When Rukia woke up, the sun is high in the sky, and the room was almost empty. Inoue was the only one left in the room and she was still sleeping. Nothing had changed from her since last night. Rukia wondered where the others had gone. She went out of the room to look for someone. When she came to the dining room, there was Ichigo. He was sitting alone. Then she approached him.

"Hey, Ichigo."

He didn't respond.

"Ichigo."

Again, no response.

Ichigo looked so depressed. He was just staring blankly at the floor. Rukia never saw Ichigo like this before. Seeing him like this made her want to know what really happened. But at this time, no one would tell her.

"Ichigo," she sat near him, "what's happening to you? You look so different. You're not like this."

And again, no answer from him.

"Ichigo! Would you even look at me?!" she shook him.

"I don't wanna talk," he whispered.

"But—I need to know what's happening to you!"

"Stay away from me!!" he pushed Rukia away.

"I—Ichigo…" Rukia never expected that from him. She didn't know what to do. She ran out of there, leaving Ichigo—the now different Ichigo—alone again.

Rukia continued to run… She left Urahara's house though she didn't know where to go. While Rukia was walking on the street, the thought of what happened earlier constantly entered her mind. "Why did Ichigo— He never did anything like that to me. Why did he?" she sighed, "He's different now… He's changed…"

Rukia decided to go to Ichigo's school to pass her time. It was summer break so no one was there. When she went to the rooftop, someone called her.

"Rukia!"

She turned around to look, "Renji! What are you doing here?"

"Don't you think I should be the one to ask you that? You have no reason to be here. You should be in Urahara's shop with the others, right?"

"I—I—"

"Oh, you don't have to explain. Rangiku-san told me you left. She saw you. That's why I looked for you…" he paused, "Let's go back there. It's safer if we're all together.

Rukia hesitated about returning, "O—Okay…" but somehow she felt that she really wanted to go back there, even if Ichigo wouldn't want to see her.

While walking back to Urahara's shop, Rukia tried to ask Renji, "Um, Renji, you said me that you'll tell me about Ichi—"

"This isn't the time," halted Renji.

Rukia looked down, disappointed, "Even Renji wouldn't tell me," she thought.

When they arrived at Urahara's, there was Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku, Urahara, and…Ichigo. It was like their normal day. Only Ichigo had changed, and Rukia doesn't even know why. Everyone was back to their normal cheerful mood and they were happily eating their food. But Rukia noticed Ichigo, he didn't even touch his food and he was so quiet.

"Ichi—," Rukia tried to talk to him, but she was scared, so she just tried to ignore him.

Later that afternoon, Yoruichi came at Urahara's. She came to speak with Rukia.

"Yoruichi-san? You want to speak with me?" questioned Rukia.

"Yes."

"But, why? Do you need something?"

"No. I just thought you might want to know what happened to Ichigo."

Rukia suddenly became interested, "Y—You know what happened?"

"Yes, of course, I was with them that time."

"Y—You're really going to me?" she paused, "Because no one would…even Renji."

"I knew that, and that's exactly the reason why I'm here. And I also knew that's Ichigo would change." Then Yoruichi started to tell her, "When we were planning to save Inoue, we all agreed to avoid fighting because we know we can't defeat them at this rate. We said that our main goal is to save Inoue and return here safely, and nothing else. But at the time we arrived there, Inoue confronted us. She challenged Ichigo to fight her."

Rukia was surprised, she never imagined that Inoue would even try anything like that.

Yoruichi continued, "Even Ichigo was stunned to hear that. So he asked her, 'I—Inoue, w—why? We're here to save you. I am never gonna fight you.'"

"Naturally, Ichigo would say that," thought Rukia.

"Inoue just smirked," said Yoruichi, "She never did that to us. It was like we were seeing a different Inoue. Ichigo kept asking her the reason why she was like that. And Inoue finally gave him the answer, 'You know why? It was because of Rukia!!'"

"What?!" interjected Rukia, "Why would she say that?! Me? It's because of me? B—But why?"

"I'll tell you what she exactly said, 'It's because of Rukia! I—I'm jealous of her!—'"

"Jealous?! What?!" exclaimed Rukia.

"Oh, would you please listen first to what I am saying. I couldn't finish." Yoruichi paused, "Inoue said to Ichigo, 'I always admired you! But you never noticed! It is always Rukia, Rukia, and Rukia! I'm sick of it!!"

Rukia couldn't say anything. She was bewildered. She had no idea that Inoue have feelings for Ichigo, and the most surprising thing for her is that Inoue became jealous of her, and she was the reason why these things happened…only because of her.

Well, that's all for now… It's great if you enjoyed reading it. Sorry for wrong spellings and grammar, I think there are some. Thanks for reading! Please review… I plan to continue if I receive good reviews. So, I hope you liked it! (-)v