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Description
Kurosaki Ichigo had always disliked school festivals. They were bright and loud, and sometimes they even gave him a headache. School festivals were also the days that visiting parents would gawk openly at his naturally orange hair and comment negatively in dark audible tones. It was the reason why Ichigo preferred to spend the festival alone and out of sight of his peers, preferably in a lone class corridor or one of the back lanes near the school field.

Today was the annual Karakura High school festival and yes, he already had a headache. And no, he was not alone this year.

"Ichigo, those banners are the same colour as your hair!" He heard the usually strict voice that was Rukia's, now oddly mixed with fascination. Ichigo turned to look at the petite raven-haired girl standing next to him, her curious eyes fixated on the festival banners hanging outside the class window.

Rukia had been very excited over the upcoming high school festival, as the date loomed closer and closer over the week. She had been actively practicing modern dialogue at night (much to Ichigo's irritation) in case of unexpected interactions with strangers on the day of the festival.

After all, a Shinigami as herself had never dealt with such situations in her line of duty. Kido, swordsmanship, Hollows were a routine. High school festivals were a rarity.

"I heard all the jokes about my hair growing up, you don't have to add to them," Ichigo retorted.

"Oh my, I wonder why Kurosaki-kun is so angry?" Rukia's annoying high-pitched sweet tone greeted his retort, before it reverted back to her original firm one. "I wasn't poking fun at your hair. I was merely commenting on the colour similarity."

"Whatever." Ichigo stared at the floury mess on the table, and suppressed his frustration for the thousandth time.

This year, Ichigo's class had decided to go with Orihime's idea to put up a food stall selling simple cookies and lemonade to festival revelers. The class had then collectively decided to divide students into different segments of baking, packaging and selling. To Ichigo's dismay, Rukia was randomly selected as head of the baking segment, tasked with preparing the cookies for sale. The orange-haired boy had then grudgingly volunteered alongside Rukia, knowing that the Shinigami probably did not even know how to operate a modern kitchen oven.

Both of them had come in early to the empty classroom today, which had been modified into a form of kitchen, to prepare the batch of cookies. The desks had been lined together to form counters, covered with white paper and plastic mats. Ichigo wasn't a master cook himself, but he knew how to work with the raw materials to create a decent dough for baking.

Rukia, on the other hand, spent time gazing at the baking equipment, inventions that she had never seen before.

"So… er, how do you use this... thing?" At Rukia's question, Ichigo turned to look at the Shinigami, who was now gazing curiously at the electric egg beater.

* * * * *

Ichigo's life had taken a strange twist, after encountering the petite Shinigami and taking her powers to protect them from easy deaths by a Hollow.

And his life had already been strange to begin with… what with his troublesome ability to see ghosts and having a psychedelic father who enjoyed talking about his daughter's panty patterns over the dinner table.

By absorbing all of Rukia's powers, he had rendered the Shinigami too weak to return to proper spirit form and she had taken refuge in a temporary gigai… and his bedroom.

The latter had been done without Ichigo's permission, and he had only found out when she jumped out of his cupboard one night upon receiving a Hollow signal. Not only that, she had jumped out dressed cosily in his sister's yellow pyjamas.

To say he freaked out was an understatement.

But as time passed, Ichigo eventually got used to her presence and company. Her jumping out of his closet daily no longer alarmed him, and he woke up lazily on Sunday mornings to a fresh Rukia already reading manga on his bedroom floor. On certain occasions, he even stole extra pyjamas for her.

And then there were the moments he had faced together with Rukia… moments where she had seen him in a fragile state, something not many had seen before. She had watched him crumble emotionally on the anniversary of his mother's death as he fought the Hollow responsible for it. She heard his broken voice so filled with anguish, she watched as he battled the Hollow, and she was there to catch him as his body uselessly gave way without exacting revenge on the Hollow that had destroyed his family.

Ichigo never told anyone but later in that night as he stood over his mother's grave, he realized that Rukia's presence was oddly soothing to him, much like his mother's had been in his life.

* * * * *

But right now, it was anything but that.

"Mmmm... hmmmm… hmmm…" Rukia's voice was tuned into a low hum as she worked at one of the tables, her back to Ichigo.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo muttered in an irritated tone as he tried to look over at her flour-dusted table. He was already in a bad mood, and Rukia's bubbly attitude did nothing to make it better.

"Ta-dah!" Rukia motioned to her table as Ichigo peered at it.

No way.

"Chappy cookies!" Rukia grinned as Ichigo stared in disbelief at the horrible blobs of dough with eyes, noses, mouths and ears. Her violet eyes were practically shining as she smiled adoringly at her work. "Aren't they lovely?"

"No, they are ugly as heck." Ichigo received the comeuppance for his careless remark soon enough, in the form of a sharp upward punch to his chin. Even though Rukia was much smaller than Ichigo, he never could avoid her punches as well as he did his father's.

"Anyway, I will make some more and then we can bake them in time for the class sale." Rukia grinned as she took up a round silver cookie-cutter.

Knowing there was no deterring the petite Shinigami, Ichigo went back to his table rubbing his sore chin.

* * * * *

"I hope my Chappy cookies sell out!" Rukia smiled as she walked next to Ichigo. They had baked the batches of cookies nicely, and the class packaging committee had taken over from there. Ichigo and Rukia had then exited the classroom and began strolling around the school.

The festival had begun and visitors were beginning to throng the school grounds. It was noisy and bright, as children and adults stopped at individual class stalls to have a look at what was being sold or performed. Ichigo was pretty much looking for a lonely corridor, Rukia on the other hand had other ideas.

"Ichigo, what's that?" Ichigo, who had been inching toward an empty corridor, had to turn to look.

"What?" Ichigo's voice was grumpy.

"That." Rukia pointed toward a huge booth decked out along one of the classrooms, where a large group of people was now gathered. A lot of them were already lying down on beds, which were arranged in rows and covered with clean white sheets.  There were blue bands fixed at each of the person's arms, and red tubes travelled from the arms down to red clear packages.

"That? That's a blood donation drive." Ichigo started to walk forward, but then he realized Rukia was rooted to the spot, staring at the crowd.

"What's a blood donation drive?"

Ichigo refrained from yawning. It looked like the corridor possibility was slowly slipping away from him. "It's where people voluntarily donate blood. The blood is then taken to blood centers or hospitals to give to those who urgently need the blood."

Rukia's eyes were round as saucers as she listened to Ichigo. "So… how do they take the blood out, and put it back into another person?"

"There. See those tubes? They are connected to a needle, which is inserted into one of your veins… the tubes run into those clear bags, see? The blood will then fill those bags, and then they will be labeled and transferred to the hospital."

"Ooooo…" This time, Rukia's mouth formed an O as she watched a nurse start to hook up a volunteer. "So how do they choose those they deem worthy to donate blood?"

"Worthy?" Ichigo asked, almost chuckling in spite of himself. "Anyone can donate. They are volunteers, which means they do it out of good will, for charity."

"Really? Let's do it then!"

"Do what?"

"Donate blood!" Rukia's eyes were shining. "We should give to someone who needs it!" Without waiting for an answer, Rukia dashed forward, making an obvious beeline for the blood donation area.

"HOI RUKIA!!" Ichigo had to dash after Rukia, trying to catch her up. "Can your gigai even donate blood!!??"

* * * * *

Fifteen minutes later, Rukia was a nervous sight as she sat in front of one of the nurses. Whoever said there were no tests needed to determine those who were worthy to donate blood? Because this was clearly one.

Rukia shot a glance at Ichigo, who was seated at the next table with another nurse. She knew he was amused at her predicament.

"So, Kuchiki Rukia, we have all your personal details jotted down." The motherly nurse smiled at the nervous girl. "Now you will only need to answer a few more questions before we take some of your blood to do some tests."

"T-Tests?" Rukia's voice came out croaked and she cleared her throat as Ichigo shot a smirk her way. So he was having a good time laughing at her, was he?

"Not to worry, they are very simple tests and hurt little." The nurse smiled. Rukia wasn't exactly worried about the tests, she was more anxious about the questions. Her knowledge of the modern world was still limited, despite reading everyday. What were they going to ask her? If she got these questions incorrect, will she not be allowed to donate blood?

"Alright." The nurse picked up a clipboard. "Are you on any medications currently?"

"Er, medications?" Rukia asked, and the nurse nodded kindly. "No no, I don't think so."

"Good." The nurse smiled and Rukia heaved a sigh of relief. "Any known diseases?"

"No, not to my knowledge." The nurse nodded, and Rukia felt her confidence start to climb.

"Have you ever donated blood before?"

"No." Was that going to count against her?

"Have you travelled abroad recently?"

"Uh… t-travel?" This time, Rukia was a little puzzled.

The nurse smiled. "By aeroplane."

Aeroplane? What was that? "I… I don't think so. I only ever travel from home to school, and I don't use aeroplanes then."

A loud chuckle was heard from the table next to her. Rukia frowned at Ichigo, who was obviously trying hard not to laugh.

The nurse had given Rukia a bemused smile. "Alright. And finally, any history of sexual activity?"

Sexual activity? Rukia felt the heat rise in her cheeks at the question. But before she could say anything, a gruff voice answered from the table next to hers.

"No."

Rukia turned to Ichigo, who was looking equally surprised that he had answered for her.

"That better be it, young man." The nurse frowned at Ichigo before smiling back at Rukia. "Come with me, Rukia. We need to take some tests for your blood."

* * * * *

"You really do not have an active sexual life, do you, Rukia?" The same nurse smiled as she wrapped a tight band around Rukia's left arm.

"Oh no, I don't." Rukia smiled.

"Good." The nurse smiled as she produced a syringe and alcohol swab from her pocket. "Because I was worried when your boyfriend answered for you."

"Oh, h-he's not my boyfriend!" Rukia hurriedly smiled.

Did everyone have to ask the same question?

Rukia's chance meeting with Ichigo had been strange, yet there was an odd mix of fate to it. She had come across his bedroom as she detected the presence of a Hollow, and received a shocking kick to the backside by the human boy. He could see her somehow, and so she had told him everything about her background. She finally realized that the Hollow had been after him from the start, but as she lay on the ground bleeding and incapacitated, there was almost nothing she could do about it. Until… she realized there might be a way out, by transferring her powers to the human boy in a stab.

She could have killed him with that one stab, but as his eyes gripped the blade over his chest, there was no fear in his eyes. She learned his name in that instant, as he did hers.

Kurosaki Ichigo. And Kuchiki Rukia.

They were taking a chance together… if they succeeded, they might live. If they didn't, they were as good as dead. They took it anyway, and Ichigo surprisingly absorbed all of her spiritual powers to dispatch the Hollow with no trouble.

He had left her with none of her own, so she was forced to enter a temporary gigai to wait for her powers to recover. Easily working out a plan, Rukia went to Ichigo's school in the day and hid out in his bedroom at night. He had become her substitute, tasked with dispatching Hollows and sending souls to Soul Society.

Ichigo had rose to the occasion magnificently, proving to be a powerful fighter and one with compassion. Rukia knew his rude heartless exterior only served to cover a more fragile, kind soul with the fierce determination to protect all in his path. He grumbled all the time about his Shinigami duties, but Rukia noted the happy glint in his eyes as he leapt from building to building, the wind whipping his hair.

Her own adaptation to the modern world was, of course, a bigger obstacle. And next to it were the rumours circulating in school about her association to the scary orange-haired boy.

Rukia had hurriedly convinced the girls that she had no relation whatsoever to Ichigo. It wasn't really a lie, she really had no relationship with the orange-haired human boy… well, except the fact that she lived in his cupboard at home.

And also slept in his sister's pyjamas.

* * * * *

"Those tests weren't so hard! And the needle insertion wasn't even painful!" Rukia smiled with pride as she lay upon the bed. Ichigo was in the bed next to hers and both students were gripping a rubber ball in one hand, instructed to squeeze the ball frequently to pump more blood into the tubes.

Rukia looked over at the human boy. "How come you didn't need to do those tests?"

Ichigo's eyes were fixed upward. "Because unlike you, I have been routinely donating blood at my father's clinic. I know my blood type and all the basic stuff that comes with it."

Rukia's mouth formed the O again. "Does that mean I will get to know my blood type too?"

Ichigo nodded. "They will give you a card at the end of your donation."

"How many blood types are there? Why are they different?"

Ichigo suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Well, there are four main blood types. A, B, AB and O. The blood type is important, because certain blood types cannot match with others. If you give the wrong type to the wrong recipient, it can kill the person."

"I see." Rukia closed her eyes. "You know, we don't have this in Soul Society. If someone loses a serious amount of blood, we just try to heal the injury with kido. After all, blood is also made up of spiritual particles."

"Welcome to my world then," Ichigo commented dryly.

"And donating blood in your world is easy, piece of cake." Rukia grinned happily and closed her eyes, as she squeezed the rubber ball.

* * * * *

"Hey, you alright?" Ichigo glanced at Rukia as they walked. They had completed the donation in an hour and had left the area. Rukia had been a little wobbly ever since, even though she had taken four crackers and a hot cup of tea.

"Yeah. Is this normal?"

Ichig nodded, as he watched Rukia. "I wouldn't be surprised if you felt weak. We don't know how gigais cope with a sudden decrease in blood volume." The boy gave her an I-told-you-so expression.

"I… am not weak." Rukia muttered.

"Maybe we should find somewhere to sit down." Ichigo looked around but was interrupted by a familiar sharp sound coming from Rukia.

Beep beep.

Instantly, both pairs of eyes widened. A Hollow!

Rukia flipped her Soul phone open. "West direction. Let's go!" Rukia turned around, as her feet began to pick up speed. Ichigo easily fell into step next to her. But even so, he noted that she wasn't running at her usual pace.

"You alright?"

"Shut up. And keep running."

* * * * *

It was a disgusting insect-like Hollow, with a long segmented body and sixteen bladed legs. Its mouth opened, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth designed to chew down any Shinigami.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned as he felt Rukia's palm againt his chest, and he immediately flashed out in Shinigami form. There really was something wrong with Rukia, her hand energy was not what it was on normal days.

Even her voice was slightly softer, even though it was still commanding. "Remember, its head and the middle section are the weakest parts. Try to avoid the tail."

"Hey Rukia-"

"I told you before." The petite girl leaned against the wall nearby, her face slightly pale. "I would never slip up enough for you to worry." In spite of her obvious lethargy, Rukia smiled.

Ichigo smiled slightly and turned toward the Hollow. Then he was running and up in the air, aiming a slash at the Hollow's body. Its lethal tail intercepted the blow, sending Ichigo back to the ground. He jumped out of the way as the tail smashed into the asphalt, causing debris to shoot up into the air.

Ichigo jumped up again for another try and sent a hit toward its head, keeping its sight away from Rukia and his body. This time, his zanpakutou hit its target, sending the Hollow's blood spraying in a crimson arc.

Frustrated, the Hollow sent its tail flying toward Ichigo who blocked it easily with his gigantic sword. The substitute Shinigami then swiftly hacked off a segment of the tail, causing the Hollow to erupt in a terrible roar.

'The work is almost done.'

Ichigo took an overhead leap and slashed right down the Hollow's middle, and it disintegrated immediately into black dust.

"Phew." Ichigo shouldered his zanpakuto and walked back to where Rukia was. "We did it."

Rukia was fast asleep against the wall, her head lolling off.

* * * * *

"You should have woke me up earlier!" Rukia's voice was laced with irritation. "I opened my eyes, and it was already sunset! The entire school was already empty!"

"So?" Ichigo smiled as he walked along the street, Rukia next to him.

"So I never got to know if my Chappy cookies were bought by anyone!"

Ichigo snorted and easily ducked an incoming punch.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Rukia was still grouchy as they walked home, side by side.

"Figured I should let you sleep on. If I woke you up, you might start fainting in the middle of the school festival."

"I am not that weak."

"That's how much you know," Ichigo retorted, and this time the punch landed perfectly on his chin. He noted that her energy was definitely back to normal.

They walked for a bit longer in comfortable silence. Rukia started rummaging in her book bag for something. After extracting a clear plastic package from her bag, she tossed it to Ichigo.

"What now?" Ichigo caught the package and looked down at it. His eyes widened as he stared at the two cookies that Rukia had apparently baked and put into the bag. One was a lion that looked strangely like Kon and the other was a rabbit. Ichigo squinted as he stared at the smiling rabbit cookie. It was shaped with spiky hair… and was that a huge sword thing that it was holding…?

The orange-haired boy let out a soft chuckle.

"What?" Rukia's voice was a little defensive as she looked at him.

"Nothing." Ichigo placed the plastic bag of cookies into his pocket. "What do I do with it?"

"Eat it, of course. Or it will get moldy." Rukia nodded.

Wait till she finds out tomorrow that her cookies did sell out at the festival. Ichigo had returned to the class stall just as the last of Rukia's cookies were sold off. Apparently, they were a favourite amongst the young children. Ichigo wasn't looking forward to Rukia's satisfied smirk all week long, so he wouldn't tell her today.

"Hey Ichigo."

"What?"

Rukia waved a card in his face. "My blood type is A."

"Ah." Ichigo kept his eyes trained in front of him as he walked.

"What's yours?"

"A."

Rukia perked up. "That means I will be able to donate blood to you?"

Ichigo nodded. "And the other way around."

Rukia smiled as she transferred the precious card into her bag. "I will be sure to donate lots of blood to you if you get into an accident."

"Are you cursing me?"

Rukia laughed softly and Ichigo had to smile at her childish happiness. The sun was already well below the horizon and dusk was falling, as they continued to walk home.

This year's school festival, he wasn't alone.

And for the first time in his life, Ichigo was glad he wasn't.

Description
Kurosaki Ichigo had always disliked school festivals. They were bright and loud, and sometimes they even gave him a headache. School festivals were also the days that visiting parents would gawk openly at his naturally orange hair and comment negatively in dark audible tones. It was the reason why Ichigo preferred to spend the festival alone and out of sight of his peers, preferably in a lone class corridor or one of the back lanes near the school field.

Today was the annual Karakura High school festival and yes, he already had a headache. And no, he was not alone this year.

"Ichigo, those banners are the same colour as your hair!" He heard the usually strict voice that was Rukia's, now oddly mixed with fascination. Ichigo turned to look at the petite raven-haired girl standing next to him, her curious eyes fixated on the festival banners hanging outside the class window.

Rukia had been very excited over the upcoming high school festival, as the date loomed closer and closer over the week. She had been actively practicing modern dialogue at night (much to Ichigo's irritation) in case of unexpected interactions with strangers on the day of the festival.

After all, a Shinigami as herself had never dealt with such situations in her line of duty. Kido, swordsmanship, Hollows were a routine. High school festivals were a rarity.

"I heard all the jokes about my hair growing up, you don't have to add to them," Ichigo retorted.

"Oh my, I wonder why Kurosaki-kun is so angry?" Rukia's annoying high-pitched sweet tone greeted his retort, before it reverted back to her original firm one. "I wasn't poking fun at your hair. I was merely commenting on the colour similarity."

"Whatever." Ichigo stared at the floury mess on the table, and suppressed his frustration for the thousandth time.

This year, Ichigo's class had decided to go with Orihime's idea to put up a food stall selling simple cookies and lemonade to festival revelers. The class had then collectively decided to divide students into different segments of baking, packaging and selling. To Ichigo's dismay, Rukia was randomly selected as head of the baking segment, tasked with preparing the cookies for sale. The orange-haired boy had then grudgingly volunteered alongside Rukia, knowing that the Shinigami probably did not even know how to operate a modern kitchen oven.

Both of them had come in early to the empty classroom today, which had been modified into a form of kitchen, to prepare the batch of cookies. The desks had been lined together to form counters, covered with white paper and plastic mats. Ichigo wasn't a master cook himself, but he knew how to work with the raw materials to create a decent dough for baking.

Rukia, on the other hand, spent time gazing at the baking equipment, inventions that she had never seen before.

"So… er, how do you use this... thing?" At Rukia's question, Ichigo turned to look at the Shinigami, who was now gazing curiously at the electric egg beater.

* * * * *

Ichigo's life had taken a strange twist, after encountering the petite Shinigami and taking her powers to protect them from easy deaths by a Hollow.

And his life had already been strange to begin with… what with his troublesome ability to see ghosts and having a psychedelic father who enjoyed talking about his daughter's panty patterns over the dinner table.

By absorbing all of Rukia's powers, he had rendered the Shinigami too weak to return to proper spirit form and she had taken refuge in a temporary gigai… and his bedroom.

The latter had been done without Ichigo's permission, and he had only found out when she jumped out of his cupboard one night upon receiving a Hollow signal. Not only that, she had jumped out dressed cosily in his sister's yellow pyjamas.

To say he freaked out was an understatement.

But as time passed, Ichigo eventually got used to her presence and company. Her jumping out of his closet daily no longer alarmed him, and he woke up lazily on Sunday mornings to a fresh Rukia already reading manga on his bedroom floor. On certain occasions, he even stole extra pyjamas for her.

And then there were the moments he had faced together with Rukia… moments where she had seen him in a fragile state, something not many had seen before. She had watched him crumble emotionally on the anniversary of his mother's death as he fought the Hollow responsible for it. She heard his broken voice so filled with anguish, she watched as he battled the Hollow, and she was there to catch him as his body uselessly gave way without exacting revenge on the Hollow that had destroyed his family.

Ichigo never told anyone but later in that night as he stood over his mother's grave, he realized that Rukia's presence was oddly soothing to him, much like his mother's had been in his life.

* * * * *

But right now, it was anything but that.

"Mmmm... hmmmm… hmmm…" Rukia's voice was tuned into a low hum as she worked at one of the tables, her back to Ichigo.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo muttered in an irritated tone as he tried to look over at her flour-dusted table. He was already in a bad mood, and Rukia's bubbly attitude did nothing to make it better.

"Ta-dah!" Rukia motioned to her table as Ichigo peered at it.

No way.

"Chappy cookies!" Rukia grinned as Ichigo stared in disbelief at the horrible blobs of dough with eyes, noses, mouths and ears. Her violet eyes were practically shining as she smiled adoringly at her work. "Aren't they lovely?"

"No, they are ugly as heck." Ichigo received the comeuppance for his careless remark soon enough, in the form of a sharp upward punch to his chin. Even though Rukia was much smaller than Ichigo, he never could avoid her punches as well as he did his father's.

"Anyway, I will make some more and then we can bake them in time for the class sale." Rukia grinned as she took up a round silver cookie-cutter.

Knowing there was no deterring the petite Shinigami, Ichigo went back to his table rubbing his sore chin.

* * * * *

"I hope my Chappy cookies sell out!" Rukia smiled as she walked next to Ichigo. They had baked the batches of cookies nicely, and the class packaging committee had taken over from there. Ichigo and Rukia had then exited the classroom and began strolling around the school.

The festival had begun and visitors were beginning to throng the school grounds. It was noisy and bright, as children and adults stopped at individual class stalls to have a look at what was being sold or performed. Ichigo was pretty much looking for a lonely corridor, Rukia on the other hand had other ideas.

"Ichigo, what's that?" Ichigo, who had been inching toward an empty corridor, had to turn to look.

"What?" Ichigo's voice was grumpy.

"That." Rukia pointed toward a huge booth decked out along one of the classrooms, where a large group of people was now gathered. A lot of them were already lying down on beds, which were arranged in rows and covered with clean white sheets.  There were blue bands fixed at each of the person's arms, and red tubes travelled from the arms down to red clear packages.

"That? That's a blood donation drive." Ichigo started to walk forward, but then he realized Rukia was rooted to the spot, staring at the crowd.

"What's a blood donation drive?"

Ichigo refrained from yawning. It looked like the corridor possibility was slowly slipping away from him. "It's where people voluntarily donate blood. The blood is then taken to blood centers or hospitals to give to those who urgently need the blood."

Rukia's eyes were round as saucers as she listened to Ichigo. "So… how do they take the blood out, and put it back into another person?"

"There. See those tubes? They are connected to a needle, which is inserted into one of your veins… the tubes run into those clear bags, see? The blood will then fill those bags, and then they will be labeled and transferred to the hospital."

"Ooooo…" This time, Rukia's mouth formed an O as she watched a nurse start to hook up a volunteer. "So how do they choose those they deem worthy to donate blood?"

"Worthy?" Ichigo asked, almost chuckling in spite of himself. "Anyone can donate. They are volunteers, which means they do it out of good will, for charity."

"Really? Let's do it then!"

"Do what?"

"Donate blood!" Rukia's eyes were shining. "We should give to someone who needs it!" Without waiting for an answer, Rukia dashed forward, making an obvious beeline for the blood donation area.

"HOI RUKIA!!" Ichigo had to dash after Rukia, trying to catch her up. "Can your gigai even donate blood!!??"

* * * * *

Fifteen minutes later, Rukia was a nervous sight as she sat in front of one of the nurses. Whoever said there were no tests needed to determine those who were worthy to donate blood? Because this was clearly one.

Rukia shot a glance at Ichigo, who was seated at the next table with another nurse. She knew he was amused at her predicament.

"So, Kuchiki Rukia, we have all your personal details jotted down." The motherly nurse smiled at the nervous girl. "Now you will only need to answer a few more questions before we take some of your blood to do some tests."

"T-Tests?" Rukia's voice came out croaked and she cleared her throat as Ichigo shot a smirk her way. So he was having a good time laughing at her, was he?

"Not to worry, they are very simple tests and hurt little." The nurse smiled. Rukia wasn't exactly worried about the tests, she was more anxious about the questions. Her knowledge of the modern world was still limited, despite reading everyday. What were they going to ask her? If she got these questions incorrect, will she not be allowed to donate blood?

"Alright." The nurse picked up a clipboard. "Are you on any medications currently?"

"Er, medications?" Rukia asked, and the nurse nodded kindly. "No no, I don't think so."

"Good." The nurse smiled and Rukia heaved a sigh of relief. "Any known diseases?"

"No, not to my knowledge." The nurse nodded, and Rukia felt her confidence start to climb.

"Have you ever donated blood before?"

"No." Was that going to count against her?

"Have you travelled abroad recently?"

"Uh… t-travel?" This time, Rukia was a little puzzled.

The nurse smiled. "By aeroplane."

Aeroplane? What was that? "I… I don't think so. I only ever travel from home to school, and I don't use aeroplanes then."

A loud chuckle was heard from the table next to her. Rukia frowned at Ichigo, who was obviously trying hard not to laugh.

The nurse had given Rukia a bemused smile. "Alright. And finally, any history of sexual activity?"

Sexual activity? Rukia felt the heat rise in her cheeks at the question. But before she could say anything, a gruff voice answered from the table next to hers.

"No."

Rukia turned to Ichigo, who was looking equally surprised that he had answered for her.

"That better be it, young man." The nurse frowned at Ichigo before smiling back at Rukia. "Come with me, Rukia. We need to take some tests for your blood."

* * * * *

"You really do not have an active sexual life, do you, Rukia?" The same nurse smiled as she wrapped a tight band around Rukia's left arm.

"Oh no, I don't." Rukia smiled.

"Good." The nurse smiled as she produced a syringe and alcohol swab from her pocket. "Because I was worried when your boyfriend answered for you."

"Oh, h-he's not my boyfriend!" Rukia hurriedly smiled.

Did everyone have to ask the same question?

Rukia's chance meeting with Ichigo had been strange, yet there was an odd mix of fate to it. She had come across his bedroom as she detected the presence of a Hollow, and received a shocking kick to the backside by the human boy. He could see her somehow, and so she had told him everything about her background. She finally realized that the Hollow had been after him from the start, but as she lay on the ground bleeding and incapacitated, there was almost nothing she could do about it. Until… she realized there might be a way out, by transferring her powers to the human boy in a stab.

She could have killed him with that one stab, but as his eyes gripped the blade over his chest, there was no fear in his eyes. She learned his name in that instant, as he did hers.

Kurosaki Ichigo. And Kuchiki Rukia.

They were taking a chance together… if they succeeded, they might live. If they didn't, they were as good as dead. They took it anyway, and Ichigo surprisingly absorbed all of her spiritual powers to dispatch the Hollow with no trouble.

He had left her with none of her own, so she was forced to enter a temporary gigai to wait for her powers to recover. Easily working out a plan, Rukia went to Ichigo's school in the day and hid out in his bedroom at night. He had become her substitute, tasked with dispatching Hollows and sending souls to Soul Society.

Ichigo had rose to the occasion magnificently, proving to be a powerful fighter and one with compassion. Rukia knew his rude heartless exterior only served to cover a more fragile, kind soul with the fierce determination to protect all in his path. He grumbled all the time about his Shinigami duties, but Rukia noted the happy glint in his eyes as he leapt from building to building, the wind whipping his hair.

Her own adaptation to the modern world was, of course, a bigger obstacle. And next to it were the rumours circulating in school about her association to the scary orange-haired boy.

Rukia had hurriedly convinced the girls that she had no relation whatsoever to Ichigo. It wasn't really a lie, she really had no relationship with the orange-haired human boy… well, except the fact that she lived in his cupboard at home.

And also slept in his sister's pyjamas.

* * * * *

"Those tests weren't so hard! And the needle insertion wasn't even painful!" Rukia smiled with pride as she lay upon the bed. Ichigo was in the bed next to hers and both students were gripping a rubber ball in one hand, instructed to squeeze the ball frequently to pump more blood into the tubes.

Rukia looked over at the human boy. "How come you didn't need to do those tests?"

Ichigo's eyes were fixed upward. "Because unlike you, I have been routinely donating blood at my father's clinic. I know my blood type and all the basic stuff that comes with it."

Rukia's mouth formed the O again. "Does that mean I will get to know my blood type too?"

Ichigo nodded. "They will give you a card at the end of your donation."

"How many blood types are there? Why are they different?"

Ichigo suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Well, there are four main blood types. A, B, AB and O. The blood type is important, because certain blood types cannot match with others. If you give the wrong type to the wrong recipient, it can kill the person."

"I see." Rukia closed her eyes. "You know, we don't have this in Soul Society. If someone loses a serious amount of blood, we just try to heal the injury with kido. After all, blood is also made up of spiritual particles."

"Welcome to my world then," Ichigo commented dryly.

"And donating blood in your world is easy, piece of cake." Rukia grinned happily and closed her eyes, as she squeezed the rubber ball.

* * * * *

"Hey, you alright?" Ichigo glanced at Rukia as they walked. They had completed the donation in an hour and had left the area. Rukia had been a little wobbly ever since, even though she had taken four crackers and a hot cup of tea.

"Yeah. Is this normal?"

Ichig nodded, as he watched Rukia. "I wouldn't be surprised if you felt weak. We don't know how gigais cope with a sudden decrease in blood volume." The boy gave her an I-told-you-so expression.

"I… am not weak." Rukia muttered.

"Maybe we should find somewhere to sit down." Ichigo looked around but was interrupted by a familiar sharp sound coming from Rukia.

Beep beep.

Instantly, both pairs of eyes widened. A Hollow!

Rukia flipped her Soul phone open. "West direction. Let's go!" Rukia turned around, as her feet began to pick up speed. Ichigo easily fell into step next to her. But even so, he noted that she wasn't running at her usual pace.

"You alright?"

"Shut up. And keep running."

* * * * *

It was a disgusting insect-like Hollow, with a long segmented body and sixteen bladed legs. Its mouth opened, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth designed to chew down any Shinigami.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned as he felt Rukia's palm againt his chest, and he immediately flashed out in Shinigami form. There really was something wrong with Rukia, her hand energy was not what it was on normal days.

Even her voice was slightly softer, even though it was still commanding. "Remember, its head and the middle section are the weakest parts. Try to avoid the tail."

"Hey Rukia-"

"I told you before." The petite girl leaned against the wall nearby, her face slightly pale. "I would never slip up enough for you to worry." In spite of her obvious lethargy, Rukia smiled.

Ichigo smiled slightly and turned toward the Hollow. Then he was running and up in the air, aiming a slash at the Hollow's body. Its lethal tail intercepted the blow, sending Ichigo back to the ground. He jumped out of the way as the tail smashed into the asphalt, causing debris to shoot up into the air.

Ichigo jumped up again for another try and sent a hit toward its head, keeping its sight away from Rukia and his body. This time, his zanpakutou hit its target, sending the Hollow's blood spraying in a crimson arc.

Frustrated, the Hollow sent its tail flying toward Ichigo who blocked it easily with his gigantic sword. The substitute Shinigami then swiftly hacked off a segment of the tail, causing the Hollow to erupt in a terrible roar.

'The work is almost done.'

Ichigo took an overhead leap and slashed right down the Hollow's middle, and it disintegrated immediately into black dust.

"Phew." Ichigo shouldered his zanpakuto and walked back to where Rukia was. "We did it."

Rukia was fast asleep against the wall, her head lolling off.

* * * * *

"You should have woke me up earlier!" Rukia's voice was laced with irritation. "I opened my eyes, and it was already sunset! The entire school was already empty!"

"So?" Ichigo smiled as he walked along the street, Rukia next to him.

"So I never got to know if my Chappy cookies were bought by anyone!"

Ichigo snorted and easily ducked an incoming punch.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Rukia was still grouchy as they walked home, side by side.

"Figured I should let you sleep on. If I woke you up, you might start fainting in the middle of the school festival."

"I am not that weak."

"That's how much you know," Ichigo retorted, and this time the punch landed perfectly on his chin. He noted that her energy was definitely back to normal.

They walked for a bit longer in comfortable silence. Rukia started rummaging in her book bag for something. After extracting a clear plastic package from her bag, she tossed it to Ichigo.

"What now?" Ichigo caught the package and looked down at it. His eyes widened as he stared at the two cookies that Rukia had apparently baked and put into the bag. One was a lion that looked strangely like Kon and the other was a rabbit. Ichigo squinted as he stared at the smiling rabbit cookie. It was shaped with spiky hair… and was that a huge sword thing that it was holding…?

The orange-haired boy let out a soft chuckle.

"What?" Rukia's voice was a little defensive as she looked at him.

"Nothing." Ichigo placed the plastic bag of cookies into his pocket. "What do I do with it?"

"Eat it, of course. Or it will get moldy." Rukia nodded.

Wait till she finds out tomorrow that her cookies did sell out at the festival. Ichigo had returned to the class stall just as the last of Rukia's cookies were sold off. Apparently, they were a favourite amongst the young children. Ichigo wasn't looking forward to Rukia's satisfied smirk all week long, so he wouldn't tell her today.

"Hey Ichigo."

"What?"

Rukia waved a card in his face. "My blood type is A."

"Ah." Ichigo kept his eyes trained in front of him as he walked.

"What's yours?"

"A."

Rukia perked up. "That means I will be able to donate blood to you?"

Ichigo nodded. "And the other way around."

Rukia smiled as she transferred the precious card into her bag. "I will be sure to donate lots of blood to you if you get into an accident."

"Are you cursing me?"

Rukia laughed softly and Ichigo had to smile at her childish happiness. The sun was already well below the horizon and dusk was falling, as they continued to walk home.

This year's school festival, he wasn't alone.

And for the first time in his life, Ichigo was glad he wasn't.