Disclaimer: See previous page.

A/N: Pity the souls who have to endure a bus ride with Colorguard. Also, the song at the end of this chapter is called, "Chasing Cars", by Snow Patrol.

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It was going to be a long, long bus ride home.

Of the ninety-something people in band, about thirty of them were colorguard. Unfortunately, two of the three buses that ferried the Karakura High School Marching Band to and from the school were completely filled up with band members. Well, not completely. But for various reasons, Ichigo hadn't been able to find a seat on either of those buses. So now, he and a few other band members were stuck on a two hour long bus-ride to the school, with a group of pseudo-depressed teenage girls who found it absolutely necessary to sing their hearts out, like cats howling to the moon, in the darkness of the school bus.

So he and Rukia sat in the very front of the bus, because, to his dismay, she had had one of two choices to make: Either sit with Ichigo on a bus full of colorguard, or sit next to Keigo and be groveled at throughout the night.

So, as previously stated, she sat up in the front of the bus with Ichigo, where the few unlucky band members had congregated to escape the terrible chorus in the back of the bus. She was drawing in her dotbook again, by the light of an almost full moon, concentrating on the rabbits and music notes and treble clefs and strawberries. Ichigo watched her, out of the corner of his eye, as she sketched with almost desperate need, as she still bit her lip and furrowed her brows. She was angry that the Winds had gotten a "three" rating, and her frustration showed in the way she beared down on the crayons, forcing the vibrant colors from the wax tips in quick strokes.

She was absolutely beautiful.

As the dark bus passed the streetlights, orange light shone down through the window, framing her face for a fraction of a second, then passing, as the moon shed blue-silver light from the heavens. But wait; did Ichigo just see what he thought he saw? He waited patiently for the next streetlight to pass by the darkened window, and when it did, he was surprised to find that yes, he did see what he thought he saw, it wasn't just a delusion. Rukia had tears in her eyes.

But as a Death God, she wouldn't, couldn't, allow herself to cry. Not in front of him or any mortal, or any being in general. It was just wholly unacceptable, so she continued to draw, continued to bite her lip to stop herself from making any noise in frustration, and continued to furrow her brow in confusion and anger as to why she had gotten a three. But why did she care? It was just some stupid band competition. Who cared about that? She wasn't put here to go compete with mortals about who could play some stupid instrument better. That's right! She had tears in her eyes because of the cold, which had also brought on the inaudible sniffles, not because of this looming disappointment. It's this stupid gigai, she thought. So susceptible to changes in the environments... she just didn't know how humans could stand it. But even as she convinced herself of this, she saw Ichigo staring at her with concern in his eyes, though it was hidden behind the ever-present scowl.

He felt his stomach flip when she looked at him, proud and defiant, refusing to let any tears spill out of her eyes over some stupid band competition. She still bit her lip, but that didn't stop her from putting down her crayon and doing a pretty decent impersonation of his glare.

"What do you want?"

Her voice held a note of uncertainty, and she hated it. She should sound as strong as she felt, not like some young, naive high school girl. But she figured it could have been worse; her voice could've cracked, betraying her emotions. Wait, what emotions? She didn't care. She didn't care about some stupid band thing. It wasn't important; it wasn't life threatening, like a Hollow, so whatever. It didn't matter. But when she met Ichigo's gaze, she looked away almost immediately, and felt guilty. But why? She hadn't done anything wrong! For the love of Kami, this gigai would be the death of her! Why did she feel like a criminal under Ichigo's gaze? Like his eyes were searching her soul? He had no such power, so why did it feel like he knew what she was thinking...?

And suddenly, in the darkness of the somewhat crowded school bus, Ichigo leaned over and hugged her closely. Neither of them spoke, though he felt Rukia's heart beating erratically. He didn't know she could feel his beating just as fast, so he held her for another minute or two, and finally let go. After he leaned back, he gently took hold of her chin as she tried to face opposite of him, tried to look out the window. Tried to escape.

Searching, he looked into her sapphiric eyes, through the tears. She avoided his gaze, and tried to speak, to stop the soundless interrogation.

"Ichigo..."

She looked at the seat behind them, though her eyes flicked back to see if he was still watching her, even though she knew he was. He still had her chin in his hand, so he brought his face closer to hers, so that their noses touched, and rested his forehead on hers. It was obvious what was bothering her, now, so he stared into her eyes, intending to set things straight.

"Listen, idiot. You did great. You'd better not cry over them, because they don't know what the hell they're doing or who the hell they're dealing with. You heard that they gave the drumline a two, didn't you?"

She nodded, enraptured by his gaze. He had eyes like autumn leaves.

"Well, we did way better than a two, but they gave us one anyways. Do you see me or Tatsuki crying over it?"

She shook her head.

"They don't know how hard you worked, so stop being a stupid idiot about it. Get over it, stupid."

The usual barbs he held in his conversations with Rukia were gone as he said this, softly, so that only she could hear. For a moment, they stared in each others' eyes, but eventually, Ichigo let go of Rukia, lightly tracing his finger along her jawline. He resumed his expression of scowl and glare and leaned on the back of the seat in front of him. Rukia slowly went back to drawing, though she was dazed, and tried not to think about Ichigo, even though he was still sitting inches away from her. He acted asleep, though his heart was beating too fast and he couldn't stop his leg from fidgeting. Soon enough, Rukia stopped drawing and put her crayons back into the box, then into the bag she had brought along. She then leaned on the cool window, and closed her eyes. Her breathing evened out, and all was quiet. Even the raucous colorguard weren't screeching like harpies anymore.

But Ichigo couldn't sleep. So, without a second thought, he decided to do the next best thing.

He took the electric guitar from the storage seat that was in front and to the left of him. He unzipped the case, borrowed a pick, and placed two of his fingers on the seventh frets of the G and D string, and one finger on the fifth fret of the A string. He strummed a few times, and began strumming in a basic eighth note rhythm. Without stopping, he began an almost silent accompaniment to the quiet guitar, palm muted and without an amp. He sang, in a hushed whisper, to himself.

"...If I lay here... If I just lay here... would you lie with me? And just forget the world...?"

Blushing, he paused and made sure no one had heard him. They hadn't, not even the bus driver. He would die if anyone were awake. Or better yet, he'd kill whoever heard.

"Forget what we're told... Before we get too old... Show me a garden that's burstin' into life..."

And somebody stirred in the back. So, Ichigo quickly put the guitar away, and put it back in the storage seat, and acted asleep. He hummed the rest of the song to himself as he leaned back to gaze out the roof hatch, which was slightly ajar, at the stars above. What good luck they were having, he thought, that a Hollow hadn't attacked at all today... and with those muddled thoughts, he drifted off into blessed sleep, where perhaps, even he could be happy.

Rukia opened a sleepy eye, to gaze out the window at the rapidly moving terrain. She shivered, and bundled herself closer in her coat, smiling one her rare, true smiles. Then, closed her eye again.

"And just forget the world..."

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Sappy, I know. I'm sorry. xp
And yes, if sapphiric wasn't a part of your dictionary before, it is now.