It was just yesterday, when Rukia was walking with Ichigo in Karakura Mall to find some presents for Yuzu’s and Karin’s birthday…

--o--

“Ichigo. I’m hungry.”

“You gotta be kidding me! You just ate two big bowls of noodle and-“

“GRRRRROOWWWWLL…”

“Is… Is that you?”

Ichigo turned his back in disbelieved.

Rukia shook her head in embarrassment.

“NO! It’s not me! I swear! It’s not me! It’s just… My stomach…”

“Tsk… Your stomach or you. It's just the same! Alright. Come.”

Ichigo grabbed her wrist and took her inside of the Cake Shop – it’s the nearest restaurant after all.

--o--

“Wow! Ichigo! What’s this? Oh my God! They look so nice! And…and I can smell sweets!”

Her eyes were sparkling.

“You gotta be kidding me. Please don’t tell me that you never, taste, or at least see cakes?”

They settled down at a table far from others as most of people in that restaurant kept watching Rukia that keeps asking weird question.

“Cats?” She asks curiously.

“They are cakes, Rukia. Cakes. C-A-K-E-S. Cakes.”

“Cakes? Ahh… Now you are the one who gotta be kidding me, Ichigo. I am really positive that cakes are… umm… a part of the exam questions.”

“What?!”

“Yeah I heard Ishida said that the question is just a piece of cakes! And Ishida is waaaay smarter than you. So... Wait… Wh-what are you laughing at?”

“Idiot. What was that Quincy trying to say is, the question is easy enough for him to answer! But literally, this is what we call cake. Try some.”

He cut a piece of cheese cake with his spoon and brought it to Rukia mouth.

“Here. Eat it.”

“I-I can eat it by myself!” She grabbed the spoon and tasted the cake little by little.

Ichigo watched as she puts the spoon back on the plate of cake and looked at him with such an… evil, scary face. He swears he hates seeing Rukia likes that.

Now what? I don’t think a cake can turns someone into a monster…

“So? How does it taste? It greats huh?”

“Reminds me to hit your ass because you never tell me about the most exotic food in this world.”

Rukia smirks as she continued to eat the cake one after another. Yes. Ichigo bought five slice of different cakes flavour as he saw she was so exited seeing the most exotic food for the first time.

As Ichigo began to eat his cake, Rukia pulled his plate towards her.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Ichigo started to frown.

“No! No! No! I don’t have enough of them yet! And yours look nice”

She eats his cake with full of enthusiasm. Like that was the last cake she will ever eat in the world. Seems unaware of his groan and scowl, she began to talk.

“Wow! That’s the most delicious taste I’ve ever eat! So sweet!! What did you call it anyway?”

“Strawberry shortcake.” He answered her unwillingly as he is still pissed off, looking at his now, empty plate.

“Oh. Did you know how to make it?”

“Yeah… Why?”

“Are you sure? Really really sure?”

“Of course I am! It is my favourite cake after all and you… you just swallow it without even consider that – “

“Good.” She cuts him off.

“Argh! Just tell me why were you asking for?”

“Well… Because... umm… Because it tastes so good! And I want you…”

She points her finger straight to Ichigo’s forehead.

“…by hook or by crook, to teach me on how I can make that cake. I want to give it to my special someone.”

Special… someone? Is it…

“Bya-Byakuya?”

“Oh… Stop being so rude, Kurosaki-kun! It’s Kuchiki-taichou for you.” She smiles happily and went out from the restaurant.

“Oi… Rukia! Wait!”

--o--

…Now, in the Kurosaki’s kitchen…

“So… Is it hard to make this… strawberry shortcake?”

Rukia asks him as he bring out the ingredients that he just bought from the grocery.

“Yeah. It is really hard. No. Extremely hard I must say. Isn’t a cake is… umm… the exam questions?”

“Urggh! Shut up!”

She can feel her face burning. How dare he humiliate her like that?

Ichigo pulls the big bowl from the cabinet and put it on the table.

“Kidding. It’s a piece of cake after all. As long as you follow my order, properly.”

“Bu-but I don’t take order!” She yells, reminding him.

“Listen. Today, I’m your teacher. So, all your silly behaviors will not be tolerated. Behave yourself, midget.”

“Shut up!”

--o--

“Okay now… You can put the eggs into the mixture one at a time.”

“Like… this?”

To Ichigo’s shock, she throws the yet, unbroken eggs inside the bowl and continues to stir the mixture – with a proud smile on her face.

“Oi! Don’t tell me that you have never step your foot inside the kitchen, Rukia! You can’t throw the eggs like that, idiot!”

“What? Am I doing wrongly?”

She asks him with an innocence face. She is absolutely zero when it’s time to cook. She is a shinigami – and a Kuchiki after all. She has no time for kitchen.

“It’s… It’s alright. We can make a new mixture. But remember to break the eggs first before you put it into the mixture okay.”

“Okay… But… are there enough ingredients to make a new one?”

“Ah. It’s more than enough because I just… know you will mess it up.”

“Shut up!”

--o--

Okay. Ichigo said I should mix those weird eggs at 8.35 p.m. The problem is… I had to break the eggs first. But how? Looks like the shell is really thick. Or is it not?

Damn Ichigo! Just what did he eat that make he sits so long in the toilet?

Ahh. I guess I know how…

--o--

“Oi, Rukia?! What had happen? Did you go, fighting the hollow? Are you injured anywhere? Damn you midget! Why don’t you call me for help?!”

“Shut up! How come I can call you if you were so busy in the toilet. And no. I’m not injured anywhere because I am not fighting any hollow.”

“What?! So how come you were in your shinigami attire?”

“Well… I just found out the way to break the egg! Isn’t that great?”

She points at the broken egg shells happily. What caught Ichigo’s attention is the thing, that laying next to the shells.

“You… Don’t tell me you use your…”

“Yeah. I use Sode no Shirayuki to break the eggs. You see Ichigo… I’d imagined that the shells must be really thick. I mean come on. How come a little chicken stays in that thing and get protected? So I guess my zanpaktou is strong, yet gentle enough to break the shells.”

“Idiot!”

“No! I did it! So what’s the next step?”

“Whatever… Okay. So next we – “

“I-chi-go… pyon!”

“Py-pyon? What the heck?” Ichigo yells as he feels someone is grabbing his hand to his back.

Yes. Standing just behind him, Chappy is wearing her evil grins.

--o--

“Oi.. Rukia! Take your stupid Chappy back or else I won’t teach you the- ARGHHH!!”

“Chappy is not stupid, pyon!”

“Okay… Chappy…”

“But Chappy miss Rukia-sama, pyon!”

“Maybe next time Chappy… I’m busy.” Rukia tries to persuade her.

“Chappy miss Ichigo too, pyon…” She looks at Ichigo with her puppy dogs eyes.

“Alright! You can stay but behave yourself okay?” Ichigo said in defeat.

Damn, she’s acting just like her owner!

“That makes Chappy loves Ichigo. Pyon!!” She hugs Ichigo tightly and tries to kiss him.

“Chappy! Enough!” Rukia yells at her Chappy and in a blink, Chappy disappeared and it is Rukia know who is hugging Ichigo – and nearly kisses him.

“Sorry…” She immediately pushes him away and he can see her slightly blush.

“Why did you do that? I’d give her permission to stay…”

“It’s… It’s nothing. So, can we really finish what we had started Ichigo?”

“Yeah…” He smirks at her reaction as she was talking to him but in the same time, try to avoid the eye contact between them.

--o--

“Close the oven’s door properly, midget! Don’t push it like that!”

“Okay. I’m sorry…” Rukia says as she opens back the oven’s door and close it slowly.

“Good. Now we just have to wait until the cake is baked.”

“Cool. I can’t wait.”

“You must wait.”

“Okay. So Ichigo… Why did you call it shortcake? I mean, come on. It’s just like a normal cake. What’s so special about it? Is it because it is short? We can just make it taller using different tray! Yeah. Why don’t we call the cheese cake as cheese shortcake? Why don’t – “

“Too many question, midget. First. I don’t know whether it’s because the cake is short or not. Maybe it’s right. Maybe it’s wrong. But the fact is, shortcake is a cake over which a sweet fruit mixture is poured, especially strawberries.”

“So we can put another fruit other than strawberry?”

“Don’t you ever dare to do that! Believe me, they taste really awful! Strawberry is the only best choice.”

“Well, nii-sama doesn’t like strawberry…”

Rukia whispers mostly to herself but Ichigo do catch her words.

“What? Why don’t you tell me earlier?”

“Actually I…”

BEEP… BEEP… BEEP…

“Ichigo! It’s the hollows! And… There are so many of them!”

Rukia takes her soul candy on the table as Ichigo grabs it from her.

“No. You just wait here!”

“But…”

“Look after the cake. Don’t let it burn!”

In a second, Rukia was left alone in the kitchen, again.

And she is tired. She is really tired as she is drift into a deep… sleep

--o--

Rukia wakes up from her sleep as she smells something burning in her dream. And now, she founds out that there are smokes coming out from the oven.

“Ahh! Shortcake!”

No! What should I do! Think Rukia think!!

“Cha – ”

Crap! Where the hell did Ichigo put it!!

--o--

She is too dizzy to stand up as she had inhaled too much smoke. She starts to fall on the floor when he arrived just in time.

“Ichi…go…”

--o--

“I’ve told you to keep on eye on the cake right?” Ichigo asks her as her eyes still locked at the burned strawberry shortcake in front of her.

“I’m sorry. I’m too tired. I really want to stop the smokes! I want to use Sode no Shirayuki to cold down the temperature! But I can’t find my soul candy and… and…”

What the heck? Her Sode no Shirayuki, again?

“It’s okay. We can make it again. I guess your nii-sama can wait.”

Ichigo draws a smile to comfort her.

“Yes! Of course he can wait! He doesn't even know I want to make one! Bu– but you can’t!” She starts to yell hysterically.

“Wh – What did that suppose to mean?”

“I-I want to give that cake to you because I’d eat yours before even though I know you were craving for it! Bu – but now…”

Tears start to form at the edge of her eyes.

“Oh. Really?” He walks a step closer to her.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I – I’d burnt the cake off. And now you can't eat your favourite cake. And I'd mess up with your kitchen… and… Hey! What are you doing?!”

Ichigo took a piece of the burnt cake into his mouth.

“Ichigo! Don’t eat that thing! It’s…”

She tries to grab the cake from Ichigo’s mouth and eventually able to reach it. But to her shock, he grabs her wrist and continues to eat the cakes – which is now, in Rukia hands.

Rukia gasps as he takes her hand further to eat the cake and finally, her small fingers are in his mouth. She wants to say something or hits him with her other hand or kick his knee with her legs. But he has left her speechless as she can feel his wet tongue, licking the remaining cakes on her fingers.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“Ne, midget. I guess you can be my shortcake. Cuz you are simply short, simple… and”

“Sweet...”

Ichigo bites her index finger, just after he said the last word and to Rukia’s shocked reflex, she kicks Ichigo, hardly, just exactly in between his two legs

“That’s hurt you idiot!”

It is the last words that came out from both mouths tonight. Neither of them dare to talks or even makes the eye contact when cleaning the messed kitchen.

--o--

END

A/N:

Initially, I’d made a kissing scene instead of the finger biting scene but I don’t want it to be too mushy. Or is that biting scene is enough to be said as mushy? I don’t know. XD

And Chappy does not originally exist in this fiction. But since I used Rukia in her shinigami forms, (in such a silly way… what the heck? A zanpaktou to break the eggs?) I guess Chappy should be there.

And sorry! I don't intend to make Rukia-chan looks in here! It's just... Curiosity you know.. lol..