I don't need to own Bleach to enjoy it. :)
A/N: I was playing with my old whiteboard at home, drawing scribbles on it with a whiteboard marker when I started writing random fictional dialogues between random anime people from different anime (I even had a Prince of Tennis and a Naruto one aside from this Bleach one) when I saw that the dialogue I was making up for Bleach could actually be a story. Happy me. No more annoying Writer's Block!! smashes it with a hollow block and does the hula O.o
Ah well, enjoy. :D
It was another lazy afternoon. No annoying hollows disrupting the peace. The birds were chirping and there was a cool breeze floating around despite the summer heat, which was a very welcome thing. Inoue had just dropped by for a visit, and she and Rukia were both in Ichigo's room, sitting on the bed, talking.
"Where is Ichigo anyway?" Inoue suddenly asked Rukia. She shrugged. "I don't know. He said he was going out for a bit."
Inoue grinned. "I see… Perfect." Rukia raised an eyebrow. She looks like someone who has an elaborate plan that's going well, she thought.
There was some silence for a bit in which they listened to the lazy silence of the quiet street down below, before Inoue broke it.
"Admit it, Rukia."
Rukia started. She looked at Inoue, an eyebrow raised. "And just what do you expect me to admit to you, Inoue?"
Inoue grinned evilly. Rukia's eyebrow rose higher still.
"Do you, or do you not love Ichigo?" she asked.
There was some silence.
"What?"
Inoue stared at her. "Oh come on, Rukia. I know you heard me the first time."
"And just why exactly should I answer that question?" asked Rukia, popping a piece of candy into her mouth. She didn't notice Inoue's evil grin widen until she heard her say, "I'll tell Ichigo that it was you who sent him the Ton-Tongue Toffee last April Fool's Day."
Flashback
Ichigo came down yawning into the dining room to find his sisters eating breakfast. "Where's Dad?" he asked.
"He went out, onii-chan," said Yuzu.
"How about Rukia?"
"She said she was going for a walk and that she'll be back soon."
Ichigo sat down and saw a piece of candy in a brightly colored wrapper on his plate. "What's this?" he asked his sisters. Karin answered him.
"Rukia came back in before she left and she gave it to us saying that she found it outside on the doorstep. The card says it's for you."
Ichigo turned the candy over. True enough, there was a card attached to it saying, "To Ichigo. Take care always." There was no signature. I'll eat it after breakfast, he thought to himself.
A little later…
"BLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!!!!!"
Ichigo's tongue had suddenly swelled and lengthened to become four feet long. "Wha tha hell ith thith?!?!?!" His sisters, after getting over their initial shock at suddenly seeing their elder brother's tongue grow to the size of a meter stick in a blink of an eye, were roaring with laughter.
"Thith ithent funny!!!"
"I'm back…" Rukia had opened the door to the dining room. "You guys are laughing so loudly, what's the fuss about?" Then she saw Ichigo's tongue, his sisters laughing like hell, the brightly colored toffee wrapper on the floor, and the card, now turned over, which said, "APRIL FOOL'S" in large block letters beside it.
"Wha ar ya looking aht?!" Ichigo was looking very dangerous, but with his four-foot-long tongue blocking most of his airway, causing his talking to sound like an over-ambitious pirate wannabe, made him look comical, so no one could blame Rukia when she suddenly burst into laughter too.
"Thith ithent funny ye threeh!!!" he roared, making them laugh all the more.
An hour later, his tongue finally shrank back to its normal size.
"How's your tongue, Ichigo?" asked Rukia.
"Better… but still kinda sore," he muttered. Well, he seems pretty good-natured about the prank now, thought Rukia.
"I swear, when I find out who sent that toffee, I'm going to kill him!" So much for being good-natured.
"Aww, don't be such a kill-joy," said Rukia hastily, "It was a really good prank. And anyway, it's April Fool's Day, so it's natural for people to play pranks on others right?" Ichigo finally agreed, but since Rukia had no desire to be on the receiving end of the strength he used to fight hollows, she made a mental note to herself to never tell him that she sent the toffee in the future.
Reality
Rukia spat out the candy (it narrowly missed hitting Inoue in the face and soared out the window) and stared at Inoue once more as the flashback faded away. "How did you know that I sent the toffee?"
Inoue raised an eyebrow. "I told you about the two Brit guys, Fred and George Weasley who were having an exhibit here on the candies they had invented, remember? And I took you to their exhibit. How else could you have known about the toffees in the first place?"
Rukia knew she was right. But if she was going to tell Ichigo about this… well, as the author said, she didn't want to be on the receiving end of that superhuman strength he used to fight the hollows, did she?
"You. Are. Not. Going. To. Tell. Him. That. I. Sent. The. Toffee." said Rukia, one eye twitching.
"I won't if you answer my question," said Inoue in a sing-song voice.
Rukia considered this. If she didn't answer Inoue's question, she would remind Ichigo about that Toffee Incident, and she'd probably get beaten up (although Ichigo seemed to be in such a good mood these days… but you never know). On the other hand, if she answered Inoue's question, she could buy more time for the Toffee Incident. But would Inoue tell Ichigo about their conversation?
She'd just have to make Inoue promise not to tell him, that's all.
"Fine," said Rukia, relenting. "I do."
"You do what?"
"I do love him."
Inoue's smile widened. "You do love who?"
Then Rukia lost her temper. "Ichigo! I. Do. Love. Ichigo! I. Am. In. Love. With. Him! Happy?"
"Oh yeah," Inoue giggled. Rukia raised an eyebrow. Shouldn't Inoue be cowering in fear over her very dangerous self already? She certainly didn't look half as comical as Ichigo did with that absurd tongue of his…
"Hi, Ichigo!" Inoue's voice was extra bright and cheery.
Rukia snapped back into the present. "Huh?!" She whirled around. Ichigo was standing in the doorway, his arms folded. His face was expressionless. So that's why Inoue was so happy.
"What are you doing here?" asked Rukia.
"Well, it's my room, isn't it?" He looked over at Inoue. "Inoue, Karin said she needs you downstairs for something."
"Okay!!" Inoue replied brightly. "Bye Rukia!!!" she zoomed out of the room.
"INOUE!!! Come back here!!!" shouted Rukia, but Inoue was already downstairs.
There was an awkward silence between Rukia and Ichigo. Rukia was staring at the open doorway, but she knew that Ichigo was looking at her.
"Did you hear us talking?" she found herself asking.
A pause.
"Yes."
"How much did you hear?"
"Everything."
Another wave of silence passed them.
"Was it true?"
Rukia met his eyes this time. "Was what true?"
"What you said…"
Rukia knew perfectly well that he wasn't talking about the toffees, but she didn't answer. There was another uncomfortable silence. Then she stood up and started walking out of the room.
A hand closed on her wrist. Ichigo was holding her. "Rukia?" She remained silent.
"Do you love me?"
His words rang in her ears, echoing as though in a quiet cathedral. Then…
"Yes." Looking up, she saw he was smiling. And before she realized it, her eyes were closed and he was kissing her.
And she was kissing back.
They broke apart, blushing. Ichigo sighed and leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"Don't get me wrong… just because I love you back doesn't mean that I'm letting you off the hook for sending me that toffee."
Eye twitch.
A/N: Ah… sorry for the abrupt ending... and if the characters are also a bit OOC. I've only been watching Bleach for a short while so I haven't learned everything about them yet. Review? Please:)
Btw, the Ton-Tongue Toffee belongs to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes which belong to Fred and George Weasley who belong to the Harry Potter series which belong to JK Rowling which I borrowed. :D
Thanks.