A/U

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH…

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"Go Away! Leave me alone"

They weren't exactly the words that should make one feel welcome, Rukia thought. Especially given the fact that she traveled a thousand miles just to see him.

But nevertheless Rukia feels cheerful. Probably because this insane request/mission was over before it even started.

It was not because she was seeing him again after ten years, she told herself.

She regarded him thoughtfully. He was at the other side of the door, his arms folded and glaring at her.

He was a cute boy with spiky snow white hair, pale skin and deep green eyes all those years ago, and now he has matured into a handsome man leanly muscled and slightly tanned skin. He used to be just 2 inches taller than her but now he's a foot taller than her.

"Aren't you supposed to be leaving?" He reached out and snapped the door lock, as if she was some sort of barbarian, who would enter his house without an invitation, barge by him, sit on his sofa and demand tea.

Did he really think of her like that? Of Course he does! That's why she'd been overlooked for someone with a better pedigree.

Of Course if he really thought of her like that, He would know the flimsy screen door probably couldn't keep a determined little bunny out.

"Im not Leaving" The words came out of her mouth, all right. But it really surprised her. Because she did not want to be here in the first place. All the way here she had hoped and maybe even prayed for a reaction like this from him. So she could turn on her heels and catch the next flight to New York. That would be enough to soothe her conscience. She had flown all the way here, hadn't she? Who could say she had not tried her hardest? Not made her best effort?

"If you don't go away, I'll kick you out of my porch"

she wondered if she should tell him about the letter in her pocket. But something tells her that it was not the time.

" No you won't kick me out" she said

He glared at her. His eyes turned dark green. Immense eyes. They had always been his best feature.

"I have nothing to say to you"

" We could always talk about the dirt on your face"

He glared at her and slammed the inside door.

Not something a woman who had just traveled a thousand miles should find amusing.

But she did.

It wasn't , she told herself firmly, seeing her again that was causing this sensation inside her- like a light had been turned on within the darkness.

She shoved her hands in her pocket and turned to sit in the swing in his porch. She lived only a block from where they had grown up together. Him,her and Momo.

The community of Karakura, a beautiful place bordering the banks of bow river. From here on his covered porch, she could look south up his street and see the park that ran parallel to the river. A couple of runners enjoyed the paved path under the huge trees.

Sitting on the swing, out of the corner of her eyes she saw the curtains twitched angrily into place.

She rocked the swing slowly with one foot. She like Karakura, She like this place, She had missed it.

The neighborhood is changing so rapidly. Young professionals were snapping up the dignified old houses just across the river from the downtown core and doing renovations on them.

The trend had actually started when she and her dad had moved here years ago. She had been in the sixth grade.

His Father, Toshiro's, was a doctor, and had owned the beautifully kept old house on one side of hers. Momo's parents, a psychologist and veterinarian owned an equally beautiful one on the other.

Her house, a ramshackle rental, was right in the middle. Rukia and her dad, a mechanic with grease under his nails, doing their best to make it after the death of her mom.

She Heard the window squeak open behind her.

"Get lost" he snapped.

"No" she said

The window slammed shut.

She sighed with something like pleasure. Toshiro and his temper.