Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. And I'm not making any profit with this fic. So no sue, me happy.
Ichigo+Rukia…4ever??
Things had gotten normal for the Kurosaki household almost instantly after Ichigo (and Rukia) came back from their camping trip.
"Aaah! That's my fishball, old man!!" Ichigo yelled as he tried to get the fishball from his dad's chopsticks. Isshin stretched his hand as far away from Ichigo's reach as possible.
"Too slow, Ichigo, my foolish son. Remember the early dad gets the fishball and-"
"Got IT!" Ichigo pulled his dad's hand near him and took the fishball from the chopsticks as soon as he could reach it.
"ICHIIGOO!!"
"Onii-chan! Otou-san! Don't fight…" Yuzu tried to stop their fight, but failed. "Just leave them Yuzu…" Karin said. She held out her bowl to Yuzu and said, "More rice, please."
Yes, absolutely normal.
0oo0oo0oo
"Rukia, your food." Ichigo said, giving Rukia her tray of food. Rukia took the tray from him looked at what the Kurosaki had for dinner just now. "Eh…? Fish again?"
"Take it or starve, Rukia." Ichigo went to his study desk, not to study but to take out something that had been poking him since dinner. He stuffed his hand into his left pocket. He was sure something was poking him there. It wasn't sharp, just annoying. Ichigo took out… the heart shaped keychain. The one that Rukia gave to him that day. He raised an eyebrow at the toy.
Ichigo faced Rukia who was eating some rice from the small bowl using her chopsticks. The taller of the two asked, "Rukia? Why exactly did you give me this?"
"Inoue forced me to." She replied simply, not even looking at him. "It's not anything special, if you're thinking."
"Meh… whatever, Rukia." He put his keychain on the desk. Then, Ichigo stuffed his hand into his other pocket and found a piece of paper in there. He almost forgot about that. It was the drawing of the two bunnies that Rukia drew. Ichigo smiled to himself softly. Rukia, noticed that his actions, looked up to see what he was so happy about.
Pbbrtt!!
Rukia spurted the water that she was drinking when she saw her sketch, the sketch that she really, really didn't want anyone to see, especially not Kurosaki Ichigo.
Ichigo looked at Rukia, then the wet floor. Scowling even deeper he said, "Oi Rukia! The floors are wet! You better clean that up la-" Ichigo didn't even finish his sentence when suddenly Rukia jumped up and pounced at him.
"ICHIGO!! Give ME!!"
As soon as she said that, he knew she wanted that sketch so he teased her about it. He sat on the chair, stretching his arms as far away from Rukia as possible. "I-chi-GO! Give. Me. That!!" Ichigo stuck his tongue out, trying to annoy her some more. To him, annoying Rukia was really, really amusing. "AHH!" Rukia in desperation to get her sketch, stood on her toes and leaned on Ichigo, stretched her hands to their limit.
The chair couldn't handle it anymore and it fell onto the floor with a loud CRASH! Ichigo fell on the floor, head first, missing the chair by a few inches. "Oww…" He groaned. Rukia had Ichigo as her support when she was trying to grab the drawing but when he fell, she lost her balance. And somehow ended on top of Ichigo.
She didn't notice it though. The short girl was too preoccupied in taking back her picture from Ichigo's hands, hoping that the orange-haired teen didn't read the small writing at the bottom-corner of the page. Ichigo, whose face turned a small shade of pink from their positions, stopped thinking about to tease Rukia. In that chance, Rukia grabbed her drawing from Ichigo and glared at him fiercely followed by a hard kick on his shin.
To irritate and/or embarrass her, Ichigo said teasingly "Ichigo + Rukia…4ever, is it? Hmm, Rukia?"
Surprised, Rukia stopped dead on her tracks and turned to Ichigo. H-he read it! Unable to say anything, Rukia opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. She looked like a gaping goldfish. Ichigo smirked. Obviously his plan to embarrass her worked perfectly. Rukia's face turned a very deep shade of crimson and ran off to her (Ichigo's?) closet, sliding the door hard and buried her very red face in her pillow.
"Heh… love you too, Rukia." He mumbled to himself, blushing slightly. Actually, Ichigo didn't want to admit it even to himself that he loves that annoying raven-haired midget. But it made him feel happy when he is around her... sometimes.
"What did you say, Ichigo?" Rukia opened the closet door a little; just enough so see can see is face. Ichigo was surprised that she had that sharp of a hearing. "It's ummm… I said…" Should I? I mean how many chances like this would I have? Say it, Kurosaki Ichigo… "I said… ummm… nothing. Never mind, Rukia." He couldn't do it. What with Rukia staring at him for his answer and his flushed face made his brain went to fluff jelly mode so he can't even make up those three words that he had always wanted to say to her. Damn.
Obviously not happy with his reply, she 'hmmph'-ed and slid back the closet door. Rukia couldn't face him fully at that time, she was still embarrassed that Ichigo saw the picture, and more importantly, read and the note beside it. Rukia didn't say much after that.
0oo0oo0oo
At around 10.32 pm, the sound of his door being knocked woke Ichigo up. "Onii-chan, can I come in?" Yuzu's voice came from outside his room.
Ichigo grunted. "Yeah…Come in, Yuzu."
Ichigo's eleven-year-old sister came in bringing with her a thick blanket. "Onii-chan, the weather forecast said it would be very cold tonight, so I brought you an extra blanket."
"Hmm? Oh, thanks Yuzu." Ichigo took the warm blanket from her and she left his room after closing the door.
-11.43pm-
The closet doors opened slightly. A pair of violet eyes scanned the room for any signs of Ichigo being awake. None. Good. Rukia landed softly on the floor, trying her best to not make a sound as she walked. Rukia went to the door and opened it slowly. Creeaakk… The door creaked as she opened it. Stupid door! You won't make any noise when opened quickly, just only when opened slowly huh?
Rukia glanced at Ichigo. No signs of waking up. Good. But as soon as Rukia placed a step out of the room, as if on cue, Ichigo grunted and sat up on his bed. What woke him up, she doesn't know.
"Rukia…?" Ichigo said sleepily, rubbing his eyes, trying to get rid of the sleepiness. "Where're you going?"
"I…umm…am going to…uhh…drink some water!" Rukia laughed nervously a bit.
"You suck in lying as much as you suck in drawing, you know." If Rukia weren't freezing at that moment, the girl would've fiercely hit Ichigo. "If you're cold come here…Geez, I can see you shivering from here, you idiot."
She hate to admit it, but he was right. Rukia was shaking like a leaf in the wind. Rukia walked slowly to Ichigo's bed. " Don't get any funny ideas. I'm just letting you sleep here 'cause Yuzu only gave me one blanket and I don't intend to freeze to death tonight. So we'll share, 'kay?" Ichigo said.
"You are exaggerating too much, Ichigo… It's not even that cold."
"Yeah and I suppose you're gonna stay warm in that closet?" Sarcasm hinted in his tone
She didn't say anything. As Rukia climbed in his bed, Ichigo felt a bit unsure about it now. Sure, they slept in the same tent for the past few days, but each had their own sleeping bag. Having her stay in the bed with him felt…awkward, but somewhat comfortable. Rukia inched closer to Ichigo and pulled the warm thick blanket over her shoulders for warmth. Much better. The bed was ten times better than the closet. It was softer and much roomier here. Well, not that much since Ichigo was on it also. But it was still much better than the closet. And the fact that Ichigo was with her is an extra special bonus.
Rukia's eyes fluttered closed as she said, "Good night, Ichigo."
"Night, Rukia. Love ya."
Rukia sat up straight on his bed, surprised and feeling not so very sleepy at the moment. Oops. Ichigo had accidentally let those two words slip out from his lips. Violet eyes stared intently at amber ones.
"Umm.. aaa… I- I mean…It's not tha-" Ichigo mumbled some incoherent words. Ichigo's brain was back to fluffy jelly mode again. Irritated, Rukia shut him off, by placing her lips on his. It was just a brief touching of the lips but it was enough to shut the boy up.
"Shut up, idiot." Rukia said softly. But as she laid back on Ichigo's bed she said, just enough for him to hear, "I love you too, Ichigo."
He blushed but he is happy. This is one of the things that he missed about the camping trip. To spend time with Rukia. Camping wasn't so bad after all…
"Hey Rukia, wanna go camping again?"
…End…
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YAY! Finished, finally. I had so much fun writing this little ficcy. Thanks to everyone who has been following this till the end and to the awesome people who took time to review. I'm so HAPPY:D (dances happily)
So did you liked the ending? Loved it? ...hated it? Tell me, please by reviewing, please:D