A/N: I know. I've been taking way to long to post for this story, but it's almost over! Oh no! In any case, I have another Bleach story coming out soon called Ice on the River and one that has been continued due to request called Deeper Care.

This chapter has been reposted due to author's absolute hate for doubling up the word "covers" at the end of the chapter.

Restlessness

Rukia hugged her Chappy doll tightly against her chest, the scent of Ichigo's drawers filtering through her nose. She would have smiled, but thoughts were running rampant through her skull, like a stampede of tweeting, hungry chickadees. She shook her head and sat up, clutching her doll with tight frustration.

She pushed the door open without concerns as to whether or not the noise would awake her sleeping host. As she padded across the threshold and knelt next to Ichigo's bed, her eyes barely peeking over his sheets, he groaned and turned over. After waiting for a moment, Rukia poked his shoulder forcefully and his eyes fluttered open. They shone like gold in the pale light of the room, almost eerily bright as his grogginess melted away.

"Rukia? What are you doing?" he asked, his voice cracking with fatigue. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at her little form, pressed against the side of his bed. The ears of the Chappy doll he had bought flopped over the side of his comforter and he fought back a little chuckle.

"I couldn't sleep."

"But you said you were tired earlier…"

"Well, I'm not tired anymore."

"But you sai – never mind."

They simmered in the awkward silence and looked at each other, their stomachs on fire. Ichigo felt the heat reach his cheeks and snorted, looking away. Looking at her spurred the memory of her taste, leaving a knot in his heart. She looked up at him with large eyes and he sighed, patting his bed.

"If you're going to keep pestering me you might as well be warm," he said, excusing his motive. She crawled up onto his bed and draped his comforter over her shoulders. It was warm and inviting, smelling much like her toy did, comfortable and spicy.

"Why were the people at the festival laughing at me?" Rukia asked rather abruptly. Ichigo blinked at her, his throat incapable of finding the words it needed to use. He rubbed his neck trying to buy time, looking off at her closet.

"They were ah, umm…Hmm." He couldn't find the right words. How could he tell her that every man they passed was watching her? Drooling after her? Remembering that made him red-faced with denied jealousy. He pushed the thoughts away with a gruff mental shove and turned to face her. She watched the expressions fly across his face like a movie reel and tilted her head curiously.

"They were…You were beautiful tonight, Rukia. Those guys at the festival were…admiring you for it," he mumbled. Rukia's brow furrowed in surprise and she was tempted to deny his words, but Megumi-san's voice filtered through her ears like it had a way of doing in these circumstances, and she realized that while she was trying to attract Ichigo, she could end up attracting others too.

"Oh," she breathed, looking down at her stuffed animal. Ichigo watched her fuss over its ears and grinned. His hand fell away from his neck as his embarrassment subsided bit by bit. Rukia chewed on her lip as she inspected his face and turned to look at Ichigo. She could feel how hot his lips had been, the tingling sensation of his skin still pressed against hers.

"I guess it worked then!" she said with her faux-gaiety. Ichigo eyed her with suspicion radiating from his face. He crossed his arms protectively over his torso and nudged her with his shoulder.

"Whaddya mean 'It worked'?" he asked slyly. As Rukia pulled down her slip, Ichigo bit down a scream as he tried to climb up his wall out of instinct.

"Oi. I'm not going to bite you," Rukia hissed. Ichigo peeked over his shoulder and turned away quickly from the sight of Rukia's slip around her waist, looking down at an extremely sexy black bra. He covertly rubbed under his nose to make sure he wasn't bleeding and turned back around with a cough, his eyes tightly shut.

"Tell me, Rukia. Whydidyoujusttakeyourslipoff?!" Ichigo hissed dramatically. He could hear Rukia giggle and felt his temper boil. It felt like his father would come rushing through the door and promenade about, talking about his dear little boy becoming a man. He shuddered at the idea of his dad bringing a camera…

"Because I was talking about the bra, dimwit," she supplied, smacking him on the head. Ichigo's eyes snapped open as he turned to retaliate and shoved a pillow in Rukia's lap.

"You're not allowed to wear it in public," he said with a superior tone. As he was about to nod his head with self-satisfaction, his pillow came rocketing back and clipped him straight in the jaw.

"Why not?!"

"Because it's…it's too attractive!"

"How would you know?! You haven't looked at it!"

"FINE."

Ichigo looked down at Rukia's chest and felt his stomach swirl. It was the wonder bra of sexual attraction with barely enough cloth to cover what was supposed to be hidden. He had never noticed that she had breasts, but could tell that he'd never forget now. Rukia looked up at Ichigo's expression with innocent curiosity.

"Megumi-san said it would make me irresistible, so I thought it would be useful in fights like this. It made perfect sense at the time," she said, pulling her slip back on. Ichigo let go a sigh, but with a guilty pleasure stored the sight of her skin in his memory, as vivid as he could make the vision.

"I don't think you understood her, Rukia. Makes sense, since you're not exactly just from out of town…" he grumbled, rubbing a hand across his face.

"What?"

"Stuff like that is for seducing people. I don't think that's what you wanted," he explained.

"…Yeah, and?" Ichigo stammered, the gears in his head grinding to a halt. Did she just say…

"Did you just sa –"

"Aa."

Ichigo swallowed hard, his stomach clenching with nervous energy so hard that he almost felt nauseous. Rukia inched closer, a look of concern plaguing her face. Little surges of electricity throbbed through the major nerves in his thigh as her bare leg brushed up against his hip.

"I'm a hundred and fifty years old. You didn't honestly think I don't know what lingerie is for, did you?" she asked, disbelief on her breath of a laugh. Ichigo swallowed. "Okay, so I didn't know much about the real world underwear or anything, but you can't really work with Matsumoto and be ignorant." Ichigo's mind strayed for a moment, remembering the rather busty vice-captain with a snort.

"You're beautiful the way you are, Rukia. You don't need to try and be like Matsumoto or Megumi-san," Ichigo confessed quietly. He turned to look at Rukia with his intensely caring scowl.

"I –"

"The dress looked amazing and no one else would look as nice as you did in it. But whatever you do, don't wear any of this for anyone else. Ever. Okay?" he asked. The amount of strength it took to swallow his pride was monstrous, but he could do it to save himself from jealousy. A momentary lapse of self-respect was far better than having to deal with something like that.

"Thank you. And I wasn't planning on it anyway," Rukia said matter-of-factly. Ichigo nodded his head and turned towards the wall, smooshing his pillow beneath his head. He closed his eyes and feigned being uninterested in further discussion of the topic, but his ears were keened on the sound of Rukia sitting next to him. A few moments passed before she interrupted the silence.

"Can I stay here?" she asked, plopping her toy back into her lap. Ichigo sighed and turned over on his back.

"You've been living with me all year and you're just now asking if you can stay?"

"No, I meant in the bed. Your comforter's warm and the air conditioning makes the closet chilly," she explained. Ichigo rolled his eyes, nodded, and was met by a bounce into the covers. Just as he was about to turn over again, Rukia piped up.

"And Ichigo?"

"Aa."

Rukia pulled on his shoulder and pressed her lips against his. Ichigo's eyes became wide with shock and searched hers as she pulled away, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Good night," she said cheerily, hopping back under the covers. Ichigo looked over at where she disappeared under the mound of white downy, swallowed whole by the massive comforter she managed to roll herself up in. As the two shinigami fell asleep back to back, Ichigo's head replayed the images of that night, remembering them with such detail, he could almost hear her speaking, the memories playing on the wall before him. He closed his eyes with a stupid grin plastered on his face and fell into a fitful sleep, Rukia on his mind.

A/N: Yes, a somewhat dull chapter, but I couldn't help it! I just posted two new stories and Deeper Care has taken priority for readers. I hope it was alright though!