Okay, this is just plain silly. I try to be serious at one point but it's really just a totally off-the-top-of-my-head little piece of fluff. XD
Oh well. Practice makes perfect, right?
" You are here!", the sign read. "Karakura Mall." Specifically, Build-A-Bunny: the biggest, fluffiest stuffed animal store in Karakura Mall.
Rukia, usually stern and cool as ice, lit up like a lightbulb when she saw the storefront with its teased cotton clouds, pastel walls and endless baskets of miniature apparel.
"They... they have stores like these?" she gasped, staring openly with her face pressed against the glass.
"Mmm," said Ichigo noncomittally as he tried to gauge their distance to the nearest exit.
He turned back and made the fatal mistake of stealing a glimpse at Rukia's face. Whoops. There went just about every thought of running away. Her look strongly reminded him of Yuzu's, when she'd seen fireworks for the very first time. As she dragged him in, he cursed himself for being such a pushover.
Inside, the store swarmed with children, who bumped into Ichigo's knees and made lots of noise. Happy young couples walked hand in hand among them or leaned over, wiping drool off of small faces and pulling thumbs out of mouths. They kept giving Ichigo dirty looks; he wasn't sure why, though he suspected it had something to do with the rather graphic red skull on his black T-shirt, or his ripped jeans. Or maybe it was his bright orange hair. In contrast, Rukia had adopted a seamless airy blue dress with a rather conservative neckline and a loose skirt that reached past her knees. She had borrowed a matching blue ribbon from Yuzu to tie her hair up; when combined with her short stature and Christmas-come-early excitement, the garments made her seem right at home with the little kids who were crowding the aisles.
Ichigo felt annoyingly out of place. If anything, he probably looked like Rukia's babysitter. Still, as he watched the shinigami bounce from display to display; her eyes growing wider and wider with each new shelf, he couldn't /quite/ bring himself to drag them both back outside. He stifled a smirk when her tiny mouth dropped with particular awe and delight at the bunny section, just as he guessed it would. Nimble hands immediately flicked to the shelf, feeling bunny ears and tails, shaking them to see if they made any noise, poking their bellies to guess at the strange fluffy substance inside.
"Ichigo!" Rukia swiped a cotton flower hairband from the accessories bin and tied it over one bunny's ear. "If I put this on, it looks just like Chappy!"
"It...does," Ichigo sweatdropped. Why the hell was a human store carrying a near exact replica of that freaky mascot?
"Let's get it."
"Hey," he said flatly, "didn't you come here to buy necessities?"
"This is a necessity!"
"Do you even know what that word means?"
"Of course I do!" Rukia retorted loftily. "We need this. Your room is too boring, a bunny will serve as decoration. Besides, Kon could use a new body while his old one gets repaired."
"What? Hell no!" He was assaulted with a sudden, terrifying image of Kon running around in a bunny plushie yelling "PYON" and jumping headfirst into Rukia's... well, nevermind that. Anyways, it seemed like a very bad idea. Kon could rot in his pill or his lion toy for all Ichigo cared... but Kon plus Chappy would happen over his cold dead body.
He took the toy from her, holding it up to the light to examine it better. "... Rukia, this thing is freakin' expensive! 6,000 yen for a stuffed bunny?! You've gotta be kidding me." He handed it back, with mock sternness. "We're not getting it."
"Yes we a..." Rukia paused suspiciously. "Is that really a lot?"
"Is Kon annoying? Hell, yes, it's a lot."
Rukia studied Ichigo's face, uncertain as to whether he was exaggerating or not.
"Fine then. It's your loss, Ichigo."
Barely holding back a sigh, she took the hairband off and started to replace the bunny on the shelf. Her happy mood had vanished. Stupid Ichigo!
No, she thought, you're the stupid one, Rukia. Although yen were foreign to her, money concerns she understood all too well from her days in Rukongai. She'd been having such a good time in this world, but... lying to Ichigo's family and demanding foolish toys? Maybe she'd finally gone too far. She of all people should not be an ingrate. Not after Rukongai. She shouldn't be demanding, either. Not after... Kaien-dono.
How easy it was to forget her past.
"Well! I think we are done for today," she said brightly. "Shall we go?"
Ichigo grabbed her wrist, halting it in midair. Rukia's face was neutral, but the trembling arm under his grasp gave her dead away. It figured-- he'd honestly expected her to bother him a lot longer before she finally finagled him into buying the toy. But the tone of her voice told him he'd accidentally hit a nerve-- how, he had no idea. He suspected it was something dredged up out of her past in the spirit realm.
But what? He turned her around to face him, and felt an uncomfortable twinge in his chest when he saw her avoiding his eyes. As always, he thought with a little anger. She never let him know what was bothering her.
Her hand was still halfway on the toy.
All right, he thought. At least I am going to wipe that stupid look off her face.
He let go abruptly. The bunny's huge freaky sparkly eyes seemed to be mocking him. He sighed and plucked the ball off fluff from her hands.
Yes, no doubt about it, the chappy mascot was definitely giving him an evil grin. He held it at arms' length. "Look, we are NOT letting Kon near this thing, okay?" he said loudly, turning his back to her for the counter. "He's bad enough in his usual state."
Rukia's eyes widened, her mask slipping a fraction. "Ichigo... are you sure?"
"Not really..." He studied the bunny with mock indecisiveness. "So you'd better get over here before I change my mind."
"But you said it was expensive!"
Ichigo wondered why that of all things would bother her. "It is damn expensive for a plush bunny!" he said, ignoring the evil glare the manager was giving him, "but it won't put us out of food for a week or anything like that. Plus, I owe Yuzu a decent birthday present. Just keep it out of my room."
She blinked in surprise. Then, a tentative smile lit up her face, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. Ichigo's heart skipped. She looked genuinely happy.
Then of course the smile grew annoyingly large and devious as she trotted over to the counter to stand next to him.
"I'll put it to good use."
"Yeah, sure you will."
In five minutes they had paid and walked out. Ichigo's years of scowling were coming in handy-- The carrot-headed boy's smile was nothing but a slight tugging sensation that wanted to happen at the corners of his lips. He'd never say it out loud, but what made Rukia happy, somehow made him happy too. Hell, he'd probably empty his wallet ten times over just for another glimpse of that genuine smile...
Not like that was saying much, of course. For a doctor's son, he got a pretty measly allowance.
Suddenly, Rukia's eyes snagged on something box-shaped. Ichigo watched, a little mesmerized, at the way the shinigami's eyes glinted. They were captivating; full of a mischief that made him want to grin in spite of his better sensibilities. He stood taller to see this mysterious box that had so captured Rukia's attention.
Oooh shit.
Rukia, her fingers already stuck in the ATM slot, beamed at him eagerly. "...What is this, Ichigo?"
fin.
Or for those of us who know shopaholics, maybe a cliffhanger!