Haunting Hour

Haunting Hour
(PETs AU)
"Oh come on Ichi-chi!! Don't look like that!" Rukia pleaded, tugging on her husband's arm, he groaned in response and kept his face burried in his pillow, "I SWEAR it isn't that bad! Mermen are MANLY!" another groan of dissaprovel, "Come on, please come downstairs with me?" Ichigo sighed, his manipulitive little wife had somehow, SOMEWAY maneged to covince him to match costumes with her as Ariel and Eric from The Little Mermaid for Halloween... and HE got stuck as Ariel!! Currently he was wearing a green.. skirt... of some sort... to make a fin and nothing else... and he didn't want anyone to see him like this... "I mean it cold be worse, Brother and Sister made Renji and Grimmjow dress as matching ballerienas, they wanted you for the third to make a set but I didn't let them," she said nonchalantly with a shrug, he sat up slowly, "Reeaarry?" "Really," she confirmed

"Ru RIED!!!" Ichigo shouted, "N-Now now! Just because you can speak, somewhat... again doesn't mean you should strain your pretty voice!" Rukia giggled nervously, he glared at her, "Ru ried Ru-ki-ah..." he muttered with a glare, "I'm sorry! But how else was I going to get you down here?!" he huffed and started manevuring through the crowd and towards the kitchen, maybe food would ease his mind.. Rukia sighed, the annual Kuchiki Halloween party was a huge event, she usually looked forward to it but in the last year since she had been with Ichigo... she had lost so much trust in people... it amazed her how cruel some people could be, and she didn't look forward to social events anymore... shaking her head slowly, she turned around to go search for her husband and apologise for humiliating him, honestly she was just trying to have a little fun but apparently he got more embarressed than she thought he would, "Excuse me?" she turned around and looked up at a young, crow-man, "You're Rukia Kuchiki aren't you?" he asked polietly, she nodded once, "I am," she confirmed, "I'm Sotaru Kensiroku, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said, she smiled and held out her hand but instead of shaking it the man's hand lowered to her stomach, "You're pregnant right? May I feel?" he asked, she frowned, twitching at the uncomfortable feeling, "Actually I'm less than a month in... I really doubt you'll be able to-" "AAACK!!" she jerked her head up as the man jerked away, she turned and saw Ichigo standing behind him, his large foot crushing the one of the man's, "Ichigo.." she muttered, he growled and grabbed Rukia's arm, tugging her away from the scene

"Ichigo! You can let go of me now!" Rukia sqweaked as he pulled her into the kitchen, he didn't say anything but shut the door and picked her up, placing her on the kitchen counter, she could feel a light heat underneath her and figured Ichigo was cooking something or other that was quite likely delicious, he leaned forward, putting his hands on the sides of the counter and boxing her in, he leaned in, the scent of his breath right under her nose as it mingled with her own, she closed her eyes... but nothing happened, and in a moment he had jerked away from her and walked over to the sink, taking some baby carrots out of a strainer and dumping them into a bowl, "Ichigo...?" she wispered as he set the bowl beside her and handed her a much smaller bowl of Ranch dip, he looked up at her with a frown, his ears pinned to his skull and his eyes boring into her, "Ru-ki-ah..." he muttered, "Am I... youwr... fiwrst... choice?" he muttered quietly, her heart skipped a beat, he had always seen the way men looked at her, and now they still looked at her even though she was pregnant, it must bother him that eyes are always on her... "Oh ... Ichi-chi.... ofcourse you are," she wispered, cupping his face in her hands and smiling at him, "You are my first, second, third, and nine-thousandth choice, it's always you Ichigo and it'll always BE you," she wispered, kissing his lips lightly, she smirked when she felt his tail swish happily, "Am I YOUR first choice?" she asked, he purred in agreement, "Yeeeessss," he hissed happily, she smirked, "Ichi-chi..." she said quietly, "I think this party is straining us both, want to go back upstairs?" she asked, wispering lightly into his ear, his grin split over his lips and he nodded eagerly, she smirked and hopped down from the counter, grabbing the carrots and dip to take with them

"Come on, we'll try not to let people see us," Rukia said quietly as she lead Ichigo out of the kitchen, he let out a sound that was a mix between a grunt and a purr and she nodded slowly, understanding exactly what he was asking, "If Brother asks why we left so early we'll just tell him that I was feeling very sick," she said with a shrug, trying to be seen as little as possible as she found her way to the stairs, "Hey!" they both turned around and saw Renji and Grimmjow walking towards them and waving, Rukia stopped and frowned slightly, she could fool and lie to her brother all day long but Renji knew her almost as well as Ichigo did and Grimmjow knew his brother almost as well as Rukia did, they couldn't lie to those two, "Why are you two leaving so early?" Renji asked, Rukia smiled very slighlty, "I've embarressed Ichigo enough, besides I don't care for being looked at so much and I'm a little tired," she said, "I just want to go back upstairs, eat some carrots, have a quiet night you know?" she said, Grimmjow chuckled and turned to Ichigo, "Taoh Tihigin?" he asked, Ichigo blushed and nodded slowly, "Atta boy!" he chuckled, slapping Ichigo on the back, Rukia and Renji stared at the two like they were nuts before Renji muttered some excuse and dragged Grimmjow off, "Do I WANT to know what that was about?" Rukia asked, Ichigo smiled and shook his head, picking up a carrot and dipping it in the dressing, she smiled and took a bite of it, licking her lips and grabbing his hand, "Ichi~~ let's go~~" she giggled, he paused, his face suddenly reflecting a very grimm expression, she tilted her head in confusion, he looked mortified... afraid even.... "Ichigo what's wrong?" she wispered, he didn't so much as twitch, as if he were paralized, she turned around and followed his eyes, they traveled to see a young couple, she reckognized them... the woman was a flamingo and the man was a lizard of some sort, she had seen pictures of them from Ichigo's file... they were two of the people that owned him before... she frowned, she definatly had a few words for them... "Ichigo," she said in an icey tone, he didn't budge, "Ichigo, go upstairs," he finally snapped out of it and purred lightly, looking down at her in concern, "Go NOW Ichigo, that's an order," she said,he frowned but slowly trudged up the stairs with a sigh, Rukia rarely gave him any orders but when she did she meant buisness... and married or not he was still technically her PET so he wasn't allowed to talk back to her, figurativly speaking, he knew that she had seen and reckognized his previous Owners and was going to confront them, he didn't want her to but an order was an order... he stepped into their room, placing Rukia's carrots on the nightstand and slowly climbing onto the bed, closing his eyes and remembering his very short time with the two, it was that night he learned just how cold rain was, after all, he had to walk twenty miles in it...

"You IDIOT!" "I'm sorry!" "How many brains does it take to pick out a PET huh?! It's easy, get the ones that AREN'T DAMEGED!" "Look I didn't know he was a mute! I thought he was just shy!" "THIS shy!? Are you THAT stupid?!" Ichigo closed his eyes, no... no... NO... it was happening again... his fifth try at finding someone since Graando and it was happening again... he tried to communicate to the lizard-man that he was mute but the man didn't seem to understand, now he was having a fight with his wife about it and it was all his fault... "I want him out! Out! Out of here NOW!" the woman screamed and Ichigo gritted his teeth, "Mamesu please, just give me till morning and he'll be out," "NOW Soto! NOW!" she repeated, the man groaned and walked towards the room that Ichigo was in, the lion-man quickly backed away from the door, his heart pounding in fear of what was come next

"Excuse me," Rukia said polietly, trying to keep her cool to get the best results, the flamingo-woman turned around and blinked, staring at Rukia, "Yes?" she asked, "You once had a PET named Ichigo Kurosaki right? A lion?" she said, the woman blinked and shook her head, "No, sorry, I don't recall so," "Oh but you did, it's in his file, you see, Ichigo is MINE now," Rukia said with a grin, placing extra emphasis and possession on the last word, "O-Oh?" "Yes, I just want to thank you," "THANK us?" the woman asked in shock, "Yes, because even though you scarred him for life, if it hadn't been for your abandoning him, I wouldn't have him now, and he's the best thing that's ever happened to me, anyway, he's waiting for me upstairs so I should get going before he worries, have a nice evening," she said with a smirk as she walked away

Ichigo sighed lightly, Rukia had been gone for ten minutes and he was starting to worry, suddenly the door opened and the Moon Rabbit walked in, "I took care of it," she said vaguely, shutting the door and smiling as she walked over to him, she laid on top of him and grabbed some carrots from the bowl, smiling at him lightly, he smiled back and started to stroke her hair, 'As much as she says she's lucky to have me... I'm much more lucky to have her...'