Pride (IchiRuki Fanfiction) 💗

Part 6

"Ichigo? Are you already asleep?"  Yuzu slowly opened the door of Ichigo's room, peeking through the dark.
"No, I am not. What is it Yuzu?"  Ichigo replied.
"C'mon, it's dinner time, brother. I made something super delicious today. I hope Rukia is going to like it as well. Where is she, by the way?"  Yuzu noticed.
"She is sleeping at Orihime's tonight. They're having a girls night, apparently."  Ichigo reluctantly answered his sister's question.
"Oh, that's a shame! I was hoping she could eat with us tonight because I cooked something really good! But that's okay...Hopefully she will be back soon so I can impress her with what I have learnt."  Said Yuzu.
"Yeah. She will be back soon, I promise."  Ichigo confirmed.
"Okay. Come downstairs when you are ready then! We will wait for you."  Cheerful girl said and closed the door.
"I am coming down in a minute."  Said Ichigo.
Even though he didn't feel like eating anything, he went downstairs to have a dinner with his family. His dad Isshin and his sisters were already sitting when he came down. After they said their prayer, they have started the dinner. Everybody praised Yuzu for her amazing cooking skills. Yuzu was over the moon, but she still couldn't help but notice that something was going on with her older brother.   She has made an awesome dinner and Ichigo barely touched his food. Ichigo loved her cooking and usually he would eat a lot, but tonight he didn't. It was obvious that his thoughts were somewhere else.
Is he sad? He seems to be deep in thought tonight. He barely touched his food. I wonder if everything's okay...
After dinner, everybody went upstairs except from Yuzu. She stayed to clean the table. While cleaning, she couldn't stop wondering what could have bothered Ichigo. After cleaning the kitchen, she went upstairs and knocked on Ichigo's door.
"Yeah?"
"Can I come in? "
"Sure. What is it, Yuzu?"
"What happened, brother?"
"What do you mean what happened?"
"You barely ate anything tonight and your mind seemed to be elsewhere. Is something bothering you?"
"No, your food was delicious as always, but I couldn't eat because I lost my appetite. You didn't do anything wrong, your dinner was amazing."
"Brother...Did you and Rukia got into a fight?"
"Well...Yeah...I guess we did, but we talked it over and everything's fine now. How did you know?"
"I took a random guess, but it was quite obvious since she went to spend a night somewhere else. Besides, you seemed to be deep in thought tonight and you didn't touch your food. I knew something was wrong. Now tell me what happened."
"Well, nothing happened. I kind of overreacted today, I don't even know why..."
"You know, brother...People sometimes fight when they love each other...It's only normal. I am sure everything will go back to how it was."
"We always fight about something. I cherish Rukia's friendship, but I said some really hurtful things to her today. I crossed the line. She got upset and I made her cry. I think she might hate me now."
"Rukia could never hate you, Ichigo. I am pretty sure Rukia loves you as much as you love her. You two are just too proud to show each other that both of you actually care about each other."
"What? I don't LOVE Rukia. You are talking as if I was IN LOVE with her. Sure, I do care about her, but not in that way, definitely. She annoys me all the time."
"Really? Is that really how you feel about Rukia?"
"Of course. She is just a friend. I could never LIKE her LIKE THAT. That would be just...weird."
"Maybe you're just too proud to admit that you actually like her, brother. Rukia is really pretty, after all. She is also kind, strong, brave and gentle. From what I have seen, you two have a special bond, Ichigo. But whatever you say. Just don't hurt Rukia again, okay?"
"Okay..."
"See you later then."
"See ya."
As the door shut, Ichigo knew that he just lied both to himself and to his younger sister. He did have something for Rukia. But he didn't know what. That was definitely not love. It was some kind of physical attraction. He knew that he cared for that little devil a lot, but he wasn't in love with her. This was something entirely different. Something special.