A/N: Hello again, it's been a looooooong time since I posted something on here, and I was itching to write. This one-shot is the result of insomnia, pure boredom, and a [mild] obsession with IchiRuki, and the fact that I'm BACK! XD

A small thank you to my little brother who allowed me to stare at him while he was sleeping.

DEDICATED TO-All of my readers of 'Perfect' (if any of you are reading this) who have waited for me to update (give me some time, I swear I will as soon as I can!). Thank you all so very much!

NOTE- If you like, you can go to rainymood dot com, and listen while reading this for more effect. If not, it's up to you :)

Disclaimer- I don't own many things. Sadly, Bleach is one of them :(

Thunderstorm

It's nearly three a.m. and Ichigo is lying on his bed in the semi-darkness, his six foot tall frame cramped onto the narrow piece of plywood, pressed against the hard wall behind him. The loud thundering roar of lightening cracks up the night as rain patters heavily onto the closed glass of his window, leaves rustling and a rushing calmness hanging in the air, but he can't sleep.

Why you ask? Because a certain stubborn raven-haired midget is currently occupying more than third-fourth of his bed as she lies under the bedcovers, curled up next to him.

Ichigo doesn't really know how Rukia ended up sleeping on his bed. It's not like he's against it (not that he's for it!) but he honestly thinks it's a lot of unnecessary hassle- having someone invade his privacy. He scowls, folding his arms and pulling his best angry face as he looks down at her. Her eyes are closed, dark hair fanning coolly over her face, breathing even, and one arm carelessly wrapped around his naked chest (something that he's really trying not to focus on).

Okay, so he knows they are going out, he's pretty much a sucker for whatever Rukia demands off of him (mainly because if he doesn't, he usually ends up with a head injury) but that does not give Rukia the right to sleep in his bed! He likes her, sure- and he admits she's pretty amazing at everything she does (except drawing, he shudders) but that does not mean she can consider him her cuddle bunny, which is exactly what Rukia seems to be using him as.

It's a dark, stormy night, the dark clouds are hanging low and making a huge racket outside. From where Ichigo is lying in the small space given to him on the bed, he can see a streetlight flickering on the abandoned street out the window. The fresh, grassy smell of mud is present in the air, and Ichigo can't help but sigh as he lies there, the soft white cotton bedsheets and warmth of Rukia's body making his bed inexplicably cozy.

He doesn't know when exactly she crept into his bed- all he's aware of is that sometime in the early hours of morning, he had woken up to a swift kick and a pair of fucking freezing feet, and Rukia's sleepy mumbling as she had wriggled onto the space next to him under the covers and hugged his bare chest tightly, her hot breath on his skin warm and tingling. And grudgingly, he had let her because he had been too sleepy, but it only ended up with him waking up an hour later, his back aching as he found that his girlfriend had taken more than half of the too-small bed.

Ichigo shifts awkwardly, freezing as he hears Rukia moan and bury her face deeper into his neck. He grits his teeth, breath hitching as Rukia's dainty fingers come around to curl into his hair, her lips forming incoherent words into his ear that make his muscles tighten and cheeks go faintly pink. His eyes dart towards her, but she is fast asleep, her face just about visible from his angle.

Relaxing a little, Ichigo allows himself to get familiar with her cold- but agonizingly hot- touch. Even though she has touched him many times before, it's different right now, with the grassy air and the rain and the calmness and the oh-so-warm breath that is currently sending sparks of fiery hot desire coiling in the pit of his stomach as he slowly slithers an arm around her slim waist. He can feel her skin through the thin fabric of her nightie- the Chappy nightie she'd forced him to buy- and it makes him smirk, just a little, when he hears Rukia moan louder, her voice breathless.

To be honest, he doesn't really know what exactly they're doing being 'girlfriend' and 'boyfriend' (as he had so eloquently said). Ichigo's supposed "love" confession to her before their relationship began had been a flustered look and a small inaudible mumble that had meant to say- "I like you" but had come out as- "Mmmphhmph" because of how completely shitty he was at romance. If Rukia hadn't gone ahead and kissed him out of frustration, he doubts they would've ever gotten together in the first place.

"Mmm...I wanna Chappy..." Rukia mumbles in her sleep and Ichigo freezes, looking at her calmly straight face with a horrified expression.

So now she dreams of Chappy?

"Rukia...?" he whispers softly over the pounding rain, and feels strangely intimate, lying there half-naked and calling his girlfriend's name. It sends a warm, aching feeling that makes him smile like an idiot, and squirm uncomfortably at the same time. He pokes her lightly and Rukia frowns in her sleep, making an irritated noise at the back of her throat and wriggling away from where she can sense his touch. "Rukia, wake up!"

Really- Ichigo doesn't know why he's whispering. If he wants to wake her up, then the most effective way to do it would be to shout at the top of his lungs. But then, when his eyes fall on her slightly furrowed forehead, her pouty expression and the way she is sleeping, innocent and blissfully unaware, he doesn't have the heart to do it anymore, because she looks just so frickin' adorable.

Drawing a deep breath, he decides to sit up and carry her to his closet- where her bed truly is- even though she throws a fit everytime she has to sleep there. He's tried everything- pasting Chappy posters on it, adding a bulb for light (and nearly electrocuting himself), making it comfy with plushy toys and whatnot, but no, Rukia still doesn't sleep there. According to her, Ichigo's closet is "unfriendly to dead people", smelly, ugly and a downright "unhealthy condition" for a Soul Reaper to reside in.

Not that he cares right now, he just wants to sleep. Raking a hand through his hair, Ichigo looks down at Rukia's figure there under the bedcovers, and wonders dumbly how he will put his arms under her and lift her up into his arms without waking her.

Because if she wakes up, there is no way in hell she is going to the closet.

He sits up and is about to slither a hand under her body when there is a loud boom as thunder crashes against the heavy sky, followed by the whip-like cracking of lightning. Ichigo feels Rukia jump as the room lights up for a fraction of a second. As the surroundings plunge into darkness once again, the next thing Ichigo knows, his arms are full of a shivering, dark-haired midget.

He blinks down and looks at his girlfriend, who is clutching his shoulder tightly as her breathing becomes erratic as she whimpers. She looks so horribly disturbed that Ichigo feels all his love for her gush out in one flow as he lays there with her a bundle in his arms. She looks so deeply serious, as if she is in the middle of an argument, and her brow is furrowed , expression frowning as she shivers and presses her body onto his firm chest, and that's when Ichigo realizes why exactly she is in his bed.

She's scared of lightning.

He can't help but let out a small laugh. The noble, ass-kicking, no-nonsense, short tempered Kuchiki princess is scared of a littler thunder!

But then again- his gaze softens- who is he to judge? There was a time when simply the sound of rain used to instill a feeling of pure horror and pain in him due to the memories that flooded him everytime monsoon arrived. He looks at Rukia's troubled face and realizes how she is the one who stopped that, who took away his fear, who stopped his rain altogether, and he wonders if he can do the same to her as well. if he can take away her fear.

Swallowing a litte as his mouth runs dry, Ichigo ever so gently pulls her closer, parting her thighs with his leg and letting it rest there, with her quickly clinging onto it and trailing her fingers to the back of his neck again and fisting his hair. The small plop of the rain against the puddle formed on his window ledge is soothing for some reason as Ichigo looks down at her.

Rukia looks completely at peace as her breathing evens out once again. He would've never dared to let himself pull her so close had she been awake- he would've been too embarrassed, and her teasing would've been endless. But now, she's asleep. Rukia with her mouth shut looks so much better, Ichigo thinks. Her face is extremely close to his, only a few inches below, and he can see every blemish, every small scar, every little color on her flushed skin.

It's a cool night, and even though the rain outside is creating heaviness and moisture in the air, Ichigo smiles and flicks a strand of dark hair off of Rukia's porcelain face. He wants to kiss her senselessly- have her right there and then under those unbelievably toasty, slightly congested position in their beds, snuggling and moving against the soft bedsheets- but he knows if he wakes her up now, she is going to kill him.

So he settles for a soft, awkwardly-angled peck on the lips. She feels smooth and soft and cold and warm at the same time, her fingertips traveling down the hardness of his chest as he shudders a little, holding her tighter. She sniffs and smacks her lips a little, tilting her head up in response to the lazy kiss.

"Mmmmm.." she murmurs, and Ichigo can't help but grin.

Making sure she's leaning safely against him and won't fall off the bed, Ichigo covers her with his arms and tucks his chin on top of her head, closing his eyes.

He knows he's in for hell in the morning when Isshin catches him in bed with his girlfriend. He knows there are going to be all sorts of talks about grandchildren, but somehow, with Rukia, everything feels tolerable. Good. Amazing. Even when she teases him about it. All the fucking time.

He lips quirk up and he lets his mind drift away, asleep to the soft, gushing sound of the rain, and sometime during the course of the morning, Rukia snuggles into his embrace, and smiles.

A/N: Whew, that's a lot of rain, lot of description, and a lot of monotony. Was it good? Bad? Too boring? Please let me know, won't you? It makes the author so much better and so happy. Plus, I'll give you a cookie ^^

And yes, I wrote this in the present tense- it was a nice change of writing style *thoughtful face*

Thank you all for reading! Constructive criticism is always welcomed and very much appreciated!

~SS~