OMFG!

I have 3 reviews! 3!

and in the tradition of the number 3, here is the third chapter!

Edit: Holy smokes batman! I have 4 reviews!! 4! OMG 4! That makes this chapter a little less special but pft, like I care.

"You sure you don't want to come with me?" Renji asked. He was going to gamble with some wealthy people and probably wanted someone with money there in case he needed someone to bail him out of whatever shit he got himself into.

"No thanks. There is no way in hell I'll be lending you any money." Rukia told her friend. "We have to find somewhere to stay anyway."

"You mean we wont have to be sleeping outside anymore?" Renji asked excitedly.

"Yeah as long as we have money to earn our keep." Ichigo said. He motioned for Rukia to follow him and the two went to find somewhere to hide out.

"We just need a place to stay for a few days." A very exasperated Rukia told the owner of the tavern.

"We really don't have anything like that in this town." He told them again.

"Anywhere! Anywhere will work, we just need a place to stay for a while!" Ichigo yelled. The man shrugged again. Rukia rolled her eyes and began dragging Ichigo off to look for Renji.

"Maybe it'd be a good idea to pay Zangetsu a little visit, since running from Aizen's thugs wasn't exactly in the job description." Ichigo complained.

"Well where does he live? That might be a helpful thing to know." Renji snapped, obviously unhappy about leaving.

"He lives in Osaka with his wife. It's a pretty big house so it shouldn't be too hard to find." Ichigo informed them.

"How do you know so much?" Asked a very stunned Rukia. Ichigo turned to smile a crooked smile at her.

"I wasn't always a ronin. When I ran off, Zangetsu still gave me things to do. Usually just errands to get me enough money for food, but still it's enough for me to know a little about him." He explained. Rukia nodded. It was clear to her that this boy admired Zangetsu very much.

"He better not turn us away or it'll be your head." Renji muttered. Ichigo glared at the redhead and began walking.

A knock on the door alerted a woman that she had company. She hurried to answer the door. She was a tall graceful woman with a long white kimono and long pale hair that resembled the silk from a spider web. Ichigo did a double take, wondering if he was at the right house. She was almost the exact opposite of Rukia, though they shared the same porcelain skin.

"We'd like to talk to Zangetsu. Is he here?" He asked. The woman nodded, her icy blue eyes fixated on Rukia. She lead them to the sitting room, which was large, with maps covering the walls.

"I'll go get him. Wait here." The woman ordered. Soon enough Zangetsu, entered, followed by the pale woman.

"Hello Ichigo, Miss kuchiki, Renji. And what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked them.

"We're being tracked by Aizen's samurai." Rukia answered matter-of-factly.

"You never said they would come after her!" Ichigo growled.

"I didn't? Well I thought you'd be able to guess." Zangetsu said with a shrug.

"Zangetsu does have a bad habit with leaving out details." The woman said. "Tea?" she offered.

"Of course, I apologize for not introducing you. This is my wife Shirayuki. Shirayuki, this is Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia." Zangetsu introduced them.

"Ah, yes your latest project. I remember. Pleased to meet you all." Shirayuki said. Her eyes were the color of a lake that had been frozen over, and they were still fixed on Rukia. She seemed friendly, but there was still something cold about her. She sat down next to her husband.

"So do you know what your gonna' do about it yet?" Zangetsu asked.

"We were actually wondering if you could help us find somewhere to stay. We decided it would be best if we hid out for a while." Rukia explained.

"Ichigo, Renji, you did what you were asked. Your free to leave now if you want.. I'm sure Shirayuki and I can take care of Rukia." Zangetsu assured them.

"Rukia is my best friend. I think I'll stay." Renji said. Zangetsu nodded and turned to Ichigo.

"You already dragged me into this. There's no use pulling out now." Ichigo grumbled. Zangetsu nodded and Shirayuki smile a small smile. Rukia just stared at Ichigo, stunned. She knew how much Ichigo detested this sort of thing, so why would he decide to stay? Did he feel obligated?

"Well then, I think I have place for you to stay." Zangetsu informed them, pulling Rukia away from her hectic thoughts.

"And Rukia, you might want to go by another name for the time being." Shirayuki advised.

Zangetsu brought them to a house owned by a wealthy woman who had gone into bankruptcy due to excessive gambling. In order to repay her debt, she rented out space in her home to people.

"Hello Tsunade. I have a few friends with me who are interested in renting from you." Zangetsu told her.

"Hello Zangetsu! How is your wife doing?" Tsunade asked, looking up from some paperwork she had been doing.

"Same as always, quiet." Zangetsu chuckled.

"To everyone but you." She snorted.

"That's right. Now about that room..."

"Oh of course. I'll need your names, one at a time. You, tattoo boy, you start." Tsunade ordered, pointing to Renji.

"Renji Abarai." He said, and she wrote it down on a pad of paper.

"You?" She asked, pointing to Ichigo.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." He said, sounding bored. Tsunade wrote that to.

"Rukia..." She paused, remembering what Shirayuki had said about not using her real name. "Kurosaki." She finally said, much to everyone's dismay.

"Stories?" Tsunade asked. Rukia took the chance to try out her knew alibi.

"You see, My brother Renji, my husband Ichigo, and I had some money problems and couldn't afford to stay where we were." Rukia said in such a convincing voice that if the men hadn't knew it was a lie, they would have believed it as well. Not knowing the girl was lying through her teeth, Tsunade wrote down the story and handed Rukia a key with the number 'four' on it.

"It's settled then. Stay as long as you like, just pay your rent and be courteous to the other tenants." Their new landlady said in an offhand tone.

"I'm leaving now. Come back whenever you like. Especially if you need to talk, Rukia, Shirayuki wanted me to tell you she's always open for visitors." Zangetsu said. Rukia bowed and the old samurai turned and left.

"What the hell kind of cover story is that?" Ichigo yelled once Zangetsu had left.

"At least I had a cover story!" She shot back. "I was afraid of whatever stupid ass thing you were going to stay!"

"Oh I'm stupid? You do realize we have to act like a married couple now, don't you?" Ichigo snapped.

"Oh and that's a bad thing?" Rukia spat with her hands on her hips.

"No but..." He began.

"And it would only be acting" She interrupted. He sighed and put his hand on her head.

"I was only worrying about your image princess." He said, walking into their temporary home that a very annoyed Renji had unlocked during their argument. Rukia stormed in after him, gripping his arm and turning him to face her.

"My IMAGE? My IMAGE?" She shrieked. "I have no idea where your getting this image shit from, but I think my idea was a brilliant one!"

"Well we're on the same page now. Yes it was a brilliant idea. The acting thing is genius, but Hey, who's to say I'm acting?" Ichigo babbled angrily.

"Well if you don't want to act like we're 'in love' then how do you expect people to not become suspicious?" Rukia snapped.

"Maybe you should try getting better at that acting thing. Did you here one word I said? Isn't it, like, the first rule of marriage to listen to your spouse?" Ichigo shouted.

"Oh so your insulting me now?"

"No, of course not. I'm insulting your acting skills." He assured her.

"I'm so sorry. I'm not acting either, only pretending." Rukia stated, putting her chin up defiantly.

"Oh really? Pretending what?" Ichigo asked rudely.

"That you love me back baka!" She yelled. They both stormed off in separate directions. Renji watched from the other room, stuffing a whole rice ball in his mouth.

'Stupid strawberry thinks he can just insult my intelligence...' Rukia thought to herself.

'Annoying midget can't take her own advice...' Ichigo thought.

'I hope he gets eaten by a...wait what did he say before that...?'

'I hope she falls out of a...did she just say she wanted me to love her back?'

They both turned around and stomped back to each other.

"Did I just...?" They said in unison, gawking at each other.

"You...want... m-me... to... l-love... you?" Ichigo sputtered.

"You were acting like you didn't...?" Rukia choked out. The reluctant lovers were just staring at each other with a mixture of shock and confusion.

"Yeah, you both love each other. Now that we have that established, kiss and make up." Renji called, his mouth full of his third rice ball. They both turned to glare at Renji.

"Don't mind him. Renji has no idea what he's ta-" Rukia was interrupted by someone else's lips claiming her own. Rukia blinked, confused as to what just happened.

"I figured you wouldn't mind 'Mrs. Kurosaki'." Ichigo teased her, still gently gripping her shoulder. Her eyes were wide, still disbelieving.

"Get used to it, it's what married people do." He joked again, tilting her chin up and swiftly kissing her again before leaving to help Renji unpack. What was she thinking? She couldn't be falling in love with this baka... could she? At least, she couldn't say that she was.

Finally, chapter three is done and this one took me forever.

Any questions?

I was watching some hallmark movie called "The snow Queen" when I thought of how Shirayuki (Short for "Sode no Shirayuki") might look so...that's where I got it from.

I also apologize about the sheer fluff that may have snuck itself in this chapter. I love fluff, it makes me happy. If you don't, sucks for you.

Peace out.