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Ichigo was wandering the streets of Seireitei for the first time after recovering his reiatsu. He was surprised at how everything was the same, even the flow of the reiatsu all around him. He was about to turn a corner when he thought he saw someone familiar.

"Rukia?" Ichigo shouted, not entirely sure that it was her since the Rukia he knew didn't have long hair.

"Ichigo?" the girl turned and stared at him. "Is that you?"

"Hey," Ichigo replied, feeling sheepish. Of course it was Rukia, he should've known better. "How've you been?"

"Stupid…idiot!" she slapped him. It was Rukia alright, Ichigo could tell her slap from other people's and that slap was definitely hers. "We thought you'd never see us again! And you go and greet me just like that?"

"Ow," Ichigo said as he rubbed his cheek, then he smirked at her. "Heh, as you can see, I'm fine."

"So I see," she nodded her head and gave him a soft smile, the ones she usually reserved for happy occasions. "That's good."

"So, how've you been?" he asked again, seeing her again made him feel better. "I mean, you never visited."

"I've been busy, I…" Rukia trailed off.

"Yeah?" Ichigo asked, waiting for her to finish her explanation.

"I've been promoted to vice-captain," she told him.

"That's great!"

"Of Sixth Squad," she finished.

"Sixth?" Ichigo asked, wanting to clarify. "Isn't Renji-?"

"Oi Ichigo! You're back!" A voice called out from behind him.

"Speak of the…" Ichigo murmured and turned to his red-headed friend. "Oi Ren…ji?"

The man who stood there was Renji, nothing changed in his appearance, he was still red-headed and still tattooed, although some of the tattoos seemed new. The thing that made Ichigo question his friend however, was the Captain's haori he was wearing.

"Yo," Renji grinned. "Glad to see you're back. I made captain!"

"Yeah," Ichigo grinned back. "I can see that. Boy, Soul Society must be desparate since they made you a captain."
"Hey!" Renji growled, annoyed. "Why you-"

"Sheesh, take it easy," Ichigo shrugged. "I was just kidding. Congratulations."

"Oh," Renji said, calming down and returning to his happy attitude. "Thanks. That's not the only thing good that happened since you've been gone though."

"Renji…" Rukia warned.

"Really?" Ichigo said, wanting to hear news about how his friends had been doing for the year. "What else is new?"

"Well," Renji thought about it. "Hitsugaya-taichou's gotten a bit taller."

"By how much?" Ichigo asked imagining a six-footer Hitsugaya.

"Half an inch or so," the red-head replied seriously.

Ichigo fell flat on his face. He really shouldn't have expected much. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," Renji grinned. "Ukitake-taichou's been feeling much better lately."

"That's good to hear," Ichigo replied. "So, Ikkaku's still bald, Kenpachi's still a fighting freak, Byakuya's still stiff, and Matsumoto's still a bad influence?"

"Pretty much," Renji nodded, then he calmly added "Oh, and Rukia and I got married."

"What?" Ichigo asked, not believing his ears.

"Renji!" Rukia said, startled that he just said that. "I thought I was going to be the one to tell him!"

"Eheh," Renji said, nervously putting his hand on his head. "Sorry Rukia, I couldn't help it."

"It's alright," Rukia smiled. "So Ichigo?"

"Con-congratulations," Ichigo gave them a fake smile. "I wish you all the best. You better treat her well Renji. She's a hand full though."

"Thank you, idiot!" Rukia said while hitting Ichigo on the head for his comment. Renji just grinned. He knew that Ichigo was an important friend to Rukia, heck, Ichigo was an important friend to both of them. It was a good thing that he approved.

"See Renji?" Ichigo asked, dodging a hit from Rukia. "You sure about this?"

"Of course," Renji said seriously, "I let her go once, never again."

Ichigo nodded to show his approval while Rukia blushed. Renji smiled for a while then he suddenly remembered something.

"I have a meeting!" he said, face-palming himself. "I have to go, see ya both later!"

With that he used shunpo to get to the meeting. Ichigo stood there staring at the spot Renji was standing on then he shook his head.

"Same old Renji, huh?" he asked Rukia.

"Yep," she replied. "Thank you. Really."
"Why?" Ichigo asked, the gravity in his question made Rukia a bit nervous.

"Why what?"

"Why'd you marry him?" Ichigo asked, not letting her see his face. "I thought…"

"Ichigo," Rukia said staring at the ground, she didn't want to explain but she needed to, she owed it to him. "Many things can happen in a year, you've been gone for a year and five months. And before that, you were asleep for three months. I'm sorry Ichigo."

"So that's it, huh?" he asked trying to look her in the eye.

"I'm afraid so," she nodded, still avoiding his gaze.

"Well," Ichigo said, trying to sound happy for her. "I'm happy for you."

"Thank you," she replied, finally looking him in his eyes. Seeing sadness there, she couldn't help but wonder if her eyes bore the same look. All thoughts of that, however, were forgotten when she remembered something. "I have a meeting!"

"He's rubbing off on you huh?" Ichigo joked. "Go on, I'll be fine here."

"Thanks," she said. "See you.'

Ichigo headed directly home, not even stopping by the Eleventh Squad barracks to say hi to his friends there. When he got back through Urahara's shop, he just nodded his thanks, got in his body, and went straight to his house where he just walked in and headed for his room, locking the door behind him.

"Rukia," Ichigo murmured as he was lying on his bed, staring at the door of his closet. "Why…?"

It wasn't as if they ever promised each other anything. Now that he thought about it, why wouldn't she marry Renji? Those two have known each other way before Ichigo was even born. Even after they were separated, Renji's one goal in life was to defeat Byakuya to get her back. It made sense that they'd get married, but that didn't mean that he was happy with it.

It was fair, but it wasn't what he wanted. He had thought that Rukia liked him, liked him enough to wait for him to die so that they'd be together. To say Ichigo was upset was an understatement, he wanted to punch through a wall, preferably a wall from one of those bomb shelters, the really thick ones.

"Rukia, Rukia, Rukia, Rukia, Rukia, Rukia, Rukia," he said her name over and over like a mantra as he shook his head each time he said her name.

"RUKIA!"

Ichigo bolted upright on his bed. He was panting as if he had run a marathon or taken on Ulquiorra again. He held his head in his hands and started to calm himself down. A concerned hand touched his cheek and forced him to look at the owner of the hand.

"Ichigo?" Rukia asked, sitting up and staring at him. "I'm here."

"Huh?" he replied, confused about the situation. "Rukia?"

"Right here Ichigo." she gave him a comforting smile.

"Oh…" Ichigo said, everything coming back to him. After he regained his reiatsu, he went to visit Soul Society, just like in his dream. He had also run into Rukia and Renji, but they weren't married. Everything was back to normal for them until Ichigo realized that he loved Rukai. It took Ichigo a few weeks to muster up the courage to tell her, but when he did, she just blushed and told him she felt the same. "I had a nightmare."

"Tell me?" she urged, wondering what could make Ichigo yell like that.

"I dreamt that you and Renji got married."

"Me and Renji?" Rukia asked about to laugh but stopped when she saw the look on his face. "You're serious."

"It was when I thought I lost all my reiatsu," Ichigo told her all about his dream, watching her face the whole time.

"Oh, that time," Rukia shook her head. "Don't worry so much about it. It didn't happen. I married you, didn't I?"

"Yeah," he said, giving her a peck on the lips. "For that I'm glad."

"Just glad?" she asked.

"Happy?" Ichigo tried. "Ecstatic? Joyful? Pleased? Jovial?"

"Just stop," Rukia laughed. "You don't have to recite all synonyms of the word happy to let me know that you are."

"Good," Ichigo replied, smiling at her. "Cause I was about to run out of the words that I knew."

"Stupid," Rukia shook her head and lay back down. "Go back to sleep."

"You too, midget," Ichigo said as he followed her lead and lay down beside her. "Or else you won't grow."

"Keep that up and you're getting the couch," Rukia warned, but she rolled into his arms.

"Just go to sleep," Ichigo said as he wrapped his arm around her, smiling when her leg wrapped itself around one of his.

"Yeah, yeah." Rukia replied. "I love you, Ichigo."

"I love you, Rukia."

They fell asleep and dreamt of the future that they would share with each other.

Thanks for reading! Sorry if that was kind of rushed, I had a nightmare and well... here's what it spawned. Sorry for any and every grammar and spelling error, and for OOCness it's been a while since I wrote something or watched the series.

Also, I know I haven't updated The Choice yet, and I swear I will get to that, some time...soon... if school lets me...*flattened by the pile of school books that still have to be read*

Anyway, please leave a review? XD