xX Forty Hours earlier Xx

Rukia stared at Ichigos bright orange hair. His head and shoulders were hunched over, trying to hold a burger as it's messy contents were falling out of the bun.

"Uh…Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo looked at her, custard and mayo on the side of his bottom lip.

Rukia stared at his lip. Wow, they're so…pink. Rukia shook her head.

Ichigo looked at her. "What? You haven't even touched your smoothie or your salad dish! I'm paying good money to take us to this restaurant!"

Rukia reached over the tiny table with a napkin and wiped his lip. Ichigos turned pink from her touching his lip.

Rukia reached back and folded her napkin, placing it on her lap.

"You had some custard on your lip." She stated formerly.

Ichigo felt his lip, as if it were still there. He then looked at his hand. His eyes softened as his eyelids slowly covered most of his amber eyes. Rukia looked at him confusedly for a moment.

Rukia looked at him sadly now. "Ichigo? Is something wrong?"

Ichigo looked up. The glittering in his eyes gone.

"Mama! Mama! I beat Tatsuki today for the first time!" Ichigo, a 9 year old, smiles up at his mother.

"Oh, that's good Ichigo. I'm proud. I think you deserve an ice cream, don't you Ichigo?" his mother, Masaki, smiles a small smile and her eyes glisten with happiness for her son.

Ichigos face perked up and he grinned. "Yeah! Let's go Mama!" he starts to tug on his mother's hand.

"Ichigo, calm down, I'm coming!" she gets tugged by a strong 9 year old who will only get stronger.

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Ichigo licked his chocolate ice cream cone. He smiled a huge smile he hasn't done for years.

Masaki ate a small vanilla cup with him. "So, what did Tatsuki say when you beat her?"

Ichigo moved his ice cream cone from his mouth, which had a lovely ring of chocolate around it, and said happily, "Tatsuki got all angry that I beat her! She just doesn't like to lose! Then she hit one of the trainers in the leg and he had a BIG bruise!"

Masaki smiled softly. "Ichigo, here, you have chocolate ice cream all over your mouth." She pulled out a napkin from her pocket and she reached across the table and wiped his mouth.

Ichigo mumbled through the napkin around his moth, "mom! I can wipe my own mouth! I'm a big boy now!"

Masaki smiled more. "Oh really, I guess you are Ichigo." She pulled the napkin from his mouth, it clean, and she placed it on her lap.

"Uh huh." He mumbled as he took a big bite from his chocolate cone.

"Ichigo?" Rukia asked again.

Ichigo looked at her and snapped back to reality, not thinking of his mother anymore. "Huh? What's it ya need?" he asked.

She was silent.

"Nothing. It's three o' clock. Shouldn't we go home? Your sister will be making dinner at seven." Rukia said. Ichigo set his burger down.

"Yeah. Kinda late to be having lunch anyway." He said, agreeing with her. Rukia only nodded. Ichigo waved his hand and asked for a check. The dainty waitress nodded and zipped off to find a check. Ichigo could've sworn she mumbled something quite rude under her breath.

"Are you okay?" his voice seemed concerned as he looked at Rukia.

Rukia looked up from fiddling with her fingers. "Hm?" she choked. His eyes sparkled under the light of the lamp above them. He smiled a little.

"You're okay right?" he asked again.

Rukia absent-mindedly jumped out of her seat and dashed out the door.

"Ah! Rukia!" he called after her. The waitress came up and put the check on the table.

"34.76 is your price sir!" she said.

Ichigo fumbled through his wallet and slapped tow 20's down on the table.

"Keep the change as a tip!" he said, and dashed out the door.

The waitress stood blinking in amazement. She was confused as of why he did this, but at the same moment, she couldn't give a crap.

I've got to catch up to her. I've got to find her. What was her deal anyway? She seemed totally freaked out about something. Gotta find her… he thought as he ran through the parking lot.

He ran by his car and noticed the front door was open. He stopped. The front seat was pushed up, meaning someone was in the back seat. He walked toward the car and looked in.

Rukia was lying on her knees, her face hidden by her thin, pale hands. Her cheeks flushed with red and she was crying.

"R-Rukia…? Rukia you okay?" he managed to ask.

Rukia sat up and looked up at him. Into his amber eyes that were shining with compassion. Tears streaming from her violet eyes, sparkling with sadness. "I-Ichigo?" she said quietly.

"What's wrong? Why are you cryin' like that?" he questioned. He began to climb in and sat on the back seat, the opposite side of the teary-eyed raven haired girl.

Rukia then practically tackled him.

"What the-?!" he gasped, he had just lost his breath from her hitting his chest.

She hugged him around his chest, the tears coming more like a river. She gave out small little sobs from time to time I the next few minutes. "R-Rukia?" he asked again.

"I don't want to…" she mumbled.

He froze.

"I don't want to go… I don't want to leave everyone…" she hugged him tighter, burying her face in his chest.

He slowly put his hands on her shoulders.

"There's no way she likes me that way….does she?"

"There's no way I like him this way...do I?"

"Is that what you're sad about? Leavin'?" he asked quietly. Rukia's grip on him faded as he pushed her away from his body so she could look into his eyes.

Her face was starting to feel hot as red sneaked onto her face. Ichigo held the sides of her face.

"Is that why your cryin'? Leavin' us?" he whispered. He used his thumb to wipe away her tears while still holding her head.

"It's okay. We'll always be here. I'll always be there for ya. No matter what. Okay?" he smiled as a bit of pink flashed on his cheeks.

Rukia nodded slowly. "I would like to go home…" she mumbled.

Ichigo nodded and let go of her face as he climbed out and got into the drivers seat.

Rukia's heart raced. She didn't know why.

"Ichigos hands…they were rough, but warm. They felt strong...was he…? It felt like he was going to kiss me…No. Don't be absurd. We don't like each other that way and we never will!!"

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Wow! This one took me a while to type! Sorry for any typos. I really liked this chapter. It shows a side of Rukia and Ichigo that you normally don't see. I hope I didn't go to out of character. I like this one a lot and I hope you did too! Please, reviews! I find them helpful!