Ichigo opened his bedroom door, luckily being downstairs managed to help him calm down a little. But, he still felt a bit nervous as he walked over to Akane and handed her the bag of peas.
"Thanks," She said softly.
Ichigo sat down on the bed, making sure to keep a fair enough distance from the girl.
"Uhm...look, I'm really sorry about...that earlier. Can we just...forget it happened?" Ichigo asked looking to her ever so slightly.
Akane's cheeks flushed a bit again at the memory, "Y-yes, let's just put it behind us. I'd hate for the both of us to get all awkward over something so silly."
Ichigo felt relieved, "Ok, let's finish studying then."
Despite conversing over it, there remained an air of awkwardness between the two. They stood as far away from each other as possible during the rest of their study time.
The next couple of days seemed to fly by. Ichigo started to get used to waking up to the delicious smells cooked up by Akane each morning. And, always walking to and from school together was enjoyable. Akane had even started making lunches for everyone to take to school, including Ichigo and herself. The two managed to regain their comfort with each other, and soon enough had almost completely put the falling incident behind them.
"I'll be right back!" Akane announced brushing off her skirt as she stood up.
It was lunch period and, as always, she was sitting with the others on the roof. Today they were joined by Orihime and Tatsuki.
"Be careful," Ichigo called, not forgetting the first time Akane went to get a drink for lunch.
"I'll be fine!" She replied cheerfully and rushed off.
"So...something you wanna tell us Ichigo?" Tatsuki suddenly asked with a devious look on her face after the door shut behind Akane.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the fact that Akane is apparently living in the same house as you."
Ichigo nearly chocked on his food, as Keigo, and Mizuiro gasped loudly.
"W-wh-wh-where did you hear that?!" He sputtered, shocked.
"Aha! So you don't deny it?!" Tatsuki accused.
"I never said it's true!" He countered, "I just wanna know where you heard such a ridiculous rumour," He was trying not to appear as alarmed as he really was.
"Let's just say, Tatsuki was told by Haruhi that Asami-chan heard from Mizuno that Taiga saw Akane enter your house the other day, and never left," Orihime chimed in with a grin as full of mischief as Tatsuki's was.
Ichigo tried to keep a straight face, "How does she know Akane didn't leave while she wasn't looking?"
"Beeeecauuuusee," Orihime took a deep breath, "Taiga was walking with Misaki, who called Hitomi, who lives across the street from Mai-chan, and told her to tell her cousin Tohru, who lives across the street from you, to keep a close eye on your door to see if anyone left, and by 11:00pm the house lights went out and Akane still hadn't left." She folded her arms with a look of accomplishment.
"Also you two have had matching lunches for the past three days," Tatsuki added bluntly.
"Ichigo...is it true?" Keigo's eyes were teary, "You're sleeping with Akane?"
"I'm not sleeping with her you idiot!" Ichigo shouted his cheeks turning red, "She just...she just happens to be staying at my house while her's is under renovations. We sleep in completely different rooms, on different floors, and walk to school together. That's. All," He stressed, "She's only staying for a couple more days anyway."
"Even so, a lot can happen when you're living under the same roof," Tatsuki said still smirking.
"Ichigo don't try anything funny on Akane!" Orihime commanded wagging a finger at him, "I know just how you teenage boys operate!"
"I-I would never-!" He started, genuinely offended.
Keigo sobbed over-dramatically, "Ichigo why can't you just leave some girls for the rest of us!" He whined.
"Shut up! Akane and I-" Ichigo raised his voice but was cut off by Mizuiro.
"Don't worry Ichigo, we'll keep it secret," He winked, ignoring Ichigo's attempts at denying it.
The rest all teased Ichigo on the subject until the door to the rooftop swung open and out pranced Akane.
"What'd I miss?" She asked innocently.
Everyone went silent and stared at Ichigo, his cheeks still heated.
"Sooo~ Akane, what's it like living with Ichigo?" Tatsuki finally spoke up.
Akane reddened, and the whole group, except Ichigo, burst into laughter.
"Agh, I can't believe Tatsuki and Orihime figured it out like that!" Ichigo complained as he and Akane walked home.
"Ahhh well, they were bound to find out eventually," Akane replied exasperatedly.
"At least it's only a couple more days, right?" Ichigo said.
"Yeaaaahhh...about that," Akane started.
Ichigo frowned, "What is it?"
"It seems rennovations are going to take bit longer than anticipated," She said giving a nervous look.
"How much longer?"
"Er...about a week?" Akane said and bit her lip.
Ichigo sighed, "Ahhh, figures. Well it's whatever, we'll let you stay as long as you want. I doubt Karin and Yuzu will mind."
"Thank you! You're the best!" Akane cheered and wrapped her arms around Ichigo from his side, hugging him tightly, "I'll make an extra special breakfast tomorrow!"
That night Ichigo lay in bed wide awake. It was the first night in awhile where he didn't have to go out and fight Hollows. It was such a rare occasion that it seemed his body had gotten used to falling asleep at ridiculous hours. So, despite being as exhausted as ever, he couldn't sleep at all. Instead he was left alone with only his thoughts to preoccupy him.
I hope the others don't think anything is going on between me and Akane. He thought. They better not spread some ridiculous rumor about it. I mean...there was that time we were studying together, but we both are over that now! It's long behind us...I hope. For all I know Akane probably thinks I'm some pervert now...Come to think of it...she has been sitting further away from me at lunch lately...No wait, that's just because Keigo is trying even harder to absorb all her attention. That idiot. I usually just let him be with this stuff, but with Akane it's different...
"Agh, I've been feeling so weird lately, what is going on?" He groaned.
Suddenly, Ichigo's musings were interrupted by a light knock on his door. Surprised, he sat up in bed and checked his clock. It was 12:00am. Who would be knocking on his door at so late an hour?
Ichigo slowly got up and trudged over to open the door.
He squinted in the bright hallway light to see Akane in a pair of pajama shorts and a T-shirt that was too big for her with a pillow held closely against her chest.
"Ah, sorry to wake you," She whispered.
"No, it's fine, I couldn't sleep anyway," Ichigo replied.
He realized attention was trained on the girl's bare legs a bit longer than necessary and immediately looked away, cheeks growing pink. God Ichigo, could you be more of a pervert? He quietly scolded himself.
"Er, What do you need?" He asked, forcing his attention elsewhere.
Akane shuffled her feet sheepishly, "Erm, well before I got ready for bed I made a quick run to the convenience store for some school supplies I desperately needed, and when I got back your dad was fast asleep on the couch. I figured maybe he would get up after I got ready for bed but no such luck. And...well I don't want to disturb him or anything."
"Do you want me to kick him off for you?" Ichigo suggested nonchalantly.
"No!" Akane said quickly, then realizing how loud that was lowered her voice again, "No, it's okay, I'd hate to wake him and then have you two get into another fight waking up Karin and Yuzu."
"Oh, right," Ichigo nodded embarrassed since he knew that would most definitely happen.
"I didn't want to wake either Karin or Yuzu for help," She added, "So...uh..." her cheeks turned pink.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow impatiently.
"Would it be okay if I...slept in your room?" Akane asked at last, squeezing her pillow against her.
Ichigo hesitated. A girl...sleeping in his room? For some reason the thought made his heart start to race a bit. After all, typically when a girl and a guy were in the same room that meant-
Wait, what am I thinking!? Ichigo mentally swiped away the less than decent ideas popping into his mind. It had to be the late hour putting such thoughts into his head. He was glad it was dark, otherwise Akane might have noticed his flustered expression.
It should be fine right? I mean, Rukia sleeps in my closet all the time. This isn't any different than that, right? Ye-yeah! It's just like that!
"A-ah! Ye-yeah that's fine with me, er, come on in," Ichigo finally stammered out, and opened the door to let her in.
Luckily, Ichigo had cleaned his room that evening, so there was plenty of floor space. Ichigo, noticing how uncomfortable the hard wood would feel to lay on, brought out a small mattress and an extra pillow from inside his closet and covered it with some blankets for Akane.
"Why is there a mattress in your closet?" She asked a little confused.
Ichigo froze for a minute, it was actually the mattress Rukia slept on inside his closet.
"Er, it's in case any of my friends decide to sleep over," He quickly answered.
"Oh, I see," She nodded, easily falling for his white lie.
Once she had a decently made bed, Akane crawled under the covers.
"Are you comfortable?" Ichigo asked, climbing into his bed as well.
"Yes, this is perfect thank you," Akane responded turning to look at Ichigo. Their eyes met in the dark room and Ichigo could make out a faint smile on her face.
"Ok, if you need something don't be afraid to wake me up."
"Un, ok," Akane softly agreed.
Ichigo laid his head on his pillow. But, for some reason he couldn't help but feel nervous. Why did he feel so awkward about this? It's just like Rukia, he kept reminding himself. This was nothing different. Despite reminding himself it, his heart was beating unusually quick. That weird feeling he kept having when he thought of Akane crept over him again. He wondered what it meant.
"Ichigo?" Akanes voice suddenly cut through the dark. Her soft, whispering voice caused his heart to thump loudly against his chest.
"Yes?" Ichigo replied, trying not to think to much about the actions of his heart.
"Goodnight."
"A-ah, goodnight Akane."
After a few moments Ichigo was finally able to drift off into sleep, leaving behind his nervousness about these unusual feelings he was having.
The orange haired teen woke up to the feeling of something poking his side. His eyes fluttered open, and there was Akane again.
"Wh-what's up?" He asked sleepily. He looked at his alarm clock, it read 3:00am.
"I...I," Akane's voice was shaking. As Ichigo's eyes adjusted to the darkness he noticed her body was quivering.
"Is something wrong?" He sat up quickly, his expression full of concern.
"I...I had a nightmare," She said almost too quiet for him to hear.
"A nightmare?"
She nodded, both embarassed and rather shaken.
Without a second thought Ichigo pulled up his covers, and mumbled, "Get in."
Perhaps if he wasn't so sleep-deprived he would have suggested something else, but it was too late and he was far to exhausted to think of other solutions. Akane was so shaken she didn't think much of it either, and silently climbed into his bed. She snuggled up close to him, curled in a little ball against his chest, trying to stop shivering. And the two fell back asleep, Ichigo's arms wrapped around Akane's small frame.
Ichigo's eyes slowly peeled open. He could feel something digging into his stomach, and something heavy was on top of one of his arms, causing it to go numb. He blinked the sleepiness out of his eyes and all he could see was a blur of red. As his vision came into focus, and his brain began to process his surroundings, he suddenly realized what this strange heap near him was.
Akane, was lying on her side, on top of one of his arms, her own arms wrapped around Ichigo's neck, while her knee dug into his stomach. A fuzzy memory of last night floated through Ichigo's mind.
His whole body stiffened, and his face turned as red as ever.
"Mmmm," Akane hummed in her sleep, a little smile on her face as she snuggled closer to Ichigo, blissfully unaware of their current situation.
First, what happened while studying, now this! He lamented. Why must women always test my innocent heart like this? He had seen grown women half-clothed, and practically naked, but this...this was somehow too much for him.
He tried to pull her arms off him, but her grip was tight. He tried pushing her off, but she refused to budge. She was as stubborn as a rock.
"Nooooo," She complained in her sleep, pulling herself even closer to Ichigo. Now their bodies were completely pressed against each other.
Ichigo could feel his whole body heat up, far too aware of how her chest and hips felt against his own, and the fact that Akane's face was barely an inch away from his. Her warm breath tickled his neck as she sighed in her sleep. He noticed that her baggy shirt was starting to climb up her torso as she moved. Any further and she would expose her entire upper body.
Ichigo quickly pulled her shirt back down before it got too far.
He desperately continued to try and free himself. He was starting to feel uncomfortably hot.
"Ichi~" Akane muttered, pressing her body into his. Ichigo couldn't take this anymore.
"gooo~" She sighed and finally flipped onto her back, releasing him from her tight embrace.
Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief and was finally able to pull his arm out from underneath her. He wiggled his way out from under the covers, careful not to wake Akane up. Then, he crawled to the end of his bed, to get around Akane, and climbed off from there. He had almost made a successful attempt at escaping when suddenly he heard the sound of something cracking beneath his feet.
He looked down and, lifting his foot, saw a crushed picture frame.
He cursed softly and picked it up. It wasn't a picture that he owned he realized. And, it was sitting right where Akane originally slept, which meant that it must belong to...
He took a sharp breath when he heard Akane move around in her bed. She muttered something and then went quiet again, assuring Ichigo she was still asleep. He sighed, relieved, and went back to panicking about the picture.
It was only the glass he broke, not the actual frame, but he still dreaded telling Akane what he had just done. What if the picture was important?
Holding the picture up in the light sneaking through his curtains, he looked closely at what the picture was of. It was a photo of a young girl, probably about three years old being held up by a boy who seemed around the age of seven. The girl's red hair made it obvious that it was a younger Akane. Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle at the cute little pout she had on her face. The boy holding her Ichigo didn't recognize, but there was something familiar about him. He had black hair and green eyes, and had a big goofy smile on his face.
Ichigo gathered the glass and threw it in his trash bin, and placed the picture and frame on his desk. He would apologize about it to Akane in the morning. As he was putting it down something small fluttered out from behind the photo frame.
Picking it up, he saw it was another photo, a lot smaller than the previous one. It was also of Akane, but she was older. It seemed pretty recent, probably from while she stilled lived in America. The boy from the last picture was in this one as well, also much older.
Ichigo's eyes widened as he examined the picture. In the photo Akane was holding a bouquet of roses as the boy was kissing her on the cheek. He flipped the photo over and saw some writing on the back, which read:
"Dear Akane,
I had so much fun visiting you for the week, I hope you are taking good care of the roses I gave you.
I can't wait to see you and everyone else again, I promise to visit again as soon as I can.
I love and miss you tons.
Love,
Ayumu.
