Author's Note: Bonjour! Comment-ca va? I don't know about this chapter- but hopefully posting it will pull me out of this break I'm taking and write more! It's been sitting here for a while now xD

Thank you SO much for all your reviews, they made me so happy! I love getting feedback on my work, whether it's literature or art, and well, it inspires and motivates me to write more, so keep it up guys, and I promise I will reciprocate!

Enjoy this chapter! It'll move the plot along a little, but more importantly, more mush and everyday life on the part of our mischievous friends.

Ja ne

Disclaimer: Bleach; I don't owns it.

--

Coffee, Cars, and Kurosaki

Chapter 3

Ichigo walked through the same halls that he had done countless times before, every time the same thoughts running through his head. Their inane colour seemed to physically drain him of happiness, and the pulsating smell of antiseptic unnerving his very stability. A sudden feeling of faintness drew over him, as it always did. You'd think he'd be used to it by now, but becoming accustomed to the hospital was neither a beneficial nor desirable thing.

"Kurosaki-san, hello." said the matron upon his arrival. The routine was as usual; check in and sanitise before entering hospital rooms, and no doubt he'd have to sanitise and check out afterwards.

"Tetsuya- any change?" the orange-haired boy asked, to which the nurse shook her head softly.

"Kurosaki-san, I shouldn't talk to you about it here, but I'll say that no change is better than undesirable change, especially in these circumstances."

Ichigo frowned. "Yeah." he sighed, "I'll make my own way down then."

"Oh, Kurosaki-san, Nobu-san has been transferred. His room is no longer where you think. I'll have to take you myself."

He followed her down the corridor and into the glass elevator. For a hospital, it was an extremely prestigious one. Being situated in the upper district of Karakura town, it had to be really. This was where they sent you if you had the money to pay twice what it cost everywhere else. The founder of the hospital, Unohana Retsu, had originally made it so it was a free healthcare clinic, but since it was bought by the Central 46, a high end business company, as well as having shot through the roof in popularity it had become one of the most effective hospitals in Japan.

But still, that couldn't shake the nervous feeling he got whenever he visited it. He secretly counted down the minutes until it was over. He wasn't selfish, but doing the same thing every week was bound to influence your mind to go on little adventures.

He left the hospital just as visiting hours finished, making it six thirty in the evening. He wasn't supposed to meet Inoue and the others until seven, so Ichigo made the most of the November sunset in a nearby park.

--

Earlier that day, Orihime had showed up with Renji to Blossom Garage, hoping to get the job that he'd so fervently advertised to her nearly a week ago.

"Well, as long as you don't twirl your hair or do anything remotely girly, I'd say you're in. But what do I know? Now just go, will you?"

Inoue gulped. What did Renji mean exactly by 'girly'? Did that include smiling, or saying 'thank you very much'? Inoue had clad herself in a large black jumper and the baggiest pair of jeans she could find, in an attempt to disguise her natural feminine features for this interview, but still got the feeling that it wasn't enough. Oh, the hairclips! It must have been the hairclips, she thought, and proceeded to slide them off the sides of her head.

Taking a deep breath, Inoue knocked on the door of Shunsui's office as hard as she could, trying her best to imitate manliness.

"Come in!" she heard a shout from the other side. She smiled at Renji, who gave her two thumbs up, before entering.

What she saw before her was the strangest thing she'd seen in a while, and that included Ichigo's Chappy face. The only person in there was dressed in a pink silk shirt- spotless- and had a head of shiny, wavy black hair pulled back with a tie. If he'd been lacking the huge pectoral and bicep muscles she would have mistaken him for a woman.

"Hey!" she greeted, immediately reproaching herself for the manner in which she'd said it. "I mean- hey!" she corrected, in a much deeper voice, which only attracted a raised eyebrow from the man in front of her.

"You're Inoue, right? I thought you weren't starting work until tomorrow? In any case, it's fine by me. I'm gonna need you to run down to Rukongai to fetch a new order from the central post. Do you know how to ride a motorbike?"

She was speechless and confused. What exactly was the meaning of this nonchalance?

"What is the meaning of this?" she asserted, although feebly. "I thought I was here for an interview?" she queried, catching the attention of his big brown eyes, which prior to that had been roaming the paper-covered desk for something. He wasn't at all organised, contrary to what his appearance might have projected. Why on earth was the guy dressed like that anyway? It seemed out of character for someone who owned a garage. But then again, life is full of surprises, Inoue thought. And besides, he looked kind of cool.

"Ah, I see. Well, consider this a test: if you can make it to Rukongai and back for those orders before noon, you've got the job. And Renji'll buy you lunch." he smiled, "Don't worry Renji, it's on me!" he shouted, which made her jump. Boy, did he have a weird way of running things around here, she thought. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. How better to test efficiency than to send someone to run an errand? Grades, intellect, and articulacy didn't matter in this kind of job; it was spontaneity and energy she would have to get used to.

"Just one thing, I don't know how to ride a motorbike." Inoue declared.

"I was prepared for if you said that." So he did know she was here for an interview after all. "Renji'll take you today; he's one of the best here. Anyway, here's the order slip. Just show that to the guy at the central post, and he'll give you a package. If you drop that package I'll beat you with that goldfish there." He pointed to a lone goldfish in a spherical bowl by his window. "Well, off you go."

--

It was a Saturday, and Saturdays always meant sparring in Rukongai with her brother, Byakuya, the most boring person known to man. The guy had a speech complex, one where he would utter two words every five hours, yet expect people around him to understand exactly what he meant. Today was no different. The two of them had been trying to attempt a sparring move called 'Tiger Claw', yet somehow the lack of fluidity between them left them both performing something like 'Chicken Claw' instead. The last and only thing Byakuya had said was 'You swing the left leg over.' As far as Rukia was concerned, there were about a hundred ways to 'swing the left leg over', and one of those ways was doubtlessly onto his head.

Rukia loved her brother and all but, one, why did he love sparring so much? And two, why was she always the one he wanted to spar with? She dodged a backhand that was coming her way.

She didn't realise it herself, but the reason why Byakuya always asked her to spar was because it was one of the few things that Rukia executed with passion. She was a skilled martial artist, but often wasn't interested enough to pursue it on her own. It was another hidden aspect of Rukia's personality that many people didn't notice.

Fortunately, soon enough she managed to get into the swing of things and her boredom was quickly swept aside, just as it always was in this situation.

When their session finished, Byakuya left the dojo to meet up with his friends, while Rukia headed home. She was just about to cross the street when the sound of a motorbike- a really loud one- resonated in her ears. Looking around for the source of the sound, she was surprised when it was closer than she thought. It had stopped right in front of her, and she immediately recognised the people on them.

Orihime was clutching some sort of parcel with both arms, perched upon the back seat of the motorbike somewhat awkwardly, hair windswept. It was after all the hair that gave her identity away, otherwise the big, black, round thing atop her head would have made it really difficult for Rukia, especially as Inoue was the last person she could have imagined on a motorbike, for goodness' sakes.

"Rukia." the other person acknowledged. He was wearing a white vest and baggy jeans, the same thing from the last time she'd seen him in Itsu Soba. What was it with boys and not changing their clothes? Everyone knew that Renji was rich enough, she thought.

"Hey." Rukia murmured nearly inaudibly that Renji barely heard her- something that he never thought he'd experience from 'loudmouth Rukia' as she was sometimes referred to as. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Hmmfsshfshhguu?" a disgruntled Inoue muffled, irritated that she was helpless. It was hard enough breathing underneath the restrictive helmet on her head, but to make matters worse, it was about forty degrees that day, despite it being November, and Shunsui hadn't told her the thing she had to collect would be so heavy. So there she was, sitting behind Renji on a beast of a bike, feeling stuffy and arms aching like mad. "Canshmbdyhelpme?" she squealed.

"You'd better not, we've got to get going. We're on a strict schedule. Sorry." Renji interrupted just as Rukia was about to reach for the Inoue's helmet. He proceeded to rev the engine so it made a roar as loud as a lion's, and winked at Rukia, causing a slight blush to creep up on her cheeks. Inoue nodded towards her, signalling a makeshift goodbye due to the restricted use of her arms, to which Rukia waved, pushing away the previous blush.

"There's a festival in Rukongai Central later. So far it's me, Inoue and Ichigo. You can come if you want."

Rukia blinked. She could have sworn Renji just said something along the lines of inviting her out.

"It's being held by my work, and kinda exclusive, so, er, look pretty, no offence." Renji mentally kicked himself for saying that right after he did it, but Rukia was far too surprised to have even registered his comment. "It's at seven, we'll meet at Edison Park. I'll-- we'll wait for you."

And with that, he sped off, Inoue's hair billowing behind her in the Autumn breeze.

--

"Ichigo!" Inoue squealed, seeing her friend on the park bench. He was engrossed in something- staring at the sky for an unknown reason that caught her off guard. "Hey Ichigo."

"Oh hey, Inoue." his eyes met with wavy hair, chestnut in the evening sun. Inoue looked really pretty. She was wearing a pale green kimono with dragons embossed on the collar. The sash across her waist was a dark green silk, and it perfectly accentuated her figure. Ichigo couldn't help admiring this, but broke out of his trance before it was long enough to deem him a pervert, which he wasn't- honest. "You look really pretty."

Inoue's eyes widened and she grinned. "Thank you." She felt a flush of excitement rush through her and returned the compliment. "You look really handsome."

Ichigo extended an arm to her, which she took, and was pulled onto the bench beside him. He was also wearing a kimono, a male version. His was dark plum and entirely made from silk. It had been his father's from when he was a teenage boy. 'Go wow the ladies', Isshin had advised his son.

Inoue noticed that Ichigo had turned his attention to the sunset again, facing away from her, so that all she could see were the back of his ear and a glimpse of his eyelashes, which she thought were extremely endearing. Ichigo had such well-defined features, she thought, and was so good-looking. She found herself revelling in the sight of the back of his head a little more intently than was normal.

Suddenly, he turned to face her, inches from her face. Damn it, why had she leaned it so close? Nevertheless, he smiled. Inoue had admired Ichigo's smile before, but now that he smiled at her from proximity of -56 on an arbitrary scale, she internally fainted five times over.

"How was the interview?" he said, an amused expression on his face as Inoue edged back, but not before taking the opportunity to touch Orihime's nose with his own, closing the gap between them at a considerably nerve-wracking rate. "That's how Eskimos say hello by the way." he quickly informed.

"Ah, I see, Kurosaki the Eskimo. Nice!" she declared from the part of her head that had recovered from Ichigo's touch- almost a whole two percent of it. "My interview went-- well, thanks. I got the job! I'm so pleased. Now that I'm employed, I can call myself a real man." joked Inoue.

"Damn, you're right. You can be the breadwinner and I'll cook rice for you three times daily." Ichigo added to the farce. They burst out laughing at each other before Inoue sweetly proceeded with "Glutinous, please, I'm very fussy, being the man and all. HO HO HO", albeit a little strangely.

Ichigo paused."Okay, Santa, since when did all men start going 'ho ho ho'?"

"Be quiet, you! I'm special, okay?" she said hurriedly as she puffed up her cheeks and squinted. "For breakfast, I'd like eel with scrambled egg, and for lunch- taro pie. You can call the shots at dinner time, my dear!"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes wickedly, and pursed his lips. "You're going to have to work for it, Inoue. Nothing in this life is free, not eel, not taro pie, not even a devoted housewife."

"Oh really? Then how should I start?"

The vermillion-haired young man leaned his on his female counterpart, brushing her ear with his lips, instantly causing the overheating of her face.

"Well," he started, "You don't call me Chappy for one."

Ichigo saw the outline of Inoue's cheeks plump up from the angle he was situated, meaning that she'd just broken out into a full smile. "And secondly..." Gently cupping Inoue's cheek, he turned her face around to meet his, their eyes meeting with an eccentric impact. Inoue lowered hers on his lips without even realising it, and in a split second they were nanometres away from one another's faces.

Ichigo lowered his eyelids, already feeling the heat of Inoue's quickened breath on his lips.

"A-hem!"

They both jumped, startled as deer in front of oncoming headlights, and breaking apart instantly. Ichigo tried to look cool by concentrating his gaze the best he could towards some nearby tree branches, while Inoue fumbled with something on her sleeve that wasn't even there.

"So, er, so you guys found your way here okay?" Inoue asked, avoiding eye contact with the two in front of them and the one next to her.

"Yep, sure looks like it doesn't it?" Renji said with an expression of extreme amusement on his face. Seriously, the guy couldn't have looked smugger if he had the entire female team of Gladiators on his arms.

"And, of course, that's not including the fact that we've lived here pretty much all our lives and go to this park- oh I don't know- every other day." Rukia sarcastically injected, but also with an equal face of smugness.

What was it with these people and their cockiness? Damn it! Ichigo broke his stare from the twig above, which had actually become rather interesting because of a nearby nest of baby sparrows, and stood up.

"So! Where is this thing? You guys want to get going? It's already 7:25 and you said it starts at half past." He hurriedly exclaimed.

"Oh, it's in the marquees by the lake. Let's go." And with that, Renji pivoted on his heel and led the way, only later seeing a hint of a smile from the person who'd just caught up to walking beside him.

"You owe me ten bucks." said Rukia triumphantly.

That smile quickly turned into a frown and furrowing of eyebrows when he interjected, "The deal was for them to be a couple". Even though Ichigo and Inoue had looked pretty friendly with one another, he had to make it harder for his bob-haired rival to get one over on him. He hadn't expected her to win their little wager- they'd only made it Monday night! There was no way Inoue and Ichigo were already together! What was the world coming to? Whatever happened to good old-fashioned courtship between knights and maidens? These days kids just went jumping into bed with the next thing that breathed before you could say 'Shoot me, I'm a Shinigami".

"WHAT?" growled Rukia at this, obviously assuming she'd already sealed the deal, and breaking Renji out of his mental outrage at the other two's speedy attachment. "They looked pretty friendly with one another back there, Abarai, don't you go denying that now."

Damn that Ichigo was a fast mover! Or maybe it was Inoue's seductive ways, Renji thought. Wait a minute, did I just put Inoue and seductive in the same sentence...? Hmm, well, actually, I can see how--

"Renji! Dammit I'm talking to you, graffiti-face!"

"The terms were that we see them lock lips- otherwise it's not official." He said briskly, before distracting himself with a rogue firefly and walking away promptly, leaving Rukia swaggering behind in annoyance, debating with herself whether Renji had just made up those rules on the spot or not. They had been terrifically drunk when they'd made it, after all.

Oh, this surely was not over yet.

End of Chapter 3

A/N: See you next time folks! Mwah!