1Okay. I feel sad at the lack of reviews, but I vowed to myself to finish anyway. Those reviews I did receive can be given credit for this update coming as soon as it did. This chapter won't come out as fast however. I hope those of you who read will be satisfied with how this turns out. Anyway... ENJOY!

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Chapter 2: Awkwardness

There is nothing but darkness so complete he can feel nothing but its presence. Eventually... he hears a voice. It seems he is not as alone as he thought. He approaches, but finds nothing.

'Wait... Rukia?' he says to himself. There is a lone figure hunched to the ground. He recognizes her as the person who had ruined his life. Hadn't she? Watching her weep on the floor he tried to recreate his anger toward her. The more he tried to stay away from her imagining the reasons he hated her, the more he realized just what he really owed her. Hectic as his new life was, he was… happy? Had she really turned things around for him so much? Eventually he realized... how much he needed to be at her side. The desire to reassure her, and comfort her filled him. The power of whatever is holding him away from her seems insignificant to the desire he has to be at her side. A new resolve flows through him and he is able to make his way to her side. He tells her not to cry. He holds her whispering his assurance that everything will be alright. She turns her face to him and he loses himself in the eyes he had tried to distance himself from.

All at once the sensations slipped away from him and he began to notice the things around him. His environment was familiar. It was his room... his own bed. 'A dream.' he told himself trying to feel relieved. Why was he so disappointed? Slowly he opened his eyes spotting the figure of his dreams hunched over at his desk. Then the last month flooded back to him. He immediately replaced his mask which his dream had cast aside making him invulnerable once more.

'She fell asleep. Worried about me' he told himself with a smirk he couldn't suppress. As he attempt to sit up in his bed he was greeted with a searing pain across his chest and arms, and the events of that night came with it. He remembered the hollow, and how it had threatened to kill Rukia and himself. He remembered the strength he found within himself to defeat it. He remembered the last thing he saw as he lost consciousness. Her eyes. Filled with worry and fear.

Suddenly, He made a face few had been privileged enough to witness. He smiled. Dropping the emotional cover he shielded himself with. 'She was up all night worried about me.' It was obvious she had bandaged his wounds, and poured what little power she had left into healing him. Ignoring his pain he sat up and took careful steps toward her. He stood in front of her and took in her every detail. This was the first time he had viewed her as she slept. Looking upon her he could not see any reason to be angry at her. Remembering the pleasure he had taken seeing her jealousy seemed childish. 'Well... mabey it was a little fun.' he thought smirking to himself. The temptation to brush away the stray lock of hair that had fallen over her face proved too much. She mumbled something inaudible, so he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her shoulders and under her legs. He carried her to his closet and could not ignore how she pressed herself into him seeking comfort. Being so close to her caused him to easily ignore the pain of his wounds. Opening the door with his foot, he gently lay her onto her bed.

"Thank you Rukia." he whispered. "For everything."

Once again we find Orihime Inoue readying herself in the morning. She is in an excellent mood today. Even for her. Tomorrow she will be going to the midterm festival with none other than Kurosaki Ichigo, whom she's had a secret crush on for years (well... secret to him anyway). She was feeling extremely proud of herself for actually having the courage to ask him (with a little help from our favorite tomboy Tatsuki). She had her entire day planned to go out shopping for a new outfit, go out to eat, get her nails done, and all of that nonsense girls get excited over. (AN: I am so evil. XD)

Ichigo had taken a shower, re-wrapped his bandages, and eaten breakfast with his family before Rukia finally awoke. Carrying an extra helping of food up to his room he spotted Rukia, now awake, sitting on his be deep in thought. She looked up at him as he set down her plate wearing an unreadable expression. Images of his dream the previous night creeping back to him.

"I brought you breakfast." he said, feeling the need to break the silence, and stop the way she seemed to be boring into his soul with her eyes.

She nodded. "Thank you."

"That was some hollow last night eh?." breaking the damn silence again awkwardly.

"Yea... it was.." she trailed off.

Unable to take the tension anymore he was struck with a great idea. "Hurry up and eat. We'll be heading into town in a bit."

"What for?"

"You will need a decent outfit for the festival." Placing his best impression of Rukia's schooltime facade. "You need to look your best for your date with Keigo-KUN!" he mocked, emphasizing the kun suffix. He looked up at her to bask in her reaction to his taunts only to find his face struck by something hard!

"OW! A SHOE? WHAT THE HELL?

Rukia just sat with a smug look on her face trying to look innocent, but failing miserably. That was until a pickle was accurately lodged on her cheek. She wasted no time in yelling any retorts, but leaping off the bed to tackle a very surprised Ichigo. She pinned him to the floor with her legs on each of his sides, and her hands pinning his wrists above his head. One look into each others faces was enough to send them both into a fit of laughter. Even when the laughter ended they remained staring into the other's eyes, and in the exact same position they had fallen.

'She doesn't really think she can keep me down like this does she? She's so... small. Her hands don't even wrap around my wrists, and... SHE'S STRADDLING ME!' Ichigo yelled at himself while realizing he had no desire to throw her off his body. 'What am I thinking? It's Rukia dammit! I've got to end this!'

Once again Ichigo was the first to break the silence. "Um.. Rukia?" He broke his gaze and turned his head trying to hide the flush in his face.

"Hm?" she replied snapping back to the world around her.

"Think you could um... get off of me now?"

"Oh. Right." she said complying with him reluctantly. They both looked away from each other as they tried to clear the invading impulses and remove the blush that had crept across her face as well.

'What's gotten into me?' she thought desperately 'Is it wrong that it felt so... right?'

Ichigo cleared his throat. "Finish your breakfast we'll leave in 10 minutes."

'At least the awkwardness is gone now.' he thought to himself sarcastically as he absentmindedly tidied his room.

"Just pick one and let's go!" Yelled a very annoyed voice.

Rukia stood there with several dress choices that had caught her eye. Ichigo was getting stressed out from being in the women's department with Rukia. The stares and giggles emanating from the rest of the women shopping didn't help matters. The fact that he overheard voices saying things like "Oh. Aren't they a cute couple?" and "That's so sweet. I wish my boyfriend would take me shopping." didn't help to feel any less awkward.

"Their all so nice. How can I just pick one?"

To Ichigo's distress, a nearby salesperson who had been spying on them made her approach.

"Why don't you try them on in our changing room, and your boyfriend can help you decide." she implied sweetly with a well practiced sales pitch.

"She's not m-" Ichigo started but was cut off by Rukia.

"Really? I get to try them on first?" She didn't either seem to notice or mind that the woman had referred to Ichigo as her boyfriend.

The saleswoman gave Rukia a curious look. "Of course... It's right over there."

"Thank you." Rukia said sweetly before quickly disappearing into the small room. Ichigo tried to hold onto his frustration as he waited, but the happiness on Rukia's face wouldn't allow it. He thought about how it was nice to see her that way for awhile until he realized Rukia had been inside for nearly 10 minutes. With his annoyance quickly restored he walked up to the room.

"Oi, Rukia. What's taking so long?" A grumble was all he could discern from behind the door. "What?"

"I'm stuck." came a quiet but frustrated voice.

"What do you mean your stuck?"

"I can't get out of this stupid thing!" She seriously sounded desperate.

Ichigo sighed. "Hold on I'll go get someone."

"No! I don't want anyone to see me." she whispered.

"Well hurry up! And don't rip it, or I'll have to pay for it!" He heard a sniffling noise through the door. "Are you crying?"

"No!" She insisted while making another loud sniffing noise.

'Damn it!' He said to himself as he stiffened his resolve and walked into the small room.

He found her sitting on the small shelf with her back to him. A black dress with complicated straps were wrapped at odd angles around her, and were obviously very uncomfortable. She turned her head looking at him with tear-filled eyes, and he expected her to yell at him to leave possibly calling him a pervert in the process, but she just sniffed once more and said, "Go ahead and laugh."

He was visibly shocked and inwardly hurt. Sure there was something mildly funny about her getting stuck in a dress inside a changing room, but there was no way he was going to laugh when he saw just how sad she looked. He hated seeing her like that and missed her expression she was wearing 10 minutes ago. He changed his look to one of seriousness and told her, "I won't laugh. Just let me help get you out of that thing."

She gauged his reaction for a moment before standing up before him. 'If he laughs I swear I'll...'

Ichigo's eyes fell from her face to the dress she had failed to fully put on. The straps she had wrongfully wrapped around her arms kept the dress from coming up to fully cover her breasts, and left the dress far too tight across them. He had noticed before that her breasts weren't especially large, but seeing so much of them exposed this way was very arousing nonetheless.

"Turn around." he managed to choke out.

'He didn't laugh. The way he was staring at me... Does he think I'm attractive? Rukia's thoughts were interrupted as his hands fell onto her shoulders gently trying to wrestle the constricting straps from her. She was aware of his breath on her shoulder as he pulled her arm through one of the straps he had loosened. She found herself unable to move under Ichigo's hands, and simply allowed him to untangle her. Her eyes found the mirror across from her and caught a sight of Ichigo's face as he worked to unwrap her. 'Is he blushing?' A look at her own face told her she was as well. 'Why does this feel so... wonderful?' Much too soon in her opinion he had removed the straps, and held her dress up from falling to her feet. She momentarily toyed with the idea of letting it fall.

Unfortunately for those two a very large and very masculine woman chose that moment to burst into their changing room. She instantly saw the position of the young couple who had turned to her with identical shocked expressions. The boy was halfway in the process of removing the girl's dress! Needless to say the woman identified as the store's manager quickly found her voice.

"This is not a make out booth!" The two winced visibly. Ichigo moving his mouth wordlessly feebly attempting to make an excuse. "I'm sorry young man you will have to wait outside until the little miss has finished changing." With that she grabbed his arm and pulled him through the door, but not before Rukia's dress which had previously been held up solely by Ichigo's hands fell to the floor. Ichigo caught a view or Rukia in very provocative black lace underwear which matched the dress she had been wearing a moment ago. (A/N God bless Victoria's secret.) Rukia simply stood too shocked by the recent turn of events to move as the door swung closed.

Ichigo sat once again on the waiting bench ignoring the stares of everyone else in the store who had glimpsed the scene. He sat speechless with only the images of Rukia and the memories of his hands undressing her running through his mind. Absentmindedly he rubbed his nose which had a tingling feeling, and caught a glimpse of blood on it. 'What the hell? You mean that actually happens?'

Rukia stepped out of the changing room a dress in hand, and walked to him. She was noticeable avoiding his gaze. "I picked one. Lets go."

He nodded and walked with her to the cashier silently thanking her for the quick escape from what he now considered the closest place to hell he had yet been. He payed for the dress trying to act as if nothing embarrassing had just happened, and quickly left the store. He was not one step outside it when he bumped into something strangely soft.

"I-Ichigo?"

He looked down and saw a very pretty girl with red hair staring up at him. "Inoue?"

Hurrayy for Fllluuuuffff! Okay I admit I got pretty sappy in this one, but what can I say? Fluff is fun. No action in this chapter, which I kind of miss. I don't know if you guys even want action. Review and tell me dammit! This chapter took much longer to come out than it needed to, but remember with every review I get the more motivated to add more. Oh, and you may have noticed this story was changed from an M to T rating. I abandoned my original intentions of creating a few of what I intended to be taste full lemons to snag a few more readers. If I get enough feedback telling me otherwise I may change it.. Anyway im rambling, so I want to thank all my reviewers and especially Spell Checker. XD

I'll see you all next time!