The rest of the morning passed by as usual, and when the lunch bell rang, Ichigo picked up his Bentō and went to the roof to eat with his friends. Rukia went with Tatsuki and Orihime, trying to remember what she was supposed to ask them.

"Ano... Tatsuki?" she asked once they reached their usual spot.

"Hm? Whaa-ishet?" Tatsuki answered through a mouthful of rice.

"Ichigo told me to ask you girls what it means to be on a period. I didn't understand, and he refused to tell me." Rukia explained as she examined her juice-box, suddenly wishing Ichigo was there. Tatsuki spit out her food and gawked at Rukia.

"What? You mean to say you've never had a period before? Wait, how'd Ichigo find out? Are you, y'know, bleeding yet?" she asked, incredulous.

"What? Why would I be bleeding?"

"Oh for the love of - Okay, so women have eggs..." Tatsuki began explaining the entirety of "The Birds and The Bees" to Rukia, who's face was growing redder by the minute. Suddenly she held up a hand.

"Thank you, Tatsuki-san, but that's all I need to hear for now. Thank you for explaining what a period is, and where to buy products that help with it", she said weakly before wandering off behind some shrubs, probably to gag on the images in her head. She looked up at the roof and saw Ichigo looking down at her with a slight grin. She scowled, probably a better scowl than that stupid idiot Strawberry could ever manage.

He mouthed, "Are you O-KAY?" to her and she nodded. She watched him send a disbelieving look and a smirk before walking back to the group of boys.

I wonder why he was staring... Bah, stupid strawberry was probably laughing at me during Tatsuki's "talk". Baka.

Rukia wandered back to the group and picked up her juice box, glad she could finally remember how to put the straw in by herself, and equally glad the topic of conversation has moved from womanly issues to a recent romance film from America.

Ichigo, meanwhile, would have traded a discussion about periods for what he was going through any day. Keigo had decided that, after seeing him and the midget together that morning, they were officially a couple. Who knew a human could take that many hits to the head and still retort with a "So, Ichigo - Oww... -Your reaction... it proves EVERYTHING I'VE SA-AAGH!". Ichigo pulled back his fist and with a low growl threatened to teach Keigo the law of gravity if he kept talking. Keigo shut up.

"Ano, Ichigo, if you don't mind me asking, why do you and Kuchiki-san always walk together?" questioned Mizuiro, inspecting Keigo for signs of trauma.

"It's nothing, alright?" Ichigo flailed his arms wildly. "Geez! Can't a guy walk to school with someone without it meaning anything? She just lives the same way as me, got it?"

"Ichigo, relax! I wasn't implying anything, I just wanted to know. Y'know, most of the school seems to think you two are a couple. Do you like Kuchiki-san that way?" Mizuiro asked innocently. He was calmly eating his noodles and texting his various girlfriends to organize a party for one of them being promoted to VP of Sales at her company, a sex-toy manufacturer.

"That stupid midget? No way in hell!" shouted Ichigo, perhaps a bit too loudly. "She's always hitting me and asking for help with her work, because KAMI-FORBID she actually do it on her own, and what's worse, she's soshort she needs a step-stool just to see over the counter at the ice-cream shop!"

"..."

Ichigo blinked. "What?"

"So, you admit you've been to get ice-cream with her?" a barely conscious Keigo asked with a lopsided grin.

Ichigo's face turned bright red, to the point the other guys began to wonder if he might actually develop a case of exploding head syndrome. They all began backing away and made sure to give Keigo in particular a wide berth.

"N-no! I mean, yeah, but it's just not like that dammit!" Ichigo was obviously flustered. "I owed her ice-cream from this one time when she did my homework for me so I could help my dad at his clinic! That's ALL."

Ichigo couldn't believe he'd let such a stupid thing slip from his mouth in the first place. He didn't mean anything by getting her ice-cream, it was really part of teaching her about the living world! That, and it was a sort of reward for them both for fighting hollows day in and day out, and getting out Hueco Mundo alive and with Orihime in tow. In fact, though, the more he told himself that the less he believed it.

She's been there from the start, I guess. We're pretty close, so we do everything together. Not hard to imagine other people seeing us as a couple... Still, I definitely don't like her that way. She's way too annoying, she's short, violent, and even if I did like her - which I don't - a cute girl like her wouldn't want anything to do with me. Not to mention she's a shinigami and - WAITAMINUTE - Ichigo's eyes widened. Did I just say she was 'cute'? What the fuck?

He shook his head violently to clear his thoughts and, for good measure, punched Keigo.

"Ouch! Ichigo! I didn't even say anything that time either! Whyyyyyyy?"

"Oh, shut up."

Lunch ended and the groups met back in class, Ichigo was staring at Rukia's empty desk when a certain Raven haired midget decided to occupy the seat. She turned to him and noticed him staring at her, or rather, throughher, at her desk. She waved a small hand in front of his face to get his attention.

"Ichigo?" she asked, bringing him out of whatever la-la-land he'd gone to.

"What, midget?" he blinked before clutching his shin in sudden pain.

"Don't call me midget. Why were you staring at my desk?"

He started. Why had he been staring, again? He tried to remember that odd day-dream he'd been having, and his face tinted pink when he finally recalled his earlier thoughts.

"N-nothing, don't worry your little head about it. Or should I say, big head?" he replied with a snicker at his own cleverness. The snicker was soon replaced by a grimace of pain and a large red mark where a certain somone had thrown her sketchbook.

"Shut. Up. About. My head. My height. And anything else your stupid strawberry brain thinks is funny to make fun of. Understand?" she added the last part sweetly, contrasting with the cold, terrorizing glare she was giving him.

He gulped. "Understood."

"Good."

"Hm? Kuchiki-san? Kurosaki-san? Do you two have something you'd like to share with the class? Not that we haven't been amused for the past ten minutes anyways..." Ochii-sensei suddenly made her presence known.

In their haste to insult one another they had both failed to realize the bell rang ten minutes prior, and they'd been unwittingly providing entertainment to the rest of the class. Oh, how they wished a Hollow would kill them both at that moment. Orihime had a small frown on her face, while Ishida was shooting a look of disdain, and Keigo and Mizuiro were looking smug. Ichigo made a mental note to kill those two later.


Unfortunately for both shinigami, no hollows appeared for the rest of the day, and as soon as the bell rang to signal the end of classes they practically flash-stepped out of the room to get home.

The walk home was nice, a cool breeze was blowing and the sun was just high enough to provide light and warmth, but not so much that it was uncomfortable. The two stopped sprinting about a block from the school, deciding they'd put enough distance between themselves and the rumor-mill. Ichigo looked over and found himself unable to speak.

There was Rukia, a small but genuine smile on her face, walking calmly beside him. Her violet eyes twinkled in the sunlight, and the breeze lightly tossed her hair, giving an almost surreal effect when it reflected the light as well. He couldn't tear his eyes away, and eventually she noticed, though she didn't turn to him.

"What is it, Strawberry?" she asked, with no mocking tones for once.

He snapped his head forward once more. Ichigo couldn't bring himself to admit he'd just been thinking of his partner as beautiful, gorgeous, and everything in-between so he settled for a simple "Nothing, midget." His words also lacked their usual bite, and Rukia noticed he too had a smile.

I like it when he smiles, it makes him look handsome she thought, then caught herself. Handsome? No, no, no, Rukia, Ichigo is most definitely not handsome. Calm? Yes. That's the word. He looks peaceful for once, without that scowl. Why would you say he's handsome? Bah, it's probably nothing.

The two walked in silence, the only sound was the occasional rustle of clothing or the patter of footfalls. It was the first time since Hueco Mundo that they had actually had some quiet time, and they wouldn't dare ruin that by bickering now that they realized they had it. They reached the clinic and entered, Ichigo dodging a flying kick from his father, who crashed into the neighbor's garden.

"MY SON! YOU HAVE LEARNED WELL! OH MASAKI, OUR SON IS GROWING INTO A STRONG MAN TO DEFEND OUR THIRD-DAUGHTER AND OUR GRAND-CHILDREN!" He shouted through the now closed and securely locked front door.

"SHUT UP YOU OLD PERVERT! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Ichigo considered opening the front door back up just to knock some sense into his old man, but Karin (who was sitting on the couch watching soccer) spoke up.

"Ichi, just let it go. He's stuck outside anyways, we'll let him in when he decided to behave like a normal human for once." she said with a bored look on her face, despite not looking away from the game.

"Ah, you're right Karin. YOU HEAR THAT OLD MAN? YOU'RE GONNA BE OUT THERE TIL YA LEARN TO BE NORMAL! D'YOU WANT A TENT? YOU'RE GONNA BE OUT THERE AWHILE!" Ichigo shouted back through the door before walking up to his room where Rukia was already doing her homework. "Honestly, that guy can NOT be my father."

"Oh! Masaki! Our children are so cruel to their loving father! I just wish for their happiness and fertility but my thick-headed son is so mean! He won't even provide us with grandchildren!" Isshin Kurosaki wailed from the street. "Or is it that he can't?"

Ichigo really wanted to turn into a shinigami and teach his dad all about Soul Society at that point. Maybe introduce him to a few hollows. An evil grin formed on his face but was quickly wiped off by a swift blow from the insanely resilient old man as he climbed through the bedroom window.

"OH-HO-HO MY BOY, PAY ATTENTION! IF YOU CA-" Ichigo interrupted him with a headlock.

"SHUT THE HELL UP DAMMIT! STOP SAYIN' I'M IMPOTENT!" he yelled, managing to toss Goat-chin back out the window. "AND STAY OUTTA MY ROOM!"

"Ano, Ichi-nii, Rukia-san, dinner is ready..." announced Yuzu from the kitchen.

"Ah, we'll be right there Yuzu, thanks." Ichigo turned to the window and shouted down "Oi! Old man! Dinner's ready, so when you feel like acting your damn age you better get in here or Yuzu's gonna be mad!"

"Alright my son! I'll go in the front door so you and Rukia can-"

"DON'T FINISH THAT!"


Ichigo slowly made his way up the stairs to his room, stuffed full of Tuna Steak and potatoes, a little dazed from the sudden full feeling, and plopped down on his bed with a contented sigh. He was just about to drift off when Rukia walked in and chucked his math book at him, nearly hitting him in the head.

"Get up and do our homework, baka." she said, with a very serious expression.

"No."

Her eyes narrowed, and a threatening aura permeated the small room.

"What did you say, Strawberry?" she asked with a dangerous glint in her eye.

Not noticing her expression, Ichigo turned away and yawned, "I said no. You can do it this time. I've done both our homework for the past three weeks, and now you owe me some freakin rest."

Big mistake. Somehow in the space of about ten seconds Rukia managed to flip his mattress completely upside down with him still on it, complete the level one binding spell, and shove a pocket calculator into his mouth. Ichigo was now sandwiched between the mattress and the box-spring, wide-eyed, looking like a classic roast pig with a calculator instead of an apple. She smiled appreciatively at her work.

She leaned down and thumped his nose with her finger, "So, Strawberry, you were saying...?"

Giving a defeated groan, he answered, "Alright! Fine... Just get me out of this stupid position..."

Rukia smirked and released him, then stepped aside as he moved to his desk to finish the homework, grumbling something about midgets and how they belong in chocolate factories.

He stared at the page in his textbook. Polynomial functions, derivatives, and quadratics, all in the same pre-test. He could have cried. It's gonna be a long night...