A/N: Although I am an IchiHime shipper, I love the Ichigo Rukia friendship. So this fic was born. Hope you guys like it!
I.
Rukia checked her watch. Again. 12:24. He was twenty four minutes late. Her stomach rumbled loudly and she frowned. Here she was, trying to be polite and wait for Ichigo before ordering lunch, and he was twenty-four minutes late!
This lunch was for Ichigo's benefit. His girlfriend of over a year, Senna, had broken up with him last week. As much as Ichigo tried to hide it behind his usual scowl and biting attitude, all his close friends could see how upset he was. In a desperate bid to cheer him up, Renji, Keigo, Mizuiro, Chad, and Ikkaku had insisted on taking him out to a club in order to get "shit faced wasted", as Renji had put it.
Rukia, having known Ichigo the longest, almost 15 years now (They had met in 1st grade and were now college juniors) figured a talk with her would help Ichigo a lot more than getting drunk.
Rukia looked up when she heard the bell above the café door chime, signaling a new arrival. There in the doorway, looking extremely disheveled, was Kurosaki Ichigo.
He smirked sheepishly as he took a seat across from her at the small table. He tried halfheartedly to straighten out his hair. Her glare didn't soften. "You're late."
"Sorry. Lunch is my treat to make it up to you." Ichigo offered.
Rukia scoffed. "You were paying anyway. Just for the honor of my presence here."
Ichigo smirked fondly. "Whatever Rukia."
When the waitress came by Rukia took full advantage of Ichigo's offer and ordered the most expensive item on the menu, along with a pricey coffee. She smirked when Ichigo scowled and settled for toast and water for himself, no doubt compensating for her expensive meal.
"So, why were you so late?" Rukia asked as she stirred sugar into her coffee.
Ichigo took a sip of his water before responding. "I met someone last night."
II.
Her name was Inoue Orihime. And according to Ichigo, she was the strangest and most beautiful woman he had ever met. He admitted he didn't remember much of the night before, because he had been extremely intoxicated. He had been so drunk that he had somehow lost his cell phone, which explained why he couldn't call to inform her that he was running late to lunch. Although last night was fuzzy, he could remember everything that had happened this morning.
Ichigo groaned as the sunlight streamed into the room. Who had opened his curtains? He rolled over in an attempt to block out the blinding sun. One muscled arm emerged from under the covers to search for his alarm clock. After several seconds of searching through the air, he realized the table he was looking for wasn't there. Because this wasn't his room.
Ichigo slowly sat up, his head pounding. How much did he drink the night before? He had lost count somewhere around his 15th shot. He had a few memories of the club, drinking with the guys, dancing with random girls, singing an awful rendition of 'We are the Champions' with Ikkaku, but besides that everything was a drunken blur.
After examining his surroundings, he realized that he was in a hotel room. 'I hope I didn't pay for this.' He had spent enough money on alcohol the night before, although Keigo had promised everything would be his treat. Keigo reneged on this agreement around the 4th round of sake. 'Cheap bastard.'
Ichigo finally noticed that he wasn't wearing any clothes. Taking another glance around the room, he saw his clothes scattered around the room, along with articles of clothing that obviously did not belong to him. He reached for a yellow frilly bra that was on the lamp beside the disheveled bed. '28 E cup? Not bad." He thought before allowing the bra to fall to the floor.
"Hi Kurosaki-kun! You're awake!" A sweet voice sounded as she adjusted the bag full of breakfast she was carrying.
Rukia scoffed loudly, interrupting Ichigo's narrative. "She bought you breakfast?"
"No. The hotel had complimentary breakfast. But she was nice enough to bring me breakfast in bed. She's really thoughtful. And pretty. And there's just this innocence about her…" Ichigo said in a tone that would have sounded lovesick if it was coming from anyone besides Ichigo.
Rukia rolled her eyes. "Yes Ichigo. The girl who had a drunken one night stand with you last night is soooo innocent."
Ichigo ran a hand through his spiky orange locks. A nervous habit of his that he probably wasn't even aware of, but Rukia noticed. She noticed a lot of things about him.
"You don't get it. It's hard to explain. You'd have to see her in person. She's not the one night stand kind of girl."
"Sure. She just made an exception for you."
Ichigo frowned at Rukia's skepticism. "She did. She told me she had never had a one night stand before."
"That's what they all say!"
"She said there was a strong magnetic pull between us so when I asked her to come with me she couldn't refuse. And something about how Tatsuki-chan was always telling her she needed to be more spontaneous…"
Rukia finished her coffee. "Whatever Ichigo."
The old friends sat in an uncomfortable silence for several moments. As Ichigo finished off his toast, Rukia noticed something on his palm.
"Let me see that."
Ichigo held his hand out toward her disinterestedly.
In girlish handwriting, hearts dotting all the I's, on Ichigo's palm was written Inoue Orihime, (171) 035-7346.
Before Ichigo could do anything, Rukia had licked his palm, blurring the numbers beyond recognition.
"What the hell you midget bitch!" He immediately pulled his hand back and inspected his palm. He glared at her once he saw he could no longer read the number.
Rukia's chuckles died down once she realized how angry he was. "Oh come on Ichigo. You should be thanking me. You just got out of a serious relationship and you meet the worst people on the rebound. And I can already tell that this Inoue is not the girl for you."
"Fuck you Rukia." Ichigo threw down some money for the bill before storming out of the restaurant.
III.
"You know, Ichigo is really pissed at you." Renji stated lazily as he continued to flip through channels.
"He's being a big baby. It was a joke! It was really funny!" Rukia retorted.
"You didn't see her. She was really hot. Huge boobs. Nothing funny about ruining Ichigo's chance with her."
"I'm sure you're remembering what she looked like through beer goggles. How good looking could she possibly be if she hooked up with idiotic Ichigo?" Rukia said.
"Ichigo isn't a bad looking guy. Not as good looking as me of course, but he's always been popular with the ladies. He just shouldn't scowl so much. But you should have seen him that night. He was completely wasted! He is a happy drunk, I've never seen him so happy."
"Renji, as an immature 20 something guy, you obviously do not understand women. Any girl who gives it up to a guy she just met is bad news."
"You mean like how when you first met Kaien you-"
"SHUT UP! Get out of my house Renji! You promised if I told you, you wouldn't speak of it ever again!"
"I'm just pointing out that you're being a hypocrite! Oww! Stop hitting me!"
IV.
It was almost a week before Ichigo would return any of her phone calls. He agreed to meet up with her and go to a new bakery, on the condition that she paid.
Ichigo walked with his hands shoved into his jean pockets and Rukia had to almost jog to keep up with his long legged strides. Noticing this, he made a conscious effort to slow his pace.
Rukia looked up at her closest friend as they continued their trek to the bakery. She looked down at the sidewalk before speaking. "This is really hard for me to say, but I'm going to spit it out. Maybe…I shouldn't have licked off Inoue's number. I don't know her, and it was really none of my business."
Ichigo stayed silent for a moment before smirking. "Is that an apology I detect?"
Rukia frowned and kicked his shin, ignoring him as he knelt in pain. "Did you hear an 'I'm sorry?' No? Then it wasn't an apology!"
"Bitch." He bit out as he slowly straightened, looking as if he was expecting another kick to the shin.
He was pleasantly surprised when she continued walking with no further attacks. She wouldn't look at him when she finally said. "This isn't an apology, but I admit that my actions might have been a little…..not…right." She refused to say anything else.
Soon they reached the bakery, which was small and quaint. "Hello! Welcome to Karakura Bakery!" The girl at the counter immediately greeted cheerfully, she finished decorating the cupcake she was working on before looking up at Ichigo and Rukia.
"Kurosaki-kun! What a pleasant surprise!" The pretty auburn haired employee exclaimed.
"Inoue." Ichigo replied with a smile. "Sorry I didn't call."
V.
"You know," Renji paused and took a big gulp from his milkshake "It almost sounds like you're jealous."
Rukia glared at Renji, shoving some French fries into her mouth before responding to his ridiculous claim. "Are you kidding me? Ichigo is like an annoying younger brother."
"He's only a few months younger than you."
"But in terms of maturity he's years behind me."
Renji grabbed some of her fries ("Hey!" She exclaimed angrily, guarding her fries to stop any more theft.) "I never said you were jealous in a romantic way." Renji said with a smirk.
Rukia flushed red. "It was implied!" She defended.
"But seriously. You and Ichigo have always been so close that I think you are threatened by any female that could possibly become more important to him than you are."
"Thank you Dr. Abarai. How much do I owe you for this enlightening therapy session?" She asked sarcastically.
"You didn't like Senna at first either." Renji reminded the petite girl.
"What are you talking about? I always liked Senna. Because I'm not jealous of other girls being around Ichigo."
Renji ignored her reply. "Maybe you should just hang out with Inoue one on one. Get to know her a little."
"Why? I'm pretty confident they won't be together long. Like Nii-sama always says, if a young women doesn't respect herself and make the gentleman wait, then-"
"They've been dating for over a month now. Just hang out with her. I'm tired of hearing you bitch about her all the time." As she mulled over his words, Renji stole the rest of her forgotten French fries.
VI.
"I'm so glad we are doing this Kuchiki-san! Ichigo-kun talks about you all the time so I feel like we are already friends!"
Rukia fake smiled as she looked at the giddy girl beside her. The girls were at a nail salon getting pedicures in neighboring chairs. Rukia considered herself more of a tomboy, which is why she didn't have many (Or any, she realized belatedly) female friends. But she figured getting pedicures was something girls did, and Orihime definitely seemed like the quintessential girly girl.
"I'm glad we're doing this too Inoue. I'm sure if Ichigo likes you, I'll like you too." Rukia was trying to convince herself of this as much as she was trying to convince Inoue.
"Miss, what color nail polish do you want?" The manicurist asked the bubbly red head.
"Oh! I want red and green. For Christmas!" Orihime replied.
Rukia arched a brow. "But, it's July Inoue."
"I know." She replied cheerfully.
"How about a summer look? I can make a watermelon design." The manicurist offered.
"Alright! If Kuchiki-san and manicurist-san think it will be better."
Rukia smiled fondly. Ichigo was right. Orihime was strange. And pretty. And she seemed to be really nice. And maybe, just maybe, Rukia could share Ichigo. And maybe she could finally have a female friend.
"Ahhh!" Inoue yelped and instinctively kicked the manicurist when she started to massage her foot. "Oh no! Manicurist-san I am so sorry! I've never had a pedicure before and it tickled and-. Oh no! Your nose is bleeding! I'm so so sorry! Kuchiki-san! Do we need to take her to a hospital? I'm sorry!"
VII.
"Happy birthday Ichigo!" Rukia exclaimed loudly as she burst into Ichigo's room at exactly 7:15 AM, like she had done every year on his birthday for the last 15 years.
But unlike every other time, this time there was someone else in bed with him.
Orihime stirred slightly, but remained asleep. "Do you have to be so loud all the time?" His soft tone, obviously for his sleeping girlfriend's benefit, belied his angry stare.
Rukia glared right back, but lowered her voice to an angry whisper. "You're mad at me? I'm mad at you! I'm here to take you out to your birthday breakfast, like we do every year, and somehow you forgot!"
"I didn't forget. Orihime is only here because she came over for dinner last night. I guess after 4 months of dating, it was time to meet the family. By the time dinner was over, it was pouring outside so it was just easier for her to stay here for the night. But we're still going for breakfast. Let me just get untangled here first…"
Ichigo carefully removed his arms from around Orihime. Her hand, which had been clenching his white t-shirt, loosened. He left the bed as gently as possible, making sure not to jostle her. She sighed at the loss of his warmth, but remained asleep.
He wrote a quick note for Orihime. Rukia looked away with a blush when he leaned down to give his sleeping girlfriend a quick kiss goodbye.
"Well?' He questioned
"What?" She asked
"Are you just going to stand here or are you going to leave so I can change?"
VIII.
"You know, I'm really glad you and Orihime are hanging out more." Ichigo said between bites of chocolate chip pancakes.
"Me too. It's nice to finally have a friend who has a uterus."
Ichigo laughed. "I know I don't say it a lot Rukia, but you're really important to me."
Rukia smiled and stirred sugar into her coffee. "I know."
And as the two friends enjoyed Ichigo's birthday breakfast, both knew that this tradition would be a lifelong commitment. Because what was between Rukia and Ichigo was more than a friendship, it was love (Platonic? Who can say for sure?)
-The End-