Not to be used loosely

Chapter 1

A/N: I do not own Bleach and its characters.

"Quit moving, Midget!" Ichigo barked, slapping the ankle of the petite Shinigami.

Furiously holding down a giggle, Rukia tugged her foot away from him. "I can't help it, Strawberry. I'm ticklish!"

Ichigo grunted in frustration. They had been at it for the the past twenty minutes and he's still struggling with her third toenail.

"How do you expect me to get this right if you keep fidgeting?" he asked, through gritted teeth.

"Alright, alright," Rukia relented, grabbing a pillow with her palms flat and biting the fabric to keep from laughing as she let him take her foot again.

The two best friends were due for a high school reunion party at Keigo's in two hours. It had been five years since they graduated and their perverted ex-classmate had decided to throw a bash for old time's sake. To make it more interesting, he made it a costume party.

Ichigo had scoffed at the idea and said that hell would freeze over before he donned on a costume. But he had suggested that his death god partner went as her 150-year-old self. Of course, that earned him a kick in the shin for his reference to her age.

The Kuchiki princess, however, intended to go as a teen witch – an evil character not very far from her real self, in Ichigo's opinion. A whack upside the head brought his insults on her to an end... for the time being.

Half-way through painting her fingernails, Rukia had decided she wanted her toenails painted too. She knew she should've done the toes first but it was a 'last minute decision' and she didn't want to ruin her fingernails while they dried. And since they were short of time, she made Ichigo her pedicurist for the day. It didn't matter if he would do a good job. No one's really going to look at her toes anyway. She just wanted to have the polish on as part of the getup.

And that's how they found themselves in Ichigo's room in their shared apartment, him sitting on his study chair with Rukia's foot resting on his knee as the woman comfortably sat on his bed.

She would giggle every time he touched a toe with his thumb and index finger. Ichigo was on the verge of giving up. But getting kicked in the shin wasn't exactly his favourite pastime.

After calming herself down a little, she tried to think of something to say to divert her attention from her ticklish foot. Staring at his orange head that was focusing on applying the nail polish, the first thing that came to her mind was Inoue.

Why? Because, number one: the girl had orange hair too, and number two: the busty girl had been confiding in Rukia about her resurfacing feelings for Ichigo.

She knew Ichigo didn't like it every time she brought up the matter. Not now and not five years ago when Inoue first confessed to him. Ichigo's reiatsu would flare together with his temper whenever Rukia mentioned Inoue's interest in him. She still could not figure out why, other than the fact that he was tired of being pestered about it. But Inoue was such a sweet girl. She should be given a chance.

Clearing her throat, she gathered her courage to ask even though she knew it wasn't the right time to do so, seeing as they would be in the same room as the love-struck girl in less than two hours. She was afraid that the spike of his reiatsu would attract some hollows. And that was the last thing she hoped to happen because she really, really wanted to dress up and go to that party.

"So, have you spoken to Inoue recently?" she began, still staring at his orange head.

The man continued painting her fourth toe carefully. "No, why?"

"When was the last time you met her?" she asked, treading slowly.

Ichigo looked up at her with a scowl before dipping the brush into the bottle to prepare to coat her pinky toe. "I can't remember. I think I ran into her and what's-his-name a couple of weeks ago," he replied, lowering his head to focus on her toe again.

She bit her lower lip to keep from giggling. "Hadashi," she muttered.

"What?" Ichigo mumbled without looking up, obviously not too interested in what she was talking about.

"Hadashi – that's his name. They broke up, by the way." Rukia shrugged even though she knew he couldn't see the gesture.

"Ok," he said. She couldn't decide if that was to acknowledge that he heard her or to indicate that he was done with her first set of toes. After returning the brush into the bottle, he placed her foot down carefully on the bed and reached down to take her other foot to prop it on his knee.

"You want to know why?" Rukia asked, wiggling her black-nailed toes a bit against the cotton balls that were stuffed between them.

"Because Ishida finally had the balls to ask her out?" he guessed nonchalantly as he coated her big toe with the black polish.

Rukia furrowed her brows. Sure, she knew Ishida had been harbouring feelings for Inoue since high school. But he would never ruin her relationship like that. He was the 'quietly and patiently waiting' type. "Of course, not. You know he wouldn't do that while she's still seeing someone." She could tell Ichigo had a smirk on his face even though she couldn't see it.

"That's why I mentioned 'the balls'." He swirled the brush in the bottle a bit before proceeding to her second toe. He knew he wasn't supposed to do that but he didn't care. She didn't say anything about it anyway.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Asshole," she chided, pulling a strand of his orange hair. That's when she realised her fingernails were already dry but she wasn't going to tell him that. She needed to have this talk with him. She had promised Inoue that she would do it before the party and she had less than two hours left.

Ichigo winced but went ahead with his work. He wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

"She still likes you, Idiot," she blurted, getting ready for his rage.

He paused, the brush hovering over her toe as he glanced at her before returning to the coating. To her surprise, he just shrugged. "Too bad for her. She already knows I don't feel the same way about her."

Rukia pouted. "Ichigo, Inoue is a really nice girl. Why wouldn't you give it a try?"

He knew she was talking about a relationship. Shaking his head, he shuddered inwardly. "Not interested."

"Why not?"

"Not my type."

Rukia waited until he had placed the brush into the bottle before hitting his head with the pillow. "She's a girl who happens to be blessed with everything a guy would want in one and she's not your type? Is there something terribly wrong with you or are you just gay?"

Ichigo glared at her. "I can't even maintain a proper conversation with her. How will we even survive going out together?"

Rukia raised a brow. "If I can spend a day shopping with her, you can too."

He smirked. "I don't know what the two of you talk about when you're together but I guess that's why you always seem dumber after you come back from hanging out with her."

That's when a foot of black toes was shoved into his gut. He winced as he doubled over in his chair. It was Rukia's turn to smirk as she studied her other foot. Only one toe left undone. She reached over to get her nail polish on his study table but he managed to slap her wrist and yank her ankle back onto his knee.

"Stupid Midget," he muttered, still recovering from her attack.

"Idiot Strawberry," she countered but let him finish with the last toe. "Anyway, she loves you. It's been so many years now. Don't you think it's time..."

Ichigo pinched her skin after the last stroke of brush. "She's just infatuated with me, Rukia. It's not love."

"It's not infatuation. How can anybody be infatuated with someone for five years? She said so herself that she loved you."

Shoving her foot onto the bed, he glared at her again while maintaining control over his reiatsu. It was something he had managed to master after he got his powers back. "How can anyone love someone she hardly spends time with? And you can't expect me to return her feelings because I am certain I don't feel that way about her. You can't just use 'love' like a loose word."

Rukia leaned back on his head post, stretched out her legs and crossed her arms over her modest chest. "But she's your friend, don't you love her like that too?" she asked, studying her newly painted toenails and deciding that they'd do. She couldn't expect much from a first timer, much less a guy.

Ichigo shook his head. "I can't just simply love someone, even though she is a friend. I love my family, yes. I like Chad because he's a good friend. And Tatsuki, too. I despise Ishida but he is a friend and no way in hell am I going to say I like him," he said, getting out of his chair to look for something to wear to the party. "Maybe I do like Inoue as the kind girl that she is but not anywhere near love. You don't just throw that word around like a piece of tissue paper." He pulled out a black button down shirt and a pair of jeans from his closet before turning to face his short friend.

Rukia just stared at him absentmindedly, still trying to process what he just said.

He smirked. "You're going to hang around and watch me strip?"

She threw the pillow at him again and waddled out of his room with her toes pointed upward, slamming his door shut behind her as he burst out laughing at her discomfort. She would try to persuade him to go on just one date with Inoue... just to be certain about his feelings.

This idea had been nudging at me all night. I couldn't sleep so I just had to write it. I think the world needs IchiRuki to make a huge come back.