HADO

A/N: Ok, second chapter for you guys!! I really like the comments I´ve had! I adore you!.

Ah! And before I forget, Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite, because if it belonged to me… it would be full of IchiRukiness!!! XDXDD

Enjoy!!

CHAPTER 2.

"No son los hechos los que atormentan a los hombres, sino la opinión que se tiene de ellos."

-Epicteto.

Ichigo´s thoughts were interrupted once again by a well known presence and heavy steps. He turned around immediately to meet Sado´s eyes, and was surprised at what he saw.

Standing motionless at the foot of the bed, and without making any sound, Sado stared at Rukia´s resting body, watching the easy rise and fall of her chest. Ichigo could see now the deep concern in his eyes, the eyes of someone lost in his own thoughts, his own monsters. He knew his friend had never been someone of words, but this time his silence spoke fluently… and Ichigo felt lost in this speech, which made him feel even more uneasy.

"Chad? Are you all right?" He asked almost with fear of the answer.

Sado didn´t speak for almost a minute, until he looked at Ichigo and then stole a glance towards Karin, who was sitting on the bed, close to him, and who hadn´t moved her eyes from Rukia not even for a moment, and to Toshirou, whose expression hadn´t changed a bit in spite of Sado´s arrival. Ichigo understood, and soundlessly followed his friend outside the room.

Stepping into the gardens, Sado finally stopped, and Ichigo remained behind him, waiting for his friend to open up to him.

"What do you think of this… of her actions, Ichigo?"

Ichigo sighed. This was the second time someone asked for his opinion, and he still had no answer. But this was his best friend, the one who understood him the most. He had to give him something. Sado´s soul was hurting for a reason he didn´t understand, and he couldn´t allow that to happen. But what could he say? Fortunately for him, he didn´t have to speak. His friend was willing to let go by himself.

"I´ve never had in my arms something so small, so delicate." He started with a low voice, his eyes focused in the empty space, his hands clenched into fists. "I can still feel her little body. She was so… weightless…" He spoke in little pauses. Ichigo understood. He had felt the weight of the girl, and it impressed him a little. But just a little, since he´d had Yuzu and Karin in his arms before, and even when they were younger. But not Chad. For him, for someone as tall and strong as him, of course Rukia´s weight must´ve felt like nothing. He kept silent, though. He wanted to respect his feelings.

"It felt like she would shatter in my arms if I wasn´t careful… I was afraid of hurting her." He looked intently at his huge hands, as if they were a sort of dangerous weapon. So Ichigo was right.

He was amused by his friend´s speech. Sado never spoke more than three or four words in the same sentence, but this time he was fluent. He must´ve felt very troubled by all those thoughts.

"But the thing that has me restless the most, the idea that´s creeping inside of my head and wouldn´t let me understand what happened today, is to know that something this delicate, this fragile, actually saved you, Ichigo, and saved Karin and Toshirou, from a certain death, while I stood there and couldn´t do a thing." Sado kept silent for a moment, and then raised his eyes towards the sky. "My abuelo taught me that I was born strong and tall to protect the people I care about. To protect the ones who couldn´t protect themselves. You already know that" Ichigo nodded. "And I lived with it, with the idea that I was born for this. I knew that my height, and my strong fist were made exactly for that reason and that reason only. I never doubted my abuelo, never questioned this reason, because with it, he gave a purpose to my life. But…" he stared again at his hands, as if Rukia was still in them. "The idea of so much power, so much will, inside of something so small and beautiful…" he turned to look at his friend in the eyes, with complete confusion in his own, which scared Ichigo a bit, "I really can´t understand it."

So that was it. Sado´s beliefs were shattered to the core by Rukia´s action. Just like his own.

Ichigo smiled a little, relieved that he could still understand his friend, then sighed and put a hand on Sado´s shoulder. "Welcome to the club." He said with a smirk.

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Toshirou and Karin stood motionless after the two boys had left. Karin didn´t want to leave Rukia´s side. She wanted to talk to her, especially to understand, but most of all, she wanted to thank this girl for saving the lives of the people she loved, and for saving her own as well. A moan from the bed startled both of them, but Rukia was still unconscious. Was she suffering some pain from her wounds? Or maybe from a nightmare? They couldn´t tell. Karin sighed, stealing a glance towards Toshirou. She was used to his silences, particularly long when that girl, Momo, left him after a visit. But this silence was creepy longer than she had known.

Karin was about to speak when they heard some loud talk outside, which called their attention.

"Yes, Ojiro-san." She heard her dad, Kurosaki Isshin, speaking rather loudly from behind the door. "The girl´s out of danger now. The fourth squad member was here a couple of hours ago and said her wounds were still severe, but that she´ll survive. He advised us only that she needed to rest."

"I see." Karin heard an unrecognizable male voice. "But Byakuya-sama´s orders are strict." Toshirou walked next to Karin, now interested and a little bit wary. "We have to take her back to the Kuchiki manor." Both children looked at each other with worry in their faces. They wanted to move her? No!

"But Toshirou!" Karin whispered. "She could die if they do that! The fourth squad member couldn´t stop the bleeding completely! The movement will open her wounds again!" He was about to agree when they heard Isshin´s playful, but firm voice.

"I understand Little Byakuya´s decision. He must be worried for her well being. After all, she´s his sister." Isshin saw the elder snickering in front of him, something very strange coming from a Kuchiki. 'I see' he thought. 'They don´t approve Byakuya´s decision on taking her.' His brow grew deeper. Poor girl must be having a hell party from those men. "But unfortunately Rukia-chan´s condition, although stable, is far from being safe enough to try and move her from one place to another. You can tell Little Byakuya that his sister (the man snickered again) will be well taken care of. I´ll personally see to that, and will send her home as soon as she´s ready to move."

"So very kind of you, Kurosaki-dono, but I came here for…"

Isshin raised a hand, stopping him in mid sentence. "And I appreciate so much that you came all the way here. But I owe her my children´s lives, so you need not to worry. Tell your master that I, the head of the Kurosaki clan, am so in debt with her, that I´ll protect with my own life her well being. And if he wants to come over and visit, I´ll be glad to make a party out of it." He finished the sentence rather happily, slapping the old man´s back.

"We´ll need Unohana-dono to check on her for…"

"And we will be grateful if she comes over and takes a look at her as well, of course! That way Rukia-chan will be able to go home sooner!" Another slap, and Ojiro coughed a little, this time looking at the noble man with daggers in his eyes.

"I see." Said the elder finally, accepting his defeat. For now. "Off we go then. I shall inform my master of this."

"And tell him I sent regards!"

The man bowed, and left immediately the house, muttering some curses in his way out. Isshin kept his wide smile while Ojiro was leaving, but replaced it for one of concern once the group was out of sight. He had to talk to Byakuya about this. The Kuchiki elders had a very rough way with things when they were determined on something. And Isshin was sure they were so on making this girl´s life a living hell. And he, the Lord of the Kurosaki manor, would never allow that to happen. He puffed his chest comically at that, when he heard a sound behind him. It was Karin, coming out of the room.

"What´s wrong, Karin?" he asked, looking intently at her troubled face. "You want papa to hug you?"

"Shut up, goat chin!" a vein throbbed on her temple, but then she sighed and the worry crept on her features again. "Dad… will they… will she be taken away from here?"

Isshin smiled tenderly at that. "Aw… you´re worried about your new friend?" Another throbbing vein. She hated the tone of his voice, as if he was talking to a little baby, but only clenched her fists, closed her eyes and nodded. She wasn´t in a mood for fighting this time. Isshin felt troubled himself, it seemed extremely weird that his girl wasn´t reacting at his words. She must be feeling really bad about it. So he dropped the façade and stepped close to her, placing a reassuring hand on her head. She didn´t know why, and she actually hated it, but a warm feeling enveloped her, and she almost, almost, wanted to hug this man. She heard footsteps behind her. Isshin noticed them as well, and looked up. "You too, ne?"

Against his will, Toshirou nodded, and then bowed. Surprised, Isshin raised an eyebrow. "What´s that for?"

"Arigatou, Kurosaki-dono."

"And what for, my boy?"

Toshirou inhaled deeply. It wasn´t easy for him to show any emotion. "For not letting those people take Rukia-san with them."

"Nah, you shouldn´t worry about it, nor thank me. It was my duty." But he noticed the boy wasn´t moving at all. "It seems there´s something else, right?"

The boy inhaled again. "Yes, Kurosaki-dono." He raised his eyes, meeting intently the man´s amber ones. "Train me… Teach me how to be a Shinigami. I want to be in the Academy this year. I want to be the best." His voice grew in strength as he spoke, emotion flowing through him, his eyes ablaze. But then he looked down and spoke with a low, respectful voice. "… Please."

Isshin´s eyes went wide. The resolve in the boy´s features startled him, but then a grin crept his face. "Of course, son. Whatever you want from me."

Karin was completely out of words, staring in awe at her best friend. This was the boy who denied his youth, who gave his back to everything that was around him. Everybody knew that he was a prodigy, but that he had sworn he would never become what other people wanted of him. He had sworn he would never be a shinigami. To make such a plea to her father meant only one thing. That he was determined on paying back his debt to Rukia.

Karin smiled, happy for her friend. She could see it now, his piercing cerulean eyes seemed to be alive again.

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Rukia´s eyes fluttered open, illuminated by a bright light, as a hot sensation enveloped her body. She had heard some voices before, but it was the warm beam coming from the window the one that had pulled her from the realms of dreams. She moaned a little, feeling every inch of her body scream of agony, when unbearable pain stroke her from her left, stopping her movements. As her senses focused, she started to remember the hollow, the fight, and the incredible orange that stood beside her.

Slowly opening her eyes, she allowed them to get used to her blazing surroundings, and noticed movement around her.

"I told you, Yuzu." A male voice close to her spoke in a scolding tone. "You shouldn´t have opened the window. The sunlight is still too bright for her."

"I´m sorry Ichi-nii." A tiny shadow protected her view from the intense light. "I´m sorry too, Rukia-chan. Did I woke you up?"

Rukia forced her eyes completely open, and saw a little blonde girl, just before puberty, leaning towards her, concern written all over her face.

Rukia tried to smile. She didn´t know who the girl was, but she seemed to be one of the people who had taken care of her, so the least she could do was to try and be polite. After all, she was a Kuchiki. Didn´t her nii-sama make sure she had a very intense training about proper manners for the past couple of months?

"N-no. Don´t worry… umh…"

"My name is Yuzu, Kurosaki Yuzu!" beamed the girl.

Rukia gave her a little smile at that. "No, Yuzu-chan. You didn´t wake me up." Rukia grimaced at her every move, so she chose to just lay down a bit. "I was about to wake up anyways."

Yuzu sighed in relief and turned behind her. "See? Ichi—nii? I didn´t wake her."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and answered in a scolding way. "She´s telling you that because she doesn´t want to hurt your feelings."

Yuzu pouted and turned around to see intently on the other girl´s face, which made Rukia very uncomfortable, when suddenly she felt the child´s arms around her neck, and fought to repress with all her will a yelp of pain from her wounds, realizing that Yuzu was crying on her shoulder. Rukia was completely frozen. What in the world was happening? Was she that bad? Was she going to die?

"R-Rukia-chan." In between sobs, Yuzu tried to speak. "T-Thank you! Thank you so very much for saving my brother and sister´s lives! And for saving Toshirou as well!" Rukia´s look softened at this, and she placed a hand on Yuzu´s back in a soothing manner. "I-I don´t know what I would do if something happened to them!" the petit body trembled of emotion at the simple idea of her beloved siblings being hurt or even killed, so she held the older girl tighter. But every sob sent Rukia a wave of pain from her wounds, and as much as she wanted, she couldn´t hold back her constant flinching.

Ichigo was speechless for a moment with Yuzu´s display of emotions. He had been touched by Rukia´s actions, but he was only beginning to fathom the effect of it on the rest of his family. And friends.

He noticed the girl was aching, but that she tried to repress it as best as she could, and he was sure that she did it so as not to hurt his sister´s feelings. He was grateful to her. Again.

"Yuzu" he called softly. "You should be more careful, you´re hurting her."

"Oh!" Yuzu´s cheeks colored deep red. She immediately withdrew and bowed deeply. "I´m so sorry for hurting you, Rukia-chan! And for waking you up!"

"N-no, really!" Rukia said, a bit relieved that she had let her go. "I needed to get up anyways!" she tried to move but seemed rooted to the bed. Not only was the pain holding her down, she felt too weak as well. Without a word, Ichigo approached her and fixed her pillow, so that she could stand a little without hurting too much, and then gently helped her to get more comfortable in bed. She looked intently at his face, and looked away immediately after feeling the same pull from his amber sight, a faint blush gracing her cheeks.

"Are you feeling any better now?" He asked, but she didn´t meet his gaze. He was still too close for her comfort, while he kept on fixing the bed.

"Yes. Thank you." She then turned around, realizing she had been quite rude so far. "I´m sorry I didn´t introduce myself! My name is…"

"Kuchiki Rukia." The boy said. "But you´re wrong, you did introduce yourself." She raised an eyebrow. "One of the times you were coming in and out of consciousness, I could actually ask your name, and you gave it to me." She tried her hardest not to gasp, hoping that her name was the only information he had taken from her in that state. "But it´s me the one who hasn´t introduced to you properly. My name is…"

"Iiiiiiiichiiigoooo!!!!"

A loud cry came out of the door, and suddenly something collided against the orange-haired boy, sending him to the closest wall.

Rukia could see that Ichigo was wrestling with a man who was pinning him against the floor. The said man had a strange, goat-like beard, and an impossible grin on his face, while struggling against a very pissed off Ichigo.

"Hear me now, my son, you shouldn´t let your guard down even when you´re in front of a beauty such as…" Gesturing at the bed, the man turned to see her, and opened his eyes enormously. "Rukia-chan! You´re awake!! " He immediately let go of his grunting son and jumped at her, arms wide open, while rivers of tears came from his eyes. "I´m soooo thankful for what you did!!!" Rukia´s face displayed sheer terror at the idea of that big body of his collapsing against her wounds, when Ichigo´s direct kick to his father´s face changed his course, sending him crashing against the chairs close to the bed.

"You moron!!!" A vein was throbbing in his temple so dangerously that Rukia was afraid it would bleed anytime soon. "Can´t you see she´s wounded?? You could´ve hurt her even more!!" Ichigo yelled at him, completely transfixed by his action.

The man looked at his son with a bleeding nose and tons of tears running down his face. "But I knew you wouldn´t allow it!! I knew she was safe!!" Yuzu immediately went to her father´s side to comfort him, while he whispered something about his boy not respecting him, then the girl took Isshin out of the room, speaking soothing words to him.

"Baka!" barked Ichigo, then turned to look at Rukia, who was still out of words for the past actions. "Are you all right?"

"Y-yes…" she blinked at him, trying to recover her composure. "Yes I´m fine. Thank you."

"Nah, don´t worry." He sat in front of her. "I´m sorry for my father´s odd behavior. He´s crazy, but he´s a good man."

"Ah... I´m sure"

They stood in silence for a moment, each one in their own thoughts, when finally Ichigo gathered courage enough to ask.

"Why did you do it?"

"I-I´m sorry?" she looked up, startled and confused by his question. "Why did I do what?"

Ichigo sighed, he hated it when he had to repeat his questions, specially this one. "Are you deaf? Why did you save us?"

With all the awkwardness, the fear and pain running throw her, her temper (something that was never under control anyways) exploded easily at him, forgetting for a second her wounds. "What do you mean?? How rude of you! I saved you!! Shouldn´t you be thanking me instead??"

"Geez!!" the tension that had been building up into him exploded as well. "Everyone has been thanking you so far! How full of yourself you are!! How much do you need?? It was just a simple question!!" they stared each-other down, with fury in their eyes.

"You´re right!" she yelled back, her blood boiling at his words. "I made a mistake. I should´ve left that hollow chew you up, for being such a jerk!!" she had been so angry at proving her point that she jerked forward to stress her last words, and yelped as a painful stab ran on her shoulder.

"Rukia!" Ichigo was about to yell back when he saw her hurt, and immediately ran to her and helped her down. "Baka." He spoke in a lower voice. "See what happens when you don´t follow advice?"

Rukia allowed herself to be pulled down, squirming. "Idiot. It was all your fault… thank you."

He smirked and rearranged her pillows again, placing her softly on them. They stood silent for another minute.

"Thank you." Ichigo said. She looked at him still a bit wary, but nodded in acceptance. "But I need you to answer me. I just can´t understand. We are complete strangers for you. Why did you save us?"

Rukia looked intently at him, a surprised stare in her eyes.

"I don´t know. I wasn´t thinking if I should or shouldn´t do it, I just knew I had to. Wouldn´t you have done the same?"

He gaped at her answer, and then looked away. He didn´t have an answer for that either.

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"Unohana-taicho." Said one of her subordinates. "Kuchiki-taicho is here to see you." The head of the fourth squad didn´t move an inch, her calm stand wasn´t affected, and her dark eyes never left the sakura trees she had been admiring, but she still allowed a little smile at the information. She had been expecting this, only she didn´t thought it would be this soon.

"Please, don´t make him wait. Send him right away."

"Yes, taicho." The man bowed and left, and the leader of the Kuchiki clan stepped over almost immediately. She smiled again. The past events must be very troublesome for him.

"Kuchiki-taicho." The woman said, bowing and then offering the man a seat. "What a wonderful surprise."

"Unohana-taicho." The tall man bowed as well and immediately sat in front of her, his dark tresses moving along him. His handsome features didn´t display any emotion, but she could see through his amethyst eyes, so much like his mother´s and his late wife´s. So much like his sister´s.

Her smile grew wider. "I´m still impressed to see the man that you´ve become, Kuchiki-taicho. Impressed to think that I helped deliver a beautiful baby, and saw growing in strength and wisdom such a sweet boy. So I can´t help but stare in awe at this handsome and powerful man that now stands in front of me."

Byakuya bowed at that. He was used to her compliments, being the center of them all his life, but still he felt a little warmth in his face. He respected too much this woman for not being affected by her words. Besides, he trusted her enough to allow himself a little bit of emotion around her. "It wasn´t my purpose to be like this, Unohana-taicho, but my parent´s will and own strengths."

"And beauty." Unohana offered.

He smiled at that. "And beauty." He complied, knowing that she was referring to his mother, Unohana´s best friend for many years before she passed away. He knew she still cherished her memory, and somewhat saw her in his features.

"But tell me, Kuchiki-taicho, what brings you here in such an early hour?"

"My sister, Unohana-taicho, I´m concerned about her." Unohana forced herself not to smirk. She could read him so well… "This man, this…" he clenched his teeth a bit. "Kurosaki-taicho wouldn´t allow her to return, even when I sent one of the elders to retrieve her back, arguing that she wasn´t in a state of traveling, and saying that it was a report from one of your subordinates." She didn´t move her eyes from him, waiting for his final words. "I´m asking you, Unohana-taicho, if you can see for me if that is correct."

"You don´t trust my subordinates´ skill, Byakuya?"

He noticed the change to less proper addressing, and he understood. She wanted to talk intimately with him, wanted him to be sincere. He repressed a sigh. Byakuya knew that, by coming to see her, he was risking this conversation, but he couldn´t let that man have his way without a fight.

"Of course I trust them, Retsu-san. But I know your experience is vast, maybe you could help my sister recover faster so that she can come back home?"

"Are you this worried about her?" she asked softly.

"Of course I´m worried about her. She´s my sister."

Unohana raised a hand to stop him. "You know what I mean, Byakuya." She locked eyes with him. "Is it fine with you to have her in your house? Are you not in need of your own space a bit?" He avoided her stare, looking towards the sakura trees. It had always given him some peace, but this time it didn´t work. They reminded him of better and happier times that now were becoming painful at Rukia´s presence.

Without turning his stare, after a moment he answered. "You know I respect you more than anyone in the Sereitei, and you alone, outside of the Kuchiki family, know the reason of Rukia´s adoption. But yes." This time he looked back at her dark eyes. "It is painful to look at her. She resembles her sister almost to perfection. But it was a promise I made to Hisana, and it´s a promise I´m determined to keep. She needs to be in the Kuchiki manor so that I can do it."

Unohana sighed, closing her eyes and nodding. "That´s what I´m talking about." She met his sight, locking eyes with him again. "You should let her stay at the Kurosaki´s. As much as you despise them, you know they´re people of word. They´ll take good care of her. And use this time away from her to get your ideas and your feelings in order, so you don´t have to suffer this much." She sighed again, extending her hand towards his and touching it lightly. He flinched at that, but didn´t move. "I hate to see you like this, Byakuya, but the only one that can help you is yourself."

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I´m sorry it´s too much thinking and musing, but believe me, it´s needed. Hope you enjoyed it!

Ah! And I did some fanart on the first chapter, you can see it at .com/art/Finding-116705806

´till next chapter!!