Well, considering Chapter 9 was only updated like two hours before this one and I kind of hated it. AND I feel bad for not updating fast, I wrote this chapter too.! Not much long but THERE SHALL BE A LOT MORE FLUFF IN THIS CHAPTER.!

And Hello, Mr. OC.! :'] Haha, SO ENJOY.! Tell me what you think.! And Wonder, Experimentnumber628.? I love you guys.! Here you are.! Two updates in ONE DAY.!

It's been several days since Ichigo was wounded by the man I hated most. The first few days were super hard. I refused to go home, my actually home that had my brother and sister, so Hisana brought over clothes and such. I was sleeping in Ichigo's room, him being in the hospital.

The stab was pretty deep and Ichigo had to have a small surgery. I hadn't left the hospital until I was informed that he was going to be perfectly fine. After that Isshin drove me home, where Yuzu and Karin and Misaki were. No one said a word to me. I went straight to Ichigo's room and cried myself to sleep. Misaki woke me up the next morning and we talked. She was so radiant that it was hard not to feel better after being in her presences. We had talked about school, books, shows, and a lot of other random things but there was one conversation that had been the most opening though when we talked.

"Hey, Rukia?"

"Yes, Misaki?"

Misaki's fragile hands wrapped around mine. They gave a light squeeze and then her soft eyes looked up at me. "There is something I have been wondering as of late."

I kept my gaze on her but stayed silent. I gave her a small nod to let her know she could continue.
"Are you in love with my son?"

When her sentence finished my face burned up. My eyes began to wonder and looked anywhere but at the mother in front of me. "Aha," I laughed nervously. I looked at my watch and came up with a excuse to leave in my head. I kept thinking 'Think, Rukia. Think.' Then I just stood up and said, "Oh, dear. I should go …and see my sister. Sorry, Misaki. See you later!"

I ran fast not to my house but just anywhere.

I let myself sigh deeply. It was so boring going to school and seeing no Ichigo. But luckily, he was being release in the next two or three days. I smiled, finally. I get to see him in regular clothes and not that sickly hospital clothes. He'll be up and about and not laying in those stark white sheets, that made him look pale and even more sickly.

"Oh, RUKIA!"

The worst part of Ichigo being in the hospital…

"Hi, Orihime."

Was her.

She walked by my side half way home, "So, where are you going?" She questioned.

Can't you just shut up?

"Um, I was going to …" I can't say I was going home to the Kurosaki's then she'd make an excuse to stay with me. What to do we were getting ready to cross a street. Sadly, it was fairly empty. The cross walk was seconds from changing to the walk sign. It was also where I turn right to go to my house or keep going straight to go to Ichigo's. As I thought of how to get Orihime of my trail, a pale man approached the other side. He was no more than 6'2". He wore tan pants and under the unzipped jacket was nicely designed Hawaiian shirt. His gaze, which was covered by glasses, was down cast. The wind blew his dirty blonde hair into a tangled mess. "Meet up with my friend."

"Really who?"

My finger pointed to the nameless person that stood a mere twenty feet from us. "That guy over there, uh huh! I haven't seen him in ages." I smiled, hoping I was being convincing. "You know, he's been my best friend for … a long while."

"Didn't you just move here?" Orihime question. As dimwitted she could be, she caught a few things now and then.

"Ah, yes , yes. You see, we used to live in Tokyo next to each other and so on so forth. Then, he moved here and I never heard from him again."

"Then how'd you guys find eachother?"

That got me stuck for a second. "friend finder um, dot com?"

"But.."

The light, thankfully, changed to allow me to cross the street. "Bye, Orihime!" I waved but she sadly followed. I speed up, too reach the man before she got to close. I said loud enough to hear, "Hey, best friend."

The Hawaiian shirt man looked at me, questionly. I motioned for him to bend down to my height so I could whisper in his ear. "Dude, seriously, help me. I need to get this chick off my trail. So, can you pretend to be my best friend for a while?" He looked at me and shrugged. I took it as a yes, "Rukia."

"Matthew."

Just then Orihime had caught up with me. "Rukia, you took off like crazy! Did you really miss him that much? You didn't even tell me his name."

"Oh, yeah. You know how it is when you see old friends. Anyway this is my dear childhood friend Michael."

"Matthew."

"Matthew." I quickly corrected. "Ahah, when I was younger I called him Michael because.." My brain just wouldn't let anymore ideas process. "Well, look at the time, we need to go." I said grabbing Matthew's wrist.

"Go where?" The dirty blonde asked me.

I laughed a bit nervously, "Aha, anywhere but here." I said between my teeth. "BYE BYE, ORIHIME!"

She seemed a little shocked and made a small wave, "Uh, by nice to meet you, Matt."

He nodded back at her, once her back was turned to me I dropped Matthew's wrist and stopped, letting out a relieve sigh.

His deep voice brought me back to reality, "So can I have an explaination?"

I looked up at him and shrugged. "I guess you deserve one." I turned to him, "She is some girl from my school who is constantly nagging me because of this guy."

"Boyfriend."

My cheeks instantly flushed. "U-uh, n-n-not exactly, ahaha."

His eyes examined me and I could tell he was analyzing the truth of my answer. When he seemed satisfied with his hypothesis, that he kept in his head, he asked another question. "Want to get some food?"

"Hm, maybe another time, I really need to get home. I was supposed to be back a while ago." I smiled at him as I started to back down the way we just came. "It was nice meeting you. Maybe we can run into each other again, and you can save me from hells clutch!"

"Sure!" He laughed as I ran off.

I ran all the way back home. I didn't want to accidentally run into Orihime again and half to come up with a reason of why I left my 'best friend' so soon. Eventually, I made it home and stepped through the door. "I'm home." I shouted not really expecting anyone home. I began to journey up to 'my' bedroom when I was caught around the waist, I almost screamed when I heard a voice that was like honey to my ears.

"Mind telling my why your clothes are scattered around my room?"

I turned in his grasp, just to make sure it was really truly him. My eyes automatically teared up. "Ichigo!" I smiled. His returned with his own smile that made my heart shine.

And without truly thinking my hands found their way to his cheeks and I pulled his face closer. With gentleness, we kissed. It was slow and soft and seemed to move my whole being. It was no short kiss either. It lasted for an eternity in my mind, but it only ended because the sound of a key twisting the locked door made us jump apart.

My cheeks were as bright as a fresh red apple, I could feel the heat all across my face. I glanced at Ichigo, his was no different. He looked at me and smiled that beautiful genuine smile that I loved so much.

Are you in love with my son?

He grabbed my hand and before the door was open we were halfway up the stairs.

When we reached his room he silently shut the door behind him and stood, leaning against it. He waited for any noise down stairs to stop and for anyone who was going to their room, to pass.

It was a good seven minute wait.

When Ichigo felt it was safe, he brought me to his bed and we laid there, still as dolls. Our eyes would either connect with each other or stare at the ceiling.

"Ichigo?" When I said his name I thought he'd respond fairly quickly but it was silent. Nothing. I turned my head towards him. "Ich…"

His lips covered mine. Soft and sweet just like before. Except this one, was so much more shorter. It was no longer than fifteen seconds before he broke away. "Rukia, I need to tell you something. Something so important the world depends on your reply."

"And what would that be?"

He opened his eyes that were softly shut and looked into mine, it was like looking into burnt amber. It was beautiful, "Rukia Kuchiki in the smallest amount of time you have wedge your way into the most sensitive part of my heart. Being without you makes my heart ache. And I will not be ashamed to say that I am without a doubt, one hundred percent in love with you. I love you. Do you love me?"

I looked at him in all seriousness. But his eyes looked so fragile it was as if even one wrong word would shatter it. "Ichigo Kurosaki."

He didn't reply he just kept staring.

"I love you, too."

His face broke into a giant grin which had me smiling just as big. He kissed my cheek, my nose, my eyelids, and finally, my lips. With sentiment and value. Sweetness and Gentleness. Passion and love. It was just perfect after out small trip to hell. It was absolutely perfect.

So, until we fell asleep we kissed. Small, short pecks. Long, love filled kisses and anything in between.

This beautiful revelation has let my heart swim openly in the hands of some extremely close to perfection.