Chapter Text
“There’s a witch living in the woods, she protects girls and doesn’t like boys that much but from time to time she brings one lonely boy and one lonely girl together.”
"The witch helped me," eight year old Rukia said with her eyes big as saucers and a huge smile "she took me out of the woods."
Yoruichi sighed as she caressed Rukia's face kindly. She hated to see the child in a hospital bed but everything was over now, no one found out about her little adventure and she was out of danger, so they were now ready to go home.
"Really?" Yoruichi asked playing along, there was no use in arguing with the eight year old girl.
Rukia nodded enthusiastically, her gorgeous violet eyes were shining with excitement.
"I couldn't see where I was going so she took my hand until I was at the town again!" the child explained happily.
"I see," Yoruichi said "we'll have to thank her then, since she brought you back to me."
Rukia smiled again and Yoruichi tried to convince herself that the child had left the woods all by herself, witches weren't real.
"Okay!" Urahara exclaimed happily stepping into the room "the discharge is signed up so we're ready to go back home!"
Rukia smiled at him.
"Before we go," Yoruichi said "I need you to repeat the rules to me."
Rukia pouted.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because the fact that you broke one of the rules is what brought us here," Yoruichi said calmly "so I need to make sure that you remember them before going back."
Rukia took a deep breath before answering.
"Do not go into the woods, never" she recited "do not go into the next town alone and, no matter the situation, always look for Yoruichi or Urahara for help."
Yoruichi nodded as she picked up Rukia.
"Now we can go home" Yoruichi said and together they left the hospital.
"I thought I was your favorite goddaughter!" Rukia said pouting for the tenth time in a day.
Yoruichi simply rolled her eyes at the fifteen year old girl, she was basically a grown up and yet her childish side was not going away. She wondered why or how much time it was going to take Rukia to actually stop pouting.
"You are my favorite, only goddaughter" Yoruichi assured her "I'm not denying that, so you can stop repeating it as a broken recorder."
"Then, why can't I stay here anymore?!" Rukia asked indignantly while looking at the guest’s room in Yoruichi’s cottage, the same room she had used as her own for the last few years.
"Because I'm going to lend this room to my godson during summer vacation," Yoruichi explained exasperated "how many times do I have to repeat it?!"
Rukia frowned as she saw the maid packing the things she had around Yoruichi's guest’s room, she still thought that it wasn't fair.
"Fine," Rukia scoffed finally "but why can't I stay in the other room? You know, the one next to this one."
Yoruichi poked her in the forehead.
"First of all," she started "that other room is smaller and it does not have its own bathroom, second you literally have a house five minutes from here and third, I am not having two teenagers under the same roof, that's too much responsibility for me."
Rukia crossed her arms stubbornly.
"That last statement is a lie there's nothing you can't handle, besides I promise I'll behave!"
"Rukia," Yoruichi said "we'll be seeing each other daily, like always, you're just going to stop sleeping here."
"But I like it here!" Rukia insisted "besides, granddaddy has been spending the last weeks ignoring me due to some business negotiations and my summer vacations started yesterday!" she sighed heavily "the nights won't be the same without you."
Yoruichi patted Rukia on the head.
"We'll still have movie nights," she promised "but you'll go home after the movie, that's all."
Rukia recognized when she was missing a battle so she let it go.
"Who's this boy anyway?" she asked curiously "you keep saying he's your godson but you never mentioned him before."
"His name is Kurosaki Ichigo," Yoruichi said as the maid gave Rukia her little bag and left the room bowing slightly "I see him every time I go to the city with Kisuke, he's son of one of our best friends, Kurosaki Isshin."
Rukia raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't Kurosaki Isshin some important, city doctor?” she questioned “I remember reading about the Kurosaki hospital opening some new branches in Tokyo recently."
Yoruichi smirked proudly at her.
"Someone's being reading the news, why’s that?"
Rukia shrugged while turning around to avoid looking at Yoruichi.
"Daddy was on the front page a few days back," she said emotionless while walking towards the bed and picking up her Chappy plushie, it was a gift from Urahara "so I got curious."
Yoruichi sighed.
"Child..."
"So," Rukia said before she could say anything else "since you're going to be taking care of some random, rich boy I guess I'll be spending my summer exploring with Kon."
"No," Yoruichi said sternly "you'll spend your summer days enjoying the town, as you always do, and before curfew you'll be at your home to spend some time with Ginrei-sama."
Rukia sighed dramatically and Yoruichi narrowed her eyes, she knew how hard it was for Rukia to follow the basic rules.
"I guess I'll do that," she said pretending to be disappointed "so, aren't you going to introduce me to your godson? It sounds as if you don't want me to meet him."
"That's not the case," Yoruichi explained as Rukia hugged her plushie closer to her chest "but Ichigo just had quite a nasty fight with his father, I want to give him some space before letting him adapt to life here and that includes introducing him to my crazy as hell goddaughter."
"Oh, I might have one or two things in common with this sulky, rich boy of yours" Rukia said playfully after hearing about the boy’s fight with his father, her bitter tone didn't go unnoticed by Yoruichi.
"You're also a rich girl, but talking about that" Yoruichi said while trying not to sound too curious "have you answered Byakuya's calls? Because he's been trying to contact you like mad..."
"I'll go to the farm!" Rukia exclaimed interrupting Yoruichi and jumping slightly "I'll go and complain with Urahara about how you're kicking me out of the house."
Yoruichi was about to tell her not to take anything personal but she was out of the room before she could even open her mouth.
"Just like her mother..." Yoruichi muttered as Rukia closed the door behind her.
Kisuke Urahara observed carefully as Jinta and Ururu carefully groomed one of his horses, they had already finished most of the chores around the farm so he would be ready to receive their guest in a few hours. Urahara couldn’t wait to welcome Ichigo.
"Oh, scary, angry girl is coming this way, boss" Jinta informed him while looking with widened eyes to some place behind Urahara.
Urahara turned around just in time to see Kuchiki Rukia making her way towards him, she was carrying a little bag and her inseparable Chappy plushie and, just as Jinta said, she looked angry. Her violet eyes were narrowed and her steps were steady as if she was about to put up a fight.
"My, my..." Urahara said amused.
"Your wife kicked me out!" Rukia complained once she was in front of him.
"Did she, now?" Urahara asked smiling.
Rukia nodded.
"Yeah, and it’s all a boy’s fault!" she scoffed "now I'm heartbroken and I'll spend my summer alone, I'll be forced to take some dramatic measures."
"And what these dramatic measures will be?" Urahara asked curiously.
"I'll escape," Rukia said determined "I'll leave this town because my godparents replaced me and in the next town I'll meet some scoundrel who'll make me fall in love with him, but he'll be just after my body, and once he has his way with me he'll leave me and I'll be a homeless, teen mom."
Jinta and Ururu exchanged a confused look.
"I'll be all alone and I'll die of hypothermia in the middle of winter," Rukia said while running a hand through her raven hair "no one will remember me."
"Not even me?" Urahara asked while trying not to laugh.
"No, you'll be too busy with Ichigo, your new favorite godson" Rukia said without bothering to hide her jealousy "so after I die I'll haunt your cottage and your dreams, that'll be my revenge."
Jinta blinked several times.
"How does she come up with these things?" He asked surprised.
"Well, we can't let that happen" Urahara said while scratching his chin pensively.
"You'll let me stay?!" Rukia asked hopeful, perhaps if Urahara agreed she wouldn’t have to abandon her room.
"Sure!" Urahara said smiling "although you'll have to share your room, the bed and the bathroom with Ichigo, is that okay with you?"
Rukia blushed and Urahara laughed loudly.
"How are you going to get pregnant if you blush at the thought of sharing a room with a boy?" Yoruichi asked appearing behind her.
"Never mind," Rukia frowned finally while avoiding Yoruichi’s look "I'll be going now, just don't talk to me if you miss me too much."
Yoruichi sighed as she saw Rukia walking towards the garden door with her chin held high.
"She'll come back tomorrow," Jinta said while paying attention to the horse again "she can never be far away from Yoruichi-san too much."
Kurosaki Ichigo observed the passing landscape from the taxi's window and sighed heavily. He didn't want to spend his summer at the countryside, he didn't want to be surrounded by farm animals and strangers who went to sleep at seven and besides, he had never been in this part of the country so he was sure that one or two persons were going to give him a hard time due to his orange hair and his permanent scowl.
He wasn’t looking forward to that.
After fighting with his father he had decided that going to Ishida's house would be wise, the bespectacled boy had space and his father was rarely at home but of course, Kaien had to suggest the countryside.
"Cousin," he had said "fresh air will help you clear your thoughts and your godparents love you, what could go wrong?!"
Isshin agreed immediately and before Ichigo could suggest Renji's house Yoruichi had agreed to have Ichigo the whole summer and she didn't give him a chance to reject her. Ichigo groaned inwardly; he had packed just a few books, a couple of mangas and just enough clothes to survive the summer. His cellphone was turned off just as he left Karakura, he wasn't going to call his father, and Karin and Yuzu were going to be busy at summer camp so he wasn't going to need it.
Hopefully Renji wouldn’t miss him so much.
"Fuck" he muttered to himself as the taxi stopped in front of Yoruichi's cottage. He paid the respective amount to the driver and took out of the car his bags.
Yoruichi and Urahara, his godparents, were already on the porch waiting for him.
"Yo" Yoruichi greeted with a smirk.
"Thank you for having me," Ichigo said while scratching the back of his head awkwardly "I won't cause any troubles for you."
"Stop being so formal, Ichigo" Yoruichi chuckled "Kisuke will show you your room, make yourself at home."
Ichigo sighed as he got inside the cottage and followed Urahara.
His summer had just begun.
Rukia sighed heavily as she laid down on the grass. The garden at the Kuchiki’s cottage was gorgeous but she didn’t feel like appreciating the flowers and the security team had strict orders to prevent her from leaving the property through the woods, Yoruichi’s orders.
Rukia frowned, why was she forced to follow her godmother’s rules if she was going to ignore her the whole summer? Rukia scoffed as she remembered how excited Yoruichi and Urahara looked about having their godson with them, it was ridiculous. She had never felt jealous before and now she felt the need to smack this Kurosaki Ichigo, who was he anyway?
“Kon” Rukia called while sitting up.
In a minute a black, German shepherd ran towards her barking happily. Rukia smiled at him while caressing him lovingly.
“You know,” she told him as if the dog could understand her “granddaddy is busy and Yoruichi and Urahara just replaced me so, why don’t we look for adventure on our own? What do you think?”
Kon barked happily and Rukia chuckled.
“I knew you would support me” she said smiling.
Yoruichi’s rules could be damned.
“Well,” Urahara said with a huge smile “this is your room, so make yourself at home. The door on the right is your bathroom and you don’t have a balcony but you have a nice view of the woods.”
Ichigo noticed that what he was saying was true, he could see the tall trees and hear some birds in the distance. He had to admit that the woods were the most interesting part about the whole place but, for what he could tell, you needed a special permission to explore them and a guide. Ichigo didn’t feel like going through some bothersome paperwork so he decided just to enjoy them from afar.
“Now,” Urahara said smirking as his godson put his bags on the floor “I know you might be tired but, why don’t you come to the town with me?” he asked “we’ll just run some errands and come back!”
Ichigo shrugged, it wasn’t as if he had something else to do.
“Sure” he nodded and followed Urahara outside the cottage.
Rukia looked around as she made sure that no one was paying attention to her and Kon. She was wearing a white crop top and a long white skirt, she knew it wasn’t the best outfit to go into the woods but the white color would scare any animal that wanted to come too close, and besides, she just wanted to enjoy the stream for a while.
Looking at both sides of the road she ran towards the woods as fast as she could.
She only hoped that no one would inform her godparents about this.
Urahara observed as Ichigo looked around the town uninterested, the boy was seriously in a foul mood. The town wasn’t enough to lift his spirits apparently, they were in the middle of the plaza, there was a fountain in the middle and it was surrounded by little stores. The bakery, the bookstore and some other local business were opened. Urahara focused on the road in the back that lead to the woods, as expected it was lonely. He was about to go back to the cottage until he noticed the very well-known girl running into the woods, followed by her loyal companion, and shook his head, not even twenty four hours and the girl was already breaking Yoruichi's rules.
Well, he wasn’t surprised.
"Ichigo," Urahara called him "I still have another errand to run, why don't you go ahead to the cottage?"
Ichigo shrugged.
"If you're sure..." he said clearly bored "I'll wait for you there."
"Sure," Urahara smiled "take the shortcut through the woods” he ordered while pointing to the place in question “be careful the road is tricky, do not get lost or you might meet the little witch."
Ichigo frowned.
“The witch?” he asked confused.
“You’ll understand soon” Urahara told him.
Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"Sure" he said as he started to walk.
Urahara smirked.
Rukia laughed as she stepped into the water, it felt wonderful. Kon was running in circles around her, he was also enjoying himself.
“Perhaps it’s a good thing that no one is paying attention to me” she said aloud as she tied the skirt so her legs would be free “it’s been a while since I was able to enjoy this!”
Kon barked happily at her. She looked up and noticed that it was going to get dark soon so making the most of her time she started to hum a song while playing with Kon.
Ichigo stopped walking at the edge of the woods, the shortcut consisted of a brick road that was exactly in the middle of the trees, he was sure that all he had to do was to follow the path but he had an eerie feeling as he observed the tall trees and besides it was going to get dark soon. Would it be okay? He didn’t want to get lost on his first day in the countryside.
Taking a deep breath he started to walk but stopped again as he saw a warning hanging on one of the trees.
According to the legend a witch lives and reigns inside the woods,
If you’re a female she might help you and grant one single wish for you.
If you’re a male you should not get inside, the witch is not fond of men,
If you’re a tourist go inside at your own risk
But, no matter what, don’t forget to respect the witch’s territory.
Ichigo chuckled.
“This is bullshit,” he muttered as he remembered Urahara’s words “it’s nothing but a stupid legend” he said to himself as he walked into the woods.
As he kept walking he realized that following the path was easy and not that scary, the trees and the wind gave him chills but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Besides, while the town was surrounded by the woods he knew that as long as he kept moving forward he would reach the edge and then he would see the cottages in the residential area.
He was about to start running just to burn some energy when he heard a girly humming.
He stopped breathing for a second, it couldn’t be, right? Witches weren’t real! Perhaps a bird…? He kept quiet and tried to focus harder on the sound and he realized he wasn’t wrong, a girl was humming a song! His eyes widened as his feet started to move, he was curious so without wasting time he followed the sound and stepped out of the brick path. He realized that the roots of the trees made it harder for him to walk so he took long, steady steps in order not to trip. As the humming became louder he also heard some water running, there was a stream near here? He stopped dead on his tracks when he saw the stream and climbed a short tree next to it to observe from above, wasn’t illegal to take baths in protected areas like these?
He got to the top of the tree, that hid him perfectly, and his eyes widened when he found out the source of the song.
A girl, a gorgeous, short girl with raven hair and amazing legs was humming a song while splashing water to a black, German shepherd. She was wearing a white crop top, that showed her cute and flat abdomen, and a white long skirt that, for the time being, wasn’t covering her legs. Ichigo blushed slightly but he couldn’t stop staring at her.
Were countryside girls this gorgeous?
She turned in his direction, although he was sure that she wasn’t able to see him, and his breath hitched when he saw her eyes. She had the most unique and mesmerizing violet eyes he had ever seen. Who had violet eyes? Was she wearing contacts? He wanted to get closer to her but a small part of him was afraid, could she be the witch?
“Don’t be an idiot,” he muttered to himself “witches aren’t real.”
He shook his head and decided to leave the girl alone, he wasn’t a pervert and it was getting late. Unfortunately he miscalculated and when he was about to take a step back a thin branch broke under his foot and he fell from the tree into the stream.
Rukia gasped as she heard something splashing right next to her. She blushed madly when she realized that it was a boy, a young boy with orange hair and brown eyes. Kon growled at him and Rukia untied her skirt so it would cover her legs again. She cursed inwardly at deciding to wear the crop top, she never expected to see anyone so deep in the woods, not even the locals dared to come this far.
"I'm sorry!" the boy apologized quickly while standing up "I didn't mean to scare you!"
Rukia observed him with distrust, he had fell into the water and his jeans were wet, he looked embarrassed.
"Who are you?" Rukia asked frowning and crossing her arms "how did you find this stream?"
"My name is Ichigo," he said while lifting his hands in surrender, Rukia realized then how tall he was "Kurosaki Ichigo, nice to meet you."
Rukia frowned deeper.
This was the sulky, rich boy who stole her room and godparents.
"Who are you? Can you tell your dog to stop growling at me?" He asked her and Rukia sighed while kneeling down next to Kon.
"Calm down, Kon," she ordered the dog kindly "he's just a troubled boy that came from the city."
Ichigo's eyes widened.
"How do you know that?" He asked her "who are you?"
Rukia sighed dramatically as she hid her face on Kon's fur. Since this boy had ruined a part of her summer she was going to play with him for a while, she felt a little bit insecure about being in the middle of the woods with a stranger but if this was Yoruichi's godson he wasn't a criminal, although he looked like one.
Rukia sighed.
"I cannot tell you my name," she said while standing up to look properly at him "I'm the witch of the woods and my job is to protect all living creatures inside this place."
Ichigo thought right there that the pretty girl was on drugs, perhaps she had eaten some mushrooms around the woods, or maybe she was just delusional. Didn’t witches dress up with black coats? What about brooms? Either way he decided to play along.
"Uh," he said unimpressed "so you have magic powers or something?" he asked.
Rukia nodded.
"I'm still learning," she explained smiling "I can only use divination for now, but I was just having a purifying ritual" she blushed slightly "but now that you saw me having a sacred bath it won't work and you'll be cursed."
Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose, perhaps playing along with the girl wasn’t such a good idea, although he also blushed when she mentioned a purifying ritual, what did that mean?
"It wasn't on purpose," he excused himself "and how come I'm cursed?"
"Idiot!" Rukia hissed angrily "males are not supposed to see witches during these rituals, are you dumb?"
"Rituals? Never mind" he said changing the topic quickly, he didn’t want to hear anything related to sacred baths, it sounded way too personal "you said you can use divination, right? Prove it."
"How?" Rukia asked.
"Can you guess something about me?" He asked smirking, this way he would be able to prove that the girl wasn’t a witch, no one at the town knew anything personal about him so she wouldn’t be an exception.
Rukia sighed as she approached him carefully, the boy obviously didn’t believe her so she would prove him wrong.
Ichigo observed mesmerized her careful steps, she had really uncommon eyes and she was extremely gorgeous.
"Your name is Kurosaki Ichigo," she said while taking his hand and closing her eyes, Ichigo gaped as he enjoyed her soft touch "you came here because of a fight with someone close to you, are you perhaps related to someone in the medical field? Your aura tells me you have inherited quite some knowledge about that."
Ichigo's eyes widened.
"How do you know that? Who are you?"
Rukia smirked at him.
"I told you, I am a witch" she said smugly while closing the distance between them with two steps.
Ichigo took a step back, was she going to take his soul? Were witches capable of doing that? Weren’t mermaids the only ones who used to lure men to their death?
"What's this curse about?" He asked half afraid, half interested.
"Since you interrupted my ritual the only way in which the curse will be lifted is to spend your whole summer under my service," Rukia said without letting go off his hand "Kurosaki Ichigo, as from today you're my faithful servant."
Ichigo gaped, he was about to give her a piece of his mind when she let go of his hand gasping, he tensed as she looked at the sky.
"My curfew!" she said worriedly "I have to go, follow this path and you'll arrive at Yoruichi's cottage without getting lost!"
"How do you know where I'm staying?!" He asked aghast, who was this girl?!
"Yoruichi is my matriarch," she said as if that explained everything "I have to go, the woods are dangerous at night, I'll see you in this same place tomorrow, same hour!"
"Wait!" Ichigo said by the violet eyed girl went deeper into the woods followed by Kon.
Ichigo stood there wondering if he had just met a crazy as fuck girl or a real witch.