-Chapter 1-
Rukia gazed across the classroom at the sleepy looking blonde haired boy. She knew just from looking at him that he was exhausted, and it was taking all of his energy not to fall asleep right then and there. She couldn’t blame him. They had been out until the early morning the night before, looking for a hollow that continued to disappear and reappear on her radar. By the time they had caught up to the creature, it had been at least three in the morning, and after finding it, Ichigo was still required to battle it. His eyes slowly eased themselves shut, and his head drooped forward until it met with his desk. He snapped out of his daze immediately, and rubbed the spot where his forehead had connected with the desk. After another moment, he realized he was being examined by Rukia and turned his head to glare at her, as was the normal facial expression for the teen. Her eyes flickered with amusement at his reaction, and she turned away immediately to focus on the notes being written on the board.
“The hell wazzat about, Rukia?” it was after class and Ichigo was standing over his Shinigami ‘coach’, trying to be as menacing as possible, and doing a very bad job of it.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Ichigo. Please try to keep your incoherent ramblings to yourself.” Rukia shot back immediately, her calm, emotionless exterior unwavering as always.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t give me that, Rukia,” Ichigo replied, pissed as ever. She sure was good at pissing him off… He wasn’t sure if it was how calm she always was, or if it was that she knew exactly what buttons to press. Maybe it was the fact that she always seemed to know exactly what was going on inside his head, when he had absolutely no inkling of what was going on in hers. Perhaps it was a combination of all three. In any case, she was damn good at making him angry. And he hated it. Especially when she knew exactly what she was doing.
She seemed to be ignoring him now, looking over his shoulder and waving.
“Bye Inoue-san! Tatsuki-san! See you tomorrow!” she called out cheerfully to her classmates in her saccharine sweet schoolgirl voice. The voice that seemed to say “I’m innocent and defenseless, please come save me!”
“Feh.” Ichigo muttered under his breath “Innocent my ass…”
“What was that?” Rukia’s voice instantly changed back to her usual ‘take no prisoners, and definitely take no bullshit’ voice that matched the real Rukia so well. “Something to say, Ichigo?”
“Don’t talk to me like that! Damnit! I’m not a child, Rukia!” Ichigo glared at the petite woman standing next to him.
“Well then stop acting like one. Let’s go home already. We can argue on the walk back, if you’d really like.”
“Never mind. Let’s go,” Ichigo grunted and exhaled, looking up at the sky for a moment. His glare softened as his gaze fell on Rukia. He stood there another minute before trudging along behind her.
* * *
‘What was that, today? I can’t believe he caught me staring at him... how embarrassing. Why was I staring at him, anyway? He is only a mortal, after all. We are only in this situation because we have to be for right now… soon enough, I’ll be gone, and his life and mine can return to normal once again… but why do I feel like that isn’t what I really want….?’ Rukia sighed and stared out the window, without really looking at anything in particular. She was seated at his desk, waiting for him to return with her dinner. He was downstairs eating with his family now, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Sometimes just thinking about it, her chest would tighten up with yearning. She wanted to share the bond that Ichigo seemed to have with his family. To be cherished like he cherished his sisters Yuzu and Karin. Or to be remembered and thought of as fondly as his Mother… she found herself wondering what it would be like to eat dinner with them... To be like Ichigo’s what…? His girlfriend? She usually laughed at that thought. Silly nonsense is what it was. But today was different. The thought wouldn’t leave her head.
* * *
“SON! IT IS BAD MANNERS TO DAYDREAM AT THE DINNER TABLE! IF YOU ARE DAYDREAMING, IT IS MORE POLITE TO SHARE WITH THE ENTIRE GROUP! I THOUGHT I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THAT!” Ichigo’s father leapt off his chair and onto the table, knocking off all the dishes and silverware in the process. He attempted to kick his son in the face, but Ichigo was faster, grabbing his ankle and throwing him off the table.
“Asshole…” He muttered and stood up, and walked out of the dining room.
“You’re such a fool, Dad. I still can’t believe we’re related.” Ichigo’s younger sister Karin, following his example, stood up and headed into the den.
“No Karin! Not you too! I thought you were better than that son of mine!”
“Get a life, Dad.” She called back to him, before blasting the volume of the TV. Isshin sighed, and wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand.
“Atleast I still have you, right Yuzu?” he called out happily to his other daughter… to which came no reply. Yuzu had already gone up to her room about twenty minutes ago.
* * *
Ichigo was pacing quietly outside the door to his room. He didn’t know exactly what it was he was hoping to avoid by not going in there, but there was something. Lately every time he’d seen Rukia his heart had started beating like crazy. He’d been even more temperamental than usual with her, and he knew it had to be a lot more temperamental if even he could notice it. His mind kept racing back to that afternoon in class when he’d caught her staring at him. Part of him was just wondering exactly what she’d been looking at. Was she judging him on how he’d been doing with his fights with hollows lately? No, it didn’t seem like that sort of stare… the other part of him was just thrilled she’d be staring at him. God knows she had her pick of almost any boy in the school, and yet it had been him that she was staring at. He shook his head violently, as if trying to shake the thought right out. Why did he care who she was looking at? She would be gone soon enough and he’d never have to worry about her, or her stupid shinigami duties ever again… But then Ichigo began to really wonder… Is that what he honestly wanted?
* * *
“Grubs up,” Ichigo called to Rukia, as he opened the door to his room, the tray of food in his free hand.
“Took you long enough,” she scoffed at him as she stood up and walked swiftly across the room to retrieve her meal.
“You’re welcome,” he sneered at her and grabbed his mp3 player from his desk before plunking down on his bed, slipping his earphones on, and cranking up the music. She watched him for that moment, and as soon as she was sure he couldn’t hear her, she sighed. She’d done it again. Been far more snappish with him than she’d meant to be, and now he was pissed. She couldn’t even blame him. He was nice enough to bring her three meals per day, and yet she still took it for granted.
“I’m… sorry…” she whispered. So he couldn’t hear her. Big deal. It was a start, right?
Rukia finished her meal quickly, so that she could get started on the rest of her homework. She had fallen asleep earlier, and had lost a lot of time because of it. Ichigo may have believed that she was never tired, but after only 3 or 4 hours of rest, a Shinigami could get pretty sleepy too. Her homework seemed to take such a monumental effort, and it wasn’t that hard, either. Her mind kept going back to one thing – Ichigo.
* * *
The moon had just risen, and a sliver of moonlight had made it through Ichigo’s blinds and was resting on Rukia, accentuating her already striking features.
‘Why did I never realize how pretty Rukia is?’ he thought to himself. Yeah, she was definitely pretty. But there was something about her… she seemed… so old. Well, not ‘old’ exactly. But it was like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. And to slack off for even just a moment, could mean the end of life as she knew it. And in that moment he really wanted to see her smile. It was amazing how much a small smile could transform her face. More than anything, he wanted to whisk her away from this life for one day. To help her forget her worries, and just have fun. He wondered if that was even possible for Rukia. Even if it wasn’t, he wanted to give her an hour to just relax. To be Rukia. Not a Shinigami. He glanced at his digital clock.
‘Wow, it’s later than I realized.’
“Alright Miss Shinigami, I’m going to bed, so that means that light’s gotta be turned off. You can work in the closet if you like, but don’t keep me awake.” He said to her, then added a bit more softly “But you should probably just go to sleep… We’ve both had a long day. ‘Night, you dummy.” He rolled over and shut his eyes.
