Tatsuki shrugged her shoulders as she continued eating her lunch. "Don't know. But they've been like that since day one."
"I'm not talking about their relationship," he scoffed at her, "I mean, what are they doing right now?
At that point Tatsuki turned to see her childhood friend and her new friend glaring at each other while a piece of packaged-curry bread was sitting on the ground between them. She sighed at the image. "They're at it again."
Yup. The two hotheads were in the middle of a staring contest to see who would blink first to win the last curry bread of the day. Ever since they first met less than a month ago there was an unexplainable vibe that attracted one to the other.
But not in a good way.
Ochi-sensei had 'graciously' seated Rukia next to Ichigo, forcing him the task to take care of her since she was new to the school.
Flashback
Ichigo didn't know why but he was feeling nervous with the new student sitting only a little more than a foot away from him. Never had he been so intrigued by a girl that he just openly stared at her for who knows how long!
"Okay guys," Ochi-sensei started, "Grab the person next to you and start working on these questions." She turned around to some write questions on the board while the students quickly slammed their desks with the person next to them.
Ichigo couldn't help but gulp as he peered at the person who he was going to have to work with. "Um," he started, "I-I guess…we're partners.
Nice, he mentally smacked himself. The first thing he says to the new girl was something so obvious that it was stupid. Not to mention he stuttered a bit.
Rukia lightly nodded her head. "I guess so." She grabbed one end of her desk and carefully slid it over about a foot before adjusting her seat to the new arrangements. Meanwhile, Ichigo could only stare at her as she moved. He was pulled out of his daze when she smiled up at him. "So, where do we start, Kurosaki-kun?"
Ichigo couldn't help but cringe at the formality. "Well, have you studied English in past tense, Kuchiki-san?"
Rukia couldn't help but cringe at the formality. "Not really. Can you fill me in?"
Ichigo nodded as he opened his book and started to relay to her what their class had been studying up until then. In no time the two were solving all the questions on the board and were starting to connect. Ichigo noticed it was a lot easier to talk to her then most of the female population in their school. Unlike them, she was actually smart and was a fast learner. Rukia was thinking the same thing as she easily talked to her partner about the significance of learning English. She couldn't stop grinning at him and their amazing teamwork.
The only thing that was bothering them was the way they were addressing each other. It just tasted really bad in the mouth.
Ding ding ding!
"Well, that's all for today." Ochi-sensei grabbed her book and quickly left to go to her next class while the students in class 1-3 started to get up for their ten minute break.
Ichigo quickly got up from his desk and started to head out of the room without a word.
Ask her any other day why she did it, Rukia wouldn't be able to give a clear answer. But for some reason she just had to get up and chase after the orange head that was already out the door. "Wait! Kurosaki-kun!" she called out.
Ichigo immediately turned around when he heard her voice. "What's up?" he asked, pleased with how he was able to cover his nervousness with his usual cocky tone.
When their eyes connected again Rukia felt a lot smaller than she already was. Something about his eyes send weird feelings all over her body. "Um, well…" she paused to scratch her arm as she looked away, "I just wanted to thank you for your help today. And I hope you can continue to help me until I get used to things around here."
Ichigo stared at her for a second before nodding. "Sure, no problem."
She immediately looked back up at him and smiled. "Thank you."
"No problem…Kuchiki-san." It still felt weird.
"Um, you can just call me 'Rukia,'" she said as she extended a hand out to him. "I hope we can be friends."
Ichigo looked between her face and her hand before slowly grabbing it. They shook lightly before they tightened their grips for a firmer handshake. A smile appeared on his face as he nodded. "I hope so too," he said as he released his grip. "Oh, and you can call me 'Ichigo.'"
One of Rukia's eyebrows went up in amusement. "'Ichigo?' As in the fruit?"
A vein suddenly appeared on his tan skin and his cheerful complexion immediately returned to its original scowl. "Oi, it means 'one to protect.' It's not 'strawberry.'"
"You do know you just admitted that your name sounds like 'strawberry,'" she snickered.
Ichigo opened his mouth to retort when he just remembered she was right: he said 'strawberry' when she only said 'fruit.' Shit, he just met her and she was already whooping his ass. "Psh," he scoffed, "At least I'm not shorter than an average human. Seriously, did you stop growing back when you were in kindergarten or something?"
This time a vein appeared on pale white skin. "What?" she sneered between gritted teeth as she glared at him.
Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at her. "What? Can't hear me from all the way down there?"
Rukia's hands tightened into little fists as she kicked his shin. "Don't call me 'short!'"
"OW!" he grabbed his bruising shin and cursed. "What the fuck, midget!"
"Strawberry!"
"Imp!"
"Orange buffoon!"
"That doesn't even make sense!"
"I don't care!"
End of Flashback
And it's been like that ever since—
"You blinked! Ha! I win!" Rukia pointed at him.
"Wha—No I didn't!" Ichigo argued but gasped when Rukia grabbed the curry bread. "That's mine!" he shouted as he tried to reach for it.
But Rukia quickly kicked him away as she opened the plastic bag and took a big bite of the bread. "Mhmm," she moaned at delicious victory.
"Bitch," he mumbled on the ground. He sat back up and glared at her. "I hope that bread is a month old so you get sick from it."
Rukia merely checked the expiration date on the plastic bag and went back to eating. "Nope, it's still good for a few more days."
"Bitch," he cursed again.
"Stop acting like three year olds," Tatsuki yelled over at them, "How can I enjoy my lunch if you two keep whining?"
"It's all her fault!" Ichigo pointed at the girl who was enjoying his lunch.
Renji rolled his eyes. "Dude, you just made yourself look even more pathetic by bitching about her."
"Shut up, pineapple," he snarled at him.
But the annoying nickname didn't even faze him. "You're acting like a pussy."
"WHAT?" Ichigo jumped up and was about to charge at the red head when a pair of thick arms hooked under each arm and held him up in the air. The enraged Ichigo looked back and shouted, "Chad! Let me go so I can teach that bastard a lesson!"
But the gentle giant just shook his head as he kept Ichigo locked in his hold.
Renji stuck his tongue out to tease him.
"You're even more pathetic," Tatsuki smacked him over the head.
"This is stupid," Uryuu sighed as he pushed up his ever-slipping glasses. "Can I ever eat my lunch in peace?"
"Up here, no," Tatsuki answered him. "If you want peace, then you'll have to move out of this town. This place is filled with idiots," she nodded her head at everyone that was one the roof, more or less eating their lunch while playing stupid games at the same time.
"I found that out on the first day," Rukia added as she came back from throwing away the plastic bag that once held the curry bread. "I literally moved into a circus."
"At least you're not as insane as the others," Tatsuki patted Uryuu on the back.
"What are you three talking about now?" Orihime asked as she sat down next to her best friend. "I heard something about a circus."
Tatsuki laughed out loud. "Yeah, Kuchiki was just talking about how this town is like a circus."
"Oh! That would be so cool!" she grinned widely as her eyes started to sparkle with imagination. "If that was the case then I would be like a robot with missiles! And oh! Tatsuki-chan would be a lion who can rip anyone's head off if they get too close. And, and, and, Ishida-kun can be the intelligent ring leader who programmed every one of us to follow his every—" her words got cut off when Tatsuki placed her hand over her mouth.
"That's enough, Orihime," the tomboy awkwardly smiled at her ditzy friend.
"Mrph mmhm murh huh!" she mumbled against her hand.
"Yes yes," Tatsuki removed her hand and patted her friend on the head, "It would have been very amusing if that was true."
Rukia was laughing along with her new friends when a strong arm suddenly came around her shoulders. She didn't have to fully turn to see the outrageous hair color from her peripheral vision.
"Ah man, that was totally stupid," Renji groaned as he leaned against Rukia a little more after coming back from making fun of Ichigo. "You should put a leash on that carrot top."
She shrugged her shoulders. "I would but I don't think anything can keep that thing down."
"Who are you calling a 'thing,'" Ichigo growled as he walked up to her, finally out of Chad's hold. As soon as he saw the offending arm around Rukia, he scowled even more as he pushed it off. "Stop harassing her, pineapple," he snapped at him as he sat down on the other side of her.
"Geez, possessive much," Uryuu smirked.
"Shut up, four-eyes," he glared.
"Wow, nice comeback."
Ichigo growled lowly as his glare intensified. But he didn't move to hit him when Chad sat down at his other side. With a grunt, he turned away from Uryuu and started to silently eat some of the lunch the big man brought with him. Just as things were starting to quiet down the door to the school roof burst open.
"We're here!"
All seven occupants looked up to see Matsumoto making yet another grand entrance. "Geez, what do you three want this time," Ichigo groaned.
"Oi, what's with that attitude," Ikkaku ruffled his orange hair before sitting down in the circle. "You should consider yourselves lucky to be having lunch with us."
"You're the ones who invited yourselves, not us," Uryuu said.
Matsumoto pouted as she sat on the other side of Orihime. "Why are you always so grouchy at us?"
"Ah, they're just jealous of our natural beauty," Yumichika sighed as he flipped his hair.
"Shut up, Cosmo girl," Tatsuki snapped at him.
A vein popped out. "What did you call me?" he growled through his gritted teeth.
"You heard me," she challenged.
"Augh, please stop it. We're not in grade school anymore," Uryuu deadpanned.
"Stay out of this!" the two shouted at him simultaneously. Both of his hands immediately rose up as a sign of backing off.
Ding ding ding!
"Damn, lunch is over already?" Ikkaku whined as he quickly shoved half a sandwich down his throat.
"Well, you did come up here in the last five minutes of," Ichigo said, "What were you three doing?"
"Trying to get out of detention," Matsumoto sighed as she stood up and stretched her legs. "But I guess that was a waste. We finally got out when the teacher fell asleep but with only a few minutes left."
"We should have just stayed there," Yumichika added as he and the others packed up their belongings and started to head to their classrooms.
But before taking another step, Rukia stopped and looked up. "Looks like it's going to rain," she announced, not taking her eyes away from the dark clouds. Soon everyone else also looked up to see the rain clouds hovering above them.
"Good thing I brought my umbrella," Renji said as he looked away to continue his way to class.
"Me too," Matsumoto sighed in relief. "Now my hair won't get messed up in the rain."
"I brought my big umbrella that holds three people! I can share if anyone wants to," Orihime offered.
Uryuu smiled lightly at her. "I might have to take you on that offer, Inoue-san."
She smiled brightly at him. "Okay!"
One by one the small group of friends made their way to the door that would take them back inside the school building. It wasn't a big deal if it rained since it seemed to happen so often in Karakura. But two people remained rooted in their spots.
Ichigo and Rukia continued staring at the gray clouds, their breathings getting a little heavier with the gloomy weather. "Oi," he called out, "It's raining."
Rukia slightly flinched when the first drop landed on her nose. "Yeah," she responded, "It's raining."
When the second drop landed on Ichigo's nose it finally pulled him out of his daze.
Noticing his expression, she said, "Let's go back before it gets worse."
Ichigo nodded at her as he opened the door and waited for her to go through first before following after her. Without taking another look back the two quickly ran to their classroom just in time before the start of their next class. School went on no different from any other day, except it was starting to pour outside.
Before he knew it, Ichigo was standing by the front door of the school, scowling even more than usual. "Shit," he cursed, "I don't have an umbrella."
"What are you still doing here, strawberry?"
His left eye twitched as he turned around to glare at the person standing behind him. "Don't call me that, midget."
"Only when you stop calling me that, strawberry," Rukia snapped back before heading to her locker. "You haven't answered my question yet. Why aren't you going home?"
Ichigo grunted as he looked back outside. "I forgot my umbrella."
"Just walk home then. You need to water that orange bush on top of your head once in awhile or else it'll stop growing."
"Shut up," he growled at her.
Rukia just sighed as she pulled something extra out of her locker before locking it and walking up to him. "Here." She handed him a spare umbrella that was in her locker, though with some reluctance. "It's one of my favorites so make sure you return it." She quickly shoved it into his hands and started to leave.
Ichigo looked at the umbrella and frowned. "Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?"
"What are you talking about? I'm always nice," she snapped at him.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure you are," he replied sarcastically.
"You should consider yourself lucky to have a friend like me," she scoffed at him. "I don't lend anyone my stuff this easily."
"Well don't I feel like I won the lottery."
Rukia just waved his comment aside and stepped out the door. "See you Monday," she smiled at him before opening her purple umbrella and stepping out into the rain. Without turning back she quickly headed off to home.
Ichigo smirked as he watched her turn the corner and out of sight. With a low chuckle he stepped out to the edge of the school building and opened the umbrella. He immediately paled. "Oh fuck no!" he cursed out loud.
Two big bunny ears were sticking out from the top of the umbrella.
A/N: Okay, to the last part with the two looking up at the rain might have been a bit awkward and unnecessary. But I wanted to show that after only a few days the two became so close that they both have similar reactions to some events without really knowing why. Confusing? Yeah, it is for me too.
I'll try to explain but if you don't care, then skip this paragraph: The rain reminds Ichigo of a sensitive subject. And although I haven't written anything about it being a sad thing for Rukia as well, I'm planning on incorporating it into the story later. However, the two already have a bond that shows they know of each others discomforts, likes, and thoughts. I might write about Ichigo telling Rukia about his mother's death...but you guys can just think that he already had given her small hints on that subject.
Hopefully all the characters I have shoved (and forgotten to include) in this chapter weren't bothersome. They are to me, but I tried my best to make this story flow better with them. I have a tendency to write about a character but later not use them so they just disappear as the story progresses. And that will happen a lot here because I'm focusing purely on Ichigo and Rukia.
Well, thanks for reading! And don't forget to review! They motivate me to write more!
PREVIEW for next chapter:
Matsumoto's party and all the fun that comes before the next day
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