A/N: TA-DA! Cat is updating by herself! Because… Well, there isn't a reason, okay? Anyway, enjoy! This is fluffy. BTW, the "GCD" is pretty much done appearing. Sorry! It gets a plot soon.

A/N : Well she was updating by herself until Seas took over! Today my lovely readers, I shall inform you of my word of the day. Motivation, and it's a beautiful word indeed. Now let me tell you for how long I motivated Catherine to write this DAMN chapter.

"CAT you said the chap would be done yesterday!"

"Well my hand cramped up, and then Emily came over and slept over and then I got an English project worth like half my grade, and then Renji came in through my window and made love to many times, repeatedly so I was a bit off that day for that reason and now my head hurts and I get cut off the internet at 10 PM.."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, I won't have ANYTHING to do that day I'm free completely and totally! I'll just be bored so I can write, write, write!"

4 months later...

"If you don't write the damn chapter tonight there will be no roleplaying for a WEEK!"

"... O.o"

well?

10 minutes later...

"DONE!"

"LET FREEDOM RING!"

My dear readers, my lesson is learned. When pleading and asking politely doesn't work.

Threats and motivations are the ways to succeed!

:D Seas

Disclaimer: Why the fuck would someone even assume I own bleach? I don't, okay?

Chapter… Three… Protection is Your Friend

Rukia seemed to walk ahead, angry until Ichigo, who'd been trying quite hard to look away heard her yell.

"AGH!" It was a rather short yell, and when Ichigo looked up, Rukia was on the ground, seemingly having tripped, and/or twisted her ankle. How the hell Rukia of all people tripped, he had even less of something resembling a clue than he had of how the female psyche worked.

However, impossible for her to trip or not, being the sucker he was, Ichigo went forward to help her up. "You okay?"

She winced, and as he helped her up, she seemed to be favoring one ankle, and then just avoiding putting weight on it at all. "Ow…" She muttered. "Hurt my ankle. It's fine."

"Can you walk on it?" He raised an eyebrow. She was she wasn't putting weight on it and how it was bruised just didn't strike him as 'fine.'

"I can walk by myself!" She seemed a little indignant. For a few steps she limped, stumbled again and looked pain.

"Obviously… not." He sighed, walking over and picking her up. She protested more than he had expected, which said something because he expected protest for damn sure.

"PUT ME DOWN! IDIOT, I DON'T NEED TO BE CARRIED AROUND LIKE A RAG-DOLL!" She smacked him in the face audibly, but he didn't seem all that affected by it. Damn Strawberry.

This carried on until they got to the school, greeted by Orihime who seemed bubbly and overly energetic, as per usual.

"Kurosaki-kun! Why are you carrying Rukia-san like that? I think I hear that in some countries that a groom carries a bride over the threshold like that after the wedding. Did you and Rukia get married? Hey! Why didn't you invite me to the wedding? I wanted to be the maid of honor, though the maid of honor's honor mighta got stolen—that's Renji's job—never mind… is there a ring, Rukia can I see the ring?" Ichigo had absolutely no idea how she'd said all of that so fast and in one breath.

"Inoue-san… we're not married… and wait what was the about Renji?" Rukia seemed about as confused as Ichigo was.

"Heh, heh… nothing! Anyway… why are you carrying her like that?" She looked up at Ichigo with her large eyes and a clueless expression commonly worn on her face.

"She hurt her ankle, couldn't walk. I was just gonna get her to the nurse's office." He rolled his eyes.

"Ohhhhh! That makes more sense. I hope your ankle gets better!" She said happily and skipped away.

This was one of the most recent memories Rukia had of Ichigo in the past few weeks. He had told her a few days after that he had wanted to go to the soul society in hopes of learning Kidou there, and would be back soon seeing as the holiday coming up was short.

Rukia, however, was still on assignment and couldn't leave. The past three weeks had been boring, and for the past few days, she'd been sick. Her stomach was always feeling like it was doing flip-flops, often to the point of vomiting. She was always tired and a little moody most days.

It wasn't until she began to suspect that her unpleasant feelings—the moodiness, at least—where due to that certain curse of femininity that she suspected something was up. She should've gotten her period two weeks ago…

But she dismissed it. That was ridiculous. The next day, the first day back at the school term (Ichigo still hadn't gotten back, the idiot…) she had to excuse herself to the restroom to vomit again. Feeling awful, she stayed in there for a few class periods. At what must've been lunch time, Inoue came in. "Rukia-san? Are you okay? You never came back…" She said quietly.

"I'm sick." Rukia said, with her voice a little hoarse.

"Is it because of guilt? Do you have a secret lover who entranced you while Ichigo was away and gave you the night of your life, but then the thought that Ichigo could be doing the same with a soul reaper girl made you so guilt-ridden and disgusted at the idea of him in someone else's arms that you became sick from the tension?"

… Rukia couldn't help wondering if Orihime has not been dropped as a small child on her read repeatedly. "No… I don't have a secret lover." She rolled her eyes.

"Okay… well… are you coming back to class?"

"Not today. I don't feel well."

That afternoon she purchased the dreaded stick that had caused happiness, relief, upset, fear, and pretty much any shocked emotion to women over the years. The three minutes it instructed her to wait were like three YEARS. And then… it turned a simple pink color. Oh god… Oh god… oh god…

And at the worst possible moment, her phone rang. "Hello?" She answered blankly, staring at the stick with shock and resentment.

"Rukia-chan! Hi! I… just wanted to make sure you were okay. From today, I mean. Do you feel sick?"

"Yeah... still sick. A little worse, now actually." She sounded distant.

"What's wrong? Has Ichigo found out about your secret lover and now both he and your other man have left and you're alone on top of the guilt making you feel empty?"

It was official. Orihime was NOT allowed to read any more romance novels. Ever.

"No. Orihime, there never was a secret lover!" She snapped, then feeling bad for it. It wasn't Inoue's fault that she was upset.

"O-oh… okay then, good. That would make Kurosaki-kun upset!"

"Inoue-san… I have to go…" She hung up the phone, knowing she'd need to go back to the soul society… just to tell Ichigo. And maybe beat the hell out of him.

A few hours later, she was paying Urahara to open the Senkai gate for her to go to the soul society again. The test was still in her hand in case she wasn't able to tell him and just had to show it.

When she found Ichigo, he was hanging around with Renji, Matsumoto, Hinamori, Madarame and a few other soul reapers. Kidou practice. Riiight. Because sparring with Renji while people placed bets was definitely Kidou training.

Matsumoto eyed Rukia, her expression and the test in her hand, and walked over, curiosity lighting her pretty blue eyes.

"Kuchiki-san… weren't you in the world of the living?"

"I… had a message I needed to give Ichigo." She kept it vague… to no use.

"What's that?" Rangiku snatched the test from Rukia's hand and her jaw dropped. "I knew it. Totally knew you two were sleeping together. OHHHH STRAWBERYYYYYY!" She called sing-song.

Ichigo looked over. "Matsumoto, what do you want? And what the hell are you waving around in your hand?" He didn't see Rukia as Rangiku's height and… width of chest concealed the smaller girl well.

Rukia now stepped into view and started to stutter it out but ended up passing out. Matsumoto rolled her eyes.

"Oh for the love of—it's a PREGNANCY TEST! Yeesh, was that so hard? We all knew what it was. Kurosaki, let this be a lesson. Protection is your friend."

A/N Seas here...ITS DONE! Since the note was so long before I'll make this one shorter lolz...sorry I NEEDED to bitch for a bit...if any of you ever have these problems let me know through a very appreciated review? Also REVIEW for our story! For the record its going to get soooooooo much better and honestly this is like the least best of it. In comparison to what we have now, it's boring. So wish me luck on getting Cat to post sooner and get to the good stuff before we both go over the hill!

We love you all

REVIEW PLEASE!

Seas