Ichigo'd Tap That

by Paper Bullet

Ichigo, walking over to his desk and, sitting in it, wore his usual I-hate-the-world expression. It seemed lately that hollows had been filling all of his free time, and while he wasn't necessarily complaining, it was exhausting. Hell, he was an imitation Shinigami filling in for Rukia, a real Shinigami. Even if he had her powers, it still took a toll on him, both mentally and physically.

"Iiiiichigoo!" yelled Keigo, his brown hair flying back as he shoved past everyone in his way. He stopped abruptly in front of his orange-headed friend's desk. "Ichigo, you did the assignment right? Wait, of course you didn't! We're too cool to actually turn in work, right? Yeah!" He clapped his palm over Ichigo's shoulder, tears of joy running down his face as he held up a fist of power. "Hail the cool kids. Ha! You losers probably did it, huh?!" he asked obnoxiously as Orihime, Tatsuki, and Chizuru walked near them.

Chizuru snatched a pencil off a random desk and dropped it to the floor. It rolled past Ichigo's desk. "Oh no!" she feinted sadness, "My pencil has dropped! Be a dear, Orihime and pick it up, would you?" A fang pressed against her lip as she heard Orihime shout a cheerfully positive reply and walked over. Just bend down. Oh yes, she's doing it! Her boobs are still the best, but her legs--!

"What're you trying to pull!" Tatsuki yelled, driving a foot into the pink-haired girl's stomach. Her eye twitched, but to her dismay she was too late and nearly half the guys in the room turned to look at the backside of Orihime Inoue.

Ichigo turned his head away from Keigo in aggravation, staring past Orihime and sighing. "Keigo, you should set up a system where anyone who pays you gets to be left alone by you. Heh. I'd like a piece of that." Ah, he'd pay daily if it were an option.

Simultaneously, Rukia had walked in with her fake smile on, waving at the human students who greeted her. "Heh. I'd like a piece of that," she heard Ichigo say, and her head turned curiously in his direction as she approached him. Her violet-blue eyes traveled down his line of sight, watching as Orihime stood up with the pencil in her hand. She had to restrict a twitch in her mouth, for a smirk was desperately trying to claw its way to the surface. This was certainly interesting. Ichigo liked the school uniforms, did he?

"Oi, Rukia, where were you until now? I didn't see you, and--Rukia? Are you even listening to me?!" He frowned, his eyebrows rutting together. "Great, the one time I actually wanna strike up a conversation with her on my own accord and she isn't even listening." He would never understand Rukia. Ever since she had walked into his life--his window, actually--he knew there was something different about her. Perhaps it was because she was a Shinigami, and not a human, but something told him that she stood out in Soul Society, too.

The next day was here, and Rukia was still in her makeshift bed in Ichigo's closet. "Hey Rukia. It's time for school," he said casually, knocking on the door. "You're gonna be late."

"I'll meet you there, Ichigo," she replied in her normal tone.

Ichigo shrugged and left the house, making his way to Karakura High School, narrowly avoiding a few of his father's surprise attacks. Once he arrived, he greeted Tatsuki and Orihime, whom had arrived before him. Uryuu Ishida was there as well, and Ichigo slipped the short "hey" in passing. Standing near Chad, he leaned against his desk, waiting for class to start. There had been no hollows yesterday, to his relief, and he had had a good night's rest. But Rukia... She had been acting weird. He couldn't quite place it, but ever since yesterday's morning class, she seemed almost...off. He'd ask her about it later.

A rush of gasps, whistles, and howls went over the room, and Ichigo turned his head nonchalantly to see what was the source of the commotion. A few men (and Chizuru) were standing by the doorway, blocking his view as someone had apparently entered. Ichigo waited until the tiny raven-haired girl stepped forth, smiling deviously in Ichigo's direction.

He swallowed hard, his palms became wet an clammy, hot above the rush of blood, and his face flushed a noticeable red. "R-Rukia! What the hell?!" he shouted as she approached him. His eyes, without his consent, flickered down to her skirt. It had been cut neatly, so that it could be classified as a mini-skirt, hanging just barely low enough not to reveal the curves of her ass. But if she bent over...

"What?" She hadn't expected much attention from the other students, and wondered what the big deal was. Her joke had been directed toward Ichigo, intent on making him feel ashamed for thinking about poor Orihime like that.

Ichigo could feel the stares, without looking, on Rukia. This, for two reasons, was bad. One, Rukia was the last person that needed attention from his classmates. He didn't need anyone being suspicious of who she was or what she did. And two, for some reason, it irked him that other men were seeing as much leg as he was. He reacted reflexively, without thinking, and gripped the bottom of her skirt, trying to pull it down so that at least her upper thighs were covered.

"Idiot! What the hell are you doing?!" she barked, leaving her goody-two-shoes act behind her. She gripped the top of her skirt while stomping her right foot into his shin, trying to get him to back off.

Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed. "Put your leg down, idiot! Don't you see everyone's paying attention!"

"Ichigo Kurosaki!" called a strong, feminine voice.

Both Ichigo and Rukia looked over to the teacher, and instantaneously they knew how this looked. Ichigo's hands were on the bottom of her gray-colored, shortened skirt, while she tried to keep it at her waist and kick him aside. Ichigo closed his eyes in agitation. "Oh you're in for it later," he muttered dangerously, but emptily, to Rukia as he released her.

Orihime had been standing next to Tatsuki with wide eyes. "Kurosaki-kun... He and Rukia... Are really getting along! Huh Tatsuki?" she had asked with a genuine, oblivious, smile.

Tatsuki proceeded to shield the girl's eyes. "I never knew Ichigo could be such a pervert."

All the while, Ichigo glared at Rukia, knowing it had no effect on her. She probably didn't understand why what she had done was so shocking and attention-getting. If he knew her well enough, and he did, he would say that the thing going through her mind right about now was I can't believe I got Ichigo so good. Hahahahaha! I am indeed an evil midget who has no sense of human customs and unspoken rules! ...Okay, so he had trailed off at the end, but damn it, he was angry. He was angry at Rukia, for the most part, but also, there was something else... He felt almost smugness, as if it had rubbed off of Rukia and on to him. Maybe one day he could look back at this and laugh at it, but that wouldn't be until years and years and years later. Maybe when his orange hair was already graying and he needed a cane to walk was when him and Rukia could sit back and laugh about it.

And it didn't strike him until just then that he had subconsciously always assumed Rukia would be in his life until the day he died. He knew that she had a home--not his closet--and would leave his life forever one day...and yet... He knew that he wouldn't let that happen.

Author's Note: So I started thinking back to IchiRuki moments pre-SS arc (probably my favorite times) and was like, "Hey, when Rukia's all fighting in her gigai, that skirt is bound to ruffle a bit. Doesn't Ichigo ever get a peek?"

Thus, 'Ichigo'd Tap That' was born. ;) Just a random, fluff-ified, stupid little tidbit.