Alright, this is my FIRST IchiRuki FanFic. Heck, it's my first fan fic. I know the beginning is really terrible but, whatever. Please review too!
Ichigo woke up, his forehead clammy and covered in sweat. Sitting up from his bed, he realized that he was breathing rather heavily and quickly, making his heart race. This damn nightmare had been going on for three weeks now and it never stopped from haunting him in his sleep. He felt drops of sweat hit his arm as he bowed his head down to look at his sheets glimmering pale silver from the moonlight outside his window. Every time he woke up, he instantly forgot his dream, leaving him confused, outraged and dumbfounded. He let out a frustrated grunt as he fell back onto his pillow, dreading the dream that would approach him once he drifted away from reality.
The next morning, he was awakened by the sound of clinks on his window. Opening his eyes slowly and yawning, he approached the window, seeing that small pebbles were being chucked at it with little force by none other than Rukia Kuchiki, a small girl with amethyst colored eyes and raven hair that went to her shoulders. Her expression showed that she was anxious and happy to see her friend looking out the window. Ichigo smiled down at Rukia and without wasting any time at all, he had pulled on his baggy shorts that went down to his knees, keeping on his white and blue T-shirt that he had worn to bed and rushed downstairs and bolted out the door to see that his friend was waiting for him.
Rukia was wearing a blue dress that went down slightly below her knees. Ichigo quickly went to her side, the sun shining brightly with the early summer morning air, the dew on the grass shimmering, giving them both a bit of a glow.
"Rukia," started Ichigo as they started walking down the sidewalk, "how've you been?"
"Great at the moment," she smiled as she said this, amethyst looking into the golden brown of Ichigo's eyes, "You know how I love the summer."
Ichigo laughed as he crossed the road with Rukia by his side, heading for the woods that the two had often visited every day during the summer. "How can I forget, every spring you keep counting down the days until summer officially starts!" his tone was light and cheerful. He was always so comfortable around Rukia and felt that he could share anything with her.
"Shut it, Carrot Top," she smirked as she punched Ichigo's arm, her face showing that she didn't really care. She too had the same sort of feeling while around him, like she could trust him with anything.
They continued walking for about three minutes until they reached the river that ran through the woods. Feeling the cracks of twigs and hearing leaves and rocks rustle under their feet both brought happiness and great memories to Ichigo and Rukia. They had been coming here since they were both ten year s old. Two large boulders that had been placed next to the river by the two were still there, sturdy as ever.
Rukia immediately sighed as she sat on the rock that she had claimed so many years ago, the sun would always hit that spot, giving her the warmth and pleasure of the sun's rays hitting her soft skin. Instead of arguing with Rukia at the time when they had both moved the rocks, he had learned from his father that letting a girl have what she wants is usually the way to go. As a replacement for sitting down next to Rukia, he just walked into the shallow end of the river, letting the cool water that was up to his ankles, run at a constant pace around his feet. He sighed as he felt a cool breeze hit him and he had slight Goosebumps around arms and neck. He loved the feeling of being in the water, like how he was at peace when he felt the cool liquid hit his skin. Just as he was going to go a step further, he felt the small, thin arms of Rukia around his neck, pulling herself up onto his back, demanding a piggy back ride without words. She giggled as he didn't protest and took a step further into the river.
Just then, a most evil, wicked idea had sprung into his mind, his face twisting into a devious smile. He kept walking further and further into the river until the water was almost to his waist. Rukia felt the cool water splash under her and realized what Ichigo was planning. She frantically started struggling and throwing a fit as he kept going deeper into the river. Ichigo was laughing maniacally in his head while keeping his face straight.
"Ichigo!" whined Rukia, her face looking around as the water soaked her butt and was continuing to go further, "Ichigo, let me down right now!"
This was exactly what he had been waiting for. Without another word out of her mouth, he dropped her into the water, the small splash was satisfying and made him chuckle lightly. Then, the unexpected happened. His feet gave way to a mossy rock he was standing on, resulting him to slip into the water himself, and every inch of his body to be soaked. He came back up to the surface, spitting out the river water, hearing Rukia's laughter at his fall. It was bound to happen sooner or later. He realized that when he started walking further and further into the depths of the river. He then realized how deep the water was and how Rukia was treading water to stay above the surface.
"Rukia, here," said Ichigo, holding out his hand to her, "take hold of me, you can't stand up, midget."
"Shut up, Strawberry" she retorted as she stuck out her tongue, taking his hand and being pulled to him. At that moment when their hands touched, a sudden lurch had arisen in both of their stomachs. As Rukia felt her hand touch Ichigo's skin, her heart skipped a beat when she felt the warmth of his skin on hers, her whole body feeling considerably warmer as she was dragged slowly to Ichigo's body through the water.
When Rukia's hand made contact with his own, Ichigo felt a small feeling of cool reach his hand and allowed some of his own warmth to hers. Without thinking, he pulled her close to his body, his arms suddenly wrapping around her, sharing his body heat with her, not realizing exactly what he was doing. He only intended to hold her hand and drag her out as he probably would, but something about the way he touched her or how he was now holding her in his arms made this different.
Amethyst met Gold again, seeing that each other's faces were a brighter red than a ripe tomato in Rukia's vegetable garden. Rukia wrapped her arms around Ichigo's neck as he started walking towards the shore. Each step seemed to bring him farther away from the shore. Rukia's arms were around his neck! His face was burning up hotter than the sun, almost feeling as if the water around him was beginning to boil.
When he reached the shore, his body soaking wet, he was still holding Rukia. When he came to this realization, he nearly dropped her small, fragile body.
"Umm, Ichigo?" she said, her voice almost at a whisper, "You can let me down now."
"Oh, r-right," he stuttered as he let her down onto her rock as she giggle softly making him blush even more than he was before, if it was possible. "We should probably head to my house to change,"
Rukia laughed as she looked down at her own soaking wet body. "Fine," she said "But I'll have to borrow some of your clothes again." She smirked as he looked at her, one eye brow up. His sisters hated it when she borrowed their clothes, so now she always had to borrow his clothes.
"Fine, you win," he scowled as she giggled. He still didn't understand why she always likes to wear his clothes. For one, they were way too big on her so she looked like an even smaller midget than usual, and they usually never got returned. He didn't mind though because he almost always snuck back into her house in the dead of night and got them back.
As they both exited from the thick woods, Ichigo was wondering what had happened in the water. He had always been just Rukia's friend, maybe even best friend. He hadn't considered her as more than that until now. He turned his head and looked at the small girl next to him, smiling and giggling. He never realized how pretty her eyes were, or how her small body looked so beautiful. Just then, Rukia turned her head to look at Ichigo. The sun couldn't have hit her more perfectly. The light hit her eyes, the amethyst eyes that he always had looked over before now were shimmering stones of beauty. The shine of her face as she smiled at him made him realize exactly how beautiful Rukia was. The shape of her body, small and petite and fragile. Her tiny, soft hands were folded together behind her back. He shook his head and went back to reality. She was her friend, that's it. But she looked so…
They arrived at Ichigo's house, leaving a trail of water behind them both. They both headed upstairs as Ichigo grabbed a towel for both of them from the bathroom. He grabbed a pair of smaller shorts and a light crystal blue shirt from his closet, handing them to Rukia as she smiled and headed to the bathroom to quickly change into his huge, warm clothes. While she was changing, Ichigo was drying himself off. She had finished much faster than him and the door was slightly open to Ichigo's room. Feeling curious, she peered into his room. She almost gasped from what she saw.
Ichigo was removing his wet shirt from his body, revealing his muscular body, wet and shiny from the sun. He pulled it off and shook his head, water droplets falling to the floor as he huffed. He wrapped the towel around him, drying himself off. As she watched, she realized how….how hot his body was. She never really saw this before. She had seen him with his shirt off many times before but never looked at him like this. Something about him today made him more masculine, macho and downright sexy. Her face was burning up as she turned away from the sight in front of her as he was beginning to remove his pants. How had she not seen him like this before? Was it because what happened in the river?
"Rukia, you almost done?" shouted Ichigo from his room. She quietly went to the bathroom door to make it seem like she was still in there.
"Yeah, I'm finished," she opened the door and closed it again. Just as she closed the door, Ichigo came out of his room and looked at her.
"You look more like a midget than ever, Rukia!" he snorted as he looked at her and stifled a laugh as she fired up.
"Shut up, Ichigo. If your sisters would let me borrow their stuff…" she started but as she looked down, she really did look more…midgety. The shorts were below her knees and the shirt was down to her elbows. She blushed as she pulled the pants up to go above her knees and rolled the sleeves up.
Ichigo continued to laugh as he went back into his room to get something. He came out with a belt from about three years ago. "Here, try this." He said handing it to her. She quickly put on the belt and muttered a thank you to Ichigo. "There, now you don't look so short."
It was about 12o'clock by the time they had gotten dry and dressed. Confusing emotions were running through both heads. They were both so confused about what was happening to them.
Ichigo was sitting next to Rukia on the couch while they were both watching T.V. but neither one was really paying attention to it.
"Ichigo, I'm so bored," said Rukia as she yawned, stretching. She leaned back on a pillow and eyed him expectantly.
"How 'bout we go take a walk through the town?" he suggested, not really caring what they did. She looked at him with a face that said, 'Really Ichigo? A walk?'
"Hey, if you have a better idea then fine," he said to her his lips curling as she giggled and got up.
"Well, you coming?" she asked as she slipped on her shoes and opened the front door. He got up slowly and pulled on his shoes and stepped of his house, Rukia pulling the door behind them.
The sun was shining just as brightly as before, warming them both as they both were walking down the sidewalk to the middle of town. They kept walking until they walked by a flyer that caught Ichigo's eye, causing him to stop in his track and take a look. It was a dark blue and golden orange color swirled together in a mystical pattern. In silvery letters, the poster read 'The Heaven's Dance'. Judging by the poster, it was supposed to be in three days from now, on Saturday. It was held at Mr. Urahara's mansion at the edge of town from 8 P.M. to 2 A.M.
Rukia noticed that Ichigo was staring at the poster and backed tracked to where he was. She read the poster and smiled widely.
"Doesn't that sound fun, Ichigo?" she said looking up at him. He couldn't say no, he did love dancing, but with Rukia? Why did that seem like a bad idea?
"Yeah, sounds fun I guess…" he said looking away from the poster and standing up. He then thought of what had happened earlier in the woods that day. "Hey, you wannna go with me?" he said without thinking before. 'Like she'd go with me,' thought Ichigo.
Rukia was blushing lightly as she stood up as well. "Sure Ichigo, I'd love to go with you" she nodded and realized that she had said that she would love to go with him. 'Why did I say love?' she wondered as Ichigo smiled slightly.
After walking around for awhile and escorting Rukia home, Ichigo was wondering why he had asked Rukia to go to the dance with him. Did he really have feelings for her now? Or was it just his mind playing tricks on him. He walked home and saw that his dad was watching T.V. on the couch.
"Hey dad," started Ichigo, "Um, can I ask you something?"
"You just did," smirked his dad as he turned his head from the T.V.
"Ugh, you know what I mean. I was wondering if I could borrow a suit to wear this Saturday?" said Ichigo as he rolled his eyes
"Ah, you going to the Heaven's dance?" said his dad, smiling as Ichigo looked away from him, hiding his slightly blushing face.
"Yeah, so do you have a suit, old man?" he said without looking at his father. He heard his dad get up from the couch and head upstairs and within a minute or so, he came back down with a black suit and navy vest.
"I wore this to my first dance with your mom," he said, staring off into space. "Then I got to big right after that so now I can't fit into it."
"Thanks dad," he rushed upstairs to put the suit in his closet and laid on his bed, seeing the sun set outside his window. He sighed as he looked up at his ceiling, wondering how the dance would go on Saturday. He thought about how Rukia instantly agreed to going with him, not really hesitating to answer. "She's my friend, that's all!" he said to himself, if saying it out loud would help it sink in.
Meanwhile at Rukia's house, she was laying on her bed, staring at the dark ceiling above her. Her heart was pounding as she thought of the dance. Why did she say yes? Why did she want to go with him so badly? She grunted and flipped over on her pillow, her face buried into it. Was it love?
There was a knock at her door, and a tall figure with black hair and grey eyes. He looked stern and calm as he looked at his sister.
"Rukia," he said as he walked into her room, "You are going to the Heaven's dance with Ichigo Kurosaki, am I correct?"
"Byakuya!" she gasped as she saw him walk into her room. She was still wearing his clothes. She blushed and tried to hide the clothes from her older brother's cold eyes, but she was unsuccessful. He scanned her body as she pulled the sheets up to her eyes, trying to hide her face from the shame.
"Is is that obvious?" she said as she pulled the covers down from her face, showing her bright red face. Rukia was embarrassed and ashamed that she was going with Ichigo because Byakuya never liked him in the first place and now that she was going to a dance with him did not help the situation at all. "Please don't get mad, Nii-sama!"
Byakuya just looked at Rukia with a quizzical look in eyes and shook his head.
"You know I don't like that Kurosaki boy, Rukia," he said with cold eyes. His eyes were piercing hers like daggers. She couldn't handle the dark gaze that he was giving her. She pulled the covers back up to her face as hot tears began to fall down her cheeks. She made no noise while crying, trying to hide it from her brother but the more she tried to hide it, the louder she got. She was crying uncontrollably now, her eyes become puffy and red. Then she felt a sinking feeling at the bottom of her bed. She looked up, wiping her tears and she looked in her brothers eyes. They were still that cool grey color but not as harsh.
"Nii-sama, I know you don't like him but," she managed to say but the rest of her words were lost when she began to sob again.
Byakuya got up again, and left the room. She flopped down into her pillow and cried her heart out. But Byakuya returned to her room with a long, thin box, about the size of Rukia.
"This was your sisters, Hisana's dress, Rukia," he started. Rukia looked up at the words of her now diseased sister. "This is the dress she wore during our first dance," he opened up the box to reveal a stunningly beautiful dress that looked like it would go down to Rukia's ankles. It was a dark blue, silky dress with a white sash that when put on, would go around her waist. Rukia could imagine her sister in this dress, dancing elegantly with her brother for the first time.
"Nii-sama, why are you giving this to me?" she asked in a quiet whisper, still gazing at the dress.
"I promised Hisana to give you this dress when the time was right," he said, handing the open to Rukia, and getting up to leave the room. Just as he was about to close the door, Rukia stopped him.
"Thank you, nii-sama," she whispered as she smiled up to him. He merely just gave grunt and walked away. When she was sure that he was out of ear shot, she squealed loudly and rushed to try on her sister's old dress that was now in her hands.