"Well maybe I wouldn't have if you were teaching it right in the first place!" Rukia shouted back while stomping him on the foot.
Ichigo growled before taking the spatula and flipping over the omelet. "It's all burnt. I never met anyone as horrible a cook as you."
"Shut up and just get rid of it," she said.
Ichigo took the entire frying pan and went over to the garbage. He dumped in the nth try of omelets into the garbage and sighed. "I feel like I got the bad end of this deal."
"You really need to stop your whining," Rukia glared. She walked over to the table and sat in the chair. "I still can't believe I have to grade all this paperwork," she said while looking at the stack of papers in front of her.
"That's still a lot easier than teaching you how to cook," Ichigo snapped back.
Rukia snorted as she grabbed a red pen and the first paper on the stack.
"Giving up on the omelet?" he asked.
Rukia only grunted as she started to work on grading. Taking that as a 'yes,' Ichigo quickly cleaned up his kitchen before joining her at the table. He sat down in front of her, also grabbing a red pen and some paper, and started to work.
For the next few hours a comfortable silence surrounded them as they graded papers, only broken once in awhile whenever Rukia needed Ichigo's opinion on something.
"Ahhh!" Rukia stretched her arms over her head and groaned in pleasure, "Finally I'm done!"
Ichigo smirked as he got up and went over to his kitchen. "You want some coffee?"
"That sounds nice," she yawned, leaning her body on top of the table. "I have to stay awake since I still have homework to do."
"For what classes?" Ichigo asked as he turned on the coffee brewer.
Rukia lifted her hand and started to count off her list of homework. "I have some pages to do on my math, science, and not to mention your stupid paper on that boring book."
Ichigo chuckled as he brought out two mugs from the cupboard. "If you want you can just give me the gist of what you have so far for my homework and I can just grade it from there."
Rukia's head shot up and she stared at him. "What's the catch?"
Ichigo walked over and set down a cup of coffee in front of her before sitting back in his seat with his own cup in hand. "Just don't expect anything over 80 percent."
"Psch," Rukia snorted, "I'd rather stay up the entire night and get 100 percent. "
"If you wish," Ichigo shrugged, slowly sipping his coffee. "You can just do your work here. If you want, I can even help you," he paused when Rukia's eyes glared at him with suspicion, "As long as it's not for my class."
Rukia scrunched up her nose in thought before reaching for her bag and pulling out her textbooks. "Then can you help me with math? I just hate calculus."
Ichigo smirked as he made his way to the seat next to Rukia. "Who's your teacher?"
"Hitsugaya-sensei," she groaned.
"Little Toushiro, eh?" Ichigo smirked.
"You close with him?" she asked as she opened her notebook and her textbook to the right page.
Ichigo shrugged. "Kinda. We went to high school together."
"But I thought he was younger than you," Rukia commented.
"He is," Ichigo nodded, "He's a child genius; a few years younger than me and my other friends. I actually thought he was going to be a lawyer or something but for some reason he decided to teach," he said as he looked over her homework, "Now that I think about it, a lot of my friends returned to our high school to teach."
"Why?" Rukia asked as she started the first problem.
"Don't know," he said as he watched her carefully solve out the problem, "I was actually going to be a doctor and work with my father at his clinic. But after the second year of medical school I decided to become a teacher instead."
Rukia looked up and frowned. "You don't look like a 'doctor' type."
Ichigo chuckled. "I know—that suppose be a square root," he said, pointing to the problem.
"Dammit," Rukia cursed as she erased the lower half of the problem, "I hate math."
Ichigo smirked as he watched her tackle each of the problem for another hour. After every few lines he would point out a mistake, frustrating her to no end. "How in the world are you the student representative in your class if you suck this bad in math?"
"Shut up," she groaned, "This is the only subject I have difficulty in. And I'm only passing this class because I do a lot of extra credit work."
Ichigo shook his head in disbelief as he took the last gulp of his coffee. "Damn, you're taking too long. How are you planning on finishing all your homework now? It's almost midnight."
Rukia immediately stood up to read the clock; it was less than a quarter before midnight. "Shit, I should get going."
"You sure you want to go now? I think you still need help with your homework," Ichigo commented.
Rukia shook her head as she packed her stuff into her bag. "I only have one more problem left for math and that science report for Ishida-sensei. Luckily I finished half of it at school already."
"And what about mine?"
Rukia froze at the end of his question. Staying very still, her eyes looked back up at the clock, watching the second hand ticked away. Slowly, she turned around and gave him her best, fake innocent smile. "Kurosaki-sensei—"
"Don't think you can pull that shit on me, Rukia," Ichigo smirked, "I know you too well to fall for that trick."
Rukia immediately dropped the act and glared. "Then what do I do? I've been busy helping you out with your shit that I couldn't finish all my homework."
Ichigo shrugged. "Then you should have taken my offer when I offered it awhile ago."
"Fucking bastard," Rukia cursed under her breath as she sat back down, crossing her arms across her chest. "What can I do?"
Again, Ichigo shrugged. "Hey, you're the one who said you're willing to stay up all night if you could get a full 100 percent so I'm letting you."
Rukia grunted, rubbing her face with her hands. "But I'm fucking tired. I wasted so much of my energy making all that food with you. I don't know why I actually took your offer; I think you're getting the better end of this deal."
"At least you're a lot better than when you first started," Ichigo commented, "Remember the first time we tried cooking?"
Rukia grunted. Even though she totally failed a few hours ago with the omelet, it's true that she could now boil water. And the past two weeks she actually learned how to use the rice cooker and make some simple meals.
Ichigo got up and started to organize the papers they graded. "I'll tell you what." He looked down and smirked at her. "I'll give you one more day to turn in your paper if you come over here tomorrow after school and help me with some stuff. It is a Saturday after all."
Rukia raised an eyebrow. "What kind of stuff?"
Ichigo looked at her suspicious stare before rolling his eyes. "You really gotta do something about those perverted thoughts of yours."
"And who was the one who kept grinding himself against me in the middle of the night?" she scoffed.
"I was fucking drunk!" Ichigo snapped back, "Will you stop bringing that up?"
Rukia crossed her arms. "Not until you stop your perverted requests."
"I never asked you to anything perverted with me. In fact, I clearly remember telling you that I'd never be desperate enough to go for a midget like you," Ichigo rolled his eyes, earning him a quick kick to the shin. "Anyways, my sister is sending over some new furniture so I have to clean out this apartment. THAT's what I need your help with."
Rukia sighed as she brought her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose and massaged the area. "Fine."
"Excellent," he said as went over to the coat hanger to grab his jacket.
"Where are you going?" Rukia asked as she saw him grabbing his keys next.
"I'm walking you home," he said, "It's not safe for you to walk home this late at night."
Rukia rolled her eyes as she got on her jacket and then her bag. "Please, my building is directly across from yours. I doubt anything is going to happen."
"I just don't like it, okay?" Ichigo went to the genkan and slipped on his sneakers. "Let's go."
Rukia sighed. No point in arguing. She walked over and slipped her feet into her own shoes and followed him out the door, Ichigo closing it behind them and locking it. The two silently walked out of the apartment and into the dark streets.
"Oi," Ichigo called out.
"What?" she groaned in annoyance.
Ichigo scratched the back of his head, contemplating whether or not to ask…He chose to ask. "I know I shouldn't be prying into your private life, but I'm just curious…"
Rukia looked up at him. "About?"
"Well, I just wanted to know why you live alone."
Rukia froze in her step at his sudden question.
He was a good three steps ahead of her before realizing she was not longer with him. Ichigo turned around and frowned at her. "Rukia?"
Called out of her daze, Rukia looked up to see Ichigo staring intensely at her. "Huh?"
"You okay?" he asked, turning around to face her fully, "You suddenly stopped after I asked you a question."
"Oh, right." She looked down before slowly walking again. "…I just didn't like my old house," she finally answered.
Once she passed him, Ichigo started walking with her again, but this time slowing down to keep the same pace with her. "Why? Was there a problem with you and your parents?"
Rukia shook her head. "I don't have parents. I only have one older brother…well, it's a bit more complicated then that."
"What do you mean?" he asked, can't help feeling more curious especially with the change in her demeanor.
Rukia sighed. "I actually have an older sister who pretty much raised me since I was born since my parents passed away when I was still a baby. When I was five, my sister was eighteen and gotten married. And I was later adopted into my brother-in-law's family to keep me safe from the government who kept trying to take me away from my sister."
"Damn, that sure is complicated," Ichigo frowned.
"Tell me about it," she replied. It was then that she noticed they were standing outside her door. "Wow, we're already here." She pulled out her key and unlocked the door. Before stepping in, she turned around and grinned. "I told you it wasn't too far away. You just wasted a good five minutes walking me here."
Ichigo smirked. "Whatever. Just finish your homework," he said before turning around and walking away. "And don't forget about tomorrow," he called back without turning around.
Rukia chuckled as she saw him waving over his shoulder as he disappeared down the stairs.
Ichigo looked around the classroom and sighed in disappointment. "Did any one of you guys even read the chapters I assigned yesterday?"
"…" was the only response he got.
A vein popped on his forehead as his muscles tensed. "Are you guys just trying to get on my nerves?"
"…Gomenasai," they all apologized together as they dropped their heads.
"Whatever," he rolled his eyes as he looked at only two chapter-review homework in front of him. "This is already the end of the second week since I started teaching here and none of you guys are paying attention to what I have been teaching." He looked around to see the gloomy atmosphere except from the two students who actually turned them in. "I'll be nice and let you guys have the weekend to finish the assignment. But I will not give anything higher than an 80 percent except to Hinamori and Kuchiki," he announced as he shoved the papers into a folder.
In actuality, only Hinamori's paper was actually done and Rukia only turned in a fake report (looked like an old assignment from the previous year) to Ichigo when he went around the room to collect the homework. He only took it since he did promise to give her an extra day if she came to help him out later.
"Now then, I guess we need to push back some of the work I had prepared for today since most of you guys didn't read the book," he said as he scratched his bright hair in irritation. "I want you guys to get into a group of four and start reading. I'll write some questions on the board so answer them as you go along. In fifteen minutes we'll come back and answer them together."
In less than a second everyone quickly grabbed their books and their friends before they were left out. Rukia was soon joined by Hinamori, Matsumoto and Tatsuki by her desk.
"Well, I guess we should quickly read through this," Matsumoto sighed as she opened her book, its back looking like it's never been opened.
Rukia pulled out her own copy and opened to the right page. "I'll start then we can take turns after every few paragraphs."
The others nodded to her proposition as she started to read.
As her friends started to take their turns, Rukia noticed Ichigo walking around the class through her peripheral vision after he finished writing the questions on the board. In a few minutes he arrived next to them.
"How's it going?" he asked as he sat on the desk behind Rukia's; so technically Renji's desk, who was at a different corner with his group.
"Fine," Tatsuki groaned, "Though I'm not really liking this book."
"Don't blame me for that," Ichigo said, "Ochi-sensei started that book before she left so I had no other choice but to continue it until we finish it."
"Really? I didn't know Ochi-sensei assigned us this," Matsumoto responded in amazement as she looked at her book cover again.
"Next time, please read whatever we teachers assign you," Ichigo sighed.
Matsumoto thought about this for a moment before replying, "Depends on whose teaching."
"What's that suppose to mean?" he asked.
"Rangiku-chan only listens to 'hot' teachers," Hinamori said, air-quoting the word 'hot,' "Sadly she hasn't seen anyone in this school who fits under her category."
Matsumoto nodded her head in acknowledgement before smiling at Ichigo. "You were very close to getting listed but your scowl became your down-fall."
"I'm hurt," Ichigo replied sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "Anyways, how far along are you guys."
"We just finished the chapter eight," Rukia informed him, "And we were getting ready to discuss the questions."
"Really?" he asked as he eyed the annoying 'perfect-student' glow that was pratically emanating off of Rukia, "Then why don't you answer the first question for me, Kuchiki?"
Rukia gave him a small glare, which nobody could see, before smiling sweetly again. "Of course, Kurosaki-sensei." She turned her head towards the black board and read the first question. "Well, I believe the protagonist in this story needs to sort out his emotions."
"How so?" he asked, curious to know how Rukia was going to deal with his questions, knowing full well she barely read the book.
"Well for starters," Rukia paused to turn fully towards Ichigo and gave him a bigger glare, "I think he's too occupied by his image that he's willing to let the antagonist walk all over him. Not to mention the fact he's using his past traumatic event as an excuse for not being able to do anything good. I mean, yeah, his old girlfriend was killed in front of him, but that was over ten years ago. He should move on."
Ichigo eyebrows went up at her suggestion. "You really think that?"
"Yes," Rukia nodded.
"Well, have you considered just how horrible he's feeling?" Ichigo asked, "He doesn't want the heroine in the story to get too close to him because he's afraid she might get hurt too."
"He's just making up excuses again to push her away," Rukia quickly responded, her voice clear and serious as she continued explaining, "The protagonist is clearly in love with her but keeps denying it. But she already knows about his troubles and is still willing to accept him. If he doesn't make a move now, he'll end up losing the one good thing that has happened since ten years ago."
"…" Ichigo was quiet as he stared into Rukia's wide violet eyes. They were clear as glass and he felt like he was getting sucked into them, allowing her to probe into his mind to read even his darkest secrets. Ichigo quickly shook his head to pull himself out of the daze before pushing himself off the desk. "Well done, Kuchiki," he gently patted her shoulder before walking off.
Rukia merely watched as he stopped by another group to ask them some questions. It was weird how in the mere three seconds they were silently staring into each other's eyes, it felt like she could see everything in his mind. And it felt like he quickly pushed her away just as she was about to open a Pandora Box in his soul.
"Man, looks like I need to read this book now," Matsumoto said, pulling Rukia back to reality.
"What?" she asked as she looked back at her friends.
"This book," Matsumoto point to the book in her hands, "After your explanation I suddenly got interested in the story."
"I told you it was a good book," Hinamori pouted.
Tatsuki snickered. "Don't let her get to you, Momo. Rangiku doesn't listen to anyone when school is involved."
Rukia smiled as she settled herself properly in her seat.
After another few minutes Ichigo returned to the front of the class and got everyone's attention. He went around the room and asked several students to answer the questions on the board.
Rukia was expecting him to call on her to answer the first question but he skipped her. In fact he never called on her once! A frown appeared on her face as he ignored her completely during the remaining class time. And being a Saturday, the class ended half an hour early but her foul mood stayed with her the entire day.
And it wasn't helping to know that she had to see him again later that day.
Rukia sighed as she made her way down the well-known street after school.
Saturdays used to be one of Rukia's favorite days: she would go to Urahara's shoten after school got out and buy as much snacks as she could for the weekend, doing nothing but watching reruns of Chappy the Rabbit while in her pajamas.
However, ever since meeting a certain orange head buffoon, her life suddenly changed for the worse…or so she believed.
"Konnichwa, Kuchiki-san," Ururu greeted their regular customer as she entered the store. "Would you like me to help you pick out some snacks again today?"
Rukia looked up and nodded. "That'd be nice. Thanks Ururu," she said as she grabbed a basket and followed her throughout the store.
"Ara, if it isn't my favorite customer."
Rukia looked over to the front desk to see Urahara fanning himself behind the counter.
"How are you today?" he asked with his usual cheery voice.
"Eh, not bad," she shrugged.
"Is that so?" he questioned as he eyed her walking around his store, agreeing or disagreeing with whatever Ururu held up in front of her. I wonder if anything 'good' will become of her day… Just as his thoughts ended he heard the fusuma door slide open behind him. "Why, good morning Yoruichi!" he greeted with his goofy smile.
Yoruichi groaned as she stretched her arms above her. "Please, it's already late in the afternoon. And why are you so cheery?" Urahara simply pointed his fan at the petite woman in his store and Yoruichi's lips turned into a large grin. "Oh, so she's the one, huh?"
"Who's the 'one'?" Rukia asked as she walked over to the counter with a basket full of snacks.
Yoruichi shrugged her shoulders. "No one that should concern you."
Rukia raised an eyebrow at the tanned woman before pulling out her wallet. "Whatever. Anyways, how much is it, Urahara?"
Urahara simply fanned himself as he called for Ururu to check the price.
"This will be 2000 yen," the small girl whispered.
Rukia nodded as she handed over the bill. Taking the plastic bag of snacks, she quickly went to the exit. "See you guys later," she waved back. Just before the door slid shut she saw them waving back at her although there was an obvious glint in the eyes of the two older people.
She just shook her head, forgetting the image since Yoruichi already said it didn't concern her. Rukia walked down the street she had fully memorized the past few years that she lived here, but instead of heading to her apartment, Rukia reluctantly dragged her heavy steps towards Ichigo's apartment.
As soon as she arrived, she banged her fist against the door, shouting at the top of her lungs, "OI! OPEN UP THE DOOR STRAWBERRY!" She continued banging the door until it swung open.
"Will you stop that?" Ichigo yelled to her face, "There was no need to bang so hard!" He was leaning down at her with one hand on the doorknob and the other against the doorframe.
Rukia smirked. "That's what you get for ruining my weekend," she said before bending down and walking into his apartment under his arm.
Ichigo groaned as he shut the door after him. He watched as Rukia placed her school bag and plastic bag of snacks on his table. He then noticed she was wearing a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "Don't you look comfortable."
"I changed clothes while at school," Rukia replied without looking back at him, "I knew if I went home to change I'll never leave the place."
"Well aren't you the smart one," Ichigo patted her head which earned him a sharp glare.
"Just tell me what I have to do so I can quickly leave," she slapped his arm away.
Ichigo rolled his eyes as he led her to his guest room. "The past few weeks I've been using this place for storage. But my little sister was outraged saying there had to be a guest room so it can be used if someone comes over or if my family visits." He opened the door across from his room and nodded towards it.
Rukia peeked in and groaned. There were boxes and stuffed bags everywhere with several other items placed here and there. "I guess this is your method of 'throwing away garbage.'"
Ichigo rolled his eyes as he entered the room. "Whatever. Just help me go through all this shit so I know what to keep and what to throw away." He rolled up his sleeves and checked his watch. "There's two hours left before the delivery men come. So let's get to business."
Rukia nodded. But before going back to work, she popped a candy into her mouth that she just bought and entered the room. If she was going to help clean up this messy room then she's going to need all the sugar she can get.
For the next few hours the two went through every box in the room. When the delivery came, they left it in the living room until they could make enough space in the room to put it in there.
Rukia opened a box and coughed at the dust. "Why do you have so many books?"
"I'm a fucking literature teacher, what do you expect?" Ichigo said as he placed the last set of shelves in the new bookshelf. "Give 'em here," he held out a hand as Rukia gave him a few books and he quickly started to organize some books on the shelves.
"So is that book we read today one of your favorites?" she asked him.
Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "I never really liked nor disliked it. The protagonist had way too many problems for me."
"But why didn't you call on me in class to answer the question?"
Ichigo paused in his work to frown Rukia. "Why? Did it bother you that I didn't ask you anything? Is that why you're so pissed?"
Rukia merely pouted as she continued organizing the books.
"I didn't ask you since I already knew your answer, if that's what you wanted to know," Ichigo said.
"It's not just that," she sighed, "It just seemed like you weren't satisfied with my answer. And I was pretty proud of my analysis of the protagonist."
"You should be," he told her as he started to stack some more books, "I just didn't want others to copy your idea for the test later on. They should figure those kinds of things out by themselves."
Rukia stopped to stare at Ichigo for a moment. "So you were trying to help me?"
"Kinda," he replied.
Rukia smirked. "Well aren't you sweet."
"Psch, I only did it because I knew you'd kick me if I didn't do anything," Ichigo scoffed.
Rukia laughed as she also placed some books in the bookshelf. She opened up a new box and continued organizing everything.
"Hey," Ichigo suddenly broke the silence.
"Yeah?"
Ichigo looked at her for a second before opening another box himself. "I was just wondering if you really meant what you said about the protagonist."
"About what?"
"Well, about how the character should let go of the past and open his heart out to the heroine."
Rukia looked up from her work to see Ichigo staring at her. She thought for a second before nodding her head. "Yes, I do."
"Why do you think that?" he quickly asked.
A thin brow went up. "What's up with all these questions?"
"Just answer," he ordered her.
Rukia sighed as she continued on with her task, but answered his question nonetheless. "Like I said, the protagonist is too afraid to open his heart because he's afraid he's going to hurt her. But what he doesn't get is that if he doesn't act fast, then the one thing that was pulling him out of his dark past will also disappear. In the end he'll end up more miserable than ever. I think he's too busy thinking about what might happen that it's blocking him from making any advances in his life. It's about time he closes the book of his previous life, and start a new one with a happier ending."
Ichigo remained quiet as he watched Rukia silently putting away another stack of books. No word was passed between them for awhile as silence engulfed them. By the end of four huge empty boxes, the ten big shelves were stocked with books, most of them being Shakespeare work.
"You must really like books," Rukia scoffed, looking at his book collection almost in disgust.
"Yeah," he smirked at her reaction, "And I have twice as much back at my old man's place in Tokyo."
Rukia looked at him with disbelief. "Do you even read all these?"
"Of course," he replied as he folded an empty box flat on the ground, "My mother used to collect the best books from all around the world since she was young. I'm just continuing her hobby."
Rukia paused from what she was doing to look at Ichigo. "'Used to?' Why are you using past tense?"
Ichigo visibly stiffened. "Nevermind, just ignore it."
But being extremely stubborn, Rukia walked over and yanked on his arm. "Ichigo, every time the topic of your mother comes up you don't say anything. What's wrong?"
Ichigo turned away to avoid eye contact.
Rukia gulped. "Is your mother—"
"Yeah," Ichigo cut in, finally looking at her, "She's dead."
Rukia dropped her hand and looked down. "I'm sorry."
"Nah," Ichigo sighed, scratching the back of his head, "It's been several years so don't worry too much about it." He turned around and went back to work.
Rukia watched him for a second before going back to the box she was looking through.
An uncomfortable silence engulfed them this time for a few seconds before Ichigo spoke up again. "I was nine."
Rukia's head jerked up. "Huh?"
"I was nine back then. My mom was picking me up from the dojo I used to go to, and we were on our way home," he continued, looking through some papers he just pulled out from a box, "It suddenly started to rain really hard. We were walking across the street when a car lost control. I couldn't remember what happened the next few minutes. But when I finally came to, my mom was on top of me, bloody and dead." He paused as his grip on an old picture frame tightened. He sat down in front of the box and hid his eyes under his bangs.
Watching him going into a state of sudden depression, Rukia walked over and kneeled in front of him. She didn't know why she did it but she just felt like it was the right thing to do. She wrapped her arms around his head and held him close to her chests, running her fingers through his orange hair to calm him as his body started to tremble.
Ichigo didn't know when he started to cry. But tears were silently dropping from his eyes as his body trembled from the past memories. After taking some deep breaths to clear out his voice, he continued, though his shoulders didn't stop shaking. "I was taken to a hospital where I barely did anything for a month. They had to force-feed me through a tube and drug me to sleep since I'd be hysteric every time I was awake." He lifted his arms and circled them around her waist, pulling her tighter against him. "Ever since then I've never been the same…I loved my mother so much."
Rukia kept her own tears at bay as she buried her nose into his hair. "I'm sorry," she whispered, the only thing she could think of saying at the time.
For some reason, she thought about the book and what she said about the protagonist. Maybe Ichigo just needed someone to tell him to let go.
Maybe he needed someone to help him move on.
…Maybe that somebody was her…
The two stayed in that position, silently, until the sun finally set over the horizon. Boxes were left open and untouched for several hours with the new furniture, which consisted of a new bed and a desk, which was half assembled in one corner of the room. Several other boxes were left in the living room. Neither of the two touched them for awhile.
"Ichigo?"
The orange head, who had been standing in front of his family picture in the living room, turned around to see Rukia looking at him. "Yeah?"
She smiled, directing her head to the table. "Dinner's ready."
Ichigo nodded as he made his way to the table. He took a seat and looked at the food in front of him. "You sure you didn't put anything funky in this?"
Rukia smacked him with a spoon. "If you're going to complain then don't eat."
Ichigo chuckled. "Itadekimasu," he said before picking up his chopstick and eating the first meal she's prepared for him. He slowly chewed on the food in his mouth, deeply concentrating at what he was eating.
Rukia watched with wide eyes, not touching her food, waiting for some sort of reply.
Taking a sip of the miso soup, Ichigo looked up to see Rukia staring at him, waiting. He smirked. "The soup is a bit salty."
Her head immediately hung low.
"But overall it's not bad," he continued, earning him a shocked look when Rukia suddenly looked up at him again, "I wouldn't mind you cooking for me from now on."
"Psch, like I would," she scoffed.
Ichigo smirked as he continued eating.
Rukia sighed as she turned around to look at the mess. "When do you think we'll be able to finish all of this?"
"Don't know. But you can leave after dinner," he said, "I can finish up the rest so don't worry about it."
She looked back at him and frowned. "You sure?"
"Yeah," he nodded as he continued eating, "I think I can do it. Besides…, I think you already helped me out a lot more than you think."
Rukia nodded, knowing he was referring to what happen a few hours ago. The two held each other until Ichigo finally calmed down. She just told him that she'll make dinner in order to avoid the sudden awkwardness between them. After a few minutes, he finally came out but stood in front of his family photo while she made dinner.
Ring Ring Ring!
Ichigo stood up from his meal and walked over to the phone. "Moshi-moshi?" he answered. He paused as he listened to the other person on the other line. "No…Why should I—what do you mean by that?" his face suddenly became red, obviously panicking, "No, that's not what I meant—wait a second, but why? Where? Hey!" Ichigo's eyes widened as he held the phone away from his ears.
"What is it?" Rukia asked as he slammed the phone back down on the receiver. He looked up and quickly grabbed her plates. "Hey! I'm not done."
"Sorry but you have to get out of here," he answered, dumping her remaining food into the garbage before putting the dishes into the sink, "Ishida and Chad are just outside."
"What?" She jumped up and helped him clean up any traces of there being a second person having dinner with him. "Why are they coming here?"
"I don't know," he groaned as he went to the living room to grab her school bag and her bag of snacks, "But they suddenly called, saying they were coming over."
Rukia grabbed her bags and ran to the genkan. She stuffed her feet into her shoes as Ichigo opened the door. She stepped out and gasped. He was about to ask what was wrong when he suddenly heard voices coming from down the hall.
FUCK! They both cursed in their head.
Without thinking, Rukia quickly snuck out and hid behind the open door.
When Ichigo saw Rukia going out, he was about to grab her when she suddenly went behind the door and out of sight.
"Kurosaki?"
Ichigo looked up to see Uryuu and Chad right in front of him. "H-hey, you guys are really here…"
"Yeah…but how did you know to open the door just now?" Uryuu pushed up his glasses.
"Uh," Ichigo started to sweat at his words, "W-well, um…it's not hard to tell since you talk really loud."
Uryuu rolled his eyes as he pushed past his friend. Ichigo looked up to see Chad just nod his head before following inside. He released a breath and quickly closed the door, knowing Rukia was still waiting behind it.
Once the door slammed shut, Rukia took off down the hall and down the stairs. There was no way she was going to wait to see what might happen if one of her teachers suddenly decide to come out. She ran across the parking lot and towards her apartment building.
Only when she closed the door behind her did Rukia finally feel safe. She let out a long breath, leaning against the door and wiping off her sweat. "I should really be more careful," she said to herself before something struck her. "Wait a sec… It's not me who should be careful but that damn strawberry," she groaned, pushing herself off the door.
Rukia let out a tired sigh as she dropped her bags on the floor and made her way to her bedroom. Getting a pair of clean clothes and a towel, Rukia went to her bathroom for a cool shower. It was then she felt her tense muscles relax.
By the time she came out, she walked back into the living room and dropped into her couch, still towel-drying her hair. She looked at her school bag and rolled her eyes; she did not want to do her homework yet. She then looked at the bag of treats and groaned; she suddenly didn't want to eat anything sweet after eating a real meal less than an hour ago.
Rukia sighed as she turned on the T.V. and watched whatever was on. The house was silent…and kind of lonely. Even watching Chappy was a bit boring.
OMG! Did she just think that?
Just as the third rerun of an old Chappy movie started, her doorbell rang. "Who is it?" she called out as she made her way to the door. She swung open the door to see a tall man in front of her. "Ichigo?"
The orange head smirked before lifting a bag. "I kinda felt bad about throwing away your dinner like that so I decided to bring over some food the guys brought over."
Rukia grabbed the bag he handed over. "Thanks. Did Ishida-sensei and Yasutora-sensei leave?" she asked.
Ichigo shook his head. "They passed out on my couch. Apparently they were exhausted from work and came to my place to just eat and sleep."
"I guess teachers do suffer from the work they assign us," she chuckled. "Anyways, thanks for the food."
"No problem," Ichigo replied, taking a step back to leave.
"Ja ne." Rukia reached over to the door handle and was about to shut the door when he suddenly grabbed it, stopping it halfway with his strong grip.
"Oi."
"Yeah?" she looked up into his amber eyes when suddenly she saw him leaning forward. And that's when she felt it.
A light kiss.
Her eyes widened as she felt his lips brushing against her cheek.
"Thanks again… for tonight," Ichigo whispered next to her ear before walking away, not turning back to see the red hue on Rukia's face.
Her fingers lightly touched the spot where his warm lips were a few seconds ago. The more she thought about it the warmer her face became. "Dumbass," she whispered into the night air before closing the door.
A/N: Okay, I don't know why but I kinda wanted to add a bit of a fluff here, with Ichigo's sudden confession and his sudden kiss. I pretty much dedicated this chapter to reveal more about themselves and some background info. And things are going to get even more interesting from here on out so keep an eye out!
I hope to upload the next chapter soon, an apologize for not doing anything last week. Please review if you want to read the next chapter fast!
Random FYI: the book that I kept writing about in the middle of the chapter is total B.S. I couldn't think of a good book that's similar to Ichigo's life so I made it up. Next time I'll see if I can use a really story.
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