Ahh, hey again! I hope you all enjoyed the ice cream I gave you last time! Good combination with cookies. I'm afraid I don't want to give you guys anymore junk food, just in case you develop some disease. But you can't sue me because I'm not the only one feeding you junk food, right? Anyhoo, back to my story! Please enjoy!

----------

Chapter Seven

Rukia and Ichigo walked into the calm house. Ichigo finally stayed tense because he had been caught by surprise almost four times in the last day. He walked into the kitchen and found a note on the fridge. He pulled it off and read it out loud.

Ichigo,

Not here.

Dad.

"Yeah...that tells me a lot," Ichigo said rolling his eyes. "You'd think he'd put a little more detail than just, 'Not here.'"

Rukia walked in to see him talking to himself. She stifled a giggle when she got an idea.

Ichigo turned around when he heard footsteps running toward him and held out a fist. What a liar. Stupid dad. He was surprised when Rukia came in contact with it.

Rukia was cut short when Ichigo's fist hit her right in the nose. She stopped and held her nose in her hands. Damn that hurt.

Ichigo looked at her worried. He couldn't see her nose because she blocked it. Her eyes were shut tightly. A small stream of tears dripped out of the corners.

"Rukia, I'm soo sorry. I thought you were my dad," he explained frantically. He knew enough things growing up in a clinic to help with almost any type of injury. He grabbed her and picked her up, surprising Rukia. She opened her eyes and stared at his with wide teary eyes. He had to admit minus the tears, she looked adorable.

"It's ok," she said with a small sniffle. "It doesn't hurt that badly."

"That's why you're crying," he said sarcastically. "Why were you running up behind me anyway?"

"Trying to scare you," she said looking down. She saw a little bit of blood drip from her hands. She opened them to find her hands littered with it. She let out a small gasp.

Ichigo looked down to see blood. He ran to his room and laid her down on his bed.

"Ichigo, no," Rukia begged. "I don't want to get blood on your sheets."

"Don't care," he said simply. "I have more."

Rukia watched as he ran out of the room and came back with a first aid box. She began to sit up but was pushed back down gently.

"Stay lying down," he told her, "it'll stop the blood flow."

Rukia stayed lying down as she watched Ichigo's face as he fixed her up. It was rough at first then a soft look replaced it. He looked almost calm, despite the fact that he had just hurt her. She enjoyed watching it and looked away everytime he glanced at her to see how she was doing. She would end up just looking at him again. She felt happy when she looked at him, just like old times.

Ichigo could see her looking at him as he worked on her nose. He occasionally glanced at her to see what her reaction would be. As he thought, she looked away quickly pretending that she was never looking at him in the first place. He would give her a weird look then go back to work. Once again he felt her look at him.

Ten minutes later, he got the bleeding to totally stop and he bandaged her up. She got up and walked to his closet. She leaped up on the dresser once again and watched him clean up. He removed the sheet from his bed and replaced them. He threw out all the Kleenexes he used. Rukia felt weird sitting there watching him clean up the mess she had made. He finished to see her staring at him again.

"Yes?" he finally asked.

"Nothing," she said looking away once again.

"You've been staring at me the whole time we were here," he stated.

"No I haven't," she said stubbornly.

"Yes you have."

"No I haven't!"

"Yes you have!

"NO I HAVEN'T!"

Ichigo turned around and mumbled, "Stubborn little...yes you have..."

He heard her mumble back, "No I haven't..."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and began to walk out. Her voice caught his attention. He turned around facing her again. She wasn't looking at him this time but the ground.

"You just remind me of someone with your hair back," she whispered.

Ichigo was surprised by her confession and decided not to press on further. She seemed downcast, sad.

He walked out once again. His heart broke as he heard silent sobs coming from Rukia. He decided to leave her alone for a while. He went downstairs and sat at the kitchen table. He watched out the window as the rain began to fall.

A knock at the door almost went unheard. He ran out the door and opened it. Inoue stood there, surprised. She stared at his hair. Ichigo watched as she didn't make a move to come in. He grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

"That was you?" she said pointing to her hair.

"What do you mean?" he asked cluelessly.

"I thought you skipped school today, or something bad happened, or you got abducted by brain-sucking aliens," she said innocently. Ichigo sweatdropped at her imagination.

"Nah, I was there. I just left before lunch ended," he told her, carelessly shrugging his shoulders.

"I know that now," she said looking at his hair. "Why did you dye your hair?"

Ichigo watched her, "Just felt like it," he lied.

"Oh, okay," she said, totally buying it.

There was another knock at the door as Ichigo led Inoue further into the house. He told her to wait for him in the kitchen as she opened the door. A woman stood there, about his age, with short-ish ebony hair. She had a tomboy look about her and she stood with a hand on her hip.

"Hi," Ichigo said. "Can I help you?"

"Hey," she said with a girlish voice. "Is Ichigo here?"

Ichigo raised a questioning eyebrow at her, "This is, who are you?"

He watched her jaw drop. She walked in and closed the door. Ichigo stared at her in shock. Here's this complete stranger; randomly coming to his door asking for him then barges her way inside.

"Ichigo?" she said walking closer. Ichigo backed up a couple steps until he was flat against the wall. She began to poke him everywhere and pulled his hair.

"Uhh," he said uncomfortably. He pushed her away from him. "Who are you?"

"Don't tell me that you forgot me after 4 years," she said putting her hands on her hips again. "And what did you do to your hair?"

4 years? Ichigo thought. Who haven't I seen in 4 years? She obviously knows me...

She watched as he scratched his head as he thought. She let out a sigh, "Damnit Ichigo. You haven't changed. It's me, Tatsuki!"

Tatsuki? Ichigo thought.

She watched as he still sat there scratching his head.

Tatsuki, Tatsuki, Tatsuki...Tatsuki!

"Tatsuki!" he said finally.

"There ya go," she said as though she was talking to a 6-year-old. "Damn, you're still as slow as ever!"

"Hey shut up, ok? It's been a while," he said removing his hand from his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok. You have the right to be slow," she said punching him on the arm teasingly.

"Hey," he protested. "So, how've ya been?"

"Forget me, what about you? What's with the hair?" she said pointing at his hair like Inoue had.

"Felt like a change," he lied. Too bad she wasn't as dense as Inoue.

"You still being bullied?" she asked him.

"Nah," he lied again.

"I know you're lying, but I won't force anything out of you," she said coolly. She walked around, "This place hasn't changed at all."

"I know," Ichigo said, embarrassed. "Dad doesn't like to change things around."

"How's your family by the way?" she said walking into the kitchen. She noticed Inoue sitting at the table watching the rain like Ichigo had been doing.

Ichigo cleared his throat catching Inoue's attention. "Inoue this is Tatsuki, the one in the picture."

"Girlfriend?" Tatsuki said inspecting her.

Ichigo blushed and waved his hands, "No, no. A friend from school."

Inoue blushed but grew sad when Ichigo quickly told Tatsuki that they were just friends.

"Yeah...just friends," Inoue repeated.

Tatsuki looked at the girl and instantly knew that they would become great friends. She also knew that this Inoue girl had a big crush on Ichigo by the was she sadly repeated 'just friends.'

She walked up to Inoue and held a hand out, "Hey, I'm Tatsuki."

Inoue grabbed it and flinched at her tough grip. "Hey. I'm Inou--"

She was interrupted by a loud clash of thunder and lightning. The power was out. Everything was engulfed by darkness. A terrified scream was heard from upstairs. Tatsuki dashed in the direction, followed by Inoue but Ichigo beat both of them there.

They walked into Ichigo's room and found Rukia sitting on his bed clutching his sheets for dear life. She looked absolutely horrified. Another flash of lightning gave them enough light to see her once happy violet eyes wide with fear. Here face was soaked with what they guessed was tears. Ichigo approached her, scared to frighten her even further.

He got close enough to her to touch her arm. He reached a hesitant hand out and touched her arms. All three of them were surprised when she leaped into his arms. Her face was dug into his chest, blocking out the rest of the world. Ichigo looked down at her in shock. He wrapped his arms around the shaking girl telling her that he was there and she was safe.

Inoue looked on in jealousy. She turned around and stomped downstairs. She flopped herself roughly on the couch. Even she was afraid to leave the house. The risk of getting hit by lightning was one in millions but she didn't want to take the chance.

She heard creaking and turned to see Tatsuki walking down the stair followed by Ichigo and the crying Rukia. She looked away quickly and kept her gaze on something in front of her. She watched Tatsuki light a few candles and place them on the coffee table. She sat beside her. She smiled lightly at her. Inoue smiled back lightly but then looked back at the fire dancing in front of her.

Ichigo sat on the smaller couch. Rukia refused to get off him so he just settled on her sitting on him. His shirt was soaked with her tears. He didn't care though. He just held her in his arms, trying to take her fear away.

Soon enough the tears ended and the shaking settled down a bit, not completely stopping. Ichigo looked down to see she had fallen asleep. The storm stopped but he still couldn't get her of his lap.

Tatsuki spoke up, cutting the silence, "I think she's afraid of storms."

"Ya think," he said sarcastically.

She stuck her tongue out at him, which he returned gladly.

"By the way," Inoue started. This was one of the first times she spoke since the incident upstairs, "what happened to Rukia's nose?"

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck. He looked hesitant, "I...uhh. I kinda accidentally punched her in the face."

"What!" Tatsuki yelled waking up the sleeping Rukia.

"I said it was an accident. My dad has been working overtime on me here. I thought it was him sneaking up on me!" Ichigo yelled back, trying to save his own ass. He knew Tatsuki's strength, and he was afraid.

"It's true," the small voice of Rukia. All attention was turned to her. She saw Inoue from her class and a random girl yelling at Ichigo. She looked around, but she couldn't see him anywhere. She put her hand down and felt a leg. She slowly looked up and saw a surprised Ichigo looking back down at her. She quickly removed her hand from his leg and jumped up off his lap with much trouble. She watched him double over as she leaped off. Her blush was deep but she reaproached him.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" she asked bending down to see his eyes shut tightly. She could tell he was in pain.

"Ichigo?" she asked putting a hand on his bent over back.

He took a deep breath and said with trouble, "When...when you got up...ahh...you kneeled...me in my..."

He didn't need to finish; they all flinched and sucked in a breath. That couldn't be pretty.

"I'm soo sorry!" she said. She didn't know what to do to make him feel better.

A loud knock was heard at the door. Ichigo made a move to get up but doubled over again.

"Here. I'll get it," Inoue said. She walked to the door and jumped when the door was pounded against. She was afraid. At least at her house there was a peephole she could look out of to see who was there. Here, there was nothing. She had to open the door. She gasped at whom she saw.

----------

Ahh, there ya go. A little longer then the other ones. How'd ya like it? I had fun writing this chapter. Who do you think is at the door? Tell me in a review! I've run out of ice cream, and I'll have to go back to the store to buy some milk, but there are still cookies left! R&R!!

Eva-miko