Oh My Gigai!
By Uchiha Xairylle

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ashen — The Epilogue

Ichigo was looking at her like she had lost all that there was to life and everything else. She was sitting on the floor of her gloomy little corner in an empty classroom as arms pulled her knees to herself and rested her forehead on it. She had gone into shock and then wailed and then sobbed and then back into shock and then this.

"Rukia." Ichigo scratched his head, "It's not like it's the only thing in the world."

This is all that stupid tango's fault.

Ichigo must say, they actually did very good for a pair with undeniable height difference. They lacked a bit of practice, yes, but it didn't mean they messed up. Whoever said an A- was a bad thing? Although he could've gotten an A++ with Emi Sasaki (who got an A+), he was happy just dancing with Rukia even in front of those people. That was what mattered, right?

For Rukia? Not really.

"But Ichigo, we got an A-!" Rukia exclaimed, not lifting her head from her knees.
"So? It's a good thing so stop being sappy and get up already."
"You meanie!" In one leap, her fist had met his face and Ichigo remained with his back arched as Rukia sat back down to sulking.

"Rukia, we were told that we did not have to have the highest grade to get that freaking thing." Ichigo muttered flatly. Rukia only responded with a loud cry that made it look like Ichigo had harassed her. In surprise, Ichigo swung his bag and hit the back of her head.

"Ow! How can you be so cold!" Rukia got up and pointed at him, "I really wanted Chappy the Bunny!"
"It's Robby the Rabbit."
"Chappy the Bunny!"

"Ro— What am I arguing with you for!" Ichigo scratched his head heavily, "Whatever you call it, the sanity of the world — including yours — does not rest and does not revolve on a hare!"

"It's a bunny!" she insisted, taking a step towards him.
"Fine, then, BUNNY!"

"I just don't understand." Rukia was crossing her arms in contemplation, "What didn't we do to wow everyone?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes away.

Ichigo knew they had done a wonderful performance. He had twisted her, moved her, swung her and everything else so nicely that he could've sworn the teacher had a cave for a mouth. They were looking at each other so intimately so moving with passion was not necessarily a problem. Besides, the two of them were actually a "them" now although they had not officially announced it yet, unlike some other couple who had to settle a lot of things.

Inoue Orihime and Ishida Uryuu were now a "them-wtf-not-them".

"Rukia, Inoue and Ishida did something that was really… wow." Ichigo told her, putting a hand in his pocket.

"What? You mean wearing something with a plunging neckline and a slit that high?" Rukia's crossed arms moved to somehow looking like she was covering her breasts, "Well, Ishida was the one who sew that costume so it's really for her and I really don't think it's nice of you to think that I should wear something like that because you don't look as sophisticated as Ishida anyway so—"

"Shut up, midget, you think I'm talking about clothes?" Ichigo threatened to hit her.
"Then what?" She blinked and received a stare that looked like an idiot axe from Ichigo before she blinked and said, "Oh…"

Really, Ishida had taken care of a wonderful dancing dress for Orihime. It complimented her legs and her, ahem, assets. Plus the ruffles on it and the material he used made her seem like she was not actually dancing but being led by the wind. It was really something. But Ichigo would stake his ass and life-long allowance that Ishida would rather have a normal grade than to have an A and actually wow the instructor.

After Orihime's choker came off, who the hell wouldn't be "wowed"?

They didn't really know how it happened. The choker seemed to have unhooked itself as Orihime turned and it fell.

Oh, look, a heart-shaped hickey.

Wow.

Actually, the whole class went "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"

And Ichigo and company immediately grabbed on to Chizuru who was going to kick the hell out of Ishida if she had to. Tatsuki, well, she fainted. It was new since none of them had actually seen Tatsuki faint for a change.

Great, Ishida, you can do more witty stuff in the amusement park when you use those tickets. Congratulations, man!"

Buuuuut…

The show must go on.

Everyone else in the room was clapping but it did not feel like it was a good thing to the pair swaying in the middle. Ishida had not revealed anything on his neck that time but since he was the one dancing with Orihime, of course the class would blame him.

The whole class had various theories on who put that hickey there. Two of the suspects were current partner Uryuu Ishida and never-out-of-the-picture Kurosaki Ichigo, Some even "confessed" that they were the perpetrators.

Riiiight.

Good while it lasted.

Why?

Because ever so in-hysterics Chizuru stepped up to Ishida right after the dance and demanded him to show her his neck. Ishida still had his cool and said that he had no obligations to Chizuru and that who was she that he had to explain anything to?

Good as a denial for red-haired lesbian!

And her fingers with those wonderfully painted nails grabbed onto Ishida's collar and somehow tore it open.

Another hickey!

Wow!

No, wait.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"

The whole class wasn't stupid. Even if Ishida tried to talk his way out of the mess, no one would be listening. It was too weird to be coincidental.

Three cheers for the new couple!

"Didn't think you had it in you, Ishida-kun!"

"Inoue-san, why Ishida-kun?"

"Why the heck did you do it?"

Chizuru had announced an eternal rivalry between Ishida and her. Inoue was then too busy deciding if she should explain, make a run for it or grab Ishida then make a run for it. Ishida, on the other hand, was on the brink of wanting to wear a brown paper bag over his head.

Apparently, this was one giant mess.

And as the whole class cheered and jeered and made more noise as the amusement park tickets and the stuffed bunny were awarded to Ishida Uryuu and Inoue Orihime, Rukia was the only one who chose to release her "feelings" by hitting Ichigo with a desk.

That hurt.

But nobody noticed anyway since the whole hickey thing took much of the class' attention.

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head while recalling the pain that he thought would've made him faint in surprise. He turned to the matter at hand. Rukia had returned to sulking.

"Fine, midget, get up." Ichigo nodded at her but she wasn't looking.
"Shut up. I'm in the middle of a deep crisis here."
"I said get up."

She only looked up at him and pouted before sinking back into her knees.

"Oh, you don't want to come! Fine then!" Ichigo bellowed, flinging his back over his shoulder and walking off. He looked back. She still wasn't budging. Ichigo grunted and continued until he was out of the room.

"DON'T ASK ME TO SHARE WITH YOU THE LARGE HUGGABLE CHAPPY THE BUNNY STUFFED THING I'M GOING TO BUY RIGHT AFTER I GET OUT OF HERE!"

That was it.

Like a darting arrow, Rukia sprang up from where she was and was Ichigo gasped at the flying body coming towards him. He reacted a bit too late and he fell on his back after she had pounced at him. He could've sworn she had shunpo-ed back there. Rukia looked at him. Her eyes were bright and happy like sunshine on a cloudy day.

"Get off me, midget!" Ichigo glared at her as he pushed himself up on his elbows.
"Chappy!" was the only thing she said.
"Get off me first!" he insisted.
"CHAPPY!" louder this time. She was clutching onto his uniform.
"Fine!" Ichigo bellowed, "Now get off me before I toss you!"

Rukia jumped up with a "whee" and proceeded to drag Ichigo up to his feet.

Seriously, that white bunny had quite an impact on her overall. One second she's brooding and the next thing you know, she's happy as the sun. Well, whatever. This jumping little girl was his now, he thought as he dragged her for him to hurry up. Ichigo permitted a short smile and eventually caught up so he didn't have to pull on him. Seeing as there are no other people around, Ichigo shrugged and put a secure arm around her shoulders.

Rukia stopped and looked at him. Ichigo knew his face was pink as he asked, "What?"

"What's with the arm?"

"Fine, I'll take it off then!" Ichigo's fingers unlatched from her shoulders and slapped the back of her head. Rukia grunted in pain and Ichigo laughed and ran off ahead of her. The raven-haired girl growled at him and chased.

"Ichigo, look!"

Rukia's voice made him stop and look back. They were a few good paces away from each other when from the window came something that to Ichigo was a hell butterfly.

"Is that an order?" Ichigo looked as the small thing hovered between them as if unsure where to go.
"No. It's not a hell butterfly. It's not saying anything." Rukia started walking towards it, "And it's really pretty. Look, it has a streak of red on it"
"Tsch." Ichigo shrugged and walked towards Rukia.

It was weird how the butterfly had not left when there were two of them walking towards it. Rukia extended her hand and the butterfly circled above her before resting on her finger.

"It's so cute!" she smiled as the small butterfly slowly moved its delicate red and black wings. Ichigo looked at her and smiled as he came to a stop. As soon as he was at this distance the butterfly flew again and rested on the tip of his nose. Ichigo gasped and Rukia immediately grabbed both of his wrists even before he could swat the insect away. Allowing himself to look like a total idiot, Ichigo sighed as Rukia grinned at the "cuteness" on his nose.

"I think it likes you!" Rukia chirped.
"Tell it to leave my nose."

As if hearing and understanding, the butterfly left his nose and proceeded to settle on Rukia's shoulder.

"Aww…" Rukia smiled.
"Are you sure it's not from Soul Society?" Ichigo asked as he watched the butterfly flutter away and out the window.
"No. It didn't feel like it." Rukia shrugged. "It's not even pure black."

True.

Hell butterflies were all black.

As soon as Ichigo and Rukia turned to gone the jigoku chou disappeared into nothing but what seemed to be ashes of reiatsu.

Unknown to Rukia, she had a butterfly resting on her back.

And it was as white as snow.

- End of Chapter 29 -

- THE END -
Author: Yay! I managed to write a fic spanning 29 chapters! First of all, thanks for all the hits, the faves and the alerts! Thank you so much! I really appreciate you hanging around and sticking with me as my fic grew. And thank you for bearing with me! I never knew I could accomplish so much! I'm glad I did!

As I type this down, I have just uploaded chapter 28 and I have 290 reviews (0 for 28). And by the time you read this, I will be writing the first chap of my next fic. I'm so happy! I told myself that if I reached a hundred reviews, I'd be so happy so for "Oh My Gigai!" to exceed my expectations, you have no idea how happy I am right now! THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH! I love you all! I replied to each and every review possible. I swear to God, I did.

I'm glad to have been called an update goddess and I'm glad that you liked my fic. I'm also happy that you've read it this far. I love you! This is my first IchiRuki fic. My first Bleach fic. My first lime and lemon-embedded fic. My first such-a-thing battle scene-y fic. A lot of firsts. I'm happy you were able to bear with me!

SEQUEL: Oh My White Butterfly!
Hope you check it out! Thankies!

I'm listing names. Sorry I couldn't put them in alphabetical order but this took quite some time. Hope you likes and hope I didn't misspell anything.

Thanks to these guys who took time to review (in no particular order and does not include reviews for chapter 28-29):

As of November 01, 2007, GMT +8:00

Nastasha – you gave my first review

kata2818 – glomps you and your long reviews + pm

cactuspd

Sakura Fuyu

Xantor

SacredBlade

CrystalICE1

jazzjackrabbit

Niham

sushi-alphonse – THE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!

skytracer

Novalee Phoenix – you gave my 100th review… I should give you a kiriban thingie or something

Zetsuki

HitsugayaOfTenth

Nowshin – Lolz, I love you, too. Glomps And I hope my fic didn't eventually turn into a murder weapon for you

JadeRent

Blixxx

yllanger-huntress – sorry the story had to change from the love triangle.

Xantor

xcal123

UncannyAsianGirl – I'm Asian, too!! Oo Thanks a lot for that review!

Kage of the village hidden in the Blood

Kohryu - the art!! You're the one who said you wanted to draw half-Vaizard Ichigo, right? (hugs you) Please do.

Xcaliber - I'm glad you changed your mind

angelic93

Pyrothrax

Automailjunkie44

Ambiguous Rose

Icf3 – Thanks for calling me an update god(dess)

-
-
-
-okay, I shall pause to breathe-

-
-
-

Lommy

ofdarknesschaos

Moon Fire Rabbit

megami kitty

AnimeROL

Wait-For-Sleep

Majinbuu7985 – thanks for the tip on the 1/5 normal power thing

angelfire1

cherryblossom1500

bleachedinubasket-

ichirukifan

lynn77elric

Vbaby22

ShiningLAActor101

shiniele

Greenzaku

RandomLuv

Winterflower

Krymsom
Bella68

From the Psyche Ward

wootname123

Flareen

Janzo the Ashbringer

Veikk0

Jerkess

Thmarth

Flowerspring

SC

Shikachick

puertorrican-babe

ChApPy-ApRiL

Matt

Arbalest

jb

Master of the Stars

Ditter

shiithappens

Lord of the Darkness and Light

matt-kb

animeme

ADDVengeance

Urahara Xaiyoko

Yuki

I hate making names

swimchick1614

Thrillmatic

Chappi15

Toki

Tyan

lynxneko08

blushingbluerain

cola1012003

Argent

crazyartist93

toads

disneyprincess95

Thank you to the c2's as of the moment:

White Moon

Black and white romance