A/N: I have to confess that I'm a little sad. This story didn't get that many reviews… I'm not really sure how you guys like this story. With that being said I wanted to thank blackirishawk for reviewing, your constant support and encouragement motivate me to update! I've told you this many times but I still don't think I tell you enough, you are awesome my friend!
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Do not own Bleach or Naruto.
Push
Orihime had endured the trial she was put through— she had come out a better person because of it. Seeing Ichigo and Rukia together had been painful at first, she wanted to just run away every time she saw them together looking at each other in that love filled way they did. In the way she wanted him to look at her. Over the year's time she became accustomed to it. To be honest she wasn't sure if she had gotten over it or if she had simply just gotten used to it. The point was that she had become numb to it. She no longer felt that longing she did whenever she saw them so happy and in love.
She hated feeling that way. She wanted to be the Orihime she used to be, the one everyone loved and wanted to be around. So she put up a façade in front of her friends one where they thought she had gotten completely over it. But at the end of the day no matter how skillful she thought she was, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself so she could feel better, she was never able to fool them… they could see right through her.
After graduation she was lost. She wasn't sure of what would become of her if she kept on this self destructive path. Upon learning of her friends' heartache, Hinata's and Sakura's, she finally received that rude awakening she had been waiting and searching for. She was disappointed in herself for wallowing in self-pity for so long. Her friends needed her. She had to be the friend they could lean on and rely on in their trials and she became that friend. That was the push that she had needed all this time.
Sora and Rangiku had worried over her all this time and they felt helpless at only being able to stand at the sidelines watching her self-destruct. That summer Rangiku had had enough and decided to take Orihime away for the rest of the summer. It had been a welcomed blessing. Rangiku was the most carefree grown-up she knew and spending time with her was the best thing that could have happened to her. She only wondered why she hadn't done it sooner. That summer was a summer of self discovery and fulfillment. She finally accepted things as they were.
The summer was now over and it was soon to be the start of the semester. She had come back energized and reinvigorated; ready for a new start. Before moving in to the apartment Rangiku had assigned herself the task of decorating it. Tatsuki couldn't have been more grateful, there were things that demanded her attention and were far more important like karate. She wasn't one to do such "girly things" as she had so nicely put it. She was more than glad to pass off the task to Orihime and Rangiku.
Upon arriving at the apartment Orihime saw the look of disappointment on Rangiku's face. The apartment was completely furnished and was spacious; it was a three bedrooms, large kitchen, and large living room monstrosity— no wonder it was so expensive. Karakura University was a private school and not at all easy to get into; its living quarters had to be up to par. Only wealth and brains were allowed inside its walls. The huge windows spanned the whole living room area and were floor-to-ceiling high; there were blinds on each allowing them privacy if needed. They could see outside clearly but were tinted and prevented anybody from looking in and not that they could since the apartment was on the eighth floor. The floor was made out of dark hardwood flooring throughout the living room, kitchen and hallway. The wall adjacent to the windows was made out of brick in different shades of gray with lighter shades of brown and Orihime loved it, a large flat screen TV was mounted high on the brick wall and an electric fireplace was below it. The couch was a very large, dark gray, L-shaped sectional with various dark plum throw pillows and Orihime wondered if somehow the owners knew women would be living there for the next four years, it was rather feminine in her opinion.
The kitchen and living room were separated by an almost black granite countertop that went around three sides of the kitchen, and was only interrupted by the various stainless steel kitchen appliances and sink. On the middle was an island with the same almost black granite top and dark wooden stools surrounding it. The kitchen was so beautiful it have Orihime an urge to cook and was glad Hinata would be living with them. Although her taste in food had matured, she still craved red bean paste on various things that should have no business being paired with the substance and would make other people cringe at the combination. She would try to keep out of the kitchen for Tatsuki's sake.
"Orihime it's beautiful! Don't you just love it?" She had been too awed by the luxury that she had forgotten she wasn't alone, next to her Rangiku had a similar expression on her face. "I can't wait to see the rooms I bet they're just as great!" The blonde almost ran to the hallway where Orihime could see three doors, one on the right, one on the left, and one straight ahead at the end.
Rangiku bounced to the one on the left and flung the door open. Her eyes flew wide open, "Oh, Orihime! It's gorgeous!" When she looked in she could see that it was. There was a small area next to the door that was made out of the same hardwood flooring as the rest of the apartment, but then the rest of the floor was a dark slate stone tile. Against the right wall was a rich mahogany platform bed dressed in cream sheets. On the wall on top of the headboard was an abstract painting in shades of red, orange, and yellow and next to the bed was a stand-up paper lamp. Across from the door was a shoji door— the rest of the wall consisted of the same material— that had been left wide open. A small hallway could be seen and Orihime walked towards it and as she followed it she saw another door. She stopped briefly before opening it and felt Rangiku right behind her, when she opened it the bathroom was revealed.
It was just as luxurious as everything else and was in the same color scheme. It was medium in size, there was a standup shower in one corner and a bathtub large enough for two. The only light in the bathroom came from some light fixtures on top of the vanity but made it all the more alluring. She heard Rangiku grumble next to her, "I didn't know dorms were this nice. Are you sure I can't stay with you, too?"
Orihime giggled, the blonde had been trying to convince her ever since the trip that all four of them should have a slumber party that lasted the whole semester. If she was around as much as she wanted to, Orihime was afraid that they wouldn't get any schoolwork done. Rangiku was incredibly afraid of the word "work" or anything that had to do with it and would therefore try to get them out of things that had anything to do with it. "That's because they're not dorms they're apartments. They still belong to the university though. And no, you can't stay but you can visit when we don't have major assignments, midterms, or finals."
The voluptuous blonde pouted at the redhead for ruining the possibility of her fun. "You're no fun Orihime, how am I not supposed to feel lonely now that I won't see you as much?" So that's what this was about. Rangiku broke up with her boyfriend of five years last year; well it hadn't been a break-up as much as him abandoning her. Gin Ichimaru had been the love of her life and he just up and left one day without an explanation. At first Orihime had been crept out by the white haired man, his squinted eyes and never fading smile gave her chills, but over time he won her over— he won them all over including Sora. Gin and Rangiku had been living together for the past three years and everyone wondered when he would pop the question. Rangiku wouldn't talk about it and the few times that it did come up she'd say it wasn't important to her as long as Gin was by her side. She couldn't fool her though. The day her best friend Nanao Ise gave them the news that her long-term and much older boyfriend Shunsui Kyōraku had finally asked her to marry him, she saw how much it did bother her. What made things worse was the fact that it was shortly after that Gin left. Nobody knew why he had done it and he hadn't even left a note; he hadn't taken anything and Rangiku still had his things stored away. Orihime wondered when she would recuperate from that, the blonde had seemed as if nothing happened and Gin had never been an important part of her life, so even mentioning his name became forbidden.
"Like I said you can still visit or I'll visit you. Don't forget you still have Sora, he'll be feeling lonely too." Orihime offered. She couldn't help worrying about her brother they had never been apart from each other and she missed him already.
"I know but Sora only works, works, and works! He never wants to do anything fun." A pout remained permanent on her lips. "Oh, I just remembered Tōshiro is going to be starting at a university too! I can't remember which one it was that he said…" She had her finger on her chin and her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration from trying to remember. "I can bug him too!"
Tōshiro Hitsugaya was Rangiku's godson and was Orihime's age. She hadn't seen him in years. His parents had been close friends of Rangiku's; all three had grown up together, and couldn't see anyone better than her to be his godmother. They had passed away when he was really young leaving his grandmother as his guardian and Rangiku to watch over him. Ever since then Orihime had spent time with him frequently up until they started high school. "I haven't seen little Shiro in years! How's he been doing?" Orihime missed the short white haired boy although he had probably grown since then.
Rangiku perked up, "I saw him before we went on our trip and he was excited to get started with school. I really should've paid more attention to what school he told me he would be attending, which reminds me I need to pay him and his grandmother a visit this week since you'll be starting next week." She made her way back to the bedroom and out to the main hall with Orihime trailing behind her. "I'm not very happy with those bland bed sheets at least there's something I'll get to decorate. Let's check out the rest of the rooms!" Before she finished she almost danced towards the room on the right.
Orihime followed behind her and when the door was opened she saw that it was the same as the other room and also had its own bathroom. When they finished with the room at the end they were happy to discover that all three bedrooms had their private bathroom. "At least it'll make getting ready easier since we won't fight over who gets a turn first," Orihime was really starting to get excited she had never been on her own before.
Rangiku nodded, "And they all have the same boring sheets so I can do some shopping after all!" She was now smiling brightly. "When are the girls moving in?" She asked.
"Well Tatsuki send me a text that she'd be coming over later tonight after she was done at the dojo, and Hinata called saying that Neji was driving her over tomorrow-"
The older woman gasped looking at her wristwatch, "Then we have to hurry I only have a few hours before Tatsuki gets here."
Orihime raised her eyebrow slightly, "Rangiku you're only buying bed sheets-"
She almost looked like she had been insulted, "I'm 'only buying bed sheets'!" She grabbed Orihime by her wrist and pulled her to the door.
Unsurprisingly it took three hours for Rangiku to pick what she wanted; a red and black set for Orihime, midnight blue and black for Tatsuki, a plum and black for Hinata, and some other decorative items. They were beautiful sets, Rangiku had great taste in everything, but Orihime was frustrated it had taken so long. When they got back to the apartment, they almost ran in since it had gotten so late. Orihime had wanted to wait for the girls to decide who wanted what room, but Rangiku made that choice for them when she changed the sheets. The one on the left ended up being Orihime's, the one at the end Hinata's, and the one on the right Tatsuki's. Not that it made a difference since they looked exactly the same. Just as they were finishing with the last one, Tatsuki's soon-to-be room, they heard jingling at the door.
"Orihime, are you here?" Tatsuki finally managed to push the door open and put the only two suitcases she had brought with her personal belongings inside before closing the door. She looked around at the room and saw that it was a lot more than what she had in mind. 'Leave it to the rich to consider this proper housing for college students…' This was extravagant to say the least and not at all what she had thought the apartment would look like. Then again this was Karakura University, playground of the wealthy and filthy-rich. She wondered how they had all ended up here. Her family was not poor in any sense of the word; they owned several renowned dojos across the region and her father was a recognized martial arts expert. Even then Tatsuki had never lumped herself with the rich, and other than Orihime, Hinata, Rukia, and Sasuke who came from families with great fortunes, she couldn't stand the lot of them. 'Pompous pricks.'
The group came from families with money, if not they wouldn't have been admitted in the first place, but they were all very humble about it they never used their families' riches to their advantage. Uryū's father, Ryūken Ishida, was a worldwide famous scientist. His knowledge extended far beyond what had been his initial field of study, which was medicine, if you could think of something that had made your life easier, chances were he had created it or had a hand in its inception. Chad's grandfather, who hailed from Mexico, had been a famous boxer once upon a time and had fought with the most famous of athletes. All he had ever won from his fights and fame he saved up and opened up his first professional boxing gym, he had passed away several years ago, but had left a trusted manager until Chad was able to take reigns of it if he wanted when he was older. He was receiving increasing royalties from it; it had expanded to three gyms.
Sakura's father was the founder of the most prosperous bank branch in the eastern hemisphere and there was talk of expansion overseas. Tenten's father was a sought after weapons maker, people came from all over to get their hands on one of his priceless works of art. Ino's mother was a world renowned botanist, and Ichigo's father was a country-wide acclaimed doctor. She loved her friends, not once did they flaunt what they had.
"Tatsuki!" The redhead came running out of a room demanding her attention. She ran towards her and hugged her raven haired best friend. Orihime helped her with one of the bags. Tatsuki signaled her not to bother but she shook her head and took one. "How do you like it? Or had you already seen it when you came to finish the paperwork?"
"No, this is my first time in here." She stated matter-of-factly. "They only asked me how many would be rooming together and if we wanted coed or not. They said everything would be taken care of from there." She looked around and saw the plum and grey sectional. "That would explain the purple. If I had said it would be males I think it would have been another color."
"You don't like the purple? I thought it was a really good color scheme." Rangiku said as she came out of the room.
Tatsuki smiled at the blonde, "No, I like it. It just explains why they wanted to know the gender. I'm sure Hinata will love it." At that the other two women nodded. "So how's the rest of it look?"
"Oh, it's really nice!" Orihime walked toward the kitchen to show her. Tatsuki saw the kitchen and hoped that Hinata would be doing most of the cooking. "You have to see your room! I wanted to wait for you to pick but Rangiku picked for us, she decorated them already. I hope you don't mind, they're all identical anyway, well not anymore now that Rangiku touched them up a little." She seemed to say it all in one breath, Tatsuki heard clearly when she paused and took a breath. Orihime opened the door eagerly.
Tatsuki had to admit it was rather nice, way more than what she was used to, but nice. She saw the midnight blue and black embroidered comforter with matching sheets and pillows. It was in her favorite color too. She could smell the pleasant fragrance coming from the candles on the dresser opposite the wall, she couldn't quite place it— it was exotic just her type of fragrance— but she liked it. She saw a shoji door that was open in front of her. "What's back there?"
Orihime nearly jumped from the excitement, "The bathroom we each have our own." Orihime knew getting ready wasn't an issue for Tatsuki, she was the type of girl that would take all of five minutes to get ready, and not that she thought Tatsuki needed more time— she thought her friend was a natural beauty. There would be times when she'd want to take an extra long relaxing bath and that's when they would have an issue since who didn't want to enjoy one from time to time? What if they all wanted to take one at the same time?
Tatsuki set her suitcase on the floor and took the one Orihime had and did the same. She walked to where she now knew the bathroom to be and saw that it was just like everything else on campus it seemed like, extravagant. She had seen the expensive and rare cars in the parking garage. Just the lobby of the building alone screamed "money". 'Everyone can indulge themselves every once in a while can't they?' She thought. If she kept true to her self and didn't let this lifestyle corrupt her life just like she had done all these years, things would be okay wouldn't they? Everything seemed to look much better.
Tatsuki and Orihime had spent their first night at the apartment. They had a long first night, Sora came to drop off Orihime's belongings after he got out of work later that day and she had helped her put her things away. Rangiku had stayed to help but ended up staying later than intended. By the time they went to bed it was past midnight and sleep had not come easily. This morning they had been awoken early in the morning by Rangiku who wanted to spend "quality girl time" with them. She seriously wondered where that woman got her energy and enthusiasm from.
Now they were all in the kitchen eating breakfast at eight in the morning. Tatsuki just wanted to go to sleep. While Orihime and Rangiku chatted the morning happily away Tatsuki heard someone at the door. She could hear a soft voice coming from behind it, one that sounded overly excited, and one that sounded very irritated. She stood up and when she was almost at the door it swung open.
A blur of dark golden brown rushed and collided with her. "Tatsuki I haven't seen you in weeks! I missed you!" She immediately recognized the voice.
"I'm sorry Hanabi. I've just been very busy at the dojo but I'm here now," She offered as if it was going to help her any.
Hanabi pulled away from the older girl, "And that's supposed to make up for it? We didn't spar all summer long and now that the semester's starting I won't see you at all."
She loved Hanabi like a younger sister, "I promise I'll take you to the dojo this week and I'll give you my undivided attention."
The youngest of the Hyūgas blushed slightly, "You don't have to be smug about it. I just miss spending time with you that's all." She brushed her hair away from her face, "You promised so now you have to do it."
"I will-" she saw Hinata walk inside with a small suitcase in her hand. Behind her she heard Orihime call out to their friend and she smiled warmly in turn.
The smile on Tatsuki's face left her when she saw the person she did not want to see. Neji Hyūga walked in with one purple suitcase in each hand. He slipped out of his shoes gracefully and walked up into the living room. Their eyes met and they both frowned. Hanabi looked behind her to see what had upset Tatsuki and saw her cousin giving the boyish girl the same look and smirked.
The prospect of today being a good day had gone out the window as soon as Neji walked through the door. 'Arrogant jerk…' just the sight of him made her stomach turn… and not in a good way. "Hyūga," she said out of pure consideration for Hinata and Hanabi if not she would have punched his face in greeting and kicked him out.
"Arisawa," he nodded and said in a cool and collected tone— or so he attempted. Tatsuki could feel the same hate she felt for him clear in his voice. The others would think they were merely being courteous to each other but they both knew otherwise, the intense feeling was mutual. They continued to stare at each other, brown challenging white-silver, neither backing down. Today was not going to be a good day.
A/N: That's a decent length I think. I have to stop though plot bunnies have invaded me once again. Why, oh why, do they have to pop up? I think you guys can guess who it would probably be. I did say there would be several stories branching out from A Revelation in the Light of Day. I did not intend to add the last part of the chapter, but I saw I was on page 6 and I felt bad because I'd end up cutting it shorter than the others (I want them to be somewhat on the same pace). Then the last part just wrote itself. If you can guess who I have in mind, or if you would be interested reading about it, let me know! Please review it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading this chapter!
-Wyvernhail