Author's Note: Rukia kicks ass. Enough said. :)
The Alley
"Hey, you there! What do you think you're doing?"
She stood in the entrance of an alleyway, one slender arm extended as she pointed at the group of thugs circling a small girl. They had stolen her small purse, intent just on being bullies. Rukia had seen them herd the child into the alley and had followed without a second thought.
Rukia didn't like bullies.
"Buzz off, lady," one of them replied, snarling at her. "We got business with this girl."
"Leave her alone," Rukia snapped, taking a step forward and dropping her schoolbag on the ground to free her hands. "She's just a child."
"Aaa, but you're not," the leader drawled, eyes narrowing. He motioned to his cronies. "Get her, boys."
The tiny girl ran.
Rukia didn't.
"What the hell happened to you?"
Rukia looked up into Ichigo's sour face and wondered about the flare of anger in his eyes, the set of his shoulders as he gazed at her bruised body. She raised a hand and wiggled her fingers.
"Nothing happened. This body just doesn't work the way I want it to."
Ichigo growled. "You look like you got thrown in a blender and you call it 'nothing'? What happened?"
She sat down on the edge of his bed gingerly, wincing as she hit a sore spot. "I thought they might hurt her, so I picked a fight."
For some reason, Ichigo's face lost its anger but tightened into an expression she couldn't read. "So they beat you up instead."
She shrugged. "It's alright." A smirk curved her lips. "They don't look much better."
For a moment, Ichigo simply looked at her, then he turned and left his room without a word, leaving her sitting there wondering if she had said something out of place. A minute later, he came back with a cold compress that he held gently against her cheek. She blinked in surprise at his tender action, despite the fact that his face could still have hammered nails.
"I'll be more careful next time," she told him, thinking he might be blaming himself. Surprisingly, Ichigo grinned.
"Yeah, because I'll be with you."
The End.