Here's the first chapter!

Main Pairing: Ichigo x Rukia

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Tite Kubo does.

Enjoy!


At the 13th division barracks

"Onii-channnnn!" Yuzu shouted happily running towards his brother. Yuzu's spiritual energy has increased a little and was able to see spirits.

"Oi, Yuzu slow down! Ichi-nii isn't going to disappear!" Karin yelled while chasing after Yuzu.

"Yuzu! Karin! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Ichigo said with a huge grin on his face. It's been awhile since he saw his sisters, seeing them safe and in good health makes him happy.

"We want to surprise you!" Yuzu said as she hugged her beloved tightly.

"Your friends are here too" Karin pointed behind her with a smile.

"My friends?" before Ichigo could look who's behind Karin, "Ichigoooooooooooo~" a figure pounced at Ichigo. Without thinking, Ichigo's fist connects with the attacker's face.

"W-why did you do that, I-Ichigo?" Keigo said weakly, lying on the ground in pain.

"Sorry, my hand just moved on its own." said Ichigo with an annoyed face.

"I see you're still the same as ever, Ichigo." Mizuiro walked over with a smile.

"Man, when are you gonna learn, Asano." Tatsuki sighed looking at Keigo's pathetic state.

"Yoohoo, Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue waved happily.

"Mmm." Chad walks over greeting Ichigo.

"Mizuiro, Tatsuki, Inoue, Chad. You guys came too. Where's Ishida? Ichigo looked around for the Quincy.

"Ishida-kun said that he had something to do…I guess he's still upset about the war." Inoue stated sadly.

There was an uncomfortable silence until…"Ichigo my boy! Where's my precious third daughter?" Isshin shouted while jumping towards Ichigo.

"Shut up old man! She's busy with her wo-" a loud thump was heard before Ichigo could finish his sentence. "Vice-captain Kuchiki!" a girl yelled. The worried Ichigo quickly ran towards the source of the voice. His family and friends became worried as well and followed him.

"Vice-captain Kuchiki! Are you alright?!" Kiyone yelled, "Rukiaaaa!" Ichigo was immidiately by Rukia's side. "What happened?" he ask Kiyone.

"Captain! Kuchiki-san and I were bringing the paperwork to her quarters when she suddenly fainted." Kiyone explained.

"It seems to me she's exhausted from lack of rest." Isshin said with a serious face.

"Tch." Ichigo looked at Rukia's unconscious state with worried eyes. 'Dammit Rukia, I told you to rest didn't I? You're just as stubborn as ever.' "You guys can go have a look around Soul Society; I'm bringing her to my house to rest. Also, you guys can overnight at my house tonight. I'll see you guys later." Ichigo carried Rukia bridal style and used Shunpo to leave the area.

"Hehe~" Karin smirked after Ichigo left.

"Eh? Karin-chan?! What do you mean by 'hehe'?" Yuzu turned to Karin.

"I think it's time you let go of Ichi-nii." Karin said.

"Huh?! Why? What do you mean by that?!" Yuzu panicked.

"Masaki~! Our boy has finally become a man! Soon, we'll have a grandchild!" Isshin turned to Yuzu. "Don't worry, Yuzu! Daddy is still here for you! Let's cuddle and together like we used to! Just the thre-" a foot connected with Isshin's face.

"Shut up, you old goat!" Karin yelled with an annoyed face.

Ichigo's friends sweat dropped at the scene before them. Then Inoue turned to the others and clapped her hands together with a smile.

"Let's go, everyone! Sado-kun and I can show you all around! I miss Rangiku-san already."


"Ahh~I'm so tired from doing so much work" a strawberry blonde female whined. "Let's have some booze!" Rangiku declared as she took out a bottle of sake.

"Rangiku-san, you shouldn't be drinking you know, you were just discharged from the recovery center, weren't you?" Renji said.

"Abarai-kun's right. You shouldn't be drinking, Rangiku-san." Nanao took the bottle from Rangiku's hand.

"Come on, Nanao. Just let me have some." Rangiku pouted.

"No can do, Rangiku-san. You are still recovering!" Hinamori insisted, not noticing Rangiku had pulled out another bottle and started drinking.

"Ehhh~A little booze won't hurt." She said while shaking an empty bottle. "That's not little at all! Wait, where do you even get another bottle?" Renji exclaimed.

"Well, what do we have here?"

The group turned to the speaker and saw another group of shinigamis walking towards them. "Are you guys having a booze party without me?" Ikkaku smirked, putting his sheathed zanpaktou on his shoulder out of habit.

"That drunk face of yours isn't beautiful, Rangiku-san." Yumichika said while flipping his hair.

"Lemme have some booze too, Matsumoto." said Iba.

"Yo, Abarai." Hisagi greeted.

"Ikkaku-san, Yumichika-san, Iba-san and Hisagi-san. What brings you guys here?" Renji asked.

"We're just taking a break from work and maybe Iba and I will go visit Captain Tousen, Captain Komamura and Kira's grave later." Hisagi said.

"Oh, I see" Renji replied with a sad face.

Kira didn't survive the battle. It was too late when help finally came. The enemy had destroyed large portion of the right side of Kira's abdomen causing him to die due to huge loss of blood.

"MATSUMOTO!" someone yelled, breaking the awkward silence.

"Ah, Captain~! Want some sake?*hic*" Rangiku waved to her silver haired captain.

"What the hell are you doing here?! Get back to work!" the said captain yelled furiously.

"Ehhh~but Captain!" Rangiku whined.

"Get back to work this-" "Rangiku-sannnn!" Inoue shouted happily interrupting Toshiro.

"Ah, if it isn't my Orihime! I see, you bring Ichigo's family and friends along." Rangiku hugged Inoue and looked behind her.

"Oi, Matsu-" before Toshiro could finish his sentence, Isshin holds him high up in the air "What's this? Well if isn't Toushiro! Look how much you've grown and I was right that you're worthy of taking my place as captain!" Isshin said with a goofy grin.

"C-captain Shiba?" Toshiro was surprised to see his former captain.

"Otou-san, you and Karin's boyfriend know each other?" Yuzu asked Isshin.

"B-boyfriend?" Isshin drops Toshiro, shocked. It wasn't only Isshin, everyone else around were stunned as well.

"He's/she's not my boyfriend/girlfriend!" both Karin and Toshiro yelled in unison.

"Masaki! Not only Ichigo but Karin too are growing up so fast!" Isshin cried.

"Shut up!" again the couple yelled at Isshin.

Everyone around sweat dropped. Then Ikkaku noticed a figure hiding behind Chad.

"L-long time no see, Ikkaku-san, Yumichika-san." Keigo said still hiding behind Chad.

"Tch. What did I ever do to you to make you so afraid?" Ikkaku glared at Keigo.

"Calm down, Ikkaku. You're scaring the poor kid." Yumichika said while calmly sipping his tea.

"Shut up." Ikkaku shot back with a bored face. "Eh? Where is Ichigo anyway?" he asked while looking around for the orange haired man.

"Ah, Kuchiki-san fainted a while ago so Kurosaki-kun brought her back to his house to rest." Inoue replied.

"What? Rukia fainted?" Renji became worried.

"Kurosaki-san said she's just exhausted and needed rest. It's nothing serious, so don't worry, Abarai-kun." Inoue said trying to calm Renji.

"Why are you getting so worked up over Kuchiki, hmm Renji? Rangiku snickered.

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about." Renji blushed and turned away.

"You like Kuchiki, don't you?"

"What if I did?! Besides, Ichigo is the one she likes. So, if she's happy then I'm happy." Renji said with a sad smile.

"Abarai-kun…" Inoue looked at Renji with a sad face. 'I can tell Kurosaki-kun likes Kuchiki-san too. Maybe I should move on and cheer for the both of them from now on.' Inoue thought to herself and looked at the blue sky.

"I got an idea! Since it's been so long we have seen each other, let's have a reunion party tonight! We can have it here at the 10th division." Matsumoto said excitedly.

"Oi, Matsumoto! How dare you decide this with asking for my permission?" Toshiro said.

"Oh come on, Toshiro. Let's have some fun tonight!" Isshin said while holding Toshiro high up in the air again.

Everyone agreed with Rangiku which left Toshiro no choice but to oblige. With that, Inoue and the others along with Renji left to go tell Ichigo and Rukia about the party.


Back at Ichigo's home

Back at Ichigo's home, Ichigo had already laid Rukia on his bed for her to rest. The colour on Rukia's face slowly returned to normal as she sleeps. Seeing Rukia getting better, Ichigo felt relieved but continued to watch her as she sleeps.

'Dammit Rukia. Why do you always have to make yourself suffer? Do you have any idea how worried I was when I saw you fainted like that?' Ichigo thought as he gently wrapped Rukia's small hand in his. "Why won't you talk to me? Did I do something wrong? Rukia…" Soon, Ichigo fell asleep as well.


*snores*

Rukia slowly opened her eyes to the noise beside her. "W-where am I?" The first thing she saw was a spikey orange coloured hair. "Ichigo…" she muttered.

Ichigo was asleep with his back against the wall. 'He must have been here for a while now.' she thought as she looked at his peaceful sleeping face. She was about to get up when she felt Ichigo's hand wrapping tightly around hers. 'He's worried about me. I've burdened him again. It seems that no matter what I do, I will still cause him trouble.' Rukia thought sadly.

Ichigo felt Rukia's hand moved and woke up instantly.

"Rukia." he immediately put his hands on her shoulder to prevent her from getting up. "Listen to me, you need rest, lots of rest you hear me?" Ichigo said with a serious look.

"But I-" Rukia tried to protest but was intervened by Ichigo. "No buts! From now on I'm ignoring all your opinions." Ichigo smirked.

"What?! You can't do that!" Rukia pouted.

'How cute.' The thought crossed his mind but was quickly dismissed. "Yes I can because it's for your own good!" Ichigo poked Rukia's forehead with his index finger.

"Hmph, fine!" Rukia turned away and looked depressed again.

Noticing the change of her expression, Ichigo asked Rukia. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing…" Rukia replied, still not facing Ichigo.

"I don't believe that and you know that! If it's really nothing then why won't you look me in the eye?" Ichigo was frustrated but calmed down and tried to approach Rukia gently. "Rukia, I can tell that you've been avoiding me so can you please tell me what's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

'No, you didn't. It's not your fault…it's mine…' Rukia thought as she bit her lower lip.

"Ru-" "It's not your fault, you didn't do anything wrong. You never did. It's all my fault. It's all mine…" Ichigo heard Rukia's voice breaking and became even more worried. He wanted to say something but decided to let Rukia continue. "You've done a lot for Soul Society and I'm really grateful of that. B-but if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have to suffer all this. You could have lived a better life with your family and friends in the Human World. Now you can't go back there because of me!" Rukia sobbed.

Ichigo slowly turned Rukia around to face him. Ichigo felt his heart breaking when he saw Rukia broke down like that. Not once he has ever seen Rukia cried. He gently wiped away Rukia's tears and said "I never blamed you, Rukia. None of this is your fault." but Rukia did not agree.

"It's all my fault! I ruined your life the moment I met you. Ever since we met, you have gained nothing but wounds." Rukia grabbed onto Ichigo's haori and cried into his chest.

Instinctively, Ichigo wrapped his arms around Rukia. "It's not your fault Rukia. I chose this path on my own. I was really happy when you gave me your powers to protect the people I love. So don't say things like that. You didn't ruin my life, you gave me the chance to protect everyone and I'm really grateful of that." Ichigo said as he cupped Rukia's face to face his.

"Ichigo…" Rukia wiped away her tears. Ichigo looked at her face, slowly admiring her beautiful features. Then he realized.

He loves her.

Without thinking, both of their face started to close in on each other with their lips slightly parted.

"Kurosaki-kun!" "Ichigo!"

The voices of Inoue and Renji surprised the couple. Ichigo, realized what he's about to do quickly broke apart from Rukia. Both Ichigo and Rukia's faces were as red as Renji's hair.

"W-what is it?" Ichigo asked while opening the door, still flustered that he almost kissed Rukia.

"Did something happen? You look kinda pale, Kurosaki-kun." Inoue asked worriedly.

"A-ah, it's nothing! Rukia's awake. She's feeling a lot better." Ichigo replied scratching his head.

"Oh, that's great! Anyway, we're here to tell you that Rangiku-san is planning to have a party tonight at their barracks. She asked all of us to go!" Inoue said happily.

"Where's Rukia?" Renji peered into Ichigo's home.

"I'm right here, you fool." Rukia said as she walked towards the gang.

"Rukia! What happened? Are you hurt?" Renji grabs Rukia by her shoulders frantically.

"I'm fine, stop worrying. And can you let go of my shoulders? They're starting to hurt." Rukia said with an annoyed face.

"Oh, sorry." Renji quickly let go of Rukia.

"Rukia-channnn, my lovely third daughter! I'm glad you're okay~" Isshin said, attempting to hug Rukia but failed as Ichigo punched him in the face.

"Get away from her, you old fart!" Ichigo annoyed.

Rukia noticed that Ichigo's family and friends are here too. Keigo tried to hug 'his Rukia-chan' as well but Tatsuki stopped him. Everyone was happy to see her and Rukia felt relieved. She did not notice that Ichigo was looking at her from the corner of his eye. He was happy for Rukia too. 'You see Rukia, it's not your fault. It's noone's fault.'

That night, everyone had a great time celebrating their reunion, especially Ichigo. Being able to spend time with his family and friends made his happy. But most of all, he finally see Rukia smilling again. 'Now this is the Rukia I know and…'

'Love'


Meanwhile, nobody noticed that a black shadow appeared nearby, observing the crowd.

"Such immense spiritual energy…It'll be mine soon…" the black figure chuckled evilly as it focused on Ichigo.


Ok here's the first chapter of the story!

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