feels weird having him standing in her apartment, almost nervous. It didn't make any sense, since he was already in here before when he left Mai with her, but she didn't feel nervous then. Was it because it was so dark? The only light illuminating the room was through the cracks of the front door, from the low kitchen kitchen counter light, and the T.V. that is still on. She didn't mind when Renji was in her apartment, but that was just Renji. She just assumes it's because there hasn't been a man in her apartment in awhile.
She can't see Ichigo's face clearly since he's so damn tall, but she can see his figure standing in the entryway. "You don't have to take off your shoes," Rukia says, and he turns to face her. She isn't sure what his expression is, so she just turns her head to the side where her bedroom is located.
"She's asleep in my room," Rukia says still whispering so that Mai won't wake up. He nods, and she leads the way to her room, Ichigo following quickly behind. She reaches for the doorknob and opens the door slowly, hoping Mai doesn't wake up yet.
"She fell asleep quickly," Rukia says, her eyes looking at Mai in the bed. She adds, "And I made sure she took a bath beforehand."
Ichigo gazes at Rukia's room for a moment, noticing the small desk in the corner, completely messy and piling with many papers. Ichigo resists the urge to clean it, and rests his eyes on Mai's form. It's hard to see the child's form in the dark since she molds into the sheets so tightly, but Ichigo quickly finds her light skinned face peeking from under the sheets.
"You didn't have to do that, Rukia." Ichigo felt as though he owes her more for even giving Mai a bath. Ichigo reaches into his suit pant pocket, planning to give her money for babysitting Mai, but Rukia grips onto his hand. Ichigo freezes at the touch of her cold fingers, "It's fine Ichigo, I don't want any money. Just please, take her back home."
Ichigo's eyes struggle to meet her eyes since it's so damn dark in the apartment, but he can tell from Rukia's firm voice that she wouldn't let up. He decides he would repay her some other way later. Ichigo lifts the sheets and Mai immediately curl's into fetal position on her left side, her wavy hair in her face. Mai's clutching onto the stuffed lion he had when he was a kid; it's one of the only things left that he has from his old hometown, seeing her with it always reminds him of Karakura.
He picks her up quickly, feeling Rukia's stare on his back causing his face to heat up slightly. He felt like leaving immediately since the darkness is giving him weird thoughts, and making everything even more intimate than it needs to be.
"That lion, does it have a name?" Rukia wonders out loud, since she forgot to ask Mai what it's name was. Mai had fallen asleep so quickly she never had the chance to ask.
Ichigo is caught off guard by her question but answers truthfully anyways, "His name is Kon." He is about to change the subject but decides to continue, "When I was little he was my favourite toy, and now it's her favourite." He smiles towards the end of his sentence and looks down at the little girl in his arms.
"Oh, that's interesting."
He notices when he strokes Mai's head that her hair is completely dry, he wonders if Rukia actually convinced her to sit through blow drying all of her hair. Mai hates the blow dryer with a passion, and always sleeps with wet hair once a week, since it's all he can afford. Rukia's eyes land on Mai, and she lightly smiles at the girl, and also rakes her fingers through the girl's soft locks.
Ichigo stiffens slightly, not expecting Rukia to reach out to his daughter, but sighs in relief when he realizes what she's doing. He didn't know why he worried though, it's not like Rukia would be reaching for him or anything. "Oh, I almost forgot, she coloured this for you," Rukia whispers softly, and opens a folded piece of paper to reveal a coloured colouring page. Ichigo couldn't see it too well, and decides to look at it when he gets back to his apartment. Rukia folds it back up and stuffs the paper into Ichigo's shirt pocket which he is thankful for since he literally has no extra hands.
The two adults head back to the entryway, and Rukia opens the door for Ichigo, and follows him outside. The two are taken aback by the bright lights in the hall, Rukia squinting in the new light. "My keys are in my right pocket," Ichigo says quietly, and Rukia quickly gets the keys from his pocket, feeling slightly awkward plunging her hand into his pocket. She finally grips the keys and unlocks his front door, taking longer than usual because of Ichigo's gaze on her back. Ichigo heads inside immediately, and disappears from Rukia's vision into what she guesses to be a bedroom. Rukia stares at the keys in her hands, and yawns to herself since she's quite tired. Her eyes close for a moment, and when she opens them Ichigo is standing in front of her his hand reaching to the keys.
"Oh, here." Rukia utters, while giving him his apartment's keys.
Ichigo smiles slightly but it vanishes almost instantly returning to his tired expression and now that Rukia is in the light of the hallway she can actually see Ichigo's face and purple bags under his eyes. She reminds him, "Get some rest, okay? I'll give you the toys she brought over to you tomorrow." Ichigo mumbles an inaudible, "Yeah." He begins closing the door, and Rukia turns to leave to her apartment, but he remembers something he forgot to tell her.
He grabs the girl's thin wrist, "Rukia. Thank you, for everything." He scratches his neck awkwardly as he let's her wrist go, "I mean, I really needed someone tonight and I'm just glad you were kind enough to actually care about us -I mean - um, Mai." Ichigo's amber eyes avert from Rukia's peering violet's with similar purple bags under her eyes but not as prominent as Ichigo's.
She suddenly leans onto her tiptoes and Ichigo looks at her startled, not expecting this to happen. His heart stops for a moment, until her hand outstretches higher than his face, landing onto his head and she lightly ruffles his spiky unruly hair. Ichigo's cheeks heat up at the touch, but he somehow recovers by averting his gaze from her, for some reason he doesn't even slap her small hand away from stroking his hair. "I'ts no problem Ichigo," she says with a grin. Her hand comes off his head, Ichigo immediately misses the touch of her hand, and she turns away from him with the smile still present on her pale face. She waves while she continues to walk away.
"Goodnight Rukia," he states, and Rukia responds with the same.
"Goodnight, Ichigo."
Ichigo guesses it wasn't too bad of a night after all.
A/N that took much longer than I thought it would, and this time I took time in editing it, so I finished writing it yesterday but couldn't post it, but I really wanted to guys trust me. But it had a lot of mistakes and some things I needed to add in. I don't know where this is heading, but I'm excited nonetheless! :)