Author's Note: This was a plot bunny that bounced around in my head when I was on the phone with fellow IchiRuki fan seccaberry, who thought it'd be a good idea. So now, at 2:03 AM, I am freeing the plot bunny (I named her Waverly) so she may live within the lovely pages of FF. I'm not sure if the title will keep, or if this'll evolve past a one-shot at all. I guess we will just have to wait and see, kupo (Final Fantasy FTW.) My inspiration for this chapter? Koyoi, Tsuki Wa Miesu Tomo by Porno Graffiti. I hope you know that this is the theme song for Fade to Black, the IchiRuki movie that hits Japanese cinemas 12/13!

Prologue: S k i n

The sun shined faintly behind the hazy cover of clouds on an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday morning, bringing out tawny colors in the amber eyes of Kurosaki Ichigo. He stood in the school courtyard cutting PE class for two reasons: A, it was his last period of the day, and B, it was fucking annoying. Running, though he did it a lot when in soul form, had never been his forte. Neither was baseball, the current unit. There was only one reason for detesting this: standing in line with Kuchiki Rukia.

Not only was she brusque to the point of insensitivity, but she put a damper on his general mood with her exceptional knowledge about… everything. The girl was a walking encyclopedia… a mini walking encyclopedia with a presumptuous voice.

Today Rukia had come down with a cold. Ichigo had spent the first twenty minutes of his school day wondering how the hell a dead girl got sick. Weren't all her cells vaporized like, 150 years ago? And yet she had been cowering under her blanket in Yuzu and Karin's room, hair a mess, nose pink. It baffled not only his mind but his body as well, because it felt odd walking to school without Rukia. There was no one to argue with, save the people who still had problems with his electric-orange hair.

Hearing the distant sounds of the dismissal bell, Ichigo strode down the hill to Miesu Street, a walkway that led indirectly to the clinic. He didn't usually take this road, but felt inclined to because with time, there was room to think, and this route usually took about ten minutes more than cutting across the main intersection.

Lately, his mind had been clouded over with… strange thoughts. Not thoughts, really… more like dreams… recurring dreams. They weren't profane but they did disturb him on a powerful psychological level, how vividly he remembered them, and more importantly the girl in them… her, Rukia. The mini encyclopedia. The little brat. It had felt freaky to wake up covered in sweat about a dream that unremarkable.

It started out with Ichigo standing in a dark cornfield, husks standing almost as tall as he. The sky was an India-ink with blue bursts like bizarre, many-lipped flowers. It was silent for a while, and Ichigo was in his Shinigami garb. But then suddenly there was a rush of cool air, and a sweet smell that also reminded him of chemicals. Then alleviating the sky was a ghostly Rukia with skin bleached by the moonlight, eyes deep blue. She glided out of sight and the dream ended there.

The dream had always seemed to stress him out. The first time it had happened, Rukia had been the one to ask why he had been sweating. He hadn't replied.

Now, as he reached home, it felt far too soon. But the sun was getting lower in the sky, and he frowned. Right now, Isshin was working and the twins were at school, leaving him with Rukia. Well, it couldn't be helped – he'd probably sit around and do homework while she watched one of her dumb soaps.

The front door stood ajar. Isshin was a retard, what if someone decided to steal all the Novocain and lobotomize the whole town? Ichigo sighed and closed it behind him, revealing the empty but immaculate kitchen. A note waited on the beech wood table:

Onii-chan,

I made pudding for you! It's in the fridge.

Love,
Yuzu

Pudding? Well, that was a change of pace. Lately Yuzu had been obsessive over donburi, but food didn't matter very much now. Ichigo walked down the long, somewhat narrow hallway and climbed the stairs. His room was the first on the left, between the bathroom and guest room. He slid it open noiselessly.

Ichigo made an uncharacteristic shriek.

In the middle of the room was Rukia… and… her hands were bent flipside to the back of her bright pink, bunny adorned bra, fastening it on. Not to mention the scanty lace underwear on her behind. Heat ripped through his face and the inside of his nose smoldered.

"KUCHIKI!" he bellowed, and when she turned slightly he slammed his hands over the entire top half of his visage. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Ichigo, what's wrong? No one was even here," she pointed out, sounded incredibly nonchalant as Ichigo shook his head in disbelief.

"I was, damn you! What were you doing IN MY ROOM!?" he felt his fingers getting moist and sweaty, having been over his eyes for so long. "ANSWER ME, RUKIA!"

"Your sisters' room was too hot, so I came in here. I knew you'd be home soon, so I was –"

"GAH!" Ichigo turned in the opposite direction and removed his hands. "JUST PLEASE PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" he slammed the door without hesitation, standing in the hallway whose air was a lot heavier than before. His body went slack and he slipped down the wall, hands grasping his head as tight as a vice. He had to rid himself of that image. It could NOT be there!!! And yet it kept repeating – her soft, milky skin and the dazzling pink underwear and her curves and her –

"Ichigo," she said enigmatically.

Without looking up, he moaned lowly. "Rukia… put some clothes on…"

She sounded confused. "But I do have clothes on."

His brain reacted a little slowly, but the tight fingers released his head and he looked up. Indeed, she had donned long jeans and a baggy T- shirt that covered any of the curvy physique he had seen. "…All right then…" that was good enough.

But her face. She looked humiliated, her face a deep crimson. "I… I'm sorry about that. I didn't think you'd be home yet." Her beryl eyes wandered off to the side, misty and somewhat dark. Some coils of guilt sprung up somewhere deep in Ichigo, but his stubbornness stopped him from expressing that.

"Shit happens," he muttered, rising to his feet and nudging his bedroom door open. But then something tied together, and he turned back to Rukia. "Why are you in my clothes?"

She blinked spastically. "…They were closest to me when you went running out," she explained softly, her voice a tone he hadn't heard for a while. The last time he'd heard it was when he'd said he was going off to save Inoue, her eyes the same hazy shade.

"Oh," he said blankly.

"Yes," Rukia muttered.

A few moments passed before he pulled his chair out from under the desk and sat down at it with his Algebra paper, tapping the pencil idly against the wood. "…Proportions," he concluded quietly, writing it in on the line.

Rukia's sigh echoed. "I'm going back to your sisters' room," she said almost silently, and by the time he turned to say 'okay' she was gone.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated… and if anyone can write lemon please let me know, because I need a scene of it later in this story (don't ask, just answer), and I'm not good at writing it myself. I'll credit you… well, anyway, I'm off to publish it!