Well, I don't know where I got the idea for this from. So, yeah. I would say have fun, but it's not exactly a fun story...
I don't own Bleach. Everything except this fanfic belongs to Tite Kubo.
Ichigo and Rukia stood in Urahara's basement, having a sparring match. Ichigo fired Getsuga Tensho at her and she easily dodged it, firing a blast of ice at him.
"Come on, Ichigo! You have to try harder than that!" she called while he tried to chip his arm free of the ice. He flash-stepped over to her and swung but she easily blocked it.
"If I try harder, I might actually hurt you, midget," he retorted. She scoffed and kicked him in the shin, making him stumble and giving her the advantage. Rukia kicked his legs out from under him and set the tip of her zanpaku-to against his throat.
"I win. Again," she smiled, moving her sword away and helping him up.
"It's not my fault you're so short my sword sails right over your-OW!"
Rukia elbowed him in the ribs at another remark at her height. "You're just mad because you got beat by a girl who's half your height."
"Alright, you know what? Rematch."
Ichigo held up Zangetsu and rested its blade on his shoulder. Rukia smiled up at him.
"Okay, but I can't promise the odds will be in your favor."
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get on with the fight, shall we?"
She jumped away from him and held up her sword. "Bring it on, Strawberry."
"Getsuga Ten...sho? Where'd she go?" Ichigo looked around the large basement for the small Shinigami. She'd completely disappeared when he was about to fire his attack. "Rukia?"
"Looking for me?"
Ichigo whirled around to see Rukia swinging her blade toward his face. He just got his sword up in time to block it and pushed her away, making her skid on the rock.
"How did you do that?" he asked. She just smiled at him.
"I didn't do anything, you weren't paying attention. Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren!"
A large wave of ice engulfed him and Rukia grinned.
"Told you, Ichigo."
She stepped forward, intending to help him out of the ice, when there was a loud crack and the ice shattered. When Rukia looked back there was nothing there, but a pile of crumbled ice.
"Ichigo?"
She felt something behind her and wasn't fast enough to move before someone put a large sword against her throat.
"'Looking for me?'" came a distorted, mocking voice behind her. Rukia moved her head back as much as she could and saw a hollow mask on half of Ichigo's face.
"That's cheating," she mumbled. "Now put it away, Ichigo, I thought you had control over it."
"Oh, no, he never had control over me. That was just a lie he told everyone so they'd get off his back about it. Now, let's you and me have a little fun, eh?"
Before she knew what was happening, he'd lifted her into the air and thrown her at the nearest rock. Rukia scrambled back to her feet, barely getting her sword up in time to block Zangetsu's giant butcher knife of a blade. It skidded off of Shirayuki, grazing her shoulder. Hollow Ichigo stepped back and laughed.
"Aww, come on, Rukia-chan," he said, swinging his sword around. "As highly as the king thinks of you, I'd have thought you'd be stronger than this."
Rukia glared at him and spun her sword in a circle until it pointed at the ground. "Some no mai, Tsukishiro!"
The hollow was surrounded by a tall column of ice, reaching as high as the ceiling. Rukia was about to slash through it but hesitated.
I can't kill him, she thought. No matter what's talking through him now, it's still Ichigo.
The hollow took advantage of her pause to break out of the ice, thrusting his sword forward. She just jumped out of the way, earning a long cut down her arm.
"Good try!" He shouted, chasing after her as she ran. She couldn't hit back. She wouldn't hit back. Maybe if she just kept him busy while Ichigo gained control again, she could-
Rukia was cut off from her thoughts by a stabbing pain in her back. She looked down and saw Zangetsu's giant blade sticking out of her chest.
"Ha!" said the hollow behind her. "Caught ya! Feels kinda like the king just 'stabbed you in the back' huh?"
Laughing at his own joke, he lifted the blade in the air, making her slide back farther on it. Rukia tried and failed horribly not to yell. The hollow lowered her back down and pulled the sword out, making her fall to her knees. Using her zanpaku-to as a cane, she tried to stand again, walked a few steps, then fell to the ground again. He came up behind her and kicked her shoulder to roll her over.
"That was a little pathetic," he sneered. "Almost as easy as a cat catching a mouse."
"...Hado...33...So...Sokatsui," she mumbled, aiming a half-raised hand at the hollow. He jumped out of the way, a crazed grin on his face.
"I can't believe you just tried that," he laughed, while the Kido blast, hit the wall behind him. "Even though, I've won, you still wanna fight? Your funeral."
He bent down and lifted her by the throat, his nails digging into her neck. "I just don't see why the king likes you so much," the hollow said, lifting her at least a foot in the air. "I mean, you were no fun to fight at all. You could've at least hit back."
Rukia tried to say something as she pulled at his fingers, but all that came out was a sort of choked yelp. Suddenly, the hollow's eyes flicked from black and gold to white and brown, then back again.
"So the king wants to come out again huh?" He grinned up at Rukia. "Well, let's give him something to look at!"
He pinned Rukia to one of the rocks, digging Zangetsu into her shoulder so she'd stay. He stepped back and looked at her as if he were admiring a piece of art. She tried weakly to pull the sword out.
"Hmm...something's missing. Oh, yeah!" He hand flew to her throat again. "You're not dead yet!"
"Please..." she choked out. "Ichigo..."
The hollow laughed, but stopped when his free hand drifted toward his face. His eyes were slowly turning back to normal as the hand ripped of the mask.
Ichigo grinned slightly at gaining back control over his body, but stopped when he realized what was going on. He still had Rukia by the throat and her hands were falling limply to her sides.
"No!" Ichigo let go of her, pulling Zangetsu out as he did so. "No, NO! RUKIA!"
He lowered her down so that she was in his lap and he had one arm wrapped around her shoulders, supporting her head. "Come on, Rukia! Say something!"
She didn't move, her eyes were closed and a small line of blood came from her hairline, meeting the one at the corner of her mouth.
"Rukia! Please! Please...don't...don't leave me, I-" Ichigo could feel tears pricking at his eyes, but he didn't care, he let them fall down his face. He pulled her closer, so that his face was almost buried in her hair. "I...I love you..."
He held her like that for a few seconds before he felt her stir slightly. Ichigo looked down at her, surprise obvious on his face. "Rukia?"
"I-I love you too...Ichigo..." Her eyes were barely open and her mouth was curved up in a small smile. Her voice was so weak he almost didn't hear her. She raised a shaking hand and set it on his that was holding her shoulder. Using his free hand, Ichigo pulled her up to his face and kissed her. She didn't push away, he didn't think she had the strength to, but she didn't make any noise in protest either. When Ichigo pulled away, she smiled up at him again.
"Heh...Nii-sama's gonna hate you," she said weakly before passing out again. Ichigo smiled.
"He already does."
Ichigo turned his head at footsteps approaching him, to see Urahara running toward him.
"I heard yelling. What...happened..." he trailed off when he saw Rukia, covered in blood, in Ichigo's arms. "Training session got a little rough, huh? She's not-"
"No," Ichigo cut him off. "But, could you call Orihime? I need her to heal someone."
Well, parts of that turned out better than it did in my head, some parts were worse. Anyway, even if you people don't like it, I had fun writing it and it was basically just something that had been bugging me, so...I don't know about you, but I think I made a vague Beauty and the Beast reference in there towards the end...oh well...