The first of what will probably be a long line of Bleach stories from me! Hope you enjoy! I don't own anything here!

"What's taking him so long" I thought for probably the tenth time since I'd been waiting outside. I looked at my watch. It was a bunny's face with a rectangle in the middle that read 9:30 in green digital letters.

I sighed and leaned back against the fence in Ichigo's yard. Class started at 9:00 and its at least a twenty minute walk to school. We were going to be so late.

I looked up towards the top of the house at the window to Ichigo's room that I had jumped out of. When I had left Ichigo, he was still sitting on his bed in his pajamas with a dazed, half asleep expression on his face. That was almost twenty minutes ago. He's probably fallen back to sleep by now.

"Gah! We're probably going to get detention for being this tardy!" It's not like I mind, though. If he needed me to, I'd wait millennia for him without hesitation.

I used to get angry at myself for thinking these thoughts. How could I fall in love with Ichigo? Our relationship was purely professional and should remain that way. It didn't take long, however, for my heart to overpower my mind. I can't deny it any longer. I am in love with Ichigo Kurosaki. To me, Ichigo is the sun. He is bright and intense and I can't help but be engulfed by warmth whenever I'm around him.

"Hey, you ready?" I heard an all too familiar voice behind me ask. I jumped a little, fearing that somehow he'd heard me thinking about him.

I turned around and looked up at his face. He had than same signature scowl that he always wore with his red hair spike ungracefully in every direction, but I felt like I'd never seen anything so beautiful in my life. I was wrong. Ichigo isn't the sun. He puts the sun to shame. He arched a wondering eyebrow at me. "What are you smiling so big about?"

I hadn't even realized I was smiling. I really couldn't help. I smile every time I look at Ichigo, even in my thoughts.

"I'm sorry!" I said with an overly perky tone. "I was just wondering if the teacher was going to assign us a week of detention for missing out first class or is she merely going to wring out necks instead!"

"Hey don't complain", he said started to walk to the sidewalk to begin our journey to school. "I told you to go ahead without me. You're the one stupid enough to wait!"

He was right. I probably could have made it to class and only have missed about half of it. I still probably would have gotten a scolding but at least I could have avoided detention.

"Well what if a hollow showed up on the way to school! You wouldn't be able to change into a soul reaper if I was in class!" I was grasping at straws. Being in love with Ichigo didn't mean I had to lose an argument to him.

"Whatever Rukia" he said as he closed his eyes and put his hands being his head in that nonchalant fashion he's so fond of. "Let's just hurry and get to school so you can shut up already".

I smiled at him again. Actually I couldn't tell if I'd smiled for a second time or if I was still smiling from before. He looked down at me with a puzzled expression and started to walk forward with a slightly faster pace than mine. I hurried to keep up with him. I don't think he was trying to outrun me. He was almost a foot taller than me with much longer legs so he couldn't help but run faster than me with minimal effort. He knew it, too, and on some days like today, he would break into a sprint just so he could see me struggle to keep up with him.

"Wait up, Ichigo!" I yelled as I took off after him. I worked my body's legs until it felt like they would fall off, but it barely made a difference in the amount of distance between us. That only made me work harder. I hated to be apart from him. I sometimes wondered if he knew that.

He looked back at me. "Hurry up! You're the one in such a hurry to get to school!" He was smiling at me. I nearly stumbled when I saw it. His smile was smile was enough to make me melt like ice cream on a hot sidewalk. He doesn't smile often, but when he did I could never remember what it was like to not be happy. I was actually a little glad that he didn't smile often. That way I could never take such a beautiful thing for granted.

I don't know if it was the fact that I was so entranced by the boy running in front of me or the fact that I failed to notice the pile of discarded trash directly in my path, or maybe even a combination of both. Either way I ended up tripping over someone's trash that was placed a little too far out onto the side walk and the next thing I knew, I was airborne and hardly had time to think before I collided face down with the ground.

At first, I didn't feel the pain and doubted that I was even hurt before a wave came over my body, mainly my legs which took the brunt of the fall. I pulled myself into the sitting position to inspect my injuries. The skirt I was wearing as part of my school uniform didn't cover my legs much. Because of this, the skin on my knee was frayed and bleeding; a minor injury.

"Rukia!" I heard Ichigo's voice call out to me. I looked up to see him rushing over to me with the same speed he was just using to outrun me. He stopped in front of me and braced himself on his knees to inspect the damage that had been done to my body. It was minimal, but he wore an expression that would lead to believe that my legs had both snapped off. "Ah man, Rukia. Are you okay?"

I just stared blankly at him. When I didn't respond, he turned his attention to my face, as if to make sure my head hadn't fallen off. "Can you hear me, Rukia?" I could hear him, alright. It was just the fact that he had actually showed some concern about my condition that caught me by surprise. He usually never worried about me like that.

I quickly blinked and snapped out of my stupor. "Yeah, there's no need to worry. It's just a scratch after all."

He placed his hand just above my injury on my thigh. I nearly jumped out of my skin at his touch. "This is my fault", he said bowing his head to my knee again. "I shouldn't have made you run like that."

The burn of his hand on my thigh had delayed my repose, but as quick I could, I started to my feet. "I told you, Ichigo. It's nothing." The injury to my knee caused me very minimal pain as I stood to my feet, but Ichigo stood ready to catch me if I stumbled as if I would collapse at any second.

"Are you sure?" Ichigo asked putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "I could carry you the rest of the way to school if you want."

I could feel myself blush at the thought of Ichigo carrying me, but played it off as if it didn't faze me. "What do you think I am? Crippled? I told you I was fine, Ichigo!"

He stared at me for a few grueling seconds before looking turning away and looking ahead. "Fine", he said softly. "Let's get going then. I don't want to think about how much class we've missed."

He started to turn forward and I waited for him to take his hand of my shoulder. Imagine my surprise when, instead of leaving, Ichigo's hand slid across my back and came to rest on the side of the arm on the opposite side of my body. Ichigo pulled my close to him and it was then that I felt like I really was going to collapse.

I stared up at him with the same blank expression as from before. I had never in my wildest dreams imagined that Ichigo would ever be in this kind of situation, with Ichigo holding me as close as he was. He noticed me starting and looked at down at me with his smile. That smile. The one that could vanquish any worry that occupied my mind. Then turned his attention back to what was in front of us and started to walk forward, leading me as he went.

I was on autopilot. My feet were moving one in front of the other, but I wasn't consciously commanding them. Ichigo was much taller than me so my head only came halfway up his chest. The sound of his heartbeat echoed in my ears. I was hypnotized by it.

"Its funny", I thought. "This is probably the closest I was ever going to be to having Ichigo's heart the same way he has mine".

I looked backed up to his face and saw a very familiar look in his eye. I recognized it as my own. It was the same look I got when I was around him.

Maybe I have more of his heart than I thought.

Sorry this pretty much sucked! Please review!