Maaan, if I don't stop writing, this will become a story a day, too! Bah. Ah, well. Anyway, I love this one, personally.

Please enjoy and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.

Standing Alone

It had just been one of those days. Rukia had beating up on Ichigo, this time using her empty lunch box, when she had seen the sign for 'Ice Skating'. Naturally, she had bugged Ichigo to tell her about it until he nearly wrapped his hands around her thin neck and strangled her. But, to her, it sounded interesting, and immediately wanted to try it.

So, that was where they were now.

Rukia was sitting on one of the benches inside of the skating rink, fighting with her skates.

And losing.

Badly.

Frustrated, she finally yelled, "How do I get this ... this thing on my foot?!"

Ichigo smirked as he reached over and took the skate from her. She turned around on the bench to where she was directly facing him, sat back a little, and placed her feet in his lap, demanding with a serious look on her face,

"Put them on."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, but loosened the strings on the skates and fit the first one onto her foot. The strings, which were way too long, he used to tie the shoe tightly around her ankle. After he had finished with the first skate, he lowered her foot to the ground and took her other foot and did it, too. Once they were firmly tied to her feet, he let her stand up, but she nearly fell over and immediately grabbed onto his arm, a frightened look on her face as she tried to put one foot in front of the other.

"Here, hold my hand so you don't fall, dope," Ichigo said, letting her clasp his hand tightly. He noticed that she was gripping so hard that her knuckles had turned white.

They walked, slowly, into the cold, frozen skating room, and Rukia's eyes went wide at the temperature. She hadn't realized she would need to bring a coat.

Ichigo, noting her pink ears and nose right away, took off his hat and stuck it on her head. He then handed her the extra pair of gloves he had brought. She took them and put them on her hands before shakily stepping out onto the ice. She fell over before she had taken two steps. Ichigo stepped out beside her and offered his hand, which she accepted gladly.

"This is harder than I thought," she said, not letting go of his arm, which she was gripping for support, as she struggled to take a few steps on the slick ice.

"Duh. I told you it would be," Ichigo said, watching her as she stared intently at her shoes. She slipped several time and nearly fell to the ground, but Ichigo caught her each time and helped her stand straight.

Finally, she managed to lose her footing so badly that she fell onto the ice and took Ichigo with her. He rubbed his sore arm as he climbed back to his feet and took the back of her sweater, easily lifting her whole body up as she regained her balance.

"Dope," was all he said. Rukia glared at him and reached back, kicking him.

Which, she realized immediately, was a bad idea when you're wearing ice skates.

Ichigo hissed loudly as her skate cut into his skin. She realized what she had done and put her hands over her mouth as Ichigo stumbled and fell onto the ice, his warm, red blood dripping down the legs of his pants and falling onto the frozen ice. It spread out beneath him in a small pool as he lifted his jeans away to inspect the cut.

"Idiot! That hurt!" he said, wincing as he poked the cut open with his fingers to see how deep it had gone.

Rukia's eyes were wide, and tears began to prickle at the edges of her vision as she sat down beside him and reached out a shaking hand to touch the cut. Ichigo winced and pulled his leg away.

"Don't touch it, it hurts enough without you poking it," he said, preparing to give her a glare, but the look in his eyes stopped him. "Hey, Rukia ... why are you crying?"

"I - I'm sorry, Ichigo. I didn't mean to. I didn't, I mean - "

She was stuttering, and her hands were shaking as she stared at the blood that was now soaking his jeans.

"Come on, Rukia. This isn't like you. I've bleed a lot before; you've never acted like this," he said, frowning and waving off a young man who came over to ask if he needed help. "You've seen me bleed before and never made a big deal out of it."

"I know, but ... I just ... I - I never caused it, and you, you shouldn't have to bleed for me," she whispered, reaching out her hand to begin healing him. But he grabbed her by the wrist, suddenly understanding the look of pain and anguish he had seen in her eyes. He held her hand roughly in his, and didn't let her go.

"Rukia, look at me. Look."

She turned to where she was facing him, and bit back a sob as her violet eyes searched his.

"That wasn't your fault. Nothing that happened then was your fault. I choose to follow you and I choose to fight for your sake."

"But you were hurt; you bled for me, and it was my fault, and now I've hurt you again."

Ichigo could hear the pain in her voice as she spoke, and he knew that what had happened today wasn't what was forcing those tears to the surface. Everything that had happened only six weeks ago was still clear in her mind, and the pain of seeing him hurt and bleeding was still freash in her heart. He pulled her down to his level, ignoring all the weird looks they were getting from everyone, and looked straight into her face as he spoke.

"Rukia, look into my eyes."

She tried not to; she looked anywhere but at him, but his gentle persistence finally made her turn her gaze to his.

"I did that all for you. I did it on my own, and I came to help you even though you didn't want me to. That was not your fault. And ... if I hadn't done that, you wouldn't be here today. I honestly don't care about this," he said, pointing to his leg. "I just don't want it to hurt you. My dad could take care of this in seconds, and it shouldn't be a reminder of what happened in the past. The past is the past, and we need to move on."

"But I -"

Ichigo cut her off again.

"Move on, Rukia."

His brown eyes looked through her tears and seemed to penetrate her very soul.

"I did that for you, and for no one else. I followed you because I wanted to save you. Blood was spilled and tears were cried, but it is all the past. When I bleed, it shouldn't be a reminder of what happened before. Now, yeah, ya hurt me, dope, but I'll be fine. Don't cry over me, OK?"

Rukia nodded and then Ichigo let go of her hand. She lowered it to his leg and quickly healed him, not letting it be seen by anyone. But, when she was done, she didn't stand to her feet again. Instead, she fingered the small, almost invisible scar that had remained from her healing.

"Can I hold your hand again?" she asked quietly, her voice a gentle whisper.

Ichigo nodded and stood to his feet, helping Rukia up and then taking her hand in his own. There was a little bit of blood left on the ice, and they were still getting weird looks from the other skaters, but he didn't care. And, as he watched her walk along and slip on the ice every now and then, he watched as Rukia's pain slowly evaporated and was replaced by the happiness and wonder she radiated with as she finally stood on her own.

She could stand alone now, but he would still hold her hand if she would let him.

And he would be there to catch her when she fell.

Well, what do you think? (Pokes reviewers and readers) PLEASE review? It only takes a second and I would love to hear your thoughts, good bad or ugly. :D But flames will be ignored unless they have a point.

Please Review!