The moon rose high above the Soul Society, casting a soft glow down about Seireitei, where a slender, short raven-haired Soul Reaper perched on a roof, her big purple eyes fixed on the moon, hands settled on her knees, she couldn't sleep. She had too much on her mind to sleep, but she couldn't discover the source of her troubles once she came outside. It seemed to fade, and would soon be out of reach. She didn't understand why that happened to her; it just did. She let out a soft sigh, and rose to her feet, preparing to head back to the 13th squad barracks. If someone noticed that she had left her vice-captain badge back in the barracks people would wonder where she went. But she did this most nights, and her lack of sleep was starting to affect her. It wasn't too noticeable, the only one who seemed to notice how slow she was becoming was Renji, and he couldn't say anything since they weren't in the same squad.
She used flash step to return to the barracks, slipping into her room as quietly as she can manage. Her room wasn't well decorated; she had been living in the Kuchiki household for a long time, until she finally talked Byakuya into letting her live in the same barracks as her squad. She didn't want special treatment, and she suspected that her fellow squad members hated her for it. She wanted to prove that she didn't see herself above everyone else. But it was proving to be a vain attempt.
She sat down on her bed mat, and slowly pulled her zanpakuto off of her clothes, and sat her next to the mat, just within reach in case she needed to grab it and go. She didn't even bother to strip out of her Soul Reaper clothes, she was too tired to. She just laid down on her mat and drifted off to sleep.
Rukia was back in Karakura Town. Which was weird because she was no longer the representative of this town, and probably would never be again. She drifted about the top of the trees, looking around. Then she realized something; it was back in the time she'd come to visit Ichigo, after he lost his powers and couldn't see spirits anymore. This actually hurt; she enjoyed being his friend, and now she couldn't be there for him, or be his friend anymore. She had to accept that fact; that's how it had to be since he used all his powers to defeat Aizen. Sometimes she wondered if there was any other way for him to beat Aizen, without using all his powers up. But it couldn't be avoided.
She realized that she had drifted to the Clinic, hovering over it. She didn't notice when she got here; just that she was here. She drifted a little lower, wondering what was going on.
Ichigo emerged from the building, in his school clothes, holding his bag over his shoulder in his typical way. As usual, he was walking with his friends, a scowl fixated on his face. This amused her since he always wore that scowl, and rarely smiled. She dropped down behind them, and started following the trio.
"Where has Kuchiki gone anyways?" It was Keigo, talking to Ichigo.
"Back to Soul Society like I've told you thousands of times before." Ichigo growled at him. "Why do you have to keep asking?"
"I'm right here, if only you could see me." Rukia said rather loudly.
The boys kept walking, the third boy looked at Ichigo, the one that Rukia kept forgetting. "Don't you think she would at least visit?"
"Why does it matter to you two? She is back where she is supposed to be, she never even lived here in the first place." Ichigo snapped at them both. "I don't see what the big deal is."
Rukia remembered this specific conversation from when she was observing him once. Before she was taken back to Soul Society because she was "slacking" on her hollow hunting duties, hence the representative reassignment. But there seemed to be something different now, as Ichigo's friends had disappeared, and the entire place went dark. There was a boom of thunder and suddenly it was raining hard. What was going on? This wasn't how she remembered things went.
Ichigo just stood completely still in the torrent, his orange hair now flat against his head. He turned around, and seemed to look straight at her, but he was seeing straight through her. She could see the sorrow in his eyes, and she wondered why he felt like that. She'd seen the sorrow in his eyes on and off, but never so intensely before.
"Rukia." He said her name, and she stared at him stunned. He could see her?
She got her hopes up as he continued. "If you were here, you'd probably beat me up for turning into such a baby. And for not being able to protect anyone."
"I'm right in front of you!" She shouted, waving her arms, but he turned away, and kept walking, and suddenly the scene returned to normal. "ICHIGO!"
He started to turn, to look…
And then she jolted awake, the sun pouring into her room. There was a figure standing in the room, and as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she could identify who it was.
"Renji. What are you doing here?" She stared at him as she belted her zanpakuto to her hip.
"Head Captain wants us to go to Karakura Town."
"Why us? It can't be for hollows, Ichigo's been taking care of that since we returned his powers to him."
"He just wants us to go." Renji said flatly. "I assume it's to keep us busy, but who knows?"
"Okay then." Rukia strode past him. "Let's go."
"Wait." Renji grabbed her shoulder, spinning her back around. "He wanted me to tell you that this is strictly business, meaning don't get distracted. We're there as Soul Reapers, not friends seeing old friends."
"I got that!" She shouted at him, jerking away from him. "Let's just go you stupid pineapple head."
A vein puffed up in his forehead and he looked pissed. "Yeah, whatever."
They both left her room, and headed for the gate to head into the world of the living.
"GOOD MORNING ICHIGO!"
Isshin came flying into the room, his fist flying towards his son's face. The orange haired teen shot up, grabbed his father's fist, and sent his open fist into his father's face, which sent him into the floor.
"Dad." He growled, fuming mad.
"I see you are aware as ever." Isshin groaned, holding his nose, lying on the floor. "Even half asleep."
"You're an idiot." Ichigo growled at him. "You really bug me, you know that right? Especially waking me up early, on a Saturday!"
Isshin didn't answer, he was in too much pain to say anything to his fuming son. Ichigo just stalked past his father, storming down the stairs. He was always in bad moods in the mornings, all thanks to his father's surprise attacks of which he easily stopped. But then he stayed in a bad mood forever. He lightened his tread when he went into the kitchen, which smelled good because Yuzu was finishing up making breakfast. This always lightened his mood, and then his dad would darken it again. Might as well jump on this while he still could. He noticed breakfast was already on the table, and Yuzu was nowhere to be found. She was probably getting dressed or waking Karin up. Ichigo sat down, and didn't dig in, because he knew if he started eating before everyone else showed up Yuzu would scold him for several minutes straight. He wasn't hungry enough to risk getting scolded by Yuzu. He'd rather wait for the others so he could go do his own thing, rather than get trapped at the table by his younger sister. It wasn't like he had anything planned; he just didn't want to stay in the house with his family all day. Or more specifically, his father.
After a few minutes, his sisters came downstairs. Yuzu, with her light brown hair, and then Karin, the slightly taller and raven-haired girl of the two. She wore a very similar expression to Ichigo, a scowl, but hers seemed less angry, and more just sulky. They sat down in their spots at the table and waited for their immature father to come join them.
"Did you hit dad too hard again?" Yuzu stared at her brother questioningly.
"The old man had it coming to him Yuzu, he attacked me first." Ichigo sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Then he saw the disapproval radiating from her face. "Seriously Yuzu, I was defending myself."
"You don't always have to hit him so hard Ichigo." She still had disapproval written all over her face.
"Geez Yuzu, you're overprotective." Karin cut in. "You know dad always jumps on Ichigo whenever he gets the chance."
Yuzu turned her big disapproving eyes on her sister. "Karin!"
"You know it's true. Yes, Ichigo does hit him a little hard, but I mean that's just Ichigo." Karin shrugged.
Why you little…A vein bulged on Ichigo's forehead and he glared at his dark haired sister. He thought she was siding with him, but she was just attacking him in her own way! He loved his sister's to death, but they could really be a thorn in his side sometimes. A thorn that wedges right in-between his ribs so deeply he can't pull it out. But that's how his family was.
Eventually, Isshin came barreling down the stairs, and very nearly plowed right into the table.
"Dad!" She shouted at the man she was just defending. "You almost knocked breakfast off the table."
He took his seat at the head of the table. "Sorry Yuzu."
Ichigo just grunted in annoyance and waited for his sisters to dish up breakfast, then put some own on his plate. The family ate in a semi-awkward silence. Ichigo was still fuming mad at his irritatingly childish father, but he couldn't change the way his family functioned. They may be irritating, but he loved them nonetheless.
Once Ichigo finished, he dumped his plate into the sink, thanked his sister for breakfast, and then ran upstairs to change. He threw on a red t-shirt and a pair of jeans, pulled his shoes on, then ran back downstairs and out the door before his family could question where he was running off to now. He always left the house without telling anyone where he was going. It was a really bad habit of his, but one he had yet to attempt to break.
Rukia hovered over the clinic, watching Ichigo bolt out of there like he was in a hurry to get somewhere. Knowing him, he just wanted to get away from his family. She wasn't surprised. He had a short fuze and they tended to burn it out rather quickly.
"Hey." Sudden smack to the back of her head. "Head Captain said not to get distracted."
Rage appeared on Rukia's face as she whirled around, planting her foot into Renji's face. "I know that you fool! Stop talking to me like I'm a complete idiot!"
Renji went skidding backwards, very nearly falling out of the air, but luckily he kept himself up. "What's the deal with coming to the Kurosaki clinic then? Nothing interesting is going on here?" He looked down. "I'm surprised that idiot hasn't picked up on us."
"He isn't even aware we're here, so of course he hasn't tried to pick up on our reiatsu." She scowled at Renji. "Who's getting distracted now?"
Renji clenched his teeth, his eyes narrowed in anger. "You little…"
He didn't get a chance to finish because his face met Rukia's foot once more, sending him bouncing backwards again. His nose was now bleeding, and he had to plug it with his hand. He was glaring daggers at Rukia.
"You are such a little nit pickety fool." She growled at him. "Why can't you relax a little?"
Renji didn't answer for a few minutes, he waited for his nose to stop bleeding. "Because we're here strictly on business."
"Did the head captain mention the business to you?"
"Yes he did."
Rukia glared. "What is it then?"
"We just have to make sure Ichigo is doing his job." When he saw Rukia's disbelief glare he waved his hands defensively. "He trusts him, we all do. He just wants to make sure he is being thourough."
"If he trusted him fully he wouldn't have sent us." She snapped.
He sighed. "I know…but he just wants to be sure. And…according to the science department, he has got a trace of hollow in his reiatsu once more. He just wants to make sure nothing happens."
"I thought the hollow was gone."
"When we restored his powers, the hollow probably came back."
"So what does he think Ichigo's gonna lose control and destroy everything?"
He shrugged. "Who knows?"
She grabbed Renji by the collar of his clothes and jerked him down to her face. "THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN! ICHIGO'D NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN!"
Renji's eyes moved slowly downward and then stopped. "Rukia, you shouldn't have been shouting."
Rukia looked downwards as well, to see brown eyes staring straight back up at her. Great, he heard her. She released Renji and put a hand over her face. She'd actually forgotten that the orange haired substitute had been below them and totally lost her cool. She needed to get a better handle on that. And now that she was studying his reiatsu…she did feel a slight distortion in his, one that hadn't been there when she first restored his powers. This was recent, and the distortion was only a small one, but definitely one of a hollow. This worried her a little bit. Did Ichigo even know that the hollow reiatsu was there? Or was he really so dense as to not notice something like that?
"Yo." Ichigo shouted from below. "What are you two talking about?"
Rukia didn't answer.
A/N: I couldn't think of the honorific for older brother in Japanese. I know Karin usually says Ichigo or ichi-nii but I remember Yuzu usually uses the normal honorific but I can't remember for the life of me what it actually was. If someone could clear that up for me, that would be much appreciated.
This story was written completely on a whim, and therefore is not developed at all. Just bear with me, the storyline will develop as it goes along. Suggestions to how I can improve it are appreciated, even though this is just the first chapter, I have several other bleach and other fanfics I'm writing with this one, so mistakes will be made that I don't notice since i'm trying to write so much all at one time. Hope you enjoyed the story, and there will be more to come :)