Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Wordless ❯ Him ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Please read carefully. The characters will not be named, and it may be hard following them and the story. It was a deliberate action on my part, because there is a certain atmosphere I am trying to achieve here. If you find it annoying, I apologize.

Disclaimer: BLEACH is not mine.

Warning: OOC-ness, cliche, slight angst (?), and other whatnots.

Whoever said that falling in love with your best friend is easy definitely has another thing coming.

She was never good with words, but she thought siblings would be the perfect term to describe them. What with him wholeheartedly sharing his family to a girl who never had the opportunity to meet hers, except for a sister that left the world too soon for anyone's liking.

He was never good with words either, but he surmised best friends would suit what they had perfectly. Always watching each other's backs, hanging around each other almost all the time, sharing philosophical thoughts, cracking corny jokes...typical best friend thing, if you asked him.

They were almost inseparable, that people would wonder where the other was when they catch sight of one walking alone in the school corridor. It was unbelievable that these two had, in fact, started on the wrong foot.

They met during junior high when she was sent to a fairly small town by her cold and unfeeling adoptive brother—which happened to be her deceased sister's husband—to live on her own. With the exception of the retrieval of her weekly allowance and the occasional (obligatory, she thought dryly) phone calls to check on her, there was really no communication between brother and sister. In retrospect, she thought she had to be extremely grateful to this brother of hers for sending her away like that, because that was when she met him, on the first day of school, giving her directions towards the primary school building, wearing a scowl that seemed to be perpetually etched on his face. She, in turn, gave him her iciest glare (that he admitted several years later actually gave him chills) as she forcefully shoved his hand away (which was patting her head condescendingly as though she was a cute, little poodle), telling him that she was, in fact, a junior high student just like he was.

He wasn't good with words, and neither was she, and no one knew exactly how or why, but the two just…clicked. The moment her amethyst eyes met his warm amber pools, both knew that they have found the lifelong companions they have both subconsciously been yearning for. On what levels, they were uncertain at that point. What mattered was the feeling of completeness...that finally, the voids in their hearts left by the death of the people they loved (he, his mother; she, her sister) seemed to disappear every moment spent together.

No, they weren't the stereotypical cheesy boyfriend-girlfriend type. They don't pass sweet notes during class or stuff each other's lockers with flowers and other gifts, nor do they have lunch in a secluded place away from public scrutiny and hold hands on the way home…Instead, they would bicker and yell at each other, give slaps and kicks in the shin (usually at his expense—he would never dream of fighting back, at least physically, that is), hang out at the local arcade trying to outdo each other…Perhaps it should be mentioned that they were, as a matter of fact, not a couple.

Nope, nothing of the sort. They soon stepped into high school, inseparable as always, but never crossing over the boundaries of friendship. People have speculated countless of times on the real status of their relationship; bets have been made as to who will 'fess up first. Their friends even went as far as giving them both a "push in the right direction", as they call their meddling.

She just brushed it all away. He was almost a brother to her, after all. His dad was her dad. His twin sisters were her younger siblings as well. To even consider a preposterous idea such as them being together romantically was borderline incest to her.

Yes, to her. This was why she missed the stolen glances, the longing looks…the not-too-subtle-possessiveness, the smile that he reserved especially for her and her alone…and the special kind of attention he bestows upon no one else.

He, on the other hand, had fallen deeply in love with his best friend.

It was quite a shock to no one else but her when he finally decided on just saying it one fine day on the school roof top. He wasn't good with words—he usually expressed himself through the intense glares he would direct at people he found rather unpleasant, the occasional chuckles and smug smirks, and if the situation warranted it, his fists. This was why there were no flowery words, no declarations of devotion—just a simple statement that was very characteristically him.

"I want you to be my girlfriend," he had said.

She merely blinked at him, slowly processing if she had heard him correctly."I'm sorry, would you run that by me again?"

Typical confession scene.

"I want you to be my girlfriend," he had repeated, locking his amber eyes with her amethyst, trying to convey all the emotions he could not put into words.

There was a long stretch of silence. She was never good with words, so she settled on responding the only way she knew how.

She laughed. She laughed so hard tears escaped the corners of her eyes. She held onto her stomach as she laughed her heart out. "Tell me you're kidding,"she had replied as she wiped the tears away. "That has got to be the funniest thing, ever!"

"It wasn't a joke," he had blurted out instinctively.

She stopped laughing then and stared at him. He defiantly stared back.

Finally, after a long moment of nothing, he nonchalantly shrugged as he placed his hands inside his pants pockets. "I was just practicing."

Her mouth formed a perfect "o", before she raised a brow and smirked. "You sucked. Big time."

And as he smirked back, she missed the thinly veiled dejection in his eyes.