Hi! I'm back if only for a little while with a New Year's present for you guys. Sorry I haven't updated in so long, I've been busy with university work and manual labour, so forgive me. If you do I'll give you a frog and ask my friend Harpo Marx to play the harp for you! Hope you enjoy this chapter folks, I really enjoyed writing it. -smiles-

Oh and remember to leave a review at the end!

Disclaimer: I swear I did not steal Bleach from the supermarket.

--

Coffee, Cars, and Kurosaki

Chapter 4

"I'm never going to live this down."

Rukia flung her paintbrush at the wall and collapsed her face in her hands.

"I'm a fool with a capital 'F'" she mumbled into her jumper.

The place where the brush had hit was now splattered with an eerie green blob of paint that looked suspiciously like the school mascot, Kon. Seeing her friend like this was really ungratifying for Inoue. Besides the looks they received from the rest of the class, it was becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate on this still life- of a moose head of all things- when one Kurosaki Ichigo was allocated opposite her trying to supress a very red face behind his work. Ocassionally their eyes would meet upon glancing at the object placed on a stool in the middle of their circle of desks, at which they'd both quickly pretend to notice something somewhere else.

The air could have been cut with a knife, it was so dense. Was it just her or did everyone seem extra silent today? Well, apart from Rukia of course and her paintbrush-throwing antics. But even so, she was whispering her agony, so it meant, of course, that everyone had heard about the incident the weekend before, and was deliberately lowering their volume in a bid to catch any juicy gossip the girls should happen to interchange. Kids.

Damn you, Rukongai Festival! Honestly, how was there any way in the world she could have prevented what had happened? It wasn't every day that Renji's hair caught fire, or that he'd accidentally fall atop Rukia. Or rather, Rukia's lips.

No, that part had been quite hilarious. What she was worried about concerned no other than her, and the young man opposite her. In a tent. On loudspeaker.

The end-of-lesson bell had never been more well-received in any of their lives. Rukia made a dash for the door in a bid to prevent those annoying girls like Cirruci and Yachiru from approaching and interrogating her. Not that they'd think they ever could, this is Rukia we're talking about. But nevertheless in a shot she was gone. Luckily Inoue knew where to find her.

Stepping into the cove, Inoue sighed as she sighted her best friend.

"Hey Ruki... How's it going?"

The black-haired girl was sitting there stuffing Chappy Puffs into her mouth frantically, as if the world was going to end and there would be Chappy Puffs no more. "Not that good!" she bellowed uncharacteristically. She gulped down a mouthful of chewed starch. "Everybody knows... they keep looking at me! Oh god I am so embarrassed. I should never have gone to that stupid park and that stupid festival."

"Um..." Inoue started, not sure what to make of the situation. For one, Rukia was overreacting. It had all been a big accident. So what if her image as a smart, quirky ball-buster had been tarnished? It was never a bad time to change into the person you wanted to be.

The reason why she was so distressed was not because of the accidental kiss, but what happened immediately after it. Rukia had in a way displayed... well, enjoyment of it. She may have also wrapped her hands around Renji's back and um... deepened the kiss. In front of everyone. All the while on her back. On the ground. In a park. In front of everyone. Oh, that had already been mentioned. But basically everybody saw it. The kiss. And the enjoyment.

Where was Renji anyway? Actually, nobody felt that the answer to that question was really needed. It would be better if he didn't show up for a while, thought Rukia.

"Rukia-chan, I think he likes you too."

As if there wasn't insult to injury enough! Inoue gulped at the sight of her friend's face.

"Inoue, please, please, don't mention him around me for at least another year. Please. In fact, who is he? I don't know what you're talking about." Rukia scoffed, bits of Chappy Puffs around her mouth and cheeks. There was a sight for sore eyes. Offering Rukia a drink, Inoue couldn't help but notice that her friend might have had a serious crush on a certain redheaded, tattooed young man. She did not see this coming. She thought they hated one another?

"What?"

Oops, had she been thinking out loud? But anyway, she thought that they hated one another. All those times she'd caught them bickering, fighting, poking, pinching, glaring, tackling, arguing, attacking, snarling-- was there something else in the works that she'd missed completely? Come to think of it, despite the fact- perhaps not so true anymore- that they hated it each other, they spent an awful lot of time in one another's company, even if the majority of it was to insult and bite the opposition. Could this tawdry relationship have been a result of some deep, unresolved magnetism between her raven-haired friend and the intimidating redhead? It was all becoming clear to her now. Ah, the physics of quantum.

Inoue glanced over to Rukia, as she heard a cough. However it didn't come from her. She glanced instead towards the entrance of the little alcove off the college gardens, which was restricted by a layer of willow leaves, and saw an unmistakable silhouette. It was Renji.

"Hey." he greeted, "Can I come in?"

Rukia, who still had bits of Chappy Puffs on her face, widened her eyes in panic, her chest starting to heave. She remained silent and mouthed to Inoue 'Pretend we're not here'.

"Er... I can see you doing that you know." came the voice from outside.

Rukia punched the air.

"Yeah, I saw that too."

Dammit! She had no choice but to watch Renji poke his head through the dangling willow leaves.

"It's okay, Inoue, I'm just here to return this to Rukia, thought she might need it for class, or something." he said as he saw Inoue get ready to make leave. He handed Rukia a black satin bow. She had been wearing it Saturday, and had obviously forgotten all about it in the midst of the commotion. Taking the accessory from Renji she muttered a rushed 'thanks', quickly glancing up at him for a split second before turning away again, blushing tomato red.

"Oh and um, if you want to..." Renji wanted to invite Rukia out for a coffee after school, but suddenly his throat choked up. "You might want to make a move, class is starting."

The girls nodded and watched as he disappeared behind the willow. Inoue followed shortly after, leaving Rukia to make her way out last.

What she didn't realise however, was that Renji was about to stick his head back in to see if she was following suit.

You can probably guess what came next-- I'm going to hurry it up and tell you in short, that if Karakura High was ever close to having a student spontaneously combust, then that was it, on behalf of Kuchiki Rukia. In that short moment, for the second time in a week, Renji and Rukia had somehow managed to touch mouth regions once again, but this time with an added zing of Chappy puff.

Poor, innocent Inoue didn't have a clue what was going on. She was in a bit of a daze herself, having just spotted one Mr. Kurosaki Ichigo walk along the adjacent path to their next class. And yes, they did make eye contact if you were wondering. The compulsion between them was pretty strong, because Inoue made way towards him through no will of her own, and seemingly he had made a swift turn from the path he was taking towards where she had stood.

"Hey." he said.

"Hello, uh, hi." Inoue responded, biting her lip, and taking in the sight of Ichigo. He had the typical school uniform on, but his blazer sleeves were rolled up and his necktie loosened as well as the top button of his shirt. The truth was, Ichigo looked Sexy. And Inoue was the first hand witness of this.

They both looked nervously at each other and chuckled hesitantly.

"I'm sorry-

"This morning-

"about what happened--

"I had---

"on Saturday--"

"toast for breakfast!"

Ichigo stared at Inoue, not sure at what she just said. Maybe it was for the best.

"You first." Inoue quickly exclaimed, realising that her sentence was slightly more out of context than Ichigo's.

"I was just saying that I'm really sorry for what happened to you-- to us, on Saturday. I, um, know it's really embarrassing but I really hope you don't stop talking to me for it." Ichigo fiddled with his fingers as he said this, and provided a staring point for them both because neither of them were making eye contact.

"No, you silly... why would I stop talking to you?" Inoue sighed, and instinctively reached for his hands, a gesture she half regretted immediately and half found truly exciting, for she'd never made the first move with a guy before. She'd never been brave enough, but this felt quite natural and fluid.

Now it was eye-contact time, and full on at that. Ichigo looked at her hands on his hands and then back at her, and beamed. He laid his fingertips on hers and they teased each other for a moment before breaking the ice with laughter.

"I wouldn't stop talking to you because of some silly incident like that. Who cares if everybody heard you and I talking explicitly about Chappy the rabbit? And that we're raging potty-mouths after a few too many candy canes and soft drinks? I certainly don't."

Ichigo looked downwards and blushed- something Inoue found completely enticing. He had beautiful eyes, and looked best when he half-smiled in contemplation of something, as he was currently doing.

"Thanks." he stated. He gave her hands a little squeeze, leaned in, and kissed her on the cheek, not that it was at all precedented. The two broke away, realising the excitement of what they had just done.

Inoue laughed, her face redder than her hair, as did Ichigo.

"So, uh, that was a surprise." she murmured, her heartbeat at high speed. Ichigo let go of her hands and cleared his throat. He apologised, clenching his fist.

"No! No, I mean, it was a nice surprise, and... I wouldn't mind if you, you know, did it again."

It was now Ichigo's turn to laugh, overjoyed. He pretty much got the message before Inoue realised to herself how bold she'd been. She was caught mid-thought by a kiss to the same spot, Ichigo's warm cheek pressing against her own. She closed her eyes and smiled wearily, revelling in the moment, feeling his soft lips against her skin. They lingered; it had become intense pretty quick. She turned her face towards him, their lips not an inch apart, which soon become no space apart as they closed in on one another, her arms around his shoulders, his hands around her waist.

The kiss was warm and soft, and made her stomach feel funny, but not in the same way that marmalade and batternberg toast did. Ichigo was so caught up in it that he almost forgot to breathe. All he knew was that Inoue smelt of strawberries, and tasted like satin mixed with ice cream, not that it was coherent, but he didn't care.

Gasping for air, their lips parted slightly, both still holding the other. Inoue smiled breathily and Ichigo leaned in for more, but was interrupted by a very loud, angry growl.

They looked over. It was Caretaker Kenpachi, and he looked livid.

"You kids have any idea what time it is?" he more snarled than asked. "What do you think this is, seventh heaven? What would your parents say if they knew what you were up to at school, where you're supposed to be learning about this kind of stuff, not doing it!"

Inoue inwardly groaned. The caretaker was infamous for his long-winded, informative speeches, or so she'd heard. She looked at Ichigo, who bowed before the caretaker and apologised for them both, with face still flushed. He then took her by the hand and led her back along the path towards the school without uttering a word. Inoue didn't look back because frankly she was scared half to death of the caretaker's eyepatch, which looked like it was concealing something dark and sinister that could jump at and maul you ten times over. Accompanied by a radical hairstyle he seriously looked like he'd been placed on the job as community service. Rumours went round that he was actually serving time for murder. She shuddered, hoping to never have to encounter Caretaker Kenpachi and his crazy hair ever again.

Momentarily having been distracted from the subject at hand, Inoue now drew back to the fact that she may now just possibly have a boyfriend. A sort of electric chill ran down her spine. She looked at the back of his head, his ears had turned a light cherry colour. However, he kept his hand firmly around hers, subconsciously giving it a little squeeze every now and again.

It wasn't until the end of the day that they got to speak to each other properly once again. Classes had prevented Ichigo and Inoue from talking fully, despite being in some of the same ones. The truth of the matter was they were too embarrassed to really engage with one another in class because the moment they did, their faces went bright red.

For Rukia and Renji however, it was a different matter.

Those two were overcompensating for recent occurrences. As a result of their tardiness, they were made to dust the blackboard erasers as punishment.

"You dumb tosser, Matsumoto-sensei said the blackboard erasers, why the hell have you brought two gluesticks and a box of glitter dust outside? WHY?"

End of Chapter 4.