Aww, jeez. Y'all were so nice to me when you reviewed, it really made my day reading them. I'm serious. The feedback was way better than what I expected. Well, thanks to all those who reviewed! You all got me pumped to write the second chapter!!
"No way." Ichigo vigorously shook his head, looking away from the raven-haired shinigami and back at his book, which, needless to say, wasn't very good. The idea of watching a movie made him want to drop the boring book and make a bowl of popcorn; but since it was Rukia who had picked out the movie, his book suddenly seemed to be an epic masterpiece. He leaned back against the couch and pulled the book up in front of his face. "I'm not letting you watch that movie."
Rukia crossed her arms over her chest and stared defiantly at Ichigo. When she saw that her stare had not phased him at all, she walked up to him and put the movie case right in his face. The agitated teen sighed, dropping his book into his lap and snatching the DVD case out of the girl's hand. "The Grudge 2? Are you serious?" He shook his head when Rukia nodded, waiting for his answer. "Do you remember what happened when I took you to see the first Grudge movie?"
Ichigo felt something poking his side, but just thought that it was his mind playing tricks on him. He grunted and rolled over, burying his face into his pillow. Another growl escaped his mouth as the poking persisted, more sharp and vigorous than before. "What the hell-?" He turned back around and opened his eyes, sighing when he saw Rukia staring back at him. He cocked an eyebrow, his foggy amber eyes half open. "What is it?"
"I think there's something in the closet." Rukia whispered, crouching and huddling up next to Ichigo's bed.
"Oh my God." Ichigo rubbed his eyes, sighing in annoyance. "Are you serious?" He grumbled several choice words before getting out of the bed and walking over to the closet. He peaked his head inside and looked around, finding nothing, of course, and turned around. His eyes narrowed when he saw Rukia curl up on the bed and disappear under the covers. "What are you doing?"
No answer. Ichigo sighed and walked over to the bed, lifting the covers and cocking an eyebrow at the petite shinigami. "Have you absolutely lost it? What are you doing in my bed, fool?"
Rukia shot Ichigo a strange look before snatching the covers out of his hand and pulling them back over her head. Ichigo smirked cockily; his sisters used to do this when they had seen scary movies and wanted to sleep with him for the night. Deciding to play along for a while, he sat on the edge of the bed, crossing his arms over his chest. He waited for a few moments, tapping his sock-clad foot on the floor, before a tiny voice from under the covers spoke his name, "Ichigo?"
The said teen suppressed an amused chuckle before asking in as calm and cool a voice as he could muster, "Yeah?"
Ichigo could hear a brief pause, a slight moment of hesitation before a shy and embarrassed voice asked, "Could…could I sleep with you tonight?"
Bingo. He knew it. But he was tired and his bed was only big enough for one, so the word 'no' almost left his mouth. He simply sighed, realizing that he probably wouldn't be able to get any sleep that night anyways, and muttered, "Yeah, fine." The teen sat back against the headrest, propping one leg up on the edge of the bed and letting the other dangle over the side. He shut his eyes, trying not to concentrate on how uncomfortable his position was, and folded his arms over his chest.
Ichigo was just about to doze off when he felt something warm press up against his leg and a weight rest on his lap. He cracked open a cloudy eye and looked down at Rukia, who had curled up next to him and had rested her head on his thigh, clutching the bottom of his shirt.
"Yeah, and I need to get some sleep tonight. I go one more night chasing hollows instead of sleeping, I'm gonna put myself out of my misery for good." Ichigo picked his book back up and continued to read it, pushing the DVD case out from in front of his face. "So the answer is no. Now scram and go draw some hideously deformed rabbit."
Rukia growled at him and threw the movie case at his head, its corner hitting Ichigo square on the forehead. She sat down next to him and stared up at his face with large puppy-dog eyes. "Please? I promise I won't wake you up."
"No. Get lost, ya pest." Ichigo yelled, scooting to the other end of the couch.
"Fine." Rukia stood up, putting her hands on her hips. "Then I'll just tell everyone at school that you read fashion magazines."
"What?!" Ichigo shouted incredulously, dropping his book and loosing his place in the process. "I do not! And besides, you have no proof." He gawked in horror as Rukia held up several fashion and makeup magazines, the same ones she had bought the previous day for "future uses", which obviously involved black mailing him. The orange-haired teen sighed in defeat, tossing the movie case back to the girl. "Fine, put the stupid movie in."
Rukia smirked triumphantly before turning to start the movie. Ichigo rested against the backrest of the couch, rubbing the side of his head. It wasn't that he desperately needed sleep, or even that Rukia had woken him up at two in the morning, but that it made him uncomfortable thinking about how nice it had felt to sleep next to her. He decided not to think about it and settled against the armrest of the couch as the raven-haired girl turned out the lights and started to play the movie.
Ichigo figured that it wouldn't be all too bad; he liked the movie, and now he had an excuse to watch it for probably the hundredth time since it had come out. The beginning credits to the movie began to roll. Much similar to the ones in the first movie, and eerie music floated throughout the room. The teen looked over at Rukia, who was sitting right next to him. She appeared to be handling the movie fairly well, much to Ichigo's surprise. Perhaps, by the grace of whatever god there was out there, the movie wouldn't scare her all that bad.
As the film progressed, he noticed that, by what seemed like millimeter by millimeter, Rukia had scooted closer to him so that their bodies where slightly touching. Ichigo could feel every wish of the movie not scaring the girl flush right down the drain. He had to admit that the second Grudge movie had been scarier than the first, but it had never really had a huge effect on his sleeping. Now, he simply dreaded to think about what kind of effect it would have on Rukia.
Ichigo yawned, growing tired, and shut his eyes. He let his tense body relax, his figure resting against the cushions of the couch. He could faintly hear the audio of the movie, which, despite it being as scary as hell, gave him some comfortable background music. He could feel his head tipping forward, his chin resting against his chest, and was about to fall asleep, when a loud ringing noise, followed by a shrill shriek, shot through the house.
A torrent of vivid and surprised curses escaped Ichigo's mouth. He gave a deep, shaky sigh as he realized that it was only the telephone ringing. Growling, he reached over and picked the phone up, then abruptly slammed it back onto its cradle when the annoying voice of a telemarketer floated from the earpiece. The teen rubbed the side of his head, resting his elbow on the armrest, and was about to fall back asleep when he felt something warm curl up next to him, clinging to his arm in a death grip.
Ichigo looked down and saw Rukia, wrapped tightly in a large, thick blanket, holding onto his arm as if it were her lifeline. Her large, violet eyes were glued to the television screen, her grip on the teen's arm tightening as the music from the movie became suspenseful. "It was just the telephone, you know." Ichigo stated quietly, looking down at the shinigami huddled up next to him. Just as something in the movie jumped out from nowhere so that it was all the TV screen could focus on, Rukia pulled the orange-haired shinigami's arm around her and looked away, pressing her body against his.
"Rukia," Ichigo sighed, looking down at the girl who was then practically in his lap, "If this is scaring you, then just turn it off."
"I'm not scared." Rukia corrected as-a-matter-of-factly, scooting an inch away from the teen, but keeping his arm around her shoulders just in case. "For your information, I'm just cold. I read a book and the main characters used body heat to keep each other warm, so I figured we could do the same." Her reply signaled how oblivious she was to the fact that: one, Ichigo could see right through her excuse and that she was, in fact, scared silly; and two, the rather awkward position they were in.
"Yeah, whatever." Soon after his sarcastic reply, Ichigo grunted as Rukia elbowed him in his stomach, which, to say the least, didn't feel so good. He allowed his arm to remain around her, loosely enough to signify that he wasn't paying too much attention to her, which was the exact opposite of the truth. The orange-haired teen was completely disregarding the movie and watching Rukia out of the corner of his eyes, watching as she began to inch closer to him yet again.
It probably didn't help when Rukia gently laid her head against Ichigo's shoulder, yawing tiredly as she continued to watch the movie. The teen stiffened against the girl's seemingly "forward" move, but relaxed as a foreign feeling bubbled up from within his stomach. Warmth? Was Rukia cuddling up next him causing him to feel warm inside? He simply refused to believe it, no matter how much he enjoyed the feel of her body curled up next to his, her intentions completely innocent, but the situation feeling like it was crossing the "innocent" barrier into something a little more serious.
Sighing and letting his muscles relax, Ichigo adjusted himself so both he and Rukia were comfortably pressed against each other, both of their eyes drooping shut as the hour became late and the movie began to reach its ending point. Ichigo rubbed his eyes with his free hand, looking down at Rukia who had, without him knowing, fallen asleep against his shoulder. He yawned and shut his eyes, letting sleep overcome him.
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And when he awoke a few hours later before the sun had risen, Ichigo had noticed that in their sleep, he and Rukia had shifted into rather…conspicuous positions. He was laying on his back, his head propped up against the armrest, with Rukia laying on top of him. Her head was resting on his shoulder, her hands clinging loosely to his wrinkled shirt. The teen grinned, laying his head back on the armrest and shut his eyes. And when Rukia woke up and found them in that position…
…He would blame it on her.
-5:30 AM EST
Heh heh. Fluffy. I pulled an all-nighter Tuesday night, just so I could finish this. Screw this all-nighter, I'm going to sleep!
-BleachBox Romance