Happiness and Pain
"Blanket Hog"
By Nessie
Ishida smirked. Orihime looked worried. Chad was uncomfortable.
There was nothing nearly awkward as sitting at lunch with your usual group of people, and two of them weren't talking to each other. And of course, it was the two most intense people in the circle of friends. Per the norm, Orihime did her best to break the ice.
"So…Rukia-san, would you like to try some of my mustard-filled doughnut?" The taller girl held out the "dessert" rather cautiously.
Rukia turned a far-too-bright smile to her. "Of course I would, Orihime. It's so nice to know that someone here is kind and willing to share and offer what they have, however small it may be."
Sitting across from him, Chad noticed the way Ichigo's crossed arms tightened.
Ishida's bespectacled eyes darted between the Shinigami and her one-time substitute. The expression he wore was nothing short of gleeful. "Rukia-san, if you want, I could make you a new skirt much better than the one you're wearing now."
"You would? How kind!" Rukia exclaimed, her grin so big it seemed her face would easily crack.
"Here's a napkin," said Chad blandly when he noticed that there was a leak in her juice box and there was liquid running down her wrist.
"Everyone is being so kind today!" She accepted the napkin with more enthusiasm than the act usually required.
As she cleaned herself up, everyone fell back into wordlessness as awkward as before, only Ichigo seemed even tenser. It wasn't until the harsh sound of air rushing through the straw from Rukia's empty juice box that the orange-haired teenager whirled to face her, eyes like daggers.
"WOULD YOU DROP IT ALREADY?"
"You talked first!" Rukia shouted. "I win!"
"It's not a damn game! If you weren't so unthankful—"
"I'm unthankful?"
"I bought you that skirt!"
The heads of Ishida, Orihime, and Chad all moved between the two as they yelled at each other, their manners those of tennis spectators.
"You were the one who wouldn't share the covers last night, Ichigo!" Rukia accused.
He practically seethed at her, "I told you I didn't know! Do you have to scream it out like that?"
Their friends' faces had all gone a brilliant shade of ruby.
"It was cold in your room! And you never turn up the thermal-skate thing…"
"It's called a thermostat. And at least you have a bed!"
They fell into a quick silence once more. The three onlookers exchanged wary glances.
And then Rukia leaped at Ichigo and he fell over backward, his head hitting the ground hard and her lips falling demandingly on his for only the briefest of moments before she shot to her feet and stormed away.
Ichigo was left on his back, staring up at the shocked faces of the remaining friends.
"What she didn't say is that she's a blanket hog too," he complained.