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Chapter Two

"I Have To Do WHAT?"

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The second he got home, he headed straight to the stairs to go up to his room. His father would never let him hear the end of it if he was told about the role his son had landed, let alone that Ichigo was in the school play at all.

"Ichi-nii! You're late, and dinner's on the table," Yuzu scolded from the kitchen doorway, where she was leaning against the doorjamb, her arms crossed, with a soup ladle in her hand.

"Not hungry, Yuzu," he told her, a weak excuse to keep him from having to join his family at the table. But his sister wasn't having any of it; she gave him a look that quite clearly told him that he had damn well better get to the table right this instant unless he wanted the ladle thrown at his head.

"Come on, Kurosaki-kun, eating dinner with your family isn't too much to ask, is it?" Having placed her schoolbag on the couch, Rukia walked past Ichigo and into the kitchen without so much as a glance at him. "I'm sure you'll want to tell them exactly why we're late."

Ichigo's eye twitched. How dare she disrespect him like that! He didn't want to give his reason for getting home late, and at the moment, it was too much to ask to sit down with his family and be pestered about the reason he didn't come right home after school, thank you very much.

"Ichi-nii. Kitchen. Table. Now."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at his younger sister, but, tossing his own bag carelessly onto the couch, he did as he was told. It didn't pay to get his sister annoyed. He had learned that the hard way a year or so ago, when he had made some rude comment or other, and she had put enough curry powder into his dinner to make him sick all night. Actually, he had been quite sure that had been Karin's idea, but Yuzu's twin had vehemently denied it, and he had no proof, so he had left it alone.

"You're late, son," Isshin informed Ichigo as he took his place at the table, scowling, as always. His scowl deepened at his father's statement of the obvious as he tersely replied, "Thanks for that, Dad, I really didn't know."

His sarcasm got him a kick in the shin underneath the table from Rukia. And that earned her a glare and a hissed "I'll get you for that later," from Ichigo. She just smiled at him, and started eating without a word.

"So why were you late, Ichigo? You never stay after school," Karin asked him, not sounding even remotely interested, but as though she figured she had better ask anyway.

"None of your business," he grumbled, giving Rukia a "Don't-tell-what-you-know-if-you-want-to-live" look.

He should have known that she would do the exact opposite of what he wanted.

"We attended the auditions for the school play, Karin-chan," Rukia answered, ignoring the deathglare that Ichigo had fixed on her.

"What play is it, and what roles did you get?" Ichigo wished Yuzu hadn't asked that, because it was the perfect opportunity for Rukia to humiliate him, and he knew that there was no way in Hell she'd pass that up.

"It's Aida, and I got the female lead," Rukia said with a grin that clearly stated her delight at being a star. "And your brother is-"

"The male lead," he cut her off, getting to embarrassing himself before she could. It would be a lot worse if she was the one to tell.

Isshin clapped his hands together and grinned widely at his son and the girl across from him. "That's great! The first time you kiss a girl, and it's going to be on stage, too!"

Rukia nearly choked on her food. Standing up, she stalked over to Ichigo's chair and dragged him by the shirt collar towards the kitchen door, smiling sweetly at Isshin and the two girls, and said "Would you excuse us for a moment?" Without waiting for an answer, she yanked Ichigo upstairs into his room and closed the door behind them, giving him a look that would freeze fire. Ichigo was sure that if looks could kill, he'd be six feet under right about now.

"So. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ichigo swallowed hard. Rukia was scary when she got like this, and she wasn't going to take any nonsense.

"I have to kiss you for this role? I never agreed to that! Why didn't you tell me?" Considering her tone, her voice could well have been dipped in arsenic, and her blue-purple eyes held an enraged spark.

"I didn't read the script! How could I possibly have known that kissing you would be one of the requirements for that part? Believe me, if I had known about that, I wouldn't have auditioned at all!"

If he hadn't known better, Ichigo would have sworn that he saw her anger fade and a flicker of disappointment cross her face for a split second. But as quickly it vanished, her furious expression returned, although she couldn't quite keep the hurt out of her voice.

"Well, maybe you should let someone else have that role, then, if you don't want it," she told him, a little more bitterly than she must have intended.

What the Hell was that all about? He asked himself, unable to find an acceptable answer. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Ichigo said, "I never said I didn't want this part, okay? Besides, it doesn't have to be real, it just has to look real. We just have to make it look convincing, that's all. I can deal with that if you can."

The smile on Rukia's face told him that she had caught the underlying message in his words. "I think I can deal with that. But you had damn well better not screw it up, Kurosaki Ichigo."

He rolled his eyes at her, but the grin that had forced itself onto his lips didn't fade. "Same goes for you. But maybe we should practice a bit, just in case," he teased, bringing a tinge of pink to her cheeks.

He didn't get to admire how pretty that made her look for very long, however, because his taunt was answered with a pillow being forcefully chucked at his face.

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Author's Note: Second chapter is officially up. I know it's a bit sucky, but I'm sick, and my writing quality drops a LOT when I'm sick. Not quite sure what it is that I've got, but I know it involves my throat hurting like Hell. At first, I thought my mom was right, and it was just allergies, but my throat never hurts all day when it's just my damn allergies. It's been killing me since I got up this morning-no, wait, make that yesterday morning, it's 1:54 now-and it hasn't stopped. But, that's okay. When I'm sick, I don't have to do much by way of work, and my parents do whatever the Hell I tell 'em to, so it's all good.

Expect chapter three to be up soon. And stop giving me those god-damned pointless reviews! I shouldn't have to say it so many times, IT IS PISSING ME OFF. DON'T DO IT.

In fact, as an added incentive NOT to do it, I'll say this: From now on, if you give me a pointless review, you'll be getting a rather scathing message and a place on a list of reviewers that I don't like that I will post on my profile. I don't want to sound mean about it, but I have specifically stated in so many of my stories not to do this, and people ignore me and do it anyway. I'm sorry, but I've run out of patience for this blatant disregard for my personal preferences.

Thank you, and we'll be back soon with the third the chapter.