Worth The Trouble
Disclaimer: I do own bleach; I keep it right on top of the dryer. However, Bleach with a capital B, I do not. That belongs to Tite Kubo.
Thoughts equal italics; Bold equals author notes, and regular text for the rest.
NOTE: This is set in an alternate universe where after the Soul Society Arc; Rukia chooses to go with Ichigo instead of staying in Soul Society. There is a hint of crack and some OOC-ness, but the good kind (I hope.) Well… Onto the story!
As birds chirped in the air, and chattering students left the outer gate of Karakura High, one carrot-topped teenager walked casually along the side of a street. Ichigo had just walked off of school grounds and would meet with Rukia as soon as the other students lost sight of him. After all, he wouldn't want the entire class to know Rukia lived with him. However, he was having an unlucky day as Keigo, being the pervert he is, decided to find out where Rukia lived. Once Keigo found where his "Goddess of Beauty" resided, he would shower her with gifts and letters at her doorstep. Then she would finally come to her senses and fall in love with him. Of course, being the idiot Keigo is, he considered it a fool-proof plan.
Not long afterwards, Rukia joined with Ichigo and they walked home together, engaging in light conversation throughout the leisurely walk. Ichigo, knowing Goat-Chin would be in the clinic, and his two sisters would be at afterschool clubs, decided it was safe to let Rukia in through the front door.
As Ichigo slid the key through the lock and opened the door, both Ichigo and Rukia heard a loud gasp behind them. While they both froze in shock, they heard a very familiar yet unwanted person yell…
"I knew it!" Yelled Keigo as he ran away to tell others, "You two are sleeping together!"
Ichigo, knowing very well the consequences if Keigo managed to escape, chased after the unusual boy. While Rukia looked on curiously at the chase, she shrugged and went inside to see if there were more of those containers that held the liquid called "juice".
"COME BACK HERE KEIGO!" Ichigo roared furiously, "YOU ARE GOING TO BE BEGGING FOR MERCY ONCE I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!"
"Nice try Ichigo!" Keigo said enthusiastically, "Your dad is going to love to hearing about this!"
My dad? Crap… Ichigo thought as he panicked, due to all the worst case scenarios Ichigo played in his head. Ichigo ran faster at the thought of being pushed to have children everyday by his insane father. NO NO NO! Ichigo screamed in his head as he saw Keigo disappear inside the clinic.
"MR. KUROSAKI!" Keigo bellowed as he ran into the clinic, "ICHIGO IS GOING TO GIVE YOU GRANDCHILDREN!"
Rukia flinched as she heard three things happen at once, the sound of Keigo's head smashing into the nearest wall, the cry of joy that Isshin yelled after hugging his son, and the annoyed tone of Ichigo as he tried to explain to his dad about Keigo's lies. But Isshin, being almost as stubborn as Ichigo, would not listen and continued to "hug" (more like strangle) his son, who he believed was now a man.
Ichigo, after giving up hope for the chance to redeem himself, sat in the emo corner and assumed the fetal position. Unfortunately for Ichigo, Rukia happened to come into the clinic at that exact moment. When Rukia spotted Ichigo, she had to stifle a giggle at the pitiful sight of the substitute shinigami.
After Ichigo's twin sisters returned home and saw the helpless form of their brother, they decided it would be better to not ask; though Karin had a pretty good idea of the cause of Ichigo's state of mind…
After a while, Ichigo left his emo corner, ate some of Yuzu's cooking, and went to his room to try and sleep away his soon-to-come gossip attack.
THE NEXT DAY
Ichigo awoke feeling better than usual, though he could not understand why. The first thing he noticed after clearing his head from his sleep was the fact that his father had not violently woken him up today. That's strange, Ichigo thought warily, what's special about today… Wait a minute… Rukia chose this exact moment to come out of Ichigo's closet, still sleepy, with a cute, innocent look on her face. Damn, cute Midget made me forget about what I was going to think about, wait… did I just call her cute? Oh god, stupid hormones, wait she's looking at me, ACT NATURAL! Of course, since Ichigo had little time to react before she started to get suspicious, he did the first thing that came to mind when he thought act natural.
"Ichigo?" Rukia said curiously, "What are you doing?"
"Err… Acting natural?" Ichigo said like it was more of a question than an answer.
Ichigo, being too preoccupied with Rukia's face to concentrate, had moved his body so he was shaped like the human interpretation of a tree (Standing straight up and having both his arms sticking out). Rukia, deciding that Ichigo was making fun of her in some way, believed the best course of action would be to kick Ichigo in the shins.
Ichigo retaliated by shaking his arms wildly while hopping around in pain. Rukia went back into her closet to change, laughing the entire time at Ichigo's antics.
SOME TIME LATER
Ichigo and Rukia slowly approached the school when they realized something was out of place. Many of the school-girls were whispering to each other, blushing, and giggling more than usual. The guys were looking at Ichigo with envious eyes, like he was walking with a piece of meat and not Rukia. A sudden instinct to protect Rukia came over him when the school's head jock came over, Shunsuke Hashimoto.
"Hey baby." The arrogant young man said, "Why stick with a strawberry when you could have a man like me?"
Ichigo prepared to beat the hell out of Shunsuke, when suddenly Rukia did something very un-ladylike. Rukia, faster than most of the students could track, kicked Shunsuke in the "area". Everybody within a 50 meter range gasped as they saw Shunsuke fall to the ground and writhe in pain. As all the people were too shocked to react, Rukia grabbed Ichigo's hand and started running into the school. Since Ichigo was too preoccupied with the fact he was holding Rukia's hand, he did not object to being practically dragged. When they entered their classroom, there was a depressed-looking Orihime in her seat. Rukia, remembering that Orihime had said she had a crush on Ichigo, knew why she looked like that instantly. Ichigo on the other hand, being oblivious like always, asked what was wrong.
"Inoue," Ichigo said questioningly, "why do you look like that?"
When Orihime looked up to face the young man she was thinking of, she suddenly grew angry when she saw who Ichigo was with.
"YOU!" Orihime screamed with rage, "You're the one who stole Kurosaki-Kun away from me! YOU WHORE!"
Rukia reacted quickly and knocked Orihime out with a quiet Kido, before she could cause a commotion.
Ichigo finally understood Orihime's depression and made a mental note to tell Inoue he was not interested later. Ichigo shook his head and tried to forget what had happened in the last 24 hours, but could not due to the constant questions of curious students, wanting to know how Rukia managed to seduce Ichigo away from his "Tough Guy Act" and fall in love.
By the end of the day, Ichigo had to force himself to not go into Bankai and kick Keigo's gossiping ass.
In Rukia's eyes, she could see the emotions Ichigo was feeling like it was second nature. She blushed when she thought about how well she knew Ichigo. His favorite song, the sports he liked to play, even the size of the clothes he wore. Her blush deepened as she remembered the night she wore Ichigo's t-shirt while he was away going on a father-son "bonding" trip. But there was one thing Rukia needed to know. What kind of girl was Ichigo's type?
Her thoughts were interrupted by Ichigo clearing his throat. Rukia looked around and saw she was not at the front of Ichigo's house, but rather at a secluded spot near a river.
"Ichigo?" Rukia said curiously, "Where are we?
"This…" Ichigo said, a sad smile plastered on his face, "is the place where my mom died. I always thought of it as a sad place I would never forget. But I want to wash that memory away with a happier one… Rukia, will you g-"
"Just hurry up and kiss me idiot…" Rukia said as she crossed her arms.
Ichigo could only stand still in disbelief, while the reader sweat dropped (and the fourth wall was broken)
Eventually, Ichigo came to his senses and leaned closer, as their lips met, the reading audience sighed in relief, (I hope). After their "exchange", Ichigo picked Rukia up bridal-style and flash-stepped to his house so they could continue their "activities". I guess those rumors aren't going to be lies anymore… Was both Ichigo's and Rukia's last thought as they arrived at Ichigo's house… no, THEIR house.
AND IT IS FINISHED! This story took me a good 3 and a half hours to write, over a 3 day time period, but it was worth it to write this fluff. This is my first fanfiction, but I accept criticism as well as praise. Also, please inform me of any mistakes and I will try and change it. Please include in your review whether you want me to continue this or keep it as a one-shot; if you're lazy a PM will do, but reviews are more encouraging than PM's… ;)
Until Next Time,
Josh (The Prototype)