"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." — Marilyn Monroe

Telling them anything different would be pointless.

God knows they would ignore every word he said. Their minds were like strainers, only catching the big, obvious things that their naked eyes could see, but the important details easily slipped through the cracks. And there were a few big, obvious things. Like for one, Ichigo Kurosaki was the man.

Well, he could be.

As he walked through the courtyard with her, nothing else mattered. Every longing look from the female masses hit him square in the face and bounced off of his shield of oblivion. His douchebag friends threw him a thumb up every second as they watched them stroll through the grass, deep in thought. And the entire time, he paid them no attention.

Which was odd, because most guys would kill to be in his position. Again, he could be the man, but the fact that he showed no interest in any other hindered him from becoming so. It was Rukia Kuchiki who made him who he was. It was Rukia Kuchiki who would make him into what he was to become.

Yet, she was much more aware of her surroundings than he would ever be. He let his cockiness and audacity cloud him. Her pessimism let her see more clearly, and she couldn't help but sigh and roll her eyes at her classmates.

He noticed this almost immediately and couldn't help but frown. Was she not happy around him? Sure, he really pissed her off sometimes, but surely he hadn't done anything wrong so early in the lunch period.

"What?" he scowled at her.

She took a quick glance over her shoulder and her thin eyebrows shaped into a 'v'. "I don't know," she says irately. "It's just…you'd think they'd get a clue after awhile."

"Who? About what?"

She resisted the urge to punch him square in the jaw. Naivety didn't ever sit well with her.

"Idiot," she muttered under her breath. "You have no concern about what people think about you?"

He looked away from her curious face and followed her gaze. Keigo Asano was frantically waggling his eyebrows and making thrusting motions to the air around him, while Mizurio was giving him the thumbs up sign and flicking his tongue back and forth.

"Oh," he said, frowning.

While Rukia looked down at the ground to hide her embarrassment, Ichigo quickly flipped them the bird. She sighed again and gripped the top of her left arm with her right hand. He couldn't help but notice she looked incredibly uncomfortable. Usually, she was all flirty grins and giddy giggles when it came to her classmates, but today she was having none of it.

Dumbly, he repeated "What?"

She frowned. "What's wrong with you? You're going to let them believe whatever they want?"

"Yeah?"

To her, he didn't get it, but he understood her point quite well. Of course, he would never say it out loud. There was no sense in telling her he didn't care what people thought and assumed about their relationship.

Okay, that was an understatement – he loved what people assumed about them.

He loved the fact that in people's minds, she was his and she had consented. His ass would've been handed to him if she knew that he was quite alright with the misconceptions that they were together.

"Idiot! Don't you realize that that they think we're together?"

"Aren't we?"

Her pale cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she stammered, trying to collect her words that were now scattered to the four corners of the earth.

"I mean like, together, together, Ichigo," she whimpered.

When she whimpered his name, his stony heart began to beat a little faster.

He tosses an apple in the air before taking a small bite. She couldn't help but wonder why he was so relaxed about this. Of course, this couldn't be his planning. He couldn't possibly enjoy the speculation.

An arrogant grin spread across his features as he measured her staggered expression. She wasn't one to be shocked or at loss for words, so it was in his nature to enjoy the moment.

"Which we're not," she adds, scoffing dramatically. "Because, you know, that would be like…weird."

He flashes her that smug half-grin that she so desperately despised and deeply adored.

"Rukia," he says slowly, rolling her name around his tongue like a piece of hard candy, "you couldn't handle me if you tried."

That sent a hard roundhouse kick from her slender leg to crack against the side of his face. He cried out in protest and clenched his fist.

"You idiot! As if you're the one that can rock a modern-day mini skirt!"

He growled and pushed her to the ground. Of course, he would never lay his hands on any female, but this was Rukia and quite frankly, she was getting on his nerves. There was nothing like a wound on his ego to make his blood boil.

The spectators couldn't help but watch in stunned silence, because this was something that they had never seen before. Sweet, innocent Rukia wasn't supposed to be able to land a kick like that, and quiet, refined Ichigo would never put his hands on a girl. Then again, Rukia had a hold on him that no one else could match. It was only fate that they would be wrestling around on the ground one day.

And today was that day. That was exactly what was happening.

"Get off of me you egotistical brute!"

She pushed down on his shoulders and rolled on top of him, straddling his lap and landing harmless punches on his chest.

"If you wanted to be on top, you could've just said so."

"UGH!"

Catcalls and whistles rang through the air as the students of Karakura High School cheered on the couple in what clearly was a fit of an angry make out session. The way they seemed to fit perfectly together as she wrapped her perfect legs around his waist and her arms around her neck (she was attempting to choke him, but that wasn't what they deemed) was obviously a sign. Maybe the way they worked things like that out. It was kind of turning Keigo on.

"Fine," she hissed as she pushed down his shoulders to stay on top. "You wanna play that game, bitch? Then let's play."

So she did something crazy. She kissed him.

Despite what people believed, this was the first kiss he had ever tasted from Rukia's lips. It was strange and unfamiliar, but it was hard to say he didn't enjoy it. Her mouth was soft and warm as it pressed against his, and before he knew it, he was kissing her back. She broke away from him with a loud pop, an expression of fury on her face.

"Is that what you call fighting back, Rukia?" He was breathless, because that's just kind of what she did to him.

"I never I'd fight fair." She's equally winded.

"You are such a bitch," he whispers, flipping her over to roll on top and pressing his mouth hungrily against hers once again.

And so they went, punching and cussing and pressing their lips to each others as if it was the only thing keeping them alive. Grunts of resentment turned to whispers of adoration as there became more kissing and less hitting. At last, she gave him one more dizzying kiss on his delicious lips before kneeing him in the groin and wiping her mouth.

He cried out in pain and rolled around on the ground, holding his member in his fingers. She stood up and watched him in his misery with a grim smile on her face before turning and walking away.

"I'll see you inside," she called over his shoulder before disappearing inside the building.

The crowd marveled at the outcome of the fight, and how strange the couple seemed. But there was one thing they could not deny about Rukio and Ichigo – they were in love. That part was obvious.

Or so they thought.

Ichigo didn't say a word. Because telling them anything different would be pointless.

A/N: So that was my very first attempt at a Bleach fanfiction. You can stop cringing in agony now. Press that pretty green button to tell me what I did wrong or right. I'd love to hear your opinion, seriously.