Comment Fic - v1

[fay_e]

Ichigo goes to house sit somewhere in Yokohama, gets crashed by Renji and Rukia who are 'keeping an eye on him'. Maybe they stay, maybe they don't - they're a little like cats that way.


Night after Rukia and Renji barge in

Ichigo voices his suspicion regarding one of the tenants

Ichigo has to deal with rabbit food

Some time after Rukia and Renji have been around for a while

Comments

[fay_e]

In his half-drowsy state, Ichigo very nearly took a tumble down the stairs. The swears slipped out before he could think about it and he winced at how it echoed in the house. There was no old man though, and that meant he wouldn't need to keep an eye out for punishment by roundhouse kick.

He finally got a good look at the culprit. The cat from the day before was winding around his ankles, meowing for attention. Taking a step only paused its winding until he stepped down again. "Geez," he said to it, nudging it away enough to make it down some more steps unimpended. "Breaking my neck is not going to get you breakfast any faster."

The cat stuck its nose in the air and trotted off.

Ichigo stared at the cat bounding down the stairs. Oh hell no. Oh HELL no.

"Rukia!" he hollered, and trotted after the cat himself. He managed to catch sight of it disappearing into the kitchen. "Rukia!" Swearing again - it was WAY too early for this - he hurried into the kitchen himself and found it trying to paw open a cupboard. "Oh no you don't," he muttered and scooped it up. The cat gave an indignant meow as it was dangled in the air. He glared at it. No collar. "Rukia!"

"I'm up I'm up," Rukia grumbled. "What is it?" She started as Ichigo dangled the cat in her face.

"Is this one of your people?" asked Ichigo.

The cat blinked at Rukia, then yawned.

[rooktree]

She blinked owlishly right back, her hair a crow's nest from being mussed against a pillow. "Was all that foul language you hitting your head?"

"No!" He shook the cat for emphasis. It yowled in protest. "Don't lie to me, short-stuff. Are you spying on me?"

"Ichigo," she said with a long-suffering air. "If we wished to conduct covert surveillance on you, cats are notoriously whimsical and unreliable."

"Unless it's robotic. Or a shapeshifter."

"Oh, is there tea?" She whisked past him to a cupboard. "Or that coffee stuff, for preference. I am not awake enough for this."

"Somebody mention tea?"

Ichigo turned to see Renji leaning on the doorjamb, plainly as fresh out of bed as Rukia had been. "A little respect here! I'm trying to have an interrogation. She keeps evading."

"Oh, oolong," came Rukia's voice from the depths of the cupboard. "Can you find the tea kettle, Renji? And convince this nitwit that the little feline isn't set here to spy on him."

Renji took the squirming cat from Ichigo, and it scampered eagerly up to the safety of his shoulder. With a flash of yellow eyes at Ichigo, it began to lick its toes with great care. "Look, would we be here if we could just go to the Twelfth and stare at ya through a creepy monitor?"

Ichigo sank against the kitchen counter and nearly smacked his temple on the cupboard Rukia had left open. Reaching over, he plonked the tea kettle down beside her. "Don't overfill it this time."

She huffed in supreme consternation. "I am not incapable of learning from my mistakes, thank you."