Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Bleach, Tite Kubo does.

Author's note: I'm so sorry for the mistakes, I'm Spanish and I don't usually write in English. Besides, this is a translation of La flor del cardo, so it probably sounds quite Spanish. I've never translated anything into English before; I often find it easier to do it the other way round, first English and then translating it into Spanish.

The thistle flower

'Delicate flower? Rukia?' Ichigo grimaced. 'Are you kidding?' He seemed pensive. 'I think Rukia's more like a thistle. You know, those ugly green plants that prick when you touch them.'

Everybody went silent.

Suddenly it didn't seem a very good idea to have started playing the stupid game. Since the beginning of their visit to the botanical garden, they've been looking for plants, flowers or trees to which they could compare each one of the members of their group. So far Keigo had drawn a comparison between Inoue and a white lily, for their purity and elegance. She had likened Chad to a redwood, which was the biggest and most resistant tree they had seen up to now. When Chad's turn came, he noted the similarities between Ichigo and the ivy, muttering that it was one of the few plants able to withstand a ground frost and emerge unscathed. As he spoke, he glanced at Rukia, making it clear that his words had a double meaning.

But now tragedy was unfolding before their eyes.

'What have you just said?' Rukia stopped dead. Ichigo imitated her, but was the only one who did it. The others knew well enough what was going to happen, and they didn't want to be around when the storm broke out.

'We'll go ahead,' shouted Tatsuki as they've already moved a dozen steps away from the couple. 'Make peace before returning!'

She got no answer. Ichigo and Rukia were not even aware that they were about to be deserted.

'Huh…?' Ichigo didn't seem to understand what had just occurred. Rukia grabbed his T-shirt, forcing him to lean towards her. 'What the fuck is wrong with you?!'

'You just compared me to a thistle.' Her eyes flashed with anger.

'So what?' The rest of the group was nowhere to be seen. 'Wasn't that the purpose of the game?'

'No, it wasn't about insulting me!' Rukia shook him, snarling fiercely. She had not yet released his T-shirt. 'You think I'm ugly and that I prick, right? You're such an idiot…'

Ichigo needed almost a minute to realize what she meant, but once he did…

Oh, shit.

'I don't!' He shook off her hold and stepped away. 'I didn't say that.'

'Right.' She sounded sceptical.

'No.' He growled. 'I was just describing them, so the others would know which plants I was referring to'.

Rukia narrowed her eyes at him menacingly.

'Sure. So you were not really comparing me to that… thing.' Her tone was scary.

Ichigo let out a cry of frustration. He knew Rukia well enough to be sure that she simply would not leave the matter.

'How annoying you are, dammit! You really want to know the truth?' He almost shouted. 'I did compare you to a thistle, but not because you're ugly! Or green. Or because you have thorns.' For God's sake, what crap was he saying?

He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up. Rukia was more than willing to continue the fight; he could feel it. The second wave of the storm was coming at a breakneck speed.

'God…' Ichigo would not let her open her mouth. He grabbed her arm and dragged her. 'Come with me.'

He led her along the way they had previously walked with their friends, right up to the entrance, where they had bought their tickets.

'Look.' Ichigo stopped in front of a few thorny herbs. The first time they were there she had not even noticed them. 'They are thistles. And, yes, they remind me of you. You're boor, surly, and you keep pestering the whole time. Sometimes you can be fucking... prickly.' He cleared his throat.

Rukia's brow became increasingly furrowed, so Ichigo decided it was better not to dwell on that line of argument. Wanting to relieve the tension, he pointed to a flower that sprouted a few steps beyond, a couple of meters far from the road.
'That's the thistle flower.'

It was very different from any other blossom they had seen that day. Its long petals, as sharp and thin as needles, were a striking deep violet colour.

'When I said that...' Ichigo looked away. He seemed very uncomfortable with the situation. 'I was not thinking only of the stem. I was also thinking about the flower.'
Rukia looked at him blankly.

'I noticed it when we passed here.' He must have been the only one. 'The thistle is the first to bloom when spring comes, did you know that?

She shook her head quietly.

'Also, it is a symbol of independence, and you are the most independent person I've ever met.'

Rukia wasn't sure what she should answer. She wasn't even sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not. She decided to remain mute.

They were silent for long seconds, but Rukia's willingness to argue was starting to evaporate. Sometimes that idiot could really surprise her.

Rukia examined the flower. Ichigo stared at her. The words burned his tongue…
It couldn't be that hard, could it? He just had to open his mouth and let everything out. Definitely, it couldn't be that hard.

'Besides…'

Come on, he encouraged himself. Just say it.

'Besides… The thistle flowers are the colour of your eyes,' he finally murmured, clenching his jaw in an expression that would help him, or so he hoped, to keep his male pride intact.

Coward. What a coward he was for certain things.

The anger Rukia had been feeling fade away instantly, and was replaced by a slight blush, almost imperceptible. Just a shadow on her cheeks.

'What did you say?' This time she was smiling smugly. It was one of her true smiles, one of those she could not fake. And it was beautiful.

'Shut.' Ichigo snorted. 'Don't make me repeat it.'

For once, she yielded. Ichigo's hand slipped from her elbow, where it has been laying the whole time, with immense slowness, as if he was scared she might reject him, until it touched hers.

They were both smiling.

The couple walked back in quietness, but their fingers were now interlaced. Rukia kept thinking about what he had said, Ichigo went over the words he had not told her.
The truth was that, although she wasn't yet aware of it, for him the thistle was more elegant than the lily, stronger than the redwood and more resistant than the ivy.

For him, once it bloomed, the thistle was the most beautiful of all flowers.

The end