Rough draft - Five + One - Things Ichigo and Rukia are not
Unlocking because I actually like this now. Who knew!
Five + One - Things Ichigo and Rukia are not
To Ichigo, Rukia is not a girl.
Just as to Rukia, Ichigo is not a boy. They've gone far beyond such simple descriptors for each other.
============
After the war, Ichigo takes his sisters for a day in town. It's the least he can do after he has been away for so long. Yuzu never leaves Ichigo's side for long, which only the reckless comment on.
"And this is for you, and this, and some meat, and have you been eating your vegetables? They're good for you. You've gotten so thin."
"And you'll be fat soon," says Karin, but not softly enough to avoid being overheard by Yuzu, who turns to her twin with a look.
"You haven't eaten any vegetables," she says, and dumps an extra huge portion in Karin's bowl. Ichigo picks up his own bowl before Yuzu can put any more in it.
"Why didn't you ask Rukia along?" Karin asks.
Yuzu takes advantage of Ichigo's shock to order another plate of meat for him. Ichigo scowls when the waiter ignores Ichigo's protests in favour of smile at Yuzu. "You're getting so thin," Yuzu insists, and asks after Rukia too. "What happened to Kuchiki-san? She left so soon after you did. Did she find a place to stay?"
It takes Ichigo a moment to remember Rukia's cover story - it seems a lifetime away. "She's with her brother," he manages. "Why do you care so much anyway? Do you want her around?"
"Nah, I'm fine with these outings being for original Kurosakis only. Third daughters can join another time," said Karin, and Ichigo had to nod his agreement.
"Two sisters are already too much to handle," he says. Over Yuzu's cries of "Ichi-nii's still mean!" and Karin's kick to his shin, Ichigo hears the sound of their laughter and is secretly glad.
Two sisters are enough, really.
Any suggestion to Rukia that Ichigo is like a brother to her sends her rolling with laughter. After all, Ichigo could only hope to be half as great as Nii-sama.
===========
Being back at the 13th is... almost as if she never left it. Kiyone and Sentarou fuss over Captain Ukitake's wounds, but if it wasn't for that there'd be something else for them to worry about. Soul Society is rebuilding after the war.
"Don't just stand there thinking about how much you missed the place! There's lots to do!" Kiyone shouts as she zips past. One of the scrolls she is carrying tumbles off in her rush, only to be be scooped up by Sentarou.
"Nostalgic isn't it," he says, nodding towards the division grounds. "Now that Kurosaki isn't messing things up, you'll have time to get sick of it!" he adds, then chases after Kiyone yelling insults.
Rukia is suprised to find that they're right - since Ichigo she hasn't been around the division much. There was always something to do - training Orihime, fighting in the war, helping Ichigo in Hueco Mundo and Karakura - something more than just her shinigami duties here.
"It's not shinigami, it's Kuchiki Rukia," she remembers telling Ichigo, all those months ago.
"Kuchiki, the captain's calling for you!"
"Coming," she calls back, and dashes off to fulfil the duties of Kuchiki Rukia.
Ichigo is a human who has a zanpakutou and a Hollow inside him. Calling him shinigami is being too simplistic.
===========
Mizuiro is right - Ichigo does actually like Bad Shield the movie, even though Keigo wails that none of the actors were cool enough and that there weren't enough explosions and -
"Are you free Ichigo?" Mizuiro ends his phone call to one of his many girlfriends just in time to save Ichigo from a full Keigo rant. "I thought we could hang out a little more."
Ichigo shrugs - his dad had banned him from going back to the house for the rest of the day and he wasn't up for an attempt to sneak back yet. "Where are we going?"
"There's a place just around the corner," Mizuiro decides. Ichigo follows, not paying attention to much until he steps through the doors of the restaurant -
- and walks into a party. He blinks at the crowd and almost yells above the loud music that maybe they should go some place else when he realises that he knows everyone here. Even Chad is at the bandstand, playing the guitar with a new group. The last group must have found another guitarist while Chad was gone.
"Great party, isn't it?" Mizuiro yells over the noise.
"Your idea?" Ichigo yells back, and Mizuiro's shrug tells Ichigo all he needs to know. He gets called over by some classmates Ichigo doesn't know too well, leaving Ichigo with Keigo.
"Less talking more dancing!" Keigo declares, and dives towards a group of girls. They push him away before he can get any of them to dance with him, and Ichigo spots Inoue and Tatsuki laughing among them. Rukia is there too, and still hasn't dropped her schoolgirl act despite Inoue and Tatsuki knowing better. Ichigo assists in thwarting Keigo's second try by dropping into the last empty seat.
" - and I wish they'd tour together instead of in their separate groups - " Honshou cuts off when she sees Ichigo. "Hey! We don't need any males here!" Ichigo uses his usual tactic for Honshou - ignoring her, which causes her to sniff. "It's not as if you have anything to say about Morning Musume anyway."
"But I do! Can we continue please, Chizuru? What do you think of this year's new members?"
Honshou turns her attention to Inoue. Tatsuki scowls, but she foregoes stomping on his head to do the same. Ichigo finds himself relaxing now that he isn't in any immediate danger. "What's Morning Musume?" he asks Rukia.
"A band."
"You don't know human bands."
"Inoue lent me a magazine and Ogawa brought a CD player to school once. It's amazing how much Honshou knows about them!"
Looking at Rukia's rapt expression, Ichigo gives up any hope of conversation and moves on to another table. "Yo, Ishida!"
Rukia has few enough friends to know that Ichigo's not one of them.
===========
Rukia drops to the ground panting - she didn't expect that her stay in the 4th division would have taken so much out of her. Or maybe her exhaustion was because she hadn't sparred with Renji in a few decades - he had learned some nasty tricks since then.
The subject of her thoughts plonks down next to her with a container of water. Since it was within stealing distance, she reaches up and nicks it off him. "Oi!" Renji makes a grab for it, so Rukia leans away and takes a deep swallow.
"Get your own," she tells him, nursing it.
"Get your own," he grumbles back. Despite his words, he reaches out with one of his long arms and snagged another drink without having to get up. Rukia sulks over her water and pokes at a gash on her arm. Renji nods at it, asking "What were you distracted by?"
A bird, a thought reminding her of the last time she had sparred with something else. She doesn't admit that to Renji.
Renji nudges her with a toe to prompt a reply out of her. Rukia elbows him back out of reflex. It deteriorates into a shoving match, which Renji wins by sheer strength and being able to shove Rukia right off her seat.
Of course, when Renji leans over to apologise she boxes him in the nose.
When they are done nursing their respective hurts, Renji asks, "Why are you in such a rush anyway? You've got ages to train."
"The testing for seated officers is next week."
"So?"
"That's in 5 days!"
"So? Don't chug that, you'll choke." He plucked Rukia's water out of her hands. "Stop pretending it's beer - if you really want some, I'll get it for you."
"I can't get drunk, I still have 11 chapters of kido revision to do tonight."
Renji bursting out into laughter was not the reaction that Rukia expected. "'cuse me, I don't think I could do this sober," he said, between guffaws. "If your Kuchiki highness doesn't mind, I got- "
"S-stop laughing!" She kicked his shin since it was nearby, would stop him from running away and shut him up. She was pleased to see her plan was a success. "I have to take this test, not the one next month! If you're not going to help me I'll - I'll find someone else!"
"Other people wouldn't bother with you," Renji replied. "Is that why you have to get back early?"
"I have to return to the estate before it gets dark, or I won't get any studying done."
"What's the matter, Kuchiki-taichou takes away your books if you stay up too late?"
"You have only known studying by candlelight," Rukia told Renji, who still had a stupid expression on his face despite her earlier kick. "While I have studied under a nightlight, It is a miraculous human invetion that outstrips candles. Ichigo clipped his to his bed, on the headrest. My bed doesn't have headrests to lean against, or springy mattresses, or - "
Renji's expression had shifted to one of incredulity. "Wait, are you saying you prefer Ichigo's bed?"
Rukia sniffed - she was almost at the stage of her description where she could visualise it. What does it matter?" she asked.
She did not expect Renji's next splutter to be, "Are you sleeping with him?"
After a few minutes of grinding his face into the dirt, Renji was a lot more polite about it. "'S not like you weren't talking about the virtues of his bed."
"It was the superior choice to spending every waking minute in a closet," Rukia enlightened him. "And Ichigo hogs the desk."
"Are you going to describe that too?"
"No! You'll just get perverted thoughts about that too!"
The old man wants them to get together. His dad. WHO HAPPENS TO BE CRAZY, BY THE WAY.
===========
Immediately after the war, Ichigo and Rukia are laying on the ground trying to ignore their injuries. It's hard - Aizen tried to slice Ichigo in half again, and Rukia stopped trying to count her injuries a while back. Instead they focus on each other's breathing - in out, in out.
"It's over isn't it?" Ichigo asks.
"Moron," Rukia says, slight bite to her words. "You're injured. Stop trying to talk."
"But it's over?"
"Yes," Rukia admits. They both know that if it wasn't, Ichigo just might crawl to his feet to see it through. And Rukia would let him, as much as she hated it.
...It's a good thing that the war is over.
"Wow," Ichigo breathes. The sky is blue above them as the real Karakura slips back into place. All around them is the noise of people moving about, blissfully ignorant about what happened. Ichigo and Rukia could only wish to be that way - even now they can remember the fights that they've been through, the feel of blades on metal and flesh. How could they forget that?
"I didn't mean to," Ichigo finally says. "Back in Hueco Mundo. I lost control, and I - "
Rukia makes sure to speak louder than him. "It's over," she reminds him. "We need to move on now."
Silence. Rukia wonders if Ichigo has fainted, but he dispels the notion with a quiet "Aa". The back of his hand nudges hers as he shifts to get a better look at something. "They've found us."
"Good," she says, and they both tilt their heads back to face the blue sky.
For the Renji bit, version a
"Why are you in such a rush anyway? You've got ages to train."
"The testing for seated officers is next week."
"So?"
"That's in 5 days!"
"So? Don't chug that, you'll choke." He plucked Rukia's water out of her hands. "Stop pretending it's beer - if you really want some, I'll get it for you."
"I can't get drunk, I still have 11 chapters of kido revision to do tonight."
Renji bursting out into laughter was not the reaction that Rukia expected. "'cuse me, I don't think I could do this sober," he said, between guffaws. "If your Kuchiki highness doesn't mind, I got- "
"S-stop laughing!" She kicked his shin since it was nearby, would stop him from running away and shut him up. She was pleased to see her plan was a success. "I have to take this test, not the one next month! If you're not going to help me I'll - I'll find someone else!"
"Other people wouldn't bother with you," Renji replied. "Is that why you have to get back early?"
"I have to return to the estate before it gets dark, or I won't get any studying done."
"What's the matter, Kuchiki-taichou takes away your books if you stay up too late?"
"You have only known studying by candlelight," Rukia told Renji, who still had a stupid expression on his face despite her earlier kick. "While I have studied under a nightlight, It is a miraculous human invetion that outstrips candles. Ichigo clipped his to his bed, on the headrest. My bed doesn't have headrests to lean against, or springy mattresses, or - "
Renji's expression had shifted to one of incredulity. "Wait, are you saying you prefer Ichigo's bed?"
Rukia sniffed - she was almost at the stage of her description where she could visualise it. What does it matter?" she asked.
She did not expect Renji's next splutter to be, "Are you sleeping with him?"
After a few minutes of grinding his face into the dirt, Renji was a lot more polite about it. "'S not like you weren't talking about the virtues of his bed."
"It was the superior choice to spending every waking minute in a closet," Rukia enlightened him. "And Ichigo hogs the desk."
"Are you going to describe that too?"
"No!"
For the Renji bit, version b
"You're going back to the human world soon, aren't you?"
"Yes, Kojima-san is arranging a party for Ichigo today."
"I guess you're happy about seeing Ichigo again."
"What?" Rukia frowns and thinks about the guest list. "Kojima-san probably doesn't know who you are. I'll get him to add you to the guest list - "
"Did I say I wanted to go? It's just a bunch of Ichigo's human classmates. I bet they don't even remember seeing me."
"Ishida and the others will be there. Ichigo will be there."
"That's why I was saying, idiot."
Rukia fels her frown deepening. "What does Ichigo have to do with anything?"
"Wasn't that what got you distracted?"
"It's only a party," Rukia snifs. Renji shifts through a series of expressions too quickly for Rukia to make out what they were, but he finally settles on relief. "What's with that look?"
"Nothing," says Renji. "Ready to get your ass kicked more?"
"That's my line!"
Five + One - Things Ichigo and Rukia are not
To Ichigo, Rukia is not a girl.
Just as to Rukia, Ichigo is not a boy. They've gone far beyond such simple descriptors for each other.
============
After the war, Ichigo takes his sisters for a day in town. It's the least he can do after he has been away for so long. Yuzu never leaves Ichigo's side for long, which only the reckless comment on.
"And this is for you, and this, and some meat, and have you been eating your vegetables? They're good for you. You've gotten so thin."
"And you'll be fat soon," says Karin, but not softly enough to avoid being overheard by Yuzu, who turns to her twin with a look.
"You haven't eaten any vegetables," she says, and dumps an extra huge portion in Karin's bowl. Ichigo picks up his own bowl before Yuzu can put any more in it.
"Why didn't you ask Rukia along?" Karin asks.
Yuzu takes advantage of Ichigo's shock to order another plate of meat for him. Ichigo scowls when the waiter ignores Ichigo's protests in favour of smile at Yuzu. "You're getting so thin," Yuzu insists, and asks after Rukia too. "What happened to Kuchiki-san? She left so soon after you did. Did she find a place to stay?"
It takes Ichigo a moment to remember Rukia's cover story - it seems a lifetime away. "She's with her brother," he manages. "Why do you care so much anyway? Do you want her around?"
"Nah, I'm fine with these outings being for original Kurosakis only. Third daughters can join another time," said Karin, and Ichigo had to nod his agreement.
"Two sisters are already too much to handle," he says. Over Yuzu's cries of "Ichi-nii's still mean!" and Karin's kick to his shin, Ichigo hears the sound of their laughter and is secretly glad.
Two sisters are enough, really.
Any suggestion to Rukia that Ichigo is like a brother to her sends her rolling with laughter. After all, Ichigo could only hope to be half as great as Nii-sama.
===========
Being back at the 13th is... almost as if she never left it. Kiyone and Sentarou fuss over Captain Ukitake's wounds, but if it wasn't for that there'd be something else for them to worry about. Soul Society is rebuilding after the war.
"Don't just stand there thinking about how much you missed the place! There's lots to do!" Kiyone shouts as she zips past. One of the scrolls she is carrying tumbles off in her rush, only to be be scooped up by Sentarou.
"Nostalgic isn't it," he says, nodding towards the division grounds. "Now that Kurosaki isn't messing things up, you'll have time to get sick of it!" he adds, then chases after Kiyone yelling insults.
Rukia is suprised to find that they're right - since Ichigo she hasn't been around the division much. There was always something to do - training Orihime, fighting in the war, helping Ichigo in Hueco Mundo and Karakura - something more than just her shinigami duties here.
"It's not shinigami, it's Kuchiki Rukia," she remembers telling Ichigo, all those months ago.
"Kuchiki, the captain's calling for you!"
"Coming," she calls back, and dashes off to fulfil the duties of Kuchiki Rukia.
Ichigo is a human who has a zanpakutou and a Hollow inside him. Calling him shinigami is being too simplistic.
===========
Mizuiro is right - Ichigo does actually like Bad Shield the movie, even though Keigo wails that none of the actors were cool enough and that there weren't enough explosions and -
"Are you free Ichigo?" Mizuiro ends his phone call to one of his many girlfriends just in time to save Ichigo from a full Keigo rant. "I thought we could hang out a little more."
Ichigo shrugs - his dad had banned him from going back to the house for the rest of the day and he wasn't up for an attempt to sneak back yet. "Where are we going?"
"There's a place just around the corner," Mizuiro decides. Ichigo follows, not paying attention to much until he steps through the doors of the restaurant -
- and walks into a party. He blinks at the crowd and almost yells above the loud music that maybe they should go some place else when he realises that he knows everyone here. Even Chad is at the bandstand, playing the guitar with a new group. The last group must have found another guitarist while Chad was gone.
"Great party, isn't it?" Mizuiro yells over the noise.
"Your idea?" Ichigo yells back, and Mizuiro's shrug tells Ichigo all he needs to know. He gets called over by some classmates Ichigo doesn't know too well, leaving Ichigo with Keigo.
"Less talking more dancing!" Keigo declares, and dives towards a group of girls. They push him away before he can get any of them to dance with him, and Ichigo spots Inoue and Tatsuki laughing among them. Rukia is there too, and still hasn't dropped her schoolgirl act despite Inoue and Tatsuki knowing better. Ichigo assists in thwarting Keigo's second try by dropping into the last empty seat.
" - and I wish they'd tour together instead of in their separate groups - " Honshou cuts off when she sees Ichigo. "Hey! We don't need any males here!" Ichigo uses his usual tactic for Honshou - ignoring her, which causes her to sniff. "It's not as if you have anything to say about Morning Musume anyway."
"But I do! Can we continue please, Chizuru? What do you think of this year's new members?"
Honshou turns her attention to Inoue. Tatsuki scowls, but she foregoes stomping on his head to do the same. Ichigo finds himself relaxing now that he isn't in any immediate danger. "What's Morning Musume?" he asks Rukia.
"A band."
"You don't know human bands."
"Inoue lent me a magazine and Ogawa brought a CD player to school once. It's amazing how much Honshou knows about them!"
Looking at Rukia's rapt expression, Ichigo gives up any hope of conversation and moves on to another table. "Yo, Ishida!"
Rukia has few enough friends to know that Ichigo's not one of them.
===========
Rukia drops to the ground panting - she didn't expect that her stay in the 4th division would have taken so much out of her. Or maybe her exhaustion was because she hadn't sparred with Renji in a few decades - he had learned some nasty tricks since then.
The subject of her thoughts plonks down next to her with a container of water. Since it was within stealing distance, she reaches up and nicks it off him. "Oi!" Renji makes a grab for it, so Rukia leans away and takes a deep swallow.
"Get your own," she tells him, nursing it.
"Get your own," he grumbles back. Despite his words, he reaches out with one of his long arms and snagged another drink without having to get up. Rukia sulks over her water and pokes at a gash on her arm. Renji nods at it, asking "What were you distracted by?"
A bird, a thought reminding her of the last time she had sparred with something else. She doesn't admit that to Renji.
Renji nudges her with a toe to prompt a reply out of her. Rukia elbows him back out of reflex. It deteriorates into a shoving match, which Renji wins by sheer strength and being able to shove Rukia right off her seat.
Of course, when Renji leans over to apologise she boxes him in the nose.
When they are done nursing their respective hurts, Renji asks, "Why are you in such a rush anyway? You've got ages to train."
"The testing for seated officers is next week."
"So?"
"That's in 5 days!"
"So? Don't chug that, you'll choke." He plucked Rukia's water out of her hands. "Stop pretending it's beer - if you really want some, I'll get it for you."
"I can't get drunk, I still have 11 chapters of kido revision to do tonight."
Renji bursting out into laughter was not the reaction that Rukia expected. "'cuse me, I don't think I could do this sober," he said, between guffaws. "If your Kuchiki highness doesn't mind, I got- "
"S-stop laughing!" She kicked his shin since it was nearby, would stop him from running away and shut him up. She was pleased to see her plan was a success. "I have to take this test, not the one next month! If you're not going to help me I'll - I'll find someone else!"
"Other people wouldn't bother with you," Renji replied. "Is that why you have to get back early?"
"I have to return to the estate before it gets dark, or I won't get any studying done."
"What's the matter, Kuchiki-taichou takes away your books if you stay up too late?"
"You have only known studying by candlelight," Rukia told Renji, who still had a stupid expression on his face despite her earlier kick. "While I have studied under a nightlight, It is a miraculous human invetion that outstrips candles. Ichigo clipped his to his bed, on the headrest. My bed doesn't have headrests to lean against, or springy mattresses, or - "
Renji's expression had shifted to one of incredulity. "Wait, are you saying you prefer Ichigo's bed?"
Rukia sniffed - she was almost at the stage of her description where she could visualise it. What does it matter?" she asked.
She did not expect Renji's next splutter to be, "Are you sleeping with him?"
After a few minutes of grinding his face into the dirt, Renji was a lot more polite about it. "'S not like you weren't talking about the virtues of his bed."
"It was the superior choice to spending every waking minute in a closet," Rukia enlightened him. "And Ichigo hogs the desk."
"Are you going to describe that too?"
"No! You'll just get perverted thoughts about that too!"
The old man wants them to get together. His dad. WHO HAPPENS TO BE CRAZY, BY THE WAY.
===========
Immediately after the war, Ichigo and Rukia are laying on the ground trying to ignore their injuries. It's hard - Aizen tried to slice Ichigo in half again, and Rukia stopped trying to count her injuries a while back. Instead they focus on each other's breathing - in out, in out.
"It's over isn't it?" Ichigo asks.
"Moron," Rukia says, slight bite to her words. "You're injured. Stop trying to talk."
"But it's over?"
"Yes," Rukia admits. They both know that if it wasn't, Ichigo just might crawl to his feet to see it through. And Rukia would let him, as much as she hated it.
...It's a good thing that the war is over.
"Wow," Ichigo breathes. The sky is blue above them as the real Karakura slips back into place. All around them is the noise of people moving about, blissfully ignorant about what happened. Ichigo and Rukia could only wish to be that way - even now they can remember the fights that they've been through, the feel of blades on metal and flesh. How could they forget that?
"I didn't mean to," Ichigo finally says. "Back in Hueco Mundo. I lost control, and I - "
Rukia makes sure to speak louder than him. "It's over," she reminds him. "We need to move on now."
Silence. Rukia wonders if Ichigo has fainted, but he dispels the notion with a quiet "Aa". The back of his hand nudges hers as he shifts to get a better look at something. "They've found us."
"Good," she says, and they both tilt their heads back to face the blue sky.
For the Renji bit, version a
"Why are you in such a rush anyway? You've got ages to train."
"The testing for seated officers is next week."
"So?"
"That's in 5 days!"
"So? Don't chug that, you'll choke." He plucked Rukia's water out of her hands. "Stop pretending it's beer - if you really want some, I'll get it for you."
"I can't get drunk, I still have 11 chapters of kido revision to do tonight."
Renji bursting out into laughter was not the reaction that Rukia expected. "'cuse me, I don't think I could do this sober," he said, between guffaws. "If your Kuchiki highness doesn't mind, I got- "
"S-stop laughing!" She kicked his shin since it was nearby, would stop him from running away and shut him up. She was pleased to see her plan was a success. "I have to take this test, not the one next month! If you're not going to help me I'll - I'll find someone else!"
"Other people wouldn't bother with you," Renji replied. "Is that why you have to get back early?"
"I have to return to the estate before it gets dark, or I won't get any studying done."
"What's the matter, Kuchiki-taichou takes away your books if you stay up too late?"
"You have only known studying by candlelight," Rukia told Renji, who still had a stupid expression on his face despite her earlier kick. "While I have studied under a nightlight, It is a miraculous human invetion that outstrips candles. Ichigo clipped his to his bed, on the headrest. My bed doesn't have headrests to lean against, or springy mattresses, or - "
Renji's expression had shifted to one of incredulity. "Wait, are you saying you prefer Ichigo's bed?"
Rukia sniffed - she was almost at the stage of her description where she could visualise it. What does it matter?" she asked.
She did not expect Renji's next splutter to be, "Are you sleeping with him?"
After a few minutes of grinding his face into the dirt, Renji was a lot more polite about it. "'S not like you weren't talking about the virtues of his bed."
"It was the superior choice to spending every waking minute in a closet," Rukia enlightened him. "And Ichigo hogs the desk."
"Are you going to describe that too?"
"No!"
For the Renji bit, version b
"You're going back to the human world soon, aren't you?"
"Yes, Kojima-san is arranging a party for Ichigo today."
"I guess you're happy about seeing Ichigo again."
"What?" Rukia frowns and thinks about the guest list. "Kojima-san probably doesn't know who you are. I'll get him to add you to the guest list - "
"Did I say I wanted to go? It's just a bunch of Ichigo's human classmates. I bet they don't even remember seeing me."
"Ishida and the others will be there. Ichigo will be there."
"That's why I was saying, idiot."
Rukia fels her frown deepening. "What does Ichigo have to do with anything?"
"Wasn't that what got you distracted?"
"It's only a party," Rukia snifs. Renji shifts through a series of expressions too quickly for Rukia to make out what they were, but he finally settles on relief. "What's with that look?"
"Nothing," says Renji. "Ready to get your ass kicked more?"
"That's my line!"