Oh well...sorry, everyone. I know it took SO LONG for me to update. Well, it's because I have school!! nyahahaha!! But don't worry...I'm trying my best to update faster!! hahaha!! I hope you like this chap!! Thank you so much to those who reviewed and favorited!! I love you guys!! I hope you keep on supporting DBY!!

Read and Enjoy!! :p

Rukia blinked her eyes. Where was she? She sat up and saw herself in an unfamiliar surrounding. I'm...dreaming? she sighed and laid back down. "I need to sleep more," she mumbled, snuggling in the soft, warm sofa bed.

Byakuya stared at her and blinked. Suddenly, Rukia bolted up and her eyes shot out of their sockets. "Where am I?," she gasped, looking around. She suddenly spotted Byakuya, the school president, sitting beside her. What on earth was he doing in there? She looked around again. This house--

"Rukia! You're already awake!!," said Byakuya, smiling down at her.

"What happened!!," Rukia screamed, bolting up the sofa bed.

"I'm so happy, Rukia!," he axclaimed, changing the subject. "I've always dreamed of having a cute daughter like you!!"

Rukia looked at him as if he were some kind of a psycho killer or something. She was still confused. How on earth did she get in here?

"From starting today, treat this as your own home. Okay? In a house as big as this, there's room for you too!," Byakuya said, smiling at her.

Rukia raised an eyebrow. Seeing the president like he's extremely happy...I'm starting to remember my sketchy memory...

We are unable to take your call..please leave a message," the answering machine said. Rukia lay on the floor, unconscious. Her raven hair spread onto the floor and the towel that was wrapped around her small body were the only clothes she was wearing. Her head felt like it was about to break open any minute.

"Daughter dear, why haven't you answered the phone?," asked her mother's voice as the phone continued to beep. "Your aunt's mom passed away. I've gone to help and won't be back for 2 or three days."

Beep.

"But fear not. I've asked my fiance, Byakuya, to take care of you. I've given him the house key to come and pick you up. That's it. Bye."

Rukia lay on the floor and apparently, she didn't hear what her mom said on the answering machine. "Mom...," she groaned.

"Wants me to move here!? Puh-leeze, who needs it!?," she thought. She suddenly screamed and stood up on the sofa bed. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY TOWEL!!"

"Don't worry, I asked a maid to change your clothes," Byakuya said reassuringly. "The clothes were sent by your mom."

"Uncle, thanks for your intentions, but I gotta go!," Rukia said. She ran down the living room and suddenly came to a halt. Her eyes grew wide. She slowly turned around and sweat-dropped. "Um...where's the door again?"

Byakuya remained silent and sat down on the sofa bed, his cheerful smile turning upside down. Rukia now stared at him as if he were some kind of spoiled eggs. What on earth...

Rukia was suddenly surprised when suddenly, Byakuya's expression turned into goo-goo eyes and a pouting lip. "Rukia, you can't accept me!? You don't approve of your mom marrying me!? So you won't let me take care of you?"

Rukia shook her head. Oh no..."No, that's not it, uncle! It's just...," she mumbled. Then, she sighed and dropped her shoulders. "Forget it. Whatever you want."

Byakuya's goo-goo eyes came back to his cheerful smile. "That's great! Rukia, you're good!!"

Rukia raised an eyebrow. Why is the president so strange? When we saw him before, he wasn't like this at all!

"Oh, I"m going to show you something that's really cute!"

And what could that be?

That evening, Byakuya and Rukia spent the night rummaging through old photo albums and high school yearbooks.

"Look at this, Rukia! It's Ichigo at the age of four! Isn't it cute?," Byakuya asked, pointiong to a picture where Ichigo's face was scrunched up and his tongue was sticking out. There was also a birthday cake in front of him.

"We made him blow the candle, and after so many tries, he couldn't blow it off! He couldn't do it and cried."

Rukia laughed and continued looking at the other photos. But he really was cute...just like a little girl. She suddenly spotted a photo where Ichigo was smiling and he held hands with a woman. The woman had strawberry blonde hair and eyes just like Ichigo's. Rukia smiled. This was definitely Ichigo's best picture! "What a beautiful woman," she breathed.

Byakuya turned to look at her and his smile immediately turned into a grave expression.

"Is that Ichigo's mom?"

"Uh...yeah. That's weird. This photo...I remember putting it away."

Rukia frowned. She was worried that she said somthing to upset Byakuya. She lowered her head and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Byakuya softened and managed a little smile. "Don't be sorry. When Ichigo's mom ran away from home, he'd just started elementary school."

Rukia looked at him and back to the photo, where Ichigo was actually wearing a bright green top and light green pants. It must've been his school uniform.

"The reason for the failed marriage," Byakuya continued,"was because I was totally focused on my career, and left all the responsibilities of the house to her."

Rukia lowered her head again. She knew this was a sensitive topic and Byakuya probably hated talking about it. But Rukia was more than willing to listen. "At the time when he...," Byakuya continued,"needed his mom's love the most, he lost her."

His words hit Rukia like a huge boulder. She suddenly remembered what had happened the other day.

Rukia narrowed her eyes and decided to approach the guy. He was going too far. He ran up to him. "How can you be so harsh!? Bullying a child. Your mom never taught you how to behave??," she yelled angrily.

Ichigo furrowed his brows in frustration. "You understand me well! I'm so bad, even she gave up on me!"

Rukia's eyes drifted back to Byakuya, who was examining the picture. "Allowing the family to fall apart, is the greatest failure in my life."

So it was uncle's self-blame that led to Ichigo being so spoiled. She decided to smile and put a hand in his shoulder. "Ichigo can't not feel the love you have for him. The time at school, I saw him with you. It was the first time I saw his expression slowly change from violent and mean...to gentle," she said, smiling.

Byakuya smiled back at her. Rukia's eyes grew wide when his eyes turned like chibi hearts again. "Oh, Rukia! You really are like a small angel! Even your words have the power of love!"

Rukia sweat-dropped and said," Uncle, you're too excited!"

Byakuya's expression went to normal again and Rukia sighed. Byakuya looked at her and said,"I belive...that if it's you, you'll be able to change the scary Ichigo." He took her hands in his and bowed. Rukia's wide eyes grew even wider. "From now on," Byakuya continued, "please look after Ichigo!"

Rukia was about to protest when suddenly, he raised his head and met her eyes. "I know..in actuality, he's very lonely inside."

"I..."

Byakuya pointed his finger at her and said,"I know you're hungry! I'll cook for you, okay?"

He headed towards the kitchen and put on a bright pink apron with mini hearts on it. Rukia smiled at him as she watched him begin his 'cooking.' She sighed and thought, "Even if I don't know what the future holds, I think I can understand why my mom likes uncle."

Byakuya continued his cooking as Rukia watched him carefully. She suddenly felt a figure sitting beside her. She turned to see--

"Looking for me?" It was Ichigo. She looked back at Byakuya and said,"Uncle, Ichigo's here!"

Byakuya smiled and dashed towards Ichigo, carrying his spatule, when suddenly, his foot tripped on a pair of slippers. The two teens' eyes grew wide and luckily, they both stepped out of the way, causing Byakuya to fall on the couch headfirst.

Ichigo and Rukia looked back at her. Ichigo's frown seemed to twitch and Rukia could tell he wanted so badly to smile. "You're dangerous!!," he yelled angrily. Or was he laughing? "You almost killed me!"

Byakuya suddenly turned to face Rukia and almost hit her with the spatula, but luckily, and as expertly as as before, she dodged it just in time. "Did you know what the master chef on TV said?," Byakuya asked.

"Which thing?," Rukia asked. Byakuya looked up and spoke. "A cook's thoughts can be transferred to needy people, and allow then to feel happy again!"

At his last word, he pointed his spatula and pretended that it was a sword. He turned around and imagined hitting a meatloaf. Ichigo, who was behind him, dodged. When Byakuya noticed that he was actually closer to breaking his son's head in half, Ichigo stood up and yelled, "Bullshit!!"

Rukia immediately grabbed Byakuya's shoulder and said,"No! Sounds reasonable!"

"Exactly! I want to transfer my happiness onto the two of you!," he said, grinning like a madman. He grinned at Ichigo, who only returned a frustrated froen and turned back to Rukia. "But..Rukia, don't you think it's unmanly that I love cooking?"

Before Rukia could respond, Ichigo interrupted, "It's good that you realize! That apron is very feminine!"

Bykauya looked at the pink hearts on his apron. His turned into the teary, chibi eyes again. He looked at Rukia for self-esteem. Rukai sweat-dropped. "Of course not! Really manly!"

Byakuya grinned and Rukia clapped her hands as if they were putting on a show. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the two of them. He wondered how these two could even understand each other. His father was an insane man who was the president of their whole school, but still acts as if he's just in elementary, while Rukia--

"Alright! I'll begin again!," Byakuya yelled, interrupting Ichigo's thoughts.

Salad, Chinese Bbq, Fried fish, chocolate mousse, fried eggs, french fries, fried rice, chopped vegetables, and a whole bunch of other dishes laid on the table. Rukia's eyes went wide as she took her seat at the dinig table. Sure, she was hungry, but there was absolutely no way she could finish up everything in there. Even if she only filled her plate with one of everything, she was definitely sure her stomach would explode. Midnight snack to the nth degree...way too extreme...

Ichigo frowned at the table. What is this old man thinking? If the whole neighborhood joined in to eat with us, there'd still be plenty of leftovers! Jeez.. "Old man, are you a pig?"

Byakuya looked thoughtful. "Well, since I don't know Ruki-ruki's taste, I decided to be prepared!"

Rukia raised an eyebrow. Ruki-ruki? Where on earth did that come from?

Ichigo looked at Byakuya and said,"Wasteful. Do you know how many people are starving in Africa?"

Byakuya dropped his head and suddenly looked up. "I know! The 3 of us can play games together!"

A vein popped in Ichigo's head. He lifted his other hand, which was covered in bandages, for Byakuya to see. "You're too much! Can't you see that my hand hurts?"

Rukia looked at him and memories from the day before cam flooding back to her. Byakuya narrowed his eyes at Ichigo's hand and asked, "You're hurt? How did you hurt it?"

"Fought an alien. They cut my hand open and put a microchip in," he said. Rukia wanted to laugh. What kind of an answer was that? "I could explode at any time!," he added.

Byakuya smiled and looked at Rukia. "My son. Cool, handsome, and has a good sense of humor." Rukia nodded. "Laugh a little," Byakuya added. Rukai giggled. Boy, she really wanted to burst from laughter. Her eyes suddenly drifted back to Ichigo's wounded hand. She suddenly lost all her laughter inside and her guilt began to grow again.

Ichigo laid in his bed, looking at the scarf that he had used to wrap around his wound yesterday. He was thinking of Rukia...again. Whatever he does, he couldn't seem to get her out of his mind. He knew that what he said and did before, weren't really true. He wasn't even sure if he really felt that way about Rukia. But...why can't he seem to stop thinking about that raven-haired midget? His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a know came at his door. He quickly hid the scarf under his pillow and went to open the door. To his surprise, he saw Rukia.

"Is your hand..okay?," she asked in a very quiet voice.

Ichigo scowled and said, "Bought a bandage and wrapped it." Was she worried?

"Do you have any medicine? I'll dress it for you," she said, looking at him expectantly.

Ichigo was surprised, but he nodded and said, "Okay."

He let Rukia in and took the medicine inside the medicine cabinet. Rukia opened it and took out a piece of cotton and dipped it in Betadine. She sat beside Ichigo and the bed and started dabbing the cotton onto his wounded palm. As Rukia examined the wound, she felt more guilt building up inside of her. It was a really huge one. And Ichigo got it just because he cared for a small bird. She blew onto it and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Ichigo smirked. "A lot."

Rukia suddenly felt chills go up her spine. She suddenly looked up at him and her eyes met with his. She immediately looked back at the wound and tried to hide her blushing face. Why is he looking at me like that? Hi unguarded expression really confuses me. "Does it still hurt?"

Ichigo didn't know why, but he sat up and his face grew dangerously close to Rukia's. "Hurts," he whispered onto her ear. Rukia's heart began to beat faster. She pulled away.

"Are you cold?," Ichigo asked. Rukia shook her head. "I'm...fine."

She was surprised when Ichigo suddenly wrapped his thick blanket around them both. Her blush began to grow deeper and she was sure she was as red as a tomato. She didn't dare look into his eyes. "I...I really wasn't cold."

Her heart suddenly raced when she felt Ichigo's head rest on her shoulders. His eyes were closed. "Under your administrations, it's less and less painful."

Soon, Ichigo began to fall asleep and Rukia's shoulder was starting to get numb. She slowly rested his head on the pillow and covered him with his blanket. As she was about to go out of the room, she felt herself being pulled. She turned around and saw Ichigo, eyes still closed. She tried to pull away, but she was afraid she might wake him up and make him mad. She decided to sit back down beside him. Then, she suddenly felt herself being wrapped around his shoulders and now, she could feel his heart beating. Her cheeks reddened. "Ichigo!," she whispered.

Oh no...

So whaddayya think? I know this is the longest chap i've ever posted! I hope you like it!! Hahahaha!! Finally, it's IchiRuki!! Review!!