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Salvation	By : Mirrors1984 Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 13169 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Tite Kubo's Bleach or make any profit from this fic.

Chapter List
- 17
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Chapter 17
Ichigo couldn't blame her for not letting down her guard. Not once had he given Tatsuki reasons to think he was trustworthy or even worthy as 'boyfriend material', but he could say that he had at least stopped being such a coward for once and had made the first move in making what they had into more.
What if she just doesn't want me...?
While he had been busy exorcising hollows, he had taken the time to think on how to make it up to her and had come to realization that from the begining Tatsuki had tried to make him 'normal'. Wasn't it normal to stay with one girl? Wasn't it normal to be open with those you cared about?
He cared about her. Probably more than he did for his friends, or even Orihime and Rukia. He couldn't compare what he felt for her and once in a while when he thought that it might be a slowly growing love, he stopped himself because of his past mistakes.
With Rukia he had claimed to be 'in love'. The same went for Orihime... What did he do to them? Hurt them with his so-called love. He had hurt Rukia by not being truly honest when he begun to feel something towards Orihime, even when she had given him chances to come clean... Then with Orihime he had done the worsest things imaginable. In trying to keep her separated from Ogichi in the utterly fake belief that he was protecting her, he had in fact been eaten away by his jealousy in not winning her from his own hollow.
None of that had been love. His fear of being alone had made two girls he had believed to love suffer. Knowing this now, he couldn't let Tatsuki go through the same as them. Regardless of how much he liked to see her and how natural it felt for them to be together after so many years of being separated by his own stupidity, he couldn't be selfish enough to tell her he loved her.
He couldn't love anyone. He feared saying that word anymore. He cared for her deeply and the thought of her being hurt by him pained him, he lusted and got along with her when he wasn't being an idiot... Was that enough to be called love?
Still. It was far more than what he had felt for Rukia and Orihime. He knew that there was more to his feelings. To him Tatsuki had literally become the embodiment of fresh air in his daily uncertainties. She broke down his defenses and helped him forget everything that made him incomplete.
Yes. He owed her and he couldn't be selfish in paying her unconditionality for helping someone as unreachable as him. He had to think of her, rather than himself.
I was so stupid for asking that! I was trying to get what I want again! What the fuck is wrong with me?!
Then his father that obviously pretended to be a moron had to surprise him the day before in his room by saying that he had known everything. Things like this sometimes made Ichigo wonder if he was insane because everyone else was. Maybe the madness was in his blood because Isshin had only been upset at the thought of Tatsuki being taken advantage of, not at how he had given a powerful shifty and unpredictable hollow a body to move around in.
Guess Ogichi has been calm enough to keep everyone from worrying too much.
"Ichi-nii! Breakfast is ready!" he flinched, startled in his bed at the sudden voice yelling from behind his door. Yuzu may be soft-spoken, but she did have a set of lungs on her when it came to such things. Sometimes he could hear her calling from the kitchen as if she were in the hall.
Having been out of his body for so many hours in shinigami form had made him stiff. Just sitting up on his bed reminded him how sore his body was in places he didn't think could even get sore. His neck, shoulders and back were practically popping bones at his movements...
And in spite of everything, he had every intention of seeing Tatsuki. He knew that she had been mad at him for disappearing for the last couple of days. If he stayed in the house like an idiot moaning in pain, he'd just make her believe he was as worthless as he felt he was.
I'll got to her college as soon as I eat something. He knew that she wasn't at her house since it was a weekday. Even if it hurt him, he would at least go see her so she wouldn't think wrongly of him again. He had been able to tell that his absence had angered her, mostly because in his own idiocy he hadn't taken the time and presence of mind to tell her what he was doing.
That's why he thought of going to her house in shinigami form in the first place. So she would see it for herself that he wasn't hiding anything from her anymore. It was still a selfish strategy of his, since in being more upfront he was hoping to win her faith him, but it also served to ease her because he wasn't shutting her out of other aspects of his life anymore.
Sighing tiredly, his bones popping as he sat up, he set about doing the regular morning routine of going to the bathroom and then eating some breakfast with the rest of his family. In spite of the soreness, he was able to move about without making any sounds or grimaces of discomfort at the ache of his shoulders and knees.
I was really rusty.
Making a mental note to not let something like 'getting rusty' happen again, since the future, like always, was uncertain when it came to battle, he finished washing his teeth and fingercombing his already untameable hair and headed downstairs.
As expected, his family was all there, but his father who had been smiling dumbly before he had dragged his feet into the kitchen gave him a specially sharp warning look that said 'I'll be watching you'.
I liked him more when he was an idiot.
"Nice to see you up early, Ichigo," Karin said flatly, and Yuzu, who was sitting beside her, was slightly surprised to see him there even though she herself had told him that breakfast was ready. In the past couple of weeks since his arrival in Karakura she had yelled for him from the kitchen, yet he never paid any attention and just stayed napping until lunchtime.
He only gave a nod in greeting, not really feeling like speaking because there was an charge in the atmosphere. The energy was familiar, yet he couldn't quite place it. Something about the tension in the room heralded that something unexpected would occur.
Sitting down on his usual seat, he pushed his ponderings aside and began to eat his breakfast as he normally did, however there was something different about this particular morning.
He sensed the older man's eyes on him. With every bite of food he took, he tensed under Isshin's intense, thoughtful stare. It was like there was a crazy scheme running wildly through that fantastical brain of his.
He's up to something or he's going to kick me in the mouth. Is that it?
Shooting his father a studying glance, he straightened his back, ready for anything. He could already feel adrenaline rushing in his veins at the thought of the man wanting to give him a sudden pounce attack.
Instead, Isshin shocked him by smiling.
"Wow, Ichigo, you should have stayed in bed! You don't look so hot, but then again you never do!"
His left eye twitched. Isshin sure knew how to push his buttons until making him want to kill him.
He's definitely planning some crazy shit.
"I'm fine," his words were hard, giving no room for negotiation since he knew that Isshin was waiting for something from him.
"No, you're not!" Ichigo's eyes grew large as Isshin suddenly rose from his seat so fast that the chair fell on the floor.
"Dad?" Yuzu looked up at their beaming father in questioning.
I knew it!
"Your big brother here needs to get some well needed rest-"
"What the hell?! I have to go see Tatsuki-!"
"and to take some painkillers! He looks crappier than usual and doesn't know it!" Isshin continued on as if he hadn't uttered a word.
Grinding his teeth at how irrational his father's argue points were, Ichigo gritted out, "I. Don't. Need. To go lie down."
He should have known that the glint in Isshin's dark eyes was bad news because before he could prepare to lunge a blow at the bigger older man, his father already knocked him to the floor along with his chair and breakfast.
The food from the table fell over his father's back as he was pinned to the floor.
"GET THE FUCK OFF!" he didn't get it! One moment his father was talking about 'painkillers' and now he was actually hurting him! It didn't make a lick of sense!
"Sorry, Ichigo! But daddy knows best!" though he yelled, Isshin tried to sound paternal.
"Dad, you're only hurting him!" Yuzu's voice exclaimed from somewhere in the kitchen.
Trying to knock Isshin's heavy weight off him had been easier in the past. He didn't know if his sore muscles attributed to him being unable to knock him away, or if he was so out of shape that it was impossible. The other possibility was too laughable...
That possibility was that Isshin was actually being serious in spite of smiling like a dumbass.
Fuck! I think he's for real!
His father was practically wrestling him to the floor as if trying to smother him, his larger body unyielding on top of his.
"Don't worry... You'll see her today...," hearing his father's low whisper meant only for his ears, he was stunned enough to stop trying to knock him away. That was what unfortunately didn't prepare him for Isshin's fist hitting him directly in the face that thrust him into dark oblivion.
Should seen this coming...
***
"Dad?! Why did you do that to Ichigo?!" Yuzu cried when Isshin rose off his now unconscious son.
Without answering his panicking daughter, he smiled fondly at the idiot that was his son. Ichigo no matter what he did, was still a moron. If he thought that he would let him leave the house in that shape he was dead wrong. Isshin knew that he desperately wanted to see Tatsuki and that was why he had decided to 'speed' things up for the two of them.
Ichigo is doing a crap job with her. Even as an adult, he still needs papa's help.
Dusting his hands, he leaned down to start the process of picking up the unconscious Ichigo that had food splattered all over his clothes and hair.
Hopefully Tatsuki-chan will not know that it was me that put him in this shape or she won't come over to play 'nurse'.
Snickering to himself, he set Ichigo's limp body over his shoulder as if he were as light as a feather, which to him he was. Ichigo tended to forget that he was used to fighting. He was actually a veteran compared to him. Why the kid had been so surprised kind of injured his pride, but he'll let it slide this time.
"Why are you...?" Yuzu trailed off as he walked to the stairs heading to the second floor. He just couldn't take the mischiveous grin of his face. It was kind of fun to play 'matchmaker' even if it involved hurting his already weakened son.
He'll thank me later.
"If I were you, I wouldn't ask. There's no telling what is going on in that head of his," Karin muttered, still sitting on her seat, eating her breakfast as if nothing had just transpired.
***
"My poor only male son is in his deathbed and as a final request-," the frantic male voice paused to sniffle wetly, "-he wanted to see you and hold you tenderly in his arms! To tell you how much he loves you!"
Tatsuki frowned, holding her cellphone to her ear as Isshin went on to spin a fantastical tale only he could come up with. She had already begun to suspect a lie the instant he had started talking about hoodlums jumping on Ichigo and throwing him down three flights of stairs at some mall. The reason why she didn't believe him right of the bat was because One: Isshin wasn't a reliable source of information and Two: he had a bad habit of over-dramatizing things.
"Are you telling me the truth?" she asked slowly while pushing one of the double glass doors that led to the courtyard of her college.
The drawn out silence on the other line had her sighing heavily.
Is this his way to cover up for Ichigo or is he trying to pull a prank on me?
"Yeeeeeeeees...," she slapped a palm on her forehead while rolling her eyes at hearing the slow answer, coming to a stop as other passing students eyed her strangely.
"Listen, Isshin," starting to walk once more since she was practically blocking the entrance of her school, she headed over to another building in which her next class was, "I don't mean to sound cold, but if this is a sick little joke of yours-"
"Its not a joke!" Isshin interrupted her too quickly. "If you don't believe me, come over and see for yourself! Ichigo is so upset that he...," another sniffle, this time accompanied with a whimper sounded out in the receiver, "he doesn't even want me to t-t-tend to him!" the words were finished in an almost convincing wail.
Damn it. Now he was making it hard for her to not believe him. If he was telling her to go see Ichigo in bad shape so confidently, something must have really happened to him.
Letting her eyes look over to the building she had been approaching, she was torn between going to class and writing off Isshin's story as bullshit, and heading over to the Kurosakis' to see how Ichigo was.
Frustrated, she just couldn't continue with her day while doubting on whether or not Ichigo was alright.
Dragging a hand over her hair, she gritted her teeth, mentally making a note to strangle Isshin for making up something like that.
"When can I come over?"
"Is right now alright?!" her brows rose at Isshin's suddenly chipper tone. "And remember to bring some clothes with you and lot's of tender/loving/care!"
"Say what?!" she half shouted and then deflated at realizing that the hyper man had already hung up, as if knowing she would notice that he was up to something.
***
"You're such a liar! You beat him up! Admit it!" that was what Ichigo first heard when his bleary pained eyes slowly opened. Blinking against the sunlight entering the window next to his bed, he squinted in direction of the voices and then widened his eyes at seeing an angry Tatsuki repeatedly punching a yelping Isshin on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but he wanted to go see you while being all bashed up from work!" Isshin's voice whined as he shielded himself futilely from Tatsuki's blows.
"That's no excuse! What kind of father beats his son up when he's in bad shape?!" growling, she gave a harder solid punch on Isshin's side that him recoiling and yelling girlishly.
Ichigo's brows knitted together as he struggled to understand exactly how he ended up in his bed with a sore nose and seeing a furious Tatsuki about to kill his father. When he went over his first memories of that day, his confused frown turned into a fullblown scowl at recalling being attacked while eating his breakfast.
"Dad...," his voice edged evilly from the bed and the one sided argument just a couple of feet away ceased as both Tatsuki and Isshin looked at him, startled.
"She started it!" lamely pointing at Tatsuki, Isshin wasn't fooling anyone.
"I... don't... care...," he grounded out slowly and his father paled before looking at Tatsuki anxiously.
"See? See?!" now his father's trembling finger was pointing at him accusingly, "I told you that he didn't want me to take care of him! This is proof!" Theatrical as always, Isshin covered his face with both hands and sobbed, "My own son...," he whimpered,"...doesn't love me! Where have I gone wrong?!" To keep up with his drama, he started weeping behind his hands to hide the fact that he was actually very dry-eyed.
Glowering at him as well in spite of his performance, Tatsuki crossed her arms and said sharply, "It's no wonder he doesn't want you to take care of him! You put him there!"
This is increadible!
Leave it to his father to embarass him like that. When he had been in elementary school, he had been submitted to such public fits whenever something bad happened to him. If he had been beat up by other boys, Isshin would rush to the school to throw a fit that not only scared the school director but made his bullies burst out laughing. Now the situation was different since he was doing it in front of a girl he l... liked.
Lucky for him, judging from Tatsuki's unamused expression, she was used to it already and didn't hold it against him. He could say that she was one of the few people that could handle Isshin's soap operas and that somehow made a slow smile appear on his lips without him realizing it.
His father was an overwhelming person to be around of. Barely anyone could stand during his exagerated shows as if it were a normal occurance. That just went to show how much Tatsuki knew him and his family. He didn't know why that would make him feel happy, but it did.
Her eyes met his while his father continued his false blubbering. Seeing how they widened, he blinked in confusion. That was when he finally noticed that he had been smiling like a dopey idiot while watching her exchange with Isshin.
Embarassed by being caught, he tried to school his features to no avail as Isshin's muffled crying began to die down.
"Well, enough of that! I'll leave you kids alone now!" as if the guy had an off switch, his father took his shielding hands from his face to beam at them as they stared at him agape.
"What the hell...?!" Tatsuki breathed in amazement as Isshin waved sloppily before darting out of the room and slamming the door behind him. All that they could hear of his father now was a riot of very conspicous snickering fading while he ran down the hallway away from them.
One of his brows shot up. Even knowing the old man since the day he was born couldn't help him fully understand his way of thinking. Isshin always seemed to be in another world that no one could reach. The only person that had understood and accepted his crazy over the top personality had been his mother that had usually laughed and patted him on the shoulder as if to soothingly say 'There, there'.
"Man, that dad of yours is a piece of work," hearing Tatsuki's murmur, he tried not to smile again. It was like his face kept automatically lifting the corners of his lips. Perhaps it wasn't what had just taken place that made him want to smile, but the fact that she was there when earlier that day he had been planning of going to see her again.
Though he didn't like complimenting his old man, he almost felt like thanking him for somehow bringing Tatsuki to him.
The sounds of his bedsprings shifting under his body as he moved to sit up made Tatsuki look at him. Wincing at her measuring stare, he tried to smile apologetically.
"I'm sorry about him suckering you into coming over like this..." it was a lie because he wasn't sorry now that she was there.
Her tense body relaxed as she lowered her arms to her sides. Her own lips smirked and at that he frowned, knowing that she was going to say something so Tatsuki-like.
"Shut up, you know you missed me."
Those words had his heart skip a beat, though they had been said in a teasing tone. Not really something for him to get so excited about, but after Tatsuki's rejection the night before, having her at least playfully acknowledging what he was so afraid of admitting made him nervous. Nervous in a good, nerveracking way. Who would have thought that nervousness would actually feel welcomed?
Giving a laugh, he let his lips twitch into a smirk that was similar to her own, "Yeah, you're right."
Her playful grin faltered slightly and he mentally cursed at making her uncomfortable. It wasn't like he could take the words back already.
"Did you... Did you really miss me? Even if you just saw me last night?" her voice was unusually soft. So soft and almost beseeching that he couldn't hide what he trully wanted to say.
"Yes, I did miss you, Tatsuki," he made sure to be solemn in his admission and all he got was her looking away from him as if discomforted.
Some awkward silence that nearly had him wanting to fidget passed before he heard her scoff softly.
"That's good to hear..." he opened his lips to speak yet he didn't know what to say to her low words as she quickly covered up what she had just let him see by nearing his bedside, saying, "At least he wasn't lying about you looking like crap."
He blinked at that. Somehow having her visiting him while he was lying weakly on his bed reminded him of something that had happened many years earlier. When they had been children and she had visited him in spite of him being sick. It was like history were repeating itself, instead now they were adults. It was eerie just noticing the similarities. Like fate was saying that Tatsuki was always there and always will be there for him.
If she thought the same thing he did, she didn't show it. It was hard to handle all that he was feeling for her when he couldn't read her or so much as hear what she herself was feeling.
Smiling at him, like in the past, her hand reached for the top of his blanket to pull it back.
"What-?"
"Shut up! Your dad told me to stay with you and I'll do that, though I wish he hadn't beat you up to get me to come over," he chuckled at her blunt embarassed words as she slowly got on the bed beside him, her warmth heating the side of his body once her delicate weight dipped the mattress. He could tell that she was embarassed, because even though their relationship had become more intimate a bright red blush stained her cheeks, even as she confidently shifted her body besides his for a more comfortable position.
Once the blanket was convering the both of them, another silence ensued. He would have minded under different circumstances, but having Tatsuki's head settling next to his on his pillow while she stared absentmindedly at the ceiling, kept him from complaining.
"You should have told me you were in bad shape last night."
Moving to his side so he could face her, he better studied her. He almost wrapped his arms around her instinctively, yet he was content just having her next to him, regardless of the lack of contact.
"Sorry about that, but I didn't feel any pain until this morning...," it was true. Apparently stopping to finally get some needed rest had made all of the running and swinging of his zanpakutoh sink in heavily into his muscles.
She shot him a studying sideways glance, her dark familiar eyes staring into his for what appeared to be an eternity.
"This feels kinda' weird, doesn't it...?" her tone was almost shy as her lips smiled wryly, "Being over here like this...? We haven't been lying on the same bed like this since we were kids..."
He felt his own lips smiling for the hundreth time since she had gotten there. It was an involuntary reaction his face seemed to be having every time she looked and spoke to him.
"I don't find it that weird...," he admitted slowly at first, feeling some shyness as how she stared at him. It wasn't like it bothered him, but her stare was making him feel helpless. No girls had really made him feel that before. "...but I'm glad you came here even though he lied."
A burst of laughter escaped her as she looked away and he felt a piercing pain in his chest because her eyes were no longer boring into his.
"It's so weird seeing this side of you! Usually you're just stuttering like a little kid!"
He rolled his eyes at her reasoning because it was true that he was naturally too shy to say exactly what was on his mind. Opening up to her in order to make her trust him again was at lot harder than he had first thought. It did feel good to tell her what was going through his mind, yet he felt as if he were leaving himself vulnerable to everything else.
"I was telling the truth, Tatsuki," her laughter stopped when he confessed that.
Seeing the matured features of the girl he had known for most of his life, someone so comfortable and yet exciting to be around of was exposing him. He disliked being so open and yet he couldn't help himself.
We're just hanging out... She rejected me, remember?! I can't be pressuring her like this!
Feeling heat crawling into his own cheeks, he moved his body so he could lie flat on his back just like she was, their sides barely brushing. The warm firmness of her fit body was driving him crazy, because she was so close and so far away at the same time. Her warmth, her smell, the fact that she was right beside him, hearing her soft breathing while she stared at him without uttering a word.
"Ichigo...?" he stiffened at the soft hesitant voice. Was she going to reject him again? He didn't think he could handle it another time around. "I... I'm happy to be here with you too..."
If his heart kept leaping in his chest so much, he was going to surely die. Snapping his eyes to hers in surprise, he saw that she didn't look away once their gazes met.
Gulping, not really knowing what to say, he did the only thing he could do that didn't need words and wouldn't lay him out bare.
Under the blanket covering them, his hand reached for hers.
***
A/N: I made it 'fluffy' for making you guys wait *winces*. Plus Ichigo and Tatsuki needed to spend some bonding time together and the next chapter will show the first part of the plot! (there's actually two plots in this story). I credit the mushy cuteness to the song Within Temptation-All I Need. Beautiful song indeed. Makes me cry. *wails* I'm too bad at fluff to do it without some musical aid. Please rate and/or review!
Responses to wonderful reviews are here!: http://lehotmims.easyjournal.com/entry.aspx?eid=9387369
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Salvation