"Rukia-chan!" Keigo yelled out from across the classroom as she entered, her bright cheery façade on.
"Good morning, Asano-san!" her melodious voice floated across the room, making several heads turn to her appreciatively. Ichigo was right behind her, giving her a rough push. Rukia fell forward, but caught herself before she fell. She glared daggers at Ichigo.
"Get on with it, shorty," he muttered as he walked past her to his seat. Rukia stepped over to her table, her footsteps light. Keigo approached her and Ichigo with Mizuiro behind him, still clicking on his mobile.
"Keigo wants to ask you both out to a movie," Mizuiro abruptly said nonchalantly. Keigo's face fell.
"What?! You bastard!" he roared at Mizuiro, his expression unchanged. "I was going to slowly ease it into them and trick them into coming!" Rukia gave off a fake laugh, but smiled at Keigo, who was still yelling at Mizuiro.
"I've heard about cinemas, but I've never been," Rukia stated casually, putting her school books into her desk. A silence fell over them, with Ichigo's, Keigo's and Mizuiro's stunned eyes on her. She blinked. "I mean, of course I've been!" Her fake giggle carried across the room.
"Oh, of course," Keigo ate it up immediately, his fawning eyes over her. "As it's a perfectly romantic place for a D-A-T-E!" he spelled out the letters to emphasize them, smiling suggestively. Ichigo took this moment to injure Keigo lightly in the face.
"Don't think about stuff like that, you pervert," he drawled out, flashing a glance at Rukia. She still seemed to be thinking about the idea. "I'm sick, not going." He added bluntly, turning away from her.
"Must have had something to do with your fainting yesterday," Rukia snidely quipped, her hand covering her mouth as she hid a chuckle. Ichigo made a move to grab her but Keigo had recovered from his attack.
"That's alright, Ichigo!" he sung out happily. Ichigo's eye twitched. There was definitely something wrong if Keigo wasn't crying on the floor about him not wanting to go. Keigo got on his knee gallantly and held Rukia's hand. "May we have the company of the wonderful Rukia-chan this evening, though?" his eyes seemed to sparkle with hope as Rukia stared uncertainly at him.
"I don't know…" Keigo's eyes threatened to spill with tears. Rukia stared at Ichigo, as if she was waiting for an answer, but Ichigo was pointedly looking away. She huffed. "Of course, Asano-san!" she smiled prettily at him. Keigo looked actually stared at her, surprised for a second before jumping up.
"Yes, yes, yes!" he danced around Mizuiro joyously, who had stopped looking at his phone, staring curiously at Rukia. Ichigo's face remained as a blank state, his demeanor stating that he didn't care.
"We'll see you there, Kuchiki-san," Mizuiro smiled at her, and dragged Keigo back to their seats. Keigo was still doing his victory dance, a madmen's smile on his face. Rukia gave a real smile at the comedy act, and then took her seat promptly.
"Why are you going?" he asked her indifferently, his gaze at the window.
"Why not?" she breezily replied. "Not like I'm going to be doing anything after school."
"You know, I still don't understand why you act so fake to them," Ichigo looked at her now, her dark violet eyes on him. Rukia gave a chuckle.
"Oh, I don't know what you're talking about,"
"Bullshit!"
"I guess everybody's just falling under the Kuchiki charm," Rukia gave a coy smile before diverting her eyes elsewhere, spotting Orihime looking at them uncomfortably. Rukia gave a wave to her, she jumped in surprise, but smiled back.
"Inoue-san, are you coming?" Rukia asked her as she approached their desks, still looking quite unnerved.
"Oh, yes!" she smiled happily at Rukia, giving a little bounce. "Is Kurosaki-kun coming?"
"Nope," he replied, his gaze still on Rukia, observing her little 'actress' front.
"Oh…" Inoue looked down disappointedly, but Ichigo didn't catch it. Rukia caught it though. Rukia frowned at him, who was unsettlingly stuck at observing her.
"It's alright if the asshole isn't going," Rukia started, her voice light and lips smirking. "I still am, Orihime-san."
"Yeah, instead of the asshole, you get the bitch," Ichigo snapped back, settling back down into his seat. He was hoping to catch Rukia out on the little act and point it out to Inoue, but she didn't do anything suspicio--- 'Wait! Did she just call me an asshole?!'
Inoue was standing between them quite stunned at their last verbal battle. "Ah, uhm, I'll see you later, Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-kun." She exited their area, looking around for Tatsuki.
"You called me an asshole in front of her, dumb midget," Ichigo whispered angrily to her as Rukia stared straight ahead.
"I've gotten to know Inoue better than you probably ever will," she replied coolly, her eyes diverting to the door as it slid open and the teacher entered. "Besides, I feel more comfortable with them now."
"What, so you'll be a bitch to them soon?" Ichigo scoffed at her.
"No, only to you," she smiled deceptively at him, her gaze now on him.
"And why do I get to be your special punching bag?"
"Because you remind me of something."
Ichigo glowered at her. He was sure that an insult was about to come with her next line, so he didn't press the issue.
"So, you're going too, Ishida?" Ichigo asked, quite stunned.
"Yes, and it's Uryuu to you," the spectacled boy answered, pushing his glasses up. Ichigo scoffed at him. "Everybody is going except for you, Kurosaki."
"Whatever," Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Why's everybody suddenly going to one of Keigo's things?"
"Because Kuchiki-san is going," Mizuiro answered helpfully, sitting down with the group on top of the rooftop, opening his lunch. "Everybody wants to know her better, I suppose."
Ichigo sighed. There was nothing to 'know better' about that midget! She was rude, brash and definitely not dating material. For any guys, if they wanted to keep their sanity.
"I'm only going because the movie appeals to me," Ishida rebutted with a slight pink tinge on his face. Chad remained silent, quietly eating his sandwich.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Keigo danced around the group before falling into a free spot next to Mizuiro. His face was pure bliss. "Rukia-chan is going and Orihime-chan is going as well!" He did a small sitting victory pose, a smile visibly on his face.
"Speaking of them, where are they and Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"Gone off to the girls' bathroom," Keigo answered, a bit too fast.
"Spying on them, Asano-san?" Ishida cleverly remarked.
A devious smile played on Keigo's lips. "Just a look, I swear!" he turned away from Ichigo, shielding his face with his arms. "Don't hurt me!"
"Cheh, why would I hit you for that?"
"You and Rukia have gotten pretty close," Keigo remarked, his gaze to the sky and his hand on his chin. "Did you trick her into being your girlfriend?"
A fist was planted firmly in Keigo's face.
"I deserved that one," he muttered as Ichigo pulled away.
"We're just friends," Ichigo stated loudly, the whole group listening to him in silence. "I don't know who would want to date that midget anyways."
Ichigo suddenly got an extremely forceful punch to his head. He immediately looked up to see Rukia glowering at him with Tatsuki giving him a disapproving glare and Orihime giggling. 'What bad timing…' he thought glumly as he rubbed the sore spot on his head. Ichigo stood up, not liking the height difference between them when he was sitting.
"It's the truth, shorty," he scoffed at her, the last of his sandwich promptly shoved into his mouth after.
"I'd rather be short than ugly, I suppose," Rukia maliciously retorted, her smirk wide on her lips.
Ichigo glared at her, and then made a grab at her roughly. She sidestepped it easily, chuckling. "You wish you could catch me, fool!"
An eyebrow was raised, and the chase was started.
The whole group watched in amusement as Ichigo shouted out insults after Rukia, who simply laughed and kept out of his reach. "Those two sure have gotten to know eachother well," Tatsuki smiled, her gaze returning to Orihime.
"Yeah, sure have," Orihime forced a smile, her eyes never leaving Ichigo as he chased after Rukia.
"Why… don't… you ever," Ichigo started, out of breath and panting. "Just give up?"
They had both taken a seat on the stairs, lying down messily across the steps. Ichigo was sitting several steps above, whilst Rukia made herself comfortable several steps below him. She had a small smile playing on her lips as she breathed in and out, catching her breath slowly.
"I could say the same for you," Rukia replied softly, her voice light. Ichigo smiled.
"I don't ever give up," he replied proudly. "And I don't think you should ever give up either." Rukia looked at him, surprised.
"What makes you think I would, especially up against an idiot like you?" she chuckled darkly as he shot her a glare. There was a silence between them and Rukia smiled again. "I think you should come to the movies."
Ichigo frowned. "Why?" His eyes traveled to her body, where the soft rise and fall of her chest was strangely entrancing. He looked up promptly, before she could accuse him of being a pervert, and his eyes fell into her violet-blue orbs. Ichigo blinked several times. 'She actually looks pretty when she's smiling…' he thought listlessly to himself as he stared at her.
"As if you haven't noticed, you slow asshole," her lips weren't smiling anymore, but she was looking at him inquisitively. Ichigo dismissed the thought of her ever being pretty and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"…Nevermind," Rukia broke their gaze and smoothed out the pleats in her skirt. "Just come."
"I'm not going to come," Ichigo muttered. "I never go to anything Keigo organizes."
"Then come because I'm telling you to," Rukia simply stated, her eyes still not meeting his. She got up slowly, her shoes scuffing the ground. "I'll meet you outside my house a hour after school ends. Don't be late, fool."
She smiled at him. Ichigo didn't know what forced him to do what he did next.
He slowly nodded and returned her smile.
a/n: wow, i'm so happy i got this chapter out in time! originally, i planned to have this chapter include the movies as well, but i decided to cut it in half and have the movies in the next chapter to suit the pacing.
in fact, this whole chapter is really different from the notes that i had written on it. i had planned to have ichigo and keigo have a talk, then keigo would suggest trying something on rukia, which would've angered ichigo and he would have insisted on going. i like this one better, as it is less cliched, and i need all the less-clichedness i can get, haha.
so comments? reviews? spot some ooc-ness? love it or hate it? thanks to all the reviewers who reviewed my last chapters, i really appreciate it even though i didn't reply. i'll start replying to all reviews now, so if you have a question, don't be afraid to ask!
