A/N: This is my first fanfiction! So review review review!!

Disclaimer: If I owned bleach, Rukia and Ichigo would be married by now. Duh.

He had no idea how she felt when he was fighting. How useless she was power wise, but experience wise, always his superior. How in the end, she finally found someone who respected the fact that a hollow was just an incomplete soul gone bad. And that he would do everything in his power to purify it. She could see that he didn't hate them for killing his mother, and that they didn't disgust him. The only thing they did was further inspire him to defeat as many as possible. It was an endless circle of fighting to save people- or in this case, souls.

"Ichigo! Behind you!"

Rukia couldn't move to push him out of the way of the attack, but she could still warn him verbally. She was too busy blocking the hand of a menacingly large hollow trying to grab her. They were actually only fighting one hollow, but it managed to split itself in three. How come they always got into these type of situations anyways? Wasn't there supposed to be some other shinigami patrolling this damn town ? Ichigo feigned to the right and turned to face the second form of the hollow. Taking it by surprise, he slashed upwards at it's red and white mask, defeating a third of the original hollow. The first form, which was still on the floor from a blow Ichigo had dealt earlier to it, now rushed forward to try his luck against Ichigo again.

"Hey RUKIA! Hurry up! It'd be nice to get some help yah know!"

She rolled her eyes in irritation. He was right. She was taking this entirely too slow. Conjuring up power she knew she had , she slashed Sode no Shirayuki down through the hollows hand, and stepped backwards out of it's reach. She heard Ichigo's sword clash after clash behind her. 'Okay then, lets make this quick.' She rushed forward at the injured hollow and dispatched it in no time. Two seconds later, she was at Ichigo's side double teaming the last form hollow.

"Never mind Rukia! This one is really strong! Stay back!"

She found the time to roll her eyes as she was dodging another one of the hollows ceros.

"You can't get me, now that you've killed my other parts, I'm stronger than ever!"

Slash.

Parry.

Thrust.

Block.

Ichigo was once again locked in combat with the monster. Rukia was left at the sidelines again wondering how to get back into the fight. Ichigo was getting tired and it showed. Even for someone so powerful, tonight sure was trying…She jumped back into the fight by cutting off the hollows left leg. It was all Ichigo needed and he quickly cut through the only mask left. However, it wasn't quick enough. With it's last bit of power, the hollow produced a small cero, and threw it directly at Rukia's mid section. Her mouth was frozen in a surprised O while Ichigo watched her move silently through the air. He forgot everything else around him, the fading hollow and the tiredness he felt were things of the past. Rukia was starting to fall to the ground, and he'd be damned if he didn't make it there to catch her. He shunpoed through the street and caught her in mid air.

"Rukia! HEY. WAKE UP."

If she was ok, why wasn't she hitting him? Or telling him to shut up. Why wasn't she opening her eyes? As he floated down to the ground, he tried to restrain his panic. All the fighting was for nothing if she passed - or floated away - or did whatever shinigami do when they die. It can't end like this…no way in hell!

"Rukia come on now…wake up please!"

There was a trickle of blood coming from the side her mouth. No way to tell if she was really injured, since her skin was as pale as always in the moonlight. On instinct, he held the person he thought was slipping away tighter. His face contorted to something less like rage and more like sorrow. There was a way to fix this. He knew he should start running towards Urahara's shop, but the thought of losing Rukia was just so paralyzing that it was hard to move.

"Ichi…Ichigo…"

She spoke.

His eyes opened wide and looked back up at her face.

"RUKIA!!"

"Ichigo…I don't feel well…"

He was on his feet, running to Urahara's shop. All the inspiration he needed to keep going held tightly in his arms.

"Baka. I told you to stay out of the fight." He didn't really mean it, he was relieved to see that she was okay. He wasn't angry at all.

"I want…to go to sleep." Her head was nodding towards his chest. She was starting to go limp in his arms.

"Rukia! Stay awake! " He began to run faster. He didn't know if she would make it…He had to make sure she would stay awake! He couldn't let her - His thoughts stopped when he felt a small hand feel it's way up to wrap around his neck.

"It's okay Ichigo, I'm not gonna leave you. I just want to rest." It felt like a promise, but he had to ask any way.

"You promise you won't leave me?…Rukia- I couldn't take it if you did."

"I promise, Ichigo. I do." So she fell asleep in his arms on her way to Urahara's. And he stared as her chest rose and fell steadily. While running silently through the streets and over buildings that night, he realized that he loved her. And that she loved him. Even if she didn't know it yet. He also knew he would protect her till she did realize it. Maybe even buy her a Chappy plushy or two to speed along the process.

After all, as powerful and unrelenting as Ichigo was, patience just wasn't a virtue. As he floated down in front of Urahara's, he took a moment to look at Rukia's sleeping face and took it in. Her arm was still around his neck and he decided to take advantage of the situation. He moved his neck down, and touched a kiss to Rukia's lips. They were small, soft and a little salty from the dry blood. As he began to move away from her mouth, he felt her reciprocate the kiss with the smallest amount of pressure. It was the perfect moment. Two souls under one moon starting the rest of eternity together.

"Ey Rukia. I think I love you. So don't go around getting yourself hurt so bad." He bent his neck back down and pecked a kiss on her nose. She kept her eyes closed as she smiled and tightened her grasp around his neck.

"I love you too. Strawberry. Now go get Urahara. "