Happiness and Pain
"100 Degrees and Rising"
By Nessie
"Ichigoooooooooooooooooo!"
This siren-like call of his name was followed by a vicious racking of his body as Kurosaki Ichigo was mercilessly pounced on by a four-foot-nine bundle of dynamite. His eyes popped open to see Rukia's face uncomfortably close to his, the wide grin she wore instantly terrifying him.
"What. Do. You Want," he ground out. Since he had just woken up, however, he did not quite reach the desired effect and sounded more startled than threatening.
"Guess what!" Satisfied that he was no longer sleeping, Rukia slid off of him. Ichigo's muddled brain was slow-working, but his body quickly caught onto the realization that Rukia had just rolled herself over his thighs. The result of that happening was making itself known, and he sat up in a hurry so she wouldn't notice.
"Can't guess," he replied, adding in a grumble, "Has Dad made coffee?"
"Dunno." Not caring a bit for his undercaffeinated state, the Shinigami made a sudden twirl of elation. "Ishida has a pool and he said we could use it!"
Ichigo slapped a hand to his forehead and slowly squashed it down his face. "You woke me up," he clarified, "because you want to go swimming? So go swimming."
The pout she gave him was infuriating and adorable simultaneously, and he hated her for it. "Ishida had to go train with Chad, and no one else is gonna be there! I can't go by myself!"
"I wanted to sleep in today, Rukia."
But as usual, the Kuchiki spared his personal opinion of the situation no thought whatsoever, and before he could even stop for breakfast, he had been talked into changing into a bathing suit and walking over to Ishida's in ninety-five degree heat.
"Now I'm tired and hungry," he declared, trying to wish himself back into bed and failing. Rukia responded with a reminder that one should not eat before swimming anyhow. Then she removed the beach towel she had wrapped around her (twice) to walk to Ishida's.
And Ichigo thought he would die of a heart attack before he died of starvation.
Rukia's swimsuit was dark purple, the color bringing out her eyes, but she could have worn a clashing yellow and brown and would still have produced the same effect from Ichigo (which was much like the one she had produced earlier that morning). The cut left her hips completely bare, with practically no material over her back, and the neckline plunged so far Ichigo could see…well, a lot.
"Where the hell did you get that?" He didn't know whether to cover his eyes or circle her for a better look.
She smiled up at him so innocently Ichigo wondered if she even knew she was hardly decent. "Rangiku-san helped me pick it out."
Ichigo thought of the well-endowed vice captain and remembered that Matsumoto knew how to perfectly display every single curve. Then he was sure Rukia knew exactly what she looked like.
The temperature speared up to one hundred and, as Rukia slowly moved toward him, kept rising. She placed one small hand on his bare chest and tilted her head sideways, feigning lack of notice to his expression. "Your cheeks are red, Ichigo. You should cool off." With that, she gave the tiniest of shoves and Ichigo fell into the icy pool water, flailing all the way.
God, she was mean.
Because the only thing worse (and by worse he meant better) than a half-naked Rukia was a wet half-naked Rukia.