(Untitled)

[bunnyfixation]

Who: Rukia Kuchiki, OPEN (COME BOTHER HER)
When: Sometime in the evening on the fourth day after school opens. (VAGUE IS GOOD)
Where: Outside, heading to the cafe.
What: Walking is good for you!
Rating: G

Comments

[clowntricks]

Allen looks over to where Rukia points but doesn't miss the sudden change in her demeanor. He desperately wants to ask her what's wrong but doesn't because they only just recently became acquainted and he doesn't want to meddle.

He settles on keeping the smile on his face sincere and follows her into the building and up to the front counter.

He sees and smells all of the food and his stomach gurgles loudly enough that a few of the other students sitting nearby stare at him strangely before chuckling. He blushes and tries to decide what he wants to eat, though he does keep a worried eye on Rukia.

[bunnyfixation]

Rukia stood there for a while, her hands clutching her purse... the kitten having escaped as they walked, and her knuckles turned a little pale as she turned and simply sat at one of the tables, not bothering to order anything. "Allen-san? Do you sometimes feel like you should know something and when you don't... it makes you feel... empty?" She knew it was an odd thing to ask but... she really didn't understand.

[clowntricks]

Allen ponders her question and knows his answer immediately. "Yes," he replies. He feels as though he should know why Mana died -- how he died -- and not knowing leaves him feeling like he's missing something important. Like there is only one piece left in a puzzle and it's gone missing.

"But... even though the empty feeling doesn't ever really go away, you can patch it up with other things, like family and loved ones."

He hopes this makes sense and that he doesn't sound as confused as he feels. Despite having just met her, Allen doesn't like seeing his new friend sad.

"Does that help any, Miss Rukia?"

[bunnyfixation]

She nodded, pulling something that looked like a candy bar from her purse and opening it to eat the chocolate bar filled with horrible things that she probably shouldn't be eating. But she did... with anger and annoyance at constantly being told to just let it go and move on. Still... Allen seemed to really understand. She looked up at him, trying her best to smile and... succeeding rather well. She was used to pretending. "Thank you, Allen-san."

[clowntricks]

"You're welcome, Miss Rukia!"

Her smile reminds him of his father's -- a little bit fake, a little bit tired, but still trying hard to be real and meaningful -- and so he smiles a bit wider and pulls a chair out for her at a nearby table.

"Would you like to sit down?" he asks. "We're bound to need a table once I've ordered myself something."

[bunnyfixation]

Rukia looked at the seat he'd pulled out and then at Allen. Her smile became smaller... but more genuine. Sit in the sunlight? She stood from the seat near the register and moved over to sit in the chair he was holding out. "Thank you." She sat for a moment or two, staring down at her purse and running her fingers over the embroidered bunny on the outside. "So...why did you come to this school, Allen-san? Do you know?"

[clowntricks]

"I honestly have no idea why I'm here," Allen answers, he has ordered his food and is now just awaiting its arrival. "Out of all of my friends I would have thought myself least qualified to be invited. I mean, I'm not the smartest person by any stretch of the word."

He laughs nervously, allowing himself to miss his home for a minute, before turning the question back onto her. "Do you know why you're here, Miss Rukia?"

[bunnyfixation]

"I was sent here. My Nii-sama feels that by going to a school and learning more skills to improve myself that I may gain favor of the family." She answered it simply, as if it were common knowledge that most people's families hated them. Which, was probably true. She turned to flag down a waitress and ordered some broth. She still had to eat, despite her loss of appetite.... otherwise she'd end up passed out somewhere. She tured back to Allen. "I'm sure that you have your own qualities. Intelligence is not something people can really measure."

[clowntricks]

"Why would you need to gain the favour of your family? You seem very intelligent, and I can tell that you're very strong."

Allen beings eating once his numerous platefuls of food arrive. He's absolutely starving since he had eaten nothing since the day before. "My qualities..." he says slowly. "I'm not sure what qualities I have. I tend to rush into things without thinking them over -- especially if someone is in danger, and it bothers my friends to no end. Once Lenalee had to stop me from running headlong into an explosion," he remembers the slap he had received for that with a wince. "And... I'm a street performer?"

He has no idea what qualities the school administration was looking for when they sent out the acceptance letters and still thinks they might have made a mistake with his. He mentions this to Rukia.

"I honestly have no idea what the school was looking for, Miss Rukia, but I really don't think that I'm it."

[bunnyfixation]

Rukia sat there for a moment and the very feeling around her became rather serious. "Never doubt that whatever happens to you is happening because it is meant to. You are needed here for some reason and when you find that reason you may not even know. You have to accept that." She looked away from him, staring out the window then. "I've known a lot of people who have always felt that they never had what it took... but then... I'll meet someone who doesn't care if they have what it takes. Who strives so hard to accomplish what he knows he must in order to achieve his goal, which is usually for the benifit of others. Perhaps..." She glances over at him then. "Perhaps that very persistant nature, the self-sacrificing side that people like you have is what Yuuko-sensei sees as your best quality. If she chooses to bring more people like that... then I am all for it. For they are the ones that people are looking for the most, even if they don't realize it."

[clowntricks]

Allen blushes deeply at her kind words. She is comparing him to somebody she thinks very highly of, he knows, and isn't sure if he deserves it.

"W-well I, err. Maybe? That is, well," he can't think of a proper response and so resorts to stuttering incoherently until he can think of something intelligible.

"T-That's lovely praise coming from you. You seem to be the kind of person who doesn't give out such kind words very often."

[bunnyfixation]

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Praise should never be given easily. Otherwise nobody would know when it is deserved." She smiled and let out a happy dinner greeting for her broth, not bothering with utensils and simply bringing the bowl up to take a drink.

[clowntricks]

"That's true," Allen admits with a smile. "I still am not very used to being praised... I find it rather embarrassing, actually."

He blushes again, wondering why he would admit this to a near-stranger before deciding that it was most likely because she was a near-stranger. He eyes the way she's guzzling down her broth and wonders if he should order some as well.

"Is your soup good? You look like you're enjoying it very much..." he eyes his empty plates ruefully. "Maybe I should order some..."

[bunnyfixation]

Rukia pauses mid-gulp and brings the bowl away as a small blush tints her cheeks. Soup drizzles from her lip and she brings a hand up to brush it aside quickly. "Well, that is... it's because I can use spiritual power. In Soul Society, all those who have the ability to control their spiritual power must eat or they will die. As shinigami we learn to hone those powers for use against hollows... but using them makes you even more hungry. Also.. I am in a gigai, which makes it even harder to not feel hungry. If I hadn't ate this bowl of broth I'd probably collapse outside the cafe."

[clowntricks]

"Really?" he asks, surprised, before he sees the look on Rukia's face.

He tries desperately to withhold his giggles but a few slip out without his knowing. "I'm the same way, actually. My Innocence uses up most of my energy so I end up eating over twenty times as much as a normal person."

He tries so hard to hold back his giggling that they turn into hiccoughs. "Miss Rukia" -- hiccough -- "The look on" -- hiccough -- "Your face is" -- hiccough -- "Really quite amusing."

[bunnyfixation]

Normally... she would be annoyed... but... Rukia just smiled and shook her head, going back to her soup. Even in Soul Society she was made fun of by how hungry she got all the time. It was sort of nice to find someone in the same situation.