Name: Bubble Gum
Rating: PG
Summary: I'm innocent in all this, I swear. I have NO idea how I got my nose stuck to hers, or how she ended up digging in her bra, trying to remove my Strawberry bubble gum. Yup. I'm completely innocent.

Author's Notes: I love bubble gum!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters. Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for beta'ing!

Bubble Gum

"Oooh!"

Ichigo sighed. Whenever a happy, "Oooh!" came from Rukia's small pink lips, it usually wasn't good.

"I want some, Ichigo!" she announced happily, grinning. He raised an eyebrow at this; she never grinned unless it was that stupid school-girl grin, or unless she had put something into his shoes, like ... say ... a spider? Thankfully, he'd only found a spider in his shoe once. The other time it had been a large glop of glue, and he was sure that was payback for his comment on her drawings.

He sighed again and lazily followed her gaze toward the direction in which she was pointing. When he realized that she was asking for, the first words out of his mouth were,

"Not in a million years, midget."

She frowned and kicked him.

"But I want-"

"No."

"Please?"

"I cannot believe you just said 'please' to me." Which was followed by another foot in the shin and yet another, "Ouch."

"I want some!"

"Why do you want freakin' bubble gum?" Ichigo asked, closing his amber eyes and leaning back on the grass. One knee was bent up and the other was flat on the ground, his arms behind his head as the sun reflected on his face. Rukia was sitting beside him, and everything had been peaceful until she had spotted the small child blowing huge bubbles.

"Bubble gun?" Rukia asked, confused.

"No, baka, bubble gum, not gun."

"Ooh."

Silence ...

"So ... can I have some?"

Ichigo groaned in annoyance and sat up, reaching into his pocket and handing Rukia a dollar bill; it would save him a lot of pain and annoyance to just let her get the stupid candy.

"Shoo, go get some bubble gum and leave me alone."

She jumped up, the dollar clutched in her hand, and walked away. Ichigo smiled and went back to relaxing in the sun. It lasted all of two minutes until Rukia came back and poked him in the chest, asking, "So, what do I do with this 'Bubble gun'?"

"Gum."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Here, stick it in your mouth," Ichigo instructed, sitting up with yet another sigh. Rukia did as she was told, and began chewing while Ichigo frowned at the 'Strawberry' label.

"What now?" Rukia asked, continuing to chew as Ichigo looked up again.

"Blow a bubble."

"How?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"I don't know! Blow air into it or something!"

Ichigo sat and watched, in slight amusement, it must be admitted, as Rukia struggled with the bubble gum. She did everything but blow a bubble. She blew it out of her mouth, she swallowed it, and she even managed to get some stuck on her nose. He didn't, of course, tell her about it.

"Ichigo! Help me!"

Ichigo laughed as he took a piece of bubble gum and popped it into his own mouth. After chewing it for a few seconds, he began to show Rukia how to blow a bubble. She watched in awe, and as soon as Ichigo's bubble had popped and the gum was back in his mouth, she tried.

But then again, when considering Rukia and Ichigo, nothing goes according to plan. And as such, no bubble came out. Instead, the bubble gum went flying out of her mouth ...

... straight onto Ichigo's nose.

Amber eyes blinked in annoyance and Rukia laughed, pointing to the slimy, pink blob stuck to Ichigo's nose. He reached up to try and remove it, but Rukia slapped his hand away, instead leaning forward to pull it off herself.

"I already have your nose slime on my bubble gun, I don't need your dirty hands on it, too."

Ichigo sighed in defeat and watched as Rukia went about the task of removing gum from his nose. About halfway through, though, she uttered quietly, "Uh oh."

That had to be a bad sign.

"What happened?"

He almost didn't want to know.

"I think my nose is stuck to yours."

Ichigo sat back quickly, and surely enough, when he did, a long line of pink bubble gum stretched from his nose to Rukia's.

"Rukia, I hate you!" Ichigo growled, reaching forward to begin removing the sticky substance.

Rukia began twitching, and every time she did, Ichigo would growl at her to stay still, for the bubble gum had somehow managed to get into her hair, too.

"Ichigo ... I have something in my bra!" Rukia informed him frantically. Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Nice, Rukia. Real nice of you to share that with half the world. Keep your voice down!"

"I think it's your bubble gun."

"Huh?"

Ichigo frowned as he searched his mouth with his tongue, trying to find the strawberry bubble gum. Nothing. He smirked and said, "Oops. Just ... get it out."

"It's got your slime on it ... "

"Shut up, and just get it out!"

Rukia began to shuffle around in her shirt, and Ichigo turned away, though he didn't move back for fear of the self-minded bubble gum finding its way into his hair, too.

"It's stuck. Help me," Rukia said, no paying much attention to the light blush that spread across Ichigo's face.

"No!"

If anyone had walked past at that moment, they would have laughed. Ichigo was in such a position that he looked like he was staring down Rukia's shirt, and said midget was digging in her bra, her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth. Bubble gum was trailing from Rukia's bangs to Ichigo's nose, and it looked like the strawberry mass was planning to take over the world.

"Ah, ha! I got it!" Rukia said happily, pulling the bubble gum from her shirt. "Though some of it is still on my bra ... "

"Rukia!" Ichigo growled, "Stuff it!"

She smirked as he continued to try and dis-tangle the gum from them without getting any more hair stuck in its evil grasp. When he finally removed it with minimal damage to Rukia's soft, black hair, he sighed in relief and threw it as far as he could manage.

"There. Done. Now, it's time to go home."

"Alright!" Rukia agreed, standing to her feet and brushing out her light brown skirt. As they began walking off, the bubble gum still in Rukia's hand, Ichigo cast a glance back at the place they'd been sitting, hidden, under the large oak tree.

Crap! His jacket!

Turning around and telling Rukia to wait a second, he ran back. Almost halfway there, his bare foot caught on the bubble gum that he thought he'd ridden himself of forever, and he fell face forward into the grass. Rukia broke out laughing as Ichigo grumbled very colorful words under his breath.

As Ichigo tried to pick himself up off the ground, Rukia informed him, "Ichigo, you have bubble gun in your hair."

Random fluff, huh? Insanity? I had fun with this part: Bubble gum was trailing from Rukia's bangs to Ichigo's nose, and it looked like the strawberry mass was planning to take over the world. XD

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