Important!

This story is set 2 months before to "The Lost Substitute Shinigami" story arc.

Enjoy!

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Location: World of the Living

Place: Karakura High School

Time: Early Morning

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Kurosaki Ichigo sat by himself on the roof of his school.

"Aren't you going to class today?" Issida Uryu asked dryly.

"Fuck off," Ichigo said calmly.

His four-eyed friend pushed his glasses up to his face and sighed.

"You're going to fall behind further if you keep skipping," he tried to explain as he walked off.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Ichigo said sarcastically as the quincy disappeared and left him.

-o-

It was the beginning of first period, and most high school students were already inside of their class. They were sitting in their desks, getting ready to take notes for the day.

Well, most high students with the exception of one high school senior.

Kurosaki Ichigo was absent from class.

No, it wasn't because he was out chasing hollows… He had lost his soul reaper powers over a year and a half ago…

It was simply because he didn't feel like going.

He was well aware of the fact he was falling behind in his studies (even without Issida Uruyu reminding him), but he didn't care.

Just like he didn't care about the extra curricular activities he was involved in.

Just like he didn't care about his after-school job.

Just like he didn't care when his friends asked him what was wrong, or why he was acting so different.

Just like he didn't care what his deranged father had to say about the 'change' in his attitude.

-o-

No one as around.

Ichigo sighed in frustration as he leaned back on the railing.

No one could see him from below in his current "hiding" spot. It was the only quiet place he could think of in the whole damn school.

He felt agitated and restless.

Ever since he lost his powers, everything around him seemed to be moving so fast, but he felt like he was going in slow motion.

It was as if his whole world had suddenly stopped when he lost his soul reaper powers.

It was as if time had just stopped for him the moment Kuchiki Rukia disappeared from his eyes.

-o-

The permanent scowl on Ichigo's face deepened, and his eyebrows scrunched together at the thought of Rukia.

The petite soul reaper hadn't come to visit since then… Not one time

As least… not that he noticed, and it wasn't as if he would be able to see her even if she had appeared.

Thinking about the midget soul-reaper upset him, and his hands found themselves in his pockets.

Remembering what he had packed earlier, he pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.

Sure, he was technically still too young to smoke, but who gave a fuck? The stupid cashier at the convenience store where he purchased the cigarettes had been too intimidated by his looks to even ask him for an ID... And it wasn't like he was addicted or anything.

Smoking helped him take the edge off… Smoking was his way of dealing with the growing gap in his heart.

The packet of cigarettes was purple with "chappy" the rabbit printed on the front, and the lighter in his palm was blue.

Opening up the package, he stuck a single cigarette in his mouth.

He lit it without hesitation.

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Elsewhere.

Lieutenant of Squad 13, Kuchiki Rukia, wasn't exactly sure how it happened, or how she had ended up in her current location...

One moment, she' been sitting innocently in her office, shuffling through meaningless old files when Captain Ukitake showed up out of the blue. Her captain had complemented her for finishing her paperwork early and praised her diligence… Then, he suggested that she take the afternoon off…

And the next thing Rukia knew, she had ended up in the world of living.

-o-

Rukia made the decision unconsciously… She had done without getting clearance from a superior and without mentioning it to her own squad…

In short, She didn't have permission to be in the world of the living!

But instead of returning to the Soul Society and going back to her post (like she should), she had ended up at Urahara's shop. After exchanging a short greeting, she had purchased a brand new gigai from him (after arguing with him for several minutes when she learned he had discarded her old one).

"You were gone so long, I assumed you weren't returning, and I needed the extra storage space," the clogged bastard had said.

So now, here she was, in the world of the living, in a human-like body… making her way towards Kurosaki Ichigo's school.

-o-

As Rukia approached his school, she felt herself growing panicky, and more nervous. Butterflies flipped in her stomach.

It was a bad idea.

She knew it was a bad idea.

She wasn't even wearing a school uniform!

How was she planning to approach him?

Would it be all right to just burst into his classroom and drag him away? Besides…

What was she going to say to him?

"Hey Ichigo! Long time no see! Haha! I really missed you! Brother and Renji are fine. I love you baka! Guess what? I'm a lieutenant now!"

Rukia shook her head. No, that wouldn't do…

Besides, the strawberry wasn't a substitute soul reaper anymore… He didn't have any reiatsu left.

It wasn't fair to him to just show up and uproot his normal life! That was the reason she'd stayed away before…

Ichigo was just a normal human now…

She had already changed his destiny once when she originally transferred her soul reaper powers to him…

Should she really show up and disturb his peace?

What right did she have to step back into his life and complicate things?

Still, despite all of this, she marched on.

-o-

Luckily, Rukia snuck into Ichigo's human school undetected.

She followed the reiatsu of Ichigo's classmate's to find his classroom.

Once she got there, she stood on her tippy-toes to look over the glass of Ichigo's classroom door to try to find him.

But she couldn't see him…

No one in the classroom even noticed her except for Sado and Inoue.

Chad nodded his head in her direction in greeting. However, Inoue smiling widely and waved at her happily, causing Rukia to duck down when the teacher looked towards the door to try to find the source of Orihime's distraction.

After several moments, she peaked inside of the classroom one more time, disappointed to discover the carrot-top was absent.

As if sensing her disappointment, Issida Uryu discretely looked her way and pointed upwards towards the ceiling, up to the...

A light bulb flashed on inside of Rukia's mind and she understood. The roof!

She silently mouthed the words, "Thank you," to the dark-haired male and left.

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Ichigo closed his eyes and took a long puff of his cigarette.

It was already halfway gone.

"That's awful for your health you know," came the velvety-voice.

Ichigo shrugged it off; his mind often imagined Rukia's voice when he really missed her…

Still, he found himself answering the voice in his head out-loud, wishing it really were her and not his overly lonely imagination.

"As if I give shit," He retorted.

-o-

"Oh? Is that so? For someone who used to butt-heads with hollows, I've never known you to so blatantly reckless with your health, Ichigo." She scolded seriously, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well I guess I just like to live one the edge," he said sarcastically.

His sarcastic tone unnerved Rukia, and his next comment made her feel guilty for bringing the hollow thing up in the first place…

"And I can't exactly fight hollows anymore, can I?" he said coldly.

Opening his eyes, he saw Kuchiki Rukia standing in front of him.

-o-

His brown eyes opened wide in disbelief as he stared at the petite woman in front of him.

It was her… It was Rukia. Her hair, her face, and her eyes were exactly the same as he remembered. She wore a white lace button-down sleeveless top, a purple pleated skirt, and black heel shoes.

She looked beautiful.

-o-

He said her name aloud for the first time in over 15 months.

"Rukia." He choked out, almost spitting out his cigarette.

She stepped closer to him.

"Baka," she said with a grin.

-o-

Ichigo was still in shock.

"How come? When did? How is it that I can see you?" He asked, reaching up to rub his eyes in disbelief.

Could it be that-

-o-

"I'm in a gigai." Rukia explained, shattering all hopes he had that he had somehow magically regained his soul reaper powers.

"Oh," he replied lamely.

By this time Rukia was standing in front of him. She crouched down, being mindful of her short skirt.

She placed both of her hands on his knees and she spoke to him.

"Honestly Ichigo! The moment I stop checking up on you, look what you do! Skipping class and smoking! Just what are you thinking Ichigo?" she asked him angrily, glaring at him intently with her violet eyes.

"It's been almost a year and half now," Ichigo breathed out, completely ignoring her scolding.

He was looking down at her small hands on his knees.

He was still in awe at the fact she was there, in the flesh. Ichigo could see her, hear her, and even feel her.

-o-

Rukia gulped at his words, but then she remembered her anger, "Are you even listening to me? Are you going to spit that out and go back to class, or am I going to have to beat some sense into you?"she said as threateningly as she could.

Ichigo's reply flowed out smoothly.

"Keh! I'd like to see you try, midget." He said without faltering, daring her. He scowled at her further and he crossed his arms over his chest.

-o-

Kurosaki Ichigo really should've known better…

One should never, ever, dare Kuchiki Rukia.

Before he could blink, Rukia had stood up straight and delivered a hard kick to the side of his face, causing him to spit out the cigarette, launching it well over thirty feet away.

He groaned as he fell backwards on his back.

"Oi! Bitch. That really hurt!" he growled out.

Rukia laughed proudly. She triumphantly stepped on his chest with one foot and placed her hands on her hips in victory.

"You were saying, strawberry?" she said haughtily.

Ichigo cursed at her before looking up.

She was standing at an angle that was making her skirt ride up to her mid thighs. That, and she still had her foot on his chest, giving him a direct view up her miniskirt.

"Your panties match your skirt," he observed aloud, his brown eyes glued to the small, lacy material.

"EH?"

-o-

Rukia's face turned completely red at Ichigo's words.

Was this Ichigo, or Kon?

She stammered out a few non-coherent words before reaching down to adjust her skirt, trying to block his view of her underwear.

Distracted and embarrassed, Rukia didn't see Ichigo grin evilly.

In less than a second, he had reached out to grab a hold of her leg. He pulled her down to the ground, causing her to lose her balance and fall back hard on her ass.

-o-

She let out a pained yell as Ichigo sat back up and cackled loudly at her.

Her humiliation doubled and she snapped at him, "Y-you jerk!"

Ichigo couldn't even hear her over his own laughter. He reached out to pull her into his lap.

Rukia fought against his hold, punching and kicking at him as he placed her securely in his hold and wrapped his arms around her.

"I thought I would never see you again," he said with a heavy sigh as he pulled her close.

He carefully tucked her head beneath his chin.

-o-

Rukia stopped fighting against him as soon as she heard his words.

She let out a long sigh of her own and closed her violet eyes.

She pressed her cheek up against his chest. She could hear his heart beating steadily. It soothed her…

Her anger slowly dissipated and her hands wrapped around him.

She found herself wishing that the moment never had to end…

-o-

They both stayed like that in silence for several minutes, just happy to listen to the sound of each other's soft breathing and heart's beating.

It was Rukia who decided to finally break the position they were in. She needed to get off of him.

Her legs were on either side of his, and she placed her knees firmly on the ground. She shifted her weight to her knees, attempting to lift herself up to get off of Ichigo. As she was shifting positions, Ichigo's hold around her waist tightened.

She looked up to his soft chocolate eyes. She was overwhelmed by the look of pure adoration in his gaze.

Without wavering, she reached up and she kissed him.

-o-

Ichigo moaned as Kuchiki Rukia kissed him.

Because it was with Rukia, Ichigo decided that his first kiss was well worth the wait.

He resisted the urge to devour her lips and instead settled for exploring her mouth.

-o-

As the kissing progressed, Rukia pressed her body closer against him. Ichigo's hold around her waist tightened in response.

Finally, they pulled away for air.

Ichigo's eyes clouded over with lust. He was breathing heavily.

Rukia felt something stiff up against her thighs.

"You really have missed me, haven't you, I-chi-go?" she teased.

"Sshut-up!" he growled, blushing deeply. He was ashamed of his body's natural reaction to being so close to her.

The petite soul-reaper giggled and reached up to kiss his cheek.

"-I don't exactly have a lot of experience in this you know," Ichigo defended.

Rukia pulled away to look at him.

He was so embarrassed; he could hardly look her in the eyes! It was so cute!

"So why don't I teach you?" she suggested bluntly.

-o-

Ichigo's mouth hung open in disbelief.

"W-Wha?"

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Hello there, super-cool fanfiction readers!

This is part one of an ichiruki two-shot. Why? Because Ichiruki FTW!

The next chapter will have a lemon.

Until then: Follow, Favorite, and Review pretty-please!

On reveiews…. I always love to hear feedback from you guys, and criticism is accepted. If I make a mistake, I'll try my best to fix it.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank all the lovely folks who reviewed my last story, "Big News".

avvrilstar, missstampede, Player Zero, hinataellis, yagami rin, kuromi123, hunterofcomedy, HatakeHinata, Anon Guest #1, Anon Guest #2, Erzatscarlett, Xsamxp, tangune, RememberTheName76, kei, hikarijade13, zitag, ulqui's-girl, YukiMC, xvBANKAIxv, and darknarutoz2210.

You guys are amazing!

Take care,

~Lisa.