Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or anything associated with it. Title of owner goes to 久保 帯人. :3 Nor do I own anything related to the Hana Yori Dango drama or manga.

AN: Woot, I'm on a roll. It's Veteran's day so I spent most of it writing since I had no class. This is a quick update yes, but since the last chapter was short I decided to update as soon as I could with this chapter... which is actually short too, sorry. D: Ichigo is quite gullible in this story but I'll try to make it up with his actions later on.

Thank you to my readers and reviewers most of all! You guys and gals inspire me to write more. Seriously! I hope this one ain't too bad for ya! Enjoy!

Yosh! よろしくお願いします！

Chapter 13

Ichigo regained consciousness once a cold breeze grazed his face. Through half-open eyelids, he tried to make out his surroundings. He knew right away that it was a hotel room. The breeze was definitely coming from an open window at his side.

Realizing that he was in an unfamiliar location, he fully awoke with a startle and lifted himself up by the elbows. He was alone in a king sized bed, under satin red sheets that seemed freshly wrinkled. He was also bare-chested.

Ichigo gulped and looked under the covers only to release a sigh of relief when he found that he still had his boxers on. He quickly tried to relay the events of the night before and could only remember back to when that girl he met offered him a drink.

He tried to rationalize his thoughts. "Was that a… dream? Did I… with that girl?" He glanced down at the floor and cursed when he found his clothing strewn about everywhere. "Shit!"

He got off from the bed and hastily picked up his clothes to put them back on. "What the hell did I do?" Ichigo couldn't remember anything that happened. How did he end up half naked? Why was he in a hotel room?

After he was fully dressed, he ran out the room. It was just his bad luck that school had already started and he was four hours late.

Once Ichigo had arrived home, he quickly changed into his school uniform and made himself a small lunch in his bento box. He was thankful at least that his father was at work and his sisters at school. He would hate to have to explain this fiasco to them.

He looked at his watch and found that it would soon be lunchtime at school. He walked at a quick pace outside but simultaneously thought about what he did the last night.

He mumbled incoherently to himself. "I didn't do anything. No, there's no trace of a girl on me. I mean, it would be my first time and all but…"

Ichigo was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice Rukia sitting on a bench outside his building. He walked past her unaware of her presence. Seeing his obliviousness, she got up and yelled at him for his attention.

"HEY YOU!"

Ichigo's shoulders jumped from her shouting and he stopped abruptly to turn around toward her. "What are you doing here?" He asked with an expression of slight annoyance.

Rukia quickly walked up to him and pointed a finger at his chest demandingly. "I should ask you the same thing. It's almost noon! What were you doing?"

He paused, fully understanding now that Rukia was outside his building for a reason. "You were standing out here… were you waiting for me?"

After hearing his question, Rukia's face slightly turned a shade of pink. She crossed her arms and looked away from his face as if answering his question from her actions. "No… I was not. I just passed by here on my way back to school and decided to see what you were up to."

Ichigo mentally scoffed at her answer. She had probably noticed his absence earlier on and only came to his home to see if he were there. "But… this is out of the way." He added, skeptical of her answer.

"Oh, stop blabbing on! We'll be late for lunch." Instantly her car came around. After her chauffeur came out and opened the car door, she entered the vehicle first, leaving the door open for Ichigo to follow.

"Aren't you coming?" Rukia stuck her head out after a few seconds when Ichigo didn't budge from his spot.

"Fine." Ichigo was late so he decided begrudgingly to go in. He chose to sit as far as possible from her by the window but Rukia was making it difficult since she sat so close to the middle. As the car drove off, there was a bout of silence in the car.

Ichigo carefully glanced at Rukia from the side of his peripheral. As she looked ahead of her, she had her fingers crossed in front of her and placed atop her lap. He noticed it was very prim and proper and wondered if she did that automatically or just for show.

"Whatever you were doing, I can wait for an explanation later." Rukia blurted out, referring to his lateness.

Ichigo did not respond back verbally but shook his head as if she were talking nonsense. He was getting on edge bit by bit that she would find out what he actually did last night.

Ichigo reckoned that the driver was speeding when the car was already inside Takaimono's gates. It was only 6 minutes ago when they left his neighborhood.

After the chauffeur reopened the door, Rukia walked out first with Ichigo following behind. The lunch bell rang just as he got out.

"Come on, follow me." Rukia ordered and grabbed Ichigo's bento box so that he would have no choice but to go after her. She led him into the dining hall where all attention from the student body was focused on them. Ichigo kept his eye contact with students to a minimum as he made his way over to the stairs to the second landing of the dining hall.

"WHAT?" Shuuhei along with Ikkaku and Yumichika exclaimed with horror when Ichigo followed Rukia upstairs. "He's having lunch with the S4?"

Yumichika sighed and placed a hand over his chest in sorrow. "I'm quite jealous."

"Argh, I won't allow it!" Ikkaku growled out. His face was turning red with anger.

Up on the second floor, Ichigo sat at the S4 table with Rukia, Renji, and Toshirou who were already starting on their lunches. A student server arrived and placed a plate of delicious food in front of Ichigo.

"Ah, it's okay." Ichigo said to decline taking the food.

"Don't be so polite. Eat all you want." Rukia interjected after she heard him. "You usually don't get to eat food as good as this, right?"

Ichigo showed her his bento box. "I said it's okay. I have my bento."

"Damn it, stop being so humble!" Rukia ordered him in annoyance. She made the student server return and bring the plate of food back with him to put to the side of Ichigo's bento.

"So Ichigo, where did you go yesterday?" Toshirou asked to break the ice. He seemed perfectly calm compared to Renji who started to stare at Ichigo. "Renji and I went to your workplace yesterday but your friends told us that you weren't there."

"Oh… well I had a few errands to run." Ichigo answered. He picked up his ice-cold glass of water and downed it until it was half full to try and hide the nervousness from coming out.

"Heeey, don't tell me you were with another girl!" Renji spat out immediately after.

"Where did you get that from?" Ichigo asked back with shock.

Renji sat back in his chair, feeling quite satisfied with what he thought to be true. "So you are that type of guy, aren't you?"

Before Ichigo could retort, Rukia slammed her fork down on the table and stood up from her seat.

"Renji! Ichigo is not that type of guy! How could you say such things?" She asked him angrily. "He said he had errands to do so that's what he did. Just because you're a player doesn't make Ichigo one too."

Renji looked up at her in shock for yelling at him. Toshirou chuckled at his reaction. "You're at the point where you defend him now, aren't you?" Toshirou directed toward Rukia.

"Well, he started it." Rukia mumbled and pointed at Renji. She looked over at Ichigo. "Wait here." She went over to the wooden stair railing to look down over the students below.

"What is she…" Ichigo started to ask.

"She's showing her spontaneity once again…" Toshirou interjected.

"Everybody! YEAH! Say it with me now, RUKIA! RUKIA!" Rukia raised her hands and gestured toward every student to join her in the chanting. Instantly the dining hall was filled throughout with a loud continuous cheer of her name.

"… And she's showing off her power." Toshirou added to his previous statement.

With the loud chants not stopping, Rukia looked behind her and met eyes with Ichigo. Ichigo had to admit he was quite in awe after her show of power. Boldly, she winked and smiled at him for the first time ever.

Ichigo had no idea what to do in return and instead cast his eyes downward to avoid her gaze. As he did so, he saw someone leave the crowd down below through the stair railing.

"Hanatarou?" Ichigo was in disbelief. He got up from his chair and ran down the stairs as fast as he could. But as he frantically searched the dining hall, he saw no sign of Hanatarou at all.

During a break at work that night, Ichigo sat with Chad and Tatuski in the back room of the shop.

Ichigo buried his head in his hands in frustration. "If Rukia and the others all find out what I did last night, I'll be so dead."

"All you did was go out. You're making such a big deal out of it that you're making me think that something else happened… are you sure nothing else happened?" Tatsuki asked him suspiciously.

"Of course not." Ichigo replied instantly, although he didn't tell them about how he woke up in a hotel room half-naked.

"You shouldn't play around with Rukia's feelings." Chad commented.

"What do you mean play around with her feelings?" Ichigo asked confusingly.

"If you really don't like her at all, you should let her down gently instead of avoiding her advances." Chad gave his advice.

"I agree with him, Ichigo." Tatsuki chimed in. "What you're doing right now, you're leading her on."

"I can't do that. I mean… It just seemed unheard of that she would like a commoner." Ichigo couldn't help not answering them fully.

"Oh, she definitely likes you. That's for sure." Tatsuki revealed to him. "I spoke with her two friends yesterday and they told me they're both getting quite worried for her and you."

At the mention of Renji and Toshirou, Ichigo's head quickly turned to Tatsuki. "You spoke with them? You be careful of those two. One's part of the yakuza and the other's rumored to be a promiscuous player."

Tatsuki rolled her eyes at his worry for her. "I can handle myself, thank you very much." She paused. "I don't know much about them, yes, but I could tell they care deeply for Rukia. They're protective of her in a way like you just showed how protective you are of me."

Ichigo nodded. "I guess I can relate to them that way."

Tatsuki continued. "They told me a few things about Rukia. Her parents passed away when she was still a child and the only person left in her care was her older brother. They said she became a very lonely person since her brother coldly pushed her away."

Tatsuki hesitated to make sure Ichigo was listening. He was intently listening, with a bit of apprehensiveness written upon his face.

"They say she bullies people partly because no one has showed her how to care and love a person. In a way, a part of her is missing. Somewhere in her heart, she does long to be loved."

As he lay in bed that night, Ichigo thought about what Tatsuki had revealed to him about Rukia. He could not imagine how it would be like to have no love like a family could provide. His father and his sisters were crazy, sure, but he had no doubt in his mind that they shared unconditional love and care.

"Longing to be loved…" Ichigo repeated to himself. "This is such a dilemma… I don't understand!" He threw a pillow over his head and tried to fall asleep.

When Ichigo entered Takaimono's front entrance the next morning, he spotted the group of classmates he hung out with a few nights back. He caught up with them and greeted them.

"Good morning." They looked Ichigo over after he spoke and without a word in return, walked off in another direction away from him.

"What the hell is wrong?" Ichigo asked himself. He tried following the group of boys but after he turned a corner, he almost bumped into Ikkaku.

"You're full of it, Kurosaki." Ikkaku sneered.

"Scum, pretending to be loyal to Rukia." Shuuhei added with malice. Yumichika nodded in agreement.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ichigo asked angrily.

"Go into the dining hall and you'll see." Ikkaku answered.

Thinking it was another annoying form of graffiti against him, Ichigo quickly walked over to the dining hall with the three others following him. Apparently everyone in the school came to see the show when Ichigo found a large crowd of students already present inside the dining hall.

They were surrounding a table set in the middle of the room. After Ichigo went through the parted crowd, he found the table with something atop it hidden by a large white sheet. In black ominous letters, a message was spray painted on the cloth.

PLEASE LOOK AT YOUR OWN LEISURE.

Ikkaku came around and lifted the sheet off to reveal what was underneath. Ichigo's heart stopped when he saw the sight before him.

Scattered on the table were color photos of Ichigo and the girl he met at the nightclub. His eyes were closed in all of them. In most of them Ichigo was half-naked and lying on his back with the girl draped over his body. Her hands were placed upon his chest and in their position it looked as if Ichigo had just slept with her. He was in the same hotel bed he woke up in.

The girl's face could not be seen since the photos were cleverly taken in a way that her face was cut out from the frame or her hair was covering her face.

"You're despicable scum." Ikkaku said to Ichigo.

"It's not true! I didn't do it!" Ichigo tried to tell them.

"How could you not? It's all in the pictures. What more proof do we need?" Shuuhei added.

Ikkaku walked up to Ichigo and narrowed his eyes threateningly. "You deceived not only Rukia-san but everyone here at Takaimono!"

"We won't be so easy on you now." Shuuhei said.

Ikkaku lifted his fist, ready to hit Ichigo. "Get ready to drop out, punk!"

Before his fist met Ichigo's face, Rukia arrived in the room and yelled out for him to stop.

"What are you doing?" Rukia noticed Ikkaku's fist close by Ichigo and she quickly ran up to them to push Ikkaku away. "Don't think you all can get away with this again!"

She was about to grab Ichigo's arm to lead him out but Ikkaku quickly grabbed a photo off from the table and blocked Rukia with it.

"Please take a look at this, Rukia-san."

Her eyes widened once she saw the photo. She was unresponsive, trying to register in her mind what she was seeing.

"Rukia, no! It's not true! I've been framed!" Ichigo frantically yelled out.

Rukia removed her eyes away from the photo, suddenly feeling ill at the sight. She instead stared at the ground. She quietly asked Ichigo, "What is the meaning of this?"

"I don't know how it happened but I did nothing of that! I've been framed by someone." Ichigo explained to her.

Her violet eyes looked up into his and Ichigo could swear that he saw her heart breaking through the glossiness of tears in her eyes. It looked as if she were reading his eyes, trying to decipher them of the truth.

"Please… believe me." Ichigo pleaded in desperation.

Rukia shook her head slowly and turned away from him without saying another word. She quickly walked out, grabbing a handkerchief from her bag to wipe the tears that were spilling forth from her eyes.

Once she was gone, the whole room was filled with clapping. Ichigo knew it was for all the wrong reasons. He was in the middle of the crowd, taking a good look at everyone around him. All the students smirked menacingly at him, ready to strike.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed back at them. He was tired of this shit but there was no way to avoid it now. He took a deep breath and held up his own fists, prepared for the coming onslaught.

AN: Another cliffie! Sorry... Okay so we got a lot happening. Do you feel sorry for Rukia now? What wil happen? Wait to find out! Welcome to new readers and those who are so kind enough to favorite/alert this story! And my reviewers, please comment with anything you feel like! I just enjoy reading your words! :D

Thank you muchly! ありがとうございます！