So here it is finally sorry it was so late this story is one of my pet projects and I want to do Rukia and Shuuhei justice in my character depiction *cross's her fingers and hopes for the best*. I only went over this story a few time after I wrote it so I hope at least I got most of the major glitches in it out. So please be tolerant if there are any major grammatical errors . And without more adue the chapter.
So due to multiple comments and obvious errors i am reposting this chapter with some corrections .and fyi IT WILL MORE THAN LIKELY NOT BE PERFECT sorry. But I would also like to say thank you again to everyone who has been kind enough to read this story and hang in there with me it has meant a lot
Enjoy
Rukia stood in the middle of the stair case staring up at Shuuhei with confusion. If she wasn't going to sleep in the closet down stairs where was she going to sleep? Did he want her upstairs in the big closet , she really wasn't one to care for propriety all that much , but still it would be odd considering she really didn't know him. Well she knew him , but she really didn't 'know' him. She mentally shrugged, and grabbed onto the banister because she was starting to lose her balance while trying to carry all the pillows and bedding.
"We will figure out where you will be sleeping later."
She heard his voice somewhere in front of her. She had no idea where he was because she could only see around the pillows not up over them . Looking around them he was no longer on the top of the stair case, and that disorientated her a bit because she didn't want to turn around, and accidentally bump into him, lose her balance and make herself look like a bigger klutz than she already could be like she did when she fell off the chair when he walked into her office. So she just sort of laughed nervously.
"Okay." The words came out a little strained as she started to inch her way around so she could attempt to turn around. 'Darnet" she thought to herself 'I was doing so well going down the stairs too.'
She paused for a moment and wrinkled her nose ' When did I start caring so much about what he thought about me?'
Suddenly she felt half the weight she was carrying get lifted out of her arms which was nice, but it was also met with a cocky grin.
"There now you can see over the stack of fluff."
His smile was nice hell even his cocky grin was nice .As she looked up at him she could feel the blush start to creep up along her cheeks after she thought that . Realizing she was staring at him caused her to turn scarlet.
Trying to save her pride she huffed indignantly.
" I'm not that short I could have handled a few pillows going down stairs."
As she started to march down the stairs she heard him laugh more.
"You know your face is going to stay that shade of red if you keep that up, and no you couldn't because guess what . . . your short, and somehow I don't think falling off things is new to you."
This time she could actually huff indignantly because she did remember all to clearly him catching her after she fell off the precarious stack of books.
"That was only once!"
" Suuuurrrreeeee." He was closer behind her as he drew out each syllable of the word causing her to blush again.
"You know I didn't know that the tips of someone's ears could get red from blushing . A sun burn yes, but Kuchiki your are truly talented if you can even make your ears blush."
She heard him chuckle more to himself.
'Yeah laugh it up' She thought grumpily because she did not want to add fuel to this particular fire , but even her ears turned red why had no one told her this sooner. Go figure her Nii-sama was right when he told her she really did have a lousy poker face. . . ' Oh well.'
Finally reaching the landing she stuffed one of the smaller blankets under her arm so she could prove she could move with at least some grace. She wasn't even going to bother to turn around to see where he was at because some how she instinctively knew he was only a few feet behind her.
Unceremoniously she let the bedding flop on the couch in a tangled mess .At this point she really didn't care because this was probably where she would end up sleeping any way. It was odd to her though as she watched Shuuhei walk carefully around her with the covers still neat and perfectly piled in his arms because he just as unceremoniously set them down next to her jumbled pile. He looked over at her a smirking once again.
"I always thought you would be neater."
She mentally frown she usually was , but for some reason now she was extremely grumpy , and didn't feel like it .
"I thought you would be messy so it wouldn't have mattered."
She gave him a flat look and leaned against the couch pulling one of the pillows up into her lap for some reason she felt really tired and the day wasn't even half over , but it felt like she had been awake for days.
" I think I will just chalk that one up to you being cranky."
She went to open her mouth, but his words got out before hers did.
" Hell I think I would be cranky too if I had to deal with the ass hole known as Izo."
All she could do was laugh because that did have a lot to do with her mood, lack of sleep , lack of food and dealing with complete stupidity.
She nodded her head and wrinkled her nose in slight embarrassment. " Yeah dealing with that sort of stupidity does sort of turn me into my Nii-sama."
He looked down at her for a long moment looking to be thinking of something, and she hoped to god not scheming of a way to get her drunk.
"You know what." He looked down at her with a mischievous smile. " Me being the mere commoner that I am feels like getting something as mundane as ice cream."
Her eyes widened with excitement that was the exact thing that she had been craving for the last few weeks , and now she didn't have to sneak out to try to get some for fear of looking to childish considering she had a strong feeling he had already spotted the Chappy key ring she had attached to her bag .
Looking up at him with an equally mischievous grin " I think I may be able to stand something as common as that."
Her dramatics cause Shuuhei to laugh. " I wouldn't want to put the princess out and make her stoop to my level."
Gasping with a little laugh she picked up the pillow that was behind her and threw it at him playfully. " If you think I'm a princess you have another thing coming buddy."
Shuuhei looked around innocently but she could see a hit of smile on his face. " Fine then you're not a princess . Kuchiki – Sama." He winked at her.
She rolled her eyes. "That's much better Shuuhei Taichou, but I prefer dono." She grinned. " Its Kuchiki-dono get it right." She playfully stuck her tongue out at him."
"How about I just call you a brat and be done with it." He tossed the pillow back at her playfully.
Standing from her perch on the couch she tried to look indignant. " Hey now there will be no abusing nobility." She playfully stuck her nose up in the air trying to look like a spoiled brat.
"Abusing nobility" He shook his head walking up to her. "That was nowhere near abuse. This." He paused and pushed her shoulder trying to make her fall back on the couch." Would be abusing nobility"
With a look of pure surprise she grabbed his hand and pressed it close to her chest firmly and pulled him close to her as she rolled back pulling him over her using his own momentum to throw him over her causing him to compensate and shoulder roll off the couch. Standing she brushed herself off with a smug smile as she turned around.
" And that my dear is what I call getting schooled by a prissy noble." Pulling her hands on her hips she stuck her nose up in the air . " and now I want ice cream ." The harder she tried to keep her air of superiority the more she fought not to laugh .
"Anything for Princess Kuchiki" He stood and brushed himself off.
"As it should be" She tried her hardest to sound arrogant.
Before she could say another word she felt herself get picked up and throw over his shoulder.
"What the." She pressed herself up on his shoulder looking at him confused.
"Well I must get her highness there is style." There was a teasing tone to his voice.
" Ummm sweetie." She said still looking at him now with more amusement. "How do you suppose we get ice cream if people can't even see us?"
He paused right before he got to the door opening his mouth to refute that but she cut him off before he could get a word in edge wise.
"We sorta need our gigai's to actually become corporal ." Giggling she pushed herself off his shoulder to face him putting her hands on her hips she shook her head clicking her tongue in disapproval " And here I thought they trained you taichou to be more observant." Shaking her head in faux disappointment she turn around to go look for her bag . Before she got a few steps she felt his arms around her waist pulling her into him and about ready to tickle her , but they both stopped awkwardly at the feeling of the closeness of their bodies. Stepping away from each other they both couldn't look at each other for a long moment.
"Brat."
She felt the blood rush to her cheeks as he broke the tension.
"Go get your gigai oh observant one." She tried in vain to joke before bounding up the stairs to retrieve her things .
XxxxoooxxxxxxX
Thank god she left her bag up in big bathroom in the bedroom she didn't think she could face Shuuhei looking like an air head again because she forgot her bag was down stairs. Dropping to her knee's she started to shuffle through her bag to find something to wear. She huffed at the small selection she had stuffed into her bag. Looking into the neatly folded pile of cloths nothing looked sufficient to be going out with a man that looked like Shuuhei. Sitting back on her heals she rested her hands on the tops of her thighs frowning.
They would look absolutely awkward walking together down the street because he was so much to take in tall, handsome, confident. She would just have to face it he was much like Renji who made every woman from the ages of conception to death stair, drool and other wise look like utter morons around him to get his attention . That or they would stumble over things because when they turned to look at him they would trip over something because they forgot there was anything else in front of them. Then again people were worse around her Nii-sama ,and she said people because it wasn't just women but men too and oh god help the general populous if he even decided to look amused or render something that look like it could be the start of a smile because that could even make a nun blush.
Shaking her head she let out a contemptuous growl at her bag and perhaps herself as well . She had gone out with Renji and her Nii-sama more times than she could count and never had a problem picking out something to wear. Hell she even went out with both of them at once, more than once and never had a hard time picking out something to wear. Standing she glared down at her pack and put her hands on her hips in pure frustration from not packing more.
She paced the closet and looked into the mirror observing her appearance in the reflection. Turning to the side she frowned as she looked at her profile. Wrinkling her nose she put her hands up under her boobs and pushed them up a little .
"Maybe I should have taken Mayuri up on his offer to experiment with those new jell in plants he was working on ."
Letting out an exasperated growl she threw her hands up in the air in frustration because she was clearly losing her mind .
"What is wrong with me! I'm just going to get ice cream with Shuuhei"
Running her hands through her hair she shook her head she truly felt like a crack head it was just Shuuhei so unless she had a rack like Matsumoto there was no way in hell he would . . . letting a more than frustrated scream out she turned around and started to dig through her bag .She was sure she had brought her favorite green dress with her the damn thing had to be in there somewhere . Finding the dress through the mass of cloths that she had tossed around her as she went into her spinning rant to herself. She shook the now wrinkled dress out to get rid of the creases .
There it was her favorite green sun dress it was pretty and frilly something she never got to wear in the soul society and especially not around her Nii-sama .He had fits when she wore anything that showed her legs. That dress came down to her knee's which was extremely conservative in the human world It had and empire waist so it didn't hug any of her curves the only thing he could really bitch at was that the little cap sleeves were lace and showed her shoulders . It took all her persuasive skills a little bit of pleading and a trip to the human world to talk him into letting her keep it.
Looking up at a little digital alarm clock on the counter Rukia started to scramble. Her mild freak out cost her twenty minutes which meant that Shuuhei had more than likely been waiting down stairs for her for a while .
"Crap" She muttered
She scrambled to get dressed only to realize as she was walking out of the room she had on two different pairs of shoes . Palming her forehead she threw the one she didn't want back into the closet letting it hit something with a resounding thump and threw more things around to find the one she wanted. Half running half hopping out of the room trying to put on the other shoe she stumbled and ran into the banister.
"Fu….."
Whatever she was thinking at that current moment went out of the window as she looked down into the living room. Pacing the living room stood a half clothed Shuuhei with his back to her he was beautiful whatever she was expecting him to look like this wasn't it . His shoulders were broad and muscular and extremely well defined every muscle in his back was defined his lats v'ed perfectly into a waist and hips that where not to narrow or to thick to top it off he had just enough of a butt that you could see two extremely sexy dimples right above the waist band of his jeans . Tilting her head to the side she did have to admit that said jeans hung very nicely from said hips .
Every brain cell she had or she thought she had left her. All she could do was sit there and stare at him it was like her feet were glued to the floor and her brain was stuck on stupid. She had to do something , anything she could not just stand there and stare at him like a dim whit .
"uumm…"
Great she thought to herself that was an intelligent sound.
XooooXoooooXoooX
Shuuhei stared at his phone in disbelief the random list that he had received from Mayuri had just gotten longer, and if possible even odder. He had to do a double take because half , well most of him wanted to believe that this new list was just Renji playing a huge joke on him to see how far he could push he and Rukia. He actually had to call Renji to make sure that it wasn't him screwing around , but after about fifteen minutes of the other man swearing up , down , left and right that it wasn't him Shuuhei finally believed him . However after he called Renji he knew that he had to call Mayuri himself to make sure that he had gotten everything the creepy man wanted.
But seeing as he had to make those disturbing calls he was only able to get himself half dressed .
"Well"
He thought to himself at least he had his pants on because it actually took him a few moments because he watched Lieutenant Kuchiki ascend the stairs . He couldn't believe that he had actually acted so cavalierly around Princess Kuchiki because really that is what she was. No matter how much they had joked about it she was still a princess hell she was Byakuya's sister . It was hard to see her as that though with as much as they had been playing around all day. In his mind princess where prissy snobs or well the ones he had meet had been all of that and more. Rukia was none of that she was smart, and sweet , and playful , and beautiful . Amazingly enough Renji was right he could get lost in her sparkling violet eyes , but what got him was when she laughed. It was a bright laugh that made everyone else around her want to laugh with her . Granted she was no bomb shell he didn't think he had ever seen her in anything other than her Shinigami uniform and Sod-no-Sukiyaki attached to her hip she was almost one of the guys . . . Almost.
As long as he could see her as Princess Kuchiki and one of the guys he thought he could be good around her . She was hands off besides she really wasn't his type she didn't have a rack like Matsumoto did or any curves what so ever she pretty much looked like a stick . Besides he didn't even think she knew what it was like to actually live outside the walls of the Kuchiki estate she was probably naïve. Putting his phone in his back pocket he started to pace he was even starting to sound pathetic he didn't believe a word of what he was saying short of the fact that she wasn't a bomb shell. Closing his eyes he tilted his head back and ran his hands through his hair. He was so screwed or perhaps not perhaps he just needed to get some. It had been a while, that must be it he was just going through with drawls and he just needed a real woman.
He let out a long breath ,that thought made him feel a bit better even if in the back of his mind he knew it was a lie it was a still a pretty thought, but then he heard it .
"uumm."
It was a soft sound that came from the top of the stair case. Turning around he looked up and saw Rukia standing there looking like a doll. Standing at the top of the stairs stood a woman , he had to group his thoughts because of cores Rukia had always been a woman, but she was a Shinigami woman not a normal woman .
He watched as she bit the inside of her lip and a light blush started to spread across her cheeks.
"Hi." She said weakly as she started to descend the stairs.
It was no wonder Kuchiki kept his sister under lock and key at all times because underneath the black Shinigami robes was all woman. While she was far from a center fold she had a subtle beauty to her she wasn't overly curvaceous but she did have gentle curves . But most of all as he was finding out her uniform lied to the world! She had boobs! They weren't huge but they were enough to make any mans mouth water especially with the way top of her dress gently cupped them pushing them up ever so slightly. All he could do was move down her body from there the dress wasn't form fitting so he couldn't get an accurate assessment of her waist or hips ,but if her legs were any indicator of what the rest of her looked like he had no doubt that the rest of her was just as nice . He now understood why Renji beat his head into a wall over and over again all of the years that they had know each other because he was now doing just that.
"Shuuhei?"
He shook his head to clear his thoughts as her voice penetrated his thoughts.
"Yes?"
She looked over him critically for a long moment."Are you okay?"
Shuuhei nodded his head "Of course." He said a bit faster and less convincing that he wanted to . " I just got the rest of Mayuri's list." Even he couldn't help but cringe involuntarily at the thought of the list that was lengthening.
The exasperated look that crossed Rukia's face made him smile because even when she was exasperated she was cute.
"Are we going to die trying to get all of his stuff." She put her hands on her hip and rolled her eyes. "Because I don't know what a weed whacker is , but if it's something worse than those damn creepy hollows we are supposed to be looking for I am making you touch it."
The awkward air that hung between them quickly disbursed as he started to laugh again
"Aww is the little princess afraid." He said grinning deviously at her.
Shaking her head she started to laugh . " No , not usually , but the last time I stepped foot in that damn squad head quarters when Nemu touched me her hand exploded , and my arms turned purple, and I broke out in hives. It took me two." She held up two fingers to emphasize it . " Two weeks for my arms to go back to normal.
"That was you!" Shuuhei started to laugh and he couldn't stop . He had heard that someone that entered squad twelve and turned purple .
"Yes that was me." She said testily. " Now go put on a shirt so we can get ice cream."
All he could do was nod because he was still laughing. "Kuchiki Taichou must have had a fit." He said as he walked back to his bag.
"No," he heard the clear irritation that still lingered in her voice. "He laughed too then sent Renji there the next day to see if it would happen to him."
Shuuhei hadn't laughed this hard in a long while. "Who knew Kuchiki was that much of a sadist?"
"You should try living with him" he heard her mutter.
He shook his head ,he used to thinking living life as a Kuchiki would be a cake walk but after what he saw Rukia go through the last few days he really wasn't quite so sure . Pulling a tee-shirt over his head then a hoddie he turned and reached for her hand without thinking.
"Come on." A charming smile spread across his face . He watched as she took it easily without a thought in the world. "Because if we wait much longer the shop will close" Opening the door for her he watched her move gracefully in front of him.
In the hall he watched her pull her hands over her head and stretch despite hearing a few bones pop the stretch did wonderful things to her body . The way her back delicately arched made him grown to himself because he was going to hell for the thought he was thinking . Thank god she was oblivious to his thoughts because if she weren't and told her brother he would be dead.
XooooXoooX
Rukia still couldn't believe how good he looked it really was a pity that he had to put a shirt on because she could have just sat there and stared at him all day in the state he was in. But who was she kidding she was just Rukia, plain old Rukia not a girl that many men paid much attention to. Besides he was treating her like one of the guys with the way he kept on teasing her .
As she walked into the hall she began to think about what Matsumoto said "she needed to get out there and show her stuff." So one Shinigami Women's Association meeting Matsumoto , Nanao and Momo taught her how to . . How did Nanao put it "Work it" . So now might be a good time to put what they had taught her into practice . What was the worst that could happen he would ignore her and keep on treating her like one of the guys.
So doing just that she stretched her body out the way they showed her to as Momo said it was "not the most obvious way to show off your body, but the most effective." She really couldn't believe she was getting advice from Momo.
Rukia cringed as she heard some of her joints pop, but she still let her body arch delicately letting her body roll back in from its stretch. She then looked back to Shuuhei who had a fairly vacant expression on his face. The lights where on but no one was home. She didn't know if that was a good thing or bad thing she was really hoping it was a good thing ,and he wasn't thoroughly disgusted with her bones popping.
Putting all her worries behind her she smile brightly because this was only the tip of what the girls had taught her.
"Come on." She grabbed his hand in hers and pulled him " I want ice cream and we are stalling."
XoooXoooXoooX
As she grabbed his hand Shuuhei decided that all women were evil and the little one standing in front of them was there leader because she had absolutely no idea what she was doing to him.
"You know what Kuchiki." He said as he led her lead him down the hall. " I don't think I like your attitude."
He watched her brush a stray piece of hair from her face and smile up at him.
"You haven't seen anything yet."
They walked in relative silence until they got out of the building. The sun had already set but the sky was still a dark purple and the air still had a spring like quality as there was a cool breeze that gently blew around them.
Normally silence was awkward, but somehow tonight walking with her it felt more like a comforting lull.
"So can you tell me anything that is on this new list?" She asked curiously as she looked up at him.
Closing his eye for a moment he let out a sigh." I will tell you when I first read it I thought it was Renji playing a joke on us."
She cringed and made a slight hissing noise. " It's that bad."
All he could do was nod his head. "He wants us to get a wombat ."
She stayed silent for a long while as they continued to walk. Down the street, the street lamps slowly started to turn on casting shadows over the streets occupants. He felt Rukia take a deep breath and shiver a little as the breeze blew through them. Instinctively he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him .
"Cold." He mentally snorted at his brilliance for stating the obvious.
"A little."
He pulled his arm tighter around her and they walked closely together.
"He wants a wombat?" She let out a deep breath seeming completely oblivious to the way they may have looked to people who passed by.
He snorted as he fell into a comfortable rhythm with her pace. " That's just the tip of the ice berg of what he wants."
She paused then stopped all together looking up at him as she wrinkled her nose. "But why a wombat?" She frowned "You know I'm not going to get it if it's going to be used in any of his sick projects."
He couldn't help but chuckle as he watched her nose scrunch. "Don't worry he said it is for Nemu, he said she wanted a pet and we needed to bring back a female wombat or at least the hair of one so that he could clone her one."
"I don't know if I should be relieved that it's going to be a pet or disturbed because well it's going to be their pet ."
He watched her wrap her arms around herself as the night air chilled. "Here " he pulled off his sweat shirt and gave it to her. Blushing a little she took the maroon hoodie and pulled it over her small frame it looked to be about ten sizes too big and he couldn't help but laugh at her.
"Laugh all you want I know I'm short ."
"No." He pulled her back against him "You're not short , your just vertically challenged."
This even got a laugh out of her as they fell silently into a peaceful step until they reached the ice cream shop that Rukia had told him about . He had to smile she had a hard time finding a large apartment building , but could locate a tiny ice cream shop in the middle of a large shopping district without a problem. Who was he to complain though ice cream happened to be one of his favorite foods and she had found it so all in all he was pretty happy.
" I found it ." there was a certain amount of triumph in her voice as he opened the door to the small shop.
He paused for a moment and internally wrinkled his nose , since when had he started to open doors for women and help them down stairs and just in general be so attentive. He shrugged, perhaps becoming a Taichou had changed him without him realizing it because it was sorta expected for them to be all polite and stuff.
He walked in after her and heard the door jingle closed due to the bells tied to the handle . This time he laughed out loud this sound wasn't one that he had paid attention to since he was a child it brought back a certain amount of nostalgia of the happiness that he had when he was just barely able to scrape by and actually go and get a small cup of this sweet confection. He was dirt poor when he was young and would some days skip his meals to get just one taste of the sweet treat , but it was so worth it.
He continued to smile as he watched Rukia ponder her selection because he found a small amount of irony in it , she was cold and yet she still wanted ice cream. That and she lit up like a kid just like he did when he made his selection all though he had to act much more reserved seeing as he had to keep his cool in most thing he did unless he wanted to get harassed by his friends.
"Will you hurry up so those of us behind you can get our ice cream too." He ribbed her good naturedly seeing as he was the only one behind her.
She stopped dead in tracks and grinned impishly at him before she tilted her head to the side, " But I just don't think I can make up mind." She paused for more than a moment making sure he knew she was dragging her selection out just to make him wait more. Looking back she still looked to ponder ."I mean there is chocolate , super chocolate fudge , Vanilla with raspberry." She grinned more deviously now. "But then there is the fruit selection I mean who can really pass up strawberry or " she gasped and oohed " Orange."
He couldn't help but laugh as she teased him back.
A moment later he watched her order a large super chocolate fudge peanut butter crunch, she truly was a girl after his own heart he loved that flavor only he topped it with Carmel sauce. Without thinking about it he paid for both of them not giving her a chance to pull out anything .
As he turned around from the cash register he slammed right into her now frozen body that was looking out the window. " No." she said sharply. "No." she shook her head. "It can't be." Her voice held a little bit of anger and a large amount of fear .
Standing in the window was Izo staring intently a Rukia.
Shuuhei had to think fast because the man's eyes shifted up to his glowering . He knew for a fact that it was the ass hole standing there in an inexpensive off the rack suit surrounded by two very un glamorous modern Geisha.
Putting his hand on her lower back he guided her to a table away from the window.
"It's not." He said carelessly . " I mean do you really think he would wear something that ill tailored or be caught dead with such cheep looking women."
Rukia frowned and gave the man one last look and shook her head and started to laugh. "Your right that's man's vanity would not allow himself to stoop that low and look that crass." She took a deep easy breath and chuckled. " I'm just seeing ghosts and a badly dressed one at that."
He looked over to the window that Rukia had her back to and watched the man's face contort and turn almost purple in anger. In that moment he had no doubt it was Izo , now what was he going to do about it?"
There it was I know it was a bit longer than the other chapters have been , but I do hope it was an enjoyable read now that it has been slightly revised and looked over
So tell me what you think , Like it , Love it , did I get the characters completely cracked out. Reviews are always want so press that little button on the bottom and let it rip so to speak.
And please no flames I know where my short comings are.