A/N: Hi everyone! This is my first one-shot, I hope that you like it! The plot kind of just popped into my head and I had to write it down. The whole story is from Ichigo's point of view. Enjoy and please review!

Warnings: I will reiterate the warnings, this is rated M for mild language, violence, and adult themes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Tite Kubo does. I sure wish that I did though...

I had noticed the difference in Rukia's behavior over the past week, in fact everyone had. She had been brooding and cold, not only towards me but towards everyone around her. She wouldn't talk at all, and when we would try to get her to tell us what was wrong she would snap into bitter anger.

"Kuchiki-san, what's the matter?" Inoue would ask at lunch.

"Nothing," Rukia would reply in an icy tone.

"But Kuchiki-san…"

"I told you nothing is wrong! Leave me the hell alone!" she would scream as she stormed off away from us.

She couldn't even look at me when we were alone. Walking to and from school was simply awkward silence instead of the fun and light conversation that it used to be. Every day this week when we walked home, she would just go into my closet and shut herself in there for the rest of the night. I would just leave her alone; when she was ready to talk about it she would come and tell me.

But this had been going on since Monday afternoon, and it was Friday afternoon now. I flopped onto my bed face down as Rukia holed herself up in the closet for the fifth time this week.

"Come talk to me about it when you're ready," I said to her as she slammed the door to the closet shut.

Her behavior was so bizarre. Usually she was good at either bottling up her emotions or sweeping them off to the side; this introverted and angry behavior wasn't like her at all. I flipped around on my bed to my back to stare up at my ceiling and started digging through my brain about what might have happened to her to make her so upset.

Let's see, what was she doing Monday afternoon? I remembered that we didn't walk home together; she said that she was going to go and tutor someone. Who was she going to go and tutor again? Maybe something happened there? Or what if something had happened on the way back? I pulled out my cell phone and texted Uryuu, Chad, and Inoue if they could remember who she tutored with that day, but none of them could remember. Maybe it was something that happened at school that Monday? She seemed fine Monday morning….

I spent hours going over the events of Monday and the past week in my head, only to fall into a restless sleep.

I woke up late that Saturday morning when I heard the door to the closet quietly open as Rukia snuck out of my room, probably to go and take a shower. I sat up on my bed looking over at the suit and dress that hung on the wall over by the closet. My suit was out in the open but the dress was hidden under a black plastic cover.

There was a school dance that evening that we were all going to. In fact it was Rukia that had wanted to go so badly, she spent hours convincing all of us to go, that it would be fun for us to all spend time together outside of the classroom and relax. She was really the only reason I was even going, she looked so excited when she would talk about it.

Hell, that girl could probably convince me swim across the ocean. Ever since we had gotten back from the Soul Society I realized that I had some feelings for her. More than best friends sort of feelings? I don't know, just thinking about it made me feel slightly embarrassed. I would never tell her about my feelings though, it's not like she would ever return them anyways. Besides, it didn't matter. My job was to protect her like I had since the day we met and that's what I was going to do, whether she felt the same way towards me that I felt about her or not.

It had been decided that all of our group of friends would go as one big group instead of trying to find dates. It was me, Rukia, Inoue, Uryuu, Chad, and Tatsuki all going together. I figured that it would be more fun that way anyways, and it avoided the awkwardness of having a date. I wondered if Rukia still even wanted to go. As excited as she had been last week about it, she hadn't said a word about it this week. As I thought about this she quietly snuck back into the room, her hair still wet and sticking to her face from the shower.

"Rukia, do you still want to go to the dance tonight?"

"No, I'm not going."

"Oh no you don't, you're the whole reason that we are all going. We have all already bought the tickets and spent plenty of money on the tuxes and dresses, you're going whether you like it or not midget."

"Whatever."

Damn, she didn't even really put up a fight. What is wrong with her?

"Look, you don't have to talk about whatever happened that is making you so upset. But for everyone's sake could you try to lighten up a little? I don't know; we miss you."

"What do you mean you miss me? I'm right here baka."

"You aren't acting like yourself, and frankly it's scaring me a little. I don't know what happened, but I hope that you can work through it soon."

"…"

"I'll let you know when it is time for me to take you to Inoue's to get ready."

"Ok."

A few hours passed before it was time to go. The girls were going to get ready at Inoue's apartment and all of us guys were going to go hang out at Chad's while we waited for the girls. I dropped off Rukia at Inoue's place with her dress and headed over to Chad's. It doesn't take guys long to get ready for a dance, we pretty much just get dressed. So to bide our time, we played video games.

"So Kurosaki, have you figured out what has been bothering Kuchiki lately?" Uryuu asked.

"No, not yet. All I know is that she has been acting this way ever since Monday afternoon."

"Oh yeah, I found out that the person she was tutoring that afternoon was Asano."

"Really? I wouldn't expect that. I didn't realize that Keigo studied, or even cared about school."

"Well, Kuchiki is so obliging to everyone that she probably couldn't say no to a tutoring session. Asano's grades are awful, he needs a tutor and Kuchiki gets high marks. Asano is harmless anyways, something must have happened to her on her way back to your house."

"Yeah, but I wonder what?"

Just then we had finally received a text that the girls were ready to be picked up. Damn, does it really take three hours to get ready for a stupid dance? We all put on our jackets and headed over to Inoue's house.

We all entered the house to see the girls. Tatsuki was dressed in a nice black dress that went down to her knees, she looked nice. Inoue was dressed in a fuchsia dress that went all of the way down to the floor, she looked cute. Then Rukia came around the corner and I swallowed – hard. She was dressed in an off-white dress that went to her knees, she looked beautiful. Her hair was pinned up and she wore tall heels that made her seem a lot taller, although still nowhere nearly as tall as me. I always knew that she was pretty, but damn! She even managed a small smile at me; maybe she was finally starting to feel a little better. I was glad that this dance could cheer her up a little.

We all got to the school's gym to see it decorated and the music already blaring out of the speakers. The room was dim while colorful lights moved across the dance floor and the dancers in the middle of it. If grinding can be considered a form of dancing, that is. We all decided to head over to the snack table in the corner of the gym and talk for awhile instead of dancing, which was fine be me since I can't dance anyway.

I was so relieved to see Rukia opening up again, even if it was little by little. She was starting to smile more and talk a little bit. It was all light conversation, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. Maybe this dance was just what she needed away from whatever was bothering her so deeply.

"Well hello everyone!"

"Hello Keigo," the group responded.

"So Rukia, may I dance with you during the next song?"

"No."

Everyone turned their attention to Rukia, slightly confused, firstly as to why Keigo would ask her to dance and why she would say no. It's not like she was here with a date. The icy glare that she had sported all week had returned and she grabbed my arm, slightly hiding herself behind me. Whoa, this is not like her at all; I've never seen her try to hide herself before.

Then I looked over to Keigo and saw how he was looking at her. I knew that he was a pervert but I had never seen him like this. His eyes were hooded and lustful; and he was licking his lips as he undressed her with his eyes. What the hell?

"But my sweet Rukia…"

"She said she doesn't want to dance with you. Leave." I spat coldly to Keigo as I scowled at him. I think that I was starting to figure out what was going on.

"Rukia, can I talk to you outside for a moment?" I asked her as I grabbed her wrist and nearly dragged her outside around to the back of the gym. "Tell me what happened on Monday afternoon Rukia."

"Nothing happened."

"Bullshit, something happened. Ever since you tutored Keigo on Monday you've been distant and gloomy. I saw the way he looked at you, he watched you like a piece of meat. And I have never seen you back down from anything before like you just did. Please just tell me what happened."

Rukia looked away from me as she crossed her arms over her chest, but I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. I stepped over to her, wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my chest.

"Please Rukia. I'm really worried about you," I said hoping that she didn't hear the waver in my voice. It was killing me to see her so sad like this, it broke my heart. I could feel her silently crying as her shoulders shook and her tears created wet spots in my dress shirt. She pulled away from me and stared at me, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"Can we sit down?" she asked me.

Instead of answering her verbally, I guided her over to the wall on the outside of the gym to sit against. She began to shiver in the cold night air, so I took off my jacket and placed it around her shoulders as we sat down. It wasn't a very warm jacket but I hoped that it would help keep her warm.

We sat down as tears still streamed down her face. I grabbed her hand and entwined her fingers with mine as I waited for her to speak.

"I did go to Keigo's house on Monday afternoon. He asked me earlier in the day if I could help him with his math homework and I said yes. When I got to his house we sat in the living room and he got me a glass of water. I took a sip of it, but it tasted funny. He told me to drink the whole glass, but instead I pretended to drink it and dumped the rest of it in a plant sitting near me.

About ten minutes later I started to feel dizzy and lightheaded. The next thing I knew I was waking up in Keigo's room and...he was….touching me…and…"

"Rukia, did he rape you?"

"No, but I think that he was going to, when I woke up I pushed him off of me and I just ran out of the house," she said as she burst back into tears. I held her close to me to try and comfort her. I didn't feel sad anymore though; all I felt was pure anger. Keigo was as good as dead. I was going to kill the bastard myself. I knew that he was a pervert, but I had no idea that he was such a sick and twisted freak. How dare he do this to her! No wonder she had been so upset over the past week, she really needed to see a counselor to help her get through this.

After she was done crying, I tried to hide my anger from her. I didn't want her to think that I was angry at her, because I wasn't. Keigo however was going to be buried six feet underground when I was done with him.

"Are you ready to go back inside? I'll bet that everyone is waiting for us," I asked as I ran my fingertips through her hair, pushing it away the tendrils that had fallen down from her face and behind her ear. She nodded yes and I placed a kiss on her forehead. Did I really just do that? I don't know; it just seemed like the natural thing to do. What has gotten into me today?

Rukia handed me back my jacket as we walked back inside hand in hand and looked around for our friends. We found them all dancing on the dance floor and we decided to join them. Not that it was really dancing, we all just kind of moved to the rapid, pounding beat of the music. Rukia was facing me and was beginning to look happy again, I think that it helped her to tell me what happened. She looked like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, and it looked like she was really trying to have fun now.

After a few minutes, the music changed to a slower song. As I was about to start walking off of the dance floor back to the snack table the midget nearly tackled me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders and neck. I guess that this was her strange way of asking me to dance. I placed my hands on her hips and my face into her hair, smiling into it and trying to hide the blush that I could feel creeping up onto my face. We swayed somewhat awkwardly for awhile, but dancing with her felt…nice. Maybe going to this dance wasn't such a bad idea at all; I should give these dances more of a chance.

"May I cut in?" I heard a voice behind me ask. I could feel my eyes turning red with anger. Rukia flinched a little and tightened her hold of me.

"No," she said to the voice behind me.

"Oh come on now, Ichigo can't just hog you all night," he said as he grabbed Rukia's arm. She pulled out of his grasp quickly as I punched Keigo square in the jaw. After he hit the floor I could hear the screams of some of the girls and everyone stopped dancing and started backing away from the scene.

"You think that it's ok to drug people and molest them you disgusting bastard?" I screamed at him while I punched him again after he got up.

"You leave her and every other girl the hell alone! I never want to see you even looking at another girl ever again, especially not my girl!" I screamed as I kicked his bloodied limp body lying on the ground; he was clearly unconscious at this point.

I felt Chad grab a hold of me and pull me away from the filthy pig, trying to keep me from inflicting death on him like I wanted to, the death that he deserved. I struggled against him, trying to wrestle myself out of his iron grip.

"Ichigo, you need to stop!" I could hear Rukia yell at me, tears streaming down her face again.

"No, I'm going to kill him!"

"No, please stop! I don't want to you go to jail!" she yelled as she wrapped her arms around my chest again, crying. I was torn, I felt really guilty that I had let her see all of this violence, but I felt good that I had hurt Keigo after what he had done to her.

I stopped struggling against Chad and he let me go. Rukia cried harder into my chest as Keigo lay bloody and unconscious on the ground, the crowd having watched the whole event.

"Let's just go home Rukia, ok?"

She simply nodded her head into my chest and I guided her out of the door. I placed my jacket back onto her shoulders as she wiped away the tears from her eyes, mascara running down her face in heavy grey streaks.

"I'm sorry that I put you through that Rukia, I hope that you'll forgive me."

"It's alright Ichigo, Keigo got what he deserved. I'm glad that you beat him up. I was just… surprised at the violence that you inflicted on him. I have seen you take down monsters before, but not with that look in your eyes. It scared me a little, that's all."

"I'm sorry that I scared you; I don't know what came over me back there."

"Again, it's okay, so don't worry about it. Thank you for standing up to Keigo for me Ichigo," she said as she took my hand in hers. We walked home in a comfortable silence.

When we got to the house she headed into my room as I went straight into the shower to wash the dried blood off of my arms and hands. I felt a lot better after defending Rukia. It was my job to protect her and I was simply carrying out that duty.

I walked back into my room, the lights all turned off. Rukia was sitting on her bed in the closet after cleaning herself up as well. She had washed all of the makeup off of her face and had changed into her pajamas for the night. It was already past midnight.

"Ichigo, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, shoot."

"My girl?" she asked with a questioning look on her face.

"Uh, yeah, again, I don't really know what came over me back there…" I muttered as I felt my cheeks turn red and I scratched the back of my neck in embarrassment. Thank goodness it was still dark in my room.

"No kidding, seeing as I'm damaged goods now anyway…" she said as she pulled up her knees to her face, hiding the tears that were threatening to spill out again.

"What are you talking about Rukia? You're not 'damaged goods', don't you dare ever think of yourself like that," I said as I crossed the room to sit next to her on her bed.

"Why shouldn't I think of myself like that? Who's going to want me after I've been molested?"

"That's bullshit and you know it," I said to her as I put my hand on her cheek. She gazed up at me with sincere and confused eyes. I wanted her damn it! I had to show her that, so I pulled her face towards mine and I kissed her.

The kiss was slow and sweet, it took her a few seconds of shock and confusion before she kissed me back. Her lips felt so soft and tasted so sweet, what had I been waiting for? I ran my tongue across her lips asking for entrance that she granted. I slipped my tongue into her mouth and slowly explored. She tasted amazing, sweet like honey. After a few minutes we pulled away from each other. I was panting hard and I felt as though my heart was going to beat right out of my chest.

"I want you Rukia. You're not damaged goods at all. You're smart, kind, beautiful and sexy. I love you Rukia," I said nervous and turning redder by the second. Did I really just say that out loud? How was she going to respond? Was she going to reject me?

Rukia smiled at me and encircled her arms around me again, pulling me into a tight hug that I returned gratefully.

"I love you too Ichigo."

We sat in her closet in each other's arms for a long time. Eventually we pulled away from each other. I grabbed her hand entangling her fingers with mine as I lead her out of the closet.

"What are you doing Ichigo?"

"Come on, you're sleeping in my bed with my tonight midget."

I pulled her over to the bed and lifted the covers, and we both got under them together. I faced her back and she faced away from me. I nuzzled my face into her hair and wrapped my arm around her as we fell asleep peacefully, no longer sad and no longer afraid.

Let me know if you liked it! -Kin'iro No Tenshi