Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for Beta'ing!

Definitions of Love II — What Is Love?

"Hey Ichigo, what is love?"

Rukia sat at his desk, her legs folded in her lap and her pencil between her teeth as she stared at the blank paper laid out in front of her. Since her pencil was in between her light pink lips, her hands were free to twist her hair between them, and when Ichigo looked over from his book, Rukia smiled innocently.

"Huh? Love ... well, didn't you like ... love your parents or siblings?"

"I don't remember my parents. I was a baby when I went into the Soul Society," Rukia said. Ichigo sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Then ... what about your friends while you were growing up?"

"Like Renji?"

"Guess so."

Ichigo rolled his eyes again and went back to his magazine, somehow, deep in his heart, he hoped her answer was no.

"I dunno. I might have. Define love for me, Ichigo."

"Fine. Love is ... Lemme grab the dictionary, Rukia; I don't know, really, how to put it into words."

Rukia nodded and stood from her seat, her bare feet scraping across the carpet as she followed Ichigo to the bookshelf. He sighed and flipped the pages around, trying to find the one he had landed on only few days before while doing his own report. Their teacher made everyone who was late do a report on love; Ichigo had a feeling she had a real lack of a love life herself, and that was why she liked to live through the lives of all her students.

"Here it is. There are four, I'll read 'em: 1) A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness. 2) A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance. 3) To have a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person. 4) To experience deep affection or intense desire for another. That answer your question?"

"Kinda? First off, what do ineffable and underlying oneness mean? Second, I have never had an 'Emotion of sex and romance', and I do not have an intense desire for anyone."

Ichigo laughed. "Whatever. Just write about a friend or someone and call it love."

"Can I write about you, then?"

"Huh?"

Ichigo coughed a few times and turned his gaze from Rukia's to hide the blush on his face. Rukia sighed and asked again, "Can I write about you?"

"Why would you want to do that?" Ichigo asked, burying his face in his magazine. Rukia shrugged, her black hair bouncing slightly at the motion. Her pencil dropped from her lips and into her hand as she scraped the eraser absently across the paper a few times.

"You said to write about a friend and call it love, so can't I love you?"

Ichigo's face was bright red a he looked over at Rukia; she had no idea how much he wanted to believe what she had just said.

"I don't know. Can you?"

Suddenly, the conversation had nothing to do with her report. Ichigo's blush had slowly faded and he was now staring into her eyes. She blinked innocently a few times, then bit her lip, turning away from him again. Ichigo mentally slapped himself. Why had he asked that? He would never get an answer from her.

"I don't know."

There was an awkward silence in the room. Only the sound of the pages in the dictionary flipping shattered the silence. Ichigo's ears were red and his mind was no longer focused on his book. When Rukia's voice floated through the room again, Ichigo dared to look up a little.

"We're friends, right?"

"Yeah. Of course we are."

"Is there a way to be more than friends ... without being lovers?"

Ichigo's mouth opened, but then he snapped it shut again. Was there? Sure, he and Rukia seemed to have a bond that was more than friendship, but neither had ever mentioned crossing the line to lovers. Amber eyes stared into violet, and Ichigo's heart sped up.

"I ... I think so."

"Can we? Because ... well," Rukia paused and blushed a little. "I ... I feel different around you then I did around anyone I've ever known. Nii-sama, Renji, my friends ... anyone. It's weird. Every time I see you fight, I feel like my heart is swelling in my chest with worry and ... something else. When you smile, which, by the way Ichigo, isn't very often, I feel like smiling, an-"

Ichigo cut her off as he gently laid his rough palm on her face, staring into her eyes. She was suddenly aware of how close he had gotten, and her heart sped up when he reached down and kissed her softly. When he pulled back, he was both smiling and blushing. Rukia's eyes were wide and her fingers reached up to dance over her lips; she could still feel the kiss lingering on them.

"Wanna be more than friends?" Ichigo asked, smirking as his hand slid from her face. Rukia didn't answer verbally, but instead, she reached up and kissed him again. It was a little clumsy, because neither knew quite what they were doing, but when she pulled back this time, she was smiling.

"Yes?"

"Good."

Ichigo backed up a little and picked up his book.

"So, can I write my report about you?" Rukia asked, her pencil making its way back between her pink lips. Ichigo smirked.

"Whatever."

I swear I was not going to do another one to the Definitions Of Love story, but this idea came to me, and I just had to write this. : D I am really wondering what people thought of this, because personally, I don't think it'll ever live up to the first.

Please Review!