Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!


The sharp rapping on his door roused Ichigo from his sleep. He groaned softly and shifted. He abruptly jerked awake as his body teetered on the edge of his bed. He was disoriented and very confused. "I could have sworn I fell asleep on the couch," he mumbled to himself as he got up. He shrugged it off and headed downstairs to join his family for dinner.

"Come and eat, my dear children!" Isshin exclaimed as Ichigo sat down by Yuzu. Ichigo rolled his eyes, ignoring the fact that his father still referred to Rukia as his 'beloved third daughter.' Isshin happily circled the table, setting down dinner for all of his 'children.'

Ichigo ate in silence, listening in on some mindless chatter between Rukia and his sisters while Isshin made subtle gestures for Ichigo to get with Rukia. At times like this, he was glad that Rukia never understood Isshin's dirty comments. Sometimes, his dad was just too much. Ichigo sometimes wondered if Rukia did understand the gist of his comments and was just too embarrassed to comment on it. If anything, Isshin was pretty obvious.

His hollow seemed to be back to normal with his usual taunting and threats to take over completely. 'Just you wait, King! I'll be the one wearing the crown soon enough!' Shiro said cynically. 'You're mine, King!'

"Go away," Ichigo growled to the hollow. "It's already been proven that I'm King and you're the horse. It's not changing anytime soon." Ichigo shut out the hollow's thoughts and began picking at his food. Isshin continued making subtle comments, Karin continued telling Isshin to die and come back as a decent human being, and the hollow kept his whispering. Fed up, Ichigo excused himself, taking his plate to the kitchen and then jogging up the stairs.

The moment he opens his room door, he is attacked by a flying stuffed animal. "HOW DARE YOU DRAPE YOUR HANDS OVER MY PRECIOUS NEE-SAN?!" Kon shrieks as he latches himself onto Ichigo's face.

Ichigo growls in frustration and rips the mod soul off his face and carelessly tossed him to the floor. "What the hell are you talking about?!" he hissed.

Kon picked himself off the ground while mumbling something about loose stuffing. "Don't lie to me!" he said accusingly. "I saw you with my Nee-san!" With stubby legs, he ran over to the chair by Ichigo's desk and climbed up on it. "She was sitting right here and you came and... and..." Kon never finished his sentence as he dramatically burst into tears. "How could you, Ichigo?!"

Ichigo stared at him with a confused look and repeated his same question. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Inside his mind, Shiro was absolutely silent. His face was twisted into a mortified expression. 'How the hell did I forget about the fucking stuffed animal?!' Shiro wondered to himself. He had just gotten his Queen finally and now he was going to lose her because Kon witnessed what had happened?! 'Fuck my life.'

Kon was now jumping up and down on Ichigo's desk. "What sort of behemoth possessed you to do that to my darling Rukia?!"

"I don't know," Ichigo responded. "Maybe I'd know if you'd actually tell me what happened."

Kon ignored his saucy comment and continued on with his expressive speech and words. "You've tainted my Nee-san with your... your... touch!"

'Shut up, you stupid mod soul,' Shiro hissed.

"What have you been on?" Ichigo asked blankly as he swept the stuffed animal off his desk and onto the floor. "Rukia and I are just friends. We don't do anything besides go to school and reap hollows."

"But you – urgh!" Kon was abruptly cut off by Rukia stomping on his face. "Nee-san..." he said, his voice muffled by her foot.

"I can hear you two shouting from down the hall," Rukia said. "Quiet down, will you? You're not the only people living in this house. Your family will think you're insane that you're talking to a stuffed animal."

"I'm pretty sure they think I'm already insane," Ichigo muttered under his breath. He watched Rukia as she picked up Kon and tossed him into the closet. He squeaked as he hit the wall with a thud.

"Be careful with me! My stuffing's coming out," he said with a pout as he looked at his arm. White cotton was poking out from a tear.

"We'll get Ishida to sew you up tomorrow," Rukia assured him.

"NO!" Kon exclaimed and turned around to show them the blue cross on the back of his head. "Four-eyes is going to put another Quincy mark on me!"

"It's either Ishida or Yuzu," Ichigo muttered. Kon instantly ate his words and accepted to be fixed by Ishida.

As Rukia left the room, she and Shiro had the same thought going through their heads, "That was a close one..."


"You're lucky that Kon has a bad memory," Rukia hissed as he poked Shiro's chest with her finger. "And you're also lucky that Ichigo doesn't believe a word Kon usually says. Oh, and you're even lucky that Kon is an idiot!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm a lucky hollow," Shiro said through gritted teeth. In an attempt to lighten the mood, he said, "You should kiss me since I'm so lucky. Maybe some of my luck will rub off onto you."

"Oh no, no way," Rukia said firmly. "What if Kon is still around? Or even Kisuke Urahara?! I'm not risking it."

"You're already risking it by standing out in the open with me," Shiro pointed out.

"Well, your spiritual pressure attracts hollows here which makes it easier for me to kill them," Rukia answered, making an excuse for why she tolerated his company at the moment.

"So you're using me, huh?" Shiro inquired. "Well, my services aren't for free. It costs a kiss if you were wondering. And not just some peck on the cheek."

"I'll give it to you after I kill the hollow. How's that sound?" Rukia bargained. "That's fair, isn't it? I kill the hollow and you get all my attention on the way back to the house."

Shiro pondered the thought for a moment and broke into a wide grin. "Yeah, that sounds fair." He smirked at Rukia and willed for a hollow to appear so that he could have his Queen. "So where's the hollow?"

Rukia shrugged and answered, "I don't know, Shiro, but if no hollow appears, you don't get anything from me."

"That's not really fair," Shiro protested. "You're still using me, so I should get some form of compensation from you."

"We'll talk about it later," Rukia chirped and waited patiently for a hollow to show up. "Are you sure you haven't sealed your spiritual pressure?"

"The King can't seal his spiritual pressure," Shiro replied tartly, "which means that I can't either. There are no hollows tonight."

"There can't be no hollows tonight," Rukia snapped. "There's always hollows in Karakura, especially if there's a lot of spiritual energy i.e. you."

"Come on, Queen, let's just go home," Shiro whined. "I'm bored and there's no point in being here if I'm not going to get any action. Besides, you're phone isn't even going off."

Rukia shot him a glare and pulled her spirit phone from her robes to confirm that there were actually no hollows. She frowned, seeing that there were hollows around, but none of them was heading towards Shiro and her at all. Then it clicked. "You're scaring them away," she said accusingly.

"Am not," Shiro retorted. "Don't go blaming this on me."

"It is your fault. You're spiritual pressure is a hollow's, not a Shinigami. That's why the hollows aren't appearing. They probably think you're going to eat them like a Menos would," she said with her hands on her hips.

"Does this mean I don't get my kiss?" Shiro asked, feigning cluelessness and innocence. "I just did what you told me to, which was to sit around and be bait for hollows. And I really want that kiss."

"You're not getting it," Rukia said firmly. "I have to kill hollows so Ichigo can get a decent night's sleep so he can almost have a normal life."

"Everything's always about the King," Shiro growled and roughly seized Rukia by the arm. "Forget the King," he said in a soft hiss and pressed his lips against hers. Grasping her tightly, he lifted her up. Not wanting to fall, Rukia wrapped her legs around him and clung to his broad shoulders. "Kiss me back," he ordered in a husky voice and began biting at her bottom lip sensually. She obeyed and kissed him fervently. His tongue gently flicked at her lips asking for entrance. Rukia parted her mouth and let her tongue entwine with Shiro's as he kissed her deeply.

Shiro was the first to break away. He instantly moved to Rukia's neck as she gasped for breath. Shiro kissed her throat and collar bone. With his nose, he nudged her shihakusho out of the way as he kissed her shoulder. Her robes fell off one shoulder and he took advantage of that notion by leaving a series of love bites on her shoulder. Rukia moaned his name softly as her fingers aimlessly drew patterns on his back.

Timidly, Rukia tilted her head and kissed Shiro's neck in an attempt to recreate the feelings he made her feel. Shiro shuddered as if he was doused by cold water. Her teeth gently scraped against his neck in a sensual way that made chills go down his spine. She bit him gently and sucked on his skin until she left a mark of her own.

Shiro pulled her away from his neck and crushed his lips against hers. There was a light thunk and Rukia jerked away from Shiro. "Ow..." the hollow complained and looked at Rukia laughing at him. Her laugh was sweet and almost like bells. "Did I just bump teeth with you?" he asked, slightly disoriented. His question only made her laugh harder which confirmed his theory. "How come you're not moaning in pain?" he nearly snapped.

"I am in pain," she answered. "But I'm laughing too hard to be bothered by it." He shot her a nasty glare and loosened her legs around his waist so she could get back onto the ground. "Don't be mad," Rukia said, noticing his glare. "It's about time you did something wrong. I mean, I can't compete with your kisses." His glare faltered; at least she knew how to give him an ego boost.


Shiro's blissful mood was ruined when the King entered his inner world. "What did Kon see?" Ichigo demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Shiro said lazily with a shrug. "What does it matter if an idiot stuffed animal sees something?"

"Because he saw you and Rukia," Ichigo answered. "Kon may be an idiot, but I'm not."

"Course you're not," the hollow answered. "If you were, I would have been King by now."

"You're avoiding the question," Ichigo stated. "What is going on between you and Rukia?"

"Why does it matter? I thought you said you had no feelings for the Queen," Shiro said, continuing to evade the King's prying questions. He paused for a second, and then said, "But you really do have feelings."

"You wouldn't know," Ichigo snapped. "What did you do to Rukia?!"

"But I would know, after all, I am you. I have feelings for the Queen which means you do too. But the Queen is mine if you've forgotten," Shiro said harshly. "And I didn't do anything to the Queen. She's fine if you haven't noticed."

"Did you kiss her?" Ichigo questioned seriously, withdrawing Zangetsu and pointing at the hollow.

"All's fair in love and war," Shiro said with a sigh. He smirked as he looked at the King brashly threatening him with Zangetsu. "Look what jealousy does to people..." he murmured.

"Stay away from Rukia," Ichigo snarled. "It's bad enough that you torment me every single day, but Rukia doesn't deserve that. Leave her alone."

"Or else?" the hollow baited.

"Or else I'll make you, and rip you to shreds until the real Zangetsu is in full control," he hissed.

"Ooh, so scary," Shiro yawned. "Good luck with that, King."

"Did you kiss her?" Ichigo questioned once more. "Answer me, Hollow, did you kiss Rukia?"

Shiro's smirk grew wider and more sadistic. "Oh, King, I did more than just kiss her. What are you going to do about it, huh? Tell me, King, what now?"

Ichigo's voice was caught in his throat. He opened his mouth to answer with a witty retort but nothing came out. For the first time in a long while, Ichigo had no idea what he was going to do.