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From where he lay in his bed, Ichigo could see as the clock changed from 11:59 on Sunday night to 12:00 Monday morning. The dreaded moment that every Sunday ticks down to.
"Hey." He stroked the pale back of the small, dark-haired woman lying in his arms as the two of them absorbed each other's post-coital body heat.
Ichigo had only wanted to get her attention, but her head whipped around to look at the clock. "Wow," she chuckled, and leaned up to kiss him. "Had enough of me already, have you?"
"Hey, you asked me to let you know when it was midnight," Ichigo said. "I'm just following orders."
"I know." Rukia pushed off the blanket and squirmed off the bed, with no more consideration for Ichigo's modesty than her own. Ichigo watched her naked figure as she hunted around the room for her clothes.
"You need a light?" Ichigo asked. He didn't wait for a response before getting up and flicking the light switch.
"Ahh--thanks," Rukia said through a reflexive squint. How many hours had they been lying in the dark? Long enough to have sex twice and scroll through social media for way longer than was healthy.
Ichigo's eyes adjusted first, and he used Rukia's disadvantage to close the distance between them and wrap his arms around her naked shoulders. Despite having just left this position, Rukia melted easily back into it.
"Where are you going now?" Ichigo asked.
Rukia took a deep breath. "Home. I gotta work tomorrow, so…" She pulled out of the hug and picked up the underwear that lay at her feet.
"You could leave in the morning," Ichigo suggested as Rukia threw on a T-shirt. He began to get dressed, too; he only felt embarrassed when he was naked alone.
"I really should get going," Rukia insisted. "I'd like to sleep in my own bed, and then I'll need to shower in the morning."
"Shower here," Ichigo offered, sitting on his bed in nothing but his jeans. He knew it was a futile effort--she had been here all weekend, after all--but he couldn't help trying.
Rukia, after wriggling into her own jeans, smiled at Ichigo, placed her hand on his cheek, and kissed him again. "No," she said firmly.
"Okay," Ichigo said, deflated but resigned. "When's your day off?"
"Not till Saturday," Rukia said, picking up her socks and heading out of Ichigo's room. Ichigo meant to follow, but instead lay on his back, his arms spread out. He heard Rukia turn on the light in the living room. "Are you still coming over on Friday night?" Rukia called.
"I thought you were coming here?"
Rukia didn't answer immediately. When she spoke, it was from Ichigo's bedroom door. "I'm not," she said. "We're meeting Toshiro and Rangiku for drinks, you remember?"
"Oh, right." Ichigo tried to hide the disdain in his voice. He didn't dislike his girlfriend's friends from work, but it always took a bit of psyching up for him to hang out with them.
"You're still coming?" Rukia asked.
"Yeah, I'm still coming."
Rukia nodded. "Now where's my other earring…?" She went back into the living room.
Ichigo looked around the bed he had not gotten up from. It wouldn't be the first time an earring had made its way into his sheets in the throes of passion. However, he couldn't see them anywhere. "You want me to help you look?" he asked, as he finally got up off the bed and left his bedroom.
"It's fine," Rukia called. Ichigo walked through the kitchen, littered with takeout containers from earlier in the evening. He would have to clean all this up after she left. Rukia was sitting on his loveseat and lacing up her shoes. "Just bring 'em on Friday if you find 'em," she said. All set, she stood up, all four feet and nine inches of her mostly dressed. "I'd better head out." She closed the distance with him and offered her face the way she did when she was expecting a kiss.
Ichigo obliged. As their last kiss of the weekend, he made sure it was a good one, pressing his lips against hers for an extra few seconds, feeling her sinking into him, and pulling away just as she felt like she might want some tongue.
"Text me when you get home?" Ichigo asked. He could feel his face flushed, and Rukia's eyes shone from behind her own luminescent blush.
"I will," she promised. "Love you."
"Love you, too."
Rukia pulled away now, letting her fingers brush Ichigo's abs one last time before heading out the door. Ichigo followed behind her, and she looked over her shoulder in time for him to give her a silent wave as he shut the door behind her. It took Rukia no time to get to the parking lot out in front of his apartment, where her white Prius was parked. As she got into the front seat, she looked up to Ichigo's window. He was there, and he waved at her again.
As she drove home, Rukia was filled with an overwhelming loneliness. How can this be? she wondered. She missed him--even after they'd been together all weekend. Over forty-eight hours of anyone's company was a lot, and there'd been times when she had looked forward to this moment. And yet, now she felt sad, and alone like she never felt during the week.
Her phone went off as she was driving, but she waited until she reached a stoplight to check it. As expected, it was Ichigo.
"I'll never have enough of you <3"
She smiled, knowing that she was sharing this sad strange loneliness with Ichigo, even now. The light turned green, and she drove home.