How Strong Are You Now?

How Strong Are You Now?
"Rukia, you shouldn't walk with that injury," she glared up at Renji, she really wasn't in the mood for him, "Go away Renji," she demanded, standing up and stretching, "You should just stay-" "I said 'go away' Renji!" she shouted, shutting her eyes until the pain subsided, "Rukia!" she stood up and grabbed her hair-brush, "Fine! If you're going to ignore me then I'm calling Ichigo! He'll-" faster than he thought possible he was shoved against the wall, Rukia's tiny fist clenching his shirt, her other small hand pressed firmly against the wood he was being held against, "Don't. You. Dare!" she growled, "Ichigo dosen't need to no about this, understand? He'll only make things worse!" "Then why are YOU going to him?! Why are YOU getting him involved!?" he new, he asked because he wanted to hear her say it, but he already new why she was going to Ichigo, "I'm not going to tell him ANYTHING!" she replied, "I'm going to go to the living world so he WON'T find out!" she was lying even now, she wanted to be with him, it was obviouse, "Why can't you trust me to keep this a secret?" "I can trust you to do everything Renji, but, .... I'm a more convincing liar than you are," she let go of him and they stared at each other for a long moment, "It's for my own good, Ichigo CAN'T find out about this, if I'm with him I can ensure that," "Really? How are you going to hide such a huge injury from him? You may not be bleeding but you forget, he's the son of a doctor, he'll no something's wrong," "I'm an actress Renji, I've fooled both of you more times than you can imagine, I can act through the pain and pretend that I'm, ... that I'm in a bad mood so he'll leave me alone," and with that she took off, "I hope you realize wat you're doing, Rukia, don't make another mistake,"
"Hey Rukia!" Ichigo greeted, Rukia climbed through the window and landed gracefully on the floor, "Hey," she returned, everything was going perfectly, her reistu was controlled to normal, even though it was difficult to force it that way, her mood was semi-regular, and she made sure to ignore the constant pain radiating through her body, she had practiced all the way from Soul Society so by now she was rather good at it, she was on her way towards the door (in hopes of finding some pain medicine before she collapsed) "Rukia?" but she stopped, tensing slightly, "Yes?" "Wat's wrong with your cheek? It's all red and swollen, like you got slapped or something," she tensed more, "Oh that? Well um, funny story actually, I was outside and fell asleep! I must have gotten sunburned," he stood up and took her arm gently, setting her on the bed, "I'll take care of that for you," he offered, "Oh! That's ok! You don't have to-" "It's no problum, I'll just put some aloe on it and it'll heal pretty quick," she tried to protest but he was already gone
Rukia flinched again, "It's worse than I thought," he stated, rubbing more aloe on her injury, "Does it feel any better?" "Um, oh yes! Very much, I don't need any more lotion, I'm-" "No, it's really fine, besides this is pretty bad for a sunburn," she tensed again, "Are you sure this is just a sunburn?" she breathed deeply, trying not to wince at the pain in her chest, "I'm fine, you no it feels ALOT better, you really helped alot, thanks," she stared into her violet eyes for a long moment, they don't flinch, "Ok, if you're sure," "I am," he stood up and walked towards the door, on his way to return the lotion to its propper place, she sighed heavily in relief, now if she could only get to the pain medicine without him noticing, THEN she could, mostly, be in the clear,
Ichigo was caught up in his manga, giving her the perfect opertunity to leave and take some medicine, it only took about fifteen minutes to kick in, luckily, however, now she was feeling very tired and in need of sleep, trying to stay awake and look absorbed in her book, she didn't notice that Ichigo had left, "Rukia?" he tapped on her shoulder and she dropped the book that she had been pretending to read, "Yes?" she asked, "Um, you didn't happen to take any pain medicine did you?" she shook her head, "Well that's weird, we're the only ones here and I didn't take any and, there seems to be two pills missing," she tensed, his fingers rapped on the closet door as he waited for an explination, "How did YOU no that there were pills missing?" she countered, "Because this morning Karin had a really bad headache and I gave her some medicine, there were only four pills after that and now there are only two," "Well why were you in the bottle any way?" "I wasn't! The lid was all lopsided and I thought I had left it that way, so I took the lid off to correct it and then noticed the diffrence," Rukia cringed at her own mistake, "Why were you taking medicine?" she new in the back of her mind that this would happen, that she'd never get away scott free, "I, um," he was staring holes through her, she decided to just suck in her pride and .... lie like a dog, "I um, .... am having woman issues," she replied with almost a straight face, a slight blush tinting her cheeks (one already red from were she had been slapped) he stared at for a moment before stating, "No you're not!" she tried to look as shocked and upset as she could, but really how did HE no that?! "I am so!" "No you're not! Wenever that happens you turn into some kind of fire-breathing dragon dead-set on killing! Trust me, I'm usually on the recieving end of that stick, you've been very nice all day so you are FAR from that point!" "Crap!" she hissed, 'Betrayed by my own plan!' there really was nothing worse than that, "Rukia, I won't get mad, just tell me the truth," she looked down, "Ok, you're right, I'm acting like a child," he was surprised that it worked, "The truth is, ........ MOVE!" he was even more shocked wen she pushed him out of the way and made a run for the window, he broke out of the initial shock and ran towards her, grabbing her tightly, he felt her body tense and heard her sqweak slightly from the immense pain, he gently set her down on his bed and quickly bolted the window shut, it was a war now, "Care to compromise?" he asked, her face went from angry to surprised, "Compromise?" her face became hostile again, "In wat way?" he sat next to her, "If you let me treat your injurieries without any trouble, .... then I won't ask how you got them," her expressions repeated the previouse actions, "Give me details, I'm not going to be stuck in a bad deal," she demanded, "I no you have alot of pride so I won't ask how you got these injuries, any of tthem, it can be a secret if you want it to be, and in return I'll treat your injurieries," "Wat about after you're done? There has to be a catch," "You rest and let them heal,"
"It isn't that I don't trust you," she wispered, he looked up from bandeging her abdamon, "Huh?" "I trust you completely or I wouldn't even be doing this," "I understand," she was quiet for a minute, "I'm so confussed," she wispered, he clipped the last of the bandeges in place and sat next to her on the bed, "Wat's confussing you?" she didn't look at him, he sighed slightly and placed her head gently on his lap and began stroking her silky hair "Do you want to no?" she wispered, "Yes," "I'm sort of embarresed, it hit my pride pretty hard,..... Renji and I were on a very simple mission, during battle with the hollow he lost his sword, the hollow was about to kill him so I jumped in front of him, then it slapped me into a rock," "I don't see anything emmbarresing about that, if anything that was really heroic," "There's more, Renji's the only one who nos and only because he was there, I don't want you to think less of me, your opinion matters," "I could never think less of you, if you want to tell me about it then I'm all ears,"  ".... I saw other Soul Reapers coming and I didn't want to look weak AGAIN, so I got up and started running, I accedentally left my sword behind and some thugs got ahold of me and beat me up, that's how I got the slap mark on my cheek, I had to be rescued by Renji, I was so embarresed that that happened, I just...." she trailed off, not noing how to finish that sentence, "It's ok, there's nothing to be ashamed of," "Yes there is! There's no reason for me to keep being so weak! I mean those thugs were nothing! I could've taken them! I just don't no why I keep looking weak in front of everyone! Especially you!" she was now standing, her body trembling with anger, Ichigo stood and placed his hands on her tiny shoulders, "You've never looked weak to me," he stated, all tension in her body dropped, he cleared some hair from her beautifull face and kissed her lightly, "I've always admired you," he stated, leaving her face, "for always being strong despite the pain that you always go through, I always end up breaking down, and you always bring me back up, I've always admired you for that, and I love you for it as well, and if you're going to go off about this self-hate crap then I don't want a response," "...... In that case, ...... I love you too,"