A/N: Thank you for any and all reviews, favorites, and follows, as well as all you other readers out there!
Bleach and all products thereof are copyright to Tite Kubo, et al.
Saturday, February 15, 2003
The throng that surrounded Ichigo and Rukia consisted of most of the other attendants of the surprise party. Only the Urahara Shop group, Keigo, and Mizuiro kept their distance.
Yoruichi smacked Urahara upside the head and scolded him: "I told you it was a stupid idea; you almost scared them half to death!" Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta just nodded in agreement with her, defecting from any defense of their boss.
"Was that a joke?" Mizuiro asked quietly, earning a mild glare from Yoruichi in turn.
"Maybe using the prototype copy of the reiatsu jammer under the circumstances was a mistake," the shopkeeper admitted, looking down at the floor. He had made his own area-of-effect version using a unique combination of kidō after being inspired by the one he had seen on Ichigo and assumed had also been on Alan in some form. It probably differed in operation and wasn't yet perfected, but it had served to hide their collective presence well enough.
His motivation for using it had been rather straight-forward: it was hardly a surprise party if you could sense everyone you knew was waiting for you! That said it was perhaps predictable considering the map that had been left at the Kurosaki household and the stress that Rukia and Ichigo were under that they would have assumed the absolute worst. Certainly it was in hindsight. It was an unfortunate confluence of events.
"Did you see the look on their faces when the lights came on?" Keigo whimpered, "I'm gonna have nightmares about that for weeks!" His friends had, for a split second, both looked to him to have been ready to kill anyone and everyone they encountered inside, human or otherwise, Shinigami vow or no.
"We've seen worse," Mizurio replied.
"I still have nightmares about that too!" Keigo protested.
There was another commotion near the door as Ichigo stood and helped Rukia up. Both were wiping at their eyes, before retrieving and sheathing their zanpakutō. The orange-haired Shinigami spoke in a way that remarkably betrayed nothing of the subtle tremors that shook him, except through his sudden forced good humor. "Everyone, thank you, thank you so much. This is a great surprise. As you can see, um, Rukia and I aren't quite dressed appropriately, so if you'll excuse us for a moment…"
The pair exited the room to only mild protests. Yoruichi turned from the sight back to Urahara, saying simply "Urahara Kisuke, you're going to apologize for almost ruining their evening." No verbal threat was necessary: it radiated off of her every curve and angle just from the way she stood. Urahara adjusted his hat downward.
Nobody had noticed the badge on Ichigo's left arm or what it had read except for the people who already knew or had some idea what it meant and Ishida.
After getting around one corner of the building on the way back to the bushes they'd entered the premises through, Ichigo stopped and abruptly hugged Rukia, still jittery. She didn't protest at all and hugged back. They stood that way for a moment until Ichigo whispered "Thank you, for—"
"Don't be a fool," Rukia whispered back, before reluctantly letting go and continuing on "They'll come gawk if we take too long."
Ichigo followed along silently. They got back into their physical forms and after brushing leaves and other debris off of themselves and one another, walked back to the party that was waiting for them.
On their return they entered like they'd won a competition and were all cheer and smiles, rather uncharacteristically giving out hugs at the effort everyone had obviously expended in setting up. There was, in addition to a spread of cake, the usual party-décor of balloons, various snacks, and assorted (non-alcoholic) drinks. After the experience earlier in Soul Society, both were thankful for the discretion of the older attendants. Nobody mentioned that they were both still slightly shaking or that they were trying a bit too hard.
Urahara quietly but forcefully apologized to each for having alarmed them, only for each to readily excuse him in the interest of getting on with the night. At last coming back together with Rukia, Ichigo decided to address the elephant in the room: "So, uh, whose house is this anyway?"
At this there was silence. Before anyone else could say anything Karin let out a huff and said "Don't be stupid, it's yours, Ichi-nii; yours and Rukia-nee's." Everyone else suddenly chimed in with acknowledgement and surprise the pair didn't already know.
Ichigo and Rukia both laughed nervously at this and felt their shakes start up again; Ichigo smiled with what he hoped wasn't obvious fear and rubbed the back of his head. He found he could only say "What?"
"It was a present from your new boss!" Isshin declared with meaning that was truly intended only for the duo. He then likewise gave them a cover story: "Urahara-san called and informed me that you were back in fighting shape and said Soul Society had put it together as a welcome-back present for you and Kuchiki-san while she helped you get reoriented! Kuchiki-taichō wouldn't possibly let his sister sleep in a closet again and well, it's small thanks for the hero who saved three worlds! And then the movers were already showing up for your things so we all decided to make an event of it!"
It was a big lie, but as it happened, big lies could work precisely because they could be so big nobody wanted to believe they were lies. And it was a big lie sprinkled with just enough truth to sound real.
"That's right," Urahara said, going along with it without skipping a beat.
"That's so nice of them!" Inoue said.
"Very generous indeed," Ishida said, pushing up his glasses. It was clear, subtly at least, that he didn't fully believe it at all.
Everyone else chose to believe, or at least chose to put on the appearances of doing so. The Urahara Shop crew knew better, as did Rukia and Ichigo, but all of them joined Ishida, Isshin, and Urahara in keeping up the illusion.
"I can't believe the old man would spring for something like this!" Ichigo said, forcing surprise into his voice.
"I bet nii-sama picked it out, it looks very tasteful!" Rukia said, finally truly looking at the room they were in. It wasn't really a lie. It was fully furnished and decorated in a style that was an interesting mix of contemporary and traditional. It struck just the right balance between being comfortable and classy, livable and restrained. It did in fact look like something her brother might have put together. Is this really the work of that guy?
Internally, she and Ichigo both decided to defer judgment on this turn of events for the moment, even as they both fretted over having to mislead some of their friends.
"So, who wants cake?!" Isshin demanded. At this, there was truly genuine excitement from all parties.
It was an hour later when their guests began to drift out. The Urahara Shop group left first, citing the need to do an inventory in the morning or some other such nonsense. When Ichigo had asked Yoruichi where she'd been, she'd just smiled and said "Tell you about it some other time," and she had departed with them.
Chad, Inoue, Ishida, Keigo, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki all left as a group after trying to force Ichigo and Rukia to agree to hang out with them the next day. The pair had done their very best to be polite but noncommittal, but ultimately agreed they would at least try. It was as they were leaving that Isshin asked Tatsuki if she wouldn't walk with Yuzu and Karin since she lived so close by. Tatsuki agreed and Karin protested the need for an escort but was successfully mollified when the older teen promised she'd show her a few karate moves on the way.
This left Rukia and Ichigo with just Isshin facing away from them at the door, watching his daughters and the pair's friends leave. Once they were some distance away he said "I'm not angry, if that's what you're worried about."
Ichigo blinked and Rukia let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
The former taichō turned and regarded them both with one of his few serious looks, as if considering for a moment. He finally smirked while looking at Ichigo, saying "Besides, even if I was, you'd just give me some line like 'I did what I had to do' or something like that and really, who am I to argue?"
"Oto-san…" Ichigo muttered in wonder at his father's sudden maturity, meeting his gaze directly.
"Just don't get yourself killed, your mother would never forgive me," Isshin said with casual indifference but deep meaning. At this he looked to Rukia and smiled kindly. It seemed he was about to say something similarly unusual but at last he simply bowed deeply, saying only "Thank you."
"K—Kurosaki-san…" Rukia began to protest, not knowing what to make of it.
Isshin stood and looked at the pair now much more critically, and opened his mouth as if to say something else, before shutting it and simply smiling in a way neither found they quite liked. With that he waved a hand as he turned and said "Goodnight," shutting the door behind him as he left. It clicked, self-locking.
The pair were left to look at one another, not sure what to make of the man's highly uncharacteristic attitude. It was as they stood in silence that the weight of their day began to finally tell upon them, both realizing that they were once more exhausted, just as they had been earlier.
"Rukia, let's investigate this place and clean up this stuff in the morning," Ichigo said, fatigue creeping into his voice. The cake and snacks, at least, had been completely demolished, and their friends and family had been unusually neat, so there was no real risk of anything spoiling or setting.
She nodded sleepily, before blinking. "Ichigo, what if that guy only gave us one bedroom…" she trailed off, blushing at the thought.
Ichigo caught her meaning without comment and looked around. They would have to do at least some token exploration. They had entered through what been a small partially-enclosed garden into a rather large multi-purpose room. This was divided into an entrance area and into a spacious living room. Above the entry area was a loft with a small stairway leading up to it. It appeared to be some kind of reading area. To the right of the entryway was a closet, and to the left was a door that they discovered led to a half-bathroom.
Continuing on to the right from the entrance there was a kitchen complete with breakfast bar which fed into a rather ample dining room. The dining room in turn faced into the living room. A glance into the kitchen showed it had a door opposite the dining room that presumably led to utilities and a pantry. Adjoining the living room, opposite the entrance, there was a set of doors that clearly led to a porch and a compact walled-in backyard.
Further to the left of the entryway was an alcove set into the wall, and there was an identical alcove coming off the left side of the living room. Both had two doors facing one another that couldn't really be seen into from the main room. They went to the one that went off the entryway and found the outside room appeared to be a rather neutral looking guest bedroom, while the inside room seemed to be a home office of some sort.
Going to the other alcove, they discovered two bedrooms. One of these, by virtue of having his things in it and more besides that matched his tastes, was very clearly Ichigo's. The other, given its décor which prominently but still tastefully featured Chappy, was very clearly Rukia's. They looked back from the rooms to one another, something unsaid passing between them before Ichigo said "Well, I guess that guy wasn't such a jerk after all…I'll see you in the morning then, Rukia."
"…Yeah," she replied, and they split off into their new rooms, shutting the doors behind them. Ichigo didn't really note much immediately about it except that it apparently held both an en suite bathroom and wardrobe in addition to all of his things, except for his bed, which had been replaced by a very similar looking but queen-sized one. He was too tired to think on the implications of that and just fell onto it without bothering to do anything else but take off the glasses.
It's been entirely too long a day, he thought. He could feel his eyes start to close when he heard the door quietly open again. He turned his head to see Rukia standing there just as she had been a moment ago, the moonlight lighting up one side of her face. Her expression was placid, but her eyes had a look of determination in them as she looked at him, like she had decided on something and would see it through. "Rukia?" he asked.
She walked into the room and up to his bed, and he found that once again on this up-and-down day his heart was suddenly pounding. She sat down on the edge of the bed, facing away from him and not saying anything, her hands gripping the sides.
Ichigo sat up at this, what had been just a moment prior a building embarrassment instantly converting into worry. "Hey, Rukia, what's wrong?" he asked again, and he reached out a hand to put on her shoulder in comfort right as she turned and brought a single finger gently to rest against his lips.
He let out a stunned protest only to earn a soft "Shh," from her as she leaned in, looking at him closely. Her eyes closed as her finger withdrew and her hand slid behind his neck, lightly gripping there. She began to move him and move with him. Ichigo found he was far was too shocked to stop whatever she intended, and even more shocked to find he had no interest in doing so, and so after a brief shuffle he found himself laying on his side with her. Rukia held his head to just above her chest and buried her face into his hair. He could hear her heart race in time with his own, could feel her breath wind through his locks of hair.
He found himself glad she was so much shorter than him because his mind had gone elsewhere. Hesitantly at first he slid his arms up and around her as best he could, feeling her pulse start to gradually dampen as he did so. After awhile he brought his lower torso and legs up to brace against hers, and she curled up tighter with him then. The reiatsu of both seemed to intertwine and condense with them as they did so physically, leaving each of them enveloped in the presence of the other.
They held each other close in silence and darkness, both slowly relaxing. The longer he listened to Rukia's breathing and heartbeat the more Ichigo felt like he was being hypnotized by it, like it was draining all the day's tension away from him. His eyelids grew heavy at the sound and he felt his grip on her slacken. Rukia…I couldn't decide if this was one of the best days I've ever had or one of the worst, he found himself thinking, thank you…for making it clear…and so he fell asleep in his partner's arms, she not long behind him.
The cityscape abruptly ended at a street and a sidewalk, and beyond was a vast and lush if orderly snow-dusted landscape. The effect was reminiscent of something like New York's Central Park in a mild winter, but it was as if the city and park both went on parallel to one another forever. Although the light snowfall that fell on the park that never seemed to accumulate would blow over into the city, the city itself seemed to exist in the late summer. Two worlds, they sat side-by-side, both joined and not.
On the snow-crusted grass that ran right up to the sidewalk a figure knelt of great feminine refinement, clothed in a white kimono, her hair a matching shade. A masculine figure was laying in front of her on the sidewalk, also clad almost entirely in white, his head upon her lap. His eyes were closed and he seemed to sleep, and she brushed her fingers across his forehead and through his white hair soothingly, smiling faintly down at him.
After a moment, she looked up to the fluttering black coat of a man across the t-shaped intersection they faced. He was looking directly away from them, as if he was watching something infinitely far away up street. Sode no Shirayuki looked back down to the figure that slept against her, and felt that although she didn't know the story of all that had happened, she finally understood Zangetsu.
Sunday, February 16, 2003
Rukia woke gradually, not coming to consciousness all at once but rather in a smooth gradient. By the time she opened her eyes to find a splash of orange hair greeting her, she had already long since taken in its smell, had become aware of Ichigo's warmth and light grip, of his breath against her shirt, of his heartbeat. Her cheeks were tinged with red, but not from unease. Slowly flexing her muscles from head to toe and finding she hadn't slept awkwardly, she lightly brushed her hands against his back and absent-mindedly nuzzled his hair.
Sunlight was filtering into the room through a window and through its degree and color she found herself cognizant that it was mid-morning at the earliest. They hadn't moved at all during the night and were still just curled up against one another atop the bed. She became aware of the difference in temperature between her back and front and whispered "It's a good thing you double as a space-heater," to Ichigo's sleeping form before kissing the top of his head.
He shifted at this and she could tell from his subtle movements that he was waking up too. She smiled and let him do so in his own time, just observing. After some minutes he seemed to tense for a second before slowly tilting his head back to look up at her. "Hey," was all she said to him as she caught sight of his brown eyes.
"Hey," he replied, looking back up at her. They stared at one another for awhile, and Rukia could feel a coy smile was slowly forming on her face. She was convinced that sooner or later he'd say something stupid to ruin the moment and the longer he went without doing it, the happier it made her.
"What?" he asked, his smile coming to reflect hers.
She shook her head softly and gave the back of his neck a single final brush, gave him one final look, before unwinding her limbs from him and sitting up. He sat up with her, and soon they were sitting on the side of the bed side-by-side. She was about to say something when she felt his arm reassuringly come around her shoulders.
"Come on," he said as she turned to look at him, "Let's check this place out." She smiled at him and nodded.