chapter 8
Rukia walked towards school slowly, wanting to enjoy the weather. She loved the cold, she practically hated summer. She only liked it because there was a month long break that came with it. She finally met up with Momo and entered the school gates together. Rukia found the scene odd,one with no fangirls huddling together in annoying groups.
Rukia shook of the feeling and continued to walk inside. They switched their shoes and dropped off their instruments in the music room. As soon as they entered the classroom, she had expected to hear his annoying morning greeting but it didn't happen. Her eyes quickly scanned the room and she couldn't help but ask.
"Excuse me... What happened to I- Kurosaki?" Rukia asked a random classmate.
The average guy shrugged. "Hasn't come in yet... Maybe he's sick." he replied before resuming his conversation with his male friend about their typical playboy magazines.
Rukia shook her head at the disgustingness of it all. She walked over to her seat and sighed. That was when Momo assaulted her.
"Missing your master Rukia?" Momo teased.
She shook her head and glared at her friend. "Hell no... I'm glad he's not here." Rukia replied abruptly.
Momo had to laugh before maintaining her mocking grin. "You're not gonna miss all the things he makes you do on a daily basis?" Momo asked.
"Hell no... That rotten bastard can go to Tartarus for all I care." she replied.
"Ouch, that's harsh... But what if he really is sick? He really wouldn't know what to do."
Rukia's head sharply turned in her friend's direction. "Then let him learn." she snapped.
Momo sighed fitfully as she sat properly. "Oh Rukia... Be more honest with yourself... You know, ever since Hisana-san passed away, you've been different. You always immerse yourself in music as if you're trying to forget your problems and everything else, like music's your only release... You've changed a lot since then! It's been a while since I've seen you focus on something other than music. Even if that thing happens to be Kurosaki Ichigo." Momo said seriously before not talking to Rukia for the rest of the morning.
Rukia finally managed to get Momo to talk to her and Rukia finally admitted that his nonexistence felt really weird as though there was something important missing. Turns out, it was Momo's elaborate ploy to get Rukia to fess up but what's done is done. Though Momo meant half of what she said. They ate on the roof top for lunch.
Rukia told her everything that happened when Momo wasn't looking and Momo only had one single conclusion in mind.
"That means you're falling in love! Oh my God... You're falling in love!" then she sighed. "I wanna fall in love too I mean... Of all the people to fall in love with but then again, you have an advantage. He finds you interesting and you guys have kissed so many many times already!"
Rukia smacked Momo at the head. "I am not in love with Ichigo!"
"You say his name so passionately." Momo teased mercilessly.
"I do not." Rukia quickly retorted.
"However... You should seriously check up on him. I heard from the student office that Kurosaki-kun called in sick today... He's a rather tenacious and persistent person and if he's staying home then he must be seriously sick." Momo said in a stern tone and Rukia simply nodded as she ate her Yakisoba Bread.
"Okay okay... I'm just gonna check up on him... I can't have him dying on me before the school festival, which is coming soon." Rukia said stubbornly.
"Wow... School festival already huh? We should make original songs and... You and Kurosaki-kun should totally have a duet! And and... Let's invite Nanao-senpai to play the piano! We'll be great."
Rukia's eyes glinted with excitement. "Yeah! We should do that! I'll finish my duet !"
"Good thinking! Hmm... Let's do AKB48! They're pretty big right now. What's that song?"
"kimi wa Melody?"
"Yeah! That one and we should get Kurosaki-kun to sing FAKE LOVE!"
"Which song?"
"fake love by BTS, that will get the females screaming." Momo recommended.
"good call..."
"You're pretty popular among the boys... We should give them some fanservice!"
"Absolutely not!"
"It's not fair that Kurosaki-kun is the only one giving fanservice."
"Then what do you propose?"
"Hmm... I really don't know. What's your favorite song right now?"
"do it for love...by namie amuro. it's stuck in my head."
"Okay, we'll do just that!"
"We're only allowed a maximum of four songs."
"So it's kimi wa melody,fake love,hope,glow?"
They were happily chatting when a certain red head came barging in. His hands were stuffed in his pockets. He was rather handsome but not Rukia's type of handsome. "It's almost time you guys... Why are you screaming?"
The two girls grinned. "It's the setlist for the Cultural Festival next week."
"I need to approve it too and so does Kurosaki."
"Ichigo won't mind." Rukia scoffed without thinking. "So it's kimi wa melody,fake love,do it for love,glow."
Renji raised one of his tattooed brows. "Ichigo?" there was a hint of jealousy in his tone.
"I meant Kurosaki... It was just a slip of tongue Renji... So, what do you think?"
"I think it's good... So what's the arrangement?" he said rather bitterly since Rukia shrugged off his problem so easily. Since when were they on first name basis?
"We're inviting Nanao-senpai for piano. . He's singing Fakelove by BTS, I'm singing do it for love and momo and I are singing kimi wa melody."
"What about glow? You're not done writing it."
"I'm finishing it, I'm making it a duet for me and Ich- Kurosaki. I'm transcribing it to the piano and Renji, we need a soft beat."
He saluted. "Aye aye ma'am."
Then the three friends left for the classroom.
"Kienu you ni... Kaki nagutta... Kiyoku wo tada... Nagamete wa... Haya sugita... Aimaisa ni... Fui kaetteru..."
Rukia sang as she though of how to finish her song as she walked the familiar path to his house. The sunset was just so beautiful right now. It painted the sky in a beautiful shade of orange. She enjoyed the sight and the cold. His apartment was in sight and after climbing a few stairs, she found his door. She rang the doorbell and waited but there was no reply. She sighed as she went to his mailbox and opened it. One of the envelopes was glued to the bottom so the mailman ignored it. She opened the envelope and grabbed the key. She went back to the door again and unlocked it.
Once she entered, she found the room to be rather cold. She instantly turned on the heater and made an educated guess about checking the bedroom. She opened it and found him practically half naked on the bed groaning and breathing heavily.
Without thinking, she rushed to his side and placed her cool hand against his forehead and found him to be burning up really badly. He was half asleep and he was sweating like mad. He found this temperature to be hot? This room was freezing. What the hell did he do? Rukia went to find a bunch of towels and a small tub of water. She checked his cabinets and found some medicine in them. She even took his pajamas.
Rukia ran back to her phone and called Momo to bring some ingredients for her and she didn't wait for an answer knowing that whenever she demanded like that, it was urgent. She returned to his room and transferred the heater there. She began to turn him around and wiped off all of his sweat. As she was wiping him, he woke up.
"R-Rukia...? Why are you here? What time is it..." he groaned pitifully.
"Shut up, don't talk... You're gonna tire yourself out." she ordered as she finished wiping the sweat off of him.
His amber eyes were blazing as he looked at her. "But..."
Rukia's eyes trailed towards his still glistening body and blushed but remembered that this man was literally sick. His body was actually quite nice without the shirt, he had nice firm and well defined abs she was tempted to run her hands all over. heat flooded her it! pull yourself together Rukia!
She shook her head vigorously.
She took his pajamas and lifted him up. She helped him get the shirt on. She was slightly dismayed, she helped put his pants on and he lied down again in a groan. She shook the thermometer before sticking it into his mouth and telling him not to touch it when she heard the doorbell. She went there and found Momo.
"This is what you wanted right?" she asked.
Rukia took the plastic and checked it out. She smiled gratefully. "Thanks Momo... Seriously, thanks..."
"You sounded worried, I ran as fast as I could... Is he that bad?"
"I don't have a number but it already looks and feels bad..."
"Can I help out?"
Rukia nodded. "Sure... Come on in."
Rukia instructed Momo to prep the ingredients for some porridge and while she attended to him. She checked his thermometer and found it to he 39.06 degrees Celsius or rather, 102 degrees fahrenheit. This was really bad. She placed a towel on his forehead.
She went back to the kitchen and began to make the porridge. She instructed Momo to watch him and to change the towel occasionally. Rukia sighed as she kept cooking.
It was funny how fast she reacted when she found him burning up. She didn't even think about it... She just did it.
Fifteen minutes later, she poured some of the porridge in a bowl and grabbed a spoon, she took a glass of room temperature water and returned to Ichigo. Rukia pulled a chair next to Momo and the two of them woke him up once the porridge cooled down and they helped him sit up.
"Oh, Hinamori... You're here too?"
"Yeah, you should've heard Rukia freak out when she called me earlier. She was frantic cause you were sick." Momo mocked.
He chuckled lightly before coughing and glancing at the porridge. "Oh, did my cute maid make porridge for me?" he asked.
Momo saw a vein pop on her forehead. "If you have the strength to tease me then I think you have the strength to eat."
"I shouldn't get sick more often... If that means my little Rukia-chan's gonna feed me more often." he chuckled as Rukia moved closer. She asked Momo to get the meds Rukia found earlier.
"Shut up." Rukia said as she took a spoonful and blew it to make sure it wouldn't scald him. She fed it to him and he ate it gratefully. He tasted it before smiling.
"It's really good... You know, know one's made me porridge in such a long time..."
"Really?"
"My mom made me porridge when I was sick... But then again, my father's always busy and whenever he's around, it'd infuriating... I only get some medicine..." Ichigo replied as Rukia fed him another spoon.
He smirked at her. "Though seriously... Thanks."
Rukia blushed but she quickly shook it off. She blew another spoon and fed that to him. He ate it gratefully.
"Look, I'm gonna leave you after this. Don't go to school tomorrow, sleep and rest up. Take your meds and drink plenty of water. I'm gonna call in every few hours and don't do anything stupid. If you need me or you feel worse, I'll come over straight away you hear me?" she said assertively as she fed him another spoon.
He saluted sloppily as he consumed every bit of her of porridge. "Of course..."
Ichigo smiled and patted her head in a nice way. "Thank you Rukia... No one aside from my family has ever done this much for me..."
They were a few inches apart as they stared into each other like they had done yesterday. Their eyes were slowly closing as they inched towards each other. Their lips brushed against each other and Ichigo was kissing her. His lips were very warm while hers were cold but it felt good. They didn't move as their lips slowly moved against each other. Suddenly, the door burst open and the two separated. Both of them were beet red.
Momo raised an eyebrow as she gave Rukia the pills. She told Rukia that she needed to go and left abruptly. Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other and laughed. They smiled at each other.
"Hey Rukia... Stay for a night... I won't last without you... Just for tonight though..." he asked.
She sighed but smiled anyway. "You got that right. I don't trust you enough to take your meds..."
He chuckled dulcetly. "Yeah... I don't tryst myself either... I still have a headache right now actually..."
Rukia stood up. "I want you to sleep while I go get my clothes... Don't do anything stupid okay?"
Then she left.
Ichigo closed his eyes and sighed. What was that just now? Maybe it was his fever messing with his head. Why did he kiss her like that?
She came back with a small bag. Rukia came back with some more food for most likely herself and a bit for when Ichigo got hungry later one which was bound to happen knowing his appetite. She dropped them off in the fridge and went back to his room to find him fast asleep like she told him too. She took the thermometer and stuck it in his mouth again.
Rukia went back to the cabinet and brought out a futon. She went back to his room and pushed it to a corner while it was still folded. She sat back on the chair to wait for the thermometer. tqking it out, she sighed in relief when it read 38.09. That was way better than 39.06.
He was so much nicer when he was sleeping. He didn't insult her.
He woke up again minutes later with a really bad stomach ache.
"How did you get sick anyway?" Rukia asked as she looked at the clock. It read eight pm in the evening.
"I fell asleep while I was wet and naked." he simply replied as he took his meds and drowned them down in water.
"You what!"
Ichigo nearly threw his meds back out of his throat when she screamed at him. "Don't shout..." he said hoarsely.
"Well I'm sorry... So, answer me... Why did you do that?"
He looked away towards the wall. "I won't tell you."
He could feel her wrath slowly building up. "It's not over anything stupid right?" she asked angrily. Ichigo knew she was holding her temper.
"It's stupid... But it was a mental thing... Don't worry about it..." he replied. His head was still throbbing.
Rukia was about to snap at him angrily but she managed to hold her tongue. Ichigo was surprised how nice she was being when he was sick. If this is what it took to tame her, he should be sick more often. She breathed in deeply and looked at him. Her eyes were concerned. "If it's too personal... I won't ask you to tell me but if it's something you can tell me... Then please do."
He thought about it before smiling. "I was thinking about you."
Rukia blushed as he eyebrows scrunched downwards. "Fine, then... I don't mind of you don't tell me the truth." she said bitterly and stubbornly.
He laughed inwardly. It was the truth, he was thinking about her but if he seriously told her that it was really the truth, she would never look at him the same way.
Rukia shook her head and stood up. "You should get more rest Ichigo."
He closed his eyes and smiled. "Yeah... Help me lie down?"
She smirked. "Of course..." she said as she helped him go back to lying down. He felt kinda horrible but her presence was more than enough to make him forget that he was sick.
She turned off the light and unfolded the futon in the darkness.
It was pretty early but she felt tired running all around the late afternoon just to get him at a better temperature. She slipped between the sheets seeing as though she took a bath already. She closed her eyes.
"Rukia?"
"Yeah?"
"Goodnight."
She smiled.
"Ichigo?"
"Yeah?"
"You shouldn't just rely on yourself... If you need help, you can always ask me... And, I know this is too much to ask, but I want you to trust me a little more... Sometimes I feel so close to you but then sometimes you feel so distant. it's unnerving..."
He smiled. "I do trust you. That's why I'm your master and you're my cute maid right?"
She shook her head. "There you go again... I'm your only friend in this country."
"Touche.."
"Well goodnight Ichigo..."
Rukia's slowly opened her eyes to the sound of her alarm clock. She rubbed them and allowed her eyes to adjust to the room light. At first, she wondered where she was but remembered that she slept over at Ichigo's in order to watch over him. She stood up and neatly folded the her small bag of clothes,she grabbed the necessities; she was going to have to borrow his shower while he was still sleeping.
She found his bathroom fairly quick and stepped in. She noticed how the entire room reeked of that scent of his. Rukia simply closed her eyes and told herself to finish quickly. She undressed and folded her clothes neatly before stepping in the shower. She tested out the fantastic hot water and found it pleasing. It had been a while since she took a shower like this.
Once she was through with that. She changed into her uniform and dried her hair with a towel, something she would have to wash later. Rukia stepped out quietly as not to stir him awake. He was in incredibly heavy sleeper so she doubted she could actually wake him with sounds. She sneaked off to the kitchen to make more porridge of a different variation this time and made some for herself to be her breakfast.
Minutes later, she poured the porridge into two bowls. One of them, she covered with plastic and began eating. It was nice to have real food in the morning for a change. Then she made a note for him and used the bowl as a paperweight. The note read:
"Here's some breakfast, eat it all up and go back to sleep. You know how to use the microwave at least right? Take your medicine and don't drink cold water. I made you some ramen for lunch so once again, heat it up. I'll check up on you later and don't do anything stupid... Oh, and take your temperature every once in a while."
Rukia took her bag and went back to his room to do one final check on him before leaving.
Rukia went her usual path of going to school and as usual, she met Momo on her way. They chatted for a while until Momo brought up the topic.
"How's Kurosaki-kun doing?" she asked
Rukia smile at her reassuringly. "Better than when I found him... I told him to stay home. he better by tomorrow... That idiot was sick for the entire Sunday and he didn't tell anybody until I barged in on Monday."
Momo laughed. "For a genius, he's kinda stupid."
"Tell me about it." Rukia said while rolling her eyes.
They laughed about his him and ridiculed him some more and before they knew it, they were at the school gates. There were no fangirls flocking about in big groups following a certain somebody, it was quite peaceful again. They went to the lockers and switched their shoes before heading up to the music room and dropping of their instruments. Then they headed towards the classroom where no one with orange hair greeted them. Renji was already there looking rather content with the fact that the berryheaded eyesore was nonexistent.
They sat down and kept talking about various things but more importantly the upcoming school festival. Their class was going to officially start on their booth for the festival today once they determined what they were doing for the festival during homeroom. They waited but then the moment Kuchiki-sensei walked in, the door at the back slid open revealing a rather pale orange headed boy.
He walked in and sat down as if there was nothing wrong. Rukia suddenly felt mad, she stood up, took him by the arm and began dragging him out of the room. "Sensei, Kurosaki-san is still sick, I'm bringing him to the infirmary."
"Unohana-sensei is still not here yet... There's no attending physician." he replied before shrugging. "I'm leaving him to you then."
"I'm not sick Rukia..."
"Yes you are, you look horrible. Did you eat?"
"Yes I did."
"Take your meds?"
"I did that too."
Rukia sighed. "Look, stop stalling me and go home." Rukia said.
The class simply watched them before Rukia managed to get him out the door.
She dragged him downstairs and all the way to the infirmary. She slid the door open and got him to lie down before finding the thermometer and sticking it in his ear. She heard the beep and found his temperature to have gotten higher.
"Ichigo, its 38 degrees flat... That's worse than this morning... I told you not to go to school."
"I had to... It's the cultural festival."
She sighed as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Don't be stubborn... Look, let's wait for Unohana-sensei, then you can go home and don't forget to eat lunch." she said.
He smirked as he placed his hands behind his head and lied down. "Looks like you're stuck with me all morning Rukia-chan."
She rolled her eyes and glared at him. "Listen Ichigo, I want you to be there on stage with us at the festival... So I need you to be healthy... I've been looking forward to performing live with you... I've never told you our setlist... We're doing Listen to One Story, Shojo S, Sayonara my Friend, you're doing Koishikute by UVERworld and we're doing glow... We've invited our senpai from last year to play the piano so just stick to the guitar... I'll talk to Kuchiki-sensei to see if he can loan us an electric guitar."
He coughed before turning to his side. "Sounds good."
She sighed as she pressed her pleasant cool hand against his forehead. "What possessed you to go to school you idiot? I told you not to." she scolded him softly.
"As I said... The school festival seems really important to you and since the preparations officially start today, I wanted to be a part of it." he replied as he enjoyed the feel of her hand against his heated skin.
She blushed. "F-for me?"
"Yeah, for you... You've been doing too much for the sake of others... I wanted you to do something for your sake."
She blushed but she turned her head. "You can start by selflessly joining the club without the job?" she suggested.
He sneezed before speaking. "No."
Her head snapped in his direction angrily. She looked so cute when she pouted like that. It was so adorable. "You are such an ass."
"Your suggestion Rukia."
She scowled heavier. "Perverted bastard."
Then all of a sudden, Rukia began to sneeze and Ichigo watched in surprise. "Damn... I must've caught your cold... It pretty much works like mono."
He smirked. As he got up and was exceedingly too close for comfort. "Oh? Then let's turn that cold into a fever shall we?" he said in a deep husky way that sent tingles down her spine.
She glared at him and shoved him back to lying down. "No thanks, pervert."
He laughed but coughed a bit more. "You amuse me to no end Rukia-chan."
Rukia looked at him sternly. "Lay it off the talking, you're gonna strain yourself... See, you're coughing more,you fool."
"All I hear are excuses Rukia..." he replied.
The bell rang indicating the end of homeroom. Their teacher for this particular subject was absent so it was a free self study period. Rukia wouldn't miss too much lessons. She could always ask Momo for notes and have the genius prodigy teach her.
"What's taking Rukia so long?" Renji asked as he sat casually on Momo's desk. When Ichigo wasn't around, he was usually the other center of attraction and Momo was the one on the receiving end of the stabbing glares.
Momo shrugged. "Unohana-sensei just isn't available for the morning so Rukia's excused. If she doesn't watch him, he'll do something reckless."
Momo wanted to laugh at the face he was making. His crush on Rukia since middle school wasn't new to Momo. She found it so humorous. "Why does she have to watch him? What about the other girls?"
"They'll be too busy fawning over him rather than take care of him. Rukia is the only girl who's immune to him." Momo reasoned as she rested her head on the hand of her propped up palm.
His face wasn't getting any brighter. If anything, it just got darker. "Damn..." he said before watching the Kurosaki fan club group together for an emergency meeting. Momo and Renji carefully eavesdropped.
"Okay guys! Right now, that damned Fubuki is all alone with our orange prince! We need to save him most especially since he's sick!"
"What's the operation chief?"
"Operation: Reconnaissance!"
"Ahh! A brilliant plan chief!"
"Now then, let's go!"
Momo and Renji laughed when they left. "This sounds like fun." they said simultaneously.
Rukia watched as Ichigo took a short nap. It took a while but she had finally gotten him to at least rest up and sleep. Rukia sighed as she waited for Unohana-sensei to come. There was only so much Rukia could do on her own. She found the acoustic guitar that ended up going to the infirmary and plucked one of the beautiful strings against her slender fingers.
Before she knew it, she was playing one of her favorite tunes. It was called Wedding Bell by a guitar duo named DEPAPEPE. It was a beautiful piece and if she could, she would have it played at her very own wedding. That's how much she loved hearing it. Her fingers moves flawlessly against the neck of the guitar and all those notes were nothing. It had only been fifteen minutes since he had drifted to sleep he woke up again.
"Wedding Bell?" he asked groggily as he looked at her playing form.
She nodded. "Yeah... You know it? It's rare to find people who know them nowadays... Everyone's gone to pop idols and the like, no one respects real music anymore." she replied before looking at him apologetically. "Did I wake you?"
He shook his head softly. "I wasn't too sleepy to begin with."
"Sure you were." she retorted as she kept playing. He closed his eyes to enjoy the song more. She really was good at the guitar. Her skill came from practice and experience, something he wanted to do.
He admired her skills with the guitar and he admired her beautiful voice.
He even admired her as a person. How could she live the way she lived and why was she so strong? He wasn't anything like her. He was simply hiding and running away. She faced things up front and never backed down from anything.
Her song ended fantastically and Ichigo applauded her a little. That made Rukia smile a bit when she began to play random notes involuntarily. "You're really good."
"It doesn't sound convincing coming from a genius like you." she replied.
He chuckled. "I guess you're right... But it's true... Do you plan on being a musician or do you want to debut in a band?" he asked.
"That's my dream yes but it's not a very practical dream. I'll probably do something I can do and that can keep me alive until I can land me a husband to share the burden..." she replied nonchalantly.
Ichigo got up instantly and scowled. "You can't do that!" he said angrily.
"And why not?"
"It... It's a waste, you talent that is... I can't stand watching talent go to waste!" he replied.
Rukia grew angry. Her fingers stopped playing. "And what does that make you! You're not even playing the piano! Isn't that your talent! You are such a hypocrite, why don't you criticize yourself before you criticize me!" she retorted angrily.
Ichigo was about to retaliate but he held his tongue. He stayed silent as he felt her angry gaze on him.
"Sorry... Look, go back to sleep and rest up, I don't want to be the reason why you'll be absent tomorrow and the day after." she said as she looked back down to the guitar and that was where she directed her anger rather than him.
Even now, she didn't think for herself. She still thought about others.
It was unfair for her.
He took her hand before she could continue playing and forced her to look at him. His burning amber eyes bore into her amethyst one's. "No, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that... And you're right... I'll have to face my problem sooner or later... I'm just... Not ready yet."
Rukia's eyebrows scrunched upwards. "W-wait! I-Ichigo, I didn't mean that-"
"No, you're right... Perfectly right..." he said as his warm hand stayed on hers. He made no effort to move but it's most likely that he forgot her was even holding her hand like that
"But Ichi-"
"I said it's fine... Stop apologizing, you did nothing wrong Rukia... It was just a good slap at the face really..." he said as he stared into her eyes deeply like he had done so lately.
The way he looked at her was though he wanted to kiss her. Rukia found herself forgetting herself bit by bit as she continued to stare into his intense amber eyes. Rukia finally snapped back some sense into herself and turned away. Ichigo realized what he was doing and turned away as well, withdrawing his hand.
"Rukia... Sing with me."
"What song?"
"glow... I want to sing it with you."
"Do you even know the lyrics?"
"I've heard you sing it many times... Of course I know it... Photographic hearing remember?"
She chuckled softly. "Smart bastard..."
"Go first."
Rukia play the starting chords for glow. "Ima ichibyou."
"Hi ga Moetara."
"Sora ni Tokete."
"Asa ga Kuru."
"Nemuri Kara."
"Koe wo Agete."
"Mebuite yuku."
"Sekai..."
"Ukeirerareta Nara."
"Mou kako dato kizuketa..."
"Daeiteta kanashimi no ikisaki wa..."
"Kaze."
"Sora"
"Hoshi."
"Ame."
"Tatoeba kakenukete susundemo."
"Kaze"
"Ima"
"Sono."
"Mune ni..."
Then Rukia ended the song and looked at him with a warm smile. "Hey Ichigo, I want you to be standing on the same stage as me so... Rest up and get better okay?"
Ichigo nodded as he closed his eyes and rested his head on her shoulder. "Yeah..."
"You sound great."
"Really?"
"Yeah... It's like you're the only one who can sing my duet with me." she replied.
Ichigo suddenly grabbed her wrist and looked up as if he was gonna kiss her again. Rukia knew the look but made no effort to stop him.
"Ah, our Kurosaki-sama! I can't hear the conversation to well but they look... Intimate."
"We can't just barge in but how will we save our prince chief?"
The group was whispering as they peeked through a small opening on the sliding door.
"Actually... This looks pretty nice."
"Hmm... Now that I think about it, Kurosaki-kun and Fubuki-san look good together and there's a lot of chemistry between them."
"Yeah... I'm starting to not mind if Fubuki-san is so close to our prince."
"They look really good together..."
"Should we be cheering them on?"
"Alrighty then! Kurosaki fanclub will now be a FubukiXKurosaki fanclub!"
"Yeah!"
"What the hell are you doing?" a rough calloused voice said in an irritated tone.
The girls looked back to find the handsome red head looking down at them. His tattoos made him look scarier than usual. The girls said nothing and scampered away. Renji raised an eyebrow and wondered what they were fussing over. He peeked through the door opening and froze on the spot.
Rukia's hands fell limply off the guitar and the guitar simply plopped on the hard bed of the infirmary. Her hand was on his necktie drawing him closer as he took her lips. His lips were warm due to the fever but she didn't mind as she kissed him softly. His hand was planted firmly on her arm as he angled his head to the side to further taste her. His tongue prodded for entrance and she allowed it without the least bit of hesitation.
Their tongues danced as things began to be more heated and personal. Rukia let out a small moan as Ichigo ravaged her. The two separated for some much needed air. Ichigo quickly flushed red and looked away.
"Sorry..."
Rukia's face heated up as she looked away. "N-no... It's my fault too..."
He held his forehead and sighed. "You remember what I said? Before that is?"
"About not working for a while right?"
"Yeah... That one."
"I think it's a good idea... Things have been rather... Tense."
"Yeah, tense..."
Rukia looked at her watch as she willed all the blood that had rushed to her face to go away.
"Hey Rukia... You're not rejoicing are you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Her head snapped to his direction. "Of course I am... It's a break from seeing your arrogant face every afternoon."
He laughed. "Your master is wounded Rukia-chan."
"Cut it out already Ichigo... I've had enough of that master crap and Momo's already having field day with every single thing you do to me." Rukia whined stubbornly as she picked up the guitar.
"You are so tiring Ichigo... Why didn't you just stay home and take your meds normally... I wasn't able to sleep because of your constant spasms of stomach pain. And thanks to your stupid antics, I got your cold! I had to cook for you all night and check your temperature and change the towel and wipe you when you sweat too much. A goddamn nuisance, that's what you are!"
"Oh? Who was the one who freaked out when she found out I was sick Rukia-chan?"
"That doesn't count..." she retorted instantly.
"Doesn't count as what?"
"You know..."
"Hmm? Sorry but I really don't know." he said mockingly.
"That doesn't count as a master maid thing... Look, I took care of you yesterday because I was worried... You were practically burning up and half naked in the cold..."
Ichigo sneezed before lying down again. "So you do get worried over me."
"Who wouldn't when the person in question is a complete and utter idiot?"
He laughed. "True..."
Rukia sighed fitfully. "Look, just go back to sleep... If you want to do something for me then rest up and get better. When you go home, don't forget to microwave the ramen and the meds are next to the ramen. No cold water okay?"
"Okay..."
"Rukia..."
Renji felt his heart convulse so badly . his entire chest hurt. Maybe it was his fault that he chose not to make a move sooner. Maybe Rukia would've been his if he hadn't been such a coward and now the new guy was making his move. He was too late, but how did this happen? Renji had barely seen the two together in that intimate sense before. And their conversation was most intriguing. Hearing this kind of Kurosaki was surprising, he never expected to find that he was that kind of person.
Does this mean they were secretly dating?
No, it didn't seem that way.
What were they? And they mentioned Momo. Did Momo know?
Renji clenched his fist as his eyes grew to be considerably dark. He gritted his teeth as he forced his hands away from the door and into his pockets and he forced himself to walk away.
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