Reunion
A Oneshot based on chapter 195 of the manga. Spoilers galore; you have been warned.
Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me, ever.
It never was a great day to begin with, not ever since he met up with him. It slowly regressed to the point where Inoue and Chad got hurt, and he had to get his ass saved by Yoruichi-san and Urahara. And he thought he had gotten strong. Bah.
He didn't have a problem coming to school in bandages, but it hurt to see Inoue pretending she had fallen down the stairs (wasn't that the same excuse Ishida used?) while it was more appropriate to say she just went a bout with a sumo wrestler.
Looking at her, he felt the same pain, the anger at being helpless. He should have been able to do something; should have been there sooner, dammit. Those wierdos were after him, weren't they? He had gotten his friends hurt, and nearly killed himself as well. He wasn't even strong enough to control his inner Hollow!
A familiar flash made him look up to the door. Although Ishida often taunted him of his weak reiatsu sense, there was no way he'd miss this. It was a strong reiatsu, but although he had a pretty good idea to whom it belonged the logical part of his mind rejected it. Baka, it can't be… no way…
But when the door slammed open, revealing a familiar larger-than-life redhead, a busty beauty, a gleaming-headed grinning idiot and his vain friend, his first thought was…
Oh shit.
"Yo!" Renji grinned. "How ya been, Ichigo?"
At this moment Ichigo was thankful that the class was relatively empty, or else hoe would have hell on his hands. As it was, whoever remained in the class was speechless at this grand entrance.
Ichigo was first to react, though it was quite a few seconds before he got his tongue working properly. "Renji!" He glared accusingly (surprisingly)as his gaze jumped from one face to another. "Ikkaku? Yumichika? Rangiku-san!"
Feeling something amiss, his eyes drifted down to a smaller, bored looking boy he had missed earlier. "Toushiro?"
That ticked the boy off. "It's Captain Hitsugaya!" He snapped, a vein popping at his forehead.
Before he even managed to form a proper question, Renji had answered it. But his concentration on Renji was disrupted; mainly because he felt something else – something he had trouble placing.
"Aran – what?" He blinked, trying to get in focus. But the presence was too distracting, too familiar, yet he was afraid to place it because he couldn't bear it if he was wrong… so he slowly turned to the window, not daring to hope –
And there she was, balanced perfectly on the narrow windowsill, in the familiar uniform, in that familiar pose, smiling that familiar smirk. And Ichigo wanted to childishly rub his eyes, but he didn't dare take his eyes off her in case this was just an illusion, a trick of the light and his longings. "…Rukia." He breathed.
Her smile widened, light of joy masked in her eyes but he could see it and he knew it. She's real.
"Long time no see, eh Ichigo?" That familiar voice that had been absent, but now that he heard it again he felt like something had been restored.
And he smiled, and prepared to give the girl the most angry yell, the yell he had been saving especially for her. Because Ichigo didn't like losing things, and now that she's returned he's gonna give her a piece of his mind.
End