Fragaria Vesca

By Summer

Have you every eaten a double strawberry? Legend says that if you break the strawberry in half and share it with a member of the opposite sex, you will soon fall in love with each other.

Chapter Eight: Lathyrus Odoratus

"Do you think he's smiling more then normal?" Tatsuki asked.

Orihime turned her head and considered her subject. "I can't tell. He seems normal."

"So maybe things didn't go so well for him and that other girl. You said they were meeting yesterday, right."

"That's what I overheard."

The two girls studied the orange-haired boy in quiet for a moment.

"Maybe she made him into a pod-person."

Tatsuki rolled her eyes, "I thought I told you to stop watching SciFi."

XXX

Despite the scrutiny from the two teenage girls, Ichigo was in great mood. He kept telling himself to stop smiling like an idiot or he'd start scarring his friends, so he past the school day by considering how to get around Byakuya. He had a step one that he was initiating after school that day but it only solved one issue.

He pretty much considered Byakuya's rules moronic and suffocating. It gave him a low opinion of the man that he would pretty much trap Rukia in a house for her entire life and dedicate how it should run.

He didn't feel like he was Rukia's white knight or anything, but his plans involved getting to be with Rukia and he was pretty sure orange-haired punk wasn't on the approved list.

He wondered if he was being selfish but whether Rukia knew it or not, she was suffocating under Byakuya's thumb. If anything, breaking one or two of the rules that governed her life would be good for her.

Like ice-cream. How could a little treat once in a while be such a threat that she was never allowed any? It wasn't like it was a drug or something. Then he laughed. He could picture Rukia in an alley picking up ice-cream like a drug addict. Shaking in anticipation for her next hit of rocky road.

The expression on his face must have shown because Chad gave him a look. Chad could say a lot in one look and Ichigo was pretty good at reading him at this point.

"Rukia?" Chad asked.

"She's not allowed to eat sweets. Her brother has more insane rules then anyone I know. I took her for ice-cream yesterday."

"I see."

"I'm not trying to influence her by bribing her with sugar or anything," Ichigo protested. "I like her. And I hate him. And come on, it's just ice-cream."

Chad raised his eye brows and Ichigo sighed.

"Okay and a cell phone. But we had a spare one from when our dad got us phones earlier. It was a deal for five and it was just lying around. Plus it doesn't cost anything more a month because it was already set up. It was part of this family plan thing. My dad was cool with it."

His dad teased the hell out of him and gave him a ton of shit because he guessed it was for a girl, but Ichigo figured it was that or Byakuya would be monitoring any call or text. It would be a lot harder to sneak around Byakuya if he could intercept phone messages.

"You read people better then anyone I know. What did you think of her?"

"I like her," Chad said.

XXX

He found Rukia in the front yard when he arrived after school. He thought it seemed kind of odd considering all the previous rules but didn't question it much further then that.

He wouldn't have admitted it but he had rushed right over the second the last bell rang. He couldn't wait to see Rukia again.

He was about to speak up when a tall older man with long white hair stepped up behind her. She looked up at him while the man looked over at him and smiled kindly. She followed his gaze to Ichigo and smiled.

"Hey," Ichigo said walking over slowly.

"Hello!" Rukia said. "Ukitake, this is Ichigo. Ichigo, this is Jūshirō Ukitake. He's one of the Kuchiki family bodyguards."

"Is this art club boy?" Ukitake asked. "Nice to meet you, Ichigo."

"Same."

"Well, Miss Rukia, I'm going to tend to those flowers over there. You and Ichigo have a nice chat. It was very nice to meet you. I'm sure I'll see you around."

The pair watched Ukitake wander over to the other side of the front yard and begin hacking away at the roses there.

"He likes to garden," Rukia said. "It wasn't hard to convince him to go outside and work in the gardens. I figured it was an easy way to talk with out having to sneak around."

"Well, I know you said you couldn't talk long."

"Yeah. One of Byakuya's business associates is coming into town and taking us out to dinner."

"Sounds like fun," Ichigo said sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah. Business dinners. My favorite."

"Well, I wanted to come by because I wanted to give you this." He sheepishly held out his hand and handed over the simple cell phone. "My family had a spare and I figured it would be easier to talk if we used this instead of your phone. We can text too. And since its on my family's plan we have unlimited talk and text."

"Really? This is for me?" she looked down at her cell phone biting her lower lip.

"Don't think too much about this. I just thought that if we couldn't see each other then we could at least talk. I programmed the other's phone numbers too so you don't just have to talk to me."

"No, thank you Ichigo. This is great." She looked up and smiled brightly at him. "Really great. I'm just a little surprised that you'd even consider it."

"I want to get to know you better."

She smiled brightly and got on her tip-toes kissing him on the right side underneath his cheek. He blushed. From where her lips had lightly brushed against his cheek to the ends of his toes he felt like he was on fire. And from one little peck. He just hadn't been expecting it. He felt like kicking the dirt and saying "golly."

"I have to get ready, and Byakuya will be home in a little bit. I'm pretty sure if he sees you anywhere near here he'll jump to conclusions and ship me to Siberia so you better get going." She smiled brightly. "Thanks! I'll text you later?"

"Yeah. Sure. Later's good."

He stood in the yard as she scampered across it and to Ukitake who has a pile of twigs at his side. She had tucked the phone in the pocket of her sweater and so she found her empty hands soon filled with roses. She laughed as they some of them spilled to the ground around her saying something to Ukitake that Ichigo couldn't hear. And then she turned and looked back at him.

Again he was struck by how beautiful Rukia was. Standing in the middle of a garden covered in roses in her baby blue sundress she almost looked like a character in a fairy tail.

And then he realized he was still in her yard gaping at her and quickly turned and high-tailed it out of there.

'She must think I'm a total moron!' he thought as he walked as fast as he could without running. 'Stupid, Ichigo! Stupid!'

"What a strange young man," Ukitake said as the pair watched him run off. "But he is very cute, Rukia. In a very strong, manly way."

Rukia laughed. "That he is, isn't he?"

"Byakuya will be saddened that you didn't fall for the pretty boy type."

"You can't tell him!" Rukia cried. "Ukitake!"

"I'm not going to tell Byakuya, Rukia. But you can't think you can keep this a secret. A girl in love is not an easy thing to hide."

"I'm not in love," Rukia sputtered. "And besides, he hasn't even asked me out!"

"Oh, he will. Just give him some time. And until then, you have to get ready for dinner. Come on then."

XXX

"Ichigo Kurosaki you are a dumbass!" he yelled at his reflection. "Your so stupid. Giving her a phone. Standing in her yard. Stalking her in bushes. Idiot!"

"Does our brother know he's talking to himself?" Yuzu asked concerned.

"Does he know the bathroom door is open?" Karin asked in return. "And who is he stalking in bushes?"

The sisters stood in the hall across from the bathroom watching as their older brother grappled with himself in the mirror.

"She is just a girl!" Ichigo screamed. "A short little girl! With short little boobs!"

"Do you think brother has a girlfriend?" Yuzu asked puzzled.

"Do you think we need an intervention?" Karin wondered. "He's sounding more and more like a loon. Plus, he also sounds like he's stalking a child."

"Well, he did say she had boobs," Yuzu reasoned. "So she must be older then us." The young girl eyed her sister. "We don't have boobs."

"We're just stunted because of dad's genes. Remember Mieko? She got boobs at nine!"

Yuzu nodded.

"You don't like girls!" Ichigo shouted at himself again. "You don't date! Little blue-eyed midgets do not turn you on!"

"Is he trying to talk himself into being gay?" Karin questioned.

"I'm not gay!" Ichigo yelled. He turned from the mirror to see his two little sisters staring at him. He took a moment to process the fact that his two sisters had been listening to his private conversation and what he might have screamed at himself.

"It's not that I'm opposed of anyone for being gay, I'm just not," Ichigo said calmly. "Why would you think I'm gay?"

"Well, you said you don't like girls," Karin stated.

"Which seems really odd because we've looked at the magazines under your bed," Yuzu added.

Karin gave her a look to shut up and Ichigo stared at them in horror. His little baby sisters knew he had girly magazines?

"So what gives." Karin asked. "Are you a child pedophile?"

"What? What the hell are you talking about!"

"You said you like a little girl," Karin said.

"With short boobs," Yuzu added again. "Do you think we're going to grow up and have short boobs too?"

Ichigo stared at the pair again, trying desperately not to think of his sisters with boobs. It was disturbing, but he also didn't want to think of his sisters growing up either.

"She's not a little girl. Well, she is. Little that is. Short. She's short. But she's seventeen. With short seventeen year old girl boobs. There just little. But she's little so there actually just proportionate to her size. Like apples. Well, no. There round. Like oranges. I don't know I haven't seen them really. Or touched them. They could be mandarins with padding."

"Mandarins with padding?" Karin asked.

"Why would you be touching them, big brother?: Yuzu added.

"Because our brother is a pervert and he won't be touching them if he calls them that to her face."

"Why are we discussing this!" Ichigo shouted.

"You started it!" Karin accused.

"I was having a private conversation!"

"With yourself?"

He was about to open his mouth when his phone chimed, indicating an new text message. His heart leapt a little hoping it was from Rukia. Then he felt foolish for even thinking it could be. Resigned he looked down.

NEW MESSAGE FROM:

And below that was a little envelope and below was the sender.

RUKIA

Ichigo smiled. And then frowned. And then he looked back up at his sisters.

"Oooh!" Karin asked. "Did Ichigo get a message from his girlfriend?"

"Shut up! She is not my girlfriend!"

"Oh! So it IS from a girl!"

He gritted his teeth and glared at his sisters.

"Just let it go," Ichigo said walking out of the bathroom and past his sisters to his room. He slammed the door with force.

"I think big brother is in love," Yuzu said seriously.

"You and Pops are just the same!" Karin sighed. "I'm out of here."

Yuzu watched her twin walk off and down the stairs. Then she looked back to Ichigo's door.

XXX

The moment he closed the door behind his sisters Ichigo flipped his phone opened.

[this dinner is soooo boring! if i have to sit here much longer i might just have to gouge my eyes with the butter knife]

He laughed.

[is it that bad]

He flopped down on his bed and stared at his phone. He waited for what felt like an eternity before his phone chimed again.

[yes… its a full other ring of hell =)]

[want me to rescue you?]

[i dont see how you could. but if you think of an idea… pretty pretty please! =)]

[=) just leave it to me]

First off: Guess who doesn't own Bleach. ME! Now guess who does. That's right its Tite Kubo!

Second: Lathyrus Odoratus means Sweet Pea… awwhh.

Third: I hope that everyone has been enjoying this fic thus far. ^_^ Thanks for taking the time to read it and I hope that thus far its been entertaining.

Aizawa Ayumu- thanks for the review! I hope you like what's coming up next! ^_^ (Yep.. There might be a kiss =) I hope it meets your expectations! )

falconrukichi- I actually knew a family with even MORE rules then the ones Rukia has! I actually took a lot of her rules from them. My friend couldn't have sugar, watch tv, have toys…. They were only allowed to read books!

Urikaa- Yay! Thanks for the review!

KuroKuchiki- Yep. No sweets. Total killjoy ^-^ Thanks for the review!

Goku's Daughter- First.. There is a lot to say.. ^_^ but first.. Thanks for the reviews! They were really helpful! Oh, contractions… lol… when I wrote papers in school.. I always made sure I had ever t dashed and every I dotted and all contractions done just right… in fan fic.. I somehow always miss them! My beta is in the middle of something for me.. And so she didn't edit this one… so all mistakes are mine. Also.. I'm happy you quoted the google line.. That was a favorite to write.