I sat there, high up in the tree, watching. I watched him closely. I watched every little detail he did, taking careful notes on it. I saw how his face contorted into different expressions; I listened to the gentleness and rare note of affection in his heavenly voice. I watched him shift his weight over and over in nervousness. I smiled at the sight.

I swung my legs back and forth with my hands clutching the branch upon which I was perched. I saw him pacing his room, looking worried. I giggled so softly that I could barely hear it; he looked so adorable when he was worried, his brow furrowed impossibly deep, his lips pursed together, his brown eyes staring in deep concentration. He was mumbling to himself, too.

Carefully, I slid off the branch I was sitting on to the one below to get a better view through his bedroom window. He still continued to pace around his room, muttering incoherently to himself. And, for just a moment, he paused and turned to stare outside his window. I gasped, and quickly scrambled up a couple of branches so I would be out of sight. He shouldn't know I was there, that would be disastrous.

Once I was sure he hadn't spotted me and that he was no longer gazing out his window, I climbed back down. I situated myself once again and went back to watching the boy. Nothing really else changed until a few minutes later when there was a knock from inside. His head turned towards the door and my eyes follow his sight there. He expressed permission for whoever it was to come in, and the door swung open.

In stepped a girl, one who was neither of his sisters. She walked up to him, arms crossed, a serious look on her face. She said something to him and he stuttered in response. Now she was concerned, the boy rarely stumbled over his words. The girl demanded to know what was wrong, and in a not so gentle manner I might add. He muttered something I couldn't make out, and the girl repeated her question.

Back and forth they went, the boy refusing to tell the girl what was really on his mind. Sad to say, it pissed the girl off. The poor boy's shins would probably be bruised for days. Still, he persisted in keeping his secret from her. I leaned forward a little, wondering what was going to happen next, as if this scene were an excerpt from a play instead of reality unfolding before my eyes.

Finally the girl gave up in pestering the boy with a heavy sigh. She went on to other matters. I saw the boy frown deeper as the news was delivered to him. For a moment, he turned to look out the window, and I scuttled up the trunk of the tree. When I was positive that he had looked away, I yet again climbed back down to my branch. Fascinated, I sat watching a conversation meant to inform turn into a huge full blown argument.

The names, the physical abuse, the cursing, it all seemed so…comical when these two did it. It just made you want to laugh at how overly expressive these two were, how comfortable they were with each other. It was touching, really, how those two got so close over a short period of time. In spite of, or maybe because of it, they way they acted, the boy and girl seemed to be made for each other. Two halves of a whole, and when together there were no lines of separation at all; they blended together, one entity.

My attention was grabbed when things fell silent in the room. I leaned forward even more, careful not to lose my balance, interested in what was happening. The boy was taking in deep breaths to steady his nerves. The girl had that worried look on her face again. And then he surprised me. Of all the time I had been watching him, he had never done something of this sort. I may have saw the hints (and possibly ignored them), but I never thought that this would happen.

He said them. He said the words that he once said to me a very long time ago. He said them to her. I couldn't help but smile at this, a small smile that tingled a little bit. It tingled with joy. I knew this day would come, but I never expected it to be so soon!

The girl's reaction was priceless; she was shocked to say the least. She stuttered, but couldn't find anything to say. Speechless. Just as I had been speechless when this same boy said the same words to me. I giggled openly, not caring about the consequences of this choice. It made me so unceasingly happy to see this come true; nothing could have made me any happier than what I had just witnessed.

I could hear the space behind me rip apart, leaving what I knew to be a dark hole with somebody in the middle of it. Sensing their spiritual energy, I knew who it to be. I sighed, knowing what this person was here for. I shifted on the branch so I could half face the newcomer and still face the window at the same time.

"Ichimaru-sama, I take it my time is up for today?" I asked respectfully.

The ever grinning, ever eyes shut man grinned wider at my question, letting me know that I had guess correctly without ever having to say a word. I sighed heavily, and turned my head to look at the window again. I let that smile creep over my face as I saw what was happening on the other side of the glass. Standing carefully on the branch, I absorbed every last bit of the scene before I turned to face my superior, the ex-shinigami captain.

"I've had enough for today, anyway," I told him, "but I haven't had nearly enough for a life time.

I took a giant step so I was in the rip, the garganta, and I started walking past him. I paused for a second, and turn my head towards my shoulder for one last look. My smile grew wider.

"Don't worry, Kurosaki Ichigo, I will always be watching over you."

The End