A/N: I was feeling a little hyper because I ate a little too much sugar (you don't know what those things can do to you!), so I decided to write this chapter. But my USB disk broke when I was halfway through, so I have to re-write the chapter all over again! WAAH!! Oh, and please tell me if anyone is OOC. I'll try my best to fix him/her back to his/her character (If I can, that is). Enjoy!

I'm really sorry in advance for any spelling/grammatical errors.

Thank you to auburn-haired-sadist-XD, anonymous and Sherinne for reviewing! It was very much appreciated!! And so, I'll try to reply to your reviews from now on!

to anonymous: he he... thanks... I know the ending was kinda sad, but I wanted it to be that way for some random reason. ;)

To auburn-haired-sadist-XD: Sorry if Ichigo is acting like a bastard! For some random reason (again), I kinda want him to be dense. Weird huh? XD

To Sherinne: Yeah, I know, the beginning isn't interesting and I'll try my best to keep on writing this story! Oh and don't worry, I'm not offended. :)

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Perfection

Chapter Eight

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"Nee-san!!" Kon yelled hysterically as Ichigo's grip on him tightened. "Oi, Ichigo! Let me go! I'm not your squeeze toy, you know!!"

No response was heard from the carrot-top. Instead, his grip tightened even more as he ran back to his house.'Why am I acting this way? Gah!'

'Heh. That's a surprisingly easy question to answer, King.' his inner hollow mocked.

'Oh yay. You again. Whoopee.'

'King, face it. You're falling in love with her.' he mocked.

'Huh? You sure tell a lot of lies, don't you?'

'Or is it?' his inner hollow laughed maniacally. 'Think for a second. I'm your half. I know what you're thinkin'.'

'Oh, really? Then, since you said that I'm falling in love with her, you, as my half, would feel the same way as well then.'

'Heh. How did you know?'

'I knew you didn't-- what?'

'I'm askin' you how did you know that I do love her?'

Ichigo was speechless. He had no idea that... that his inner hollow is in love with the girl who lived in his closet! He mean, come on!

"..."

"Ichigo! Why the hell are you daydreaming?! I will NEVER forgive you, you bastard! Hurting nee-san like that! How dare you!!" Kon yelled, swinging his small paws frantically at the shinigami substitute.

"Wha--" the said shinigami substitute broke away from his conversation with his inner hollow. "What do you mean?! What did I do??"

"Baka! Didn't you see her eyes when you gave her gigai back?! Oh wait, you didn't! Well, Mr. I-don't-care-what-have-happened-to-nee-san, for your information, she was worried about you!!"

"Why would she be worried about me?" Ichigo's face showing a blank expression.

"Dammit! You came back, yelled at me for NO REASON WHATSOEVER, I repeat, NO REASON WHATSOEVER, suddenly glared at her and gave her the silent treatment!"

"I didn't glare at her!"

"Oh yeah, sure. Tell that to some other airhead and they might believe you." Kon rolled his eyes.

"And what silent treatment?"

"Well, you ignored her!!"

"Kon, just...shut up." he lowered his voice. He stopped running as he reached his house.

"WHAT?? I don't wanna shut up!! I never will!! NEE-SA--!" Ichigo put his hand on Kon's mouth to shut him up.

"I'm home..." he opened the front door with his other hand.

"ICHIGOOOO!!" Isshin came jumping, trying to give his son a welcoming kick. Ichigo dodged the said kick easily, sending Isshin flying outside the house and towards a random lamp post near the sidewalk.

BOOF!

Rukia let out a small gasp as Isshin collided with the wall (he missed the lamp post) right in front of her.

"Kurosaki-san, are you okay?" she asked, running to the raven-haired man to check whether he's okay or not.

Isshin's head jerked up and he started wailing about a certain son of his who won't respect his loving father. Rukia, obviously confused on what to do, patted his back cautiously and said,

"Uh... It's okay, Kurosaki-san..." with a forced smile and a sweat drop.

Isshin's head turned immediately in surprise towards Rukia. He suddenly hugged her and cried, saying something about him being a proud father for having such an understanding and compassionate daughter-in-law. Rukia blinked at the daughter-in-law part and struggled - gently – to break free from his hug.

"Oi, Old man! Let Rukia-nee go!" Karin yelled from inside the house.

"Mou, Otou-chan! Let, Rukia-nee-chan go!" Yuzu came out of the house and pulled one of Isshin's arms, trying to give Rukia a bigger chance to break free.

"Oh, I get it! It's okay, Karin, Yuzu! Do as your heart yearns and jump into your Papa's welcoming bos--" Isshin was cut off.

"Oi, goat-face! Let her go already!!" Ichigo yelled as he throws a random bowl he found at his beloved father.

"How dare you order me, you ungrateful son of mine!" Isshin's face was having a serious look but his flaring nostrils totally ruined it. He let go of Rukia and stood up, facing his son.

"What the hell did I do??" the said son yelled.

"Would you two shut up! I'm trying to watch tv here!!" Karin came out of the house and joined the conversation.

The bickering continued between the Kurosaki family with Rukia watching them from the very same spot that Isshin had hug her. She looked up to the sky and realized that it was no longer the warm orange color. It was deep purple. She took out her soul pager and checked the time.

"7.15??" she accidentally let out a yell. The Kurosakis stopped their bickering – wrestling in Isshin and Ichigo's case – and turned towards the raven-haired girl before registering what she had actually said.

"WAAH!!" Yuzu screamed. "I haven't prepare dinner yet!" and with that, she took 'Bostov' and ran inside the house.

"Wait, Yuzu!" Karin went in after her twin.

"I'll help you, Yuzu-chan!" Rukia chased the twins inside the house, leaving the two Kurosaki men outside, still in their wrestling position, a blank look on their faces.

"Well, I guess I'll be in my room until dinner's ready." Ichigo got up and walked towards the house.

"Hey, Ichigo."

"Yeah?" he replied, not bothering to stop and look at his father's face.

"Do me a favor and don't hurt Rukia-chan, okay?"

"..." he stopped walking and looked up to the sky. "I'll try."

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Dinner had been pretty quiet. No Ichigo and Rukia bickering about something stupid, like, ketchup. Okay, ketchup is not stupid, but it is a stupid thing to be bickering about.

Flashback – last dinner, yesterday -

They were having sirloin steak and french fries today because Yuzu had found a store which sells top quality meat with cheap prices. Isshin was out somewhere, probably buying a stock of medicine for their clinic.

Rukia was eating her french fries, dipping them in a mysterious substance that Ichigo like to call, 'ketchup'. She was particularly intrigued by this mysterious substance. 'How could this substance be so red, taste like tomato and be liquidly at the same time?' she thought, observing a small amount of ketchup on the tip of her french fry that she had been holding for the last 5 minutes, twirling it with her delicate fingers.

"Oi, Rukia. Pass the ketchup, will, ya?" Ichigo asked. He was sitting beside her, hand reached out, waiting for the bottle of 'ketchup'.

Rukia seemed to be oblivious to his question, still observing and twirling the piece of fried potato with the 'mysterious substance' on top. Apparently, she had put the 'ketchup' on her far end of the table.

"Oi! Ketchup! I need ketchup!" Ichigo demanded.

Rukia, once again, was oblivious to his demand and continued twirling her french fry. A vein popped on Ichigo's forehead.

"Pass me the freakin' ketchup, will ya??" he slammed his fist to the table, which shook slightly in response.

Now this, snapped Rukia out of her stupor.

"What is it, Kurosaki-kun?" she asked in her 'high school girl' voice.

"KET-CHUP!!" he yelled even louder. He was irritated by her ignorance at first, and her fake voice aggravated him even more.

"Okay, okay. Geez, it's just a ketchup." she took the 'ketchup' bottle and opened the cap.

"Took you long enough, midget." he snorted.

This time, a vein popped out on Rukia's forehead. Since she couldn't blow her sweet and innocent facade in front of his family, she gave the plastic bottle – which she was holding upwards - a squeeze and didn't notice that some air was trapped at the bottom of the bottle.

It didn't squeezed as well as she had predicted, so, she squeezed harder. This time, it gives a good ol' PLOP! Sound. She closed her eyes and smirked, seemingly content with her achievement.

'Now that's a response' she thought, feeling proud of herself.

"Why you little--!" she heard a growl. She raised one of her eyebrows and opened her eyelids, just to see Ichigo's hair covered in 'ketchup'. The red liquid was dripping down to his sleeve, making her unable to stifle a guffaw.

"'The hell are you laughing at?!" another vein popped out on his forehead.

"Why, Kurosaki-kun, what happened to you?" she said between her guffaws and – actually – asked a question in her fake voice.

Ichigo's eyes widened in anger. His gaze shifted from Rukia to Yuzu, to Karin, who both have the exact same questioning look as Rukia on their faces, and then back to Rukia. "Bitch!" he yelled as he chased her around the dining table.

"Mou, onii-chan! Don't chase Rukia-nee around the table!" Yuzu pouted. He ignored her pout and keeps on chasing Rukia.

"Yeah, Ichi-nii. We know that you like her already, so don't chase her at dinner because of something that is clearly your fault." Karin backed her twin up while taking some more french fries from the center of the dining table.

Ichigo halted and froze before slowly turned his head towards the direction of his black-haired little sister. "I WHAT?? A, I do not love her and B, it's MY fault now??" he asked her in disbelief.

Karin glanced at her brother. His face, as suspected, was red because of either anger, embarrassment or that he is actually blushing but then again... 'Nah... Ichi-nii wouldn't blush because of something so trivial.' she thought.

But, she smirked anyway and said, "A, I never said that you love her, I said that you like her, which could mean that you like her as a friend." she paused to take a look on her brother's face, which got even redder. 'Well what do you know, he is blushing.'

"And B," she continued, "Yes, it is your fault. You asked her for the ketchup bottle, Einstein."

Ichigo tried his very best not to blush and ignore his little sister's comment, but it's really hard when you have another 'side' of you who is even more egoistical, maniacal, crazy and cuckoo-headed than you are, mocking and laughing at you from inside your very own head! So, his attempt to hide his blush came to no avail and instead of going against explanation A, he went for the B.

"She squeezed the bottle!" he pointed accusingly at the bewildered Rukia, the red still evident on his face.

"Yeah, but only because you insulted her." Karin replied without breaking a sweat.

"Well..." he searched for a comeback in his brain, "She deserved it!" 'Great, what a comeback...' he thought, mentally slapping himself.

"What did I do?" Rukia asked, the bottle of 'ketchup' still in her possession.

"Well...uh...Bah! Humbug!" Ichigo threw his arms up in frustration of not having any good comebacks before going to the bathroom to wash the shtoopid 'ketchup' out of his hair.

"Oni-chan! You're sounding like Scrooge!" Yuzu said from her seat, referring to 'The Christmas Carol' Scrooge.

"Who is Scrooge?" Ichigo heard Rukia ask, before locking the bathroom door to gain some peace and quiet while washing his hair.

Flashback Ended.

"Kurosaki-san, may I please be excuse, I have finished my dinner." Rukia asked, wiping the edge of her mouth with a napkin.

"Of course, my dearest Rukia-chan! You don't have to ask for my permission!" Isshin answered happily.

"Oh, and may I please go outside? The moon is full tonight and I do not want to miss such a phenomenon."

"Yes, yes! Of course! And may I ask, are you meeting a certain someone? A kind of... friend, perhaps?" Isshin grinned suspiciously.

Rukia beamed at his question and said, "Yes, I am! That someone is very important to me and I do not like making people wait, so, of you don't mind." She ran up the stairs and a door slam was heard. Isshin smiled happily, pleased with her answer. Yuzu looked questioningly at Karin, who responded with a shrug.

5 minutes later, Rukia came back down wearing a pair of light blue denim, a short sleeved white T-shirt that has a picture of a pair of white angel wings, outlined with the color of amethyst. She was using a pair of white sneakers and a pair of white open finger gloves that started above her elbows. Her hair was pulled into two low pigtails.

The Kurosakis stared in awe at the ebony haired girl. The said ebony haired noticed and asked, "Well...? How do I look?"

"You look beautiful, Rukia-nee! Just beautiful!" Yuzu beamed.

Karin jerked both her thumbs up and grinned. "I agree with Yuzu, Rukia-nee."

Rukia's face light up and she ran to give both girls a big bear hug before,

"Rukia-chan!! You look so beautiful tonight! I'm so proud of you, my third daughter!!" Isshin leaped off of his chair and hugged Rukia tightly.

"Oi, old man! Rukia is not your third daughter!!" Ichigo got up from his seat and kicked Isshin away from Rukia, sending him flying into the kitchen.

"Mou, onii-chan! Don't kick otou-chan into the kitchen! He'll mess things up again!!" Yuzu pouted.

"Well, sor-ree. I'm just trying to help our little damsel in distress over here." he scowled.

Yuzu took a deep breath to calm herself down before asking, "Well, onii-chan?" expectantly.

"Well what?"

"How does she look?"

"You're asking me?"

"Obviously Ichi-nii." Karin rolled her eyes, agitated by her big brother's stupidity. "Well?" she asked expectantly.

"She looks..." Ichigo turned away and scratched the invisible itch on the back of his head. Isshin was eavesdropping from the kitchen, expecting the word O.K, fine, pretty, or, if a miracle happens, beautiful.

"Uh... she looks... uhm..." Ichigo stuttered, pretending as if he's searching for the right word.

Okay, he is, but at least it looked like an act to his sisters. A horrible one at that.

"Come on, Ichi-nii! She don't have all night! Didn't you hear what she just said? She have to meet someone important and so--" Karin demanded.

"Like an angel..." he whispered softly, as if he didn't want anyone to hear that.

Well, to his misfortune, the three Kurosaki - and Rukia – happened to have a very sharp hearing. Karin stopped demanding and stared at her brother, both eyes wide in shock. Yuzu brought her hands to her mouth to stifle a gasp, but it was futile. That compliment was too shocking for her, since it did came out of her brother's mouth.

Her gasp shook Ichigo out of his stupor. He immediately turned to face his sister, who stared at him with this shocked look on their faces while Rukia just blinked, her face altering into an what-did-you-just-say?! Look.

'Crap. Gotta fix this fast.' he thought. "A...Ah!! I was just joking!! Just joking!! Ahah... ahahaha..." he laughed nervously. 'Dammit! Don't blush, don't blush, don't blush...!!' he started to blush furiously.

A small tension was built up in the air between the shocked twins, the blushing carrot-top and the realizing girl. The realizing girl was thinking of the exact same thing the twins were thinking. 'Did he just said that I look like an angel?? I'm a shinigami for goodness sake! Almost the exact opposite of an angel!' She felt her cheeks heating up and shook her head vigorously. But the the tension was over because of, of course, Isshin.

"My son! I am so proud of you as well!!" Isshin jumped from the kitchen to hug his son, but was stopped by the said son's foot.

"'The hell?? Were you eavesdropping??" he yelled.

"Ah, Ichigo... My son... If you're ready to propose to her, I assure you, you have my approva— " he was cut off by a second kick from his blushing son.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!" he shouted on the top of his lungs.

"Oh and by the way, Ichigo..." Rukia joined in.

"What is it?" he asked back in a holding-back-my-anger voice, still mad about the embarrassment he had to endure just to compliment a girl.

"I'm borrowing your i-pod, hope you don't mind!" she replied cheerily as she grabbed her lilac scarf and threw it around her neck. "I'm off!" she called as she ran outside the house.

"Che. What was that about?" Ichigo practically spat.

"What was what about?" Isshin asked.

"You know what I'm talking about!"

"I do?" Isshin asked with a confused look on his face.

"Yeah! What was up with you making me feel embarrassed just for complimenting a girl?!" Just... ah...there's that word again...

"Oh, so you were embarrassed, eh?" Isshin said slyly, his eyes glinting.

"!!" Ichigo made a face as he realized what he just said and stepped back after realizing what he had said to his um... unusual... father.

"Ah! Don't worry about it son! We all gotta feel embarrassed sometimes, right?" Isshin slapped his son's back lovingly. "And by the way, Ichigo..." he whispered, "That looking like an angel line was great! I'm sure you swept her off of her feet!" Isshin laughed as he sat back down on his seat.

"That's not it!! I just read too much Shakespeare last night!!" Ichigo yelled, his face starting to blush yet again.

"Yes, yes... whatever you say son..." his laughter toned down. "I wonder..." he put his hand on his chin.

"What is it now?" Ichigo sighed in frustration.

"I was just wondering how could Rukia-chan survive in a -3 winter night without a jacket..."

"Eh? She left without her jacket?" Yuzu joined in.

"She probably forgot about it. I'll g--" Karin was cut off.

"I'll go. Jeez, she's such a pain in the..." his sentences came to a mumble of incoherent words. He walked over to the coat closet, took his red thin winter jacket and grabbed his black scarf from the top shelf. He put his jacket on quickly, not bothering to even zip it, threw his scarf around his neck and put on his winter boots. "I'm off!" he called as he jogged outside the house.

"He...he...he..." Isshin laughed slyly. "I knew he would go after her..."

"Yeah, me too... Did you hear about his compliment to Rukia-nee?"

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Meanwhile, in Yuzu and Karin's room...

"I have to get out of here!" Kon said to himself as he jumped down from Yuzu's bed. He landed on the rug safe and sound and made his way to the door.

"Ngh...Ngh...!!" he reached his hand up to reach the handle, but didn't succeed. He was way too short to even make it halfway to the handle. "Bah! Screw it!" he seethed. "Now, just to think of another way to get out of this room..." he walked in loops and put his finger (?) to his chin.

"A-HA! What was I thinking? I should have go to the window in the first place!" he jumped up to Karin's desk and opened the window carefully.

"Now... 1...2...3... jump!" he leaped off outside. "Sweet, sweet, FREEDOM!! WAIT FOR ME!!"

SQUEAK

"What the--" Kon mumbled as he felt his head being pushed down to the ground. "Oi! You!! Get off me!!" he pushed his hands—paws (?) to the ground and stood up.

"GRR..." Kon heard a growl. He looked up and see a black pit bull snarling at him.

"Nice...doggy..." he took a step back very slowly. The pit bull took a step forward, growling menacingly at him. Its eyes glint as he started chasing him.

"IYAAA!!" he ran for his dear life. "NEE-SAN!! ICHIGO!! WHERE ARE YOU??"

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A/N: he he he... I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I think the next chapter would have a little bit more fluff than the usual... Hmm... you just have to wait and see!!

Hugz and cookiez for everyone!!

-Moonlight-