Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Heart Dawning ❯ Chapter Ten ( Chapter 10 )

 

Chapter Ten

 

Ichigo let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand back through his hair, and continued walking in the direction of the Urahara Shop. He had spent the last three hours wandering aimlessly about Karakura Town, just waiting for a hollow to attack, the late afternoon sun beating down on him relentlessly. Normally, he wouldn't go intentionally looking for a fight with one, but Urahara had asked him to try to track down one of those black creatures in order to take samples of it. He figured, since they always seemed to pop up wherever hollows were lately, his best shot at finding one would be to locate a hollow. However, he was having absolutely no luck at coming across even so much as a plus - which, in itself, was a bit unusual. Perhaps the lack of pluses was somehow tied to the appearance of those creatures. He'd have to remember to ask Urahara about it once he got there.

 

“Ichigo!”

 

He turned when he heard his name being called and smiled when he found Orihime running up to him, waving. She stopped when she reached him, bending over at the waist and resting her hands atop her thighs as she gasped slightly for breath, her long auburn hair falling into her face.

 

“What's up, Orihime?” he asked her.

 

“I... I was looking for you,” she told him, still trying to catch her breath. “I stopped by your house... but your dad said... you hadn't been home all day.”

 

“Yeah, Urahara sent me out on a mission after I brought Daria back to his place,” he told her.

 

“What kind of mission?” she asked, looking up at him, her voice hopeful. Ichigo smiled again. He knew that tone of voice. Orihime was always so desperate to be of help to him and the others during the war that he had heard it often.

 

“Don't worry, Orihime, it's nothing you need to be concerned about,” he assured her. “He just wants me to get him some samples from one of those weird things that keep trying to attack Daria, that's all.”

 

“What kind of samples?” she wondered, standing back up to her full height and tucking her hair back behind her ears.

 

“Well,” Ichigo explained as he began walking once again, Orihime falling into step alongside him, “those things dissolve into this black ooze after they're killed. He wants me to try to collect some of the ooze after they die, before they completely disappear. I guess he's gonna try to analyze it or something.”

 

“Sounds like something Mr. Urahara would do,” she replied, then fell silent as they kept walking together. She glanced over at him, watching the way he was walking with his shoulders hunched slightly and his hands shoved in his pockets. A part of her wanted to reach out to him, to wrap her arms around one of his and nestle her head against his shoulder and walk together with him like couples do. She knew she couldn't do that, though. Not yet.

 

“Ichigo?” she said after a moment, stopping and turning toward him.

 

“Yeah?” Ichigo replied, coming to a stop as well and turning to face her.

 

“I... I never properly thanked you,” she said quietly, after a moment. “For rescuing me, I mean.”

 

Ichigo smiled at her. “There's no need for you to thank me, Orihime. I mean, you would have done the same for me, right?”

 

“Of course!” she replied, then blushed at how eager she sounded. Ichigo chuckled and took a step toward her, hesitating, then surprised her by pulling her into his arms and hugging her.

 

“Orihime?” he said her name, and she couldn't reply. She merely stood motionless as he held her, her heart racing and her breath catching in her throat.

 

“Yes?” she whispered once she was able to find her voice again.

 

“I told you before, didn't I?” he asked, his voice just as quiet as hers. “I'll always protect you.”

 

Orihime smiled and slowly reached up, wrapping her arms around him. It might not exactly be a declaration of love, but it was the closest thing to one she could hope for from Ichigo, at that moment. A part of her wanted to confess her own feelings to him then and there, but she knew it wasn't the right place or time. So she settled for returning his gesture, even as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

 

“I know you will, Ichigo,” she told him, hiding her face against his shoulder. “And I'll always thank you.”

 

The two of them remained standing there, embracing one another, each of them afraid to tell the other how they truly felt. After a long moment, they separated from one another and simply stood there, barely an arm's length apart, neither of them able to look the other in the eye.

 

“Well, um... I guess we should get going to Urahara's,” Ichigo suggested after a moment, reaching up and scratching the back of his head. Orihime nodded silently and began walking again, and Ichigo followed her lead, lagging a step behind her.

 

He watched her as she walked slightly ahead of him, mentally kicking himself. He had been so close to kissing her, but he'd caught himself at the last second and instead just hugged her. Kissing her would have been a mistake. She was his friend. He cared about her, as a friend. There was nothing more than a strong friendship between them, and kissing her would have ruined that.

 

Ichigo kept telling himself that the rest of the way to the shop.

 

*********************

 

Daria let out a frustrated growl as she sat up on her bed, slamming the book in her hands shut and tossing it aside. She had been holed up in her new room all day, getting settled in, and with her clothes put away and all of her other items unpacked she had nothing left to do but lie around and read. Not that she minded reading, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized it was the only thing she was going to have to do for God knows how long while Kisuke Urahara and his lackeys tried to figure out why those things were trying to kill her.

 

Sighing, she flopped back down onto the futon and stared up at the ceiling, cursing herself. She knew she should have skipped town. She'd been having an uneasy feeling for the last two weeks, that same feeling she'd gotten when she was living in London... right before the last time she saw him. She had yet to see him here in this town, but if those evil creatures were around she knew he couldn't be far behind. She wondered how the hell he kept finding her. Maybe she should have changed her name this time when she relocated, but she figured that moving halfway across the world would be more than enough to shake him.

 

Truthfully, though, she was sick of running. The first time hadn't been too hard. She was still young, with no family, so she had no roots to leave behind in her hometown back in Russia. When he'd tracked her down in London, though, she had a life - friends, a good job, and a decent boyfriend. But she hadn't thought twice about cutting all of those ties and taking off to a completely foreign land. It had been harder to get herself situated in Karakura Town, due to the language barrier, but thanks largely in part to the kindness of her new neighbors and a night class she managed to find her place.

 

Sitting up once more, she closed her eyes and leaned forward, resting her face in the palms of her hands as she let out another weary sigh. It had only been three years. She didn't want to have to pick up and leave again, already. She wanted to be able to stay in one place and have a life without worrying about looking over her shoulder and seeing his face staring back at her. She wanted to have faith in Urahara and Ichigo and the others, that they would actually be able to protect her and keep her safe, but they had no idea what they were dealing with. She didn't even know what they were dealing with, which is precisely why she kept running.

 

“Everything alright in here?”

 

Daria lifted her head and turned to find Kisuke standing in the doorway. His eyes were hidden by the brim of his hat, but she could see that he was frowning slightly and hear the genuine note of concern in his voice. She turned on the futon to face him, arranging her skirt to prevent him from getting another glimpse of her underwear, her face burning at the memory of their earlier confrontation.

 

“Everything's just fine,” she told him, nodding slightly.

 

“You're lying,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Something's bothering you. I can feel it.”

 

“What, you're a psychic?” she asked him with a hint of sarcasm.

 

“No, I'm a shinigami.”

 

Daria blinked in surprise at the sudden revelation, and watched him carefully as he entered the room and took a seat on the floor next to her bed, wondering if he was actually being serious or just pulling her leg.

 

“You are a shinigami?” she said, not even attempting to hide her skepticism.

 

“I used to be a captain of one of the Protection Squads within Soul Society, which is the world the shinigami inhabit - commonly referred to by humans as 'the afterlife'.”

 

“Used to be?”

 

“I've been in exile here in the human world for the past hundred years,” he told her. “I was accused of committing a treasonous act against the rules of Soul Society. My punishment was to have my powers removed and then be exiled, but I managed to escape before the first part of the sentence was carried out, thanks to Yoruichi.”

 

Daria shifted a bit uneasily at the mention of the other woman's name, but quickly recovered, shaking her head a bit in confusion.

 

“Why are you telling me all of this?” she asked him. Kisuke smiled at her, looking up enough so she could see his eyes peering at her from within the shadows of his hat.

 

“Because I believe that trust is to be earned, Miss Novikov,” he explained.

 

“So... By telling me about your past, I'm supposed to trust you?” she wondered.

 

“No,” Kisuke replied, shaking his head. “But it's a start. The reason I'm telling you about my past is to help put you at ease.”

 

“Put me at ease?”

 

“You seemed very frightened this morning, when you were talking about those creatures and your mother's death,” he said in a quiet voice, leaning slightly closer to her so she could hear him as he spoke. “I realize that I and my home might not seem like much, but I just wanted you to be aware that you truly are safe here. This building has several protective barriers surrounding it, and I am more than capable of fighting off any enemies that might break through them.”

 

Daria's watched his lips as he spoke, recalling the way she'd been captivated by his presence earlier, and had to tear her eyes away before she ended up doing something really stupid. Kisuke reached out and placed his hand under her chin, turning her face back toward him as he leaned even closer to her, his eyes gazing intently into hers.

 

“Have faith in us, Daria,” he requested.

 

Daria continued staring into his eyes, nodding in agreement. Kisuke let his hand fall down toward her necklace, and he cupped the jewel hanging from the chain in his hand, examining the inscription upon it. It was the first time he had actually seen it for himself, and he ran it through every mental databank he possessed, searching for the true meaning behind the symbol.

 

Yoruichi had gone to a public library earlier in the day and checked out a book on Nordic runes in order to disprove the girl's story, and had succeeded. She'd rubbed that little victory in his face as she showed him each and every rune that had any sort of meaning related to protection. None of them came even close to matching the symbol on her necklace. Yoruichi had also made another interesting discovery in a book on symbolism that she had been browsing in hopes of finding some clue about the pendant: Humans in the middle ages had believed that uncut emeralds possessed the ability to ward off evil spirits. So even if the symbol wasn't really a rune for protection, perhaps it still held the same meaning.

 

“Something wrong?” Daria asked, and Kisuke realized he had just let out a heavy sigh. Forcing a smile, he released the pendant and let it fall back down to nestle between her breasts.

 

“I was just admiring the craftsmanship of your necklace,” he lied, reaching up and pushing his hat down slightly to hide his eyes. “It's rather difficult to engrave such an intricate symbol into a gemstone like this.”

 

Daria looked down at the necklace around her neck and tucked the stone back under her shirt. She hadn't realized it had slipped out as she was changing her positions on the bed while reading.

 

“You don't like people seeing it?” Kisuke asked.

 

“It's sort of stupid,” she told him, “but... I like to keep it close to my heart. It's all I really have of my father, after all.”

 

“I understand,” he replied, nodding slightly. “And it's not stupid.”

 

Daria felt herself blushing as she smiled, and he smiled back at her for a moment before suddenly standing and heading back out of the room.

 

“Are you sure you don't need anything?” he asked her as he stood in the doorway, peering at her from under his hat.

 

“If I do, I'll let you know.” she assured him with a nod.

 

Kisuke nodded back in reply and stepped out into the hallway, shutting the bedroom door behind him, then crossed the hallway to his own room and opened the door just enough to stick his head inside.

 

“I am going back to my workshop, now,” he informed the black cat that was currently curled up on his bed, napping. “Do not interrupt me again.”

 

“What did you say to her?” Yoruichi asked without opening her eyes. Kisuke paused in the middle of his exit and stuck his head back into the room, sighing a bit.

 

“I told her about who I am.”

 

“All of it?” she wondered, opening a single golden eye.

 

“Enough of it so that she'll trust me to keep her safe and not try to run,” he replied. “I left out most of the details, though.”

 

“Do you think she'll stay?” she asked him.

 

“I do,” he assured her, nodding.

 

Even if she didn't fully trust him, Kisuke knew Daria would never be able to bring herself to leave the sanctuary of the Urahara Shop. For one thing, she was scared to death of those things out there. He could see it in her eyes any time they were even mentioned around her. And then there was her attraction to him... Oh, he could see it, plain as day. It wasn't hard for an observant man like him to notice the subtle differences in her whenever he was around. The pulse in her neck had begun to race each time he got near her, and the closer he got the more her voice took on a slightly breathy tone. They were classic signs of infatuation, and he hadn't even done anything in an attempt to provoke them. Not really, anyway.

 

That was why Kisuke Urahara was certain that Daria Novikov wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon.