Affected By Death

Chapter 2: Mutual Interest

By the time Ichigo makes it out of surgery and in the clear, Isshin is sure that Kuchiki Rukia, and his son, have something going on between them. She couldn't stop fidgeting as they waited to hear news about Ichigo, and the moment he was in recovery, she demanded to see him. Isshin didn't dare argue with her, and nodded to the doctor that it was okay. Rukia is led into the recovery room, where Ichigo's eyes are closed, and he appears to be resting.

Rukia nods respectfully at the staff members, and they leave her alone with him. She walks over to the hospital bed, and sits in the chair next to it. She spends several minutes just staring at him, wondering how on earth he can look so much like Kaien, and how he can stir such strong emotions in her as a result of that.

He turns his face towards her, with his eyes closed, and Rukia takes a deep breath, before she reaches out to caress his cheek. She can't help herself, she just wants to touch him. He's definitely different from Kaien, but he looks so much like him, that she doesn't want to let him out of her sight.

She wants to know more about him, than just his name, or his father's name, or even that he's a talented martial artist. When she looks at him, she's simply drawn in, and that has never happened to her, not in all of her years of living has she felt so drawn in by someone like she is with Kurosaki Ichigo.

It just seems wrong that the most important information I have is that he gets targeted for the color of his hair!

Ichigo feels something really nice and soft up against his cheek and so he rubs his cheek against it for a second, before he opens his eyes and finds himself staring into the same beautiful blue eyes he was looking at when he realized he was badly injured. He can't hide his surprise that she's in the hospital room with him, and touching him, yet again.

"Rukia?" Ichigo says, and she smiles at that, before she forces herself to pull her hand back.

She does notice when his face falls a tiny bit after that.

"You remembered." Rukia says, and he gives her a look of disbelief.

"Who could forget you?" Ichigo asks her, and she blushes at that comment since it sounded more like a compliment than a mere statement.

"I was very happy to hear that you're going to be okay," Rukia says, instead of trying to answer his impossible question.

"You stayed with me?" Ichigo asks her, as he can see blood splattered on her expensive looking blue and white shirt. (It's a designer label, not that he'd realize that)

"Of course, idiot." Rukia says, and Ichigo's mouth falls open at that.

"Why?" Ichigo asks her, and she blushes again.

"I had to be sure you were going to be okay." Rukia says softly, before she looks away from him, not wanting to admit to him that he reminds her very much of a boy from her past, that was her closest friend.

"I'm appreciative...no I'm really glad that you did that, but now that you know I'm okay...why are you still here?" Ichigo asks curiously, and Rukia doesn't know what to say, and so she thinks about it for a few moments before responding.

"That's...because I want to be here." Rukia finally answers, and she looks back at him, to see him grinning approvingly at her.