Author's Note on the bottom.

FOURTH CHAPTER: THE DATING GAME

Of Slums and Showers.

"I love you?" Rukia yelled as she held Byakuya's script paper in hand.

"I love you too?" Ichigo looked at his.

"Byakuya-nii sama!" Rukia whined.

"Byakuya?!" Ichigo bellowed, as he crumpled his paper up.

"Once I find you... I'll... Byakuya, BYAKUYA?!" Ichigo went on his way to find Rukia's brother, pulling her along with him. "Where the hell are you?!"

This was going to be an interesting night.
"I'm tired..." Rukia yawned as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand, her other still gripped tightly onto Ichigo's. "Can we stop now? Byakuya-niisama would never be caught here..." she muttered carelessly. "How did we get here anyways? You have a sense of direction similar to Zaraki-taichou, fool!"

They were in the slums of Junrinan, district one of Rukongai. It was pretty true, Byakuya would never really be here.

"Shut up." Ichigo hissed. He sighed as he looked at the surroundings. It was dark, and all the people looked very agitated. "You have to tell me that now?" He spoke as he let her go and they both sat leaning on a nearby brick building, the thin lights barely showing the look on their faces.

Rukia yawned again and leaned on Ichigo. "Can we just rest here first?" she complained lightly. Ichigo yawned as well. It was really late, and he was as tired as well.

"Yeah, for now."

It was lucky that the lights were dim, otherwise Rukia would've seen the light blush creeping on his face.

"Okay," Rukia smiled, and slowly drifted, subconsciously falling asleep on Ichigo. Ichigo stiffened, but decided to let it go; he was too tired anyways.

It was the next morning already. They never really found Byakuya that night.

Ichigo groaned, wiping the sweat away from his head. "Ugh..." He muttered as he started to get up from last night. But there was a weight on him. "Ee... Eh?! Rukia! Wake up!" She was the weight.

"Wake up!" He proceeded.

"Aw... Chappy, don't... don't go..." She muttered in her sleep. "Chap-"

Slap.

"Rukia! Oi, wake up!" He slapped her cheeks with both hands in an attempt to wake her up. She woke up with a yell.

"Ita! That hurts..." Rukia mumbled as she rubbed her cheeks with a whine. "BAKA! Why did you wake me up?" she spat. She was having a good dream in the first place.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and got up from the dusty street they ended up sleeping on. "You were sleeping on me, ya know that right?" He pointed out, causing the flustered and angry girl to calm down, a bit embarrassed.

"Oh. Sorry..." She trailed off. "I was tired, and we were out for so long, why else do you think I slept?" She grunted.

Ichigo smirked. "I knew you were tired, so I... let you sleep on me." he muttered, rubbing his head again from a small headache. Sleeping while leaning on a hard brick wall isn't that comfortable, right? "Geez, It's not like I'm going to let you sleep on the hard ground, Rukia."

It was a bit silent for awhile with them as they watched the little kids from the district run by.

Rukia finally spoke up. "Thanks." She smiled in gratitude.

Ichigo smiled back.

It was then quiet. They both got up and started on their way to Seretei, to find Byakuya, again.

Ichigo peered at Rukia. "You were really heavy. Have'ya been eating more?" He joked. Rukia twitched and yelled angrily, which led to a rather hard punch on his arm.

He really didn't mind though. It came from Rukia anyways.

"Hinamori!" Ukitake said as he ran up to her, with a small stack of paper in hand. "Hinamori-fukutaichou!" he called out.

Hinamori turned around and ran up to the white haired captain. "Ukitake-taichou! What are you doing here near the Fifth Division?" she asked, it was unusual for him to be here.

Ukitake grinned. "I forgot to give you yesterday's paperwork when you were near the chapel." he told her. "So, here it is. There's not much really."

Hinamori smiled at him. "Thank you!" She grabbed the papers from him. "Well, I better go do it now..." She turned back around and headed to her office.

"Hinamori!" He called out again. "I forgot!" He started to get something out of his pockets. "Here." In his hands were a few boxes of candy. "Can you give this to Hitsugaya-taichou for me please?" He asked in favor.

"Sure," Hinamori said, "But why don't you give this to Matsumoto-san? She's in the room over there!" She pointed to a room close to them. "She can give it."

Ukitake shook his head. "Matsumoto-fukutaichou won't do. You'll have to do it." He smiled. "She's drunk, anyways. And it's only morning, what a shame!" And he left with a flash. Geez, Shunpo.

Hinamori looked at where he was and shrugged. "Eh?" Oh well.

She rushed to the Tenth Division office with a smile. "Hitsugaya-kun!"

"Hi- Hitsugaya-kun!" Hinamori panted as she ran into Hitsugaya's room. "Hitsugaya-kunn..." She had ran all the way here.

"Hinamori?" It was Hitsugaya. "I'm in the shower! Just... wait!"

In. The. Shower. Hinamori blushed at the thought of those words. "O... Okay..." She muttered, sitting on the chair nearest to her. "I'll wait."

A minute passed by and Hinamori was already bored. She decided to explore his room. It's not something she could do everyday, right? She got up and started her journey around his room.

First things first, Hinamori ran up to his beloved desk. A golden engraving of his name sat at the front. "Hitsugaya Toushirou - 10th division captain." She read aloud, her fingers lining the golden trimmings. "Sounds professional." She put it down gently and went on to the next object.

Secondly, the bookshelf. Full of important things, maybe even a private journal?

"Oh wow." She muttered as she looked at his bookcase. "I wonder what this is?" She picked up a leather binded book on his shelf and read the title. "Picture book. Wow, he even has a picture book here!" She said happily to herself as she plopped down onto the chair behind his desk and opened it.

After flipping a few pages of the book, there was only several, she came to a conclusion. "Hitsugaya-kun takes really horrible pictures." She said. She turned to the next page.

"Hey... It's me and Hitsugaya!" She said, gazing at the picture. It was a pretty old picture, the rimmings of it were already browning. It was them eating watermelons on their grandma's porch. "He really changed, hasn't he?" She muttered quietly as she used her finger to trace his figure.

"For one thing, I'm at least taller." Hitsugaya joked as he snatched the book away from her. "Who said you could look at my things, Hi-na-mo-ri?"

Hinamori turned a bright red. "Hi- Hi- Hi- Hitsugaya-kun!" She stuttered, backing away from him.

She usually never stuttered and turned a bright pink around him, but this scenario was different. He leaned against the wall, only wearing a towel around his waist, water dripping down his snow-colored hair. She watched in awe as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Hinamori, you didn't answer my question." He stated, pointing at the girl. "And can you move? I need to get my haori from behind my chair. You're sitting on it." He used his eyes to direct her to his coat.

Hinamori quickly jumped up and threw the haori at him, covering her red face with her hands. "Sorry! And... you never said I couldn't!" She stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes. "Che. What do you want?" He went directly to the question. "I have to change." He showed the bundle of clothing he had in hand to her. Hinamori turned red.

"Oh yeah...oh yeah!" She suddenly remembered Ukitake's candy. "Here." She stuffed it into his hands. "From Shirou-sama to Shirou-chan!!" She giggled.

"Don't call me that!" He hissed, taking a look at the candy boxes in hand and tossing it to the side. "Now shoo. I'm going to change." With a shooing motion, Hinamori was out the door. In a flash.

"Geez, that girl." Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. "She's so clueless. I can't believe I actually l-" He heard a rattle from the outside, and then and 'oops!'. She was merely out the door.

He cut his line short, and promptly went into his room to change. "That was close." He told himself.

Hinamori covered her mouth as she quickly picked up her mess; she had dropped a small vase. "A- Ah!" She squeaked silently as she gathered all the small pieces.

"Hitsugaya-kun..." She whispered to herself quietly as she got back up, putting the pieces away. "What were you going to say?" She put a finger to her lips. "Hm. There's like, loathe, liberate, ... "

Oh boy.

"Rukia!" Renji ran up to the girl as the two, Ichigo and Rukia, returned from their travels in Seretei. "I need to talk to you."
Cliffie? Eh. Oh well. I should start doing that. Now, is this good? I might not update for the whole January, I'll try though. Reason is: School, I got a C in English and I am sure to be grounded, and secondly, my mom. I don't want her to read Chapter 5 while I'm typing, neh? She'ss give me a lecture. Lol!

So, until next time! I'm good for constructive criticism and suggestions! Especially suggestions! Themes! Good! Anything to help write the next chapter FASTER!

-Tsukichiki.