I wrote this in like five minutes...actually just kidding. Not my best writing but I'm a little rusty so don't be too harsh on the reviews, I'm delicate.

I do not own Bleach, though I wish I did because I'd be rich as hell...


"Hey everyone...welcome to today's class! I'm glad so many of you could make it. Today we'll be doing more self defense and working on a few new kicks that I haven't really gone over yet. But first...I'd like to introduce everyone to Ichigo, a former student of mine that has come back to the dojo after a few years overseas in the military and fighting professionally."

And that was when Rukia first saw him. Ichigo Kurosaki. He stood in front of her martial arts class, hands in his pockets, looking bored and totally uninterested in what was going on. He wore black fighting pants with yellow lines down the sides and a plain black shirt. He had tan skin, and his arms were heavily corded with muscle. The way he was standing, how he carried himself, how he looked carved out of pure muscle...reminded Rukia of the fighters she watched on TV during the major martial arts tournaments. The thing that really caught her eye though, was his hair. It was short, but very unkempt and very spiky. And it was orange. She had never in her life seen orange hair like that before.

"God...he's so hot." Her friend, Rangiku, said quietly from her left.

"I know! Oh the things I would let him do to me..." Momo said from her right, looking dreamily at the newcomer.

Rukia felt her cheeks getting hot. She wasn't going to admit it, but she was thinking the same thing. She looked around at the rest of the class nervously. She would absolutely die of embarassment if everyone knew what she was thinking. She was having difficulty keeping her eyes off of this Ichigo. Not only was he handsome...but the way he just stood there totally aloof, totally uninterested in what was going on...she couldn't help but be attracted to him. Desperately trying to cool off and lose some of the redness in her cheeks, she tried her best to concentrate on what Ukitake-sensei was saying, and not on this hot new stranger.

"Ichigo is here to help me for awhile, so feel free to ask him any questions you might have. He's fought against some of the best fighters in the world, so put his knowledge to good use and better yourselves with it."

And with that the class began. They started with stretching as usual, with Ukitake-sensei leading everyone. Ichigo just lounged in the corner of the dojo against the wall, smoking a cigarette, and looking just as uninterested as before. Rukia had thought there was no smoking allowed in the dojo, but Ukitake-sensei didn't say a word to him about it. After stretching, they went into kicks. Then they sparred for awhile. Rukia fought Momo, Rangiku, and Nemu interchangeably at different times, doing fairly well against all three. She didn't like to brag, but she was easily one of the best female students at the dojo, only surpassed by Tatsuki and maybe Momo if she was having a good day.

After she finished with her sparring, she sat and stretched, watching the men finish up. Ikkaku and Renji were beating the hell out of each other as usual. Ukitake-sensei broke them up what seemed like every ten seconds, giving them tips but mostly telling them to calm down. Toshiro and Izuru fought each other at a brisk pace, occasionally stopping to offer the other some advice. Hanataro and Ganju sat on the mat doing cooldown stretches.

"Man...I fought terrible today. I was too distracted by this sexy new teacher, Ichigo. Even his name sounds hot." Rangiku said, making it blantantly obvious she was staring at him.

"Yeah...I'm definitely getting fucked by him in the near future." Momo said

"Cut it out you two! Especially you Momo! At least keep your voice down." Rukia said, looking around to see if anyone heard.

"Oh please Rukia, you have no room to talk...you've been undressing him with your eyes for the last hour. Don't think we haven't noticed, you little pervert." Momo said, causing the sweltering heat to return to Rukia's cheeks.

"I have not! Besides...he...he hasn't even done any teaching, just sat in the corner the whole time...sm...smoking." Rukia replied, stammering in embarassment.

All three fell quiet when they saw Ukitake-sensei was approaching. The men had finished up and were all shaking hands and patting each other on the backs. Ichigo sat and watched, cigarette hanging from his mouth, expression unreadable. Rukia made every effort not to look at him at all, to avoid further teasing from her two friends. All three girls stood up and bowed to their sensei when he reached them, and he returned the gesture before speaking.

"Great job today girls. Tomorrow I'm teaching some new self defense moves so it'd be awesome if you came in. You three are getting better practically every day. Especially you Rukia. Keep it up and you'll get a spot in the next big tournament that's coming to town."

"Thank you sensei, I'd love to fight in a tournament. I've never done it before." Rukia said humbly, a bit embarassed by the praise.

"It's a great opportunity to get your name out there as a fighter, and maybe even win some money if you do well enough. If you're really serious about fighting, events and tournaments are the best way to get better and even get famous, like my former apprentice over there." Sensei said, pointing back over his shoulder to where Ichigo sat in the corner.

Rukia stole a glance at him again as her sensei was pointing, and found that Ichigo was now looking directly at her. Their eyes met for a moment, and it felt like someone poured ice water over her entire body. Her heart started to beat much faster than normal, and she felt her cheeks get hot again. She was so mesmerized by his eyes that she didn't even think about her embarassment. Despite how pretty she thought they were...she couldn't help but feel like something was wrong with the way they looked, but her thoughts were too incoherent to pinpoint what it might be. Her heart was doing somersaults in her chest. Blue eyes...

"Hey...earth to Rukia. Quit gawking at him like an idiot, and let's get outta here. I want to go home." Rangiku said, shaking her back to her senses.

"You're completely hopeless Rukia. Seriously...now I'm embarassed by you for a change. You need to go home and touch yourself or something." Momo said, getting a laugh from Rangiku. Sometimes Rukia couldn't believe how crude her friends were.

"Alright everyone, I'm going home for the day. Gotta get home a bit earlier than usual to go out with my wife and kids. Usually I'd stay and chat longer but duty calls! We'll be closing in a few minutes!" Ukitake-sensei said to the entire gym

One by one, people started filing out of the gym, the usual groups of people leaving together. Rukia and Momo were standing outside the dressing room, waiting for Rangiku to finish changing, when Renji walked up. Renji and Rukia were not only childhood friends, they were living together. Renji had been kicked out of his house a year ago because his parents were sick of him not getting a job or going to college after high school. Also, they had found his stash of pot. Rukia's brother had just moved out to manage his growing business, so Renji had just moved in with her and had been living there ever since.

She had two conditions though. No marijauna, and he had to get a job and start saving money. The second was really none of her business, but she cared about Renji, and didn't want to see him broke because he spent all his money on drugs and alcohol. Her brother, who virtually had a fortune, paid for the apartment every month, despite her ongoing offers to get a job and pay some of it herself. Renji had changed a lot in the year since he had been kicked out. He was working at a convenient store now and had money in the bank. Rukia could swear he still smoked sometimes, though.

"I'm working tonight so I won't be home til late. You need me to pick anything up? Peanut butter, toilet paper, a bong?" Renji asked, chuckling at his own joke.

"Very funny Renji. We're out of milk because you eat so much cereal, so you could get some of that. I've got a lot of homework so I'll probably be up late again."

"Cinnamon Toast Crunch is addicting! And more homework? Told ya you took too many college classes. You're always trying to be an overachiever, Rukia." Renji said, patting her on the head. She smiled and pushed his arm away.

"Better than being an underachiever like yourself. Have fun at work loser."

"Oh I won't, believe me. It's gonna be busy as shit tonight." Renji said, rolling his eyes and waving as he walked off.

"See you when you get off!" Rukia yelled right before the door into the dojo closed behind him.

"Yeah, you guys are practically in love with each other. I wonder if he'd get jealous if he knew you had the hots for orange-top over there." Momo said, looking at Rukia with an amused grin.

"Why is everything always about relationships and controversey with you? I've told you a hundred times, Renji is like a brother. I'd never...date him or anything." Rukia said in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Hm, well...you certainly don't feel that way about Ichigo. Too bad he's going to be mine or I'd totally cheer for you if you asked him out. Maybe you can have a threesome with us, if you want. It definitely wouldn't be weird. I mean, it's not like we haven't made-out before right?"

"MOMO! QUIT IT!" Rukia yelled, definitely louder than she intended to. The few people that were left at the dojo turned and stared, their eyes burning rings of embarassment into her flesh.

What Momo said was true though. Rukia still wasn't entirely sure what happened...it was awhile ago, but she had been sleeping over at Momo's house one night, when Momo had suddenly kissed her. One minute Momo was talking about having sex with her new boyfriend, and the next moment their lips were locked and Momo was trying to take Rukia's pants off. What confused Rukia so much even to this day, was that she hadn't made any attempt to stop her. She had enjoyed it, especially when the pants came off and one thing led to another...

Still, even though she had enjoyed it, it had troubled her for weeks afterward. Things got weird between her and Momo at that point, and then normal again soon after, like nothing had happened at all. But they had never spoken about what had happened until it was just mentioned a moment ago. She wondered how many girls had their first sexual experience with their best friend. She definitely had to be in the minority in that department. But...was that really a bad thing? It felt incredible...

She shook the thoughts away as Rangiku finished dressing and the girls started making their way toward the entrance. Ichigo and Ukitake-sensei sat conversing quietly in the corner, and Rukia made an effort not to look back one last time before she was out the door and into the street. As soon as they were out of the door, Momo and Rangiku began chattering excitedly. As Rukia expected, all they wanted to talk about was Ichigo.

"You know Rukia...he was looking at you an awful lot. He was definitely checking you out." Rangiku said, watching Rukia for a reaction and disappointed when she found none.

"Yeah, we didn't mention it before because teasing you is so much fun, but he was definintely creeping on you, girl. I was getting so jealous because I want you all to myself!" Momo said, wrapping her arms around Rukia and nibbling on her ear.

Rukia did her best to fend off Momo, while at the same time her mind started to race. Was he actually looking at her? Actually the more accurate term for his constant facial expression would be a "scowl" or maybe a "glare". Either way, she was surprised at this new revelation. Still...even if he had been "checking her out", there's no way a professional martial artist would want to hook up with some college student who just happened to take martial arts classes, right?

Saying goodbye to her friends, who lived in the opposite direction, Rukia made her way back home, absorbed in thoughts of her new crush. Ichigo Kurosaki.