"Way to go, Rukia! You got the lead role!"
"I did? Let me see!" Rukia said, gently pushing Orihime out of the way.
"See? It's right there, Rukia Kuchiki as Juliet! I'm so jealous!" Orihime said.
"How is that possible? My audition was terrible!" Rukia said.
"Apparently not, Rukia. That's a tough role to land. How'd you do it?" Tatsuki asked.
"I have no idea…" Rukia said.
"Um…Rukia?" Orihime squeaked.
"What is it, Orihime?"
"You didn't happen to see who got the role of Romeo…did you?"
"No, who is it?" Rukia asked.
"You better come see for yourself." Tatsuki said with disbelief.
Rukia turned and walked over to the casting list to see who her love interest was being played by. When she read the name, her entire body froze, her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened.
"No way…" she said. "That's GOT to be a mistake!"
"Yo! Ichigo!"
"What is it, Keigo?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to congratulate you!"
"For what?"
"For scoring the lead role in the play!"
"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked irritably.
"You got the main part, dude! You're Romeo!"
"You serious?" Ichigo asked.
"Absolutely! Who knew our little Ichigo could act!" Keigo teased.
"Shut up, Keigo. I just got lucky."
"Oh-ho! I still haven't told you the best part! Wait until you see who's playing your beloved Juliet!"
"Who is it?"
"Why it's none other than the lovely Rukia Kuchiki!" Keigo said excitedly.
Ichigo stopped. "R-RUKIA?"
"Yes sir, Rukia Kuchiki. You lucky dog you! I'm so jealous!"
"Oh no, this is bad! Really bad!"
"How is this bad? You get to kiss her, dude! You should be jumping for joy!"
"That's exactly WHY this is bad!" Ichigo shrieked.
"Ichigo is playing Romeo?" Rukia asked with shock.
"Aw, now I'm even more jealous!" Orihime whined.
"You know what that means, don't you Rukia?" Tatsuki asked.
"NO! NO WAY! I'M NOT KISSING ICHIGO!" Rukia said loudly.
"You don't really have much of a choice, Rukia." Tatsuki said.
"I'll just give up my part!" Rukia exclaimed.
"It's too late for that; this is the final casting list." Orihime said.
"This is bad. This DEFINITELY isn't good." Rukia whined.
"I can't kiss Rukia! It'll be so weird!"
"What's the matter with you, Ichigo? Most guys would kill to be in your place!"
"But! Rukia and I are friends! I can't kiss my friend! That's like me kissing you!"
"W-WHA?" Keigo exclaimed, taking a few steps away from Ichigo.
"I'm not kissing you, you idiot! I'm trying to make it so that your tiny brain can understand what I'm going through!" Ichigo explained.
"Ichigo, take it easy! A kiss is not a big deal when you're acting. It's almost as if it's not even real." Keigo said.
"What do you mean, of course it's real!"
"You're hopeless, Ichigo!" Keigo said, as he turned and walked away.
"Hey! Wait! Keigo, I'm serious, help me out here!"
"Forget it; you're on your own now!"
"Some friend you are!" Ichigo scowled.
"What am I going to do, guys?" Rukia asked desperately.
"Just do it and get it over with." Tatsuki suggested.
"Are you sure? I've never done this before…" Rukia admitted.
"Just relax, kissing someone when your acting is completely different than actually kissing them."
"Yeah, Rukia. Just keep telling yourself that you're just acting and it'll be okay!" Orihime said happily.
"Well…okay. As long as you guys are sure about this." Rukia said nervously.
"Trust me, it'll be over before you know it." Tatsuki said.
"You can do this!" said Orihime.
"I sure hope so…" Rukia muttered to herself.
Ichigo lay back on his bed with his eyes closed and sighed. His day at school was fine, until Keigo informed him of his newly administered fate. The thought of kissing Rukia made him nervous. It was one thing to kiss her, but to do it in front of all those people? What would his dad think once he found out? This was a nightmare, a total and complete nightmare.
It's not like he hadn't thought about kissing Rukia before. He'd thought about it several times, but never had toe courage to do it. Now, he was being forced to kiss her, and there was nothing he could do about it. It had to be done, and after a few minutes of thinking, he had accepted it. His thinking was soon interrupted by the sound of knocking on his door.
"Come in," he said.
"Um…Ichigo? Can we talk about something?" Rukia asked, half hiding behind his door.
"Does it have to do with the play?" he said.
"Yeah, it does." She replied.
"Well, get in here. I don't want my dad to hear." He said to her.
Rukia closed the door behind her as she walked into the room.
"Alright, what is it?" Ichigo asked as he sat up to allow Rukia to sit on his bed.
"It's just…I'm not sure I'm comfortable with what we have to do." Rukia said quietly, taking a seat next to him.
"You mean the kiss?"
"Yeah…that."
"To be honest, I'm not comfortable with it either." Ichigo said quietly.
"You're not?"
"Well, no, not entirely. You're one of my best friends, and I don't want something like that to ruin our friendship." He said.
Rukia smiled, "I'm glad you feel that way, Ichigo. I feel the same way. But there's no way around it, so…what are we going to do?"
"What can we do?" Ichigo asked.
Rukia paused before speaking. "Well, there is one option."
"And what is that?"
"Now don't freak out, it's only a suggestion."
"Out with it, already!"
"Maybe we should try kissing, that way we'll be use to it by the time the play comes around." Rukia said shyly, her cheeks turning bright pink.
"You really think that'll work?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"I don't really know. What do you think?" she replied.
"I guess it's worth a shot." He said.
"Okay, on the count of three, we lean. Ready?"
"Not really…" Ichigo said nervously.
"One…two…three." She counted.
The two slowly leaned toward each other, inching closer and closer until finally their lips met. A few seconds passed, and the two broke apart, their cheeks a bright red color.
"That was…"
"Weird." Ichigo said.
"I agree." Said Rukia, hiding her face.
"Maybe…we should try again?" Ichigo suggested.
"Okay…but only if you think it'll help." Rukia said.
Ichigo laughed, "We won't know until we try."
Again, the two moved closer until their lips met, only this time they held it for a little longer before breaking apart.
"Well?" Rukia asked, biting her bottom lip.
"I still think it's weird." Ichigo said.
"Maybe we should try to get out of this." Rukia said.
"What? No! Why?"
"We can't do this without it being weird. Maybe we'd be better off trying to get replacements." Rukia explained.
"Rukia, wait, don't do that." Ichigo said sternly.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to kiss a replacement. If I'm going to kiss anyone, I want it to be you, and no one else." Ichigo admitted.
Rukia blushed. "You don't mean that."
"Are you serious? Of course I do! Rukia, look at me," He said, placing his hand on her cheek. "Let me show you how serious I am."
Ichigo leaned forward and placed his lips on hers, kissing her gently, yet passionately. He felt her body relax under his hand and continued to kiss her soft lips. After a few minutes, he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers.
"Do you believe me now?" he said, staring into her eyes.
"Not entirely." She teased, placing her hand on his cheek.
"Then I'll just have to keep kissing you until you do." He said with a smile, leaning in to kiss her once more.
"I won't stop you," Rukia replied.
"Good. Then this won't be so weird anymore." Ichigo replied, placing his lips on Rukia's once more.