"Rukia, would you hurry up! Yuzu's going to kill me if I miss dinner again!"
"Hold your horses, Ichigo, I'm almost finished here, you'll get home in time. Besides, I never said you had to wait on me, I can get home perfectly fine without your help."
"YOU LITTLE-Why didn't I think of that?" he said, a hit of anger I his voice.
"Go home, Ichigo, I'll catch up with you later." She said with a smile.
"Yeah, see you later." He replied.
The sun was setting in the skies of Karakura town, and the streets were beginning to empty as Ichigo made his way back home. He and Rukia had spent their Sunday shopping for various odds and ends, enjoying the day off from their usual Soul Reaper duties. Ichigo looked up at the sun, the burning entity painting the sky a deep orange color and sighed. He was exhausted, and was more than ready to dive face first onto his bed and sleep.
"I guess that must be how you feel too, like you're ready for a long nap." he said to the sun.
Moments later, Ichigo arrived at the front door to his house, and was taken by surprise when it suddenly sprung open.
"ICHIGOOOO!"
"Knock if OFF, dad! What kind of person attacks their own son before they're even in the door?" he shouted, his fist resting on his dad's face.
"You are getting really good…" Isshin muttered, rubbing his nose.
"How much longer before dinner?" Ichigo asked.
"Not much longer, I promise!" Yuzu said.
"Fine, call for me when it's ready. I'll be in my room." He said.
"Oh hey, Ichigo, before you go, I should probably tell you there's a pretty little lady up there waiting for you. I went through the trouble of asking her to join us for dinner, hope that's okay!" Isshin smirked.
"WHAT! W-Why'd you do that, you freakin' pervert!" Ichigo shouted, while punching his father in the face once again.
"I was just trying to be nice, Ichigo, I didn't think you'd be so panicked." Isshin whined.
"Damn it, Rukia…look what you've done." Ichigo muttered under his breath.
"How the hell did you get here before me?"
"Why does that matter?"
"Why does it matter? You were seen by my dad, that's why it matters!"
"Oh relax, Ichigo, it was an accident."
"Accident or not, he knows you're here, and now he's probably getting ideas about the two of us!"
"Let him think what he wants, it's not any different from the remarks of kids at school so just calm down." Rukia stated.
She was right, and Ichigo knew that. No matter where they went, people always got ideas about them being together, yet neither one of them corrected anyone.
"You're right…I'm sorry." He said.
"It's fine, don't worry. And I promise I'll be more careful next time."
"Yeah," he said while picking up the manga on his desk.
Rukia pulled out her sketch book and her new set of colored pencils and began to draw while Ichigo read his story. A few minutes had passed, and neither one of them had spoken, that is until Ichigo noticed Rukia looking at him, and then quickly back at her sketch book. Over the next few minutes, Ichigo had seen Rukia look at him several times out of the corner of his eye, realizing he had completely lost concentration on his story, and was now focused on how many times she would look at him.
"What's she doing over there…?" he thought to himself. "Why does she keep staring at me?"
Rukia looked up once again from her sketch book, and froze. Ichigo was now staring at her.
"What?" she asked.
"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked.
"Nothing, just drawing."
"Well, why are you looking at me every couple of seconds?"
"No reason."
"No reason?"
"Nope."
"What are you drawing?"
"That doesn't' concern you."
"You're drawing me, aren't you!"
"What? No! I'm not!" Rukia said, clutching her sketchbook to her chest.
"Lemme see! I want proof!" he said, reaching for her sketchbook.
"Ichigo!" she shouted.
"Let me see the damn picture, Rukia!" he said, tickling her sides to try to get her to loosen her grip on her sketchbook.
"No, never!" she laughed.
"Damn it let me see, half pint!" he said.
Finally, after a few minutes, Ichigo snagged the sketchbook from Rukia's tiny arms and stared. Two rabbits, one with bright, spiky orange hair and one with short, choppy black hair stood by each other, holding hands (or paws in this case). Ichigo blushed, and tossed the book back to Rukia.
"You really need to work on your rabbits, Rukia." He said, trying to hide his face.
"Ichigo, you idiot! That was a private picture! I can't believe you!" she shouted, her cheeks turning red.
Rukia looked down at her sketchbook, reached out, and tore the picture from the binding, balled it up, and threw it to the ground.
"I'm going to see if your sister needs any help with dinner." She said with irritation.
"Fine." Ichigo said.
"This is great, Yuzu. Thanks so much for inviting me to dinner, Mr. Kurosaki." Rukia said.
"Oh please, call me Isshin. And it was nothing, really." He said.
"Ichigo, are you and Rukia dating one another?" Yuzu asked innocently, causing Ichigo to spit rice all over the table.
"W-what! No, no we're not!" He stammered.
"Actually Yuzu, Ichigo and I are just really good friends, that's all there is to it." Rukia said.
"Are you sure? Then why is Ichigo blushing?"
"I'm blushing because that's an inappropriate question to ask at the dinner table, Yuzu!" Ichigo stated.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've got a crush on Rukia, Ichigo." Karin said.
"W-WOULD YOU ALL DROP THIS ALREADY! THERE'S NOTHING GOING ON BETWEEN US!" Ichigo yelled.
"Take it easy, son, we're just having some fun." Isshin said.
"I hate all of you." Ichigo said under his breath so only Rukia could hear, causing her to giggle.
"Well, what about you Rukia, do you have a crush on my brother?" Yuzu asked.
"I-uh-well-heh-that's-"
"None of your business, that's what it is." Ichigo said angrily. "No more questions from any of you. I mean it"
"But I-"
"No more, Yuzu!" he said sternly.
"Oh, alright…" Yuzu said sadly.
"Oh, by the way Ichigo, I'm going to need your help after dinner in the clinic. It'll only be for a few minutes." Isshin said.
"Sure dad, no problem. You mind waiting for me in my room until I get back, Rukia?"
"I suppose that's alright." She said.
Dinner had ended, and Ichigo went to help his father, leaving Rukia to attend to her one promise of waiting for him in his room. She stood by the window, staring out at the night sky, and in particular, the moon.
"What are we going to do with him?" she said to the moon, referring to Ichigo's attitude at dinner.
She turned away from the window and began to slowly walk around the room when something in particular caught her eye.
"What's this?" she said.
Rukia walked over to Ichigo's desk and picked up the picture frame and stared at what it contained: the drawing that she had balled up and thrown away.
"Ichigo, you idiot…" she said smiling. "I guess it's true then…one man's trash really is another man's treasure."