At what point did he decide that she was worth fighting for?

He had no clue, no honest recollection of the moment, the time, or even the place. Everything was blank, but solid – like a suppressed memory. You know it's there, you can picture it, practically touch it, yet it wont come fully. Your body rejects it like a bad piercing. It pushes it away from you, leaving an empty feeling afterwards.

But despite this, he knows he is not only willing to fight for her but also die for her. At one point he would have laughed at the thought of dying for someone he knows literally nothing about, but becoming a Soul Reaper had quickly changed that opinion.

A lot of things ended up changing his opinions and views, but nothing changed him quite like she did.

Rukia Kuchiki.

An enigma. The shadow of death. A complete mystery.

Everything about her screams that she is to be left alone. Admired from a distance, but never touched. Much like a tiger in the zoo. She would as gladly open his stomach with one swipe of her blade as cuddle up next to him, purring.

Perhaps that is why he had such a hard time coming to terms with his feelings towards her.

Love was not something Ichigo Kurosaki did – not since his mother died, and yet, she still somehow managed to make him fall for her. A short, serious, sometimes cocky, occasionally weird, pretty much flat chested girl had captured him. Utterly and completely.

She had succeeded in what some spend years trying to accomplish in only a month or two.

That was what he called amazing.

And yet, he still couldn't place when she'd become so important to him. When his life began to revolve around her and her presence. In school. In their battles against the Hollow's. In everything. She had swiftly become the bane of his existence, and for what?

For her to be taken away by her brother and some red haired freak? It was complete and utter bullshit. She had opened him up, only to be taken away in one fell swoop?

The entire incident was a complete disaster, from his pathetic defeat to her actions towards him before leaving with them – more then likely to be executed no less. But of course, he couldn't just let that happen. For one thing it wasn't his style to just abandon a friend and for another, she was taking his heart with her. If she died then it died too. He refused to loose another person who he cared for, it just wasn't going to happen and that was that.

But even through his confidence in getting her back, there was still the uncertainty about her. About her feelings towards him. What if she really didn't like him, like her parting actions implied? What would he do then?

Truthfully, he didn't know.

All he could do was go to her and if he was lucky, not get pushed away.

But despite what she did, despite what her feelings towards him might be and despite the outcome of all this, he knew one thing for certain.

In the end, Ichigo would be Rukia's anything, as long as he got to stay by her side.

(XxXxX)

FIN

Ok, I honestly can't explain myself or this. I was just sitting here, thinking that I needed to write something when "Memory" by Sugar Cult came to life through my MP3 player and I started to type. I didn't really think about what I was doing, I just went with it and somehow I ended up with this ... the funny thing is (slightly afraid to admit this considering who might read this fic.) I don't even like Ichigo X Rukia paired together. So how the hell did my brain conceive this? I want to know. Maybe it was the beauty of Sugar Cult, or maybe it was the strawberry milkshake settling in my stomach, but either way, please review and tell me what you think of this ... unintended, oddly romantic piece of ... work.

By the way, I'm thinking that this takes place between when Ichigo passed out in the middle of the street and when he woke up in the back of Kisuke-san's shop. I know that doesn't really matter, but I just thought I'd place a time line.