Vertigo

AN: Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter! Today's the party!

Tatsuki had gotten out of the hospital just in time. They were having the party for both teens today, on Ichigo's actual birthday, but Tatsuki had no problems with getting presents two days early.

Yuzu had been in a frenzy cooking and cleaning. Hell she had even hung up streamers over the entire house.

Tatsuki was stretched out on their couch. Her leg was still wrapped, and every few minutes she scratched the thick bandages on her chest. She had rejoiced at being out of pajamas, which she had worn in the hospital, but had discovered to her immense distaste that even her loosest cargo pants wouldn't go over the bulky cast. She had no other choice but to borrow flowy skirts from Orihime. After searching, she had found one that was navy blue and only adorned with a handful of flowers, and had worn it with her most bad ass t-shirt, which had everything sinister on it from skulls to guns, but unfortunately she still looked rather girly.

Chad was sitting beside his irate girlfriend, trying to distract her from her troubles, all the while trying to hide his obvious approval of her new look.

Chizuru had shown up a few minutes ago, as had Keigo, but they had caught sight of Ishida and Orihime snuggling on the loveseat and had ran away in tears.

Tatsuki's mood had improved dramatically after that, as she forgot her girly skirt long enough to laugh until she cried.

"We should watch a movie." Orihime cried triumphantly, punching the air in front of her. They all sweat dropped but agreed anyways.

They ended up watching a horror movie, all reacting in humorously different ways. Orihime was hiding her face in Ishida's shoulder at all the scary parts, which seemed to both concern and please him, Tatsuki was laughing at the fake blood and any special effects that were particularly cheesy and Chad was trying to look away from her legs long enough to watch the movie. Ichigo was trying to stop laughing at Ishida and Chad ogling their girlfriend's all the while trying not to kill his. Rukia had many concerns about the movie that she voiced in his ear.

"It just doesn't make sense. She looks like a little girl who had been grievously injured and yet she acts reckless and violent like a hollow. Is she a whole or a hollow? And where's her chain of fate?"

"Guess she lost it." Ichigo whispered back.

"So she's a hollow? She has no mask, or hole, but wholes rarely have so much bloodlust."

"She's mad because she was murdered. So she's gone nuts." Ichigo explained, willing himself to be patient.

"That makes sense. I just don't know why the soul society hasn't been dispatched down to help those teenagers yet. I mean, several of them have been killed in violent ways, and she is able to contact the survivors on their cell phones. She should have had a soul burial by now."

"Rukia, the creators of this movie know nothing about the Soul Society. To them it's just meant to be scary." He gestured at Orihime, who was watching the film through the cracks of her fingers.

"I know that." Rukia grumbled. Ichigo laughed at her slightly angry expression and put an arm around her. The skin on her arms was baby soft.

After the movie they ate. Yuzu had really outdone herself. Then again she always did when it came to cooking. Orihime was trying to convince Uryuu to try some of Yuzu's chicken with some of the cake, but he politely declined. Chad and Tatsuki were debating about whether or not the special effects in the movie had been good, and Ichigo and Rukia were eating Yuzu's cooking with relish.

It was then that the door bell rang and Urahara wandered in with a Yourichi at his side. He wasted no time digging into the food.

"Did we invite you?" Ichigo muttered. Rukia kicked him under the table and demanded that he be more polite.

"Oh! Well excuse me for wanting to drop by!" Kisuke exclaimed with glee, tipping his hat back in a mock salute.

"Well, you could have wished him a happy birthday before you started to eat." Yourichi pointed out smugly.

"Oh. Happy birthday. Here." Urahara threw a small bundle at his head. It may be small but it was heavier than it looked.

"Hey! That hurt you bastard!" Ichigo growled.

"Open it later okay?" Urahara instructed, putting his plate down.

With that they were gone.

"Well that was weird." Tatsuki murmured.

"Oh! We should open presents!" trilled Orihime goofily.

Chad didn't have much money, so he and Orihime had pitched in to get Tatsuki a skirt that she could wear over her cast. Unlike the feminine one of Orihime's she was wearing, this one was actually her style.

Ichigo got an I-tunes gift card from Chad, just like he always did. But really, they were guys. Guys don't shop well at all, at least not for other guys. It was nice to have it anyways because Goat Chin never gave him much money.

His dad came in after awhile and insisted that he give him 17 birthday spankings. Ichigo violently refused.

Yuzu and Karin had bought him replacement wheels for his skateboard since the old ones were wearing out. Orihime gave both Ichigo and Tatsuki muffins that she had made, which they decided to 'save for later.' Ishida was frugal and even worse at shopping than Chad was, so he hadn't gotten them anything. But that was cool.

All in all it had been a pretty good night.

Once everyone had left he unwrapped the present that Hat and Clogs had given him. It was a bunch of random goods, candy, soul candy and a handful of peppermints that came with a request from Tessai to let him try out all the new medicines he came up with. He chucked them all in the garbage with Orihime's muffins. Bastard must have told him to open it later so he wouldn't get his ass kicked.

Ichigo plugged his new earphones in, which Rukia had gotten him. They had little skulls on them, and they were pretty sick. It was pretty thoughtful of her. Today had been great, but he couldn't help but wonder when they were going back on vacation. He had remembered Tama as being on of their destinations and he had looked it up. Apparently it was the home of Sanrio Puroland, and he'd bet his ass that anyone who loved Chappy would love it there.

He found it interesting how much he liked thinking up things to do with Rukia. He'd had a good birthday, but all he could think of was going back on the vacation. Rukia seemed to thrive having stuff to do. He had loved seeing her all excited at the museum and the pool. It was fun to take her places, to show her things that made her eyes light up. It made him feel like Superman to make her happy.

Snuggling into his covers, he made a mental note to tell her so in the morning.

AN: Hope you liked it. If you didn't I'm sorry. I wrote the party today because it's his birthday today, but this story is really getting hard to write. I'm getting less reviews and I'm thinking of other stories to write, and I'm honestly starting to poop out here. So please review so I have motivation to finish this beast.