Disclaimer : No, i don't own Bleach. D:

A Birthday To Remember - Chapter 7 - "It's Going To Be Absolutely Fine..."

DING DING DING

The familiar sound of the school bell signaled the end of the school, echoing through the hallways and classrooms. Almost in an instant, an uproar of students poured out to the hallways, laughing and chattering animatedly amongst one another.

Yet in an upstairs classroom, a certain orange haired teenager sat firmly in his chair, the scowl on his face deepening. He counted down the hours before the disaster that would befall on his house – Rukia's birthday party. "Three hours…" he muttered to himself darkly… "only three hours…" 'before my house is swarmed by a hundred or so teenagers with raging hormones' he added mentally.

"Three hours? Ichigo, you're excited about the party too aren't you" Asano Keigo piped up, overhearing Ichigo's almost inaudible whispers. Keigo grinned widely, "Three hours before my lovely Rukia-chan's birthday party" he continued to prance about the near empty classroom." Keigo paused abruptly, his eyes gleaming, "I wonder if Rukia-chan is going to wear a dress. Maybe a really short one then I could –"

Once again, Keigo had ended up face first against a wall, his body twitched involuntarily as he half slid, half fell to the floor.

Ichigo grimaced as he flexed his arm; perhaps he had used a bit too much strength this time… Yet the way he talked about Rukia unnerved him a bit…well, it unnerved him a lot.

"Kurosaki, you don't need to get so worked up," Ishida stated as-a-matter-of-factly as he surveyed the indent on the classroom wall.

"Eeehh, Ichigo you're so forceful these days," Mizuiro sighed, yet he made no attempt to console Keigo who was on the floor crying about Ichigo being so cold.

"Keh," Ichigo scoffed as he eyed Keigo with distaste. "I'm leaving," he muttered as he walked out of the classroom, bag slung over his shoulder.

Ishida and Chad followed suit and Mizuiro followed a few seconds later, punching in a text message to his latest girlfriend.

"Eeeeeh?!" Keigo bellowed as he got up from the floor to find himself in the now deserted classroom, "Guys, where are you? Ichigo? Mizuiro? GUYS?"

"You're late, you bastard," Rukia said, somewhat annoyed, she tapped her foot and her arms were crossed as she saw Ichigo's figure walk towards her.

"Ahh, shut up, midget," Ichigo answered as he walked past her and began to make his way to his house.

"Oi, damn you, strawberry," Rukia muttered as she ran up to catch up to him, she stuck her tongue out at him.

Ichigo scowled at her but did not stop walking.

"Hey, Ichigo…are you sure the party is going to be alright?" Rukia asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

'Alright? Do you think it's alright to have around 100 or so teenagers, half of whom you've never met sitting in your lounge room wishing you a happy birthday? Do you think it's alright to have perverts like damned Keigo around snooping on you? Oh yes, Rukia, it's going to be absolutely fucking fine.' The thoughts ran through Ichigo's head, wait – why did he care so much?

"Oi, Ichigo? Ichiigooo?" Rukia waved her hand in front of Ichigo's face as he continued to look blankly ahead, not answering her. "DAMN IT, ICHIGO!" Rukia finally cried as she whacked his across the head, "Listen to me!"

"Wha-Ouch!" Ichigo yelled as he was snapped (rudely) out of his thoughts and felt a sharp stinging sensation across his head. "Damn it, Rukia! What are you doing, you bitch?" Ichigo yelled as he nursed his sore head.

"Hmph, this is why you never ignore a Kuchiki," Rukia stated as she stared dangerously back at him.

"Riight, you're looking and sounding more like Byakuya every day," Ichigo muttered, rolling his eyes.

At the sound of her brother's name, Rukia felt a soft tinge sweep across her cheeks and she glared up at Ichigo.

Ichigo shrugged, noticing the blush on Rukia's face and murmured something about a 'brother complex' which earned him an even more intent stare from Rukia.

By now they were at the front door of the Kurosaki household and as Ichigo opened the door, they were greeted with a scene of colourful party streamers, balloons and a large piñata in the shape of something that looked like a rabbit.

"W-what? What the hell?" Ichigo said, looking horrified as he stared at his party clad living room. "Too many colours, way too many colours…and what the hells is that?" Ichigo's eye twitched as he motioned to the large piñata, "it looks like a baboon's ass…"

Behind him, Rukia squealed girlishly. "Wow, it's so pretty!" she rand past Ichigo and stared at the rabbit piñata dreamily, it looked like one of her drawings, really, "oh, Chappy!"

"I'm glad you like it, Rukia-chan!" Yuzu said brightly, emerging from the kitchen, "Dad and Karin are just putting up the last of the decorations in the kitchen."

"Oh, Yuzu-chan! Thanks so much!" Rukia flashed her famous smile and followed the younger girl into the kitchen.

Ichigo sighed and checked the clock on the wall, 4:30pm, one and a half hours before the party was due to start. One and a half hours before hell…well, surely, the midget's party couldn't be that bad, right?

DING DONG. DING DONG.

Ichigo sighed inwardly, the door bell signaled the arrival of the first guests, and it was only 5:39pm. "I'm coming, sheesh, wait a second!" Ichigo growled as he made his way to the front door, making sure not to tread on any loose lying balloons or streamers.

DING DONG. DING DONG. DING DONG. DING DONG. DING DONG.

"Stop pressing the door bell!" Ichigo bellowed as he opened the front door to reveal Keigo standing there, finger practically glued to the door bell button.

DING DONG. DING DONG.

Ichigo's left eyebrow twitched dangerously, "Keigo. What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing? YOU CAN STOP PRESSING THE DAMN BUTTON NOW!"

"Ichig – Kurosaki-kun, you needn't be so rude to the guests," Rukia said sweetly as she weaved her way across the house and to the front door. "Aaah, Asano-kun, how nice of you to arrive so early," she added sweetly with a smile as she spotted Keigo.

Ichigo stared at Rukia, she was dressed in a pale blue sundress and had her hair tied up, Ichigo had to admit that at that moment, she looked stunning.

"Rukia-chan You look so gorgeous! More beautiful and pure than ever before…and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" With that, Keigo launched himself at Rukia, wide armed and grinning gleefully.

Rukia giggled but then held out her leg and kicked Keigo square in the face, sending him crashing to the floor. Rukia gasped as if in shock, "Oh my, Asano-kun, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you!"

Before any more of Rukia's condolences could be heard, the door opened again and Chad, Orihime and Ishida let themselves in.

"A-ano… Sorry for the intrusion…" Inoue said with a bright smile to Ichigo and Rukia, "we just came to see if there was anything you needed help with…"

Ishida and Chad nodded silently beside her.

"Oh, thank you, but there really isn't much left to do, we're just decorating the cake," Rukia said with a shrug.

"Oooh, cake? I can help! I love cake!" Inoue cried joyfully as she made her way to the kitchen, talking and giggling with Rukia.

"Not bad, Kurosaki," Ishida stated as he surveyed the colourful room and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose again. Chad nodded his agreement.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's better than that pearly white hospital of yours," Ichigo scoffed.

"You are an ass, Kurosaki," Ishida said nonchalantly.

"Ah…Keigo…" Chad murmured as he pointed the figure on the floor, "what happened?"

Ichigo smirked, "he'll be fine, don't worry about him…" It had been a refreshing sight to see Rukia hit someone that wasn't him.

…"So what do we do now?" Ishida asked in a somewhat bored tone as he glanced the clock, 5:44pm it read.

Ichigo shrugged, "we sit…and we wait for the disaster to unfold..." However, before he could even so much as take a step to the lounge, the door bell had rung again.

"I'll get it," Rukia called from the kitchen, "wouldn't want Kurosaki-kun scaring guests away now would we?" She smirked at Ichigo as she walked past him and to the front door.

Ichigo scowled and then took a seat at the far end of the sofa, watching Rukia greet the guests

"Aah…M-Mizuiro-kun," Rukia said somewhat uneasily as she glanced at the 5 or 6 older girls accompanying him. 'Who the hell are these girls….? He can't be that much of a womanizer, can he?' Rukia thought to herself as she greeted them all and had several presents stuffed into her hands.

"Oi, Mizuiro, who are all these people?" Ichigo asked, indicating towards the group of girls.

"Oh, you guys are here already? Anyway, this is my new girlfriend," Mizuiro presented a tall, pretty, blonde haired girl, "and these are her friends," he finished, waving his arms towards the other girls.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at several of the girls as they winked and blew kisses at him. Doing a quick calculation, if each person in his class brought along 5 people, they would end up with more or less 100 people.

Before he could pull Rukia aside and talk to her, the door opened again and Tatsuki walked in with several of her karate mates, laughing and joking loudly.

For the next 10 minutes, Rukia stood by the door, receiving presents and birthday wishes from her classmates as well as many others she had never met before. Still, she smiled and greeted them with unwavering attention and giggled and laughed when they talked.

The music had started up and the beats sounded across the Kurosaki household and couples had started to loosen up and dance. In front of the TV, several guys had started setting up their game consoles and many others were simply talking animatedly with one another.

Yet, Ichigo's eyes never left Rukia; a slight frown fell across his face as he looked at her giggling and smiling. He wondered if the giggles and smiles were really as bright as she made them and whether they were genuine or not. To tell the truth, he enjoyed being the only one that could make her smile and laugh, to let her be herself around him.

As Rukia closed the door behind what she assumed would have been the last group of guests, her eyes caught Ichigo's and she smiled at him softly at him. As she caught on that he was frowning at her, she stuck her tongue out at him.

Ichigo was quite startled when Rukia turned and stared back at him, he wanted to glance away, but then again, why should he? As she stuck her tongue out at him, he scowled at her finally looked away, pretending to be enthralled by the guys playing video games.

Rukia glanced around the house, it actually didn't seem like there were 100 people, the Kurosaki household was much bigger than it seemed... She smiled to herself, 'So far…so good…'

A/N : Sorry, it's almost been a year. urgh. I've been suffering from such writers block, i've written and deleted so many things halfway through, i felt like i was going to explode, lol. xD I think i ramble too much in my writings...so yeah, sorry about that... and i hope you enjoy this chapter...hopefully... (: