Disclaimer: I don't own bleach

A/N: Excuse me from my bad English "

Chapter One:

Aizen Sousuke,-defeated by the gang, Bayakuya's still in recovery form and everyone else is just trying to clean up the messes the battles left behind. The captains were having a meeting, and a situation they must discuss, is obviously what will happen to Rukia.

"Anyhow, Rukia Kuchiki will be excused from her execution due to the many shinigamis who all vote for her to be released" says Yamamoto, the 1st division captain. Rukia's eyes were widening at the fact that she doesn't have to be executed, but frowns when she hears a certain retards voice come up. "For sure you can't execute her again, if you do, I'll just crash down your stupid little soul society once again" ah, yes, it was Ichigo and his hot headed temper problems again. "Yes, I know, calm down Kurosaki kun, now Rukia, I will grant your shinigami powers back, but in return, you have to answer me a question" the 1st division is now staring down at Rukia waiting for her to say something, but since she's not saying anything, he continues. "If you decide to stay in soul society, you will be replacing Kaien's spot as the13th squad vice-captain, if you do not wish to say in soul society, you can go back to the human world with Kurosaki and perform you duties like he does, but you will have a gigai made by the soul society is you choose to go there, meaning that even if you're there, we can track you down by your gigai" "But I…" she was stuttering, not knowing how to answer. "You don't need to answer me know Rukia, I will give you three days, after the 3 days, I want you to give me an answer, and you, Kurosaki kun, you and your friends can stay here for 3 more days until Rukia comes up with an answer", "whatever" (ichigo was started to get bored of this so called "formal" meeting) And as he answers, the meeting was over and everyone was starting to leave.

As Rukia was about to walk out the door, she hears someone call for her.

"Oi, Rukia" Ichigo runs up and grabs her by the arm. "You want to walk around and just…talk?" She looked up at him, surprised to see his non-frowning face. "Sure" she simply replied while looking away, I can't look at him, if I do, then I'll have to give him an answer..right? so if I just look away…

The two walked over to so forest place beside a lake, and sat down. They were silent for a few moments, and Ichigo broke it.

"So, you going to stay, or come with us?" his voice shaking a little 'omg, why the hell is my voice sounding shaky? God, its only Rukia, get a grip!" (yes, in his mind, he was fighting with himself, he snapped back to reality when he heard Rukias voice)

"I'm not sure. it's a hard choice, what do you think I should do?" She turned and looked at him, and at that moment, their eyes met, she did want to go with him back to the human world, she liked it there, it was, peaceful there, she liked being with him and feeling protected by him, but she was worried, worried that he didn't like her to stay with him thinking he must think she's annoying since at first she just barged into his world without saying a word.

"What do I think? It's your choice, why ask me" Ichigo looked away, unable to look at her. Goddammnit, just tell her you want her to stay with you, just tell her you can't fckin live without her, ichigo you little asshole, say something damn it. But no words was coming out of his mouth, guess he's just too busy talking to himself in his head

"Do you…do you want me to go back with you? Or do you want me to stay…" ok that is it rukia, you lived over 50 years without having any trouble with anything and now, you're having trouble with saying what you want to say? Ok that's it, he came to rescue me right? If he doesn't want me back there, why bother coming after me? Just say it, just say it!

And yes, she finally found the guts to say it. " I, want to go back with you, but, I just…don't know if you like it, I mean, you get annoyed at me, I just barged into your life without saying a word, I, practically made you meet death over un-countable times, I just…"

she stopped without finishing her sentence when she feels a hand over hers and pulling her into a very warm body, she was stunned, if it was anyone else she would of beat them up by now, but, this is different, it's..Ichigo.

"Ichi…"

"shut up idiot"

her eyes widened, and pushed him away, "what the hell did you just call me you little.."

"I said shut up!" he face looked furious, is he mad? Is it something I said?

He looked back at her, into her eyes, "stop blaming yourself for everything damn it, you didn't force me to save you, I came to save you because I wanted to, because I had to.

A puzzled looked starting forming on her face. Because he had to?

"Rukia, it's just not the same without you, I mean yes, it annoys me when we have arguments and fights, but it annoys me even more when you're not there to call me a idiot, a retard or whatever, and don't think that there's no place for you there, because there is, if there wasn't a place for you there you wouldn't of been there in the first place!"

shock just, overtook her, " I never thought - "

"you never thought what?" he just had to cut her off. "I want you to come back with me Rukia, I want you to be there in my closet every time I wake up in the morning, I want to see you everday, I just want – "

ah yes, this time, it's him who gets cut off, but not by words, but by action, Rukia wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his broad shoulder.

"I'll go back with you" she whispered in his ears

his face, was starting to have a tiny flush of pink over it, but she quickly turned his head just so she won't see it. "Ok, then lets go tell Yamamoto, and lets tell him to get the gate opened by tomorrow" he stood up and started walking while Rukia was just, sitting there.

"you coming or not?" he said over his shoulders

"arg! Wait up you idiot" she got up and started running after him

"hah, as if you can catch me"

and yea, they were acting like gr.2's running around playing tag on the way to find Yamamoto.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without knocking, Ichigo just barged into the 1st squad captains room, Rukia was here yet because she couldn't catch up to him.

"Ah, Kurosaki Kun, what can I do for you?" asked Yamamoto

"Oh yes , ah…" he looked behind him, Rukia wasn't there, but he soon heard her foot steps.

She walked in the room, trying to catch her own breath, "Ichigo you cheater, you were suppose to run, not leap off the building tops"

"Hi there Rukia" she looked up at Yamamoto, she didn't noticed him there before, so now, giving him a big bow, she said "Hi Yamamoto Taichou"

Ichigo continued with his unfinished statement, coughs "as I was saying, Rukia, made her choice" he looked back at her, "right?"

She simply nodded and looked at the captain, when her mouth was about to say something, Yamamoto cut her off, "You choose to leave with Kurosaki Kun, am I right?"

Why are captains always acting all smart like as if they know what your thinking --' She murmured to herself. "ah..yea.."

Yamamoto laughed, "I guessed it when I first asked you to choose, I knew you would choose to leave with Kurosaki kun, I mean, how can you not after all the things he did just to get you back" He gave ichigo a smirked, and for some reason, Ichigo felt like his cheeks were reddening.

"Tomorrow morning, I will open up the gate to the human realm for you and your friends, and Rukia, the body you're in right now is already a gigai by the soul society, so you can just leave in that, but, the two of you must either each have a glove, so you can get each other into your shinigami forms, or you each must have soul candy along with you at all times."

"I'll stick with the glove" said Ichigo, "those souls in the soul candies just aren't trust worthy"

"haha, ah yes, that happens sometimes, ok then Kurosaki Kun, here's your glove" Yamamoto said as he handed Ichigo a glove identical to the one Rukia has.

"thanks" Ichigo simple said, and he turned around and started to walk out the door with Rukia. When they were out of sight, Yamamoto said to himself "Take care Rukia, I know Kurosaki kun and you will do a great job of protecting people from the hollows in the human realm."

----------------------------------------------------

They were back, in front of the Kurosaki clinic, it didn't take them long go get back, because this time, there was no stupid train thing trailing after the 6 of them on their way back. Ishida insisted on walking Inoue home, and Chad just left without a word, and Yoruichi said she was going to Urahara's place, leaving, the two in front of the Kurosaki clinic.

"Oi ichigo, you have to go in and open the window, it's closed" she pointed at the closed window as she talks

"You don't have to go in by the window, Isshin, Karin and Yuzu are on a trip to some hot spring resort thing and they won't be back until next week" as he finishes, he pulls her by the arm and walks towards the front door.

"Rukia, I'm hungry, mind getting me something?"

"yes I do mind, go get it yourself you lazy ass" then she walks over to the kitchen and grabs a pack of chips and walks away from him

he was now glaring at her. "ah-hem… MY chips?"

Rukia rolled her eyes, "c'mon Ichigo, you don't want me to die from hungry after all you did just to save my life"

I could never win her in any kind of verbal fight…Ichigo thought "fine whatever, I'll just grab the stuff myself, you're just going to get fat sitting there eating and not even bothering to walk to the kitchen"

"Unlike you, I'm not going to get fat, I'm in a gigai, remember?" She smirked when she saw steam coming from the top of his head.

Ichigo then plopped down onto the sofa beside Rukia, and turned on the TV, it was set on the weather channel, and the weather lady was saying: "Tonight we're going to have a wind storm, so it is going to be rather cold, it will be below 0 degrees Celsius outside, so remember to close your windows before you sleep."

"Oi Rukia, you might want to grab a thicker shirt from Yuzu's closet, it's going to be cold."

"I'm not afraid of the cold" she simply retorted, then she walked up the stairs and headed to the washroom to shower.

"She never encountered cold, has she" Ichigo looked dumbfounded sitting on the sofa staring at the stairs.

Rukia was done shower, she was sitting on Ichigo's bed peacefully drawing, and then Ichigo walked in from his shower. "Hey, if u want to draw, get off my bed and sit on the floor"

"Ok, just wait, I'm almost done" she exclaimed, Ichigo was trying to take a peek at what she was drawing, but she quickly turned around not letting Ichigo see what she was drawing.

"Oi, what the hell are you drawing?"

"wait, I'll show you when I'm done" for some odd reason, she seemed, excited in finishing her drawing so she could show Ichigo.

"I'm done!" she held up her drawing, it was a drawing of a chibi Ichigo holding his Zenpankutoh, having it lean on his shoulders, with little "what the hell" Ichigo thought, with little bunnies with smiley faces surrounding him.

"just what the hell is that Rukia"

"It's you! And your Zenpankutoh, and Chappy's! Here" she handed him the drawing, "It's a little present, to thank you, for saving me" ok, now, she was blushing, and she knew she couldn't hide it from him.

Ichigo was smirking, he noticed the obvious red color on her face. "That's all I get for saving you? Shouldn't I get a little more?"

"like what?" she looked like as if she was about to punch him for not appreciating her drawing

"Like this-" and as Ichigo said that, he leaned in towards Rukia, and placed a short, yet gentle, and warming kiss on her lips.

Ok, now she was blushing furiously. And just to get out of the "embarrassing" situation, Ichigo quickly said, "Oi, hurry and go to bed, it's getting late"

Rukia just nodded and quickly headed towards the closet, as she opened the closet door, she noticed something was missing.

"Ichigo, where's Kon?"

"Meh- Yuzu probably took him and put him in some girly dresses and threw him in her stuff animal collection, we'll just look for him tomorrow"

"ah…ok, goodnight" Rukia went into the closet, and closed the door, now..she thought..why did he do that? The things he did, what does it mean? The hugging while we were in soul society…that kiss just now…no it's not a kiss….ahh, okkkkkk , it is a kiss…what does it mean? She wanted to keep thinking, but sleep came and overtook her, and she fell asleep.

Shortly after she fell asleep, she woke up again, why? Well, she was freezing, Ichigo was right , it is cold tonight. Rukia slid open the closet door a little, she looked over at Ichigo to make sure he was asleep, she wanted to go to Yuzu's closet to get a sweater or anything that's warm, so she stepped out of the closet quietly, trying not to wake up Ichigo, but then…

"Oi Rukia, where are you going?" Ichigo turned around, showing some kind of evil smile on him. "Hah, I told you it would be cold, I knew you couldn't stand it"

"Shut up, I'm not that cold, I was just going to... go to the washroom, yea, that's it! The washroom" she had some kind of pathetic look on her face, and it seemed like the words I AM LIEING was carved all over her face

"Yea right" Ichigo got up, and walked over to Rukia, his big hand grasped her tiny hand.

"You're freezing Rukia, you feel like an ice-pack"

"Shut up, you- achoo" Ok, she couldn't lie about it anymore, she was seriously about to freeze to death.

"O yea, Ms. I'm Soooo warm, psh Rukia, you are pathetically sad at lying" Ichigo picked her up in his arms, and started walking over to his bed..

"What the hell are you doing!" Rukia was feeling absolutely out of place on one hand, wanting to have him put her down, but on the other hand, she feels warm his way, she doesn't want him to let go of her.

"Just be quiet will you? It's 2:00 am already" saying that, she laid her down on his bed, then crawls in himself, and pulls the covers over the both of them.

"Ichi-" He placed his hand on top of her mouth as she was about to talk, trying to make her shut up.

"Just shut up already" he murmured, he seems tired, and sleepy, not wanting to talk anymore and just wanting to sleep, peacefully. "If you want to talk, talk tomorrow ok? For now, just sleep, if not for your own sake, then for my tired soul's sake"

saying that, he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her closer to her, keeping her warm while he falls asleep.

Rukia's eyes were still wide, as she thought why is he doing this? What is this stupid feeling I'm getting…… ah, whatever..at least, now, I'm warm.

"I feel like I'm hugging onto an ice-pack, seriously Rukia, next time you should really listen to me" after he whispered this, he buried his head in her soft hair, and fell asleep.

"As if you ever listened to me, you reject everything I say.." she whispered into his ears, as she closed her eyes, and buries her face in his shoulder.

His eyes were closed, but he wasn't asleep. "I rejected what you said back then, because I needed to protect you, from now, until…" With that, he fell asleep, not finishing his answer, Rukia simply thought did he left off there because he didn't want to finish his statement or was he just too tired? No matter which way it was, she was glad to hear what he said, glad to know he wanted to project her, or make that even needed to project her. She knows Ichigo won't live for her, but for some weird reason, he'll die for her. The same goes for her, she knows she can die for him, but live for him? That's another story.

Rukia's thoughts traced off, and soon, sleep took over her and she slowly could feel her eyes shutting.

The next morning….

Rukia's eyes slowly opened to see Ichigo's face right in front of her. She took a peek at the clock, and it read 6:00 am, she thought it was about time she gets back into the closet since she thought Yuzu is probably going to come in to wake Ichigo up. So she slowly slipped her hand away from Ichigo, being very careful not to wake him up. Rukia was quite successful with that part, but here comes the hard part, Ichigo's hands were still wrapped around her waist, so she figured it's hopeless, so why not just wake him up? He has to wake up sometime today anyways, so why not now.

Rukia lightly tugged on a loose strand of Ichigo's bangs, he murmured something, but she couldn't make out the words, so she simply tried a few more times, but no. He wouldn't wake up; this was getting on her last nerves, so she kicked him in the stomach really hard and yelled.

"Ichigo you lazy asshole, wake up!"

Because of her screechy voice, and the pain in his stomach area, he finally woke up, and was pretty mad too.

"Rukia, what the hell is your problem? It's six in the morning and you kick me just to wake me up? You could of just called my freaking name you dumbass!"

"Well, I did, except someone was too busy dreaming to even notice!"

Ichigo couldn't figure a way to retort back at her, so he choused to give up, or maybe he'll just deal with this later, when he's 100 awake.

"Fine, whatever, what do you want so early in the morning anyways?"

"I have to get back in your stupid closet before Yuzu comes in!"

"What the hell? That's it? You woke me up because of that? You could have just got out of the damn bed and went there yourself!"

Rukia was seriously getting pissed off this time. "I would if you didn't have your arms around me!"

For a second there, the two didn't talk, was it embarrassment? Probably... yes.

"Wait a second, I thought I told you they're on a trip, yesh, now just get bac- "He was cut off at some sudden noises he heard…… it was Yuzu.

"Ichigo! What were you saying about the tri-" She couldn't finish her sentence, right when Ichigo heard Yuzu turn the door knob he quickly shoved Rukia's face into the pillow, he sat up pulling his blanket along with him so Yuzu won't be able to see the shape of Rukia's body under it.

"Ichi-nii? What was all the sound you're making?" Yuzu had so suspicious look on her face, as if she knew someone was in his room.

"Oh, um, that..it's nothing! I...was...ugh….talking in my dreams! Yeah, that's what it was!" Ichigo felt like a total retard, he simply thought about how anyone would believe something like that.

"Oh…ok, well get changed soon, breakfast's almost ready"

"Ah, wait! Yuzu, I thought you guys were going to come back next week"

"Isshin decided to come back early since he thought the clinic shouldn't be closed for too long" and with that, Yuzu closed the door behind her and walked out the room.

"Phew, that was too close for comfort" Ichigo said in a very relieved manner, then, he heard some murmuring under his covers, and at that moment, it felt like a baseball just came flying at his face. His hand was still on Rukia's head stuffing her face into his pillow! So he quickly let go and yanked her up into a sitting position.

"You moron, were you trying to suffocate me or what?" Rukia was furious, for the past 5 minutes, she could hard breath with her face stuffed in that stupid pillow.

"No, it was just an accident, god, no need to get all pissed off about it, if I didn't do that Yuzu would see you" He tried hard to explain in a calm manner, but the fact that Rukia was so mad for such a little thing was kind of getting on his nerves.

"Well, next time, just remember to get me to go back in the closet earlier" She looked away, trying to calm herself down from the frustration.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, and stuck his face right in front of Rukia's. "Next time eh? So there'll be a next time?" He was practically smirking at the expression on Rukia's face, she looked like she was about to turn beat red, but its Rukia, even if was she was about to, she wouldn't show it.

"No, I didn't mean it that way you idiot!" She slapped him on the head. "I was just saying...like…oh whatever! Just forget about it" She once again turned her head so she didn't have to see Ichigo's stupid smirking.

"What ever you say Rukia" he knew what she meant, but figured that enough tormenting her for now.

"Hey I'll go down to get breakfast ok, you can just…keep sleeping for a while I guess" After saying that, he got off the bed and head out the door.

---------

A few moments later he came up with a toast and a cup of orange juice for Rukia. She quickly finished in silence, and not long after Ichigo started talking again.

"Hey, get changed, we're going to the park"

"Huh, park…why are we going there?" Rukia was tried, she didn't feel like going anywhere for the day, but in her mind she was pretty much thinking if it's time with Ichigo alone, she can bare with her tiredness for a bit longer.

"Ishida phoned, he said he had something important to tell us, thought nothing he says is important, we'll just go anyways, I mean, it's not like we got anything better to do."

Rukia simply nodded and went in the closet to change. She came out wearing one of Yuzu's rather prettier dresses, it was pink.

Once she stepped out of the closet, Ichigo laughed and over hysteric laugh. "Haha Rukia, I think this is the first time I every saw you wear girly colors" He continued laughing as if he couldn't stop, but Rukia always had ways to deal with him, she picked up a book that was lying on the floor and chucked it at his head. Though she was aiming for his forehead, it hit him square in the face.

"WTF Rukia? What was that for?"

"For laughing at me" She gave him one of those ' you-ever-do-anything-like-that-again-I'm-going-to-kill-you looks '

"Ok whatever, we better get going, Ishida's going to start nagging at us if we're late" Ichigo simply said that just so Rukia would stop the glaring and stuff, but its not like it was a lie, Ishida does love to nag at people just because they're late.

"Ok, I'll meet you at the park entrance" And with that, Rukia walked over to the window and jumped out.

To Be Continued……