A/N: Hey guys! This is my first attempt at fanfic. Let me know how I'm doing! R&R and all that good stuff! Also, let me know if there is anything in particular you'd like to see. Input and ideas are always appreciated. More to come!
I do not own the Bleach characters.
"You IDIOT!" She screamed, "I'm going to KILL you!"
I laughed as I dodged her poorly aimed pillow. "You're adorable when you're mad," I replied, narrowly dodging her fist to my side. For the past 2 hours I had been soundly beating her at Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and she had finally snapped. "Don't be violent shorty! It's only a game…" I teased her, purposely using my nickname for her that I know she doesn't like.
"Just because you found a character with a big sword that— "She cut off mid rant. "Did you just call me shorty?"
I tried my best to look innocent. "I have no idea what you mean…shorty."
And that was when she really lost it.
A few minutes later I had finally stopped laughing and she had cooled down from her tirade enough to sit calmly in her bean bag chair in front of the TV. For a few seconds, we just stared at each other. I was just about to say something, when a yell from downstairs in the kitchen echoed up the stairs. "Oi! Ichigo! If you want to eat dinner tonight, you'd better get your butt down here in a hurry!" I sighed. That's Renji for you. Always saying something at the worst possible moment. I wondered, not for the first time, why I was living with him. I broke the silence between Rukia and I with a question.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Uh…"
Her hesitation was understandable. A few days ago she had confessed to me that, about a week ago while they were clubbing with some of our other friends, she had kissed Renji. Sometimes being her best friend was really hard. I wasn't sure why, but knowing that she had kissed him really pissed me off. Of course, she had quickly followed up her confession by saying that they had both had more than a few drinks, and she doubted that he remembered it. I wasn't so sure. I mean, I know I would never forget kissing Rukia, no matter how many drinks I'd had. "If you're too afraid to face him like a man, you can slink out of my room in the same way you came in—through my window."
"I'm not afraid of him." She insisted.
"Prove it."
Without saying anything else, she got up and walked out of my bedroom, turning down the hallway towards the stairs. I scrambled to catch up, hastily turning off the Wii. I caught up with her at the top of the stairs. Going down first, I turned the corner at the bottom and walked into the kitchen.
"Yo, Renji, we have a guest for dinner." I said walking up to him and pointing behind myself at Rukia.
"Oh hey, Rukia!" He said, glancing past me. "When did you get here?"
"A few hours ago." She calmly replied. "Ichigo wouldn't stop whining about how bored he was while all of his roommates were doing homework or at work, so I came over to play video games with him. If only to get him to stop texting me every 30 seconds."
"Hey!" I exclaimed. "I was not whining!"
"You were too! Like a little girl."
"Well at least I don't suck at Brawl."
"Take that back! It's not my fault that the controllers have buttons in all the wrong places!"
"Are you guy ready to eat?" Renji said, smoothly interrupting our bickering before it came to blows.
"Yep." I replied quickly before Rukia had the chance to say something significantly more offensive. "Are Ishida and Noba joining us?"
"I think so. Let me go get them real quick." He said, running up the stairs calling their names.
As soon as he was up the stairs, Rukia punched me in the arm. "Oi!" I snapped, glaring at her. "What was that for?!"
"You're so annoying!" She replied.
"Then why do you keep coming over?"
She stuttered for a minute, unable to come up with a comeback, before she was saved from replying by the timely arrival of Renji, Ishida and Noba. "Let's eat!" Renji exclaimed.
Halfway through dinner, Rukia finally stopped glaring at everything that moved. "Is everybody excited for our end of semester cruise?" Ishida asked, kindling the conversation. Nods and sounds in the affirmative answered his question.
"Who is for sure coming again?" I asked.
"Hmmm… I know that Toshiro, Momo, Orihime, Rangiku, Kaien and all of us are planning on going for sure. But there are a few others who might yet tag along." Ishida replied.
For the past month, we had been planning on a huge cruise to the Caribbean to celebrate the end of the semester. We were all pretty excited and even Rukia poked her head out of her gloom to join the conversation and planning that went on for the rest of dinner. After we had eaten as much as we could, we cleaned up dinner and did the dishes.
"I think I'm going to head back to my apartment." Rukia said to me, as we dried the last of the dishes.
"Will you be departing through my window or the door?" I quipped.
She sighed, heading towards the stairs. "Your window, obviously, since all of my things are still up in your room."
"Okay," I said, following her up the stairs. I stopped just inside my bedroom doorway. "Rukia," I started to ask a question.
She paused in collecting her things and looked up at me. "Yeah?"
I mustered up the courage to say what I'd wanted to say for some time, but chickened out at the last minute. Man, I was turning into such a pussy. "You'll be safe walking home?" I asked instead. She just gave me an exasperated look. "Okay," I said, raising my arms up in surrender, just in case she got any funny ideas about hitting me. "Just thought I'd ask."
"Goodnight Ichigo," She said, moving towards the window.
On an impulse, I crossed the room in two strides and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into my arms. Squeezing her and lifting her tiny frame off of the ground slightly, I savored the feel of her in my arms for a second before setting her gently on the ground again. "Have a good night, Rukia." I whispered softly.
She looked at me with an unreadable expression, and disappeared through my window into the night.