bleach drabble
ichigo/rukia
do you really know what you say or do when you're sleeping?

note : very vague spoilers to recent manga chapters, and really, i don't own bleach (510 words)


Sleep Talking

The weird noises coming from the other side of the couch jerked Ichigo awake from a light doze. He bleary lifted his head from the awkward angle of wedging it against the back of the sofa and slowly stretched as he tried to get his bearings.

The living room was dimly lit with the glow of the television that was still showing the long list of credits, slowly scrolling across the screen. He belatedly realised that he had fallen asleep during the last part of the horror movie that Rukia had insisted on renting earlier that day.

Looking across to Rukia who was curled into the other end of the couch, it slowly dawned on him what had woken him up earlier. Her small form was tensed even in sleep, and she kept twitching as if being attacked. The little idiot was having a nightmare. Oh, this was so classic.

He leaned towards her across the expanse of the sofa and studied her tiny form. She was muttering and her face was all scrunched up. He can barely make out her words but he managed to catch a few phrases about some evil strawberry-eating possessed stuffed bunny.

Ichigo sighed in disgust. He knew it was a bad idea for her to watch 'Child's Play'. But her arrogant dismissal of his warnings had goaded him into letting her watch anyway.

Well, this will teach them both to listen to his instincts the next time round.

He stood up and gazed down at her. Rukia was now sound asleep but he couldn't just let her spend the night sleeping on the couch. Even if she could stretch out fully on it and still have some room left over. He sighed again, resignedly this time.

Carefully scooping her up into his arms, he then slowly straightened so as not to jostle her awake. She would so kill him if she found out that he was carrying her to bed like some child. The vertically-challenged death god was a little touchy about her size and deceptively youthful appearance.

Making his way carefully past the furniture scattered across the room, Ichigo headed towards the stairs that lead to the girls' shared bedroom.

"Ichigo," she whimpered, her hands clutching at his shirt with a desperate hold.

He paused to peer cautiously down at her, only to find that she was still asleep. Thinking it was just more of her nightmares, he started to walk up the steps. But her next words made him stop once more.

"Don't leave me again, Ichigo."

He looked at her in surprise. When had he ever left her...? Then with a start, he remembered when they had left soul society, all of them gathered atop the execution grounds. She was the one who had decided to stay and he had never thought of it as leaving her.

But apparently deep down, she did. That was so like her to be contradictory.

His whispered reply was just as soft as the gentle kiss he placed on her knitted brow. "Never."

end


I really have to dedicate this to my brother - who talks in his sleep all the time and whose latest hilarious morning 'talk' inspired me to write it in the first place. Hehehehhe...