Back in town..(private)

It was still dark when Ichigo heard voices but ignored them, he was delighted that no weird dreams had been showing up, he had had problems with them for a while now, his friends had urged to wake him up in his own sleep, they where mere shadows but he knew them by their voice, very annoying if you asked him, he was after all trying to sleep, but now these dreams where gone, he hoped for good, maybe it was because Rukia had returned? well whatever it was it was not a mere coincidence he was sure, a beeping sound continued for what seemed like forever in his sleeping state, in truth there where only four beeps, and then came the yelling Ichigo jumped up from his bed and fell on the floor, oh man someone was gonna hear a few complains now, he knew exactly where that beeping sound had come from, he rushed to his closet and opened it quicky with great force, which caused kon to fly deep into the back of the closet SHUT THE HELL UP DAMMIT!!! I swear if i hear another sound i will personally make sure that your phone will see the afterlife before you can say Orange haircut!

As the closet door was flung open, and Kon was send flying into the back of it, a very unsual scene meet the former shinigami. Insteed of hearing insults being flung in defence, and something being thrown at him, there was completely silent. Rukia was sitting up against the backwall, the sheet being wrapped around her. The phone was placed on the pillow, being closed. At first it seemed like Rukia had left her body in the closet to go hunt hollows, but it was breathing, and her gigai didn`t act like that. She had her knees pulled up to her, her arms hugging them closely. The black hair flowed down her legs and shoulders, her face being hidden due to it and the knees. "I`m sorry for making noice, Renji called to check up on me, nothing else..", she reponded in an almost empty tone, not seeming to be very intrested in aguring with him.

"Nee-san, Nee-san whats wrong?" The plushie asked as he ran up to her, placing his left paw onto her leg, oddly enough not being swooped away by Rukia. When he didn`t get an answer, he turned towards Ichigo, lifting his arm up towards him. "Look what you did, Baka! You made nee-san sad! Your really rude to her! Its been so long since Nee-san left, and now that she`s finally home, you should treat her with more respect!". When Kon was about to charge at Ichigo, he was grabbed by Rukia`s left hand, her face still being hidden. "This is not my home, your stupid plushie...i would`t mind it to be through", she said while raising her head a little, letting him go lightly. The look in her violet eyes indicated she had been crying, or had been close to. Renji`s call had reopened the troubled emotions she had, had in the past, back when Uruhara had told her that Ichigo would loose his powers permanently..it was emotions she thought she had gotten over. Ichigo had gotten over the fact that they were gone, so why could`t she? She had never been really good when it came to her own emotions, so she didn`t know the answer.

She leaned over and picked up the telephone, sitting back down with her back against the wall. "Orange stupid haircut..". Her signature teasing smirk came over her lips, indicating she haden`t gone all down. It dissapeared quickly through, and her face soften up a little. She raised her head a little, looking over Ichigo`s shoulder at the full moon outside his window. "Just call me crazy for asking this..but did you have you missed your life as a shinigami now that your powers are gone..". Rukia looked up at him now, not seeming to mind Kon whom had walked off somewhere to under Ichigo`s bed. "Did you ever miss me?". The two questions was direct, and didn`t sound like something she normally would say, but by the look in her face, it was clear she was deeply serious.

Ichigo calmed down while looking at Rukia like that, Ichigo`s words dropped dead on the spot then kon started to talk yell and stuff Ichigo`s eyes where concealed behind his hair, as he wondered if he had gone too far, he ignored kon for now "hey are you even listening to me Ichigo!" he yelled at him, in an effort to get his attention, it certainly was rukia and not her gigai he was sure, he expected rukia to fling an insult at his way any minute but none came instead she responded with an reasonable excuse, her tone simply confimed his suspicion that she was in fact dead serious, Ichigo hardly moved from the spot, rukia suddenly stopped kon and telling the plushie to stop, this futher raised Ichigo`s suspicion and he awaited futher reply from her, had she been crying? oh no im feeling bad already, Ichigo figured, it had been some time since he had seen rukia cry or even close to crying, so this had to be important to her, he suddenly felt a heavy burden on his shoulder`s as he was concerned that he might have hurt rukia`s feelings... he was just about to apologise as he opened his mouth momentarily when Rukia commented teasingly at him, man this made him clench his teeth together, Ichigo felt rather annoyed about just for a minute actually thinking that she had been hurt by his words... he avoided to look directly at her and instead whispered something to himself that rukia did not overhear cheater... Ichigo once again looked up at her with a more serious facial expression, she seemed to be almost smiling... was she senile?

Ichigo stared at Rukia with one of his eyes covered by his messy orange hair, what? she asked a rather serious question and honestly Ichigo was unsure what he should have told her, instead Ichigo decided to make it simple enough, Ichigo narrowed his eyes slightly what a dumb question to ask Rukia... off course i was worried about you... we are friends right? first off if they where not friends he would not have invited her in here in the first place, it would have been a more direct course of action but Ichigo decided not to think too deep about it, her first question however made him think for a minute, there where both bad and good sides when you lose your shinigami powers, first you don`t have to run around the town at night which was good, second my grades are not directly inflicted by these courses of action, the bad things where that he could no longer protect his friends, he was weak and on top of that he could neither protect his pride or his family`s pride, he just hoped that things would have returned to how things had been... he guessed that it was his final answer as it was not worth more than the lifes of his friends, but instead of telling rukia the truth Ichigo responded Off course not, why would i want to be ordered around by you all over again... Good night rukia... he said closing the door as the moon dissapeared out of rukia`s sight it became pitch black, Ichigo had given a smile to rukia, one that said "im all right like this" altrough it had been a lie, he was not gonna tell such things to his friends, not now, besides he would never get his shinigami powers back anymore so it was a rather pointless question... Ichigo returned to his bed moment`s later sighing, hoping that rukia would have bought the trick...

The seemingly endless night dragged on forever until the sun started to shine above the horizon, Ichigo had awakened early that morning preparing breakfast, bacon and eggs some green tea and toast... he was watching the new`s on the TV in the kitchen wondering when would rukia wake up? he had not awakened the girl in fear that she would have already left, instead he pretended that she was still there, sleeping weather that was true god knows, soon he would be off to school and tell his friends that Rukia had returned...

When you thought about the sun...Rukia walked into the room...only wearing a bra who`s left strap had fallen down her left arm, and some plain white panties. She was rubbing her left eye, apparently just haven woken up. She looked over at Ichigo, oddly enough not jumping behind cover or hiding herself with her hands. The long black hair was a little tangled, else it looked okay. "Good-mooorning, Kurosaki-kun!", she said with an unusual big grin, and a large wave with her left hand. She spoke in an almost dreamy voice, as if she had forgotten how to speak modern Japanese. Kon was sitting at her left shoulder, looking at Ichigo with a scared look. "Get me down from here, baka! This isen`t nee-chan!", he said while trying to take off the drawing of the bunny chappy, that Rukia based all her "art drawing`s" on. All of a sudden, the front door flung open, n. The air in the house got cold for a moment, and it also got heavy, making it hard to breath. As soon as it had come, the air and the heavy feeling dissapeared, and the front door shut itself.

Rukia had fallen onto the floor, as if she had been knocked out. Mere moments later she stood up, brushing herself off. "Sorry about that..it took me time to lower my spiritual pressure". She lifted her now serious, yet soft gaze, and looked at him. "Nee-san!", the plushie said, jumping onto her leg after having been flung off due to the pressure. "Get off me!", she yelled in respond, kicking him down into the floor. She stopped her moves sudden, her eyes looking at how little she was wearing. With a crimson blush over the face, she speed up to the second floor. After a few moments, she returned, wearing the same clothes as the day before. She could still fit the pajamas, but she had grown to much in the bust, even through it wasen`t a big growth, and had gotten to slender to fit Yuzu`s clothes. As she walked towards the table, she stepped onto Kon, pressing extra hard to make her point.

"After waking up you yesterday, i thought i should`t wake you up again just to inform you i went out. My Gikon has yet to learn i don`t wander around in underwear..". She poured herself a glass of water, sitting down at the table across him. The fact that she haden`t been in her body, explained the weird behavior of her before. Rukia took a rather large sip of the glass, putting it back down after wiping her lips. She looked around, noticing how...quiet it was. No Ichigo and Isshin fighting and auguring...no Karin trying to ignore them, no Yuzu who would offer her breakfast and tell her dad and older brother to stop it. She kinda missed them...and wondered if they had missed her as well. She didn`t even know if their father had told them that he was a shinigami like ichigo was-...had been.

Looking at Ichigo again, she gave him a little smile. "Neh..when are we leaving for school? I`m not going to have classes there, but knowing your teacher, she would`t mind if the pretty Kuchiki-san returned for a day...". The smile dissapeared as she finished talking, and her gaze soften up. "You didn`t think i would leave you so suddenly again, did you?", she said, referring to when his powers and ability to see her had dissapeared.

Ichigo was enjoying his breakfast the best he could he poured himself a nice cup of warm tea as he heard someone coming down the stairs, he poured some tea into his mouth just as Rukia stepped into the kitchen that`s when Ichigo noticed something was off and he spitted out the contents on his mouth in suprise as well as fell down from the chair with a loud thud, that was some serious bull right there what the hell was she thinking walzing in half naked like that then Ichigo realized it was her gikon, he narrowed his eyes in annoyance her words further confirming his thoughts, he sat up as the front door opened futher convincing him what was happening he awaited for a moment as he stood up looking down at his school outfit that was partially wet now... he avoided to look directly at "Rukia" as she fell on the floor Ichigo unbuttoned his shirt his eye twiching with a hint of a blush, he covered his eyes The hell with that attitude! Ichigo had almost no problem to breath since he could not feel any spiritual pressure at all, leaving himself even more vurnable to creatures with high spiritual power, which did not luckily include rukia even if she was a vice captain she could maintain her spiritual pressure at a relatively low level.

Ichigo had ignored kon the entire time because of the situation that he was in, school was starting within an hour and his school uniform was wet, as Rukia did in fact return Ichigo listened to her That`s not the freaking problem here dammit! look at yourself!.... ..... still covering his eyes entireley as he had confirmed that she had went back upstairs Ichigo slided a finger peeking at where rukia had been he sighed cursing for himself, he took off the dirty wet outfit and tossed it with the rest of the dirty clothes where they belonged, he sorted out some stuff and went to check if he had some clothes he could use, well off course he did lucky his sisters had taken that into account that he might need more than one school outfit just in case, he changed in the living room since he did not want to run into any more akward moment`s today, he returned back to the kitchen and started to clean up the mess Rukia had caused him to do, he cursed quietly for himself, and poured him yet another cup of tea...

He had now noticed a slight diffrence in Rukia she too was maturing it seemed far faster than he had expected, this was no GOOOD MORNING anymore, not after Rukia`s Gikon had decided to walk in like that so you still dare to show your face? You should teach some manners to you Gikon do you have any idea how annoying that was?

Then Rukia asked the most ridiculous question of the day, when are we leaving for school? oh she can`t be serious... Ichigo narrowed his eyes again in a comical way and shut down the TV The hell your coming to school, i though you where on duty? off course not... im just not sure if that really is a good thing or not... he added about her last question and replied with a rather sarcastic voice, off course he did not mean it for real... he just pretended to act that way...

"Of cause i am on duty, i may be a vice captain, but it dosen`t mean i`m not allowed to take breaks..besides", she said, reaching into her pocket, pulling out the phone. "With all the hollows killed last night, it will be awhile before any alarms comes up..even if it comes up, it wont take me long to "fix" it..". It wasen`t a lie that Rukia had gotten stronger over the past few months. Even through she haden`t obtained bankai, she was training for it with Renji when her duties as a vice captain didn`t require her. Obtaining bankai wasen`t really on the top of her goal list, but it was a goal non the less. She looked down at her water for a moment, softly laying her left hand onto the table. "I just wanna go..to see how everyone is doing..i missed you all in soul soceity. Fighting so long togeder forms strong bonds between people that won`t be broken..". She lifted her head, looking around a little. "..If i don`t meet your dad and sisters before my guard duty ends in a month..say hello from me, and say that Rukia-chan is doing fine and misses them". Her face had soften fully up, and her violet eyes were gentle...it was rare you found her in such a good mood. Rukia looked up at him for a brief moment, before looking at the window. She wondered if he would be happy about the news of her staying in the human world for a month...or if he would feel sad that she would`t stay forever. The latter didn`t seem very likely, it was more likely he would get angry by the thought of putting up with her for so long. With a light sigh she looked down at her glass of water, her reflection starring back at her.

She noticed how long her hair really had gotten, 5 inches more and it would be just as long as Orihime`s. Rukia looked up at Ichigo, first now noticing that his hair had grown as well, not as much as her own through. His hair seemend a bit flatter and it was long enough to slightly cover his eyes. His neck hair was also longer as well, but only by 2 or 3 inches. To break the odd silence, she flashed a brief smirk and looked up at him. "You know, if you keep growing your hair, it will get as long as mine..why did you decide to grow it anyways?". The question was a bit out of place, but there was time to answer it, and she gussed he would`t mind a change of topic. She turned her gaze to Kon, whom had crawled up at the table, now sitting between the two with his plushie arms crossed. "Nee-san, why did you grow your cute short hair so long?". Rukia raised an eyebrow a little, before swirping him off the table with her left hand, letting out a light sigh. "No reason really...i just thought i needed a little change". she stood up from the table, placing her glass in the sink. Instead of going back to the table, she remained there, the only sound being her soft breathing.

"..Ichigo, does it bother you that the house is so quiet? No caring Yuzu, no bored Karin..no "violent" father". She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes displaying she was a bit worried for his emotional condition.

Ichigo listened to rukia talking something about her duty as a shinigami blah blah blah, he sipped some tea to calm his thoughts, he sighed i see... when she meantioned about his father and sisters his eyes perked up a notch as his attention fell over rukia again, a slight smile crossed his face but only so slightly that he did not allow rukia to see it Ill let them know that you are gonna stay here for a month... they are gonna be gone for another week or two so don`t expect to see their faces anytime soon...

Ichigo stirred the tea in his cup Its like we got a new start Rukia... another month he said calmly altrough this time they knew each other much better and and soul society was not hunting for them, man those thoughts brought some memories... Ichigo looked dumbfounded at rukia about her question that she commented about his hair i thought you asked me that already yesterday Rukia? or is it possible that you have started to grow senile? a signature smirk was shown on his lips briefly besides... everyone`s allowed to do what they want with their hair... he did really not pay any specific attention to Rukia`s answer about the whole thing why she grew her hair longer to be frankly honest Ichigo thought she looked better with shorter hair, altrough he kept his opinions for himself...

Ichigo finished his tea as well and put it in the sink, picked up his bag he sent a quick gaze at Rukia when she asked a rather peculiar question .... .... well maybe it does bother me slightly but that`s why i go and eat outside... either way im just happy to get to school he went to the front door and opened it are you coming or not?

"A new start? Stop sounding so dramatic..but i guess it is true. Its quite weird, just seeing your ugly face again feels like a dream". Despite the teasing part of her sentence, the words were fully true. She turned fully towards him and noticed his signature smirk when he said everyone was allowed to do what they wanted with their hair. He haden`t changed much, he was still the same idiot as before...what had she been so worried about back in soul society? Haden`t nii-sama told her to simply forget the human and focus on her duties as vice captain? With a light sigh she looked at the floor, the thought of the still missing Byakuya didn`t do much to help on the mood. "You happy for going to school? Your finally lost it, took longer than i thought". She flashed one of her own teasing smirks, before walking up to the hallway, putting on her shoes. She reached out to grab her bag, but first now remembered..she didn`t have one, because she was not apart of that school or this world in fact.

She looked up at him, allowing herself to smirk softly. "Yea, but if i suddenly go, don`t get surprised". She went out the door, putting her hands behind her back in an almost childish manner. The weather was fairly nice this morning, an almost clear blue sky, a mild breeze and the rising sun. A good weather for two people whom, despite all odds, would spend anthoder month together re-living old memories, and creating new once. "Comen baka, or you wanna get late?"

Ichigo had bareley time to finish his sentence when Rukia already teased him, as the words sinked in Ichigo`s face darkened in a comical way, dammit you, he thought for himself, it was clear that she had gained those similiar traits from Byakuya, to talk in a most annoying way and to throw those words back at him, when her smirk came into view Ichigo got the urge to start a debate weather she was really serious about going to school?

I mean what was she gonna say? when she had been gone for more than six months, sorry im late? would anyone even remeber her? Inoue, chad and Ishida would but the rest? Ichigo shrugged his shoulders Shut up... he responded back with an annoyed tone to it, they left to school early that morning

[exit]