Entry tags:

30kisses #05: "ano sa...", bleach, kurosaki ichigo x ishida uryuu

#05 "Ano Sa..." (That's Not Practicing by Kiyala)
Title of the work: That's Not Practicing
Author/Artist: kiyala
Pairing: Kurosaki Ichigo/Ishida Uryuu
Fandom: Bleach
Theme: #5 "Ano sa..."
Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns Bleach
Rating: Teen (boys kissing)




“Okay class,” the teacher said, knocking her fist against the desk for silence as the students sat down after lunch.

The talking subsided and multiple pairs of eyes turned to the front.

“I’m giving you your group assignments for our Shakespeare module this afternoon,” she announced and among a few groans, Ichigo raised an eyebrow and straightened a little.

Handing assessment sheets out, she continued to speak, “The class is to split into small groups, and you must write your own version of a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Not all of you will require speaking parts, but you will all require costume.”

The class began to mutter and the teacher had to shout in order to be heard, “I’ll give you the rest of the afternoon to organise yourself into groups and begin to write your versions of your selected scene. Your characters will be cast tomorrow at random.”

At that, many chairs were pushed back and groups were formed. Tatsuki and Orihime immediately paired, as did Keigo and Mizuiro. Ichigo looked around and then noticing Uryuu still sitting on his own, rolled his eyes and grabbed a skinny arm, pulling him over as Sado and Rukia also joined.

“Yeah. That’s enough, right?” Ichigo asked, looking around at the other groups around the room, “So what scene are we going to do?”

Orihime raised her hand, “Let’s do the balcony scene! It’s my favourite!”

Tatsuki grinned, “Yeah, that one’s short and simple, isn’t it?”

“Can I write it?” Rukia inquired with a smile.

“No,” Ichigo flatly refused, “You’ll make it crap, and we’ll lose marks. Inoue, do you want to write it?”

“At least let me help!” the dark-haired girl protested.

“Okay! I’ll write it with the help of Tatsuki-chan and Rukia-chan.”

“There are three characters in our scene,” Ichigo pointed out, running his hand through his hair, “And we’ve got eight people.”

Keigo grinned, “Fine, we’ll split up. Mizuiro and Sado can come with me. Oh and of course, the lovely Kuchiki-san.”

“Can I write our script?” Rukia inquired, using her puppy eyes on the brunette.

“Of course!!” Keigo exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Great! I’ll certainly join your group!”

“I’ll make costumes,” Uryuu offered, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“Yeah. You can do that, eh? Do you want me to help?” Ichigo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. I’ll be fine on my own, Kurosaki.”

The redhead’s shoulders sagged, “Fine. I’ll go help them write then.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent re-writing their scene or in Uryuu’s case, designing costumes.

By the time the school day had ended, they already had the entire scene written out and all that was left was for them to know which characters they were playing so that they could practice their lines, and so that Uryuu could make the right costumes.

“Okay then, tomorrow you’ll be assigned your roles. Class dismissed.”

The students filed out and Ichigo hung about near Uryuu’s desk for a moment, looking down at the papers of costume designs.

“Problem, Kurosaki?”

Ichigo looked up and frowned at the other boy, “Why don’t you let me help? I don’t like it how you feel the need to separate yourself from everything that goes on.”

“And I don’t like it how you feel the need to include me in everything,” he replied evenly, “I am able to make my own choices.”

“Well, why can’t you hang around us more?” Ichigo asked, “I want you to be around.”

“Sorry?”

The redhead sighed, “Never mind.”

Ichigo turned to walk away, but Uryuu caught him by the arm.

“Oi, what’s that for?” the redhead cried as he was sharply turned around.

Pushing up his glasses, the dark-haired boy looked at him with a serious expression, “No one has ever asked me to participate in things before. You’re the first person to have tried… thanks, I guess. I’ll try join in more then… Ichigo.”

Ichigo hid his surprise well and he nodded, “Sure thing. No problems, Uryuu. Just remember we’re all in this together.”

“I will.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

o O o

The next day, everyone in class was discussing what role they wished to be cast as.

“I hope I’m the nurse!” Orihime exclaimed, bouncing happily, “I’ll be loving and caring of my darling Juliet!”

“Okay, let’s go over the script,” Ichigo said, flipping the pages open, “Romeo and Benvolio are walking home and Romeo decides to jump the wall and go into Capulet’s garden. That when he talks to Juliet and they confess they are in love. The nurse comes out and tells Juliet to go to bed while Romeo hides and then they talk more and before Juliet goes to bed and Romeo leaves, they kiss. End of scene.”

“Kiss?” Uryuu asked, raising an eyebrow, his eyes inadvertently turning to the redhead, “Remember that we don’t even know who’s going to be cast as what just yet.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of stage kissing?” Ichigo replied, “They don’t have to kiss for real, as long as it looks like it.”

“I see…” the other boy said, still sounding somewhat dubious.

“Okay class, settle down,” the teacher said as she walked in and stood in front of her desk, “Yesterday you wrote a list of the characters in your scene and another list of the people in your group. Last night I randomly selected a character for each person. I remind you, there is to be no complaining or swapping of roles. If you are caught – which you will be – your entire group will be awarded no marks at all.”

Students exchanged uneasy glances, suddenly feeling wary of receiving their roles.

“You will split up into groups and I’ll come around and tell you what characters you are all playing.”

With that, the class broke off into their groups again. Ichigo sat on his desk and frowned, watching the group that was being told what characters they were playing.

“WHAT?! I CAN’T PLAY A GIRL’S ROLE!!” a male student protested and the entire class turned around to look at him.

“Shit. I didn’t think she was giving roles without considering our genders,” Tatsuki commented.

“You think it’s bad for you?” Ichigo asked, “I thought I’d be either Romeo or Benvolio… I don’t want to be Juliet or the nurse!”

“Well, nothing can be done about it,” Uryuu pointed out.

“Yeah! Let’s just make the best of what we get!” Orihime said with a smile.

The teacher walked to them ,“Okay, this group next. Inoue you’re the nurse.”

“Yay!”

“Arisawa, Benvolio.”

“Okay.”

At this, both boys stared at each other in shock. One of them was going to play a female and to make matters worse, they had to pretend to kiss.

“Ishida, you are Romeo.”

Uryuu raised an eyebrow, “Ah, that means…”

“I’m Juliet,” Ichigo said, all colour disappearing from his face.

“That is correct. Good luck with your scene. You will be presenting to the class in a week.”

“Um… Ichigo?” Tatsuki asked carefully, eyeing the redhead carefully, “You’re not going to… explode, are you?”

“No…” he replied and then sighed, turning to his group partners and nodded slowly, “Not at all. Let’s… practice our scene, then.”

o O o

Uryuu had the costumes ready by the next day. Ichigo picked up his dress and the murderous glint from the previous day returned to his eyes.

“I’m supposed to wear this thing?” he asked, staring at the pink full-length dress, complete with puffy sleeves.

“Well I made it less girly for you,” Uryuu said, “Had it been one of the girls, I would have made it a lot frillier.”

“It’s… pink,” Ichigo pointed out.

“You are playing Juliet,” the other boy reminded him, “She is seen as the epitome of innocent girlhood love.”

Ichigo hid his face in his palm, “Right.”

“Are you okay to do a dress rehearsal after school?” Orihime asked, “None of us have clubs on this afternoon.”

“Whatever. Just make sure it’s an empty classroom where no one can see me,” Ichigo replied, dropping the dress into his bag.

“Ichigo!” he cried despairingly, “You have to fold it or it’ll get crumpled!”

“You do it, you made it!” Ichigo replied accusingly as he walked away and snatched up a copy of his script and began to read it.

o O o

That afternoon, they stood in their costumes, scripts in hand and waited for Ichigo to come out of the closet in which he was changing. Uryuu’s costumes had stayed very true to the period, he and Tatsuki wearing tunics over leggings, complete with fake swords Orihime and Tatsuki had made as part of the props.

“Are you finished?” Uryuu asked, knocking on the door.

“Shut up and wait!” came the reply, followed by a large thud on the other side of the door.

“I’m opening the door!”

“I’m naked!”

Uryuu rolled his eyes, “I told you to put it over your uniform. Stop making excuses and come out already!”

With that, the door was opened and a rather embarrassed Ichigo stepped out, his orange hair clashing with his pink dress – as well as his rather prominent blush.

Tatsuki snickered, but quickly stopped when she was shot a death glare.

“Okay,” Uryuu said, tearing his eyes from Ichigo and clearing his throat, “Let’s begin.”

o O o

“Take this flower, my beloved!” Uryuu said as he held out a cardboard flower prop towards Ichigo, who had gotten over the embarrassment for now and held the flower carefully.

“Oh Romeo, let’s meet tomorrow!”

“Of course, my fair Juliet. Not a moment shall pass when I don’t think of you!”

“I love you, Romeo!” Ichigo cried, blushing slightly as he did so.

“And I, Juliet,” Uryuu stepped closer to the chair on which Ichigo was standing for a balcony, “But alas, I must leave. Before I go…”

Both boys hesitated and Tatsuki coughed.

“…Kiss me.”

“Of course,” Ichigo whispered, leaning forward.

“Juliet…”

Their eyes met and both boys found it impossible to look away.

“…Romeo…”

Lowering his gaze to Ichigo’s lips, Uryuu spoke in a whisper that was inaudible to anyone but the two of them, “Ichigo…”

Brown eyes widened and hesitating, both boys licked their lips before moving forward…

“Gah! Stop it, no one’s going to believe you if you’re like that!” Tatsuki yelled as she shook her head, “I thought you cared about how well we did with this, Ichigo! If you’re going to hesitate so much, we’ll get marked down for acting skills! What’s so bad, it’s just a pretend kiss anyway.”

The two boys jerked uneasily apart and gave Tatsuki uncomfortable looks.

“Okay come on, we’ll start from where Romeo gives Juliet the flower, okay?”

“Sure…” Ichigo said, looking back at Uryuu for a moment before clearing his throat and taking a breath.

“Take this flower, my beloved,” the dark-haired boy repeated his line and neither of them were able to ignore the way their hands brushed against each other as Ichigo took the cardboard flower again.

“Oh Romeo!” Ichigo cried, trying to ignore the multitude of thoughts in his head, “Let’s meet tomorrow!”

“Of course, my… fair… Juliet. Not a moment shall pass when I don’t think of you!”

Leaning forward dramatically, Ichigo reached out, “I love you… Romeo.”

“And I, Juliet…” Uryuu stepped closer, “But alas! I must leave. Before I go… kiss me.”

“Of course,” Ichigo whispered.

“Juliet,” their hands touched and their fingers wrapped around each other.

“Romeo,” the redhead held onto Uryuu’s shoulder and there was a mere moment’s pause before they moved closer and their lips touched.

“Mm. Uryuu,” Ichigo whispered as they moved slightly apart.

“Ichigo…” the gap between them closed again and the dark-haired boy buried a hand into the bright orange hair.

Realising with a quick panic that there were two other people in the room, they quickly broke apart.

“Um. End of scene, right?” Ichigo asked as he looked around.

Uryuu adjusted his glasses and walked to the closet to take his costume off, “I think I should be going home and get some homework done.”

“Yeah. Me too,” he redhead added as he took the dress off as he wore his uniform underneath and put it into his bag – folding it first.

“That was a brilliant stage kiss!” Orihime cheered with a smile, “You would have fooled me any day!”

“Heh. Thanks. I’ll be going now,” Ichigo said as he quickly picked up his bag and left, soon followed by Uryuu.

There was a silence and Tatsuki was at a loss for words. Tilting her head to the side, Orihime smiled.

“Hey, you know, Tatsuki-chan… I don’t think they were acting.”

A few minutes later, as the two girls walked home, they were not surprised as they passed the two boys standing in an alleyway, bags at their feet and holding onto each other as they kissed again. Definitely not practice for their scene.