Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does. Get it? Got it? Good.

A Birthday To Remember – Chapter 2 – Everyday Combat

The next morning, Ichigo woke up instinctively, knowing that has father would come running into his room to "wake him up" in the next 30 seconds or so. Ichigo quickly scrambled out of his bed and got dressed for school. By the time Ichigo was all dressed up for school; his father still hadn't shown his face. Ichigo couldn't help but to feel a tad bit suspicious… He opened his bedroom door cautiously, half expecting his old man to be standing outside, ready to aim a kick at his son. Ichigo looked around, his father was no where to be seen. Hoping that his father had given up this morning ritual, Ichigo descended down the stairs yawning and wearing his usual scowl.

"GOOD MORNING, ICHIGOOOOO!" Isshin cried as he came out from behind Ichigo and kicked him in the backside.

"ARRGHHH!" Ichigo yelled as he rolled down the stairs and landed on the floor with a loud 'thump'.

"You let your guard down!" Isshin said as he walked down the stairs and hurled himself at Ichigo.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ichigo cried as he punched his father defensively. "You could have broken my neck or something! What the hell were you doing sneaking up behind me anyway?!" By now, Ichigo had several veins throbbing on his head.

"You must always expect the unexpected," Isshin declared wisely as he picked himself off the floor.

Ichigo scowled, "Expect the unexpected? Don't give me that crap!" He then proceeded over to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Our daily male bonding is not finished yet, Ichigo!" Isshin cried as he tackled Ichigo to the ground.

"Gah! BONDING? YOU CALL THIS BONDING?!" Ichigo yelled as he threw his father off with such force that Isshin fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Ichigo, stop being so quick-tempered and violent, it can't be good for your health," Rukia said loftily as Ichigo walked into the kitchen. She was sitting at the table having a breakfast of toast with Yuzu and Karin.

Ichigo's scowl deepened and he growled, "You're in no position to call anyone violent or quick-tempered, midget."

Before anyone knew what had happened, Ichigo had a piece of toast implanted on his face. "Bitch," he muttered as he peeled off the half eaten piece of toast and flung it back at Rukia. He then took the seat next to Rukia and started eating a bowl of cereal.

"Bastard," Rukia retorted as she sat back down in her seat and sent Ichigo a death glare.

Karin and Yuzu looked from Ichigo, to Rukia, and then back again. Such profanities were never used by Rukia, well, not that they knew of anyway... Perhaps their dear Ichii-ni was having a bad influence on Rukia.

"Rukia-Chan? About the birthday party, would you like to invite any of your school friends?" Yuzu asked as she nibbled on a piece of toast.

"No no, there's no need to have such a big party," Rukia said with a smile, "besides, I don't want it to be any trouble."

"It won't be any trouble, Rukia-Chan," Yuzu insisted and Karin gave a tight nod.

"Well…I guess I could invite Asano-Kun…" Rukia said with a well hidden smirk, she loved to provoke Ichigo.

Ichigo spat out his mouthful of milk and cereal and started coughing. Rukia, being the one seated closest to him, smacked him across the back several times as Yuzu and Karin looked on.

"Not so hard, you bitch!" Ichigo yelled in between coughs and wheezes.

Rukia scowled and thumped his back even harder, so hard that Ichigo was sent plummeting face first into his bowl of cereal.

"Ichii-ni!" Yuzu cried as she stood up, ready to rush to Ichigo's aid.

"Calm down, Yuzu," Karin said in a bored tone, "he didn't get knocked around so much by dad to go drown in a bowl of cereal…"

"I-I'm sorry, Ichigo!" Rukia said in between giggles and fits of laughter as Ichigo lifted his head from the bowl of cereal. Rukia then grabbed a few tissues and started wiping some of the milk off his face as she continued to laugh.

Ichigo blinked a few times as he looked at Rukia's laughing form. It was none of that fake girly, giggly crap she used at school, this was a genuine laugh and it had been a while since he had last seen it. It made him want to laugh along with her, but being Ichigo Kurosaki, all he would allow himself to do was give a small twitch of a smile. He then realised that she was still wiping the cereal off his face and he allowed his scowl to return, along with a faint blush. "I can do that myself," he growled as he grabbed the tissues and walked over to the sink, leaving a grinning Rukia and a somewhat confused Karin and Yuzu.

As Isshin walked into the kitchen, fully recovered from his earlier brawl with Ichigo, he walked up to Karin and attempted to hug her while saying, "Good morning, my lovely daughters!"

"Can it, old man," Karin said menacingly as she hit her dad on the head. Isshin retreated to the comfort of Yuzu and sat down for breakfast.

"Good morning, Rukia-Chan," Isshin said with a wide grin, "You're looking beautif-"

"Rukia, come on, we're going to be running late for school," Ichigo said, cutting his dad off.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about school," Rukia said with a rather blank expression on her face.

"Idiot," Ichigo muttered as he walked to the front door.

"Shut up," Rukia growled back as she shot him one of her famous death glares.

"Leaving already, my son?" Isshin called from the kitchen, "we shall continue our male bonding tomorrow morning, then."

"Whatever, old man," Ichigo called back as he walked out the front door with Rukia following close behind.

"What the hell? Since when was it raining?" Ichigo asked, looking genuinely surprised to see the rain falling from the sky.

"Since around 3am this morning," Rukia replied as she took out an umbrella, "Slow one aren't you?"

"Shut up," Ichigo growled, "Hey, why do you have my umbrella? Where's YOUR umbrella?"

"It broke."

"Again? What the hell do you do with your umbrellas? Duel with them? That's the 4th umbrella you've gone through."

"Shut up and walk or I'll leave you to walk in the rain," Rukia said as she started down the street.

"What the fuck? It's MY umbrella." Ichigo protested, ducking, for Rukia was holding the umbrella far too low for Ichigo's tall figure.

"Well, I'm the one holding it," Rukia said as she stuck her tongue out at him.

Ichigo's scowl deepened, "Isn't there a spare umbrella?"

"Believe me, Ichigo, if there was a spare umbrella, I'd have taken it ages ago. I even went to the trouble of asking Karin, Yuzu and your dad."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Damn it, Rukia. Can't you hold that umbrella up higher?"

"I can't," Rukia said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, 'cause you're so damn short!" Ichigo grumbled as he crouched below the umbrella, it was starting to make his back hurt… With one decisive and swift movement, Ichigo grabbed the umbrella from Rukia's grasp.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Rukia whined as she slapped him across the head.

"Watch it, bitch," Ichigo growled as he rubbed his sore head. "You don't know your own strength do you? Besides, I'm not walking like a hunchback all the way to school."

"Jerk…"

"Shut up and walk"

With that, they fell into a comfortable silence as they walked to school.

A/N: And that's chapter 2...I'm sorry if it's still boring.

Thank you all very much for the reviews, they are appreciated very muchly. Hehe...muchly. xD Keep the reviews coming in, i'd still like to know how i'm going.

I'll probably update in a few days or so with chapter 3. Once again, thank you all.