I'm not Tite Kubo. I have never been Tite Kubo. I will never be Tite Kubo. I do not own Bleach.

Left behind

"Are you ready? Today is the most awe-inspiring, admirable event of the year! It's time for the Kurosaki family annual throughout cleaning spree!"

That's how it'd begun.

"Shut up already, old man. Let's just get this over with" said Ichigo tiredly.

It was early morning in the Kurosaki household. Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin were all ready, waiting for the signal. His father had decided that the house needed deep cleaning, and each member was tasked with a certain part of the dwelling that should be left impeccably clean by the time said member was through with it. Ichigo rolled his eyes, only playing along because, honestly, he was bored, and he didn't have school that day.

It wasn't really hard. He cleaned his room, threw away some old magazines while he was at it, and took care of the bathroom. It shouldn't have been, by any means, an eventful day. It shouldn't have been, but it was.

"Ichi-nii! Ichi-nii! Come quickly! Look what I found!" Yuzu yelled.

Ichigo ran to her room, thinking maybe a spider or some other pest had somehow invaded his sister's bedroom. Yet, when he arrived, she was standing in front of the desk, holding a single piece of paper.

"What is it, Yuzu?"

"Look! I found one of Rukia-chan's drawings! She must have left it here, look!"

It was stupid. A single, stupid piece of paper with a bunny on it portraying what seemed to be her idea of what the new mark for Weekly Shonen Jump should look like. A stupid little bunny with words around it. He knew it was probably silly to be affected by it, but he was. Why was one of her drawings in his house? Why had she left it there? And who the hell had taught her what manga was but of course that had been him, he had taught her all the modern stuff, and to pick victory, effort and friendship and why was her spelling so bad when she didn't suck as much in Japanese and did she even know what friendship was and if she did why didn't she even bother to send word to him through one of their friends, as far as he knew she could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere and he would never find out, not that he cared because who the hell did she think she was to leave him like that without even a note in seventeen months and she said she could still see him, yet she never came and what was with her and rabbits, really?

All these thoughts ran through his mind in less than a second. He wondered if Yuzu could hear his blood pumping hard through his veins as loud as he could, before his musings were interrupted by the arrival of Karin, who had clearly heard Yuzu's yells before.

"Hey, what happened?" she asked.

"Look, Karin-chan! I found one of those drawings Rukia-chan used to make. I was just showing Ichi-nii." Yuzu answered, holding out the paper for Karin to take. The dark-haired twin looked at it with a slight smile on her face.

"Typical Rukia-chan" she muttered, amused.

Yuzu turned to Ichigo, smiled and asked "Do you want to keep it, Ichi-nii?"

He didn't even think about it. "Throw it away".

Both twins looked up at him, surprised. Yuzu seemed particularly offended.

"But, why?"

"It's cleaning day, Yuzu." Ichigo answered. "You know what that means? It means getting rid of all the stuff we have no use for. That thing's not even good. Just throw it away."

"But, Ichi…"

"I said throw it away, dammit!" He finally yelled, losing his temper. Yuzu stared at him, her gaze angry.

"Well, you didn't have to be so mean about it!" She shouted while she left the room, running.

Ichigo run a hand through his orange hair, already feeling bad for snapping at Yuzu like that. Karin, on the other hand, had her arms crossed, still holding the paper, a smirk on her face.

"Way to go, onii-chan. You couldn't have been more of a jerk even if you had tried."

Ichigo looked at the door, muttering something that sounded like 'I'll apologize later'.

"So, anyway," Karin continued, "what's with you and hating all things Rukia?"

"It's not hating…" he started, but didn't finish the phrase. What, exactly, was it? Hurt? Maybe…

"Isn't it easier if you just admit that you miss her?"

He didn't answer for a while, and when he did, he didn't look at her, instead walking out the room, taking the drawing with him.

"I have to go to work. I'll take this and throw it on the bin on my way out." He said, crumpling said sheet in his hand.

"You know," said Karin, just as he was leaving, "if Rukia was here, she would have already kicked your ass for that."

Ichigo turned around one last time, looking at her with an expression that his sister had been seeing a lot on his face lately. Dejection.

"Yeah, but she isn't here, is she?"

The former substitute shinigami walked out the house, his mind filled with a thousand different thoughts. God, he hated that. Stupid doodle. Why did it have to show up, making him feel all those things he tried so hard to bury under the mask of a normal boy, living a normal life? He didn't want to feel this cold, this emptiness. He wanted to wake up everyday, go to school, hit Keigo, hang out with his friends, go to work, come home, study and go to bed. It was his routine, not exciting, maybe, but safe. Routine was easy, predictable. Routine wasn't going to enter through his window, turning his life upside down and making it actually worth something. Routine wasn't going to end with his heart and soul shattered into a million pieces that no puzzle-master could put together. This way was better. One foot first, the other next, breath in, breath out, act normal, frown, smile, wave, no one can see the truth.

Stupid doodle, making him think.

Work went normal, or as normal as it got when you were in charge of all kinds of odd jobs. He came home late, ate dinner with his family, and went to bed, not without apologizing to his sister for his outburst earlier that morning. He finally fell asleep, resting for what the following day would bring. In his closet, on top of a neatly folded futon, was a single sheet of paper, somewhat wrinkled but intact. It was a simple drawing, waiting for its artist to claim it, if she came back.

When she came back.

My first Bleach fanfic (oneshot)! I knew it would happen eventually, and here it is. I was inspired by the omake at the end of 431, because that doodle reminded me of how much I miss Rukia!

And since I published it there first, it's dedicated to everyone at the Ichiruki FC in BA. Thanks for all the kind comments, guys!