A/N: Sorry about not updating for ages, but school holidays finished and I've been busy with school work amongst other things. I'm currently sick so I used it as a chance to do some more writing. Anyway, enough about me, here's the next chappie enjoy!


My Protector

Chapter Four

"Rukia, I'm ho-…" he froze mid sentence as he came face to face with Rukia who was wearing only a towel, a very small towel at that. Ichigo spun around and exited the room slamming the door behind him the words 'thank god she had a towel on' echoed through his mind. He was dreading the day when he would walk into his room and she was wearing less than that. Ichigo hated awkwardness and embarrassment and that sort of situation was sure to bring those feelings. Ichigo preferred to avoid situations like that. What pissed him off though, was the fact that he had almost walked in on a naked girl in his room. He supposed most guys would be pleased by that, but Ichigo respected women and their privacy. He also knew that even if he did try to sneak a peak at Rukia, it wouldn't be worth being decapitated by the short tempered Shinigami.

Rukia on the other hand couldn't understand why Ichigo had rushed out of the room. Confused, she quickly got dressed and went to find where he had gone off to. Rukia was surprised to see him standing outside the room with his back to the door.

Ichigo was still deep in thought but his thoughts were interrupted by a hand gently touching his arm. He turned to see a dressed Rukia looking at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

"What?" he grumbled.

"You're acting weird" she replied removing her hand and walking back into his room.

"I am not acting weird!" he stated.

"Hn" she said not convinced. Just as Ichigo was about to retort his substitute Shinigami badge started shrieking in alarm. "Hollow…" Rukia muttered with a tiny hint of sadness in her voice.

"Yeah, don't worry I'll take care of it" Ichigo said firmly. He took the badge pressed it against his chest forcing his Shinigami form to separate from his body. With a quick glance at Rukia, Ichigo took off through the window.

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Ichigo reached the scene just in time. A Hollow was just about to eat the soul of a man wearing a business suit.

Sensing Ichigo's presence the Hollow dropped the man's soul and went for Ichigo instead. Ichigo easily evaded the attack and with a swift slash cut the Hollow clean in half.

'Too easy' he thought making his way toward the soul to perform Konsoh on it.

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Somewhere in the shadows:

"Target identified," said a deep mysterious voice to his partner "Kurosaki Ichigo, classification -unknown, threat -currently minimal."

"Strange..." stated a soft female voice. The male gave his partner a questioning look.

"She is not with him..." her monotone voice emotionless "let us return to present our report."

"Already?" he questioned "and here I was looking forward to spending some time with you" he added playfully.

The girl gave no indication of hearing him and in a flash disappeared from sight, the man following closely behind.

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Ichigo returned to his room to find Rukia sitting dejectedly on his bed.

"Oi, Rukia" he greeted her. She looked at him with scrutinizing eyes checking for injury.

"What you think I'm so weak I can't even handle a single Hollow anymore?" he said gruffly.

Affronted by his tone Rukia replied "Well I can never be sure with someone as dim-witted and thick-skulled as you, knowing you I wouldn't be surprised if you cut off your hand with your own Zanpakutou!"

"I'm not that careless midget!" he said scowling at her.

"Could've surprised me idiot!" she yelled back.

"You hungry?" he asked suddenly.

Rukia paused taking note of Ichigo's changing mood. 'Fool' she thought 'why does he always do that? Teasing and mocking me to being genuinely nice to me.'

"Yeah..."

"Well then let's go and have dinner" he gave her one of his rare smiles "I'll cook."

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Rukia and Ichigo sat opposite each other eating their meals in comfortable silence.

"This is really good" Rukia complimented him.

"What's this?" he asked "the almighty Rukia is complimenting lowly Ichigo, what is the world coming to?" Rukia glared at him and was about to throw her chair at him when he continued speaking "it's not as good as my mom's cooking though."

"When she died, Yuzu wanted to do all the cooking" he stopped and to take a drink of water. He was surprised to see that Rukia was looking at him expectantly. "But she was very young and it wasn't safe to let her do everything on her own." Ichigo sighed "Anyway, I helped with the cooking until Yuzu was old enough to do it herself" he laughed "it was either that or putting up with my father's cooking experiments." Rukia observed Ichigo's paling face as he said his last statement.

"Ah, well like I said before this is really good" she smiled at him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked avoiding her compliment.

"Fine, I think I can come to school tomorrow" Rukia stated.

Ichigo wasn't happy with her response "I don't think that's such a good idea you're still recovering..."

"Didn't you hear me I said I'm fine, F-I-N-E" she glowered at him "besides I'm not going to be sitting around the house all day doing nothing, I'll lose my sanity."

"Too late" Ichigo muttured.

Rukia smacked him over the head with her fist. "I heard that."

Ichigo sighed in resignation "All right if you're sure you're okay..."

"I'm sure" she said firmly.

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A/N: Now personally, I'm against bribing readers to review but… Please, please, please review! (Says the following with big sad puppy-dog eyes) I'll give you chocolate…. Don't like chocolate? How about bleach? No, not the anime or manga –a bottle of bleach so you can dye you hair to be like Ichigo! ...No? I know! I'll dress up as Renji and do an impersonation of him accidentally cutting off his own hand with Zabimaru for you?! (Laughs like a crazed lunatic, then suddenly snaps out of it).

Uh… sorry about that…. Moral to the story: Review and writer will not go insane.