Title: Ice skating Shinigami

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach so get over it! And if I did… Hiyori wouldn't have been beside herself like she was earlier in the manga. If you all get what I mean by that.

Summary:Rukia signs herself and Ichigo up for a partner ice skating contest what will the end of this adventure look like… success or disaster?

Chapter: 2/7

Author Notes: This is an updated and revised version of this chapter. Seeing as I had last worked on this when I was a Junior/Senior in high school, and I'm currently 21… it's been awhile to say the least.

"Hurry up Ichigo! Quit being such a slowpoke!" the fifteen-year-old orange haired boys response was to sulk even more. He already knew that this wasn't going to pretty. It was a fact; this was not going to be enjoyable for him. Here he was being dragged, against his will, to an ice-skating rink, for the biggest thorn in his side. She was a cute adorable thorn… but a thorn nonetheless. Rukia was a couple of feet ahead of him; it almost looked like she was skipping. Ichigo could only sigh deeply,

"How much further Rukia?" she glanced at him from over her shoulder, smirking at him, all she said in response was,

"You'll see." Like that wasn't vague as all hell. He had no clue if they were near or far, seeing as they were currently hiking down a path that was hidden in the middle of a FOREST. In the sweltering summer heat, they were as far as physically possible from an indoor ice rink! Unless she was lost and was too stubborn to come clean about it, he wouldn't put it past her. He'd have to get her a GPS for her next birthday.

"Will you just admit that we're lost?" The black haired shinigami gave him a dirty look. He stifled the urge to chuckle; past experience had taught that laughing while Rukia was pissed off was a really bad idea.

"I'M NOT LOST!" She snapped at him viciously, he simply rested his hands behind his head and looked up at the bright blue sky above them. A small smile played on his face. They continued on a bit further. Walking in mutual silence for almost ten minutes straight, before they finally reached a decent sized lake that sat in the midst of a small clearing. What Ichigo was staring at was a large body of water, not ICE. Ichigo's eyebrow twitched and he whacked her over the head… hard.

"IDIOT! Is this some kind of joke! It's NOT funny!" Rukia rubbed the back of head and gave him a rather annoyed look.

"You're the idiot IDIOT! Did you really thin I so stupid as to not bring help?" Ichigo glared at her, but as he did so there was a foreboding sensation that crept up in his mind. Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention immediately. When he saw who had joined the two of them, his jaw fell.

An exceedingly disgruntled as well as unamused HItsugaya Toushiro emerged from behing a tree. A scowl ever present on his face as his turquoise eyes glowed with irritation. Crossing his arms, the white haired captain grumbled,

I can't believe I'm actually doing this…" At first all the human teen could do was stare, but quickly he recovered enough to shout in disbelief,

"TOUSHIRO!" Hitsugaya scowled even further,

"Are you ever going to call me by my respectful title?" He muttered, already knowing that the odds were slim to none. Ichigo's eyes flickered back and forth between the white haired shinigami and the black haired one. His mind was unable to completely absorb what was unfolding before him. He turned to face Rukia,

"He's teaching us?" His voice wasn't even attempting to stifle is shock at the situation. Rukia looked at him as though she was amused by his simplicity. She spoke in an almost haughty tone of voice,

"Are you kidding me?" The captain gave her a nasty look as if meaning to say 'what's that suppose to mean'? Rukia ignored him and continued on,

"Nope, not him, them!" The moment Ichigo saw who the mysterious 'them' was, he understand where the chill of foreboding had come from earlier. Out of the shadows emerged Yoruichi and Nanao Ise. He couldn't tell who was more frightening, the evil gleam in the cat woman's eye… or the frosty expression of annoyance on the eighth division vice captain's face. For some reason, Ichigo felt as though his feet were stuck in hardened concrete.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this Rukia-san." There was a hint of frustration in the way Nanao spoke. Meanwhile Yoruichi scoffed with a grin on her face that would terrify satan himself.

"I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to torturing Ichigo." All he wanted to do was to turn tail and flee as quickly as his feet would carry him. The feeling of his impending doom was suffocating him and slowly enshrouding all of his senses. Hitsugaya felt pity for the poor boy, as he found a spot on the ground close to the lake. As he released some of his reiatsu, slowly the water began to freeze over. The process would take all of approximately ten minutes, maybe less, to make certain that there wouldn't be any thin spots they could fall through.

Once he'd made himself comfortable, and pulled out the paperwork he had brought along with him, the captain glanced back at the orange haired human.

"Good luck Kurosaki." And he meant it too, as he watched the three females drag Ichigo onto the lake before he could even have the chance to respond.

It had only taken them five minutes to see what was already apparent… Ichigo couldn't skate for the life of him. All he managed to do since he'd laced up his skates and bit the bullet, was flail and cling to Yoruichi's arm like his life depended upon it. Thankfully, he'd always been a somewhat quick learner, if his bankai wasn't a sure sign of that. Still, it wasn't fast enough for the violet haired woman.

"You look like a chicken with its head chopped off Ichigo! Get your balance already!" She barked at him with a look of agitation. He had his arms out in front of him, not wanting to fall on his ass, like he'd already done about seventeen times. Without trying to exert the energy to attempt to face her, Ichigo just snapped from over his shoulder.

"SHUT UP DAMN YOU! YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Rukia had managed to get the first part down pat, and he was still stumbling around. He'd never liked the cold, so ice skating or even hockey was never a big favorite past-time of his. Who in gods name enjoyed soggy wet freezing cold clothing that clung to you like a second layer of skin? Not him! That's for sure! What the hell did they expect of him? So far he'd fallen onto his ass, nearly given himself a bloody nose two times from falling on his face, and the he sent flying off the ice and into a tree. Yoruichi thought it would be fun to give him a 'light' push to get him started… without teaching him how to stop.

Hockey had to be a safer sport then figure skating! Rukia laughed happily as she skated circles around him while gloating, he glared daggers at her,

"Oh come on Ichigo. It's not that hard. You can do it." She spoke like he was some sort of baby, which evoked a low growl from the back of his throat. He was off after her before you could count to three. She shrieked and fled from the boy, startled at his burst of action. Yoruichi was stunned, she rested her hands on hips and chuckled once the shock had worn off.

"Guess he just needed the right type of motivation." She watched with a small smile as Rukia laughed while Ichigo was grinning and trying to catch up to her. The boy managed to build up enough momentum that he scooped the girl up, and promptly began to proceed with a vicious form of tickle torture. Rukia giggled and struggled to escape, a rogue elbow managed to catch him in the stomach. He released her, and gasped for breath, she joined him. There was no anger, just smiles and chuckles.

They all agreed that it was good idea to take a small break, let Hitsugaya rest for a bit. It was difficult to exert ones power for an extended period of time, especially for something so frivolous. Rukia was smiling brightly, her eyes all but sparkled with excitement. Her euphoria was clearly contagious, because Ichigo had a faint smile upon his own face as well. Nanao smirked at the teen,

"Now was that as terrible as you thought it would be?" Ichigo shrugged, the smile faded into smug satisfaction. She was right after all, he'd done a whole lot better then he'd initially expected. Before he could answer, Hitsugaya suddenly burst out with a shout,

"DAMN IT MATSUMOTO!" Everyone jumped, startled at this outburst from the captain. He'd remained silent up until that point; he was giving his cell phone a look that could have been translated to a desire to massacre whoever had messaged him. Which apparently was his vice captain, Matsumoto Rangiku. Nanao let out an exasperated sigh and Yoruichi smirked at the white haired boy.

"What did she do this time?" The cat woman asked with false innocent curiosity. Those aqua orbs narrowed to glare at her, he was gritting his teeth and she suspecting that any longer of having to deal with a hurricane like Rangiku, he'd have nothing but stumps left for teeth.

"Some moron told her that I was in the mortal realm… so she's decided that she deserved to tag along as well… THIS WAS WHY I DIDN'T TELL HER WHERE I WAS GOING! When I find out who gave her this information…. I'll kill them!" Nanao kept silent, since odds were that he'd offhandedly mentioned to Hinamori-chan, and she'd obliviously brought up around Rangiku. That's how these situations usually played out. Of course if she was right, then he wouldn't hold it against Hinamori… all of Sereitei knew about the crush the tenth division captain had on the fifth divisions vice captain.

Rukia blinked at Hitsugaya,

"Does that mean she's joining us?" A single white brow twitched, and Hitsugaya could already feel his temple throbbing.

"An army of Espada couldn't stop her." Yoruichi and Nanao shrugged in unison, both knowing all too well the force of nature that was Matsumoto. Rukia rose back onto her feet, brushing off her backside from any grass that might have remained. Once she was satisfied that all possible dirt had been removed, she offered a hand up to Ichigo. He stared at it for a moment, before the corner of mouth quirked upwards into a tiny little smile.

Accepting her hand, he rose to his feet as well. Mimicking Rukia's early motions to remove any dirt that had lingered, brushing his back clean as well. In his already irked mood, it didn't take all that long for the lake to freeze over the second time around. Nanao glided elegantly back onto the ice, turning to face the two 'pupils' she looked every bit the part of a school instructor.

"Well, now that you know how to start and stop… as well as crash into trees…" Ichigo grunted in confirmation of that. She continued,

"We'll begin on doing sharp turns, and doing smooth figure eights. It might sound ridiculous, but it will help you get a better grasp on what we will start you on later… Spins. You're no where near at that level just yet. Slow and steady is efficient with the amount of time you've been given to prepare." With that they all returned to the make-shift ice-rink. Leaving the captain to, now, viciously sign the documents which needed his approval.

It had been almost an hour since they had picked up again, and he was still making what looked like a dyslexic two-year-olds version of the number eight. At least, that was what Yoruichi was calling,

"Damn it Ichigo! You're supposed to get BETTER not WORSE!" she snapped angrily, he was tempted to give her a rude hand gesture, but knew that she'd probably break his finger off if he did. Instead he settled to snarling back,

"Shut up damn you! I'm trying!" Yoruichi gave him an extremely impatient look, similar to when she was teaching him to get stronger when they had been in Soul Society.

"Shut your trap! You managed to acquire Bankai in less then three days… this should be a walk in the park for you! So do it right the FIRST time!" He was right about to retort with something about him being human and having human limitations, when there was a cry of male outrage as well as a female one of frustration.

"Taicho!" Nanao burst out and there was no warmth to her voice… just irritation to a point that Ichigo knew any normal mortal would have died from obscenely high blood pressure.

"MATSUMOTO!" Hitsugaya snarled angrily… and the persona in question was smiling happily, as if oblivious to her taicho's rage. The carrot headed boy wondered if he was crazy, or if the temperature had dropped to practically subzero.

Rukia blushed and her eyes widened in both amazement and embarrassment, when she noticed who the third person was that had been unmentioned.

"Ukitake-taicho!" her captain gave her a small wave hello, as he trailed behind his two companions. Nanao was already off the ice and lecturing her captain before Ichigo even had a chance to react. Yoruichi chuckled softly,

"She's always been a mother hen in regards to Kyouraku." The boy glanced over at her in confusion, slightly bewildered. Yoruichi shook her head,

"It's nothing…Let's go make sure no one ends up killing each other." He nodded in agreement, and skated along after her.

"What are you doing here! I thought I told you to stay and finish the paperwork that I'd left on your desk for you! Did you even DO the paperwork! Why am I even asking? Of COURSE you didn't do the paperwork!" Nanao was pink cheeked, and she looked like she was on the verge of dragging her captain back to Soul Society by his ear. By the expression on Kyouraku's face… Ichigo was fairly certain that the older man would have no complaints to any physical attention given by the vice captain.

Ichigo stood off to the side along with Yoruichi, silently watching the interactions that were taking place. It seemed to remind him of a bunch of pissed off wet cats. His 'teacher' was leaning against a tree trunk, with an extremely amused glint her yellow eyes.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you into an ice sculpture this instant!" Matsumoto smiled playfully at her captain, her blue eyes sparkling teasingly. She was one of the very few women that weren't terrified of Hitsugaya Toushiro's icy fury. Only a very brave or very stupid person could look an angry dragon in the eye and laugh.

"You can't honestly think it's fair that you get to have all the fun in the mortal world and leave me in boring old Soul Society. That would be just mean Taicho." She pouted at him, the white brow began to twitch again, Ichigo was beginning to think that the little captain should let his dad Isshin take a look at it. Hitsugaya growled some more random things at the buxom blonde that the teen couldn't quite catch.

"She gets away with a lot because she just steamrolls over him. That and he has a soft spot for her. A lot of us think they have a very big sister little brother relationship going on." Yoruichi said softly to him, so that the others wouldn't pick up on her little commentary. She was smirking in a way that worried the boy just a bit, thankfully she wasn't look at him, so he figured he was somewhat safe.

"Nanao-chan! How could you leave me behind like that? I was so lonely without you around!" Ichigo flinched unconsciously as a book as thick as his forearm came crashing down on the curly brown haired captain. First off, where the hell did she get that book. Second off, how the hell did she get away with beating up her own captain! As if sensing his confusion, Yoruichi explained once again for him,

"They have a very…uh… best word to describe it accurately would be… a very intimate relationship. There is a respect, and loyalty that allows her to get away with such things. As flirtatious as he is, Shunsui does care for her. So he doesn't her insults and lectures too seriously. Typically." Ichigo nodded in understanding. He relaxed, enjoying their little impromptu break.

Rukia seemed to slip into the slightly stoic, more responsible mask that she always wore when she was around higher ups. Whenever it was just her and Ichigo, she would be loud and irritating as all hell. He admired both aspects of her, it was quite a talent to be able to understand how it is appropriate to act where, and adapt to what is expected. The only big difference between how she acted around say, Byakuya, and how she was around her own captain… was that there was a deep warmth and fondness when she looked at the white haired man. That warmth and fondness had only just begun to show itself around the male Kuchiki.

"Are you alright Ukitake-taicho?" She asked with a hint of concern in her voice. He smiled at her, waving off her concern,

"I'm fine. Just felt like it was a good idea to make sure that these two won't run amok on their own." Yoruichi chuckled and grinned at the man, he looked over at her. Ichigo could tell that they understood exactly what kind of trouble the two would get into otherwise. At the same time, she knew that he wanted an excuse to check up on Rukia. She leaned over to whisper to Ichigo, while Rukia was engrossed in conversation with Ukitake.

"He has a bit of a father-complex when it comes to your girl." Ichigo instantly flushed a bright beet red. He sputtered and his eyes widened as he tried to stutter out some sort of response but was unable to form any sort of coherent train of thought. Suddenly all eyes were on him, and he was flustered beyond belief. Rukia gave him a confused yet bemused smirk, he blushed and looked away as Yoruichi burst out laughing. He muttered expletives under his breath before gliding back on the ice.

Ichigo frowned deeply as he practiced his sloppy figure eights at a further end of the lake. Was it bad that he was glad that Hitsugaya was irked as he was, because now the boy didn't have to just focus on using his energy to freeze the water, he did it just because he was pissed. How handy was that? He snorted in irritation as he made what looked more like a mutated six. The boy swore quietly, so focused on his own thoughts that he was oblivious to the person who joined him.

He didn't have a crush on Rukia. That was a stupid think for Yoruichi to even suggest. She was just trying to get a rise out of him… and she'd succeeded. Damn it.

"I don't know what she said, but don't let it bother you." His head jerked up to face a small face framed by black hair. He stared at Rukia with an expression of surprise. How long had she stood there watching him? From the arguing, he could tell that the others were sufficiently distracted. Ichigo scoffed and tried to play the nonchalant card.

"Tell me something I don't already know." She punched him lightly on the shoulder, and even as she did, there was a smile on her face.

"Look down, moron." He did, while he wasn't paying attention, he'd skated three perfect eights. Her skate marks lined up right beside his own. After the shock worse off, he couldn't help but give her a small smile. Maybe this wouldn't be so horrible after all.

He spared a glance back at the cluster by the edge of the forest, seemed like they had dispersed. Hitsugaya was back to sitting and brooding angrily, Ichigo was shocked that he hadn't gashed through the paper with how much force he was using to sign them. Matsumoto was sitting with Ukitake and Kyouraku drinking, what the boy could only assume was, sake and laughing merrily.

Yoruichi and Nanao were returning to continue the training, a scowl was firmly in place on the vice captain's face. Meanwhile, the cat woman looked rather amused by the whole situation. Rukia pat him on the back with a sympathetic smile,

"Don't worry, Yoruichi might be hard with you… at least she has more patience then Ise-fukutaicho. Between the two, I'm beginning to think that you got lucky." Ichigo gave her a skeptical look, she shrugged innocently before skating over to meet up with her teacher. If he hadn't known better, Ichigo would have though that she was trying to make him feel better.

Before he could actually think about what she'd meant by her words, Yoruichi smacked him on the back of the head. The force nearly sent him face first onto the ice, thankfully he'd gotten better balance. He turned to snarl at her but froze mid-motion by the evil look on the woman's face.

"Yo-Yoruichi?" his voice sounded so small to him. Ichigo was beginning to wonder how Urahara was able to endure her constant torment… The only reasonable conclusion was that the man had to have a fetish for getting beaten up by the cat. Masochism much?

"Skate!" she commanded, and he didn't hesitate to do so. Each command she gave felt like a whip strike. Now Ichigo was certain… Urahara had to have a Masochistic tendency, it was the only way he could endure such cruel abuse.

By the end of the day, Ichigo was collapsed on his back, completely out of breath. Yoruichi was grinning down at him,

"There we go… see… that wasn't so hard." The boy glared death at her,

"I-hate-you." He said between deep breathes. She smirked

"Love you too, now get up off your ass and head home. Rest up so that we can start on the next move tomorrow alright?" Ichigo let out a long groan of agony.

He had to force himself to his feet, and all but limped over to where everyone else was. Hitsugaya was ushering his vice captain back to Soul Society with no hesitation whatsoever. Rukia had already bid his captain farewell, Nanao was forcing her captain to leave the mortal realm. Everyone was going their separate ways and he stopped to invite Yoruichi to tag along with him and Rukia, but a flash of blonde on the opposite side of the lake told him that she already had company to walk with her back to town.

The boy waved to Urahara, think of the devil and he was come. The shopkeeper tipped his hat in return, Yoruichi was gone before they could say good bye. All Ichigo had the heart to think was, good riddance.

By the time they'd all split up and gone their separate ways, it had been an extra hour. They didn't get to his house till it was seven pm. He promptly collapsed onto his bed, this was not how he wanted to spend his summer break. His muscles screamed in complaint and when Rukia patted his shoulder in a gesture of sympathy, he winced in pain.

"See Ichigo, that wasn't so bad." IF he heard one more person say that damn line, he was going to break out Zangetsu, and carve him or her up into small tiny pieces, and feed them to Kon! Odds were high that he was going to have bruises all over his body once he got the energy to finally change into his PJ's. What the hell had he gotten himself into?

Suddenly, his bedroom door was flung open and his father leapt in, about to jump-kick Ichigo, but upon realization of who beat up his son was he caught himself. A bit overdramatically Isshin flailed frantically.

"Ichigo! What happened!" the boy brushed off the worry,

"I'm fine, don't worry about it…" his father dropped the act and gave him a curious look.

"Are you sure? Maybe I should check those bruises out." Ichigo waved his hand in dismissal.

"I'm fine dad. I appreciate the offer. Thanks but no thanks." He managed to persuade his father out of his room. Once the door closed he collapsed back onto his bed again, groaning in pain.

"I'm not going to last another day of that torture." Kon poked his head up over the edge of the mattress.

"What's up Ichigo? Did someone beat the shit outta yah? Sure looks like it."

"Bug off Kon." The teddy lion didn't give up, he started to poke at one of the bruises,

"Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me-" Ichigo grabbed the stuffed head and chucked the doll into his closet before slamming it shut violentely. He just didn't have the patience for that crap.

Meanwhile in Soul Society

"Hold up. Ichigo is learning WHAT?" Ikkaku and Renji said simultaneously to the voluptuous tenth division vice captain. She looked at them like she was dealing with some slow children.

"How to ice skate, with Rukia-chan, supposedly for some ice skating competition. That's all I know." Ikkaku was burst out laughing. while Renji sat in shock.

That has got be probably one of the gayest things any man with a shred of masculine pride would do. If Ichigo wanted to act like some sort of fruitcake then so be it, but he had no right to drag Rukia into it. The red haired vice captain leapt up to his feet and practically shunpoed to his captains office. Renji figured that Byakuya ought to know what his adopted 'sister' was up to down in the other world.

TBC

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