{fic} las noches high - chapter three
Title: Las Noches High - chapter three
Author/Artist: taintedkibou
Pairing/Characters: Grimmjow/Ichigo; other side pairings
Rating: PG-13 (R later?)
Genre: AU; high school
Disclaimer: I own the mangas that I purchased, but Kubo owns the characters.
Summary/Notes: Forced to transfer from school to school because of something he has no control over, Kurosaki Ichigo resigns himself to expulsion, only to find out he has one last choice: attend Las Noches High.
[ chapter one ] [ chapter two ]
Word spread fast in Las Noches. Ichigo was approached by the kendo club and the wrestling club over the course of two days. The track team approached him on the third day after witnessing him flee from the manager of the wrestling club-Yammi Riyalgo. After losing his club stalkers, Ichigo headed down to the first floor, ducking into the empty science lab room for a quick lunch nap. Just when he was relaxing, the door rattled in its frame as it slid open. Ichigo scowled, turning away from the noise.
“This is my domain, Kurosaki-kun,” a soft voice drawled. “Do you desire to join the Science Club?” The way ‘desire’ was enunciated made Ichigo lift his head.
Szayel Aporro stood on the opposite side of the lab station where Ichigo sat. “No?” The pink-haired teen smiled. “That’s fine. I’d rather use your body for experimentation anyway.” Ichigo stood from the stood, but Szayel Aporro had reached across the granite counter and was gripping his wrist tightly. “There’s something about this body. How many people have told you this-that you put off pheromones? Is that why you came here?” Szayel Aporro prided himself on self-control, but it had momentarily abandoned him.
Ichigo jerked his hand free of the laughing teen’s grip and bolted from the classroom.
Ichigo ran from one ordeal right into another. The second, however, wasn’t as harrowing as the first, just annoying. The first half of classes, the teachers switched while the students remained in their homeroom classroom. After lunch, it became a collection of elective classes that the students had to go to. This was new to Ichigo, but he already had his classes memorized. He darted into the large theater arts class-stage included-and was immediately singled out.
“Niño!” Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio, the overdramatic drama teacher, clapped enthusiastically. “You’re my Juliet!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ichigo shouted, pushing aside the rolling rack of costumes that stood in his way. Re-enactments were Dordonii’s way of giving a ‘pop quiz’. By now, the remainder of the class had arrived, and was watching the familiar shouting match take place.
“Juliet! Now, Niño!”
“Don’t rush me…” As Ichigo crossed to the stage, a wig was held out to him. Ichigo’s glares were no longer feared and the boy smiled, thrusting the long, golden tresses against his chest. “She wasn’t blond,” Ichigo mumbled, placing the wig onto his head, but not fitting it, and climbed the wooden stairs. He stopped after stepping onto the stage and noticing the large bed. Eyes wide, he raced across the stage to where the excitedly talking man stood, a hand to his head to keep the prop from falling off. “Hey, Macaroni!”
“Dordonii!”
“Whatever! What scene are we doing?”
“The scenes you were supposed to read for this week!” Dordonii turned slowly, revealing his wicked smile to the glowering teen, and crossed his arms, hugging them at the elbows. A twinkle lay in his narrowed eyes. “The dying scene between our star-crossed lovers.”
There was an excruciatingly long pause of silence in which a pin would be heard loud and clear if one did happen to fall. Ichigo inhaled deeply, taking the time, as he calmed himself, to fit the wig on properly. “Who’s my Romeo?” he asked in a strained voice through clenched teeth.
“Where’s my drama prince?” Dordonii exclaimed, circling Ichigo to flounce to the center of the stage.
“Right here.”
Ichigo brushed the hair curtain of bangs aside and found unstoppable laughter erupting from him after seeing the Student Council president climb onto the stage. “Mr. Stoical?”
“He’s a very good actor. Very talented,” Dordonii praised.
Ichigo snorted, staring at Ulquiorra’s expression face. “Just make sure you pass me, Don Quixote.”
“I’m not chasing windmills, niño!”
“You may as well be.” Ichigo flopped onto the bed, positioning himself so he lay straight and vertical, hands clasped atop his midsection. “You really should smile more,” he sighed.
“There’s nothing to smile about,” Ulquiorra retorted. He leaned over the mock-sleeping figure, running his fingers over Ichigo’s creased brow. “You should relax more. You have to take on the appearance of death. You’re frowning even more now…”
“Your voice is disturbing,” Ichigo hissed.
“Hopeless.” Ulquiorra noticed the roll of eyes from his ‘Juliet’ despite Ichigo’s eyes being closed.
Ichigo inhaled then exhaled deeply, trying to enter a relaxed state. Ichigo realized just how relaxed he’d become when he was pulled back to reality by the words being recited above him.
“O, true Apothecary. Thy drugs are quick. Thus… with a kiss… I die.”
Ichigo felt soft lips gently press against his, and then they were gone. He remained motionless as Friar Laurence and Balthasor rushed into the scene, listening and waiting for his cues to rise. The remainder of the class that had no part in the re-enactment watched on in awed silence. Dordonii had a proud and somehow still smug smile on his face, hands resting on his hips. At the doors were a few more onlookers.
Ichigo’s main focus was ‘Friar Laurence’. Once those three words were stated-‘Thy lady stirs’. ‘I guess that’s me.’ Ichigo let his eyes slowly open and his hands fall away onto the bed. He sat up, the false blond hair cascading down the back of his white school jacket, which he still wore. Glancing at the boy playing the Friar, he recited his lines as they were supposed to be said, adding a flourish or two.
Ichigo slid to the floor halfway through the dialogue, and sat beside Ulquiorra’s still figure. Friar Laurence soon disappeared behind the stage curtains, leaving Ichigo to finish his death scene. Ichigo reached out, taking the brunet’s hand, and began: “What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end… O churl! Drunk all and left no friendly drop to help me after? I will kiss thy lips; haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to make, to make die with a restorative.”
Cupping the sides of the dark head in his lap, Ichigo leaned down. His partner felt a simple press of the lips wouldn’t do. Ichigo kept a calm outward appearance when Ulquiorra responded subtly to the kiss, making it look as though he truly were searching for a drop of poison. Ichigo pulled away, hand tightly squeezing the brunet’s to calm his racing heart. “Thy lips… are warm.” He turned sharply at the noise coming from behind the stage, true apprehension shining in his eyes, then back again. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger!”
Ichigo released the other’s hand and closed his fingers around the handle of the dagger conveniently tucked away in the waist of Ulquiorra’s pants. “This is thy sheath…” With both hands gripping the blade, he buried the retractable prop into his stomach. ‘…the hell-blood? That idiot Dordonii!’ A crimson stain slowly spread across the front of his uniform. “There rust… and let me die…” Ichigo collapsed onto his side on the stage, halfway on top of his ‘Romeo’.
“Amazing! Perfect!” Dordonii cried, throwing up his arms. He dodged the fake dagger thrown at his head. “Niño, you were amazing. Everyone gets a passing grade today!”
Ichigo scoffed and glared at the red stains on his hands. His attention was drawn to Ulquiorra when the other sat up. “Don’t think I meant anything by that kiss,” Ulquiorra stated, combing his fingers through his hair. “I was trying to make the scene more believable, that’s all.”
Dordonii’s voice cut through the air right behind the bell signaling the end of class, “My players, stage hands, and characters! I’ll inform your teachers as to why you’re late. The rest of you, move along!”
*
Ichigo waited as the stain was cleaned out of his uniform. He tensed, shifting his gaze from outside to the figure that had now joined him at the open window. “I’m the manager of the drama club,” Ulquiorra stated in his monotonous tone. “You don’t have to join those other clubs that have been chasing you if you have no desire to.”
The phrase ‘other clubs’ reminded Ichigo of his earlier problem and he gritted his teeth, willing the memory away.
“Szayel Aporro told me what he did. He won’t, so I apologize on his behalf. I’m aware of your… condition, for lack of a better term.” Ichigo gripped the edge of the windowsill, forcing himself not to look at Ulquiorra. “Have you tried declining-”
“It almost got me kicked out of the school system,” Ichigo spat. “I know how pheromones work.”
“This is just… a more severe case.” Ulquiorra bowed his head, a soft, faint sigh escaping him. “Since there’s nothing more I can do, I’ll keep your secret safe.”
“Ku-ro-sa-ki!”
Ichigo’s eyes flew open and he tried to find the source of the voice that had called him. Di Roy stood down below on the well-trimmed lawn, arms waving. Ulquiorra touched a hand to Ichigo’s arm, leaning forward. “Shouldn’t you be in class?” He barely raised his voice, but the way Di Roy’s face fell told him he heard it loud and clear.
Di Roy grinned sheepishly before darting away. Ulquiorra’s touch vanished after the first year did, and so did the brunet, away from Ichigo’s side.
* * * * *
Di Roy never made a reappearance at the end of the day, but seeing him reminded Ichigo of The Village. It was over a month now and his supplies were indeed beginning to deplete. He was cutting through what looked like a deserted, sand-filled park when he heard the scream. Ichigo immediately spotted a green-haired woman. On her heels was a fairly large Doberman Pinscher.
Instinct kicked in and he fell in line behind the dog that chased the fleeing woman. Once he was within reach, he extended his arm and managed to place it around the Doberman. This action created a chain reaction that had Ichigo rolling across the sand, canine now wrapped protectively in his arms. He prepared himself for a fate that would end with him being mauled, but instead, he felt the rough, grainy tongue of the dog across his face as it licked him. He cracked open one eye after the licking stopped and found the Doberman was seated obediently in his lap, tongue lolled out as it panted.
“Bawabawa!”
Both eyes now open, Ichigo sat up after the weight disappeared. ‘Bawabawa’ had gone running into the open arms of the woman from earlier. Almost effortlessly, she lifted the large canine and strolled towards Ichigo, a puzzled expression on her face. The Doberman leapt down, only to settle himself on Ichigo’s lap once again. She smiled, following to kneel at Ichigo’s side, “Bawabawa likes you.”
“So… this is your dog?”
“Un!” Her smile widened. “My guardians are watching the shop, so I decided to take Bawabawa for a walk.”
“You were… screaming.”
The woman laughed, smacking Ichigo on the back. The hit traveled through his whole body. “I was told not to say this out loud, but…” Ichigo’s eyes widened as the woman’s bosom pressed against his arm as she leaned in. She whispered into his ear, “I’m a masochist, so it’s more fun when I scream.”
“What the hell?! If your guardians told you not to say that out loud, please… don’t!”
“Dondochakka and Pesche. Oh! I’m Neliel Tu Odelschwanck.”
Ichigo could feel his eye twitch while many veins in his forehead threatened to explode. “Kurosaki Ichigo…”
“You can call me ‘Nel’,” she giggled. “You’re funny. And you smell nice.” She leaned closer, sniffing the boy that was close to being traumatized. “Maybe that’s why Bawabawa likes you!” The Doberman that had wandered away after Ichigo’s outburst barked in response.
Her comment registered in Ichigo’s brain, stirring up old memories. “They’re all big-breasted,” he mumbled aloud after the side fact made itself known. Ichigo referred to an assistant professor he left behind in Shinou. He hardly saw her do anything other than annoy people. Matsumoto Rangiku. Not just her immediate supervisor-she tormented most everyone that crossed her path. Ichigo had walked a little too close one day and found himself buried face first in her chest.
Taichou. You should start using whatever body wash or deodorant Kurosaki-kun uses. He has a refreshing smell about him-was what Rangiku had stated.
Nel waved a hand in front of his face, bringing him back to reality. “Are you going to The Village?”
“Yeah. I was going to do some shopping.”
“Great. Bawabawa!” The Doberman came running over, licking its master’s face after Nel pulled him into her arms. “We’ll walk with you.”
Ichigo smiled, “Okay.”
+ + +
“When you said ‘shop’…” The duo-trio, if you counted Bawabawa who stood between them-had arrived at the shopping district and Ichigo insisted he walk Nel to her destination. They now stood in front of the game arcade Di Roy had mentioned. The sign overhead read ‘Hueco Mundo’. “Can I ask why you were gone for a couple years?”
“Hmm? Oh. I was in a coma!” Nel laughed, rubbing the back of her neck.
Ichigo felt another chunk of his soul leave him. “Don’t… say something like that so casually. I think I’ll go shopping now.”
“Next time, Ichigo! I’ll give you some free tokens, so stop by!”
He glanced over his shoulder. It was then he noticed the scar down the middle of her forehead to the bridge of her nose; it was partially hidden by her bangs. Ichigo waved meekly in response to her energetic waves and turned back around, shoving his hand back into his pants pocket.
*
The fridge was restocked and Ichigo made himself a decent meal that night, rather than heat a bowl of instant ramen.
A/N: Still going through a basic introduction of the cast. Some get just fifteen minutes of fame *cough*Luppi*cough*; some stick around for a longer time~
[ chapter four ] [ chapter five ] [ chapter six ] [ chapter seven ] [ chapter eight ] [ chapter nine ] [ chapter ten ] [ chapter eleven ] [ chapter twelve ] [ chapter thirteen ] [ chapter fourteen ] [ chapter fifteen ] [ chapter sixteen ] [ chapter seventeen ] [ chapter eighteen ] [ chapter nineteen ] [ chapter twenty ] [ chapter twenty-one ] [ chapter twenty-two ] [ chapter twenty-three ][ chapter twenty-four ]
Author/Artist: taintedkibou
Pairing/Characters: Grimmjow/Ichigo; other side pairings
Rating: PG-13 (R later?)
Genre: AU; high school
Disclaimer: I own the mangas that I purchased, but Kubo owns the characters.
Summary/Notes: Forced to transfer from school to school because of something he has no control over, Kurosaki Ichigo resigns himself to expulsion, only to find out he has one last choice: attend Las Noches High.
[ chapter one ] [ chapter two ]
Word spread fast in Las Noches. Ichigo was approached by the kendo club and the wrestling club over the course of two days. The track team approached him on the third day after witnessing him flee from the manager of the wrestling club-Yammi Riyalgo. After losing his club stalkers, Ichigo headed down to the first floor, ducking into the empty science lab room for a quick lunch nap. Just when he was relaxing, the door rattled in its frame as it slid open. Ichigo scowled, turning away from the noise.
“This is my domain, Kurosaki-kun,” a soft voice drawled. “Do you desire to join the Science Club?” The way ‘desire’ was enunciated made Ichigo lift his head.
Szayel Aporro stood on the opposite side of the lab station where Ichigo sat. “No?” The pink-haired teen smiled. “That’s fine. I’d rather use your body for experimentation anyway.” Ichigo stood from the stood, but Szayel Aporro had reached across the granite counter and was gripping his wrist tightly. “There’s something about this body. How many people have told you this-that you put off pheromones? Is that why you came here?” Szayel Aporro prided himself on self-control, but it had momentarily abandoned him.
Ichigo jerked his hand free of the laughing teen’s grip and bolted from the classroom.
Ichigo ran from one ordeal right into another. The second, however, wasn’t as harrowing as the first, just annoying. The first half of classes, the teachers switched while the students remained in their homeroom classroom. After lunch, it became a collection of elective classes that the students had to go to. This was new to Ichigo, but he already had his classes memorized. He darted into the large theater arts class-stage included-and was immediately singled out.
“Niño!” Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio, the overdramatic drama teacher, clapped enthusiastically. “You’re my Juliet!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ichigo shouted, pushing aside the rolling rack of costumes that stood in his way. Re-enactments were Dordonii’s way of giving a ‘pop quiz’. By now, the remainder of the class had arrived, and was watching the familiar shouting match take place.
“Juliet! Now, Niño!”
“Don’t rush me…” As Ichigo crossed to the stage, a wig was held out to him. Ichigo’s glares were no longer feared and the boy smiled, thrusting the long, golden tresses against his chest. “She wasn’t blond,” Ichigo mumbled, placing the wig onto his head, but not fitting it, and climbed the wooden stairs. He stopped after stepping onto the stage and noticing the large bed. Eyes wide, he raced across the stage to where the excitedly talking man stood, a hand to his head to keep the prop from falling off. “Hey, Macaroni!”
“Dordonii!”
“Whatever! What scene are we doing?”
“The scenes you were supposed to read for this week!” Dordonii turned slowly, revealing his wicked smile to the glowering teen, and crossed his arms, hugging them at the elbows. A twinkle lay in his narrowed eyes. “The dying scene between our star-crossed lovers.”
There was an excruciatingly long pause of silence in which a pin would be heard loud and clear if one did happen to fall. Ichigo inhaled deeply, taking the time, as he calmed himself, to fit the wig on properly. “Who’s my Romeo?” he asked in a strained voice through clenched teeth.
“Where’s my drama prince?” Dordonii exclaimed, circling Ichigo to flounce to the center of the stage.
“Right here.”
Ichigo brushed the hair curtain of bangs aside and found unstoppable laughter erupting from him after seeing the Student Council president climb onto the stage. “Mr. Stoical?”
“He’s a very good actor. Very talented,” Dordonii praised.
Ichigo snorted, staring at Ulquiorra’s expression face. “Just make sure you pass me, Don Quixote.”
“I’m not chasing windmills, niño!”
“You may as well be.” Ichigo flopped onto the bed, positioning himself so he lay straight and vertical, hands clasped atop his midsection. “You really should smile more,” he sighed.
“There’s nothing to smile about,” Ulquiorra retorted. He leaned over the mock-sleeping figure, running his fingers over Ichigo’s creased brow. “You should relax more. You have to take on the appearance of death. You’re frowning even more now…”
“Your voice is disturbing,” Ichigo hissed.
“Hopeless.” Ulquiorra noticed the roll of eyes from his ‘Juliet’ despite Ichigo’s eyes being closed.
Ichigo inhaled then exhaled deeply, trying to enter a relaxed state. Ichigo realized just how relaxed he’d become when he was pulled back to reality by the words being recited above him.
“O, true Apothecary. Thy drugs are quick. Thus… with a kiss… I die.”
Ichigo felt soft lips gently press against his, and then they were gone. He remained motionless as Friar Laurence and Balthasor rushed into the scene, listening and waiting for his cues to rise. The remainder of the class that had no part in the re-enactment watched on in awed silence. Dordonii had a proud and somehow still smug smile on his face, hands resting on his hips. At the doors were a few more onlookers.
Ichigo’s main focus was ‘Friar Laurence’. Once those three words were stated-‘Thy lady stirs’. ‘I guess that’s me.’ Ichigo let his eyes slowly open and his hands fall away onto the bed. He sat up, the false blond hair cascading down the back of his white school jacket, which he still wore. Glancing at the boy playing the Friar, he recited his lines as they were supposed to be said, adding a flourish or two.
Ichigo slid to the floor halfway through the dialogue, and sat beside Ulquiorra’s still figure. Friar Laurence soon disappeared behind the stage curtains, leaving Ichigo to finish his death scene. Ichigo reached out, taking the brunet’s hand, and began: “What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end… O churl! Drunk all and left no friendly drop to help me after? I will kiss thy lips; haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to make, to make die with a restorative.”
Cupping the sides of the dark head in his lap, Ichigo leaned down. His partner felt a simple press of the lips wouldn’t do. Ichigo kept a calm outward appearance when Ulquiorra responded subtly to the kiss, making it look as though he truly were searching for a drop of poison. Ichigo pulled away, hand tightly squeezing the brunet’s to calm his racing heart. “Thy lips… are warm.” He turned sharply at the noise coming from behind the stage, true apprehension shining in his eyes, then back again. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger!”
Ichigo released the other’s hand and closed his fingers around the handle of the dagger conveniently tucked away in the waist of Ulquiorra’s pants. “This is thy sheath…” With both hands gripping the blade, he buried the retractable prop into his stomach. ‘…the hell-blood? That idiot Dordonii!’ A crimson stain slowly spread across the front of his uniform. “There rust… and let me die…” Ichigo collapsed onto his side on the stage, halfway on top of his ‘Romeo’.
“Amazing! Perfect!” Dordonii cried, throwing up his arms. He dodged the fake dagger thrown at his head. “Niño, you were amazing. Everyone gets a passing grade today!”
Ichigo scoffed and glared at the red stains on his hands. His attention was drawn to Ulquiorra when the other sat up. “Don’t think I meant anything by that kiss,” Ulquiorra stated, combing his fingers through his hair. “I was trying to make the scene more believable, that’s all.”
Dordonii’s voice cut through the air right behind the bell signaling the end of class, “My players, stage hands, and characters! I’ll inform your teachers as to why you’re late. The rest of you, move along!”
*
Ichigo waited as the stain was cleaned out of his uniform. He tensed, shifting his gaze from outside to the figure that had now joined him at the open window. “I’m the manager of the drama club,” Ulquiorra stated in his monotonous tone. “You don’t have to join those other clubs that have been chasing you if you have no desire to.”
The phrase ‘other clubs’ reminded Ichigo of his earlier problem and he gritted his teeth, willing the memory away.
“Szayel Aporro told me what he did. He won’t, so I apologize on his behalf. I’m aware of your… condition, for lack of a better term.” Ichigo gripped the edge of the windowsill, forcing himself not to look at Ulquiorra. “Have you tried declining-”
“It almost got me kicked out of the school system,” Ichigo spat. “I know how pheromones work.”
“This is just… a more severe case.” Ulquiorra bowed his head, a soft, faint sigh escaping him. “Since there’s nothing more I can do, I’ll keep your secret safe.”
“Ku-ro-sa-ki!”
Ichigo’s eyes flew open and he tried to find the source of the voice that had called him. Di Roy stood down below on the well-trimmed lawn, arms waving. Ulquiorra touched a hand to Ichigo’s arm, leaning forward. “Shouldn’t you be in class?” He barely raised his voice, but the way Di Roy’s face fell told him he heard it loud and clear.
Di Roy grinned sheepishly before darting away. Ulquiorra’s touch vanished after the first year did, and so did the brunet, away from Ichigo’s side.
* * * * *
Di Roy never made a reappearance at the end of the day, but seeing him reminded Ichigo of The Village. It was over a month now and his supplies were indeed beginning to deplete. He was cutting through what looked like a deserted, sand-filled park when he heard the scream. Ichigo immediately spotted a green-haired woman. On her heels was a fairly large Doberman Pinscher.
Instinct kicked in and he fell in line behind the dog that chased the fleeing woman. Once he was within reach, he extended his arm and managed to place it around the Doberman. This action created a chain reaction that had Ichigo rolling across the sand, canine now wrapped protectively in his arms. He prepared himself for a fate that would end with him being mauled, but instead, he felt the rough, grainy tongue of the dog across his face as it licked him. He cracked open one eye after the licking stopped and found the Doberman was seated obediently in his lap, tongue lolled out as it panted.
“Bawabawa!”
Both eyes now open, Ichigo sat up after the weight disappeared. ‘Bawabawa’ had gone running into the open arms of the woman from earlier. Almost effortlessly, she lifted the large canine and strolled towards Ichigo, a puzzled expression on her face. The Doberman leapt down, only to settle himself on Ichigo’s lap once again. She smiled, following to kneel at Ichigo’s side, “Bawabawa likes you.”
“So… this is your dog?”
“Un!” Her smile widened. “My guardians are watching the shop, so I decided to take Bawabawa for a walk.”
“You were… screaming.”
The woman laughed, smacking Ichigo on the back. The hit traveled through his whole body. “I was told not to say this out loud, but…” Ichigo’s eyes widened as the woman’s bosom pressed against his arm as she leaned in. She whispered into his ear, “I’m a masochist, so it’s more fun when I scream.”
“What the hell?! If your guardians told you not to say that out loud, please… don’t!”
“Dondochakka and Pesche. Oh! I’m Neliel Tu Odelschwanck.”
Ichigo could feel his eye twitch while many veins in his forehead threatened to explode. “Kurosaki Ichigo…”
“You can call me ‘Nel’,” she giggled. “You’re funny. And you smell nice.” She leaned closer, sniffing the boy that was close to being traumatized. “Maybe that’s why Bawabawa likes you!” The Doberman that had wandered away after Ichigo’s outburst barked in response.
Her comment registered in Ichigo’s brain, stirring up old memories. “They’re all big-breasted,” he mumbled aloud after the side fact made itself known. Ichigo referred to an assistant professor he left behind in Shinou. He hardly saw her do anything other than annoy people. Matsumoto Rangiku. Not just her immediate supervisor-she tormented most everyone that crossed her path. Ichigo had walked a little too close one day and found himself buried face first in her chest.
Taichou. You should start using whatever body wash or deodorant Kurosaki-kun uses. He has a refreshing smell about him-was what Rangiku had stated.
Nel waved a hand in front of his face, bringing him back to reality. “Are you going to The Village?”
“Yeah. I was going to do some shopping.”
“Great. Bawabawa!” The Doberman came running over, licking its master’s face after Nel pulled him into her arms. “We’ll walk with you.”
Ichigo smiled, “Okay.”
+ + +
“When you said ‘shop’…” The duo-trio, if you counted Bawabawa who stood between them-had arrived at the shopping district and Ichigo insisted he walk Nel to her destination. They now stood in front of the game arcade Di Roy had mentioned. The sign overhead read ‘Hueco Mundo’. “Can I ask why you were gone for a couple years?”
“Hmm? Oh. I was in a coma!” Nel laughed, rubbing the back of her neck.
Ichigo felt another chunk of his soul leave him. “Don’t… say something like that so casually. I think I’ll go shopping now.”
“Next time, Ichigo! I’ll give you some free tokens, so stop by!”
He glanced over his shoulder. It was then he noticed the scar down the middle of her forehead to the bridge of her nose; it was partially hidden by her bangs. Ichigo waved meekly in response to her energetic waves and turned back around, shoving his hand back into his pants pocket.
*
The fridge was restocked and Ichigo made himself a decent meal that night, rather than heat a bowl of instant ramen.
A/N: Still going through a basic introduction of the cast. Some get just fifteen minutes of fame *cough*Luppi*cough*; some stick around for a longer time~
[ chapter four ] [ chapter five ] [ chapter six ] [ chapter seven ] [ chapter eight ] [ chapter nine ] [ chapter ten ] [ chapter eleven ] [ chapter twelve ] [ chapter thirteen ] [ chapter fourteen ] [ chapter fifteen ] [ chapter sixteen ] [ chapter seventeen ] [ chapter eighteen ] [ chapter nineteen ] [ chapter twenty ] [ chapter twenty-one ] [ chapter twenty-two ] [ chapter twenty-three ][ chapter twenty-four ]