Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ The Aftermath ❯ The Name ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

As Ichigo lay on his bed, he listened to his surroundings. He was expecting her to pop out of nowhere and ask him some stupid question. That was their new routine now, he waits, she asks, he answers. It was sometimes more complicated, but he hated those sometimes and hoped they didn't appear. Sadly, with her, sometimes, was all-of-the-time. So there he lay, waiting, waiting, and waiting. She was about five minutes off her usual appearance time, so he got his hopes up. Maybe, just maybe, she didn't find anything new today to ask about. His hopes were, once again, crushed. In she walked, and proceeded to sit down at the edge of Ichigo's bed. She turned her burning, holier-than-thou stare straight towards him. He mentally cursed the fact that he, and only he, was the one to get that look from her. In a way he liked it, because it was for him only, but in a way he hated it, because it was for him only. He awaited the coming moments of pain and torture that followed her entrance. Slowly, she drew in a large breath, a sign that she had a question that she wanted to get out quickly, and be answered twice-as-fast. And then it happened.

"Ichigo, why were you named Ichigo?" Rukia asked quickly. It took Ichigo a few moments to catch what she said, but when he did, he was left between confused and annoyed.

"You know the answer to that, Ichi as in I'm-number-one, and Go as in..." Ichigo tried before Rukia cut him off. He hated when she was difficult.

"Don't give me that, you know that I'm asking about why you were named Strawberry." She said, sounding annoyed. Ichigo knew it was a lie though, she wasn't annoyed, nor bored, she was as giddy as a five-year-old on his birthday. Because of which, he got pissed.

"That's none of your business!" He huffed angrily. She gave him a twisted smirk.

"So you are named Strawberry!" Rukia said as she leaned forward towards him, pulling her legs up under her, bringing her to sit fully on his bed. Ichigo began to beat his paulm against his forehead repeatedly. She didn't even know he was named Strawberry, but, because he was an ass, she sure as hell did now.

"Done beating on yourself?" Rukia asked as Ichigo lowered his hand from his, now sore, head.

"Yes..." He sighed. Rukia, was on top of his list for pains in the neck. She was even above Keigo, and that's saying something.

"Good, now why are you named Strawberry?" She asked again. Ichigo stared at her with all the hatred he could. Sadly, when it came to Rukia, he only had as much actual hate as his sister Yuzu does for him. That is a whopping grand total of none. Rukia was a close, very close, amazingly close friend. She was on the borderline of his girlfriend. Good thing it was just borderline, nowhere closer. Or was it?

"If I tell you, will you swear to never let anyone know?" Ichigo asked in a loud hiss. He was very angry, but somewhere, he felt anxious about telling Rukia one of his biggest secrets. Though, that anxiousness, will be locked up in a large iron chest in Ichigo's mind that he calls Denial.

"Alright, I swear." Rukia smiled. Ichigo gave her a very doubtful look. "I mean it, but, to be fair, one day I will tell you one of my secrets." She continued as she put her right hand over her heart, and her left in the air. Ichigo nodded his head and got up. Rukia watched as he walked over to his desk, pulled it away from the wall, and revealed a secret drawer in the back of it. He pulled it open and took out a small piece of paper. He then placed the desk back against the wall and walked back over to Rukia.

"This is a photo of me when I was born, on the back my mother wrote down why she chose my name." He sighed as he handed Rukia the picture of himself. She grabbed it eagerly and looked at the front, then the back. He expected her to laugh, but instead, she only smiled. He waited, waited, and waited, but she didn't laugh. She closed her eyes and handed back the photo. He took it and put it in his pocket, to return it to it's hiding spot later.

"Ichigo..." Rukia began. Expecting some witty remark, he gave her his trademark smirk and cocked an eyebrow.

"What?" He said in the most annoyed voice he could muster. He was actually trying to sound pissed at the world. Any normal person would run in fear, but oh-no, not Rukia.

"That's cute." She said with a smile. Not her insulting grin, not her evil smirk, not even her fake smile. Her real smile. One that was shrunken from years of not being used, but was strong enough to last the misery. Another little thing that only Ichigo got to see more than others.

"Th-thanks..." Ichigo stuttered. He was flustered, embarrassed, at a loss for words, and could feel the blood rushing to his face. Never in his history had he heard Rukia label anything about him as cute. His heart raced, and his mind burned out. In short, Ichigo was uncomfortable. Rukia took this silence as a signal to leave, so she stood, and walked out of the room. Ichigo stared after her for a few minutes before snapping back to reality. That's when it hit him.

"FUCK!" He yelled aloud. It was all he could say. Yet another part of him wanted to celebrate, but it was, like so many other things, locked up in the big iron box in his mind that he called Denial. He then pulled the photo from his pocket and looked at it. On the front was a picture of him, freshly born and wrapped in a towel, clutching to his mother. He smiled and then flipped it over. In his mother's writing, it read:

Ichigo smiled one more time before taking the photo and putting it back in it's hiding spot behind in the back of his desk. This was his biggest secret, not even his father knew, and he used to be the only one, but now, Rukia knew it too. His name could mean many things, but only he and Rukia knew the true meaning. That was the funny thing about names though, they could be six letters long, and have a thousand meanings...