~He Said, She Said~
Ichigo spun around, his Shinigami partner doing the same hardly a second later as a loud crash rocked the school building. They took off toward the roof as quickly as they could and were met there by, as usual, a Hollow.
"Ichigo!" The strawberry turned toward the shout and braced himself as Rukia's gloved hand came down full-force through his chest. His body fell a few feet away, and Rukia dragged it around the corner of the stairwell, out of harm's way.
The Substitute was doing well; this wasn't any extraordinary Hollow, compared to what he'd been facing recently. He almost wished that it was something more than a garden-variety monster that he could handle on his own—he had grown rather accustomed to having Rukia as his partner in battle as of late, and felt surprisingly vulnerable with her not with him, even for just those relatively few seconds. He cleaved the Hollow's face from behind, and it dissolved away.
"Ten seconds," Rukia commented approvingly from the sidelines. "Not bad, Ichigo." She noticed that he was kneeling on the ground with his back to her. He didn't get up.
"Ichigo?" Rukia's voice carried her worry as she knelt in front of him.
The strawberry chuckled a little, not looking up.
"Ichigo, what's wrong with you?" Now she sounded irritated. "What's so funny? And to think that just now I thought that you were—" She stopped. "Ichigo?"
He was watching her now, his eyebrows furrowed. "Sorry, Rukia. Guess I dazed a little." He shrugged. "Reminiscing, I suppose."
"Just what do you mean by that?" She cocked her head in confusion.
Ichigo sighed. "Fighting on my own just now, like I have been for weeks; I don't like it. I've missed having you by my side. And having Kon separate me from my body just isn't the same either, you know?" He glanced up playfully, taking her now bare hand and holding it to his heart.
Rukia's eyes stretched as wide as full moons. "Ichigo," she whispered when she saw his expression turn suddenly serious. "Ichigo, what do you think you're doing?"
He now had his arms around her, holding her close in an iron grip. "Ichigo!" she shrieked. "Let go of me, you jerk! Hey!"
"Nope." The strawberry's firm grasp had her trapped so that she couldn't budge no matter how hard she fought. "How many times do I have to say it: I'm ignoring all your comments and opinions. And I'm not letting you go. Understand?"
Rukia's breath hitched, all fury gone as she blinked the tears out of her eyes, burying her pale white face into the black fabric of his Shinigami robe. "I know." She murmured. "I guess I'm not as good at keeping to my word as you are."
"Hmm?"
"I told you that I wouldn't forgive you if you came after me," she muttered miserably. "I said that I wouldn't thank you for saving me. And…" She trailed off.
"And what?" Ichigo gently prompted.
"And, I once said that I didn't love you. That we were just friends, nothing more." Her cheeks reddened and she held her eyes shut tightly.
Ichigo chuckled a bit, ruffling her raven hair. "I'm glad that you're such a terrible liar, midget."
"And I'm glad that you're not."
Ichigo never really let go; Rukia didn't want him to.
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A/N: Short, I know. This was inspired by a clip (I forget which episode it was from) in which Rukia jumped down from somewhere in the sky to force Ichigo's soul out of his body by hitting him with her glove…right through his heart. *insert 'AAAWWWWW!!' here* And he was just standing there rather willingly…or was it more like an invitation? Hee hee…
Short? Yes. Corny? Yep. Mushy? Definitely. My best work? Probably not. But nonetheless, any comments/criticism you may have is, as always, more than welcome. :)