Discalimer: Don't own anything.

Chapter 3- Hoodie

Rukia's speech had betrayed her. She was unable to utter a single word, the pure shock was too immense. The man she saw before her, this was the man she thought about all the time. She wanted him to notice her, even though he was her teacher the feelings wouldn't go away. The sudden realization hit her, she was in her pajamas, her hair was a mess. She started panicking for no apparent reason, her heart beat slowly rising.

"Well… are you gonna let me come in or….." Ichigo said awkwardly with a strained smile.

"Ahh! Of course!" Rukia yelped a little slightly embarrassed at her lack of manners. She felt so nervous, she didn't know why. HE was in HER apartment! The mere thought sent chills down her spine, but this was reality.

"I'm sorry I couldn't text you or anything, I didn't even know ha-ha" he chuckled, " But I'm happy I get to teach my favourite student" he finished with a warm smile as he took a seat on the couch.

Rukia knew this fact, but she was still happy to hear it from him.

"Wow! I am your favourite huh?" she asked with a smile.

"Duhh" was the response she got.

Ichigo had a grey hoodie on and wore normal blue jeans.

"I'll go change." She said.

"Why?" Ichigo asked tilting his head in confusion

"Cause I feel like it." Rukia said after looking at his confused face.

"Good. You have some spunk today, that'll help you with your maths." He said cheerfully.

"That seriously doesn't make any sense." Rukia said with a chuckle.

Rukia went into her room feeling flustered. She shut the door and pressed her back against the door letting out a sigh. The aftermath of the shock was still there. Deep down inside she was so happy. She mentally thanked her brother for scouting Ichigo as a maths teacher. The prospects of this arrangement made her feel very excited. She would have him only to herself, she would be taught privately. A sudden blush hinted at her cheeks as she looked through the peephole to see Ichigo examining their flower vase, he looked so cute doing that.

She changed into her normal fun cloths, a black t-shirt with a bunny picture on it and blue skinny jeans. She opened the door to see Ichigo sloughing on the couch as he kept pushing buttons on his phone.

"Ahh you're here. Look you're results haven't been good" he said in a serious tone," It's like you don't understand anything."

"You're right, senseiii" She teased as she took the seat beside him.

Ichigo scowled at her trying to look formidable, this only added to her giggles.

"Listen, Midget I will take it upon myself to make you the greatest student our high school has ever seen, and you're not getting in the way of that." he said with a confident air in his words.

"That will never happen you strawberry" she said as she crossed her arms.

"Don't underestimate the great Kurosaki" he said as he grinned like an idiot.

And with that the pair began their work. They tackled algebra and geometry. The more they studied the more Ichigo realized that she was a lost case, completely un-talented in the skill of maths. The whole time Ichigo tried anything to get through her head, Rukia just stared at him blankly, pretending to care. Ichigo didn't notice but Rukia was lost in his hazelnut eyes, staring deeply into them. She knew she had fallen for him, fallen for him bad.

After a while, a new thought occurred to her. 'What does he feel about me?' With that, she stunned herself. She had no idea how he really felt. The man might not harbor any feelings for her whatsoever, but how was she supposed to know? Could she just ask him? What if he rejected her? She couldn't fathom losing him now. What if asking him about it made that possibility a reality? She couldn't risk losing him, it would be too much for her to take. She deeply thought about this as the boring man lectured on and on.

"Oi Rukia!" he yelled in complete and utter annoyance.

"Huh?" she blurted out as she was taken out of her daze.

"Could you tell me what I just said?" he asked simply.

"You k-now t-that you can't add coefficients t-together o-or something" she stammered.

Ichigo literally face palmed himself and asked, "How could I reach you? Well it wouldn't be very difficult since you're so close to the ground!" he finished trying to go for a lame joke. This only earned him a smack on the head.

Rukia noticed that Ichigo would only glance at his phone from time to time.

"Are you waiting for a text or something." She asked in a dry voice, she didn't like that for some reason. An obvious reason.

"Umm…" Ichigo muttered trying to think of a lie of some sort, "Well yeah it's just my friend Ishida, he was supposed to text me and let me know if he got the tickets to a football match I was waiting for."

Rukia just nodded at this.

They studied for two hours, Rukia was getting a headache and Ichigo seemed to enjoy the whole thing, Ichigo really liked teaching, a passion he picked up a long time ago and teaching her felt amazing for some reason.

"Can we please end it for today?" Rukia pleaded.

"Fine. You wanna go out and get a bite to eat? No worries my treat." Ichigo offered while he packed his leather briefcase.

This offer was like music to Rukia's ears, not the fact that she didn't have to pay but that Ichigo wanted to actually spend time with her, she tried really hard not to look too excited.

They both left the apartment and Rukia locked the main entrance. She was happy, she usually didn't go out that much, that fact that it was with Ichigo only added to the happiness. They walked the clean pavement under the bright sun. Rukia cheerfully smiled at her teacher for no apparent reason, this made Ichigo smile back even more, a warm smile that Rukia loved to see. Ichigo then popped an earphone into Rukia's left ear and he popped one in on his right ear. He shuffled through his ipod and picked a track. Rukia instantly recognized the song and yelped, "You listen to U2 aswell?!"

"Duhhh" was the response she got.

They chirpily walked the footpath and sang the chorus of the song together, "Who's gonna run your wild horses!"

Rukia then laughed whole-heartedly at this.

"Were here" Rukia informed him taking the ear plug out.

They had come to a local ice-cream parlour, it was cheap and Rukia really had a craving. Ichigo had no idea why, the temperature was really chilly outside.

They walked up to the clerk and Ichigo ordered, " Give me a cappuccino and waffles and give the lady here umm… What flavor do you want?" he asked while viewing all the different vibrant flavours.

"I want strawberry" she replied cutely.

"You heard her." Ichigo said with a smile.

They both took their seats on a cool wooden circular table.

"I love what they've done with the place." Ichigo said as he looked around the small café.

"My sister used to bring me here often, I always chose strawberry." Rukia said with a strained smile.

Ichigo could feel the deep hurt in her eyes, it broke his heart into pieces to see such an innocent girl withstand so much pain and suffering. It made him want to hold her in his arms, to comfort her and tell her everything's gonna be okay. Just as he was about to say something the waiter interrupted them and served them their respective orders. Ichigo could see the pure joy in Rukia's eyes after receiving the strawberry flavoured delicacy. She looked like an innocent child.

They both talked and had their meals. It was such a comfortable atmosphere. They talked about a lot of things, useless things.

"Well when I was in high school my buddies and I used to say, "jerk off, jerk off, jerk off" when the teacher turned her back on us." He explained having a bite of his waffle.

"What would happen if we did that to you?" Rukia asked tilting her head.

"You guys wouldn't have lived to see another day." Ichigo said with all seriousness.

They both finished their meals and went for the exit. People looked their way and thought they were a very good looking couple, only if they knew the lame truth.

"It's freezing!" Rukia whined as she rubbed her bare pale forearms. It really was freezing, Christmas was nearing and the temperature in Karakura was never merciful.

Ichigo then did something very sweet, he pulled off his hoodie and handed it to Rukia.

"Here, just take it." He commanded.

Rukia didn't even hesitate to take it out of his hands and she quickly pulled on the grey hoodie. Ichigo chuckled at this.

"I should walk you home." Ichigo offered, but just as he finished saying this his phone went beserk with a horrible tune and his face expression changed in a millisecond, "On second thought you have to go on without me Rukia!"

He then hastily hugged Rukia before she could even say anything, she was taking a back by this as she felt his strong shoulders. She melted into the hug, feeling every sensation she could feel, as Ichigo was about to let go Rukia tightened the hug and softly sighed, " Don't hide stuff from me, idiot."

Ichigo widened his eyes in shock and weakly said, " I'm not hiding anything, really. Now can you reach home alone? Or should I take you?" still none of them let go of each other.

"It's okay, I can get home just fine on my own." Rukia said as she pulled away from the heavenly embrace.

"Okay than! See ya later, Rukia!" Ichigo yelled as he sprinted off in the other direction.

Rukia was left stranded in the cold. Little snowflakes fell from the heavens and landed on her tiny shoulders. The chilly breeze brought an eerie air of uncertainty as she sighed at her current position. All she could do was believe in Ichigo's words, other than that she had nothing else to do. She grabbed the hoodie and whiffed in the scent of the orange-haired teacher, she loved that scent. She took another whiff and sighed, "Oh how I love you stupid old teacher."

Christmas was upon the small town of Karakura . The snow fell joyously from the clouds and filled the town with blissful happiness. The pressure of Christmas was in full flow, malls were busy and traffic plagued the city. The birth of Jesus Christ was certainly a monumental occasion, decorations and colours brought the city alive.

Two weeks had passed since Ichigo started his private tutoring with Rukia, they had seen each other on a regular basis and hung out from time to time, but Rukia still kept their interactions a secret from her best friends Tatsuki and Renji. She thought they would make a big deal out of nothing. She was right in assuming that.

Rukia awoke early in the excitement of Christmas , she was just like a little child. Special holidays like this were the epitome of her good days, she felt so comfortable in the comforter that enveloped her, keeping her warm. She slowly rose from her position, still feeling drowsy, she grabbed her phone to see if she got any messages from Ichigo, to her delight she did get one. It said: " Merry Christmas Rukiaaaaa! If u wanna meet up swing by the centre mall at 4, I'll be there :d"

Just after reading that she jumped up and dashed across the apartment, she entered her brother's room where he was peacefully sleeping, but not anymore.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS NII SAMA!" she bellowed as she jumped on top of him. They both struggled and wiggled but Rukia won when she was perfectly on top of him, staring into her brother's sleep ridden eyes.

"You imbecile." Byakuya sighed, " Get off of me"

As Rukia got off Byakuya and slipped on his slippers and said, "Merry Christmas, kozo!"

Byakuya then went to his bathroom.

Rukia laughed and pushed herself back on her brother's bed, she started thinking about her teacher, as usual. "What am I gonna wear? What are we gonna do? Should I bring Renji and Tatsuki?" The questions overflowed her mind. She started getting comfortable again and curled up with Byakuya's comforter. She was still wearing the hoodie Ichigo gave her, she always wore it when she goes to sleep, the scent always calmed her nerves and it always ushered a good night's sleep. " Thank god he didn't want it back yet." She said to herself with a smile.

"When did you buy that hoodie?" Byakuya asked wearing his chappy the rabbit pajamas.

"You're too observant Nii sama!" Rukia whined as she got up and went to the living room.

"You didn't answer the question brat!" Byakuya yelled as he went to the living room aswell.

"I'm going to open my present now!" Rukia cheered in excitement.

Yes they had a beautiful Christmas tree which was well decorated, and under the Christmas tree laid two finely wrapped present boxes.

Byakuya couldn't help but smile at her cute, tiny sister. He thought she was so adorable sometimes. It reminded him so much of his wife.

*FLASHBACK*

Byakuya held her tightly as their mansion was crumbling to pieces, the pillars fell and crumbled to the ground, a horrendous feat was occurring. Hisana was so scared as she tightly clung to her husband for protection. Byakuya knew they were all going to perish, he looked scared as well as he held Hisana in his arms, there was no way he was going to let go.

"Byakuya, please listen to me." Hisana pleaded in his chest.

"Keep silent! There is no way I will leave you!" Byakuya spit out.

"Please save my sister, she's only five, she still hasn't lived her life! She still hasn't had the feeling of love! Don't take that away from her! I know you are the only one that can save her now. You have that power." Hisana begged him.

"I will take you with me!" Byakuya said as emotion cemented his throat, he was trying so hard to hold back the tears that threatened to escape from the honourable man's eyes.

"Byakuya, please darling you know I will die anyway!" she screamed, " Please let me go this way, I don't want spend the rest of my life coughing blood on a deathbed! I love you so much, Byakuya please save her. Let me be free. Dying like this is much more beautiful!"

Byakuya understood her feelings, he knew she was dying, he grinded his teeth and swallowed the hard truth, with that he kissed his wife passionately for the last time, her eyes couldn't hold back the tears as she melted into the kiss. Byakuya got up and left her, " I will save your sister, Hisana. Goodbye, my love"

"Thank you so much, Byakuya." Hisana sighed. She smiled knowing that her sister would be saved. She looked up at the ceiling, not being able to comprehend the last few seconds of the gift of life. She was still smiling as the ceiling collapsed and crushed her body in seconds.

*END FLASHBACK*

"You got me a sweater." Rukia said looking very irritated.

"it's nice isn't it?" Byakuya said with an idiotic smile, " I got it 20% off! Well, what are you waiting for? Try it on."

Rukia unenthusiastically put on the red sweater. "It feels warm I guess." She said still looking annoyed.

Byakuya didn't even notice that as he savagely opened his box, to find a tiny velvet box. His eyes widened in shock to find a classy looking silver watch.

"Rukia! You shouldn't have, how much did this cost?!" Byakuya said as he tried it on.

"You don't need to know!" she said with a pout as she went to her room to choose the clothes she was going to wear for the afternoon

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME SADO!" Ichigo yelled as he struggled in his seat.

"You can't possibly think you have the slightest chance of beating me." Sado said simply.

The two men were arm-wrestling each other in the food court.

"You two apes haven't changed at all" Ishida said as he repositioned his glasses.

"Go Kurosaki saaaan!" yelled Urahara. The four men were attracting a lot of attention as people stared at the strange group.

Both of them were deadlocked in a tied position.

"Can we please just order?" Ishida asked in annoyance.

"No Rukia isn't here yet!" Ichigo yelled as he was starting to lose. And with that bit of distraction Sdo completely crushed his hand as it slammed on the table.

"You've gotten soft Ichigo" Sado said as he shook his hand in victory, "How long will your girlfriend take?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Ichigo said with a blush, "She's my student goddamit!"

"Speaking of which, where's Orihime?" asked a jumpy Urahara.

"She's ill Urahara san" replied Ishida, " Please don't be so jumpy."

Urahara then slowly poked his nose, he drilled his nose and rolled up a ball of booger with his finger and he simply flicked it at Ishida.

As soon Ishida felt the impact on his face he leaped from his chair, his face slowly turning blue in disgust, "Urahara saaaan!" he screamed in agony.

While this was going on Sado and Ichigo couldn't care less as they discussed the fine arts of arm wrestling.

That was usually the feel around this whole crew. Some people would really love to study their strange behaviors.

While all of this was happening a special raven haired girl watched from the crowds, her eyes fixated on a certain orange haired man. She took a deep breath and walked over to the food court.

Ichigo's eye's fell on a girl he knew very well, he smiled whole-heartedly removing that famous scowl on his face.

"Rukia, you're here! We've been waiting for you!" Ichigo said.

Rukia smiled at the entire group of people and then was shocked.

"Urahara saaan!" Rukia yelped.

"Rukia!" Urahara said as he leaped to hug the small girl.

"And how exactly do you guys know each other?" Ichigo asked with a confused look.

"She's one of my regulars Kurosaki! I've known her forever!" Urahara yelled.

"I'm Ishida." Ishida said as he stretched out a hand to Rukia, "Ichigo's childhood friend."

Rukia was about to the shake the hand but was interrupted by another hand.

"I'm Sado." Said the huge Mexican, " Ichigo's less gayer childhood friend."

Rukia stared at them and then burst out laughing, Sado, Ichigo and Urahara also joined the fitter of laughter as Ishida was staring at the ground in gut wrenching embarrassment.

Between all the laughter Rukia managed to glance at Ichigo as he gave her a warm welcoming smile.

TO BE CONTINUED-

A/N Okay done with this one, hope you liked it, please let me know if you did. Alright byee take care.