Two apologies- one, I'm extremely sorry for this very late update, and two, for always having to apologize for late updates. Damnit, I'm just a walking contradiction.
Anyway, I was away for three weeks and when I got back I finished this chapter in like two days, but I didn't want to post because of it not being long enough. In the end I just decided that I would rather shorten this one and focus on the next one. Thank you all for your patience, I truly appreciate from the bottom of my heart.
So, yeah, please enjoy x
Chapter | 20
The first thing Rukia did when she woke up was cover her still shut eyes. The room was just too bright and it was not helping her raging headache.
"Agh," Rukia groaned as she pulled the covers over her head. The darkness soothed some of her over-working senses and she was able to open her eyes. It took a while to get used to the semi-darkness, but what she saw was almost enough to shock her right out of her hangover.
Rukia shot upright, moving to the edge of the bed. She touched her palm to her forehead, waiting for the throbbing to end.
The bed shifted as the orange haired boy next to her woke up. He moved onto his elbow, blinking groggily at the headboard. And then he turned his head to Rukia.
Ichigo blinked another lazy two blinks before he registered what he was seeing.
Rukia clutched the sheets tighter against her chest.
"Ichigo?" Rukia asked, her voice breaking. She took a deep breath. "What did we do last night?"
Ichigo's brow furrowed, and then the situation seemed to dawn on him. He lifted his body, peeking underneath the sheets. His eyes darted to Rukia, who was clearly trying to cover up her very naked body.
"I…" Ichigo started. "I'm sorry, but I don't remember."
Rukia put her hand over her mouth. "Oh god, what did we do?"
"Hay, calm down," Ichigo said and moved to comfort her.
Rukia flinched away. She didn't meet his eyes.
Ichigo sat back. "If we did do that, then there should be some proof?" Ichigo suggested.
"I already checked. There's no blood, but my body aches," Rukia said.
"Well, if there's no blood, then it couldn't have happened." The sheets rustled slightly as Ichigo shifted uncomfortably.
"It's not that simple. There isn't always blood, so we can't take the chance." Rukia looked at her arms crossed over her chest.
They sat in silence for a while. The house was quiet, no doubt because everyone was suffering from a serious hangover.
"What now?" Ichigo finally ventured.
"I guess we just pretend it didn't happen… I should know in a week or two if we did do it. Let's just forget about it until then." Rukia moved to get off of the bed, but then remembered she was still naked.
She cast her eyes down, clutching the sheet until her knuckles whitened.
Ichigo didn't need more of a que as he turned away from her, his face harder to read than ever before.
Luckily, Rukia found her clothes next to the bed and slipped into them. She left the room to give Ichigo his privacy.
In the hallway, Rukia listened for any sounds, but the house was silent as the dead. She sighed heavily, having hoped there would be some kind of distraction from her problem. No, from their problem.
Ichigo emerged a minute later, his hands shoved awkwardly into his back pockets. "Guess they partied on without us last night?"
"Yeah." Rukia knew it sounded like she was trying to end the conversation, but in truth she just didn't know how to confront him right now. It's not like she was a mad or blamed him, but that didn't change the fact that they could have a very big problem on their hands.
Instead she tried to find a distraction. "Want to go make breakfast for everyone?"
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, but didn't question her sudden need to play house mom.
As Ichigo was serving the last of the breakfast, Rukia went upstairs and started waking everyone up. Chad, to no surprise, was fast asleep, but Rukia highly doubted that it was due to a hangover; all the alcohol in the house probably couldn't get him drunk. Luckily Rukia only had to say his name to wake him up.
The next room was Orihime.
"Hime?" Rukia asked as she poked her head into the room. "Breakfast is ready, it's time to wake up."
There was a muffled groan from the sheets as they shifted, but no one appeared. Rukia crossed the room and sat down on the bed. She gently tugged at the sheets until shiny orange hair could be seen. "Come one, up and at 'em."
"My head hurts," Orihime said into her pillow.
Rukia smothered a laugh. "I know; we already have some hangover cures downstairs."
Orihime lifted her head. "Promise?"
"Promise," Rukia repeated, her smile wide despite her own returning headache.
"Okay," Orihime muttered as Rukia stood up and left the room.
Uryu was in much the same condition Orihime was in, but he still tried to pretend he was fine when Rukia woke him up. Luckily this meant she didn't have to bribe him out of bed.
When Rukia finally reached Tatsuki's room, she was surprised to find it empty. "Odd," she muttered as she stepped across the hallway to wake Renji up.
"Time to get up you lazy—"
Rukia's mouth fell open, her eyes barely able to compute what she was seeing. Sure, Renji was there, the bright spark of red making that very clear, but he wasn't alone. With her head on his shoulder and one arm across his chest, Tatsuki wound herself tighter as the door bumped against the wall.
"Hey, Rukia, what's taking so long?" Ichigo suddenly asked from behind her. When she didn't reply, he turned his attention to the room. "Holy shit."
"Exactly what I thought," Rukia replied absentmindedly; she couldn't get her eyes of off the two people in front of her.
And then Renji woke up. At first he simply lifted his head and eyed Rukia and Ichigo warily, but when he noticed the figure draped across him, his eyes widened.
"Um, well, good morning," Renji said awkwardly, his voice waking Tatsuki up.
"Hey, lie still will you," she muttered sleepily.
Renji poked her shoulder. "Tatsuki…"
Tatsuki raised herself onto the elbow not latched onto him. "What is it now?"
Lifting a hand, he touched his finger to her cheek and turned her head to face us. Rukia had never seen Tatsuki blush to severely.
"Ichigo, Rukia, good morning," she said politely, "do you mind giving us a second?"
Rukia coughed to clear her very tight throat. "Sure, but breakfast is ready so don't take too long."
Breakfast wasn't especially pleasant considering everyone's terrible state. Orihime tried her best to start a conversation about the night before, but barely made it past the second sentence before sinking back into silence with the rest of the table.
As for Ichigo and Rukia, they were both seated at opposite ends of the table. No one seemed to notice anything wrong between them, but Rukia couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes even once; she could tell he was trying to catch her attention.
"How long before we need to catch the bus again?" Tatsuki asked as she placed the last of the dirty dishes in the sink.
"About two hours," Uryu replied as he grabbed one and started scrubbing.
"Great," Renji muttered irritably.
"Considering the state of the house, you can thank your lucky stars we have two hours," Rukia called from the dining room.
And she was right, the house was an absolute mess. Not only had someone gone on a rampage through living room— all the pillows were flung across the room, the contents of the coffee table strewn on the ground. They also had to clean all the rooms and pack their things.
"Well, let's get to it," Ichigo announced as he started on the living room.
Rukia went upstairs to help Tatsuki and Orihime with the bedrooms.
"So, about this morning…." Tatsuki started, but she seemed unsure of how to continue.
Rukia jumped in. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone and I'm sure Ichigo won't either."
Tatsuki sighed. "Thanks, I owe you, but just so you know, I don't regret doing it or anything."
This took Rukia a bit by surprise. "You don't? It's not like a think you should, but wouldn't you have wanted it to happen differently?"
"Well, sure, I regret that it happened that way, but I don't regret that it was with him. Isn't that all that actually matters?"
Rukia didn't think the amount of surprises she was getting that morning could be good for her heart. "Wait, do you like Renji?"
Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "You think I would have slept with him if I didn't?"
"No, that's not it. I just assumed that you guys were pretty drunk and one thing led to another..." Rukia turned away to hide her blushing face.
Tatsuki's voice softened. "I guess in a sense that is what happened, so the only thing left to do is wait and see if Renji comes back to me."
"He will," Rukia said before thinking. "I've known Renji for a long time, there's no way he would sleep with someone like you, someone he respects, without feeling something."
A shaky breath left Tatsuki's lips and she smiled. "You really think so?"
Rukia held her gaze. "I know so."
"Thanks, Rukia, I needed to hear that."
They didn't speak for the rest of their chores, but Rukia had heard plenty. What Tatsuki had said was pretty much applicable to the situation she was in, the only thing she didn't mention was that it was a two-way street. Sure, she'd just have to wait and see if Ichigo came back to her, but she couldn't make it impossible to do so.
It was then that she realised he was probably freaking out just as much as she was.
Rukia rubbed her forehead. "I'm such an idiot."
So, there you have it, short and sweet. And then the bad news follows. The next chapter will be the final one, and it surprises me to see how sad I am that it's finishing. I really enjoyed writing this fic, even more so than my others.
So, please review and let's see if we can get this fic above 200 reviews after the next chapter :)
xx