"So," the girl beside him started, just loud enough to be heard over the music, though, in all fairness, it didn't require much of an effort with their proximity. "This is a Real World party?"
Ichigo didn't even bother to look, he knew she was curiously looking around the dancing crowd at the club, all covered by the electric colorful lights, pulsating in dizzying patterns to go along with the hectic music.
"It's much more… livelier than anything in Soul Society." she said.
"Well, it probably helps that everyone here is alive." he couldn't help himself. He received a punch for that.
Ichigo marveled at how she had even been able to get into the club. He knew Mizuiro had connections inside, so he could get the group in even if they were underage, but still, who in their right minds would let Rukia into such a place? She may have been older than anyone in the place, but she barely looked old enough to be in high school with him, let alone old enough to come to adult clubs. Her height, or lack thereof, didn't help her case.
"ICHIGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" No music was loud enough to drown out Keigo's irritating screeching.
Before Ichigo could be glomped by the hyper man, he put his fist in front of him and in Keigo's face, making him fall to the floor in tears.
Ichigo's scowled deepened. He did not want to be here. He had never been interested in any parties, or dances at school, and he certainly wasn't interested in going to the new wild club in town. So when Mizuiro and Keigo made plans with the whole group, Ichigo was the first to give a flat-out 'no'. No amount of Keigo's tears, Mizuiro's persuading, or Inoue's excited pleading could change his mind.
Ichigo was a rock.
An unmoving rock of will, and he was not going to some club.
That is, until Rukia decided she wanted to see what this human club was like. At first, Ichigo couldn't have cared less what the shinigami girl wanted to do, and he'd continued to say no to her as she tried to convince him to go. Finally, she said she didn't care if he went or not. And she said she'd go by herself.
Now, Ichigo knew Rukia could take care of herself. He knew she could take on hollows, arrancars, and even Espada and triumph. However, he certainly didn't trust her to fend for herself in a crazy human club. Especially when her chaperones included Keigo. No. That wasn't happening.
So, despite what every cell in his body told him, Ichigo was now standing in the middle of the stupid club, with the short, naïve, annying midget.
"Hey, Ichigo!" Mizuiro said in a friendly way as he emerged from the crowd, holding drinks that Ichigo seriously doubted were non-alcoholic.
"Hey." he said back, non-enthusiastically.
"Hi, Kuchiki-san! Are you enjoying yourself?" he asked, his attention drifting to Rukia.
"Yes I am! This club of yours is rather exciting." Rukia said, using that school girl voice of hers.
"I'm glad! And you haven't even danced yet!"
Rukia's eyes widened. "You're right! Ichigo-"
Oh no.
"Let's dance!"
Hell no.
He was already disobeying his inner instincts by being here, but Ichigo Kurosaki would fight Byakuya again before he took to the dancefloor.
"No."
Rukia didn't even falter. She started tugging his arm. "Come on! Ichigo! I want to dance!"
"Not my problem!" he said loudly over the music. "Go dance by yourself."
"That's not what everyone else is doing! I don't want to look out of place!" she tugged on his long-sleeved harder, but he still did not bulge.
"Too bad! I'm not dancing!"
Rukia let go of his arm, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked up at him stubbornly. "Why not?!"
"I don't dance." he said simply. It was the truth.
"Then why did you come to a club?!" she questioned. It was a valid question. And one that Ichigo didn't want to answer. Not that he was embarrassed or anything, because he'd come for her, he always looked out for her. They looked out for each other. When they fought hollows, when they wanted to get stronger, when they protected their friends, when it rained… And when one of them was being stupid and went off to a dirty place were you could be drugged, kidnapped and raped any second.
But Ichigo Kurosaki did not say things aloud that sounded so… Well, caring. People could get the wrong idea, and he had an image to uphold after all!
So Ichigo just shrugged Rukia's question away.
Rukia gave an irritated huff and looked away.
"Can we at least get something to drink?" she asked.
Ichigo mumbled something like 'Whatever' and started walking towards the bar, knowing Rukia was following close behind.
"What do you want, Rukia?" he asked once they reached the crowded bar.
Correction. Once he reached the crowded bar.
"Rukia?" he looked back, searching for the familiar head of black hair. He looked down, all around him, and saw dozens of people, but none of them were her. "Rukia?" he called again, now starting to walk back into the dancing crowd he'd crossed to get to the bar. "Rukia?" he called louder. He cupped his hands around his mouth to better focus his voice, and called her name again.
He pushed his way through the throng, oblivious to all the irritated glances he received, focused only on finding Rukia.
"Rukia?!" he yelled again and again.
Damn! Why did she have to be so small?!
He felt himself getting more and more anxious.
What if she was lost? What if she tripped and was being squashed by all the drunk dancers? What if someone sat on her accidentally? What if she ran into some pervert? Like Keigo?! Worse that Keigo?!?!?! Shit, what if she was about to be raped right now?!?!?!
His heart began to pound uncontrollably as these thoughts filled his mind, and he searched more desperately, whipping around any girl who resembled her from the back, letting them go without so much as an apology each time he saw their faces.
Just as he was about to go crazy, he spotted in the distance her all-too-familiar figure. "Rukia!" he shouted, relieved to see she was alright. "Oi! Rukia!" he kept yelling when she didn't turn to see him. As he got closer, he saw that there was some guy talking to her. Looking more closely, the guy had a confident grin on his face, and he was getting closer to Rukia. It looked like he was flirting. Ichigo glared daggers, suddenly feeling an impulse to punch the guy whose name he didn't even know.
Surely, he was just feeling a little protective of Rukia, since she was like a young defenseless child in this human atmosphere. They didn't teach you to fight off perverts at the Shinigami Academy.
As Ichigo walked faster to try to close the remaining distance between them, he saw the guy was starting to put an arm around Rukia's waist, pulling her towards the dance floor.
That's it. Ichigo decided that guy was about to loose that arm.
Ichigo heard Rukia, using her girly innocent voice, trying to find a polite way to tell the guy she didn't want to dance.
The guy wasn't listening, and he started to pull her closer.
Rukia's eyes started to narrow as she looked at the guy, this time using a firm, commanding voice as she told him to let her go, and started to push him away.
The guy laughed, and lowered his hand so that it was touching Rukia's lower back, then, just as quickly, he finished lowering his hand.
Ichigo felt his insides turn over and his blood boil. "HEY!"
He came up to the guy from behind, and was about to turn him around to rearrange his face, before he heard the distinct sound of a fist connecting with flesh.
The guy's face spun ninety degrees from the impact of Rukia's surprisingly strong right hook, landing at a perfect angle for Ichigo to shove his own fist into the guy's face, mustering all his strength into the blow.
The guy fell forward, unconscious from the two, furious blows.
Ichigo glared murderously at his back.
Rukia stomped on him for good measure.
"My, my," the voice came from the crowd that had gathered around them. "Kurosaki. You never fail to cause a scene." Ishida Uryu said, fixing his glasses as the light shimmered off the lenses.
From behind his back, a wide-eyed Inoue peered at the limp body.
"He had it coming." Ichigo said gruffly.
"Wow, Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san, you knocked him out in two blows!" Inoue said, straightening up to look at him.
"Come on, Inoue-san, let's go before we get kicked out for knowing this vandal." Ishida said, taking Inoue's hand and leading her back through the slowly dispersing crowd.
"Who you calling a vandal you four-eyed pencil!!!!!!" Ichigo yelled at his retreating form, before hearing, "We should get away too. I don't wanna get kicked out for that." Rukia said, coming up to his side.
"Wha- Oh, right." he said, forgetting about Ishida. "Hey, you okay?" he asked Rukia, letting some of his concern show.
"Of course. Such a weakling can't do anything to harm me." she answered, making Ichigo smile with relief, though he looked away to hide it.
"What the hell were you thinking anyway?! Getting lost like that? I thought you wanted to get a drink!" he scolded her. After all, it was all her damn fault he'd gotten so worried earlier.
"I did! It's not like I wanted to get lost, you idiot! You just moved to fast, the crowd pushed me back!" Rukia yelled back. "Then I tried to find you, but that guy came up to me, and well, you know the rest."
Ichigo's eyes darkened as he replayed the scene where he saw the guy putting his arm around Rukia again. "That bastard." he hissed, not loud enough for Rukia to hear.
After that, they went back to their earlier spot, drinks forgotten, and just stood there watching everyone dance.
Ichigo knew Rukia wasn't having fun. And he knew she wanted to go dance, anyone could tell from the uncovered longing in her child-like eyes. And he knew it was his own fault for not dancing with her. He actually started to feel a bit guilty, but his manly pride and signature stubborness prevented him from caving to her wishes.
"KUCHIKI-SAN!!!!!"
Cue Ichigo's punch.
Keigo now lied on the ground.
With his uncanny ability to recover quickly, Keigo was up and talking adoringly to Rukia. "Kuchiki-san! You still haven't danced!" he was saying. "But you don't have to suffer just because Ichigo is a soulless, grumpy party pooper! Come dance with me!"
Ichigo looked down to see Rukia laugh nervously, he practically saw her switch into shy-school-girl mode. "Umm, well, Asano-san, you see-" she fumbled for an excuse. After all, who would want to dance with Keigo?
"Actually, Kuchiki-san, since Asano-san here seems to have had one too many, he should probably just sit down and rest for now." Mizuiro cut in, sparing Rukia.
Keigo whimpered about being addressed 'so formally'.
Ichigo felt himself go stiff, however, when Mizuiro added, "You could dance with me." he said, with that sugary smile he used on all the girls.
It always annoyed Ichigo, but this time, Ichigo felt something past annoyance. A feeling reminiscent of what he felt when he saw that guy making a move on Rukia.
"Sure!" Rukia replied happily, taking Mizuiro's extended hand, letting him lead her to the dance floor.
"Ichigo?" he heard Keigo as he recovered himself from his suffering at Mizuiro's unfamiliarity. "Are you okay, buddy? You're shaking." He pointed at Ichigo for emphasis.
Sure enough, Ichigo soon noticed his trembling hands, which had curled into fists at his sides without his noticing.
"Haha! And they said I was drunk!!!" Keigo laughed obnoxiously. A vein throbbed visibly in Ichigo's head, and he punched Keigo right in the face, causing him to land back on the floor.
"Shut up!" he said with his eyes closed in annoyance.
Ichigo opened his eyes and they immediately fell on two figures, jumping and moving around accurately to the beat of the music.
Rukia seemed to have been having trouble at first, but once she got the hang of things, she was actually pretty good. She and Mizuiro both seemed to be enjoying themselves greatly. Ichigo felt his nails digging into his palm as his fist tightened even more.
"Kurosaki-kun," the sweet voice said, coming to his side.
Inoue stood beside him and followed his gaze, finding immediately the couple on the dancefloor.
"Kuchiki-san is a pretty good dancer, isn't she?" Inoue said brightly.
Her face fell slightly at Ichigo's lack of response.
He didn't want to intentionally make her feel bad, but at the moment, all he wanted was to lash out and use mindless violence, something to vent what he was feeling, whatever it was, exactly. And he was afraid he'd end up targeting Inoue. So he remained quiet.
He heard the girl sigh. "Kurosaki-kun…" she said softly, too soft for him to hear.
He didn't notice her sad gaze looking at him.
Kurosaki-kun looks so angry, and… pained. But beyond that, his eyes just… I wish he looked at me like that.
"Inoue-san?"
She was brought out of her thought by Uryu's voice behind her. She spun around to look at him, and she actually felt a little better.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked, a bit nervously.
Orihime smiled warmly and extended her hand for him to take and lead her to the dance floor.
He's not Kurosaki-kun, but still…
"See you later, Kurosaki-kun!" she called out behind her, knowing he wasn't looking at her, but at someone else.
"Maybe you should just ask her to dance." Ichigo literally jumped as he felt the giant behind him.
"Chad?! I didn't know you were here!"
He only nodded, typical Chad.
Once he recovered from the shock, Ichigo asked, "What do you mean?"
"Ask Kuchiki-san to dance." Before Ichigo could reply his negative answer, Chad went on. "It's obvious you want to from the way you keep looking at her."
"Wha-? I'm not looking at that midget! I'm just looking in the general direction of the dancers!" he shouted defensively.
Chad's mouth curled into a smile in response.
"H-Hey! What are you smiling for?! Don't look at me like that! Stop it!"
"Everything alright, Ichigo?" he froze at the voice that came up behind him.
He turned and saw Rukia mockingly smirking at him.
"Sh-shut up!" he fumed. "Stupid midget." he muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
They went back to just watching the dancers after that, Ichigo scowling more profusely than before.
Chad nudged him without Rukia noticing. He pointed towards said girl, then motioning to the dance floor.
Ichigo was about to stubbornly refuse again, but then he saw the look on Rukia's face, as she looked at the dancers, and, he didn't know if it was that, or Chad's annoying persuasion, or something else, but whatever it was, Ichigo suddenly found himself saying, "Rukia, umm, do you- I mean, would you, err, ugh, damn. Rukia-" Ichigo scratched the back of his head and looked at the ceiling with interest as he tripped over his words.
"I'd love to dance." Rukia said, sparing him. She took Ichigo's wrist and led him to a far, less crowded area of the dance floor.
Once they were there, she looked at him expectantly, and he realized he was supposed to put his hands on her waist, like everyone else.
Oh shit.
Ichigo mentally cursed at himself, and at Chad, and at Rukia, and at Mizuiro for planning this whole thing. Only now did Ichigo realize the position he was really in.
He really couldn't dance. That wasn't in the list of things he did. Never. And now, not only had he placed himself in a position where he had to dance, but he had to dance with Rukia! And he had to put his hands on her waist! They'd never touched each other like that! You had to draw boundaries when someone lives in your closet! Besides, his relationship with Rukia wasn't like that!
They were, well, he couldn't just call her his friend… He never thought of her as his friend. Rukia was much more than that, but still… Where did that leave them?
"Ichigo, I'm getting old over here." Rukia teased him.
Fighting the rising heat in his cheeks, he moved to put his hands on her waist. For a moment, the image of that guy from before touching Rukia like that flashed through his mind, and in an impulse, Ichigo put his arms around her waist and pulled her close, feeling rather smug, smirking triumphantly as if the guy could see him.
The music went on unnoticed by Ichigo and Rukia. Because they were too wrapped up in the way Ichigo had his hands around her, and how she'd put her hands on his strong arms, and how they'd drawn closer. They were lost in how perfectly they fit into each other, despite how different they were physically. It was like they had always been made to be together like that.
It was a while before they even noticed they weren't dancing. At some point, they had looked at each other and their eyes were now locked together. Neither was willing to look away. Neither was willing to let go.
Flash.
Ichigo and Rukia turned to look at the camera pointed at them, realizing someone had taken a picture of them in a very intimate moment. They looked like deer caught in headlights as Tatsuki grinned evilly, showing the people gathered around her, which included pretty much everyone in Karakura High School, the photo which had come out of the old-fashioned instant-camera.
Everyone broke out talking, some wolf-whistled, some winked and grinned sugestively at Ichigo, some girls gave Rukia a thumbs-up and similar winks and grins.
Ichigo and Rukia were stunned in place, then Ichigo reacted. "WHAT THE HELL?! GIVE ME THAT PICTURE!"
Tatsuki laughed at his outburst. "You might want to let go of Kuchiki-san before you try to take the picture from me."
Ichigo and Rukia turned red, not having noticed they still held on to each other like before, they let go like they were burned.
"COME BACK HERE TATSUKI!" Ichigo ran off after the laughing girl, still the color of Renji's hair as he tried to take the damn picture.
Rukia still looked like she was in shock.
Ichigo ran around after Tatsuki until they were kicked out of the club.
Along with everyone else in their class.
Once the night was finally over, Ichigo decided he would never step into a night club again in his life.
He also decided to hide the picture he had finally grabbed, and pretended to rip, from Tatsuki, under his pillow.