Beautiful Nightmare: awake

Ichigo sat up in his bed, panting. His whole body ached, and his head felt as if it were spinning in countless directions. He put his hand to his head, and let out a sigh. 'Nothing but a bad dream,' he thought to himself. But that sharp pin prick pain in his neck made him think otherwise. Shrugging last night's memories off, Ichigo climbed out of bed and ventured out into the rest of his apartment. The ragged old plaid couch looked extremely comfortable to him, and at that he fell back on it. The blurred images of the woman with a syringe stuck in his mind, along with the feel of her skin on his.

"You're a late sleeper" a voice called out.

Ichigo shot up, and looked over at the bean bag in the corner. There sat Rukia, the woman who had happily drugged him the night before. "How... when... where...?" is all he could stammer out.

"I took you home yesterday night and then waited for you to awaken so that I could ensure you knew I wasn't just a freaky dream you had," Rukia explained calmly to him.

She stood up and walked up behind the couch. Rukia grabbed him by the chin, and twisted his head so she could inspect his neck. Only a tiny red dot showed any evidence of the shot she'd given him. Ichigo broke free from her grasp, and grabbed hold of her hand to keep her in place. "What in the hell did you do to me?" he growled.

"It was just a simple sedative to relax you a bit; did you think I drugged you to take advantage of you?" she replied in a slight laugh.

He found himself blushing a bit at her remark, especially since that was the first thought that came to his mind. Shaking his head a bit to clear out that thought, Ichigo asked her, "Would you like me to walk you home?"

"No I've got a friend who's going to pick me up in an hour. They'll call before they show up," Rukia replied.

"Need anything then? Food? A drink?" he offered. Despite having just been seduced and drugged by this Rukia, Ichigo found himself hopelessly fond of her and wouldn't dream of leaving her uncomfortable.  

"No I'm perfectly fine. Just continue on as if I'm not here!" she said with a smile.

Ichigo only nodded slightly, and did as she said, though his typical weekend consisted of hours of video game playing and ordering a cheap coupon pizza from Domino's. After an hour of contently playing his game under the supervision of Rukia, Ichigo go to one spot that stumped him. He stared at the small TV screen for nearly thirty minutes, trying to find his much needed tiny item. Rukia rolled her eyes, and came up behind him. Placing her hands on his, she controlled the animated character over to a hidden room and found the needed item in seconds. Ichigo was in pure shock from this; she knew a secret that very few gamers knew! Only a hand full had ever found that item, a key to the next level, on this difficulty setting!

"How did you?" Ichigo asked, still in shock.

"What? Only guys are allowed to know these kinds of things?" Rukia asked, leaning over the edge of the couch to face him.

Now that he could see her in the light and up close, Ichigo had to admit she was beautiful. There was a sensual look in her round eyes, and the way her hair fell in the position she was in amplified her beauty. Both stayed staring into each other's eyes for a number of minutes, the whole time oblivious to the fact that the video game character had just gotten its head ripped off. Rukia climbed over the couch, and sat beside Ichigo, removing her hands from the game controller. Not being able to take it any longer, Ichigo leaned over to her and kissed her. Different from the night before, neither pulled away from the other. She wrapped her arms around her back, and leaned closer to him. Though when Rukia tried to be slick and climb over to the other side of him, she stumbled and ended lying in Ichigo's lap. Both of them got a laugh out of her slight clumsiness, but then resumed to what they were doing. 'Even though she's so sensual, she still is just human,' Ichigo thought to himself. As time went on the two ended up in quite the compromising position; Rukia was flat on her back on a couch cushion, with Ichigo pinning her down. She ran her hands along his sides, and grabbed hold of his sweater that she quickly removed. He held her tight in his arms, and kissed her neck. She playfully brushed the edge of his skin, and looped her fingers in the belt loops on his pants.

The cell phone on the coffee table in front of them rang loudly in an annoying quacking noise, and buzzed off the table onto the floor. Ichigo grumbled, and looked away for two seconds to find his ringing cell phone. Once he had grasped the quacking phone, he hit the off button and turned back to his Rukia. What he found in her place thought surprised him. Only the couch cushion sat there, his arms fully wrapped around it and an impression on it as if someone had been lying there. Ichigo sat back, and looked around the room, hoping to see her and find out she had only escaped his embrace. But what he found was merely his empty, cold apartment as usual. Ichigo glanced out the window, and saw that it was dark out now. He sighed, and shook his head. 'Was that just another dream? Is this Rukia just all in my mind? But if it is just a dream, it's a damn good one,' he thought as he stared at the cushion. He could swear that a bit of fuzz off her blue sweater was stuck in the fabric of cushion, but he wasn't certain. That's when Ichigo noticed that his own sweater was gone. He turned around, and saw it up against the back wall. 'If I threw it, it would have been tossed in front of me, not behind me; that's proof that she was here!' Ichigo figured out. And if this Rukia would only appear in his sleep, then sleep he would!