Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

The Cat

Ichigo fumbled in his pocket for his keys to the home he shared with Rukia. Maybe shared wasn't the best word though. More like home where Rukia begrudgingly allowed him to reside because he was the one who paid the rent. Ever since the incident with the box Ichigo had been sleeping on the couch. Today would mark the beginning of his third week of exile from their bedroom and that couch was damn uncomfortable. Screw all that money that they had shelled out for a comfortable bed, knowing Rukia he should have shelled out money for a comfortable couch.

Stupid Keigo. Stupid Rukia. Ichigo thought as he angrily jerked the door open.

As Ichigo stepped into the house he felt something brush past him and saw a black cat scurrying down the sidewalk. A cat. Ichigo didn't like cats. A couple of days ago Ichigo and Rukia had been arguing about the whole couch situation and Rukia had said that she certainly was not missing Ichigo and if she did get lonely she could just get a cat to—

Oh crap! Rukia must have decided to get a cat and Ichigo had just let it out of the house. And if he wasn't in the doghouse already he sure would be when Rukia got back and found her cat was missing.

"NO! Come back!" ichigo yelled as he dashed off down the sidewalk after the cat.

Ichigo was doomed. He had spent all afternoon chasing around that damn cat and hadn't been able to catch it. He had lost it somewhere in Karakura Park and after wandering around the park aimlessly for two hours had decided he might as well go home and face his doom.

When Ichigo let himself into the house Rukia was immediately in his face, no doubt about to question him about where her cat was. Ichigo decided to just bite the bullet and tell her the truth about what happened before she could start questioning him "Rukia, I 'm really sorry but I lost the cat."

"The cat—"

"When I came in this morning I accidentally let it out," Ichigo quickly continued, interrupting Rukia before she could start ranting, "I chased it down the street and then downtown and through several alleyways and over some roofs and then all the way to Karakura Park but then I lost it and so I wandered all around the park—"

"Ichigo," Rukia cut in, "I don't have a cat."

"What? But there was a black cat with gold eyes and it ran out of the house when I came in—"

"Ichigo, did you just spend all afternoon chasing after Yoruichi?" Rukia asked in disbelief, giving him the look she reserved for people who she thought were idiots.

A black cat with golden eyes. Yoruichi could turn into a black cat with golden eyes. Yoruichi sometimes liked to visit Rukia. Yoruichi sometimes liked to visit Rukia as a cat…

Ichigo let out a moan of frustration "I thought I was chasing after your new cat because you had been talking about getting a cat a couple of days ago. I cannot believe I just wasted five hours chasing Yoruichi all over town!"

Rukia smiled at Ichigo and said "I wouldn't say you wasted your time Ichigo. I actually think that it was pretty sweet that you were willing to do all that for me. In fact if you were to go upstairs and take a shower," Rukia said with a wrinkle of her nose as she took in his bedraggled appearance, "I might be inclined to let you sleep in our bed tonight."

As Ichigo made his way upstairs to the shower he wasn't sure if he should thank Yoruichi or strangle her the next time he saw her.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who left a review for my last story. I got a new cat so that was kind of what inspired this story. I am currently feeling very inspired by my cat so my next couple of stories might feature cats :) As always feel free to leave a review.