Chapter 5

Rukia was busy reviewing for the exam today while Ichigo was busy silently reading to himself the entire Edo Period in full detail. It was going great until his method stopped being effective. He poked Rukia from behind and she looked at him irritatedly. "Fubuki-san, can you help me review again?"

Rukia sighed as she brought out her own book and faced him while majority of the females in the classroom looked at her enviously. How was Rukia able to engage a conversation with him so freely? They couldn't talk to him without fumbling over their words and they couldn't even get a proper conversation with him. "Do I need to read the entire thing again?" Rukia asked.

He nodded. "Yeah... It's just a review and this is gonna be good for you too Fubuki-san..." Ichigo replied.

Rukia flipped over a few pages. "Okay, who's Tokugawa Ieyasu?"

"He was the third uniter of Japan and shogun of Edo. He's the man who actually united Japan and under his reign was peace." Ichigo replied.

"Oh, so you do remember... Please don't tell me you're bored again?" Rukia sighed as she closed her eyes fitfully.

"Kinda..." Ichigo winked at her and that made her roll her eyes once she saw the wink. "I have a proposition... As thanks for teaching me, if I'm the top notcher in the test I'll take you out on a date." he said out loud and that made a whole lot of heads turn. The females were glaring at Rukia and Momo was at the brink of laughing while the Rukia admirers began to glare at Ichigo.

Rukia smirked. "Oh? Feeling confident are we Kurosaki? So what're you going to do if I get the top spot?" she replied and that reply of hers seriously caught the class's interest.

He smiled and whispered to her. "We switch roles for a day."

Rukia laughed hard before pulling a stray bang away from her face and behind her ear though the one bang in the middle of her face stayed stubborn. The class rarely heard her laugh that much and so they were dead curious about what he said. "Wow, you really are confident... Okay, you're on Kurosaki. You're not gonna back out of this bet are you?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo leaned back and crossed his arms. "Hell no..."

Rukia wanted to smack herself and mouthed the words to him herself.

Personality

Ichigo nearly jumped and corrected himself instantly. "I mean of course not." he said nicely. He nearly slipped up there because he forgot that it wasn't just him and Rukia in the room as of the moment.

Rukia smiled. "Good, because I am so kicking your ass Kurosaki."

"Looks like I'm not the only one overconfident here, Fubuki! "

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Pass your papers... Keep it neat and orderly or your paper will be marked zero." Kuchiki-sensei said unfeelingly as he simply sat on the chair behind the teacher's desk. His presence already scared the shit out of most people and only a few people didn't cower in fear in his presence.

The class silently passed their papers forward the way their teacher had wanted it to be. When all the papers were in the hand of one student, their teacher stood up and took them from him coldly. He double checked to see if all the papers were in order and fixed them on his desk.

"Very well, class dismissed." he said as the students went out one by one. It was during exams where the students only had to go to to school to tale the exam. Afterwards, they could go home. The class took their bags and some got ready for their club activities.

Rukia exited first seeing as though she was the one who had the key. She unlocked the music room door and set aside her guitar properly before waiting for the rest to join her. Her eyes trailed towards the piano and she could still remember the perfect Alkan he played and the beautiful melody of her song transcribed in piano form. The sound was still ringing in her ears. She found herself sitting on the piano bench and resting her head atop the covered piano.

It was still clear as day. She could still feel and hear his dark Grand sonate. She could still feel the chills upon hearing him giving in to the darkness of his own making and how great she felt singing that duet with him. Her acoustic guitar and his piano accompanying their vocals. She still couldn't understand why they were so in sync then.

She heard the door slide open. Her head shot up and found her berryheaded master. She sighed fitfully as she resumed her previous position, eyes closed and all. The melodies shot throuh her head again but they got interrupted when she felt to teasing fingers trail up her spine. Rukia instantly straightened up and refused to admit how nice that felt. She turned around and glared at him.

"Don't do that." Rukia said.

He smirked. "I'm your master, of course I can do that." he replied arrogantly.

Ichigo say next to her and opened the piano cover. "Scoot over." he said which Rukia did.

"I'll teach you how to play your own piece, just the right hand. I'll do the left." he said softly as he showed her what keys to press and he made it so simply for her to understand.

"Why are you teaching me this?"

He shrugged. "I suddenly feel like it... There's something about this piano that makes me want to play it." he replied. She saw the look in his eyes whenever he touched the piano, there was a small light, a twinkle rather. "Now then, give it a try."

Rukia pressed the keys and was amazed with how a few single notes sounded wonderful on the piano. She kinda messed up when it involved two keys at once and she felt his small rising anger. "No, it's not like that..." he said.

He wrapped his arm over her shoulder so his right hand could reach hers. His large calloused hands were so gentle and pleasant on her petite and calloused hands. His fingers were on top of hers and he pressed a key using her finger. Rukia's heart raced. She wasn't used to being this close to a boy with her sane mind intact. Well yes, she was kissing him and all but that didn't count because whenever she did kiss him, she didn't have full control over herself. Here, she knew exactly what was happening and she really couldn't quite place the feeling she was currently experiencing.

"Okay, remember how I do the right hand. It's basic keys and notes while I'll do the left hand." he said as he began to play.

He was always such a rough person, why was he being so gentle. These were pianist hands. She could feel the emotions of his melody and she could tell that he was losing himself to the music. When he was finished, which was where Rukia stopped last time. He told her to repeat after her. Remembering the sensations of his fingers above hers, she managed to nail it rather amateurishly but regardless, she still nailed it. Ichigo flashed her a smile she rarely saw and he ruffled her hair for it. "I was worried since you have small hands but you still reached it." Ichigo said.

Rukia felt strangely cold when he redrew his arm. "Play another piece." she said.

"Alright... Just one more okay? No more piano for you after that." he said warmly. The piano just had that kind of effect on him... Okay fine, maybe a little Rukia.

He played a few gentle and light keys and Rukia instantly recognized it as Debussy's Clair de Lune. Rukia closed her eyes as she listened to his soft yet heartwarming music. Then the thought returned to her. It was this man who played such a dark and terrifying Alkan. That sent a shiver down her spine.

He finished playing the piece and faced her. Amethyst eyes met amber ones and they stayed locked into the other. What was this sensation? It was completely new to her, she never felt like this before. Not even when he kissed her. Ichigo suddenly looked away as if he was scared of something and stood up. He offered her his hand and she took it.

"Why won't you play the piano for them?" Rukia asked softly as her eyes lingered on the piano then to his handsome face.

He clenched his fist and closed his eyes. "I can't... I betrayed the piano once... I won't do it again..."

Rukia sighed. "It's such a waste... Ah well, band practice time. I can already hear Momo outside." Rukia said as she reached for her guitar and checked if it was tuned. Ichigo looked at her weirdly. "You know this is the part when you ask me what happened and I'm supposed to tell you what happened but then I won't really do just that."

She smile at him. "It's your problem... A deep deep problem... If I delve into your heart, I'll just sully it. So until you feel like telling me. I'll wait... I'll wait until you want to talk." she said.

Ichigo felt something stir in his chest at her answer and smirked. "Heh... Good answer." he said.

"Of course it's a good answer. I said it." she replied as she took out her tuner and began tuning it.

He chuckled as he took her acoustic guitar and borrowed her spare guitar tuner. The door slid open and Momo raised an eyebrow when she saw them sitting next to each other, tuning their guitars. She approached then from behind while Renji looked rather dismayed by the scene. Because of that bet, he felt the need to be more cautious around Ichigo.

And so band practice began.

Rukia felt limp as he ravished her against the kitchen counter. His lips slid against hers so encouragingly that she just couldn't help herself. Her only support was the kitchen counter. His calloused was planted firmly on her ass while his other hand made small circled at the small of her back. Rukia on the other hand had gripped his tangerine hair for some for form of purchase while her other hand was gripping his tie in order to pull him closer.

Rukia let out a small moan as his tongue invaded her. She fought back and played with his teasing appendage. A sound erupted from his throat as he angled his head further in order to taste her. Strangely, it was only today that he felt so drunk and heady with the sensations of her. He wasn't lying when he said she tasted good. She tasted heavenly as a matter of fact and she was addicting in her own right. Ichigo seriously doubted that he would ever get bored with her.

Ichigo kept kissing her for what seemed like forever. Kissing her felt differently this time, he wasn't being driven by his raging teen hormones today. It was strange but he had never kissed a girl like this before. Girls only wanted him for his body but Rukia didn't want him at all in that way or rather, she didn't even want to be near him but sometimes, he felt like she actually wanted him to stay.

What was wrong with him today?

Rukia eventually stopped resisting for the most part since she knew all to well that she would lose it eventually and end up kissing back. She didn't understand herself anymore; she knew she didn't like him but why did some small minuscule part of her entire being anticipate afternoons with him. That wasn't supposed to happen, he was doing this against her will. Strangely enough, she didn't want to stop. In fact, she didn't think she could stop. What was wrong with her now?

They pulled back for air and their eyes were connected again. They could see each other's thoughts and feelings clear as day. It was strange and what intrigued Rukia the most was the hidden hurt in his eyes. He had the eyes of someone who had been hurting for a long time.

Ichigo let her go abruptly and she didn't mind.

"Hey... Rukia?"

Rukia was taken aback by this gesture. Yes, he would call her Rukia-chan, Fubuki-san or just plain Fubuki but it was only now that he called her by her first name her first name only.

"Let's stop this arrangement for a while after tomorrow." he said.

Rukia nodded. "Is something the matter?" she asked. She was practically rejoicing now that she had a break from him but his behavior was strange.

He held his forehead. "Yeah, I'm not feeling too well." he replied.

Rukia approached him and pressed her cool hand against her forehead. "You're not running a fever. Maybe you're just tired." she said.

He smiled at her weakly. "Yeah perhaps..."

What's happening to me, he thought.

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Hey! Been a while. Thankyou for the reviews and favourites,readers. And I wanted to tell that I am conducting a poll on which ichiruki story to start next for I have some ideas in my mind and I need your help with that. Please do visit my profile to participate in poll. There are four options and you can choose two of them. If you people have any further suggestions, you can PM me.

Love,

Amethyst hazel.