I'm back! :D. First of all, wish you guys had an awesome Christmas and that your 2011 is full of joy, prosperity and sex $%. Let's go with the reviews!: Thornspike: Yes, of course you can :). And yeah, I know how funny drunk people can be xD. novicestar: Yeah, that game rocks. Here you go! littlenaoki: Thanks a lot, hope you enjoy this one :). Well, I'm sure you guys also had been, but lately I've been completely busy, due to parties principally xD. But, anyways, I managed to finish this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it. Here we go!

Chapter 5: Hangover

The sun slipped, radiant, through the window of Ichigo's room, causing it to be completely illuminated. The orange-haired was deeply asleep, but the strong light that reached his face caused him to frown, before opening slowly his eyes, blinking several times in the process. Where was he?... The orange-haired stood up a little, looking around. He was home, which caused the second question. How the fuck had he arrived? His memories cut a little after drinking that glass full of alcohol in that game, and the headache he had didn't help him to concentrate precisely. Fuck… he definitively had gone bad tonight, and the headache he had would remind him during the next hours. It was like his head had been chopped, he didn't feel like doing anything. Reluctantly, he stood up and went to the bath, with the firm intention of having a good shower and to wash his tooth like three times at least, he knew that he could knock somebody off with the breath he had. This time he remembered to take his clothes with him. While he opened the hot water tap, he tried to remember something else, some clue that could indicate him how he had arrived to his house. He remembered that he started playing Play with Keigo, and that after that they started playing that card game… How was it called? He didn't remember. After he remembered that Keigo had made a question about Rukia… he blushed slightly at the memory. He was sure that he had confessed because of the alcohol, he was sure that sober there was no way in the world they could have made him say something like that. But now that he thought about the tiny shinigami… Did she saw him in bad condition? He remembered that he didn't have any call from Rukia, something that surprised him a little, but not too much. Surely his old man or any of his sisters told her which his planes were, and for once, she decided to leave him in peace. He sighed. He didn't know why, but he had the feeling that he was missing something important related to the black-haired girl. He couldn't do too much about it there, in the shower, so he tried to stop thinking about it and to relax a little, even if it was only for some minutes.

…

Rukia sighed, while she leaned in the bed inside the closet again. The idiot had awakened at last, and judging by the expression of his face, he had to be having one hell of a hangover. She smiled. He had it deserved for the daring he showed last night… she lowered her head, thoughtfully. What could have made Ichigo act like that? Of course, alcohol was the most obvious answer, but Rukia couldn't help but think that maybe there was something else. After all, Ichigo could be anything, but she was sure that he wasn't the type that kissed as much women as he saw when he got drunk. Or maybe he was…? She shook her head. What did she care? What had happened last night was nothing more than an accident. Sure, sometimes Ichigo said some cocky comments, but Rukia was sure that Ichigo didn't consider having anything with her. It wasn't like she was interested at all, either… no? She wasn't sure at first, but yesterday she had realized that Ichigo was completely drunk, he was the last person you'd see talking badly in normal conditions, and that's why she couldn't take seriously anything that had happened last night. She wondered if he remembered something at all. A little smile came to her lips. If the Ichigo she knew remembered what happened, she was sure he would do anything in his power to avoid her, one, because of embarrassment (even when he acted all cocky, she knew that deep inside Ichigo was a little innocent sheep) and two, for personal safety, to try to avoid the beating she should give him. But come thinking about it… did he really deserved it?... Maybe he didn't, after all, he wasn't full in his senses when he did that, and the hangover seemed to be enough punishment. She would let it pass… for now.

…

Ichigo exited the bathroom looking a lot better than when he had entered it. He had put on white snickers and light blue jeans along with a purple t-shirt and a white belt. He had also cleaned his teeth thoroughly, and washed his face several times, even when he had one hell of a headache, there was no way he'd let anybody notice that. He went downstairs slowly, to find his family already having lunch. His father, Yuzu, Karin, and also the midget.

"Good evening."

"Good evening." His family greeted him, in a normal tone of voice. It seemed like he had been successful in his plan of being unnoticed. Nonetheless, he didn't notice Rukia watching him carefully, searching for any indication about last night's incident.

"Eh, Ichigo. About what time where you back?" asked Isshin, while he ate another piece of meat.

"I think about 7 o'clock, didn't see the watch." Ichigo answered. Obviously he didn't have a clue of how he came back, so he tried to say an hour that didn't put him in an uncomfortable position.

"I see. How was it? There was any pretty girl there? Did you have the chance of finally stop being so pitiful and to lose your virginity once and for all?" Isshin asked with all the normality in the world, while he ate an especially juicy beef.

Karin and Yuzu looked at their father with a mixture of embarrassment and anger, while Rukia couldn't help but to laugh her ass off after seeing Ichigo's face. He, by his part, was looking at his father with a face of complete incredulity, while he thought what could be the most painful death he could cause him. "What is your fucking problem, you old pervert!" he yelled. "What do you care about what I do, and also there wasn't any girl in that house, it was a friends party!" he said with the vein in his forehead about to explode.

"Oh, so you're into men, then? Such a shame, I always thought that you'd be the first to give me the privilege of having grandchildren… I guess I'll have to wait until your sisters do the biologically correct thing." Isshin said, with half a smile and a trace of disappointment in his voice. Karin looked like she was about to hit him, but his brother was faster.

"AAAAHHH, OLD PERVERT, YOU'RE GONNA PAY!" Ichigo yelled, at the same time that he threw himself at him, with the intention of landing a hit into his eternal torturer, but surprisingly Isshin just moved his head slightly, avoiding the hit easily. Ichigo stood there, speechless… Was he still that affected by the alcohol? By their part, both sisters were also stunned, they had never seen their father move like that before.

"What is it, Ichigo? You're really slow, don't you think that you'll be able to touch me a hair with such pathetic attempts like that." Isshin said, with a cocky smile. Suddenly, Rukia had the certainty that that was the source of Ichigo's cockiness.

"Ahhh, it isn't worth it." Ichigo growled, while he came back to the table and began to furiously cut the beef he had in his plate. Isshin just kept his smile while he looked at his still angry son. He loved getting to his nerves, and he had to admit, he had improved a lot in the past months, but not enough.

Ichigo finished his plate quickly and got up from the table. "I'll be in my room." He mumbled, while he went upstairs. "Thanks for the food" said Rukia politely, while she also went upstairs, this was her chance to trouble Ichigo, and there was no way she'd let it pass.

…

Ichigo, by his part, had turned on the computer, and was about to login into his facebook. He never really knew what had impelled him to make an account, but he guessed that having his mail full of invitations had a lot to do with it. He checked a couple of notifications, but they weren't of any relevance, just a couple photos that had been taken in the school. Seeing that it wasn't anything else to do, he logged off. He knew perfectly that he couldn't stay more time than the necessary in the page, or he would become an addict like his friends, staying there for hours doing nothing. In that moment Rukia entered the room, cutting his train of thought.

"Hey, carrot-top, how did you sleep?" the Kuchiki asked.

"Well, first of all, I closed my eyes…" Ichigo said, sarcasm dripping with each word. Rukia glared at him. "I slept perfectly fine, why would it be otherwise?"

"Well, maybe because you were… you know, kinda drunk?" Rukia said, with a smirk. Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"Any objection, lady?" he said, sarcasm dripping again.

"Don't talk to me like that, idiot" the black-haired said, frowning.

"Sorry midget, got carried away. Now it's better, half-a-meter?" Ichigo was now using the heavy irony artillery, even knowing the possible outcomes, which showed up right in the moment.

"You idiot" the dark-haired said, hitting Ichigo in the head and leaving a painful bump. "And to think I was concerned for you" she finished, clearly upset.

"You know there wasn't any need, I can take care of myself" Ichigo mumbled. Rukia just sighed, while she looked around the room. She suddenly noticed Keigo's bag, and remembered his plan. Now would be the best time to execute it.

"Eh, Ichigo"

"What is it, midget?"

"Would you mind telling me what this magazine is about?" Rukia said, holding the Playboy that Keigo had bought. The color quickly left Ichigo's face, who opened and closed his mouth without making any sound. Alternating between Rukia and the magazine, he finally managed to articulate a coherent phrase.

"Ejem…" he coughed. "Whe… where did you get that, Rukia?" he asked, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer.

"Well… you brought it in your bag tonight, along with this" Rukia said, with a light smile, while she took the Coke bottle out from Keigo's bag.

Fuck. He just got drunk but the mess was instantaneous. Ichigo sighed, trying to order his thoughts and to give the shinigami a coherent answer.

"Put that away, I don't want anyone to see it" he said, referring to the bottle. "And about that magazine… well, we could say that it is an entertainment magazine" he said, trying to sound as natural as possible.

"Entertainment?" the shinigami asked. "How is that? Perhaps there's some sort of game on it, like a crossword or something?" she said, while skimming through the mag. "I don't see anything like that, they are supposed to be entertained by this?" she asked, while she showed Ichigo a picture of a woman in a nurse suit, in a very provocative pose. Suddenly the color seemed to return to Ichigo's face, who blushed noticeably with the picture. "Ehh… yeah, something like that."

"How?" Rukia asked, again. "I don't see the point. What is that fun in this?"

Ichigo was suffering now, while he tried to think in the most normal answer possible and to eliminate the blush from his face. "Ehh… well… generally men buy that kind of magazines to… stimulate themselves" he finished, praying that Rukia understood what he meant.

"Stimulate themselves? How? They find motivation here or something?"

"No!... argh… I mean to stimulate… you know… to get horny…" Ichigo said, struggling to keep a neutral face. "When a man pass too much time without… 'doing it', he… tends to… feel bad, putting it that way. This magazine helps him to get relief.

"Doing it?" the shinigami inquired. "Doing what?"

"You know… to screw"

"To screw? Like, with a screwdriver?"

"No!... I mean… to fuck…"

"Fuck?"

"Argh! Having babies!"

"Having babies?"

"How can you not know, Rukia?" and Ichigo, desperate, made a slight pelvic movement, accompanied with a gesture with the arms. Rukia simply stared at him during some seconds, his lips curving into a smile. Finally, she burst out laughing, rolling on the floor. "Hahahaha! That's the best explanation I've ever heard!" she said, wiping out the tears from her eyes.

Ichigo looked at her laughing, completely stunned. "You mean… that you knew…?"

"How can I not know what sex is, Ichigo?" she said, with a huge smile. "I think I told you I was like ten times older than you, believe me, I've had more than enough time to find out about it." She said, with half-a-smile this time. "Doing it, to screw, to fuck, having sex, making love… was it that hard to call it by its name?" she asked.

"I…"

"Ah, and let's not forget about your 'stimulation'." the shinigami smiled. "How was it?... oh yeah, 'when a man pass too much time without doing it, he needs to stimulate himself'." A snicker came out of Rukia's mouth. "Nice definition for masturbating, Ichigo. Very… eh… soft, putting it like that"

"Ehh… WHAT?"

"Of course I know about that, dummy." Rukia said, a smile in her face. "Gotta say that for what I know, you know a lot about that" she said, with the most malign smirk Ichigo had seen her in his entire life.

"What… are you talking about?"

"Well, let's see… I've been living in your closet for like MONTHS, and I've never, ever, seen anything that indicates that you have an active sexual life… at all. Gonna admit, through, I've been surprised by how discreet you are to… relieve yourself, was it? I would at least expect some sheet movement at night, but seems that you have better places than that… the shower, maybe?"

Ichigo was completely stunned by the shinigami's little speech, with a very noticeable blush. Without much success, he tried to restore his lost pride.

"And who says I've got to resort to that…? Nobody assures you that I don't have any fuck buddy…" he said, trying to regain his composure.

Rukia snickered. "Well, sure, it's very possible that you could have something with… let's say, Orihime… but you're Ichigo, and as dumb as you are, I highly doubt it" In that moment, the shinigami's phone began to ring.

"Where is it?" Ichigo growled.

"It's a block away from the school, in that little park…" Rukia couldn't finish, because in record time Ichigo had used his badge and jumped out of the window, going for the hollow. Rukia just looked through the window, a light smile in her lips. She had done her job.

…

Ichigo, for the first time in his life, was truly happy for having to hunt a Hollow. For once they had to serve to something… and to save him from that conversation with Rukia counted too. While he leaped from roof to roof, he began to think about his recent talk… who would have thought that Rukia knew about sex? Anyways, thinking about it, it made sense. After all, the shinigami was, as she had told him, about ten times older than him. That also meant that she had… experience in the matter? That simple thought caused a puncture of what felt like a mixture of anger and jealousy. When? With who?... he shook his head. It was none of his business, after all. And, come thinking about it, it could be a good thing. Who knows the acrobatics and the tricks that Rukia may know… and with that (somewhat) comforting thought, he faced the hollow. Without losing time, Ichigo unsheathed his sword, and got ready to attack who (ironically) had saved him from the worst humiliation of his life. Those were the twists of fate. The hollow quickly used an arm, and stomped his fist in the same spot where Ichigo had been seconds ago. Ichigo jumped, using a light post as a platform to attack the hollow. Without any inconvenient, he used Zangetsu to slash his enemy's mask, vaporizing him in the process. After checking that weren't any more hollows in the area, he sheathed Zangetsu and began to jump back home.

When arriving, he checked cheerfully (not too much, but enough) that Rukia wasn't in his room anymore, or in the house for that matter. She had gone shopping to Urahara's or something like that. He came back to his body, and leaned in his bed, sighing. After everything that had happened today, he was sure that his headache was still pretty far from going away.

And so we reach the end of this chapter. This is one of my favorites, so I think you're gonna enjoy it. Well, one last thing. I just, just turned 18, so, if you have enjoyed the story so far and wanna give the author a nice gift, leave a review :). Thanks, and see ya in the next chapter!