Okay so I actually wrote this a little while ago, and I'm just posting it now. It's probably going to be a oneshot thing, but I'm still not sure... Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Bleach because then Ichigo and Rukia would already be together and no one would know who the heck Kubo Tite is.

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A Totally Normal Date

"Twenty bucks."

"Are you drunk, Matsumoto fuku-taicho?" A twenty dollar bill floated in front of Rukia's face. Her dark eyes narrowed.

"Nope. You know, a lot of people would immediately take the cash."

"I'm not one of them."

"Come on! You're such a…a…" Matsumoto struggled to find a word and sighed in exasperation. "There's not even a word for you! You or him! You two—it's just—"

"Boring, blind, socially and romantically retarded? You've used all of those phrases and there's nothing wrong with being any of those, none of which can be used to describe us, anyway."

"See what I mean?!"

"No. Now can we stop talking about this? This 'Valentine's day' makes me nauseous." Rukia turned away and started walking, then slowed when she realized her friend wasn't following her.

"JUST TAKE THE CASH, RUKIA!! It's twenty bucks to go on a DATE!"

Rukia paused and looked at the bill in Matsumoto's hand. "Make it thirty plus a Chappy plushie."

"But—"

"Then I'm not going."

"You're really milking this, aren't you, Kuchiki?"

"Taking the time to go out on some blind date is waste of time. Think of everything I could be doing! Getting ahead on paperwork, taking care of Hollows..."

Matsumoto squinted and clenched her fist. "I swear, you're going to appreciate this someday," she said as she opened her bag and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Here."

Rukia took the money. "Where is this going to be, again?"

"Movies. You're going to see My Sweet Valentine. And don't gag, the movie's not that bad."

"My Sweet Valentine? Matsumoto fuku-taicho! Please!"

"Just enjoy it, okay? You need a break from all your hollow work."

Rukia stuffed the money into her pocket. "Who am I going with?"

For the first time during their conversation, Matsumoto's lip curved into a smile. "Ichigo."

Rukia froze in horror. "You didn't."

"I did."

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?! WE. ARE. JUST. FRIENDS."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You guys are gonna have an epiphany tonight and you're going to tell me all about it."

"Matsumoto." Rukia looked, well, flustered, agitated, and uncomfortable, to put it bluntly.

"At least you know each other, so it shouldn't be too awkward, right? It's not as bad as Kuchiki-taicho setting you up with a nobleman, correct?"

Rukia turned away and walked as fast as she could away to an area where she could hide her gigai easily and take out her frustration on hollows.

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The atmosphere was tense.

"Were you paid to come, too?" Ichigo saw Rukia walking over to him.

"Of course. Why else would I be here?" Rukia scoffed and turned her head, smirking at her so called "date".

"Same here. Matsumoto."

"How much did she pay you?"

"She was gonna give me twenty, but I got twenty-five out of her."

"Ha! I got thirty."

"Che. Maybe she thought you'd use the extra money to buy growth supplements."

"What was that?" Rukia turned her head to Ichigo and glared and grinned and acted evil all at the same time.

"N-n-nothing!" He scratched the back of his head nervously. She sure can scare the hell outta someone.

"That's what I thought!" Rukia smiled her sweet, fake smile at him. "Strawberry."

Ichigo's cheeks turned pink. "Don't call me that in public! He clamped his hand over her mouth and looked around quickly, searching for familiar faces as Rukia laughed her head off. "Stop laughing!" he whispered. "You're freakin' drawing attention to us!"

"It's hilarious every time!" Rukia paused to catch her breath.

"Shut up." Ichigo glared down at her, and they stayed that way for a while. To anyone else, it might have looked like they were gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. That is, until—

"HA! YOU BLINKED!"

"DID NOT!"

"Did too! Pay up!"

"I DIDN'T FREAKIN' BLINK!"

Again, they glared at each other. They sighed. "You're not going to pay up, are you?"

"Nope." They smiled.

And then they realized their position—his arm around her, his other arm awkwardly in front of her face after no longer having the need to stop her from saying embarrassing things—

"Do you mind?"

"Oh-uh—um, right." He awkwardly moved away from her and scratched the back of his head nervously, while Rukia looked at the ground, her face turning slightly pink.

"Besides, actually showing up is payment enough." Ichigo smirked at her and crossed his arms.

"Don't talk! I'm the one who's being seen in public with you!" Rukia crossed her arms and pushed her nose up at him. "Hmf."

"Then why did you come, anyway?"

"The money."

"You still didn't have to show up."

"Neither did you."

"You're being stupid."

"You're being an idiot."

"Whatever."

"Please tell me we're not actually going to see My Sweet Valentine. I think I'm gonna throw up if I hear the name one more time."

"No duh. Of course not. As if I'd be seen with you watching a movie like that."

"Ew. I don't wanna see that movie, let alone with you." She crinkled her nose.

"Unfortunately, Matsumoto already bought our tickets. But—"

"—we can sneak into a different one."

"Yup."

They walked up the stairs, quickly, all the while lying to themselves that the reason they were tense was because being so close to seeing such a disgusting movie could do such a thing.

Yeah, right.