• • •
Sighing so hard that it blew my bangs from in front of my right eye, I plopped down on the empty picnic table that was in the park. Rukia had asked that I show up to help her train Kurosaki, who had reluctantly accepted the proposition and would be slaying Hollows for her. However, I couldn't find a trace of either one of them.
I just hope I got the right park, I thought as I stared up at the fluffy white clouds that sluggishly floated along the invisible currents. Just staring at the calmness of the sky soothed me; I found cloud watching very relaxing.
It was Sunday, the only day that we had off from school. I was just glad that I had set that stupid alarm clock that Urahara had moved into my apartment, or else I would've slept in and have been late, too. Of course, Rukia had to be the serious one and schedule training on our one day off. Shesh, she never allowed a moment of rest. She had split the Hollow orders evenly between Kurosaki and me, especially the ones that occurred during school. It wouldn't do us any good to all run out of class and get in trouble. Because of that, I don't really know how strong Kurosaki has actually gotten; I've never even seen him slay a Hollow yet. Besides, I had no clue what Rukia meant by training, anyway. Especially having to show up at the local park to do it. Wouldn't it be suspicious to train him in front of humans?
I was snapped out of my train of thoughts when I heard footsteps approaching. This part park was strangely deserted, so I knew it had to be either Rukia or Kurosaki. I had hoped that it was Rukia, but to my displeasure it was only Kurosaki.
"Oh, so you decided to show up?" I asked, as I eyed the human with calculating eyes. At first, I really hadn't thought that he would accept Rukia's offer. He seemed like a cold and distant person, at least that's how Tatsuki had described him on the first day. So you can say that I was unpleasantly surprised when Rukia told me that he had accepted and was going to uphold his end of the deal.
"Yeah, well, I promised Rukia that I'd do this Shinigami job for her until her powers return." Kurosaki explained, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his own skinny jeans. "What's up with you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, feeling my eyebrows rise in confusion.
"You seem kind of depressed and gloomy." He said, as he moved his eyes to gaze up at the sky. "I know that you don't wanna help, so you shouldn't have to. I can train by myself."
I scoffed, "Don't make me laugh." I spoke, sarcasm dripping from my words. "Shinigami training is really difficult. It usually takes many years to complete. Hell, some would argue that it takes longer than two or three human life spans to fully grasp it. Besides, we're only going to teach you the basics so that you won't wind up getting yourself killed. Even I don't know everything there is about Shinigami's, so that's why I'm not an official one. I do know the basics, though, and that's why I'm here. I owe Rukia, so I'm gonna help her. Even if it means that I have to sacrifice all the free time that I have, I'll do anything that she asks of me."
My words looked like they shocked Kurosaki. He blinked at me, before coming over and sitting on top of the picnic bench as well. "So, how long did it take you to become a Shinigami?"
He was beginning to show interest. That was something that I didn't like one bit at all. I tried to keep most things about me to myself; I rarely opened up to many people, especially when it came down to stuff about my past. Even Rukia, the only person I considered a best friend, didn't know everything about me. Only Urahara and Tessai did.
"I became a Shinigami when I was eleven. That took a year of training here in the World of the Living. Then I went to the Soul Society to further my training. Ages twelve to almost fifteen I was training in the Soul Society before they really accepted me." I tried to make this sound as boring as possible. I didn't want to spark his interest and have him ask even more detailed questions.
"You became a Shinigami at eleven?!"
"Well, yeah." I stated with a shrug of my thin shoulders, like it was no big deal. "After I learned how to control my reiatsu, it was easy to become a Shinigami."
"Who taught you everything? Well, you know, before you went to the Soul Society." He asked, his cinnamon eyes lit up with interest, even if it didn't show on his face.
"He's probably someone that you'll meet soon. I'm almost positive that you haven't met him yet; and I only say that because he usually prefers to keep quiet while things are going on, then show up and offer his help. He's a bit like a jellyfish, kind of spineless and everything. Besides, he tends to leave a lasting impression on you when you meet him." I spoke, lightly chuckling as I thought about Urahara. He was more complex than meets the eye, but that's what made him interesting.
"Your parent's let you go to the Soul Society for years just to train?"
As soon as the word 'parents' left his lips, he probably knew that he asked the wrong question. I could feel my body tense up, muscles turning rigid and unmoving as I forced my legs up to my chest and rested my chin on my knees. My gaze dropped from the sky to the ground as my bangs fell and covered my eyes.
"Did I say something wrong?" Kurosaki asked, probably surprised by my sudden change in mood.
I wasn't sure if I could trust myself to speak, so I just softly nodded my head. Taking a deep breath, I was reassured that I could speak. "I don't wanna talk about it. So just drop it."
Kurosaki knew that he had definitely said the wrong thing. Before, I wasn't exactly carefree, but I would at least answer his questions and meet his gaze. Once he mentioned my parents, I totally clammed up. I couldn't bring myself to lift my eyes from the ground, and I didn't feel any motivation to get out of my curled up pose. My parent's death was still a tender issue to me; I still couldn't take people casually asking about it.
However, what he said seemed to shock us both:
"Sorry."
Both of our eyes widened at the same time, as mine snapped towards his face. I shook my head a bit before replying, "Whatever; just forget that we brought this up, okay? I don't like thinking about it, much less talking about it."
"Hn, whatever you say." He said, as he crossed his arms. It became silent for a few moments, neither one of us wanting to say anything.
"Ichigo! Jun!" I don't think that I had ever been happier to see Rukia in my whole entire life, even if she appeared while dragging a weird looking machine behind her and had a bat slung over her shoulder.
Rukia blinked, looking at us and taking in the tense atmosphere. "Am I interrupting anything?"
"Nope, nothing." I replied, as I uncurled and stretched. "Let's just go ahead and get this over with so I can go home already."
• • •
"Brace yourself, Kurosaki!" I warned, as I turned the speed to the maximum on the weird pitching machine that Rukia had somehow acquired.
Rukia claimed that this was important for training, but I didn't see the logic behind her reasoning. Even so, I decided to go along with it. After all, she was the one in charge of Kurosaki's little training regimen, not me.
Actually, I remember zoning out while she was talking. I mean, it was all about stuff that I had already known about, so I didn't see the harm in not paying attention. And when she had finished, Kurosaki told me that she had said something about wanting us to hit the balls that flew out of the machine a hundred times or so. I didn't know what it would accomplish other than trying to build hand eye coordination, which I was pretty sure that Kurosaki already had.
"Alright, I'm ready!" The orange haired teen called out as he positioned his bat, getting ready for when the ball would fly out of the machine. Right as he finished his sentence, the pitching machine let a ball speed out.
The cracking sound of the ball connecting with the bat resounded throughout the training area, as I whistled and traced the arch that the ball had made, "Wooow~! Home run that time; good job."
"Thanks," Kurosaki replied, tossing the bat to me. He was just lucky that I caught it, or I would have gone after him with it. "Your turn."
I don't see why I have to participate in this training anyway. I mean, Rukia already knew that I was more than capable of slaying a Hollow. Now, I might have been a little clumsy, but I don't see how that matters. In the end, I'd always gotten the Hollow that I had been determined to kill.
Closing my eyes while I waited on the machine, my ears prickled when I heard the sound of the ball release and speed through the air. With my eyes still closed, I swung the bat. I was satisfied by the loud crack that resounded after I swung. Tracing the arch that it made, I smiled once I saw that it traveled further than Kurosaki's.
"Next," I stated, tossing the bat at Kurosaki again.
This kind of training went on for a while. Occasionally, we would hit a foul ball; one that was filled with pepper and explode after contact with the bat. After one of those pepper balls exploded, the person that had hit it would erupt into a fit of sneezes and coughs, unable to hit the next ball for a few more turns. The pepper even stained our clothes, leaving giant black patches that looked like soot stains. I just hoped that it would wash out.
"'I know about it my sister! It's all hidden in that box, isn't it? That jade box that Mother gave you. Give me that box, my sister Marianne! Now!' 'No! We mustn't open the box! Francoise, no!' " Rukia's voice had distracted us from our so called 'training'. However, she was sitting on top of the picnic table reading that manga that she had snatched from me not too long ago.
A wicked grin crossed my lips, confusing Kurosaki. I raised my pointer finger to my lips, indicating that he needed to stay quiet. Slowly, I crept towards Rukia, while he followed behind me. When we had reached behind her, I nodded my head towards Kurosaki, who seemed to get the hint.
"Hey! What the heck are you doing?!" Kurosaki yelled, with the bat slung across his shoulder. Rukia flew a few feet into the air as an unladylike shriek left her mouth.
"O-o-ooh! You scared me!" Rukia yelled, a hand clutched over her heart, as she was trying to calm down. "I'm studying modern speech!"
"You were not," Kurosaki accused, "And using that study? You were reading that stupid horror comic while Jun and I were training our Shinigami butts off! Where did you get such a stupid book like that anyway?"
"Oh, this?" Rukia asked, holding up the manga. "I found it when I was going through Jun's bag yesterday during school."
"So it wasn't missing! You did take it!" I muttered, rolling my eyes. She could have at least told me that she was going to borrow it. Not just go through my stuff and take whatever she liked.
"I don't even wanna know." Kurosaki said, crossing his arms and shooting me a weird look.
"Hey, it's not that bad of a manga. It's actually kind of interesting once you get into it. So don't knock it until you try it!" I defended.
"Anyways," Rukia began, trying to break us up before another argument could start. "You guys finish your training already?"
"Yeah." I boredly stated, lightly yawning and covering my mouth.
"We hit those stupid pepper balls a hundred times, right? We're done!" Kurosaki elaborated, gesturing towards the weird pitching machine. "What's this supposed to accomplish anyways? And where did you get this weird pitching machine? Hopefully not from you, too..!"
"No! I've never seen that thing before in my life! I'm not that weird!" I stated, looking innocent and causing him to scoff.
"Fools!" Rukia's exclamation made us both jump. "Only the wrong balls had pepper in them!"
"Wrong…balls?" Both Kurosaki and I asked at the same time, staring at Rukia as if she had grown an extra head.
I turned on Kurosaki, "You didn't tell me we weren't supposed to hit certain balls! You just told me we had to hit a hundred pepper filled ones!"
"Well, sorry! I didn't know! It's kind of difficult to tell which ones were which when they were flying towards us!"
"You guys…didn't hit every single ball, did you?" Rukia asked, eyes wide.
"Yes!" We both yelled in unison again.
"Great, what a way to spend my Sunday!" I moaned, hunched over in agitation while I covered my eyes.
"You idiots! I told you guys to only hit the balls with the heads on them! What's the point of this exercise?!" Rukia questioned, upset that we hadn't put that much effort into her training.
"How should I know?! It's impossible to tell the heads from the hands with the way you draw!" Kurosaki yelled, as he then reached into the weird pitching machine and pulled out two different balls. Holding up one with a hand and another one with a head on it, it was pretty difficult to tell which was which. "Am I right, Jun?!"
"Actually, no matter how well they're drawn or not, I think it would be impossible to tell which is which when they're flying at you at speeds over twenty miles an hour." I explained, proceeding to grab both balls from Kurosaki's hands and walk over to the picnic table. Rummaging through my bag, I pulled out the same Sharpie marker from before. "I'll try and fix this, hopefully."
As I drug the machine over to the picnic table, I took a seat next to Rukia, who watched as I tried to fix her little sketches. "Listen, Ichigo; Jun already knows this. The head of a Hollow is always its weakest spot. One good whack will split it open like it's a melon! This training will help you crack heads with precision, no matter what the situation is!"
Kurosaki then sat down cross-legged on the bench of the picnic table, looking up at Rukia and I who were sitting on its top. "Why do I have to do that? I've been beating them fine so far."
"You fool, when have you ever defeated a Hollow with a single blow?! Approaching the Hollow from behind and killing it with one blow is the essence of Hollow hunting! It's a miracle that you've survived fighting them as you have!" Rukia exclaimed as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Hitting them from behind is unfair! I can't do it!" Ichigo argued back, "How can I fight so dirty like that?"
"Fool!" Rukia chastised again, "Save that stuff for fighting against humans! Your opponents are Hollows! The same rules do not apply."
I softly smiled as I concentrated on fixing the remaining balls. "I was the same way. However, I now look at it in a different light; Hollows are just evil creatures that can cause harm to people anytime or anywhere. They target the innocent. Because of this, they need to be gotten rid of as quickly as possible, before they cause more harm than they have already inflicted. Rukia helped me understand that Hollows aren't human; they thrive off of pure destructive instincts."
"I know… I just…" Kurosaki began, only to be interrupted.
"Hi, Kurosaki-Kun~!" Orihime shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth as she appeared behind Kurosaki. He proceeded to scream and jump a couple of inches in the air.
"Orihime, what are you doing here?" I asked from my perch on the picnic table. I saw her approach from my vantage point, so I didn't jump from her yelling.
"Hehehe, I was just doing a little dinner shopping! I bought leeks, bananas, butter, and bean jam jelly!" Orihime happily announced, while plucking a random sprig of leek from her shopping bag and twirling it around.
I was too afraid to ask what she was planning to make.
Orihime put the leek back into her bag and smiled. "So what are you doing here, Kurosaki-Kun, Jun-Chan?"
Kurosaki was stumbling over an answer, looking towards me for some help; he didn't know what to tell her. Obviously we looked a little sketchy, covered in pepper stains and what not. Luckily for him, however, Orihime's short attention span switched on: "And Kuchiki-San, too?!"
"Huh?" Rukia asked, crossing her arms. A dull look spread across her face as she turned towards the auburn haired girl. "Do I know you?"
"Idiot!" Kurosaki hissed in Rukia's ear, "She's Inoue Orihime! She's in our class!"
Something seemed to click inside Rukia's mind, a fake smile instantly spread all the way across her face. "Oh, Inoue-San. I'm honored to make your acquaintance!" Quickly curtsying, Rukia pulled up the fabric of the sundress that she was wearing.
Surprisingly, Orihime curtsied right back! "Eh… Yes, honored…"
"Orihime," I asked, my icy blue eyes wide in concern, "What happened to your arm?"
"Yeah, did you fall again?" Kurosaki asked, once I had pointed out the fact that she had white bandages wrapped around a large portion of her upper arm.
"Huh? Oh, this?" Orihime asked as she pointed towards the bandages. "No, I was hit!"
"Hi-Hit?!" Kurosaki stuttered out, surprised.
I blinked, staring at the auburn haired teen in front of me in wonder. "Let me try and clarify this: when you say hit, do you mean by a car?"
"Yeah, I went out to buy a drink last night and – BAM!" Orihime informed, as if she was telling an interesting story she'd heard on the TV. "I've been getting hit a lot lately, ehehe."
"You shouldn't be laughing! That's a serious accident! You should be angrier!" Kurosaki stated, shaking his head at Orihime's obliviousness.
"Well, it's not like they hit me on purpose…" Orihime softly spoke, lightly pushing some of her bangs behind her ear.
"You get hurt often, Inoue-San?" Rukia asked, just about taking the words out of my mouth.
"More than often! It's almost every day!" Kurosaki darkly informed.
"I zone out a lot, so…" Orihime meekly stated, lightly scratching the back of her head.
I smiled, laughing a bit. "Me too!"
Smiling, Orihime and I high-fived.
"Don't be so casual about it!" Kurosaki barked in our direction, looking exasperated.
It was quiet for a moment; that is, until Rukia broke the silence.
"That bruise on your leg… May I take a look?" Rukia asked, kneeling down once Orihime moved her leg out so she could get a closer look.
Orihime's injury did look like a giant bruise, and it took up a large portion of her lower limb. With the floral printed skirt that Orihime was wearing, it was difficult to tell how far it continued up her leg. However, the longer I looked at it, the more claw-like it seemed. Almost as if a Hollow had grabbed her.
"I got this last night, too. So, I think it might have happened when I was hit by the car, too." When Orihime was explaining, a dark look crossed Rukia's face. Startled by the change on Rukia's face, Orihime blinked and placed her hands on her knees as she bent towards Rukia. "Kuchiki-San? What's with the scary face..?"
"Huh? Oh, no." Rukia spoke, as a fake innocent look appeared. "I was just thinking… that it looks pretty painful!"
"Wow! You're right! My leg hurts much more than my arm!" Orihime stated, pointing towards her bandaged arm as if that proved anything.
"Have you gone numb from the pain?! You should go see a doctor!" Kurosaki advised, his eyes wide.
Orihime's cheeks flared a delicate shade of red, "Huh..? U-um…"
"Why does that make you blush?" Kurosaki bluntly asked, as if he had no clue that Orihime had a huge crush on him. I'd been here for a few days already and I knew that she had a crush on him on the first day. And here he is; he has probably known her for years, yet he is still oblivious to her feelings towards him.
A loud beeping noise started us all, as Orihime gasped. Looking at her watch, her eyes widened. Quickly, she made a dash towards the sidewalk once more. "Oh, no! I'm late!"
"In a hurry?" I asked, sarcasm dripping from my tone.
"Yes! Shoten's gonna start soon!" She called back, before pausing for a second and turning towards our group again. "Jun-Chan! I was wondering, do you want to come over to my apartment tonight? Tatsuki-Chan is coming too, and it'd be much more fun if we got to know you better!"
Blinking, I nodded. "Um, sure. It sounds fine to me. What time should I be over?"
"Just show up around six, six-thirty." Orihime advised. "Is that okay?"
"Sure! I'll see you guys then!" I yelled, waving towards Orihime as she began walking again.
"Are you going to be okay?" Kurosaki yelled out, watching Orihime quickly run with a slight limp to her step. "Do you want me to walk you home?!"
"Huh?! N-No, I-I'm fine!" Orihime stuttered out, without thinking. She had blown her chance to spend some time with him. Besides, they would have been alone together!
"Okay! See you tomorrow, then!" Kurosaki called back out to her as she disappeared down the sidewalk. Once Orihime was out of his sight, he let out a pent up sigh. "Phew! Just watching her makes me tired."
"That Inoue girl…" Rukia asked, turning her gaze towards me before landing on Kurosaki. "Are you close?"
"Not really. Well, kind of, I guess." Kurosaki stated, racking his brain for memories. "She's been best friends with someone who's lived in my neighborhood since eighth grade."
"I didn't know her when I lived here before. But we have gotten kind of close throughout this week. And, as you heard, she wants me to go to her house tonight. So, I'd consider her a friend." I explained, as I felt Rukia's gaze travel to me.
Rukia blinked and nodded in understanding. Turning back to Kurosaki, she continued to question him, knowing that I probably wasn't as close to her as he was. "Does she have any family?"
"Just one; she had a much older brother." Kurosaki spoke, as his gaze tilted towards the sky. His eyes were slightly squinted, as if that would help him recall the information.
"Had?" I asked, feeling my eyebrows furrow. That didn't sound good.
"Yeah," Kurosaki spoke. "He died three years ago. I was the one who opened the door, so I remember it well. It was as I was about to leave for school. The clinic wasn't open, yet I heard the bell ring. A girl was there with her brother on her back. It was a car accident. Blood was everywhere. There was nothing we could do with our equipment. He died before the ambulance to take him to a big hospital arrived. That's it. Well, I only recently remembered that the brown haired girl from that day was her. But why are you asking about all of this? Are you interested in her or something?"
"Not really." Rukia plainly spoke, before turning around and beginning to walk off. "I'm not interested."
"What the hell is that!?" Kurosaki yelled as Rukia began walking off.
"Come on; it's time we go home, too."
"Hey, where do you go home to? You have a home down here or something?" Kurosaki asked, as his gaze traveled from Rukia towards me.
"What~?" Rukia mused, as she tossed an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to her. We both looked up at him with mischievous eyes. "Do our private lives interest you~?"
"I-I'm not interested in that!" Kurosaki yelled, his cheeks lightly tinting pink; although, it was probably more from anger than embarrassment.
"Then don't ask."