Hi all.

I hope you are hale and hearty!

I really struggled with this chapter...please be nice :(

Anyway, thank you for reading.
All reviews and favourites are very much appreciated,
Mwah

Chapter 8

Ichigo stood next to Kuchiki as they stared at the white board in front them. On it, Kuchiki had stuck all their evidence. It was late and they were alone in precinct. He snuck a sidewards glance at her. She had her bottom lip between her teeth, studying the board intently.
He couldn't help himself.
He stepped in front of her so that they stood toe to toe.
'Kurosaki, move,' she said, trying to push him out of the way.
He caught her wrists and pushed back gently until her legs hit the empty desk behind her.
'What the hell are you doing?' she demanded to know.
"This,' he whispered, then he kissed her. To his surprise, she kissed him back. He let go of her wrists and brought his hands to her waist.
Between one breathe and the next, he had hauled her onto the desk, her legs wrapped around him.

The next thing he knew, she was in his bed, his arms on either side of her head, supporting his weight above her. She smiled up at him, her beautiful eyes sparkling. She said his name-his first name- as he placed gentle kisses on her bare shoulder…her collarbone…that dip at the base of her neck. She arched into him-

Ichigo's eyes snapped opened.
It was only a dream.

When Ichigo entered the precinct the next morning, there she was sticking their evidence on a white board behind her desk. Ichigo froze, his dream playing like a movie in his head.
Move, dammit! He urged himself. He put one leg in front of the other, but before he made it to his desk she turned to him, head tilted.
'Good morning, Detective. Now that you've deigned to grace us with your presence, would you like to solve a murder?' she asked with mock propriety.

'Yeah, of course' he said awkwardly as he stood by her side. He trained his gaze on the evidence before him. 'I was thinking you should call your girlfriend and ask her if she knows anything about those drug rumours," she told him.
'Huh? Girlfriend?'
'That girl Senna,' she answered, and she wrote the girl's name on the board.
'She isn't my girlfriend,' he said a little too stiffly. He sat at the edge of her desk in an attempt to look casual.
'Sure, as if she hasn't already named your kids,' she teased.
Her landline rang, and she lean across her desk to answer it. Her shoulder brushed against his arm as she did so.
He stilled at the slight contact.
'Okay, I'll be down in a minute,' she said into the receiver.
'Yoshino is here to give her statement. We-'
'No, I'll go,' he said then rushed out the door before she could stop him.

As he walked down the stairs, he let out a long breath.
As if being around her wasn't already difficult enough...

Yoshino's statement provided no new information for the case. Ichigo had hoped he would have at least an hour away from Kuchiki, but twenty minutes later Yoshino was gone, and he was wasting time with Renji in Vice.
'What happened? Rukia piss you off again?' Renji asked, grinning like an idiot.
'Something like that,' he said tersely.
'You know, you've always been a grump but I've never seen anyone get under your skin like she does,' Renji mused.
Ichigo scowled.
But Renji was right. Kuchiki got under his skin and she stayed there.
'Ichigo, darling, scowl any harder and you might break your face,' Rangiku said as she sashayed into the room.
'You and Rukia arguing again?' she asked emphatically.
'When are they not?' came Yumichika from behind her.
Then a discussion about him and Kuchiki ensued. No one was more incompatible with each other than the two of them. The only thing they had in common, besides their profession, was their temper.
'Imagine if they dated!' Yumichika said, all aghast, like it would be the worst thing to ever happened.
Ichigo left the room feeling worse than before.

Rukia sat starring daggers at Kurosaki's back. He had been ignoring her all day. When he came in with Yoshino's statement, he just left it on her desk without a word. She wanted to smack him upside the head with it. He didn't even tease her when she accidentally jammed the printer.
How dare he ignore her?
She should have been pleased that he hadn't spoken to her since the morning.
But she wasn't.
He was supposed to come in, say something dumb and then she would call him a jackass-or any other variation she came up with-then her day would start.
But no. He had chosen to forego their antics and that really got on her nerve.

He didn't even tell her that Senna was coming to the precinct. She thought he would he just handle it over the phone. But now, because of him, she had spent the last fifteen minutes listening to Senna list all the rumours that circulated in the IT company-none of which had anything to do with drugs. And then she endured another several minutes trying not to throw up as she listened to Senna flirting with him.
She wanted to punch something.
Preferably Kurosaki.

In the midst of Senna's coquetry, Captain Urahara popped his head into their precinct and said, 'Rukia, Ichigo, my office after clock out. Oh, and press pause on the investigation,' then disappeared. Rukia turned to Kurosaki and when they locked eyes, he turned away so fast that he could have given himself whiplash.
What the hell was wrong with him?

Unable to tolerate Senna or Kurosaki's attitude any longer, she gathered her ever-increasing pile of paper work and went to pass the time in the break room. She had got through a few files when Uryu and Chad walked in, their hands filled with bags of take-out.
'How was court?' she asked as she moved her papers to make room for them.
Chad just shrugged and began to eat silently.
'The clown killer is officially behind bars for life,' Uryu said, digging into his salad. She always admired Uryu's dedication to his health. She, on the other hand, was content with chocolate bars and instant noodles.
'Who's that girl out there?' he asked.
'She's still here? She's a receptionist at the company our victim worked at.'
'Ahhh… How's the case going?'
'It's not. Captain put it on hold,' she clarified.
Uryu nodded in understanding.
What they don't tell you is that being a detective isn't like the tv shows. Not every case is solvable. Evidence is usually hard to come by. Cases were put on hold all the time. So, she wasn't bothered by it in the least. The paper work, however, was another story.

When Uryu and Chad left the breakroom, Uryu had texted her that Senna left. She could have gone back to her desk, but she was still mad at Kurosaki. She went through the reasons he could be ignoring her.
One reason in particular settled in her brain: he had told the captain about that night.
The more she thought about it, the more things made sense. He was ignoring her because he couldn't face her after telling the captain; the captain wanted to see them so he could question her; the case was on hold because her shady actions would compromise the integrity of the investigation.
Fuck…

Before panic set in, she had to remind herself that the only thing Kurosaki knew was that she was injured in the middle of the night and she had called for help. Yes, it was suspicious when she didn't give him a reason but …but what?
If she was the one that found another detective bleeding on the ground, she would waste no time in looking in to it. She couldn't fault Kurosaki for acting on his duty.
Rukia spent the remainder of her time thinking of a scenario that placed her at the old distillery in the middle of the night. Everything she could think of came down to one question she didn't have the answer to.
'Why didn't you call in it?'
Every answer she came up with was shallow and lacked validity. She had been doing this for so long that she took it for granted that she would ever be caught, and so spent no time in creating a believable alibi.

By the time the captain's secretary came to fetch them, she had a terrible headache from trying to predict what would happen to her. Technically, she hadn't been caught breaking any of the laws she swore to enforce and uphold. But it did fall under 'suspicious behaviour.' If she was lucky, she could get away with another suspension.

Walking behind Kurosaki, she tried not to feel too disappointed. She hadn't held him to any promises. Whatever was going to happen was her own fault. Kurosaki was just being a good cop.
When they entered Urahara's office, he was speaking with two other men, their expressions tight. Rukia made sure to control her breath.
She hadn't anticipated this.

'Ahhh, detectives. Meet federal agents Hisagi and Kira.' The captain gestured to toward a tall, stern looking man with black hair, and a blond man with sombre eyes.
Fuck! If federal agents were here, it could mean that they had been tailing her and knew what she was up to.
Shit, she was going to get fired, and then spend the rest of her life in jail! Bile rose in her throat at the thought.
'Gentlemen, Detectives Kuchiki and Kurosaki.'
Agent Hisagi extended his hand to them, his eyes lingering on her.

He cleared his throat then began to speak.
'The case you two are working on, the victim, Ichinose Maki, he's one of ours. He's been working undercover for the past six months, trying to gather evidence against Jin Kariya and his drug cartel,'
The relief Rukia felt was unlike any other but she made sure to keep her expression neutral. The last thing she needed was to out herself.
'We will need to see everything you have so far,' Agent Kira added.
'So, what? You're just gonna take over our case?' Kurosaki asked in irritation.
'No, detective. We were hoping we could all work together on this.' Agent Hisagi said calmly.

While the they spoke about the logistics of the case, Rukia quietly slipped away, leaving Kurosaki to deal with it. She didn't quite trust herself to speak to federal agents just yet.
She walked back to her desk where she slumped in her chair. As she sat there, her relief gave way to other thoughts. If Kurosaki wasn't ignoring her because he told the captain about that night he found her, then what was the reason? She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear Kurosaki come in until he was standing over her.

'You okay?' he asked cautiously.

'What, you're talking to me now?' she said without thinking. He looked away sheepishly, bringing his hand to the back of his neck.
'If you're upset about the case, don't be. It's gonna be more of a joint effort now,' he told her.

'I'm not. Upset about the case, that is.'

'Oh?' He leaned back on the edge of her desk, waiting for an explanation.

She crossed her arms defensively and huffed, 'I thought you told the captain about the other night. I thought that was why you were avoiding me.'

'I wasn't…It was just…an off day…' he offered in way of an explanation, 'And I won't tell anyone what happened that night. I promise. And if you ever need help again, I'll be there. No questions asked. I'll protect you.'

Ichigo was an idiot.
An absolute idiot.
He couldn't believe he said that to her.
'And I won't tell anyone what happened that night. I promise.' He could have stopped there.
But no.
'I'll protect you,' he said.
As if she would let him.
He recalled the way she looked at him. Her eyes widen slightly, then her brows knotted together as though he had said the most ludicrous thing ever. He was saved from her reply when his landline rang. By the time he got to his desk, she was half way to the door.
Ichigo let out a defeated groan as he let his head hit his pillow. He stared up at the ceiling thinking of the day they met; that very first moment he saw her.

He had walked into the precinct and there she was, the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, sitting at his desk frowning at the computer. As his legs moved toward her of their own accord, the only thought in his head was: 'She is at my desk! She is at my desk!'
Then when she spoke, her voice hard as ice, he said 'You're at my desk' and he'd wanted to kick himself.
She scanned him with those piercing eyes of hers.
He felt himself unravel.
But the damaged had already been done, and she was immediately successful at pushing his buttons. And then his defence mechanism kicked in. He'd decided that if she was going to be a pain, then so was he. It was the best way to snuff out his attraction to her.
So what if she looked like poetry? He would eventually get used to her face. And that would be that.
But it didn't work out that way.
Instead, he was feelings things…
A small part of him thought that if had started off things right with her, she would feel things for him too.
A hopeful part of him thought that maybe, in time, things could change between them…

'I'll protect you'
Those few words made her forget everything she had been panicking about.

As she pulled her sheets to her chin, Rukia thought back to Kurosaki's behaviour today.
She didn't like it.
What started off as disdain and the will to have the last word, somehow became something more to her. She enjoyed teasing him, when she enjoyed nothing else in her life.
'I'll protect you.'
A warmth blossomed in her chest. If she were someone else, someone without ugly scars and even uglier secrets, maybe she would let him…