Chapter 10: Say What You Want

~Ichigo~

"So that's it then?" muttered the bespectacled doctor in pure disbelief.

"You just magically realized your feelings for Rukia-san that fateful morning and just had to ambush her on the breakfast table with your feelings of utter adoration?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes at his sarcastic doctor and rudely flipped him the bird.

"Fuck off, Ishida! Stop riding my ass on this. I was not thinking straight okay? It was just urghhh-," he groaned, "I just sort of blurted it out in the heat of the moment, okay?"

Uryuu rolled his eyes and replied dryly.

"Yes I think we have already established that you have got absolutely nothing noteworthy inside your head eons ago."

"HEY! What's that supposed to mean!" came the indignant reply as the latter made a motion to get up. Only to be pushed back by a bespectacled doctor who was thoroughly annoyed by the antics of his wriggling patient.

The latter fixed him a stern glare as he pushed the sliding glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It means for the next few minutes you either hold still or the next thing that I'm removing is your eye."

XXX

With his injured left arm still in a cast, Ichigo found himself occupying the only bed in the tiny white room. Ishida was bent over him- completely in his face as he carried out the mundane task of removing the stitches from his head wound.

It was a task that both doctors could perform with their eyes shut.

He had lost count of the number of times when he had been the one bent over a patient- treating wounds, examining injuries, making diagnoses; but now that the roles were reversed Ichigo struggled to keep himself still.

The loss of control meant he didn't know what to do with his hands and with every passing minute, it was as though he could feel the tightening of the invisible manacles on him, shackling him to the bed; making him feel trapped and restless.

This level of uncomfortableness was then multiplied by a thousand-fold as his innermost feelings for his many-years-speculated-but-never-truly-acknowledged-crush were laid open on the table, ready to be dissected by his favourite frenemy in the hospital.

His frustrations echoed off the plain white walls of the tiny room and his fingers fidgeted nervously.

"I mean it, Kurosaki! One more outburst like that from you and I swear I am not going to be held responsible for my actions."

Knowing Ishida's nature to follow through with his threats, Ichigo wisely agreed to keep silent and remain still as he felt the tweezers tugged at the made knots and the tiny snip-snaps of the scissors moving along as they snipped at the stitches.

"Done," announced the raven-haired doctor as he removed the final stitches, ripping the latex surgical gloves off with a satisfying splat!. Ichigo muttered his thanks while the former tidied up his work station.

"Well at least the wounds are healing nicely. Give it a few weeks and your arm should be as good as new."

"It's not the arm I'm worried about. It's Rukia," said Ichigo wearily, "She wouldn't even talk to me right now."

Uryuu shrugged.

"You said so yourself. She spooks easy. From what you told me, this is normal behaviour for someone like Rukia-san. You surprised her and she obviously needs time to process things- regroup her thoughts and sort out her feelings for you."

His well-polished glasses caught the gleam of sunlight in them as he offered his sound advice, "Give her some time."

The neurosurgery resident growled in frustration.

"Oh no, Ishida- you don't know that midget like I do! You give her an inch and I swear she'll take a fucking mile and then some just because she can," he grumbled.

He frowned. "I give her time and she starts denying anything even happened in the first place. It's her worst coping mechanism. And it's frustrating the hell out of me because I can see it happening right now but I can't stop her because I don't want to scare her off any more than I already did!"

The man groaned, burying his face in his hands, "This whole thing is just a nightmare and I really ought to have just kept my mouth shut. Things were fine until I decided to open my mouth and blab. Why the fuck was I just so goddamn stupid?!"

Unimpressed by the vehement swearing, his colleague could only proceed to roll his eyes for the nth time of the day.

If anyone even bothered asking him, he would say that this confrontation of their true feelings for each other was a long time coming. And really Kurosaki was much dumber than he gave himself credit for.

In this hospital it's regarded as one of the open secrets among interns that if you want to talk to Dr. Grumpy-ass Kurosaki and not piss yourself from the sheer intensity of his scowl, do it after he talked to the mystery woman on his phone on his break. Anyone with eyes could tell that the bastard behaved almost like a different person after them!

For starters, he didn't curse as much- he almost seemed to remember names correctly and called them by that instead of demeaning nicknames like 'short-stack with glasses' or 'bubbly girl' and horror upon horrors, they've even caught him smiling once! The interns most definitely have a shrine dedicated to the nameless woman if only to keep the talented doctor with a permanent scowl in an okay mood.

So tell anyone in the hospital that their infamous resident Dr. Kurosaki was not screwing the mystery woman he's always on the phone with and Uryuu guaranteed all you would get are blank stares, sardonic smiles and polite comments along the lines of "Ha! Yeah right!" or "Pull the other one!".

The unbearable tension between Kurosaki and Rukia-san had been going on for years and now that someone- yes however clumsy his attempts were; at the very least the man was no longer in denial- was making the first step, it just seemed incredibly wasteful if they were to just go back to step one.

For the sake of anyone who has ever had the misfortune of being in caught in the crossfire of stifling UST between the two and made to suffer from embarrassment indirectly from it and because he was a good man who didn't like to see hospital staff cowering at the sight of this scowling bastard, Uryuu designated himself the relationship counselor and vowed to put an end to the suffering.

Consider it his pro-bono work- his way of giving back to society and the community.

He wasn't a therapist by training per say but he has sat in on a few sessions before and hopefully he could put these skills into good use and help Kurosaki realize that he should be pursuing this.

This was after all the beginning of a new phase in Kurosaki's relationship with Rukia-san and Uryuu was certain that the two dorks had all the right answers all along.

They just needed to be honest with themselves and each other because by now, everyone else has already caught on.

"That's irrelevant at this point, Kurosaki. You can't take back what you have already said. Besides, you obviously felt the need to express your feelings towards her so let's go back to that- why did you confess?"

"Because I can't keep it inside anymore. She means too much to me and I can't- I just can't keep denying what I feel anymore."

He chuckled mirthlessly. "God knows I tried, Ishida! I honest to God, tried to keep my distance. I tried to be her best friend. After the gala, I really tried to keep my distance from her."

Ishida had to suppress a snort at that. Oh yeah, thought the sarcastic doctor- the whole hospital knew how hard he tried. That was the week he sent two interns home crying and the menacing, irate aura he gave off could be felt three blocks away. But he digressed; that was beside the point- Kurosaki was baring his soul to him and he was supposed to a sympathizing listener.

"I tried to hook up with a random woman at a diner-"

Here the bespectacled doctor almost choked on his spit.

Yeah right, good luck asking anyone out with that scowl!

XXX

"-but it was just hella awkward. It's like I don't know how to talk to a girl who isn't Rukia and even trying to initiate a conversation with them was hard. I swear I wasn't that bad before I met Rukia and I don't know why it wasn't like that with the midget- with her, it's so easy. I feel like I can tell her anything and that just makes everything worse because the more I tried to stop thinking about her, the more I thought about her- in a way that is not appropriate for a platonic best friend to do, and the whole damn thing is just urghhhh!" he finished unintelligently.

"It's like she just ruined other women for me or me for other women, whichever way it goes," he groaned, "the whole thing is just stupid! And the worst thing was how during this whole debacle I just kept thinking about her and that asshole Kaien. About their history together, what they did together- who was he to her and what that leaves us in our friendship. It makes me so angry but I shouldn't be," he clenched his fists.

"I don't have a reason to be. Heck, I don't even know what I'm supposed to be angry at!"

Uryuu told him rather plainly, "I do believe that's called jealousy. You are possessive over Rukia-san. You like her undivided attention and God knows how long you have managed to monopolize her- you are the only man in her life and her relationships with other men, most notably her brother and other male acquaintances like me couldn't even hold a candle to what she has with you. So you grew complacent but the minute that man- I believe you called him Kaien, yes?- appears, the alarm bells started ringing in your head."

The psychiatrist smirked at his scowling patient. "Admit it, Kurosaki. You realized that you like Rukia-san a long time ago but the fear of ruining what you two had held you back and because you didn't have any competition to worry about- you got lazy and just took it for granted that she'll always be there."

He paused for dramatic effect- fixing the other man with a piercing glare.

"But when Kaien appeared, you got the distinct feel of a threat he posed on your position as the alpha male in Rukia-san's life. You felt threatened and the thought that maybe she does have better options; other potential male suitors in her life that she could possibly pick over you someday, made you want to push her away because your first instinct is to protect yourself from potential heartbreak and Rukia-san, rejecting you, well maybe not outright but had she picked this Kaien over you- you would have been absolutely devastated."

The doctor cleared his throat.

"I assume that nothing actually happened between Rukia and this man since you would have obviously been in a worse mood. But you kept your distance from her because you wanted to punish Rukia-san- the fact that she betrayed you by not telling you about the other man "hidden" away in her past or maybe because this unwelcome revelation made you realize that she meant more to you than a best friend."

Ishida smirked yet again, "Well the joke's on you Kurosaki because you purposely trying to keep your distance from her just made you realize that your life without her in it feels, to quote your words, stupid."

Silence pervaded the room and then like a defeated man, Ichigo sighed.

"Well damn, Ishida. Go ahead and announce it to the world that I'm a wuss who can't live without the light in his life-why don't you?" said Ichigo as he crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"But I wasn't punishing her by keeping my distance from her. I was trying to save her from the discomfort. You think that I'm slow," Ichigo snorted, "Rukia doesn't even want to acknowledge the possibility that we might have something more than platonic friendship between us."

"I held it together for a while but then that asshole hit me with the bat and all I could think about was her, or more specifically how pissed she was going to be and then it got me thinking," he licked his dry lips, "what if I really died today and I never got to tell her what I really feel, about how I feel about her. I was done being a coward and then she kissed me."

Ishida raised his eyebrows, trying to contain his surprise.

Well that was certainly something he didn't know about- he was going to have to share the new developments with Orihime-san and the others as soon as possible.

Ichigo swallowed thickly,"that was when I realized that maybe she liked me more than she would like to admit and if I told her how I feel, she would learn to accept her feelings and we'd be something more than best friends. So I tried to confess."

Uryuu deadpanned, "so Rukia-san still doesn't know how you feel about her?"

He knitted his eyebrows in confusion. "I thought you confessed?"

The other doctor growled, "Were you even listening to what I was saying earlier? I tried to confess but that stupid phone interrupted me before I could tell her everything and then she ran away from me."

"So does Rukia-san know your intentions towards her?"

Ichigo snorted. "Oh yeah, trust me- she knows. She knows and she still ran away-"

He stopped midsentence as a horrifying thought entered his mind, "Shit, Ishida! What if she doesn't feel that way about me? What if I completely misread her gesture- misread that kiss? It was only on the cheek after all."

"I mean- why else would she have ran. She obviously found it hard to think of me in that light and I just fucking went ahead and made things uncomfortable for her and she's just too nice to tell me that she doesn't think about me that way but I am just so fucking dumb and obnoxious that I didn't get it!"

In vain, Uryuu tried to reel him back, "N-N-Now that's not true, Kurosaki! You need to stop and consider the facts- Rukia-san did not outright reject you or deny your feeli-"

Yet his words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as poisonous thoughts began to fill the other doctor's mind.

"Well I got it loud and clear now! I mean who was I kidding- me and her?!" he snorted, "She's a fucking princess- practically related to the man sitting on the Chrysanthemum throne by blood. If Byakuya had his way, she would probably never even need to lift a finger in a single day of her life and she would have been married off eons ago to a gazillionaire or some rich nobility like Kaien who would love and cherish her and give her the 2.5 babies that she would smother to death with her sheer protectiveness and I'm just- just," he clenched his fists, "I'm a commoner- a doctor trying to survive his residency who came here on a scholarship and doesn't even have the time to romance her."

He groaned, sighing dejectedly as he faced the facts.

"What the hell can I offer her anyway? I have no money, no titles- nothing, nada, zilch. She probably has a hundred better options to choose from than me and I don't blame her."

The atmosphere in the room became unbearably somber after that. Uryuu was yelling himself hoarse trying to get the stubborn doctor to reconsider the situation and stop being negative about the whole thing but the latter seemed to have just shut down completely.

XXX

"Wow! I knew you were pathetic but I had no idea you could sink this low, berry boy."

The newcomer's appearance was eye-catching, from the roots of his powder blue hair to the wicked green eyeliner he had on. This man barged into the consultation room unannounced- his gait confident and deadly as a panther in a jungle, Uryuu could feel a throbbing headache coming on.

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez- fellow resident at Seattle Grace Mercy West and daredevil extraordinaire came in with a wide maniacal grin and Uryuu knew it was one of those days. They just had a multiple-vehicle collision on the freeway and the orthopedic surgeon must have spent his entire shift hacking and sawing away.

Talking to the resident surgeon after such a long shift was always a two-edged sword. There was no telling what Grimmjow's mercurial nature would lead him to.

"Grimmjow," the pair greeted the newcomer warily. The man in question yawned as he shut the door behind him and made his way into the room.

Electric blue eyes quickly zeroed in on the situation and without skipping a beat, told Ishida at point-blank, "You suck as a therapist. You sure psychiatry is your calling, four-eyes."

The unflappable man glared at him.

"That's because I'm not a therapist- I'm training to be a psychiatrist but of course I don't expect a man who breaks bones for a living to know the difference."

Grimmjow merely shrugged at the jab, "what can I say? I'm a simple man and I like to break bones*."

"Get out, you blue-haired freak," said Ichigo rudely.

"Wow! Someone really ought to teach you some manners. What's got your panties into a twist, berry?"

"Fuck off and go bother some intern, Grimmjow. I'm not in a mood right now."

"Really?" said Grimmjow, "it sounds like to me like you could really need some relationship advice."

Seeing the dangerous glare Ishida was throwing at him, the newcomer hurriedly held his arms up, "Relax I come in peace- I have had a fan-fucking-tastic day in the OR today so this is me paying it forward to the less fortunate ones."

He made himself comfortable- leaning against the shut door. "First thing first, you gotta step up your game Kurosaki! Go hard or go home, berry! If that Kuchiki chick won't play ball, you gotta make her see the fact that she's on the field now and whether she liked it or not, she's playing."

Ichigo frowned. "I don't understand a thing you're saying. Is this another one of your weird sports analogy, Grimmjow?"

Grimmjow rolled his eyes, "what I'm saying is- you need to stop being insecure! And stop making stupid excuses up, how can you misread a kiss? Does she go around kissing strangers- even if it's on the cheek? And more importantly, did you see how distraught the woman was when she came rushing into your arms in the ER? And you said it yourself you're her best friend- you would know she obviously cares about you in a way that's more than a friend too. She's in denial that's all."

The older man told him sagely, "She's a woman. They're always a bit difficult when it comes to admitting they might be wrong and just missed what was staring them in their face all along."

Ichigo was suddenly seeing the man in a new light. "So what should I do now when she wouldn't even look at me?"

The love guru shrugged. "Kabedon her."

"Kabe-what?" asked both Uryuu and Ichigo in unison.

The other man narrowed his eyes. "Come on, I thought you two were Japanese! You know- pin her to a wall, stare her down and make your intentions known. I swear high-schoolers have more game than you dorks."

Ichigo grew strangely quiet, pondering over his options while Uryuu adjusted his glasses. "What you suggested is quite concerning, Grimmjow. You sure this isn't some form of sexual harassment?"

Grimmjow rolled his eyes, "only if they don't want it. In Berry's case though, it's pretty obvious, the girl is just being stubborn. Besides this move has a 99% chance of success, Schiffer got his girl with it and if he can do it and score that redhead, well I don't see how Berry can fail."

The gentlemanly doctor's eyebrows twitched. "That redhead that he 'scored' happens to be one of our close friends and I would appreciate it if you stop using such childish and unbecoming words," said Uryuu with a warning edge to his tone.

"Why? You jealous, four-eyes?" teased Grimmjow, "you and Nemu on the rocks? Or maybe you've always got something for our lovely Hime-chan?"

He watched as the calm doctor turned red and made his way casually across the room to stand before the annoyed man, riling him up even further.

Uryuu huffed in righteous anger, resisting the urge to grab the grinning jackal by his collar. "How dare you! To even insinuate that scandalous thing that you're suggesting!"

"Why so upset Ishida? Did I hit a nerve?"

"Why you-"

"Do you guys really think I stand a chance with Rukia? That she feels the same way about me too," Ichigo asked, "You guys think so?"

The two doctors about to come to blows stopped and looked at Ichigo like he was a man with three heads before looking away, as though embarrassed for the young man.

Uryuu snorted as discreetly as possible but Grimmjow was as loud as he was boisterous when he told Ichigo, "Oh yeah, Kurosaki, trust us, everyone thinks so."

"Okay," said Ichigo as he clenched his fist tight and affirmed his resolution, "I'll do it properly this time. I'll tell Rukia how I feel."

"Awww, look at that, Berry's all grown up and ready to take on the world!" cooed Grimmjow in amusement as he tousled the doctor's hair patronizingly.

The younger man scowled, gripping the offending hand and swatting it away. "Watch it- I may have broken one arm, but I can still beat your ass up, you cat-like freak!"

The grin on the blue-haired surgeon only widened, "tough words coming from a guy who just learned about kabedon."

Ichigo blushed.

"Fuck off!"

XXX

It was dark by the time she got home and she unwittingly released a breath she had been holding when she saw no sign of Ichigo in the living room. Carefully shutting the door, she mentally chided herself at her behaviour. She was the owner of the place but from her actions you would think that she was some thief or some tenant behind on their monthly rent hoping to avoid running into their landlord.

She crossed the threshold and slid off her shoes quietly, not daring to even switch on the lights for fear of alerting Ichigo to her presence. If she had even a shred of dignity left, she would have asked Ichigo to leave but as it is, she's so terribly overwhelmed by him that even the sight of him could send her heart into a jaunty little frenzy.

Just when she was about to congratulate herself on a job well done and go into the kitchen for a midnight snack, the lights flickered on dramatically and she swore under her breath.

"Ichigo!"

Her violet eyes widened at the sight of her best-friend sitting imperiously on his favourite armchair. Her nails dug into her palm but the slickness of her sweaty palm made the pain bearable.

She took a step back as he began to make his way towards her. She gulped nervously as she saw his grave expression. As his fierce scowl and brown eyes zeroed in on her, she felt the urge to take off.

He stopped and stood an arm's length from her. She subconsciously took another step back and cursed at her fate- really she should have stayed longer at the office today.

Stupid Ichigo!

XXX

She thought nastily as she forced herself to meet his gaze. Everything between them was fine until that idiot decided to let those stupid emotions get to him. He was supposed to be the rational one here.

Wasn't he a doctor?

He should have known better than to let some pesky emotions came between them.

She pursed her lips. Emotions like this pass, she shut her eyes- they always do.

Mustering courage from some unknown depth within her soul, she told him to move and get out of her way.

Evidently that was the wrong thing to say as the tall man proceeded to narrow his eyes at her and before she could even yell at him for sheer cheek of it, boxed her in. She was beyond outrage but quickly realized that there was nowhere else to retreat as her back hit the door and he was much too close- so close that she could see the tiny amber flecks in his brown eyes.

Ba-thump!

Ba-thump!

Ba-thump!

XXX

The scent of his sandalwood and sage shampoo was the first thing that got to her. She wanted to turn tail and run- retreat back into the safety of her Ichigo-less bedroom and lock the doors. He was in front of her, looking for all intents and purposes like a man out for blood but smelling oh-so delicious-

Gah no, bad Rukia, stop that!

XXX

"Rukia," he called out at her and she winced at her high-pitched voice.

"Y-Yes?"

"We need to talk."

She feigned nonchalance. "O-Oh what about? And while we're at that, would you mind just moving back just a tiny bit?"

She could feel the frustration reeling from him as he scowled and set his fiery gaze upon hers. Nervousness gripped her but old habits died harder as she met his gaze- still defiant, ever-hopeful, and stubborn to a fault.

You don't think of him that way.

XXX

"Don't play dumb," he told her, "you know what I mean." Something in his eyes showed vulnerability and her breath choked.

They were at an impasse.

The air between them ever so tense and he was ultimately the first to break the silence. "We need to talk about what happened that day," he sighed, "please Rukia. We can't just keep ignoring this."

"I have feelings for you, Rukia," he confessed, "intense feelings that are consuming my every waking thought and I think I deserve at the very least an answer from you."

She couldn't meet his eyes. She was horrible- the absolute scum of the world, she thought as she unclenched her fists. And with him so close to her, she couldn't think.

Where was that sparkling Kuchiki wit when you needed it?

"I didn't ask you to develop these feelings for me, Ichigo," she said lamely, "I am also not in any position to ask you to completely ignore your feelings. So maybe we can stay away from each oth-"

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue as he interrupted her mid-sentence, "at least have the decency to look at me in the eyes, Rukia if you're trying to reject me."

She wrung her hands in frustration, sighing. "What do you want me to say, Ichigo?"

He tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze.

Lilac met amber and she wondered if he could even begin to see her turmoil and all her deepest fears.

He was her best friend, her nakama, her person- simply irreplaceable and if she ruins whatever this thing it is that he wants her to be in with him, well- she could never survive it.

It'll be like history repeating itself again- like what happened with Kaien, except this time it'll be infinitely worse because what she had with Ichigo, she didn't think she'd ever find again.

"I want an honest answer. I want you to be true to yourself," he told her plainly, "I'm in love with you."

Her breath caught.

Oh why Ichigo, why did he have to force her hand like this!

What was she supposed to say?

How could he?

"Well I don't! Now let me go!"

There was a time when just the sight of her crying would have done things to him, made him feel like he was a complete bastard and he would have just let her go then and there.

But there was once upon a time when just being her best friend was enough.

He pursed his lips.

Times have changed. He knew her too well and he was not going to let her self-sabotage their budding relationship.

She was simply too precious to him to ever let go again.

"No," he declared, still caging her in, "if I let you go now, we'll never have this conversation again and you know it. At least tell me why you won't consider this relationship- starting something with me just a step above our friendship and nakama-hood. I mean, you already know everything there is to know about me and we're good together."

"Besides," he leaned in, until their nose touched and he could almost hear her terse heartbeat, "you're definitely attracted to me, so why wo-"

She spluttered, cutting him off rudely.

"D-Don't flatter yourself, you idiot! Whoever said I was attracted to you and your stupid face?"

He smirked and by God, she swore her legs didn't just turn to jelly at the sight of it.

"Oh yeah- then what's this**?"

With absolutely no warning at all, he had dipped his head and kissed her! Her first reaction was to hit him and so she did, but like the brute that he was he simply gathered her into his arms and pinned her up against the door.

She was suddenly above ground and he just kept moving against her, distracting her with his tongue, teasing her with little nips on her lower lip and bit by bit, as shameful as it was for her to admit it she felt her body melting against his as he pulled her deeper into the kiss.

A heady combination of his mouth and his tongue on hers made her feel things. Things that made her heart swell with inexplicable warmth, her toes curling and the utter wanton need to have something to fill that ache within her.

As he coaxed her to delve further into the utter insanity that he had absolutely no right to be dragging her off to, she realized that her senses were overwhelmed by all things him.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.

Unbidden, her hands entangled themselves in his hair and her lower limbs coiled themselves around him. Still she didn't feel close enough to him.

She wanted more, more of this crazy depravity that had her waxing poetry about her best friend- the one man she should never have gotten herself involved with romantically if she knew what was good for her.

"Rukia," he moaned as he ended her sweet torture with relish, gently nibbling on her swollen lips while playfully grounding his hips against hers. She panted, waiting for the haze to clear from her head as she rested her head against the door.

What in the world was that?

She felt like smacking herself silly. What was she doing?

No, bad Rukia- what happened to maintaining distances and being best friends?

This was bad, absolutely horribly bad as she belatedly realized how she had wrapped herself around her best friend. The feel of his throbbing length against her soaked core despite the layers of clothing between them left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

She blushed so hard that she thought her cheeks would be permanently stained pink as she hastily tried clambering away from Ichigo's embrace.

"Put me down, Ichigo," she scolded him.

"Say please," he smirked- his brown eyes were alive and molten, Rukia knew she was in no position to make demands, not when she didn't even trust in her body's ability to push him away.

"Please," she said through gritted teeth as the smug bastard took his time, drawing out her torture.

The minute she felt her feet touch the ground, she bolted for her bedroom but Ichigo was not only bigger, he was also stronger. With a strong grip on her forearm, he pulled her towards him again and the close proximity did things to her body.

Goosebumps rose and she dug her nails into her palms. She didn't trust herself- feeling torn between the need to run away and jump him at the same time.

And it certainly didn't help that he had such lovely dark eyes that made her feel like she was the only one in the world when they focused on her.

"Let me go, Ichigo," she whined, "please."

The sight of her red pouty lips and her glazed eyes almost had him. He had the urge to sweep her into his arms and pepper her with more kisses but he staved off the naughty thoughts and held his ground.

There was something far more important here.

Shrewdly he told her, "on one condition."

Her Kuchiki education had always stressed the importance of being calm and level-headed when making a deal but in this desperate situation, she was not the Kuchiki heiress and like the fool in love or lust that she was told him to name his price.

"I'm going to make a deal with you, Rukia. For the next 2.5 months that I'm on medical leave, I'm going to seduce you."

The heiress almost choked on her own spit.

"What?"

He smirked. "Oh you heard me, for the next few weeks, I'm going to seduce you and if you admit that you like me, be it a physical or a verbal admission- so both kissing me voluntarily or confessing to me will count as a win for me, then you have to go on a date with me."

The woman bristled. Oh so he thought that just because he surprised her with a kiss and the fact that she gave in to it gave him the edge in the competition?

Her eyes narrowed. Dream on!

The night is still young and this Kuchiki heiress has self-restraints that would put Gandhi to shame.

"And if I win?"

She liked how his eyes widened momentarily, as if the cocky idiot never even considered the possibility before.

Good, she thought to herself, that was going to make the victory all the more sweeter when she pulls the rug out from him later.

Make no mistake, she will win.

"Then I was wrong. You aren't attracted to me and you don't love me. I will never bring this up ever again," he said, "I swear on my mother's grave."

She nodded solemnly. "Then I accept," she told him.

XXX

Grinning like a man who just won the lottery, he swept her into his arms and delved into another earth-shattering kiss. The stubborn woman had yelped in surprise and was fuming by the time they broke apart for air.

"What was that for?" she yelled as she pushed him away.

Ichigo merely shrugged and then told her, "That was me seducing you."

He gave her a lingering peck on the cheek as he chuckled, "I hope you hold out longer than a month, Rukia. But don't make me wait too long."

Rukia made a rude gesture at him as her former best friend sauntered away into his room.

She so did not find that sexy or attractive at all.

Hese's corner:

Edited.

Notice how this chapter doesn't begin with a list of reasons any more, well it's because we've moved out of the platonic phase of the relationship, kiddos.

All that background drama between Ishida and Grimmjow is just drama for drama's sake- but here Ulqiorra is with Orihime and Nemu is with Uryuu, who may or may not be having feelings for our buxom redhead. If there's enough demand for it, I might make a spin-off for the other characters.

* You guys had no idea how funny I found this pun to be- As soon as I thought of Grimmjow, he was my go-to for an orthopedic surgeon. The man was made for the job. I find it almost as funny as I think of Ulqiorra specializing in cardiology surgery coz he's a healer of hearts. And I'm sure fans of Grey's Anatomy will know the supposed characteristics of a cardiothoracic surgeon. Oh the humour, I am so funny! XD

** listen to the chorus part of Texas's Say what you want at this mark. I guarantee you that you'll get what I was trying to do there with the two and if I fall off the mark with that. Then *shrugs* I tried.