Welcome to the second chapter! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter (well, maybe enjoy isn't the word that I'm lookin' for, it was too short for that). Also, sorry about the introduction being longer that the chapter xD. Anyways, let's start with the business. Lights, camera, Bleach!
Chapter 2: The Party
The next day, Rukia woke up after having one of the most restorative sleeps she could remember. "Who'd think that the idiot would be so good telling stories?" she yawned. After opening her closet door, she realized that the orange-haired wasn't anywhere in the room, so she supposed he'd be in the bath. During a second she considered going there and spy a little, just to annoy him, but she rejected the idea. It would be too troublesome to explain if she got caught, so she decided to wait until he came back into the room to be able to get a proper shower.
Ichigo was in the shower in that moment, lost in thought. The water was really hot, but that wasn't something that bothered him at all. In fact, he loved having long showers with almost boiling water, even when he knew that it wasn't the best thing to do. The water helped him to relax, something that he needed a lot since his student lifestyle changed to the very more stressing lifestyle of a shinigami. While he enjoyed the water, he began to think about the person who, without proposing it, had changed his life. Rukia, the shinigami who, because of a fate twist, he became substitute. Even when he had accustomed to protect her, he had to recognize that the girl was really strong. He still remembered the fight against that little bird's Hollow, and when he went to the very Soul Society to rescue her. She looked so helpless… but after the Arrancar's attack he had very clear how strong Rukia was. She easily was captain's level. It was something amazing, given her appearance, so fragile. Sure, it also contrasted with her personality, pretty animated for a body that small. In the end, Rukia had changed his life for the best, and he had to thank that. Even when he, in fact, was unsure that everything he felt for the girl was a simple friendship. After all, Rukia wasn't ugly at all, and her personality (as ridiculous as it sounded) was pretty attractive.
"Ichigo!" yelled the girl named in his thoughts. "Hurry up, I wanna have a shower!"
"Fine, yelling isn't necessary" muttered the orange-haired. Sadly, that same personality shook him up from time to time. He turned off the tap, still hot with the flowing water, and came out the shower. Then, he realized that he only had brought his sandals and towel to the bathroom, not all his clothes as he used to. He realized that he had to go back to his room only covered with the towel, and sighed. He really didn't care; he had always been in top shape, so he wasn't ashamed by his body. He exited the bath, and saw Rukia outside his room, waiting for him to get out. Without any change in his expression, he went to his room with normality. Rukia, who was watching to the other side, turned to him; ready to talk "It was about time, I thought you'd never ge…" she cut the phrase, seeing Ichigo with his upper body naked. Surprised, she blushed a bit, looking curiously at him. Ichigo noticed the girl's blush, and smirked while teasing her "Wow Rukia, am I really that hot? Looks like I made you speechless! Well, I don't blame you, it could have happened to anybody" he said, still with a playing voice.
"Idiot" said a still blushing Rukia "What do you think you're doing half-naked in the house?"
"Hey, it's my house" the orange-haired said. "Don't cherish hopes, I'm gonna put on some clothes right now, so enjoy while you can" he smiled before entering his room, closing the door.
"Idiot" repeated the shinigami. She quickly went into the bathroom, before her roommate could surprise her with something else.
Once inside, she proceeded to get off her clothes, and to get into the bathtub. That was what she liked of being the second using the bath; she could have longer baths with nobody saying anything to her. While the hot water filled the bathtub, she began to think about the recent encounter with Ichigo. Even when she had seen him plenty of times in similar condition, product of various fights, she had never observed his body that well. He really was in good condition. Still, what surprised her most was that warm feeling that was forming in her body, after seeing Ichigo. What was wrong with her? She wasn't a teenager to be so influenced with that kind of thoughts. Still, she couldn't help but shudder when she thought of Ichigo, showering in that same bath. She shook her head, blushing. What the hell was happening to her? He only had seen him shirtless once and she was already imagining that kind of things. Definitively she had to stop reading romantic mangas; they were bad for her mind. She hadn't realized that thinking so much had caused her to forget bathing, so she began soaping herself and enjoying the water. Later she'd think what would happen with Ichigo.
In that moment, the mentioned was in his room, finishing dressing, while he tied his snickers. Today he'd join Keigo and the others in the mall, so he had to go kind of presentable. He stood up from his bed, and looked at his outfit. The mentioned snickers, black hi-tops with white cords, white skinny pants (he had always liked fitting clothes), a pink t-shirt with an Adidas logo, and on top of that an open black leather jacket. He didn't look bad. He was ready to leave, when he saw Rukia exiting the bath (unlike him, totally dressed). He gave her a look and told her where he was going. Rukia simply asked him to be ready in case a Hollow happened to bother during the evening, to which Ichigo simply answered showing her the capsule that contained Kon. When he went down the stairs, he found his sisters glued to the TV, looking that Mr. Kanonji's program. He smiled, opening the door and getting out to the street. The mall wasn't precisely close, but Ichigo preferred to walk always that he could, so he wore his red headphones and began walking.
In her case, Rukia had her own plans for that evening. The girls (Tatsuki, Orihime and Rangiku) had invited her to go to the mall and shop, gossip… girl things. Even when Rukia wasn't thrilled, she finally went along with it. After checking her outfit (a black t-shirt with a Chappy print that always shook Ichigo up, along with sky-blue skinny jeans and white snickers) Rukia was ready to leave, always with her cell phone in the pocket, in case she needed it, and began walking in the same path Ichigo was walking some minutes ago.
Once in the mall, Ichigo began to wait for his friends. Meanwhile, he looked at the people entering and exiting the mall, while he sat in a comfy sofa. There were a lot of pretty girls talking among them, making it hard to go and approach one. He sighed. He really didn't know why he had never cared about having a relationship with anybody; after all he didn't think he was that bad-looking. Maybe it was because a part of him feared rejection, but he doubted it could be only because of that... even though it made sense, after all it wouldn't be good at all for his image to be rejected by anybody, although if he rejected somebody, it'd be a different story, but it seemed that nobody had enough interest in him to even consider the idea. There was also Orihime, who felt attracted to him… why to deny it? It wasn't something hard to realize. And despite how cute she had grown, he couldn't consider her more than a friend. Maybe she was really hot, but her personality didn't convince him. He had considered having something casual with her plenty of times, but again his reputation stood in the way, besides he didn't want to hurt her if she held any hopes and wanted to have something more serious. Right when he was in the middle of his thoughts, he saw his friends approaching, and stood up.
"Hey guys! I was starting to think you'd never come" he said, without angering too much.
"Sorry Ichigo, we went to buy some things before coming here" a too smiling Keigo said.
"Oh really? And what is it?" asked a curious Ichigo.
"Check it out" said Mizuiro, after greeting him.
Ichigo, still curious, looked the bag that Mizuiro showed him. What he saw surprised him a little.
"You guys bought cigarettes, beer, rum… and a magazine?" Ichigo asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't that shocked with the alcohol and the cigarettes, after all he wasn't a kid. But he wanted to know what a magazine had to do with this.
"Don't look at the magazine in here, Ichigo." His friend Chad warned. "Wait until we are outside"
Ichigo nodded, still his eyebrow up. Along with his friends, he left the mall. Once outside, they began walking to a house Ichigo didn't know.
"Hey guys, where are we going?" he asked. Keigo was offended by the question.
"Ichigo, it can't be, we've been friends since we both entered the school, and you still don't know where my house is" he complained.
"And why should I be interested about where the hell your house is? In case you didn't know, I'm not interested in men" Ichigo retorted.
"You should already know where it is, I've invited you countless times, but you are always busy" Keigo said.
Ichigo simply remained silent. He didn't feel like explaining to his friends that the reason why he was always busy were the studies, and lately Hollow hunting, even when Chad already knew. By that moment, they had already arrived at Keigo's house, and he began to unlock the door. Once he opened it, he entered the house and turned the lights on, while happily welcoming his friends.
"Welcome to the House of Pleasure!" he said cheerfully.
Ichigo, along with the others, couldn't hide an amazed face with all he saw. Keigo had a 42' plasma screen, connected to a 5.1 Surround sound system, and a PlayStation 3, Keigo's most beloved possession. Along with that, they could see that the table was full with potato chips, canapés, and everything they could think to peck.
"Wow Keigo, you exceeded yourself this time" Mizuiro mentioned, before remembering something. "Your sister, where is she?"
"She is away, traveling, so we have the house for ourselves!" Keigo said "We have alcohol, cigarettes, potato chips, and this!" he said while he pulled out the magazine from the bag.
Finally Ichigo could see what the magazine was about, and he realized it was the last issue of Playboy. Surely because of Chad they'd been able to obtain all this, he was sure nobody would ever ask him if he was underage. Ichigo observed for a minute everything they had to have fun, and he took a determination.
"Hey, dad?" he mumbled "Yeah, it's me, Ichigo. Hey, I called to tell you that maybe I'm not sleeping home tonight, a friend invited me and maybe I'll stay here tonight. Yeah, I'll be careful. Yes, dad. Yes, I like women, it's just a friend, don't worry" he said, a vein appearing in his forehead. "See you tomorrow, bye" he hung up.
"Got permission to stay?" Mizuiro asked. Ichigo answered calmly "It's impossible to no to get permission, I never go out. Besides, my old man has no reasons to forbid it to me." Mizuiro nodded.
"Well, shall we begin?" Keigo asked, who already opened the beers, one for each one of them, and was busy taping the rum bottle.
Ichigo smiled lightly "Of course".
Phew… finished at last. Oh well, I'd like to thank my man Frank for betting this story, really, thanks buddy. You know, I think that not even Ichigo is able to resist the power of the alcohol xD. So, I hope you all liked this, ya know how it is. Questions, praise, tomatoes, lemons, whatever, you know that reviews are always welcome. See ya in the next chapter!