The pairing is StarrkxIchigo, and this story is about the perfect soldiers, one of whom is named Starrk. Starrk is devoid of all emotion until a female reporter, Ichigo, comes in to interview him and it sparks something inside of him.

This story was co-written by FuzziBunniez, a very good friend of mine, who first posted it on her account before we decided to post it on mine.

Warning for the usual yaoi, sexual content, language, and a female Ichigo who is in character. Crazy, I know. ;3

WE DON'T OWN BLEACH

"Soldier On"

"Subtle he needs must be to seduce Angels." ~ Milton

Chapter one; "Family."

Clipping the visitor's pass to the lapel of her slate colored jacket, Ichigo follows the commander down a long corridor. Fogged glass walls that reached from the ceiling to the floor give her an uneasy feeling. "Dad would say they have something to hide."

"Please wait in this room." The commander slides his plastic keycard through the locking mechanism and Ichigo watches the door swish open. "Please extend our gratitude to your father, Kurosaki- san."

"Yeah... I'll do that," she answers, uninterested in the current ass- kissing. It's true the only reason she was even selected for this interview was her father's job in the Diet. Regardless, she will give an unbiased report and be damned with the political consequences. Her navy blue pump taps the floor as she waits for the soldier that was chosen for her to gather information on.

"What is taking so long? I only have thirty minutes," Ichigo barks to herself in the empty square room. Glancing behind her she notices the large mirror and rolls her eyes. "Oi! I know you are in there so let's get it on already!" They would spy, bunch of military assholes. It doesn't matter. She will tell the public her honest opinion of these Super Soldiers.

Within moments the door open again and a tall brown haired man dressed in typical military garb walks into the room and takes a seat in front of her. Taking in his cool blue eyes, her gaze lowers to the small triangle of hair on his chin. That's a surprise. "I thought they made Soldiers look all clean shaven. Here I find one with a goatee."

"Coyote Starrk," he answers calmly. His objective was explained thoroughly. Counter intelligence to the public is necessary to keep the unit in place. The public simple needs to know they are safe, details are merely on a need to know basis.

"Ok... Ichigo Kurosaki," she says pulling out the small digital recorder from her pocket. "So I racked my brain what to ask someone who is never allowed an interview and I came up with an idea." Lifting her phone from her pocket she taps the screen and shows the man standing stoic and proper a picture of a boy fishing with his father. "This is Jinta and he wants to know your favorite places you visited with your father as a child."

Starrk looks at the screen with a blank expression. "I um..."

"That question was not on the list you gave us last week," said the voice over the intercom.

"It's just a normal question," Ichigo barks back turning her head back to the mirror to frown.

"Normal question," Starrk repeats, his hand reaches for the small phone full of curiosity.

"Yeah, the school children are very curious about the heroes that protect them everyday. So they want to know what you like, and things you do in your free time."

"What is free time?" He asks, his hand sliding over the phone to touch Ichigo's wrist.

"Where you just... enjoy life," she whispers feeling his fingers curl around her wrist. The smoky blue eyes meeting hers seem so sad and emotionless. She almost feels sorry for him without even knowing why.

Without warning the room fills with more people in shiny new suits. Before Ichigo can react she is whisked away from the sad looking man.

Ten minutes later Ichigo is escorted out of the building and finds herself sitting in her front seat of her car.

"What the hell was that about?" Shrugging she turns the key on her car and drives off the base. Soon as she arrives in her apartment she tosses her key over her shoulder so they land in her empty fish bowl. Dropping into the chair next to her desk she pops open her laptop and begins to type up the shortest expose` on the Super Soldiers in history. An hour later she has a quick dinner, which consists of microwave popcorn and a yogurt and passes out while watching television. With a start Ichigo wakes up to a tall dark figure standing over her.

The first thing on her mind is going into fight mode. Her left heel strikes the burglar in the stomach and Ichigo dashes away toward her front door. "You picked the wrong girl!" she calls lifting her hand to the chain on her door.

Suddenly a large dagger cuts into the door frame next to Ichigo's nose.

"Oh, shit," Ichigo mutters fumbling with the lock only to have a shadow creep over the door. "Listen... take anything you want." She knows she is rambling but she reaches into her blazer only to frown. "W- Where the hell is my phone!"

"In my hand."

"W- What?" Sliding down the door she turns her face away as a hand reaches out toward her but the hand doesn't touch her it instead snaps on the entryway light. Blinking her eyes focus on the tall brown haired soldier she met earlier in the day. "Coyote Starrk?"

"Yes."

"Y- You..." Gathering her courage she pops up from the floor and snatches her phone from his hand. "You stole my phone!"

"I did," he replies slightly surprised at how fast her fear of him vanished.

He takes a step toward her watching the fear return to her eyes. "I have questions that require answers."

"What is it?" she is certainly afraid, and is absolutely curious from head to toe about him.

"What is family?" Looking down to her phone she sees the picture she showed him earlier.

Ichigo can't help look at him in disbelief. "You don't know what a family is?"

"How do you enjoy life?"

"Wh-what?" Of all the things she expected him to say, that wasn't it.

"I've never 'enjoyed life' before, I want to know how."

Ichigo stared at him for a moment, wondering if he was serious before deciding that he was. "W-well, different people enjoy their lives in different ways, it all depends on what you like."

He frowned and examined Ichigo closely. "I like being with you, does that mean I would enjoy life if I'm with you?"

For a moment Ichigo couldn't speak and she was sure her face was bright red. "I'm not sure I'm the best person to help you enjoy life, Starrk-" Ichigo started to say, but was cut off.

"No. It has to be you. You're the only one who has ever made me feel before," Starrk said firmly, invoking no questions as to what he wanted. "You will show me how to enjoy life." He held out her phone to her and she hesitantly reached out to grab it. As she did so he caught her wrist and lifted it up to rub his cheek against her hand.

"Your skin is so different then all the others," he said curiously and his eyes fluttered shut. "So soft…"

Ichigo jerked her hand away as her blush darkened. "You shouldn't do that," she scolded him, making him blink.

"But I want to," he said, obviously not understanding.

"That doesn't mean you should do it!" She said in exasperation and took a step away from him, but he followed.

"Why not?" He countered.

"Because…because… you just shouldn't!" She knew she wasn't making a good argument, but oh well.

"Will you show me how to enjoy life?" Starrk asked plaintively and Ichigo made the mistake of turning around to look at him. He looked so lost… his grey eyes glistening not with tears, but with a firmness that brooked no argument. He was frowning at her, daring her to say no and Ichigo found she couldn't.

"Okay," she finally agreed with a deep sigh. "I'll do it."

His frown disappeared instantly and a not-quite-smile took its place. She stared at him for a moment and shook her head. "I take it they don't know you're here."

"No, I left on unauthorized leave," he said nonchalantly.

"Of course you did," she muttered underneath her breath and moved toward the living room. "You don't have anywhere to stay either?"

"With you," he said in the same tone. "I noticed your bed it large enough to fit two."

"You can't do that!" She said immediately, trying to keep her voice down. "It-it wouldn't be proper!"

"Why not?"

"Because you're a man and I'm a woman!" She said indignantly. "You are sleeping on the couch," she pointed at said couch which he looked at for a moment with a frown.

"I'd rather sleep on the bed," he said grumpily and looked at her pointedly.

Ichigo nearly caved, but reminded herself that she was an unwed virgin woman and he was a strange man who could probably bench press the couch.

"No, you're sleeping on the couch. And I am going back to bed because this has been a long and stressful day." She turned around without another word and went into her bed room, closing her door firmly. She heard him moving around in the living room but paid him no mind. She wiped her mind of all thoughts, a trick her father's friend, Urahara Kisuke, taught her. She slipped into sleep easily and dreamed of nothing.

When she woke up, she immediately knew something was different. Not necessarily bad, but… then she figured out what it was. There was a weight beside her on the bed that shouldn't be there. She most definitely hadn't gone to sleep with anybody, and yet there they were.

She turned around slowly and low and behold, there was Starrk Coyote. He wasn't quite spooning her, but his arm was thrown over the back of her pillow and she could tell that he had a morning wood by the tent in the blanket. Not to mention he was naked.

Now there were two options Ichigo could take. She could either slip out of bed quietly and pretend that this never happened- although both Starrk and her both knew. Or she could let him know just how displeased she was about the situation by waking him up.

Being the bad ass, no nonsense woman that she was, she chose option two.

Starrk was having a dream- something that he had never done before, and had only heard about. For some reason it was about Ichigo and it made him uncomfortable. His groin felt hot and heavy and he needed some kind of release. He wanted to take Ichigo and-

"Wake up you pervert!" Ichigo yelled and he jolted awake. His first instinctual reaction was to grab Ichigo and pin her underneath him with his knife at her throat. Luckily he never got the chance because she punched him hard in the nose the moment he sat up and hell did she punch hard.

Satisfied when he falls over the side in shock she marches off to the solace of the bathroom for a much needed shower. She locked the door. "If you aren't going to use the bed then why do I have to leave it?" He thought. Starrk's body drops back onto the bed, his head swishing over to the counter and the ringing phone.

He can't go back to sleep with the noise! "Ichigo your phone is keeping me awake." He mutters, his tired eyes wincing with each shrilling ring. Picking up the tiny device he begins pressing buttons. "Silence. I am in the forbidden place."

"W-Who is this?" Comes the voice from the phone making Starrk frown. Instead of replying he continues pressing buttons on the phone. Suddenly the TV turns on drawing Starrk's attention.

Tossing the screaming phone to the floor he his eyes grow round at the picture. A couple is sitting on a blanket with a basket eating with a happy glow around the couple. "Family?" He runs into the bathroom and opens the shower door. "I want to do this with you!"

"What the hell! Get the fuck outta my shower!" Ichigo screams, throwing bottles at him from the medicine cabinet. Her rage only increases when she sees the entire door pulled off its hinges. "You ripped off my damn door!"

However, Starrk isn't paying attention to her words or the various female products hitting him in the face. "Women look very different without clothes on."'

"Get out! Get out!" Ichigo tries to cover her body with a towel only to have it yanked away by Starrk. "Stop looking at me!"

"Impossible..." He tilts his head down and runs a single finger tip down her stomach. The gap of missing bubbles made a line down her tummy. Ignoring her screams he sniffs at the soap and smiles. "You smell good."

"I-It's just pineapple mango." she mutters, his gaze is sending too many conflicting emotions over her. Her eyes grow round as he dips his head down to flick his tongue out, tracing a path around her bellybutton. "I'm not food!" Ichigo punches him in the stomach and runs into her bedroom.

Pulling on a robe Ichigo slaps her own cheeks, trying to clear the barrage of emotions from her mind. She manages to tie her belt before Starrk makes it into the room.

"There! Let's do that!"

What?" Ichigo stares at the screen in shock. "It's just a commercial?"

"Are they a family? They look... happy. I want to be happy like that." He frowns, looking at her, but she hasn't noticed his sad face yet. "Do it with me."

"It's the middle of winter and-" She rolls her eyes as he grabs a blanket from the bed and lifts it up to her. "Oh god... no." His face is so damn sad. "Ugh! Alright! But just in the living room! I'm not going out in the snow for you! And put some fucking clothes on!"

So Ichigo did the only thing she could to make him happy. She grabbed a basket from the top of her closet, filled it with bagels and fruit and sat down on the blanket in the middle of her living room.

"Happy?" She asks, looking at him staring at the tv and then her.

Starrk simply nods, he is trying to decide if Ichigo should be naked. If he looks sad again- he might be able to see her breasts again. They are very nice and would make perfect pillows for him.

"I'm... going to go get dressed," Ichigo says as she steps off the blanket. He keeps looking at her like... she really is food.

Starrk return his gaze to the television and the couple on the blanket just did the strangest thing. Soon as Ichigo reappears he points for her to sit next to him, which she does reluctantly, and then he promptly presses his lips to hers.

However, something odd happens then. Instead of pulling away he finds himself unable to stop touching her lips with his. He sucks on her lower lip leaning over her until she gasps for air. Starrk's body heats up, he pushes against her lips soon as she sucks in a deep breath. The strangled frustrated sounds coming from her throat only makes him want more. Feeling overwhelmed Ichigo's back hits the plaid blanket her hands limp at her sides. She has been kissed before just not... completely breathless.

Unable to think she lets him kiss her roughly, his tongue urging for access to her mouth. Opening to him feels so good, she releases a moan when his tongue slides against hers. Starrk is so focused on the soft lips and sweet flavors he doesn't hear the phone ringing. Only when Ichigo slides out from under him does he hear her say hello.

"Forbidden..." Her fingers curl into a fist. "You answered my phone!"

LINE

I'm really enjoying writing this, Fuzzi is a great person to work with and the story line really hooked me. Please give us some feedback and let us know how we're doing!