KARIN POV

Karin knew that Rukia didn't actually sleep in their room. When Rukia thought that Karin and Yuzu were asleep, she got up slowly and walked out of the room, towards Ichigo's room, and the closet where Karin knew Rukia felt so much more comfortable with.

"Mmmm, Karin? Whass goin' on?" Yuzu sat up. "Where's Rukia-chan?"

Karin looked at the empty bed as if she had just noticed. "Oh. I…don't know. Just go back to sleep, kay?" Yuzu nodded sleepily and slipped back into her dreams.

Then there was the morning that Ichigo was gone. Yuzu started sobbing, and their father acted all concerned but Karin could tell he really didn't mind Ichigo doing his own thing, and in fact might have a slight idea where Ichigo was. Rukia's eyes widened when she heard and she almost looked a little…hurt. Why? Really, Ichigo did this kind of stuff all the time. Maybe, it dawned on Karin, when he leaves us, he's always with her. And now she feels like he abandoned her?

That night, again Rukia left their room. Karin didn't really care where she was going this time. She was actually kinda mad at Ichigo. Why did he have to do this?

YUZU POV

Sigh. Yuzu hated it when Ichi-nii left. He did it a lot lately. She missed him so much!

"Hey Karin." Karin pretended to be asleep but Yuzu knew she was awake, thinking about Ichi-nii too. "Karin." She shook her slightly.

"What?" Karin glared at her.

"Um, I'm going to sleep in Ichi-nii's room. I- I miss him." Yuzu eyes filled with tears as she held Bostov tightly.

"Whatever." Karin turned over, and Yuzu stood up, bringing all her blankets with her.

When she walked into Ichi-nii's room, she saw, by the light of the moon, someone sitting on the bed.

"Ichi-" she caught herself before she woke the person, who she now saw was Rukia-chan. Rukia-chan sat with her knees up to her chest, hugging a pillow, and…crying?

RUKIA POV

Dammit, where was he? Couldn't he tell how much his family would miss him? She remembered how, after she woke up that night, he was staring at her like that. She could tell he was so angry with himself for not being able to protect her, or anyone else. Like she didn't feel like that too. The first time he had fought Grimmjow, she had arrived just in the nick of time to freeze him. And it hadn't even worked. Grimmjow had almost blasted her in the head with a Cero. Then Shinji arrived, thank goodness. And the next time they had fought Grimmjow, he had literally thrown her aside like she was nothing. She was weaker. Wasn't she the one who was supposed to protect him? She was like his sensei. And Ichigo just had to worry about her.

Ichigo was powerful. It was just that the Arrancars were more so.

She got home after not finding him and could barely face Yuzu's disappointed eyes filling with tears. That night, out of habit, after they were asleep, she got up and walked quietly to Ichigo's room. When she walked in to find it empty, devoid of his comforting presence, it hit her. He was gone.

Why? Why? Why did he have to leave? Why didn't he at least tell her where he was going? And most importantly, why did his not being there affect her so much? She should have learned her lesson with Kaien-san. If you get close to somebody, you'll lose them eventually.

She couldn't bear the emptiness. She walked over to the bed instead of the closet and sat down. She opened the window. Maybe he'd come back, she tried to fool herself. Maybe he'd be coming back tonight. She could feel tears balancing on the edge of her eyes. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it as tight as she could. This always helped her stop crying before, but it wasn't working now. She missed the sound of his breathing, and just the fact that he was there. She only felt safe when she was with him.

"Stop it," she whispered fiercely to herself. "Tears…Tears…are weakness. Don't let the body surrender to the heart."

How pathetic. He was practically all she thought about when he was gone. He probably didn't think of her at all. Stupid Ichigo. Why was he always trying so hard to get better at something? He was good enough. She had thought they were nakama, so why didn't he tell her where he went?

The tears wouldn't stop. At long last, she slept.

ICHIGO POV

He kept going on that stupid running machine. Ha already knew he was powerful enough to start training. What was the point of this? Why was he even doing this? He answered his own question.

Because I want to protect Ru- my friends. He shook his head. That wasn't it, but it made for a convenient excuse. The reason he was doing this was he knew he would end up losing control and maybe hurting her-them. Stop thinking about her! he told himself fiercely. She was powerful. She could protect herself. And him as well. But he couldn't stop the images that ran through his mind: Her, leaving him on that rainy night with tears in her eyes, begging him not to come after her; begging him to forget about her. Her, not caring that she was being led to certain death on that bridge, and her eyes when she saw him, that said she did care. Her, accepting her execution, and crying when he saved her. Her, almost getting killed by a Cero to the head and he just stared, unable to do anything. And most recently: Her, with a shocked look on her face, getting stabbed and tossed on the ground carelessly. God, he had wanted to KILL Grimmjow, treating Rukia like a worthless bug. He couldn't stop looking at Chappy-san bawling over Rukia's motionless soul. And when Orihime-san was healing her, he stared at her pale face the entire time. Please, please, let it light up again, even if she was only going to yell at him for worrying. Why couldn't he protect her? He kept resisting the urge to grab her hand and yell at her to get better, already! Wasn't he the one who was supposed to protect her?

He felt kind of strange being away from home and away from her. Every other time he had left home, he had been with her. Actually she was so much a part of his life now, that he couldn't imagine life without her, and he felt almost as if he was missing a part of himself. Even as he thought it, he knew it sounded cheesy. What was WRONG with him?

He kept running.