So everything had started with this single sentence.
"I think we've got a problem."
Rukia looked up from his laptop, where she'd probably been surfing through some of those questionable fan forums again. Her expression said it all. She was pissed. Pissed, because she'd been prevented from doing 'serious business' and pissed about– he internally quoted her here – 'what he'd messed up this time'. He swallowed, subconsciously rubbing his chin.
"Perhaps I told some of our friends we were dating."
The seconds passed. For a tiny little moment he found himself wondering if he'd really said it or had just been talking to himself. She smashed his laptop shut, jumping to her feet. "You told them we were dating?!" Ichigo cleared his throat, raising his index finger to correct her: "I said perhaps I…" "Why do you always have to mess things up like that?" And there you had it. Hearing her say this line in reality was a lot scarier than just imagining it. He should have just kept that to himself. She exhaled vociferously.
"So, who was it?"
Her voice sounded way deeper than usually, intimidating. "Ishida." She seemed to calm down a little. "Well it shouldn't be too difficult explaining the matter to him." "Among others." the high school student mumbled to himself. She raised an eyebrow till it almost reached her hairline – kind of scary, wasn't it? He gave it another try: "Perhaps…" "ICHIGO!?" He bit his lip – her tone was far from comfortable, but he continued with his confession: "Well, there were some others, like Chad, Keigo, Mizuiro, Tatsuki, Inoue and… so on." "And so on, huh?" Did she never stop to pose those accusing questions? "Maybe a few other students were listening in on that - apparently I was talking quite loud." Ichigo decided to go on to prohibit her from objecting to his answers again. "I rather… kind of… blurted that out." Rukia prepared herself to counterstrike. "Just to make myself clear – I was acting in self-defense, ok?" He should have known that this statement wasn't going to rescue him – damn it. "Well of course, and that's the reason you will go immediately and tell them all, that it was a complete misunderstanding, got that?!" Her idea seemed flawless, too good to be true, cause there was something she didn't know yet. "I had figured that out already, but… I received a mail from Byakuya earlier." "Oh? Does he want to kill you? Text him to come here, I don't wanna miss that!" He had to dampen her cynical remark and fetched the cell phone from his pocket to show her the message. "That's not quite what he wrote."
'Kurosaki Ichigo, right in this moment I got informed you are rumored to be in a secret, romantic relationship with my sister for a long time now. During our last encounter I still believed in a common misunderstanding. However with the recent news it seems to me that your feelings were honest. Indisputably you feared I would never approve your connection and instead would cover you in a sea of blood-thirsty cherry petals, which is the sole reason you always avoided to instruct me about all of this. Your true motive tough was without a doubt based on your selfless aim to protect my sisters from losing a beloved human in the cruelest way. Although it is far from comfortable for me, I owe you my admiration for this sacrificing act.
P.S. If you ever make her suffer though, I will tear you to pieces.'
Rukia determinedly went for the door: "Alright, then I'll just tell him you broke up with me." Her cell phone beeped introducing a tensed silence. He really had thought Byakuya's message would have triggered different feelings within her. Maybe he should have deleted the P.S.-part…
"Damn it!"
Her cursing brought him back to reality. "What's up?" he asked cautiously, preparing himself to escape this situation as fast as possible if necessary. She turned to him again: "Alright, so how do you intend to stage our relationship convincingly?"
Rukias cell phone was lying on the ground, kind of helpless. The message, she'd just received was still opened.
'Rukia, I suppose you are reaching adulthood now. I am honestly proud of you.'