Um hi... well, I'm writing a new story... it's IchiRuki, so you don't have to worry about any more original characters or anything like that. But if you DO like original characters, you should read "Akamori." Sorry about all the ribbing, but... it's my best story so far. I am putting my original character in here as well. And if you don't mind, I would like a review for each chap. : D This is an AU story, so enjoy the alternate universie-ness! IchiRuki is my favorite Bleach couple, because they're so different and I love that! Well, I've talked enough so far, just enjoy the first chappie! (He-he, pardon the pun.) –SW

Stay up too late, and I'm too thin. We promise each other it's till the end

&

"Rukia, you're hogging the sunscreen!" Tatsuki grumbled, giving her black haired friend a sour look. "You want me and Orihime to turn into cherries?" the short haired combatant lay back on her beach chair as Rukia continued to slather on more of the white SPF ninety.

"I have really light skin, thank you very much!" Rukia insisted as she began to shake the bottle. "It's not coming out anymore!" the bottle made a wispy air noise. Rukia crinkled her nose at the bottle. You, sunscreen, will rue the day you ever messed with me… she thought.

A girl with long orange hair and pretty grey eyes giggled lightly. "Rukia, I think it's… empty!" Orihime Inoue liked to watch Rukia have her little tantrums over absolutely nothing.

"It isn't!" Rukia mumbled, laying the sun block onto her white and blue striped beach chair and beginning to beat it violently. "It's just constipated is all!"

"Did it eat too much cheese, then?" Tatsuki joked. Orihime laughed again but Rukia rolled her eyes, wondering how they could find this funny. It was sunscreen, for cripes sake! They were going to fry in the heat! Eighty four degrees was very hot for Karakura Town, a tiny hamlet in Western Japan. Rukia, Tatsuki and Orihime had all lived here since babyhood, and knew every single nook and cranny of the place.

"Who wants a Popsicle?" Orihime said sweetly, breaking the silence by reaching into a nearby cooler and producing two flavored ice pops. "They're sort of melted. But you guys don't care, do you?"

"Nah," Tatsuki said with a slight smile, taking the Popsicle from her ginger haired friend. "I think they taste better this way, really." She began to lick it, gazing out at the big sky hanging above her head with a dazed expression. The three girls loved their Karakura, because it was theirs. No one else loved it as much, had as many fond memories here. It was like heaven to them.

"Mhm," Rukia breathed, taking her lemon Popsicle and staring at it. She never started eating right away, because it didn't make much sense to gobble stuff up as soon as people gave it to you. "Whose house are we staying at tonight?"

The girls sort of had a tradition. Every summer night they'd criss-cross between the three of their houses and have a sleepover there. Really fun, but pretty tiring too. Rukia was the least popular host, and Orihime the most.

"Orihime's," Tatsuki said suddenly. Rukia nodded her head in fervent agreement. Her parents were extremely rich and horribly stuffy. Rukia liked not having to worry about money, but she didn't like the fact that her family was so cold and distant from her.

"I'm making Omikaze Cake!" Orihime declared, her eyes sparkling with glee. Both Rukia and Tatsuki sweatdropped; Orihime had a strong tendency for making strange, inedible food. The last time she tried it, Rukia found herself on the toilet for three days.

"Uhm that's nice, 'Hime," Tatsuki said nervously, using Orihime's nickname to make her feel more at ease. "We'll—try it, won't we Rukia?"

"Yep." Rukia's tone was uncertain, but Orihime didn't seem to notice. Her eyes were on the swimming pool's glassy blue surface, eyeing it with both desire and worry. They both knew that Orihime couldn't swim. She was so afraid of drowning that she took an inner tube with her whenever she bathed.

"Eheh..." Orihime said, looking away from the pool with vines of pink creeping up her cheeks. Rukia inwardly scolded herself; why did she never change the subject? "Aren't you two going to swim?" she didn't seem to care, but Tatsuki answered her defiantly.

"We're not swimming if you're not." She looked down at her black one pieced bathing suit. "I don't even know why I wore this, if I wasn't going to swim. What about you, Rukia?"

Rukia did feel a longing to swim. "I'll try the kiddie pool." Even though it was about a foot deep, Rukia wanted to get into the water somehow, because she'd bought this swimming suit just today.

She did feel a bit guilty as she strode down the dry, cracked concrete to the little gated pool. Tatsuki was a good friend not to swim, but Rukia couldn't help it.

She opened the wrought iron gate and stopped near the edge of the pool, cautiously dipping a foot in. Warm, probably from all the babies that had peed in it. She slowly lowered in one leg, only to be surprised by a voice.

"I wouldn't do that."

Rukia looked up to see a very tall teenager with a shock of bright orange hair and a furrowed brow. He had tanned skin and brown eyes, and he wore red trunks. He himself was kneeling in the pool with a small sandy haired girl who looked to be about one or two. She wore a little pink bikini.

"Huh?" Rukia was dumbfounded by being addressed so suddenly. The boy's irritated expression did not change.

"I wouldn't get in here. It's dirty as hell." The little girl giggled at this statement, and Rukia figured she didn't know what hell meant.

"You're in here," she mumbled, giving him a look to match his own.

"I have babysitting duty," he said matter-of-factly. "You're just here… yeah, why are you here?"

"Guilt," Rukia stated. She wouldn't swim in the big pool for Orihime's sake, but she could use the baby one. "My friend doesn't know how to… why am I even explaining this to you anyway?"

"Beats me," the guy shrugged. Rukia noticed he had a well toned body, and… the trunks clung to him like a second skin. She went red and looked away, going quiet for a minute there. She heard Orihime laugh in the distance, and suddenly longed for her friends. "This is my little sister here. Yuzu," he explained as the little girl splashed around.

"She's cute," Rukia remarked, eyeing the cute face and big brown eyes of Yuzu. "I'm Rukia."

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo made a slight stretching noise and got to his feet. "Yuzu, c'mon—"

"Onii-chan…" Yuzu grumbled. "I wanna stay!"

"We've gotta go, okay?" Ichigo said irritably to his sister, and Rukia could tell his patience was wearing horribly thin. She smirked. "Don't you miss Karin?"

"All she does puzzle," Yuzu complained, her babyish words funny in the eyes of Rukia, an only child. "And vroom-vroom."

"Vroom-vroom?" Rukia questioned, raising her eyebrows at the odd speech.

"Plastic cars," Ichigo explained blankly, finally taking Yuzu by her little hand. "Yuzu, NOW."

Yuzu's face began to contort, and they both knew what was coming. Tears blazed salty streaks on her sun burnt face, and Ichigo didn't seem the slightest bit fazed. He snatched Yuzu up, much to her chagrin, and waved a hand over his shoulder.

"Later Rukia." He didn't have much emotion in his voice, now did he?

"Later…" Rukia said. She sighed, now alone, and began to tap the water's surface with her pale fingers. It made little craters, which made her smile a little bit. She wanted to get the last of the water for today, because they were going to the museum tomorrow.

Orihime had a planned schedule for the summer, and it was extremely intricate—including the types of foods she was going to eat and on what day she was going to eat them. Rukia and Tatsuki had obviously found this absolutely freaky, so they'd created their own schedule and reasoned with Orihime until she went along. Guilt followed, but as long as they didn't have to eat Omikaze Cake…

"Rukia!" Orihime's voice came out of the gloom.

"Uh, hey," Rukia gave a good natured smile, and eyed the plain black cell phone in Orihime's fingers. "My..."

"Your dad called while you were in the baby pool," the redhead explained, lowering the slightly damp cell phone. "He said that your sleepover bag was in the pool office." She looked toward the heavily windowed building just then. "We'd better go get it before somebody steals your silk undies!" she started to giggle hysterically at her own joke. Rukia loved the fact that Orihime could look like a complete idiot in public and not care what anyone else had to say about it.

The two girls shook their hair dry and knocked on the office's door. A boy with blond bobbed hair answered, his slightly large teeth taking a significant amount of beauty from his face. He looked on them with bluish gray eyes.

"Hey ladies. You wanna get out of here and go do somethin--" he was silent as Rukia nailed him on the head with her phone, her brow furrowed. "O-or we could just stay here. Your choice." Shinji Hirako turned away.

"I came to get my bag," Rukia said. "Where is it, anyway? You better not have stolen my silk—" she tore a look at Orihime. "Blouse." With flustered blue eyes Rukia glared at Shinji effectively. The young man began to rifle furiously behind the counter in the pile of bags and purses.

"Um... this one, right?" he held up a brown leather bag. Rukia shook her head, patience thinning by the second.

"It says 'Kuchiki' right on the front."

As Shinji continued to look for Rukia's bag, Orihime seasoned the moment with aimless small talk. Rukia nodded and put in 'mm-hm's when she was asked questions. She leaned against the wall separating them from Shinji, letting the cool air find its way across her body. It was a welcome relief from the sweltering heat which made her feel like her skin was screaming.

"I can't find a bag that says Kuchiki on it," Shinji said finally, shutting the cabinet from which the mountain of luggage had come. "You might wanna look around some more. Maybe it hasn't been dropped off yet or something." The idiotic pool manager knew that Rukia's bags were always dropped off by a Kuchiki family servant, and he said it with apparent disdain. How dare you… pool demon, Rukia thought.

"GET OFF IT!" yelled an angry voice. Orihime was the first to react, but Rukia looked too. In the alley separating the pool office from the sun porch were four silhouettes. Two were sort of stocky, and one was very long and lean. The fourth was tall and bulky. They were in some sort of a tangle over a small, cushiony object. After a moment of staring, Rukia recognized its unique shape with horror.

"My bag!!" she kicked over a black fold up chair and bumped into a few pool goers to get there, but a moment later Rukia was standing on the bench to get a bird's eye view of this. She opened her cell phone for some light, and the figures were bathed in it. The first was pudgy and dark haired, the second almost an exact replica. The third… Rukia froze.

It was Ichigo, the boy from the baby pool. He had the stocky man in a strong headlock, and Rukia didn't notice how strong he really was, how muscular… he was different from the kid who was talking to his baby sister earlier that day.

The second man was taller than Ichigo, with dark skin and messy dark brown hair. He looked Hispanic, and he was standing in the center of the motley group with his arms crossed. His expression was rough, rigid. Rukia wondered if he was just really calm or if she was imagining him. Maybe…

"HEY, ASSHOLE! NEXT TIME YOU FEEL LIKE RANDOMLY STEALING OTHER PEOPLES' SHIT, LET ME KNOW! I'LL BE WAITING IN THE WINGS!" Ichigo bellowed, throwing several hard punches to the man's now beet red face. The man coughed hard, and Ichigo seemed to get a lot of mileage out of it. He threw the shorter guy to the ground and began to kick him back and forth across the face, making loud 'WHACK' sounds as he did so. Rukia recoiled with each one, frightened. She felt like Shinji should step in eventually, but all the while was too afraid to turn away.

"Rukia," Orihime whispered, her tone as afraid as she looked. "Maybe we should just go!" she rocked back and forth on her heels nervously. "I don't think your dad will care, if it's stolen!" her eyes darted from the bag to the sun porch eagerly.

"I care," Rukia stated defiantly, continuing to keep an eye on the fight. "It's my stuff--" she turned to her redheaded friend. "And my silk undies, darn it! I'm saving them... well, actually Ichigo is saving them but..." she broke off as the man lie motionless on the ground, and the other looked from Ichigo to the statue-like boy, unsure of what to do next. Rukia smirked on his behalf, and haphazardly approached Ichigo.

"Um, thanks for that." She gave a small smile, and Ichigo wouldn't meet her eyes. He simply retrieved one of his shoes from the ground that had been kicked off during the fight and held out her bag with unfocused fingers.

"Don't mention it. I don't like it when people are messed with, particularly people who can't take care of themselves." Ichigo blinked and cracked his knuckles as the sentence sunk in to Rukia's mind.

"Hey, I can too take care of myself!" she snapped.

"You should be hiding in a corner going, 'Excuse me, limo? I'm in trouuuuble!'" Ichigo put on a high girly voice, which Rukia found endlessly irritating. He had a smug look on his furrowed features, and gave away nothing from his stare.

"I don't call the limo! The limo is dumb!" Rukia countered lamely, feeling the idiocy of her comment as soon as it had left her lips. "Besides, why'd you do that, anyway?"

"Don't feel special," Ichigo said. "Like I told you before, I just don't like it when people are messed with. End of story." He began to walk away as Rukia fumed after him. Stupid orange headed punk thinks he can...

"If you need saving again, I'll see what I can do." Ichigo… was such a smartass…

&

"Hello?" Orihime called throughout her apartment as the three dumped their pool bags in the corner. "Sora!!" (A/N: Um, Sora is alive in this fic... just clearing things up).

"Hi, Orihime," her big brother answered brightly, switching off the television to face the three girls. "Did you have a nice time at the pool?"

"Rukia met her knight in shining armor!" Orihime giggled. Rukia swatted her on the arm, disgusted by her nerve. She bit her lip and turned to Tatsuki, who shrugged. She hadn't been there for the whole bag thing, after all.

"Knight? Ph." Rukia took a seat on the sofa, and Sora smiled sympathetically at her. He knew how Orihime was about boys. Maybe it was the fact that their mother had never been around to teach her right from wrong about them. Or maybe it was just her personality.

After a lot of ribbing from Tatsuki, Orihime called for pizza. Sora insisted that they get one smothered with garlic and anchovies, and Orihime wasn't one to refuse her big brother. Rukia didn't understand this exchange, so she sat idly on the couch until the doorbell sounded and made her fall.

"C-coming!" she muttered, turning the green doorknob to reveal a seedy young man with shoulder length black hair and nervous bluish gray eyes. His nametag read "Hanatarou", and in his arms were the coveted pizzas. The label said "Ganjyu's Finest", and depicted a smiling man with black hair and a large face.

"Um, that'll be fourteen fif—fifty nine," he mumbled, holding out a black leather pouch. Rukia slipped two twenty dollar bills into it, and smiled when he looked up with huge eyes.

"Keep the change, okay?" she grinned wider as a shocked Hanatarou closed the door behind him, a small smile forming on his face as he gazed at the money. As she turned around, Rukia caught sight of herself in a small mirror.

Large navy blue eyes stared back at her, framed by white skin and shining black hair. Rukia's mouth and nose were petite, like the rest of her body. Rukia stood at a grand total of five feet, and it annoyed her greatly. Her father was tall. Her mother was average. And yet she was short. Unfair. Rukia had thought of herself as the moon: always outshone by the sun.

The "sun" was Rukia's sister Akamori. Tall, exotic, and genius, Akamori had what everyone wanted. Rukia sometimes thought that their father liked Akamori better than her. It was Akamori's papers that always made their way to the top of the bulletin boards in his office. It was Akamori who was the golden child.

Not that Akamori TRIED to outdo Rukia. She was just naturally good at everything, and Rukia hated her for it. Why did SHE have to get all the good genes?

"Rukia, pizza!" Orihime called, and the hunger was evident in her voice. Rukia shook off her worries and strode silently down the hallway, a bit of grease from the pizzas dripping onto her fingers. She winced at the piping hot liquid, sitting down on the cushy couch with Tatsuki, Orihime and Sora. It didn't take long before they dug fiercely into the pizza, but Rukia didn't mind.

"Yeah, well, I've gotta get to work now," Sora said, ruffling Orihime's hair sweetly. "Be good, 'Hime."

"Bye bro," Orihime called after him, and Rukia felt a horrible twinge of jealousy as the door shut behind him. Her brother was so nice… and Rukia's family was so… ugh. She lay back on the couch and sighed, wondering what they were up to right about now.

"Hmm." Tatsuki finished her first slice of pizza and looked around the room. "Orihime, have you like… redecorated?" they all knew that Tatsuki didn't care, and was just trying to make conversation. The dark haired girl was more into martial arts and weightlifting; she could really care less about decorating.

"Not really, but Sora says we'll get around to it when we have the money." She looked down at the ground and Rukia immediately felt guilty about the jealousy. She would give Orihime all her money if she could.

Rukia's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden ring on her cell phone. The tone was Beethoven's Ninth, and she flipped it open so she wouldn't have to hear the wretched noise.

"Hello?"

"Uh, Rukia… right?" the voice sounded sort of familiar, but Rukia couldn't put a finger on it.

"Yes. Who's this?"

"It's Ichigo Kurosaki." Oh, right. 'Night in shining armor.'

"How'd you get this number?" Rukia demanded icily, gripping the phone much harder than she had before.

"It was in the directory," Ichigo stated. "Under Kuchiki. Anyway, I went back to the pool to pick up some stuff, and I noticed something. A pair of… underwear was on the ground, and I was wondering if you…"

"How do you know if they're mine?" Rukia asked incredulously, still reeling from the fact that her phone number was listed. Wait a minute… a pair of underwear?

"It had your name on it, and a bunch of big white rabbits…" Uh-oh. Rukia's bunnies had really messed her up this time. Ichigo had found… damn it!

"Heh…" Rukia mumbled nervously. "Mail them to me!" she fumbled nervously with the phone, juggling it back and forth with anxious hands. This was horrible, absolutely horrible… what would Byakuya think of this when the underwear showed up in a package? From a boy, no less!?

"They are yours, huh?" Ichigo had concealed amusement in his usually flat voice.

"Yes, they're mine! I think we've established that you found my underwear." Rukia snapped.

"Why can't I just drop them by your house?" good gosh. Take them by the house? Byakuya would go after Ichigo with a sawed-off shotgun if Ichigo showed up with a pair of his daughter's underwear!

"It's um… please mail them," Rukia insisted, taking another slice of pizza from the box to busy herself. Ichigo had found her undies. Oh my God.

"O—kay," Ichigo said, slightly perturbed by the fact that she had asked to have them MAILED. "I'll do that." He bit his lip.

"Well, bye," Rukia hung up before Ichigo had a chance to speak again. When she turned back to her friends, they looked like they were on the borderline between curious and stunned.

"Interesting," Tatsuki remarked quietly. "So... a boy has your underwear? How did that happen?" her brown eyes sweeped over Rukia as a smile formed on her lips.

"Oh!" Rukia finally understood what her friend meant, and she went pink. "No, no, Ichigo's my friend. I dropped my underwear at the pool this morning, and he picked them up. Nothing else happened." She bit her lip and turned away; there was never an easy way to convince Tatsuki.

"Well, let's not just talk about Rukia! I'm sure she's getting sick of it!"

"You hit that one right on the nail," Rukia muttered.

&

Well, did you like? I'd appreciate it if you took two minutes of your time to tell me what you think. Any kind of opinion is welcome.