A/N This is a story inspired by Kitsune23star's drawing called "Gender Bending". The title came from her other gender bender drawing called...you guessed it "Reversed Confusion". I'll post links to both of them on my profile since they wont show up here. I hope everyone enjoys the story and don't forget to review!

I do not own Bleach it belongs to Tite Kubo

I was only on the surface of consciousness and my body was hot causing me to sweat. Knowing the wall would be cool I tried to roll to it when suddenly I felt a burning sensation in my stomach and something restricting my movements. I groaned in pain and felt tears prick at my eyes, "Careful." A male voice warned next to me, I froze recognizing it. Slowly I opened my eyes and they locked with indigo ones only a few inches away. "Rukia?" I whispered not believing was I was seeing, he smiled, "Well good afternoon sleeping beauty I was wondering when you'd wake up." It was all the same yet different his teasing was familiar his eyes still full of mischief in his eyes but his facial features had matured and his hair was cut to his chin instead of the longer style he had worn before. Smiling I breathed a sigh of relief glad that it all hadn't been a dream. My powers were back, he was back, and he was…in my bed with me?

"Gah! Get out of my bed!" I screamed pushing against his chest, my stomach burned again and I winced wrapping my arm around my torso as if it would get rid of the pain. It was only then that I realized that I was only wearing my pajama pants and bandages wrapped tightly around my torso, "You pervert! Get away from me!" I felt a blush color my cheeks at the thought of Rukia seeing me naked and dressing me. Ignoring the pain I pushed against his chest harder but he wouldn't budge.

"Calm down Ichigo or you're going to reopen the wound." He stated sounding annoyed, he locked his arms more tightly around me to stop my squirming and I felt my face get redder when I realized he was only wearing pants. "Get out of my bed!" I screamed again, ignoring the pain in my stomach I used all of my weight and pushed against him. He tumbled off the bed dragging me with him, and we both hit the floor Rukia on his back while I landed on his chest. I groaned at the pain in my stomach and pressed my face into his bare chest to stifle the sound, "Are you alright?" He asked not moving his arms from around me, "Please just let me go." I moaned.

He ignored my requested and simply rolled over till he was on top of me with most of his weight centered on his arms "Missed you too, Baka. If we're always going to greet each other with violence then I'm just going to have to never leave you again." He stated smiling. I watched as his face came closer to mine and I subconsciously cringed away nervously, "R-Rukia what are you doing?" I stammered feeling like my heart was about to burst out of my chest. He seemed to reconsider his actions and instead his hand slowly roamed through my messy orange hair. After he apparently got bored with that he moved farther down stroking across my flamed cheek to my neck. Then his motions became even slower as his hand brushed against my breast forcing a small squeak from my lips. Rukia smirked but continued down touching his hand to my sore stomach, I gasped and he pulled his hand up showing me the blood that was smeared across his hand. "I warned you." He said reaching down and unraveling the bandage gently. My breathing became erratic the closer he got to my breast. But he didn't go any farther, instead he pressed his hand back to my stomach wound this time a little more firmly, causing me to groan in pain. "Just relax." He whispered pushing my bangs from my eyes with his other hand, and as his gaze locked with mine I felt the familiar warming sensation of healing kido. To say it wasn't painful would be a lie, it burned and throbbed but I bit my lip to keep from whimpering. We stayed like that for a few moments our eyes never wavering from the others as the kido did its work.

When he was done he pulled his bloody hand away and stood up walking out my bedroom door. I sat up and leaned against my bed and looked down at my midriff. I hadn't been able to see the wound underneath the bandages but from the pain I had felt I knew that it was pretty bad. Now all that was left to show that I had been sliced up the night before was the smeared blood which could easily be washed off, and for some odd reason I was disappointed but also relieved that there wouldn't be a scar.

Rukia walked back in the room with a wet washcloth in his hand and when he saw me sitting up he smiled tossing it to me. "Thanks." I said immediately wiping the blood off my abdomen, "By the way why didn't you kido last night instead of bandaging it?"

"Because you had only just got your powers back so your spiritual pressure wasn't that stable. I didn't want to cause any damage by adding more spiritual pressure to the mix so I dressed your wound and figured that you would be alright until your spiritual pressure stabilized and I could heal you properly. I guess this goes to show how wrong I was." I scowled up at him and threw the bloody washcloth at his face, but he caught it with ease.

"So was it you who undressed me to bind my wounds?" I asked accusingly

"Yeah, what's your point? I couldn't wrap the bandaging around your clothing the wound might have gotten infected."

"But you took off my shirt and my pants! It was my body you were taking liberties with you pervert."

"Do you really think yours is the first female body I've seen, Ichigo? Do you really think me incapable of removing your cloths and dressing your wound in a professional matter?" I blushed ashamed of my accusation, "Even if you're soft skin did feel good under my hands." He added quietly, now I was just pissed I pushed off the floor so that I could stand and give him an ear full about the proper way to treat and talk to a lady. However as soon as I was on my feet the rest of my bandage fell off revealing my chest. Rukia raised one eyebrow and smirked while I blushed deeper and tried to cover myself with my arms screaming, "Get out of my room right now!"

I stomped to my closet to grab a shirt but Rukia grabbed my and spun me around and I gasped. He held me firmly against him with my arms trapped between his chest and mine. Without hesitating he leaned down and captured my still open mouth in a kiss, his tongue darting in and exploring my mouth.

I stood there wide eyed unsure of what to do, nobody had ever kissed me before and the experience was a little awkward for me. There was none of the passion or intense feelings that I had read about in books, merely the feel of his lips against mine and his tongue roaming my mouth. I could tell he was enjoying himself by the way he pulled me closer and moaned, completely oblivious to my awkwardness.

However all awkwardness was forgotten when his tongue slid across mine causing tingles that shivered down my spine making me moan and melt into him. He pulled away slowly and looked down at me smiling, "I was hoping I'd get your first kiss, you're just as sweet and innocent as I had hoped." He stated before turning and walking out of my room, leaving me staring after him with my mouth slightly open wondering what had just happened.

With my baggiest shirt covering my torso and a sports bra in place simply to make me feel more protected I made my way downstairs. Rukia was in the kitchen cooking something and my stomach growled when the smell assaulted my nose. "Where's my family?" I asked reaching into the fridge and grabbing a carton of orange juice. "Your dad said something about Yuzu and Karin wanting to visit some aunt of yours in Tokyo. He said they'd be gone for a couple of weeks to make some rounds to your other family members that they hadn't seen in a while."

"And he's okay with you being here a lone with me for a few weeks?" I asked suspiciously knowing how my father felt about that kind of thing. "As long as I keep my hands to myself." He explained looking over his shoulder and giving me a wink. "Keep dreaming pal." I said pouring two glasses and handing one to him. "You know what they say, dream the same dream three times and it'll come true. And I have seventeen months of dreams in my arsenal." I nearly choked on my juice, "What has gotten into you? Why are you so…sexual all the sudden?" I demanded leaning my back against the counter next to him so that I could see his face. He was quiet for a moment as if trying to consider his words carefully. Then his eyes went soft and I couldn't help but feel a tug on my heart strings, "These past seventeen months have been like my own personal hell," He explained causing me to blush, "It has made me realize that I need to appreciate every moment because things can abruptly change. So I want to make sure I don't waste a single second."

"Well don't get your hopes up, I'm not that kind of girl." I stated defiantly.

"I'm confident I'll be able to change your mind with time." He said turning around with two plates of curry. Curry? For breakfast? What was he thinking? "Isn't it a little early for curry?" I asked wrinkling my nose.

"It's almost three I'd hardly call that early."

"What? How long did I sleep?"

"Hmmm let me think." He said putting the plates on the table and motioning for me to sit down. "The battle wasn't over until maybe one this morning; you passed out from your wound so I had to carry you home. You woke up in your dad's clinic screaming your head off while I wrapped your wound, and then your dad came in and gave you pain killers which knocked you right out for a few hours. After that you were going in and out for a while, I think you were semi-conscious around noon and that was shortly after your family left. You mumbled on about something to do with your mind playing tricks on you for about a half hour. I'm not so positive the pain killer your dad gave you wasn't the cause of your lunacy. But all in all I'd say that you probably slept for about twelve or thirteen hours, not including the hour or so that you were coherent."

"Thirteen hours?"

"Give or take a half hour." We were silent for a few moments while we ate, "I didn't know you could cook." I said leaning back in my chair. Rukia laughed picking up his cleaned plate and taking it to the sink, "I can't, Yuzu made this for us for the next few days. She knew you couldn't cook and she didn't want you to starve so she cooked a lot this morning and freezed half of it." I followed him into the kitchen and immediately went to work washing the dishes, "No you go sit and rest I can handle this." He said pushing me out into the living room. "It's not fair to make you clean alone." I stated, my dad may be weird but he always taught my sisters and me to be polite. "I've got it handled, you just go relax."

"You're so freaking stubborn." I huffed.

"Consider it an act of kindness." I rolled my eyes and realizing I was fighting a losing battle I turned and went to the couch. I laid down resting my head on the arm of the couch with my legs curled under me, "So do you know why my sisters got the sudden urge to go to Tokyo to see my aunt?"

"Yeah, Yuzu said something about one of your cousins finally getting back from the hospital with her new born baby and that they really wanted to see her and the child before they went back to Niigata."

"That's right I forgot all about her. Now I wish I was with them I haven't seen my cousin in years."

"Do you want to take the next train up to meet them?" He asked sitting down next to my feet. I wasn't sure but it almost sounded like he was hoping my answer would be no, and even though I was tempted to say yes I kind of felt the same way he did. Even if he was being a pervert, I still missed Rukia like crazy over the past seventeen months and now I just wanted time alone with him. Not to do anything bad! Heavens no, I was really old fashioned in the fact that I didn't want to have sex until I was married.

"No, I'd rather stay here. Besides I really can't miss any school." I don't why but on an impulse I turned my body around until me head rested on his lap. This action seemed to shock Rukia for a second, and then he relaxed stroking my hair. The rhythmic feeling of his hand in my hair was soothing and it wasn't long before I was drowsy, "Dang it, I don't know how I could be so tired." I yawned, Rukia merely chuckled and the action shook my head a little making me smile. My eye lids became heavy with sleep but I tried to fight, only to lose horribly. "Ruk?" I muttered needing to say what was on my mind. "hmm?"

"I missed you." I confessed then smiled a little at how cheesy that sounded. "I missed you too, Ichi." Pleased with his answer I let sleep take me.

I watched as her eyes slowly fluttered closed and I smiled. I didn't stop stroking her hair, it just felt too good. The day hadn't gone quite as I had planned, but this was nice none the less. My original plan had been that she would just jump and confess her love for me (Because there was no doubt in my mind that she did) and then maybe we'd romp around a bit. I shook my head realizing how stupid that sounded especially since this was my stubborn Ichigo, she'd no less confess her love for me than just strip and climb in bed with me. Damn she was right I really was a pervert, but I had missed her so much these last few months that it taught me not to take anything for granted.

After a while my leg started to go numb, so I carefully slipped out from under her and just as carefully picked her up and cradled her in my arms to get her into bed where she'd be more comfortable. Subconsciously she grabbed my shirt with one hand and I couldn't help but smile at how sweet the gesture was. It reminded me of just how innocent she was, and remembering that I mentally kicked myself as I laid her on her bed. Of course I wouldn't be able to just jump her, I was going to have to take this really slow. There was no way I was going to make her first time just about sex, she deserved romance after all the hell she'd been through.

I briefly contemplated going back down to sleep on the couch as I highly doubted I could fit in the damn closet these days, especially when it had already been cramped before. So I simply laid down next to Ichigo and she automatically responded by moving closer to me. Smiling to myself I kissed her forehead lightly and pulled the comforter over us. And wrapping my arms around her I fell asleep thinking about how I would show her just how much I loved her.

Please review!