Oh My Gigai!

By Uchiha Xairylle

Chapter Ten: Spell Sober For Me

For Ichigo, the day had kicked off wrongly. Byakuya was so disturbed about him and Rukia that the older Kuchiki wanted to take her back to Soul Society. Who knows what he'd do to Rukia after that? Lock her in the Kuchiki mansion for like, let's see, forever? Then he had to stick his neck out and go save her again. He had been careless about last night that he was hair as close to having lost Rukia.

Yes, he had been careless last night.

They had been walking a good distance from his house now and yet neither of them was speaking. It troubled Ichigo that Rukia remained quiet and he wondered for how long. Perhaps it was about last night? Obviously what they said and how they ended up did not actually coincide with one another. Seriously, you tell someone of the opposite sex that the two of you are just friends and yet you end up sleeping in each other's arms? Either you're gay or something is horribly wrong with you.

Like being in denial?

He had been trying to think up of something to start a conversation with but it seemed as though his mouth did not want to cooperate. Something was stuck in his throat. Whatever it was, he had to get it out because the silence was trying to eat his sanity. He wasn't deaf but he felt like one now and he had no plans of remaining so for a long time.

They had walked home together for a number of times every time she decided to "suddenly enroll" in Karakura high. But they rarely (to never) walked to school together for fear that other people would get ideas about them.

"So…" Ichigo began, looking the opposite way where Rukia was, "… What do you think the others look like after last night?"
"No idea." Rukia replied, not bothering to even look at him, "We'll see when we get there."

It wasn't what Ichigo actually wanted but at least it was some kind of response.

"Want to take bets?" Ichigo offered. He was not a gambling person but for the sake of breaking the silence then perhaps he could look the other way just this once.

Honestly, now, the things Rukia made him do!

"No."

It wasn't what Ichigo would call a response but it was better than nothing.

Ichigo paused.

Wait, that was as good as nothing!

Maybe he should think up some other topic? Or should he insist on the bet taking? Or maybe he should just shut up?

Urgh, he was Kurosaki Ichigo, damn it! And who was she? Kuchiki Rukia, the Shinigami girl who squeezed herself into his closet, room, house, class, school and life!

Ichigo stopped at his tracks.

"What is wrong with you!" he blasted at Rukia and grabbed her by the elbow.
"What?" Rukia asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

"I said what is wrong with you!" Ichigo tugged some more, "Here I am, trying to start a good conversation and you go trying to act all Byakuya-ish on me! Can't you at least exert some effort trying to appreciate what I'm trying to do?"

"What are you talking about!" Rukia grabbed her arm back and began to rub her elbow.

"I'm trying to talk to you, midget, and you're ignoring me on purpose!" Ichigo pointed at her with accusation, "Does it fulfill you to torture me, you prick! Okay, so I'm ticked off now! Are you happy?"

"I'm not ignoring you! I really just don't have any idea how any of them look like and I don't want to take bets on anything!" Rukia reasoned, "What is it with you! Now are you happy?"

"Don't change the topic! This isn't about me!" Ichigo grabbed her back by the arm, "This is about you!"

"Think, you bastard! Why would I give you the cold shoulder in the first place?" She shot back, taking her arm back and motioned to start off while muttering, "Friends wouldn't do that to each other."

Ichigo watched her step a few paces and reviewed the whole night in a flash. His fist clenched.

Sothat's what this is about?

"Rukia!" Ichigo called and strode towards her swiftly, "This is about last night, isn't it!"

She continued to pace on, not even sparing him a glance as she went.

"Answer me!"

Rukia refused to hear him and she walked faster. He kept up with the pace.

"What, we're not going to talk about this ever?" Ichigo continued, huffing in between words and steps as he walked beside her. She still wasn't responding. She was not looking at him. Her expression was not changing.

"Rukia, talk to me for a minute!"

She was not responding.

"Rukia!"

She kept on walking. Ichigo had no more patience left.

"Rukia!" Ichigo grabbed her by the arm again. He could see her mouth open to say something but he did not allow her to say anything. Ichigo brought her to one side and pinned her to the wall, caged in his arms on either side as he looked at her.

"God damn you, Ichigo, we're going to be late!"
"We are not and I don't care!"
"What do you want!" she glared at him in alarm, her eyes wide in an attempt to intimidate him but failed.
"I want you to talk to me!" he glared back with his own intimidating eyes and she stopped as she remained pinned to the wall in her fazed state.
"Ichigo…" Rukia was speaking lowly now, "We're in the middle of the damn street…!"

"I. Don't. Care!" Ichigo glowered, his face drawing closer and she sank to the wall, her shoulders tightened as she looked up to him from under her slowly bending face.

Actually, it was not true that he did not care that they were in the middle of the road. In fact, he cared a hell lot. Even if the street was empty for that time, he did not want to risk being caught in this posture with Rukia. But he could risk it provided that he got to the bottom of everything that was silent and disregarded.

He waited.

He waited a few moments for her to recall herself. Her shoulders began to relax and her head slowly lifted towards him.

"Is this about last night?" he asked again.

But what he received was not a response. Without warning, her eyes lit up but not the way Ichigo wanted to. She sprang up and kicked his face, using it to propel herself away from him. Ichigo fumbled backwards but was able to balance his body before he hit anything. His hand was rubbing his face, still feeling the shape of Rukia's shoe that was forcefully brought against it. From under his fingers, he could see her running away.

Oh, no, you don't!

"Get back here, you midget!" Ichigo yelled as he ran after her.
"We're going to be late!"
"We are not!"
"Yes, we are!"

"Shut the freaking hell up and stop running, damn you, you witch!" Ichigo's voice was getting closer as he chased after her. Rukia continued to speed up but she was not waging a winning battle of speed and agility. It didn't matter. She just had to keep up until they got to school and by then, Ichigo would calm down and shut up about whatever issue he wanted to bring up.

Rukia could see the school gates now.

Salvation!

She told her feet to take her in school grounds as quick as possible. There was no way Kurosaki-kun would squeeze any answers out of her there! Hah, she was a genius! It was like her head was doing a countdown before she reached school grounds.

Three. Two. One.

Rukia came to a stop and forced her body to relax so she could walk properly. Nothing to worry about now. Kurosaki-kun would not throw such a fit in the middle of school. But Rukia blinked. The grounds seemed to be empty except for a very few students who were walking. And by "few" she meant "around four to seven people".

Uh-oh. Not good.

Either he had not noticed or he had ignored the campus grounds because orange-haired Kurosaki-kun did not stop running. And since Rukia stood like a log from the surprise, Ichigo did not have to exert much effort to take her by the waist as he ran. Rukia rummaged through her thoughts.

Must think of something… Must think!

Soul Candy!

Rukia looked for her bag only to find out that Ichigo already had it.

DAMN!

Why of all times did she not put the accursed thing in her pocket today!

"Ichigo! Let me go!"

As soon as Rukia spoke, Ichigo skidded to a stop, missing his target door by a few paces. He quickly turned back, sprang the door open and unceremoniously tossed Rukia into the room before stepping in himself.

But to Rukia, she had not lost yet because as the saying goes: When God closes the door, he opens…

"You're not going anywhere near the window!" Ichigo was suddenly in front of her as soon as she had started towards freedom. Damn it, was he doing Shunpo while in his body just like that? But she had no time to react and she whipped to run back out using the door. But Ichigo was quicker and he grabbed her by the wrist and she recoiled like a lifeless doll towards him. Rukia was about to propel off him by kicking on his chest, Ichigo caught her foot.

Oh, hell, this was hard.

Ichigo swung her as she gasped and she landed on something hard. Rukia squirmed upon her back hitting the teacher's table. He bit his lip seeing as how he had hurt her but the apology could come later. He bent towards her and pinned her with both wrists on the table. Rukia decided to kick but Ichigo blocked with his leg or his knee every time she tried.

Curse his speed.

"Okay…" Ichigo was huffing, "Now would you stop running away already? We can't possibly be late now! It's too early!"
"What is it with you slamming me on the table like this!" she growled.
"Because you keep running away!"
"Because you were laying your hands on me!"
"Because you don't want to talk to me properly!" Ichigo was closer with each response. "Now I'm asking you. Is this about last night?"

"We went to the Karaoke booth last night, Ichigo! Nothing else happened!" She was not intimidated by his closeness and her head was angrily lifting towards him, sending him glares and scowls. "Nothing else happened, Ichigo! No-thing else!"

"Is that so!" he shot back.
"Yes! You were drunk, right!" she wasn't losing this one, "Or don't you remember telling that to Niisama this morning!"

Ichigo would've thought she'd lost it but he was busy dealing with his insides. The twisting of his guts due to the hangover was getting acquainted by a twitching feeling that was not very welcome. Something was scraping his chest and his lungs. His blood was close to boiling but he wasn't angry. He looked at Rukia with fiery eyes — only pure exploding emotion and not violence.

"You seriously mean that?" Ichigo was no longer yelling and that was the scary part. Ichigo is normally loud around Rukia so for him to stare at her with eyes like those now…

"I'm asking you. Do you seriously mean that!"

"Yes!" she finally spat out, trying to struggle her wrists off Ichigo's hands that had no trouble holding them down, "Nothing counts! You were drunk, you bloody bastard! You don't know whatever it is you do whenever you've taken in alcohol!"

"Oh, really!" he sounded sarcastic; "Well, I think I'm sober enough now!"

Rukia opened her mouth to shout at him had he not brought his lips crashing down on hers. It was hard, a bit forceful. She writhed under him but he held on. He was throwing his thoughts at her but she failed to notice anyway. His eyes were shut, his head tilted as he possessed her lips and it surprised her how warm he was.

Screw that, the kiss was warm. Somehow, Rukia was interested. Somehow, it could've been entertaining, could've been wonderful, and could've been a piece of heaven. But right now, it stung as much as it soothed. The colliding feelings and the debating thoughts were driving her mad. A groan escaped her throat as Ichigo continued to move into the kiss. It was hard but with every ounce of motivation fueled by confusion, Rukia snatched her head to the side, breaking a kiss as she let out a prolonged scream of what seemed to be agony. A shocked Ichigo, loosened his grip and she got up, pushing him to the side and running out groaning and sobbing.

Ichigo felt his back against the blackboard as he felt his knees shudder. He had to reorient himself with what happened. Normally, he'd call her name and go after her but right now, he could not move.

Dammit, Rukia, shut up. We're just friends.

"Dammit, what have I done…!" he grunted.

You don't know whatever it is you do whenever you've taken in alcohol!

"What do you think you're doing…!" Rukia muttered about Ichigo to herself as she ran along the empty corridors. She had to run away from him. Run as far as possible… She did not want to hear any explanation. She did not want to talk. Why couldn't he wait until she was ready to talk?

"Baka, baka, baka, baka, baka…" Rukia repeated as she continued to run, ignoring the wobbling of her knees and the choking of her voice and the thing that seemed to be a sob stuck in her throat.

Oh, really! Well, I think I'm sober enough now!

No way, Ichigo. You're no where close to sober because I know that after this, you're going to say it's an accident and you know we can just talk to fix this…

"Because we're friends."

- End of Chapter 10 -

Author: Mmm! Had fun writing this. Not that everything about this was meant to be funny but I just find it interesting. Byakuya makes no appearance. Sorry, he's recuperating from overworking ("oversinging"?) his gigai. Wait, wait, hold that. Oh, my goodness, wait! Chapter 10! It has… has… TWO DIGITS! OH MY GAWD! I'm fainting… I'm fainting… I'm— . . . . .