Disclaimer: I do not own BLEACH. And I never will...

A/N: Sorry it took so long... I've been thinking a lot lately for some really random reason...

Thanks to auburn-haired-sadist-XD and x pink cloud x for reviewing. It was very much appreciated :). Oh, and I know the hollow is weird, but it has to be weird in order for my story to progress and don't ask me why did Rukia used a level 60 kido to destroy the hollow in the last chapter. It just goes along...

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Perfection

Chapter Six

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"Tch. This is harder than I thought." Rukia said in her stance, gripping Sode no Shirayuki tightly. The fight has been going on for about ten minutes now, resulting with a large gashed hollow and gashed-and-head-bleeding Rukia. She gasped for air as her vision blurred. 'Damn. My vision is blurring... Don't...have...enough...reiatsu... to...heal...self...' she thought between her short gasps. She dropped down on one knee, stabbing her zanpakuto into the ground for support.

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, struggling to get up. Apparently, Rukia has binded him with kido.

Flashback... (Oh no...)

"Don't move!" Rukia yelled, trying her best to pin Ichigo down. She isn't exactly succeeding because she barely able to hold him halfway down.

"Dammit Rukia! Let me go!" Ichigo yelled back, trying to pull Rukia's hand off of his shoulders, thus, letting him go free. Hey, even if she is a midget-I mean, petite, she still have brute strength.

"Tch. I have no choice." she said, releasing her grip from his shoulder and started making a swift hand movement. "Bakudou no.1! Sai!" she yelled and Ichigo fell down to the ground. He struggles and struggles, but he can't even budge. "Oi! Rukia! What the hell did you do to me??" he hollered.

"Don't tell me... you forgot already?" she replied, a victorious smirk on her face.

"Wait a minute! Is this-"

"Uh-huh! It's the spell that i used the first time i met you. Only, I tripled the amount of reiatsu this time."

"Dammit..." Ichigo muttered.

"Now you stay there and be a good boy until Inoue comes and heal you, okay?"

"...No."

"Excuse me?"

"I said, NO! Now release me woman! I need to blah...blah...blah..." he keeps on continuing while Rukia just stared blankly at him, trying to process one clear sentence into her head. "And that's why you must release me!" Ichigo ended his explanation.

"I didn't know you know that much words."

"Wha-?! Well, I do. Now release me Midget!" Ichigo struggled once more.

A vein popped out of Rukia's head. "Not gonna happen, Strawberry." she crouched down and flicked him on the forehead.

"Oi! What was that fo-"

"Shut up! Now lie down there and rest would ya?!"

"But-"

"No buts!" and Rukia shunpo-ed off to fight.

End of flashback... (fuh...)

"Kurosaki! Kuchiki-san!" Ishida came running towards Ichigo.

"Ichigo! Kuchiki-san!" Sado cam running behind him.

"Kurosaki-kun! Kuchiki-san!" Inoue came running behind him.

"Ishida! Chad! Inoue!" Ichigo struggles to see their faces.

"Kurosaki-kun, where's Kuchiki-sa..." Orihime stuttered as she saw the shinigami she was looking for. She was down on one knee, her hand still gripping the handle of her zanpakuto that she uses for support tightly. She was all covered in cuts and bruises and there was a medium gash on her side. A familiar crimson liquid was seeping through her raven-black locks and it was dripping down from the edge of her right jaw.

"Hi...everyone..." she managed to choked out between her gasps.

"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime ran towards her and started healing her. "Ayame! Shun'o! Soten Kesshun! I reject!" a soft orange light surrounded Rukia and her bleeding came to a stop slowly. Rukia stood up with the help of her zanpakuto. She pulled it out of the ground and started walking towards Orihime, using it as a cane. Orihime catches her as she fell, due to the small amount of reiatsu.

"Kuchiki-san..."

"Inoue-san, don't worry about me. Just...heal...Ichi...go..." she the end of her sentence came to a whisper.

"Kuchiki-san! Hang on! Kuchiki-san! Kuchiki-san!" Orihime yelled desperately, tears threatening to flow out of the corner of her eyes.

"Onegai...Inoue-san..." Rukia whispered hoarsely before coughing violently.

"Ha-Hai!" Orihime stopped her Soten Kesshun and ran towards Ichigo, who is still trying to break free from Rukia's bakudou. He was asking the Quincy and the Gentle Giant to free him, but none of them know how. And that was responded by more struggling and cursing from the binded shinigami representative.

"Inoue-san! Wha-" Ishida said as he ran towards the ginger-haired girl.

"Ishida-kun! Help! Please! Kuchiki-san! Kuchiki-san is..." a single tear flow out of the corner of her right eye.

"C-Calm down, Inoue-san! She just lost a lot of reiatsu! She'll be fine after you heal her! Uh...uh..." Ishida stuttered as he tries to calm the usually bubbly girl in front of him.

"Inoue! Is she okay?" Sado ran over to Ishida and Orihime to check on Rukia's condition.

"Oi! What's with all the ruckus over the-...Rukia!" Ichigo struggles to get closer to his group of nakama.

"Oh! Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime ran towards him as fast as she could with one of Rukia's arm over her shoulder for support. She tried to keep the petite shinigami in place, as she could hear her slow but heavy breathing.

As soon as Orihime reached Ichigo, she lay Rukia down beside him. "Ayame! Shun'o! Soten Kesshun! I reject!" she said as the familiar soft orange light surrounded Ichigo and the semi-conscious shinigami. "Wha-what happened?" Ichigo yelled.

"Calm down, Kurosaki!" Ishida said as he arrived beside Orihime to make sure she's okay.

"How could I-" Ichigo was cut off.

"She lost a lot of reiatsu..." Orihime said in a small voice.

"How?"

"I-I don't really know... Did she used a lot of kido today?"

"I...I guess. The first time I saw her after she ran off, she had a bad gash on her stomach and was in the middle of fighting that hollow." he pointed his index finger towards the huge hollow. "She probably already used about 5 to 6 kido to destroy it. Then, I told her to heal herself with kido... twice and she healed me once. I also remembered that she used a level 60 kido after. She used a lot, now that you mentioned it..." he continued, recalling his memories. "And I... I wasn't there to protect her..." he stuttered and the let out a yell of desperation.

"Ungh...I-Ichigo?" Rukia was woken up by Ichigo's desperate yell. She sat up and said, "Heh. I see you're still binded by my kido." with a smirk.

"Ru-Rukia..."

"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime cheered out of joy. The soft orange light glowed brighter. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Orihime wiped her single tear away.

"I'm fine. Thanks Inoue-san..." Rukia smiled and stood up.

"Ku-Kuchiki-san, you really should rest for awhi-" she was cut off by the hollow's shriek. They all let out a small gasp and jerked their head at the said hollow's direction.

Rukia stood up and grabbed Sode no Shirayuki. She walked out of the soft light and couldn't suppress a wobble. "Kuchiki-san!" Sado ran over to the raven-haired shinigami and helped her stand.

"I'm fine." she steadied her self, "Let's just kick this hollow's--"

Ichigo cleared his throat rather loudly and when he felt that all eyes were on him, he said, "I think you're forgetting someone here, Rukia?"

"Hmm..." she put a hand to her chin and used the other hand to count. "No, I don't think so." she grinned.

"Oi! Rukia!" he hollered.

"Stay there and rest. If you do I'll release you."

Ichigo obeyed her and mumbled something about stupid little midget who won't release her damn kido. Rukia smirked and leaped off hesitantly.

"Kuchiki-san! Your wound haven't closed yet!" Orihime shouted. "I'm fine, Inoue-san." Rukia gave her a reassuring smile as she continued leaping.

"Damn her... Does she always need to be looked after?" Ichigo started struggling yet again.

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Rukia landed in front of the pig-masked hollow with Ishida and Sado at her side. "Kuchiki-san, are you sure you're okay?" Sado asked. Though he doesn't show much facial expression, his voice sound concerned.

"Mm-hmm..." Rukia nodded and give him a smile.

"Okay then." blue reiatsu enveloped Sado's right arm, changing it into the right arm of the giant. Then, he blasted a big ball of reiatsu towards the big hollow, which screeched as then blast hit it and make a huge cut at its left leg.

Ishida prepared his bow and shoot 1000 arrows at it without any hesitation. The hollow stepped back as the swarm of arrows hit it -and cut is most of the time- but it's still standing strong.

"Some no Mai! Tsukishiro!" a pure white pillar covered the hollow's arm. The said pillar covered the hollow's right arm, hardened and shattered into little pieces. The hollow screeched as it stepped back, missing it's right arm.

Clang!

Orihime turned her head to the direction of the noise. "Kuchiki-san!" she shouted as she stood up from her sitting position. Rukia was down on both knees, breathing heavily as she gasped desperately for oxygen. Her wound have reopened, letting blood flow out from the said wound. Orihime ran over to her immediately.

"Oi, Inoue. Everything okay?" Ichigo asked, his back facing her as he continued his struggling to break free. The soft light is starting to fade, since its wielder wasn't there to control it anymore. "Oh, and what was that clang noise?" he continued.

"A-Ah! It was nothing really!" Orihime said, making sure she was keeping her word with Rukia. The gasping shinigami asked her to make sure Ichigo rest properly and won't worry about her too much a moment ago. "Thanks, Inoue-san..." she whispered hoarsely before she fell unconscious.

Orihime catches her just in time with one hand, her other hand covering her own mouth, refraining her from making any noise. She quickly carried her unconscious friend back and put her behind Ichigo, her face facing his back and then she went and quickly stabilized her Soten Kesshun. This time, it glows even brighter than before, her hands trembling as she tried to hold her tears from falling.

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Meanwhile...

"Sado-kun, are you okay?" the tired-looking Quincy asked.

"I'm fine." Sado replied simply. "More importantly, how are we going to beat this hollow?"

"Well... we managed to take its other arm down; so, maybe, just maybe, if we put a lot of reiatsu into our attacks..." Ishida paused.

"Yeah?"

"We might injure him greatly if we focused our attack on one point, rather than three of us shooting randomly."

"We could try that." Sado smirked as he focused a lot of reiatsu into his right arm.

"What do you think, Kuchiki-san?" Ishida asked, turning his head, expecting a four-foot tall shinigami beside him. "Eh...? Kuchiki-san? Where is she?"

"I think she is with Inoue. After all, her wounds haven't healed yet." Sado answered his question.

"True."

"The mask?" Sado asked.

"Yes."

They both aimed at the center of the pig-shaped mask and shoot it with everything they've got. Ishida's arrows fuse together with Sado's blast, making it even bigger. It hit right on target, as the hollow has no more arm to protect itself. The mask cracked halfway as the hollow let out a shrieked of pain.

The two teens on the other hand wobbled a little. They have used almost all of their reiatsu on the last attack.

"Ishida-kun! Sado-kun! Are you okay?" Orihime shouted from afar.

"Y-Yeah, Inoue-san. We're fin—Whoa!!" Ishida yelled as Sado lifted him and started carrying him towards Orihime. "S-Sado-kun! I can walk by myself, thank you!" he said as Sado put him over his shoulder.

"Inoue, if it's not too much to ask, please heal him. He have almost no physical injuries, but his reiatsu is very low." Sado said as he put Ishida down inside the warm orange light, five foot away from Rukia. He bowed down to the ginger-haired girl before running back towards the hollow.

"But, Sado-kun--" Orihime shouted.

"What the hell is happening back there? And why does my left side feels wet?" Ichigo asked as he struggled even harder, trying to turn over to his other side.

"Please don't Kurosaki-kun! She wouldn't want you to see her right now!" Orihime begged, but put both her hands to her mouth as she realized that she wasn't supposed to tell him that.

"Ha? Who are you talking abou--" Ichigo started turning over to his back. That is, before Ishida pushed him back to his first position.

"Kurosaki! Listen to Inoue-san just once, would you?!" Ishida yelled as he pushed Ichigo's right cheek with both his hands, not allowing him to see the still-bleeding-and-unconscious Rukia beside him.

"Wha the hell is your problem, Ishida?!" Ichigo struggled even more. The struggling continues until Ishida finally lost due to his lack of reiatsu. Ichigo struggles to turn over to his other side again. He shut his eyes tightly to focus more as he turned successfully to his other side.

'What the hell? Why is this liquid so...warm?' he thought as he opened one of his eyelids slightly. He can't see anyone, including the her Orihime was talking about. Well, he could see the tip of a head at the corner of his eye, with a surprisingly familiar raven-black hair. He also noticed that the 'warm liquid' was blood and it's seeping through the raven-black locks. He opened both his eyes fully and observed his surroundings. He could see the concerned look on Orihime's and Ishida's (wait, Ishida??) face. But then. His eyes widened as her realize that the figure in front of him is...

"RUKIA!!"

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