Red Riding Strawberry

Numbers

Ichigo felt like there was a hole in his chest, and two days ago that was quite literal. Shirosaki had avoided Ichigo for the past two days, making sure that he was no where near Ichigo. It kind of hurt the orangete, but he could understand why Shirosaki was keeping his distance.

Ichigo had pissed him off.

And Ichigo was pretty sure it would make it worse if he talked to Grimmjow, so he avoided the bluenete. When Grimmjow got too close, Ichigo would glare, and leave that room.

Grimmjow soon got tired of this, and instilled a punishment. 

Ichigo now had to fetch water from the river near the house, hunt for food, and make sure the house was clean. Ichigo had gotten the third task done in the early morning, now he was onto the first task.

Walking to the river with a bucket in hand, Ichigo hummed a song he had stuck in his head. It was called Irresistible, by someone called Fall Out Boy. He liked the song, it seemed to help Ichigo's mood.

When he got closer to the river, Ichigo was blinded by light. Covering his eye, he moved forward to find that the sun had been glaring off the water. Ichigo stopped to take in the beauty of the river, it didn't move too fast, and he could see the bottom clearly, and it wasn't too deep. As he took it in, Ichigo spotted some fish swimming by and he smiled.

"This is the type of place you go to when you need to calm down..." Ichigo let out a sigh.

He jumped when he heard the bushes behind him move, then held his breath when he saw Shirosaki, "Shiro..."

Shirosaki had his hands in his pockets, his head down, as he walked towards the river. He didn't answer Ichigo, just watched the river.

This made Ichigo tense, then he remembered that Shirosaki wanted space, so he moved a little further down, then started on his chore again. Placing the bucket in the water, Ichigo waited for it to fill, making sure no fish got the great idea to swim into the bucket.

Ichigo wasn't expecting the feel of hands on his back, nor was he ready for the feeling of water surrounding his body. Thrashing around violently, Ichigo finally managed to get to the surface of the water, and glared out at the person who had pushed him in. Ichigo stopped when he saw Shirosaki laughing on the bank, how could he be mad at something like that?

"What's the matter Ichi? Have you been around that bastard long enough for his kitten like features to rub off on ya? You don't seem to like the water too much. I think I'll call you that from now on, kitten."

A frown quickly grew on Ichigo's face, swimming back, Ichigo got out of the water, "Ha, ha. Very funny Shiro."

"Ya, it was very funny," Shirosaki stated with a grin.

Ichigo thought it was weird that Shirosaki was even talking to him now, let alone playing with him.

"So, you're not..." 

"I am," Shirosaki cut Ichigo off. Sitting down in the grass, Shirosaki started playing with a flower, "I'm still mad, but I can't hate you. I know what I said, and I meant it," Shirosaki glared at Ichigo, then his glare softened, "but I don't really feel like a spiteful child at the moment."

Ichigo wanted to let out a sigh, but he knew he shouldn't, so he simply sat down next to Shirosaki, "So. What are we going to do Shirosaki?"

"First, you can address me as Shiro, I've already told you this." Shiro smirked at Ichigo, "Other than that, we can either get you out of here, or just keep things the way they are."

Ichigo's breath stopped in his lungs.

Shiro could get him out of here.

He wouldn't have to worry about Grimmjow.