Happiness and Pain
"Gentlemanly Behavior"
By Nessie
"Haven't you ever heard anyone say you have to work for it?!"
This energetic demand was none by none other than Kuchiki Rukia, Shinigami, adopted noble…and tormentor. Ichigo wore a squinted look of pain that sent his sisters into uncontrollable giggle fits as he looked up at the four-foot-nine woman. Except she was currently about six-foot-nine at present because she was standing (on tiptoe) on a kitchen chair. Held high over her head was the object of his agony.
"C'mon, Rukia!" he growled. "It's the last piece of French toast! I haven't had any and you've had four slices!"
"Uh-uh," she admonished, waving a finger on her free hand. "That's not going to get it for you."
Sometimes she was such a… "Fine," Ichigo sighed. It wasn't that he couldn't wrangle the French toast from her in about three seconds. He had told himself long ago, however, that he would never manhandle Rukia in front of his family, and Kurosaki Ichigo kept his word.
Though sometimes he thought it was too much work to be a gentleman.
"What do you want?" he asked sourly.
Rukia grinned, and something told Ichigo that those were the exact words she had been waiting for. "I have a task for you," she said simply. "To get this piece of ranch toast—"
"French toast."
"That's what I said!" Sniffing haughtily, she continued. "To get this piece of French toast, you must say, 'Please, dear Rukia, – who knows all and is mightier than my Zanpakuto – will you bestow upon me the French toast'."
"That's ridiculous!" he exclaimed. "What kind of satisfaction can you even get from that?"
To emphasize her condition, she tipped the plate toward him so that the delicious-looking breakfast taunted him all by itself.
"Okay, okay," grumble Ichigo, taking a deep breath and releasing it with a glare. "Please, Rukia – who knows—"
"Dear Rukia."
"Please," he gritted out, "dear Rukia – who knows all and is mightier than my Zanpakuto – will you…gift me with—"
"Bestow."
"Bestow! Bestow upon me the French toast?" Ichigo recited, hating her a little more with each word.
But Rukia smiled, and in one fluid step, hopped down from the chair while Karin and Yuzu shrieked with laughter. "Sure thing, Ichigo."
Later, while he was munching on the French toast – cold now but still delicious – Ichigo thought that his girlfriend was as insane as ever. But sometimes it was just easier to go with it instead of fighting.
And he continued to call her the Tormentor in his head.