Ichigo looked at his wristwatch a little impatiently before redirecting his gaze towards the door that hid the bathroom.
"Oi, Rukia, aren't you ready yet?" he asked, loud enough to be heard through the wood and the sound of the still-running shower.
"No!" she barked back. "And before you even think about rushing me along, remember whose fault it is that we're running late in the first place!"
Ichigo frowned. So maybe she had a point there. So maybe it wasn't the most prudent thing to challenge Rukia to a game at the hotel arcade after they finished eating…But then again it wasn't his fault that she turned out to be so damn competitive. They ended up playing on every single game, with Rukia coming out as the victor after a very close deciding match of air hockey. By the end of the affair they had so many tickets they probably could have bought half of the prize toys, but they opted to just give away all their booty to the first lucky kid that happened to pass by.
It was after watching the kid run towards the prizes -with a huge smile missing a front tooth and a face that looked like he had just seen a real life talking unicorn-, that Ichigo and Rukia finally took note of the time. Between the early dinner and the two hours spent running around the arcade, they had barely an hour left to get ready for the party, which started at 8:00pm.
"I just suggested one quick racing game! You're the one that had to get on every single game until you beat me!" Ichigo retaliated. He could practically hear her huffing stubbornly on the other side of the door.
For a few more seconds all Ichigo heard was the sound of the running shower, before Rukia's voice drifted through again. "Just go ahead without me!"
Ichigo paused for a moment.
Now why the hell hadn't he thought of that?
Maybe it was the fact that they were sharing a room and he felt sort of obligated to leave with her. Though if he was being honest with himself, a part of him maybe just wanted to arrive with her…
Ichigo discarded the thought immediately. "Okay, I'll see you there then." he quickly shouted back, turning to look at his own reflection on the mirror mounted on the wall opposite to the bathroom.
He tied the remaining top buttons of his long-sleeved black shirt, then straightened his charcoal gray tie so that it was neatly set. He patted the pockets of his dark slacks and checked that he had all the needed items, spared a glance to his shiny black shoes, and finally looked back up to see his orange mane, only slightly more tamed than its usual wild state.
Deciding that he was presentable enough after his once-over, Ichigo headed out; having had just enough time to hear the running water from the shower stop.
A few wrong turns and annoyed hotel staff giving him directions later, he arrived at the ballroom. Ichigo wasn't one to be particularly impressed by décor or luxurious items, but he had to admit that the Gotei's ballroom was pretty deserving of any praise it got.
The place was huge, decorated in a tasteful manner that gave it an air of grandeur but didn't border on tacky. The group of round tables at the far right of the room were decorated with richly red cloths and at all four corners of the square room there stood a carefully decorated Christmas tree for the season. A small band was playing on a small stage on the far wall behind the tables.
Ichigo finished taking in the scene before going down the staircase to leading to the dance floor -the steps covered in a velvety red carpet similar to the table cloths- and surveyed his surroundings more closely. He could see a lot of familiar faces from Seretei, others he recognized from having seen on TV in the news or in the cover of a magazine, and others he had never met.
"Ichigo!"
"Um…hi?" he glanced warily at the light-haired girl wearing a dress that she seemed to be spilling out of as she beamed at him.
"Hi! So good to see you again." she said excitedly, then seemed to notice his blank look. "…You do remember me right?"
"Uhh…"
"From that animal abuse story…"
"…Err, sorry I-"
He Didn't get a chance to finish as she stomped away with her nose in the air. Oh well. So maybe he had met some of the people here and didn't remember. He was a reporter, it was his job to talk to all sorts of people, he couldn't be expected to actually remember all of them…
In hopes of avoiding another similar encounter, Ichigo quickly looked around in search for a familiar face among the people on the dance floor. He didn't have to look long before someone purred in his ear.
"Ichigo…" the sickeningly silky voice made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he jolted backwards, turning immediately to glare at the owner of the voice. "My, my, Ichigo. Still as jumpy as ever."
"Do you always have to do that, Yoruichi?" He scowled at the dark-skinned woman, who wore her trademark feline grin and stared up at him with mischievous bright amber eyes. Her unique long purple hair was gathered into a half bun and the rest left to spill over her shoulders and back. She wore a long slinky black dress that could have left a lot more to imagination.
She cackled loudly and slapped his arm good-naturedly. "You should see your face. It makes it worth it every time."
Ichigo cursed lowly at his old boss, who was unaffected.
"So how's old Isshin doing?" Yoruichi asked.
Ichigo shrugged. "Same as always. That old goat never changes. Still talks to posters."
"I see." Yoruichi nodded, an ever-present smirk still on her lips. "How about you? I've barely seen you since you abandoned us at the Shunko." she said, talking about the newspaper she ran, where Ichigo had first worked. "I hear you've been doing pretty well for yourself."
"Who told you that?" Ichigo immediately looked at her suspiciously.
"No one." Yoruichi said with a light scoff. "I read the Seretei all the time; I've seen your stories." Then, seeing his quirked eyebrow, she added, "Well I have to keep track of the competition, you know?"
"Now, Yoruichi," a new voice drifted in easily. "You know the Shunko has nothing to fear from Seretei." Ukitake appeared with his ever-kind smile. He wore a gray suit and his usual pony tail, looking at ease.
Yoruichi turned to the man who now stood at her side. "Don't play innocent with me now, Jushiro. You know if I let my guard down I'll end up having to print celebrity gossip stories within a month." she grinned. "And I'm not planning on making it easy for you either."
Ukitake chuckled. "Good to see your spirit doesn't change."
After speaking, Ukitake's brown eyes seemed to fall slightly. A flash of something that seemed like sadness passed through the brown orbs. Ichigo felt himself frown at this, as he inspected the man suddenly, before his thoughts being interrupted.
"So Ichigo, where is your roommate?" Ukita asked, cheerful disposition securely back in place.
In a different instance Ichigo would have remained suspicious, but the question threw him off. "Eh?"
"Kuchiki," Ukitake clarified. "I thought you'd be together." He said innocently.
"Why would you think that?" Ichigo fought to control the way his voice squeaked towards the end of his question.
"Well, it seemed to me that you two had gotten pretty close. And seeing as you were in the same room-" Ukitake went on to say, before Yoruichi's low laughter interrupted him.
"Oh ho? What's this I hear, Ichigo?" Yoruichi set her devilishly gleaming eyes on him. "Sharing a room with a girl? I didn't know about this. Your father will be interested to know the news-"
"It was a room misplacement!" Ichigo hurried to explain. "The hotel was overbooked, it wasn't our fault! Tell her, Ukitake!" Ichigo turned to his actual boss for help, only to find that his eyes and focus were elsewhere.
"Ah, perhaps Kuchiki herself can help you out." Ukitake said, motioning with his eyes towards the top of the staircase.
Ichigo followed his eyes and stopped.
There, having seemingly just appeared, stood a woman. Her slender, petite frame was covered by a satin silver dress that fell like water down to her mid calf. It shone softly against her smooth ivory skin, leaving her arms and shoulders exposed and being held up only by thin spaguetti straps. Her onyx hair contrasted darkly against her pale skin, clipped to one side to fall shortly over her shoulder, with a few lose tresses framing her delicately made up face. Even from the distance, luminous violet eyes stood out against the neutral colors.
The overall effect was…stunning.
Those two violet orbs moved back and forth sweeping the room in scrutiny, before suddenly falling on Ichigo's still form. Almost immediately, her eyes seemed to light up as they met his own brown orbs.
"Oi Ichigo, pick up your chin from the floor. You're making a puddle here."
Ichigo had momentarily forgotten about the presence of other people when he was rudely snapped out of his daze by Yoruichi's teasing voice. Like being snapped out of a daydream, Ichigo shook himself back into reality in order to glare at the dark-skinned woman, only then realizing that his mouth had indeed unhinged itself.
"W-what are you talking about?" he asked, using a gruff and disbelieving tone to disguise his embarrassment, the effect severely lessened by his stuttering.
Yoruichi's grin only widened and she gave him a knowing look, which annoyed him to no end. "Watch out, stud. She's coming over to talk to you." The woman gave him a suggestive nudge and fixed her golden gaze on the woman who had been making her way down the steps during his distraction.
"Yo-" Ichigo started to growl out, but stopped as he felt the new presence hovering closely. "R-Rukia!" he cursed himself for stuttering in front of her. "Umm, hey…"
He looked up at her -that was a first-. She was still standing on the last step, whereas Ichigo was on the floor, and she also wore heels for the first time since he'd met her. In fact, this was also the first time that Ichigo saw Rukia wearing a dress. It was unsettling; that was why he had a bit of a hard time adjusting at first.
"You finished faster than I expected…" Ichigo spoke again, and almost felt like hitting himself for saying sounding so stupid.
Rukia laughed lightheartedly, and the sound -to his dismay- instead of easing him, for some reason made him even more nervous. "I don't actually need that long to get ready, Ichigo." she smirked. "Actually, I'm pretty sure that I would have been ready before you if you hadn't hogged the bathroom."
"What? I didn't do anything like that!" Ichigo retaliated, and suddenly he felt more at ease. This was his comfort zone.
"Don't worry, I won't judge you for your feminine habits." Rukia smoothly said. "It's fine really, I understand-"
"Shut up!" he ordered hastily, before hearing a couple of people laughing behind him.
And once again realized, that he had momentarily forgotten about the presence of others.
"Oh, Mr. Ukitake," Rukia looked over at the white-haired man, looking slightly surprised, as if she hadn't noticed him either.
"Kuchiki," he greeted back. "You clean up very nice." he commented with a smile.
Rukia returned the smile. "Thank you, and-" she turned to look uncertainly at the other woman standing among the small group.
"I'm Yoruichi Shihouin," Yoruichi quickly introduced herself. "And you're Byakuya's little sister, right?"
Ichigo turned to give Yoruichi a startled look, then turned to Rukia with incredulous eyes as she responded. "Oh of course, you're the editor of Shunko! I've read a lot of your work ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Ugh, enough with the 'ma'am' business. It makes me sound old." Yoruichi waved her hand around dismissively, but Ichigo wasn't paying attention to her. "It's just Yoruichi, please."
"Ah, it's an honor to meet you, Miss Yoruichi." Rukia went on, before Ichigo spoke up.
"Did she say Byakuya, as in Byakuya Kuchiki?" he asked in utter disbelief.
"Yes," Rukia said simply, about to turn back to continue whatever she was going to say to Yoruichi before being cut off again by Ichigo.
"As in the big shot owner of the Senbonzakura corporation, Byakuya Kuchiki?"
"Yes, Ichigo! That's the one." Rukia answered with mild annoyance in her voice. "Can we move on now?"
"Why didn't you ever tell me that guy is your brother?" Ichigo asked, ignoring her irritation.
Rukia looked slightly taken aback, but covered it up quickly. "You never asked."
Ichigo opened his mouth to reply but found that he really didn't have anything to say to that.
"Discussing family trees, are we?" another new voice entered the conversation. This one wasn't familiar to Ichigo, but Rukia seemed to recognize the newly arrived blond man.
"Urahara?"
-x-
Rukia stared at the shaggy-haired man, lacking his trademark striped hat for once and dressed in clothes to accommodate for the evening, looking every bit like he belonged there.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, not bothering with politeness. Urahara was never the most conventional boss, so she allowed herself these liberties. Moreover, as of the previous day he wasn't even her boss anymore.
"Ah, Rukia, there is so much you don't know about me." Urahara feigned a mysterious smile as he shook a finger at her.
"I was beginning to think you were going to be a no-show, Kisuke." Yoruichi grinned, looking at the man who had come to stand at her right.
Rukia's eyes widened. "You two know each other?"
"Yoruichi and I go way back, Rukia." Urahara smiled almost lecherously. Rukia resisted the urge to cringe at the implications in the man's tone, only strengthened with the way he slowly snaked one arm around Yoruichi's lower waist. The woman didn't protest. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend now?" The grey-eyed man motioned to Ichigo.
"Oh this is Isshin's boy." Yoruichi supplied the answer.
"You know my Dad too?" Ichigo asked now, looking at Urahara.
"Of course! Old Isshin and I went to college together. We were roommates on our first year." Urahara explained. "Ah, the memories…"
"I don't want to know." Ichigo muttered, and for some reason Rukia felt herself silently agreeing.
"I didn't know you were his kid. I thought that orange hair looked familiar." Urahara went on. "You look a lot different now that when you were a little kid. I don't think you had that scowl back then."
Rukia saw Ichigo's scowl deepen at this, making her have to resist the urge to laugh.
"Anyway, if I had know it was you I would have gone over and said hi when I saw you at my restaurant the other day!" Urahara finished.
"Huh?"
"Ichigo," Rukia finally turned to him to explain. "Kisuke Urahara; as in the owner of Urahara's. He was my boss."
"Aww, past tense already, Rukia?" Urahara pretended to look hurt. "You've already left me behind."
Rukia didn't bother to stop herself from rolling her eyes.
"Well," Yoruichi spoke. "I have some scouring to do here. I'm going to have to leave you now. It was nice meeting you, Rukia." she smiled in a friendly manner, then turned to Ichigo. "And Ichigo," she paused, then leaned forward and whispered something into his ear. Rukia couldn't hear, but she saw Ichigo's cheeks flame up considerably before the woman pulled back and winked at him. "I'll see you later!"
With that she left, pulling Urahara -who waved lazily back at them- with her. Ichigo and Rukia then turned to Ukitake as he cleared his throat, having been quiet for the majority of the last conversation. "I'm afraid I'll have to leave you two as well. Duty calls." he chuckled. "Have fun!"
Ichigo and Rukia smiled at him and watched him walk away and disappear within seconds into the crowd of people in the dance floor. Once left by themselves, Rukia spoke up without turning to look at him. "So…What did she say to you?"
Ichigo seemed to freeze up beside her. "Who? Yoruichi? N-nothing just…Nothing important."
Rukia glanced up at him then, her arms folded over her chest as she did so. There was still a telltale tinge of pink coloring his cheeks, but his face was set into a typical scowl. As curious as she was, she decided for that once that she would spare him and not torture him anymore. So she simply said, "Let's go find the others."
"Right." Ichigo nodded.
Rukia, who still stood on the last step of the staircase, started to step down carefully in her silver high heels, watching her step as she did, when she was surprised by a hand being offered in assistance. She looked up at Ichigo with startled eyes, having never expected such a gesture from him. His eyes, however, were averted as he faced the crowded ballroom and away from her.
Normally, Rukia would only accept such a chivalrous action in the presence of her brother where etiquette obliged her to. And to be perfectly honest, she had had enough practice wearing high heels -even if it wasn't by choice- to be able to have perfect balance. Even so, she found herself reaching out to take Ichigo's hand and steady herself. When her small hand found his larger one, his fingers seemed to respond to her touch and automatically curl around her hand, holding it gently but firmly as she descended the final step.
The moment -which couldn't have been longer than two seconds- seemed like it was playing in slow motion, their hands connected for that instant. Once Rukia was securely on the floor and once again shorter than Ichigo, she looked up once more, but this time found his light amber eyes fixed on her.
Their eyes connected for an instant before Ichigo loosened his hold on her hand and they broke the contact, simultaneously looking away from each other. A moment later they were weaving through the dance floor in the direction of the group of tables, scanning them quickly in search for their friends.
While Ichigo was a few steps ahead of her and his back was to her, Rukia allowed herself to reach a hand up to her chest. Underneath, she felt her heart's quickened beatings, a reaction that she had felt the moment when time had seemingly slowed down and Ichigo had held her hand.
It wasn't the first time they held hands. Only a little while ago, she had held his hand in a comforting gesture at the hospital when he had heard of his friend being hurt…But that had been different. How, exactly, she wasn't sure.
"Rukia! Ichigo!" Orihime's cheerful voice brought Rukia out of her confused musings. She followed the sound of her voice and her eyes immediately landed on the orange-haired girl waving from a table to her left.
She followed Ichigo as he weaved through the tables between them and Orihime's, until the two arrived at the smiling girl's place. Orihime sat beaming up at them, Uryuu at her right; Kaien and the woman that Rukia already knew as Miyako were to her left; the chair beside Kaien's was empty, and on the next seat was a man that Rukia only remembered seeing before around Seretei because of the distinctive tattoo of a '69' on the left side of his face. There were two more remaining empty chairs and Rukia took the one closest to her, next to the tattooed man. Ichigo pulled out the seat on her left and sat beside her.
Greetings around the table went by quickly; the tattooed man introduced himself as Shuuhei for those who didn't know him and said he was there as Rangiku's date -though the busty blonde was nowhere to be seen-, and Kaien took the opportunity to introduce his wife again.
"Kaien, I think they get the point." It was Miyako's sweet voice that interrupted a long-winded rant on Kaien's part as he described all the fine attributes of his spouse to the people around the table. Though smiling and seemingly sweet, Miyako's voice held a tone of finality that even Kaien didn't dare argue with.
Rukia, as well as the rest of the table's occupants, were rather amused with the sight.
Conversation flowed between the group from then on, jumping from topic to topic effortlessly. At some points various simultaneous conversations sprouted out. Orihime and Miyako began discussing recipes -much to Kaien's horror-; Uryuu and Ichigo bickered about trivial manners, neither seeming to remember why they started the argument in the first place; and Shuuhei had turned to Rukia and was currently telling her about some story he had to do on plastic surgery while she did her best to smile and nod at all the appropriate times.
In reality, Rukia's attention kept drifting off to her left.
Ichigo was dressed all in black, save for the grey tie and the inevitable splash of orange of his head. And although Ichigo usually dressed pretty well, it didn't really compare to how much he…cleaned up that night. His clothes were pressed, his shoes were shiny, his hair was somewhat combed, and unless she was imagining it, she could catch a light whiff of cologne coming off of him.
She would be lying to herself if she said that he didn't look more than a little handsome.
"-believe that?"
Rukia caught only the last bit of what Shuuhei was telling her. Luckily, she had always been a great actress and could easily fake any reaction. "Ah, that is pretty unbelievable!" she exclaimed with a laugh, forcing her eyes back to the man at her right.
"I know, right!"
All conversations ceased a moment later when Orihime suddenly jumped up from her seat and put her hands together excitedly. "This is the song I danced at my high school prom!" she exclaimed, her eyes bright. "I love it!" And then she turned her eyes on her fiancé, who looked away from his verbal spar and swallowed uncomfortably. The wide grey orbs were unmistakably pleading.
"Orihime, you know dancing isn't really my forte-"
"Please, Uryuu," she gave him a look that one would imagine on a stray puppy begging for a hug.
Even Rukia thought she would have gotten up to dance; Uryuu didn't stand a chance. As soon as the black-haired man was reluctantly leading away the ecstatic orange-haired girl into the dance floor, the second woman on the table turned to her significant other.
"Kaien," Miyako turned to him with a smile playing at her lips.
"Say no more, my lady!" Kaien was on his feet and even doing an old-fashioned bow, his hand extended to his wife.
Miyako giggled elegantly behind her palm before taking his hand and allowing herself to be led away.
That left three people on the table.
Rukia was just about to open her mouth an make an awkward comment on the centerpiece when she was beat to the punch.
"May I have this dance?"
-x-
Ichigo's eyes turned immediately at the sound of the other male voice, though -with some difficulty- he managed to keep the rest of his body seemingly uninterested in the exchange at his side.
"Oh, sure." Rukia said, getting to her feet with the dark-haired tattooed guy following her lead.
Ichigo forced his eyes down to look at the floral centerpiece with exaggerated scrutiny an instant before he felt someone's eyes on him. Then he felt their presences retreat and he was alone at the table.
Once they were a fair distance away, Ichigo watched their retreating backs. The tattooed guy was fairly tall, leaving a fair height difference between himself and Rukia, despite her high heels. As Ichigo watched, the two entered the crowd at the dance floor.
Even through the amount of people, Ichigo could make out the flashes of silver and black whenever Rukia moved, and his eyes were able to find the spaces between people enough so that he could see when the tattooed guy put his hand on Rukia's waist. A moment more and he saw the guy's other hand take Rukia's own, before they started swaying quickly in rhythm of the upbeat Latin music.
Ichigo didn't know for how long he watched, seeing the pair move with surprisingly well-coordinated moves and keeping up with the lively beat seemingly effortlessly, but he didn't really notice when one song turned into another, and then the transition happened a second time. All the while, the dancing pair that his eyes followed did not even pause. As people moved in and out of the way in their sway, he could make out more or less of them. A hand on the waist here, silver fabric flying in a twirl there, a smile and a laugh in between…
"Kurosaki, I hope you don't plan on cutting yourself with the dull edge of that knife."
A flat, sarcastic voice reminded him of where he was and snapped him out of his observations. At the remark, he switched his gaze to his hand and noticed for the first time that at some point the had grabbed one of the knifes on the table and had been squeezing it so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
He detached his hand from the knife and let it fall back harmlessly on the red cloth of the table before turning to the man who had just pulled out the seat on his right.
"I appreciate your concern, Ishida." Ichigo said dryly.
Ishida merely glanced at him from behind his glasses, the light reflecting off of the lenses in a flash.
"Shouldn't you be dancing with your soon-to-be-wife?" Ichigo asked, a bit sullen at having been interrupted.
"Shouldn't you be doing something other than burning holes into the back of a poor man's head while he dances?" Ishida retorted.
"I don't know what your-"
"Oh for Heaven's sake, Kurosaki." the bespectacled man cut him off. "You've been staring at her for at least ten minutes. Ask her to dance already before you start breaking the hotel's silverware."
"I haven't been staring at her." Ichigo declared, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling deeply.
Ishida raised a thin black eyebrow. "So you confirm that there is a 'her'."
Ichigo's mouth dropped open. "That's not-!"
"Don't tell me," Ishida said, a tiny smirk on his face. "I don't care about your affairs." He said in an insufferably condescending tone that made Ichigo want to punch his glasses right into his smug little face. "But if I were you I'd ask her to dance before she gets tired out or just wants to get a drink with some other guy…"
"Alright, I don't want to sit here and listen to your condescending little ass." Ichigo stood from his chair. "But note that I'm only doing this to get away from you." he declared, pointing and giving a glare to the pale man for good measure, before walking off towards the dance floor.
"You're as thick-headed as ever, Kurosaki." Ishida sat, shaking his head as he saw the orange-haired man's retreating back.
"Were you saying something, Uryuu?" a familiar sweet voice asked from behind him, making him jump.
"Orihime!" he was met with her large grey eyes. "Weren't you dancing still…?"
"It wasn't as fun without you!" she said simply, and Uryuu felt his cheeks reddening. Even after all that time, she could still make him blush…
"Ah, let's do something else then." he said, standing and putting an arm around her waist. "How about we try the food?"
He took her delighted squeal as a 'yes'.
-x-
Ichigo walked with a sure step, having watched long enough to know exactly where he was headed through the crowd of dancers.
But as soon as she was in plain sight, it was like he was suddenly rooted to the spot.
Twirling, swaying, laughing; she seemed to be having a great time dancing with that guy. Ichigo's eyes zeroed in on the man's face; tanned, rough, confident-looking. And then there was that '69' tattoo…No doubt the guy was some pervert.
And the way his eyes looked down at his dancing partner- he didn't have to look down that far to see her face, it was clear that he was looking at something else. Honestly and then there were his hands, they were barely at her hips, and they seemed to keep sliding lower; soon enough he'd just be taking advantage and Rukia wouldn't even have time to react.
Ichigo owed it to her to at least alert her to perverted guys like that. After all, wasn't that what friends were for?
With a renewed sure step, Ichigo moved towards the pair and a moment later he was tapping the tattooed man's shoulder purposefully. When he stopped his movement to turn and face him, his eyes met Ichigo's hard brown orbs.
"Mind if I cut in?"
Ichigo's question was more of a statement, and the tattooed man only looked from the raven-haired woman and back to Ichigo once before shrugging. "Go ahead, man." he said, and walked away without further ado.
Ichigo stared after his retreating form a second longer for good measure before someone clearing her throat brought his attention back.
Rukia was looking up at him with a quirked eyebrow, arms folded over her chest and a small smirk. "Did you scare off my dance partner just to stand there or are you going to dance?"
Ichigo suddenly felt more than a little like a deer caught in headlights. Only now did he remember that there was a legit reason for him staying behind and settling perfectly well for glaring from a distance.
Stupid Ishida, tricking me into this…
"Uh, well…" he scratched an imaginary itch on the back of his head and averted his eyes. He searched mentally for some type of excuse that didn't make him look like too big of an idiot.
Noticing his discomfort, Rukia lifted an eyebrow and dropped her smirk. "We can just go get a drink if you want-"
"N-no, wait!" Ichigo's hand in avertedly shot out and wrapped itself around Rukia's wrist.
Now you've done it! He inwardly kicked himself.
He was too busy mentally chastising himself to notice that Rukia was now watching him and actually smiling. Only when he suddenly felt his hand being taken and placed on cool fabric over a delicately curved area did his eyes snap back down to meet the glinting violet orbs.
After placing his hand on her waist, Rukia took a step forward to narrow the distance between the two, then she carefully extracted her wrist from his hold and took his hand instead. As she gently set her free hand on his shoulder, she looked up to meet his surprised gaze evenly.
"Now dance." she instructed softly.
Ichigo didn't move for a moment, and then he felt Rukia begin to push gently against him. No, not against him; with him. She began to sway to the music, and pulled him along with her movements. She was slowly guiding him.
Ichigo looked down and watched her feet move expertly, but slowly enough that he could keep up and adequately imitate her movements.
"You're too stiff." Rukia commented after a while. "You're dancing, loosen up."
Ichigo was very aware of his tense muscles as he concentrated on following her movements. Furrowing his brows even further, he concentrated on starting to relax his muscles.
"You're thinking about it too much." Rukia said. "Just go with the music."
And without warning, she was suddenly taking a step back and spinning under their intertwined hands and returning to their previous stance in one flowing effortless motion. Ichigo fumbled slightly to fall back into step with her, but before he got the hang of it again she had taken hold of both his hands and took a quick step back, seemingly pulling away from him before bouncing back into position with the same speed and grace.
Ichigo's eyes had widened as he struggled to keep up, when he heard her laugh drifting to his ears over the music. He automatically looked down to glare at her but found the glare melt away instantly as he met her bright violet eyes and joyful smile. He was pretty sure he'd never seen her that seemingly carefree look on her face before.
And then her hand on his shoulder was moving slowly down his arm, in avertedly causing the tensed muscles to ease under her touch, like snakes obediently responding to an enchanting charmer.
He saw her lips move and mouth the word 'relax'.
And then they were dancing. Ichigo began shedding his self consciousness and allowed himself to follow Rukia's subtle guidance; with each gentle tug of the hand, or soft pull, he knew what she wanted him to do and where she wanted him to go. Before he knew it they were swaying and spinning in time with the music and the other couples as easily as flowing water.
As he gradually became more and more confident, he felt a grin begin to pull at his lips. Without waiting for Rukia's silent instruction, he gave her only a slight tug as a warning before he spun the both of them in a half circle. Rukia responded with a grin of her own, aware that now he was joining the dance now for real.
And then it became a sort of competition. Ichigo would lead, spin Rukia out and back into him and move them at his will; then Rukia would regain control and push him gracefully in the direction that she wanted, never falling out of step or causing him to lose his footing. Sway, spin, slide, turn; their dance was a well-executed battle for dominance in which each side knew their opponent's move an instant before it was executed and followed through perfectly.
Anyone watching would have thought they had been doing it for years.
From the inside, Ichigo was beginning to thoroughly enjoy their dance. Now that he was confident and felt his body move almost naturally, his mind could focus on other aspects at the same time. His hand placed gently but firmly on her waist, allowing him to feel the soft curve and the sway of her body; with each gentle squeeze that he gave her she would respond adequately. Her hand on his shoulder, which kept slithering back and forth between his arm and towards the back of his neck. The heat between their two bodies, generating faster as they moved, and starting to create a fine sheet of glistening moisture on both of their bodies. The light scent of perfume coming off of her and assaulting his senses each time she returned to him from a spin…
His eyes burned into her. From the short distance he could capture in her every detail which he'd failed to notice before; the exposed creamy flesh of her shoulders, and fully bare arms. The spaghetti straps over her collarbones, and the gentle curve from her chest to her neck; little pieces of inky hair were matting to her glistening neck. Now that he thought about it, it was the first time that he saw Rukia wearing her hair up, or without sleeves for that matter. She was still covered up decently, but she allowed him to see more of her flawless ivory skin than he'd seen before.
The extra glimpses along with the concealment of the rest of her was a tantalizing combination. And when he looked into her eyes, they burned with a cold fire that seemed to pierce through him. Two violet jewels embedded into her pale face. The enchanting contrast between white, black and violet entranced him, the rhythmic music combining with the loud beating of his heart and the movements of their bodies; it was hypnotizing.
As he danced with her, he was blind to all those around him, to all outside influence. It was like being in a bubble away from everybody, but instead of peaceful calm there was a storm of movement, touch, sound and colors within the bubble, and all of it was him and her.
He found that he couldn't remove his eyes from hers, even as she went into a spin, their eyes connected in split seconds and never lost their fire.
The erratic but concentrated feeling seemed to climb, getting more and more intense with each beat of the song as it approached its climax and the dancers built up along with it. Ichigo was more aware than ever of Rukia; her body, her smell, her touch, her eyes… But instead of feeling the urge to shy away he met her head on, battling against her in their dance.
They spun to the final verses of the song, their feet and bodies quick and the beating of their hearts even faster, and then finally stopped.
The song ended; Ichigo and Rukia were still all at once. Her slender arms were around his neck, and his own arms were on her hips, holding her in place as their gazes held, their faces only inches apart and their breathing harder than usual.
All around them people begun to applaud for the band before they began to ease into the next song, people scattering to either leave the dance floor or continue dancing.
"You're a good dancer." Ichigo said in a slightly breathless voice.
He and Rukia stayed as they were, unmoving, almost as if they were afraid that the spell that held them together would break as soon as they broke apart.
"You're a quick learner." Rukia responded in an equally breathy voice, her eyes slightly glazed over as she looked up at him.
Ichigo swallowed, feeling her smoldering eyes as much as he felt her body under his hands. It seemed to him that the world around them had disappeared, and he was left with two options. Either break the spell and walk away from the heated dance floor as if nothing had happened; or do what his every sense was screaming at him to do: close the last bit of distance between him and her.
He felt everything start to fade as he slowly allowed his eyelids to droop, leaning forward and catching sight of Rukia doing the same. The anticipation had begun to build up inside him for the seemingly inevitable contact, and he braced himself for it before…
The sound of someone clearing their throat, rather loudly.
Not sure if he was more embarrassed or angry at having been interrupted, Ichigo whirled on the disruption himself and acted out in a release of the whirl of emotions that were going through him. Unluckily for the man, Ichigo's default outlet for whenever he had more than one emotion at a time was: anger.
"What the hell do you want?"
-x-
Rukia felt something inside her drop.
All the feelings that had been coursing through her and the dread at being so abruptly interrupted were instantly replaced with something else the moment her eyes fell on the face of the new arrival.
"What the hell do you want?"
As soon as the words were out of Ichigo's mouth, she felt like someone had just signed her death sentence. Or maybe his. Probably both.
Her eyes were wide as plates and her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she was able to speak.
"B-brother…"
A/N: *grins* I updated early, so I earned the right to give you that cliffhanger. I honestly wasn't even planning on ending it there, but when I noticed the number of pages was good, and I actually wrote out the scene...I couldn't resist. So sue me. XD Next chapter: Nii-sama finally shows up! I know some of you were waiting for that ;)
So, we finally made it to the Christmas party! Yay! And in case you didn't notice, Ichigo and Rukia match ;P Oh and by the way, thanks to Rukia Martinez for suggesting using Hisagi as a pawn to make Ichigo jealous xD (I know this isn't what you had in mind, but seeing as I want to steer clear of love triangles in this story I used him to give ichigo a little extra push for this chapter hehe).
Oh and, yes- Ichigo didn't know how to dance lol. I hadn't originally planned that, but it was what seemed fitting for his character, so there you go.
On to the gratitude corner: crunchy-chan, falconrukichi, inthenameofninny, 1999, shnizlefritz, ali6220, xXBleachluverXx, MN, MONST3R, youtubesam, lizzyytx33, Black Sun Upon An Icy Sky, dArkAnge04, novicestar, kyurikochan, ShinigamiShana, Aizawa Li Syaoran Vessalius, Poisonfish, TruantPony, Rukia Martinez thank you all for your wonderful reviews!
We made it to 200 reviews!*throws confetti* Thanks a ton guys! My gift to you is this early chapter...nah jk, the chapter had nothing to do with the 200 reviews xD But they made me very happy!^^
And in a completely unrelated note; next week I'm supposed to take my practical exam for my driver's license. So wish me luck! (Yes, I'm resorting to asking my readers for luck...What? You never know!) XD
Til next time!:)