Disclaimer: MantaRae still doesn't claim ownership of Bleach. It still belongs to Kubo-sensei.

Rukia unfolded her paper, 'walk a mile in a man's shoes.'

Ichigo read his slip, 'Death by a thousand cuts' and suddenly held a miniature paper ball in his fist.

The shinigami opened her notepad and picked up a pencil, wrote at the top, 'Walk a mile in a man's shoes.'

'What did this Idiom-thing mean?' Her pencil taps on her chin, she sighed, 'perhaps if I follow the paper's advice, I will figure it out.'

With this plan of action in place, Rukia spent the remaining time drawing several Chappy bunnies bounding around her paper. After school she trailed behind Ichigo to the Kurosaki Clinic. The teenager turned the doorknob then habitually ducked. Isshin's 'Flying-Tackle-of-Father's-Loving-Welcome' sailed into the street. The high school students entered the house/clinic and Ichigo locked the door.

"Welcome home," Yuzu's cheerful voice greeted, "Onii-chan, Rukia-chan."

"Yo," Ichigo kicked off his shoes, stepped into the house, "where's Karin?"

"Soccer practice," Yuzu emerged from the living room, "where's Rukia-chan?"

"Right here..." Ichigo turned to gesture at the short shinigami, "...of course..." then he blinked rapidly, surprised at a distinct lack of 'short-shinigami' in the vicinity.

"Didn't Rukia come back with you, big brother?"

"She was just here," Ichigo assured.

But he opened the door (just in case) then peered into the street, only to see a pile-o-Isshin.

"Hey Old man! Did you see Rukia?"

A hand rose and pointed back down the street in answer.

"She left?"

A thumbs up from the pile-o-Isshin.

"I'll go find her. She's a magnet for trouble."

"Pot, Kettle..." Yuzu teased.

"Yeah, yeah," Ichigo shook his head and reached for his shoes...which were gone, so of course he asked, "has anybody seen my shoes?"

A hand rose and pointed back down the street in answer.

"Rukia left with my shoes?"

A thumbs up from the pile-o-Isshin.

"WHY IN THE WORLD," Ichigo ranted, "DID SHE TAKE-"

Yuzu interrupted, "Brother, I'm sure Rukia has a good reason to take your shoes."

"THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING!" He spazzed.

"Well, why don't you go ask her instead?"

Ichigo borrowed his father's shoes and ran down the street, muttering something about thieving shinigami.

Rukia clomped about town in Ichigo's shoes. They were, of course, several sizes too large for her to wear properly.

'Walk a mile in a man's shoes.'

The shinigami thought she had that idiom-thing figured out, 'Walk a mile in a man's shoes, but make sure they fit before you go.'

She nodded at her clever deduction, "It's kind of weird that Ichigo's shoes would take me to all of my favorite spots though."

Like the ice cream store, and Chappy Land, and the arcade...Rukia hummed happily as Ichigo's shoes carried her back toward her Living world home.

"RUKIA! RUKKKKIIII-AAA!" A familiar voice called.

She turned to see a fuming shinigami-daiko storming towards her, "oh, hey Ichigo."

"What in the world are you doing?" The teen ranted.

Rukia smirked, "walking."

Ichigo glared, "I meant, with MY shoes?"

She looked down at his worn loafers on her feet, her violet gaze returned to his scowling face, "...walking."

"I can see that," Ichigo muttered.

"Then why did you ask a question you already know the answer to?"

"I asked because I didn't know why you stole my shoes!"

"Then don't say 'What are you doing?'," Rukia mocked, "say 'why did you take my shoes?' instead!"

"Fine!" He sneered, "Why did you take my shoes...INSTEAD!"

"Baka!" her arms cross, "I answered that already. I am WALK-ING!"

"And I said, I can see that you are WALK-ING. I want to know why YOU took MY shoes!"

"And I already said that my answer was: I am walking."

"Rukia~~" Ichigo groaned in exasperation, "why couldn't you walk in YOUR own shoes?"

"Because, fool," She smiled at his apparent stupidity, "I needed 'A MAN'S SHOES.'"

"..."

Rukia continued to grin.

"...wait...?" Ichigo croaked, "...what...?"

Rukia beamed, "it's my assignment for English class."

"English...class...?"

"Yep," she drew out her slip of paper, "it says: 'Walk a mile in a man's shoes.' So that's what I am doing."

"There are a lot of things you shouldn't take so literally," Ichigo sighed.

Rukia blinked, momentarily stumped, but then ventured a guess, "...like your shoes?"

Ichigo promptly slapped his forehead.

AN: Here is the first idiom I picked for Rukia to completely misunderstand. Hope you found it amusing. And if there is such a place as Chappy Land, I'm not crazy enough to claim ownership of the brand or anything related to that bunny.

A big thanks to:

reviewer: Snowyncess

story alerter: Roses 4 Life

favoriter: Darkest Kurogetsu

Til the next chapter! -MantaRae