Thank you, again, to those who reviewed. I really appreciated it and I'm hoping everyone who decided to read this next chapter enjoys it!

Disclaimer: Tite Kubo still owns all of the Bleach Universe… which, I suppose, I really can't complain about

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Ten days. Ten, long days had gone by since Rukia had left and, still, Ichigo had not received word. He didn't really know exactly what he had expected in the first place but he figured somehow, someone would tell him what was going on.

Not even Urahara could tell him what had happened and Ichigo had always suspected that weird man knew everything about everyone else's business. Maybe if he had pestered him a little longer he could have gotten a better answer…

Yet Ichigo had bolted out of there fast, shouting "Shut up, you Bastards!" as loud as he could after the freak had wiggled his eyebrows and asked how he was managing his pain now that he had lost his precious nakama. If that hadn't been bad enough, Yoruichi, in cat form, had then started teasing him about young love and his inexperience with the ladies, and asked him if he wanted any tips concerning the female body.

Needless to say Ichigo wasn't going back there for awhile.

Scowling, he sulked home, unconcerned about the fact that strangers were actually crossing the street to avoid walking by him. What did he care?

"Onii-chan!" Yuzu's bright and bubbly voice rang out the moment he walked through the door, while her dark hair twin lazily call out "Hey Ichi-nii" from the couch.

"Hey you two." He responded dully, before he headed up the stairs, ignoring Karin's questioning looks and Yuzu's obvious concern as she softly called out to him once more. "Onii-chan?"

Without much thought, Ichigo wandered into his room and quickly shut the door, all too ready to turn to crawl into his bed and under the covers…so he could just get away for awhile. He needed to get away from everything that had happened lately…even if he could only for a few hours….

"Ahh!" He yelped in shock when he turned and found his bed already occupied. "What are you doing?!"

"What does it look like, Fool?" Rukia's voice rang out nonchalant as she flipped a page of her manga, looking rather comfortable while she laid out on her stomach, her legs bent at the knees so she could swing her feet back and forth in the air. "I'm reading."

Ichigo gapped at her in disbelief.

"Why are you late? You were supposed to be home an hour ago." She said authoritatively, giving him a stern look.

"Oh, uh. I had to make a stop on my way home and….wait!" Ichigo suddenly caught himself before he pointed at her accusingly. "I don't need to explain myself to you! What are you doing on my bed?!"

Rukia rolled her eyes as she turned another page. "We've been through this, Baka. I'm reading."

"Get off!"

"No."

"What do you mean no?!"

"No means knows no. Do I have to spell it out for you?" She shook her head as she glanced back down at her manga. "I'm comfortable."

"Yeah. Leave Nee-san alone!" Kon's voice suddenly rang out. To Ichigo's annoyance, there he was, perched up against Rukia's side with a content look of his face. For some reason, this only infuriated the young man even more so he stomp on to the them, and stood there dauntingly, casting a shadow upon their much smaller forms.

"It's my bed!"

"It was your bed." Rukia responded, before she smirked up at him evilly, completely ignoring his intimidation tactics. "But we claimed it while you were gone."

Kon grinned at him mischievously and pointed to the bedpost where a makeshift flag had been crudely tapped on. Drawn upon that flag was a doodle of a smiling bunny with dark hair and a lion standing triumphantly over the fallen body of a bear; a bear with spiky hair and Xs for eyes.

"You see? Now your bed is now Nee-sanland. And I'm Queen Nee-san's adorable, cuddly, loyal consort… " Kon's eyes grew wide and dreamy as his tiny paws inched closer and closer to the side of Rukia's modest chest. Ichigo saw the smack coming before he even heard it as Rukia sat up and backhanded her "consort."

"Try that again and I'll banish you to the Idiot Sea!"

Ichigo stared at her blankly, before she pointed down the ground he was standing on with a wicked smirk.

"You are so weird." Ichigo muttered as he threw his backpack down on the ground and took out a few books before he sat at his desk to study refusing to look at her again. He didn't have to see her face to know she was very pleased with herself at that moment.

A long stretch of silence settled over the room as they all did their own thing, but it wasn't that comfortable quiet they usually shared whenever they were together.

Ichigo had too many questions for her rolling around in his head and he was still resentful she hadn't contacted him at all when she probably knew he was worried about her.

Besides, should he really let himself feel all warm and comfortable when she was probably just going to leave again soon?

"Oi. Rukia?"

"Hmmm?" She asked lazily as she turned another page.

"I, uhh." Ichigo fumbled for the words never being one too good at articulation. Rukia noticed his hesitation and looked at him questioningly with those bright violet eyes.

"I was just wondering, do you know if you are you going to be here for awhile?" He flinched, waiting for the inevitably cheeky remark but it never came.

Rukia, instead, was silent, making Ichigo very nervous.

"We'll talk about it later." She replied quietly after a long moment of hesitation. She then turned her attention back to manga, but he could tell her she just trying to avoid looking at him.

Ichigo scowled. He didn't get much work done after that.

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"Come on, Idiot! Move! You've been slow all night!" Rukia's bossy voice rang out as they faced off against yet another Hollow. This was third one they had fought that night, even though they had only been on patrol for a few hours. Ever since Aizen's defeat at the Battle of Karakura and the total annihilation of the Espada, more and more Hollows were making their way into the living world.

At first, Ichigo had thought that had to be a good sign. Now it was just getting annoying.

"Shut up." He called back with a scowl before faced his enemy dead on and went in for the kill…. Only to missed the hard, ivory mask of the Hollow before him.

"Baka! You missed!" The tiny girl heralded out like a sports announcer, half in annoyance, half in disbelief. Though he was irritated, Ichigo couldn't quite blame her. It had been a long time since he fought this bad...not that he'd ever admit that to her.

"Will you cut it with the side comments?" He yelled back before turned back to look at her. "It's getting annoying."

Rukia glared at him and opened her mouth to retort until her eyes suddenly widen. "Behind you!"

With the instinct of a true warrior, Ichigo flipped up into the air, narrowly dodging the monster's attack and landed sharply on the ground. But before he could flash a cocky grin at his impressive move, the Hollow's whip-like tail suddenly lashed out catching him straight in the gut.

Ichigo's lanky form flew powerlessly through the air until it came to a violent halt as he hammered into a building nearby. Debris instantly rained down upon him while waves of pain shot down his spine. Dazed, he looked up just in time to see Rukia gracefully step between him and the monster and raise her sword.

"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki."

He watched in amazement as her katana suddenly gleamed a bright white and the elegant ribbon attached to the hilt danced in the air as though carried by a breeze intangible to anything else.

"Some no mai, Tsukishiro." The words were spoken softly, yet the impact was enormous. The ground around the hollow turned a brilliant sparkling white in a perfectly circular shape, as though she had called upon the moon itself to destroy her enemy. Suddenly, the monster that had given Ichigo so much trouble was engulfed by a celestial light and enshrouded by a pillar of ice.

Rukia didn't even watch the result of her attack. She seemed to just know the battle was over as she calmly walked away from her fight and over to his side.

"Are you alright, Ichigo?" She asked, standing over him, as cold and beautiful as the sword she held in her hand. Rukia may be his closest friend, someone he could trust with just about anything… but he had never quite been able to get over that sense of wonder he felt every time he saw Sode no Shirayuki in action.

He swallowed hard, before clambering to his feet. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"You're lucky then, Baka. You were fighting so poorly I'm surprise you didn't get yourself killed!"She frowned at him disapprovingly. "If that enemy had been a little stronger you probably would have."

"Shut up. I had it under control." Ichigo stubbornly insisted while Rukia's eyes flashed with fury.

"You were knocked into a wall! By a hollow that was below Menos level!"

"I had it under control, dammit!" He shouted stubbornly before he crossed his arms and tried to turn away but Rukia wouldn't let him. Instead, she simply stepped in front of him once more.

"What's with you?" She asked quietly, her wide eyes scrutinizing him carefully. "You've been so cranky all day, even more so than usual."Ichigo, himself, didn't really know how to answer that so he quickly countered by turning the tables on her.

"And you've been stalling since you got back!"

Rukia blinked, her dark brow furrowing in confusion. "What is that suppose to mean?"

"When are you going to tell me how long you're staying here for, Rukia?"

She stiffened immediately and glared at him. "I said we'd talk about it later."

"The the hell is the point of that?" Ichigo questioned furiously. "Just answer the question, God dammit!"

Rukia's eyes narrowed. "I won't speak to you at all if you keep acting like this." Her voice was cold, emotionless.

Ichigo huffed at that. "Fine. Whatever, it's not like I even care."

Rukia's eyes widened slightly at his feigned indifference but she recovered quickly, sliding that stoic mask she had perfected years ago back on.

"If you don't care, then why do you keep asking?"

"Because it's annoying!" Ichigo shouted, weeks of anger pouring forth. He was angry he had lost control of himself in Hueco Mundo. He was angry that his friends, who he had sworn to protect, had gotten hurt…one by his very own hand! He was furious at himself for that weakness and he hated not knowing whether or not he'd ever conquer that the evil within.

But most of all, right now, he was angry that Rukia, the one person he counted on the most, wouldn't be there by his side while he tried to piece everything back together. It was a selfish of him to feel that way, and knowing that only made him more ashamed, but he couldn't help but to be furious.

"You come and go whenever you want, sometimes leaving a stupid note or sometimes just disappearing without a word!"

"Ichigo..you know I had…" Rukia tried to cut in but he wouldn't let her.

"Then.. you just appear out of the blue and sit on my bed act as though nothing ever happened! Like this is all completely normal. But it's not normal, Rukia! And I'm just so sick of it!"

He spat out before he shook his head. "I hate it."

Rukia was silent throughout his whole speech but he couldn't gather the nerve to look at her and see her reaction. When he finally looked up at her, she had her back to him, her tiny hands clutched by her side.

"Do you really feel that way?" She asked softly.

Ichigo was silent, not knowing how to respond. He had meant everything he said, though he didn't mean to say it quite so….angry. Nevertheless, he truly was getting sick of the way she constantly moved in and out of his life, coming and going like the waves washing up on the shore. Though he suspected even a wave would be easier to pin down than his Shinigami companion.

Why did she always have to leave?

"I'm sorry….Ichigo" She spoke quietly, her dark hair falling over her eyes as she stared at the ground. "I never meant to make your life harder."

Ichigo let out a loud sigh, realizing now he had gone too far. "Rukia…"

"You don't have to say anything…" She shut her eyes tightly before she whispered. "I'll go."

Ichigo opened his mouth to tell her that is not at all what he wanted… but before he could, she suddenly vanished in front of his very eyes, shunpoing away.

"Oi!" He called out, frowning at her antics. She was always so difficult.

"Oi! Get back here!" He shouted. Instinctually, he began to chase after her until another back spasm hit him hard, causing him stop to track painfully in his tracks.

"Damn it!" He cursed as he doubled over, panting hard. He could no longer feel any trace of her reiatsu.

What the hell just happened?

Though Ichigo, usually understood Rukia better than anyone, there were moments like this that she was nothing more than an enormous enigma in midget form.

Shaking his head, he straightened himself out, ignoring the pain in his back until he spotted something on the pavement. There, on the ground where Rukia had just been standing, were three small speckles, like droplets of rain.

Or tears.

The sight instantly made his blood run cold.

Rukia was crying? But she never cried! What could have…

Horror suddenly washed over Ichigo, making his stomach churn painfully. It was his fault. He had made her cry.

The moment the realization struck him, he began to blindly race after her, not caring that his back was still aching, he just wanted to get to her and fast. But he had no idea where she had gone.

"Oi Rukia!" He yelled at at the top of his lung, blindly seeking after her reiatsu but it had vanished. Feeling more than a little panicked now, he cupped the sides of his mouth and screamed as loud as he could.

"RUKIA!"

Still, there was nothing but the faint echo of his own voice amidst the darkness of the night.

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Thank you again to everyone who read this. I really hope you review since, well, it really is encouraging to receive feedback!

**As a Note to the Anoymous Reviewer from last chapter- Thank you so much for commenting but I have to say I disagree with you for a number of reasons. I know there are some who criticize Rukia for her "tough love" stance with Ichigo and claim she "belittles" him… however, I think it is very difficult to argue she has no effect. Tite Kubo has made it rather obviously that she's the only one who can reach him majority of the time, as seen in Chapter 196 when she inspires him through her "Man in my Heart" speech.

As for the language she uses, that is the way they have always interacted and it is not one side. Ichigo calls her "baka" just as much as she calls him "fool" and I doubt either would have it any other way. Their complex relationship is defined by their bantering, deep understanding, and unshakable respect… and if I can capture maybe 1/6 or 1/7th of their depth in this fic, then I'd be doing pretty well.