Disclaimer: Bleach is © Kubo Tite, Viz Media, Studio Pierrot, Shueisha, etc. This is a nonprofit fanwork. Written on 2/12/06.

Some Unfinished Business

by Fushigi Kismet

"I . . . owe you one," he gasped out, hand clutching his middle where blood was gushing forth.

Rukia, standing with her back to him, rested her head against her arms holding on to the grip of her soulslayer which was wet with Ichigo's blood and was lodged blade down in the ground. "Let's just . . . call it even."

"Heh." He managed a grin. "Fine."

"Is he gone?" she asked, kicking at the pieces of the mask littering the ground.

"I think so. Your bankai . . . packs quite a punch."

"Of course," she retorted, "I had to train hard enough for it, after all." What had pushed her to such extremes remained unsaid.

"You sticking around this time?"

He was irritated when she paused and responded with, "I didn't inflict too much damage, did I?"

"Hurts like a bitch. You?"

"Good thing I got through to you in time, idiot. Any deeper and I might be laid up for long enough to make me cranky."

Faint sounds reached Ichigo's ears. "Don't worry. I hear Inoue and the others. We'll be patched up before we know it."

But Rukia didn't seem to be overly concerned about her injuries. "Ichigo?"

"Yeah?"

"It's a good thing I'm back," she said loftily. "You obviously can't take care of yourself."

"You recommending yourself for the position?" He didn't know whether to be irritated or amused.

"It looks like I'm stuck with it already, doesn't it? Did you know you've been rated Grade 1-A by the new SS Council, Ichigo?"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means they consider you as dangerous as a Menos Grande. Maybe more so. It's not that Soul Society's not grateful for all that you've done and doesn't appreciate the help - they just worry about having that much power running around unsupervised in the human world."

"Control freaks."

"Well, you ARE a human after all."

Once she might have said just.

"To that end," she continued relentlessly, "I've accepted a temporary assignment in the area."

"What kind of an assignment?" he asked suspiciously.

"Keeping an eye on you."

This didn't sound promising AT ALL. "How long're we talking here?"

"I wonder," she said, pretending to think. "Until SS is sure you won't cause anymore trouble, maybe."

"That long, huh?"

"Just about."

"I'd better make sure I live a long life then. Would hate to make things easy for you."

"When do you ever?"

"Speak for yourself!"

She shut her right eye. Blood was trickling into it from a gash on her forehead. "I thought we were even?"

"We are."

"Make sure to keep it that way."

Painfully craning his neck to look at her, he felt his lips quirk in a smile. "Can't promise you that."

The conversation was cut short by Inoue running up to them all aflutter, calling, "Kurosaki-kun! Kuchiki-san!" with Ishida and Chad close behind.

"Hey. Rukia," Ichigo said, catching her attention just before the others reached them. "Welcome back."