Disclaimer: I don't own BLEACH. HUWAAA!! Fate is unfair to mee...!!

A/N: Hellosh all!! How are ya doing? I'm feeling pretty bored over here, thinking that I have no life, sitting down in front of a computer that's not even mine. Yeah, so since I have nothing to do, I started working on this manga, which I have to say, have HORRIBLE and HORRENDOUS artwork made by, yours truly. I haven't even got the plot line set yet! And the all-too-familiar writer's block is haunting me AGAIN!! NUU!! TTMTT

Well... about the hating me thingy... maybe I kinda exaggerated it a little bit. Maybe. Or maybe not.

So...I'm guessing that none of you thought that the footsteps belong to a real murderer in the last chapter? \:)

Thanks to auburn-haired-sadist-XD, Ericd and disinterested for reviewing the last chapter! It was very much appreciated!

So, replies away!! To...

auburn-haired-sadist-XD: Hau... I don't want you to hate me either but you might if you read this chapter... :( I like turtle too! Three cheers for all the turtles in the world! HIP HIP! HOORAY! HIP HIP! HOORAY! HIP HIP! HOORAY!! XD

Ericd: Maybe you will hate me, maybe you won't. If you don't, -letting out a sigh of relieve-, but if you do, I'm sorry! Thanks, I had a lot of fun writing that last chapter. :)

Disinterested: Well, as I have said, maybe you will hate me, maybe you won't. It all depends on your reaction. :)

Sorry in advance for any spelling/grammar mistakes. Enjoy!

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Perfection

Chapter Ten

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"Oi Ichigo! There's one coming your way!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ichigo turned and slashed the said hollow in half. It disintegrate into thin air briskly. "That's the third one this hour." he scowled as he swing Zangetsu to his shoulder.

"It's usually not this much," Rukia furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. Ichigo replied with a, "Feh," and scowled even more. She raised an eyebrow at his action. What did she do this time?

Well...

Flashback...

Rukia was confused. Very confused. And it's written all over her face. First, he got all pissed at lunch for something, then he got worried when they were fighting the hollow, then he got pissed. Again. And now...'What is he doing?' Rukia thought as Ichigo tightened his hold on her chin, lifting it up. He leans in closer and closed his eyes. 'Wait, he isn't going to--'

And then,

She felt an electric jolt going through her petite body.

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It was her soul pager vibration. (See? I told you. Sorry, if I got your hopes up on the last chapter. I'm VERY bad with fluff.) She snapped her train of thoughts, quickly took her vibrating soul pager out and said, "Ichigo! Order!"

He fell down to Rukia's lap with a massive sweat drop. 'Dammit!! Now of all times?? Just when I was about to k-ki-ki-kis--'

'Kiss her?'

'Wah! Oh. It's you.'

'What's up, King? How was it?'

'How was what?'

'Your kiss with Rukia-chan, of course.'

'It didn't freakin' happen.'

'It didn't, eh? Why? Did you backed out like a coward or--'

'Her freakin' soul pager rang—well, vibrated at the very last moment!!'

'Heh. Just your luck, Ki--'

"Ichigo!!" a female voice shot up. He quickly turned his head to the direction of the said voice. "What are you doing? The hollows are nearing!! Chappy, will you please take care of Sofia?" she continued, already in her shinigami form.

"Yes, yes, Rukia-sama! Pyon!" Chappy replied.

"Let's go!"

"Yeah..." he stood up, took out his shinigami representative badge and pushed his soul out of his body. Then, they ran to the hollows.

Flashback Ends

"Ichigo, what did I do?" Rukia asked as they ran back to the hill to get their bodies.

"Nothing," he replied as his scowl got even deeper. "It's not like it was important or anything," he continued with big emphasis on 'important'.

"You know, you really shouldn't keep it all bottled inside, it will affect your features someday. For example, your perma-frown," she explained with a proud smile, feeling all superior. Ichigo glared at the petite shinigami that's running by his side. She looked back with innocence all over her face.

'Damn it. Why does she have to have that kind of face now?' he looked away.

"Oi, Ichigo. What were you going to do to me before?"

"Eh?" he looked back.

"You know, when you lifted my chin up," she pointed at her chin with her index finger.

"Forget it. It was nothing," he blushed lightly at the thought.

"Really? Because at the moment I thought you were going to..." she drifted off.

"Yeah?" he raised an eyebrow.

"N-Nothing," she stuttered, a tint of rose on her cheeks. 'Damn it. I've been reading too much of Yuzu's blasted shojo manga. I'm getting too soft.' Oh yes, blame it all on the manga.

"Rukia."

"Hmm?"

"Remember what you said about my name?"

"Yeah. It does mean strawberry, right?"

Ichigo flinched visibly as they went up the hill. "Yes and no," he replied as he got into his body. Rukia already got inside hers and was stroking the back of Sofia's head gently. They stay still for a while, looking at the pure white moon and the gleaming starts.

"Huh? What do you mean, yes and no?"

He sighed deeply before starting his explanation. "Yes, Ichigo does means strawberry. But it can also mean a number one guardian..."

"Really?" her violet eyes widened in excitement.

"Yeah... and I was just wondering..." he looked away.

Rukia tilted her head to one side. "Yeah?"

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "I was just wondering if... I could be your number one guardian..." he said with a smaller voice, but is filled with determination.

Rukia's eyes widened for the second time this night but it softened immediately when she saw a glimpse of his face. He was blushing; why, she does not know, but his warm hazel eyes is showing a lot of courage and determination. She smiled genuinely and said, "Of course, you can! But I gotta ask you one thing as well."

He turned his head and face her. "What is it?"

"Why are you being so weird today? I mean, you kinda blush a lot, did you notice?" she narrowed her eyes questioningly.

"Wha--! I am not being weird and I do not blush!" he said with a lot of pride in his voice.

"Yes, you are!! You're being all mushy and stuff!" she put one of her hands on her waist, the other is holding Sofia gently. The said baby turtle looked questioningly at her owner, then at the carrot-top. It tilted its head, as if questioning them about what was happening.

"Mushy?? Excuse me! I, Kurosaki Ichigo, are not MUSHY!!" he glared angrily at her while jerking a thumb at himself for a little bit of emphasis on his name.

"Oh yeah? Really? Then let me ask you one more thing. Why did you ask to be my number one guardian??" she glared straight back at him intensely.

Ichigo froze at her question. It was too... direct for him. Rukia saw the look he had on his face and smirked. "Ha! I knew it. You are being mushy!"

"Well...uh...oh! Will you look at the time! We should go now!" he pretended to look at his watch ,then he grabbed Rukia's wrist and then he pulled her to run along with him.

"Wha—Wait a minute! I didn't zip your jacket properly! I didn't zip your jacket pocket properly either! Your i-pod might fall!!" Rukia struggled to zip his jacket – which was too big for her – and held Sofia with her hand with Ichigo pulling her other hand. It's not an easy task considering Ichigo was running like there was no tomorrow.

Ichigo let out an annoyed groan before stopping suddenly. Rukia kept on running since the idea of Ichigo stopping suddenly hadn't really progressed into her brain just yet. He pulled her back, let her wrist go and crouched down. She stumbled back because of the force the carrot-top was giving her as her eyes widened slightly.

Ichigo didn't know why he did this out of his instincts. All he could think of was he needed to go home soon badly. Very badly. So, after he pulled Rukia back, letting go of her small wrist and crouched down, he put one of his arm under her knee and the other one behind her neck and out of instincts, again, he picked her up bridal style and started running home again.

Rukia had no idea how he did it. She was completely bewildered by his actions today. She quickly hid the shocked expression she had as she realized that she was in his arms and furiously yelled, "What did you do that for?! I thought I was gonna fall back there! What kind of number one guardian are you?!"

"Well, sor-ree if I thought you had some problems on zipping my jacket!" he yelled as he glared intensely at her.

"You could've stop and wait, you know! Instead of pulling this barbaric stunt!" she held Sofia protectively and the said baby turtle dozed off noiselessly in her hands.

"It's not my fault I wanted to get home! It's freakin' 2 AM!!"

"It is? Wow... Time does fly when..." Ichigo could barely hear the last part of her sentence.

"What?? I couldn't hear you!"

"That's 'cuz you're not meant to hear it, idiot!"

"Wha--"

"ICHIGO!!" a male voice cut him off.

"God... Not again..." he muttered as he dodged his father's 'welcome home' kick. Isshin went flying into the lamp post this time. He didn't realize that he reached his house already. All those bickering with Rukia kinda blocked off his senses.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM, OLD MAN??" he yelled furiously, "You could've hurt Rukia, you know!"

"Eh? Rukia-chan?" Isshin miraculously recoiled from his encounter with Mr. Lamp Post. He stood up and face his son, eyes gleaming like the thousand stars in the sky. Then, his eyes narrowed, one of his eyebrows raised up sky high and with a sly grin, he asked, "Why is Rukia-chan in your arms?"

"Eh? What do you--" Ichigo realized that he was still carrying Rukia the whole time. He accidentally let her go in surprise and she fell flat on her behind.

"That hurts, you fool!" she stood up and whacked his head, completely forgot about her sweet demeanor. "Think about what could've happen to Sofia!"

"Who's Sofia?" GASP "Could it be..." Isshin's face was showing a lot of shock, "My long-awaited GRANCHIL--!!" then he was cut off by his son's direct kick at his face.

"Don't you DARE finish that sentence!! And, no, it isn't!! It's a THING for goodness sake!!" Ichigo yelled with a red face after sending Isshin flying 10 feet back. "Ow!" he felt a shoe being thrust toward his shin.

"Ichigo! How dare you call Sofia a... a... THING!!" Rukia yelled furiously after she kicked Ichigo's shin – yes, it was her. Major surprise there. She hmph-ed at him before making her way inside the house.

"Rukia-chan! Let me see her!!" Isshin briskly retaliated and blocked the front door with big, glassy eyes. If Rukia didn't know any better, she could mistaken his eyes with that of a puppy.

"Eh? S-Sure, Kurosaki-san." Rukia cautiously reached her hand out to show the sleeping baby turtle - despite all of the ruckus they had made - to the father, with a set of gleaming eyes.

Isshin cooed and aww-ed at Sofia. "Do tell me, Rukia-chan, do you prefer to think of her as yours and Ichigo's ba--" he was cut off, by a punch this time and flew inside the quiet house, breaking open the innocent front door.

"Dammit, old man! What the hell is wrong with your brain?!" the carrot-top yelled as he points at his beloved father accusingly. The said beloved father pouted and went gloomily into the kitchen. Ichigo rolled his eyes and went inside.

Rukia stared blankly in front of the now-broken door. She had a bewildered look on her face for a moment before inhaling deeply.

She cautiously took a step inside and turned her head right to left, left to right to double check its safety. She was greeted by a comfortable silence. She let out a sigh of relieve as she took another step inside.

"Rukia-chan!!" Isshin popped out in front of her face. She let out a surprise yelp before recomposing herself, but she couldn't help but thought, 'Didn't this man went into the kitchen? How in the Soul Society is he able to do this?'

"Y-Yes?" she replied a little bit too late, but he didn't mind.

"Why are you wearing Ichigo's jacket?" Isshin asked with his infamous sly grin forming on his face.

"Oh, that's because—"

"Leave her alone, would ya!" Ichigo send a flying kick to his father. "Oi. Here." he shoved a small plate of carrots and lettuce in front of her questioning face.

She took it hesitantly with her other hand and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? Baby turtles need to be fed, don't they?" he asked with an annoyed tone.

"Well yes, but can't you see that she's sleeping?"

Ichigo took a glance at the green 'lump' and looked back at Rukia quizzically. "It doesn't look any different to me."

WHACK!

"Fool! Her eyes are closed, you know!" she yelled after smacking his head.

"Well, how am I suppose to know? She's covered in a freakin'--wait, what the hell is that?!" he asked incredulously at the thing that was covering the small turtle's head.

"You don't know what this is?? Oh my freaking—how stupid can you be??" she shouted as she stomped her way up the stairs.

"At least I'm tall enough to see that it's covered in something!" he followed her up the stairs.

"O-hoh, so now you turned to your preposterous insults for comebacks, huh, Vile Strawberry??"

"So what, Insolent Midget? Afraid that you don't have enough insults up in your tiny little sleeves?"

"You bet I do!" she went inside her - Karin and Yuzu's - room and slammed the door shut.

"Whatever!" he did the same to his room.

Isshin stared blankly at the animated argument his son and his third daughter were having from the living room. "Young love..." he shook his head and slumped on to the sofa.

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Ichigo stared at his ceiling as if it' the most interesting thing in the world. He sighed as he lay down on his bed, his hands behind his head. "What is up with me?" he mumbled softly. He sat up to open his window, since frankly, he thought that his room is too scorching even thought it's the middle of winter. He sticked his head out of the window, feeling the nice and breezy air of January. Thinking that he won't be able to sleep soon, he put on his black hoodie and head out the window.

There was no balcony or railings outside his window, so it was hard for him to get up to the roof since the window's bottom edge was a bit too small for him to stand on. So, he tried his best to stick his upper body out the window, towards the roof and grabbed the edge of the water drain when he had the chance. He pulled himself up quickly and let out a sigh of relieve. His eyes narrowed as he realized that to get to the other side of the roof, he have to walked at the very top of it, which pretty much looked like a fishing line to him. It doesn't look like a fishing line to anybody else, but to him it does. Maybe it looked like a normal rooftop to anybody who hasn't got a good imagination in their noodles.

He looked upwards to the sky and groaned, "Yep. Gotta cross the fishing line to get better view." and so, he inhaled deeply before cautiously lay his foot down on the 'fishing line'.

'Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate...' he thought as he took another nimble step. 'Balancing is not my game.' he sighed.

Ironically, his small huff of air affected a lot of his balancing. His right foot slipped off, leaving him with his hard-to-balance-with left one.

"HUWAA!!" he waved his arms up and down in a futile attempt to balance himself. He tried leaning to his right side, but his little panicking stopped his body from doing so. He fell to his left side on his back and slide smoothly down the roof.

"Crap!" he mumbled as he dig his nails into the roof to slow down. Fortunately, it did help. A little. He's still sliding down the left side of the roof, just a little bit slower than before. That is, until he bumped his head on something.

"Ouch! That hurts, you fool!" a female voice yelled at him.

Ichigo sat up immediately and turned his head towards the voice. He saw an annoyed Rukia, rubbing her sore back his head had hit. She was wearing a black shirt with ¾ sleeves and a pair of white baggy stretchy pants. She was also wearing white Chappy the bunny slippers, but he could see her heels slowly turning pink because of the nippy weather.

"Che. Not my fault you're in my way," he replied as he sat down next to her, his arms propped behind him. His eyes lingered on her for a few second, thinking that something is missing.

"Where is Sofia?" he asked her as he finally realized that she wasn't holding the green lump.

"Sleeping?" she answered with an incredulous tone.

"Oh. I knew that."he said with an embarrassed kind of frown on his face.

They both sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Hey Ichigo..."

"Hmm?"

"When are you going to go to sleep?"

"Meh. Later."

"Okay then. Wake me up when you will, 'kay?" Rukia said, bringing her hand up to her mouth to cover a yawn.

"Huh? What do you--" he felt a weight dropped onto his right shoulder. The ebony-haired girl was resting her head cosily. "Oi, Rukia..." he poked her head with his index finger.

"Shut up. Don't poke me, baka. I'm trying to sleep." she closed her eyes.

"Ah..." he sighed as he stop his poking. "Okay." he smiled.

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As the two sat quietly, a silhouette was watching them for afar, carefully observing their every move. The wind blew on his robe ever so gently, as if caressing a fragile pair of wings.

"Yes, my lord," the said silhouette talked to what seemed to be a small jet black box. The said black box buzzed. "It seems like Plan A has failed. Let's move on to Plan B, shall we?" the silhouette grinned mysteriously as the darkness enveloped him.

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About two hours later...

Rukia woke up by the small tingling feel of coldness at the tip of her nose. Her eyelids fluttered open lazily as she let out a small yawn. "Holy--!" her eyes shot open as she realized that she can't feel her feet. "Wha--? Where am--" she stood up, "Ow!" but felt that she hit her head on something hard, so she sat back down.

"What the--?!" a voice was raised above her.

"Ita..." she massaged her temple gently. "Ichigo... What the hell are you doing there?!"

"Rukia! When did you—wait, did you just punched my jaw?!" he yelled as he rub his sore jaw.

"No, I didn't!!" she yelled, "Oh wait... Maybe I did," she said as she put her index finger on her chin, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember what has happened.

"Maybe?! You freakin' headbutted it with your ginormous head!" he hollered, his hand forming a fist beside him.

"..." Rukia ignored his last comment. She was trying to remember what happened last night. 'Oh yea!' she thought, 'I came up to see the moon, then Ichigo came and sat beside me, then...'

"You fool! Why didn't you wake me up?!" she stood up quickly, this time careful enough not to headbutt his jaw again.

"Rukia, what the hell are you talking abou--!" he yelled as he stands up, "Oh."

"Yeah," she crossed her arm in front of her chest. "Oh," she mimicked him.

"Well, I didn't wake you up because... uh..."

"Well?"

"Because, you wouldn't wake up!"

"Yes, I would! And even if I won't, you could've at least carry me back inside!"

"Oh? And just how am I suppose to do that without worrying that your midget-of-a-body will suddenly fly off of my arms when a small gust of wind blow?"

"I am not a midget! And the size of my body is none of your business!!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, midget," he turned away and started walking before his right foot slipped off (Wow! Déjà vu!). "WHOA!!" he shouted as he almost fall to his left side. 'How could I forget? We're on the roof!' he mentally slapped himself on the forehead.

"Ichigo!" Rukia reached out her hands and grabbed his left hand. "Ungh! Why don't you ever listen to me and go on a diet?!" she yelled as she try to help Ichigo balance himself.

"Why should I?!" he subconsciously pulled his left arm when he turned to face her.

"Oof!" Rukia felt her feet slipped when Ichigo pulled his arm, thus pulling both of her hands along.

"Crap!" Ichigo turned and circled his right arm around her waist to prevent her from falling. Unfortunately, since he was falling, she fell along with him.

Both of them slide down the roof smoothly. Rukia decided to let go of Ichigo's hand and used her hands to grabbed the edge of the roof at the last moment. Ichigo circled his left arm around her as she let go of his hand, keeping her close to him.

"Ngh! I can't hold on for much longer!" Rukia shouted as her knuckles whitened from gripping the edge of the roof tightly.

"Whatever you do, don't let go! I can't reach the edge! It's too far away!" Ichigo hollered, tightening his arms around her waist.

"It's hard! You're too heav—wait a minute! What are you doing?!" she yelled as she felt his arms tightened around her small waist.

"Well, sor-ree to have a normal weight! And I'm just trying not to fall down here!"

"Can't...hold...on...much...longer!!" she tried to pull herself up, but to no avail.

"Just... Hold on for a little longer, okay?" he shouted. 'What am I doing?! Two stories is nothing! I should be uninjured even if I fall down and so should she!' he then released his arms and dropped down. She heard a dull thud as he landed on his feet perfectly.

"Ichigo! Are you okay?" she shouted. 'Wait a minute, he should be okay. It's only 4 meters for goodness sake!' she thought as she realized how stupid she—okay, both of them had been, acting as if they're going to fall off a 300 meters cliff.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now fall," he patted the dust off of his denim.

"I can't."

"WHAT?! You dropped down from my window all the time!" he cupped his hands on his mouth as he shout.

"I don't feel like falling down and I can't guarantee that I'll land safely! I can't feel any of my feet! They're numb!"

"Well, I'll catch ya then!" he stretched out his hands on front of him.

"Sure. Of course I believe you. I mean, absolutely NONE of this is your fault." she rolled her violet orbs.

"Shut up and fall down already!" Ichigo jumped and pulled one of her ankles as he drop down.

"But—eep!! Stop pulling my ankle, you imbecile! I'll fall!" she pulled her ankle up.

"That's the point!" he jerked her ankle down. Hard.

"UWAH!!" she shouted as her hands slipped. She felt the freezing air of winter against her back as she fall. She shut her eyes tightly, both hands clenched and placed in front of another on her mouth. She knew she shouldn't be acting this way, but she can't help it. She brought her knees upwards slightly as she prepare for the impact.

The long-awaited impact never come. Instead, she felt an arm behind her neck and her knees, catching her at the last moment. She knew whose it is, but she doesn't want to admit that he actually did keep his words.

Feeling defeated, she sighed deeply and opened her eyes. She could see Ichigo grinning boyishly at her, his amber eyes showing a lot of ego.

"See? I told you that I'll catch you," he said proudly.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, "Just put me down and I am not thanking you."

"Whatever you say, Ms. I-don't-believe-you'll-catch-me-but-you-did." he pulled away his arm - which was holding her knees – gently, letting her steadies herself on the cold ground with his other hand as a support.

"Your foot's alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's much better now,"she stretched her arms. "Oh, and thanks for that last jerk on my ankle. It was soothing," she said sarcastically.

"Well you wouldn't drop down so I had to--!" he yelled, but was interrupted by her.

"Whatever. Apology accepted," she grinned triumphantly at him, who hmph-ed in defeat. "What time is it?"

Ichigo searched for his mobile phone inside his denim pocket, "Found it! It's..." he flipped the phone open, "4.30 AM," he flipped his phone close and put it back inside his pocket.

"Ah. Okay then." she finished her stretching and went inside the house with Ichigo following her.

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A/N: Not an interesting ending this time... But aren't you curious about the silhouette? I sure hope you are...