A/N: So guys, thank you for sharing your views and reviewing, as always! I kinda changed this chapter since I was getting a little bored with all the lame stuff and the non-flirting. I'm not good at writing romances and fluff at all (God knows why I chose to write this fic, but you don't hear me complaining) so tell me if it was worth it! :)

Here goes-

The Following Morning

7th March, 2010 6.00 p.m.

"MY SON'S NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE!"

NOT the ideal words to wake someone up. A 'Good Morning' is just too normal for these guys apparently. I was pretty sleepy since the….ahem…incident last night, but I couldn't sleep till 5.30 in the morning, I think, so yeah, I could doze off till the end of the days.

I could smell Ichigo next to me. My face was buried in his chest and he had an arm around my back protectively as he shouted at his dad in the lowest volume possible "Shut your mouth- you'll wake her up!"

Aww, how cute! He was worried about his dad waking me up, but didn't even care about what his dad was saying!

Wait- wha- did I just think that? What is WRONG with me! I can't like Ichigo Kurosaki of all the people! Every other other girl likes him- so that means I should not!

And at the same time, I could feel myself sinking in his embrace. I could stay that way forever, breathing his scent deeply. He smelled of strawberries and…musk- in a nice way. I could feel his six-pack easily through the thin shirt and he…whoa, I can't believe someone like me could feel so much towards a guy.

Whats happening to you, Rukia Kuchiki?

"KUCHIKI-SAN, YOU MADE MY SON'S LIFE WORTH LIVING! YOU MADE HIM-"

"GET OUT!"

-and Ichigo, getting up from where he lay hugging me (he gently untangled his arms around me- I swear it took me all of my strength to resist telling him to never let me go- what is happening with me? I'm supposed to be an independent, kick-ass woman! High school girl, I mean) and slammed the door shut.

"What's wrong with him?" I opened my eyes groggily.

Ichigo looked startled "You're awake!"

"No kidding."

He looked away, cheeks pink "He saw us in the same bed."

"And why is so happy about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Normal parents ground their kids at seeing them sleeping with the opposite sex."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, my Dad's far from normal."

Silence fell in between us, and I blushed at the memory of last night. I wanted to ask him so badly about that kiss.

So then I opened my mouth and was about to say something like "Ichigo, why did you kiss me?" (lame, but I'm not the best person in these matters so give me a break) when he went "Yuzu was discharged this morning."

"This morning-"

I looked over at the clock. Two p.m.! I jumped off the bed.

"It's two in the bloody afternoon, Ichigo! Why didn't you wake me up!"

"You looked sleepy, so I let you sleep." He shrugged.

"Well, what the hell were you doing in bed with me till TWO 'O' CLOCK!"

I just blurted it out, okay? I wasn't thinking!

He blushed furiously "Uh….I woke up at around one-thirty myself..but then when I got up to leave, you pulled at my sleeve and sort of….mumbeled in your sleep to stay….."

Oh gods, I had done that! I could feel the heat creeping up my face and I looked away.

He smiled "Yuzu's at the clinic. Normally they wouldn't discharge her so early but since Dad's a doctor they thought it'll be fine. She's doing great-she's been awake all throughout the day! Wanna go see her?"

This was probably the first time Ichigo had spoken 4 statements to me sounding utterly ecstatic- on ninth heaven or something, so I agreed. We went down to the Clinic.

"HERE COME THE LOVEBIRDS!' Isshin cried, eyes shining.

Which reminded me that he thought Ichigo and I had sex. Oh God.

We had been fully clothed while in bed, but hey, that's just a minor setback, isn't it?

Yuzu lay on the bed, bandaged, smiling sweetly.

She had such a striking resemblance to her mother. I mean, she didn't have strawberry-blonde hair or big blue eyes, but her expressions- just her smile reminded of Masaki Kurosaki (whose poster covered the entire wall of the Clinic).

"You're Onii-chan's girlfriend, aren't you?" she went in a low voice.

I went red at her words.

Ichigo coughed loudly.

I smirked "Kind of… yeah."

He coughed even more, and my smirk widened.

"Well, it's nice to meet you! I hope you make him happy!"

"…"

"Of course she makes me happy, Yuzu. That's why she's my girlfriend." Ichigo replied, smiling. He was pink in the face, but looking completely….I dunno, smiling-ish. He's never smiled so much before.

My eyes went wide. I felt the heat creep up my face again as he smiled at his younger sister and Karin snorted, bored. Isshin was busy jabbering off to the poster of Masaki Kurosaki about grandchildren.

Yuzu smiled "I'm sorry I can't help with the cookin-"

"DON'T WORRY, I'M TAKING CARE OF IT!" Isshin cried proudly.

Yeah, right.

I've had my meals here and they're even worse mine. I've come down to eating toast because that's the only burnt thing that's actually edible and tastes good.

Orihime called me today and cried "Kuchiki-san, where are you!"

"…?"

"I thought of coming to your place to give you some of my spinach/bean paste soup for your health, but your house was locked! And then I thought of giving it to Kurosaki-kun but he was gone as well! I waited for you to come back, but none of you did! Are you okay?

Honestly, that's the one thing about her I can't tolerate- wailing all the time! And spinach/bean paste soup? Is she sure that wouldn't make my so-called 'illness' deteriorate?

"I-Inoue…I'm with Urahara right now. As for Ichigo, how do I know where he is?"

"..But aren't you ill? And isn't Kurosaki-kun down with injuries?" she said innocently.

"He's fine I'm fine I'll talk to you later bye!" I went in one breath and hung up. I haven't picked any of my friends' calls since then and Ichigo tells me he has had his phone switched off since yesterday.

I'll try to get him all alone to ask him what the hell he meant by that kiss.

Yeah, I'll definitely do that. As for Inoue and her drabbles, I'll come up with some stupid story later.

A/N: There you go!

As always, I dunno when I'll be updating next, but I hope you won't mind waiting, and that you liked this chapter. If you don't mind, then sharing a few words about it and reviewing won't hurt, coz hey, I gotta know where I went wrong and all my grammatical mistakes because damn Microsoft Word only underlines stuff and crap and doesn't help much.

And how can I forget, thanks for reading!

~SS~