The Day I Fell In Love with My Best Friend

Ichigo Kurosaki is well known for being the university's famous heartthrob and that overshadows the fact that he's also a notorious heart-breaker. One day he makes a mistake of messing with the wrong girl causing him to lose the chance of ever being with his one true love.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach (yet, and I don't think I will any time soon :D)

Chapter 9: Just One Kiss (Part I)

Rukia rolled her eyes for the umph-teenth at repeating her argument. She didn't understand the point of even defending her point. She was fourteen for god's sake! It wasn't like she was going to do something inappropriate together with their guest who basically owns the place. Besides, they've done this before so what's the difference?

The girl's face turned flat as her father tried to explain why there was a need for precautions but before he even got anywhere close to the birds and the bees lecture, she had to butt in immediately to save her father from the awkwardness.

"Papa, I'll be fine. I promise. Come on this is Ichigo we're talking about. I'll kick his ass before he could think about doing anything," she reasoned proudly. Rukia turned the knob of the familiar door and proceeded to step inside.

Her father tried to retaliate, "But princess..."

"Papa, relax," Rukia replied turning to the man once again. "Just take the hat off and go to sleep, we'll be okay." She took the straw hat off his head then handed it to him. The man pouted as he held his favourite headwear.

"Oh and no more sake before bed," the girl added like a lecturing mother.

"But—" The man tried to reason but she didn't even give him time to continue and she went on with her warning.

"And don't even think of taking a single sip or I'll know. Trust me. I rule this place. I WILL Know."

The man sighed in defeat scratching the back of his brown wavy hair, "Okay."

"Good," She gave him a kiss on the cheek and felt the stubs of hair tickle her lips. She loved the feeling. It made her feel like a little girl. After the good night gesture she proceeded inside the room and lied down beside the orange head teen who was simply watching them from his place on the bed. Rukia's guardian looked at them from the doorway for a moment and his stare lingered at Ichigo.

"I'm watching you Kurosaki. If anything happens to my daughter—"

Ichigo immediately tried to defend himself before the threat was even finished, "I-I won't do any—

"Good night Papa." Rukia's tone basically meant for the man to just leave them be. Soon after, the door closed. Ichigo was about to wrap his arm around the girl when suddenly the door bursts open again and he ended up motioning his hand to scratch the back of his head.

"You two. Go straight to bed. No more fooling around," The man spoke in all seriousness this time.

"Papa!" Rukia scolded in annoyance.

"Good night Mr. Kuchiki!" Ichigo tried to add hoping to sound like a the behaved little boy he always tried to be years before. The door closed again but the two teens remain still with their eyes on the door.

"Wait for it..." Rukia paused for about a few seconds. "And he's gone."

"Are you sure?" The boy asked, still eyeing the door.

"Yup." And with that, he immediately wrapped an arm around Rukia tightly and buried his face on her neck. Her back was on him for she was facing the door so he couldn't see her reaction, though he had a feeling that she was smiling. That made him smile too and since she couldn't see his face either, they were even.

"Oh god I missed you..." he moaned, with his voice muffled. She chuckled at the static feeling that it sent.

"Stop, it tickles," she tried to shake him off though half of her wanted him to stay there.

He pulled his face up, "What? No 'I missed you too'?"

"Why would I miss you? All you ever do is crush me in bed."

"Yeah... that's 'cause you're so small," he teased.

"You're just extremely big!" She quipped which he had anticipated and it made him smirk.

"You know, I can't believe your dad let you sleep here."

She pouted as she remembered the stupid little argument she had with her dear old daddy because of her request. "It took some persuading words. But you heard him, no funny business. Be afraid Kurosaki, my father's a gardener."

"Ah yes, he has all the necessary tools of torture."

"And if you try anything, I guarantee that grass isn't what he'll be cutting tomorrow."

Ichigo gulps, "Ouch."

There was a pause and they ended up laughing. Rukia turned to face him this time, feeling really tired of staring at the door. He loosened his arms around her to help her move then locked them around her again once she was completely facing him.

"So tell me..." He began.

"Tell you what?"

"You know... what'd I miss?"

She shrugged, "Not much. But there is one thing... you see there was this boy..."

"Augh..." He let out in disgust with his face scrunching up to show how much he didn't like where the conversation was going. Rukia raised an eyebrow at his childishness.

"What?" She asked.

"Please tell me you punched him... anything else besides doing a brutal act, I'm definitely not interested."

She began to pout at what he said. "You are so mean. I am not brutal and I don't go around just punching people, you should know by now that I only hit people who are being nonsensical."

"Yeah... yeah..."

"Which is you by the way, 99% of the time." And she just had to point that one out. He rolled his eyes.

"Do you still wanna hear what I have to say?"

"If it meant hearing your voice then I guess I'll deal with it."

She chuckled at his submission, "well as I said the boy... he... tried to kiss me..."

Rukia waited for him to react before she continued but there was simply a pause and Ichigo's face was stoic.

"Ichigo?" she called out when suddenly his arm around her tightened.

"God please tell me you punched him now," he pleaded.

"Actually I—"

"Kicked him?"

"I—"

"Elbowed him?"

"Ichigo—"

"Headbutt?"

"ICHIGO!" She yelped then lowered her voice down immediately so as not to make her father suspicious about them doing anything.

"What?" he replied with just as much annoyance in his tone.

"We were dancing," Rukia continued with her irritated demeanour changing into that of a calmer one. "He held my hand like this. Then all of a sudden he leaned forward. Like this." She held his hand, closed her eyes and moved her face closer to his as if re-enacting the moment. Ichigo's eyes were on her lips that were so close to his. He was itching to close the gap between them but before he ended up surrendering to his urges, she leaned away and opened her eyes.

"I got scared and leaned away. I didn't punch him. He tried and I felt bad for him. And then the dance ended." She let go of his hand as if their dance was also over even though it was just pretend. Ichigo thought he had an idea of what that guy felt but he was somewhat relieved that it was a grim feeling. He thought he'd probably hunt the guy and punch him himself or do something much worse if the bastard ever got first base with Rukia.

"And the point of telling me this is?" He tried to keep the conversation going.

"Nothing. I just wanted to tell someone about it. Because you know, I don't have anyone else to talk to about these kinds of things. I mean I'm a little antisocial, I don't have girlfriends, I've only ever had Masaki to talk to and she's..." She didn't finish the statement and the room was engulfed with silence.

"Sorry," she quickly added biting her lower lip after the apology as if she had overstepped her boundaries but Ichigo didn't mind, if anyone had the right to go over those borderlines, it should just be Rukia.

"So I'm like your girlfriend who goes on sleepovers with you?" He tried to sum it up with a stupid conclusion.

"Well, sort of. If you put it that way."

Another pregnant pause as Ichigo internalized his current relationship with Rukia and he mentally noted that being her girlfriend was not what he wanted to be in her life especially since he's a boy. Maybe if she changed the "girl" part of that title to the opposite gender then maybe it wouldn't sound half bad.

"Ichigo?" She called out snapping her fingers in front of him.

"Huh?"

"What about you?" she asked hoping to hear some juicy stories from him.

"We had a dance too," he explained as the memory of it clouded his thoughts.

"So you were with a girl?"

"Yeah."

"Was she pretty?" She was looking psyched about the idea and that kind of disappointed him. He wanted her to go berserk or maybe even a little jealous. He frowned.

"No. She wasn't. It was horrible," he whined burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"Aww... well maybe you should have called me in as a replacement," She explained while she stroke his hair and back like comforting a little child.

Actually, Ichigo lied. The girl he was with wasn't half bad looking. In fact, she was actually hot. His other classmates were even jealous of him but he couldn't care less. He couldn't tell Rukia that. She would never bitch about it and just plain encourage him to date the girl. She was just like Masaki on that note.

Oh mama. What the hell did you do to this girl? He inwardly thought.

"But you know, it's not nice to call someone not pretty," Rukia said out of the blue. He leaned back to be able to see her face. Indeed, she really is beautiful. The girl began to yawn and stretch from their position but all the while Ichigo's arms remained in their place.

"You should get some rest. You're probably tired from the ride all the way here." Her hands gently motioned his eyelids to shut but he opened them up again anyway.

"Stubborn as always," she said shaking her head.

"Well goodnight." It was the last words she spoke before she closed her eyes.

"Goodnight," he replied giving her a kiss on her forehead.

A few moments later, Ichigo was left awake while the petite girl went deeper into her slumber. He loved these moments—watching her in her most vulnerable state. He ran the back of his fingers over her soft cheek and the girl didn't even bother to react.

He smiled... a sad smile...

He wanted to tell her so badly that it was her he wanted to dance with. He imagined them together. He wished that things were different. He'd pick her up for the dance. He'd compliment her. They'd dance. He'd lean in and...

Will she lean in as well?

And they'd kiss?

Or will she... back away?

His eyes hovered over her lips and without another thought he moved his lips to connect with hers. So light... so soft and so sweet. This wasn't the first time he did this. He felt bad about stealing kisses from her. He made sure she never found out about it. Though there were times when he wished she'd wake up and then he'll be forced to know how she felt about him. But for now, this was all he could do. For now, this was enough.

One day...

One day he'd kiss her... Really kiss her and she'll kiss him back. He swore.

He motioned to embrace her tighter and as if by instinct, the girl cuddled closer.

Oh Rukia...

He could feel himself falling and he knew that there was no way back.

But he'd rather be lost in her forever than be anywhere else.

She was the only one he had left.

He'll do whatever it takes to protect her and make her happy because she's very important to him.

He... wanted her. He felt some strong emotional attraction towards her but he was too afraid to admit it.

He...

He... knew what it was.

He exhaled and pull back in order to get a glimpse of her sleeping face again. He smiled and ran his thumb slowly over her lower lip then he fluffed some of the hair grazing her face behind her ear. Slowly her eyes began to flutter until it opened to show tired amethyst eyes.

"Can't sleep?" She asked with a hoarse tone and he simply shook his head knowing exactly what she'll do next. Without another word, she motioned her arms to embrace him which he gladly surrendered to. She held him close and began stroking his hair.

Ichigo heard her start the sheep count and he smiled.

At this moment he was sure at what he felt and yet he chose to keep it to himself.

Yes, it was definitely l—

"Ichi! Get up! Come on! Don't tell me you're going to bail on me now!"

He groaned as the voice of the petite girl bombarded his hearing senses, "I'm not, I'm not. Are you sure this is really a good idea?"

"Of course! Forgetting Ichigo Kurosaki is the first step to getting my life back so, let's go!" She said with her voice filled with determination.

Although it hurt a little to hear that, when Ichigo saw Rukia's excited face he couldn't help but let out a smile. She began to pull him off the bed.

Maybe this is for the best. He thought but then her next words completely shattered him.

"Hurry up! Ishida's already waiting for us!"

A/N: OH YEAAAAH! I DID IT! HAHAHA I SUCCESSFULLY UPDATED! I'll be updating the eve project next, in a few days haha XD Well, I did say I'll update right? More love for me? No? Yes? Oh well, glad you guys are still there! Thanks sooo much for the support and for reading! Please continue to review and love me! I know this wasn't much, again. But as you can see we'll be progressing to the story in the next chapter. Sorry for the errors, if there are any and I'm sure there are hehe. That just wouldn't be me if there aren't haha XD ILY guys and God bless :P

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