AN --

A short one shot type if thing, the idea came to me while i was in bed day dreaming a little. haha. anyway,
i wrote it a little differently then how i did most of my other stories, its hard to explain how, but if you have read any of my other stories you will notice the difference, i guess i sort of narrate things more. i dont know. anyway. i hope you like it.

DISCLAIMER: I dont own bleach or the characters, although it would be pretty cool if i did.

It was the middle of the night, everyone in the Kurosaki house was asleep. In a dark room on the second floor a teenaged boy's slim but masculine figure could be made out tossing and turning in the bed.

Ichigo shot up throwing the covers off him in the process. The effects of his dream had him breathing heavily and a sheen of cold sweat covered his body. He looked around the dark room until his eyes landed on his cupboard.

Slowly he got out of his bed feeling the grogginess of just waking up effect him. He padded his way towards the cupboard and knocked lightly twice. Without a reply he rapped on the door a little harder. To an outsider the boy probably looked crazy, knocking on his cupboard door like his clothes might be sleeping, but stranger things have happened to the young Kurosaki.

When he still got no reply he opened the door to his cupboard and noted that the seemingly sleeping girl was actually wide awake. It was easy to tell with the way her breathing was shallow and the slight smile that crept on her face as he opened the door. Although her back was facing him, he knew straight away that she was far from asleep.

Now it may be one thing to have a few toys and spiders living in your cupboard but to have a girl sleeping there like it was her home… well like I said before, weirder things have happened.

"Rukia, I know you're awake" The young boy said in a seemingly bored voice. "Come on, I need to talk to you" he pleaded. Ichigo Kurosaki was never one to beg, but he was at his wits end. He didn't know what to do, and he couldn't deal with these dreams anymore. Not to say his dreams were unpleasant, they were always very sweet. But when he woke up each night after that dream it made he realise just what he was missing, and that was something he couldn't live with any longer.

Rukia rolled over onto her back with a small sigh. She then sat up, climbed out of his closet and walked over to his bed sitting down on it, waiting for him to start.

"What is it Ichigo?" she asked in a slightly annoyed voice.

"I know it's late, but I doubt you were sleeping anyway…" he started. Rukia Kuchiki had always been able to work everything out in her life. Why her "Brother" adopted her, why Renji was always so protective, how she came to have the life she did, and why she didn't mind that she was supposed to be executed. But never in her life had she been able to work out this boy, this one boy seemed to have so much strength and be so weak at the same time. He could be so protective yet so dismissive, he could be happy one second and depressed the next, and for some reason, he just couldn't take a compliment, and not once in his life has he accepted losing as an option.

And yet, this boy she could never figure out, seemed to have her worked out. Like he knew her every thought, her every plan, her every move, and it scared her.

"I have a problem…" Ichigo started. She wasn't sure what to make of this, this boy, he didn't dwell on problems, he went out, fought whoever he needed to fight to fix them and then got back home in time for dinner.

"What is it Ichigo? Is it a hollow or something?" Rukia asked a little concerned.

"No, no, it's nothing like that… It's just… that… well…" at this rate, they were never going to get anywhere.

"Ok, so I really like this girl."

'A girl? That's what this is about?'

With everything they had to deal with in their lives, she didn't think he even had time to think about girls. And the only girls he seemed to socialise with was her, Inoue and a few others every now and then and most of them were from the soul society. How could she overlook something like that, like Ichigo liking someone? It seemed almost impossible, he didn't seem to be the kind that would fall in love, or that would take on board another responsibility, especially if it meant someone else to protect. Not that he minded protecting the ones he loves, but putting someone else in danger, well he seemed like the kind of person that wouldn't do that.

"And?" Rukia prodded

"And… and I don't know what to do anymore!" he let out a frustrated cry and started to pace the room.

"Every night I dream about her, and then I will wake up in the middle of the night, and it makes me realise what I could have if I just stopped being so god damned gutless."

"So just tell her" It was so simple. If he tells her, they could get together and be happy right? Wrong.

"I can't just tell her!" he wasn't making much sense. That's what you do isn't it? If you like someone… you tell them right? If you let it sit for too long you could always miss out on the opportunity of a life time, an opportunity for love, and sometimes that's a lot easier to do, but in the end, isn't it better if you tell the truth?

"Why not?" She said getting kind of fed up with his arrogance.

"Because she is a really close friend, and it wouldn't just affect me and her, but others as well and – eugh… it's just so hard to explain. What if she hates me? Then things would be awkward and it would make everything harder. For everyone, everything would change. I mean there are people that rely on us and if we let them down because of something stupid like that, well they would never forgive us and I don't think I can deal with that!"

He had started to get frustrated and was flinging his arms around everywhere. Although he still wasn't making much sense.

"So tell her, if she hates you for it she isn't worth your time" She tried to reason with him.

"But I can't just tell her, I would chicken out and change the subject."

He was looking ashamed of himself as if the whole world depended on this and he was letting it down.

"So kiss her or something."

"Kiss her or something? Are you crazy? She will think I'm perverted." He said looking horrified.

Rukia got up off his bed and started to walk to the cupboard to go back to bed, looking over he shoulder before she jumped up onto the bed she made in his closet she said "or, maybe, she will kiss you back" and then she closed the door to the closet and that was all that was said on the matter.

Ichigo stood in the middle of his room, shocked at her reply and not knowing what to do. He stood there for about ten minutes, never moving an inch, like he was too afraid too, all the while letting what she said play over and over in his head. 'Or, maybe, she will kiss you back' he shook his head letting go of the thoughts that were plaguing his mind.

He then walked over to the closet pulling the door open, not even bothering to knock. Rukia rolled over again with an exasperated sigh.

"I forgot to give you something" was all he said

"What is it now Ichigo?" she asked clearly annoyed with his stupid games.

And then he leant in and kissed her. Her eyes widened with shock and then closed as she let the kiss envelope her body. Ichigo's brown eyes closed expecting to get thrown across the room, but instead felt her relax into the kiss.

He then pulled away, said goodnight and closed the cupboard door leaving Rukia to her thoughts. He walked back over to his bed and lay down, hoping for once he might get a decent night sleep.

Rukia on the other hand was still sitting in the same position that she was in when he kissed her, her eyes wide with shock, her breathing heavy and broken.

A small blush crept its way onto her cheek as she slid the door open a crack to see Ichigo peacefully asleep in his bed.

Unlike Ichigo though, she wouldn't be getting much sleep that night.

AN --

so what did you think? do you like it? do you like the way i did it, because i was thinking of doing more like that, i dont know.
please review and tell me what you think. this is my first bleach story so i hope its ok.

thanks guys,

xXAndieXx