Rain gently splattered the window of the small, darkened apartment. Shiro sat quietly on the couch, staring off into space. He had been to busy thinking about the argument with Ichigo to notice the apartment had gotten darker.

He and Ichigo had been dating for nearly eight months and had been living together for five of those months. During those months, Shiro had introduced Ichigo to his adoptive father Zangetsu. So naturally, Shiro wanted to be introduced to Ichigo's family.

Ichigo had said no, saying he didn't think it was the right time to meet his family. Unfortunately Shiro decided to push the issue but Ichigo still refused. The disagreement started to turn heated and soon they were yelling insults at each other. Then Shiro said the thing he regretted the most and what had made Ichigo walk out of the apartment.

"Ya just don't want me ta meet them because you're ashamed of us!"

They both stopped at that point and stared angrily at each other. Then with out a word, Ichigo grabbed his jacket and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Shiro had stood staring at the door for nearly half an hour after that before sitting down on the couch and he had been there ever since, his anger completely drained. He knew Ichigo wasn't ashamed of them being together, he just wasn't sure about how his family would take it.

He turned to look out the window, a slight pang of worry in his stomach. This hadn't been the first fight that had caused Ichigo to walk out. He did it to cool down and usually he was back with in the first hour, but it had already been over two and half hours. Shiro wondered if he wasn't back because he was staying out of the rain or if it was because he really upset Ichigo that much.

With a sigh, Shiro left the room to get a jacket. Once he found a jacket and put it on, Shiro grabbed an umbrella before leaving the apartment.

The rain made a constant tapping noise as it hit the umbrella. He started off down the sidewalk. The road was deserted except for the occasional car that would speed by and send a small wave of water up onto the sidewalk.

After a walking a few blocks he came to his destination, a small flower shop on the corner. The woman behind the counter looked up from her magazine and smiled before returning her attention to it.

Shiro slowly walked around the shop, examining the different potted plants and bouquets. When he had looked at almost all the arrangements, he saw one that caught his eye.

A small bouquet of baby' breath, forget me not, and orange and white daisies; all of which were surrounding two red carnation in it's center. The flowers were placed in clear, glass vase with a red ribbon tied around it.

He picked it up to get better look at it and he grinned. Perfect.

He started to take it to the counter but something on a display of treats caught his attention. A package of half a dozen cupcakes sat on the top shelf of the display. Shiro immediately thought back to the day he meet Ichigo.

He had been in a bakery somewhere in the upper part of town. The bakery was well known for it's chocolate cupcakes and so he had decided to buy one. Luckily he was just in time to buy the last one.

Ichigo had come in a minute later with a shorthaired blond girl, intending on buying the very same cupcake for her. When the clerk had told him they were out, he had gotten very disappointed. Fortunately for him, Shiro had been in a good mood that day, so Shiro simple handed him the cupcake.

It was worth it to see the surprised look on Ichigo's face. He immediately started offering to pay Shiro for it but he just laughed and said it was fine. Ichigo would have continued bothering him until he was allowed to pay him back but the girl (who turned out to be his sister) stopped him and politely thanked Shiro.

Shiro smiled at the memory and started to debate with himself about whether he should buy the cupcakes or not. After a minute of indecision he decided against it. He wasn't even sure Ichigo remembered the incident in the bakery. The next time they meet it had been over a month later, and even after that it took several coincidently run-ins, a few not so coincidently run-ins, and one unexpected kiss before they even started dating.

He set the flowers on the counter. The woman smiled sweetly at him, "Buying flowers for your sweetheart I see?"

Shiro grinned. "Well I'm trying to make up with them at the moment."

The woman giggled as she rung up the price. "I don't think that will be to hard with beautiful flowers like these."

He picked up the flowers and shrugged. "I guess we'll see what he thinks."

The woman looked a bit confused but smiled anyway. "Good luck."

Shiro exited the store and started walking the few blocks back to the apartment. The rain had lightened slightly but continued to make tapping noises on the umbrella. When he was almost back at the apartment he saw someone walking from the opposite direction. His pace sped up slightly, even soaking wet that hair was still a vibrant orange. As he got closer he could see Ichigo was completely drenched.

Shiro immediately moved the umbrella to cover Ichigo as soon as he was close enough. Ichigo let himself be covered by it but refused to look at Shiro. Shiro frowned but didn't say anything. Then he noticed that Ichigo was holding something underneath his jacket.

Before Shiro could ask what it was they reached the apartment door. Ichigo opened the door and immediately headed for the kitchen. Shiro put the umbrella away before following.

Ichigo stood waiting in the kitchen and frowned at him. He still had whatever it was hidden underneath his jacket.

"Look Ichi, I didn' mean any of what I said. I . . ." Damn, he hated apologizing because he was horrible at it. "I'm an idiot. I shoulda listen when ya said no an I'm sorry. Can ya forgive me?"

He held out the flowers to Ichigo as a token of his apology.

Ichigo continued to look at him for minute before his gaze softened. He used his free hand to take the flowers out Shiro's hand and set them on the table. The other hand took the mysterious item out from inside his jacket. The item turned out to be a white paper bag with small logo on the front that Shiro instantly recognized. It was logo of the bakery where they first meet.

Ichigo reached into the bag and pulled out a chocolate cupcake. He handed it to Shiro before pulling one out for himself.

Shiro raised an eyebrow as he took the cupcake and stared at it. The bakery was on the other side of town; no wonder Ichigo had been gone so long. "Ya went all the way ta the side of town for cupcakes?"

He looked down at his own cupcake, a light blush forming on his cheeks. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and when I calmed down enough to see where I was," He paused, his blush deepening. "I was halfway to the bakery."

"Well, I think it was sweet of ya." Shiro leaned forward to give Ichigo a gentle kiss but he frowned and pulled back when he felt how cold Ichigo's lips were. He moved a hand to cup Ichigo's cheek, which was just as cold. Though it shouldn't have been a surprise, considering he had been in the rain for a few hours. "Yur freezing, go get changed before ya catch a cold."

"Fine." Ichigo turned to leave the room to change out of his soaked clothes but stopped at the doorway. "Oh, and before I forget, we're going to visit my family this weekend."

"But Ichi, we don't have ta go if ya don't want to." Shiro felt like he had guilt tripped Ichigo into it.

"Well, I kinda already called them and told them were coming." Ichigo grinned at him. "Besides, I want you to meet them."

He left the room to change his clothes, leaving Shiro alone with his cupcake. After a moment he took a bite of it. It was amazing; it was a wonder how they packed so much chocolate into it. It was so sweet.

Though, in Shiro opinion, Ichigo was much sweeter.

-AUTHOR'SNOTE-

ah, that was sappy. and yes the cupcake thing is over used but i'm to lazy to think of something different, oh well.