Fic: Scent of Memories (Bleach, Ichigo/Rukia)
Title: Scent of Memories
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Ichigo/Rukia
Author: Death God aka icedark_elf
Recipient: Moonstruck aka delusionised
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Prompt: Bleach, IchigoxRukia - white chip macadamia nut cookie
Scent of Memories
When she followed the strange noises downstairs, Rukia knew that this was not what she expected to find.
Moving around the kitchen, long after the girls had gone to sleep, was Ichigo. He was wearing an apron, and that right there was enough to make something glitch in Rukia’s brain for a minute before it kick started back up again. The idea of Ichigo wearing an apron, apparently of his own free will, was not something that she had ever expected to see. Ever.
But here he was, wearing his normal clothing underneath, and she stood in the doorway that lead to the kitchen, watching as he moved around, apparently cooking.
Ichigo could cook?
“If you’re just going to stand there,” he said quietly, “come in here and help. Yuzu and Karin forgot they had to take some type of dessert into class until late today. Too late for Yuzu to work on them. If it had just been Karin, I’d think she was playing me.” He huffed, and handed a bowl to Rukia, who was standing next to the table now. “Stir.”
Bristling slightly, Rukia relaxed, and then started to stir. She looked down at the slightly gooey concoction, and wrinkled her nose. “What is this?”
Ichigo growled faintly. “It’s not done yet, so don’t wrinkle your nose. It’s goin to be cookies. As soon as I can find the white chocolate chips, it’ll be white chip macadamian nut cookies. Which are good.”
The tone of his voice just dared her to argue with him over that fact. Which she almost took him up on, but something in his expression held her back. “I’m impressed you can cook at all,” she said instead. “Never see you do it, always leaving it to your sister.”
“Hey, Yuzu likes to cook. And it’s not like I have any time, not with you dragging me around like you do. Besides, I’m a guy. I can’t cook much.”
“But you can cook cookies?”
He paused in his hunt, then started again. “Mom taught me when I was little. She loved cookies, especially this kind. So she taught me how to make them. Dad and I both learned. He hasn’t made them since she died, though.”
Rukia continued to stir the bowl she had been given, seeing bits and pieces of white here and there in the dough. She hadn’t expect this at all. Other than explaining how his mother had died, she had rarely heard Ichigo talk about her. The only reason she had found out as much as she had was because she had interrupted the family’s visit to her grave, and the entire situation with Grand Fisher. Ichigo’s father was much more talkative about her, but even he said very little, never going into actual details, just talking to the picture they had of her on the wall. Rukia had stumbled over him doing it several times, never with the, er, overenthusiasm he seemed to display most of the time.
She had learned, after spending so much time around them, just how much the death of Ichigo’s mother had affected the entire family, and it certainly had explained how over protective he had been when she had first shown up. Even more than his unusual spirit powers, it explained how he had broken the spells she had put on him to keep him out of the way that day.
“The girls love them, but Yuzu doesn’t bake them often. She says they always taste wrong when she does. Don’t know where she gets that idea, it’s pretty stupid. Hers taste just fine. Aha!”
With a noise of triumph, he pulled down two bags from the back of a cabinet. After looking them over, he tore one open and dumped it into the bowl that Rukia was stirring. Snagging one off the top of the pile, he offered it to her.
Rukia had found a curiosity for human foods. They had so many different kinds, and seemed to enjoy devising ways to keep from enjoying them that she couldn’t help but be fascinated. And whatever it was that he had just given her was good. Sharp and sweet and it melted on her tongue. She gave a surprised noise, and looked at the pile of them, then started stirring again. “So this,” she said, indicating the dough, “is going to make cookies.”
Ichigo nodded, and collected a second bowl, which he emptied the second bag of chips into. “Make the dough up, then bake it. The girls will take part of them in tomorrow, the rest will stay for home. I know if I don’t, I’ll never hear the end of it.” He sounded a little, well, more than a little, put out at that, and set about stirring the bowl he held.
When he fell silent, Rukia stirred, and she found that the actions were almost meditative. Which was very odd, since she had to keep fighting with lumps.
For a long moment, neither of them said anything, then Ichigo spoke up again. “When I was little, Mom and I would do this. She’d have me help stir, and she’d put things together. It was always like magic, how she could make things like flour and nuts into something that tasted so good.” His words were absent, as if he wasn’t really talking to Rukia, but just getting his thoughts out. Rukia wondered if she wasn’t the only one who found the pattern of stirring relaxing.
“Then, we’d sit and talk when the cookies were baking, she’d let me steal bits of dough, and when the first batch came out of the oven, she’d give me the first one. It was our thing. Just for the two of us. Dad would come in, and she’d always managed to get rid of him. I think he had fun with it, cause he was always grinning, even when she’d hit him with an oven mitt.”
Rukia didn’t know what to say, so said nothing. What Ichigo talked about was somewhat alien to her, but it was interesting all the same. Maybe because it was so different from how she was raised.
Again, Ichigo fell quiet, and he stood, checking the oven, then plopped globs of dough onto a metal sheet. Rukia watched all of it, curiosity rising again as, after Ichigo placed the sheet in the oven, a smell started to drift soon after. A wonderful, tasty smelling smell.
Maybe she could understand this desire for home made cookies after all. It had seemed odd to cook what one could simply buy, after all. At least in the human world.
Unable to stop herself, she stole a bit of dough, which Ichigo ignored, and tried it. Oh, that was tasty. She would have to start visiting the kitchen when Yuzu was in here more often if this was how unprepared food tasted.
Finally, Ichigo pulled the sheet out, and set the cookies onto some type of paper before moving to put more globs onto the sheet. So that was what they were to look like. Rukia leaned closer, studying them. They actually looked like cookies now. So Ichigo did have some talent in the kitchen after all.
She settled back after he set the second batch into the over, and then went to collect two glasses of milk. He handed one to her, then picked up a cookie. Juggling it for a second, he offered it to her as well.
“Time to taste test,” he said calmly, a small grin on his face. For a moment, Rukia thought he was making fun of her. But then she realized he was trying to share this with her, this happy memory of his, and she took the cookie.
They were really good cookies, too.
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Ichigo/Rukia
Author: Death God aka icedark_elf
Recipient: Moonstruck aka delusionised
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Prompt: Bleach, IchigoxRukia - white chip macadamia nut cookie
Scent of Memories
When she followed the strange noises downstairs, Rukia knew that this was not what she expected to find.
Moving around the kitchen, long after the girls had gone to sleep, was Ichigo. He was wearing an apron, and that right there was enough to make something glitch in Rukia’s brain for a minute before it kick started back up again. The idea of Ichigo wearing an apron, apparently of his own free will, was not something that she had ever expected to see. Ever.
But here he was, wearing his normal clothing underneath, and she stood in the doorway that lead to the kitchen, watching as he moved around, apparently cooking.
Ichigo could cook?
“If you’re just going to stand there,” he said quietly, “come in here and help. Yuzu and Karin forgot they had to take some type of dessert into class until late today. Too late for Yuzu to work on them. If it had just been Karin, I’d think she was playing me.” He huffed, and handed a bowl to Rukia, who was standing next to the table now. “Stir.”
Bristling slightly, Rukia relaxed, and then started to stir. She looked down at the slightly gooey concoction, and wrinkled her nose. “What is this?”
Ichigo growled faintly. “It’s not done yet, so don’t wrinkle your nose. It’s goin to be cookies. As soon as I can find the white chocolate chips, it’ll be white chip macadamian nut cookies. Which are good.”
The tone of his voice just dared her to argue with him over that fact. Which she almost took him up on, but something in his expression held her back. “I’m impressed you can cook at all,” she said instead. “Never see you do it, always leaving it to your sister.”
“Hey, Yuzu likes to cook. And it’s not like I have any time, not with you dragging me around like you do. Besides, I’m a guy. I can’t cook much.”
“But you can cook cookies?”
He paused in his hunt, then started again. “Mom taught me when I was little. She loved cookies, especially this kind. So she taught me how to make them. Dad and I both learned. He hasn’t made them since she died, though.”
Rukia continued to stir the bowl she had been given, seeing bits and pieces of white here and there in the dough. She hadn’t expect this at all. Other than explaining how his mother had died, she had rarely heard Ichigo talk about her. The only reason she had found out as much as she had was because she had interrupted the family’s visit to her grave, and the entire situation with Grand Fisher. Ichigo’s father was much more talkative about her, but even he said very little, never going into actual details, just talking to the picture they had of her on the wall. Rukia had stumbled over him doing it several times, never with the, er, overenthusiasm he seemed to display most of the time.
She had learned, after spending so much time around them, just how much the death of Ichigo’s mother had affected the entire family, and it certainly had explained how over protective he had been when she had first shown up. Even more than his unusual spirit powers, it explained how he had broken the spells she had put on him to keep him out of the way that day.
“The girls love them, but Yuzu doesn’t bake them often. She says they always taste wrong when she does. Don’t know where she gets that idea, it’s pretty stupid. Hers taste just fine. Aha!”
With a noise of triumph, he pulled down two bags from the back of a cabinet. After looking them over, he tore one open and dumped it into the bowl that Rukia was stirring. Snagging one off the top of the pile, he offered it to her.
Rukia had found a curiosity for human foods. They had so many different kinds, and seemed to enjoy devising ways to keep from enjoying them that she couldn’t help but be fascinated. And whatever it was that he had just given her was good. Sharp and sweet and it melted on her tongue. She gave a surprised noise, and looked at the pile of them, then started stirring again. “So this,” she said, indicating the dough, “is going to make cookies.”
Ichigo nodded, and collected a second bowl, which he emptied the second bag of chips into. “Make the dough up, then bake it. The girls will take part of them in tomorrow, the rest will stay for home. I know if I don’t, I’ll never hear the end of it.” He sounded a little, well, more than a little, put out at that, and set about stirring the bowl he held.
When he fell silent, Rukia stirred, and she found that the actions were almost meditative. Which was very odd, since she had to keep fighting with lumps.
For a long moment, neither of them said anything, then Ichigo spoke up again. “When I was little, Mom and I would do this. She’d have me help stir, and she’d put things together. It was always like magic, how she could make things like flour and nuts into something that tasted so good.” His words were absent, as if he wasn’t really talking to Rukia, but just getting his thoughts out. Rukia wondered if she wasn’t the only one who found the pattern of stirring relaxing.
“Then, we’d sit and talk when the cookies were baking, she’d let me steal bits of dough, and when the first batch came out of the oven, she’d give me the first one. It was our thing. Just for the two of us. Dad would come in, and she’d always managed to get rid of him. I think he had fun with it, cause he was always grinning, even when she’d hit him with an oven mitt.”
Rukia didn’t know what to say, so said nothing. What Ichigo talked about was somewhat alien to her, but it was interesting all the same. Maybe because it was so different from how she was raised.
Again, Ichigo fell quiet, and he stood, checking the oven, then plopped globs of dough onto a metal sheet. Rukia watched all of it, curiosity rising again as, after Ichigo placed the sheet in the oven, a smell started to drift soon after. A wonderful, tasty smelling smell.
Maybe she could understand this desire for home made cookies after all. It had seemed odd to cook what one could simply buy, after all. At least in the human world.
Unable to stop herself, she stole a bit of dough, which Ichigo ignored, and tried it. Oh, that was tasty. She would have to start visiting the kitchen when Yuzu was in here more often if this was how unprepared food tasted.
Finally, Ichigo pulled the sheet out, and set the cookies onto some type of paper before moving to put more globs onto the sheet. So that was what they were to look like. Rukia leaned closer, studying them. They actually looked like cookies now. So Ichigo did have some talent in the kitchen after all.
She settled back after he set the second batch into the over, and then went to collect two glasses of milk. He handed one to her, then picked up a cookie. Juggling it for a second, he offered it to her as well.
“Time to taste test,” he said calmly, a small grin on his face. For a moment, Rukia thought he was making fun of her. But then she realized he was trying to share this with her, this happy memory of his, and she took the cookie.
They were really good cookies, too.