"Ichi... brother…" Yuzu's voice was followed by a knock at his door.
He rolled over his orange hair disheveled, he waited a brief moment hoping his sister wouldn't persisted.
"Ichi," Yuzu repeated herself, knocking once more. She waited on the other side of the door, hoping Ichigo would open it promptly. They all knew he was still sensitive about the ordeal.
"Coming," he said sitting up, his eyes wondered to his opened closet door. She wasn't there. His chest tightened at the thought of her. Even in his own thoughts he could not say her name or hear it mentioned. Ichigo could no longer see spirits ever since he had used Final Getsuga Tenshō. He had saved Soul Society from Aizen's wrath. Ichigo had known his Shinigami powers would diminish, but he didn't think he would miss them so. That was a lie. He didn't miss them. He missed her. It had been seventeen months and his powers were gone. She was gone. Standing up he pushed the closet door close and the thoughts of her ceased. Ichigo opened the door for Yuzu he wore a small smile, but they both knew that it wasn't genuine.
"Ichigo your friends called, Keigo and Mizuiro" She spoke softly her voice was gentle, Ichigo started to protest about going but before he could Yuzu continued. "They asked me to remind you that you had agreed to meet with them in Kagamino City for the weekend and not to miss the train." She gave her brother a grin. "You better hurry if you don't want to miss the train Ichi." Yuzu made her way downstairs to go start on lunch.
Ichigo looked at the time on his clock; it read 11:30 am. The next train was at noon if he missed that one the next one would be in two hours. Closing the door to his room he quickly changed into some jeans and his purple "nice vibe" shirt. He looked out the window to check the weather it was fall and a cool breeze has started to pick up. From the corner of his eyes he thought he had seen a raven haired blur. Turning to the direction, he saw nothing. He sighed it must be his imagination, grabbing a jacket he made his way downstairs "I'll be back later," he called out and was on his way.
Everything on the way to the train station reminded him of her. Her memory was everywhere. He passed a shop that was selling stuffed animals. In the display was a huge white rabbit that he knew she would want, ecstatically letting him know it looked like Chappie. Ichigo passed the school, which flooded him with happy memories of her. Pushing the thoughts away and looking at his watch he picked up the pace; there was ten minutes before the next train. He was almost to the terminal.
The train station was lonely for a Saturday. There wasn't the usual bustling of people; there was only four people waiting for the train including himself. A brunette woman holding a 3 month old infant and a raven haired women in the distance. She wore a purple A-line dress. He stared at her intently there was something familiar about her. Could that be her; he moved closer to woman. The train arrived and they both got on; Ichigo still a few feet from her inched his way closer. The woman remained with her back to him holding on to a pole. His heart was beating loudly; he recognized the woman in front of him. She was just a few inches from his grasp. She had the same raven hair, she was the right height, from what he could see it was her.
"Rukia," he spoke her name something he hadn't done in months, she turned grinning.
"What took you so long, baka."
Ichigo shook his head and smiled, the sadness from the past few months erasing; she was back. "Midget," he murmured and pulled her into an embraced.
"Strawberry," she whispered leaning into his embrace, where she remained for the entirety of the train ride, unaware of anything or anyone else, but each other.
