Rukia checked on Mai and Takeshi, who were still sleeping soundly in their beds. Not wanting to wake them up too early, she closed the door and crept downstairs. She saw exactly what she expected. Everyone was still dead.
"There is no way in hell these idiots are going to wake up, even if a bulldozer comes in," said a voice behind her.
Rukia turned around and was startled to see Ichigo.
He looked down and grinned. "Ohayo."
"Ohayo," she quickly responded with a smile.
Ichigo handed her a cup of coffee which she took without a thought. Not wanting to see anymore of the mess in front of them, they walked back upstairs to Ichigo's room.
"How'd you sleep?"
"Quite well," Rukia replied, "You?"
"I would have if someone wasn't sleeping on my bed," Ichigo snorted.
Rukia laughed. "So where did you sleep?"
Ichigo pointed at the floor. Rukia blinked and then started laughing again.
"I don't get what's funny." He pouted.
"Why didn't you just wake me up?" Rukia wiped away a tear, "Or just slept with me on the bed. We've done it enough times."
Ichigo looked at her with disbelief. "Didn't you say you weren't ready yet?"
He couldn't believe her. When he returned from his very cold shower, he felt like getting another one as soon as he saw her sleeping on his bed. And now she's saying she was fine sleeping together? Seriously, when will the teasing end!
"I didn't mean that we do something, but only sleep," Rukia glared at him, "Or can you not keep it in your pants?"
Ichigo blushed at her last statement. "Midget. It's your fault."
Rukia just sighed, not wanting to continue their argument. She sat on Ichigo's bed and looked out the window as she continued to sip her coffee.
"By the way," Ichigo interrupted, "What did you dream about? You looked like you were enjoying it."
"What, now you watch me when I sleep? You must be a pervert."
"Bitch," Ichigo said as he raised his angry fist at her.
"I dreamt about the first time we met," Rukia answered casually, "And the first time you met Yume-obaasan… and the night that led up to Takeshi."
Ichigo smiled, "Idiot."
Without warning, Rukia slapped him in the head. Some things never change.
"Mama?"
Rukia looked up and saw Mai walking in, rubbing her eyes, and her gorgeous orange hair sticking out in several areas. Rukia placed her coffee mug on Ichigo's desk and went over to her daughter. Even though Mai was six years old, she was still quite small. Ichigo was afraid that she might become a midget like her mother.
"Why are you up so early?" Rukia asked as she picked up her daughter and walked back to Ichigo's bed.
"I had a scary dream, that's all," Mai wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and yawned.
Ichigo moved to his bed and sat next to her. "What did you dream about?"
Mai rubbed her chin, trying to remember. "Some scary man with long black hair tried to take mama away from me and Taki-nii. Papa tried to stop him, but…"
"But what?"
"… I don't remember," Mai blinked thoughtlessly.
Ichigo looked up from his daughter and stared at Rukia. Even though they didn't say anything, they knew that they were thinking about the same thing: their daughter was becoming absentminded like Yuzu and Isshin.
"When does she start school?" Ichigo asked.
"This spring," Rukia answered back with a stern tone.
"Thank kami-san," Ichigo let out a sigh of relief.
"OKASAN!"
Both parents jumped up in surprise. Knowing that the voice was coming from Takeshi they ran to his room (Mai being carried by her father).
Rukia looked at her son whose eyes were wide with shock and sweat covering his body and his bedsheets. Rukia gasped upon seeing her son in such a state. "Takeshi!" she exclaimed as she hugged her son who wouldn't stop trembling.
"Son, what's wrong?" Ichigo asked as he walked over to him and wiped off some of the sweat.
Takeshi looked at his father even with his mother still hugging him.
"I… I just… It was a bad dream that's all," Takeshi whispered to his parents.
"You sure you're ok?" Rukia asked as she lifted herself from Takeshi. He nodded and Rukia sighed in relief. Then, she smacked Ichigo on the head.
"What the hell is it this time?" He yelled at her.
"It's because you had to tell the kids a bedtime story that had kidnapping and monsters in it!" Rukia yelled at him, "I don't care if that bedtime story is a love story or a funny story! Never tell it to them again!" With that she hit him again.
The parents were bickering at each that they didn't realize Mai crawling to her brother. She whispered in his ear, "Did you also see a scary man taking mama away?'
Takeshi wide eyes looked at his sister. How did she know? But before he could ask her Rukia grabbed his arm and led him to the restroom to clean him up.
Ichigo walked downstairs again while Rukia was busy getting the kids ready. He thought that Takeshi's scream earlier might wake some people up but nobody seemed to have heard it. They were all still dead.
Scratching his orange hair, Ichigo walked into the kitchen and grabbed his weapons. With two of Yuzu's pot pans in his hands, he returned to the living room. He closed his eyes and extended his arms far away from him as he can. Then, he started banging the pots together.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Ichigo kept banging the pots together. It was by the tenth hit that people were starting to stir in their sleep. He knew that their hangovers were going to make the noise even louder so it wouldn't be long until they all woke up… on the wrong side of the bed, no less.
"WHAT THE FUCK?"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
People were groaning and shouting, making their hangover even worse. Ichigo just kept banging the pots with an evil grin. They deserve this pain, he thought to himself.
After thirty minutes of nonstop banging everyone was now awake. One by one they went into the available bathrooms to wash themselves up.
"Idiots."
Ichigo turned around and saw his son walking down the stairs with Rukia and Mai.
"Ojiisan!" Mai ran to her grandfather and jumped on top of him.
"Offt!" Isshin cried when he felt Mai landing on him. Whenever he wasn't drunk he would grab his grandkids and play with them, tossing them in the air and causing a mess. But today's hangover seemed too much to handle. And it was getting worse as Mai kept bouncing up and down on his stomach. Ichigo could be heard laughing from the other side of the living room.
Rukia sighed and went into the kitchen. Yuzu was still in her bathroom and her hangover was so intense, she did not feel like making breakfast. So Rukia, being the sweet nee-san that she was, started to cook. After setting up the miso soup and the rice, Rukia was getting ready to make some side dishes. She opened one of the high cabinets to grab some salt, but she couldn't reach it. She was about to grab the stool that Yuzu always used (since the two almost had the same height), when another hand reached up and grabbed it.
"I didn't know you can cook," Ichigo said as he smiled down at Rukia.
"I learned from Yuzu while I was pregnant with Mai," she responded as she got the salt from Ichigo, "Somebody had to cook while Yuzu and Karin were busy with school."
"Yeah but you're still short." Ichigo soon regretted his words when Rukia stomped on his foot.
He bent down to grab his aching foot, cursing and thinking about a way to get back at her. An evil thought came into his mind. He looked around and saw that no one. Some were in the bathrooms while the others were lying on the couches, trying to put their headache to sleep.
Without warning, Ichigo covered Rukia's mouth with one hand and swiped off the back of her hair with the other, leaving her neck bare. At first Rukia was startled and was about to yell into Ichigo's hand but only gasped as she felt his mouth meeting the back of her neck. He was sucking and nipping at her skin, leaving a mark. Ichigo knew she would be mad about this, but her hair would be able to hide it easily.
After making a satisfying hickey on her neck, Ichigo released her, and Rukia slumped over the sink. She was about to yell at him but noticed that he was leaving the kitchen… with an evil smirk across his face.
Bastard, she thought to herself as she held onto the back of her neck. She could still feel the warm of his mouth. Rukia was blushing but didn't care because she was trying to think of a new plan to get her revenge. While looking down at the rice that finished cooking something came to mind. Soon, the evil grin on Ichigo's face appeared on her face.
"What the fuck?"
Everyone looked up from their delightful breakfast and stared at Ichigo who had a weird look on his face.
"What's the matter oniichan?" Yuzu asked.
"This rice tastes funny…" Ichigo said.
Yuzu took a bit of her rice and had a thoughtful look on her face. "It tastes fine."
Ichigo looked at everyone else and noticed that they were agreeing with Yuzu. Feeling like something was wrong he stuck his chopsticks into Yuzu's bowl and took some rice. He shoved it into his mouth and after chewing it for some time he immediately looked at Rukia with an evil glare, while she was trying hard to stop laughing.
Ichigo picked up his rice and walked to the kitchen, muttering something about "midget… kill… bitch… fucker…" as he dumped his old rice out and got a new batch. Apparently Rukia dumped a lot of salt and whatnots into his share of rice.
"Okasan, what did you do?" Takeshi asked his mother.
Rukia only replied with a wink and big smile, then when back to her breakfast like everyone else, who kind of figured out what just happened to Ichigo.
"Rukia-nee," Karin called out, "Don't you have to go somewhere today?"
Rukia nodded as Ichigo got back to his seat. "I need to go to Tokyo to meet with Ukitake-san about the new gallery."
"Can papa go to?" Isshin asked as he crawled towards Rukia with sparkling eyes.
Rukia gave an awkward smile. "I'm sorry Kurosaki-san. I was planning on taking only the kids today—"
"But I want to go too!"
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting some fresh air."
"You mean 'polluted air.' It's a lot cleaner here then there."
"But it would be cool to see the gallery since we haven't seen it yet."
"Lets spend the night there!"
"We have work tomorrow Matsumoto."
"But taicho—"
"Let's call in sick!"
Rukia could only let out a sigh. She knew that once these people decide to do something it was impossible to stop them. So after finishing breakfast everyone (well, at least those who didn't live in the Kurosaki Clinic) went back to their house to get ready. They agreed to return after lunch, and Rukia took the kids upstairs to get ready since it was almost noon by the time everyone left.
Ichigo was in his room, sitting in front of his desk. He really did not feel like going but Mai and her pouts got him to say yes (like he said, she was becoming more and more like her mother). He was about to leave his room when he remembered something. Ichigo grabbed his duffel bag (which he brought with him when he returned from wherever he was) and started to rummage through the books and papers. He finally found the paper he was looking for and read it.
"Shit," he told himself, "its close by."
"What is?"
Ichigo quickly shoved the paper back into his duffel bag and turned around. Karin was standing behind him with his arms crossed.
"Wh-what?" Ichigo stammered.
Karin stared at her brother. "You heard what I said. What's 'close by'?"
Ichigo could feel sweat dropping down his back. "Nothing. I didn't say anything."
Karin didn't look convinced and Ichigo knew it. But she couldn't continue to pester her brother about it because Rukia was calling for them to get in the car.
Ichigo couldn't believe how good Rukia's timing was. "Let's go," he quickly said and led his sister out the door.
When they reached outside Ichigo could see his kids in the van with Yuzu, Rukia sitting in the passenger seat in the front. Karin looked one more time at her brother and then walked into the car, sitting next to her sister.
"LET'S GO!" Isshin cried as he jumped out of the house. He locked the door and was about to go into the car when he got kicked by Ichigo. "What was that for?"
Ichigo grabbed the keys from his father and pushed him next in the back of the van, sitting next to his kids. "There is no way I'm letting you drive my family around while you're still suffering from a hangover."
"But then why are you letting Uryuu and Chad drive the others?" Isshin pointed at the cars behind him.
"Because they didn't drink as much as you," Ichigo snorted as he got into the driver's seat.
"I set the navigation system to lead you to the gallery," Rukia said as she kept pushing on some buttons on the navigator, "Just follow it and you'll be good."
"I know what I'm doing, midget," Ichigo said, earning him a slap on the head as he started the engine.
Ichigo, Chad and Uryuu were all driving vans. Uryuu was driving Orihime, Tatsuki, Urahara, Yoruichi and Jinta, while Chad was driving Hitusgaya, Hinamora, Matsumoto, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika. Apparently Keigo and Mizuiro decided not to go (Keigo was still too affected by the alcohol and Mizuiro had a date…x3). It was a nice drive and the drivers were thankful when almost everyone in their car fell asleep.
But Ichigo kept feeling weird. In his car Rukia was the only one awake with him. She kept talking on and on about how excited she was about her new gallery, and how she wanted to show off her amazing art to Ichigo, who seemed to be the only one that doubted her skills.
"I can't wait see Ukitake-san. He's been so helpful with my work," she stated.
"Ukitake..." Ichigo said, "Where have I heard that name before?"
"He used to work at the police station in Karakura," Rukia answered, "He transferred to Tokyo because his wife, Unohana-san, got a job at one of the biggest hospital in Tokyo—ICHIGO!"
Rukia screamed from the shock when Ichigo lost control of the wheel and skidded off, almost hitting a car on the other side of the road.
"Sorry!" Ichigo shouted out the window at the other car.
When he faced forward again, Rukia noticed that his face was pale white.
"Ichigo, what's wrong with you?" she asked.
"Nothing," Ichigo quickly answered. And before Rukia could start her "no-you're-not-so-tell-me-what's-going-on-or-else" speech, he asked, "If he's a cop, why does he help you with your art?"
Rukia felt pissed but answered his question. "He suddenly became ill and so he retired from the force and works with his best friend, Kyouraku Shinsui, with whom he majored in 'art' back in college."
Ichigo nodded and just kept listening to Rukia talk on and on about her art, completely forgetting about almost getting into an accident. But what Ichigo was shocked about the most was the fact that nobody in the car had woken up. He looked in the rear view mirror and noticed everyone sleeping peacefully.
A/N: hmmmmmmm. I wonder what's going on... (trying hard to keep a straight face) Read the next two chapters and it shall be known!
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