"Alright," the nurse sighed, draping her stethoscope around her neck. "Aside from that tweaked ankle of yours I think you will be fine. Still if you feel anything out of the ordinary, call a doctor and get yourself to a hospital as soon as possible. Am I clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," Makoto replied as he carefully stood up. "I'll be sure to do that. Thank you for your help."
"Don't mention it kid," she said, standing up and walking him to the door. Upon opening it he saw both Rukia and Ichigo waiting outside, who quickly stood up when he walked out.
"Makoto, are you okay?" Ichigo asked, his normal scowl holding a hint of worry.
"He should be fine," the nurse said to the two of them which caused them both to relax a bit. "He was extremely exhausted but seemed to perk up after a glass of water. He also seemed to hurt his ankle probably when he collapsed but other than that everything seems fine."
"That's good to hear," Rukia replied, noticeably relieved that nothing seemed to be wrong. "But can you not do that again?"
"Hey, I wasn't trying to worry you," Makoto responded, before stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Why are you guys waiting for me anyways? You could have gone home."
"Is that how you treat your girlfriend when she's been worried for your wellbeing?!" Rukia snarked back, reminding Makoto how he should be acting. She then blushed slightly before continuing, "Besides I don't have the key to the house."
"Oh right," Makoto said, rubbing the back of his neck as his face turned a bright red. "I probably should have remembered that. You just got into town. I should have known you wouldn't know how to get home."
"That has nothing to do with it," Rukia retorted, her face turning red.
"Then you could have just taken the key out of my bag. Unless that isn't my stuff you're holding," Makoto replied with a smirk.
Rukia blushed even more as she forcefully shoved Makoto's bag into his chest, almost knocking him over in the process. "Well now you're better so let's go," she muttered back.
"Careful Rukia," Ichigo said, mirth sparkling in his brown eyes, seeing the chance to get back at the two of them. "If you aren't careful you'll be the one to send him to the hospital." This earned him a punch to the shoulder.
"Careful Ichigo," Makoto said back. "If you aren't careful she'll be sending you to the hospital."
"Please be more careful," the nurse said, pinching the bridge of her nose at the antics of the children. "And make sure to come check up with me on Monday Tsukiyo-san."
"Got it," Makoto said, waving back at the nurse. "See you then." With that the three left the building and began walking home.
After a minute of walking Makoto finally turned and spoke to the two of them. "Sorry for worrying you guys," he said in a resigned voice. "I don't know why I passed out like that, and I'm sorry for causing such a ruckus because of it."
"It's fine Makoto," Ichigo said with his usual face of indifference. "I won't say I wasn't worried, but I know that you didn't mean to collapse. Just next time answer when we call your name."
"You called my name?" Makoto asked, perturbed by this revelation. "I didn't hear you."
Rukia and Ichigo stared at him, making Makoto incredibly uncomfortable. "You didn't hear us?" Rukia replied, shock clearly evident on her face. "Then why did you respond when I called your name?"
"I did?" Makoto asked.
"Yes," Rukia replied, as Makoto noticed her cheeks turn a faint tinge of red as she answered, "I called your name and you mumbled something out. I couldn't hear what it was exactly but I know you did."
"Ichigo?" Makoto said, turning to his friend who just shrugged.
"I wouldn't know," Ichigo replied with a slight tinge of worry, "I had left to go and get help and when I came back you were already awake and Rukia was the only one there till I returned."
Makoto stared at his feet as the group walked silently down the street, his mind as numb as he tried to think why all of this was happening. Everything seemed to pass by in an instant since he got struck by that bolt of lightning. He didn't know how but after that happened he found himself sitting on the terrace where Rukia and Ichigo had left him. Not more than a second later Rukia was beside him, red eyed and filled with barely contained tears. Had he died or come so close to death that it was a miracle he was breathing? He was completely in the dark and he hated that there was nothing he could do about it. Even Rukia and Ichigo seemed to be at a loss for words and they were the ones who witnessed his condition first hand.
"This has got to be the single weirdest and worst day of my entire life," Makoto said as he rubbed his face with his hands. "First I'm late for school, then my fake girlfriend shows up, I almost get beat up by my friend, which a Hollow then proceeds to bring me within an inch of my life just by existing within a kilometer of me before I'm transported to some dystopian apocalypse with a mutated talking wolf where…"
"Wait a second! Dystopian apocalypse!" Ichigo exclaimed, stopping in his tracks a sense of irritation appearing in his voice. "What are you talking about now? Is this your imagination getting the better of you?"
Makoto looked at his friend. "No! I don't know. It can't be right?" he said before looking down at his feet once more. His face was filled with distress as he tried to think of some reason or way that all of this was possible. He knew he had a good imagination but it wasn't this overactive, was it? "That's not possible, is it?"
"Excuse me," Rukia said, turning the concentration of the two boys to her, a look of confusion on her face as if she was trying to puzzle out the answer to some important question. "What is a dystopian apocalypse?"
________________________________________________________________________________________
"Alright Rukia," Makoto said, opening the front door to his house. "Come on in."
Makoto gestured to the interior of the house to which she graciously accepted and entered the residence. Makoto walked over to the banister of the staircase and hung his school bag on it before turning back to Rukia. "Well, uh, welcome back, I guess." he said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'll have to ask you to pardon any messes or anything since I was too tired to clean anything up from last night after I finished putting the Kurosakis back to bed."
"I'm sure it's not that bad," Rukia said as she walked over to the entrance to the living room. Scattered across the coffee table were various papers and one of the couches was askew from its normal position probably from when he frantically rushed out the door after her. "I stand corrected."
"Yeah well it's not every day that a spirit girl breaks into your house armed with a sword and a Hollow nearly kills you by just existing," Makoto said walking into the living room and began picking up the papers scattered everywhere.
"Really," Rukia replied with a smirk, "Because it seems that is all that has been a common occurrence for the past couple of days."
"You do realize I am not obligated to keep you here," Makoto snarked back, "I will kick you out. My life was fine until you showed up."
Rukia fell silent at that remark. Ever she saved him from that Hollow yesterday his life had been changed in ways she could barely imagine. He found out about the existence of spiritual beings, nearly died three times to them, and was now taking care of her because she had almost no way to protect herself or anyone else. He was incredibly bright and already connected the heightened spiritual energy given off by someone as the reason for Hollows to attack them, making it an even greater reason why he shouldn't take care of her as housing a Soul Reaper would only make his chances of being attacked greater.
"I–I'm sorry," she stuttered out looking down at her feet.
Makoto's face softened as he looked at Rukia as she fidgeted with her fingers. "No I'm sorry," Makoto sighed as he brought a hand to his forehead, casting his own eyes to the floor. "I shouldn't have been that harsh to you. I'm horrendous when it comes to anything social and I've been really stressed out about what happened earlier. On top of that I'm unbelievably nervous because I've never had anyone over before and I'm going to be taking care of you from now on. I lashed out at you and I'm sorry for it. You're probably in a worse boat than me since you can't even go back home yourself."
"You're nervous," Rukia responded, slightly shocked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Makoto asked, as he stood up and placed the stack of papers onto the coffee table. "You're moving in with me for the foreseeable future, and I haven't taken care of anyone but myself for the past month and before that I was always the one being taken care of. Not to mention you're a girl and well…uh…" his face turned bright red as he stumbled around trying to find a good way of putting it.
"Are afraid of them?" Rukia replied, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Makoto grouched, folding his arms over his chest. "It's…hard to explain."
"Try," Rukia prompted.
"Well… you see," Makoto started, once again stumbling to find the right way to put it. Rukia had to admit it was funny to watch though she knew deep down he was struggling. Makoto groaned before slumping over in defeat. "I have been trying my best to take care of myself and I feel like I have only barely been able to do it, and I can't promise that if something like this were to happen again that I won't act similarly."
"It's fine," Rukia remarked, "After all you aren't exactly wrong about some of the stuff you said."
Makoto felt a pain in his stomach. He didn't mean to be so harsh to Rukia. Truth be told he hated his life up until now. He felt out of place everywhere whether at school, or with friends. The only place he felt like he was himself was here at home, the only place he felt the mask he wore slip. He didn't belong in the world of Bleach, and up until now he had always kept his distance, never trying to intervene or get attached to anyone knowing they could die at any moment, but at home there was no need for any disguise. But now she was here and he didn't know how to feel and he was making her suffer for it.
"If you say so," Makoto replied, turning his eyes to the ground as he silently cursed himself for taking out his anger on her. He then looked for something to do to hopefully change the subject and make Rukia feel more welcome. "Why don't you go change your clothes so that I can wash our uniforms?"
"Oh…uh," Rukia said as her face turned red from a combination of what seemed to be shame and guilt.
"Just say it," Makoto replied, "After everything that happened today, I'm only going to feel worse by being left in the dark."
"Well you see," Rukia mumbled, her face growing even redder than before. "I was only given these clothes. So…"
"Of course!" Makoto yelled in exasperation, "That psycho would do something like that wouldn't he. Let me guess he said that would also help me get more into character?!" Rukia grit her teeth in an uncomfortable grin as she turned back to face Makoto. "And you said I should cut him some slack when he pulls crap like this?!"
Makoto rubbed his face with one hand. "Alright follow me," Makoto said to Rukia as he walked by her and over to the stairs. "Come on."
The two made their way up the stairs and into Makoto's room. As Rukia made her way in she was tripped as her foot caught on a book causing her to stumble forward falling onto his messy bed.
"Are you okay?" Makoto asked from the center of the room, his face slightly concerned.
"Yeah, fine," Rukia said, quickly standing back up.
"Okay," Makoto said nervously, looking at the floor of his room. "I'll clean the floor so that doesn't happen again." He then turned around to his closet and began rummaging through the heaps of clothes he had housed there.
"So are you trying to make it a bigger mess in here?" Rukia asks as she watches Makoto pile more and more clothes into a stack behind him. Makoto just scoffs and continues digging further into his wardrobe before finally pulling out a pair of slim jeans and a small solid blue long sleeved t-shirt that were far too small to fit him and handing them to Rukia.
"Here," he said, "These are the smallest clothes in here that I think will fit you. This will at least allow you to get out of those clothes so that I can wash them. I'll see what else I can find but you'll have to live with what I have at least until tomorrow. We can go to the mall then and you can pick out a few things for you to wear."
"Oh, thank you," Rukia said nervously as she looked at the clothes in her arms.
"Relax," Makoto replied, turning away from Rukia to hide the discomfort forming on his face. "It's only for today and I'm not going to make you run around in the uniform all day. I know that I find it comfortable but I know others probably don't."
"Well I do, so I think I'll just keep them on," Rukia said back quickly, putting the clothes back down on Makoto's bed and trying to run out the door only to be stopped by Makoto's arm.
"Rukia, if I didn't have to do this I wouldn't make you," Makoto sighed, "But the fact of the matter is that as long as you are going to live here with me it's my job to take care of you. And if I don't wash my uniform today then it won't dry properly by Monday, so can you just please trust me on this. I promise that I will take you clothes shopping the first chance I can."
"But these clothes fit me," she grumbled, "How do I know that those ones will."
"You try them on," Makoto sighed as he brought a hand to his face, "If they don't fit you then I'll keep looking through this deathtrap of a closet of mine for clothes that will, because for some reason I have clothes that are a least five to six sizes too small. I don't care if you don't like them, I just need you to wear something so that I have the time to wash your uniform. Sheesh! Do you Soul Reapers never do laundry?"
"Of course we do," she retorted. "I was just going to wait a while before doing it. We Soul Reapers don't need to wash our uniforms that often thanks to its color."
"Well we mortals do. So as long as you are going to be posing as one you should at least act like them," he remarked, grabbing the clothes off his bed and motioning her to follow him with his head as he walked out the door and down the upstairs hall.
"Don't you dare lower me to your level!" Rukia exclaimed, chasing after him. "Just because I'm stuck in this useless Gigai form doesn't make us equals. I'm still a Soul Reaper."
"Yeah, a powerless one," Makoto smirked as he turned back to look at her stopping in front of a door. "And I'm your guard so I think that makes me the superior one."
"That's not how that works!" Rukia exclaimed, her face turning red from anger.
"There, that's better," Makoto said with a nod of his head, causing Rukia to grow even more angry and confused.
"What's better," she seethed.
"You're not upset and sad anymore," Makoto replied with a faint grin playing at his lips. "Ever since I woke up at school I can tell you've been off. Your head was held lower, you've been walking slower and you have been extremely uncomfortable around me, all the while plastering that guilty look that makes me think that you are holding yourself responsible for what happened to me. So am I right?"
Rukia stood there silently. Unsure whether to slap him or apologize to him. Did all of that stuff really happen without her noticing? "You're just making stuff up," she replied sternly, turning her eyes away from him.
"And now you won't even look at me," Makoto sighed, bringing a hand to his face, "Can you make it any easier? That's the number one sign someone is lying to you."
"I'm not looking at you because I don't want to see your ugly face," Rukia retorted, turning to face him, her eyes blazing with fury.
"If you don't want to see my ugly face then why don't you go and get changed?" Makoto replied, shoving the clothes into her arms before crossing his own. "Then we both get what we want."
Rukia stood there silently, glaring at Makoto who just sighed once more, before turning to the door they stopped in front of and opening it and motioning for her to enter. It was another moderately sized room with blue walls. The windows had the same white curtains as Makoto's room with a bed placed on the opposite wall, a pretty flowered bedsheet placed atop it with light blue pillows to match the undersheets.
"I was thinking that this would be your room," Makoto said, which caused Rukia to whip her head in his direction.
"What?!" she cried out in disbelief.
"Why are you surprised?" Makoto asked, a faint tinge of laughter mixing into his voice. "Did you expect me to stuff you into my closet?"
Rukia looked back to the room, that's what she was planning, yet this idiot was giving her an entire room in the house. "I don't want to take up more space than I need to," Rukia said to him. "I'll be…"
"Sleeping in here," Makoto interrupted, not letting Rukia talk him out of it. "If you don't like this room then I'll let you sleep in mine and I'll sleep in here, but I'm not changing my mind on this. So don't try to. Now get changed so I can wash your uniform."
Makoto then closed the door leaving Rukia standing there staring at it. What was with this guy? He was all over the place, going from nervous to angry to compassionate. And even beyond that it was her, of all people that he was being kind to! She had almost gotten him killed and was basically an uninvited guest in his house, she couldn't understand why he didn't hate her.
"Tsukiyo-san?" Rukia called out.
"What is it?" Makoto replied calmly as he leaned back on the wall right next to the door and placed his hands in his pockets. "Is there something you need?"
"Can I ask why you allowed me to stay here with you?" She asked, her tone much more somber than before.
"You can," Makoto said, followed by an awkward silence that lasted several seconds. "I never said I would answer it," he finished, which was followed by a very annoyed Rukia voicing her annoyance.
"If you weren't going to answer it then why did you say I could?!"
"You can ask what you want," Makoto replied as a slight smirk appeared on his face. "Just because you ask doesn't mean I have an answer."
"You don't have an answer to why you let me stay here?" Rukia asked in disbelief.
"Oh, I have a reason," Makoto said, his grin growing more prominent as he continued to tease the Soul Reaper. "I just don't want to tell you."
"You're annoying, you know that, Tsukiyo-san?" Rukia remarked, her voice growing more irritated as he heard a rustling of clothing.
"I've been told that," he replied, "And you don't need to call me Tsukiyo-san. As much as I hate the idea, having the two of us pretend to be in a relationship is probably the best way to hide your true identity from my classmates as well as your presence from the other Soul Reapers. Don't you dare tell him I said that though! The last thing I need is that egotistical manic thinking he was correct or that this is okay to do to people."
At that the door was opened and Rukia stepped out. The jeans were baggy on her but they seemed to fit fine and while the sleeves of the shirt were a little long it seemed relatively comfy for her as well. "Are you saying you don't like that I'm your girlfriend?" Rukia yelled in mock anger.
"Absolutely not," Makoto deadpanned, crossing his arms in front of him. "And we have got to work on your acting too. It was so bad you would make thespians roll over dead."
"Well I think it was pretty good since I learned it over night," Rukia remarked, turning her nose up in a proud manner.
"Yeah you did good, good for a preschooler," Makoto retorted as he let out a slight chuckle, "Honestly you looked more like a lost child meeting their parents for the first time after they found them in the mall. It took everything I had to not laugh at you and blow our cover. Though I will admit it was fun to finally get back at Keigo for all the torment he put me through in the last month, so I can thank you for that."
"Well here's my uniform," Rukia said as she handed it to Makoto.
"Thanks Kuchiki-san," Makoto replied and Rukia's face twisted in a mischievous smirk.
"Oh, so it's okay if you are polite with me but not if I'm polite with you," she said, "If I'm going to be forced to call you something else I think that you should have to do the same."
"Fine," Makoto caved as he rolled his eyes. "I'll call you Rukia and in return you call me…"
"Mako," Rukia interrupted, causing Makoto's face to turn bright red.
"Don't call me that," Makoto said, his voice clearly angry, "If you do that then I'll…mess up your rabbit drawings."
"You wouldn't dare," Rukia said, horrified by the thought that anyone would dare defile her rabbits. Makoto smiled evilly at her. So that was her Achilles heel.
"Oh I would," Makoto said sinisterly, "And I would like it." And he left her there in shock at the thought of her rabbit drawings being scribbled on.
________________________________________________________________________________________
The sun was falling beneath the buildings as Makoto hung the clothes on the clothesline outside. Today had been jam packed with nothing but drama and action, from the sudden appearance of Rukia, his meeting with that weird wolf, and his return to reality. In truth everything was completely out of whack and that only scared Makoto more knowing that there was yet another thing he had to worry about.
"I guess being an inch from death is just my thing," Makoto sighed as he pulled out one of the white shirts and hung it up. "First I needed to hide from Hollows, then Soul Reapers, what next? Am I gonna need to stay hidden from humans?"
Makoto sighed once more as he pulled his blazer out of the hamper and hung it on the clothesline. "Hopefully it doesn't rain in the next few days. I don't want to have to wear a wet blazer again," he said as he checked the sky for clouds. "Doesn't look like it. But considering the fact I didn't expect to have to worry about having a Soul Reaper living in the same building as me so I guess anything could happen."
Makoto sighed, pulling out Rukia's shirt and hanging it on the clothesline. "Now I need to find a place where I can get clothes for Rukia to wear. Shoot. I guess I can ask Ichigo where his sisters got their clothes from. They would probably know some good places."
He quickly hung the rest of the clothes up then made his way back in retrieving his phone from the kitchen countertop and sent Ichigo a message.
[Makoto]: Hey Ichigo, do you think you could ask your sisters for good places to buy clothes. Apparently whoever assigned Rukia didn't give her clothes aside from the school uniform and I don't have any idea where the heck to go. Plus I feel weird having to go through my closet to find her a new outfit and she doesn't seem too happy about it either.
[Ichigo]: You are like a good head taller than her. She wouldn't fit in any of your clothes. Second, how the heck does that even happen?!
[Makoto]: I have clothes from who knows how many years ago stuffed in my closet so I do have something she can wear while I wash her uniform but I still don't like it.
[Ichigo]: Still, how did you get yourself into this position?!
[Makoto]: From caring about your life!
[Ichigo]: I still don't see how that follows.
[Makoto]: Can you just help me out, Ichigo?!
[Ichigo]: I'll see what I can do.
[Makoto]: Thanks Ichigo.
[Ichigo]: Don't blame me if it goes sour though.
[Makoto]: How could it possibly go wrong?
Ichigo didn't reply after that, making Makoto uneasy. What was that all about?
"Is something wrong, Tsukiyo-san?" Makoto looked up from his phone to see Rukia walk into the living room.
"No. Everything is fine. Just asking Ichigo for advice," Makoto replied, "And I told you to call me Makoto earlier."
"Why would you ask Ichigo for advice," Rukia asked, completely ignoring the second part of Makoto's statement.
"To know how to take care of annoying little sisters," Makoto joked, which earned him a glare from Rukia. "Alright. His sisters aren't that annoying, only you are." Her glare only intensified but Makoto stood his ground and after a few seconds of uninterrupted eye contact he began to laugh.
"What's so funny?!" Rukia asked, clearly infuriated.
"Sorry," Makoto said as he began to calm down. "Whenever I stare at someone for an extended period of time I end up smiling and eventually laughing, at least when I'm not angry with them."
Rukia stood there stunned. "You're weird," she replied, "Like weirder than weird."
"Yeah, well we didn't exactly get off on the right foot so it makes sense that my attitude towards you seems a little off from your perception," Makoto chuckled back. "Don't worry I won't hold it against you. You know me for my serious side with the whole Hollow and breaking into my house and such, but everyone at school knows me for being more airheaded or goofy, especially with the whole stunt we put on when you showed up out of nowhere. Though if I'm correct and they think that me being knocked out was due to a fight I had with Ichigo, then they might start to see me in a more serious light. Especially since they think we are dating."
"Your jokes still aren't funny though," Rukia remarked once again crossing her arms, probably still somewhat insulted by the comment he made earlier.
"Alright. I'm sorry I called you annoying," Makoto responded, raising his hands in surrender. "In fact I found that whole bit at school really fun. I think you'll be able to keep up quite nicely with my shenanigans, as long as we do it my way from now on. No more of this listening to Urahara for how to let me get into my role better. It's bad for my health, in more ways than one I might add."
Rukia let out a small chuckle. "I think that's a fair trade for thrusting you into this role," she said sitting down on a stool across the raised countertop from me as I began looking through the ingredients in the fridge to make something for dinner for the two of us when she asked another question.
"Hey Makoto," Rukia replied as he looked over the fridge door at her. "If you didn't like the idea of acting like my boyfriend then why did you do it back at school."
Makoto turned his eyes back to the fridge, his face obscured by the door as the room was filled with an uncomfortable silence. "I thought it was the best," he replied back simply without showing his face. "Had I argued against you and you pushed on it would raise suspicion and even if I managed to change their mind when they found out you were staying here with me, it would have only made my life worse."
"How so?"
Makoto pulled his head back and gave her a look like she should already know. "Keigo," he said simply before turning his attention back to the fridge. "If he found out that way I would have way more questions pelted at me of which half would probably be way worse than the ones he will ask now. Though I have to admit after Ichigo's interrogation I'm positive I can take almost anything that Keigo throws at me."
Makoto once again turned his attention to the fridge where he spotted the eggs and some sausages. "That's it!" Makoto yelled, almost causing Rukia to fall out of her chair.
"What?!" Rukia asked in a worried tone. "Did I say something wrong?!"
"What? No!" Makoto said as he took a bunch of different ingredients out of the fridge. "I know what I'm going to make for dinner."
"Do you always shout that when you decide what to make?!" she yelled back to which Makoto just sheepishly smiled back.
"I don't usually do it," he replied back, causing Rukia to stare at him, which he also did in turn. Soon enough the two of them began to break down in laughter at their own hijinks.