AN: Thankyou for reviewing everyone! I really am overwhelmed...! but I'm glad, it means I get more inspiration...umm...what else...oh yeah, I'm pretty scared to post this chapter cuz I haven't written the next one yet... lol hopefully it doesn't matter cuz the weekend is coming up XD...thanks to that last review, who told me it was like watching the anime o.O wow, thankyou for your compliment... and thanks to everyone else as well, your reviews mean alot to me hehe...And now, fluff galore! Brace yourselves...:P To the juicy stuff!…

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I do own the crazy attendant though! MUAHAHHAHAHAHAHA… erm…yes…I'm not sure if she even appears in this chapter..lol

A Summer Job: Business Trip (Part III)

Ahhh… It had been a long time since he'd been so relaxed. Sitting here in this hot bath made him forget all the stresses he had had to go through.

He opened his eyes a crack. Where was he again? Oh yeah, some inn in Soul Society. And it was a stupid inn, he decided to himself. Making them have the same living quarters. Even though, they couldn't really do anything about it.

He closed his eyes again, letting the hot water soak his body properly. It wasn't that it had been such a gruelling journey; it was just that…it had been such a long time since he had relaxed like this. Back at home every relaxing moment could be broken by the presence of a hollow. In the Court of Pure Souls there weren't hollows, but it couldn't be exactly called peaceful.

His thoughts were interrupted as a familiar voice spoke from behind the sliding doors.

"OI! Ichigo, hurry up!"

Rukia. Ichigo grimaced to himself, as though it took effort to even think about leaving the bath. "Ok…Ok…I'm going…just give me a second," he mumbled softly. He didn't know whether she could hear it, but he didn't really care.

Sighing, he lowered himself into the bath once more, then jumped out of the water, and onto the side. The night wind blew onto his body, and he shivered. Ah, why wasn't the bath an indoor one?

"Ichigo!"

"ALL RIGHT ALREADY!" Then he lowered his voice, remembering that there were other tenants, and they wouldn't be very happy with his loud voice. "I'm going, I'm going. Jeez."

He made his way over to where his clothes were. As he put on the sleepwear provided by the inn, he wondered to himself what the hell was wrong with those clothes he had been wearing. When he got into the bath, he quickly ran over the gi and hakama. But, everything looked perfectly fine. Then why did everyone have such a shock when they saw him wearing it? Lost in thought, he gathered up the remaining clothes, forgetting to tighten up his robe.

He slid open the sliding door to find Rukia sitting with her back to the wall on the opposite side of the room. On her lap was…oh no…was that, a drawing pad?

She looked up at him, and smiled secretly to herself that he was carrying the clothes he had worn before, all dishevelled. He groaned, and then said, "Ah, that was good." He then proceeded to dump the garments on the floor, including his wet towel. He hoped that he wouldn't have to look at her drawings. Seriously. They sucked.

"Ichigo!" she scolded, and scooted over to where he stood, looking puzzled.

"What?" he asked. Did this girl just read his mind?

"Don't dump the clothes on the floor. Fold them properly." She shook her head as picked up his gi and hakama. "Men…"

Ichigo joined her on the ground as she picked up his clothes. Phew.

She looked back up tell Ichigo that he should go hang his towel, but she was stopped short by his loose hanging bed robe. He had leant over to pick up his towel, and his well-toned muscles were in clear view.

She had to mentally slap herself to stop herself from staring. Sure, she had acknowledged that Ichigo did have muscles, but seeing his body so close, and still slightly damp, gave her feelings that she didn't even want to comprehend.

Ichigo noticed that she had stopped halfway in picking his clothes up and turned to her face questioningly. He saw her face slightly red, and then she turned away from him. Huh? Was she still feeling the side effects from her faint earlier?

"Oi, Rukia, what's wrong?"

His voice snapped her out of her...dreamlike state. She looked at Ichigo, his face now very close to hers. He looked worried, but his proximity set off sparks in her skin she didn't know existed.

She quickly turned her head away from his face, so that he wouldn't be able to see her blushing as much. "I-It's nothing…" she said, not meeting his searching gaze.

Ichigo looked at the side of her face, bewildered, but he could see her face getting redder and redder. "But you're getting redder and redder. Maybe you're getting a fever."

"N-no its not that." She didn't meet his eyes. He could tell she was lying, but he knew Rukia. She wouldn't tell him the truth if his life depended on it. 'Dammit Rukia. I'm fricken worried about you', is what he wanted to say, but he zipped his lips. He was worried about her before, as well, when she just suddenly passed out on the road. Maybe she was hiding something from him.

He sat back, away from her. Rukia was thankful for the distance between them, but somewhat regretful. After a few moments of awkward silence Ichigo simply said, "Well…I'll go to bed."

Rukia looked up at him, and didn't miss the hurt look on his face. But, what was she to do? She couldn't exactly tell him that she had been blushing because she had been so close to his body.

She softened her voice. "Ok." Without another word she folded the clothes he had been wearing, and placed them in a neat pile at the foot of their futon, while Ichigo silently hung his towel up.

She could tell he was hurt because she didn't say anything. Ichigo was one of those types. He didn't really react when people got angry with him loudly, or verbally, and even physically, but when someone didn't tell him things he wanted to know…

She slid open the door of the bath, and then closed it behind her. She looked at the wide bath ahead of her. They were in a couple's room, so it was made for two people. But, since her and Ichigo weren't a couple, she could have the whole bath to herself. She temporarily wondered what would it be like, bathing at the same time as Ichigo, then immediately dismissed the thought, furiously blushing.

What had possessed her to think things like that? Actually, when had she thought of things like that, would be the better question, she thought as she unbuttoned her yellow blouse.

Now…how do did she get this thing off again, she wondered to herself as she tugged and pulled her white top. She felt around the back area, and found that there were many little strings that were tied together.

Crap. She had forgotten that this top she had got from the real world was a real puzzler when it came to putting it on and taking it off. Even when she put it on in Kukaku's place, the Shiba woman had to help her, and even then, they didn't get it on until after the third try.

Rukia took in a deep breath, and tried to untie the first knot. Crap. The other woman had tied the shirt so securely, with knots that were probably made for holding up cannons. Rukia sighed. She would never get it off. She temporarily entertained the thought of bathing with it, but decided against it. She didn't want to wear a wet top to bed – especially when it was white. And, especially with Ichigo.

She sat on one of the rocks on the side of the bath, trying to figure out what to do. She turned her head to the now closed sliding door. Maybe Ichigo could give her a hand…NO! What was she thinking! Rukia blushed furiously. Besides, he was probably asleep.

After a couple of minutes of struggling with the iron knots that Kukaku had made, she sighed and stood up. Here goes nothing. Damn you Kukaku. It's almost as if you knew this would happen.'


Back at the Shiba stronghold, Kukaku released a sneeze. Wiping her nose, she grinned, and continued drinking sake.

Hehehe…Rukia must have found out by now…

Her brother took one look at the evil grin forming on his sister's face and he carefully backed out the door.

Rukia slid open the sliding door timidly. Ichigo was already lying down on the futon. Judging by constant rising of the covers, he was asleep.

She paused in the doorway, suddenly self-conscious. Finally gathering up her courage, she got down on her hands and knees and crawled to the futon.

As she neared she could hear Ichigo's soft breathing, and she smiled to herself, as she noticed that his permanent frown was gone. Without he looked somewhat peaceful he decided. However, there was a tinge of worry that clouded his face, and Rukia knew it was because of his family.

She knelt by the futon silently, marvelling on how different Ichigo looked when he slept. A stray strand of hair had fallen across his closed eyes, and instinctively Rukia brushed it away softly. She didn't let her hand leave his face, instead she caressed his cheek, reminding her again that Ichigo was barely an adult, but yet, he had to carry so many burdens upon himself.

He was just too many things at once, she decided to herself. He had to be an older brother for Yuzu and Karin, a high school student, and also a shinigami. Because they had no mother, Ichigo almost had to double for a mother, placing loads of stress upon him.

His soft breathing reminded her of what she really came here for, and she blushed, wondering how she could get so carried away. She withdrew her hand from his cheek, and his eyelids fluttered. Carefully she leant over his sleeping body, tucking in strands of hair that had fallen because she was now facing downwards, behind her ear.

"Ichigo," she murmured softly.

Ichigo stirred slightly. "Ichigo," she said again, moving down closer to his face so she wouldn't have to speak louder. Some of her hair fell on his face, tickling his breathing.

This time cracked open his eyes to see Rukia's face only inches from his. "Uh…" He closed his eyes again, and then brushed away some of the hairs that had fallen on his face, and frowned slightly. "That tickles…Rukia…" The next few seconds were silent.

Ichigo opened his eyes wide, and jumped backwards out of the futon, crashing into the wall behind him. "RUKIA!" He pointed a shaking finger at her as he sat, back to the wall. "The hell are you doing?"

Rukia smiled inwardly at the contrast between the sleeping Ichigo and the awake Ichigo. Then she frowned at him.

He frowned back. "What?" he wasn't very happy that he had been disturbed in his sleep, and frightened awake by the proximity of Rukia's face.

Rukia let her mouth open slightly. She thought that he would be a bit more understanding, asking her what she wanted, but all she got was a rough 'what'. She huffed, and then turned away from him.

"Well, I was just going to ask for your help with this fricken shirt, but since you need your sleep so much, I won't," she said, still speaking with her back towards him.

No response. That loser. She got up and walked back to the bath sliding doors. When she turned around to close them she looked angrily at the shocked sitting form of Ichigo at the other side of the room. Served him right. He should learn how to respect a woman's wishes, even though she very well knew that Ichigo was just being Ichigo.

She slid the sliding door to its closed position with such velocity that it vibrated for a couple of seconds after it was actually closed. Great. Now she couldn't take off the stupid shirt, and Ichigo wasn't going to help her because she had just gotten angry over some little thing.

Ichigo just sat there dazed. Crap. Rukia was angry at him. Again. What did she want?

Rukia began to regret wearing these clothes. She turned away from the sliding door to retrieve her blouse, which was lying on a bench, at the other side of the rock pool. She didn't hear him slide the door open, and approach her from behind.

In fact, she gasped when she felt his hands grab her shoulders.

"I-Ichigo?"

Ichigo didn't say anything, but sat her down on a stool nearby.

"W-what are you doing I-Ichigo?" She managed to get out as he applied soft pressure to her shoulders to make her sit down. For some reason, him touching her had a direct effect on her voice.

"Shut-up."

She felt his hands slide down from her shoulders to the first knot. As he fumbled with the knot she felt his fingers touch her skin. She was glad she wasn't facing him because she had started turning red.

Ichigo, on the other hand wasn't faring as well either. He was just glad that she wasn't looking at him, because his face had gone the same colour as Renji's hair. It was hard to concentrate on the task before him, as he kept on touching Rukia's soft back in the process of untying the knots. It didn't help that the knots were tied so intricately tight. Absentmindedly he wondered who had tied the knots up so tight.

Neither said anything, and finally Ichigo let out a sigh of relief as he undid the first knot. He started on the second knot, trying to ignore the soft skin that had just been revealed.

It became harder and harder to untie the knots, because at each knot he untied, a fresh portion of Rukia's back was revealed to him. He knew he should have started at the bottom knot first. He tried to ignore it, but her skin felt so soft, so warm. He finished untying the last knot but for some reason his hands wouldn't leave her back.

Rukia felt the last knot come undone, and she sighed inwardly. But inside her somewhere, she knew that she didn't want him to go. His hands were still on her back, she noticed.

"There. Finished," she heard him say quietly. Ichigo turned away not looking at her bare back.

'Don't go,' she wanted to say, but instead she said, "O-oh…Thankyou…"

Ichigo made the mistake of looking at the milky complexion of her back again, and something snapped inside of him. He let his hands slowly slide up her bare back, which sent sparks all down her spine.

Rukia's face heated up instantly, and she stifled a moan. What was he doing? She didn't move, the only thought that was going through her head was that it felt so…

Ichigo as if realising what he had just done, tore his hands away from her back. "I-I'll be inside." And with that, he straightened up, and walked back to the sliding door with great effort.

After he closed the sliding door he collapsed against it. What the hell was that all about, he thought to himself. He lifted his hand to his heart. Hell, it was beating at a gazillion miles an hour. What the hell, he thought again. It's just Rukia. Why did I do that?

Rukia slowly climbed out of the outdoor bath. Her face still burned after what Ichigo had done. But, somehow, she wanted him to do it again. She couldn't quite pin the feeling but it felt good. It wasn't anything...serious, she told herself decidedly.

She retrieved her clothes, her glance briefly resting on the top that she had worn. She shook her head, trying to erase any thoughts that came to her mind. She dried herself off with the towel, and eased herself into the night wear provided.

Thankful that it was darker inside the room so that he wouldn't have to see her blush, she silently opened the sliding door.

She looked at the sleeping form of Ichigo. Should she act mad, or angry in the morning? Should she tell him that she…liked what he had done? No, that would be something a child would do. But still... She rubbed her head. This was too much thinking, and it was way too late in the night. She eased herself silently onto the futon, next to him, but sleep did not come, even though she was tired.

AN: Ah…I guess I'll end it here for now…Reason? Quote from Rukia – "…too much thinking, …too late in the night…" Lol, please review! Review and I'll update soon. Don't review and I'll…cry…Anyway, you want to know what happens next right? HEHEHE… so click that go button! XD anyway...I guess I should stay away from writing really late at night. Disturbs my body clock... hehe, any questions or anything - don't hesitate to ask in your review..I'll answer them..(within reason)