Disclaimer: I disclaim everything!

A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry for the length of time between updates. I've been camping without internet connection for the past week or so, with only a few moments of internet in between here and there (which explains for some of the other story updates). But I'm back now, so I will be updating regularly, hopefully.

Anyways, here's the next chapter, which should…sorta feed your need for IchiRuki-ness. Enjoy.

Chapter 10: The Experiment

Rukia returned to Ichigo's room after a more than successful Hollow defeat. Ichigo had decided to take a short detour on the way home to clear his head, one would assume. He still seemed flustered about the events of the morning, and Rukia couldn't blame him. He would come around soon enough.

Climbing through the window, she landed on the hardwood of the floor with a rough 'thump'. Rubbing the sore spot, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Laying still on the bed was Ichigo's discarded body.

Rukia got to her feet hesitantly, glancing back out the window for signs of Ichigo's return. She couldn't help it if she was curious, and even so, would Ichigo ever know?

She settled herself on the edge of the bed, her hands resting in her lap as though she were frightened to touch him. How much could his soul form still feel? Would he know that she was doing this? She hoped not as she slowly began to pull back the covers.

Rukia brought her lips to his, kissing the immobile Ichigo gently. She frowned, her mouth still upon his, finding it displeasing to not have his hand at the back of her neck, or the gentle motions of his lips moving against her own.

Shifting herself she straddled him once again, pushing his mouth open to let her tongue pass through his lips. She moaned gently as though she were expecting some sort of reaction. When there was no response, she decided to give up.

She pulled away, huffing in an irritated fashion. It wasn't long, however, before her curiosity took over once again and her fingers found the edge of his shirt. She'd only seen him without his shirt on a few occasions outside of her frequently occurring dreams, and had never really permission to look, so this was more than the perfect opportunity to see how accurate her dreams had been.

She peeked underneath the fabric, giggling a bit to herself. It was even better than her dreams. For a boy of sixteen, Ichigo was more than in shape. In fact, he was more in shape than many of the other Soul Reapers in the Soul Society and she couldn't help the faint pink blush that started across her cheeks as she stared at the bare skin.

Unable to help herself, Rukia's attention focused on a place a bit lower than his chiseled stomach. She slipped off of him to lie down beside him. Biting her lip to hold back the nervous giggle, she rest her hand at the top of his jeans, releasing the button that held them closed. A moment later, she took the zipper gently and began to-

"Don't even think about it…"

Rukia leapt to her feet, whipping toward the sound of the voice. Ichigo stood by the window, watching her with his arms crossed. The tips of his ears had gone quite red, and he looked more than embarrassed.

As if it would cover up what she'd done, she tossed the blanket back over him hastily, trying to compose herself.

"You're back…" Rukia said quickly, doing her best to sound perfectly normal. "I-I thought you were going for a walk…"

"I was…" he said, moving toward the bed, causing her to back toward her closet. "Then, I felt something strange. Like someone was kissing me, but…not quite me…" His eyes locked onto her. "Your doing I suppose?"

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Rukia said defiantly. "Why the hell would I be kissing you?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow and glanced back down at his lead-like body. Rukia turned red and jerked her head in the other direction.

"Who knows what else you managed to do before I got here…" he taunted, sitting down on the bed. A moment later he had returned to his body, blinking slowly. "I feel like I've been more than violated…"

"I didn't do anything…" Rukia insisted. "Not that I'd want to anyway."

Ichigo opened his mouth to retort, but stopped abruptly glancing down at his slightly opened pants. His face turned even redder than before as he quickly re-buttoned them and pulled the blanket over his waist.

"A few things beg to differ…" he muttered, hoping Rukia wouldn't hear him.

Unfortunately she did and she couldn't help but feel even more embarrassed about her actions, though there happened to be a part of her that felt a bit triumphant. It was more than obvious that Ichigo was feeling a bit…excited about Rukia's little experiment.

"No more doing that, you hear me?!" he shot at her, keeping his blankets firmly in place. "No more exploring my body without me here, got it?!"

Rukia smirked, stepping toward him as seductively as she could manage. "So I can explore your body where you are here?"

"What?" Ichigo yelped, realizing what he'd just said. "N-No! I-I didn't mean it like that! You pervert! W-Why would you even want to-Ah! Don't answer that!"

Rukia chuckled to herself, feeling her embarrassment subsiding as she moved back toward her closet. Ichigo was embarrassed enough for the both of them, and now she could merely enjoy watching him suffer.

"You want me to, admit it…" Rukia slid open the door to her closet, settling herself down on the edge of her mattress, kicking her feet playfully as she glanced back over at him. "It makes you all warm and fuzzy to think of me looking at you…"

"Shut up!" Ichigo growled. "I don't know where the hell you got that idea, but it's not true! I don't want you looking at me-"

"You're hot for me…" Rukia joked, running her hands slowly through her raven-colored locks. She could see Ichigo twitch a bit, shaking his head furiously.

"N-No!" he said through gritted teeth. "Dammit, would you just drop it? I am not hot for you! I'm not even attracted to you! You're nothing but this annoying midget who happens to live in my closet. Why the hell would I be attracted to something like that?!"

Rukia fell silent for a moment, letting him feel as though he won before speaking up again. "Your dreams seem to say different…"

Ichigo gave out an angry yell, tossing the blankets aside to face her entirely. "I don't know what you're-!"

"'Oh Rukia…don't….that tickles…oh-oh…'" She grinned at him triumphantly, her voice soft and almost moaning.

In what seemed to be less than a second flat, Ichigo was before her, his hand clenched tightly around the front of her shirt, pulling her face to his.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ichigo seethed. "But wherever you're getting these ideas…it's…it's gotta stop…"

Rukia stared back at him, suddenly dropping her joking manner. She placed her hands over Ichigo's. "Well then, Ichigo…" she breathed deeply, looking up at him intently. "Stop."

Ichigo couldn't help himself. She was looking at him like that and, argh, it was just so frustrating. He didn't know what else to do. Before he knew it, his lips were on hers again and she was pressing herself against him. The tight feeling he'd felt in his pelvic region as soon as he'd reentered his body had returned almost immediately. Why the hell was this happening to him? It was so different.

Pulling away, Rukia panted lightly. "I don't believe this is stopping, Ichigo…" she whispered.

"Shut up…" he muttered back, kissing her deeply. He let his fingers run through her hair, resting at the back of her neck, as though he were holding her in place. Rukia smirked against his lips, relishing the fact that they were responding this time.

Carefully, she pulled him into the closet with him, letting him hover above her, his lips still locked onto hers. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, humming contentedly.

"Nee-san! Nee-san, check this out! Nee-" Kon's voice sounded throughout the room, breaking the two apart.

Ichigo muttered angrily, immediately pulling himself off of Rukia, though not daring to exit the closet for fear of Kon getting the right impression. Rukia knocked Ichigo to the back of the closet, taking her place in the doorway.

"Yes, Kon?" she asked breathily, brushing her messy bangs out of her eyes.

Kon stared at her, his eyes narrowing. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

"Yes…" Ichigo growled underneath his breath.

"No-No…" Rukia said hastily, punching Ichigo's knee, the closest part of him to her. "I was napping, that's all."

Kon didn't look quite convinced, but he shook his head. "No matter, lemme come up and show you what I found in that girl's room…"

Rukia panicked, moving closer to the edge of her mattress. "That's alright Kon…you don't have to. Just show me from there."

Kon froze, glancing up at her once again. "Are you sure you're okay, Nee-san? You're acting funny…"

"I-It's just a mess up here and I was tidying it up before I fell asleep…" she said hastily. "I just don't want to ruin any of my progress, I'm sorry."

Kon bought the story, which was lucky for them, because Ichigo nearly snorted at its ridiculousness. "Very well then…" he held out a small doll's dress. "Do you see this?"

"Pink…" Ichigo snickered into Rukia's ear, peeking out as much as he could. "Matches nicely with his fur."

Rukia couldn't elbow him, or she would have in a heartbeat. "It's…very nice, Kon…" she said slowly. "What is it for?"

"He's going to wear it to the ball…" Ichigo replied quietly. "C'mon, Rukia, you're a bright girl, couldn't you figure that one out on your own?"

"Did I hear something?" Kon asked, stepping forward. "Is Ichigo around?" he glanced around the room as though he'd only just realized that the boy wasn't there.

"No," Rukia answered quickly. "No, he went out for a walk with his friends. I think they said something about going to the park. I-I wasn't really interested." She shook her head, changing the subject back to the item of clothing in his hand. "About the dress, now…what is it for?"

"Oh…" Kon held it up once again. "I think they're planning on putting me in this! You gotta do something!" his eyes were wide and fearful. "They got a whole stock in there! This was the only one I could get. Hide it and I'm going back to get more!"

He tossed the dress at her and hurried back off toward the door. Rukia glanced down at the small piece of fabric in her hands before turning back to Ichigo, throwing it in his face.

"You almost got us caught!" she hissed. "What if he'd seen you?"

"I think he was more preoccupied with this…" Ichigo said, holding up the dress to look it over. "I don't think he would have noticed if we were both naked."

Rukia slapped his arm rather hard, knocking the dress out of his hands. "That's terrible. If he'd have seen you, he would have yelled, your father would have come running and we would have been found out. You're terribly reckless, have I ever told you that?"

She slipped out of the closet and onto the floor, moving away from him. Ichigo wasn't far behind her as he pulled his large form out of the cramped space.

"And have I ever told you how incredibly bi-polar you are?!" Ichigo shot back, brushing off a bit of dust from his shirt. "Only moments ago you were all over me and now you're railing me out!"

"All over you!?" Rukia turned back to face him, an incredulous look painted across her face. "I was all over you? Excuse me, who initiated it this time? I don't believe I had any say in the matter!"

Ichigo sputtered. "Y-You wanted me to do it! You're the one who pulled me in there-" he jerked his hand back at the closet. "With you! This is all your fault! If you hadn't kissed me in the first place, things would have been normal!"

"If you'd remember correctly," Rukia pointed an accusing finger in his direction. "You were the one who kissed me first, actually! I even tried to pull away and you wouldn't let me! Do you remember that?"

Ichigo glanced away. "I told you, that was a dream."

"A dream?" Rukia laughed in disbelief. "I can't believe you. A dream. A dream that we both happened to have at the exact same time?"

Even to Ichigo it sounded absurd, but he wasn't about to admit it. "Yes…" he answered resolutely.

Rukia shook her head. "You are impossible, Ichigo Kurosaki. Absolutely impossible."

She stormed back to the closet, climbing inside. Ichigo watched as she reached for the door, not moving from his spot as he fumed.

"I'm the one who's impossible?" Ichigo spat after her. "You're the one who can't seem to make up her mind! You-"

He wasn't allowed to finish his sentence before the door to the closet was slammed shut. Sighing deeply, Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck, glaring at something he couldn't even see himself.

Settling back down on his bed, he tried to calm the swarm of thoughts swimming around in his head. He growled to himself, finding it impossible to do so, and flopped back onto the bed. As he closed his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep, he decided that he would deal with her and her conflicting feelings in the morning.

He only hoped that his own wouldn't haunt him in his dreams.

A/N: Hmm…I'm thinking maybe something bigger in the next chapter? Maybe? Kehehe. I think I have an idea on how it's going to play out too, and I can't wait to see how it works. So, look forward to that. –winks-

Thank you to you all who have reviewed so far. I'm going to work on replying to all future reviews from now on. Lately, I just haven't the time to do so. So, please tell me what you think, and I pray that I'll get back to you! Thanks again!