Third Dance

Ichigo was left with nothing to do. So, he decided to get something to eat. He went to the buffet table, picked out some food and ate standing up as he watched the dancing couples.

Well, not all of them were couples. There were girl friends dancing with each other and a dancing group (Ichigo couldn't figure out how they coordinated their dance). Guys stopped other guys to dance with the latter's partners. Some allowed the change while other selfish ones refused. Ichigo snorted watching those.

His eyes settled on a twirling girl with a flowing white dress. Surprisingly, Rukia could dance. It was not the best, but it looked good. Her partner was a handsome senior Ichigo found familiar but couldn't place him anywhere.

Ichigo watched as Uchida bent down to whisper in Rukia's ear. She laughed at what he had said as they continued to dance.

Then, Ichigo noticed something.

Uchida's hand was slowly inching down Rukia's bare back. Rukia seemed oblivious to it.

Ichigo watched as Uchida pulled her closer, whispering into her ear and his hand moved again, pulling at the hemline of her dress. With fiery rage, Ichigo dropped his food on the table and stalked through the dancing people.

But when he was close to reaching them, Rukia pulled back from Uchida, giving him a wicked grin. Ichigo was close enough to hear what was said.

"Nice try, Uchida. But seduction won't get you anywhere." With that, using Shunpo-like moves, Rukia punched the boy in the gut, causing him to double over. Ichigo knew her punches were not to be taken lightly.

A commotion started when Uchida, who stopped in the middle of the dancing sea, caused some other couple to bump into him and so on and so forth. Ichigo approached Rukia, who was pretending to not know what had happened.

"Uchida-kun! Are you alright?"

"Bitc – "

"Oi! Don't stop in the middle of the world!" someone yelled when their dance was interrupted.

"What's wrong with you?" asked someone else irritably.

As annoyed students converged upon Uchida, Ichigo took Rukia's hand and led her away.

"Ichigo?" she voiced out, a little surprised.

"What?" he said, growling.

"What are you doing?"

"Saving your ass."

Rukia scoffed. "Like I told you many times before, I don't need you to protect me."

"I'm not protecting you, I'm saving you."

"Not much of a difference, idiot."

When they were a safe way away, Ichigo released her small hand. "Didn't you realize it?"

"Realize what?"

"That he was...doing something!"

"Of course, I did! I'm a Shinigami, if you've forgotten. I know what people are up to."

"Then, why didn't you do something about it?"

"I punched him, stupid!" she hissed. "Besides, why are you getting so worked up over it?" She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him.

"Because he could have done something worse!"

"Hah! Not in the middle of all these people."

"Something could have happened!"

"Ichigo," Rukia finally said wearily. "I'm fine, okay? Nothing happened to me!"

Ichigo looked away from her violet gaze. Even behind her mask, her eyes were still piercing.

Rukia sighed. "Come on. Let's head home already."

As she turned to walk away, Ichigo hesitantly grasped her hand, stopping her. She looked back in confusion at him. "What?"

"Dance."

"Huh?"

"One dance."

Rukia didn't question him as he led her to the dance floor. He had noticed that Uchida had gone away, so it was safe for Rukia without the senior yelling out at her.

Ichigo turned so that he faced the small girl. They twined one hand together while the other wound around each other, Ichigo's hand behind her back and Rukia's hand on his arm by his shoulder. They started to move along with the music.

It was uncomfortable between them and they refused to meet each others eyes. They danced silently, around other laughing and loving couples.

Finally, Rukia muttered, "Why?"

It took a while for Ichigo to answer. He swallowed before saying, "Your night got...messed up."

Rukia narrowed her eyes before laughing quietly. "It's not that messed up now."

Ichigo smiled as he spun her around.

When the song ended, another started instantly. Ichigo and Rukia remained locked together, unmoving. They just stared at each before Rukia stepped away. "Thank you." She curtsied to him and he bowed.

When they straightened up, Ichigo took the rose from his breast pocket. In that moment of boldness, he quickly made sure that there were no thorns on the short stem before he tucked it in Rukia's hair at her ear. The red of the rose really stood out against her black hair.

Rukia's face showed her surprise and a faint hint of red colored her cheeks. She smiled gently at him. "Thanks, again."

"Aa." He led her off the floor and walked to the chairs. "Home?"

"Actually, I feel like another dance."

"No, thank you!" Ichigo crossed his arms over one another in an 'X' shape.

"Aww, but you were such a good dancer!" Rukia teased.

"Not another dance for me!" Ichigo sat down on a chair. "If you want to dance, then go ask Ishida or Chad or Mizuiro. No one else."

"My, you're being unusually overprotective," Rukia said, smirking at him. "How about Asano?"

"Not him."

Rukia laughed then turned serious. "Seriously, Ichigo, I could give anyone a good hit. Why do you worry?"

Ichigo looked away, not answering her question.

"Lighten up. I'm a Shinigami, for God's sake!" She reached forward and ran her fingers over Ichigo's frowning brow to smoothen it. Ichigo glanced at her but said nothing.

"Kurosaki-kun! Kuchiki-san!"

Inoue and Ishida appeared, holding a cup of punch in one hand each. By then, Rukia had pulled her hand back from Ichigo's forehead.

"Kuchiki-san, did you dance?" Ishida asked. Rukia nodded. "Yes, I did, but this idiot here won't grant me the privilege of another one." She pointed a thumb to Ichigo, who scowled at her.

"You danced, Kurosaki-kun?" Inoue cried, very clearly shocked.

Ichigo grunted. "I guess so..."

"Well, if you want to dance, Kuchiki-san, I can dance with you," Ishida offered, frowning at Ichigo. The orange-haired boy frowned back.

"Oh, that would be nice, Ishida! Let's go!" Rukia took Ishida's offered arm and waved to Ichigo and Inoue.

Inoue began to fidget as she was left alone with Ichigo. "Ne, Kurosaki-kun, are you alright?"

"Yeah." Ichigo closed his eyes, still feeling Rukia's cool fingers touching his head.

"You look stressed," Inoue added timidly.

"Nah, I'm fine, Inoue." He opened his eyes. "Did you have fun?"

"Oh, yes, I did! Ishida-kun knows how to dance so well, I'm jealous!" Inoue said enthusiastically, her head bobbing up and down.

"That's good."

Inoue sat down beside him as they watched everyone.

"Looks like Kuchiki-san is having fun," Inoue observed, smiling softly. Ichigo followed her gaze and saw Rukia laughing with Ishida as they whirled around. Ichigo couldn't help but smile looking at the happy girl. "Hm, looks like it."

"Did you have fun, Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo didn't know how to reply that. After that near-disaster of Rukia and Uchida, he couldn't really say his night had turned out so well. But, he had danced with Rukia and he never, ever thought that that would happen in this lifetime and the next.

So, he said, "It was okay."

The two quietly watched the dance.

The event finished at eleven but Ichigo didn't want to wait that long. It was about another hour plus before it ended.

Rukia had finished several dances with Ishida, Mizuiro and even one dance with Chad! She asked Ichigo for another dance with him, but he refused.

"Oi, Rukia! Let's go already!" he said impatiently. Rukia made a face at him. "Oh, come on! You're such a wet blanket, Ichigo," she said.

"I'm going home, Rukia. If you have someone to walk you home, then I'm going off first."

"H-hey! What? Wait up, fool!"

Ichigo shook his head as he collected his winter jacket. He put it on and walked to the hall doors.

As he stepped outside, Rukia ran up to him, carrying a thick jacket over one arm and a paper bag in the other. "Wait, idiot!" She quickly put on her jacket.

"What? Don't have an escort back home?" he taunted.

"Shut up! If you walk home alone, who knows what trouble you'll bring along."

They walked through the lantern-lit pathway and to the street. Ichigo saw some others already leaving the dance and heading their separate ways.

"That was fun, wasn't it, Ichigo?" Rukia asked brightly. Ichigo scoffed. "No."

"Oh, admit it! You must have had some fun sometime in there!" Rukia said, nudging him with an elbow.

"Shut up. It wasn't fun."

"You smiled when we were dancing," Rukia said, tapping a finger to her chin. Ichigo deadpanned. "No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were." Rukia laughed, touching the rose in her hair gently. "You liked it."

"No, I didn't."

Rukia frowned at him. "Strawberry."

"Midget."

He saw Rukia fight with herself on whether or not to kick him. She finally took calming breaths. "I'll leave you unharmed just this once."

Ichigo grinned.

As they neared the Kurosaki residence, Rukia gasped. "Oh, right!" She stopped and began rummaging through the bag in her hand. Ichigo stopped and looked back at her. "What?"

"Here." Rukia tossed something at his face and he caught it hurriedly before it could hit him. The Shinigami walked past him as he inspected it.

"Chocolates?"

Without turning to look at him, Rukia said, "Happy Valentine's Day, idiot!"

Ichigo smiled softly as he walked up to catch up to her. "Aa. Arigato na, Shinigami."

A/N: So? What did you think? Is it good? I just had random inspiration when I was reading Gakuen Alice (Volume 9) by Tachibana Higuchi, where the school had a Christmas Masquerade Ball. It was hurriedly done, so it's kinda...messy? I don't know.

I've got a request to anyone who's willing: can someone please tell me how you put those gray paragraph breaks in your story? I put the lines between the paragraphs, but they don't appear in live preview. Even in the profile page thing I can't do it..