Hey everyone! This is my second multi-chapter fanfic. Hope you guys like it :).

Note: In this story Ichigo never lost his powers after the Aizen battle.

Chapter 1

Let the future unfold

-World of the Living-

Twenty-two year old Ichigo walked at downtown Tokyo hand in hand with his girlfriend Rin. He was now a literature teacher at a prominent high school. He had met Rin in college and they had been dating for three years. Rin was a pretty and docile girl. She had wavy, long brown hair, big brown eyes, and was short and petite.

"Aww hi there!" Rin said to a little girl walking past with her mom who was waving and giving her a cheesy smile.

Ichigo waved and smiled as well. He then noticed the little girl carrying a bunny backpack on her shoulders. It triggered a glimpse from the past…

**Flashback**

Ichigo had just graduated from high school. He sat at a park bench with Rukia in her shinigami form. The sun was setting…

"Well we can't say we didn't give it a try." She said looking at the small lake in front of them.

"Yeah." He said looking at the lake as well. "It was a crazy two years." He said turning to see her.

She smiled thinking about their two-year relationship. "You can't say you didn't enjoy them though." She said winking at him.

They smiled at each other grateful for the time they spent together. Sadly, things didn't work out between them. Maybe they were too different, or maybe they were never meant to be, but before things got to the point of no return, they decided to call it quits, thus, keeping their friendship bond intact.

"It's getting late and I should probably head back." She said standing up.

"Yeah." He got up as well.

He closed the gap between them and they hugged goodbye. She then looked up to see his expressive brown eyes, they held no regrets. She tangled her hands in his hair and brought him close enough to graze her lips with his. He leaned closer to give her a proper kiss goodbye.

They broke the kiss and she proceeded to open up the senkaimon.

"Later, Ichigo." She said turning to see him one last time.

"See you around, shinigami." He said. And so she left without turning back.

**end of flashback**

"Ichigo?" Rin said for the third time.

He looked down towards the gentle voice. "Sorry I got caught up in my thoughts." He said smiling.

"I can see that. I was saying that your dad would go crazy if he had such a cute granddaughter." Rin said referring to the little girl from before.

"Yeah that old man is crazy, but don't let him get to you, you know by now he has a tendency to always joke about inappropriate things." Ichigo said furrowing his eyebrows at the thought of his father.

She just nodded. The truth was that she was hoping Ichigo would propose to her soon. They had been dating for three years after all. She had always had many suitors, but when she met Ichigo it was as if she had been hit by love at first sight, and the more she got to know him the more she liked him. Maybe she liked him because he was different than the rest. He wasn't pushy like the others. In fact, she was the one to make the first move.

-Soul Society-

Rukia was in her office. In the four years since returning from the world of the living she applied herself to be what she always aimed to be, stronger. She felt that after spending all those years with Ichigo in his world she neglected who she truly was, and so she trained hard and gave it her all to become the best shinigami she could be.

She got her wish when she achieved Bankai recently and was able to become Ukitake's fuku-taichou.

"Rukia-chan, you can finish the rest of the paperwork tomorrow, it's not due until the end of the week anyway." Ukitake said from across the room as he prepared to leave the office.

"I'd rather finish this today Ukitake-taichou. If I get this out of the way today I will have more time to train with the rest of the division later in the week." She said and continued to work on her paperwork.

"Ok, well good night then. I'll see you tomorrow." He smiled and stepped out of the office. He couldn't have gotten a more focused and applied subordinate. Given his illness she sometimes took charge of many of his duties. Thinking back on the Rukia from the past she had actually changed a great deal in the past four years. She was completely absorbed in her shinigami duties and left little time to socialize. Ukitake knew that she had never been good at making friends but she was starting to follow too much into her brother's footsteps.

Two hours later the door creaked open. Rukia looked up to see Kain walking towards her desk. He was a very handsome man, tall, lean, with black hair and expressive black eyes.

"Kain, what are you doing here?" She said a bit surprised to see him there.

"You were supposed to be back at the mansion an hour ago to have dinner with your brother and me." He said walking behind her and rubbing her shoulders. She closed her eyes to enjoy the gentle touch.

"I should be done in five minutes; I just have to finish up." Rukia said as she continued to write and scan through the paperwork some more. Kain rolled his eyes.

He looked around the office while she finished up. He was from a highly respected noble family. He grew up with Byakuya and they were best friends but lost touch once Byakuya became captain of his own division. Although Kain was powerful enough to be in the Gotei 13, he was never really interested in all the politics involved in it. He didn't like having to respond to anyone and actually really enjoyed the privileges that came with being a noble.

**Kuchiki Mansion**

"I didn't think you would actually succeed in prying my sister off her desk Kain." Byakuya said sipping on his tea.

"I wouldn't have but she was basically done with her paperwork by the time I got to her office." Kain said smiling.

"You're already done with this week's report? I have to congratulate you Rukia, I am very proud of your work ethic. If only I had a fuku-taichou as competent as you." Byakuya said recalling his red-haired fuku-taichou.

"Thank you, nii-sama." Rukia said to her brother and continued eating gracefully. Since her return to Soul Society, Byakuya had been greatly pleased with his sister, so much that he was more eloquent and open towards her.

The three nobles continued eating quietly.

"Kuchiki-sama your bath is ready." A servant announced.

"Thank you, I shall be there shortly." Rukia said. She excused herself and proceeded to go take a bath.

"Your sister has become a wonderful woman Byakuya." Kain said.

"Yes. I am very pleased that she is back in the correct path. For some time I was afraid she might have lost her way for good." Byakuya admitted to his friend.

"Are you referring to the time she spent with that human?" Kain said with a serious face. "You did well in letting her see for herself that she did not belong anywhere but here. That boy could have never made a woman like her happy anyway. She has always been strong enough to stand on her own and needs a man who can see that." He said.

"And who shall that be?" Byakuya said arching his eyebrow knowing where this was going. "Or are you to tell me that you suddenly missed me and decided to finally rekindle our friendship?" The noble man asked.

"Truthfully speaking I'm happy that we have become close friends once again, but since I met your sister I haven't been able to get her out of my mind. I truly wish she had more time for us to get to know each other but I'm confident that things between us will evolve. My intentions extend to the point of us having a future together." He said with a smile.

"I see." Byakuya said calmly. He had no objections towards the noble man.

So there's chapter 1. Please review to let me know how I did =D