Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite and we all know that.
Author's notes: Been a long time since I've put something on the top A/N… Well anyways this is for everyone who read and reviewed this story.
Hearts and Chappys
"Kurosaki-kun, wake up." Rukia said in that oh-so-annoying voice. Ichigo grunted. Rukia looked around. Everyone was already out of the bus. Whack! Rukia smacked him hard on the head.
"What the hell do you want?!" Ichigo rubbed his sore head due to Rukia's hard strike.
"We're stopping by for a while. I'm waking you up unless you want to be in here in this humid bus. Miss Mayuki said this would be the only stop until we reach our school. So wake up you idiot!" Everyone else was already out so Rukia used her less annoying, real voice.
"Fine, fine! But you didn't have to hit me you know."
"Whatever Ichigo. I'm going down first. Bye." She waved at him and went off the bus.
Ichigo grunted and followed her out. He was glad that he didn't have any Rukia-related dream. It was hard enough when Orihime blurted 'The Situation' out yesterday. As he went out, Ichigo blinked to get used to the sun's brightness.
"Ooiii! Ichigooo!" Keigo yelled at him waving to get Ichigo to come to their group, which consist of Chad, Mizuiro and of course, Keigo, himself. Ichigo went to his friends and started talking.
The whole class was already out, making a lot of noise by talking to each other loudly. Ichigo noticed that they were in a town. "You can go anywhere you want but be back here at 12.30! Anyone who is late will be left behind!" The students cheered. It's not like they had any fun for the past few days. Maybe just a little tiny bit when 'the rumour' spread and the sparklers were okay, but that was just about it. Everyone moved to their own groups of friends.
Right after Rukia was with her companions, she was almost instantly dragged by Orihime to go shopping at a handicraft shop nearby. Michiru, Ryo, and Tatsuki tagged along too. Rukia looked fascinated albeit she didn't have a clue what the things in the shop were called what's more what they were for. She wished that she could ask Tatsuki or Orihime or Michiru on what those things were but she didn't want to look ridiculous in front of them. She could always ask Ichigo, but he was at a stall buying some food with Chad, Keigo and Mizuiro.
Tatsuki bought a cap and a fan saying that it was hot inside the bus. Orihime bought some of those mini-books/keychains. "This blue one's for Ishida-kun… green is for Kurosaki-kun… Then this is for Sado-kun. Oh! And a pink one for Enraku!" Orihime grabbed a pink mini-book/keychain from the keychains hook.
"You're buying a souvenir for your bear?" Tatsuki asked.
Orihime nodded. "Yup! Enraku had been a good bear!" Tatsuki smiled at the childishness of her best friend. "What are you buying Rukia-chan? Are you going to buy something for Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked Rukia.
"I don't know…I'm still searching." Rukia said, even though she didn't know what to search for. Thus, Rukia randomly chose two things and paid for it. Good thing Ichigo had given her some money before they left the school some days ago.
"What did you buy, Kuchiki-san?" Michiru asked her, curious.
"Umm… this thing." She said taking out a handmade heart-shaped keychain and a fluffy white bunny keychain, not knowing what it was called.
"Oh! A bunny keychain! How cute!" Michiru said. " I should buy one of those for myself!" And she left in search of the bunny keychain.
"You are going to give the heart one to Ichigo, I'm guessing?" Tatsuki asked with a smirk/grin. Orihime asked the same question. Both were looked at her intently, waiting for an answer.
Rukia's mind told her to say, No, I'm giving the bunny one to him… Say it, Kuchiki Rukia! Don't say yes. Do not say yes!'
But…but those bunny eyes… Those cute bunny eyes… The fluffiness of that fur… That keychain looks a lot like Chappy…It would look good on her sling bag… She could play with it, hug it every day…
"So?"
"N-… Umm… well, yes!" Her mouth betrayed her. Rukia closed her mouth with her hands instinctively.
"Oh! How CUTE!" Orihime hugged her.
"Urrm! No I meant no! I want the heart one!" Rukia blurted, blushing. Too late, Rukia…
"Don't be shy Rukia-chan! We already know you like Kurosaki-kun." Orihime squeezed her even tighter.
Stupid me…0oo0oo0oo
Rukia looked back at her friends. "Go on, give it to him!" Orihime said in a perceptible whisper. Rukia gave a nervous-like giggle. And she went to Ichigo. Using that schoolgirl voice she called him, "Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo turned towards her. Keigo, Mizuiro and Chad looked at the raven-haired girl as well.
"What?" He was eating an orange-flavoured popsicle stick.
"Take it. Don't ask any questions." She said hastily. Rukia took his free hand and put something in his hand and ran off to her giggling companions (namely Michiru and Orihime. The other two don't do giggling.). And they left a confused Ichigo staring at their actions.
"What the-?" Ichigo said. He looked down to his hand. A heart shaped keychain. "Hmm." His lips almost twitched to a smile but he kept his usual scowl-y face on. Said carrot-top huffed and put the keychain in his front pocket.
"What was that?" Keigo asked, feeling inquisitive.
"Nothing. Some silly toy Ru…Kuchiki-san gave me." He almost let the word 'Rukia' slipped out. He called her Rukia so much it had almost become a habit.
"You were gonna say 'Rukia' aren't you? Hmm Ichigo? Hmm? 'Nyway, tell me what was that?! Huh Ichigo? What was it? Tell me! Don't be so mean…" Keigo tried to convince Ichigo into telling him what Rukia had gave him by annoying him.
Obviously it didn't work. "Shut up Keigo! I said it was nothing!" Ichigo had a lot of practice back at home with his asinine father. Keigo wanted to persuade Ichigo even more when suddenly the booming voice of Miss Mayuki reached their ears.
"EVERYONE! It's 12.30! GATHER UPP!"
"She's loud." Mizuiro said. "Betcha half the town heard that. C'mon, we should go back."
The four friends went back to the parking lot where the bus parked. Miss Mayuki said, "Pair up with the person just now! Do not change your partners. That means you Chizuru, Arisawa."
"Whaat!? What did we do?!"
Ichigo went to line up with Rukia. "Hey, thanks for the keychain just now."
"It's not anything special okay? Inoue forced me to give it to you." She said not looking at him. Her eyes fixed on the rabbit keychain she was playing with. Ichigo rolled his eyes. Rabbits again…typical.
"Everyone get in the bus, now. Sit in the place that you sat just now."
0oo0oo0oo
On the way home, Ichigo noticed a lot of people were going to the back of the bus. He sat up and looked at the back. A lot of people were crowding at the back seat. Feeling inquisitive, he got up and went to the back of the bus too. A guy passed by laughing at a few pictures in his hands.
Ichigo grabbed it from him. "WHAAAT?!!" The picture shows Ichigo and Rukia at the campfire, Rukia with her head on Ichigo's shoulders. The other one pictured Ichigo kissing a blushing Rukia on the forehead. "Where did you get this?!" He demanded from said classmate. "Kurosaki! Shhh!" Miss Mayuki tried to shush him. He didn't though. Instead, he insisted again from his classmate.
"D-Daisuke is selling some for 150 yen each."
"The hell?!" Ichigo took the pictures and threw it out of the bus through the window. "Hey! I spent 300 yen for that!" Ichigo took no notice of him and stormed off to the back of the bus. He yelled, "Daisuke!"
"Oh! Hey lover boy! Want to buy some pictures for Kuchiki-san?"
"Hell no!" Ichigo took all of the pictures featuring him and Rukia and like he did to his other classmate, he threw it out of the window.
"Hey! That was worth 150 yen per piece!" Daisuke huffed. "But it's okay I still have the negatives." He showed a roll of negatives, which Ichigo took and threw it out also. "Hey!" But he didn't continue due to Ichigo's unsympathetic hard cold facial expression. Ichigo then took sometime later to collect back all the other pictures other people bought.
0oo0oo0oo
The bus was already halfway home. Most of the students were already asleep, including Rukia. Ichigo didn't though; he was still fractious about the whole photograph thing. Ichigo tried to read a manga he got from Rukia's bag to at least try to calm him down. He didn't ask for permission because one, Rukia was asleep. She might hit him again for waking her up. And two, the manga was Karin's. Since it was his sister's… no permission needed, right?
As he flipped through the manga that he had read for the umpteenth time, he noticed a piece of paper between two pages. It was never there when he read it last time. Said carrot-top took it and flipped it over. It was a picture drawn by Rukia. He would recognize that suck-ish drawing and that messy felt-tip pen colouring anywhere. But this time he sort of liked this picture this time, minus the sucki-ness, of course. She had drew two rabbits, one with orange fur while the other one was white all over except for its ears which were black. In between the two rabbits was a big red heart. At the bottom-right hand corner was Rukia's neat small writing. Ichigo + Rukia...4ever.
Ichigo's eyebrows went up. Way up. But then he smiled softly to himself. He glanced at the sleeping girl beside him. Cute. Ichigo took the drawing, folded it in half and put it in his front pocket. He then continued reading the manga. He didn't concentrate much on the words or the pictures but at the girl who was sleeping beside him. This reminded him about yesterday night's time he spent with Rukia. Oddly, he felt a bit sleepy at that time. Maybe just one little rest…
0oo0oo0oo
The bus ride has reached an exceptionally bumpy part due to the roadwork, which were going on at the side of the road. People bounced in their seats because of some of the potholes the bus driver ran over. At one part, Rukia's head slumped on Ichigo's shoulder. And Ichigo's on Rukia's head. Even still, Rukia and Ichigo are still in dreamland.
Some people saw that occurrence took advantage of the scene. They took some pictures for themselves to laugh at it or squeal at it or just to blackmail Ichigo with it. They laughed evilly.
"Miss Mayuki, what time are we going to reach the school?" Orihime asked.
"Maybe at 5 pm later or something. Just look at the traffic jam here! The road works must've caused this."
"Oh." She replied flatly. People are getting restless and fidgety because they were bored. Te boredom level was so high even getting something to blackmail Ichigo with (namely the pictures) also lost its touch at this moment. Miss Mayuki didn't let them walk around the bus to talk to their friends. Even Tatsuki and Chizuru didn't complain so much anymore. Boredom can do a lot of things to a person.
At 6.30 they finally reached the school grounds. Miss Mayuki's prediction missed by an hour and a half. The traffic had gotten worse when an accident happened almost right after the roadworks ended. For once Ichigo he was glad to come back to school. Everyone got out from the bus stretched their legs. "Feels good to stretch after a long time in the bus." A random girl said, stretching.
"Nice trip wasn't it, Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo twitched as Rukia said that in her overly honeyed sweet voice.
"Hnn…"
0oo0oo0oo
After Miss Mayuki taken all the attendance, she finally let them go home. Ichigo said good-bye to all his friends. Rukia said good-bye to hers. She wanted to walk home with Ichigo but when she turned around the raven-haired girl saw that Ichigo was already walking off. Rukia wanted to catch up with him when Orihime called out to her.
"You two must live nearby each other, since you and Kurosaki-kun go home together everyday, Rukia-chan." Orihime pointed out.
"Sort of. You could say that, Inoue." Rukia answered with a grin. That… wasn't a lie, right?
Ichigo didn't say anything just merely smiled amiably. "Bye Inoue!" She said for the second time and caught up with Ichigo. Orihime waved back and walked off to her own apartment, with Tatsuki.
Ichigo walked in front of her, hands stuffed in his pockets while Rukia was behind him, a few steps behind due to her short and subtle steps. They walked in unison and in silence. Upon nearing the Kurosaki household, Ichigo stopped as Rukia called after him. She reached up and grabbed his arm.
"Ichigo wait." They were at the river near his house. The sun was setting down. Rukia ran off first to the side of the river, flinging her heavy back pack down. She sat down on the cool long grass, not caring much about the slight dampness of the grass. Ichigo sighed, followed her and sat down beside her, sitting close. Hues of red, orange, and gold painted the sky. Streaks of indigo and blue were also splashed in between the warmer colours. Sunset. It was something that happened naturally but it was still breathtaking to most of the people in Karakura Town. The two thought that this natural phenomenon was simply magnificent.
She sighed as the sun fell down below the horizon. "I love the sunset. It's just so amazing and yet it's an occurrence that happens everyday."
"Mm…yeah." He agreed. Ichigo glanced at her. To the orange-haired teen, Rukia seemed more beautiful than she already is. Ichigo shook that thought out of his head. It must've been the colours of the evening. "We better be heading home now…" He offered his hand to help her stand up. She took it, but she didn't stand up with him. Instead she said without unlocking her gaze at the view.
"Let's stay here for a while, Ichigo. Please?" He sat back down, letting the cool slightly damp grass tickle his feet as the evening wind blew against it. Rukia smiled to herself and inched closer to him. And unexpectedly for Ichigo, Rukia kissed him softly on the cheek. He could feel his face flush up. Rukia smiled "Thanks, Ichigo." Rukia's gaze were back to the riverside and the darkening sky. She sighed again, and then suddenly Rukia let out a small giggle.
"What?"
"This reminds me of the time when we were at the river, Ichigo."
"You liked it there, huh?"
"You kidding? I loved it there. The river, the cooling air… even your stupidity seemed less annoying." Rukia laughed.
Ichigo wanted to retort back at her, but then he also remembered all the times they spent together there, so instead, he said, "Me too, Rukia." Ichigo put his hand on top of Rukia's and held on to it softly. "Me too…"
Rukia leaned her head on Ichigo's shoulder and let her eyes close softly. Ichigo smiled.
"Rukia…"
She got up from her position and looked to Ichigo. "Hmm? Yes?"
Ichigo's face turned to a tint of pink as he said, "I… umm… I thin-"
Click!
Both jerked up from their position and looked back. They saw Daisuke holding his camera in his hands. "Damn, next time I should get the digicam… It doesn't make so much noi… AAHH!" Daisuke sped off seeing that Ichigo and Rukia stood up, going to chase him. And due to Ichigo's long legs and Rukia's experience as a shinigami, they caught Daisuke quite easily.
Ichigo held Daisuke's hands behind his back while Rukia took his camera, kicked it and saw it flying into the sky. "Hey!! My camera!!"
They left him as he wept over his camera. "You know, he could be a great paparazzi." Ichigo said to Rukia as they walked back to the Kurosaki household.
"What's a paparazzi?" Rukia asked, puzzled.
"Never mind. Now he can't intrude other people's business anymore."
Little did they know that other people had already taken their picture in the bus.
0oo0oo0oo
"I'm hom- WARKK!"
A heavy kick landed on Ichigo's face. "Where did you go, Ichigo?! Dinner in the Kurosaki household is-" Ichigo counter attacked his dad by elbowing him in the stomach. "Auug…" Isshin leaned back to the wall due to the pain inflicted to his stomach.
"Is that how you welcome back your son you old man?!" Ichigo retorted.
"Onii-chan! Welcome home!" Yuzu hugged his brother to welcome him home.
"Hey, Ichi-nii…" Karin greeted.
"Onii-chan, I cooked a special meal for us today." Yuzu pulled Ichigo to the kitchen by the hand. She gestured to the table and said, "Steamed fish!"
Arg… fish again…
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Guess I made the click sound too obvious, huh? .
One more chapter to go!
Reviews keep me writing sooo… drop a review please?