I don't own Bleach.

Previously…

As the piano at the end slowly finished the song, Rukia looked away from everyone, her eyes wide. Her heart beating fast, she quickly ran out of the room and gently closed the door. She leaned on the wall outside, holding a hand to her beating heart.

She didn't understand, why was her heart beating so hard? What was that that she felt?

Why was Ichigo the one causing her to feel this way?

Chapter 8: Distractions

At first, Ichigo found the idea of having to sing rather distasteful, not adding that it was a slow love song; even an anime song sounded more appealing! Unfortunately, it was already too late, and he was forced to sing. He had expected Rukia's singing to be out of tune, but surprisingly, she was a natural. He knew his singing was mediocre, but it wasn't like he actually tried.

Nearing the end of the song, he impatiently tapped his finger against the microphone, waiting for the end of the song. To his annoyance, there was still more lines to come. He sang his last few lines and glanced towards Rukia, only to have her already looking at him. It was strange, for a second, there was a flicker of something in his chest, but the feeling was quickly forgotten when she diverted her gaze elsewhere. He blinked a few times, looking back to the TV. Normally when they made eye contact, she would stick her tongue out or smile. It wasn't abnormal for her to look away, but this time, it was different. It wasn't her normal looking away, it was similar to when she would get caught copying his homework, except there was something amiss about it.

Before he knew it, the song was reaching its end and Rukia was out of the room. Widening his eyes, he looked over to everyone else, and they all shrugged.

"Aww, why'd she run away?" pouted Rangiku, "I wanted to give her a hug!" she crossed her arms and stuck her bottom lip out.

Ichigo continued to look at the door as he placed the microphone down, curious as to where the short haired teen had disappeared to. He sat back down in his seat, scrunching his eyebrows together in concentration.

Of course, all of this didn't go unnoticed by Orihime who was very attentive of Ichigo while he was singing. She, at first, didn't care that Rukia was singing with him as the girl didn't have a choice. However, near the middle to the end of the song, she could tell they both were really getting into their parts. She was almost envious of Rukia for being able to sing along side him, they both sounded great together. She was nowhere near jealous though, it wasn't like they were singing together intentionally. It could've been anyone in their group of friends who could've sung with Rukia.

Orihime for the most part, enjoyed their singing, but she was caught off guard near the end when she noticed something strange about the way her dark haired friend acted. But her curiosity was replaced with worry once the song ended and Rukia left the room in a hurry.

After running out of the room, Rukia took cover in the bathroom where she repeatedly banged her head against the wall, "Why do I feel so bothered? Did I drink something with alcohol in it?" she suddenly stopped banging her head and thought about it for a moment. She did take "samples" from her friends' drinks, and knowing Rangiku, her "juice" was nowhere near the usual children's drink.

Nodding to herself, she stuck her finger in the air, "That makes sense, and maybe my senses were off, so when he looked at me, I was surprised as I was half brain dead from the alcohol and the adrenaline… yeah… that's what happened," she said, smiling smugly at her reflection in the mirror. She then slowly looked down at the sink, thinking, and feeling as though that might have been part of it. Whatever the cause… I want to forget it, she thought.

Unconsciously, she turned on the sink and let the water run –hearing the water always helped her think.

"It could have been the drink, but I don't normally feel like that due to the side effects of really… anything," she mumbled, her eyebrows scrunched up. She was suddenly interrupted when a group of girls came walking into the bathroom, two with light purple hair and a short one with blue hair.

Raising one of her eyebrows, she left the bathroom as the blue haired girl started talking about missing her anime.

"Okay, when I walk back in the room, I'll just act like nothing happened, because, nothing did happen anyways. Heh," she nodded her head, taking a deep breath as she opened the door to the room. Inside was Renji singing some sort of hideous tune while everyone was arguing about who would get up and order more drinks.

"Kuchiki! Since you're already up, can you order two melon milk teas and an orange squash?" called Ikkaku casually, forgetting Renji was singing. She shrugged and walked past the red haired singer towards the phone where she ordered the drinks, and looking behind her, she noted that Ichigo, Orihime and Tatsuki needed refills, which she also asked for as well as a bubble tea for herself.

She again passed Renji casually, much like how everyone totally disregarded him and argued amongst themselves.

"Why'd you run out so fast, Rukia-chan?" asked Orihime, nibbling on a cookie as she looked away from Tatuki and Renji's glaring match.

"O-oh, uh, I had to go to the bathroom really bad, you know, from drinking all those drinks," she said, awkwardly scratching the back of her head.

"Told you shouldn't drink so much," said Ichigo, looking up from his English homework. Rukia stuck her tongue out and sat down, pretending like nothing happened.

Hisagi, who was looking through the music selection remote, pressed on a random button on the touch screen which made the speakers yell, "boo!" as Renji finished his song. He glared at the dark haired teen across the table.

"That was great! We should do this more often!" Rangiku stretched her arms out wide and spun around as everyone said their goodbyes and departed.

"Oi, Hime, I have to drop by the dojo, so I can't walk home with you. Will you be okay alone?" asked Tatsuki as she looked towards Orihime with worry evident in her eyes. "It's night time and there are tons of creepy guys outside… maybe I shouldn-"

"It's fine 'cause Ichigo will walk her home, right?" Rukia nudged the orange haired teen in the side, who shrugged.

"Yeah, I can walk her home," said Ichigo, looking at Orihime, "Is that okay?"

Orihime blushed slightly, "Thank you! But you don't have to…" she fidgeted with the bottom of her skirt.

Tatsuki thanked Ichigo and left, leaving Ichigo, Orihime, and Rukia to stand in front of the karaoke place. "You should have Ichigo walk you home, it's better that way. You wouldn't want to be attacked by kuchisake-onna would you?"

"No! Not kuchikisake-onna!" the auburn haired girl brought both of her hands up to her cheeks. "What about you? She could come after you!"

"Nah, spirits can't see me, but I can see them," Rukia laughed, "anyways, I need to go to the store, bye!" She quickly sped away, chuckling to herself evilly. When she was sure they were out of sight, she slowed down to a walking pace and stretched her arms out. Looking up at the night sky, she thought of the junk food items she needed to get. "I need cheddar bunnies, green tea ice cream, strawberry yogurt, and pretzel pocky."

She shivered as the icy brittle wind blew, making her hair fly all over her face. She tugged her jacket closer to her as the wind blew harder, and attempted to brush her hair out of the way. Before she knew it, she walked right into someone's back, causing them to fall forward a bit. "Oi, watch where- Rukia? I didn't expect to see you here. Are you stalking me?" asked Kaien good-naturedly as he turned around. "So where are you going?"

"To the store, I just finished singing karaoke with my friend and I just remembered I'm running out of snacks, and what about you?" Frustrated, Rukia grabbed a bobby pin from inside her school bag and pinned some of her hair back.

"Same here, my older sister wants me to get something for her," he said, sighing. "And out of curiosity, where's Kurosaki? Don't you live with his family? I'm sure he wouldn't let you walk alone at night."

She chuckled, wrapping her scarf tighter around her neck, "He's walking Orihime home. She's more defenseless than me so anyone would understand that she needs more protection than I do, not saying she can't defend for herself. But if you know what I mean… like rapists and white vans."

Kaien laughed, "You have a point there. The guy could probably tell her he's bringing her to one of those western fairy tale lands and she would believe him." In front of the store, he allowed her to enter before him. He watched as she stocked up on junk food, chuckling to himself at her devastated face when there was no more green tea ice cream left in the freezer. "I'm sure they'll have more tomorrow."

"But I wanted it now…," she said, sad. She glanced at his hand, "Is that all you're getting?"

He lifted his eyebrows and brought up the magazines in his hand, "Yeah, pretty much. My sis is out of college so she gets bored after work. She also wanted me to get her cigarettes, but I'm only eighteen."

"What? You're not allowed to buy cigarettes? In France, a bunch of my classmates who were eighteen were allowed to buy them," she placed her items on the register counter, greeting the cashier, who started to scan them.

"Not in Japan. You have to be twenty years or older."

"Oh, that's only two years apart."

Once they both paid, Kaien slipped the small bag of magazines snug into his inner coat pocket, "I'll walk you home. It's too dark for you to walk alone."

Rukia rolled her eyes, "I'll be fine, and I'm perfectly capable of walking home alone. Thanks anyways," she said, walking away, not before he laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Nonsense, I'm walking you home, and that's that." He grabbed her bags out of her hands and carried them as they started walking.

"You don't need to carry my bags, I'm not a princess. You're strangely being so gentlemanly," she looked up at him with questioning eyes, but he kept looking ahead. "And my house is only ten minutes away, I think I'll survive."

He smiled, but didn't answer her.

After about ten minutes of walking in silence, Orihime popped up a question in an attempt to start a conversation. "So… did you manage to finish your homework?" she asked, playing with her scarf.

Ichigo glanced down at her, "Yeah, I did. It was pretty easy, but with all the distractions, it took awhile. I bet Rukia will ask to copy it later like she always does. I usually say no, but I know she secretly steals my notebook when I'm not in the room," he said, unknowingly lifting the corners of his mouth ever so slightly.

Orihime giggled, "That's our Rukia-chan! She's actually really smart when she puts her mind to it. Tatsuki says she's like me, except the other way around," she said, laughing. "She looks and acts smart, but is actually really lazy when it comes to school. As for me, I'm ditzy, but I came in third in the class!" She scratched the back of her head, and laughed.

He chuckled, "Sounds about right. According to Rukia, my notes are the clearest, which probably means she's already copied from everyone else's notes." He stuck his hands in his pockets, and hid his face further into his scarf.

She nodded her head and smiled happily. The atmosphere was comfortable… it made her happy, to be able to talk to him normally. "It's really cold for an autumn day isn't it?" she rubbed her hands together and snuggled her face into her scarf. "Actually now that I think about it, don't the swimming activities start tomorrow? I'm so excited! The indoor pool hasn't been used since our second year!" she said, excitedly. She clasped her hands together, and imagined everyone having fun splashing water on eachother.

"Is it? I forgot, I need to find my bathing suit," he scratched the back of his head. Noticing they were reaching Orihime's apartment, he took his hands out of his pockets, "I gotta go now. My old man's going to throw a tantrum if I'm any later."

"Oh, right. Thank you for walking me home, Kurosaki-kun! Bye bye!" she waved her hand in the air, watching his departing form, smiling warmly.

Ichigo nodded in return and waved behind him as he walked away, unaware of the auburn haired girl watching him.

Nearing the Kurosaki clinic, Ichigo could make out the form of Kaien and Rukia standing outside. He could see Kaien handing her some bags -probably what she bought from the store- and waving before he left. He didn't notice Ichigo as he was walking in the opposite direction.

The orange haired teen raised one of his brows, and smirked. By the time he arrived, Rukia was already making her usual snack before dinner. He had originally expected his dad to come in and kick him, but apparently there was a patient he was helping, so he wasn't there to be annoying.

"'Ka-san said we're not having dinner till Goat face is done," said Karin, tightening her ponytail, post setting the table.

"Okay, thanks," he then proceed to his room with Rukia following behind.

"So? How was your walk with Orihime?" she said after swallowing some of her sandwich.

He shrugged, "I don't know? Were you trying to play a prank or something?" he entered his room and placed his school bag on his desk. "Oh, and find your bathing suit. The pool opens tomorrow, and we have to swim."

Rukia perked up her ears, suddenly getting nervous. "We have to swim?"

"Yeah, why?" he lifted one of his orange brows, glancing back at her as he casually took off his shirt and replaced it with a more comfortable t-shirt.

"No reason…," she said, nibbling on her chocolate sandwich. It was literally a chocolate bar squeezed between a baguette. Ichigo had seen her eat it plenty of times, but never questioned it, despite the weird looks he sent her way.

She walked out of his room and entered her own, focused on finding her bathing suit.

"Does this work?" Rukia held up one of her two piece bathing suits, tilting her head to the side.

"That's a bit too 'showy' for school. Where's your school bathing suit?" asked Ichigo, chilling on her room floor. He sat cross legged, playing with the random things in her room. It was filled with cute plushies, mostly of rabbits.

She held up a red one piece bathing suit, "This? It's so… ugly."

"It's not like you're supposed to look good when you're at school anyway," he rolled his eyes, poking the large Chappy plushy that sat dormant against the wall in its eye.

"Ugh… this sucks. Oi! Don't poke Chappy like that you bozo!" she yelled, throwing one of her dango pillows at him.

Preview…

"You can't swim?" asked Tatsuki, surprised, watching as Rukia shook her head and clung to the ladder for dear life.

"Yeah, and it sucks that you're too short to touch the bottom. This is only for people taller than five feet," teased Ichigo.

She glared at him, "If you weren't so far away, I'd drown you right now."

"How? You'd drown by the time you got to me," he chuckled when he noticed a vein pop on her forehead. He smirked when her eye twitched, "Even Toshiro can swim and he's shorter than you," he said, ignoring the glare the said teen sent his way.

"Well, if she can't swim, why don't you teach her? You're one of the best swimmers in our class," said Tatsuki, everyone else nodding their heads.

"But I want to teach, Rukia-chan! I'll get to touc-" Keigo's sentence was interrupted when Tatsuki and Ichigo smacked his head.

A/N: Happy holidays everyone!

Review pretty please! I'm almost to a hundred! [Wow, it's been so long since I first published this]