Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's notes: Chapter 247 was one of the best treats Kubo has given us IchiRuki shippers, don't you think? I really loved all of it. But anyway! This one really fits the collection description of "fragments of the daily life of..."A bit Rukia-centric-ish, but Ichigo is there too, of course. In other words, this is quite random, but I still hope you enjoy it.

Sleepover
16.09.2006

Rukia knows nearly nothing about modern, 'girly' stuff, like Ichigo calls it, other than what she learns from the horror manga she has snuck inside the closet (if Ichigo ever found out…). So it doesn't come to a surprise that she is completely jittery the day she's invited to a sleepover.

She suggests taking Ichigo with her. "No one will see you if you are a shinigami!"

But her idea is quickly rebutted as she's told: "Damn, I'm not a girl!" and that he's not supposed to be there. It's not like he knows what to do in a girl's sleepover either. And also: "Inoue can see me. And Tatsuki too, she'll beat the crap out of me if I show up."

Rukia sighs. She plops on the bed, by his feet, and gazes at him with a stressed look. "And then what am I going to do?"

Ichigo looks down at her and shrugs. "Just be… Rukia?" the orange-haired boy says as though that should be enough. Rukia thinks otherwise. "Look!" he tells her in an exasperated tone when she keeps rambling about the sleepover, "just go there and have fun!"

Of course, that only makes Rukia protest so much that Ichigo settles on hearing his music with his earplugs on after pushing her down from his bed.

-

Later that night, he packs Rukia's bag, folding an extra change of clothes made up of one of Yuzu's dresses with a sigh as he decides it's time to go shopping for some clothes for the petite, female shinigami. He adds everything else she'll need to survive the night: her purple-dotted pajamas, extra underwear (which he touches just with his fingertips) just in case she needs it, a pair of socks, a hairbrush, the red toothbrush with pink hearts she made him buy for her, other personal toiletries, and even the horror manga he'd found under her blankets when he was doing laundry.

Rukia watches with curious eyes as he does this diligently and pops in a comment or two about his 'house-wife' abilities that almost make the boy snap at her. Once he decides that he is finished, he turns to her and glares. "I'll make you some snacks, but if you make any kind of stupid remark, I'll never help you out. Got it?"

Rukia looks at him in wonder. "Are you that worried about me sleeping over somewhere else?"

"What?" He narrows his eyes in suspicion.

"Nothing, nothing," Rukia ruffles his hair fondly, something to which Ichigo doesn't bode well to. He growls and scowls at her, brushing her hand away. Rukia doesn't care and chooses to ignore the sound of Ichigo asking repeatedly, "Really, just what the hell are you talking about?"

They spend the next half-hour bickering and making several snacks so she can share with the other girls. Before leaving the house, she makes Ichigo have one of the sandwiches she made. "As a 'thank you'," she tells him.

He walks her to Inoue's house and leaves her just a block away from the apartment complex, lest someone happens to see them. What would people think of the two of the walking so casually in the middle of the night (okay, so it's barely eight-o'clock, but it's really dark) with a duffel bag in his hands? That they are eloping? No way in hell.

When they reach that corner, Ichigo simply stops and he hands the bag to her like a father handing out lunch to his kid. "Don't get into trouble, Rukia," he warns. The frown in his face is no surprise to her, however, the concern laced in his words is.

The black-haired young woman grins at the frowning boy. "Don't worry, I'll be alright," she tells him. Then the grin turns coy, "And you know, if you miss me, I'll be just a call away… honey!" she song-sings as she points at her silver mobile phone.

"Rukia!!"

Rukia makes sure to slip a piece of paper with the phone number written on it into his pocket before she resumes her walk. Ichigo watches as she turns around the corner and disappears from his sight.

-

Somehow, everything turns out just fine. No incidents at all. She had soon been swallowed by their world of make-up and gossip; and she even had managed to have fun and laugh at the other girls' antics. An overall satisfying experience, if she thought about it.

"Well, I have to go," Rukia says to the group of girls standing in the entrance, all of them bear smiling faces. She steps down and turns to look at the house's owner. "Thank you for having me, Inoue."

Orihime shakes her head and smiles warmly. "No, thank you for coming, Kuchiki-san!"

"It was fun, Kuchiki-san!" peeps in one of the girls, the one with short-brown hair that is always afraid of Ichigo, Michiru. The rest of the girls agree with her, nodding their heads in unison.

"Uh, yeah." Rukia smiles at them awkwardly, a hand plucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. There are extra curls on her black hair thanks to Orihime; they make her look like that picture of Masaki that Kurosaki-sensei kept in his room and that she'd found out when she was snooping around the house.

"How about we do another sleepover in your house next time, Kuchiki-san?" Ryo, the hundred-meter running champion, suggests casually.

"That'd be a good idea," Arisawa, who is inside, nods almost immediately as she leans against the wall of Orihime's hallway, "We haven't seen how your place looks like, Kuchiki. Must be cozy, huh…"

Rukia stares at her and notices the smirk on the judo girl. Of course, Tatsuki knows of Ichigo!

"W-What!?" Rukia stands shocked in front of the door. Her eyes search Orihime's for help; but the girl is oblivious to her dilemma. "But, um…"

"Ah, make sure your parents are out of town, Kuchiki-chan," Chizuru tells Rukia with a wink.

"Bye, bye, Kuchiki-san!"

And the door is closed before her stunned eyes.

She pinches the bridge of her nose as she feels a massive head-ache coming her way. "Shit."

Ichigo is going to be pissed.