Chapter 3: Moving Day

Ichigo had to admit that his sisters had better taste in decor than he did, but he did have one complaint, which is the sheer amount of furniture they had and asked him to help move. The plan had been for Karin and Yuzu to rent a moving truck for the span of a day, during which the three Kurosaki siblings would take turns driving and picking up pieces of furniture throughout. It wasn't the most structured of plans, but they had managed to complete most of the move by noon.

Because Ichigo lived much closer to their parents' house, he was delegated the task of bringing some of his sisters' knick knacks from their old rooms that afternoon, which included books, decorations, lamps, and clothes. While they did buy new furnishing, which were delivered earlier that day, it was of course much more economical to reuse old ones.

Immediately after his shift at work ended, Ichigo drove the rental truck to his old home, equipped with a lengthy list of the things that his sisters wanted.

Both of his parents greeted him at the door.

His father gave him a friendly slap on the back–with more force than necessary, as per their traditions–while his mother urged him inside to have a bite to eat before heading towards the new apartment. Originally, Isshin and Masaki had wanted to come along and help with the move, but Yuzu and Karin convinced them to stay after noticing that their mother has been feeling a bit under the weather.

To appease his mother, Ichigo grabbed a few bites and promised to bring some food for his sisters after Masaki's insistence. It then took about an hour to load everything in the truck, after which he bid his parents farewell and continued on his way.

Yuzu and Karin were waiting in the lobby of their apartment building after receiving a call from Ichigo that he would be arriving shortly.

"Alright," Karin said, cracking her knuckles. "Let's get this thing started."

"Oh, Ichigo," Yuzu had on a mysterious smile. "Someone might be coming by a little while later to help."

Half paying attention to Yuzu and half focusing on the task at hand, Ichigo hadn't noticed her expression and inquired with mild interest, "Hm, really? Who is it?"

She clapped her hands together. "One of our new neighbors. I think you'll really like her."

Karin rolled her eyes. "And by 'you'll really like her,' I think she really means 'you two would really make an excellent couple, and I'm planning to play wingwoman because I'm worried you'll live your life lonely and single forever.'"

"Karin!"

"What? It's what you were telling me last night."

"I did not say it like that." Yuzu gave her twin a lighthearted smack on the arm. "I meant that Rukia, our neighbor, seemed like a lovely person who might potentially be a good match for you, Ichigo."

"Wait, Rukia?" Ichigo felt his palms sweating and quickly wiped them on his jeans.

"Yes, the neighbor. She said she'd come by in a bit. You know her?" Yuzu tilted her head quizzically.

"Oh no," he quickly responded. "I just thought the name sounded familiar."

What else could he say? I met her twice a while ago, we insulted each other, and then I searched her up online, which is the extent of our relationship. I felt that we had a special something something. Ridiculous. Besides, saying that he didn't truly know her wasn't a lie, either.

"Nonetheless," Karin spoke up, "we should get started moving all this stuff or else it'd be tomorrow before we're finished."

Glad to move on from their previous topic of conversation, Ichigo quickly responded with, "Yes, good idea."

The three of them were rather efficient at first, but the work soon got to them and their pace slowed considerably. Glancing at his watch, Ichigo realized that it was already dinnertime, which meant he had already been at it for almost an hour and a half. There was still no Rukia in sight, which made him feel slightly relieved. Maybe she won't show up after all, which was what he was hoping for. Things might get more ... complicated if his sisters got involved, especially if Yuzu really meant what she said earlier. About him and Rukia being a potential match and all. There were many reasons that Ichigo could think of on the spot as to why that won't work out, and at the top of the list was the fact that he was a taxi driver while Rukia seemed to be a highly-ranked employee at a successful insurance company. Yuzu wouldn't understand; she'd definitely say that love trumps all or some optimistic cliché like that.

Best for Rukia to just be kept separate from his family members and their overzealous nature.

Rukia was a little concerned that she might not be able to make it home in time to help her new neighbors, as she had previously promised. She already had to text Momo earlier that they should postpone the red-velvet-cupcake-tasting for another day because she had to stay at work overtime.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, which consisted of a significant inconsistency in several of the files, she and her team had to stay and rectify all the mistakes, which was supposed to take an extra two hours.

Toshiro Hitsugaya, who only recently joined her office, grumbled after she informed him that they, along with three other employees, had to work late and remained in a foul mood ever since. For all of his negative attitude, however, Rukia found that he was surprisingly more efficient than normal while angry, which ultimately paid off as they managed to fix all the files an hour in advance.

"Good work, everyone!" Rukia announced in an effort to lighten the mood after everything was finished.

Nanao Ise, ever professional, replied with a smile as she prepared her belongings to leave, "Thank you, Miss Kuchiki. See you tomorrow."

"Yes, see you all tomorrow. Did Toshiro leave already?"

"He hightailed it out of here as soon as all his files were fixed," Nanao said. "Muttering something about his grandmother? I'm not sure, but he seemed to be in a hurry."

Rukia sighed. She'll have to have a talk with him soon about being more cooperative. They all had their afternoon plans delayed or ruined because of this, but everyone else had been annoyed, yes, but at least accommodating and understanding. Hitsugaya might be a prodigy, which is what her brother had said to her when he assigned the young man to her team, but he is on equal footings with the rest of the employees here.

No matter, there were more important obligations at hand right now for Rukia than a worker acting sullen, and so she quickly bid a goodbye to the rest of the group and hurried out of the building. Normally, the commute home took about forty-five minutes, but thankfully the traffic was forgiving, and her bus arrived at the stop near her apartment ahead of schedule.

Walking the one block to her home briskly, Rukia saw a moving truck from a distance. Yuzu and Karin must still be at it, so she wasn't too delayed after all.

"Rukia!" A blonde figure standing right beside the vehicle called out after spotting her.

"Hey, Yuzu," Rukia jogged up to the young woman. "How much is there left to move?"

Yuzu laughed a little embarrassedly, "Still quite a lot, actually. We started off on a good pace but that didn't last too long. Karin insisted on a twenty-minute break a while ago. She's up in our apartment right now with my brother trying to order pizza, I believe."

"Okay, let me get changed into something more comfortable," Rukia gestured to her blazer and dress pants, "and I'll join you guys."

"Sounds good!"

Rukia made her way up to her apartment and grabbed shorts and a shirt from her closet. While she changed, she swore she heard arguing from Yuzu and Karin's rooms right next door. What sounded like Karin's voice was shouting something about pineapple on pizza being the worst topping she has ever heard of, while a deeper voice–the brother?–called her unreasonable and uncultured for not wanting to try a heavenly topping sent by the gods.

A third voice, Yuzu most likely, joined in right as Rukia was pulling on her tennis shoes. The other two immediately quieted down afterwards, and Rukia chuckled. Seemed like Yuzu was the peacekeeper of the bunch.

After Rukia felt satisfied with her attire, she grabbed a water bottle and headed over to Yuzu and Karin's.

"Hey, it's Rukia," she called into the apartment, the door to which was open wide.

"Come right in!" Yuzu answered from inside.

Ichigo had been right in the middle of an intense debate with Karin regarding pizza toppings when Yuzu barged in, bearing grave news. Well, it was grave news to him, at least.

"Stop being so loud, you two!" She said firmly–and at a normal volume. "Rukia just got back and is coming over to help soon. She can probably hear you two shouting through the walls."

So she came after all. Ichigo felt his palms growing clammy again. He was never one to be particularly anxious, but for reasons unknown, he felt that this seemingly inevitable reunion between him and this Rukia caused him undue stress.

"Sorry about that," Karin said to her sister. "I was just trying to educate Ichigo about the proper way to eat pizza, that's all."

Ichigo huffed, doing his best to appear unfazed in the slightest, and replied jokingly, quieter this time, "Oh please, Karin, you shouldn't educate me on something you know nothing about."

"You shouldn't–"

Karin's response was cut off by another voice from outside the door: "Hey, it's Rukia."

"Come right in!" Yuzu's face lit up.

"Were you guys arguing a few minutes earlier? I thought I heard..." Rukia slowly trailed off as she walked into the dining room and caught sight of Ichigo.

Something in Rukia's face must've given her away, because Karin jumped in, "So you two do know each other?"

"Ah, um," Rukia met Ichigo's eyes and, as if she understood exactly what he was trying to convey with his deer-in-headlights expression, answered, "No, not really."

Karin looked back at her brother and narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

Yuzu did not seem to be as attuned to Ichigo's body language as her sister, and she went ahead and offered an explanation for the noise earlier, "Sorry about that. These two were just arguing about trivial things. Speaking of which, did you two actually end up ordering a pizza at all?"

"No," Ichigo scratched the back of his neck. "Say, um...Rukia, was it? Nice to meet you. I was just prepared to order a pineapple pizza if you haven't had dinner yet."

"Pineapple? That's a bizarre topping, Ichigo." Rukia wrinkled her nose.

"Ha!" Karin exclaimed. "That's exactly what I was telling him earlier. Cheese pizza it is then. I can call."

"In the meantime, the rest of us can head down to the truck and start moving the rest of the furniture," Yuzu said, and gestured for her brother and Rukia to follow.

The three of them made their way to the elevator, at which point Rukia suddenly said, "Actually, I think I'll take the stairs down. It's good exercise and all, right?" All the while, she subtly elbowed Ichigo in the ribs without her sister noticing, hoping he'd get what she was hinting at.

"What do–" Realization dawned upon Ichigo as he noticed Rukia mouthing we need to talk at him. There won't be any other opportunities for them to chat in private otherwise. Smart. "Yeah, that's actually a good idea, I'll do that, too. You can wait for the elevator, Yuzu."

"Oh, okay?," Yuzu appeared mildly puzzled as she watched the two opening to the door to the stairwell but didn't press any further.

Finally away from the eyes of his siblings, Ichigo felt a sense of relief, which disappeared as he saw the frown on Rukia's face as they made their way down the staircase.

"Mr. Driver, we meet again. Care to explain?"

"The name is Ichigo Kurosaki," he responded automatically. "And what's there to explain? Yuzu and Karin are my sisters, and now I guess they are going to be your neighbors."

"Why did you make me lie to them and say we don't know each other?"

"I didn't make you do anything."

"Okay scratch that. Why did you look like you wanted me to lie to them? You were shaking your head at me ever so slightly when they asked."

"Well I wouldn't exactly call our last encounter 'getting to know each other.' So it wasn't really a lie."

Rukia fell into thought, then shrugged. "Fair enough. I suppose I wouldn't say to my brother that I knew you if the roles were switched."

"Right."

They descended into silence for the next few floors down until Rukia spoke up again, "Also, pineapple pizza? Are you serious?"

"Oh don't tell me you're going to be like Karin about this, too." He took a deep breath and prepared to lay out his carefully constructed reasons for his tastes in detail. Which, not to his surprise considering their previous conversations, descended into a full-on shouting match between before even reaching the bottom floor.

Yuzu was carrying two lamps out of the moving truck when she almost dropped them in surprise upon hearing the intense back-and-forth between Ichigo and Rukia as they exited the apartment building.

"–pineapples are perfectly respectable fruits! They have tons of nutrients, which you obviously didn't get enough of considering how short you are!"

The petite woman gave him a death glare, "Oh are you picking on my height now because you can't win the pizza debate? Well I'll have you know, I am just as physically capable as you are despite my short stature!"

Neither of them seemed to notice Yuzu standing nearby with her jaw dropped, watching the scene unfold speechlessly. And, to prove her point, Rukia climbed into the moving truck, stacked three chairs together, and started walking to the elevator with feigned effortlessness. Not to be outdone, Ichigo stacked up the rest of the chairs, one more than what Rukia had, and followed after her with a smirk.

Still unsure of what exactly happened, Yuzu carried her lamps and hesitantly trailed behind Rukia and Ichigo, who were fighting over whether chairs were an accurate representation of their respective strengths. The three of them arrived shortly on the thirteenth floor, and after placing down the chairs, both Ichigo and Rukia dashed out again, trying to outcompete the other and not even giving Karin a chance to finish telling them that the order for pizza has been placed.

"What...exactly happened?"

Yuzu shook her head. "No idea."

"I was thinking,," Karin lowered her voice, not wanting to be heard, even though both her brother and Rukia were probably long gone by then. "Did you realize that, earlier, Rukia knew Ichigo's name when she first came in? I don't think we've ever said it to her, and he hadn't even introduced himself..."

"So that would mean they did know each other beforehand?" Yuzu filled in the blank.

"Yes, there has to be something they're not telling us, and I really want to know what."

"Slowpoke!"

"Cheater!"

"I'll have you know," Rukia countered, out of breath as she sprints down the stairs, "that jumping over the railings is not cheating, just efficiency at work."

"That's what cheaters tell themselves to feel better about cheating."

Feeling triumphant, Rukia prepared herself for the last last jump, a whole floor ahead of Ichigo. She then launched herself over the stairway railings, clearing it successfully, only to feel herself land wrong, her left foot twisting inward awkwardly. Perhaps it was due to the immense adrenaline rush, but she felt no pain at first and attempted to stand. Her feet gave out unexpectedly, however, and she was forced to reach out to the wall for support. "Goddamn it."

"What?" Ichigo flew down the last flight of stairs, skipping every other one, and turned to face her. Seeing that she was standing on one foot, he asked, "Did you twist an ankle?"

"I'm fine." To prove she was fine, she retracted her hand from the wall and attempted to take a step towards him, only to stumble when her foot could not bear the weight.

Catching her by her arms and pushing her upright again, he said accusingly, "You did."

"I'll be fine," Rukia shook her head and put a hand against the wall again. The pain was now manifesting itself and slowly intensifying, though it was nothing unbearable. For now, at least.

"You're not fine, Rukia. You should probably go home and sit down. Put some ice on it or something." He offered a hand. "Here."

Rukia peered at him, just as reluctant to accept help as the last time.

Not this again. "Well if you don't want a hand I can always carry you, because it's pretty obvious you can't walk well on your own." Ichigo shrugged with calculated nonchalance and a snide sense of humor.

Her face went red, and she grabbed Ichigo's hand with a light grip, not quite believing that something like this is happening again. "I would prefer the former option."

"Yeah, I thought you might."

"Just so you know," she remarked, "I still beat you down the stairs."