Everything is done. No more war. No more blood shall be spilled from fighting between wrongdoers and peacekeepers. The Shinigami of the Soul Society let out a sigh of relief and thankfulness from the absence of any conflict. The last conflict is finished thanks to, well, Ichigo Kurosaki of course. Who else can finish the fight?

Thanks to Ichigo's loyalty to all his allies and friends, Shinigami were triumphant again for the last time. There really won't be a chance of war anymore. There is nothing to worry about. Not even the occasional hollows that arrive in the human world are a threat; they are immediately cleansed.

What's on everyone's mind now, though? The Soul Reapers are on duty, but relaxed. There's not much to do. Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Renji, Uryu, they are all at their places, where they are supposed to be. Renji drops by time to time to say hello, anger Ichigo, mooch off the food at Urahara Shop, leave, and repeat the process again.

However, Rukia, who should be at Soul Society working (according to Byakuya, at least), decided to stay with Ichigo and his family. There is no need for her to go anyway, so she decided, why not stay with Ichigo? She enjoyed it there, she was able to learn more about the "fascinating life of humans."

Actually, that wasn't only why.

And Ichigo? Would he just let Rukia stay in some hotel or apartment all by herself? Of course not. Like old times (more like every time) he let her stay at his home in his room in his closet.
Things were getting different between them. Different enough so that others around them would notice and make assumptions.

What will happen? What's really going on with Ichigo and Rukia?
_

KARAKURA TOWN, 11:00 AM, SATURDAY

"Rukia? Hello?! It's 11 o' clock. You went to sleep early last night, how are you still sleeping?" Ichigo asked the tired Rukia. This is the fifth night she slept hours later than usual even though her curfew for sleeping was an early time.

"Uhn...What...? Let me sleep...It's only...4 in the morning..." Yeah, Rukia was really out of it. Ichigo didn't want to open the closet door and pull her out not only because he would disturb her, but because he would suffer fatal consequences.

He decided to go get some eggs and rice dumplings, some of her favorite foods that Ichigo remembered by heart. Not too long after the last war, Rukia's favorite foods weren't just taken into consideration by Ichigo. He tried to remember every detail of her, what she liked, what she disliked, those kinds of things. He never really thought of these details as significant in the past, so why now? Why is Ichigo showing greater affection? All these questions for him, who knows if he'll answer them.

Ichigo walked into the kitchen, pulled out some leftover rice dumplings from the fridge and two eggs. He wasn't really a good cook, so he just put the rice in the microwave, giving it a little warmth and so that the aroma appealing to Rukia would get her up from bed. Ichigo cracked the eggs into a bowl because he knew he'd get pieces of the shells in. So he did exactly that and picked them out. He poured the eggs into the frying pan and turned on the stove.

"Finally...done..I think..." Ichigo put the less-than-adequate eggs in the plate with the rice dumplings. Hey, it's the thought that counts, right? He walked up to his room to give his sleepy roommate her late breakfast. "Oi, Rukia, here." Slowly opening the closet door, Ichigo saw Rukia facing away from him towards the wall of the closet. She looked really tired, but why? She didn't engage in any tiresome activity all this week. She went to bed early. What's wrong with her? "Rukia, you're worrying me! Why the hell are you so tired lately? It's not like you at all, not making so much noise, keeping more things to yourself lately. Is it me? Did I do something?"

No response.

Ichigo sighed, and spoke up again, "Here, I made you breakfast. It's-"

Rukia slowly but suddenly lifted herself up. She rubbed her face and let out a long, loud yawn. Ichigo felt some relief because she's finally awake. However, Rukia, didn't get up to answer his questions, the aroma of the food he made woke her up.

"What's that smell?" Rukia asked in the middle of another yawn.

"How about you turn your head and look for yourself." Ichigo moved the plate closer to her so she could take it. "Just eat here, you don't have to go to the dining table." Rukia, whose eyes were half open, reached over and grabbed the plate.

"Thanks. Did Yuzu make this?"

"Oh, uh, no, I did..." Ichigo felt odd telling her this, because he never did anything like this for her before. So what? It's just breakfast, no big deal. Nothing to think about too much. Ichigo kept telling this to himself.

"Yeah right," Rukia scoffed, "I really don't think you'd do this. You never cook." She looked at his face while taking a bite of the rice dumplings. Ichigo's expression turned into a more sensitive one. Rukia noticed he was actually serious. "Wait, you really made this? You were not kidding?"

"I did."

"Oh...sorry, I didn't know, thanks a lot. I like it, I really do." Rukia complemented what looked like a culinary disaster. Even Ichigo didn't feel satisfied with his work. He assumed she was just trying to be polite. Anyway, he appreciated her thanks.

Ichigo sat down on the chair of his desk and stretched. "Yeah yeah, no problem." He looked outside his window and saw how bright the sun was shining. It was late January, a time where it's still supposed to be fairly cold. The average temperature during the time was just a bit cool; you'd only need a sweater.

"Ichigo," Rukia addressed him with a full mouth, then swallowed. "You do remember that Kisuke Urahara's birthday is tonight, right?"

No, of course he wouldn't remember. He's Ichigo. What do you expect?

"Oh, yeah, I remember," he lied. "What about it?"

"What do you mean 'what about it'?! It's such a special event! This is really important, Ichigo, you should consider this a top priority!"

Yup, she's awake now.

It's just a birthday, Urahara even said not to get him any gifts or surprise him. We would just go to place and hang out, just some of us, Ichigo thought. "Rukia, Urahara said not to make such a big deal out of it." He took the empty plate from Rukia since she finished, and went to the kitchen to wash it. I don't understand why she always takes little things like these to such serious levels. Eh, Rukia is Rukia, what do you expect. Always doing what you least expect. Maybe I should take it more seriously. Ichigo did a lot of thinking while cleaning that plate. Even when he was done cleaning it he was still cleaning it. Now he's just wasting the hot water. He shut it off, and put the plate on the rack so it would dry off. Ichigo suddenly thought of something; Is this why she's been so tired? Has Rukia been planning something for the birthday? Has she been dead tired this past week because of it? That makes sense. Rukia is so nice, kind, considerate, you always get that from her.

WHAT. Ichigo shook his head violently. Why am I thinking about that so deeply? While trying to forget about what he just thought of, he walked back up to his room. Now that he realized it, the only people at home were him, Rukia, and his sisters. Isshin was out of the house. Yuzu and Karin were in their room working on homework. It was really quiet inside. Normally the heating vents would be blowing warm air giving a background noise but because of the comfortable weather, it was unnecessary to turn them on.

Ichigo noticed the bathroom lights turned on from the space beneath the door. Rukia was freshening up. Ichigo entered his room and fixed her bed, something he also would never do. He waited for Rukia to get back so he could ask questions about Urahara's birthday plans. If he tried to hide his apathy, maybe she would be less irritated with him.

Rukia entered the room wearing fresh clothing and a face still wet from washing. She wiped away any water left with the small towel in her hand. Ichigo just sat and watched, thinking of how cute she looked doing that-
WHAT?! Shut up, shut up! Ichigo yelled at himself in his head. What on earth was he thinking?

Rukia walked to her mattress in her closet to fix it. She reached over, but then stopped, realizing it was already made.

"Ichigo, did you make my bed?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Uh, thanks, I suppose. You didn't have to do that." Even Rukia was finding his sudden acts of kindness peculiar.

"Hey, Rukia? About this birthday thing-"

"Ichigo!" Rukia interrupted him, appearing to be annoyed by his choice of words.

"What?!"

"It's not a 'birthday thing', it's more meaningful than that!"

Ichigo let out a sigh. "Okay, the plans for Urahara's birthday. How many people are going to be there again?"

"I told you so many times before! Do you ever listen!? Of course not, you're Ichigo, the guy that pays attention to almost nothing."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Could you just remind me please? We're wasting time if you don't hurry up."

"As I said before, there's going to be the usual people and Yoruichi."

"Okay, I see. One last thing, tell me why your sleep schedule is so off. Be honest. I'm a bit worried about your health." Ichigo asked what he truly wanted to. He crossed his fingers for a decent enough response.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm sleeping alright. Why do you worry, Ichigo?" There was an expression on Rukia's face that hinted something bad to Ichigo. She was definitely hiding something.

"Rukia, I'm serious! What is it? Is it because of this birthday thing-I mean-these birthday plans? Because you've been really stressing out over it this whole week. I don't even recall you caring so much about Urahara, so why would you care about his birthday being so special?"

Rukia was silent. Ignoring the question, she said something else. "I'm going to that clothes store a few blocks away. I need to grab something."

"Rukia, you didn't answer my question." By the time Ichigo finished, Rukia had already left the room to go to that store. Agitated from the lack of an answer, he jumped on his bed, and quickly fell asleep from a random headache.