Body Shock

Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters belong to Kubo Tite.

A.N: Just to wrap things up quickly.

"Onii-chan!" Yuzu knocked on Ichigo's bedroom door and waited for a moment. There was no answer and no sound. "Onii-chan! It's time to get up! You're going to be late!"

There was still no answer. It wasn't usually like her brother not to be woken up by her knocking on his door. He was usually pretty good at waking up to get to school on time. "Onii-chan, I'm coming in!"

Yuzu opened the door to find Ichigo sitting on the edge of his bed in a pair of boxers, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Onii-chan! You didn't answer me when I called you!"

"Yeah, yeah...sorry, Yuzu." Ichigo made a show of yawning widely. "Thanks for waking me up. And thanks for knocking as well before you came in. I'll grab some breakfast in a minute, ok?"

"I can bring it up here if you want."

"Nah, don't trouble yourself." Ichigo smiled at his little sister.

"Ok." Yuzu smiled back happily and left, remembering to shut the door behind her. Maybe Karin was right. Their brother was getting to be 'that age'. Both Daddy and Karin had started to tell Yuzu how it was important to give Ichigo some space.

Meanwhile, in Ichigo's room, Rukia poked her head out from underneath Ichigo's bed and flashed him a sheepish smile, handing him his clothes from the night before. Ichigo grinned down at her and took them, handing her the dress and panties he had stashed underneath the pillow.

It was a little early but Orihime knew that a certain person would be in school. Her heart fluttered a little with excitement and she pushed her hair back neatly.

"Come on, Orihime," she said to herself, making a face of determination. "Go for it!" She made a couple of growling noises to get herself into the mood, even daring to flex the muscles in her arms. It was working. She was starting to feel braver already.

"I-Inoue-san?"

"Ah!" Orihime snapped to attention, blushing madly. "Ishida-kun! I was just going to go into the room. Who knew that you would be sewing this early?" She laughed awkwardly, flashing a brilliant smile.

"I'm always in this early. And I came out here because I heard someone making growling noises. Was that you?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I don't think so!"

"You...don't think so?"

"Maybe it was my stomach."

"Oh." Ishida decided to let this slide. "So...did you say you were going to come in here? Were you thinking of doing some work on your sewing as well?"

"Yeah! That was why I was going in." Orihime tried to keep her smile bright and tried to keep her rising blush from taking over.

Ishida cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up. "Well…maybe we could share ideas or something. Give feedback on each other's work. Seeing as nobody else is around at this time in the morning."

"Y-yeah."

Ishida and Orihime walked into the room of the sewing club together, the door closing behind them.

Some distance away, Tatsuki struggled to wipe the troubled expression off her face as she heard the door close with a quiet click. She had the perfect chance to when she spotted Rukia walking down the corridor. "Hey! Kuchiki-san! You're in early, today."

"Good morning." Rukia curtsied sweetly. "I woke up early and just happened to get here quickly, that's all."

"Oh, did you?"

"Yeah," said another voice. "She walked into school with me."

Tatsuki stared as Ichigo appeared and caught up with Rukia, standing next to her. She told herself to close her mouth because it wasn't polite but she did so with difficulty. Rukia and Ichigo didn't seem to notice this, though. They were standing there smiling at each other.

"You don't have to thank me, I already told you that," Chad said to Ichigo at lunchtime as they walked along with the rest of their friends to their usual spot on the roof.

"Fine then, I won't bother." Ichigo winked at Chad and neatly dodged Keigo trying to grab him from behind.

Chad nodded, wondering whether everything was really all right with Ichigo. It seemed to be. And Ichigo and Rukia didn't seem to be too eager to hide their relationship in front of everyone. Sure, there was no kissing, but it was now a lot more obvious. But then that only made sense since before, they hadn't been together in that way. Everyone had just thought they were.

And there was a difference. Although to Chad, it had always seemed inevitable right from the time he had fought with Rukia against the hollow that targeted Shibata, the boy trapped in a parakeet's body.

"Hey! Chad! Don't just stand there!" Ichigo called for his friend and Chad followed on obediently.

"He's just struck dumb by the fact that you're with Kuchiki-san!" Keigo said to Ichigo. "And I think I am, too!"

"Nah," Mizuiro said in his gentle, smiling way,. "You're just dumb."

"Ah!" Orihime stared wide-eyed at Rukia, who sat blushing modestly. "You and Kurosaki-kun?"

"Yes."

All of the girls joined Orihime, sitting to circle around Rukia, hungry for details.

"But why? You said before that he was just a friend." As Orihime said this, everyone else except Tatsuki nodded in agreement. Tatsuki was simply lying on the grass, listening to the conversation but staring at the sky through the gaps of the leaves overhead.

"It seems that...he is now more than a friend." Rukia took a sip of her drink, signalling that the conversation was over.

"Hey! You can't just leave it at that!"

"Do you think I should introduce you to my dad?" Ichigo asked Rukia as they climbed into his room through the window once more. There had only been two orders today and they had been quick work.

"Maybe some other time." Rukia dusted herself off. "I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Yeah. I guess not." Ichigo went over to his bed and sat down on it, stretching. Rukia sat on the floor near him. It wasn't too late but the sun had set and school had ended some time ago. The day had been somewhat eventful. At school there hadn't been a big uproar when Rukia and Ichigo had spent more time together more openly than usual. Everyone had simply seen it as confirmation of what they thought they already knew. Ichigo did dread what his dad would say, though. Although hopefully, when Isshin did eventually meet Rukia properly, he would act like a normal human being.

There was nothing left to do. Rukia looked up at Ichigo. Such a lot had happened in a short space of time. And there would be a whole lot more to come, she knew it.

But they would definitely get through it.

She reached for his hand and he took hers, squeezing it affectionately.

A little cough came from the direction of the window. Kon stood on the floor, arms by his side, tail lowered.

There was a long pause between the three. Rukia had to close her eyes and swallow hard before she could bring herself to look at Kon. But she did eventually. It was made easier by Ichigo still holding her hand.

"H-Hi, Nee-san. Ichigo." Kon looked down meekly at the floor.

Ichigo simply nodded and after a while, Rukia nodded as well.

They all stayed where they were for a while, just looking at each other, avoiding looking at each other, and then looking at each other again.

Yes, that was right, all three of them thought. There was nothing left to do now except move on.


~ End


A.N: Thanks everyone for being so patient. Sorry that this chapter was so short but there was really no point in dragging it along. It took some time, but the story is finally finished. Whether you hated it or loved it, or hated some parts and loved others, thank you for reading. Thanks also to everyone who left reviews, whether they were good or bad. I don't think I'll do another multi-chapter story for a while.