To Learn
Title: To Learn
Pairing: Ichigo x Ishida
Rating: PG? maybe PG-13 for now, may change.
Summary: A lovesick Ichigo finds an intellectual way to get closer to Ishida.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters, nor do I make any money from these endeavors.
I haven't written in awhile, and I haven't written any Ichigo x Ishida in even longer. This is also unbeta-ed. Will be continued. I hope you enjoy!
Intro
It used to be that Kurosaki Ichigo didn’t know that I existed. I was quite fine with that state of affairs; peace and quiet suit me better than loud hair and gang fights. Yet ever since the day I first introduced myself to the Shinigami…
I’ve never been able to tell if the boy is massively inobservant or just unwilling to tell people what he can see. He seems clueless enough for the former yet just as likely to do the latter. He has no reason to tell people what he can observe about them, since I suppose doing so will just change their behavior. He probably enjoys what little consistency he can find in his bizarre life.
Kurosaki’s observation skills have my attention now because, whereas before he had not afforded me a passing glance, he now looks at me with slightly widened eyes as if surprised by what he sees, and eyebrows not pinned so closely together in stress. I know he does it often, even though I only bother to catch him at it occasionally. Then he looks away and pretends to be gazing at something else. Strange boy.
On days I become annoyed by his choice of view, I quirk an eyebrow and watch him until he becomes bothered enough to either scowl or stop.
Then he just switches to watching my hands. He must be supremely bored, or perhaps he just wants to copy my notes. He does well enough in school as far as I know, he just has a shaky attention span. His notes are probably disorganized, so finally, fed up with his strange behavior, I offered to let him look through my notes before a test. His brow furrowed more than usual, and he looked confused. Bothered, actually. I couldn’t have injured his pride, or he would be yelling at me already, so I must have triggered some inner dilemma. Then he grudgingly asked if I would please help him study, as his grades had been slipping.
I could have sighed in relief. How stupidly simple. All that staring because he was too embarrassed to ask me for help? How like Kurosaki. I knew he had little sisters and a disarmingly vivacious father, so I told him I would tutor him at my apartment. He muttered something about it not really being tutoring, but I told him to shut up. I threatened that he better not waste my time.
He didn’t. He was quiet, and studious, and soft-spoken. It was a side I didn’t even imagine Kurosaki possessed. It seemed as though he felt he was imposing on my domain, and he tread as lightly as he could. Courteous of him, and odd. He left, and did excellent on our next test. I was a little proud of myself and of him, I admit.
He didn’t stop watching. His eyes seemed to change again, from widened to lowered lids, filled with…something. I didn’t know what it was, but Kurosaki was the only one I knew who could let you know he was feeling something with just his eyes. Not the little wrinkles or twist of the mouth, just the intensity of his eyes. It’s an unnerving quality.
~
Part I
When Ichigo asked Ishida if he would help again, the Quincy was conflicted. Kurosaki could be annoying. But the Hollows had been thick that week and it showed on the Shinigami’s tired and plaintive face. He probably hadn’t had time to study, so Ishida agreed.
But later that day, the idiot was having a much harder time studying. Ishida rapped on the table with his knuckles.
“Hey, Kurosaki!” Ichigo seemed unfocused, occasionally looking at the bespectacled boy without really looking. It pissed Ishida off.
“What? …Sorry Ishida,” the Shinigami muttered. “I’m tired.”
“Then you shouldn’t have come over,” the Quincy replied bitingly. “I’m not getting paid here.”
“I…I know, I said I was sorry already,” Ichigo said, jaw clenching. He must really be tired to act so strangely, Ishida thought. Not that it made him want to give any quarter.
“Are you going to focus now, or should I kick you out and save myself the trouble?”
“Don’t be such a drama-queen. Just teach me already.” Ishida pinned him with a disapproving glance, but began teaching again. After two hours, when Ichigo began to yawn and looked positively done in, Uryuu decided they were finished. He walked with the infuriating redhead to the door, when Ichigo suddenly stopped and turned to face Uryuu. The dark-haired boy stopped as well.
“Well, what?” He asked sardonically. Kurosaki looked at him with a grimace and tense brows. He took a half step towards Ishida before swiftly turning away and opening the door.
“Nothing. See ya,” and he walked out the door unceremoniously, leaving a confused and curious Quincy.
~
The tutoring became a weekly affair. Even Ishida’s almost impeccable grades seemed to improve after he began teaching Kurosaki, so the Quincy saw no reason to stop the sessions. Kurosaki’s grades were improving as well, and it gave Ishida good reason to be smug around the irrepressible Shinigami.
Though lately, Uryuu reflected, the Shinigami hadn’t been so irrepressible at all. He seemed awkward and tired. Sometimes their study sessions became Ichigo crashing on the dark-haired boy’s couch for a few hours in relief from his duties and from his family.
Ishida had nearly gone postal on the idiot when he first discovered him napping, but when he had seen how peaceful Kurosaki looked-eyebrows and body relaxed, a small smile on his face that Uryuu had never seen before-he couldn’t help but leave the annoying teen to his sleep. This particular time, however, there was no peaceful expression on Ichigo’s face, so Ishida felt no compulsion to let him rest. A swift smack on the head was enough to jolt Kurosaki out of sleep, and he grabbed the Quincy’s hand in reaction.
“Oy! What the hell was that for?” The Shinigami demanded crankily.
“You were drooling on my pillows,” Ishida replied, voice extremely dry. “I’m not going to wash them just for you.”
“You’ve done it before!” Ichigo protested. Ishida raised his eyebrows.
“Well, I’m not going to do it this time. Und-er-stand?” He said too-slowly to insult the redhead. Ichigo scowled. “By the way, are you going to let go of my hand anytime soon?” Ishida asked nonchalantly; Kurosaki let go of his hand before he even finished the sentence. “You’re getting stranger,” the Quincy accused. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothin’,” Ichigo said shortly, and stood up. “I’m fine, why should you care?”
“Don’t be insulting. You’ve been coming here for over a month. Someone far stupider than I could tell something is up.”
“…You don’t wanna know,” Ichigo said after a moment, and grabbed his book bag.
“Of course I want to know, or I wouldn’t have asked, Kurosaki,” Ishida told him, voice on edge.
“You don’t wanna know,” he repeated, letting stress break through his voice. Ishida stared at him in surprise. Ichigo looked away and began to walk towards the door; against his better judgment, Uryuu followed. Because he very much wanted to know.
“Kurosaki! I’m going to find out eventually, so why don’t you make this easier on the both of us and tell me already?” The Quincy grabbed his shirt to hold him back. Ichigo pinned him against the wall in retaliation.
“You really wanna know, Ishida?! Suddenly I’m more than some Shinigami piece of shit?” Uryuu stared at him, speechless. Ichigo’s expression was angry and hopeless all at once, and it only confused the dark-haired teen more. He was somewhat afraid that Ichigo would decide to start fight right then and there, and tensed in preparation. But what the redhead did was far more alarming than that.
Ichigo let Uryuu go, took his chin in one hand and kissed him. Ishida was struck dumb. The Shinigami’s kiss was tentative, gentle, and nothing the Quincy would have ever expected when he asked what was wrong. Kurosaki pulled away, and once he saw the look on Ishida’s face, his own expression became pained. Without another word, he left, leaving a confused and curious Quincy.
COMMUNITY DISCLAIMER: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this post/fanfiction/fanart (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States state of California, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from.