Author's notes: This is mainly inspired by the Bounto arc. I loved Renji's childish reactions for a cup of coffee. What if Rukia was dealing the same thing in the same time? Wouldn't it be fun to know?

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Raising an inked eye-brow at the brown liquid in the cup, the red haired shinigami thought about tasting it. There were many interesting food and drinks on Earth, he admitted. But trying new things was a risky job.

"Are you sure this is safe?" He asked once more at the dark haired girl who was sitting beside him. Rukia was also staring into the cup with huge curious eyes. There was one cup for her and another cup for Renji.

"I guess it should be alright." Words left her lips unsurely and silently. In the meanwhile Ichigo was busy with watching their uncomfortable behaviours, sitting across them, unbelieving how they were making such a fuss on a small thing like coffee. It was only coffee, dammit. And he knew Renji was even more comfortable when battling against hollows.

"Together then." Renji offered and Rukia nodded. They both held the cups and took a deep breath before bringing it to their lips. The red haired shinigami tried to look unafraid; of course he couldn't show weakness in front of Rukia. She should see how brave this man was. But she was busy with fighting the urge of dropping her cup away. A gulp, then a few more gulps... The hot liquid was flowing down from his throat... until...

Both shinigami spat the coffee into each other's faces, showing painful expressions in the same time. Ichigo just couldn't believe how silly this was becoming each second.

"This is bitter!" Rukia frowned, pulling from Renji's shirt and wiping her face with the rough fabric of his cloth. Not even complaining a bit about the fact, Renji threw a threatening glare at Ichigo's blank face.

"How do ya even drink this damned thing?" He could still feel the bitterness on his tongue, his palm was wiping the coffee from his eyes.

But all Ichigo did was folding his arms over his chest and sighing. This wasn't any different than babysitting these guys.

"Sugar..." He muttered. "You need to put some sugar." The orange haired boy's left eye was twitching.

When the two placed pieces of sugar in their mouths in the same time, Ichigo couldn't help but banging his head onto the table with defeat.

"Mmmh. This is really better!" Rukia gave a huge happy smile, stuffing more sugar cubes into her mouth and handing a few more to Renji.

It was only a cup of coffee, dammit...