Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters


Ichigo was currently at a friend's party amongst a sea of people. Although, he was surrounded by people, he was lost in his own thoughts. As Ichigo was scanning the room he saw several couples and several attractive women that for some reason did not pique his interest. He was feeling disheartened because if he was being honest with himself, he thought he would have settled down by now. In fact his parents, got married by the time they were twenty-three years old, and here Ichigo was, twenty-seven and single. 'Geez, I need a break,' thought Ichigo as he walked out to the balcony.


'Get a hold of yourself! You're supposed to be out having fun, not feeling all depressed and shit!' Ichigo mentally berated himself. With a heavy sigh, Ichigo took out a cigarette and placed it on his lips and proceeded to light the cigarette.


As he was taking his light smoke, Ichigo couldn't help but think of his parents. Ichigo remembered how fondly his father, Isshin, spoke of his deceased mother, Masaki. Ichigo looked at his cigarette and thought, 'Dad did say that was the only time mom complimented him, she told him he looked cool smoking, and that's why dad only smokes when we go see mom's grave. Wouldn't it be crazy if the same thing happened to me? But I doubt that'll happen tonight anyways. I've talked to a few of the girls here and there has been no connection. And dad did always say there was an instant spark between him and mom. Shit! There was no instant spark between me and my previous girlfriends. I mean there was a point when I was in love with them, but for whatever reason we couldn't make it work. Maybe that's why we didn't work, cuz there was no instant spark.' "ARGGHH! Why am I thinking about all of this now?" he questioned himself as he put out his cigarette.


Ichigo contemplated going back to the party, but he wasn't quite ready to go back. Instead he decided he would have another cigarette. Ichigo didn't normally smoke much, but tonight he just wasn't feeling like himself. As he took his second cigarette of the night, he watched as the party went on. He saw all the smiling guest enjoying themselves. As he was watching the guests, he noticed a beautiful young woman. She was petite and rather thin, her hair went slightly past her shoulder, and she had large beautiful eyes that seemed to be blue but from this distance he wasn't quite sure. It appeared that woman was making her way towards Ichigo. 'Could this really be happening? Is she really coming towards me? Is she the woman I have been looking for?' Ichigo thought as he saw the woman step out to the balcony.

"Good evening Kurosaki-kun," Ichigo heard causing him to snap out of his stupor.

"Huh?" Ichigo replied, noticing that Orihime had been the one to greet him. 'Was Inoue next to her this whole time?' he thought to himself before saying, "Hey, Inoue."

"What are you doing out here?" asked Orihime.

"Just needed some air. So who's your friend?" Ichigo asked trying not to sound too interested.

"Oh right, sorry, Kurosaki-kun, this is Kuchiki-san," Orihime said as she introduced the pair.

"Nice to meet you, Kurosaki Ichigo" Ichigo said as he shook Kuchiki's hand. And he could've sworn he felt a light tingle when their hands touched.

"Likewise, I'm Kuchiki Rukia. So you smoke huh?" Rukia asked, although it was more of a statement as she pointed to the lit cigarette in Ichigo's hand. Ichigo's heart started racing, 'Could my dad's story really be happening to me?' As he was about to reply he heard Rukia say. "That's stupid."

"What?" Ichigo replied with a frown.


Please let me know what you think of this so far. Til Next Time!