A/N: A bit transitional and slightly rushed, but I'm going on vacation tomorrow and will have unreliable internet.

Chapter Ten: Resources

The entirety of Sunday Rukia spent fretting. With the responsibility of her now having to ask that wretched Ichigo to the dance... well, this was worse than any homework assignment, than any final exam. And she has had quite a few of them in her lifetime.

In fact, she procrastinated so much on thinking about the homecoming thing that she finished her entire math project and wrote a thesis for her language arts class simply to delay the inevitable. The problem was that the event loomed only a week away, on Saturday, and she set a personal deadline to have the asking portion of her task done by tomorrow. That way, there'd be some fudge room to cement their position to Uryu and make it seem more official.

But how?!

Flowers? Cards? Maybe an extremely cheesy letter? For one of the first instances in her life, Rukia found the internet to be little help. All the advice columns out there contradicted with each other, and who was to say which one boasted the truth.

"God, this is a sad sight. And all because of a guy, too," she muttered, ashamed about resorting to the level of watching two romantic films consecutively (definitely not streamed illegally) to get her inspiration wheels turning.

No luck there. All the gestures seemed either overdone, implausible, or just not fitting for her circumstances.

She soon realized the root of the whole problem – all the online advice were directed towards people who actually wanted to get with, seduce, or date the person they had in mind. Even in the movies, the two protagonists both realized they had feelings for the other person and were motivated because of their affections. The exact opposite was true, as Ichigo probably just wanted to cause her trouble and waved her into his terrible idea. If they were so devoid of chemistry, or whatever those two from Titanic had with each other, then obviously nothing would be appropriate.

But the troubleshooting did prove to have a beneficial effect, because if she, if she simply shifted her perspective a little... then the entire endeavor could appear less like a groan-worthy obligation and more of a challenge. And she liked those.

Her lack of emotional attachments to Ichigo just made the stakes on the challenge higher, and as a result, more appealing.

Whether she actually thought that, or it was simply her subconscious willing her to believe it to make the task more approachable, it didn't matter. All that was important was some form of motivation came, artificial or not.

She ditched the internet, for that was an amateur's tool, and cracked her knuckles in preparation to do some serious research. Picking up her resource of choice, a cellphone, she dialed Momo's number and got into her ready stance, lying on her stomach on her bed. There was no better teacher on the subject, surely, than a close friend who was currently in a steady relationship. It was officially business time.

After a short wait, Momo picked up. "Oh hey, Rukia, how's life?" Television white noise sounded in the background.

"Life's interesting, and I hope you wouldn't mind if I go ahead and get straight to the point," Rukia took a breath and continued, "Could you please tell me exactly how you and Hitsugaya got together? Details would be greatly appreciated."

Though she has heard the story once or twice before, her friend had always skipped the "how" part of the story and gone ahead to describe those "cascading white locks of his that shimmered like snow in the sunshine" or how "his eyes were those shafts of sunlight that breaks through the murky underwaters when you're scuba diving." While they were all fun and worthy of their own poetry collection, Rukia was currently more focused on the mechanics of their get-together rather than the embellishments.

Momo was curious to ask what brought this on, but she never missed an opportunity to speak of her short, irritable boyfriend, "Well, on the morning of the day we met, I think I had my usual breakfast of milk and –"

"Maybe a teensy bit less detailed?" Rukia suggested.

"Oops, sorry, I do get carried away." The girl recollected her thoughts. "I went the the school library that day after school because I got a lower grade than expected on a previous math test and needed to study up for the next one. There was only one empty desk left, well, empty except for him. Probably because he had on a real sour and off-putting face and scared everyone else off, but I could be wrong."

"Go on," Rukia said to indicating her attentiveness.

"I was a bit desperate for a seat, so I sat down at that table with my math textbook. Then he looked up. Pretty much everyone knew who he was, you know, even back then – the smarty-pants who skipped a year and constantly acted pretentious towards most people. Anyway, he kept making that angry expression and scribbled a whole bunch over some papers. That got me curious! So, I went ahead and asked what's the matter.

"I didn't believe it at first," the girl laughed. "But he gestured to the paper he had that apparently received a... B! Some about his lack of creativity. He wasn't able to win the points back, either, even after a heated argument with the teacher, so he had to suffer with that one blemish on his record. Pretty crazy stuff."

"Hitsugaya getting a B on something?" Rukia let out a gasp. "If I hadn't heard it from a trustworthy source, it'd sound like an urban legend."

"Yep." hinamori continued on with satisfaction. "I asked to read his paper and then gave some pointers about making the language more poetic and whatnot. In return, because he said he didn't like being in someone's debt, he went over algebra with me."

Anticipating a grand finish, Rukia urged, "So what happened that made the two of you to start dating?"

"Oh, that?" She sounded a bit more disinterested about the rest. "I just suggested we get some coffee one day, and he accepted after getting red in the face."

"That's... it?" Disappointment colored Rukia's tone at the anticlimactic feel of it. "Nothing else?" Nothing showier?

"Yeah, what did you expect? Walking away from an explosion in the background while I'm in his arms, suffering a critical wound? Then he might lean down to my ears and whisper in a husky voice, 'We should hang out more when this saving the world business gets boring.'" An audible, dreamy sigh. "I, of course, would be starstruck and maybe stutter back, 'Oh definitely, Shiro. How about next Wednesday at Urahara's Diner?'"

"Urahara's Diner is in your fantasies?" Rukia held in a laugh. "And maybe something less melodramatic than that."

Reverting back to her normal voice, Momo said, "So why all the questions?" Out of the phone came a sudden sharp, piercing intake of air as she gasped, "No no, don't tell me, I know what it is – You've secretly harbored a serious crush for years and are finally making a move on this person!"

Playing along, Rukia tried to capture the tone her friend adopted earlier. "Oh yes, a dashing young beau indeed. I'm seeking his hand in marriage and must acquire his father's blessings."

"Rukiaaaa."

"Sorry, sorry. Truth is..." She hesitated. Truth was, she had little idea of exactly how much to tell Momo. Renji never explicitly stated that the scheme must be kept between the three participants, but it was tacitly implied. Then again, the whole point of his plan was to make her and Ichigo visible as a couple, so she should be spreading the word.

The trouble here then was Momo knew her too well (and her previous animosity towards Ichigo), and therefore would never believe her "oh I just decided to ask him to homecoming out of the blue" story on its surface value. If she pressed further but Rukia still doesn't reveal anything about the truth, then suspicions might arise, and that would turn out to be bad publicity.

Telling her wouldn't do any harm, right? It would be like recruiting someone to help her side of things, and Momo was a skilled liar when she wants to be, so secret-keeping wouldn't be much of an issue. Renji wouldn't mind, either, if it were for the greater good.

So she went ahead and clued Momo in on everything, save Renji's true motives on needing the money, and felt relieved at finally sharing the load. Readily awaiting some feminine counsel on her circumstances – which was probably the key thing that she was missing all along – Rukia said, "Well?"

"I never took Renji to be such a sneaky, conniving..." She trailed off, then, "Did you tell Orihime about this already, since she's still pretty infatuated with Kurosaki."

"Did I tell –" Rukia felt a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Orihime! Stupid, stupid, stupid; how could I forget about her?! I was so caught up in, I mean, I can't tell her about cheating the bet because she's on such close terms with Uryu, who's running the whole thing, especially since she's a bad liar, but then –"

Calmly, Hinamori interjected, "Breathe, Rukia, it sounds like you're suffocating. Slowly, in and out. I think it's best to just tell her outright. Can't do much harm."

"But what if she accidentally lets anything slip to Uryu? They're going to be together the whole time that night, maybe even longer."

"But if you don't tell her, then she's going to get the wrong idea and think you've been hiding some feelings for Kurosaki the whole time and was camouflaging it with insults. That could lead to even more problems." Momo sounded confident. "Besides, it's just one night, so surely she can keep it a secret for that long."

Rukia still wanted to object but knew her friend was cemented in her own beliefs. Deciding that it was best to end the conversation and mull over this new problem, she said a thanks and was about to hang up when,

"Before I forget, Rukia, since you are going to homecoming after all, come over to my house a few hours before on Saturday. Orihime, Tatsuki, Rangiku, and some others are all meeting up at my house with their dates here beforehand to have dinner and stuff. Well, Tatsuki's going dateless, but you know. So, tell Ichigo to come, too."

"Yes, of course!" She hadn't thought about their plans for before and was glad it was cleared up so easily. Certainly spending alone time at a restaurant with no one else but Ichigo was not a scenario she desired. Now, with everyone else, at least there'd be conversation buffers.

"And make sure to bring along a change of running shoes and a casual outfit, because afterwards, we're going to laser tag!" Momo's excitement was evident. "I was hoping for paintball, but we weren't able to find a place."

They bade their goodbyes and hanged up respectively.

Rukia rolled onto her back, dropped the phone to her side, and groaned. She was still not relieved of her previous burden of finding a way to ask, and now, there was the issue of Orihime to consider.

A glance at the clock told her it was still early in the evening, but right now, time wasn't what she needed. Since it was evenly split between her being against telling Orihime and Momo for, there needed to be an outside opinion from an unbiased third party. Someone to tip the balance on her ambivalence.

Oh yes, wasn't this an issue a girl tended to discuss with their older sisters? At least, that's what the custom seemed to be, and ever so conveniently, Hisana did insist they exchange contact information last night at the diner. She wouldn't think it odd, would she? If Rukia suddenly called her after just one good talk with each other to discuss such an extensive matter? But Renji's entire plan was riding on this, so she had no better option.

With the phone practically calling her name, Rukia picked it up again and selected the correct person from her contacts list. It connected within seconds. "Hey, I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"Not at all! I just got back from my shift at work, so perfect timing." Hisana sounded giddy, but Rukia wasn't sure if it was because she was the one initiating the call (and maybe doing some familial bonding as a result?) or it was just the woman's usual answering-the-phone demeanor. "What's up?"

"Well you see, I'm in a bit of a pickle right now."

"Oh, do tell me everything! I love giving advice."

With some thought to the peculiarity of this conversation and how days earlier, she wouldn't have even considered such a thing, Rukia began to speak.

She must've done a nice job explaining the bare-bones of the situation while managing for it to make sense, because Hisana seemed to be very intrigued by it all. "I had no idea so much drama is going on in your life," declared the woman. She continued with vigor, "But let me tell you something, this Orihime friend of yours should be told about it, but only in a face-to-face conversation. It'll be more courteous that way. You and this Ichigo person don't actually like each other at all, am I right? So she should know the truth and be aware it's in no way endangering her chances of pursuing him later on."

"Yes, but like I've said, what if she accidentally –"

"You'd just have to trust her on it. It'll be worse if she finds out along with everyone else and jumps to some irrational theory about you two actually being involved."

"That's what my other friend said."

Encouraged dramatically by that, Hisana went on in a professional tone, "Just make her understand that she should keep it top secret. And you also said you had no idea how to invite this boy? Here's what I think you should do: something simple yet obvious. Do it in homeroom, maybe. Start by..."

Rukia sprang up to grab a pen and some paper to take notes.

A/N: Thanks for reading!