Sorry, for the long delay and not much to show for it. Not only has school and life been real time consuming, but this chapter had me punching holes in my wall. No matter how many times I re-edited and re-edited it, it just never turned out the way I wanted it to. I finally got it to a point that satisfied me enough, but still am unsatisfied with it for the most part. I still hope it's good enough for you, and please leave your criticism.

A big thanks to all my reviewers and my friends at school for all the motivation you've given me.

Chapter 10: Help Me Understand

When Rukia walked into the room, she first noticed Ichigo sitting up in the bed and arguing with the nurses who were trying to get the IV Ichigo had just recently removed back into his hand. Rukia smiled lightly, feeling a sort of reassurance by the fact that even after all he had been through, his stubborn personality always seemed to seep through.

As the door clicked shut, he stopped arguing briefly in order to look up, giving the nurses enough time to stab him with the needle and tape it in place. His eyes followed them out the door with a glare. Once they left, his gaze focused on Rukia. Their eyes met and—overcome by a random mood swing—Ichigo smiled at her. Rukia attempted to smile back, suddenly feeling very anxious with his eyes on her.

Ichigo nodded at her and motioned for her to sit down. Rukia complied, this sort of nervous anxiety building up in her stomach with each step she took. Why was she feeling like this all of a sudden? Being around Ichigo had never made her feel nervous before.

She eased herself into the chair beside his bed and took in the sight of him. She could tell the nurses had changed the bandage around his shoulder as well as replacing the IV, but otherwise he didn't look any different then when she had left him earlier.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, feeling compelled to say something in order to break the ice that had settled throughout the room.

Ichigo shrugged to the best of his ability and sighed.

"I can't feel my shoulder, but dad says that's to be expected," he replied. "Otherwise, I feel fine." He smirked. "Hopefully that means I'll be outta here soon."

Rukia flickered a smile back, the awkward blanket lifting somewhat. "That's good," she said.

"How are you?" he then asked. "Your ribs feeling fine?"

Rukia nodded, recounting her own injuries from the attack. Being elbowed by her father during the struggle had broken two of her ribs and cracked another. The doctors had told her there wasn't anything they could do for broken ribs and that they would heal on their own over time. She hadn't been paying much attention to them, and because of that, she hadn't noticed them hurting all that much.

"They're fine," she said, giving a shrug of her own.

Ichigo smiled. "Good."

A silence fell over them once again and Rukia became all too anxious for the second time in the past few minutes. Why did sitting here with him feel like torture all of a sudden? What had changed?

Rukia found her mind going back to Christmas a couple months ago and Ichigo's flustered state he had been in after giving her his gift. She couldn't stop going back to that night her father came back and relishing in the warmth—yet at the time, fear—she had felt when she saw Ichigo fighting her father in order to keep her safe. She couldn't stop replaying the scene in the ambulance when he had planted that chaste kiss on her forehead. She couldn't escape the knowledge that—shocking as it may have been—she had liked it. Throughout the rest of that day, her mind had been thinking about that kiss; analyzing every part of it. Had there been any meaning behind it, or had merely been a kiss between friends? Hell, it may have even been the drugs talking!

"…Ichigo?" Rukia asked, her voice meek.

He looked up from fiddling with the hem of his bed sheet; obviously he found this setting unnerving as well.

"Yeah?" He caught on to the nervous flicker in her eyes. "What's up, Rukia?"

Her eyes started darting around the room, landing on anything but him and even then not staying in one place for more than a second or so. She couldn't look at him with what she was about to say

"Have things… changed between us?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper.

Ichigo blinked, utterly confused. "Changed?" he repeated questionably. "Like how?"

Rukia averted her gaze to the tiled floor.

"Like… relationship-wise?" she mumbled, sparing a glance up at Ichigo.

Ichigo shifted in the bed. Honestly, he wasn't all that surprised that this topic had been brought up between the two of them. In fact, he had actually been pondering how deep their relationship with the other ran before the nurses had come in and started pestering him. He had been keeping quiet in hopes of Rukia bringing it up first. He had friends, of course, but none of those friendships seemed to run as deep as his and Rukia's did.

He knew right off the bat that he and Rukia shared some kind of bond. Their meeting had felt like fate to Ichigo; like some sort of higher power had made them bump into the other. After a while of being around Rukia, he had come to see that perhaps they had been set to meet because each of them had been missing something only the other could complete. Rukia had been an abused and lost girl, desperately in need of a friend. Ichigo had been able to give that to her. He himself had been a turtle stuck inside his shell, refusing to believe that there were people out there who had gone through the same tragedies as he. Rukia was able to make him see the light and brighten his world so he could see he still had a lot to live for.

Fate had led them to meet, and destiny had seen them through, forming an unbreakable bond between the two that had proved to hold strong no matter what they faced together.

Like the sun and moon, they had helped each other rise and set into a steady cycle. Without the other, that cycle they had grown accustomed to would be broken and the lives they had known since meeting each other would slowly fade away, reverting each of them back to who they were before their fateful encounter.

Despite how comfortable Ichigo was with their friendship, he wasn't sure if he wanted it to progress any more. He was content with the connection the two of them had now. Taking it any further chanced breaking all he had worked to build and keep between them.

"Ichigo?" Rukia's voice brought him back from his thoughts.

His amber eyes flickered over to her face. "Sorry," he said. He shifted in the bed again.

"What do you think?" he asked. "Do you think things have changed between us?"

A look of uncertainty crossed Rukia's face and Ichigo knew he was just putting off the inevitable. He couldn't help it. He had never been good with letting others know his feelings, why would this time be any different?

Because this is Rukia, he tried telling himself for encouragement. We've confided nearly everything in each other.

Before he could start having an internal argument with himself, Rukia's voice once again brought him back to the present.

She sat stiff in the chair and let her eyes dart around the room, refusing to look at him again, as she began to speak.

"I can't lie and tell you that my feelings for you don't run any deeper than friendship because they do, I'm just not sure how deep and I'm afraid to find out." She glanced up and noticed Ichigo's puzzled expression before carrying on.

"Everyone I've ever cared for and loved in my life has been cruelly taken away from me and I don't think I can experience that again. I don't want to believe that I'm falling in love with you, Ichigo, because I already know how it will end—I mean look at what's happened to you already—but I can't just deny the truth which is I am falling in love with you and I'm at a loss on how to stop."

When she finished, she fell silent and still in her chair, waiting for Ichigo's reaction. She gazed at him expectantly and could tell he was putting this all together in his head.

"This is either gonna sound really stupid or really cheesy coming from me, so be prepared," he stated, trying half-heartedly to lighten the mood between the two of them, and twitched a smile when he saw Rukia do the same.

"I can't lie to both myself and you that the feeling isn't mutual because it is," he explained. "People always tell me I'm too stubborn for my own good and I vow to put and end to it today. I know when an opportunity too good to pass up knocks at my door, and for me, this is that opportunity."

He looked Rukia in the eye and found his salvation there. It was all the encouragement he needed.

"I knew the day we met that us running into each other hadn't merely been coincidence, and now I know that I was right to think that. You're like family to me, Rukia; but after that night, you're something more. It scared me when I realized how worried I was for your safety. I had never felt like I had to protect someone so badly. And don't think I'm saying you need protection, because I know you're very well off on your own, but that night you did need protection and I wanted to be the one to protect you. I couldn't let him hurt you again."

He looked up at her and worried a bit when he saw the tears on the bridge of her eyes, but was reassured he was saying the right things when he saw her smile. He smiled back and prepared to finish.

"I feel the same way you do, Rukia, I know I have strong feelings for you and I know they're good, but sometimes the feeling is so strong it's startling," he said.

"So, when you kissed me in the back of the ambulance that night?" She just had to find out.

Rukia smiled a bit when she saw Ichigo blush as it was mentioned.

"It was a lame cover up for what I really wanted to do," he mumbled.

Knowingly, Rukia smirked, yet knew there was a slight blush on her face as well. "What did you really want to do?"

Ichigo blushed harder and Rukia couldn't stop herself from naming the adorable look his face now bore as a reason she was falling in love with him.

"Will you let me show you?" he asked, trying to make his voice hold more strength.

Rukia nodded and Ichigo sat up in the bed. In moments, they were leaning in to the other, both apprehensive at the task about to take place. Ichigo's eyes sought Rukia and she knew he was asking permission. Overcome with confidence and knowing now he had felt the same way all along, Rukia took the final lean in to close the gap between them.

Their lips touched and Ichigo and Rukia both felt the electric shock run down their back.

Their first kiss was short and sweet—merely a peck to show the other the feeling was truly mutual between them—and over in a matter of seconds.

After they had pulled away, Ichigo gave Rukia another smile and said, "So, to sum it all up, I'm falling in love with you too, Rukia and not only am I at a lost on how to stop it, I'm not sure I want it to stop."

Rukia flashed a smiled back before saying somewhat shyly, "I'm still scared of what will happen."

"Hey, I promise nothing will take me away from you," he told her. "If I survived a bullet and a coma, I can survive anything!"

Rukia had to laugh at his boast and Ichigo only smiled larger when he heard it.

He reached out to take her hand and interlaced their fingers.

"And I promise we'll take things one step at a time until we're certain of where our feelings stand, sound good?" he asked her.

Rukia nodded and smiled, looking down at their joined hands, "Sounds perfect."

Continued in Part II

That's right, this story is far from over! Haha! In store for the next Part is something that Rukia never thought possible and something Ichigo never wanted to be possible. What could it be? Only I know! =)

Again, I'm sorry if this chapter was a letdown, or any of the characters weren't in character. I tried my hardest, I really did, and perhaps I'll go back sometime and re-edit this chapter again when some better insight hits me.

For now though, review!