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Avalon's Angel, Rndd , IchiRuki,danee, OptimisticQueenRandom, Thunder Claw03 (that kenpachi comment was really good, haha. May i used it on a following chapter?), adamxero (by the way, who's Mikoto Haru?! ), anon (your review actually turned in one of the lines of the chapter, haha) , nasrin88, scottusa1, DoingTheUnstuck, sleeplygirl, byakuya7687, NiceGoingLife, purplepam, jelly, AnomalyLady, pmw928, , IchigoMoonCutter, along with the other guests (especially that one who took the special time to review it from his phone) - thank you for the reviews.

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7. Operation Managing Crazy Friends: Failed

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Question 6: From this I should understand that the wedding planning was exhausting. Why didn't you ask for your friend's help?

Rukia (smiling):They offered their help before we could even ask. Ishida even wanted to design my wedding dress.

Ichigo (horrified):Don't make me remember it! I didn't want their help… you don't understand! Finding the restaurant was piece of cake comparing to what I've been through later that night when I met with Keigo.

Rukia (ignoring Ichigo and apparently still thinking of Ishida): Of course Nii-sama didn't approved with the idea. He insisted on me wearing an ultra expensive brand dress… but even after all these years, I still think that Ishida had some brilliant ideas. Most of them were even better than all the stuff I found on the fashion houses Nii-sama sent me to. (She gasps regretfully and stands up facing the reporter) I'm sorry, Nii-sama must be already here so you will continue the interview with Ichigo only...

The reporter (toward Ichigo, the moment Rukia leaves the room):Do you think you can manage a meeting with the captain, as well? Just a short one…

Ichigo:…

The reporter: …Very short.

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"I swear! I'm not making him my best man!" Ichigo yelled in the kitchen while Yuzu served him the dinner. "No! There's no way! He'll ruin the whole wedding!" he added once again and turned to Rukia.

"Imagine! Your brother will be there … the whole Gotei 13 will be there! What would they think when Keigo will start… you know, to be Keigo!"

Rukia didn't answer. It wasn't because she didn't care about Ichigo's weird friends embarrassing her in front of her clan. It was more because she heard this speech all over again during the afternoon… and now during the evening. It really started to bore her… and apparently she wasn't the only one. Isshin gasped and discreetly turned to Rukia with a meaningful look.

"Ketchup, anyone?" Yuzu asked.

Ichigo took the red bottle and put almost half of its content on his plate.

"You know what?" Ichigo continued, presuming that Rukia was actually listening to him, but in fact she was paying attention to Karin who was teaching her how to use facebook from her IPad. "I think that for our own safety we shouldn't invite him to the wedding. Don't you agree with me, Rukia?"

"Uhuh…" Rukia replied absently as her eyes widened at Karin's I-Pad. "So that's a relationship status!"

"Yeah… Pretty much. Cool, huh?" Karin replied.

Ichigo suddenly turned to both of them annoyed.

"You weren't even listening to me!" he snapped.

Karin displayed a guilty grin while Rukia calmly raised her gaze from the I-Pad.

"Actually, I was." she said with boredom, "But it's the thousand time I'm hearing this, so excuse for not being enthusiast about it anymore" and then she returned to Karin and her explanations.

"Fine!" Ichigo stated and burying his face into his plate. "You don't care."

Rukia rolled her eyes annoyed.

"Ichigo…" she intoned with boredom.

"No, it's fine. Really." Ichigo said using an indifferent voice. "After all it's about your wedding. A Kuchiki wedding, as your brother was eager to mention. No, really Rukia, excuse me for making myself a thousand of worries in order to please Byakuya."

Rukia frowned.

"And now it's about Nii-sama?"

"Well if it wasn't for him, I would have had no problem with Keigo being my best man. Now I even have to think about if I can invite him!"

"Ichigo, I have dozens of things to take care of and your best man it's among the least of them! Excuse me, but I don't care about Keigo at the moment!" Rukia replied flustered.

"Ok, fine!" Ichigo said with the same indifferent and calm voice, while looking in his plate. "I'll let Keigo know how you feel so he won't insist anymore."

"You wouldn't dare!" she growled.

On those words, knowing that he had really made her furious, he raised gaze for his plate and faced her with a self-pleased grin.

"Ok, would anyone like seconds?" Yuzu suddenly intervened, trying to prevent the couple to start a real fight.

"No, thank you!" Rukia replied stiffed.

"Yes, please!" Ichigo added on the same manner.

From the opposite side of the table Isshin was speechless.

"I told you, to get used to this." Karin whispered to him.

For the rest of the dinner the couple remained silent. Actually, Ichigo wasn't that concerned about the wedding and its guests. Normally, in all that stress and preparations, he also wouldn't have thought about Keigo. But Keigo called him, and he knew that there was no way to put an end to his melodramas if he won't agree to meet him.

So during the phone conversation he had while he was still at Riviera, Ichigo promised to have a beer with him after diner. Ever since that phone call Ichigo has been nervous and kept repeating the "I'm not making him my best man" speech. It was his dissimulate manner of expressing his worry for the moment he will actually meet his friend and question like "Are you really getting married?", "Why did you hide the fact that you were with Rukia?", "Since when are you guys together?" All these questions would invade his sanity.

What will his answers be? The fact that he was marrying Rukia so she won't have to marry her brother put him in a delicate situation, so his friends didn't have to find the true reason of his marriage. If Keigo finds out this is a fake marriage, the other will find out too and the Elders will immediately invalidate the union, a situation in which Rukia will have to marry Byakuya, again. Keeping Keigo away was for Rukia's own good. After all, and she didn't even pay attention to him! He was making himself thousands of worries and she was having fun on Facebook!

Ichigo put aside the plate as he finished his food. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 9 pm.

'Around 9:30, Keigo will already be at the pub' he thought.

Then he turned to Rukia, who was still playing on the I-Pad with Karin. He hadn't told her yet that he intended to go out tonight, but there was no way she would have a problem with that, right? Then Ichigo mentally slapped himself. Why was he looking for Rukia's approval for going out with his pals?

"Rukia…" he begun and suddenly his throat suddenly became dry. He cleared his throat and approached an indifferent tone of voice, as If he was talking about weather: "I'll be out… tonight…"

Rukia raised her eyes from the I-Pad. She didn't say a word but those violet eyes that were piercing him were clearly snapping the questions:

"Where?" and "With who?", but moreover, "When will you be back?"

That look really gave Ichigo goose bumps.

"I'll be careful to not wake you up when I return …" he added.

"So, you'll be back late…" Rukia stated.

"I… don't know…" Ichigo replied unsure.

"I see…" she concluded.

"Oh, just look at them! Already acting like a married couple!" Isshin snapped ecstatically.

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Why was he even try to justify himself in front of Rukia? So what if she was his fiancée? Before he was engaged to her, she was his best friend. Back then, she never gave him that look when he told her that he will hang out with his friends…back then he didn't feel the need to give her explanations on the way he spent his time when he wasn't around her…

He growled annoyed and enter the pub where he usually met with Keigo on the Fridays. He scanned the room and he finally saw Keigo waving at him from one of the tables next to the window. He took a few steps toward him and then he suddenly stopped: Keigo was not alone at the table. Mizuiro was there also…and Ishida…and Chad as well.

"I thought you told me there will be just the two of us!" Ichigo said toward Keigo.

"Good evening to you, too, Kurosaki…" Ishida said.

"Ichigo, of course I told them to come, we have to celebrate!" Keigo snapped.

Ichigo displayed a tangled grin as he sat at the table.

"How could you be so cruel and let all of us know about your engagement through Facebook?" Keigo started to cry after the waitress took Ichigo's order.

"I didn't put my engagement of Facebook. I don't know who did it, but it wasn't me or Rukia!" Ichigo said.

"I knew it!" Ishida intervened. "So someone was having fun on your account!"

"Yes…but who?" Ichigo asked.

"So the engagement isn't real?" Mizuiro suddenly asked.

"Well…" Ichigo tried.

"Well it's not real! Glad we solved this one. Keigo was really starting to get on my nerves!" Ishida intervened.

Keigo instantly begun to cry:

"Why Ichigo?! I wanted to be your best man so much!"

"Actually," Ichigo cut in. "The engagement is real…"

Ishida's eyes widened while Keigo's started to sparkle. Chad and Mizuiro weren't surprised at all.

"Congratulations!" Mizuiro said simply.

"So am I still the best man?!" Keigo asked with a puppy face.

"I still can't believe it." Ishida said, "Rukia is a Kuchiki, there is no way you could marry her! And even if you were able to marry her…how come none of us knew about your relation? It most certainly has been going on for a while, because an engagement is not something you do over night!"

Ichigo smiled with a nervous expression as he mentally stated 'You have no idea, Ishida!'

"Yeah! He's right! Why did you hide that from us? Since when the two of you are a couple?" Keigo snapped with reproach.

Ichigo gasped. He knew he couldn't avoid the answer to those questions and since he knew that he couldn't tell them the truth, he thought of coming out with a good lie. Then he remembered the story Rukia told to his family one night before.

"Since…ever!" he answered and added one his charming but unease smiles."But we couldn't make it public until Byakuya agreed".

"And do you want us to believe that Kuchiki Byakuya has accepted you, now?" Ishida asked diffidently.

"Yeah…kind of…" Ichigo answered.

"Kurosaki - Kuchiki Byakuya hates you." Ishida stated with a straight face. "There's no reason he would accept you."

"Well, he did and I don't even need to know why he did it!" Ichigo lied. "And Ishida, if you think this engagement it's not real, why did you comment on Facebook that you want to design Rukia's dress?"

"This has nothing to do with it!" Ishida replied stiffed. "I couldn't waste a change to display my designer talent."

"So you do check your Facebook, Ichigo!" Keigo snapped hurtfully. "You told me you didn't! I asked you three times to make me your best man; did you even saw my comments?"

"Ichigo, I'm advising you to make him your best man otherwise he won't shut his mouth for the next two months." Mizuiro intervened and Ichigo looked with worry at Keigo who was crying with his face on the table.

"This is happening so fast…" Ishida whispered to himself and tossed back his drink. "I'm sure the world is coming to its end if Kuchiki Byakuya deliberately wants you as his brother-in-law…"

"And what are you thinking of doing after the wedding?" Mizuiro asked ignoring Ishida's mumbling and Keigo's sob.

And on that question, Ichigo remained blank. Caught up in the wedding planning fever he hadn't though once of where he will live after the wedding and how he will support Rukia, since he was still unemployed. Mizuiro read all these thoughts on Ichigo's face and after he ordered himself another glass of beer and added:

"Maybe Ishida is right. Don't you think you are rushing things a little? Why don't you wait to find a job first?"

"The date has been set already, and we also booked the restaurant." Ichigo answered. "We can't lose the money paid for restaurant."

"You already booked the restaurant?"Mizuiro asked surprised.

"Weren't you the one who last week said that you're too young for getting married?" Keigo added reproachfully.

"Well…Did I?" Ichigo mumbled with guilty.

"There must be a reason for which all this is moving so fast." Ishida stated.

"Maybe Ichigo and Rukia are expecting…" Chad's grave voice intervened. It was the first time he had spoken that evening, so everyone remained silent and turned to him, since his words were actually making sense.

Ichigo's eyes widened scared as he didn't want to repeat the experience he had the other night with his family.

"No! She's not pregnant!" he snapped.

"Then why are you suddenly getting married?"

Ichigo gasped. He had to tell them… otherwise their questions, their presumptions and their suspicions won't stop. He just had to tell them…

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Rukia was in the kitchen. She told herself that she was thirsty and that she needed a glass of water, but even after she had that glass of water she continued to stay on the kitchen. "For no particular reason" she told herself, while her eyes were looking from time to time at the entrance door.

"Waiting for him?" Isshin asked as he appeared on the threshold.

"Who? No!" she snapped. "I was just…thirsty!"

Isshin smiled and left her alone.

"Good night, my daughter!" he added as he was furthering away.

"What does "late" mean in the human perception?" she suddenly asked, causing Isshin to stop for a moment:

"I'm sure he'll be back before midnight. And don't worry … he just hangs out with his colleagues from high school."

Her cheeks turned red, but Isshin smiled and left the kitchen.

"Good night… dad!" she said as she watched him leaving. When she remained alone, she put the glass on the sink and headed to her bedroom, as well.

When she got there she noticed a hell butterfly waiting for her. Byakuya was informing her that the engagement party will take place on Saturday and if she couldn't come back tomorrow, she should at least be home with Ichigo on Wednesday. After she sent the butterfly back, she noticed that the closet returned to the room. She looked at it for a couple of seconds but in the end she headed to the bed.

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'I am late…and it is drunk...' Ichigo thought as he opened the entrance door.

"No… I am drunk…and it is late…" he corrected himself with a whispered voice, as he put his converse shoes away and headed to the stairs. He felt like the whole house was about to take off and that his head was turning in a plane's engine. He stopped at the bathroom to wash his face, but despite the cold water, he was still drunk and dizzy. He just shrugged his shoulders in resignation while looking at his reflection in the mirror and then he headed to his room.

Inside his room, only dark and silence greeted him. He stood against the closet for a couple of seconds and patted its surface.

"Good night, Rukia" he mumbled and headed to the bed. Without turning on the lights, he began to unbutton his shirt. He threw it on the floor and put himself on his side of the bed, half naked. He wanted to sleep but when he closed his eyes, his dizziness become stronger. He opened them and began to count the drinks that he'd had that evening in order to become sleepy. After 5, he lost the count.

"How did it go with the guys?" Rukia's voice suddenly popped in the silence of the room, from the other side of the bed.

He turned to her surprised and confused at the same time:

"Weren't you supposed to be in the closet?" he asked.

She didn't answer and he thought that since she was there, he should at least put a t-shirt on him. He had the intention but the bed was too comfortable for him leave it, not even for a second.

"Did you tell them why we're getting married?" Rukia insisted.

"Yes…" he answered.

Rukia suddenly got up and turned to him. The first thing she noticed was that he was nearly naked. The second was the tipsy grin on his lips. Trying to get over these details, she focused on the important things:

"How could you?!" she hissed. "What exactly did you tell them?"

Ichigo frowned confused, trying to remember his words exactly:

"We are getting married because…" and looked at his fingers as he was trying to solve some complicate calculations. "Because we love each other..."

Rukia's eyes widened. He made a pause and then added self pleased: "Yeah…that's what I told them."

Rukia cocked her eyebrows.

"You're drunk." She stated.

He blinked for a couple of times, not sure he understood her words.

"My head hurts," he complained, "I think I'll sleep now…"

And after he said that pulled the sheet over him and closed his eyes. Rukia remained though, sitting straight up on her side of the bed. She kept starring at him while a though crossed her mind: "We are not even married and he already comes back home late…and drunk!"

She was supposed to be annoyed, but a slight smile was lingering on the corner of her lips. She had known Ichigo for more than 10 years but they had never been this close. Unlike the High School years, now it felt that he could feel at ease around her in any situation, even half naked and drunk as he was in this moment.

She listened to his breath and since it was steady, she presumed that he was already asleep. She also turned to her pillow and closed her eyes. Unfortunately, the sleep wasn't coming to her. She knew that even though she had kicked him out of bed that morning, secretly she had to admit that she never had a more restful sleep.

"We are getting married because we love each other…"

'What a joke,' she thought.

But then, unsure of what she was doing, she crossed the line that split the bed in two and she approached Ichigo. She didn't know why she was. Was it because she just felt at ease around him? Was it because she just wanted to feel warmth of being close to someone? She just curled to his chest like a child. For the first minute her heart beat fast, almost popping out her chest, because Ichigo answered to her gesture by putting his hand around her waist. She looked at him with wide eyes, but he really seemed asleep. Slowly, her heartbeat calmed and when she closed her eyes, that restful sleep came back to her.

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When she finally fell asleep, Ichigo opened his eyes and looked at her confused. All his dizziness disappeared and a voice inside him begun to ask:

"Why?"

And then he suddenly felt like he wanted to hold her tighter. He wished to blame it on the alcohol, but unfortunately, he was no longer drunk…

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That was is for the moment, i'll try to come back with a sonne(er) update. Until then, read and review!