Rukia couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips as she carefully folded the necessary items of clothes and put them away in a small bag. Sure some might think that packing two days in advance for a one-night stay was a bit too early, but she couldn't help herself. She was practically bubbling with excitement; it was all she could do to keep from bursting into song- or at least whistling.
-Flashback-
"You're no longer an intern, Rukia"
There was a pause.
Rukia sat without moving, while Ukitake stared at her, waiting for a reaction. She clenched and unclenched her hands over the fabric of her jeans as she wrapped her mind around his words.
"Does this mean…?" she couldn't finish the question.
Ukitake chuckled good-naturedly. "Starting next Tuesday, you'll be a full time writer for the Seretei Daily."
Rukia's mouth fell open as she tried to calm herself down. She hardly allowed herself to believe what he was saying…but it was true.
She'd done it.
Later, after excusing herself from Ukitake's office she felt like she practically floated back to the fourth floor.
She hadn't really planned on telling everyone about it, but people were bound to ask questions when she showed up after pulling a disappearing act with a huge stupid smile on her face.
"…Are you feeling okay?" Kaien had jokingly asked.
Rukia had snapped up to him and couldn't help but grin widely. "I got the job." was all she said, and they didn't need any further explanation.
Kaien along with Rangiku and Orihime erupted into congratulatory squeals, the two females hurrying to hug Rukia, while he playfully ruffled her hair. From her place wedged between the two taller women and their 'assets', Rukia sneaked a glance up and noticed the orange-haired man who stood there with his hands in his pockets, his brown eyes seemingly sparkling down at her and a smirk curling up the side of his mouth.
"This calls for a celebration!" Kaien had boisterously declared when the hugging ceased.
"I'll bring the drinks!" Rangiku had hurried to offer.
"I can bake muffins!" Orihime contributed, and soon all three of them were planning a wildly scaled celebration, oblivious to the very subject of it as she stood there, merely grinning in uncontained delight as she watched her friends be loud and cheerful.
She turned when she felt the warmth of a hand on her shoulder.
"Well done, Intern." Ichigo smiled at her, an almost boyishly mischievous glint in his eyes as he called her by her old nickname.
Rukia felt something flutter inside her as she met his eyes, before she found herself grinning back up at him and nodding, recalling their own rough start and the evolution of their relationship, how he'd helped her get to where she was. "I won't thank you." she said stubbornly, though her smile was carefree.
His own grin widened. "Didn't expect you to."
-End Flashback-
Rukia was kneeling by the bed, a half folded shirt in her hands for the past minute while she mentally relived the memories of earlier that day.
It felt like taking a load of, really. She felt so much lighter now…
She could hardly believe that she'd actually done it. She almost had the urge to dial her brother's phone number and tell him the good news, if only that wouldn't sound odd when she had been supposed to have the job already in the first place. Still, she could just imagine that glimmer of approval in his eyes; and it would be well-deserved now.
And then her thoughts went to the person who had shown her the most help and guidance throughout the way.
He had orange hair and a cocky smile.
Setting the folded shirt in the bag with the rest of her clothes for the weekend, Rukia pushed herself off the floor and made her way to her closet. The double doors were slid open, revealing a mess of clothes which she'd carelessly rifled through in search for her necessary clothes to be packed. Rukia paid the mess no mind and quickly kneeled down to reach into the farthest corner of the small space. By touch, she came upon the box she was searching for and pulled it out in a moment.
With care, almost as if she were unwrapping a present instead of opening an old shoebox, she removed the lid and peered at the contents inside.
Reaching one hand inside, she pulled out the single object and stared at it.
In her hand she held a simple black mask.
Her fingers ran over the smooth black material and conjured up memories of an unforgettable night. In her mind, she saw a flash of the 'Mysterious Stranger' that she had met in a closet, wearing that same mask. Orange hair, amber eyes and a boyishly handsome grin came flashing back to her.
The image was only broken by the thought of the same man, mask-less, wearing a blue button-down and dark jeans. His face was scowling but remained handsome, and his hand was in the front pocket of his jeans casually.
He was the man she'd met only a couple of days later, in the least expected of places.
A soft sigh escaped her slightly upturned lips. "Thank you…idiot." She spoke, her eyes fixed on the mask as if she could just see the man who'd worn it beneath it.
Despite her words to him openly denying him gratitude, she was truly thankful to him for all his help. Even if she would never tell him that.
It didn't matter anyway. As a mental picture of his grin to her popped into the surface of her mind, she was sure that he knew.
"Didn't expect you to." His words came back to her, over the sounds of her other friends' excited chatter. His brown eyes, bright as they looked at her smilingly, accompanied by that boyish grin…
Rukia's hand flew to her chest, where her heart had suddenly begun beating more wildly than usual.
She hurriedly put the mask back inside the shoebox and put it away in its corner in the dark of her closet, banishing all thoughts of it and its original owner from her mind as she went back to packing.
The last thing she needed now was to start having those kinds of thoughts.
-x-
Friday found Rukia in quite the merry mood.
With not only the promise of the potentially great weekend in her favor, but also of a steady paycheck at long last, she felt like her grin might split her face any time soon. Her good mood propelled her to work quickly and diligently on her last few assignments as an 'intern'. Once the weekend had passed, she could officially say that she worked for Seretei Daily.
"Hey, Rukia," Kaien appeared over the edge of the makeshift wall separating them. "You all set for this afternoon?"
She raised an eyebrow at him, pausing in her typing to look up at him. "What do I have to be set for?"
"Well your celebration, of course." He scowled at her in a way that reminded her a lot of a certain someone with orange hair who just happened to be just behind the door a few feet to her right. "Don't tell me you forgot, stupid."
"No one told me anything about a celebration!" she exclaimed defensively.
"Oh." He scratched under his chin in apparent thought, then shrugged. "Then I guess now you know. Rangiku and I are taking care of refreshments, and Orihime is bringing the snacks-" he paused at seeing how Rukia turned slightly green. She'd seen the other woman eating her homemade concoctions some times she'd stayed for lunch in the building, the thought of some of them… "Don't worry, we convinced her to just get something at the bakery a couple of blocks away." Kaien explained, and Rukia's face returned to its usual pale coloring.
"Well, as long as I don't have to do anything…"
"Just grace us with your presence." Kaien grinned, winking playfully at her.
Rukia felt herself grinning back, "I'll clear my schedule then." She said, though of course, her schedule was already clear as could be. Having already called Urahara the previous day to inform him that she would not be working there anymore and would be driving by to collect her last paycheck, and having packed everything for the weekend, she was golden.
It seemed that everything was quickly falling into place.
Later that morning she got a call from Renji telling her that he'd be picking her up for lunch, since they apparently needed to celebrate. Of course she had already called him the previous day to give him the good news, so it didn't come as any surprise that he wanted to join in the congratulating in person.
For the first time in what felt like forever, the day seemed to fly by for Rukia.
By the time she actually turned her eyes to the slender purple wristwatch, it was already past 4:30pm. And no sooner had she checked the hour, did Kaien pop up around her cubicle and started to rub his palms together as if in preparation.
"Well Kuchiki," he started in mock seriousness. "It's time to celebrate your last afternoon on Seretei as an intern."
Almost as if on cue, Orihime and Rangiku appeared from the elevator; the former carrying five plastic containers with visible sweets inside, the latter holding odd looking bottles in each hand.
Rukia had to raise an eyebrow as the two women came closer, giving the older blonde a strange look. "Rangiku, are those…?"
"Shampoo bottles." she confirmed the brunette's suspicion. She leaned down and lowered her voice a few notes. "We're not allowed to have alcohol in the building." she explained and added a wink, looking quite pleased with herself. "But don't worry, I always find a way to outsmart the man upstairs. Or men upstairs…or men in general."
"That's…great." Rukia laughed awkwardly.
"Now drink up!"
-x-
"To Rukia!"
Ichigo heard a small chorus of voices, slightly chortled, just outside his office. He raised his left arm to look at his wristwatch and confirm that it was almost 5pm, by which time most of the fourth floor employees -at least the louder ones- had cleared out normally.
As he stepped out of his office, however, he was met with a different sight. Kaien, Rangiku and Orihime had all pulled up chairs to surround Rukia in her cubicle and had broken out the congratulatory festivities. Judging by their rosier than normal cheeks Rangiku had provided refreshments, and going by the lack of green on their faces Orihime hadn't baked the snacks. He was half disbelieving and half impressed when he noticed that someone had thought as far as to provide the small group with party hats and quirks.
He shook his head, resisting the urge to smile as he saw Rukia, wearing her party hat, currently wrestling Kaien's head onto her desk as he tried to hug her under the effects of what might have been one drink too many. Despite what one might read as annoyance on her features, he could tell just how happy she looked now. In his mind, he recalled the image of her tired form, the dark circles under her eyes and the disarrayed hair that accompanied after constantly falling asleep on her desk and forcing herself awake to keep on working.
This time, he allowed a diminutive smile to creep over his features as he noted the immediate change in her. The area under her eyes still showed some telltale signs of lack of sleep, but overall her violet eyes were brighter, and her skin had flushed with a healthy creamy tone.
"Ichigo!" a voice snapped him out of his reverie. He quickly turned to the orange haired girl that had called out his name and was looking up at him with bright gray eyes. "Won't you join us? We're celebrating that Rukia has a permanent job here now!"
"And we've got plenty of refreshments, if you know what I mean." Rangiku pointed out, lazily throwing an arm around Orihime's shoulder as she looked up at him with slightly glazed blue eyes.
"I hope you're not planning on driving like that." Ichigo frowned at the blonde, who chuckled before taking another swig straight out of a…shampoo bottle?
"Relax, Ichigo," Rangiku said, waving her hand around dismissively as she stretched out the syllables in the word. "I'm catching a ride back with Orihime, here."
"You are?" Orihime turned her large eyes at her.
"You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Rangiku asked with a smile, though it barely sounded like a question.
"Oh, of course not!" Orihime quickly said, causing Ichigo to roll his eyes. The girl was so easy to take advantage of.
"What about that one?" Ichigo asked, pointing skeptically at the dark-haired man who was now slumped over the desk limply, beginning to snore lightly.
"For this one," Rukia spoke up, roughly shoving Kaien, who jumped abruptly in his seat.
"I didn't do it!" he yelled, snapping awake.
Ignoring the outburst, Rukia looked back at Ichigo. "I've already called Miyako; she'll deal with him."
Kaien turned to Rukia looking like a kid begging not to be scolded by his parents. "Wait, no don't do that!"
"Too late Mr. I-can-out-drink-any-woman." Rukia said stoically. "She's coming over as we speak."
Kaien shrank back, looking very much afraid. Rukia then turned back to Ichigo, humor dancing in her violet orbs. "So aren't you going to stay for a bit?"
"As tempting as that is," Ichigo said with just an ounce of sarcasm as he took in the drunken half of the bunch. "I'll pass. I'm heading home early today to do some packing for tomorrow."
"Alright." Rukia said, her gaze lingering for a moment before she smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
For some reason, Ichigo felt something at those words. He wasn't sure if it was anxiety or expectation…or maybe a mixture of both. But he quickly shook it off and replied with a simple "Yeah." He stepped away with a lazy wave over his shoulder as he bid farewell to the group.
The doors of the elevator slid shut before him just as the sound of loud and slurred singing reached his ears. He shook his head lightly before his thoughts carried him back to his destination.
So he lied when he'd said he was going home. Ichigo hurried in the underground parking lot to get to his car and head out towards the Karakura General. He had inwardly debated whether or not to tell Orihime too, but one look at how she was enjoying herself and he knew that he shouldn't do anything to bring her back down. So went on by himself.
It was better that way, he mused as he drove. There were some things that he wanted to discuss in private…
He just hoped that Chad would be awake when he got there.
Ichigo had gotten a call the previous night telling him that the 6''4' man had awakened, against all odds, and seemed to be well on his way to recovery. He couldn't help but grin; ever since they were kids, it seemed to him that Chad was indestructible. He'd seen the man get hit by a car and walk away like he'd just scraped his knee. If there was anything similar to a superhero in the planet, Ichigo was sure that Chad was it.
Still, he couldn't deny that when he heard about his oldest friend being shot…He had been afraid. Terrified, even.
Ichigo saw his hands tightening over the steering wheel, before he reminded himself to relax.
He's okay.
Ichigo was in luck. When he made it to the hospital and into Chad's private room, he met the sight of one of the man's eyes lazily opening to look at him. His other eye was covered with a curtain of dark shaggy hair. The sight of Chad on the hospital bed was almost laughable.
Not only was the man freakishly tall, but he was built like a tank. His feet were nearly dangling off the edge and it seemed like he had trouble fitting his broad shoulders between the bedrails.
Ichigo smirked. "I bet the nurses had one hell of a time fitting you in there."
The bedridden man cracked a smile. "Ichigo." he said as way of greeting.
"Nice to see you awake." he said casually. "A few bullets are no match for the man made of steel." he said, recalling an old nickname for him back in high school.
Chad responded by giving Ichigo a thumbs up.
After that, Ichigo shut the door behind him and took the only chair beside the bed. Then he talked, the conversation flowing casually between them. It was around a half hour later that a lapse of silence finally rolled around, and Ichigo felt his hands tightening into fists at his sides.
"What's the matter?" Chad asked in his deep voice, immediately picking up on Ichigo's uneasiness.
The orange-haired man looked away, before resting his elbows over his knees and slumping forward. "You didn't see who did it, right?" he asked, his expression shadowed while his head was lowered.
Chad stiffened on the bed, immediately catching on to the meaning of Ichigo's words. He didn't say anything at first, but Ichigo didn't need to hear anything to know what the answer was. "Ichigo, I know this is important to you…" he trailed off momentarily.
There was a short, terse moment of silence before Ichigo's hands relaxed, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly. "It's not worth it." he spoke at last, his face still hidden.
Chad's eyes widened minimally. "You…?"
"I know this is connected to Aizen. We got too close…And this is what happened." Ichigo looked up at his bedridden friend. "I want to take down Aizen, and everyone who works with him. But not if it's going to get the people around me hurt."
"Ichigo-"
"I never should have involved you in this, Chad." Ichigo finally looked up. "I'm sorry." he said, standing up.
Chad stared in silence, processing what he was saying.
Once on his feet, Ichigo turned away and started towards the door. "Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it." He had now made it to the door and placed his hand on the handle, half turning it as he spoke with his head only partially turned to the other man, his gaze hidden in shadow. "But from now on I'm working on this on my own."
He didn't wait to hear any response as he exited the room without looking back.
-x-
Rukia stepped out of the elevator and rolled her suitcase silently over the carpet of the sixth floor hallway, holding the hanger with her dress for the evening over her shoulder.
Doors lined either side of the long hallway, each one identical to the last except for the rising little golden numbers decorating each one. The Gotei was one of the oldest hotels in Karakura, but also one of the fanciest. It maintained a combination of classic decoration with a modern touch, giving it a sense of timeless grandeur.
As she walked slowly, taking note of each number as she searched for her room, Rukia was filled with an odd sense of nostalgia.
Images of a younger version of herself walking uncertainly, head bowed, following a disinterested maid as she was led to her room; she dared one glance over her shoulder to see her brother's retreating back.
Present-day Rukia had to resist the urge to look back now and see if she would see her brother there once again. As a younger girl she had accompanied Byakuya to several activities, many of which included staying at fancy hotels such as the Gotei; she had been required to dress up and act properly as she was introduced to many of the big names in business, which she had been too young to recognize or care about. They weren't exactly her fondest memories.
Shaking herself out of memory lane, Rukia finally came to a stop before one of the multiple ivory doors. The number read 615.
Without further ado, Rukia slid in her card key and let herself in.
Dominating the room was a seemingly undisturbed queen-sized bed, with enough pillows to build a forte, and white and gold sheets that didn't have a single wrinkle in sight. Looking around, she saw ceiling to floor curtains that matched the color of the bed's sheets, thick enough to keep the room lit only in artificial half light, undisturbed by the sun's rays despite it being three in the afternoon and still pretty light out. On the far right corner there was a small round table and two wooden chairs, and a night table with a lit lamp beside the bed's headboard. A flat screen television set on a polished wood chest of drawers faced the bed.
It wasn't the huge and pompous suite she remembered from her days staying on her brothers' business trips, but it was still a nice and spacious room, with a warm decoration that made her feel at ease.
Rukia pulled her luggage (a single bag) to set it beside the bed ad carefully laid out the dress -covered in the plastic from the dry cleaners-, thinking she's try out the bed for a nap before something caught her eye.
Looking towards the left area of the room closely for the first time, she saw a mini fridge and a small closet, and a small passage leading to the bathroom. What caught her eye was that on the mirror set on the wall right across from the bathroom, she saw the reflection of an open door.
It struck her as odd; from what she remembered of her previous stays in hotel rooms all doors were all closed and every aspect of the room indicated to it being immaculate and unused. Seeing this was out of place, and she found herself walking towards the bathroom.
She figured maybe someone from housekeeping was in there. Peering closer, she thought she could make out the outline of a person from the space of the partially open door. Footsteps reached her ears followed by the sound of someone turning on the faucet and water rushing out.
Did maids use the faucets?
Her brow creased as she suddenly felt suspicion build. Her right hand tightened into a small -but powerful if needed- fist and with her left she quickly pushed the door fully open.
And struck out.
"AGH!"
The high-pitched but distinctly male scream filled her ears as she fell back into a stance after delivering a well-placed kick to the man's side. But the worst was far from over.
Rukia had automatically kicked out upon the sight of a tall body bare except for a white towel hanging lazily around the hips…A towel which had loosened upon the man receiving a kick that doubled him over…
"Agh!" It was her turn to scream as her hand flew to cover her eyes and she stumbled backwards.
"What the hell-" the male voice ground out, then suddenly cut itself off. Then… "Rukia?"
Now that some of the shock had more or less dissipated, Rukia recognized the voice. Despite the amount of disbelief and shock in it, it was still a voice she knew well. "…Ichigo?"
Her own voice was abruptly disbelieving as she dared to open one eye and look through the cracks of her fingers and took her first real good look at the man in front of her. There was no doubt about it: the bright shade of orange that filled her field of vision could only belong to one person. Without warning, she lowered her hands and let both of her eyes fly wide open as she took in the sight of none other than Ichigo Kurosaki.
Correction: as she took in the sight of half-naked Ichigo Kurosaki.
She couldn't have stopped her mouth from falling open if her life had depended on it. It took every ounce of her self control and will to pull her eyes up to his face and away from the glistening tower of well-defined muscles and abs being cut off only momentarily by the white towel once again fastened around his hips and secured by his hand.
Rukia felt her embarrassment climb until she was sure she would have jumped out a window if there had been one in sight… Or if she had been able to move. Rooted to the spot and feeling her entire face flaming, she reacted in the only way she knew how.
"What are you doing here?"
It seemed Ichigo was having a similar predicament to hers as he stood rooted to the spot; his expression was priceless. If Rukia had not been so mortified herself, she would have been laughing.
"Me?" His voice cracked, a few octaves higher than it normally was. "What are you doing here? This is my room!"
"What are you talking about? This is my room!"
Suddenly facing a stalemate, both parties stood in silence as they processed their situation. Unfortunately, more than two seconds of silence were quick to remind them of a different predicament.
"Just, wait for me to get dressed so we can figure this out." Ichigo managed to choke out. Rukia didn't need to be told twice as she nodded vigorously and nearly flashed out of the bathroom, not looking back but hearing the door close behind her and letting out a sigh of relief in the process.
A little less than ten minutes later, Ichigo stepped out to find Rukia lying on the bed, a bottle of water from the mini fridge held up against her forehead as if she was cooling herself down. Which she was. Whether from embarrassment or something else she'd rather not think about.
Ichigo cleared his throat lightly to announce his presence, and Rukia sat up, putting the bottle aside, to look at him.
His clothes and hair looked slightly disheveled, as if he'd put them on in a rush (or fumbled a lot as he did) and hadn't had time to run a comb through his wild -still wet from a shower apparently- hair. There were even a few droplets of water running down his neck and disappearing into his dark blue shirt.
"Err…" Ichigo reached up to scratch the back of his head and placed a light scowl on his face, looking away from her. "Mind explaining why you're in my room?"
At this, Rukia frowned. She folded her arms over her chest haughtily before responding. "Actually, it's my room. You can check if you like."
Ichigo turned to her then, raising an orange eyebrow. "I'm in room 615. This is room 615."
"Eh…I'm in room 615." Rukia said, and for a moment they just stared at each other as if waiting for an answer to magically appear before them. "Maybe there was a mistake. They probably gave one of us the wrong room. We'll just go downstairs and ask them to fix this."
"Right." Ichigo agreed.
A few minutes later the pair was stepping out from the elevator into the lobby. They quickly bypassed the myriad of people varying crowding the space, some dressed casually while others were clad in night gowns and tuxedos.
Ichigo and Rukia had to struggle their way up to the check-in counter until they finally stopped in front of one of the three women currently at work, just as the couple she was attending stepped away.
"Good afternoon, may I help you?" The brunette, who looked about middle-age and wore a polite smile identical to the ones on her two coworkers looked up at their approach.
"There's been a mistake with our rooms." Rukia spoke up, making the brunette pull her gaze away from where it had been lingering on Ichigo, to look at her for the first time. From the corner of her eye Rukia saw Ichigo nodding. "Someone accidentally gave us the same room, but we had prior reservations made. It was probably just a mistake but-"
"I'll check right now." the woman cut in, going straight to business. Rukia felt herself relax slightly as she figured issue would be solved quickly. "Your names." said the woman without looking up from the screen of her computer.
"Rukia Kuchiki."
"Ichigo Kurosaki."
About twenty seconds later the woman spoke again, still looking at her computer. "You're both with the Seretei right?"
"Yes."
"Well…" The woman seemed to hesitate. "You both appear here to be registered to room 615. There's been no mistake."
Ichigo and Rukia exchanged an alarmed glance. Ichigo quickly started up before Rukia had the chance. "But, there has to be. Each of us was supposed to have a room, that can't be right."
The woman looked up, her expression entirely neutral. "The system does not make mistakes. If you two have any complaints I suggest you take it up with your boss."
Ichigo shot Rukia a helpless look, and she quickly turned back to the brunette. "Alright, then just check me in to another room. Any will do-"
"There are no more rooms." the woman interrupted. "We're overbooked. It's the holidays, it's impossible to get a room at the Gotei without prior reservations."
Now Rukia felt herself deflate. No more rooms? That meant…
"Hey, look!" Ichigo interrupted her thoughts, tugging on her arm and pointing out something behind her. Rukia turned to look at the lobby. "It's Ukitake."
She found herself hurrying after Ichigo in the direction of the white-haired individual, who was currently facing away from them and seemingly engaged in conversation with someone.
"Ukitake!" Ichigo practically barked as soon as they were in earshot. Rukia resisted the urge to smack him for speaking like that to his boss.
The white-haired man turned towards them, one hand up rubbing his temples as if warding off a headache. Rukia rarely saw the man look so weary other than when he was dealing with his secretary and assistant.
"Ichigo, Kuchiki," he still managed a small, tired smile as he saw them. "How are you?"
"I'd be a whole lot better if someone explained to me why it is I'm stuck in a room with her." Ichigo pointed at Rukia to emphasize, while the petite raven-haired woman scowled and slapped his hand finger away.
"You don't have to sound so displeased about it." she remarked.
"Shut up, I'm making a point."
Ukitake watched the exchange with a slightly confused expression. "Wait, so what is the problem here?"
"They put us in the same room!" they both said simultaneously.
"Oh dear," Ukitake said, his white eyebrows furrowing ever-so-slightly. "Not you too."
They were taken aback by that statement. "Huh?"
Ukitake sighed. "Hinamori and Toshiro had the same problem. As well as Takimoto and Tanashika. It seems that the hotel was nearly out of rooms when the reservations were made and they compensated by throwing a few people together." he gave a small chuckle at the apparent absurdity of the situation.
Ichigo and Rukia weren't laughing. "But who made these reservations? Wouldn't they have known that there wasn't enough room or that something like this was happening?" Rukia questioned, and beside her Ichigo looked like he had been wondering the same thing.
"Ah, yes, well…" Ukitake looked away at some place before turning back to them. "Normally I would make these reservations myself, but I was busy with a few things, so I asked…" He trailed off, looking away again.
Ichigo and Rukia followed his line of sight and immediately understood. Off on the far side of the lobby, near the casino, Kiyone and Sentaro were seemingly having one of their yelling contests while a man dressed in an expensive-looking suit looked between them anxiously.
"Oh." Ichigo and Rukia muttered at the same time.
"They're trying to work it over with the manager right now," Ukitake went on to explain. "But it seems that there's just no room. It's too late to be able to do much of anything actually." He sighed yet again before looking at Ichigo and Rukia and unexpectedly smiling. "At least you two were lucky your last names got you together. Imagine if you'd been placed with some stranger."
Ichigo and Rukia stood speechless, having no response to that as Ukitake finally bid them farewell and headed over to where Kiyone and Sentaro were, probably to smooth things over with the hotel manager.
It seemed like a long minute before they finally started moving again and wordlessly headed to the elevators. Once inside, Rukia saw Ichigo press the number 6 and the doors slide closed before them.
"So what now?" Ichigo broke the silence, his eyes on the rising numbers above the elevator doors.
"We…share a room, I guess." Rukia said as diplomatically as possible. "It's only for one night." she added as much for her benefit as for his.
Ichigo seemed almost tensely quiet as he nodded once. The two stepped off the elevator a moment later and walked to the room, only to be reminded of another problem…
"There's only one bed."
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Rukia said after a moment. Then, letting the annoyance drain from her voice she spoke again. "Look, one of us can sleep on the floor and that's that."
Ichigo's eyes widened slightly at this before she crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. "I am not sleeping on the floor."
"Fine. I'll take the floor then." she said simply, shrugging as she started towards her suitcase, still beside the bed.
It was approximately two seconds before Ichigo spoke again. "Wait, you can't take the floor…"
Rukia peered at him over her shoulder and smirked slightly. "Is that your chivalry talking or your male ego?"
Ichigo's eyebrow ticked. "Neither! I'm just pointing out that it wouldn't really be fair to let you sleep on the carpet like that."
"Will you be taking the carpet then?" she asked skeptically, turning to him with a quirked eyebrow.
"No," Ichigo said quickly. "Let's decide this diplomatically."
Rukia eyed him. "I'm listening."
Ichigo responded by raising his fist. "Rock, paper, scissors."
Rukia looked at him blankly for about three seconds before mentally shrugging and raising her fist to his. Then they counted.
"One, two, three!"
There was a dramatic pause.
"Damn it!" Ichigo wailed, glaring at the sight of his hand still enclosed into a fist, and Rukia's hand fully straightened out.
"Paper beats rock." Rukia declared smugly. "I win." She followed up by walking around the bed to reach for one of the pillows and unceremoniously toss it at his face. "Enjoy the carpet."
Ichigo felt his eye twitch for the second time that day and there was still a long way to go before it ended. Grudgingly, he threw the pillow on one of the chairs near the bed and looked at Rukia.
"So…we still have a few hours before the party." he started. "Wanna get something to eat?" he asked while settling his hand on his nape almost subconsciously.
"Is that an offer?" Rukia asked from where she was lying on the bed, arms spread wide at her sides comfortably.
Ichigo glared down at her before crossing his arms over his chest and scoffing. "Ché. I owe you anyway…"
Rukia was up in the blink of an eye. "Then let's go already!"
"Oi! Don't get used to it!" Ichigo yelled after her as they both exited the room, their problems seemingly forgotten for the time being.
A/N: Don't say filler, don't say filler, don't say- okay fine, it was a filler chapter :P (mostly). Originally the Christmas party (or at least part of it) was supposed to happen this chapter, but I needed to do a little transition and...well the transition took a bit longer than I expected xD But in my defense, I updated faster than usual so I still get points for that ;) Anyway there's just a lot I want to put into that party, so I thought it best to dedicate a whole chapter to it and do it properly^^
So my favorite scene in this chapter (and one of the overall story so far) was actually Ichigo and Rukia's little exchange after she gives everyone the good news that she's not an intern. It was small but I thought it was so sweet and IchiRuki...yeah I'll stop fangirling over my own story now haha XD
I want to give you guys a HUGE thank you!: AnimeFanx3, youtubesam, morte-hourglass, lizzyytx33, Rukia Martinez, TruantPony, Imou, Black Sun Upon An Icy Sky, novicestar, ali6220, Cream, jjbb, inthenameofninny, kyurikochan, 1999, MN, Sa Rart, hinataellis, xXBleachluverXx, MONST3R, MeoNg, unknownkyitty, Alyssa, blackwingsgreeneyes, Poisonfish, Fire331
THANK YOU SO MUCH!:'D I was so happy with so many reviews, and so many GREAT reviews! It fills me with joy each time I read them and I see people actually excited about this story ^.^ Proof: early update here *wink*wink* hehe! And a special thanks to those who have taken the time to review every chapter :')
Oh and btw, this is the tenth chapter! Wooo I feel like it's an accomplishment of sorts lol See you guys next time! Next chapter is the famed Christmas party for sure :D