Disclaimer: No, i don't know Bleach. -Young and Penniless-

A Birthday To Remember - Chapter 3 – The Perfect Gift to Give

"Good morning, Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-kun," Inoue said with a bright smile as Rukia and Ichigo walked into the classroom looking rather…disgruntled.

"Good morning, Inoue-san!" Rukia said with a bright smile and she walked over to her friend.

"Good morning," Ichigo said as he strolled past Rukia and Inoue to join his own group of friends at his seat.

"Kurosaki," Ishida acknowledged as he slid his glasses back up his nose.

"Ichigoooooo!" Keigo cried as he threw himself at Ichigo for a hug.

"Piss off," Ichigo growled as he punched Keigo square in the face.

"Owww," Keigo cried with rivers of tears running down his cheeks. "Mizuiro, Ichigo's bullying me!" Keigo said as he ran towards Mizuiro for comfort.

"Oh, come on, Keigo; Ichigo's always like that. You know he doesn't mean it, right, Ichigo?" Mizuiro said.

Ichigo grunted in response.

"Good morning," Chad said in that deep voice of his as he entered the classroom.

"Morning, Chad," Ichigo, Keigo, Mizuiro and Ishida said in unison.

"Kuchiki-san!" Keigo cried, having finally spotted Rukia (slow one ain't he? But we love him that way, right?). He then proceeded to walk over to Rukia's group of friends and throw himself at her for a hug.

"Ahh, good morning, Asano-kun," Rukia replied as she gracefully evaded Keigo's hug by stepping to the side to pick up a random piece of paper on the floor.

"Kuchiki-san, you're looking as beautiful as ever today, perhaps even mor-"

Keigo was cut off when Ichigo punched him in the head and said, "Cut the crap, man. Besides, there's no way that midget can be regarded as beau-"

Ichigo was also cut off, but this was due to the fact that their teacher had just arrived. As everyone murmured their greetings to the teacher, the class settled down in their seats. As usual, Rukia sat on her table beside Ichigo, making sure to tread on Ichigo's feet as she walked to her seat. Ichigo winced but remained silent.

As the teacher worked her way up to a long lecture about maths equations, Ichigo found it really hard to keep focused. Not that he found it easy to be focused every other day, but today was just extra hard. He glanced at Ishida, who was currently taking notes and listening to the teacher very intently. Ichigo let out a loud snort; this earned him stares from several students. Cursing slightly under his breath, Ichigo quickly turned his snort into a string of light coughs.

Rukia looked up at Ichigo as he started coughing; she had a look of concern on her face. She wondered if he had a piece of cereal stuck in his throat of something… Though, all her concern for Ichigo disappeared when he looked up and scowled at her. She responded by sticking out her tongue at him as he rolled his eyes and looked out the window.

Ichigo sighed inwardly as he continued to stare out the window, he could barely even hear the teacher's voice droning on and on while he drifted deep into thought. It was still raining, he noted to himself. He hoped that it would stop tomorrow, because it was Rukia's birthday and he knew that she didn't like the rain. He then scolded himself for caring so much, more importantly; he wondered why he cared so much. He racked his brains for the answer to that one question, but he couldn't find it. He sighed and came to the conclusion that it was because she was his friend and he wanted her to be happy. A part of his brain was in doubt of whether this was the answer or not, but Ichigo pushed this thought away as he attempted to follow on to what the teacher was saying.

The day wore on with things going relatively normal, Rukia shoving her juice box infront of his face, Keigo getting hurt, arguing with Rukia, attending boring lessons and arguing with Rukia some more…

By the time the bell signalling that school was over for the day, Ichigo was bored out of his mind. For once, he had actually hoped that a hollow would appear, just to give him something to do.

"Hurry up, midget, I don't have all day," Ichigo said as he waited for Rukia to finish packing her back pack.

"Shut it, strawberry," Rukia scoffed as she walked past Ichigo and out the classroom.

"What did you just call me?" Ichigo asked, bewildered as he followed Rukia out the classroom.

"Strawberry, Ichigo means strawberry doesn't it?"

"…"

"Doesn't it?"

"Hn…It can also mean he who protects,"

"Oh…I prefer strawberry though,"

Ichigo grunted as he turned from Rukia and started to walk away.

"Oi! Ichigo, what the hell are you doing? That's not the way home," Rukia called out to him. "I mean, it's not the way to your house," she quickly added.

"Yeah, I know that, turd face, but I need to go and buy yo-," Ichigo stopped abruptly, he almost blurted that he was going to get her a present. "Buy Yuzu some cooking utensils," he said, attempting to correct himself.

"…Right, can I come along?" Rukia asked, genuinely interested, she hadn't been to the supermarket before.

"Uhh…" Ichigo slapped himself mentally, what was he going to say now? "Well, Rukia, there's a…err…Chappy marathon on TV at around..uhh…4pm. If you miss that then that's it. I'm not renting anymore DVDs for you." A white lie every now and then wouldn't hurt would it? Yet, Ichigo shuddered at the thought of Rukia after she found out that the Chappy marathon was non-existent.

"Really?" Rukia squealed, her eyes shining with excitement. "Well, I'll see you later then, Ichigo." With that, she sped off 'home' while humming the Chappy theme song.

Ichigo sighed at her retreating form; he felt a slight pang of guilt but he shrugged it off as he started to walk to the Karakura shopping district. He still had no idea what to get Rukia, not that he had really thought about it anyway. He tried to remember the things that Rukia liked; drawing, rabbits, orange juice…hurting him…

By the time Ichigo had reached the shopping district, a few shops had already been getting ready to close. He sighed softly; he still had no idea what to get Rukia. Thinking that he'd eventually find something suitable for that midget, Ichigo walked past the shops while glancing at their display cases. (Window shopping?)

After about 30 minutes, Ichigo still hadn't found anything that he thought would interest Rukia. He considered getting her some flowers, but he wanted to get her something…useful and interesting. That's when he spotted a rather small and dark antique store down the road. When Ichigo walked up to the store to see what it offered, he saw some pretty interesting handcrafted masks and jewellery sets. It also appeared that the shop doubled as an art store, he grinned. Though, he wondered if buying things from a shabby looking store was wise.

As Ichigo walked into the door of the art store, an elderly man was just about to walk out. Ichigo appeared to have startled the man a bit, seeing as the old man let out a jolt of surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that…" Ichigo said apologetically.

"That's quite alright, young man. You've come in just in time, I was just about to close up for the day," the elderly man said in a kind voice.

"You're the owner?" Ichigo asked with an air of surprise. "Oh, I mean of course you're the owner… I'm sorry if I'm keeping you away from closing up, I can leave if you want."

"No no, don't worry;" the man said with a curt smile, "I've all the time in the world, so how may I help you, young sir?"

"Ahh…You see… I just wanted a birthday present for someone…" Ichigo said as he took a good look around at the store. Small didn't even begin to describe it, it was minute and hundreds of books were crammed together on bookcases. As he scanned counters full of drawing and painting materials, something bright caught his eye.

Ichigo walked over to a set of different coloured pencils which featured a rabbit print on them. He picked up a bright green pencil and turned it over, the name "Annabelle" was imprinted on a side of the pencil. He glanced at the other pencils in the set and noticed that they all had "Annabelle" imprinted on them in gold lettering. Ichigo grinned stupidly at the pencil set, it was perfect for Rukia.

"Ahh, those pencils are pretty popular with the young girls at the moment," the old man said, hurtling Ichigo back to reality. "Are you trying to find a gift for your daughter?"

Ichigo blinked several times and surveyed the old man before he realised what the man had just said. He blushed faintly and stammered, "No…no. Nothing like that! I-I'm too young and besides i…uhh…"

The man chuckled lightly, "You're more innocent than you look…Well, I'm guessing the gift is for a special someone?"

Special someone? Yeah, that's what Rukia is… "Yeah," Ichigo answered without hesitation.

"I see, likes rabbits does she?"

"You have no idea."

The man chuckled again, "So, what's this special someone's name?"

"Rukia," Ichigo replied, "Hey how much are these pencils gonna cost?"

"$25.99 for the set of pencils, it's $10 extra if you want the name on it," the man answered as he walked towards an old looking cashier machine.

"Oh, right," Ichigo said as he followed the man to the cashier machine. He then rummaged through his wallet for the money.

"You seem like a nice lad, I'll cut off the $10 extra for putting the name on," the man said with a wink.

"No, there's no need," Ichigo insisted as he handed the man $40.

"Oh, but there is a need. For young love, I shall sacrifice $10 profit!" the man said with his eyes twinkling. Ichigo was suddenly reminded of Isshin.

"She's not my girlfriend! So there's really is no ne--" Ichigo was cut short when the man handed him $14 change.

The man smiled knowingly, "So Rukia, was it?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said with a nod, "Hey, take this $10 note back."

"No, it's yours."

"No, take it!" Ichigo said with a slight scowl.

"My, are you trying to harass an elderly man? That's not the way to treat the elderly," the man said.

"What? No!" Ichigo said indignantly.

"Then it's settled," the man said with a grin, "I'll have the pencils ready for you in two days time."

Ichigo's heart sank. "Two days? Uhm…could it be any quicker?"

"Oh? Well, I suppose…When do you need it done by?"

"Tomorrow night, the latest."

"Well, I could manage that," the man said, though he looked deep in thought. "Come back tomorrow at around 7pm."

"Oh, sure. And thank you. Goodbye" Ichigo said as he walked out the door, not before leaving a $10 note on a counter of course.

He then set out back home. It was growing pretty dark now and the street lights were already on. As he was halfway home, the rain started up again, yet, he didn't really notice it. He had other thoughts to deal with…such as what to do when he got home to a pissed off Rukia…

A/N: Ok..well...that in my opinion was pretty boring... xD Though, i just wanted Ichigo to come to turns with some of his feelings for Rukia. I'll probably make the next chapter more fluff-filled to make up for the lack of it in this chapter... And thank you for the reviews, everyone, they are appreciated.