Disclaimer: Do I have to? Oh all right...I DON'T OWN BLEACH. Yeesh...


Chapter 7 – Apologies and Fights

"Hi Rukia!" the raven-haired girl looked up from the book she was currently reading. Orihime was sitting on the desk next to Rukia.

"Oh, hi Orihime," Rukia smiled, "Where were you yesterday? Ichigo and I waited for half an hour"

Orihime frowned, suddenly looking...upset? Guilty? Impossible to tell. "Oh yeah, about that. Sorry, something came up, Tatsuki and I couldn't make it. Was Ichigo mad?"

"No," Rukia marked her place in the book and closed it, "I'm not sure how much longer he hung around though after I left. Yukio showed up," she added to Orihime's confused look, "I kinda got the feeling Ichigo didn't want to be there anyway, so I figured if I left he would too"

Orihime nodded, kicking her legs interestedly back and forth. "Say. Rukia?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you like Yukio?"

Rukia wasn't sure how to answer that. She knew she could tell Orihime the truth, about how she was just using Yukio to make everyone stop talking, and to make sure Ichigo really didn't have any interest in her. But somehow, Rukia knew Orihime wouldn't be very happy with that. "He's just...different, that's all"


Ichigo muttered swears under his breath as he walked to school. He could feel a lump rising on his head where his dad had nailed him. Aggravated, the orange-haired teen shoved his left hand into his pocket, and slung his school bag over his shoulder. He'd missed Rukia again that morning. Not that it surprised him, of course. The only time he ever saw her anymore, despite the fact they lived together, was at school. Too damn infuriating.

His mind was racing by the time he got into school, and he barely noticed when he walked into Tatsuki. She grunted as she hit the floor, then looked up, glaring daggers at him. "Watch it you oaf!"

"Sorry," Ichigo rolled his eyes, not the least bit sorry. "Consider that payback for abandoning me with Rukia last night"

"Oh yeah," Tatsuki stood up, dusting herself off and grabbing her school bag, "Sorry about that, something came up though, Orihime and I couldn't make it. I'm sure you and Rukia were okay together though"

Ichigo just shrugged. "That idiot Yukio showed up and she left with him"

"Oh," Tatsuki made a face, "You don't like that kid too much, do you?"

"I could care less"

"Is it because he likes Rukia?"

"Tatsuki, shut up," Ichigo turned away from the girl, "I don't care about Yukio, okay? Or his little crush, for that matter"

"All right Ichigo, whatever you say," it was clear from her tone that Tatsuki didn't believe him one bit. But whatever. He didn't care.


At the end of school that day, Rukia did something she didn't do that often; she went straight home. She knew Ichigo wouldn't be there; she'd heard during lunch that Keigo had somehow roped the boy into an "afternoon with the guys". Isshin, Karin, and Yuzu wouldn't be there either. Isshin was away on a business trip, and Karin and Yuzu were staying with friends until he returned. So Rukia had the house to herself.

She hoisted herself in through Ichigo's window, dropping her school bag on the floor as she stepped in, and laying her books on his desk. She looked around, wondering for a second what she should do, and decided almost at once that she wanted to take a shower. It'd been awhile since she'd had a chance to enjoy a good, hot shower. So she grabbed some of the clothes she'd borrowed from Yuzu (a white and blue tie-dye dress) and went into the bathroom. She turned the shower on as hot as it would go, and climbed in, letting the overly hot water pour over her. It burned his skin, leaving angry red marks, but somehow she didn't seem to notice it. It was almost as if her entire body was numb.


Ichigo ran as fast as he could to his house. He'd just barely escaped Keigo and Mizuiro, and was now running for his life. If there was one thing he did not want to do, it was hang out with Keigo and Mizuiro. Not when the fuse that was his temper was already so close to the bomb.

The first thing Ichigo noticed when he walked into his room was the presence of another school bag, and a small stack of books on his desk. So. She was home already. Probably hadn't expected him to be home.

Just as he finished changing into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, his bedroom door opened and Rukia walked in. She froze, her violet eyes wide, when she saw him. And all Ichigo could was thank God she hadn't walked in two minutes earlier, when he had been almost completely naked. "I thought you were hanging out with Mizuiro and Keigo," aha.

"Decided not to," he said casually, "So, remember what this place looks like during the day?"

"What do you mean?" her voice was forcibly calm.

"Well, it's been so long since you were here in the afternoon...usually you don't come home until midnight. Or later," he shrugged, "So what are you doing here?"

"I just...felt like coming home for once," she imitated him, shrugging carelessly, "Anyways, don't worry, I'm not staying"

"Oh? Where are you going?"

She turned to leave again. "Out"

"With Yukio?"

"Does it really matter that much to you if I am?" he scowled at her back. Why did she always answer him like that?

"No, you know it doesn't matter"

"Then why you do always ask?" she left before he could say anymore. Annoyed, he did the first thing that came to mind; he whirled around and kicked his desk as hard as he could. Then hopped around for a good five minutes, wondering if he had broken his toes.


Rukia had been lying. But what else was new? Originally, she hadn't had any plans at all, with Yukio or anyone else. But she didn't want to hang around Ichigo. And Yukio's father was still away...

She rang the doorbell, and waited patiently. After a few seconds, the door flew open. Yukio smiled warmly when he saw Rukia on his doorstep. "Oh, hey Rukia. What's up?"

"Not much," she put on a smile herself, "I know your dad's still away, I thought maybe you'd like some company or something"

"Well, I certainly wouldn't say no," he stepped aside and held out his hand, beckoning for her to come in. "So you thirsty?" he asked as he led her into the kitchen, "I have orange juice, apple juice, soda..."

"Apple juice sounds good," she said after a second, hoping and praying it wasn't a juice box. It would look pretty stupid, after all, if she asked for help.

Thankfully though, Yukio poured it in a glass. "So how's the unpacking going?" Rukia asked as she looked around. She noticed that there were a lot fewer boxes then when she had first started coming over.

"Not bad," Yukio shrugged, sipping his own juice, "It's like I said before, my dad works a lot, and now he's on a trip, so I have to do a lot of it by myself"

"Do you want some help?"

"Oh no, I couldn't ask you to-"

"Oh please," Rukia smiled as she set her glass down and stood up, "I insist"

And that was how the two ended up in Yukio's room, unpacking boxes. They talked aimlessly about nothing in particular, and Rukia couldn't help but notice how comfortable she felt around Yukio. It was so different then when she was with Ichigo. When she was with him she was constantly worrying about one thing or another, whether it be a hollow attack, or what the Soul Society would say if the two of them were ever really together...but it was all different with Yukio.

Rukia opened another box. On the very top of the pile of junk inside was a picture of a beautiful woman with white-blond hair and bright blue eyes. "Who's this?" she looked over at Yukio, who smiled sadly at the picture.

"It's my mom," he said, his own, blue-gray eyes shining sadly, "I don't really remember much about her, but dad's always telling me she was a really nice person. She loved me more than anything, he's always saying. I wish I could remember more about her. But she died when I was about two. She was really sick, you see. Sometimes at night, I have dreams about her. It's weird, but even though I've seen pictures of her, I can never really see her face in the dreams. It's always hidden by a shadow or something. Crazy huh?"

Rukia shook her head. "No, it's not crazy at all," she couldn't say it to Yukio, of course, but she knew how he felt. She'd never known her mother. Or her father for that matter. Or even her sister, Hisana. So she knew how Yukio felt.

But she couldn't say that. "It's not crazy," she said instead. She stood up and and set the picture down on his bureau. He smiled as he looked up at it.

"Yeah. Guess not"


Ichigo tapped his foot in beat to the music that blasted through his earphones. It was well past midnight. He had school tomorrow. But he had to stay awake. No matter how late it got to be, he had to stay awake.

It was time for another talk with the midget Soul Reaper, the one who infuriated Ichigo every time he so much as thought about her. Because if they didn't talk soon, he might very well go insane. If he hadn't already.

His head jerked up as Rukia climbed in silently through the window. She jumped when she saw him. "Oh. What are you still doing awake?"

"Waiting for you," he yanked his earphones out and stood up, "We need to talk"

"In the morning, Ichigo, I'm tired," she started to walk over to the closet. He jumped over his bed and got to the closet first, holding it shut with one hand.

"You're not too tired to stay out past midnight," he said harshly, "You can talk for five or ten minutes"

She glared up at him. "What do you want from me?"

"Just tell me this much; does Yukio really mean that much to you?"

"What does that mean?"

"I mean do you really care about him?"

"What do you care?"

"Because I do!" he was almost shouting now, "Stop leading me around Rukia and give me a straight answer!"

"You don't get it Ichigo!" she shouted back, her violet eyes blazing, "And I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain it to you! It's better this way, all right?"

"It's not all right!" he said angrily, "What are you trying to do Rukia?"

"What do you care?"

"God damn, stop answering me like that!" his temper, so short these days, was already at it's limit.

"No!" she snapped, "You don't seem to get it Ichigo; you can't care. Got it? If you care, bad things could happen. So just stop caring"

She pushed his hand angrily away from the closet door, yanked it open, climbed in, and slammed it shut. Ichigo glared at the door for a second, then walked over to his bureau and grabbed his pajamas to start changing. As he buttoned up his pajama shirt, he turned his gaze back to the closet. He could hear her moving around inside. And for some reason, that bugged him greatly. He turned away, and before he'd even realized what he was doing, he slammed his fist into the wall.


Author's Note:/sigh/ Ichigo and Rukia...what the hell are we going to do with them? At this rate they'll never end up together...wait, wait, I shouldn't have said that! /shifty eyes/ go back and erase your memories! Do it! Now! All right, did you forget? Okay, good ) Anyways, if you guys could be really nice, and bring me up to 170 reviews (or maybe a few more) I'd love you all forever (and you'd get taffy. Does taffy sound good?). Oh, and there's been a slight shift in my chapters. I originally planned for there to be 14 and an Epilogue, but one of my chapter ideas didn't quite pan out, so now it's 13 and an Epilogue. And that's important if you remember what I said in the last chapter. All righty, review and tell me how horrible this was - Sam