AN

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Nice to see that most of you guys liked the last Chapter as much as I did. Anyway, I've started a oneshot collection called Moments In Time so check it out please. Be warned though, the writing style is a bit more light and free compared to this story.

Disclaimer-The only thing I own is my created character.

Chapter Six

On Sunday afternoon, Yoruichi came home from her weekend long trip to some genuine surprises. Ichigo was watching football, as usual, but not at Toshiro's and not downstairs in the living room. She found him slouched over the foot of Rukia's bed, watching an old black-and-white set he'd repaired and installed in her room. Rukia herself was under the covers, looking pale but grateful for the company.

Ichigo seemed quite relaxed, but Rukia was quick to explain the saga of her illness and Ichigo's role as her nurse in great detail... far more detail than the situation merited. Yoruichi didn't care what had happened, or even where it might lead. What mattered was that her nephew was no longer wearing that tense frown and dreading coming home. She was sorry Rukia was sick, but she had a hunch that the outcome had made her suffering worthwhile.

By Thursday, when Kisuke brought home a freshly cut Christmas tree, Rukia was back at work. She came home late that evening just as Yoruichi started stringing lights on the tree.

"Rukia! I'm sorry you missed dinner, dear, but I'm glad you got here in time to help us decorate the tree. We have so many ornaments we can't use them all, so we just put up whatever is special to whoever's living here each year. Each lodger adds his or her own favorites. If you want to unpack your ornaments, we can-"

"I don't... I don't have any ornaments, Yoruichi. You just... go ahead."

Yoruichi stood up and stared at the girl. She noticed that Ichigo, who'd been helping rather cheerfully, was watching her also. A curious sadness stole over his face.

"No ornaments?" Yoruichi protested. "Are they still packed somewhere with your other things? Does your family-"

"No." Rukia licked her lower lip. "I don't have time for Christmas. It's nice that you... do what you do. But I don't generally put up a tree or... whatever."

"Everybody should have time for Christmas," Yoruichi insisted, deeply concerned. "Now go eat your dinner, Rukia, then come back here. We all sing carols in the evening and-"

"Aunt Yoruichi, I need to go over some things with Rukia tonight," Ichigo interrupted, moving over to stand by Rukia in an almost protective gesture. "Police business. If we finish early, we'll come back downstairs and help you."

He gave her a smile as he followed Rukia to the kitchen, so Yoruichi pretended his excuse was genuine. But it was obvious that Ichigo was covering for Rukia, protecting her from-from what? Yoruichi's determination to help make the girl happy? She worked too hard. She never played. Imagine ignoring Christmas!

At least she wasn't ignoring Ichigo anymore. Yoruichi didn't know how Rukia treated him at the station, but it seemed to her that they were starting to spend a lot of time together at home. And now the tension that zapped between them was an entirely different kind.

;;;;;;;

"So what's this vital police business that won't wait till morning?" Rukia asked Ichigo as she put the plate Yoruichi had set aside for her into the microwave. "I thought we'd agreed not to talk shop at home unless it was absolutely necessary?"

It was one of the many agreements, tacit and explicit, that they'd come to during the strangely intimate days of Rukia's illness. By the time she'd gotten a grip on herself, it had been entirely too late to go back to calling Ichigo "Lieutenant" and treating him with formal disdain. She'd wept in his arms like a child while he'd cuddled her. She'd confessed that she hadn't told him she was sick because she was afraid he'd take advantage of the situation to try to stage some sort of station-house coup. She'd told him the truth about how her mother, at eighteen, had gotten pregnant but refused to marry her twenty-year-old father, and left him alone to raise their baby. Ichigo had shared the details of his own parents' loss and had told Rukia that he still kept all their furniture in the basement-even their wedding quilt-so he could honor their memory in his own home someday.

Since then he'd done nothing to indicate that he viewed their growing friendship as anything but platonic, but Rukia's instincts told her it wouldn't take much for that to change. She was sorely tempted by this big, gentle man, and her instincts told her that he wanted her. Ichigo risked nothing by becoming involved with Rukia except getting ribbed by the guys, but Rukia's career would be destroyed if they ever forgot the rules that bound them. She knew she'd have to do all the work to maintain the status quo.

It wasn't easy to remember why keeping Ichigo at a distance was vital to her self-respect when he was sitting across from her, straddling a chair, grinning his most adorable dimpled grin. It wasn't easy to remember that she couldn't possibly stay tough enough to rule a bunch of chauvinistic men if she got soft and mushy over this one.

"Rukia, we have an important situation coming up that requires some serious undercover work," Ichigo informed her with a straight face once she started eating. "There's a party out at the Kunas' house on the twenty-third. It's the scene of the crime and all the living principals will be there. We're bound to dig up some evidence relating to the death of Meiko Kuna."

He sounded so enthusiastic that Rukia had to smile, but inside, she felt a little shaky. The night Ichigo had asked her to join him at Isane's for a bite to eat, she'd passed it off as casual camaraderie. This was a transparent invitation for a date.

Stalwartly she told him, "Ichigo, I usually work on evenings close to Christmas in place of some married man who has a family. Besides, I'm really not a party person."

"Oh? So how is it that we met at a party on your very first night in town?"

Rukia couldn't meet his eyes. She'd collected enough data to convince herself that he wasn't involved in a cover-up of the investigation of Meiko Kuna's death, but until she got the green light from Commander Zaraki, she couldn't share her secret assignment with Ichigo. The fact that she longed so much to violate her orders and tell him the truth-so that nothing stood between them-was one of the many warning signs that told Rukia she needed to start putting back up some of the barriers her illness had knocked down. No man had ever made her question the wisdom of adhering to the rules before.

"I just thought I should meet some of the townsfolk, Ichigo. To sort of break the ice."

"You nearly broke my face!"

Rukia laughed with him, delighted that what had started as a major fiasco had become a shared joke.

"I couldn't guarantee I wouldn't do it again if we went to another party, Ichigo. Besides, with that rash of break-ins we've had this week, I've been thinking of riding patrol on Friday and Saturday nights. Or else assigning you to the task."

He groaned. "Have a heart, Rukia! Wait until after the party, okay?"

She held her ground. "That depends on how things turn out this weekend." The trouble with the two burglars in the blue van had started while Rukia was sick. Several Karakura stores had been hit; so had the Kunas' house. Ichigo had done a follow-up investigation at all the places involved and had gotten an itemized list of missing items. While most of them were easy to sell-VCR's, stereos, silver-nobody could explain why a beat-up old suitcase had been stolen from the Kunas' garage. The only reason Kensei Muguruma had even noticed it was missing was that he'd been using the decripit thing, long abandoned in the garage, to add some height to his worktable. Ironically, he'd found some of his best tools scattered on the ground following the burglary. While it was posible that all the recent publicity about Meiko's death and Seno's apparent wealth made anything at the Kunas', old or new, appear to have great value, Rukia felt that the matter merited further scrutiny.

"Well the burglars in the van may move on soon, Rukia," Ichigo declared nonchalantly. "They hit Yokohama for two weeks before they moved on to Osaka, and they were only there ten days before they moved on to us."

Rukia blinked. "We've got a previous record on these guys at two other substations? Why didn't you let me know?"

"I gave the information to the guys riding patrol." He stood abruptly and marched over to the refrigerator. "I found out the day you got sick, Rukia, when I had lunch with a guy from Osaka, and I've been more or less running things since then."

"You were filling in for a few days, Ichigo," she reminded him coolly, uncomfortable with his evasive tone. "I'm well now and back at the helm."

His eyes met hers with a hint of anger. "I only meant-"

"I know what you meant. I just don't want you to be so sloppy about something so important when you talk to the public or the other men."

Ichigo grabbed a riceball off her plate and started nibbling on it as he straddled his chair once more. He devoted himself to eating in silence, but Rukia was sure he was using the time to simmer down.

She used the time to assure herself that she'd made the right decision to delegate authority for Karakura's law enforcement to Ichigo for the duration of her illness. Although his style with the men was different from her own, she'd found no fault with the way he'd handled things in her absence, a fact she was going to relay to Commander Zaraki tomorrow when she turned in her report on the delay in the Meiko Kuna investigation.

But that didn't mean she wouldn't need to keep reminding Ichigo that she was still in charge.

After an awkward silence, he returned to the subject of the party. "This Christmas bash has been an annual event since Meiko Kuna first moved to town, Rukia. Anybody who's anybody in Karakura shows up. If you refuse to go, you'll really be on the outside looking in."

Rukia didn't appreciate the fact that he'd deliberately pushed one of her buttons in order to manipulate her into going out with him. Rather stiffly she replied, "Ichigo, as it happens, I haven't received an invitation from the Kunas. I'm not sure it would be appropriate for me to attend."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Rukia, be sensible. If Mashiro hasn't invited you personally, it's only because you live with us and she knows we'll bring you along. How many times do I have to tell you we're practically family?"

Rukia pushed away her plate and boldly met his eyes. "And how many times do I have to tell you how difficult it is for a woman police Captain to keep the respect of her staff?"

"Rukia, do you doubt that you've earned my respect?" He looked very serious now. "Do you doubt that you're earning the respect of the other officers?"

She pondered the question for some time, struggling to form a safe but honest answer. At last she said, "Ichigo, I think that you and I have come to understand each other. I hope you won't take offense when I tell you that I don't want to go to this party with you because it might undercut my position. Not everyone in Karakura would view it as a pleasant duty for a public official. Some people might see it as a date." Including you and me, she added mutely. That was the real problem, the far larger one that she didn't dare to reveal. Rukia's I-don't-date-subordinates excuse was a legimate one that had always worked for her before. Why risk probing beneath the surface, where her deepest vulnerabilities as a woman lay?

Ichigo's jaw tightened, but he still tried to respond with a clumsy joke as he carried Rukia's plate to the sink to rinse before standing it in the dishwasher. "You know, Rukia, I've had a lot of women turn me down over the years, but I think you're the first one who ever said that being seen in public with a cop would be bad for her business."

"I'm not kidding, Ichigo," Rukia told him gravely.

He stuck the plate in the dish rack, then turned and met her eyes. "Neither am I. I play football with my old teammates in the town square. I've been known to take a dispatcher to the movies. Every now and then I take my grandmother to church. None of those people seem to think that associating with me has hurt their reputation."

"None of those people find herself depicted in lewd cartoons in the station-house locker room," Rukia retorted. "None of them hears her staff refer to her as Captain Curvaceous when they think she's out of earshot. And none of those people has Karakura cops taking bets on which one of them will be the first to take her to bed." She stood up and faced him squarely. "I understand you're the odds-on favorite to win."

Ichigo flushed. The red started at his neck and quickly flooded his whole face. Rukia didn't think she'd ever seen a man more embarrassed. She hadn't deliberately sought to humiliate him, but she was glad that she felt back in control.

Only now, from her newfound security, could she afford to admit to herself how often she teetered on the edge where Ichigo was concerned. She was used to dealing with fleeting desire for an unsuitable fellow; she simply turned away. But she couldn't turn away from Ichigo, even though she knew that he posed an increasingly dangerous threat to her career. The mere thought of such a drastic rearrangement of her priorities was frightening. It was a damn good thing that Captain Kuchiki was back in control.

"Rukia, if you think that's why I asked you to this party-"

"If I did, I wouldn't be wasting my breath explaining this to you." Despite her quick denial, Rukia realized she did have a niggling doubt about that at the back of her mind. "But surely you can see that making a public appearance that looks like a date might be misinterpretted by police officers who still find it easier to view me as a sex object more than a commanding officer."

Ichigo leaned back against the tile counter, his hands stuffed into his pockets. "Rukia, I want you to know that I had nothing to do with that office pool," he vowed. "They started taking bets the first week, when you were still being such a hardnose. That's when all the cartoons were drawn, too. As to the nickname-"

"For which I have you to thank..."

He winced. "It came to me on the spur of the moment when you and I were still at war. My face was still bleeding and my spine was black and blue!"

Rukia hated to think about the way she'd injured him that first night. She was happy the cuts on his face had finally healed.

"When you think about it, Rukia, that nickname is a compliment."

"Considering the spirit in which it's used, I can't say I'm particuilarly flattered," she replied. Rukia knew she should sound more angry and indignant, but tonight she was having difficulty acting stern with him. "A complimentary nickname conveys respect, even in an offbeat way. I once knew a cop called toothless because he'd knocked out five teeth in one blow from the mouth of a man twice his size, one who attacked him during an arrest. I know another called roadrunner because he'd managed to rescue a little girl from the path of a speeding truck and safely get back to the sidewalk in record time. And there's another guy-" Rukia gave him a ghost of a grin "-they call Stonewall. I've been told it's because he was solid as a stone wall during a football game, but I think maybe it's because he's the kind of man you can always depend on and will stand solid as a rock in any situation."

Ichigo's eyes flashed. Rukia knew she'd surprised him, and she wasn't sure why she'd risked giving him such praise. Maybe it was to make up for all the wear and tear on his pride during her first weeks in town. Maybe it was because she was going to turn down his offer to take her to the party and she'd already embarrassed him once tonight. Maybe it was because it was so damned hard to be with him day after day without ever admitting how honored she felt that he'd chosen to be her friend.

"I like you, Ichigo," she guardedly confessed. "I'm glad that we get along. But I can't allow myself to be seen in public with you in a potentially compromising situation."

"Rukia, you're a good-looking single woman. People could imagine you're in a compromising situation anytime you're with a man! Are you going to let the mere possibility of gossip ruin your social life?"

She sidestepped his question. "On duty, I'm a police Captain, Ichigo. Not a man, not a woman, just the head cop."

"You can't live your whole life on duty, Rukia!"

"I'll live it however I please!"

He took a step toward her then, filling the small kitchen with his immense size and strength. There was nothing platonic about Rukia's response to his proximity.

"Perhaps it's slipped your mind that you're not the only person on this planet, Rukia. You're not the only one involved here!" He took his hands out of his pockets and stepped closer yet. "I could have asked anybody to go to the party with me. I asked you because I thought it would be fun."

Rukia tried to face him squarely, wishing he wouldn't stand so close. She smelled a faint hint of after-shave; she could feel that dangerous essence of pure man.

"I think it'd be fun, too, Ichigo! It's not-"

"I love being a cop, Rukia, but there are moments now and then when I take off my gun and badge." He took another step closer. Only a few inches separated their bodies now. "In or out of uniform, I'm still a person, Rukia! I'm a man."

Rukia swallowed hard and dropped her gaze to the linoleum. "Ichigo," she admitted unsteadily, "believe me, I know you're a man."

For a moment the room grew deathly silent. She hadn't meant to put it that way; she'd only meant to accept and acknowledge his emotions. But Rukia knew that he'd taken her words as a confession of womanly feelings for him... feelings she didn't dare possess.

She also knew she was standing on the edge of a precipice. She battled a sudden wave of vertigo. Ever since Ichigo had picked her up off the floor and she'd entrusted him with her tears, she'd realized that it wouldn't take much for him to seize control of her heart.

Fiercely she reminded herself that her career would collapse if that ever happened.

"Ichigo, what I mean is-"

"I know exactly what you mean, bunnyhead." His private nickname for her sounded as sweet as honey on his tongue.

Helplessly Rukia's eyes flitted up to meet his. She struggled to keep her distance, but Ichigo moved closer still. In what might have been a platonic spirit, he took her hand, kneading it as he promised, "Nobody thinks of this party as a dating situation, anyway. It's like going to a church potluck or spending Saturday afternoon ice skating on the lake. A bunch of us always drive over together-Aunt Yoruichi, Uncle Kisuke, Rangiku... whoever else is living here. You'll fit right in."

Rukia couldn't argue with this fresh piece of logic, but she wasn't sure whether that was because it made sense or whether it was just something she very much wanted to hear. Anyway, how was she supposed to think clearly when he was toying with her hand?

What a thrill it would be to spend a whole evening with Ichigo, looking like a beautiful woman instead of a soldier! What a thrill it would be to spend a whole night dancing with him! Surely she'd be safe going to the party with a group of people from the boarding house. She and Ichigo could mingle freely. They'd never be alone.

"Well... that sheds a different light on the subject, Ichigo," she told him, wavering. "I'll give it some thought."

Both dimples deepened as his smile widened. "You do that, Rukia! I think a dignified public appearance could only help your public image. Your reputation won't be the least bit endangered."

As Rukia watched his victorious eyes devour her like a cougar stalking prey, she knew she couldn't say the same for her heart.

;;;;;;;;;;;

It was just about seven when Ichigo caught up with his grandmother at the retirement home where she lived at with seventy or eighty other oldsters. Yomi Shihoin was just finishing her dessert in the dining room as Ichigo strolled through the door.

"Why, Ichigo! What a delightful surprise," his grandmother greeted him cheerfully. "You don't get over here very much anymore."

He kissed her on the cheek and accepted her loving rebuke. It had been a week, ten days tops, since he'd last dropped by. When things weren't busy at the station, he sometimes visited her every day or two.

"Sorry, Grandma. We've got a new Captain at the station house and I've been showing her the ropes."

"She needs a lot of attention," said Shunsui, who'd recently been involved in some lively dinner conversations at the boarding house. It had probably been hell for Rukia with all the teasings they had endured from Rangiku and Shunsui himself about Rukia's sickness and what had happened. Shunsui was currently here visiting a friend. He gave Ichigo a man-to-man wink as he teased, "If cops had looked like that when I was a kid, I might have gone into law enforcement myself!"

It was the sort of comment that any halfway normal man might make after a glimpse of Rukia's delicate beauty, but for some reason Shunsui's observation made Ichigo uneasy. Tonight she'd made him see that the common male vision of her-as a knockout, not as a capable human being-was what made her job so difficult. He'd never given much thought to the men's dry locker humor before, but now he saw that their behavior stripped Rukia of her dignity, and he made a mental note to speak to them about it.

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have named her Captain Curvaceous. Rukia definitely deserved a more respectable nickname. But it couldn't be helped. After all, whether she knew it or not, her curves were one of her most atractive features considering the fact that her chest wasn't very big. But that was okay with him.

Mentally shaking himself and turning back to address Shunsui he said, "Believe it or not, she's a damn good cop. A stickler for details, true, but she takes care of business. The men are learning to respect her." Before Shunsui could respond he decided to change the subject. "Anyway, I've got a special problem that needs your magic hands, Grandma," he said enthusiastically.

Yomi beamed dramatically. "Oh, stop! Now what did you want to see me about, dear?" asked Yomi after the room had cleared out. "Somehow I have the feeling this isn't just a casual visit."

Ichigo pulled up a chair, smoothing his wild orange locks back into place. He loved his hometown, but sometimes he got tired of having the old folks treat him like a child. "Grandma, I need you to make a Christmas tree ornament."

"A what?"

He flushed. "Something cute. Sweet. Feminine. But right for a-"

"Police officer?" his grandmother said shrewdly.

His eyes met hers, imploring her to secrecy. "Aunt Yoruichi invited her to help us decorate our tree with her own ornaments-you know how she encourages all of the boarders to be part of the family like that-and Rukia said she didn't have a single one. Not even hidden away." He wanted his grandmother to get the picture, but he wasn't about to share anything Rukia had told him in confidence. His Aunt was likely to report her own conversation with Rukia, anyway.

"Rukia, you say? Not that vile, evil Captain Curvaceous I heard about the first day?"

Ichigo took a deep breath. Did the whole damn town know what he'd once called her? "At work it's Captain Kuchiki, Grandma. And this ornament is strictly on the qt."

His grandmother patted his hand. "Why, Ichigo, darling, why should a gift from Yoruichi Urahara to a boarder be a secret? It was kind of you to deliver your Aunt's message to me."

He grinned as he recognized her clever subterfuge, then leaned forward to once again kiss her cheek. His grandmother's eyes were still twinkling when he left her, buttoning up his jacket against the cold, clear night.

On the way out, Ichigo was surprised to run into Lisa. She was carrying a tinfoil-covered tray that held something that smelled delicious. "Hi, Lisa. How's it going?" he greeted her warmly. "What brings you out here tonight?"

"Christmas cookies, Ichigo," said Lisa, who was often busy with civic affairs or charity work. "I make some for this place every year."

"Well, it's nice to know that I have something to look forward to when I'm old or otherwise incapacitated."

Lisa pulled back a piece of tinfoil. "You can have one now, Ichigo, and I won't tell."

With a grin he snatched a cookie shaped like a Christmas tree. "You're too good to me, Lisa."

She chuckled and held her tray out towards him. "Have a few more."

He sighed happily, then took two.

"Better not tell your boss, Ichigo. She might accuse you of accepting a bribe."

Ichigo inwardly stiffened. Did people have to talk about Rukia wherever he went? No wonder she was paranoid!

Loyally he said to Lisa, "Captain Kuchiki is very serious about her work. I think she'll do just fine here."

Lisa didn't look appeased. "I hope so, Ichigo, but all the same I wish she hadn't come along when you broke the news of Aunt Meiko's death to Uncle Seno. It was hard enough to cope with."

He felt the blaze of tension again-loyalty to the hometown, loyalty to Rukia. He'd seen an old TV show once where a whole town had conspired together against an outsider, and he had a feeling Karakura was doing it now. But Rukia wasn't the enemy. She was only trying to find out the truth about Meiko Kuna's death. It shouldn't bother people unless they had something to hide.

And he didn't like how Lisa was judging Rukia when she barely knew anything about her. It seemed a lot of people were doing that lately. During her time at the Kunas house, Rukia had been sympathetic and understanding and had not done one thing out of line. So what was eating Lisa?

Stiffly he said, "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. See you later." He quickly strode away before his anger could take hold. But after a few paces, his mood lightened. After all, he'd just had some delicious cookies, his grandmother had agreed to help him without giving him too much grief, and best of all, he'd more or less gotten Rukia to agree to attend the party with him. For now, that was all he could ask for.

AN

Yay, it's done! Okay, so if I haven't made this clear, Kenpachi gave Rukia a secret assignment to investigate Ichigo and all the other cops in case they were covering up evidence involving the Meiko case. But Ichigo's clear now. Anyway, I just want to say sorry for slacking on this you guys, and I promise to get back on track. Well, thanks for reading and please review before you go.