Bunny Tales

"You Never Could Control Me" prompt

Thanks to Avid Vampire Hunter- the best beta in the entire world. Happy Halloween, everyone!

She's dressed like a bunny.

A bunny.

Now, you'd think it'd be her precious Chappy bunny, maybe, or even a realistic representation of the animal with her entire body covered in white fur. Hell, maybe a big cover-all thing like Inoue's little pumpkin costume.

But no.

She's got the ears down, damn her, and that little cotton-ball tail, too. But the rest? What the hell is she doing wearing all that black silk?! Panty-hose, high-heels, that little black lace color? Wasn't she supposed to be one of the only people in the room not easily influenced by Rangiku's clothing?

The lights are bright and the music is a loud, drumming pulse. It's hot and smells like hairspray and that fake blood crap from the Halloween store. There's little bat-cut outs that Inoue herself diligently fashioned from black paper using only scissors, and Uryuu somehow managed to get a couple of fake skeletons. (He'll pretend the one that Renji hid in the shower didn't scare the shit out of him that morning.)

Coupled with cliché pumpkin flavored snacks and punch with cliché fake eye-balls in it, it was the perfect cliché Halloween party.

He'd gone through the trouble of dressing up like a vampire since it was the only costume that he could find, and over to the side Keigo had transformed himself into a pirate. Tatsuki had even found something that was very Halloween, and only a fool would have said she didn't look badass in her own costume. Ichigo himself had never seen Shingeki no Kyojin, but he was pretty sure the girl did a good job pulling off the look.

But Rukia.

Renji had apparently made sure to stay on her tail the entire party. (Oh, not tail, bad expression when she was wearing that costume. He wouldn't let his thoughts go down that road.) The guy, er, followed her the entire party. Not because she looked damn fine in the costume, because that was Rukia and there was no way she looked that good, but because Renji knew that every single guy in the room would be looking for a chance to get at her.

Well, that's what Renji had told Ichigo. "But I just got a mission. I have to go now. So watch her and make sure no one takes advantage of her." Renji had mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah." Under his breath he added, "Like anyone could take advantage of her if they wanted to."

At the time he thought that Renji had been exaggerating- everyone knew he was in love with Rukia. But then she had come strolling around the corner sipping punch. And it was then that Ichigo realized that Renji had not accurately described the problem.

"Oh, Ichigo. When did you get here?" She blinked big lavender eyes, oh so innocently, like she wasn't walking around in skin-tight fabric that just so happened to perfectly accent her figure.

"This is my house." An okay reply, really, but it had sounded stupid coming from him in that instant. Almost more of a, "This… is my house?" like he didn't know where the hell he was.

She frowned slightly. "I didn't ask why you're here, I asked when you got here."

"Uh…" How long had he been there? A minute? Ten? An hour?

"I didn't see you earlier, we were playing a game. It was the strangest thing! You tie your hands behind your back," She turned and showed him how she would link her hands behind her. She did not have a fine ass and he was not checking it out. "And then you had to try to eat a ball made out of popcorn." She licked her lips at the memory, straitening back up. And for anyone who was looking, they too would agree that Ichigo hadn't followed the movement like a starving man looking at his last feast. No sir. Not Ichigo. "It was hard to get in the hang of it, but it was actually pretty fun. You should have been there."

He went to reply and noticed that, wow, he didn't have to look so far down when she had those shoes on. But could she fight hollows? Yeesh, she probably could. She could do all sorts of things in those heels, she was talented enough and abort thought abort thought abort, abort, abort!

"Ichigo?"

"Uh…"

Her eyebrows pulled down in concern, her lips tugging down in the corner. "Is something wrong? You look flushed."

Flushed? He'd put on enough of that white-face-crap, how the hell could she see his blush? And wait, he wasn't blushing! There was no reason to blush. It was… just… hot? Warm, warm, not hot. Rukia wasn't hot. What?

Eventually he managed to shake the cobwebs from his mind, stuttering out, "Wh-what are you wearing?!"

She blinked in surprise, turning again as if to look herself over. "Oh, this? I'm a bunny!" She beamed. "Isn't it adorable? Rangiku-san found it for me."

Of course. "Uh…"

"What?" Now she was annoyed; Rukia didn't like it when people started acting stupid. "Does it not look good?"

He turned quickly, thankful to find that Ishida was standing at the punchbowl. So he had gone with the vampire look too, huh? Well, he was more classic- he had the long cape and slicked back hair. Wait. Cape.

"Hey!" Uryuu reached back at his neck. "What's your problem, Kurosaki?"

"Ichigo-" woosh.

Ichigo grinned, looking down at Rukia, now completely covered in a black cape. "That's better!"

"What?!" She ripped the cape from her shoulders and tossed it back to Ishida, who sent her a grateful head-nod that she didn't see in her annoyance. "What the matter with you, Ichigo?"

"Just… just wear it!" He was not blushing.

"You don't like my costume?" When he didn't answer right away her eyes narrowed, and she looked over to the side where Ikkaku was standing, dressed in his usual black hakama. "At least I put effort into it."

"Yeesh… you're a pain in the neck as always." He rubbed the back of his neck to prove his point, sharply looking away as well.

"And you're still a fool." "You're not listening." He added.

And coyly she replied, "You never could control me."

For a second he said nothing, because damn it, she had a good point.

"But you know who you can control?"

He grumpily looked at her from the corner of his eye. He refused to admit she looked downright sexy. "Who?"

"Yourself! So, why not control someone and come dance with me, eh, Ichigo?"

An excuse to hold her? No! No! She's… Rukia's just a good friend. A good looking friend. When she's not looking stupid. Ha, she always looks… Ugh. What the hell, a dance wouldn't hurt. "Fine. But only because no one else will since you're wearing that stupid thing."

"Hey! I like it!"

"You like a lot of stupid stuff."

"You're the stupid one!"

To the side of the room, Karin shook her head. Rangiku, dressed in a scanty little piece that could have been called Little Red Riding Hood in some universe, leaned against the wall beside her.

"Do they know…?"

Karin sighed. "They're in permanent denial."

"Ah." She smirked. "Do you think they'll…?"

Karin faintly smiled. "Oh yeah." She nodded, watching her brother and the woman her father already called the daughter-in-law. "Definitely."