A/N: Alright! Another Bleach fic. Start dancing like there's no tomorrow ladies and gentlemen, and with this much enthusiasm already hyped at a pointless author's note, only one thing could possibly next: sarcasm!
Ok, so yeah, got my head spun in another web of ideas for another Bleach fic with of course, one of my favorite pairings: Ichigo and Rukia. And I AM guy by the way. Just wanted to make that crystal clear. DrewXIII dude. No, not gay or anything. Drew is all dude. Hmm, I'm probably going to put that in my profile after this.
Lastly, this fic is entire new and is not related in any form or way to my previous Bleach work. But nonetheless I do hope you enjoy reading it.
"Pictures of You"
Chapter 1
The Picture
"My God…
What the hell is up with this heat?"
Ichigo ranted as he timidly entered the confines of his house. The temperature unchanged despite him moving under some indoor shade and away from the beaming sun. Sweat beaded across his forehead and some ran down from his bleached spiky hair.
Yuzu and Karin were in front of the TV, the fan was next to them to counteract the problem to some extent. They seem to be fine from where Ichigo was standing, he didn't bother to motion for attention and simply headed for the stairs.
Yuzu, being concerned as she always was, still turned to her brother from the couch to check up on him.
"Welcome home, Ichigo."
He didn't feel like being rude, so he stopped to give a decent reply.
"Hey, Yuzu…Karin, man, how could you two stand the weather in here?" He asked subtly while wiping a couple of dropping from his forehead.
"It's not really that bad." Karin remarked, her hair being breezed by the fan.
"Are you hungry, Ichigo?" Yuzu then asked back, she had prepared a snack already at bay on the dinner table.
"Uh, yeah, a little bit but don't mind me, I'll just go get it myself, ok?" Ichigo replied casually, his words were optimistic but his face still had that familiar scowl. The sisters took it in anyway and let the conversation set.
The orange-haired young man went his way upstairs and up to his room. He slung his bag over his shoulder and hung it at his chair by his desk before throwing himself face first into his bed. His sturdy figure sunk into the mattress sheets, bunching up folds on his school uniform as he lay motionless for a few seconds.
He then lifted his head, facing the wide open window. No wind nor breeze, much to his dismay. He shifted along the bed, to try and get a comfortable position while again ignoring the annoying heat.
And here I though Hollows were bad…Ugh, this damn heat wave will be the death of me.
He thought, remembering that he's still a substitute Soul Reaper right now. Ever since that run-off night where he ran into Rukia and his life took a sudden detour for the strange and supernatural. Hard to believe it's only been a few weeks and he's already vanquished a countless number of evil spirits around the city.
Hey, that reminds me….
Ichigo repositioned himself on the bed and turned his head slightly to face the closet behind him. Rukia's "room" so to speak. The sliding door was wide-open, he was so preoccupied when he got in that he didn't even notice, it only meant that Rukia wasn't here yet.
I told her not to go with Orihime grocery shopping but nooooo, "It can't be that bad, Ichigo, you're just over-reacting!" Ha! If she thought regular food here in the real world are strange already, she hasn't seen what Orihime makes.
She's probably not going to look at vegetables the same way ever again.
Ichigo's train of thoughts suddenly took halt. His bruising brown eyes caught sight of something lying precariously on Rukia's bed. The scowling high school freshman got up from his obscure gesture on the single bed and started making steps towards the open closet.
He stopped by the foot of the bed and picked up what he was aiming for.
It was her sketchbook, she must've been busy doodling last night and left it here, or so he thought.
Ichigo remember how many times Rukia swatted him with this thing. He gripped his head just by the thought of it. The raven-haired girl was always quick-tempered…hmm…they both were, hard to believe they still live under the same roof.
He then laughed to himself, it was always fun to see her make goofy drawings on this thing every time she wanted to explain something Soul Reaper-related to him. Rukia would always draw odd rabbits that's called "Chappy", he never really understood her fascination with it. C'mon, it's just a goofy-looking rabbit for crying out loud.
Ichigo paced through the pages and all of them had doodles and sketches of what he expected. Sure, there are some that he hasn't seen before, but they were all the same - Chappy --
The spiky-haired young man was about to comfort himself with a humble laugh when he suddenly found something unexpected.
Huh?
What's this? He thought.
There was one page in Rukia's sketchbook that widened Ichigo's eyes. It was strange, and not even "Rukia"-like strange. It was a completely different kid of strange. The page was certainly different from the rest and what the picture really was raised confusion on Ichigo's account.
First, it wasn't even poorly drawn. It was…actually a decent drawing at best. Second, it didn't have rabbits in it, not even small quick ones that the raven-haired girl normally decorates and borders along the sides. The page was completely rabbit-free.
The drawing at the centerfold of the page…
It was Ichigo next to Rukia. You'd recognize it at first glance, the way the two were drawn weren't bad. Makes Ichigo feel disheartened on how he made fun of Rukia's art on multiple occasions.
We're…holding hands…
Him and Rukia. Almost like one of those family crayon drawings kids do - Mom, Dad, and Me. But this was different though, it was him, Ichigo holding Rukia's hand side-to-side. This doesn't define family anymore. It defines lo--
No way. Ichigo interrupted himself.
Rukia couldn't have drawn this.
Let's get back to reality here, she doesn't know how to draw THIS good.
He tried to make up more reasons but deep down he couldn't help but stare at the picture.
Besides, if she can, why would she draw anything like this?
She hates me!
The only reason she's putting up with me is because I still have her Soul Reaper powers.
I bet if she somehow found a way to get them back, she'd be on the express way out of here and back to the "Soul Community" or whatever it is she calls it.
Ichigo glanced back at the picture once more - Him and her hand in hand - it was physical proof that demolished his previous arguments.
Argh! There's no way this is real.
This must be some sort of joke.
Kon could've put this in here!
The orange-head took a deep breath to calm down. Facing facts, it was there. Kon couldn't draw with a doll's paw that's for sure. It was Rukia's sketchbook, drawn in markers only Rukia use.
Does this mean Rukia…
"Thanks for taking me along, Orihime!" A familiar voice all of the sudden echoed outside. It rattled Ichigo out of his hypnotic trance, hastily he scrambled the pages of the sketchbook back to the way he originally found them and quickly tossed it back into the closet.
He could already hear Rukia climbing up the side of their house, making her way towards the open window on his room. He immediately took a seat by his desk and eased up comfortably to avoid any suspicion from the petite raven-haired girl.
"Oh, hey Ichigo." Rukia greeted as she climbed through the window and plopped down gently into the 15-year old's room.
"So, how was the trip with Orihime?" Ichigo asked in reply, his eyes focused on the ceiling, both his hands cupping the back of his head.
"I don't want to talk about it." She remarked before throwing her bag straight into her closet from afar and following soon after.
"Man, I was so want to get out of this uniform, it's really hot out!" She added reminding Ichigo of the temperature again, he nearly forgot about it.
Rukia slid the closet door shut, leaving Ichigo still thinking deep in his seat.
He cleared his throat, his mind was too preoccupied at the moment that he couldn't make any decent narration right now.
He sighed instead and took out a blank piece of paper, laying it front of him on his desk.
A pencil his hand, Ichigo timidly started to draw. His mind was still jumbled up but he simply let his hand dance across the paper.
"Hey Ichigo, you're awfully quiet today, problem?" Rukia asked from inside the closet, it took her awhile to notice but nonetheless, she noticed.
"Just…err…been busy doing my homework." Ichigo passed up as an excuse. She remained quiet afterwards, she must've took it anyway and didn't bother to start another argument.
Ichigo finished on his drawing. He rested his chin under his hand as he glanced over it. He redrew Rukia's picture, it was the only thing the he could think about right now. Funny how a simply innocent picture could rattle a person that much.
Whatever. The orange-haired young man finally remarked. A signal of either end or defeat. Who knows?
He crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it at the garbage can at the side of his desk, thinking of it as a way of just forgetting this whole thing. He got up from his seat and paced himself towards the door.
"Oiy Rukia, going down to get something to eat, you want anything?" Ichigo asked. He felt that they should just go back to their usual lives…
And forget this whole incident ever happened.
End of Chapter 1
A/N: Yeah, that's about it. Now, I haven't really pegged a second chapter for this yet. I'm not even sure if I'm going to continue it probably because I'm not sure just yet if people liked the story so far. It's quite a hassle to keep a story here on ff going you know?
Anyways, I know so far it's just a decent IchigoxRukia fic but I'll try my best to give a good follow up on chapters to come.
Still, I always write for the readers. If people like it, I'll get started on Chapter 2 right away. Please review, ok?
Peace out.