Nicely written! I can't say when I exactly started to ship this pair, due to the fact that I was most definitely spoiled far into the anime by insane friends. *cough* So I think I shipped them before watching Bleach. If it's possible.

But Episode 17 did it for me. Actually... I think it was because I happened to watch that episode (w/o the other eps) that got me into IchiRuki. ^^

Boy, I feel inspired to write something like this...