Chapter 9: Dinner Plans

"It's been such a slow day today," Momo groaned and stretched her arms out above her head in exasperation.

Rukia made a sympathetic noise in response, but most of her attention was still captured by her laptop screen. She was keeping Momo company at the bakery as her friend worked. It was a Saturday, which was partly why Rukia had time to head over during the middle of the day in the first place, yet the workaholic entrenched deep within her still willed her to bring along her computer and attempt to be productive. So, during the time that Momo spent cleaning the countertops or ringing up customers, Rukia answered company emails.

"You know, Rukia, I do think you have a tendency to overwork yourself."

Rukia glanced up from her screen. "Really? That's coming from you Momo. You've stayed past midnight at this place preparing things for the next day."

"No, no," Momo said, shaking her head. "That's definitely different. I work a lot because I have to, this bakery being so new and all, in order to keep this operation going by myself. You, on the other hand, don't have to. You choose to."

"I suppose that's true ... but then again I have to keep myself occupied with something, you know?"

"Then go pick up another hobby or something. Try some new restaurants, go talk to that ginger-haired guy that you were blushing at when I was over at your apartment, learn how to cook new things. There's plenty to do outside of just working."

Rukia was preparing to object until she was interrupted by the ringing of the bell at the door, indicating that another customer has walked into the bakery.

"Ah, Shiro!"

Startled by the name Momo just called out, Rukia's eyes flew towards the door and confirmed to her that, yes indeed, it was the one and the same Toshiro she was working alongside in her office just the day previous. One glance at his face was enough for her to realize that he was as surprised as she was to come across each other.

Momo seemed to pick up on that as well and asked, "You two know each other?"

"Um —"

"Yes, 'Shiro' works for me."

Toshiro's face flushed at Rukia's usage of the nickname, but slowly followed up with, "We've been working together for a decent while."

"What a coincidence! Rukia and I have known each other since we were kids. Very small world."

"I — yes." He seemed to be very uneasy, hands in jean pockets.

Rukia suddenly realized that she had never seen him in casual clothes before, the office being a relatively formal environment. This situation reminded her of times in the past when she had seen her teachers or college professors outside of class, in a grocery store or somewhere similar. Except in this case, it was almost as if she were the teacher, given she was the more experienced and older one.

"So," Momo said. "Are you thinking of buying something today?"

"I, ah, yes." He started walking towards the counter, albeit with obvious hesitation.

Partly due to the slightly awkward nature of the circumstances, and partly due to how Toshiro seemed to be uncomfortable as well, occasionally side-eyeing her as he looked over the pastries in the display case, Rukia closed the lid of her laptop and started preparing to head out. Besides, she has already been here for a couple hours and should probably start preparing dinner soon.

Momo realized her friend was leaving. "Aw, so soon?"

"Yeah, I still have to start dinner and it's getting a bit later. Don't worry, I'll come back another day. See you, Momo, goodbye, Toshiro."

"Come back soon!"

"Goodbye, uh, Miss Kuch — Rukia." Toshiro was conflicted on how he should address a superior outside of the workplace, but ultimately decided on what Momo had called her.

Rukia gave her friend a wave and her coworker a more formal smile and began her walk back to her apartment, humming quietly under her breath. The beautiful weather seemed to contribute quite a bit to her happy mood, and she met and greeted several acquaintances on the way back. This calming atmosphere almost put her in a hazy trance, devoid of any stressors or risk of overthinking — especially any overthinking about a particular ginger-haired man.

Once she arrived back at her apartment, she began occupying herself with an internal debate of what to prepare for dinner, oscillating between the choices of either heating some leftovers or cooking something completely new. Her thought was interrupted, however, by a knocking at her front door.

She opened the door to find Yuzu with a smile.

"Hey Rukia! Sorry if this is late notice, but did you happen to have dinner plans for today?"

"As a matter of fact, no. I was just trying to decide what I wanted to do for food."

"Perfect!" Yuzu clapped her hands together. "Karin, Ichigo, and I were planning to try a new recipe for tonight, and we wanted to know if you'd care to join us next door? We haven't started making it yet, and we thought it'd be great fun if you wanted to help."

"Oh what were you planning on making?" Rukia's palms were starting to sweat after the mention of Ichigo in her neighbor's invitation, but she did her best to appear unaffected.

"Rice pudding and chicken tikka masala. Of course, if you just want to come to eat after we finish preparing it that's perfectly fine, too. Didn't want to make it sound like you're obligated to cook," Yuzu laughed. "And Karin and I also heard about Ichigo breaking one of your bowls a few days before, so this is sort of to make up for his clumsiness as well."

Rukia pretended to think on the offer for a few seconds, despite the fact that she has already made up her mind. "That does sound fun, I'd be happy to join you guys."

"Wonderful," Yuzu's smile grew bigger. "Are you free to come over right now? We're getting ready to start cooking any minute now."

"Yeah, let me just grab my phone really quickly."

Rukia took her phone from the dining room table and plopped it into her back pocket, then followed Yuzu next door. She took note that her palms were still very sweaty, heartbeat slightly faster than usual.

As soon as they walked in, Karin ran up in a rush. "Yuzu! We do not have enough chicken in the fridge."

"Wait, are you sure?"

"Yes, we used a lot of it the other night for chicken parmesan, which I completely forgot about."

"I think," Rukia started to offer, "I have some chicken in my fridge. I can go get it if you guys want. Hopefully it'll be enough then?"

"No, no, no, it's fine," Karin shook her head. "Yuzu and I can just run to the grocery store really quickly and get more fresh chicken."

"Are you sure? It's really no trouble."

"It's okay, Yuzu and I can just go to the store," Karin insisted. "I think there's also some other things we should pick up as well, so you should just sit tight. Maybe you and Ichigo can start preparing the rice pudding instead while we're getting the chicken?"

"Yeah great idea," Yuzu jumped in. She turned her head towards the direction of the kitchen and raised her voice, "Ichigo!"

A moment later, his head popped out of the doorway.

"Mr. Driver, we meet again."

He rolled his eyes. "We've been over this. But also what's going on, Yuzu?"

"Karin and I are going to the store to get some more supplies. Please keep our guest company in the meanwhile. You guys can maybe start on the rice pudding, too."

"Think you can handle that, Ichigo?" Karin quipped, sarcastic grin on her face.

"Oh, how will I survive without you two? Can't imagine." Ichigo matched her tone and lifted a hand to his heart in feigned sincerity. "Hopefully I won't burn down this whole building, but you're just going to have to trust me on that."

"Okay, we're holding you to that! Come on, Yuzu."

In a flurry, the twins left, and Rukia found herself alone with Ichigo, hands still sweaty and heartbeat still rushing. She looked to him, but then quickly looked away for fear that she would reveal any of the thoughts rushing through her mind at that moment. Scanning the twins' apartment for a distraction of any sort, she remarked, "They have good taste in decorations."

"Hm? Yuzu and Karin?" Ichigo also gave the place a sweep with his eyes. "I suppose so, but then again, I'm probably not the best judge for this type of stuff. So anyways, I guess we can start preparing the rice pudding like they said?"

"Sure, yeah. Can I take a look at the recipe?" She thought she was doing very well at acting collected and casual despite her inner turmoil.

Ichigo disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared with a piece of paper, offering it to her. Rukia reached out to accept, and their fingertips brushed together lightly. Her breath caught, and she felt herself freeze up. As sudden as the feeling came, she managed to reorient herself and lower her eyes to the writing on the paper. However, she realized that no matter how much she tried to concentrate on the printed words, she seemed incapable of processing what they were saying. She pretended to peruse over the entire recipe, despite not absorbing any of it, and then handed the page back, taking care to not touch him again by accident.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yes." She took a deep breath and rolled up her sleeves.

"Okay, I'll get the rice, and then you can — "

His phone started ringing. He frowned and took it out of his pocket. Something in his expression seemed to change after he read the caller ID, something that Rukia could not seem to discern exactly.

He lifted the phone to his ear after a few more rings. " ... Orihime?"

A/N: Reviews would be greatly appreciated!