Thanks again for all your comments, really. Keep 'em coming! And guys, I'm not afraid of insults, or critism. I need that.

Anyway, here you go, more torture of Ichigo. And no, his head won't explode, I promise.

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But surprisingly, he slept perfectly. Rukia's nightmares calmed while she was wrapped in Ichigo's arms, her very own security blanket with a permanent scowl. She woke up lying on her back with Ichigo on top of her, snoring just slightly. She didn't mind, the pressure was comforting and his body was nice and warm—strengthening her comparison to a blanket. And he did have a scowl on his face, as always.

Rukia smiled and decided to back to sleep since it was Saturday. So she shifted so she was even closer to his warmth and settled down.

Ichigo woke a little time later and yawned, pushing himself up. He opened his eyes and was quite sure he was still dreaming. After realizing that he wasn't, Ichigo closed his eyes. Why did this always happen? Always! Could he just have one day when his first thought of the day wasn't Rukia?

Irritated, he let out an aggravated growl, glaring down at her.

Rukia only shifted in her sleep, looking more innocent than ever. Ichigo sighed. What the hell…who could it hurt? He shook his head and leaned in quickly kissing her jaw. He waited, but she didn't stir. He wanted to do it again, but he decided against it. Ichigo stared at her, then began to remove himself from the bed.

Kissing her felt good. He wanted more than just that, but…he wouldn't push it. When he returned from the shower, Rukia was just waking up. "Sleep better?" he asked, avoiding her eyes. She nodded, rubbing her eyelids. "Look, my father is out of town and both my sisters are at sleepovers, so the bath is free."

Rukia's eyes lit up and she quickly bounced out of the room. Ichigo shook his head and grinned. Ever since she had moved in Rukia was having problems finding time to take showers, usually having to do them in the middle of the night.

Since he didn't have any homework to do or anything else in mind, Ichigo only crawled back into bed with a book. He flipped idly through the pages, trying to remember his place in it, then chose a random page. Realizing he had no idea what was going on, he sighed and started at the front cover.

He could hear the bathwater pounding into the tub through the wall and had to struggle to keep the image of Rukia slipping into the warm water with just enough bubbles to hide her body. Obviously, it took him a while to return to his reading.

Suddenly he heard the front door open and jerked his head up. His dad was home?!

Rukia had heard it too and dashed into the room, closing the door with a slam. Ichigo had already decided to keep his head down when she came in—but he was already looking at the door, and got a full view of Rukia—flushed, dripping, with a towel hastily wrapped around herself and a small colony of bubbles clinging to her hair and shoulder.

Ichigo seriously wondered whether or not this was even possible. How many times in the last two weeks had he seen in a clearly sexual atmosphere? He quickly calculated: lets see, there was the first two nights and the time she climbed through his window soaking wet…then when his friends accused him of sleeping with her…and last night…counting this time…that made it many too many.

Rukia's eyes avoided Ichigo as she leaned against the wall, clutching her towel. "Find out what he's doing," she said.

"Uh…right!" Ichigo hopped up and hurried out the door. He went down the stairs, expecting to see his father, but only saw a book with a note on it by the front door. He crouched down and picked it up, reading "Thank you Kurosaki for letting me borrow the book, it was a good read!—Kyo"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. Kyo was one of his dad's friends. He placed the book on the living room table and tromped up the stairs, saying as he opened his door, "Don't worry, Rukia, it was a neighbor…" he looked up and saw Rukia was still in her towel. "Rukia…why don't you have clothes on?" he asked in a tight voice.

"Well, I didn't have time to grab any from your sister's room," Rukia said with a shrug. Ichigo noticed that she didn't even seem to realize she only had a thin piece of white cotton between him and her very appealing body at the moment. "But I guess I'll go get them now…so much for my bath." She began to move to the door.

As she passed him, Ichigo raised his hand, "You got some bubbles in your hair…" he said. He didn't realize it at the moment, but his movement brought him up to Rukia's chest as he gently brushed at her hair.

Rukia gave him a thanks and went to move, when Ichigo suddenly flinched away, realizing what he had just thought about doing. "Are you alright?" she asked, startled.

"Fine," he grumbled, turning away from her.

"Alright…" she gave him an odd look and left the room.

Ichigo shook his head like a dog after a swim. He wondered what would have happened if he had acted on impulse…what would Rukia have done? He wanted to find out, but would it be worth it?

Ichigo didn't really get a chance to think about that, they had to deal with three hollows that day. Both of them were in a bad mood by the end of the day and exhausted. Ichigo quickly threw some food together for him and Rukia and wolfed it down, then wearily flopped down in bed. He was surprised to feel Rukia snuggle up next to him, but he only grunted and shifted so she had more room. He could tell she was grinning in triumph and only rolled onto his back, wrapping an arm around her, too tired to feel guilty.

That night, it was Ichigo who had nightmares. He slept fitfully, quickly waking Rukia as he tossed in bed. She sat up and shook his arm, but he only jerked it away from her, his face a mixture of fury and fear. "Ichigo!" she snapped, leaning away from him so she wouldn't be hit. "Wake up!"

He jerked up, breathing heavily. His eyes darted around the room as his chest heaved and they landed on Rukia. He stared at her for a moment and she asked, "Are you alright?"

"Fine…" he muttered. "Fine, just a dream." He wiped his arm across his forehead and sighed, closing his eyes. He fell back onto the bed, but he could feel Rukia's eyes on him. "Rukia, I'm fine, don't worry." He felt her warm body snuggle up to him and suppressed a shiver.