Chapter 6 - Revealed Truth
After praying long enough in front of the gravestones, they were about to leave but stopped as they heard new voices. It sounded like... "Oh, shit."
Ichigo quickly turned to her left and saw two shadows, one tall and one almost half the taller shadow's height coming closer. It was too late to hide or make an excuse to walk away, as they arrived in front of her family and saw them, and as expected Byakuya looked at her with a bit of shock.
"Hi." Rukia greeted with that innocence as usual, and she got hellos from everyone except Ichigo who was extremely dumbfounded to the core, along with being horrified.
Byakuya didn't expect this. Though her hair looks different, he knows from the slim, slender, tall and firm physique and the orange hair that it's her. So that was why he thought once that black wasn't her hair color all the time.
How could he have been so blind that the girl whose identity he wanted to know is actually her neighbor?
Ichigo bit her lip, her family unaware of the awkward silence coming from her. It was over, now she's expecting the worst. "Ichigo, what's wrong?" Rukia asked, and Byakuya gently touched her shoulder.
"I'll be talking to her for a while, in private. Is that fine with you?" He tried not to sound too suspicious. Isshin agreed, and immediately Byakuya walked closely to Ichigo, telling her to follow him. She did so, looking normal as he took hold of her wrist.
Ichigo couldn't tell if Byakuya is angry at her or not but she knew he is as shocked as she is.
They stopped after they went behind a large tree that's a little far, and Ichigo could see Rukia talking to her family before looking back at Byakuya, who is dangerously close to her with eyes that she is unable to read.
Knowing what this meant, she decided to act as if she has no idea what's happening, if that is the only to get herself out of the mess without violence or anyone else knowing the truth without a big scene occurring.
"Why are you so close? I thought you're just going to talk to me."
She already was used to playing dumb to get herself out of the mess with other troublemakers. She didn't make a reaction of fear but inside, she was getting more nervous the longer she stayed this close to him, with little distance between them.
He said nothing to her question as the cold but enigmatic eyes continued to drill in her like a spike.
She didn't make a move to run, not wanting to arouse his suspicion even more. "Don't think you can get away by playing dumb" She refused to give up, and persisted that she has no idea.
"Okay, what the hell are you talking about?" She kept her voice low, so that they wouldn't get the attention of the people from afar. He continued being silent and looked deeply at her yellowish-brown eyes.
"Hey, I don't get what you're talking about, you're creeping me out..." She continued acting oblivious, but he silenced her with a deep kiss, holding her wrists and pinning her hands to the thick tree. It also started to shower, but he didn't care.
Her hands were shaking, forming light fists but it was hard to resist his kiss. His lips felt the same like before, but there was more passion in this kiss. He didn't understand why he would do this again, and he's not the type to act this recklessly.
She closed her eyes, the grip on her hands loosening and her hands grabbed his shoulders, shaking a little and soon they let go. Ichigo felt her chest agonizing again, and her cheeks burning. It swept her away. She looked down, while admitting the truth.
"I lied to you before. The girl you danced with and kissed... is me." She cursed herself for removing the dye off her hair today, letting her personal reasons get in the way. Only if she could turn back time she would prevent this.
"All this time it was you and you never told me." That wasn't a question and she tried not to say anything, from the pain that she endured for nearly two weeks. But it was a failed attempt.
"I could never tell you. It's a scandal isn't it? A teacher and a student kissing, in a prom. For the whole time, I couldn't forget about that, and I tried to move past it but now that we're living next to each other, it's too difficult."
Byakuya felt strange from her words, from what he did just now, and what he did two weeks ago. Why did he have to get carried away? He wasn't mad at her. How should he know that it would lead to this?
"Every time I'm close to you, my heart aches and I don't understand. It was just a kiss, I keep telling myself that. So why is it bothering me like it's..." It was hard to finish the sentence and say any more. Byakuya wanted to say something in return but he stayed quiet, confused with himself.
She didn't cry and glared at him to keep her strength up. But when she saw his hair soaked in the rain, a repressed memory came back to her mind.
Her head pounded like crazy in a flash, and she held her head, her back against the thick trunk. Byakuya approached her, the feeling of worry overriding his need for answers from her. He touched her shoulders, asking her what's wrong as she grunted in pain, her head ringing like it's being electrocuted.
"Mom! Wake up! Please... wake up..." A seven year-old Ichigo cried, shaking her mother's body, tears streaming down from her bloodshot eyes. It rained heavily, and her cries could only be heard by the cloaked man with the bloody blade going closer but she didn't care, for she was focused only on her mom who was now dead.
A sixteen year-old man was just passing by without an umbrella, as he thought that it would be sunny all day from the news report that morning. Just then he heard a soft cry, moreover a loud cry which is nearly drowned out by the loud sound of the rain.
"Please wake up!" He heard, and approached the child.
"What happened?"
"Mom won't wake up..."
While rubbing her nose that went all runny from crying she saw the killer behind him her eyes immediately went wide.
"LOOK OUT!" She shouted with her small voice, and the man was quick enough to dodge a fatal blow from the killer, and immediately he grabbed her wrist and they ran.
Ichigo was now more concerned for her life, but she still didn't forget her mother. They ran long enough, and the man found a hideout under the bridge, a small abandoned room that had enough space for them to rest.
He felt sorry for the kid who lost his mother, though he never felt sorry for anyone that much before. She lost her mother at such a young age, that was more than enough for him to feel compassion, even the slightest bit for someone else. She sobbed quietly. How could she tell her family about this?
They were just walking by the river, and all of a sudden a creepy looking man went to them out of nowhere and asked for money. Her mother politely refused and they were asked again. Then before she knew it, her mother got killed and she was held down brutally, and she used all of her strength to push him away for a while as she tried waking her mother up.
He sat down and placed her on his lap, patting her head while wiping her tears mixed with the rain. She coughed after sobbing a little more and he rubbed her back, as she leaned her head on his chest and cried again, feeling so warm being close to the man from the cold air of the rain.
She was too sad to ask for his name, and he kept her close to him as it made her calmer, he could tell, but she didn't stop crying. Wanting to comfort her he kissed her on the forehead, which she didn't react to it violently. But she blushed when he pecked her lips, only as an attempt to calm her down a little more.
"Thank you..." She muttered, and reached her hand up to his head, touching the short, black but silky locks and looked curiously at the white hair pins that held a part of his hair in place.
Seeing slight curiosity on her face he removed the pins and sighed, knowing that it was given to him as a reminder of his time before, when he was part of that family. They're a traditional equipment, and he found it difficult to throw it away even though how much he hated them.
Without saying anything, he took the girl's hand and placed the white pins on the small palm, and she thanked him. Her tears didn't stop. Those warm drops of sorrow won't cease.
She looked at the small wounds on her arms, and saw the small red drops of iron dying her skin red. Gray eyes gazed at the cuts with pity, and warm lips touched them to soothe the pain that it gave to the girl. He knew that it would scar, but this was the best he could do.
She cupped his cheeks with her small hands, and leaned forward for a peck on the lips, as a sign of thank you, as her eyes showed signs of feeling sleepy. He rested her head on his lap as she made a cute yawn and fell asleep.
He also had yet to ask for her name, but it didn't matter. He patted her soft hair colored like the sunset, and stayed awake for the whole time it rained as she napped with a peaceful face but with tearful eyes.
When the rain stopped and the sun emerged out of the sky, she woke up and got off the man's lap. He stood up and walked out the hideout, and she followed him. "Thanks..." She said, trying to hold herself back from crying again. "I have to go."
He let her run back to where her mother is still, and can hear the cries of some people, like they're searching for her. He couldn't make out the name that was being called out loudly, but he didn't care. He walked away, wondering if they'll ever cross paths again. He was glad to give a child comfort, for he didn't want to see a child in pain as he was in pain when he was still very young.
"Byakuya..." It was the first time she called out his name. And after so many years, a tear escaped her eye. She didn't understand this hurting feeling. Though she never asked for his name, she could tell it was him. But her will caused her to shed only one tear, not any more. He brushed the tear away, and he felt his heart beating so loudly.
Just by being this close to her, just by holding her, he felt strange. Ichigo looked at him with a mysterious but entrancing look into her eyes, and closed it, her plump lips ready to get taken again.
She remembered, that though their time together in the past was very short, she already have fallen, and from the shock of the deaths and the grief made her forget. She had the feeling that he forgot already, but it was a long time ago.
But, a calm voice caused her to open her eyes in shock to prove otherwise. "You were the girl from back then right? The one who lost her mother." She was surprised, but also happy that he remembered.
The moment they're sharing right now was awkward and caused by complicated reasons, but they treasured it nonetheless. He leaned close to her face and she closed her eyes again, completely letting her guard down as she embraced his neck with her firm arms, and they made the kiss even deeper, as the rain slowed down and didn't pour that much.
Byakuya didn't know what got over him. He didn't know why he let himself do this, and above all, he didn't know why he would feel this much for her because of something so simple at the same time, so complicated.
They continued to hold each other while their lips were in deep contact, their hearts racing but they ignored it as they felt different. Different as in they never felt it their whole lives and they only felt it now, in each others' embrace, their lips never letting go.
Only for this moment did they let the barriers around them shatter and fade, that is why something in them didn't want it to end.
A/N: Don't get the wrong idea. This is not the ending, because though they have feelings they have yet to confess to each other and well their pasts will catch up to trouble their soon-to-be-formed romantic relationship. Until next chapter! :D