Vertigo
AN: Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter! Since it went so well, I'm going to expand on this. Enjoy, and review if you like!
It had really bothered Ichigo to see her sick. Rukia didn't do sick. She rarely got injured seriously during a fight. Yet she had fainted twice and needed to be caught. It was like seeing a mob boss cry. It just didn't happen.
But Rukia had gotten sick. Thankfully she recovered quickly, but it was still now a shock to him. The whole incident had opened up something fiercely protective in him.
If he wasn't confused enough he was still stuck analyzing the soft kiss still burning on his cheek. He told himself time and again that he was being a girl, being an idiot, but without fail he kept thinking about it.
Of all times for him to start acting like Keigo, obsessing over some random girl.
Of course Rukia was not a random girl. She was damned special! Kami, why couldn't she be just a random girl? That would be so much easier.
"Ichigo! There's a hollow down the street!"
Speak of the devil.
"Alright! Let's go." Standing up he ran after her, so grateful for an outlet for his frustrations that it should be criminal. The low level scum took about 20 seconds.
"You finished up fast." Rukia murmured, beginning to stroll back. Ichigo cursed himself when he felt his face warm at the praise. He usually matched her paces, but he knew his ears would be red. He walked behind her, thinking little of it.
It was really starting to bug her. Ichigo had been acting so weird since she fell off her chair. Between the radiant smile he had left her with and the sudden spike in his protectiveness, he was acting so bizarre.
He had hovered like a freaking mother hen the entire time she was sick. He had insisted to know if she was feeling better. It was bad enough that she had fainted like some nervous schoolgirl, and he wasn't helping by being so concerned.
Still, when she had returned to school people hadn't bothered her about it. While most people would love playing it up, Rukia just wanted to keep going. It had been embarrassing, and now she was healthy. No reason to dwell. She was very grateful that no one had worried her with unnecessary concern.
As it turns out, people had been concerned. She had gone into the hall one day only to see a tearing up Keigo insisting that he give her the large get well card in his hands. Ichigo could be seen shaking his head at him.
She never did get the card, or the embarrassing worried sentiments that came with it, and she knew why. Ichigo just understood her enough to make sure of that.
When he hovered that night worried about her latest dizzy spell, she called him an idiot, but she didn't make him leave.
Ichigo was still bugging her, even though he had helped her with Keigo. Even now he was lagging behind her. He was always in step with her, and now he was dragging along. She felt a distance, and it really bugged her. Did he think she was weak for fainting? Was he just not into fighting with her any more? The hollow he had just defeated was a piece of cake, and he would typically let her have a few swipes at a weak one like that. But he had killed it so fast. It was like he didn't need her.
Maybe he didn't anymore.
AN: Poor Rukia! She's really misunderstanding! Let me know what you all thought.