Written for the Rukia's Birthday Giveaway on Bleach Asylum. Happy Birthday to my favorite shinigami!

I don't own Bleach

Enjoy!

Rukia didn't understand it. What and Why was Ichigo doing this? Doing what? She had absolutely no idea. But for some reason as soon as she and Ichigo had arrived home, he was acting strange. No one was home that day and when she asked why he told her it was "none of your business." No, instead of giving her a clear answer, he said that. Almost immediately Ichigo told her to go upstairs and change clothes. Seeing that she wasn't getting an answer out of him, no matter how much she stomped, screamed, and pouted, she went upstairs to change.

The raven haired shinigami entered Karin and Yuzu's room and slammed the door, to let him know she was still angry with him. From inside the room she heard Ichigo slam his door in response, mocking her. This only further angered her. She turned to face her bed, noticing something in front of her. There, neatly folded at the foot of the bed, was...

Rukia gasped.

It was a sweater, v-neck, white with silver ascents. She touched the shirt with her fingertips. It was beautiful. Her fingers traced the swirl patterns over and over until she noticed something else. Beneath it was a simple, black skirt. She lifted up the sweater and skirt, wondering who had done this. Her answer came immediantly. Under the clothes was a card. Rukia picked the card up and read it.

Hope you like it, Rukia-chan!

- Yuzu and Karin

Yuzu and Karin had bought her this? She felt tears well up in her eyes and forced them back down. Why did they do this? Oh well, she'll find out later when she sees them. She put the outfit on, surprised to find black swede boots trimmed in white, faux fur with the outfit also. Rukia barely had time to check herself in the mirror before she heard Ichigo calling from downstairs.

"Oi! Rukia! Come on already!" Remembering her anger, she growled. She opened the door and stomped down the hall and down the stairs.

Rukia walked up to Ichigo, crossed her arms, and pouted. "Mind telling me why we're in such a rush?"

He smirked, which worsened her anger. "Nope." She let out a frustrated sigh. "Put on your coat, midget." Rukia opened her mouth to snap at him but shut it when he handed her a white coat. "Here. This is from Karin and Yuzu too."

She took the coat from him, finding it was soft as well. She slid her arms in the coat and zipped it up. Rukia looked at Ichigo, who was putting his on as well. Just now she noticed what he was wearing. A black, v-neck, long-sleeved shirt and black slacks. His coat was black as well. Ichigo, she observed, was the type of guy who could wear almost anything and look good.

Ichigo approached her after putting a scarf on, for it was January and cold outside, with a black scarf. He reached his arms around her back and back over her shoulders, tying the scarf around her neck. Rukia almost blushed when he did so. Ichigo was close to her. Just then she realized that their outfits contrasted each other's. He was clad in mostly black, while she was in mostly white.

Ichigo snapped her out of her thoughts in and instant when he spoke. "Do you want me to put your gloves on too?" Rukia looked up at him, not realizing he had finished tying her scarf. "They're in your pocket." he told her, putting on a pair of black gloves. Rukia reached into her pockets and found, what a surprise, white gloves.

By the time she had gotton the gloves on her dainty hands, Ichigo was out the door, calling for her. Rukia clenched her first and waved at him. "How about you wait on me next time, jerk!" As soon as Ichigo closed and locked the door, she punched him in the back.

"Oi!" he yelled, shocked. "That hurt!" Ichigo complained, reaching back a hand to place over the place where she hit him. Rukia looked at him, shocked. He hadn't yelled at her or call her a midget or whatever short joke he had. Ichigo looked down at her. "What? You're lookin' at me like I grew a second head or something."

Rukia shook her head at him."Forget it. Just take me to wherever we were going." She didn't want to argue with him today. It seemed like a day never goes by without arguing.

"Well come on then." Ichigo grabbed Rukia's arm and pulled her next to him, letting go of her arm as they started walking.

As they walked, Rukia looked up at Ichigo. He wasn't looking at her. He had been acting weird all day. Is this part of some elaberate prank? she wondered. She couldn't believe Ichigo was actually being almost... nice. Since when has that happened? Well, when I lived in his closet, he didn't object, he brought me food, and he snuck me into the shower. That was nice. He came to my rescue, even though I didn't want him to, and saved me from dying. Although we did argue and he was a tad rough when he held me on execution stand, he was still doing an extraordinarily nice thing... for me. Okay, I will admit he has his nice moments. But today... it just seems strange.

Rukia was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even notice where they were. They were somewhere in town. She wondered if he was taking her on a... no. No. Not Ichigo. He wouldn't be interested in her like that. Rukia had fallen a step behind Ichigo, so lost in her thoughts.

Ichigo looked back at her, noticing the thoughtful expression on her face. What's she thinking about?He ignored it and grabbed her hand, pulling her next to him. She looked up at him, cheeks slightly tinted red. Ichigo wondered why she was nearly blushing like that. Then he looked down. Oh. He fought his own embarrassment, forcing the blush down. He was still holding her hand as they walked. Upon realizing it, Ichigo released her hand and immediately missed the extra warmth.

Ichigo stopped in front of a pizza place. Rukia stopped, realizing he was many steps behind her, and walked back to him. She looked at the building. It was nice looking place from the outside; red-bricked, deep green-colored awning over the door, large window allowing you to see inside. What were they doing there though? Her answer was coming soon though, she could almost sense it.

Rukia looked at Ichigo, who was opening the door for her. "Well? Come on mi- Rukia!" She noticed he caught himself before calling her 'midget'. She shook it off and walked inside, Ichigo behind her, letting the door close with a ring from the bell overhead.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUKIA!" Rukia's jaw dropped. There, in front of her, was almost everyone from the Soul Society, their human friends, and even the people from Urahara Shoten was there.

The birthday girl turned and looked at Ichigo who was wearing a huge, cocky grin. "You did not! You threw me a party!"

Ichigo's grin faded as his face turned into an embarrassed expression. "Well, actually my dad and my sisters planned it." For a moment there, he thought she was going to hit him instead she smiled. No one else saw the smile except for him. Ichigo almost blushed.

The Kurosaki's had rented the resturant for the day, with the help of her brother, Kuchiki Byakuya. The resturant was nice; not to dressy, but not the most common either. Music was playing over the speakers. Booths lined the room and off to the side was a salad bar. It was lighted by the laps that hung over the tables and scattered across the room. The lighting gave off a warm feeling. Comforting. As an addition, they contacted the Soul Society and told them about her birthday. General Yamamoto had to stay and watch the Soul Society, along with his fukutaicho. Soi Fon, Komamura, and their fukutaichos were the only ones not there. Urahara had provided everyone gigais.

Rukia was basically being attacked by everyone that wished her a 'Happy Birthday'. Everyone was filling up on pizza while chatting, rather loudly.

"Oi, Kuchiki! So how old are ya today?" Ikkaku asked from a booth near her.

"Ah-"

Rangiku cut her off. "Don't you know you're not supposed to ask a woman how old she is!" the busty woman yelled at him, while smacking him in the back of his head.

Yachiru seemed to pop out of nowhere. "That's right cue-ball! It's very rude!"

Ikkaku tried to get the pink haired fukutaicho off his head. Yumichika spoke up. "They're right Ikkaku! It doesn't matter how old a woman is though! As long as they're beautiful it doesn't matter!"

"Er... thank you?" Rukis asked, hoping that was meant to be a compliment. A hand suddenly pulled her.

"Kuchiki-san! Sit with us!" Orihime had pulled her over to her table with Uryuu, Chad, and Ichigo. Rukia took a seat next to Ichigo. Orihime took her place next to her boyfriend, Uryuu. Ruka blinked at the girl's cheeriness. The chatter started to sound incoherent. She couldn't make sense of any of it, even Orihime who was sitting in front of her, telling the table about her newest creation. Rukia would rather not hear that anyway.

"Rukia?" Ichigo's voice snapped her out it. She looked at him. "I didn't say it yet, but, um, Happy Birthday." he whispered, so he didn't disturb Orihime's chatter.

The raven haired shinigami blinked meeting his amber gaze. "Ah-" she started, and blinked off his gaze. "Thank you." They said nothing else for awhile.

"Cake time!" Isshin yelled over the loud noise as the servers wheeled out a huge cake. To her relief, the candles didn't say her actual age. There was sixteen candles on the cake, so the human workers would wonder why there was a hundred some candles on the white iced cake.

Everyone gathered around her and the cake, singing to her, much to her embarrassment. She nearly blushed. She didn't expect for her brother to be here, singingto her. Once the song was finished and her embarassment long gone, she blew out the candles and heard the crowd cheering for the delicious cake. Rukia was served first, naturally, and everyone else lined up. She headed back to the table, sitting down the cake before some stopped her with their voice.

"Hello Rukia. Hapy Birthday." came the stotic voice of Byakuya. Rukia turned around and smiled.

"T-thank you, Nii-sama. Thank you for coming here, even though it is a trivial party." She didn't feel like it was trivial, considering this was her first normal birthday, but it's what he thought, she knew.

Byakuya responded by raising his glass, half-full of some type of soda. He left her. Rukia almost giggled at the thought of her brother drinking soda. He always drank fine wine and sake.

After everyone had a belly full of cake, and after a fight between Renji and Shuuhei broke out for the last slice, Rukia was suddenly grabbed by Isshin yet again and literally slammed down in a chair amongst the seemingly millions of presents.

"Alright! It's time for gifts!" the ex-taicho annouced, and, yet again, everyone crowded around her.

Rukia had to admit, some gifts were rather... odd, for lack of a better word. Really, when and where was she going to wear Rangiku's gift! But nonetheless, she thanked everyone for the gifts. Only one more gift left, a small silver pakage left on the table that once held tons of gifts.

Someone suddenly picked the pakage up and handed it to her, earning many 'ooooooooo's from the guests. Rukia looked up. "Here." Ichigo...he stood there, hand held out, looking away. She felt nervous and excited at the same time as she peeled off the silver paper. It was a box. No one got to see what was in it because of her sudden action. Rukia had stood up, silver paper falling down to the floor.

"Thank you, Ichigo. Thank you." Rukia was hugging Ichigo tightly.

"It's nothing, midget." he said blushing very faintly. She didn't care about his comment.

Only when the petite girl let go of him, re-opening the box, and lifting the item out of it, did everyone see it. It was a charm bracelet. There was a moon, a sun, a star, a bunny, a bear, and the symbol of Squad 13, all in silver. She momentarily wondered where he got that symbol.

Holding up the bracelet, everyone either staring or saying things along the lines of 'aw, how cute' and 'oooo', wonder how much that costed?', she handed it to him, holding out her wrist. He stared at her, dumbfounded. "Well?" Rukia started, "Put it on me!"

Upon realization, Ichigo obeyed, hooking the silver bracelet around her small wrist. It fit, to his relief. She smiled brightly at him.

"Turn up the music!" Rangiku yelled and, like magic, it was got louder. Many flocked to the makeshift dance floor. Rukia looked at Ichigo. "Lets sit down." He nodded, dropping her wrist, which he didn't realize he was still holding, and followed her back to the table.

During the songs, all fast, Ichigo and Rukia laughed at random people that were making a fool of themselves. They were currently laughing at Orihime and Uryuu. Orihime dancing smoothly, while Uryuu danced stiffly with her, seemingly unsure what to do.

All the laughter between them died down. The atmosphere between them natural rather than awkward like Ichigo had figured. He thought it might be a bit, maybe, embarrassing because of the gift, and the hug. But no, it was light and fun.

The music had slowed down and most everyone left, leaving couples there to slow dance. Uryuu and Orihime were slow dancing, this time Uryuu wasn't stiff. Urahara and Yoruichi had also took the floor. Rangiku, despite his protests, grabbed Toushirou and took him to the floor, squishing his face in her chest.

"Let's dance, taicho!" she laughed.

"Matsumoto!" Anything to annoy him.

Other couples came onto the floor. Swaying to the music. Suddenly, Ichigo stood up, holding out his hand. "Wanna dance?" he asked Rukia. She almost blushed again, almost.

Rukia took his hand and stood up. "You didn't ask properly, but okay." Ichigo smiled at her and led her to the dance floor.

Once they found a spot, the center, on the dance floor, Ichigo turned to her. He took her right hand in his and placed a hand on her waist, her other hand resting on his shoulder. The music was soothing, easy to sway, move, and turn to. Their eyes were locked. Violet and amber. Even though they were dancing and being intimately close, the air was still light, soft, and warming.

The pair was so focused on each, they didn't even notice that the other couples left, giving them the whole dance floor. Unknown to them, all eyes watched. They two caught some of the lyrics of the song playing.

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend

Lucky to have been where I have been

Lucky to be coming home again

So true...Rukia had thought. She almost gasped at the soft expression Ichigo was wearing. She loosened up even more so, face as soft as his.

Lucky we're in love in every way

Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed

Lucky to be coming home someday

"I love you." Rukia whispered, slightly shaking. Did... did I just say that? She prepared for yelling, mostly of shock, and found that there was none.

Ichigo smiled softly. "I love you too, Rukia..." She took a moment to process what he had just said.

He loves me... he loves me... oh god he loves me! They were still dancing. She opened her mouth to say something, not knowing what exactly, but smiled instead.

They continued to dance, closer this time, until the song ended. The crowd around them cheered, and only then they realized they were alone on the dance floor. They both blushed, this time red,

"S-shut up." Ichigo managed to say.

Ichigo and Rukia were leaving the nice pizza place, Isshin telling them to go on ahead, that he, the twins, and some others would clean up. The restaurant was almost empty now as they left.

When they were a safe distance away from Isshin, for they needed to be careful around him now, Ichigo took her hand in his. "So, you mean it?" he asked.

"Huh?" came Rukia's reply. "About what?"

He blushed. "You know... about you loving... me..."

She blinked at him before hitting him, still holding his hand. "Fool, of course I meant it! Otherwise I wouldn't have said it!"

"Sorry! Geez... just a question." He pouted. Rukia stifled a laugh. He was acting like a kid.

"Ichigo..." Rukia stopped and quickly glanced around. No one was around.

"Wha-" Ichigo started, but was cut off by her soft lips. She hooked her arms around his neck. He melted into the kiss, arms around her waist, pulling her closer, and angling his head to bring her even closer.

They broke away, forgetting to breath momentarily, and inhaled deeply. Rukia smiled as Ichigo mouthed the word 'wow' to himself. "Come one, we need to get home." She laced her fingers with his and started walking, pulling him gently. He caught up with her.

Rukia smirked. Now I see what I can do with Matsumoto's gift. That kiss was free, now he has to work for it.

And done! Yay! Okay a few notes, the lyrics are from "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. The restaurant is modeled after an extremely nice Pizza Hut here. It's really nice. I hope you enjoyed!

Review please and no flames please!