Alright, I do not own these characters, and yes, this is rated M for future lemons, If you can't handle the heat, get outta here;p
For a long time now, Rukia would wait for Ichigo to wake up, every morning she would slide open the closet door and tiptoe to his bed, and lay down beside him until sunrise.
It had all started a very long time ago, when Ichigo had barely been a Substitute Soul Reaper for a night, and already he had almost lost his life, the lives of his family members, and his precious Rukia, a tiny Soul Reaper who had come to mean so much to him after such a short amount of time. At first, they were always like magnets, the closer you push them together, the farther they push away. But after a while, things grew into a pattern and stayed the same, the fact that they were friends was something stanch and never questioned before, until the bonds of their friendship were tested.
Sunrise poured in the open window beside Ichigo's messy bed, illuminating his and Rukia's sleeping forms. Groaning, Ichigo rolled over and into Rukia, pulling her into his arms and curving his long slender body around her tiny frame. Rukia nestled her head upon Ichigo's chest, He shivered, shills running up and down his spine as her cold hands found refuge, sliding them under his white Tshirt that he always slept in and up his strong chest. Rukia drifted back to her nightmares while Strawberry slept soundly, she was almost asleep when-
"ICHIGOOOOOOO! TIME TO WAKE UP TO MY FOOT IN YOUR *FACE*!" Ichigo's dad Isshin stormed in as usual, except this morning something was different. Rukia forgot to go back to her bed in the closet before Isshin woke up.
"RISE AND SHIII-whu-what?" Isshin blinked and did a double take at the sight of a girl in his son's bed, wearing only one of Ichigo's shirts and revealing underwear.
Ichigo was finally stirring, he sat up, mussing up his brilliant orange hair, which now looked like it was pointing directions what with the spikes going every which way.
"Huh, Dad get out the room, it's a Saturday, can't you go annoy Karin or something? God get out of my room." He mumbled, stretching. It took Strawberry a moment to get a good look at the expression on his father's face. Ichigo looked in disbelief, his Dad was grinning like an idiot and almost crying.
"YOUR MOTHER WOULD BE SO PROUD!" He said beaming and running out the door of Ichi's room, thundering down the stairs in his usual fashion. Ichigo and Rukia(now awake) could hear his yells from the kitchen:
"I KNEW HE WASN'T GAY! Our little Ichio has got a girlfriend and gotten laid!" He yelled for the world to hear, much to the dismay of Ichigo. Right after that was said, they both looked at each other, and started.
"You should stay here with me-" Ichigo started looking towards the window and messing up his hair some more.
"I think I should go back to my-" Rukia began, glancing around at the messy blankets.
Both looked back at each other and simultaneously said:
"Wait what?"
"You can go first, Ichi."
"No no, it's not that important, you first." He said, looking in the opposite direction of Rukia's insistent look.
"Since when have you ever listened to me?" That got him to look at her.
"Well I...um.." He said, a warm blush beginning to form, he gruffly cleared his throat, stretching, his voice taking on that usual 'devil-may-care' tone. "Well if you wanna stay in here with me where it's warm or go back to your stuffy closet, I don't care, the cat's already out of the bag."
Rukia knew that behind his words, he was actually asking her to stay, how sweet.
"Nah, I think I'll go back, Chappy's gonna get cold." Yeah, she knew it, but she'd rather piss him off.
That got him. He snorted derisively.
"Yeah sure, go back to your stupid stuffed animal, it's not like someone that loves you is waiting over here or anything." he said offhand, not realizing what he said until he saw Rukia standing motionless beside her closet, one hand on the door.
In a broken whisper he heard "What did you say?" She turned around to face him.
He sat on the edge of his bed, face in his hand, his expression troubled.
"I said..." He stood suddenly, anger in his voice. "Nothing! Since when does something that I care about matter to you? You're always wound up in those stupid Soul Society deals and Hollow crap and you never take time to listen to anything I have to say, It's like I'm invisible to you! You spend every night in my arms, yet you always think we're "just friends" ? How could this happen! Nothing i care about..." Ichigo continued on, his face now completely buried in his hand, his voice smothered from that and yet still rough with emotion.
"It has always mattered to me Strawberry-kun." She said softly, pulling his chin up to face her with a gentle hand.
"You are my everything, whether you know it or not, without you, I'd be thrown into an oblivion, an abyss, centuries passing without seeing the light of your eyes again. I love you, deny it if you want, but I've always wanted something more than..." She gestured around the room, turning away and going back towards the closet door. "...This."