Name: Sketching Love
Rating: PG
Genres: Romance/Fluff
Summary: Rukia experiments with finger paints, and then she asks Ichigo how to draw a picture of love.

Author's Notes: Happy Valentine's Day!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for Beta'ing!

Sketching Love

Rukia's eyes were slightly wide as she stared at the colorful tubes laid out on the table. Her fingers danced over them as she turned her gaze to the paper that had been spread out. Yuzu smiled widely at her, then grabbed Ichigo by the arm, hauling him back to the table.

"Come on, Ichi-nii! Show Rukia-chan what finger paints are!"

Yuzu was bouncing up and down happily and her eyes were glowing as Ichigo pouted. Rukia reached out and grabbed one of the tubes, squishing it between her fingers. Frowning when nothing happened, she pressed harder and harder. She closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she pressed as hard as she could on the blue tube. Suddenly, as the tube exploded everywhere, her eyes snapped open and Ichigo screamed.

Once the shock had passed, Rukia looked over to see Ichigo with a bright blue splatter over his forehead. Reaching up, Rukia began to spread the paint around, smirking.

"Ah. So this is what finger painting is. It's fun."

Yuzu smiled as she handed Ichigo a towel. Ichigo grabbed it and began to wipe the washable, thank God, finger paint of his head.

"So that's how you open them. Can I open more?" Rukia asked, reaching out to grab the red.

"No!"

Ichigo's amber eyes were wide as he grabbed the tube from her. Taking her hand in his, he put her fingers on the cap and showed her how to take it off. Her mouth formed a small 'O' as the top slid off easily in her hand.

"That is how you take it off, dope."

"Can I paint now?" Rukia asked, impatient as she sat down. Yuzu sat down beside her and eagerly showed her how to spread the colors around on the paper without mixing them too badly, and soon, Rukia had finished a painting of a bunny.

"What do you think, Ichigo?" she asked, holding it up for his inspection.

"It's ugly. And it's pink."

She clobbered him over the head, forgetting for a moment that Yuzu was in the room.

"Don't do that, it hurts, stupid!" Ichigo yelled, pouting.

"You could be nicer," Rukia snapped, sitting down. She made it a point not to meet Ichigo's eyes as she took out a fresh piece of paper. Yuzu, they noticed, had left the room, screaming loudly about something burning in the oven. Ichigo sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he sat down beside the short, feisty Shinigami again. He took his own paper and began swift, sure strokes with his fingers across the paper.

Rukia sneaked a glance at him while she was sure he wasn't looking, then she turned back to her paper; he didn't even care. Her small, slim fingers began to form the different shapes as she frowned, trying to get the picture of a flower right. It wasn't working; her colors were mixing.

"Here, like this."

Rukia's eyes went wide as Ichigo reached over her shoulder, taking her hand gently into hers and holding two of her fingers apart with his own. Violet eyes scanned the new paper that Ichigo had put in front of her as he pressed her fingers into the paint and then to the paper. His fingers moved swiftly; as if he had done this a lot before. And with little sisters, she didn't doubt that he had.

"You don't press so hard. Your fingers are stiff; you need to let them relax. If they're stiff, they don't move so easily, and you end up mixing your colors."

His voice was soft in her ear, and he sighed.

"And ... well, I guess I shouldn't have said that about your bunny. It was your first drawing, after all."

"Ah. You're forgiven."

Ichigo smiled and continued to show her how to draw the flower, and when they had finished, she smiled brightly and jumped up to go show it to Yuzu. Ichigo leaned up against the wall and sighed, letting his chin drop to his chest. He heard Rukia and Yuzu's quiet voices through the wall, and when Rukia came back in she smiled before sitting down. Then, frowning, she turned around and asked quietly,

"Ichigo, how ... how do I sketch a picture of love? I-I mean, f-for Valentine's Day, for school ..." Rukia stuttered, face red.

Ichigo was completely silent, his hands stuffed in his pockets as his mind flew a million miles an hour.

"Ichigo?"

"I ... I don't know ... " he said slowly, not quite ready to give up on the thought. He took his hands from his pockets and pulled himself from the wall as he walked over and sat down beside Rukia. She watched on in surprise as he took the tube of light blue paint in his hand, and still frowning in concentration, he began to slowly squirt it over his hand. When there was a nice sized lump in his hand, he began to slowly spread it around. It covered his whole palm and fingers soon, and he reached out, pressing it to the fresh piece of paper that was laid out in front of Rukia.

"Let me see your hand."

Rukia put her hand in Ichigo's once he had cleaned the paint from his fingers and he took it gently in his before he grabbed the dark blue paint. His fingers gently danced over hers as he spread the paint, and when he was done, he took her hand in his and pressed it to the paper beside his print. When she pulled her fingers away, she smiled. The paint spread slightly, melding their prints together.

"Now that's a finger painting," Ichigo said, the towel caressing Rukia's skin as he washed the paint off of her.

"Can I do something to it?" Rukia's voice was low and soft. Ichigo nodded, leaning back in his chair as he watched her.

Her fingers carefully created a small, red heart in the top corner. It was sketchy and slightly messy, but Ichigo smirked.

"Ya. I like it."

"Me, too."

Rukia's hand reached down to grip his hand in hers, but when she realized what she had done, she turned bright red. Ichigo smirked and closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair as Yuzu walked back in. Rukia let go of his hand as Yuzu's bright eyes caught sight of the picture.

"Oooh, Rukia-chan! I like it!"

"I do, too, Yuzu," Rukia said, fighting the blush. "I really like it."

Her handprint was so small compared to Ichigo's, but the paint that melded them together seemed to make it whole.

The drawing disappeared only a day later, and wasn't mentioned again until she was shuffling through one of Ichigo's History books. She found it, in perfect condition, pressed with a light blue rose stuck to it; the paint had dried with the rose and it, too, was bonded to the picture. And, on the top, in slightly messy writing inside the light red heart, Ichigo's writing said,

"A sketch of love."

I knooooow, most people are going to yell, "What in the world? They are OO'freakin'C!" ... But who cares? I liked it. Just pure, sweet fluff. Flame away! I'll ignore you ...

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