First Date, a bleach fanfic

First Date

IchiRuki One Shot

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. The only character I do own in this one is Dan and he's not important here.

Note: This is a story Airi wrote by herself because someone requested it. Not sure I'll do that again... Please comment or review at the end.

The constant rattle of a lone ceiling fan seemed to grow louder every passing second, or so it seemed to the group of people sitting around a table in Uahara Shoten.

"That's why I'm 50 sure Aizen will attack downtown Karakura," finished Hitsugaya after about two hours of discussing battle plans with Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Ishida, Matsumoto, Orihime, Chad, Uahara and the other employees of the shop. The room was stifling, being late July and midday. Tempers and the temperature alike were high; Ishida, for one, felt that Aizen's attack would happen further away from Ichigo's house, in the event that Aizen knew where that was. As the Quincy and captain argued more,

Matsumoto let out a sigh. This was mind numbing, wasn't anyone else bored? She looked around the table. Uahara watched the argument with mild amusement, Chad sat silently as ever, Orihime was fidgeting with the mat she sat on, and Ichigo stared at Rukia who had her hands folded on her lap and was staring blankly at them. "Hmm, interesting… I don't think I noticed that relationship before, but they seem so ignorant of it..."

"Beep-beep, beep-beep!" The four shinigami from the seireitei's phones went off causing everyone to jump.

"Two hollows," said Rukia checking her phone.

"On different sides of the city…" noted Renji.

"I'll take the one to the North!" exclaimed Ichigo standing up and running out of the room.

"I'll go after the other," said Rukia, also departing.

The noise had silenced the argument and once again the room was silent save for the clatter of the ceiling fan.

"That's so sad…" muttered Matsumoto, "They don't even see it."

"What's sad, Matsumoto-san?" asked Orihime.

"Ichigo and Rukia."

"Huh?"

"They like each other but neither of them will admit to it." Orihime thought about this for a moment, she knew she herself like Kurosaki and Tasuki possibly did as well, but Rukia? Well, that never really had crossed her mind.

"But… I thought Ishida liked Rukia?" Orihime looked at the Quincy.

"Rukia… is a friend, that's all," he replied.

Matsumoto laughed and leaned over to the reddish haired girl and whispered in her ear, "No, Ishida likes you."

A look of total shock crossed Orihime's face, as she looked Ishida in the eye. He quickly averted his eyes and turned a bit on the red side.

"Anyways, we need to help out Rukia and Ichigo!" Matsumoto declared.

"I don't think we should meddle in this," said Chad in his low voice.

"Aw, c'mon Chad! Ichigo needs our help in this!"

The large Hispanic man thought about this for a moment, "Okay."

"What?! Chad, do you really think this is a good idea?" asked Ishida, "I don't see how this really helps anyone."

Orihime spoke next, "But Matsumoto-san's right! Rukia needs our help!" She looked again at Ishida as she said this. As much as she'd rather be the one Ichigo was head over heals for, or at least as close as he got to that, she felt she needed to help Rukia, even if that meant giving up on part of her own dreams. "What should we do?" Orihime asked Matsumoto. "Alright, here's the plan."

Rukia sliced thought the hollow's head like it was made of butter. Just as she sheathed her sword and got back into her gigai, her soul-pager rang again. "Hello?"

"Hey! Rukia!?"

"Matsumoto? What's the problem?"

"Huh? Nothing, I just had an idea."

"What's that?" Rukia wasn't normally one to talk on the phone and this was the first time she could ever remember using this phone for such a casual purpose.

"How about we, meaning you, me and Orihime, get together for a little 'girls night out?'" Matsumoto didn't wait for an answer, "We were thinking about that new resturant down by the river front, the one with the dance floor! What was it called again… oh! 'The Cyclone'!"

"Uh, o-okay!" Rukia had barely processed half of what the lieutenant of tenth division had said.

"Great! Hold on a moment!"

Rukia heard Matsumoto set the phone on the floor.

"Did you get the table, Orihime "Uh-huh! Reservation all set! 8:00pm at the Cyclone!" she gave an army standard response full of enthusiasm and a quick salute to Matsumoto.

"Great!" she picked up the phone again, "Meet us out front of Uahara's shop tomorrow at, say, 7:00pm!"

"Okay!" said Rukia actually excited; for once in her life, or death, whatever, she was going out with friends!

"Oh! One more thing before I forget! Dress up a bit!"

"S-sure!" Rukia groaned in her mind, while she liked dressing up, this meant she'd have to go shopping for something.

Matsumoto hung up the phone, "Phase one part alpha complete!" she said and instantly regretted it; too much of the sci-fi sitcoms on Orihime's TV for her…

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow at her, also knowing the reference.

Quickly recovering from that, Matsumoto turned her attention to Renji who had his phone out already. She gave him a quick nod and he dialed Ichigo's cell number.

Ichigo was running back to Uahara Shoten still, having chased the hollow to the city limits before being able to destroy it.

"Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!"

Ichigo inwardly cursed whoever, he suspected Kon, had changed it to that stupid ring. Looking at the caller ID, he flipped open the phone, "Hey, Renji, what's up?"

"What do you say to going to that new restaurant tomorrow at 8 along with Chad, Ishida, and I?"

"That one, this is Japan, not the US, and two we're in the 2000's! Not the 1950's!" Renji was known to dress like a hippie and watch West Side Story and the like more time than anyone could call healthy.

"I know that!"

"Really?"

"I'm not an idiot!"

"Could've fooled me!"

"I'M NOT AN IDIOT!" yelled Renji into the phone, hanging up.

"Renji," protested Orihime and Matsumoto.

"Hmph," Renji grunted and shrugged, phone still in hand.

"Renji, may I borrow your phone?" asked Chad.

A few moments later, Ichigo's cell phone rang again. "Renji? Again?" the orange haired substitute soul reaper flipped open his phone. "What is it, Renji?"

"Ichigo? It's Chad."

"Oh! Chad!" Ichigo's rage subsided. "Are you seriously going with Renji's plans?"

"Uh-huh."

Ichigo sighed, "Fine. I'll go…" He seriously hoped he wouldn't come to regret this.

"What time and where?" Chad turned to Matsumoto, "He said he'd go," Chad placed a large hand over the receiving end of the phone to prevent Ichigo from hearing the tenth lieutenant's voice.

"8pm at 'The Cyclone', and tell him to dress nice!" she shouted.

"Ichigo? Still there?"

"Yeah," he responded, wondering if that voice he'd barely heard was Matsumoto's.

"Meet us at 'The Cyclone' at 8 tomorrow evening."

"Okay."

"Bye."

"See ya," Ichigo hung up wondering why all of that couldn't have waited until he'd returned. "Wait a moment, Ishida's going?!" something was definitely wrong with him if that happened. "I bet he'll call in sick."

The next day Rukia arrived at Uahara Shoten at exactly 7:00pm. It had only taken her a few minutes to explain to Ichigo that she was going out with Orihime and Matsumoto for the evening. Secretly, she'd wanted him to tag along, but he had other plans and that wasn't his style anyways.

Matsumoto and Orihime were waiting for her when she arrived. "Wow Rukia! Your dress is so pretty!" exclaimed Orihime, noting the sparkly deep violet dress Rukia was wearing. Yuzu and Karin had gone shopping with her earlier that day and had managed to find her the perfect dress. It had thin black straps and a black ribbon around the waist; the dress ran down to her ankles. Matsumoto greeted her fellow shinigami and wondered which one of Ichigo's sister's had the most influence on her dress choice. Orihime wore a simple pink flowery sundress while Matsumoto wore a very low cut black dress running faintly past her knees.

"Ready for some fun?" asked Matsumoto.

Rukia nodded.

"Let's go!"

Ichigo and Rukia hadn't discussed where they were going with each other save for "close enough to save the town." Kurosaki left his house after taking the time to put on his best pants and a decent shirt after his sisters insisted he dress up. He made the walk to The Cyclone by himself.

"Hey Ichigo!" Renji greeted him as he walked thought the shiny doors of the restaurant.

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief noticing that his friend wasn't dressed like a hippie or worse. Instead he wore black slack and a nice dress shirt that was the same color as his hair.

Ishida and Chad entered a few minutes later, both also wearing dressier clothes than usual.

"Alright! Everyone's here!" Renji walked up to the server behind the entrance podium. "We're all here now," he told the waiter.

"Great! Follow me!" he said and led them to a large table right next to the balcony dance floor. "Your server will be with you in a moment," the greeter left them and headed back to the front door.

"Well Renji, I'm surprised, it seems you've managed not to screw this up," remarked Ichigo.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Hey there dudes! I'm Dan and I'll be your server tonight," a dark haired guy with a dark tan interrupted, "Here are your menus. What would everyone like to drink?"

As the waiter took the boys' orders, Matsumoto led Rukia and Orihime thought the front doors. "Do you have a reservation?" asked the greeter.

"Yes, it's under Inoue and should be for 8:00."

The greeter flipped through the reservations, "Ah, yes, your friends are already here."

"Friends?" Rukia whispered to Orihime.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you!" Orihime had this cover story already worked out; "Renji, Chad, Ishida, and Ichigo wanted to come here and all the tables were booked, so I said we could all go together!" she smiled brightly.

Rukia looked around at the restaurant's inside as they were led to their table. Shiny black tables and fancy metal chairs were in organized clusters on a well-polished ebony floor. Brightly colored lights gently illuminated the area and became more potent on the dance floor.

Ichigo had just noticed the table had three empty spots at it, "Hey, are we expecting more people?"

"Kurosaki-kun! Hi!" called Orihime arriving at the table, she pulled out a chair and sat next to Ishida on the other side of the table.

"Orihime? Matsumoto? And Rukia?" Ichigo was shocked by the entrance of the three girls.

Matsumoto noted how Ichigo's eyes lingered on Rukia the most.

"Oh, sorry, forgot to tell you Ichigo, I had to book a table with Orihime, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten in!"

"It's okay."

Matsumoto and Rukia took the remaining seats at the table. "Good evening, Ichigo," Rukia said as she sat down next to him.

"Rukia, hello, uh… you look nice tonight," Ichigo felt a little awkward with the compliment, but Rukia's pleased smile reassured him.

Dan brought back drinks for the guys, "A coke, a mountain dew, a water, and another coke," he set the drinks down, "Am I right?"

"Yep," replied Renji before draining a third of his beverage. "And for the gals?" They ordered and Dan jotted down the order accordingly and passed a few more menus around the table. "I'll give you a few minutes to figure it all out."

Everyone looked over their menus. A few moments later the server returned with the other three drinks and everyone placed their orders. "Alright, food could be awhile, you're welcome to go to the dance floor while you wait; we'll call you when the food is ready," Dan walked away from the table to the kitchen.

"Hey that sounded like a good idea!" announced Renji, "Let's go!"

Since no one had a good enough reason not to go, the group of seven soon found themselves on the dance floor. It wasn't quite crowded yet and the music was still at the level the words could be heard at.

"So, how exactly do you dance to this stuff?" Renji asked his friends; he'd been expecting something between swing dancing or maybe some disco, not hip-hop.

"Like this!" Matsumoto joined the crowd where her seizure-like motions matched that of the crowds and looked quite natural.

"Really? That looks… awkward," noted Renji.

"I think that's the point," muttered Ishida, not much of a party-goer himself.

"Ah, whatever!" Renji joined Matsumoto and Chad, who had actually been the first one of the group to the floor.

"C'mon, Ishida!" said Orihime tugging on the Quincy's arm. After all, the goal was for this to be a date for the remaining two members of the group.

Matsumoto and the others danced their way to the other side of the room, purposely keeping the mass of dancing people in between them and Ichigo and Rukia. She smiled; everything was going according to plan.

"Uh, so, do you want to dance, Rukia?" Ichigo asked Rukia as she watched the crowd, fascinated. "S-sure! Looks easy enough!" she looked up at Ichigo with her crystal-violet eyes shining like her dress. The two entered the mass of dancers and soon let the beat carry them away. The dance floor got increasingly crowded and the volume of the music turned up to the level that only the bass could be heard.

At the end of one song a PA announcement was made, "Inoue! Yo mon! Your group's food is at your table!" They all walked back from the dance floor to their dinner.

Everyone was eating dinner and joking about this and that when three soul pagers went off. "A hollow…" muttered Rukia, two seconds later it vanished. She looked at Ishida to check he was still there.

"If it's only one, don't worry about it! My taicho decided he'd rather spend the night fighting hollows than having fun!" declared Matsumoto.

A few miles away, Toshiro Hitsugaya sheathed his sword and gazed up into the cloudless night sky. The stars were beautiful as was the moon, he decided. "Beep-beep! Beep-beep!" eh looked down at his soul pager. "Another one?" He smirked, "Guess I was right after all, Matsumoto," and ran off to the next location.

Back at the restaurant, dinner was being periodically interrupted by soul pagers and hollow alerts. "Two at once!" Matsumoto groaned, seeing they were once again on opposite sides of the city.

"I'll go."

"Chad? But, it's not your job!" protested Rangiku.

"It's okay, I'm the only one finished with dinner anyways."

"Oh, okay, if you insist."

"I do," Chad pulled out some money for the meal and a tip and exited the restaurant.

Fifteen minutes passed and now everyone else was finished with their dinners. Again the pagers went off. "Five?! What is going on out there?" asked Renji.

"I'll go find out!" declared Ishida.

"I'll go too!" Orihime followed him after they threw their share of the bill on the table.

"I guess I'll go as well," Ichigo began to stand up.

Matsumoto kicked Renji under the table gave him a vicious glare.

"Ow, uh, I mean, I'll go!" Renji stood up and returned her glare briefly; her kick had hurt, after all she was wearing some nasty heals on her shoes.

"Really, Renji? I thought you were the one who wanted to come here," Ichigo paused.

Matsumoto continued to glare at the lieutenant of sixth squad.

He looked away out towards a window, "Nah, I'm sure. Captain Kuchiki wouldn't be too happy with me if I slacked off while I'm here," he pulled out some money, for once he had some, and left it on the table. The red haired shinigami left without another word.

"Want to hit the dance floor again?" asked Matsumoto after the remaining three added the rest of the bill up and paid accordingly. Renji had been short by a small bit, but the three were able to pay it and appreciated the fact he'd attempted to pay the bill.

Just as they entered the dance floor, the soul pagers went off again; six lights flashed on the screen of Rukia's cell phone.

"Darn it, I really wanted to see the end of this," Matsumoto muttered under her breath.

"What?" asked Rukia; she hadn't heard the remark over the loud music.

"Nothing. I guess I'll go help the others."

"We'll come too!" said Rukia.

"No, stay here, we'll call you if we need back up," she dashed out before either Ichigo or Rukia could protest.

The two stood in silence for a while staring at the door. "That, was odd…" remarked Ichigo, "Seemed almost intentional to leave the both of us here…" he looked at Rukia. "Want to go dance again?" he asked, his mind on the verge of unraveling Matsumoto's plans.

Rukia nodded, her mind also approaching the same conclusions.

The two moved out on the dance floor and began to once again go with the harsh flow of the modern beat. However, the song soon ended and all was quite for a moment. "Hey everyone!" said the DG over the PA, "It's 11:00 now and that means it's slow dance hour for couples!" Ichigo and Rukia attempted to leave but found themselves further in on the dance floor when the music started.

"Um…" started Ichigo; he'd only slow danced a few times in his life before and those were moments he'd prefer not to re-live.

Rukia looked up at him questioning what actions he'd take. He didn't seem to be coming to a decision fast enough and Rukia felt like everyone was staring at them; being as they were the only couple not dancing. "Ichigo Kurosaki," she stated.

Ichigo looked at her in alarm; she almost never used his last name when talking to him.

"Are you going to ask me to dance?" her eyes sparkled now with the lights of the dance floor and Ichigo found himself temporarily lost in them. He nodded and took her hand in one and put the other on her back. Ichigo was grateful that the current song was very slow as he carefully led Rukia in a semi-waltz. After awhile they became comfortable enough to start talking. "Something about this whole night feels rather, set up," said Rukia at one point.

"If I had to guess who was behind this all I'd say Matsumoto," Ichigo sighed, he wasn't sure of how to feel about this. It was true he liked Rukia and he'd want to go on a date with her. He'd been planning on asking her at the right moment, but, okay, he'd admit it in his head once and only once; this wasn't bad for a set-up.

"Rangiku is known to do this kind of thing every now and then, so I guess we should count ourselves lucky."

"How so?"

"Since she had to leave, she won't be able to remind us of how badly we're dancing."

Ichigo smirked quickly, but Rukia caught it. "Yeah, truth is, I don't dance all that much, the only experience I've really had with this is the school dances in elementary school. I was always partnered with Tatsuki and I'd always end up stepping on her," Ichigo found himself telling Rukia things he hadn't planned on, things he found rather embarrassing. She listened to him and didn't make him feel at all uneasy. "What about you, Rukia, where did you learn to dance; you're quite good at it," Ichigo asked.

"Really? You think I'm that good?"

He nodded.

"I just learned… I guess, you could say this is my first time," she blushed.

They danced for awhile longer in silence, just going with the music. Neither one noticed when they slowed down even more and stopped and stood in place, staring into each other's eyes. Gravity seemed to pull them closer together; Ichigo leaned down and Rukia leaned up on her toes.

A beeping noise came from Rukia's purse.

Suddenly they were back in the moment. "Where is it?" asked Ichigo, looking at the blinking light on Rukia's phone.

"It's a strong one," she said becoming very serious, "and it's coming here!" Moments later the ceiling of the dance floor burst inwards. People ran screaming as glass and other debris fell.

"That's right! Run, pathetic worms!" a male voice, thick with a Spanish accent, yelled.

Rukia released herself from her gigai as Ichigo used his substitute badge to get to his soul reaper form. The clash of metal rang out as Ichigo's sword met the newcomer's arm.

"An arrancar," gasped Rukia, staring at the white uniformed attacker. He was a little taller than Ichigo, had green-blue hair, and his mask fragment jutted from the left side of his face.

"Who are you?" yelled Ichigo as he pushed back his attacker.

"Ah, how rude of me," the arrancar dusted himself off. "I am Arturo Plateado, but in the end it doesn't matter. Prepare to die, worthless shinigami!" he summoned a bolt of burgundy power laced with black lightning and swung at Ichigo. He dodged and managed to attempt a slash to the arrancar's side. "Peh, seems I need to use more power than I'd expected," Arturo arched his back as green and yellow energy materialized into a brilliant pair of wings.

"Wings?!" Ichigo wasn't' expecting that, not that it made much of a difference; all shinigami and arrancar could gain traction in the air.

Rukia saw her chance as the arrancar had his back to her. She released a large blast of kido fire and it hit Arturo straight on.

"Pathetic," he sneered, spinning on his heal to face her. The arrancar rushed over and drove his energy sword into Rukia before either of the shinigami could blink. Rukia flew from the ground upwards slamming hard into the wall behind her.

"Rukia!" yelled Ichigo.

The black haired shinigami didn't respond.

Ichigo glared at Arturo fiercely as his own spiritual pressure doubled, "Bankai!" The orange haired shinigami's large blade thinned to a smaller black one.

Arturo smirked, "You still think you can defeat me?! Not even Soul Society's top prison can retain me!" he laughed.

Ichigo scowled and threw a black wave of power from his sword at Arturo, who blocked it with one hand. "Is that it?" he mocked, throwing his own bolt of energy at Ichigo, but he was no longer there. "What?" Arturo exclaimed.

"Behind you," Ichigo said before running the arrancar through.

"I-impossible! I-I'm fading! No!!" Arturo screamed as he vanished.

"Well, that was easier than I expected…" muttered Ichigo, wondering why all of his opponents couldn't be this easy.

"Good job, Ichigo," Rukia walked up behind him.

"Rukia!" You're okay?"

"Yes, no thanks to you."

"Oh, he looked away, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, you knew what was more important at the moment. Besides, I'm strong too! I can fight; I just underestimated his power," she also looked away.

"Actually, I was on my way over to you, I just had an arrancar in the way."

"Oh, really?" Rukia smiled looking up at him.

"Yep," he leaned down again.

"Okay then, I forgive you," she whispered before their lips met.

"Oh my god! A dead body!" yelled a random girl, pointing at Ichigo's hastily discarded body.

Ichigo sighed and Rukia laughed. He ran back to his body and re-entered it. "I-I'm okay!" he yelled, assuring people he really was.

Rukia returned to her gigai, she had used a mod soul, with a high five and rushed over to Ichigo and helped him off the ground.

"Wow… really trashed the place, didn't he?" Ichigo and Rukia along with the remaining people stared at the large hole in the ceiling before the manager shoed everyone out.

"Well, that was… fun!" said Rukia, after searching for the right word.

"Yeah, it was," agreed Ichigo, "We should do this again sometime."

"Sure, but I'll pass on the arrancar battle," Rukia laughed.

"Right, just tell Soul Society to lock their prisons better." They laughed for a bit and paused as if to go separate ways, but then realized they lived in the same house. Once more they found themselves staring into each other's eyes.

"Next weekend sound good?" he asked.

"Sounds wonderful."