It had been the same all week. Ichigo had drained out all his energy just to resist the temptation to not take Rukia in his arms and kiss the hell out of her. It was hard and angering; Obviously, Ichigo was not used to being the one who was put in the harder position in relationships. He could get any girl he wanted. But when the specific girl he wanted was Kuchiki Rukia, she could make his stroll on the park turn into an enormous headache. To make matters worse, Ichigo always felt this horrible clenching feeling in him when Rukia talked to other guys at school. Jealousy. (Every single audience gasps in horror.)

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"I'm home, Ichigo!" shouted Rukia as she ran to the house and unlocked the door. It was raining extremely hard outside and the sky didn't look too good. "Yo," answered Ichigo groggily. Rukia yelped and closed the door, leaving herself to get soaked through to skin. It smelled awful in there! The foul stench of liquor and cigarette smoke was still lingering in her nose and room as she re-opened the door again. "What happened to you?" asked Rukia. She looked like she could faint. Ichigo grinned at her, "Want some? I still have a whole refrigerator of 'em." There were empty beer bottles and alcohol bottles spread all over the once clean living room.

"No, I don't want any! I don't drink or smoke! It's unhealthy," declared Rukia. "You're being such a prude," whined the drunk teenage slouching on the couch. "Can 18 year olds even drink alcohol?"

Ichigo looked like he was having a hard time thinking. "Uh, may…be? Who cares, I'm like an adult already, ain't I? I'm 18 years old, good heavens!" He chuckled and tossed a bottle at Rukia.

"No, don't!" All the books that she was carrying dropped on the floor as she caught the bottle last minute by the cap. She sighed a sigh of relief. "Drink!" commanded Ichigo. "No! I'm never going to drink and I'm never going to start drinking, either!" She slammed the bottle on his coffee table and stormed into Ichigo's bedroom, which had turned into hers over the last month. (Ichigo slept on the couch.)

"You forgot your books," he called out as he stared at the glass bottle she had slammed on his coffee table. Tiny feet slapping against the back of her flip flops told Ichigo that she was storming back out to gather her books. "What's with you? I just asked if you wanted something to drink, would you like to smoke instead?" "You did not ask me to drink, you demanded that I drink!" snapped Rukia as she bent down to gather her books. This was the second time she caught him drunk since she first met him. When he was drunk, he was really scary so she-"God, I hate, hate, hate it when you're drunk!" she exclaimed as she stormed back to her room. Ichigo shrugged. Aw well.

Two seconds later, a rawr from the distance could be heard clearly, then some loud clapping noise. Was it a demon or a hollow? Ichigo jumped off the couch. That was when he saw the lightning strike down from the gray sky. Once again, he heard the thunder. Oh, psh. Worried over nothing, it was just thunder. He laughed at himself and set himself on the couch once again.

Thump, thump, thump. BOOM!

There was a sudden yelp. As soon as the thunder died down, the thumping started again. Ichigo's turned around, but there seemed to be nothing. It had to be Rukia; no one else was in this house besides him. Of course, he wanted a few girls to keep him company, but with Rukia in the house…That wouldn't be such a smart choice. He sighed. "Rukia?" he called out, "hey, I'm here if —the hell?!" Someone small had thrown herself to him, whimpering. Her head was digging into his chest, finding sanctuary in his arms, away from the thunder.

Ichigo's mouth dropped as he gaped at the small figure in his arms. No way, Rukia was scared of thunder? The brave, valiant Rukia was now whimpering in his arms right after calling him drunk? How can she be scared of thunder when she wasn't scared of her family's freakin' murderer?! Or something like that…Ichigo smiled peacefully as he calmly set his glass bottle on the table without moving Rukia. "Hate thunder. Hate thunder. Hate thunder. Hate-!" The soft chanting from Rukia turned to a shriek as the thunder boomed again.

She looked up at him, eyes glazed with tears. Ichigo gulped. The temptation to just kiss her right there, right now... Aurhg, must distract myself! Umm, I know! Ablablablaaablaaaaa! Okay, it was not working. He found himself holding Rukia's tiny waist tighter, as if shielding her from anyone coming at her, human or not. "Rukia?" he said gently. She looked up at him with nothing but fear and nervousness in her eyes. He stroked her face with his thumb. "Don't be scared," he whispered. Rukia nodded like a child. But the thunder sent its infamous loud roar to everyone's ear again and Rukia dove into his chest again.

But this time her head was stopped before she could snuggle into his sweet smelling shirt. Ichigo took this opportunity to kiss her. She gasped and Ichigo took this opportunity to stick his tongue in her mouth. It was something so delicious. He tasted like strawberry covered with melted chocolate. Her world was fading and everything else was just plain white in their own little world. Dewy grass and the peaceful clouds rollin' over and over…

The thunder roared once more but Rukia didn't hear it. Was this something new? All she needed was Kurosaki Ichigo and she wouldn't be scared anymore? The kiss was disconnected and Rukia heard herself whining like a dog who wanted more doggy treats. Ichigo chuckled, their foreheads pressed together. They kissed again, the world fading, any hints of thunder was brushed off their shoulders. "Feeling better?" he asked. Rukia shook her head, "not yet," she mumbled. Ichigo kissed her again.

She had finally fallen asleep. The thunder was still going and the raining seemed like it would never stop. Rukia started twitching in her sleep every time the thunder boomed. When sweat started pouring, Ichigo left her on the couch for a moment, then came back with a cold folded towel.

The towel became soaked in sweat and Ichigo sighed. Stupid thunder, when was it going to stop, damn it!

He kissed her forehead so many times, whispered words of comfort to her so many, and stroked her smooth cheek so many times until it was finally morning. Rukia woke up in his arms. Ichigo had somehow fallen in the midst of a thunderous night and trying to comfort her. She smiled and snuggled closer to him.

XXXXXXXXXX

12 minutes…

Rukia sighed. Ichigo had been gone for 12 minutes. He said he would be gone for 5 minutes. Maybe the devil as extra strong this time? She looked at the green chalk board in front of the class. "Free classroom time," it said. How many times had Ichigo slipped away to kill devils while using the bathroom break or the headache/stomachache excuse?

Noises of feet walking loudly and barging into every classroom woke her up from her daze. Ichigo! The devil must have hit him so hard; he didn't even know which classroom he was supposed to go into! She jumped up from her chair and opened her classroom door wide. Students that had been sitting on their desks whispering silently or doing whatever look up at her. "Miss Kuchiki?" inquired their teacher, Mrs.Misato. Rukia did not answer. Her face turned pale. "No…way…" she said softly.

A pair of arm grabbed her and dragged her out of the classroom. "Ah, we've been looking for you, Mrs. Kuchiki," said an old man with long white mustache. "Byakuya, we've found your sister." The man turned back to the her brother. Rukia gasped. Her older brother stepped up, face expressionless as always. "We're taking you back to the castle and from there, you will rule Japan like you were supposed to." Byakuya said.

"What? No way! I'm happy here, stop!" she shrieked. The hands holding her did not let go even when she kicked her legs back at him. "Byakuya, stop it! I don't want to rule this country yet! I'm happy here!" she nearly cried out.

Byakuya whipped his head around, glaring at her menacingly as he did so. "You're happy staying with the boy who murdered our family and your fiancé?" he snapped, spitting out the word "boy." "He's not a boy!" insisted Rukia. "Take her to the limo…"

It proved to be an easy job to get out since every teacher and students stayed in their room, scared to death from the guns carried by the soldiers. When they reached to the back parking lot, which a lot of people didn't even know the school had, they rudely shoved her into the limo backseat. She protested and kicked and shrieked, but nothing would happen. "Shut up!" growled Byakuya as he was about to enter the limo himself. "No honor for your family," he spat out. Rukia winced and shrunk into the car.

"Hey."

It was that single "hey" that froze Rukia and Byakuya. It was that single "hey" that lifted Rukia's hope and spirit. Ichigo was here, and he was going to save the day. Didn't he say that to her before? Byakuya cursed out loud. "So, are you that boy from Ackey?" Ichigo lifted his thin all-black sword to his shoulder, chains tangling as he did so. "Yeah, so what? Not like you need to know, I'm a kick your ass and drag Rukia back to where she belongs," he growled.

"She belongs to 'ruling japan,' pretty boy," Byakuya growled back with as much ferocity as Ichigo did. Byakuya quickly got into the car and pressed a red button on the window pane. "Go!" he commanded the driver.

"No, Ichigo!" shouted Rukia.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Dammit!" shouted Ichigo. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!" He repeatedly slammed his bleeding fist on the ground harder than the previous one each he brought his hand down. The first raindrop since morning fell again, landing straight on his head. He winced. More rain fell.

"DAMN IT, WOULD YOU JUST STOP FUCKING RAINING? BITCH!" he roared to the sky. Defeat lingered over him. The moment Byakuya drove off with Rukia, soldiers equipped with guns and swords hopped out of the bush. How long had they been waiting there?

"Dammit, Byakuya, you fucking gay ass pussy!" he had tried to catch up by shunpo, but the soldiers stopped him. "You're way too young to even beat Master Byakuya in a friend sword fight," sneered the commanding soldiers. He tried his best to beat every single one of them. But it seemed like every time he struck one down, two more would pop out. At last, they finally ganged up on him.

So there he was, lying in defeat, knowing that Rukia was now being forced to marry some shit head so she and her so-called husband would "rule the world!" Yay! Yay! Yay…Silent tears slid down his cheek as he laid on the ground, a pool of blood forming on the ground under him.

XXXXXXXXXX

"And if the army or CIA or polices or whoever tries to take you away or something, I'll be there to beat their ass."

Those words he said to her replayed in her head over and over again.

Oh, Ichigo…Where are you? I don't want to leave. Please, I'm raining inside and thunder is roaring right now. I want you to hold me tight and kiss me, Ichigo...?

Tears slid down Rukia's cheek and her vision began to blur from water.

XXXXXXXXXX

Corny ending…yes I know. Hehee, my head is suffering from a bad headache, I still have to finish both my mandarin homework and science homework…it's getting late…g'night!

-cyndi and morgan