Rukia's P.O.V.
Pausing the TV, I frowned. It sounded like someone was coughing outside my front door. Glancing at the clock, I shook my head and settled back down. Who would be standing outside my house at this time? I was probably hearing things.
A few minutes later I heard someone say "Shit." and then footsteps went way from my house. I ran over the window to see what was going on, and saw Ichigo walking away. Silently, I slipped out of my front door and followed him down the street. When he stopped outside his front door, I guessed something had happened, and went round the back so I could climb into his room and meet him there.
Ichigo had moved out of his dad's house the day after he had turned twenty, and I hadn't been inside his room at his new place. I jumped through the partly open window and looked around. He had painted it red, with various anime posters on the wall, and had a black rug and bedspread. I smiled. It was so different from his old room, with its pale lemon walls and green, yellow and blue furniture - it looked like my little strawberry had all grown up. Noticing a picture frame on the table (black) next to his bed, I walked over and picked it up. Ori, her eyes wide with her arm around Ichi's neck, grinned happily out from the frame, while Ichi squinted with a smile into the bright flash of the camera. I recognized it as the picture on the beach I had taken for them last summer.
I decided to carry on nosing around - it had been a while since I last had a good pry at Ichi's belongings, however bad that sounded. Disappointingly, I didn't find much but socks, boxers... and a box of condoms. I shook my head, thinking how weird that was. I hadn't really thought of Ichigo doing that kind of thing, which was stupid- he was twenty, after all.
An hour later, Ichi still hadn't come up to his room, and I was tired of looking around. Flopping on the bed, I frowned at something sticking out from under the pillow. A small tug exposed that it was a photo, probably of Ori. I pulled it further, gasping in surprise when instead of seeing Orihime's beautiful grey eyes, I saw my own indigo-blues meeting my gaze steadily. I was wearing a Kimino with a blue flower tucked behind my hair and a small smile on my face, and I was stood outside the soul society. I guessed it was taken a few months back, when we went back to visit the Soul Reapers we left behind.
"Why the hell does Ichi have a picture of me under his pillow?"
Five minutes later, I heard Ichi stumble up the stars, and hastily pushed the photo back under his pillow. He stopped on the landing, and I thought he must be about to go to the toilet instead, until the door behind me gently swung open and Ichigo's shadow fell next to me.
"Rukia?"
Ichigo's P.O.V
Up until today, I'd thought the weirdest thing in the world was the way Ori laughed at things that weren't funny. I changed my mind the minute I walked through my bedroom door and saw her, with her back facing me.
"Rukia?" I asked, still not believing my eyes. She span around, her eyes confused and unfocused until finally they settled on me.
"Oh hi, Ichi."
"What are you doing here?" I thought back to standing out of her house, seeing her silhouette through the white curtains, curled up on her beanbag.
"I saw you outside my house. I was wondering if everything was okay?"
I cursed at myself. Rukia had cat-hearing - I should have known she heard me outside her house. "Oh. Well, everything's okay... I just came to talk to you, and then chickened out, I suppose."
"Why did you come to talk to me at, like, three in the morning?"
"Well, Uhhrr..." I couldn't see my way out of this one. I looked at Rukia, and she stared steadily back. "Well, Ori broke up with me. I came to tell you."
"Oh Ichi! Are you okay? You two have being going out forever!"
I dismissed her statement with a wave of my hand. "To be honest, I've been looking for a reason to break up with her these last few months. She was kinda clingy- I mean, the minute I moved in here, I could see in her eyes she was already looking for a place to put her potpourri. You know, in case I asked her to move in."
"Oh. So, what happened anyway?"
"She and Sado are seeing each other."
"She cheated on you? I know you wanted to break up with her and all, but that's mean!"
"Oh, It's not her fault. Ori has always had a flighty mind, for as long as I've known her. It's not her fault, she was probably born like that. I think her brother dying made it worse, though. Anyway, she didn't really cheat on me. She kissed him, and was in floods about it."
I realized I was still stood in the doorway with my hand on the door handle, and so I stepped inside, shut the door, and sat on my bed. Rukia carefully sat next to me, pulling down on the hem of her dress until it was nearly at hear knees. Inwardly, I grinned. Rukia was always so ladylike - until she got a zanpakutÅ in her hand and a hollow in front of her, that is.
Her gaze fell on the black guitar resting next to my bed, and picked it up.
"I didn't know you could play."
"Some. Can you?"
She avoided the question. "Play me something. Please?"
Taking the guitar out of her hands, I lent back, closed my eyes, and began picking out the notes of one of my favourite pieces ever. A few minutes later, I smiled as I hit the last chord, and opened my eyes. "I normally always get that bit wrong."
Rukia was staring at me. I immediately felt self-conscious. "What?"
"Some? Some? You're amazing! How did you get the chords to come through at the same time as the notes? It sounded like there were, like, four guitars playing!"
"Just how I play. And I'm not amazing, but thanks."
"Oh, stop being modest. and Never Meant To Belong? Interesting song choice there."
"I love it. It sounds so sad, but so happy at the same time. Sort of like the person has wanted for something for so long, and now there's a chance to get it, and he doesn't know how." I dropped the line casually, hoping she would pick up on what I meant - that now I was single I wanted to know if there was any chance for us, but I didn't know how to ask her - but she just smiled and nodded.
"I thought it was on violin and piano?"
"Uh, it was. I transposed it and wrote it up to make it suitable for guitar."
"Bit of a music whiz are we, Mr. Kirosaki?" She asked, her eyes laughing at me.
"bit of a joker are we, Miss Kuchiki?" She rolled her eyes and grinned at me, and I laughed. Next thing I knew, she had lent over and grabbed my lyric book. "What are these?"
I quickly went to grab the book of her, but she snatched it away too quickly and started flicking through.
"You write up lyrics to your favourite songs?"
"Uh, yeah." I thought it was probably best to lie, considering the girl the lyrics described was very much like her.
"Wait. Soul Candy? One of your favourite songs is called Soul Candy?"
"Um, yeah."
"These are your songs, aren't they?"
"Alright, so they are. Problem?"
"Who's this girl you're talking about?"
"What girl?"
"The girl with sapphire eyes and a diamond soul. Ori has grey eyes, doesn't she?"
"Oh yeah! Who say's it's about her?"
"What do you mean?"
I sighed dramatically. "Funny thing, Ruki. You see, there are a lot of girls in the world with indigo eyes."
She wacked me roughly round the head, knocking me onto the floor, and giggled hysterically as I grabbed her round the waist and pulled her down with me. We tussled for a while, until, abruptly, we both stopped exactly the same time. We looked at each other silently, and I noticed the way her pupils widened, and she tipped her head back. Hesitantly, I bent forward and pressed my lips to hers.