Strawberries
It'd started as a joke, leaving out anything that had anything to do with the fruit. Whether it be his shampoo, a clock, or a shirt. But after awhile, it became more of a challenge, and she just had to get the real prize. Rukia-Ichigo Three-shot.
Disclaimer: Bleach, not mine.
Part 1 Beach Trip?
A quiet chuckle and a wink before she left the room was all the girl left to him, leaving the boy staring at his bedroom door in confusion and curiosity. Had there been a laundry basket under her arm? And why had she winked? Thoughts along these lines ran through the boy's head as he stared at his door. Sighing, he closed his door and walked over to his bed before dropping himself on the new sheets. Wait…new sheets?
Sitting up, and staring down at his bed, Ichigo raised an eyebrow towards the sweet smelling blankets, and then glanced back towards the door. Did she…Leaning down a bit, the teen sniffed the sheets, and sat back up quickly with a disgusted look on his face. Strawberry scented detergent. Glaring at the bed, Ichigo stood from his bed and began to walk towards his bedroom door, the anger swelling inside his head ordering him to find the black haired girl and give her a piece of his mind. But, passing his dresser, he noticed one of the drawers was open just a crack.
In any other boy's room, the occupant probably wouldn't notice something as trivial as an opened drawer. But Ichigo was very strict and articulate with himself. Everything had to be in it's place in his room, he couldn't stand it cluttered. So seeing a drawer cracked open really made him begin to suspect a hidden agenda that the female soul reaper was holding against him. But, the most horrifying part about the whole drawer-business was that it wasn't just a drawer. Oh no, this drawer was not the top drawer, or the bottom drawer, or just a drawer. It was the second drawer. It was the drawer, the drawer that only he should be opening and closing, taking from and returning. The second drawer…was his underwear drawer.
Walking over to his dresser, Ichigo gulped, his brown eyes narrowed to slits. Reaching out slowly and hesitantly with his right hand, he grasped the small handle, and slowly pulled the drawer towards him, revealing what lay hidden within the confines of his underwear drawer.
A bloodcurdling scream sounded through out the house, and probably down the street as well. It was then followed by a howl that sounded much like the name: Rukia, but the noise was so disfigured, who knows what was really said? Anyway, back to our story.
Backing away slowly from his dresser, Ichigo fell to his bum on the floor, breathing heavily, his face red from anger…and embarrassment. For what lay in the second drawer was one of the worst things that could ever have been there. What? You may be wondering, well, I'll tell you. Pink underwear. All of Ichigo's undergarments had been replaced by pink undergarments…with strawberry prints.
"Rukia…" Ichigo hissed through his teeth, the name sounding like a poison on his tongue.
"Ichigo, what's wrong!?" two younger voices asked from behind his door; though one sounded concerned while the other sounded like she couldn't care less.
Looking over towards his door, Ichigo stood up and walked towards his door, nearly pulling it off its hinges when he opened it.
"Yuzu, Karin, do either of you two know where Rukia went off to…Hey, why are you wearing bathing suits?" the boy asked, interrupting himself to stare down at his two younger siblings with curiosity.
Yuzu gave him a blank gaze, before asking, "You mean Rukia didn't remind you? We're all going to the beach today! Your friends from school are coming too!" the blonde cried excitedly as Karin shook her head slowly.
"The beach?" Ichigo mumbled, looking totally lost. "Wait, remind me!? What are you talking about!?" Ichigo shouted in confusion.
"Calm down will you!?" Karin asked in an annoyed tone. "Dad told you last week we were going to the beach today. I can't believe you forgot…" Karin mumbled to herself.
"Dad told me? I don't remember that…" Ichigo mumbled, raising an eyebrow.
"Well anyway, we're going in five minutes, so you better get ready." Yuzu declared in a surprisingly demanding tone. "I want to burry Dad in the sand before the tide comes in…" Yuzu explained, rubbing her hands together much like a fly with a half crazed look in her eyes, acting very out of character. "And if we're even a minute late leaving," Yuzu added, turning to give Ichigo a cold stare, "I'll do something very terrible to you," she stated, before hunching her back and chuckling maniacally as she shuffled away. She was still acting very out of character.
"Um…is she all right?" Ichigo asked, curious and a little concerned.
"She must have gotten into the sugar bowl by accident, again…" Karin grumbled, now having to find a new hiding place for the sugar bowl.
"You mean to tell me it's you who's been hiding the sugar!?" Isshin demanded from down the hallway.
Looking out into the hall, Ichigo felt his heart stop for a few moments. His father, who stood only a few feet down the hall, had just become one of the most disturbing sights he'd ever seen in his life. And he'd seen some pretty disturbing Hollows before. His father was wearing his swimsuit…if you could really call it that…He was really just wearing a red Speedo…which is pretty much the closest thing to a man-thong you'll ever find.
"Oh dear God…" Ichigo and Karin both uttered, sourly having been blinded by the sight of their father.
"What's wrong with you two? You look like you just watched some badly put together Horror/Gore flick, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre…" Isshin said as he eyed his kids.
"Uh…um…uh…" stammered the siblings, not able to form coherent words.
Sighing, Isshin stopped staring at his kids, and instead looked at his son's clothes.
"Ichigo, why aren't you dressed yet? We're leaving in five minutes! You swimming trunks are in your bottom drawer, now hurry up and change." the man ordered with a grin, reaching out and pulling Karin with him down the hall. "Come on, Karin, we need to help your sister and Rukia pack our lunch! We'll need to have a lot of food for all you crazy kids!" Isshin shouted out in his optimistic tone.
Karin only continued to babble gibberish and twitch her left eye.
Turning back into his bedroom, Ichigo stared cautiously towards his bottom drawer. He didn't know, nor like, what was going on, and was guessing that what was in the bottom drawer would only cause more trouble. Nonetheless, he didn't trust his little sister's out-of-character state of mind, so he decided to hurry up and get changed into his trunks. Walking over towards the dresser, he decided to forget about the underwear incident for now, and opened the bottom drawer, not really sure of what else he kept in there. But, alas, the soul reaper struck again, and a second bloodcurdling scream filled the house.
Trudging into the kitchen loudly, the Kurosaki family and the female soul reaper looked up as Ichigo entered, looking sullen and very, very angry. Turning his head towards the black haired teen, Ichigo glared at Rukia, who merely raised a hand and smiled in greeting. She was acting out of character as well, but it didn't really matter at the moment. There were more important things to discuss.
"Rukia…I need to talk to you…outside…" Ichigo croaked out, his brown eyes narrow, and Rukia could've sworn she saw one of them twitch.
"Sure, be right there." she called, placing a plastic wrapped container into a large cooler before following Ichigo out of the house. "What?" she asked sweetly once outside.
"Rukia…I've noticed you've been acting strange lately…is there something you're trying to tell me?" Ichigo asked, his voice teetering on the edge of sounding dangerously insane.
"Why, whatever do you mean by that?" she asked, looking innocently curious. Too innocently curious.
"Well, you replaced all the soap in the bathrooms with strawberry scented soap, you replaced the old oven mitts with strawberry-printed ones, you got Dad into getting that new shower curtain with the strawberries on it, you've gotten Yuzu to make something with strawberries in it these past few weeks at least seven times, you replaced the toothpaste with that strawberry-flavored stuff, my alarm clock is now a giant plastic strawberry, you replaced my shampoo with Strawberry Cream shampoo, and you're wearing sandals with strawberries printed on them. Are you sure nothing's going on you should tell me about?" Ichigo asked after listing the afore mentioned things.
"You forget about the strawberry egg timer…" Rukia added with a smile.
"I rest my case…" Ichigo mumbled, starting to get a little weirded out by Rukia's strange behavior.
"Oh, and one more thing!" Ichigo cried out, just remembering something. "What with these…"
"Hey, Kurosaki, what's with the strawberry-print swim trunks?" a voice from behind them asked.
Ichigo turned to look over his shoulder, and saw Chad, Orihime, Tatsuki, and Uryu all standing behind him. Uryu was staring at Ichigo's swimming trunks in confusion and amusement, and the others also seemed to be averting their eyes to the ground or sky while holding grins on their faces.
"Ask her…" Ichigo replied dryly, jabbing his thumb in Rukia's direction.
Looking over at Rukia, Tatsuki raised an eyebrow and Orihime dropped her smile a bit.
"Hey, Rukia, why aren't you wearing your swimsuit?" Orihime asked curiously.
"Oh, I am. I just want to wait till we get to the beach before I take this off," Rukia explained while pointing to the terrycloth dress she was wearing.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense…I was so excited about going, I just came here in just my bathing suit!" the long haired teenager burst out with, jumping up and down to show her excitement.
Her actions also caused the twins to bounce cheerily, seemingly barely held in the pink and white striped one-piece she wore, or was it a two piece? Ichigo couldn't necessarily tell at the moment.
Tatsuki reached over and put a hand on the girl's shoulder to stop her jumping. Tatsuki was wearing a white t-shirt over her own suit, which was a navy two-piece with a top much like a tube top, and tight swim shorts. Chad was wearing a white tank-top with red swim trunks which had an orange hibiscus pattern. Uryu wore azure swim trunks with white lining around the waist and down the sides. He was also wearing an unbuttoned light blue shirt. And now that the descriptions are over, we can continue.
"So, you all ready to go yet?" Tatsuki asked with an eager grin.
"Of course we are! We've been ready! Now everyone get in the van!" Yuzu shouted in a slightly high pitched voice as she marched out of the house dragging the very large cooler behind her as though it were nothing.
Isshin and Karin followed, Karin carrying a large beach bag and towels while Isshin carried a large umbrella under his arm, along with a smaller cooler in his hand and a second beach bag.
"All right kids, are you all ready to go!?" he called enthusiastically.
"Um…Dad, how are we all supposed to fit in the van? There's nine of us, and only seven seats…" Ichigo asked, not really concerned but still a bit dazed and flustered.
"There's eight if you pull the seat up between the two middle seats." Rukia chimed in.
"That leaves one seat missing still…" Ichigo droned.
"Everyone get in the van!" Yuzu shrieked, standing by the said vehicle. "And I call shot gun!" she added, before jumping into the van after pulling the front passenger door open, only to slam it shut behind her.
"We'll fit in there somehow!" Isshin called optimistically, heading towards the van, and putting the coolers in the back, along with the umbrella and beach bags.
"Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Ichigo asked sullenly as the teenagers headed towards the silver vehicle.
"Ichigo, I got you a new towel too! It matches your swimming suit!" Rukia called as she and the girls got into the van.
Ichigo cursed colorfully, but silently, as he and the other two boys walked over to the van. He really didn't want to get in, but Uryu seemed to shove him into the middle seat against the left window before he and Chad got in. The muscled teen shut the van door, and settled in the seat by the right window, while Uryu decided to get a little more space, and pushed Ichigo up against the left window. As Isshin started up the van, and began pulling out to the roadside, he reached forward, and turned on the radio. Emotion by Rei Tanaka began playing, full blast through the van's speakers.
"I love this song!" Orihime and Yuzu cheered happily, enjoying the upbeat and happy sounding rhythm of Rei Tanaka's voice.
Isshin grinned widely and began bobbing his head, much to Ichigo's horror.
"I like it too! Nice and energizing!" he shouted.
The boys, Rukia, and Tatsuki only covered their ears as best they could, and watched as Yuzu and Orihime happily cheered to the music. Glancing down to Karin who was squished in between her and Orihime, Rukia noticed the black haired girl was bobbing her head to her CD player, the headphones over her ears emitting a sound much more welcoming, and darker, than Emotion. Rukia narrowed her eyes in jealousy for a moment, but sighed in defeat, and removed her hands from her ears. It was useless, the sound was everywhere…and Orihime had gotten Yuzu to sing along with her.
For those of you who have seen Gundam Seed Destiny, or heard Rei Tanaka's song Emotion, and or have a burning hate towards Meer Campbell, you know how the poor souls felt in that van. And they had to listen to whatever Yuzu declared her favorite song for the next hour and a half…I feel happy for them, how about you?
When the van finally came to a stop before Isshin turned off the ignition, Uryu pushed and shoved to get out of the van first, and finally, after Chad gave them a good, helpful push, they fell to the sandy grass, which they then proceeded to kiss, until they realized what they were doing, and immediately sat up and spit continuously. Until they realized the others had already began walking out towards the sandy beach shore, so they hurriedly stood and ran out to catch up with them.
"Took you guys long enough!" Tatsuki called out to the two as she and Chad set up the volleyball.
Ichigo sent a glare towards Uryu, who glared back.
"Oh guys, you really shouldn't fight! We're supposed to have fun today, so let's all be nice to each other!" Orihime harped as she unrolled her beach towel and spread it across the sand.
Rukia was beside her, doing the same, only her towel was a light blue with bright pink strawberries on it, while Orihime's was white with pink and purple flowers spread across it. Looking up, Rukia smiled over at Ichigo, and pointed to a small pile of rolled up towels.
"Ichigo! You're new towel is the first on top! Come and lay it out already!"
Uryu snorted as he pushed his glasses further up on his nose while Ichigo boiled in annoyance and anger. Nonetheless, the orange haired boy trudged over and grabbed his towel, which was a suspicious bright green while rolled up. When he unrolled it, he felt himself die a little more inside. It was exactly like Rukia's, except for the colors. His towel was bright green with bright red strawberries.
"It had to be strawberries, huh?" he asked sarcastically.
"I thought it'd be fitting if our towels matched our swim suits!" she replied, standing up and grasping the hem of her terrycloth dress.
Ichigo looked over his shoulder with a curious expression on his face.
"Match our suits? What do you…" but he stopped mid-sentence, but for a good reason.
Rukia had pulled the dress up over her shoulders, and was tossing it down on her towel as she ran a hand through her hair. Her swimsuit was definitely something that Ichigo wouldn't forget, or a body he'd forget. Perfect pale skin from head to toe, and nicely proportioned in all areas. And let's not forget the light blue bikini with the pink strawberry-print she was wearing either. Looking down at Ichigo, Rukia smiled.
"Want to help me with my sun-protection balm?" she asked.
After taking a moment to regain his composure, Ichigo replied swiftly with, "I think you mean sun-block."
"Here," Rukia said, handing Ichigo a pink bottle that she'd pulled out of one of the beach bags.
Ichigo reached out for it, and took it, still marveling at how different Rukia looked in a bikini. She looked…well…hot. As Rukia sat down on her towel with her back to Ichigo, the teen glanced down at the Sun-block bottle, and groaned silently. Strawberry Essence.
As Rukia waited for Ichigo to finish rubbing the sun-block into her back, she was busily digging through the sand with her toes. After about five minutes, she raised an eyebrow in impatience.
"Hey, are you done yet?" she asked.
"Y-yeah, here," Ichigo stammered, handing her the bottle again.
Rukia took it, and quickly spread it on her arms and legs, then stomach and chest. She got the residue of the sun-block off by rubbing the rest that still clung to her hand on her face. She then turned around and tapped Ichigo on the forehead.
"Turn around, I'll do you now," she stated.
Ichigo turned around slowly, and almost as soon as he sat down, he felt the cool lotion being rubbed into his back. He was a bit dismayed that he'd be smelling like a strawberry smoothie for the next few hours, but oh well. He rubbed his hands that were still slimy with the lotion on his face, neck and ears while Rukia finished his back. She was done in a little more than a minute, and handed the bottle to Ichigo again.
"Thanks," he said, a bit uncertainly.
"You too," the black haired girl replied, standing from her towel.
Turning, Rukia saw that Tatsuki and Orihime were already done with sun-block, and Chad and Uryu were still in the middle of covering themselves. Both their shirts now lay on their towels which they'd laid down beside Tatsuki's, which was besides Orihime's, which…eh, you get the picture.
Tatsuki had removed her shirt and placed it on her towel, which was a dark green with bright yellow lightning streaks across it. She'd then looked over her shoulder, to notice Uryu struggling with getting the sun-block on his back. Sighing, the wild haired girl walked across the sand over towards the black haired boy, and took the sun-block from him.
"Sheesh, Ishida," she said in a mocking tone as she rubbed the lotion into the boy's pale back. "We'd think you'd know to ask for help with sun-screen."
Uryu had remained silent with his lips in a set frown.
Orihime, seeing her friend helping Uryu, turned to smile over at Chad. Without a word, the girl bounced over to the tall boy, and using her own sun-block, the kind that had body-glitter in it and smelled like cotton candy, rubbed Chad's back. When she finished, Chad gave her a quiet Thank-You, and she grinned.
"All right everyone, who's ready for volley ball!?" Tatsuki cried once everyone seemed situated, holding the blow-up volleyball that Rukia had so kindly provided. It, like Ichigo's towel, was green with red strawberries on it.
All right, there's Part 1 of 3! Hope you liked it, and please remember to leave reviews! I'm really serious about those reviews too...if you don't review, you won't get Part 2, and trust me, you do want to read Part 2. So you better review...Please?
Sam