ベリーと死神の3
Of Berries and Shinigami3
Sakura sat in front of her mother's picture memorial. Her arm -gently holding a tiny cross- carelessly thrown over her raised leg. It felt like one of those nights where she reminisced about the past and brought herself down by thinking she couldn't protect any one. The only people currently in the house were the two pairs of twins, goat face was out at a meeting a town over and wouldn't be arriving till the next day.
She flicked the lighter in her free hand on and off making sure not to catch anything on fire. She wore her favorite pair of red baggy cargo shorts with a black tank top. Looking at the picture she sighed and gave a small smile, the smile on her mother's face made her smile but only momentarily it always gave her a moment of peace.
She sighed as she lit the incense and bowed two times before speaking what she had always felt, "If i hadn't run off... You would have still been alive..." She stood up and looked at the picture one last time before she walked out of the small room. Looking at her watch she saw it was already 10:45. She heard another voice coming from their room and the crash of a table hitting a wall, 'Must be talking on the phone with the speaker on' she thought as she wandered off downstairs.
"Yuzu! Karin!" She called out from the foot of the stairs, "Time for bed!" No answer, she grumbled something about kids needing their sleep. She stopped in the middle if the living room when she felt a strange pressure on her back and chest followed by a loud roar.
"YUZU, KARIN!" she shouted just as a hand crashed through the wall. Without hesitation she threw herself in front of yuzu, letting herself get grabbed instead. As she was lifted she heard shouts' coming from Yuzu, as Karin was jammed underneath the beasts' free hand.
"ICHI- NII!" Yuzu shouted as she was knocked over. Sakura's arms were caught in the monsters grip, she couldn't do anything. She felt helpless and let her body go limp as the beasts grip on her became stronger. Right then before she closed her eyes and let her self pity overcome, Ichigo ran out with a woman in black in tow.
She regained a minimal amount of strength and managed to wriggle her arms free only to bite the creatures' hand, nearly dropping her. The pinkette fell to the ground with a stumble but ran towards Ichigo in a hurry. His eyes grew wide as she ran towards him, masked monster close behind her, "delicious reiatsu..." it hissed and opened its wide mouth just as Sakura reached Ichigo and tightly gripped his shirt, "Help Ichigo! For the love of god help!"
She freely let the tears streak down her face. She suddenly felt something warm splatter on her back and there stood the woman in black her shoulder being bitten by the beast, her katana in the creatures' mouth; slicing it open and taking out one of its multiple teeth. Looking at the woman defending them from the monsters maw she realized what her back was soaked and covered in from head to toe-blood… she was covered in blood. Her eyes grew wide and she began to shake uncontrollably.
The woman in black stumbled backwards and slid down a nearby telephone pole. Ichigo- now hugging an uncontrollable shaking Sakura- followed, "Are you ok?"
The girl nodded, "Yes but I can't continue, the wound is too harsh."
By then Sakura slipped Ichigo's hold and had her harshly gripped by the shoulders, "What are you doing! You have to protect them you're the only one who can do it!"
The raven haired girl smiled weakly, "You want to protect them right?"
Sakura and Ichigo nodded. "Then take my sword and stab it in your chest, I can transfer my powers over to you."
"You sure it'll work?" Ichigo's hesitant voice asked.
"I haven't done it before, but it should work..." she managed to say once sakura paused in her shaking. A small cough left her lips as she looked at the strawberry.
"You can give us…powers?" sakura asked, her eyes widening in hope, only to be crushed by Ichigo.
"No Sakura, just me. We don't know if it'll work or not." Ichigo grabbed her gently by the arm and helped her stand up to lean against the pole beside the woman in black. Ichigo couldn't help but look at his sisters face, the Cherry's tear stained face seemed to mirror his, one of pure hope.
Looking at the blood stained ground she held back her new wave of tears and nodded, Ichigo would save them… right? She looked back up at her brother once she heard the sound of metal momentarily scraping the asphalt ground.
A loud sound, similar to a boom encased the area. Light surrounded them and as soon as it came it disappeared. Sakura immediately looked at Ichigo who was now wearing a black kimono just like the strange woman's with a large sword strapped to his back by a red chain. Letting relief wash over her, she turned to the woman to see if she was alright but she was already up and limping towards her younger twin sisters flashing something in their scared faces. Everything after that point went into a blur, she remembered the raven haired girls once pitch black clothes had turned white, her saying something about Ichigo not being supposed to drain her power dry and Ichigo and her carrying the twins to bed.
Sakura was woken up, not by her father crashing in and waking them up abruptly, but by the ohs and awes of the rest of their family. She staggered down stairs and stepped through the large hole in the wall and noticed Ichigo staring dumbfounded at their family. She shrugged it off and went back inside to get dressed and grab a slice of toast before running off to school with Ichigo in tow.
The day passed by quickly and they decided to eat lunch together in class to talk about the night before events.
"That girl did something to yuzu and Karin..." she whispered as he nodded.
"Yea i know they both said a truck drove through the wall... "
"B-but what about your new powers?"
"Before the attack the girl and I were talking, apparently she's a Shinigami who fights demons called hollows and keep the balance of the world."
Sakura gave an unladylike snort, "that's total B.S., everyone knows Shinigami are just myths told to children to scare their pants off.
They continued speak in soft whispers till Keigo stormed over, "Is it true a truck rammed into your house!?"
Sakura faked a smile, "Yup we didn't even wake up, but we found a note left by the driver on top of the rubble."
Ichigo nodded, "We're expecting a contractor by the end of the day to quickly fix the wall."
Keigo nodded sagely then glomped sakura, which by Ichigo's standards was something some one shouldn't do to his sister.
"Is my Sakura-chan ok?! You're not hurt are you?"
Sakura's eye twitched and she punched him in the head, "The only hurt one here is you!" A girlish giggling was heard coming from behind Ichigo, the twins looked at who it was and noticed the raven haired girl from the night before.
" YOU!" they both shouted, pointing accusing fingers at the petite girl standing innocently with her hands clutching her student handbook.
"What you know her?" Keigo asked still rubbing his head.
"No, since I'm obviously new" the girl quickly responded," oh excuse me, my name is Rukia Kuchiki, and I hope we can become great friends." She bowed. Sakura sweat dropped and sat back down hoping she could continue to ask questions later. She ended up following them everywhere. Finally after school was over with they decided to go to a park near the school to question Rukia. Sakura swung herself on the swing while Ichigo leaned against the pole.
"I want to ask you something." the shinigami said.
"What is it?" questioned the pinkette as she swung her legs to and fro.
"Ichigo will have to take care over my duties as Shinigami till I regain my powers," She said nodding sagely. Ichigo sighed and quickly rejected while sakura took the clever route.
"If he says yes, what's in it for him?" sakura mentally smirked, 'hook line and sinker, maybe I should become a lawyer…' she inwardly sighed before dismissing the idea, ' never mind i already wanna become a doctor…'
"You get to protect those close to you." she stated simply. Sakura's fist grew tighter at the word protect. She planted her feet in the ground to stop her swinging and looked rukia straight in the eye, "He's in."
Ichigo mechanically turned his head to face his counterpart, "I am? I never agree-"
A beeping sound startled him, "perfect timing!" said rukia taking out her phone, "there's a few hollows around here"
Sakura stood up while Ichigo pointed at her so called phone, "is that really a phone?"
Rukia began putting a glove with a blue skull on them, "it's a soul pager, or soul phone however you want to call it. It notifies me of powerful reiatsu or hollows I can also contact Soul Society and it has the normal uses of a normal phone." she bluntly said before lunging towards him face palming them.
Sakura looked down at his limp body as Rukia started to grab him and position him under a tree and fixed him so it looked like he was asleep, "Just so they don't think you're dead..." she muttered.
Sakura watched as Ichigo killed the last minor hollow. She turned to see rukia smiling wide with satisfaction, "job well done!"
Ichigo nodded, "about earlier..." Ichigo started," I want to accept…" he glared at sakura, " on my own terms… but only till you get your powers back!" he added
Rukia nodded, "it shouldn't be long, month and a half at the most"
Ichigo nodded before learning how to get back in his body and headed home while Sakura pestered him with questions of ' how does it feel to leave your body' and ' what does a sword in your hand feel like?'
"Why are you following us?" asked an annoyed Ichigo as he nudged sakura warning her of their current follower.
"I just happen to be going home this way too!" huffed rukia as she walked ahead a bit. Sakura quickened her pace and walked beside the raven haired girl, " we can walk you home if you want." she said with a warm smile.
"No thank you but i appreciate your hospitality. Now i best be getting home."
Sakura stood stumped to the ground as the girl rushed off in a hurry till she was a blur, then she was gone. Ichigo walked past her placing a quick hand on her shoulder as he guided her along, "don't worry about it she probably found a place to stay."
"You're right." she nodded," we best be going home." she imitated rukia, then pointed at her watch, "its 5 till 7."
"SON OF A-!" Sakura threw herself onto Ichigo's back and clung to him like a koala as she prepared herself for the long run home.
Sakura sighed as she stepped out of the bath and put on her red shirt and matching bottoms. "ah refreshing." she whispered as she dried her hair with the small towel on her shoulders.
"Oii, strawberry-nii your turn for the bath." she said walking in.
He nodded and began getting up as she sat on her bed continuing the process of drying her hair and soon beginning the process of putting on a facial moisturizer. Just as Ichigo passed the closet, its door opened and out popped a black head. Ichigo screamed in shock while Sakura ran over to him and slapped a hand over his mouth. "SHHH!" she hissed, "dad'll come up here if we make a lot of noise!"
He nodded into her hand then stuck his tongue out to make her let go. "that's not gonna work" she muttered as he tried biting her palm. She ignored it and looked at Rukia, "what are you doing... In our room...in our closet..."
"IN OUR HOUSE!" shouted Ichigo as he got out of his younger twins grasp.
" I'm home" she shrugged," I said I have a place to stay this just happens to be it."
Sakura and Ichigo sweat dropped," Well...we assumed you had an actual home..." he muttered as he pushed rukia back into the closet and walked out with a handful of clothes, " I'm taking a bath to get away from all this crap" he muttered.
Sakura waited till he was out of hearing range and slowly slid open the closet door, "Rukia-san, please excuse my brother. He gets like this sometimes it's getting close to a date neither of us can stand..." she flinched and wished she could take back what she wanted, then she realized the truth to her words, 'it's getting closer.' She continued on anyways when she realized rukia didn't know their past, but it got her thinking, how would someone react to learning that two siblings are responsible for their mothers' death? No one would talk or be near them if that got out.
"Um, Sakura-chan?" the Cherry snapped out of her thoughts and looked back at Rukia, "You were saying something about forgiving your idiotic brother."
"Ah right!" She said lightly tapping her hand with a fist, " forgive my idiotic brother. We're not used to people living in our closets..."
Rukia giggled then smiled and took Sakura's hand," well I'm not used to it either, and I'm only going to stay for as long as it-" Sakura let go of Rukia and stepped up to the door waiting for her dad to run in telling them to shut up. She readied her stance just as he burst in, she launched herself up just enough to kick her dad in the face with both feet, sending him out the window.
"Sakuraaaaa" he moaned once he hit the ground. She peered out the window, "DEAL WITH IT OLD MAN! LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE OUT OF PRACTICE ANYWAYS!" she slammed the window over Ichigo's bed shut in the hopes of her father being smart enough to not crash through the window. She turned back to rukia and smiled," now where were we?"
Rukia waved in dismissal and got out of the closet stretching and setting herself on the floor.
"I'm a tad hungry..." she said shyly. Sakura nodded and headed down stairs quickly making up a snack and headed back upstairs without being seen. She got back just as Ichigo was walking down the hall.
"What are you doing?"
"Snacking..."
"You'll get fat if you keep snacking like that..." he opened the door
"Are you calling me...fat?" she snapped he dried his hair and nodded.
"Well if you keep eating like that yea." he pointed at the plate piled with 3 boxes of pocky, a bag of grapes, 4 apples, a slice of watermelon, a ham sandwich, 9 bars of chocolate, a tub of ice cream and dinners leftovers.
She scoffed, "at least i keep in shape... I can eat whatever the fuck i want." She took the chocolate candy bars and reached into her back pocket and pulled out a juice box.
"Here." She said handing the plate to Rukia," Didn't know what you liked so i got you everything."
"Thanks!" she said shoving the sandwich into her face. Sakura nodded and sat right next to Ichigo on his bed and un-wrapped the candy bars. Ichigo watched, he wanted that candy bar. He loved chocolate and his twin loved it just as much as he. Hell she loved anything sweet, probably the most feminine thing about her besides her care for skin and hair and her figure. She wore mostly baggy jeans and zip up hoodies. The only time she wore dresses was 6 years ago.
He watched her smile in delight as she took another bite of chocolate. He reached over and took a candy bar, she slapped him.
"But i-"
"No" he reached for it again.
Slap, " no!"
"Chocolate!" he whined reaching for it again, slap.
Reach.
Slap.
Reach.
Slap.
Rukia watched in amusement at the action of the fraternal twins before taking one last chomp of her sandwich and moving onto some apples.
"I want some chocolate damnit!" he shouted in frustration.
"MINE!" She hissed grabbing her candy and ran over to her bed at the end of the room and hid under the covers.
A/N: blah blah blah. So this is edited and stuff... I got into Homestuck recently and yea. I'm sad 'cuz of the giga pause...
{Edit 12/19/13}