"A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous."
--Ingrid Bergmen

No—Inoue!

"Kuchiki-san!"

The raven-haired girl turned at the call to see a frantic looking Tatsuki running up to her. It was only then that she realised that apart from herself and her friend the school corridor was unusually empty.

"Arisawa-san!" she greeted pleasantly, "How are you today?"

"Not great..." the tomboy admitted honestly, "I kinda need to ask you for a favour."

Rukia furrowed her brow. This was definitely a first with Tatsuki, "Ahh... sure, of course you can ask me for a favour." she replied, expecting that her friend had forgotten a book or something and needed a loan of hers.

Tatsuki heaved a relieved sigh, "Thank you Kuchiki. Could we discuss this somewhere a little more private?"

Rukia nodded, cautiously following Tatsuki into an empty classroom, "What's going on, Arisawa-san?

The tomboy sat on the edge of a desk looking up at Rukia while she spoke, "Kuchiki-san... I need to to..." she couldn't ask for this... It was just too painful. She was convinced that this counted as going behind her best friend's back. She balled her hands into fists, earning a weary look from Rukia.

"If you need help, Arisawa... I'm more than willing to assist you."

Tatsuki almost smiled at her words, before looking up at Rukia and finally asking, "I need you... to keep Ichigo from Inoue."

Rukia's eyes widened, then she furrowed her brow, unsure of this request, "I... ahh..."

Tatsuki grabbed the raven-haired girls shoulders, "Please, Kuchiki-san! I made a terrible mistake last night, and now I need to prevent Inoue from getting herself hurt!"

Rukia watched the usually strong girl's eyes glisten, "I shouldn't have... I... was foolish...

"Kurosaki... really does love Kuchiki-san, huh?" Inoue said between mouthfuls of ice cream.

Earlier that day Ichigo had gotten hurt by a hollow. Rukia, being first on the scene had started using a healing kidou on his wounds. Inoue had eventually arrived to see Ichigo lying on the ground, chest bare holding Rukia's hand.

Once he saw Inoue, he immediately released Rukia's hand and waved to the brown-haired girl, "Hey, Inoue."

Ignoring the crippling pain in her heart, Inoue smiled widely. She then noticed the large gash across Ichigo's chest and gasped, "Kurosaki-kun!" she kneeled down, beside Rukia who was already working on healing the injury, "I can heal that for you right away! I'll have you done much faster."

At her words Rukia looked up from Ichigo's cut for the first time, her mouth slightly agape, eyes narrowed, just a little. Then she spoke in a calm voice, "It's alright, Inoue. I've got this one."

Inoue was about to reply when Ichigo spoke up, his voice told her he was tired, "It's Okay, thanks anyway Inoue, but Rukia has this. I'll be fine. She used to take care of my wounds before you came along anyway." she saw his eyes catch Rukia's before he looked back at Inoue, "I trust her."

At those words, Inoue had felt her heart split in two. Ichigo looked quite relaxed when Rukia was healing him, he had closed his eyes slightly, as if ready to sleep. She had sat there in silence for a minute, while Rukia continued to focus on nothing but Ichigo's wound. The orange-haired teen looked at Inoue with worry, "Are you alright, Inoue?"

She immediately snapped out of her stupor, smiling insanely, "Oh! Yes, Kurosaki-kun! Nothing to worry about. I'm just fine!" she stood up, "Well, I must go. Goodbye Kuchiki-san... Kurosaki-kun." At that she ran off, leaving behind a confused Ichigo and an indifferent Rukia.

Inoue stuffed another spoonful of ice-cream into her mouth, while Tatsuki watched horrified, as this was her second tub, "He keeps her in his heart... not me. He trusts her..." a tear rolled down the girl's cheek, and Tatsuki felt her stomach wrench at the sight of her heart-broken friend.

"That's not what I heard." she said suddenly, surprising herself as the words left her mouth.

Inoue immediately looked up at her friend, "W-what do you mean, Tatsuki?"

Tatsuki gulped. She couldn't lie to her best friend, could she? What if it was to make Inoue feel better... is lying so bad then? Sucking in a breath she continued, fake confidence in her voice, "Oh yeah! I heard that Ichigo doesn't stop talking about you! Apparently he told Keigo that he adores your... ahh... unique personality! Yes! Even Rukia told me she thinks Ichigo has a thing for you."

Inoue's eyes widened, hope shining through, and Tatsuki felt her stomach wrench as she continued to lie, "I'm sure Ichigo loves you."

Looking back at it, what Tatsuki had done was cruel, but she couldn't stand to see Inoue in so much pain!

Now Inoue wants to confront Ichigo, as she is so confident that he loves her. All because she trusts Tatsuki so much! She can't let Inoue make a fool of herself, and get her heart broken at the same time! No! She wouldn't allow it!

She had planned it all that morning, to ask Rukia to keep Inoue and Ichigo separated, at least for today. Just to give her enough time to talk Inoue out of facing Ichigo.

"Rukia," she pleaded, and the raven-haired girl was shocked that she used her first name, "Please... I can't tell you why, but if Inoue talks to Ichigo today... she's going to get hurt," she looked up at her with certainty, "And I can't allow that to happen!"

The raven-haired girl watched Tatsuki for a moment, still very confused. How could Ichigo hurt Inoue? He would never do such a thing! But Tatsuki looked so desperate...

She nodded, "Alright. I'll do it today, and I won't ask any questions..."

The tomboy smiled with relief, thanking Rukia almost a million times before exiting the classroom.

Once she had left, Rukia heaved a sigh. This was going to be a tough day...

She had left the classroom to head away when she heard a call. Rukia turned to see Ichigo leaning against the wall, waiting for her, "What was that?" he asked curiously, gesturing towards the classroom where she and Tatsuki had been talking.

Rukia swallowed, "That? Oh, that was nothing! Just girl troubles."

She smirked at the immediate uninterested expression on Ichigo's face. She then found herself asking the question, "Why are you here anyway? Doesn't class start soon?"

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it, deciding against it. He looked away, "I was just... wondering where you went." he spoke quietly, not meeting her gaze.

She chuckled, earning at outraged glare from the strawberry, "You really are a big baby!"

Ichigo scoffed angrily, "Hah! That coming from a midget really hurt!"

"Carrot-top!"

"Bitch!"

"Bas-"

She was interrupted by an angry teacher. Who caught both teens, telling them to head to class and to leave that kind of language for after school!

Class was slow and Rukia found herself too occupied with thinking of ways to 'protect' Inoue from Ichigo, that when the teacher asked her a question she hadn't a clue what they had been discussing in class and was unable to answer her. After a severe lecture Rukia found herself sitting in silent guilt.

Her stare focused on the book in front of her Rukia didn't hear Ichigo whisper her name. Suddenly a note fell on the page she was reading. She looked over to Ichigo who motioned that she should open it. When she did, she threw him a smirk, nodding.

Rukia felt relieved. This would definitely make her job easier.

Once the bell for lunch rang, Rukia stood up to head to her locker. Inoue saw Ichigo watching the raven-haired girl leave before he himself stood and gathered his things to go out for lunch. As Rukia passed Inoue a small piece of paper fell from her pocket. Inoue quickly snatched it up, without anybody noticing, and read the note.

Rukia,

Keigo is in one of his pervy moods,

and I'm not patient enough to listen to him for 45 minutes.

(Without sending him to Soul Society.)

Can I hang out with you at lunch?

Yuzu made me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I know they're your favourite...

Well...?

Ichigo.

Inoue crumpled the note in her hands before deciding how she could work around this little obstacle that is Kuchiki Rukia.

"Thanks, Ichigo." Rukia said, though her words were muffled by the half a sandwich lodged in her mouth as she sat on a tree branch just above the orange-haired teen.

He shook his head, half amused... half disgusted by the sight, "Don't mention it." he replied. He was actually glad he had asked to hang around with Rukia for lunch. She was one of the few people he didn't feel like he had to put on any kind of show for. Even when they weren't talking, the silence was rarely an awkward one.

His mind drifted, thinking about how peaceful it had been today. No Hollows, thank God, he thought. He remembered the last one they faced, just yesterday. He had been exhausted, and not fast enough. The Hollow had been killed, but Ichigo got a nice slash across the chest.

"Ichigo!" Rukia ran over to him as the Hollow vanished. Ichigo stabbed Zangetsu into the concrete, holding on to the hilt of his blade for support. Rukia ran around to face him, paling at the sight, "My God..." she whispered.

He began to lose balance, and she quickly helped him lie on the ground without making his wound any worse and pulled his robes from his chest carefully. She started using her Kidou immediately, as opposed to waiting for Inoue. Ichigo watched as she focused on the bleeding wound, eyes not moving once.

He could feel himself slip in and out of consciousness at first, but soon after he began to feel better. The pain seemed to be leaving his body a lot faster than whenever Inoue would heal him. He knew the wound was still pretty bad, but Rukia's reiatsu always seemed to have that calming effect on him.

"Thanks, Rukia." he forced himself to speak, despite the slight discomfort it caused.

The raven-haired girl suddenly looked up from his wound, "I didn't know you were awake." she admitted.

Ichigo scoffed, "Great attention span you have, eh?"

He suddenly felt a burning pain, where Rukia was pressing down on his wound, "What was that. Ichigo?" she sneered as he yelped in pain.

He snatched her hand away, holding it roughly, "That hurts, midget!"

"Sorry..." she mocked, laughing to herself as Ichigo tightened his grip on her offending hand.

"Can't you be gentle for five seconds?!" he snapped.

Rukia laughed sourly, "You don't know the meaning of the word!" she retorted, about to pull her hand back, when Ichigo's grip on it suddenly became softer. She met his brown eyes with a look of total confusion.

Ichigo gave her a small smile, "Is that gentle enough?" he asked, his voice tender.

Rukia was about to respond when Ichigo saw Inoue approach, letting go of her quickly, "Inoue!"

Flustered, Rukia continued to heal him. Inoue offered to patch him up with Shun Shun Rikka, but Ichigo graciously declined, and he could have sworn Rukia looked relieved at that.

Once Inoue had left Rukia stole a glance at Ichigo, "You still awake?" she joked lightly.

He smirked, "I'm a little hard to kill off, Rukia. Sorry."

There was a silence in which Ichigo wished he knew what she was thinking about. She looked up from his wound once more, "Why didn't you take Inoue's offer?" she asked quietly.

He didn't know any other way to answer other than honestly. "I guess... I forgot how nice your reiatsu feels. I like it." he replied, with a light tinge across his cheeks.

Rukia gave him a slightly stunned look, before smiling, "Well... I liked the feeling of you holding my hand." she replied softly, surprised by her own boldness.

His mouth was slightly agape. Then he cautiously reached over and took her hand in his own, holding it gently as his exhaustion finally caught up with him and he dosed off.

When he woke up, it was morning, his was in his bed, and Rukia had already left for school. Neither seemed to want to talk about what had happened. It was probably best, Ichigo mused.

He suddenly noticed Inoue approach the two of them. He felt a little annoyed that someone had found them, as he was hoping he wouldn't have to be very talkative today.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue called, quickly making her way over.

Ichigo raised his hand in a half-hearted wave, "Hey, Inoue." he replied.

Rukia heard Ichigo say Inoue's name and fell off her branch in shock, landing flat on her back and winding herself.

Ichigo snapped around at the sound his eyes widening at his friend on the ground, "Rukia!" he ran over to her. He sat her up, "Rukia? Rukia, are you Okay?!"

The raven-haired girl looked up at him, "Shut up... make the world stop spinning!" she groaned, holding her head.

Ichigo quickly scooped her into his arms and, without speaking to Inoue again, ran in the direction of the nurse's office. The brown-haired girl watched his retreating figure, frustration kicking in.

Tatsuki heaved a relieved sigh. She had seen the whole thing, but didn't react fast enough to interfere. 'Good idea, Kuchiki-san!'

Her eyes fluttered open, and they immediately met a pair of relieved brown ones. Ichigo sat at the side of her bed in the nurse's office, "How many fingers am I holding up?" he quizzed, holding up three fingers in front of her face.

"Sixteen..."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, giving her a frustrated glare, causing Rukia to chuckle.

"Three."

He nodded curtly, just as the nurse returned to dismiss her.

The rest of lunch had been occupied with Rukia's many attempts to keep Ichigo from Inoue, or was it the other way around? She wasn't quite sure.

Inoue had approached them while they were kicking a football around the place. Rukia, thinking on her feet, kicked the ball wide and hit Inoue square on the nose. Tatsuki suddenly came from nowhere, and instead of pounding Rukia for doing such a thing she just carted Inoue away from the two of them.

The next incident was while she had left Ichigo for a second to get a drink. She saw Inoue head towards Ichigo and immediately used a spell that would cause the victim to desire to run, without stopping. Something herself and Renji had come up with a while back whenever a pal of theirs was getting on their nerves Inoue just sprinted passed Ichigo, not there long enough to say anything to him.

As they walked along one of the school corridors together Rukia's mind was tossing around the place. Why is she trying to talk to him anyway? She doesn't usually approach him on her own. Does she want to get hurt?! She stole a glance up at Ichigo, who was looking straight ahead. How could Ichigo possibly hurt her anyway? He's far too kind to do something like that...

"Rukia?"

She stopped, looking up at Ichigo.

"You sure you're Okay? You seem kinda spaced out... and you did hit your head pretty hard." he had a look of worry. One which she would usually scold him for, but this time she found herself smiling lightly as she nodded, "I'm just fi-"

She trailed off at the sight of Inoue talking to Tatsuki. Inoue caught sight of them, as did Tatsuki, and their expressions were the polar opposite of one another. While Inoue looked delighted to see Ichigo, Tatsuki looked terrified.

Before Inoue could try to approach them, Rukia grabbed Ichigo and ran in the opposite direction, dragging the confused teen with her.

Inoue went to follow them, but Tatsuki suddenly had something really important to tell her. The tomboy suddenly began spouting nonsense, hoping to buy Rukia some time.

Rukia pulled Ichigo around yet another corner before she had to stop, panting from running so much, and fighting Ichigo's resistance. Ichigo gave her a bewildered look, "What the hell, Rukia?!"

Before Rukia could respond, Inoue came around the corner, "Ah, there you are Kurosaki-kun. May I speak with you alone for a moment?"

Ichigo looked back at Rukia for an instant before he turned and agreed, but before he could go with the big-bosomed girl, Rukia grabbed his wrist and pulled him back

She crashed her lips roughly with his. She was going the assumption that humans would feel awkward watching as two of their friends shared an intimate moment with eachother in front of them, and that said human might leave out of humility.

However, once Rukia's lips met Ichigo's, her plan was immediately forgotten.

His lips were so soft, so warm…

So inviting.

How did she not try this before now?

Ichigo froze at first with his eyes wide, but suddenly surprised Rukia by responding. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer as she brought her hands up around his neck. He walked them over and pressed Rukia against the wall. His mouth parted a little and he brushed his tongue across her lips, asking for access to deepen the kiss. Rukia gave him all the permission he needed and he savoured her taste. She was surprisingly sweet.

Inoue watched wide-eyed for a minute as her Ichigo kissed Rukia with all the passion she could have ever hoped he'd kiss her with. Without another word, she dashed away, tears rolling down her cheeks.

When the eventually broke the kiss, Ichigo held her gently against his chest, "Whoa..."

Rukia felt her stomach flip, how can this same person hurt Inoue?! It's just impossible! But... what if... "Ichigo?" she pushed away from him just a little.

He met her eyes and his expression immediately became worried, "What?"

She sucked in a breath, hoping that he wouldn't get mad with what she had to say, "P-please... don't hurt Inoue."

Ichigo's mouth hung open, "What? What do you mean?"

At his question, Rukia looked away, slightly embarrassed as she replied, "I... don't really know, but I was asked to-"

"Is this what you and Tatsuki were talking about earlier?" he questioned, a little snappishly.

"Y-yes, but-"

Without another word Ichigo stomped away, mumbling something in a furious tone. He left Rukia watching as he marched in the direction of Tatsuki. Rukia squeezed her arm, sinking down on to the floor, leaning against the wall, "Ichigo..."

Ichigo barged into a classroom to see Tatsuki comforting an hysterical Inoue. Before he could say anything, she tackled him out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Don't you think you've done enough trouble, Ichigo?!" she hissed, tightening her grip on his collar.

"What the hell do you mean?!" he snapped back, pulling out of her grasp, "You're the one who made Rukia think I was going to harm Inoue! What kinda guy do you think I am anyway?! Do you honestly think I would injure Inoue?!"

Tatsuki's eyes widened as she realised Rukia had taken her words completely wrong, "Oh God... Ichigo..." she moved further away from the door, "Inoue wanted to tell you something today, that I didn't want her to say it, for her own sake! So I told Rukia to keep you occupied, and keep Inoue away from you so protect her..."

"From what?" Ichigo cut in, his patience leaving him fast.

"From getting heartbroken!"

Ichigo stepped back, "H-heart-broken?"

The tomboy nodded sadly, "Inoue was in love with you, Ichigo. She wanted to tell you that, but..."

"But...?" he pressed, and Tatsuki gulped.

"But I know you love Kuchiki-san! So to prevent her from getting hurt, I asked Rukia to keep you two apart!"

Ichigo felt his stomach flip, Love? Rukia? She thinks I love Rukia?! She knows I love Rukia...

He then began to feel guilty that Inoue had seen him and Rukia kiss. Tatsuki looked back at the room Inoue was in, sighing, "It's not your fault, Ichigo. You can't pick who you love... you just know." at that, she went back to the room, stopping before she entered, "But, Ichigo... if this all happened for nothing, you're dead."

Once she went back in to see to the bawling Inoue, Ichigo set off running, Rukia!

The sunset, gave her surroundings a calm orange glow as she attempted to calm herself. Ichigo had been mad with her... she couldn't blame him. She closed her eyes, leaning against the tree as a calm breeze caressed her skin, before it was joined by a pair of lips against her cheek.

Rukia jumped slightly, looking over to see Ichigo sitting beside her, "Rukia..."

"Ichigo," she cut across, "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have done what I did. It was wrong and inconsiderate to you! I should have asked more before agreeing to something so foolish! I..."

Ichigo quietened her by planting another soft kiss on her lips, pulling away far too quickly but he had something important to talk to her about, "Rukia, I found out what Tatsuki meant. Inoue was apparently... in love with me..."

Rukia felt her heart sink, and all she could say was, "Oh..."

He continued, "But... I hurt her." at this Rukia looked up at him in shock, but he ignored her, "I hurt her, because in don't share the same feelings."

She looked at him, confusion setting in, "Ichigo..."

He swallowed hard before finishing, "What I'm trying to say Rukia... is that I'm in love with you. Just you."

She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand, "Me?" she repeated.

Ichigo scoffed, "Are you kidding me?!"

Before she could answer Ichigo leaned over, capturing her lips again in a soft but passionate kiss that lasted longer this time. He held her close, running his hands through her hair he deepened the kiss, causing both to forget the events of the day, Inoue, everything. There was just Ichigo, Rukia... and the beautiful sunset. Which, in the future, Ichigo would argue was never quite as beautiful as Rukia was.

After a while they pulled away, still holding each other close as Ichigo planted gentle kisses on her forehead, while the sun finally disappeared behind the hills.

Rukia nuzzled her head against his neck, "I love you, Ichigo."

He gave her a small squeeze, before replying, "I love you too, Rukia. I'll never hurt you."

I know that, idiot.

A/N:Well, that's it for now! Hope you guys liked it!
If you have any suggestions for future fics, please PM me.
Please review!