Good news everyone, this chapter actually has some IchiRuki moments! ^^

Chapter 6

Wingman

"Push it, push it to the limit, limit, 'cause we're in it to win it, OH YEAH!" Kenpachi tossed his head back as he obnoxiously sang the "OH YEAH" part.

Ichigo panted as he hit the stop button on the treadmill. The belt slowed to a stop. Sweat dripped down Ichigo's back. He pulled off his shirt and began wiping perspiration off his neck and shoulders. Ichigo heard someone inhale sharply. Ichigo turned his head slightly and saw a sex addict staring at him, her face red and tongue sticking out. Feeling uncomfortable, Ichigo quickly put his shirt back on.

Kenpachi clapped his hands before lifting up a 200 pound weight. "WORK WORK IT HARDER GOTTA TAKE IT FARTHER!"

Ichigo watched as Kenpachi held up the weight, his muscular arms shaking. After a few seconds, Kenpachi slowly placed the weight down. Nearby, some guys tossed irritated looks at Kenpachi.

"Hey, Kenpachi," Ichigo said. "I get the feeling that you should sing a little quieter."

Kenpachi laughed as he wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead. "Hey, I can't help that I love singing."

"I know," Ichigo said carefully. "But we're not the only ones here. It would be polite to sing not so loudly."

Kenpachi scratched his head. "I guess you have a point."

Ichigo sat down on the treadmill. "That song you were singing…is it from High School Musical?"

"Nope," Kenpachi said. "But it was sung by Corbin Bleu, who's in High School Musical." Kenpachi sighed. "God, I love that movie. It really reminds me of my high school."

Ichigo smirked. "Why? Were you in the drama club?"

Kenpachi laughed. "Hell no! It's just the scene where everyone's singing in the cafeteria. I used to start things like that all the time, though I'll admit there was more fighting than singing."

Ichigo chuckled. "I can see that happening."

Kenpachi took a seat next to Ichigo. "What was your high school experience like?"

Ichigo's memories began playing right in front of him like a movie. Sitting on the rooftop with Uryu, Chad, Keigo, and Mizuiro, meeting Orihime, sparring with Tatsuki, Orihime's teary face as Ichigo comforted her, ranking 23rd in the grade, walking Orihime home, playing beach volleyball with the guys, realizing he loved Orihime…confessing to Orihime…their first date…

High school, although it had its downs, didn't seem so bad now that Ichigo thought about it. Things were so much easier back then.

And Orihime was loyal, Ichigo thought bitterly.

Kenpachi got up and stretched his arms, his eyes roaming around the room. He seemed to be searching for something. When his gaze settled on something, he grinned. Ichigo followed his gaze and stifled a sigh when he saw what, or who Kenpachi was staring at.

Unohana. He should've known.

Unohana stared aimlessly around the gym, monitoring the patients. Her head turned to their direction. She smiled politely before looking away. Ichigo realized that Unohana just caught them staring at her. Feeling embarrassed, he turned to Kenpachi, who was still ogling the young nurse.

"Uh, Kenpachi?" Ichigo said.

Kenpachi didn't look at him as he asked, "Hey, Ichigo, how do you know if a girl is into you?"

Ichigo scratched his head. It would be an understatement to say that the orange head was dense when it came to women. It had actually taken him over a year to realize his feelings for Orihime.

"Well…it depends on the girl," Ichigo said lamely. "Some girls are easy, some aren't." His last comment sounded more like a question.

Kenpachi looked down at Ichigo. Damn, the guy was tall. "Unohana would be considered the hard type, right?"

Ichigo shifted his feet. "Er, I'd like to think of her as professional."

Kenpachi snorted. "Right, professional. You sound just like Toshiro." Kenpachi cleared his throat and raised his voice to mirror Toshiro's. "It's unprofessional for a nurse like Miss Unohana to fancy a patient. Miss Unohana could lose her job."

"He has a point," Ichigo said. "Unless you check yourself out of Las Noches, your chances are…small…"

Ichigo's voice trailed off. Kenpachi was giving Ichigo a weird look, like he just thought of something crazy. He probably did.

"Hey," Kenpachi said. "You're friends with Unohana, right?"

Friends? Ichigo glanced at Unohana. Sure, he and Unohana were friendly with each other, but was it right to call her a friend?

"Whatever," Kenpachi said when Ichigo didn't reply. "You get along with each other. That's enough." Kenpachi broke into a huge grin. "Wanna be my wingman?"

Ichigo jumped slightly and stood up. "Your wingman?"

"Yeah," Kenpachi said. "You'll help me win over Unohana."

Ichigo crossed his arms to form a X. "No. Sorry Kenpachi, but I'd be a terrible wingman. Besides, we could get in serious trouble."

Kenpachi grabbed Ichigo's shoulders and shook him. "We're talking about love, Ichigo! Who cares about the stupid rules? Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be a great wingman."

"Well I don't see why you need my help," Ichigo said. "I'm sure you can get Unohana yourself."

Kenpachi let go of Ichigo and scratched his head. "I thought that too until yesterday…"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"

Kenpachi looked back at Unohana. "Well…"

Kenpachi speed walked through the corridor, his black eyes full of determination. He was on a mission. Today was visiting day and since Kenpachi never really got visitors, he was free to wander around while everyone else hung in the common room. And since everyone was in the common room…

Kenpachi smirked as he thought about being alone with the raven haired sex goddess, the one and only Retsu Unohana. The thought was enough to make something in his pants stiffen…OK he knew what that 'something' was but that wasn't the point.

He was going to make Unohana realize that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Kenpachi grinned when he saw the nurse walking through the hallway, a smile on those delicious looking lips. She stopped at the sound of his footsteps and faced him. Although her lips were still smiling, Kenpachi could see that the smile no longer reach her eyes.

"Mr. Zaraki, where are you going?" Unohana asked.

Kenpachi didn't answer Unohana. Instead, he grabbed Unohana's arms and pinned her against the wall. Her blue eyes widened in shock.

"Let go of me Mr. Zaraki," Unohana ordered. Her authoritative tone excited Kenpachi.

Kenpachi's grin widened. "You sure know how to raise a cock, Unohana. Did you grow up on a farm?"

Unohana cringed and glared at him. "That is extremely inappropriate, Mr. Zaraki. Please let go of me or I will report to Mr. Aizen."

Kenpachi laughed. "You always say that. Now, enough talking. Let's go to my room."

Unohana attempted to shake free from Kenpachi's grip, but he only held her tighter.

"There will only be seven planets left after I destroy Uranus," Kenpachi said.

"I can have you arrested for sexual harassment," Unohana threatened.

"Then why haven't you done it yet?" Kenpachi released Unohana. "You want me and you know it. By the way, how am I in your dreams?"

Kenpachi suddenly heard a cracking sound. His cheek stung. Unohana's hand was raised. It took Kenpachi a moment to realize that he had just been slapped.

If it had been someone else, Kenpachi probably would've lost it. But Unohana's slap actually felt good.

"Can you do that again?" Kenpachi asked.

Unohana's cheeks turned red. Out of embarrassment or anger, Kenpachi couldn't tell. She walked away briskly.

Ichigo stared at Kenpachi, unsure what to say. What the hell was Kenpachi thinking?Did he even think?

"So yeah, I need your help," Kenpachi said.

"I'm sorry Kenpachi, but I can't," Ichigo said slowly. "Unohana's right. She could call the cops on you."

"But she hasn't," Kenpachi said. "I've been chasing after her ever since I saw her. She could call the cops but she never has. At least, not on me."

"She could just want to avoid trouble," Ichigo pointed out.

"But if she truly hated my advances, she would have," Kenpachi argued. "Don't you see, Ichigo? She's in denial."

Ichigo sighed. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Of course!" Kenpachi laughed. "I've never felt this way about a woman before." He gave Ichigo a look that seemed to be a poor copy of puppy dog eyes. "So help me win the woman of my dreams?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. When he didn't respond, Kenpachi clapped his hands together like he was praying and whimpered. That's right, whimpered.

Ichigo groaned. "If I help you, can you promise to do exactly what I say?"

Kenpachi nodded. "I'll do anything you ask me to do."

"Even if I say to not use crude pick-up lines?"

"As much as I love them, yes," Kenpachi said. "I'll refrain from using them."

Ichigo sighed. "Fine."

"YAY!" Kenpachi hugged Ichigo and spun him around in the air. His hug was even more painful than Isshin's. Ichigo gagged.

Kenpachi placed Ichigo on the floor. "Bro, I owe you one!"

"Hell yeah you do!" Ichigo snapped.

Kenpachi laughed. His face suddenly became more serious. "So what should I do first?"

Ichigo scratched his head. "Er…"

He looked around the room. Ichigo's gaze landed on a weight near Unohana.

"Go lift that weight," Ichigo said, pointing to it. "Pretend you don't notice Unohana."

"I like your thought process," Kenpachi said. He marched to the other side of the room.

As Ichigo watched Kenpachi, a familiar voice said, "Are you seriously helping him?"

Ichigo whirled around. Brown eyes met with violet eyes. "R-Rukia!"

Rukia Kuchiki crossed her arms as she stared at Ichigo. Her black hair was tied back into a stiff ponytail. She was wearing a black tank top and gray yoga pants. Although Rukia was a petite person, she had curves. Really nice curves, Ichigo couldn't help but think. True, her breasts were nowhere near as large as Orihime's, but they were…pert.

"I didn't know you exercised at this time," Ichigo stammered.

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Maybe because I always sit at the other side of the room, all the way in the corner, violently masturbating."

Ichigo scratched his head, suddenly feeling very awkward. "Right."

"Anyways, I walked by and heard what you were saying," Rukia said. "You could get in a lot of trouble, you know."

Ichigo's shoulders slumped. "I know. But Kenpachi wants nothing more than to be with Unohana."

"How thoughtful of you," Rukia said sarcastically. "Has it occurred to you that Miss Unohana could lose her job?"

"I know the negative consequences," Ichigo replied. "And I'm sure Kenpachi is aware of them too. But when it comes to love-"

"You have to take risks, yeah yeah," Rukia sneered. "Do you know how many hearts get broken as a result?"

Ichigo stared at Rukia. Something had flickered her eyes when she said that. It was so quick, though. Ichigo wondered if he was seeing things. Why was Rukia so upset anyway? Last time he checked, Rukia wanted to have nothing to do with him.

Then Ichigo remembered that Rukia's husband was murdered. Did that have something to do with her reaction?

"You have to take risks," Ichigo murmured. "It's an inevitable part of life."

Rukia snorted. "Jesus Christ, how cheesy can you get?"

Ichigo leaned forward and smirked. "Bitch all you want, I'm just going to reject every single negative opinion you have of me."

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Good luck with that." She turned around and walked away.

Ichigo watched Rukia walk away, the smirk still on his face.

Because right before her face had turned completely away from his, Ichigo saw her lips twitch upward.

"And right after graduation, Orihime brought up the possibility of marriage," Ichigo mumbled.

Urahara leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable.

"I wanted to marry her at that time," Ichigo admitted. "But I wasn't ready to settle down. I suggested we wait until after college and she agreed to it."

Urahara bent down and pulled a manilla folder from beneath the chair. He opened it and scanned a piece of paper.

"It says that you married when you were 25," Urahara said. "You two sure waited a while."

"I was in love with her," Ichigo said without hesitation. "I wanted to make sure we were both ready."

Urahara looked up at Ichigo, his eyebrow raised. "'Was?' Are you no longer in love?"

Ichigo's jaw went slack. The truth was, Ichigo wasn't sure how he felt about Orihime. He didn't hate her, Ichigo knew that. Even though Orihime had shattered his heart, Ichigo could never truly hate anyone he used to care about so much.

But was he still in love? Why was he even questioning himself? Ichigo had truly been in love, so he would know the answer.

Right?

Urahara sighed. "You don't know."

Ichigo shook his head. "I need to think about it."

Urahara lifted his fan up to his face. "You don't sound like a man in love to me."

A muscle in Ichigo's eye twitched, but he said nothing. He didn't trust himself. No, it would be more accurate to say that Ichigo just didn't know how to respond.

Urahara's eye widened. He placed the fan down. His mouth hung open, but quickly turned into a smile. "It's working."

Ichigo cocked his head. "What?"

"The Lithium is working!" Urahara clapped his hands. "Urahara Kisuke, you've done it again!"

"What do you mean the Lithium is working?" Ichigo knit his eyebrows.

Urahara covered his face again with the fan. "What I said before was a little…experiment. If the Lithium wasn't working, you would've lashed out when I accused you of not loving Miss Inoue. But you reacted calmly."

"I beg to differ," Ichigo said. "I reacted calmly because I can control myself. While I acknowledge that I'm hot-headed, I'm not bipolar."

Urahara groaned. "Not this again."

"That day," Ichigo said. "I was just consumed with rage. Orihime fucking cheated on me right in front of my eyes. Who wouldn't react that way? Besides, that was the only time I became that angry."

As the words flew out of Ichigo's mouth, he realized that the last sentence wasn't true. He had felt that angry before. Ichigo could still remember the rage and pain he felt on that rainy day. The memory was so clear, that Ichigo could feel the helplessness reaching his heart and clouding his mind…

"You're hiding something." Urahara's voice broke Ichigo's train of thought.

Ichigo shook his head vigorously. "What do you mean I'm hiding something? You're my therapist, of course I'm telling you everything."

"Sure," Urahara said. He stood up and walked over to Ichigo. He leaned forward so that his face was inches away from Ichigo. Ichigo shrank deeper into the chair. "Tell me, Ichigo. Describe the burning rage you felt when you caught Miss Inoue and Mr. Jaegerjaquez. That fire you felt, that's not healthy. I thought you already accepted that."

Ichigo met Urahara's solemn gaze. "I did. But now, I'm not so sure." Ichigo shoved Urahara away. "I just don't know. How I feel, what I think…this place is really getting to me."

"Getting to you?" Urahara's eyes narrowed. "I thought you were adjusting well."

"Of course you'd think that," Ichigo said dryly. He stood up. To Ichigo's surprise, Urahara was taller than him. "Because Las Noches is so damn comfortable."

"I don't see a problem with that."

Ichigo's lip curled. "Kenpachi's been here for three years. And you know what? He doesn't care. I probably wouldn't either if I weren't so determined to leave."

"Good for you," Urahara said. "That would make curing you much easier."

"But is that really what you want?" A myriad of emotions flooded through Ichigo. Anger, sadness, confusion, and emotions Ichigo couldn't put his finger on. "From what I can tell, our meetings have been leading to nowhere. And the longer a person stays, the more money this place earns."

"You think we want all the patients to live here for the rest of their lives," Urahara said. His tone betrayed no emotion. "Do you know how many patients are cured each year by us?"

"Do you know how long some patients have been here?" Ichigo clenched his teeth. "Rangiku's been here for two years. Rukia, for three. I heard that Chizuru-"

"Miss Kuchiki?" Urahara interrupted. "You seem to care about her a lot. But considering her ailment…are you two closer than I originally thought?"

Something inside Ichigo snapped. He lunged at Urahara, the rage building up in him. As if anticipating this, Urahara leaned back so that Ichigo carried all the weight. Ichigo crashed into Urahara's chair, knocking it down.

Urahara scribbled something onto his notepad as Ichigo shakily got up. He ripped the paper off and handed it to Ichigo.

"It appears that the Lithium doesn't work after all," Urahara said. "Take .25 milligrams of Xanax."

Ichigo swiped the note form Urahara and shoved it into his pocket. "It appears that the Lithium doesn't work after all," Ichigo mimicked. "What was it supposed to do, suppress all of my emotions?"

"It's supposed to help you control your emotions," Urahara corrected. "There's a difference."

The door swung open. Unohana stared at Ichigo and Urahara worriedly.

"I heard a crash, is everything all right?" Unohana's voice trembled slightly. Her eyes focused on Ichigo. "Mr. Kurosaki!" She rushed over to him and placed her hand on Ichigo's cheek. Ichigo winced at the sudden touch, but closed his eyes. Unohana's touch was soft, almost motherly. Despite all the emotions he felt earlier, Ichigo relaxed.

"Why is there a bruise on your face?" Unohana asked. "Dr. Urahara, what happened?"

"Performing an experiment!" Urahara's cheery tone caused Ichigo to open his eyes and stare at him. "I was confirming the effects of Mr. Kurosaki's medication. As I suspected, Lithium doesn't work." Urahara made a peace sign with both hands. "The experiment was a success!"

Ichigo's jaw dropped. No. Fucking. Way. Unohana's reaction surprised Ichigo even more.

"Oh I see!" Unohana said in an amused tone. She moved her hand from Ichigo's cheek to his shoulder. "Let's go, Mr. Kurosaki. Your session with Dr. Urahara is over."

As Unohana guided Ichigo out of the room, he looked back. Urahara smirked and waved. Ichigo bit his lip. The sharp, metallic taste of blood hit him.

Unohana removed her hand from Ichigo. He felt a sudden rush of cold in his shoulder.

"I know you view Dr. Urahara in a bad light," Unohana said as they walked through the hallway. "Many of his clients do. But please try to understand that this is just Dr. Urahara's way of helping the patient."

"Provoking us is supposed to help?"

"It helps him see how serious the conditions are," Unohana said. "And what medication he should prescribe."

Ichigo dug his hands into his pockets. "He says more inappropriate things than appropriate things."

Unohana laughed. "A lot of people here do that." The smile disappeared from her face. Unohana inhaled sharply, like she just received a negative thought.

That made Ichigo remember something. As casually as possible, Ichigo said, "So Unohana, what do you think of Kenpachi?"

Unohana flinched. "He's a patient." Ichigo could tell that Unohana was trying to remain calm.

"He's like Urahara," Ichigo said. "Saying more inappropriate things than appropriate. But he really is a nice guy. He helped me settle down here."

"Mr. Zaraki's not a bad man," Unohana agreed. She pressed the up button of the elevator. The doors slid open. There were already two people in there. One was Hanataro, the other…Ichigo nearly got a heart attack when realization dawned on him.

"You've got to be shitting me!" Rukia exclaimed. "Why do I see you everywhere I go? Are you stalking me?"

"Why would I want to stalk you?" Ichigo shot back. He and Unohana entered the elevator. The doors closed and the elevator began moving up.

Unohana and Hanataro began conversing with each other almost immediately. Ichigo and Rukia, meanwhile, stood next to each other silently.

"You know, I don't feel as much tension between us as before," Ichigo said. "Are you no longer mad at me?"

Rukia snorted. "Nice try, Ichigo. But I can hold a grudge."

"I'd like to see you try."

"You're too stubborn for your own good."

"I reject that."

The corner of Rukia's mouth twitched. She was trying not to laugh.

The elevator stopped at the fifteenth floor and the doors opened. The four adults stepped out. Ichigo and Unohana turned left while Hanataro and Rukia turned right.

"See ya during closure!" Ichigo called out.

"I'll just bring my invisibility cloak!" Rukia called back.

Ichigo smirked as he and Unohana made their way to his room.

As they walked, Ichigo couldn't help but look back.