A/N: This one is wayyyy longer than expected; I sure hope I won't bore everyone out. You know the routine :D Enjoy!

Glossary:

Aphasiac – a person who is unable to decipher/understand speech or unable to form coherent sentences due to a lesion in the brain.

Ichigo woke to the tickling sensation on his bare chest. He tried to flutter open his eyes, but groaned as the ray of sunshine cast a direct glow to his retina. Slowly, but surely, consciousness seeped through him and with a determined force, he opened his eyes.

Sunshine is evil. All migrane-inducing subjects are evil, he concluded.

Blinking back incoherent thoughts, he remembered last night's incident as it flashed in front of him. Him going flower hunting with Rukia, went sight-seeing with the same girl at the riverbank later, some teasing, lots of bickering, plenty of laughter, just goofing and having fun. Oh yes. There was one lone tear session. The image of Rukia's tear-brimmed eyes appeared.

The event that followed returned to him one by one. Him jogging after Rukia towards Atmosphere, vain attempts of hindering the girl from drinking into pure oblivion, the said girl climbed her way up the stage and put up that damn show. Oh, he was enthralled. Not only by her decent voice, but also due to the fact that the girl never once let the tears slid down her cheeks last night, despite finding her boyfriend of 2 years playing tonsil hockey with another girl.

He also remembered downing a few shots himself too, merely because he too, wanted to experience how heartbreaks felt like. How could such a strong personality such as Kuchiki Rukia succumb to manipulative and devious effect of alcohol? He had imagined her ranting, he had thoughts of her throwing things around, or perhaps shoulders sagging as she cried and lulled herself to sleep. But binging on Jack Daniels like some brokenhearted cowboys was the last thing on his mind.

And suddenly that blow-to-the-head effect intensified. Dammit! How much did he have to drink again? His eyes fluttered close as he tried to remember against hope the numbers of shot glasses lining the counter last night. Oh, there were plenty, plus Rukia's who did not slow down, even after that stint with the microphone. He remembered slamming his head down on the counter. He remembered Rukia's head on his lap. He remembered cradling her all the way home.

Right. Rukia. His lips curved into a smile at the thought of the raven-haired girl. He wondered how she was handling the sunshine, if his hangover was any indication. He might as well check on that kid while getting them both aspirin. He tried stretching, but found that all other three limbs were somehow… wedged?

His eyes flew open. And in the hazy disorientation, it was crystal to him that his left hand and both legs were wedged, none other by another set of limbs. As his eyes trailed the small body clad in a pair of blue shorts and a skimpy tank top. And when his gaze finally settled on the mass of black hair splayed on the pillow, Ichigo bit back a curse and a scream.

XXXXX

Rukia fluttered her eyes open, only to be met with stark darkness due to the fact she had slammed her face in the pillow. Her head hurts, it was like Orange Range was having a concert in there. She cursed inwardly. The last she had a hangover was during her high school after-party graduation, and she had vowed to herself never ever to get crazily drunk like that. Maybe she should have listened to that orange-top; grab a half-gallon Ben & Jerry's cookie dough and wallow herself in woe while crying over cheesy chick flicks on Hallmark channel.

Lifting her head off the pillow, she groaned. Even her neck hurts. She swallowed guiltily as Ririn came to mind. What kind of impression was she hoping the girl to grasp if she came home inebriated like last night? That thought gave away to another blow to her brain. She squeezed her eyes shut again as the morning sunlight teased its way into her eyes. She needed aspirin. Fast.

Then she heard her bed creaked. Come to think of it, she felt her right arm feeling slightly heavy too. Her eyes flew open. And then she shrieked. And fled her bed to across the room.

"Tell me I'm dreaming. Tell me I'm dreaming. God dammit, tell me I'm dreaming," she chanted breathlessly as she looked heavenward, and closed her eyes.

"You and me both," she heard the guy grunted. Her eyes flew open, while her arms frantically went up her front in a vain attempt to cover what's left of her modesty.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed?" she yelled, having finally found her voice.

"That's the thing I've been trying to figure out too," came his muffled reply as he buried his head into his hands.

Rukia's eyes widened. "Did… did…," she spluttered, her eyes came down to look at herself. Thankfully all the vital anatomy parts were covered, albeit inadequately.

Ichigo chuckled, resting his cheek on his palm. "You're such a dork. No, we did not have sex. I would have remembered if we did."

Blushing, Rukia shot a dark glare at her cocky housemate. "Answer my question, asshole! What were you doing in my bed??"

Ichigo stood up and let the comforter to fall into a puddle around his leg. Rukia turned around quickly, almost afraid of the sight that would be greeting her. Ichigo let out a low laugh. "Dork queen, I have my boxers on. You can look, you know."

Rukia grabbed the closest thing within her reach and hurled it across the room. Unfortunately for Ichigo, it happened to be a hard cover McMillan's thesaurus, and Rukia smirked in victory as he yelped in pain as the book made contact with his shoulder.

"Dammit, Kuchiki. Was that seriously necessary??"

"You have not answered my question, Kurosaki. What the hell were you doing in my bed?? Did you get lost while finding your room? I did not know you were capable of being that stupid," she rattled, eyes blazing while her hands rested firmly on her hips.

Ichigo pulled on his hair. If he thought he was having a headache then, he's certainly developing brain cancer now.

"Rukia-nee, Ichi-nii? Oh, good! You both awake!"

"Ririn!" It registered to them that were sharing the same dictionary. Both glared at each other.

Ririn's eyes darted from her disheveled sister to her troubled housemate.

"Uh, it's not like what you think, Ririn," Rukia stammered. She was blushing furiously. She thought finding her housemate in her bed was bad, try having to justify it to her own sister.

To both of their surprise, Ririn smiled brightly. "I know, Nee-chan. I brought both of you aspirin. I remembered how you groaned and moped around the house so much that day after your graduation party. I thought you were going to smash that first-aid box or something," she joked, while placing two glasses of juice on the nightstand.

Rukia's forehead furrowed. "You knew he was here?" she inquired, thoroughly confused.

Ririn scratched her head, suddenly her bright smile turning into a shy one. "Uh, I kinda dumped him in here with you," she admitted.

"What??" Rukia screeched. Her own sister did not just betray her.

Ririn cringed. "You came home draped around his shoulder. Right after Ichi-nii stepped into the house, both of you were out cold. I had to drag you to bed, but I can't drag him to his cause I haven't developed the muscles yet to carry a 150-pound guy up the stairs -," she babbled.

"And the couch didn't even cross your mind?" Rukia cut in, incredulous.

"Err, we were having a movie marathon so Yuzu and Karin thought it's best to dump him in your room. Plus, your bed is queen size. We were careful so that he won't trample you," Ririn explained so fast, she was putting the bullet train to shame.

"Yuzu? Karin?" Rukia repeated, panicking.

"Yuzu and Karin are here?" Ichigo echoed, finally making his way into the conversation. His expression too, was troubled.

Ririn nodded vigorously. "All three of us fell asleep on the couch. Who would have thought Brokeback Mountain to be so boring?"

"Brokeback Mountain??" Rukia boomed. "What were you doing watching an NC-17 movie??"

Ririn winced. Alright, she decided everything was TMI. Wait until she told her about renting Borat too. "Uh, okay. I need to start on breakfast," she stuttered, turning to leave her flaming sister.

Rukia softened. "Ririn! Come back in here!"

Ririn stuck her head into the room again. "Yup, Nee-chan?"

Rukia engulfed her sister in a quick hug and muzzled the girl's hair. Ririn grinned. "Thanks for the dragging me in part. And for the aspirin. But you're still getting it for renting Brokeback Mountain," Rukia said, smiling. "I'll join you in the kitchen later."

"Get drunk on me again like that, especially on the day of my big play, I'll strip BOTH of you naked," Ririn threatened playfully.

"Ririn!"

And the girl hurriedly scurried outside, all the way laughing.

When Ririn was finally gone, Rukia turned her attention to the aspirin bottle. She wrestled with it for awhile, willing for the cap to finally pop because she could sense her head exploding sometime soon. Suddenly a hand gently closed around hers and they worked together to open it.

Rukia turned on her heels. She saw the familiar smirk gracing his face again.

"You do know that cap is childproof, right?"

"Hn," she grunted. She dug two pills out and hand one to Ichigo.

Sitting side by side on her bed nestling their hangover, Ichigo stole a look at his housemate. "Nice Chappy tank top."

He almost regretted his speech as he felt her fist connected with his jaw. He grinned. Almost.

XXXXX

"Hangover Holdings. How may I help you?"

"Eh? Urm, I was hoping to reach the Kuchiki's," came a confused voice from the other end of the line.

Ichigo scratched his head. "Correction. Kuchiki's Hangover Holdings," he amended, and stifled a yawn.

The line went silent for awhile. "No way. Rukia's not hungover, is she?" the voice spoke again, albeit a little too excitedly.

"You bet she is," Ichigo responded, cringing at the sound of pots and pans banging. He wondered how Ririn was doing with a very cranky Nee-san in the kitchen.

"Then who's this talking on the phone??" the voice asked again, her tone accusing. "Are you one of the slimy bastards who take advantage of drunken girls at the bar??"

He pulled the phone away and stared at it blankly. After a moment, he cradled it again between his ear and shoulder. The commotion in the kitchen was subsiding, but then a round of laughter erupted contribution of his sisters and Ririn. He'd bet five bucks they had just made fun of their Nee-san. "Matsumoto, you're so cold. Is that how you greet a friend?"

Silence.

"Kurosaki?!"

"The one and only," he replied curtly, slowly banging his head on the wall. He could practically feel the aldehyde prancing around in his brain. Bastard.

Matsumoto let out a laugh. "You had me going there. I honestly thought you were some maniac looking for an easy lay." She chuckled. Then realization hit her. Rukia never gets drunk. She was the most responsible drinker Matsumoto had ever known. She frowned. Something was off.

"Matsumoto. I could get her if you want."

"No, wait. Why was she smashed again?" she inquired curiously. Ever since the unspoken truth between the two housemates, Matsumoto has learned to trust the young man. It seemed to her, her best friend was getting used and adjusting to the orange-haired guy. Spent quite some time with him too. So if anybody would know why her responsible, level-headed best friend got knocked out a night before Christmas eve, she was sure Ichigo is the one.

Ichigo meshed his lips together. Damn. He's not exactly breaching anything if he told last night's episode to Matsumoto, right? After all, the girls are best friends. "Ah," he started. "We kinda ran into Renji making out with another girl last night," he relayed slowly.

"What??!" Matsumoto screeched. Poor Ichigo pulled the phone away again. Eardrum violation two days in a row can be very unhealthy. "That ungrateful son of a bitch!" she fumed. "I knew she's too good for him!"

Ichigo scratched his head. He understood Matsumoto's reaction; she seemed like a very protective best friend after all. But what he didn't understand was how to react to Matsumoto's outburst. Should he suddenly pull the couch and curl up on it and start bitching too? "Uh…"

"How's she coping with it?" she asked impatiently.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Exceptionally well, I suppose. She hasn't even cried once," he reported.

"And you called that 'well'?" Matsumoto questioned, incredulous. "She's building that damn wall, you idiot!"

He wrinkled his forehead. "What wall? Why would she be doing construction now?"

Ichigo could practically hear Matsumoto's eyeball muscles creaking as she rolled her eyes at him. "Not an authentic wall, stupid. A metaphorical wall. She's shutting herself in," the woman explained.

He nodded mutely. Now what? "Uh, so what do we need to do?"

"Knock down the wall," came the reply convincingly.

"Uh, and not with a sledge hammer, I reckon?" he tried his luck.

"Exactly. Listen, maybe I should take her for a girl talk. Make her cry a bit. At least she won't keep it bottled up inside," she suggested.

Ichigo deliberated. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice crinkling with laughter. He felt a smile tugging on his lips. That burst of happy giggle coming from the same girl who had her heart broken by her long-time boyfriend last night. Maybe she'd pull through. At least for awhile. "Listen, maybe we should give her time. Rukia's a tough girl. You're sweet, Matsumoto, but I don't think getting her waded up in tear flood on Christmas Eve is going to cure anything."

Silence. Then a soft grumble could be heard. "I think you've got a point," Matsumoto relented. "For a guy, you can be insightful, Kurosaki," the woman chuckled.

Ichigo let out a small laugh. "I take that as a compliment." He heard another bang in the kitchen, followed by another round of laughter. His smile widened. "I think I'd better play knight in shining armor and save damsel in distress before she blows up the whole kitchen."

After hanging up, Ichigo made an appearance in the kitchen. The sight that greeted him brought a smirk to his face. The usually preppy Rukia had her hair up high in a messy ponytail, with flour streaking her cheeks. "Wow. Is that a new look or something?" he joked.

A wooden ladle flew across the room and greeted him squarely on the chest. He winced while the rest of the girls laughed.

"Rukia-nee got the bowl and the drinet cabinet mixed up. The flour pack toppled down on her," Ririn offered, some of her giggles remained as Yuzu and the usually reserved Karin joined in.

Rukia grumbled. She cracked an egg into the bowl and beat it noisily. "You are so grounded, girls. All of you," she muttered, her another hand massaging her temple, trying to erase the pounding sensation.

Karin chuckled. "You can't ground us, nee-chan. We don't live here, remember?"

"Eh. I'd call your dad and let him ground you," Rukia rattled off, glaring playfully at the younger girl. "Now, be useful and hand me the flour."

"You mean, the one that's not in your hair?" Karin feigned innocence.

"Kurosaki Karin!"

"Let me, Karin. God knows where else she's capable of spilling the flour again," Ichigo butted in, a ladle in hand. He swiftly took the bowl from Karin and walked towards a bitter Rukia. "Sorry girls. Your nee-chan is a walking catastrophe today," he said as he slung an arm around Rukia's shoulders.

Yuzu giggled. "You're not much better, Ichi-nii. I saw you ran into the cupboard on the way from the living room just now!"

Rukia smirked. She beamed up at the flushed man standing next to her. "What happened, Kurosaki? Your fat ass can't fit in my hallway anymore? Or my cupboard's too pretty you can't help but smother it?"

"Smart ass," came Ichigo's curt reply, as he proceeded on to tug on Rukia's ponytail. A mass of raven hair came tumbling down her shoulders. Remnants of flour snowed on her hair earlier trickled into the egg bowl.

"Eww, gross! Now we have to beat new eggs. For all that we know you have Columbian lice colony breeding in your hair," he cracked.

"What?!"

"Lice, Kuchiki," he recited, pronouncing the words slowly like she's an aphasiac third grader. "The six-legged parasite that sucks on human blood, which also happens to take up residence on very smelly hairy people," Ichigo elaborated helpfully.

"Very smelly, hairy people?!" Rukia exploded. She dropped her fork with a clutter as her hands automatically found her hips. Then, the pounding sensation rushed back. Breathe, Rukia. Breathe. She refrained from banging her head on the counter. Instead, she brought her chin down and did what her alter ego told her: breathe.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. He was pretty sure a royal smackdown was coming. Heck, he was anticipating it. So when Rukia was all but pouncing the daylight out of him, he was astounded. "Hey, you okay?" he inquired, bending a little to peek at the shorter girl. Even their sisters were watching curiously from across the island.

Rukia gave off a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, lifting her head up. "You know, I was thinking. It's amazing that you know the existence of such lice colony," she started, putting her best 'I'm pondering' look. "I believe it takes a lot of effort to be acquainted with such a mysterious species," she continued. She could see from the corner of her eyes Karin mouthing 'mysterious? Lice?' to Ririn, who only shrugged.

Wrinkling his forehead, Ichigo scratched the back of his head unsteadily. "Erm, you bet," he answered, contemplating whether to tell her the part where he actually made up the colony. "These are pretty nasty species. I tell ya, it leaves your skin all red and tingly. No amount on anti-parasitic will eradicate them," he continued, more convinced of his own deception now. He nodded his head as emphasis.

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Really? I mean, there must be a special reason why you are so fascinated by them right? To spend so many hours studying such a miniscule creature…" she let her voice dangled as she flashed what she hoped one of her prettiest smiles. She contained a smirk as the orange top shifted uncomfortably on his heels. "Cause really, could you be -," she paused, pointing a finger to the bare-chested guy. "That smelly, hairy person you were talking about?" she accentuated, this time with sarcasm dripping as she pulled on one chest hair.

The poor guy flinched and was quick to swat her hand away. "Those are attached, Kuchiki," he whined. "Doesn't mean being a normal guy with a few chest hair doubles my risk of contracting lice, you dork!"

Smirking, Rukia's effective finger pointed to the chest region where she had it converted into her personal dart board earlier. "So I suppose this red and tingly skin is your debut attempt at applying blusher?"

The girls, who were playing spectators, snickered.

"That spot, is where you decided to attach a ladle into my ribcage, Kuchiki," Ichigo explained calmly as he reached out to grasp Rukia's offending hand. How did she manage to turn the entire lice thing around back to him again?

"Hey guys, look here."

Both adults lifted their heads as a beam of flashlights snapped into their visions.

"Awesome, Ririn! Let me see that," Karin enthused as she rushed to the girl's side. Yuzu clapped her hands wildly at the image of Rukia-nee and Ichi-nii on the display screen of the digicam, with the latter's hand clasped around the former's, complete with flour-streaked hair and cheeks.

"I'm seriously putting this one on the fridge," Ririn announced gleefully.

"Tetsuya Ririn!"

And Ririn scrambled away from the kitchen, with her digicam clutched tightly against her chest and a very, very angry sister down her back.

XXXXX

"You know, I couldn't believe I would ever say this, but the flowers are lovely, guys. Thank you, Ichi-nii, Rukia-nee," Karin said, bowing slightly with a beautiful bouquet clutched in her arm.

Rukia smile and nudged Ichigo a little. "Don't thank me. Your brother here literally handpicked all of them."

Ichigo blushed slightly and let out a chuckle as he shuffled his foot on the floor.

"So are we Bonnie & Clyde again? Or maybe Tidus & Yuna?" Karin asked, grinning.

"Nah," Ichigo replied. "We're your Spawn & Zera," he continued, wriggling his eyebrows.

"Ick. Nice choice," Karin said before gagging as Rukia let out a laugh.

"So where's Yuzu and Ririn?" Ichigo asked, his eyes skimming the vast auditorium. Parents and students were milling around greeting each other after such a successful Christmas play. After changing their clothes backstage and coming out to greet their guardians, both girls disappeared, leaving only Karin behind. "I see we're only good for carrying their bouquets, which we happened to present to them," he continued, rolling his eyes.

Karin chuckled. "Don't be bitter, Ichi-nii. I think they were off with their boyfriends," she answered, shrugging nonchalantly. She saw Ichigo's vein popped. "A'ah, Ichi-nii. And that does not call for beating the crap out of the poor guy," she continued disapprovingly.

Rukia grinned. "And how come you're still here?" she drilled, winking playfully at the younger girl.

Karin rolled her eyes. "I'd rather walk on glass."

Ichigo suddenly ahhem-ed, while Rukia gave out a long aah. She gestured to Karin's back. "Uh, maybe you would want to reconsider that," she suggested.

Frowning, Karin turned on her heels and immediately almost dropped her bouquet. A boy, slightly shorter than her onii-chan, with spiked black hair and solid facial feature greeted her. "Uh, Hisagi-kun," she stammered.

Hisagi gave a small smile and bowed politely at the two adults in front of him. "Karin-san."

Biting her lower lip, Karin turned to face her brother, who was raising an eyebrow, and a grinning Rukia. "Err, Ichi-nii, Rukia-nee, this is my classmate, Shuuhei Hisagi. Hisagi-kun, meet my brother and his friend, Kuchiki san," she said softly, somehow progressively losing her ability to speak.

Ichigo nodded curtly while Rukia beamed happily at the younger guy. "Hisagi-kun, nice to meet you," she replied. She elbowed Ichigo slightly to bring out a reaction. Surprisingly, Ichigo has been taking reflex lessons. He didn't even flinch.

"Kurosaki-san, I'd like to take Karin-chan to a late lunch, if permissible," he requested, bowing again. Karin was taken aback, colors draining from her cheeks.

Rukia nudged again, this time slightly harder to elicit a coherent response from Ichigo. Coughing a little, Ichigo snapped out of his surprise and nodded towards his sister. "If it's okay with Karin," he answered curtly. For the first time that night, his face was stoic.

"Karin?" Rukia prodded. Of course the outspoken girl would be rendered speechless when a hot guy asked her out, Rukia thought dryly.

"Karin-chan, would you like to go to lunch with me?" Hisagi asked again, this time his eyes were on the fidgety Karin.

Karin's eyes darted between her suddenly frigid brother and an extra-excited almost sister. She saw Rukia urging a silent 'yes'. "Uh, I would love to," she replied softly. She was positive she heard Rukia pumping her fist in the air.

Ichigo and Rukia departed from the school after shouting something about leaving broken glasses in the hallway to Karin. They fell into steps next to each other as they walked to the subway.

"I would so date Hisagi-kun if I were still in high school," Rukia remarked, smiling softly as the image of stuttering Karin came to her mind.

Ichigo snorted. "Didn't you see that guy? The hairdo and scar left a lot to be desired."

"Uh, have you looked into any mirror lately, Kurosaki? You don't look like you just stepped out of a church either," Rukia shot back, laughing.

"But you still stick around. There's as much wrong with you as it is with me then," Ichigo countered, smirking.

Rukia smiled softly. "Yes. That I do," she replied. "I don't judge the book by its cover."

Ichigo stole a look at her and smiled too. "Right. And the first time you floored me with that mean turning kick during karate was your way of saying 'let's be friends'?"

Rukia laughed.

"God, I'm glad we're still able to hear that," Ichigo spoke, relieved to hear the genuine laughter coming from her.

Rukia's laughter faltered. "Stop diagnosing me with amnesia, Kurosaki."

"I wasn't. I'm just truly impressed. And I respect you for that," he returned earnestly. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Kuchiki. He doesn't know what he's missing. It's his loss."

Silence.

They walked a good five minutes without talking to each other before Rukia lifted her head. "Kurosaki?"

"Hmm?" Ichigo replied, looking down at those indigo orbs.

"Thank you. For everything," she spoke softly, a small smile displayed on her lips.