(January 14, 5:36 pm)

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year!

I'm not quite sure why this idea just popped into my head (I think I might be channeling something I saw on TV...), but, whatever. enjoy!

disclaimer: hmm... HMM... nope, don't own Bleach. bummer. (pouts)

A Sleepwalk to Remember

chapter 1

Rukia couldn't sleep. There was just too much on her mind. And it all concerned one particular shinigami with roof shingles in his hair.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of Byakuya. According to Ichigo, it was typical of an older brother to be weird, annoying, and occasionally thoughtless, but her brother took it to a whole other level. There were times where she was desperate to follow in his footsteps and be as elegant and popular as he was; others, she felt like poking one of those strange little juice box straws right through his big head.

She gave a silent groan before rolling onto her side and eventually falling into an uneasy, dreamless sleep.

XXXXXX

Later that night, Ichigo was awakened by a shadow casting over his bed. He opened his eyes and glanced at Rukia standing before him. He groaned. "Go back to sleep, Rukia," he mumbled, doing so himself... But before he could, he shot back up and looked at her again.

What was that in her hand?...

Ichigo stared at the thing she was holding. "Why do you have a--"

CLUNK!

"Ow!" Ichigo rubbed the spot on his head Rukia had just smacked with an empty soda bottle. "Rukia, why the hell are you--"

CLUNK!

"Cut it out!"

CLUNK!

"I said stop, dammit!"

CLUNK!

"Rukia!!"

... CLUNK!

Ichigo growled threateningly. "That's i-- Huh?"

He was interrupted by Rukia suddenly turning around, mumbling something incomprehensible, dropping the bottle on the floor, and going back to her closet-bed.

This strange event caused something in Ichigo's brain to temporarily shut down. When it rebooted, though, he got up and stomped over to Rukia's small room. "Rukia! Hey! Rukia, get up!"

A tired Rukia sat up slowly in her bed and gave Ichigo a half-asleep look. "What? Is there a hollow?"

Ichigo shot back a look that said, in a sense, "WTF?", while his mouth said, "'The hell are you talking about? You were just pummeling me with a bottle! You tell me!"

She sighed listlessly. "You must've been dreaming, Ichigo. I've been asleep all night."

"What?"

"Well, I was, until you barged in here and woke me up. Speaking of which, will you please let me go back to sleep? I'm exhausted."

After a confused silence on his part, Ichigo finally grumbled, "Fine. 'Night."

"Goodnight."

Before she went back to sleep, Rukia decided she had now safely come to the conclusion that Ichigo was insane.

XXXXXX

Ichigo was awakened again about an hour later when someone grabbed him by the head.

"GAH!! Get off me, ya friggin' maniac!" he shouted, wondering somewhere in his mind why none of his family was awakened by the racket coming from his room. As he continued to yell for the release of his poor orange scalp, he tried to catch a glimpse of the person he was trying to fight off.

He was momentarily silenced when he saw Rukia's hand attached to his head. "Oh, why am I not surprised?" he groaned.

Rukia then attempted to rip his hair out. At least, that's what it felt like to Ichigo. "Rukia," he finally cried, "for God's sake, will you knock it off?!"

As if on cue, she proceeded to collapse on Ichigo's bed. He jumped a little before giving her a gentle poke with his foot to make sure she wouldn't spring back to life and try to yank out his intestines or something, in classic horror movie fashion. When he was sure she was asleep, he got up and attempted to move her back to her own bed... Then he thought better of it, preferring his insides where they belonged, and moved himself to her bed instead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rukia wasn't a very forgetful person. Yet, she had absolutely no clue how she woke up in a bed that wasn't hers.

After becoming conscious of her surroundings, she muttered to herself, "Why am I...? Where's--"

THUD.

Her head whipped around to face the closet. She got up, shook Kon off her leg after he magnetized himself to it, and slid open the door to reveal Ichigo lying on the bed looking rather uncomfortable.

"...Ichigo?"

"Oh, good," he growled. "You're awake. Now let me get back in my own bed, dammit."

She gave him a questioning look. "Yeah, how did I wind up over there?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Oh, here we go again," he groaned.

"What are you talking about?"

"This happened, like, twice last night, don't you remember?"

Rukia searched her memory for something resembling the events Ichigo had described. "It sounds familiar..." she finally responded. "But... I can't remember what happened."

Something clicked in Ichigo's mind. "Wait a sec, that's it."

"What?"

He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a yawn. "Gimme an hour and I'll tell ya."

---------------

I'm not quite sure how Rukia thinks of Byakuya, so I did the best I could. would anyone be so kind as to let me know if I'm at all accurate?

one other thing that I just realized: how the heck did she get a bed in Ichigo's closet??

oh, well. lemme know what ya think of this, alright? later! ;)