A retake on the classic cliché of the not-so-accidental first kiss. I don't own anything, not even a rudimentary understanding of the laws of physics. Because (like Ichigo probs will) I failed my highschool physics class… So apologies for the totally unrealistic falling scene… Also thoughts and onomatopoeia are both in italics, but... you'll get it. :D
It was a regular cold winter day, in the last week of school before winter break, and Ichigo and Rukia were studying for their midterms in Ichigo's room. Well, Ichigo was studying. Rukia could care less about school—she was already dead and had no intentions of pursuing a career in the living world. Ichigo wondered why she even bothered showing up to class sometimes.
Rukia was lying on her stomach on the bed, reading a manga and humming. She was facing the window, looking away from Ichigo, so she had no way of knowing that he was secretly stealing glances of her over the top of his textbook as he studied. He had a nice view of the slender legs that poked out of her red dress and the cute bump of her rear. And although he appreciated the sight (which he would never be privy to if Rukia was aware of it), her incessant humming of the tune from Mario was driving him up the wall.
Finally, after the fiftieth repeat of the song, he snapped. "Could you please stop humming? I can't concentrate."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted the tone with which he spoke. Surely Rukia would complain about how he was being rude or at least smack him around a little.
But there was no such response. Just blissful silence.
The lack of response startled him more than the expected reaction, but he was grateful nonetheless. "Thanks."
He saw her nod her head as a way of wordless confirmation.
The beautiful silence continued for a while, and Ichigo was finally starting to make sense of that damn Physics formula when Rukia started tapping her foot on the bed.
At first, the tapping was amusing, because it made her butt giggle a little. But after a few minutes, the tapping seemed incredibly loud.
Ichigo could just feel the vein on his forehead enlarging.
Tap, tap, tap.
"God, Rukia! Shut. The. Hell. Up!" Ichigo's voice boomed. He slammed his textbook down on the last word for extra effect. Maybe he was trying too hard to get a reaction out of her, but damn! That tapping was annoying.
Rukia jumped at his sudden outburst, causing her to drop her book on the floor. Initially, she was more shocked than angry, but when she realized that she had lost her page in the manga, just as the hero was about to catch the villain…
"What the hell do you want me to do?" she screamed in reply, jumping down from the bed to stare Ichigo in the face. "I stopped humming, didn't I?"
Ichigo jumped up from his chair, taking full advantage of their height difference. He liked towering over her; it made him feel invincible.
"I want you to shut up, that's what!" he retorted.
He stared down at her amber eyes, which he could've sworn started to grow fiery red specks near the pupils in her anger. They were still distractingly beautiful regardless. He almost got lost in them for a second, until Rukia began waving her tiny fist in his face.
"You had no right-" she began.
"First of all, I do have the right to demand silence, because the last time I checked, this is my room!" Ichigo said, gesturing to the expanse of his room to emphasize his point.
Rukia harrumphed! as though she was about to object, but Ichigo interrupted her again.
"Secondly, unlike you, I actually care about my grades! And I have a huge midterm tomorrow and I need silence so I can focus!"
Rukia bowed her head slightly as if she was conceding to his irrefutable point, but when she looked back up at him, there was still bitterness in her eyes.
"I understand that you are human and need to… study," Rukia said that last word with a mixture of contempt and disgust, "but did you really have to shout at me? You could've just asked me politely!"
Her words were accompanied by minor jabs to his abs.
"Ow, ow! Stop punching me!" Ichigo responded, attempting to grab her arms to defend himself from her attacks. It didn't hurt as much as tickle, but there was no way he was going to let her discover that he was ticklish.
Eventually, his halfhearted grabs at her arms succeeded. He wrapped his hands around her wrists, gently, as though she were a porcelain doll.
"Now let's just settle this in a peacefu-" Ichigo began, unconsciously pulling her arms towards him.
But Rukia had objections to being man-handled.
"Hey! Let go of me!"
Rukia rapidly pushed her arms toward Ichigo's chest, hands outstretched, trying to pull a defensive tactic on him. He was supposed to stumble backwards and lose his grip, but his grip on her wrists only got tighter. So when she moved away from him, quickly pulling her hands to try to free them from his grasp, she effectively sent their collective weights careening towards the carpeted floor.
Thus began an elaborate falling sequence, which played out sort of like this:
As they began to topple towards the bed, two thoughts ran through Ichigo's mind. The first was, Oh! It's F=ma. The second was, Crap, she might hit her head on the edge of the bed frame!
During their freefall, Ichigo released one of Rukia's hands to cup the back of her head, pull it closer to his chest and shield it from any protruding corners of the bed. He also managed to roll them to the left, away from said dangers.
So the millisecond when Ichigo felt the carpet on his back while Rukia was still suspended in the air above him, both of them clear of the bed frame, he applauded himself for his superhuman reaction time.
Rukia, however, was still struggling against him as they fell. She managed to wrench the other hand from Ichigo, plus the other freed hand, the both of which she promptly put to use in a choke hold around Ichigo's neck.
Ichigo wasn't the only one with amazing reflexes.
Therefore, when Ichigo actually landed on the floor, Rukia's head was at the same level as his. Her hands were wrapped around his neck, and his hands were cupped around the back of her head.
Now add in the continuous falling motion of their heads and Smack!
Their lips slammed together like ham on a sandwich.
Kudos to Sir Isaac Newton!
They both stayed in that position, for a few moments, as they both processed the fact that their lips were unceremoniously locking for the first time. And they both could do the math on that one: Lips + Touching = Kissing.
Omg! their minds screamed.
Rukia let go of Ichigo's neck and slammed her palms against the floor on either side of his head, intending to prop herself up.
But Ichigo was having none of that. Instead of releasing her and standing, as he probably should have, he chose to draw her even closer. He even spared a hand from her head to wrap around her body to close the remaining space between them.
Ichigo was rather enjoying the kiss, and he was not willing to stop now that gravity had brought him this wonderful opportunity.
At first, Rukia was alarmed when she felt Ichigo's lips moving against her own. But after few seconds of his tender ministrations, she gave in.
Their toes curled, their palms became clammy, their hearts pounded harmoniously. It was intimate, passionate. Full of love and joy and eagerness.
It was that kind of kiss.
When the moment had ended, they parted from each other to catch their breaths but they remained there for a time, in silence.
An unspoken understanding had passed between them. Their relationship had progressed to the next level and would never be the same again. What their relationship was exactly didn't matter. What mattered was that they were both tacitly admitting their feelings to each other, for the first time.
Then… the moment was completely over.
"So…," Ichigo said, sitting up from the floor. "I still have that test tomorrow… I better get studying."
"Yeah," Rukia said. "And I want to find out what happened in that manga!"
They hurriedly scrambled to their respective positions in the room, and resumed their activities as if the interruption had never happened. They both wanted to put… whatever had passed between them from their minds.
But it would never be forgotten.
Yes, cheesy, but please review! Helpful comments appreciated. :)