NO VAMPIRES! Too bad for you. If you're squeamish, you shouldn't read, seriously, leave NOW. It's not like the line gets ripped out and blood squirts everywhere, but it mentions, I dunno… BLOOD a lot. Enjoy, or not.

Bleach is not mine, though my blood is. :)

BLOOD DRIVE

Blood Drive,

Karakura High School,

8:00am-4:00pm

"What's a blood drive?" Rukia asks absent mindedly on their walk home, having seen posters of it all day at school.

"Blood drive? Oh yeah, err…" Ichigo thinks of a way to explain this, backpack in one hand, holding it rather than carry it on his shoulders. "It's when humans donate blood for hospitals, so they can use it on people who need blood."

"So when people want more, they go to a blood drive and get some?" She asks with puzzlement.

"No, nothing like that." He sighs, forgetting sometimes how little things like this don't make it into Soul Reapers brains. "Hospitals get the blood after the blood drives and use them for people who've lost too much blood."

"Ah… But, how do they get it? Do they cut you and let you bleed into a bottle?"

Ichigo's about to ask if that's a real question, but the look on her face says enough. "They sick a needle in you, it runs into a tube, the blood goes into a bag…" He stops, looks at her questioning face, and sighs. "Why don't you just ask my dad, he can tell you all about it… Say you're doing a research paper or something… I dunno…"

She shrugs. "Okay."

And just like that, the conversation turns flat as they walk up the front steps to the house

---

'Where the hell is that midget?' Ichigo thinks, not hearing her come upstairs to sleep in her bed. 'It's already two in the morning, how can she be talking to dad for so long?'

The orange haired boys rolls over in bed, looking away from his alarm to get his mind off of how late it was and how cranky Rukia was going to be tomorrow.

---

"GOOOOOOOOOOD MOOORNING ICHIGO!!"

Ichigo's eyes snap open to quickly block, than punch his father in the face, mumbling some morning greeting as his father sinks to the floor, rambling how his son is now 'learned'.

A quick change into his uniform, a hello to Yuzu and Karin, a bite of toast and he's off with Ru-

"Hey, where's Rukia?" Ichigo asks, before walking out the door.

"Eh, something about seeing someone before school… Didn't really specify who…" Karin says before shoveling a mouthful of rice into her mouth.

'Hat n' Clogs?' Ichigo thinks, nodding over to Karin. "Okay than, guess I'll just meet her there." And with that he's out the door.

---

"Good morning Ichigo!" Rukia greets him cheerily as she sits next to him in her desk, holding a piece of paper out to him. "Your dad did a great job telling me all about blood drives! Look, he even signed a form for you so you could donate today with me!"

Raising an eyebrow, Ichigo takes the form with has his father's signature clearly printed, a note on the corner of how Ichigo is to take care of Rukia as they donate blood.

"Wait, what about you, don't you need one of these forms too? After all, you are only fifteen." He places an emphasis on the number, smirking at thinking of Rukia's true age.

"Oh, but of course I have one! See!" Rukia hands him hers, as he glances over the signature.

'Byakuya Kuchiki' He reads, but then noticing how the signature seems scribbled, and has little hearts around it… And was that a smiley face??

"Hat n' Clogs." He whispers to her, as she smiles back.

He shrugs, slumping in his seat. "Okay, we'll donate." He says, turning his attention to the teacher as class begins.

---

Between classes, Rukia grabs Ichigo, dragging him down to the gym where the blood drive is being held.

"Time to donate blood then, eh?" Ichigo questions, watching as the short, fiery woman drags him down.

"Yes."

"Any reason why now is the best time?"

"I'd rather not go to math." She growls. "And some kid had the nerve to tell me I wouldn't do it because 'girls are scared of needles!'" She says, transferring her voice to the school girl pep voice he's so used to.

"Wait." Ichigo says, digging his heels into the hallway as students clear for class. "Can gigai's even donate blood?"

She turns to face him, her hand still on his arm.

"Urahara says I can, he did after all sign the permission slip."

And with that, Rukia tugs on his arm and leads him again to donate blood. He smiles, shakes his head, and allows the midget to lead him.

---

"Do you two have your permission slips?" The woman behind the table asks dully, taking the permission slips they hand out to her as enthusiastically as she asked for them.

"Do either of you have blood cards?"

Ichigo now ruffles around in his pockets for his wallet, pulling it out to hand over a red and white card reading:

Ichigo Kurosaki

Blood Type: AO

"Wait, why do you have one of those?" Rukia asks, taking it from the woman as she looks it over.

"My dad's a doctor; I've donated with his permission since I can remember." Ichigo says as if to really mean 'Duh.'

"Testing's that way." The secretary says, pointing to her right, handing over two floppy books to Ichigo who passes one to Rukia, taking it silently.

Ichigo leads, Rukia looks like she's starting to get nervous, around the nurses and doctors in white coats and gloves with needles going into student's arms.

"Hey Rukia! Ichigo!" Orihime calls, waving over to them from her lying position. "Here to donate?"

"Yeah, we are actually." Ichigo slows down to talk.

"How is it?" Rukia asks; her voice slightly shaky.

"Not bad! I can't even feel it!" She smiles as Rukia's eyes follow the tube of blood into the filling bag.

"Cool, we'll join you soon." Ichigo says, picking up his pace.

"Actually, I'm almost done! Maybe I'll come keep you guys company!"

Rukia nods her head in understanding, following Ichigo to the "testing".

"Did you read the booklets?" The tester asks, Ichigo nods, handing her his book, Rukia doing the same.

"Ichigo" She whispers under her breath watching the nurse walk away with the books they have quote on quote, read. "We didn't read those, why did you let her take them! We're supposed to-"

"It just asks if you're on medication, if you've traveled, and if you've had sex. My guess is you haven't done any of those in that gigai."

Rukia blushes at the mention of the last one, swallowing down her rouge cheeks as a nurse comes over again.

"Besides, it's all on the test anyway."

"Who's first?" The girl asks almost cheerily, almost reminding Rukia of Orihime.

"She is." Ichigo says, pushing Rukia forward.

The nurse smiles. "Okay, let's get going!"

Rukia nods, looking back to glare at Ichigo for shoving her forward, before turning her attention back to the nurse.

---

Her blood pressure, pulse, and temperature were recorded as the nurse asked for her hand.

"What's this for?" She asks, looking as the nurse puts on gloves.

"Oh, just to see if your iron count is high enough!" She says bubbly, whipping off the side of Rukia's middle finger. "A little finger prick is all."

"Ah, okay." Rukia says, settling back down, relaxing.

---

"SHIT!" Ichigo hears someone swear loudly, turning his attention to where the nurse previously lead Rukia. He smiles, letting out a slight "Che." Before being lead to his own testing area.

---

"Oh sorry!" Rukia says, putting back on the mask of "Miss Perfect" so she wouldn't be suspected of such language from her fellow classmates. "I didn't think it would hurt that much! That was terrible!"

The nurse smiles. "We get it a lot, it's always the ones you don't expect that swear…"

Rukia was half tempted to erase her memory, but decided against it.

---

"Comfy?" A different doctor asks Rukia, reclining her in a chair, left arm stretched out ready to donate blood.

"Oh this is fine, thank you!" She says in a peppy voice. 'That test wasn't so hard. I didn't even look at half of them. They were 'have you been here, have you had sex with someone with, have you been here for longer than this…' She thinks proudly, before realizing that having answered "no" to all those questions probably meant she was boring… 'Good thing they didn't ask questions like 'Are you in a temporary body, have you died or been dead longer than one-hundred years…' She states again, smiling that for those ones she could answer yes.

She feels them start to rub the sanitizers on her arm, now starting to get nervous again. Ichigo is being helped recline in the chair across from her. He winks. Winks? He must know she's nervous, so she sticks out her tongue and furrows her eyebrows at him. Ichigo shrugs in return as his nurse comes back to sanitize his arm.

Rukia watches the man that's to stick a needle in her. He holds it to the light and Rukia sees him look at it, before turning his attention to her arm.

"Ready?" He asks, placing a hand on her upper arm, needle in position to bite her skin.

"Of course!" She replies cheerily, watching him easily slide the needle into the crease of her arm.

She watches as the small tube quickly fills with blood, watching the bag start to expand. "Just remember to squeeze that ball in your hands every three or so seconds? Okay sweetheart?"

She cringes at the word sweetheart. "Sure!" She says, watching him walk away to aid another donor.

'People are scared of these needles?! I hardly felt that! This is no problem!' She feels confident now, looking over to see Ichigo look a bit annoyed as his nurse repetitively pokes him, saying sorry before attempting again. He smiles at her half heartedly, as Rukia reads his lips as they form the words "It's okay, it's alright, try again, I'm sure you can do it."

She almost laughs to herself, and tilts her head to the side. The ten or so students giving blood look bored, and she watches as Orihime grab a free bag of cookies and some juice before turning to walk to her.

Rukia's eyes are closing… When did she feel so sleepy? It's okay to sleepy while giving blood, right? She closes her eyes, breathing deep. The sound is muting, almost sounding underwater. Her breathing is deep, yet shallow at the same time. When did it become so hot? Orihime is near, saying something, but she can't hear…

"Rukia! Rukia are you okay! Rukia, please wake up!"

Rukia's eyes drowsily open, looking at Orihime whose eyes are eyes wide with fear.

"Wait, what happen? Did I do it?" She asks, looking at the man bandaging her arm.

He chuckles. "No, my dear, you passed out… You had a slight seizure, and your arms bent, forcing the needle deeper into your vein… We uh… had to take you out early. So sorry…" He says, the purple gauze wrapping its way around her arm.

"Damn." She mumbles, knowing Ichigo is going to give her hell about this.

"Kurosaki-kun almost jumped out of his chair, two nurses had to hold him down from him trying to get to you!" Orihime says as the doctor now starts to put ice packs on her chest.

Rukia glances over to Ichigo. If he was trying to get out of his chair a second ago, he seemed pretty relaxed now, iPod in his ears and everything.

She feels really warm; the ice packs are helping as one is placed behind her neck.

"Here, take this, sip it every once in a while, okay sweetheart?" The doctor says, holding out a bottle of cold water.

"Thanks!" She says smiley, when really she just wants to pout that Ichigo can do just one more thing she can't.

Orihime talks her ear off, about how one day she'll be able to donate and such. Three minutes later, the "sweetheart" doctor comes back, taking the icepacks from her.

"You can get up; tell your orange haired friend you're okay." He drops her a wink as she hands him her water bottle. His attention turns to Orihime. "You can get back to class, sweetheart."

"Okay, thanks!" She says, giving Rukia a nervous glance before heading towards the exit of the gym.

"Hey Sleeping Beauty." Ichigo says, taking out one of his headphones with his free arm, still squeezing the ball in hand where blood is draining from his arm.

"Haha, funny." She says sarcastically, shaking a bit.

He frowns. "Go get something to eat, sit down, you're looking pale, I'm almost done…" Ichigo says, looking at the nearly filled bag of crimson. "I'll be there in a second."

"Okay…" She says, turning towards the snack table. And suddenly it's getting hard to put one foot in front of another, she's light headed, passing tables and chairs, and now the world is getting mute again all to quickly…

Her eyes snap open now, her hair's in her face… She's lying down? Her hearings returning, doctors' whispers are becoming yells for ice packs.

"I'm awake!" She says, trying to sit up as three pairs of hands push her back down, cold packs being put under her neck, on her chest, and down her shirt…

Her feet are being put upon a chair, looking around as the lights swirl around her.

"Do you hurt anywhere? Are you sore?" One doctor asks.

She thinks… "Underneath my chin feels funny…"

"That's because you broke your fall with your face, midget." Ichigo says, standing over her, a look of concern in his eyes. "And you crashed your face into a chair on the way down."

She grimaces at the thought, but right now she'd rather punch Ichigo though for calling her a midget.

"It's going to be at least ten more minutes until we can let her go back to class, regulations. " A nurse says to Ichigo. "Would you mind staying with her until we can release her? We don't want her passing out in the halls."

"That's fine." Ichigo says, taking a seat on the floor with Rukia, putting two fingers on her wrist.

"What's that for?" Rukia questions as Ichigo seems to be counting, doctors leaving to take care of the other students.

"Hey! Idiot! What are you-!"

"Shh!"

She pouts, but shuts her lips.

Ichigo glances at his watch, mouthing numbers before looking at her.

"I was checking your pulse, you dumb midget, you're fine. " Ichigo finishes over, lacing his fingers between hers before looking around again.

Rukia can't hide her blush now, and she thanks the higher powers that Ichigo isn't looking at her…

Nurses again rush over to her after a few moments of silence with Ichigo, doing vitals, asking questions, and finally letting her stand up with Ichigo's help as they wobbly make their way back down the hall after stealing half of the bagged cookies and juice boxes.

"You okay?" Ichigo asks, letting Rukia hand onto his arm as she seems to trip over nothing. "Yeah, I'm fine…" She drowns off.

Ichigo raises his eyebrows, already carrying both their backpacks, he sighs, picks her up like a princess and starts walking towards the nearest outside exit.

"Ichigo! Put me down! They say not to do heavy lifting after donating!" She's shrieking as they greet the sunlight.

"I'd rather you pass out in my arms or at home than at school again. With you walking the way you were, it was only a matter of time!" He says, picking up his pace to the house.

"Besides," He's panting now, carrying the two backpacks and the girl in his arms. "You're half my size; I hardly call you 'heavy lifting'."

She glares at him, but leans into his chest anyway. His heart pumps faster as he starts into a run, rounding the corner into the view of the house.

---

"Don't play with it!" Ichigo snaps at Rukia, watching her play with the gauze around her arm.

"But it's itchy!"

"Too damn bad!" Ichigo says, now itching his own bandaged arm.

"Don't play with it!" Rukia mimics him.

"Shut up! Seeing you itch made me have to!" He's now looking at her weird.

"Sure, blame me!" She says, standing up off his bed quickly, suddenly taking in a sharp breath.

"Rukia…" He says hesitantly, watching her sway on the spot, trying to keep her eyes wide but they slowly close anyway…

"SHIT!!"

Suddenly she's falling, and Ichigo's running to her to stop her from getting another bruise.

---

"Hey sleeping beauty, wake up!" Ichigo's shaking her gently.

Rukia's eyes open, again she finds herself in a world of confusion until it hits her.

"Dammit!" She curses, finding herself leaned against Ichigo, placed in his lap. "I don't understand! I fight and loose more blood than this! Yet I can't even donate half a pint without passing out!! Three times?! What's wrong with me, Ichigo!"

"Well… Uh… I think you're going to need a blood transfusion…"

"You mean… I'm going to have to have blood put back in me?!"

"Yeah."

They sit in silence, Rukia blinking at Ichigo, Ichigo just keeping her gaze.

"Will I stop passing out?"

"Yeah." He repeats.

She looks away, huffs like a little kid, folds her arms and mumbles a "fine."

Ichigo starts to pick her up, princess style again.

"What are you doing?!" She shrills at him, squirming like a fish trying to get out of his hands.

"Dad's at a convention, the only way we're getting to the hospital without you passing out is if I carry you."

She settles again, and Ichigo opens, shuts, locks the door and runs off again.

---

"You're blood type is AO?" The nurse looks at Rukia; dressed in her school uniform as she nods, sitting on the edge of the bed, now being told to lay back, handing out her unwrapped arm to get the blood transfusion.

Soon enough, Rukia is hooked up, blood starting to go into her veins, her face already returning from the pale sickly color everyone's been seeing lately.

Ichigo sighs in relief, grabbing Rukia's wrist, looking at his wrist watch after noticing the forming blue bruise under her chin. He smiles smugly before turning his attention back to her wrist.

"Checking my pulse?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup."

"Ichigo…"

"What?"

"You don't know how to take someone's pulse, do you?"

"Nope." Ichigo says, as he laces his fingers around hers.

He smiles, wondering how Rukia found out his little secret before looking at the draining bag of blood that's currently making its way into Rukia.

Blood type: AO

Donor: Kurosaki, Ichigo.

Date of Donation: January 14th

Three months ago from today, when he last donated blood. Rukia had been in the Soul Society, for her birthday.

Ichigo smiles, leaning back in his chair, his hand still connected to Rukia's. He's thinking of maybe keeping the secret…or rubbing it in her face later, along with the fact that she can't donate blood.

But for now, Ichigo just gently squeezes her hand as she feels her tighten her grip on his for just a second as they both wait for the transfusion to be over.

GEEZ! SO LONG! Hopefully the word count didn't scare anyone. But I couldn't really make this ONE SHOT a chapter thing, now could I? Based on my true events (hence I know how passing out from loss of blood is… Yet the Red Cross keeps sending me emails to donate… Mmm…) So I thought, what if that happened to Rukia? So… I did it, and this is whatcha get. Review please. I mean, if you're going to read all of this, might as well drop me a review.

Happy donating!