AN: Well, thankyou to all your reviews. Especially to cokeboi. Umm…what to say… Oh yeah, I am now going back to Ichigo and Rukia. Hahaha, I can hear the cheers. Well, yeah, I have to do them sometime, because if I don't the chapters will be off their time frame. So, about after…a week of IchiRuki (in their world) – I'm not so sure if it's a week, but still after a certain period of time…I'll go back to Rensuki (because that's when their story starts again). Thanks to all of you who have been waiting patiently. Trust me. This is a reward from me XD…

Warning: Writing at inhumane hours. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

A Summer Job: Business Trip (Part VI)

"Rukia."

She ignored him, walking ahead of him steadily, as if nothing had happened.

"Dammit, Rukia," Ichigo growled, clearly annoyed with the raven-haired shinigami.

"…"

"Rukia, I'm serious," he said between clenched teeth. "If this isn't the last hill, I'll have to take away all your chappy toys."

That made her turn around. "What! There is no way that I'll let you take them," she said knowingly.

Ichigo just grunted. "We'll see."

They walked on in silence after that. Ichigo kept to his own thoughts, and Rukia to hers. They had been walking for the whole day, only stopping for a bite to eat at some random shop in the middle of nowhere. It had actually taken them longer than two days to get to where they were. Thanks to Rukia's expert navigational skills – heck, they could even rival that of Yachiru's. Then, she had the nerve to tell him, ten hills back, that the hill they were climbing then was the last hill. And then proceeded to tell him the same thing for every hill they had climbed. And every time, they had gotten the same result. No lake. Ichigo didn't even know why he wanted to see the lake in the first place. It had been Rukia's idea at first, but after travelling for three days for some 'lake', he wasn't going to keep up his 'don't care' attitude. He didn't want to have travelled three whole days for nothing.

As they neared the crest of the hill, Ichigo growled out his threat again. And, yet again, Rukia ignored him beautifully. Her hair softly moved in the late afternoon wind. Sometimes, it would almost reflect the sunlight perfectly, he thought, absentmindedly.

"YES! I WAS RIGHT!"

He looked up to see the smaller shinigami raise her fist in the air. And then start to dance around.

"HA! Ichigo, you were wrong! Wrong! So, how does it feel like to be wrong?"

He gritted his teeth in an attempt to stop himself from bursting out that she had been wrong for the past nine hills. But somehow, something inside him told him not to burst her little happy mood. It made him sort of…happy.

"Whatever."

He reached the spot where she had been standing a moment ago. And stopped breathing. The view was magnificent. The sun was dipping low under a small forest that bordered part of the lake, and the water was reflecting the orange sunlight perfectly. Even from his vantage point, he could almost hear the lapping of the small waves that the lake produced, could hear the wind whistling comfortably through the trees. Gaining his breath back, he inhaled sharply, only to smell the smell of lush mountain grass, the air scented with something similar to pine. Maybe the three days really was worth it.

He looked down below him, where he saw the hill slope down gently, then level off for a few metres; then to the shore of the lake. A smile tugged at his face as he saw Rukia start to run down the slope, faster and faster. She looked so carefree, he thought. And indeed, she did look carefree; her hands outstretched as she ran down the hill. Suddenly, her constant running motion was halted, and she fell sharply forward. Instinctively, he flash-stepped towards her, ignoring the dangers of using such a skill down a slope filled with long grass. He could've landed on something that would have injured his legs, but fortunately, he landed on hard ground, right next to where Rukia was falling.

He could see her as if in slow motion, falling, falling gracefully. His sensation was over in an instant, when he positioned himself under her, so that he felt the brunt of the blow. His back hit the ground, and he winced as a sharp rock bit deeply into his spine. They rolled down the slope, until they came to a rest when it levelled out. The long grass, which was about at waist height when standing, hid them completely from view when they were lying on the ground. It created a sort of wall, some sort of private haven that cushioned their fall.

He had placed his arms around her of course, holding her tightly so that no sharp objects, or the friction of passing the ground at that rate would hurt her. Rukia, as it turned out, landed on top, and Ichigo slowly unwound his hands from around her waist, to let them fall freely to the ground, hitting it with an inaudible thump. They lay like that for a few seconds, breathing heavily after their unexpected ordeal.

Ichigo was the first to notice their awkward position. And he couldn't help but feel the heat that was rising rapidly to his face. Rukia, on the other hand, looked like she hadn't really registered the fact that she had fallen over, and Ichigo had caught her. It all had happened to fast. Slowly, but surely, she realised the position they were in, and she instantly straightened, widening the distance between their faces, though not by much. Her hands were placed on either side of his body, knees apart. His gi had opened slightly during the fall, and it exposed some of his chest. Places where she, a respectable shinigami from the Kuchiki clan, should not even be thinking about. Unconsciously, she leaned in a bit further.

Ichigo had expected her to jump off, to scurry back in fright at their proximity. He certainly hadn't expected her face to mirror his. Now that she was so close, he could study her face; blushing. Looking…pretty, though he would have never thought about her that way. Never. The rogue strand of hair that had always sliced some of the visibility from her face had fallen straight down, and its tips were tickling his forehead. He wanted to move, but he couldn't. She leaned in closer, and he almost leapt up – if it wasn't for his quick thinking brain, which told him something would happen if he leapt up.

Finally, the space between their faces could be measured comfortably in millimetres. Rukia could hear herself breathing in, breathing out, could hear her heart beat.

Just a little closer…and…

Ichigo didn't move. He was too afraid, that if he moved, something would happen. He wasn't dumb; of course, he knew that they were almost in perfect position for a kiss. Her lips were slightly apart, just a little bit closer, and… He felt light-headed. The night he had kissed her, the night back at the inn came back to him. He had kissed her at that time because his hazed brain had told him that was the only way to stop her from crying, becoming an emotional wreck. For some reason, his heart always skipped a beat whenever he saw her sad, or cry. He felt such vehemence against her hurting, that he had tried to stop her in anyway possible from feeling that way. But was that really why?

The question in her mind was simple, even though she hadn't really deciphered it fully. Their proximity was slowing down her brain. She hesitated at first, but finally, breaking the lack of movement, and breaking their eye contact, she closed the gap between them.

She was almost surprised when she kissed him. He kissed her back, but gently. She tilted her head slightly to deepen the kiss, and he kissed her with such passion that it almost frightened her. Like it held all of his deepest secrets, held his whole feelings for her. She didn't want to believe it at first, the feelings that the kiss they were sharing told her. It scared her to know that he cared so much about her. Finally, they broke the kiss for the sake of oxygen, and they panted a while, as she looked deep into his hazy brown eyes.

He propped himself up by his elbow and gently pushed her back, so that at first she thought he was pushing her away. But then, when he pushed her back down into the grass, so that they had switched positions, she tugged at his gi, and this time he kissed her she let her hands encircle his body, enjoying the closeness and warmth of him in the cool afternoon. Her hands roamed from the top of his shoulders to his lower back. Their kiss would have gone on for longer, but she suddenly broke off, her eyes wide with surprise, and exclaimed, "Ichigo!"

He grimaced as she applied the healing poultice. It stung like hell. Sure, she had healed him just a few moments ago, but since she wasn't particularly skilled in the healing arts, she had only healed it just enough for him to survive without the loss of blood. When they were…ahem…busy, she had felt the warm red liquid that had flowed spurted from an extremely deep gash in his back. She blushed, thankful that Ichigo's head was facing the ground at that moment. The only reason why she found out was because she had placed her hands around him, pulling his body closer to her.

"Oi, aren't you finished yet?" Ichigo's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

When he tried to turn his head, she dabbed a bit too hard on the now shallow wound in his back, smirking as he swallowed an obvious yelp.

"I am not finished, thankyou, and I would appreciate it if you kept your head still," she told him sternly. Actually, the only reason why she wanted him to keep his head still is because she didn't want him to see her blush. What was happening to her? She shook her head, trying to clear any thoughts that would initiate more blushing. She dabbed absentmindedly at his wound, letting her gaze drop to his back. Bad move. She could have sworn she had never been redder, judging by the amount of heat that she felt practically radiating from her face. She wouldn't be surprised if Ichigo felt it. She placed a small hand on his back, resulting in him tensing involuntarily. She almost smiled when she remembered how he had placed a hand on her back, those nights before at the inn.

Snapping out of her reverie, she took the bandage that she had thankfully brought along, and started to wrap it around his body. Except that, she couldn't. Because he was lying on the ground, it was a bit hard to bandage him up. Damn. Looked like she would have to look at him, properly look at him. Something she had been dreading to do ever since she broke off the kiss.

"I-Ichigo…" she said, her voice unusually soft.

He let out a small grunt of surprise. "What?" he said, his tone muffled slightly by the flattened grass.

"Uh…I need you to stand up."

An awkward pause followed. Why, she did not know.

"…"

"…So I can wrap this bandage around you, idiot…" she said, trying to sound harsh, but failing miserably.

"Oh." He obeyed her, getting up slowly, avoiding eye contact. He looked straight ahead when he stood straight up, and Rukia was grateful. It meant she wouldn't have to cope with him looking at her when she was tying on his bandage. Trying again to put the bandage on his back, she soon encountered another problem.

"Ichigo, put your hands on your head."

"What?" he asked, unbelieving. It sounded like an elementary school command. "Why?"

"Just do it, you idiot," she said, regaining some of her commanding tone.

He grunted, and obeyed her, but he looked at her now, eyeing her warily. Great. Just what she needed while she was wrapping his frickin' bandage. She could hardly hold the bandage before, when he wasn't looking at her; now that he was, she didn't know what she'd do. Probably drop it, she thought as she positioned herself behind him. She carefully placed the first bit of the bandage on the wound, and then, taking a deep breath, held it in place with her right hand, and started walking around him. This would be the hard part. She had to hold the bandage in place while she wrapped the first roll around him; meaning she would be extremely close to the front of his body. Shutting her eyes, she crossed over to in front of his body, and quickly wrapped it around his front with her left hand. Now came the hardest part. Coming in close to him, she breathed in his fragrance. He smelt faintly of freshly crushed grass; funnily enough the smell was pleasant. She dimly remembered that she was supposed to wrap the bandage around him and quickly reached around with the roll. However she let go to quickly of the other end in her haste to get away. She dropped the whole bandage.

"Damn," she mumbled to herself as she bent down to pick it up. What the hell was happening to her? This was no different from anything else, she told herself. Just bandaging the wounded, just bandaging the wounded.

As she straightened up she felt him grab her wrist. She froze, not looking him in the eye.

"Rukia."

She didn't respond, hoping some how that he would forget it. No such luck.

"Rukia look at me," he said, his voice different to what she usually heard.

She continued looking down, until she felt his index finger under her chin. Her eyes slightly widened as he tipped her face gently upwards.

He saw it. He saw something in her eyes. Like she didn't want to be close to him, didn't want to touch him. He completely ignored the feeling he got when she kissed him, and he kissed her. Something was wrong with her, he decided. She must have been affected…by me.

Well, if she didn't like the kiss, he thought, then I won't pursue it. It's stupid anyway...

"I'll do it," he said, his voice gruff, even though when he took the bandage from her, it was gentle, almost caressing her hands as they came in contact.

He held the bandage awkwardly to his back, and attempted to wrap it around his torso. It failed. The wound was in such an awkward place that it couldn't be self-bandaged. But, he didn't give up. There was no way he was asking Rukia to do it, when she was clearly uncomfortable with it. That's why he was so surprised when Rukia said, "You suck."

He looked up, a questioning glance on his features.

"You suck at bandaging," she said, as if that was supposed to be an explanation.

Then to expand his surprise even more, she took the bandage from him – he was too astonished to stop her – and proceeded to do what she couldn't do just a few minutes ago. He furrowed his brow in concentration. Girls were weird. She finished bandaging him, then plopped down on the indent they had made on the tall grass, letting out a small sigh or relief. Not knowing what to do, he sat down next to her, and promptly asked, "Rukia…how come…back then…then now…?"

The question didn't make sense to anyone, but somehow Rukia understood him. She smiled a small smile at him, not unkindly. "I couldn't do it before…" she trailed off, not wanting to finish. He didn't press her. "But then I saw you trying to bandage yourself up…and saw how crap you were," she said, laughing softly. "So I had to help you," she finished before he could get a word in.

His facial expression slowly changed from angry to uncaring. But deep inside, she knew he had a different expression to what he was really feeling. The problem was, what was he really feeling?

"Hn," was all he said.

The sun had just gone down, as if it had waited kindly for them to finish their little 'session' together. Rukia sighed, resting her back against the soft grass. Ichigo cocked an eyebrow towards her.

"I wanted to watch the sunset at the lake. They say it's the most beautiful sunset ever," she explained.

"…"

"But since we're only planning to stay one day…I guess we can't," she said, a question obvious in her voice.

Ichigo tried to pretend that he didn't hear. He had told her repetitive times that they absolutely could not spend more than a day at the stupid lake. That meant, on the night they get there, they leave the next morning.

"Please, Ichigo? Just one day?" she said, curling the end of her statement to make it an adorable question.

He frowned down on her, not because he didn't want to stay the extra day, but because he felt so powerless when she spoke to him like that. And Ichigo did not want to feel powerless. He had had enough of that when he first fought the arrancars. He turned to Rukia, looking at her pleading, deep, dark blue eyes.

"Fine," he said grudgingly, though he heard a little voice say to him, you were going to suggest it, anyway.

AN: Ok, I guess I'll end it here, because its getting late. Hmm, I don't really want to, since there's still a lot of stuff to go through – I know it isn't really a cliffhanger, but there is heaps of stuff still left unresolved between the two. Oh well, just review, and I'll update, resolving most of the stuff. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I think I got 22 or something. It's an all-time record for me. Thanks guys. Mmm…any suggestions, questions, just tell me via review.