A/N: I just couldn't keep you waiting.. Also, chapter 3 of Deeper Care is now up. Enjoy! OH! Sorry for all the grammar mistakes in the last chapter. A lot of the editing I did right before I posted it.

Well, actually…

Flashback

Ichigo fell into his chair at the dining room table and glared at the rice maker, grumbling insults. He almost wished that it would come to life so he could exterminate it. A small, brutal burn on his hand stung mockingly. He looked down at it as the area nearly pulsed with heat. He would have to have Yuzu check it out when they got home the next day. As much as he'd hate to admit it, he wasn't sure where she'd keep burn aid supplies…

His eyes strayed to the note Yuzu had scribbled as their father undoubtedly pulled her out the front door. They wouldn't be home until the next day, late afternoon. He was grateful for the peace and quiet, but more thankful for their absence the night before. Rukia had been so tired that after they got out of the train station, he had carried her on his back the rest of the way home. If his father had been awake, it would have been hard to explain why a scantily clad girl, wearing Ichigo's jacket, was asleep on his son's shoulder. The fight he imagined in his head made him cringe. It was lucky that his dad always insisted they go a day early to the riverbank for Hanabi Matsuri.

A rumbling on the table caught his attention. Spinning in circles, bouncing with an audible vibration, his small black phone began to ring. The jingle of a bell on a Miyajima trinket he had bought for his phone the day before was muffled by his palm as he pulled the device towards him and peered at the screen. Keigo. Great…

"Moshi moshi," he said, flipping his phone open. Keigo began squawking excitedly on the other end and Ichigo pulled the phone away from his ear.

"Osu, Ichi-kun!!!" he yelled. Ichigo rolled his eyes. Typical Keigo. Always so…bouncy. The shinigami found himself grinning. Good ol' Keigo.

"Aa. Whatcha need?" he said, a twinge of amusement escaping his voice.

"I've been calling everyone trying to figure out Kuchiki Rukia's number, but no one seems to have it! Not even Inoue, can you believe that?! Anyway, I thought that since you two seem to be together all the time, you might have it," he rushed. Ichigo raised his eyebrow and leaned back in his chair.

"No idea, why?"

"You really don't have it? Or are you hiding it from me? AH! You're trying to keep her all for yourself! I'm being left out AGAIN!" The self-pitying rants continued for a few minutes as Ichigo sputtered defensively into the receiver.

"O-oi! Keigo, shut up! What do you want with her? I'll be seeing her later today," he explained, smacking himself in the face.

"Oh really?! Well I was just hoping that Rukia-san would accompany me to the Hanabi Matsuri! It would be a dream come true if she'd grace me with her beauty…" he fantasized theatrically. Ichigo could see his star-struck features and frantic gestures almost perfectly as his friend rambled. He was tempted to purchase a tranquilizer gun…

"…And then as we watch the fireworks on a picnic blanket on a secluded, romantic bluff, she'll lean her head into my shoulder and I'll steal a kiss!! Perfection, eh Ichigo! Ah, Ichigo?"

Kiss. The word echoed through his mind, a mockery of his sense of pride. A clown taunting him in a maze or mirrors. Kiss. It sounded bitter and sharp on his mind's tongue. Ichigo growled as a deep blood red hue crept up his face. His grip on the phone was dangerously tight as Keigo's voice cracked over the other end nervously.

"I-Ichigo? Are you there?"

"Aa."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Oh. Okay! Well anyway, I was wondering if you could tell her to call me about tonight. I've got it all planned. It's going to be perfection, absolute perfectio–"

"She won't be able to go with you, Keigo-kun."

There was a deflated silence as Keigo's voice halted abruptly in a disappointed sigh.

"But…but why?! Who's she going with! Tell me, I HAVE TO KNOW!" he shrieked pathetically. Ichigo's expression became stony and he sat up in his chair with new resolve.

"She's going with me." The words spoken aloud from his throat, made Ichigo's stomach do flips, his cheeks flaring with new heat. He swallowed roughly as Keigo squeaked feebly for several minutes, continuously failing to speak words.

"But…but you said you two were just friends!" he whined finally. It was obvious to Ichigo that his friend's heart was broken in his usual whimsical way. (Ah, puberty…)

"W-what are you saying! Just because we're going to Hanabi Matsuri together doesn't mean that it's a–"

"It is a date! I can tell, you sound nervous! Ichigo how could you do this to me! I thought we were buds! How long have you been seeing each other behind everyone's backs, hmm? Spill!"

"Oh COME ON."

Ichigo was becoming hysterical. He was stuck. He was stuck in a hole he dug himself and there was no way to get out. He was stuck in a BIG hole with people watching on all sides while he tried to scramble up the dirt. NAKED.

"Fine, if you won't tell me then that's okay," Keigo sniffled "bravely." Ichigo rolled his eyes. This was a mess. "In any case, Mizuiro and I are going to dinner with Chad, Inoue and that one kid… ah, Ishida, ne. Though this has been a heavy blow, you two are invited to come along. We're meeting at the ferry at seven. It's the least I can do for the winning man."

"Fine, see you then."

"Okay," Keigo sniffled dramatically and hung up the phone with a huff. Ichigo slammed his head down on the table and groaned. What a disaster.

The click of the rice maker sounded softly on the counter and Ichigo looked up, happy to have something to do while he brainstormed an excuse to tell Rukia in concerns to their "date." Ichigo's stomach was batted around by a storm of butterflies while he spooned out a bowl of rice and poured some udon noodles out from a boiling pot on the stove. The close heat of the oven stung his wounded hand and he pulled it away quickly.

"Damnit," he said to himself, pulling out a tray from the kitchen cabinets. He leaned his weight against the counter and rubbed his neck, looking at the ceiling. He was stalling…

In truth, he was looking forward to the festival. He'd be able to show her around and watch the fireworks with her. Though he was sure she'd seen fireworks in Soul Society, it was a bit different to watch them being shot off a barge, stuck in a throng of excited people. Dinner, on the other hand, was going to be embarrassing. After all, Keigo was surely calling every one of their classmates, spreading the "heartbreaking news." Ichigo would never live it down.

With a heaving sigh, he put the bowls of food on the tray and started for the stairs, quickly thinking of what he might say to Rukia.

A/N: dunDunDUN. You know what's next! It'll be in at least two chapters, if not three. Have fun reading! Hope it makes you smile and squeal with fluffy joy.

Cultural stuff!

Moshi moshi is how you say hello on the phone. (In Chinese it's Wei. Whee)

Osu is a more boyish way to say good morning. It's rough and playful. Another good one for teens is Oha. It's a bit more feminine though.