Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS!!! And if Kubo-sama wishes this story taken down it shall be done instantly. Nor do I own The Proposal or any rights to it.

Author's note: This story takes place after Orihime's rescue and before the winter war. Some things maybe wrong, some are wrong on purpose, and this is my first story, so please forgive any mistakes. Renji and Rukia are together as are Orihime and Uryu. This is a TatsukixIchigo fic. Flame if you must. I'll use it as inspiration to write even more. Reviews are always welcome.


Movie Night

By 16FangsofWrath

The Hollow roared its defiance and charged Ichigo, its claw-like hand raised for a killing blow. "Die, Soul Reaper!" the hungry spirit screamed. Ichigo never even looked at the thing as Zangetsu ripped through its bone-white mask like so much wet paper. "Jeez," he thought to himself irritably, "nothing but the dregs of the dregs out hunting tonight." Karakura Town had been subject to fewer and fewer Hollow manifestations since he, Chad, and Ishida had brought Orihime back from Hueco Mundo. It was like the calm before the storm, as if the Hollows knew that Aizen and his Arrancarr had claimed Karakura as their hunting ground. None but the most desperately hungry of spirits had ventured here in weeks. And yet, there had been nothing from Aizen's fortress, Los Noches. No threats, no reprisals, no attacks launched. Nothing. It was frustrating for Ichigo to wait on an attack that seemed as if it would never come. Especially when he'd rather take the fight to the enemy and his "betters" in the Soul Society forbade him to do so.

"Why don't you go home and relax for once, Carrot Top?" came a smug voice from behind him. Ichigo turned and saw the second source of his irritation--- his "probation officers" assigned by the Captain of Squad One himself. Renji and his newly found girlfriend smirked. They had been infuriatingly immune to his frustration inspired jabs since they had begun seeing each other so he'd given them up after a week.

"We can ALL go back and relax. The Soul Society has Karakura under constant watch for Aizen to make his move. Why don't we do something fun, like watch a movie together? We haven't seen much of Chad or Innoue or Ishida lately." Rukia added wrapping her arms around the lieutenant's waist.

"That's because they"re too busy to hangout with us." Renji laughed. "Or at least the Quincy and Innoue are."

" Chad's out of town but Uryu and Orihime can probably make it, and I can't see Tatsuki being left out of a group thing and Dad, Karin and Yuzu are at the beach....not a bad idea at all, midget. This patrol was starting to bore me anyway. I'll call everybody..." Ichigo said as he Flash-stepped away.

"Well that was easy," Renji said with a laugh,"maybe now you'll stop worrying that your protoge is gonna go chargin' off to Hueco Mundo again and we can concentrate on us for awhile, hmm?"

Rukia reached up and pulled the red-haired soul reaper's head down and laughed, "Maybe...." as she kissed him.

30 minutes later..........

With the six of them gathered at Ichigo's house in the living room, a small battle had begun over what movie the group would be watching. "Hell NO!!!" Ichigo and Tatsuki yelled together. Both were violently opposed to a chick flick, very violently.

"Well, there are four of us versus the two of you, so doesn't majority rule?" asked Uryu, the only person in the room with no objections at all, so long as he got to spend time with Orihime he didn't care what they watched and threw his vote in with hers.

"No, dumb-ass. Majority does NOT rule in my house!"

"Ichigo just give in, let them have their way. After all, this is the first time we've all been together in a looong time. Next time though, WE pick the movie." Tatsuki finished with a glare for the rest of the room. At that moment she noticed something...well not strange but a little werid, everyone had blankets next to them.

"Fine." Ichigo muttered as he flopped down on the couch.

"Cool, we"ll watch The Proposal." Orihime said brightly, popping the disc into Ichigo's DVD player.

"What's up with the blankets?"

"Oh yeah, sorry Tatsuki I thought I told you, my air conditioner is busted and stuck on like fifty degrees so it gets pretty cold in here after dark. I meant to tell you to bring a blanket too."

"Well THAT sucks! What am I supposed to do, freeze?" she said, pissed off.

"Calm down would ya?!" Ichigo said a little agrravated, "I've got another one upstairs, let me go get it."

As Ichigo climbed the stairs, Renji spoke loudly enough for everyone except the orange haired soul reaper to hear, " Why didn't you just ask to share his?"

"WHAT?"

"Shh! he'll hear you." Renji smirked as Rukia and Orihime shared an amused look.

"We all see how you look at him Arisawa," the Quincy tossed in,"he's not the only one who's dense if you thought you were hiding it..."

A bright red blush flooded over Tatsuki's face, and she quickly tried to think of a way to respond to their accusations. Fortunately, she was spared from having to answer as Ichigo called from the kitchen:"Come get your own damn food! I'm not your mothers!"

He walked back into the crowded living room and handed Tatsuki a large black blanket with white blade designs all over it. At her questioning look he replied, "Yuzu made it for me."

Everyone settled down in the living room: Uryu and Orihime streched out on the floor with a package of chocolate dounuts between them, Renji and Rukia on the loveseat by the front door, several types of snack cakes open and ready to be consumed, and Ichigo and Tatsuki on opposite ends on the small couch in front of the t.v., a large bowl of marshmellows(their favorite snack since they were little) in between them.

The movie started up and, as the opening scenes began rolling by, the airconditioner kicked on instantly chilling the room. A few minutes into the movie, Ichigo felt an odd sensation near his feet. He looked over and saw that even with the heavy blanket, Tatsuki was shivering. Being the tomboy that she was, Tatsuki would've rather died than admit that she couldn't stand the cold like everyone else.

Smirking, Ichigo leaned over and whispered sarcastically, "Tatsuki, you're not cold are you?"

"S-s-s-s-sh-s-shut-t up-p, S-ss-s-t-trawber-rry."came her fierce whisper, marred by the chattering of her teeth.

Laughing softly to himself, Ichigo asked in a whisper once more, "Well, I'm cold even with this blanket, so why don't you sit with me and we share blankets?" Ichigo knew that Tatsuki would see through this and get pissed, he wanted to interrupt this stupid movie with a fight.

What he didn't expect was for Tatsuki to smile and say, "F-f-fine. I-i-if y-you're c-cold I c-can't very well l-let-t you go on b-bit-tching-g ab-bout-t it-t. Y-you'll ruin t-the m-movie."

A few moments later, Tatsuki found herself sitting swathed in blankets next to Ichigo, his arm around her, and quite warm. The movie had picked up and they were both enjoying it. Ichigo actually laughed and Tatsuki was enjoying an innocent reason to keep her eyes on him. He smelled great and snuggled against him as she was, Tatsuki could drop her facade for a little while and pretend he really thought about her that way.

"Hold up," Ichigo said suddenly, "pause it I gotta go to the bathroom."

" Yeah same here." Renji added. The two soul reapers jumped up and raced for the only bathroom in the house.

"Well," a bubbly voice asked from the floor, "you gonna make your move or not Tatsuki-chan?"

Coloring, Tatsuki replied sarcastically, "Yeah, like he really thinks of me like that."

" I don't know, he looked pretty interested to me." Rukia said a small smile appearing on her face, " Try feeding him some of those marshmellows when he gets back."

Meanwhile......

"What am I thinking ?!" Ichigo asked himself. All he could see in his head was Tatski's face as she looked at him and laughed at the movie. In that moment he had wanted to kiss her.

"She'd kill me if I tried." He had realised how beautiful his best friend had become over the years. Lost in those thoughts Ichigo decended the stairs only to find Tatsuki in his spot on the couch.

When he motioned to the predicament, she grinned, "It was the warmest place with you gone."

"Well what're we gonna do about this? Can't have you stealin' my spot." the amusement was apparent in his voice.

Tatsuki stood up and gestured for him to sit down, once he had done so she positioned herself between him and the arm of the couch with her legs across his lap the blankets covering the two of them and the bowl of remaining marshmellows on Tatsuki's lap. The movie started back up but Ichigo couldn't pay as much attention to it as before. His eye kept wandering to Tatsuki's face. Deciding it was safer to distract himself with food, he reached for the bowl of marshmellows and Tatsuki immediately pulled it away from him.

"What the hel-"

"Shh! I need your arm where it is to stay warm! Here." she finished, lifting a marshmellow to his lips, her eyes never leaving the tv.

" What's up with that?" Ichigo thought as he accepted the treat, " whatever, if that's what she wants to do, then fine." To be honest he was perfectly fine with the arrangement.

For awhile it continued on like that, with Tatsuki alternating, a marshmellow for her and then one for Ichigo. She had fun playing with him, making him strech his neck to reach the snacks. When she reached back into the bowl, Tatsuki found only one marshmellow remained. A plan suddenly came to her.

"Ichigo, there's only one left."

"You can have it." He whispered back, trying his best not to notice how close her face was to his.

"Why don't we split it?" her tone a little too innocent. Ichigo looked at her, suspiciously.

Tatsuki was wearing a mischievious grin and a heavy blush as she whispered, "But you'll have to take your half, if you're man enough that is."

With that she placed the marshmellow in her mouth and bit down softly, leaving part of the snack resting on her lips. She only had a second to feel nervous before Ichigo bent his head down and took the marshmellow, his lips brushing hers sent a shiver down her spine, and then the contact was gone. She looked at Ichigo and watched him swallow the snack and smirk. Dispappointed, Tatsuki turned back to watch the rest of the movie. Ichigo saw Tatsuki's face fall into disappointed pout and chuckled softly to himself.

" What did I do wrong?" Tatsuki brooded. Suddenly, a hand was placed on her cheek turning her face, then she was lost in Ichigo's kiss....