AN: Ugh…its late, but I still want to write XD. Oh well, tough luck, body. Right, anyway, better get on with it. And more, more, more fluff…sigh…I love Ichigo and Rukia… THANKS TO MY REVIEWERS!
Oh and, I'm not going to change the rating to M, sorry to those who want it. But, this content is suitable for T, and will not turn...erm...unsuitable for T...XD...again, thankyou to my reviewers, your input is greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

A Summer Job – Business Trip (Part IV)


Ichigo stirred as he felt something disrupt his futon. Well, not something, but someone, because he could feel the warmth radiating from their body. In his half sleep he cracked open one of his eyelids.

What the…

He saw her smooth outline, even underneath the covers, with her back towards him. Ugh. He was really tired. He didn't have time for Rukia to be playing games. He kept his one eye opened, just to wait for Rukia to turn around and ask him playfully if he was scared. No such luck. He began to wonder when Rukia would stop playher her stupid games and go to her bed. Hold on. Her bed? In his drowsyness he remembered that there was only one bed in the middle of the room.

Crap.

He exhaled loudly, and then turned around ever so slightly as to not disturb the sleeping Rukia. Even after he closed his one open eye he didn't drift off to sleep like he expected his tired body to automatically do. Instead, he became acutely aware of the girl that lay only inches from him. In the silence of the night he heard her soft breathing, accentuated by the slight rise and fall of the blankets. His hair on the back of his neck pricked at each sound.

10 minutes later, though it seemed to Ichigo hours, he still couldn't get to sleep. He tried counting sheep, but that didn't work. He tried counting Zanpak-to's but he ran out of names. He tried to count all the people in the Gotei-13, but because he had only been with them a short time, that soon failed as well.

In his restlessness, he kept moving around, trying not to disturb Rukia, but he knew he was failing. Well, it wasn't his fault that she decided to sleep on the same frekin futon as him. Even though, he conceded, she would have nowhere else to sleep.

Rukia's eyelids fluttered before opening them. Various movements had been disturbing her ever since she slept. Being a reasonable sleeper, she had unconsciously ignored them, but at some point they became irritating. She slowly turned around to see Ichigo fidgeting, twisting and turning. She groaned. Of course it would be Ichigo.

"Dammit, Ichigo, can you stop moving?" she said, trying to sound quiet.

Ichigo rolled over to his side to face her, looking surprised that she had woken at all. "Huh?"

"I said, could you stop moving? I'm trying to sleep here," she snapped, irritated that he hadn't properly heard her the first time.

"Yeah, I should be sleeping well, as well, you know, how I always sleep with girls and all," he retorted sarcastically. "It's not easy."

"Oh, for goodness' sake! I'm not going to bite you," Rukia said a little bit louder.

"Hmmph." Ichigo promptly rolled onto his other side, leaving his back to an annoyed Rukia.

Things quietened down after that, but she could still feel Ichigo squirming. This wouldn't do, she decided. She couldn't understand his dilemma in her half-waked state. All she realised was that she desperately needed sleep; it provided an escape for her mind, and also a mending experience for her body. Every move he made affected her since they were sharing the same blanket.

She was about to scream something at the back of Ichigo, but she bit her lip to bite back words she might regret later. Still, Ichigo moved like a garden snake and she needed to do something about it. Rukia sighed. She needed her sleep, and he needed his too. In her drowsy mind, she did the only thing she thought reasonable. She ventured towards him, towards his moving back. Without warning she placed her arms around Ichigo's neck to stop him from moving. He stopped all right, but it was like he was dead.

She smiled to herself. That kept him quiet. She closed her eyes, pulling closer to the warmth of his body. Ichigo, on the other side of the bed, kept closing his eyes and opening them. He wanted to move, but Rukia's grip was surprisingly strong. When he felt her push herself into his back, he felt like his head was going to explode. What was this woman thinking! Didn't she know that guys did have feelings? And her proximity awakened feelings that he didn't want to begin to comprehend. He felt her relax a tiny bit, and then wondered to himself if she had actually gone to sleep.

After about 5 minutes of debating on what to do (it took so long because he kept getting distracted by the closeness of Rukia) he finally decided to turn over, in her arms. That way he would be facing her, and could, forcibly remove her from him. He was, after all, stronger than her. If she stayed like this the whole night, he would definitely not get any sleep. At all.

He pulled back into her body, ignoring her softness, to get some slack on her arms. He twisted around on the futon, trying not to wake her. It was easier than he imagined, but when he turned around, expecting to meet her sleeping face, he met two, wide open eyes. Their gaze held. Instantly awake, Ichigo tried to drag away, but her deep, dark, dark blue orbs drew him into her. It was like he was staring into the opening of her soul. And she stared right back at his deep brown eyes.

Not breaking their gaze, she said softly, "I thought I told you not to move."

"Oh," he said, looking embarrassed. He looked away, but he did not move away from her embrace. "I needed to get comfortable."

"So, this is comfortable?" she asked him softly, while raising an eyebrow.

"Um…Actually…" he tried to say, blushing furiously.

She shook her head, cutting him off. "Shush." With that she pulled herself into him, closing her eyes as she laid her head on his shoulder.

It took some moments before he registered what she had done. Rukia lay there, almost falling asleep, when she felt his hands encircle her. She waited for any other movements, but she heard him breathing evenly. He was asleep, she decided. She let out a small sigh against his clothes. Finally.

She almost yelped when he whispered in her ear. His hot breath tickled the side of her face.

"Rukia…"

She squeezed her eyes tightly to take her mind off the spreading heat on her face.

"…"

"Can you tell me…why was everyone acting all weird when I put on those clothes?" His voice was husky from sleepiness, and he sounded…attractive, almost, she decided, before chiding herself for even entertaining the thought.

When she gave no answer, he sighed loudly. "I guess it was some kind of joke, huh?" Without loosening his grip on her he said quietly, "Sorry. I just couldn't sleep when I was worrying over some little thing like that."

She opened her eyes after it was clear he wasn't going to say anymore. "It wasn't some little thing…" she whispered softly into his shoulder.

She felt him jerk slightly, as if surprised she was awake.

"…"

"Actually…"

She sighed, and forced herself to pull away from his warm grasp. Holding him at an arms length, she studied him. His orange hair was ruffled on the pillow, and his sad brown eyes looked back at her. She sighed again. "Ichigo…"

He didn't take his gaze off her.

"Ichigo…you look like someone I knew…" she said, hurt flashing briefly in her eyes as she remembered the face of Kaien. She then broke away from his embrace, and rolled over to her side, her back facing him.

She heard a soft grunt from him. She closed her eyes, regretting her last decision. She wanted to sleep in his secure arms, but…she gasped softly, and her eyes opened fully, as he embraced her from behind.

"Its ok…" he said softly, speaking into her hair. Her eyes stayed wide open.

"Its ok…if you don't want to talk about it," he repeated, his voice muffled slightly by her hair. Ichigo had seen the hurt look in her eyes when she said those words to him. Above anything else, he didn't want her feeling hurt because of something he asked. Oh well, her past would have to stay hidden for the meantime, he decided, as he felt her relax against his embrace.

She reached down and held his hands around her waist. "Thank-you…" he heard her murmur as they both drifted into sleep, troubled, but happy.

The first thing she was aware of was the sound of Ichigo's breathing. The next thing she was aware of was the cold. During the night, the temperature had dropped, and she involuntarily shivered. She didn't bother to glance behind her to know that Ichigo was there. He was still holding her, although it was a bit looser than the night before. She freed one of her arms and pulled the covers over them. Still cold, she twisted in his embrace and snuggled into him, trying to glean what body warmth she could. She smiled softly and closed her eyes, remembering that there were no morning meetings to go to. As she lay there she could feel his hot breath against the top of her head, but she liked it, because it was reassuring of his presence. She snuggled closer to him.

She then heard him murmur wanly, "Rukia…"

She blushed immediately, and on impulse moved slightly out of his embrace. The small movement caused Ichigo to open his eyes a crack. "Oh…Rukia…" he muttered again then closed his eyes, smiling slightly.

"RUKIA!" His eyes shot open, and he jumped back on the futon, taking all the blankets with him.

Rukia tried to look angry, but instead she was completely surprised as the morning coldness hit her. Hard. She yelped, and dived into Ichigo's cowering form. Now wasn't the time to be angry. Now was the time to get out of the cold. She tugged the blankets from Ichigo, who was clutching them tightly, wondering why the hell he was sleeping next to Rukia. The next few minutes insured a tug-of-war, and tangled bed sheets.

Because Ichigo wouldn't let go of the blankets, he inevitably pulled her towards him. She landed on top of him, and his brown eyes met her dark blue orbs. The kicking, screaming, and yelling that had just been evident a second ago, died away to a few huffs and puffs.

This was like last night, Rukia heard a voice in her head say excitedly. She continued looking into his deep brown eyes, searching for some meaning.

Ichigo was vaguely aware of her weight on his chest, but he didn't move. Looking into her eyes, he remembered what he actually was doing, sleeping next to Rukia. They were at the inn, with the annoying attendant. The room they were in had only one futon… He suddenly blushed, aware of their proximity. If she didn't move soon, he was bound to do something that he would…not regret, but something that would hurt their relationship.

He watched as her face moved closer to his, strands of loose raven coloured hair fell on his face, but he didn't bother to blow them off. Her approaching face reminded him of the time when they had lunch together. But this time…there was no excuse. That time, he had just been lucky that there was something to blame that…he refused to say out loud that he had kissed her, but in his head, thousands of voices were chorusing that he had, in fact, kissed her. He had to stop whatever he was thinking of doing.

"Rukia…"

His voice snapped her out of her trance and she looked at his blushing face. She shook her head a little. How could she think about his blushing face, when she herself was blushing furiously? What had she been thinking? She just saw his deep brown eyes, and then she felt compelled to move forward…

"Uh…Rukia…"

She flew back to reality. "O-oh…" she stuttered. "S-sorry…"

"No, its ok," he assured her. "Umm…" his gaze betrayed what he was going to say next.

She didn't move. Or rather, couldn't.

"Um, Rukia," Ichigo said, his face heating up. He couldn't take much more of this.

Her face mirrored his. "I…can't…"

"What?"

She frowned, still blushing. "Um…I can't move."

Oh great. He was going die. Rukia on top of him, he could handle for a bit. Rukia on top of him, and couldn't get off…his mind nearly exploded.

"Uh…why?" he asked the first question that popped into his head.

"The blankets…" she said, breathing heavily. Ichigo couldn't take it anymore. Using his feet as a pivot point, he used his arms to push himself forward. Without looking her in the eye, he pushed them both up and towards the end of the futon using his knees, so that he was now on top of her, solving the blanket issue. It didn't solve the staring issue.

Despite the cold that hit him, he looked into her eyes again, thus locking their gaze for even longer. Her raven hair sprawled out beneath her, and her expression held something akin to vulnerability, her face still red. However, they didn't move.

"…You look like someone I knew…"

That thought whizzed through his mind, and he broke his gaze off. Closing his eyes, he rolled over to lay by her side, thanking Mother Nature for providing the cold to keep his senses. For a few minutes they both lay there, not saying anything, just listening to each other breathing.

"Oi." Ichigo said, trusting his voice again.

Rukia turned her head towards him. "W-what?"

"I'm cold," he said, staring pointedly at the blankets she was lying on.

She grinned mischievously. "So?"

He growled softly. "So, give me the blankets."

"Let me see…" she put a finger to her lips, rolling her eyes upward, as if thinking. "No."

"What?"

"No."

Ichigo grabbed the blankets from underneath her, despite her playful protests. Finally, she relented, allowing him to straighten out the blankets onto their futon, while she sat on the side watching.

After he spread the blanket out, he crawled in under the covers before her, and pulled it over his head, making him a sizable lump on the futon. She grinned, all recent embarrassment forgotten, and joined him underneath the blankets. He lay there, his eyes open, looking at her as she got inside.

When she finally settled, he closed his eyes, expecting nothing more.

"Ichigo."

"What?" he said softly, not opening his eyes.

"I'm still cold."

Ichigo opened one eye. He looked at her, cuddled up into herself. She looked adorable; a petite, cute, little girl. For some reason she seemed to draw him to her. But he resisted temptation, and instead grinned, not opening his other eye.

"So?" he repeated her earlier jest, causing her to pout.

"Hmmph."

He ignored her, closed his eyes, this time almost going off to sleep. Rukia disturbed him again, by silently creeping up to him and hugging him to her. He let out a loud sigh to make sure she could hear him. After a couple of seconds, he finally put his hands around her body, and pulled her closer to him.

Rukia grinned to herself. That sigh from him was definitely a sigh of defeat. Well, she really was cold. She closed her eyes, thankful for the second time that there were no stupid meetings to go to.

AN: I wanted to go on…but I guess I can't…Sure its relatively early but, yeah, my last year of school calls to me…XD Have to wake up early…-groan- Hope you liked this chapter…very, very fluffy XD…just the way I like things…
Well, anyway, please review…somehow I think this fic has taken a review boom:P that's a great thing! lol maybe cuz I'm at school…and I can't check it every few hours. Well, review guys, and I will update as fast as I can. Cya! Next chapter we should see the end of half of the Business Trip episodes. Lol, they still have to get to the lake you know…that might take another 5 chapters…or even more O.o Still need to write a bit on Operation T-A…hehe I haven't forgotten :P

And, anyone want to say anything about the colour of Rukia's eyes? I kept checking the anime…her eyes sometimes look purple, but other times look a really dark blue. So I opted for the blue because I imagine them prettier. If anyone wants to fight me with facts that her eyes are, in fact, purple, by all means, go ahead. Well, politely XD…REVIEW!