A/N-I couldn't get this idea out of my head, and I wanted to see where it would take me

DISCLAIMER- Don't own bleach or their characters at all.

CHAPTER 1

And So it Began...

Ichigo closed his eyes, relaxing the tension in his body and settling in his bed. Soul Society was at a momentary peace, Aizen hasn't quite acted yet, grades were good, no signs of trouble seemed to come his way- these were one of the rare moments where Ichigo just had his time to himself.

"Oi, Ichigo, tell me your opinion on this one"

Ichigo opened his eyes again, slightly annoyed as he turned around to face his closet. Rukia slammed the closet open, sitting on the top shelf as she dangled her legs, putting some finishing touches on a page in her old sketchbook with a light blue crayon.

"You little…I thought you were in Soul Society"

"I found out that the human world had a wider variety of crayons than Soul Society did, so naturally I had to see for myself what they were capable of"

Her eyes lit up as she gave a nod, putting the crayon down. Ichigo sighed, sitting up at the realization he could never get back that moment of peace again today. Rukia turned the sketchbook around for Ichigo to see, clearly seeing the glint in her eye. He put his arms on his knees, leaning in to get a better visual of the picture.

"I call him, 'El Chappy'"

In the center of the page, the small rabbit was drawn with a large sombrero, small ornaments dangling around the edge of the hat. It had large boots on its feet with pink ribbon tied to the side and a mustache, one leaning farther to the right with large swirls on the ends. Its hands were occupied by cake or a tomato, Ichigo could not tell. But it just couldn't prevent him from bursting with laughter at the poorly drawn picture.

"Rukia, that is the crappiest drawing I have ever-

Ichigo had seconds to finish the sentence before he earned a good, solid kick at the top of his head. Ichigo lay on the floor, trying to recover from the fury that was Rukia.

Despite Ichigo's comment, Rukia held the sketchbook proudly against her chest.

"One day, this picture shall be treasured in a museum, Ichigo" She turned to look down at Ichigo who was still getting up. "Then we'll see who's laughing!"

Ichigo managed to sit back on the edge of his bed, rubbing the spot where Rukia's foot came into contact with his head. "I got a good laugh out of that"

"Yo! Ichigo!" Jumping through the open window, Renji landed on the ground next to Rukia with a light thump.

Over the year, Ichigo had finally learned to keep the window open at the expense of the window repair man.

"Renji? I thought you were supposed to be back at Soul Society, too?"

"I was, Captain Ukitake sent me to check up on Rukia"

"Well, she's fine, which is more than I can say for that rabbit over there"

Rukia, who was still proudly picturing the rabbits face framed onto a wall, snapped back to the other two's conversation.

"His name is El Chappy!"

"El Chappy?" Renji confusedly asked.

She gave a solid nod, holding it up for the lieutenant to see. He took a minute to observe the rabbit's face, staring into the black dots that were the rabbits eyes before he burst out into laughter the same way Ichigo did. Before long, Ichigo started to join in a bit as well.

"Rukia, what is that? A tomato?" Renji said in between laughs.

"I thought it was cake!" Ichigo added, earning both males a shove of the sketchbook in their faces, with the strength of a punch.

"You fools have no artistic vision at all! You wouldn't know what a masterpiece was if it hit you right in the face!"

Ichigo took a while getting up this time, considering he took one more hit than Renji did.

"Something hit me in the face, but it wasn't any masterpiece" Ichigo grumbled. Rukia gave him the evil eye as Ichigo sweatdropped.

"Rukia, don't you ever draw anything else beside those bear-things?" Ichigo said, poking at Renji unmoving body.

Rukia picked up her sketch book. "What are you implying?"

Ichigo could see the dark aura forming around her as she got ready for another hit. Renji finally sat up.

"Well, Ichigo's got a point there. I don't think I remembered a time you drew something else"

"Oh really? Well, let's just see then" Rukia started to flip through her sketchbook, momentarily stopping to look at the page. But as minutes passed, Renji and Ichigo started to become bored.

Rukia finally stopped at a page, turning to the two shinigami who had started a game of go-fish.

"I got it!" Rukia announced.

Ichigo and Renji turned to Rukia. "You have an eight?" Renji asked.

"No! Feast your eyes!" Rukia said as she showed them the picture she had been searching for about ten to fifteen minutes now. In the middle of a page, was a pink blob, to what Ichigo could see. It formed into the shape of a rabbit head, with a brown outline and chocolate pieces for the eyes and mouth.

"Rukia, that's a chappy" Renji blatantly said.

"It's a cookie!"

"Of a Chappy" Ichigo deadpanned.

Rukia closed her sketchbook. "Oh, forget it, you two are so critical and un-supportive"

Renji scoffed. "What?"

Ichigo lowered his cards. "We are definitely supportive"

"Oh really? Name one time you have ever complimented my drawings?"

Ichigo and Renji looked at each other, starting to converse about a few times they might have remembered.

"What about that one-"

"Nope."

Rukia had a blatant smirk on her face, expertly shuffling the cards. "Can't think of one?"

"Alright, alright"

Rukia triumphantly crossed her arms. "Ha!"

"So how about we make this a bit more interesting?" The three shinigami looked off to Ichigo's window, seeing the familiar black cat sitting there.

"How long were you sitting there?" Ichigo asked.

"Long enough,"

"So… what do you mean by 'interesting' exactly?" Ichigo asked, curious to know more.

Yoruichi jumped from the window frame to the bed that held all three. "Well, you and Renji have to go without criticizing Rukia's drawings…"

"And then Rukia has to go without chappy, and the first to break looses. But Ichigo and I are on the same side because we're betting on the same thing, right?"

"Right, but there can be rules set up."

Ichigo smirked. "Alright, the winners get to choose what the loser has to do, sound fair?"

"I'm in, sorry Rukia, but I'm not letting you win"

Rukia scoffed. "I don't need your pity, Renji, because I won't go easy on punishments"

"Then neither will we" Ichigo was already determined to win.

"Ok, then since I came up with the idea, I'll be playing as your moderator, so don't cheat, your bet will officially start tomorrow"

But, what the three didn't know is that their bet could very well be their demise, as well as expand to something even more intimidating.