STOP ME WHEN YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH

Nah, We're Good

Inoue heals those who need healing - which is everyone but Ichigo and Rukia. The downside of having a healing ability like her's is that she can't use it on herself. Ichigo offers his own healing ability to her, but once learning how it works, she rejects. Her face is so red. To be fair, healing spit is a little weird. He'd be embarrassed and a little aroused if a girl starts licking his neck, for healing cuts or not.

Anyway, there's a big problem - he fucking got lost.

How the fuck? If it weren't for Uryū's memory, they probably would've got lost and died in the halls of Las Noches from starvation. Rukia keeps Ichigo on a leash via their interlocked hands. She's mostly pulling on him because he's not sure he knows where he's going anymore.

"God, this is so frustrating! And I thought the Seireitei was a damn maze!" The ginger roars.

Rukia snickers at his antics. "Do you not know how to shut up?"

"No! I'm not even sure I know the difference between left and right anymore!"

Most of them laugh. Yeah, they're all painfully aware of Ichigo's terrible sense of direction. He's just glad he managed to find a system to remember faces. The fact he went to school with Uryū for months and never remembered so much as his face is embarrassing. That haunted Ichigo for months when he laid there at the middle of the fucking night.

He's not sure what Rukia just said to them, but he recognizes his name. Oh, no, he wasn't paying attention.

"Huh?"

She snickers again like the little gremlin she is. "How old are you?"

He stares at her. "Uh..."

"Come on, man," Keigo encourages. "Here's a hint, I'm your age."

"That's not a hint, that's a tease, you bastard." He tunes out the laughs for a moment. "Fifteen?"

"Was that a question?"

"Fine, I'm fifteen."

"Are you sure?" Rukia muffles her laughs with her hand. He barely heard what she said.

He actually panics. "Am I fifteen?"

Everyone either does a full body laughter or offers a chuckle. Ichigo isn't entirely sure whether he should be mad or not. The moment Rukia gazes up at him with laugh lines and tears showing, her pearly whites presenting themselves in a beautiful smile, all anger fades away. Her big, girlish eyes look so gorgeous when they're full of happiness.

"I hate you," he glares playfully.

"I hate you, too," she replies instinctively.

"Aw! You two are so cute!" Tatsuki teases.

"Lady, shut up," Ichigo seethes.

"Make me."

"Yeah, okay. Are you going to talk to your crush anytime soon?"

Her eyes widen in horror, mouth agape. Everyone looks at Tatsuki in gentle surprise. Ichigo isn't quite sure what's surprising them more: the fact that Tatsuki has a crush and kept it hidden so well, or the fact that she told Ichigo of all people. To be fair, Tatsuki and Ichigo are really old friends, and they were still quite close when she confessed her feelings about a certain someone to him.

"You promised you would never say anything!" Tatsuki points an accusing finger at him.

"No, I said I would never tell your crush."

"Same difference!"

"No it's not."

"Oh, quit your pissing contest," Rukia rolls her eyes in good humor.