A glimpse into the past then to the present. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I deeply apologize for not responding like I usually do, I'll be sure to be more diligent with that. Onward!

Connecting Stars: Chapter Two

"You look so pretty Kuchiki-san!"

Orihime could not contain her excitement. Hisana adjusted the last camellia in her sister's hair and took a step back. With a sigh, she smiled.

"Like an ancient princess," Orihime continued. "When I get married I want a dress like this, too!"

"When you said a modern kimono, I was worried." Tatsuki smirked. "But I'm impressed. Ichigo won't know what hit him."

There was a knock on the door.

"Speaking of the devil…" Tatsuki looked to the door. Getting up from her complacent placement at the corner of the room, she put a hand on the handle and cracked it open. "Hey, in western cultures its bad luck for the groom to see the bride before-… You're not Ichigo."

Standing at the doorway was a man with fire red hair and strange birthmarks all over his upper body. He was tall and looming with a seemingly perpetual scowl plastered to his face, but he wasn't Ichigo.

"No, I'm not." He said. "I'm-…"

"Renji!" Rukia shouted seeing him in the reflection of the mirror.

"You know him, Kuchiki-san?" Orihime asked. Her light auburn hair bobbed along her shoulders when she turned, having just cut it after graduation.

"He and Rukia are childhood friends." Hisana picked herself off of her chair and walked to the door.

"Childhood friend?" Orihime repeated.

"Yes," Hisana laughed. "It's been a long time Ren-kun, you've grown since the last time I've seen you."

"Ah, Hisana-san," Renji greeted, abashed. "It has been about three years."

"That is true," Hisana agreed. Nodding her head, she hummed. "Well, I'm sure you came here to see Rukia since it's been so long. The three of us need to get to our seats, so don't take too long."

"What?" Tatsuki questioned.

"Come on girls," Hisana chided the two other women out the door, leaving Renji and Rukia to collect their thoughts after a long reunion.

At first, there was silence. Rukia stood from her seat so that he wouldn't have to look down so much, though it helped little as her small frame seemed to almost be overwhelmed by him.

"You really have grown," she said.

"Yeah…" he responded, voice softer than a murmur.

Three years of unspoken words and all they could really do was watch each other in silence. Bottles and containers of makeup and hairpins shook as she leaned against the bureau, arms crossed. He did not move from his place at the door.

Renji looked his childhood friend from head to toe and gave a strained smile.

"You really do look nice." He told her. If anything, there was sincerity in his voice. "You always looked good in traditional clothing."

"I never thought I'd hear you compliment me on how I looked," she joked. Going back to how they had been before she'd been adopted by the Kuchiki's, it was easy, but it something felt different.

Renji shrugged.

"I guess just because it's been a while."

He had gotten taller. They had gotten older. Rukia smiled.

"I'm really glad you could come," she said, "everyone else from junior high just sent me gifts. I was surprised when I saw your reply."

"You have that little faith in me?" Renji feigned hurt. "Like hell I'd miss your wedding."

Rukia laughed, lighthearted. Shoulders slumping, she was finally able to relax a little. Renji laughed along with her, flexing that usual toothy smile that seemed to stretch from one ear to the other, exposing the sharp teeth they had always joked made him look like a wild macaque.

"Plus, I heard you'll be going to Seireitei University on a kendo scholarship," Renji said, a finger scratching his temple in embarrassment. "So we'll be teammates again."

"Really?" Rukia widened her eyes in surprise.

"Yeah."

"That's amazing!" Rukia said. "Just like old times."

"Yeah, just like old times," he agreed.

Rukia did not notice as Renji's fists momentarily clenched.

"So…" Renji hesitated. "Is he the one from your visions? The groom I mean."

All Rukia had to do was smile, that particular grin that had her eyes shimmering, and he knew his answer. Renji restrained from gripping onto his suit too tight. Instead he made a playful scoff.

"Getting married right after graduating, don't you think you're going too fast?"

His words came out forceful, but Rukia acted as though she took no notice. She shrugged.

"It was the most convenient time. Because once university starts we'll both be very busy. Ichigo wants to be a doctor and besides, it was going to happen anyways." She relaxed and leaned further against the bureau. Her eyes traveled to her feet poking out from under the fabric of her kimono. "Sooner or later, we saw it. So it wasn't a matter of if but when."

There was a moment of silence as it took a moment for him to process it. Renji's eyes grew wide.

"When you say 'we' saw it," Renji paused. "Do you mean he's like you? He can…"

She slowly looked up to her old friend. A grin spread across her face, and he couldn't help but notice that shimmer in her eyes, the one she had always had when they were growing up. It was a shimmer that he had only seen Rukia give, like the dance of moonlight along the water's edge, with the stars clear and twinkling in the night sky. Her eyes glimmered like she were seeing the world for the first time. And he had always known, that glimmer wasn't meant for him.

There was a knock on the door.

"Is the bride ready?" Came Hisana's voice from the other end.

Renji looked away.

"Seems like the time has come," he told her. With as much strength as he could muster, Renji took another look at his childhood friend and gave her one of his most sincere smiles. "Congratulations, Rukia. I'm glad you could find your happiness."

Rukia couldn't help but smile back. And though he was sad that there wasn't that glimmer in her eyes, he reveled in the fact that this smile was directed solely for him.

"Thank you Renji," she said.

And with a final nod, Renji opened the door and left after giving Hisana a small gesture of acknowledgement. Rukia, suddenly feeling as the nerves began to crawl up her arms, straightened out her posture and fabric and grabbed hold of her sister's arm. They walked into the grand hall.

Rukia turned her head to inspect the obi around her waist one last time before the music began. When she had first rented it, everything was much too big for her. The shoulders sagged and the fabric always slipped right past hips, falling further to the floor with every movement she made. But Hisana had assured her sister that tailoring the dress would be no problem and, much to their relief, everything fell into order. The robe was snug and not a seam out of place. Entering into the open cathedral, she held her head high. The fear of it looking like her kimono was eating her whole. Instead, she stood proudly, letting the silk glide down the aisle; in the sunlight, golden strings shined as they curled around patterns of carnations and spider lilies that matched the red camellias adorning her hair.

With everyone staring at her, Rukia's heart began pounding harder. Even the most nerve racking kendo tournaments could not compare to the mix of joy and anticipation she felt. The eyes of her classmates, friends, Renji; the eyes of her brother-in-law, her sister, and other family members, they all faded in the scene around her.

Walking closer and closer, she had her eyes trained only ahead. Ahead to the man standing at the alter. His orange hair sticking out like a beacon against his tailored black suit. His breath hitched at the sight of her. A hand was brought up to adjust his tie. Their eyes did not leave each other for the moments that she approached, even as she walked up the steps to face him. Ichigo's lip quaked just a bit as he tried his hardest to find words. Rukia resisted the urge to smile inappropriately at his reaction – failing miserably.

"Just repeat after the pastor," she said under her breath.

Ichigo immediately silenced his incoherent mumbling and only gave her a large grin. Without splitting their gaze, they both repeated the mantra of the minister. Words that they, till then, had never known the weight of. Promises to be forever together, promises for the future. With each syllable, the true heaviness of every word they were saying sunk in deeper and deeper. Even if they had filed their marriage register the day she had turned eighteen, it hadn't felt so real till they were facing each other in the moment.

And with a last comment from the minister, the words everyone in the ceremony had been waiting for were spoken like bells from atop the chapel.

"You may now kiss the bride," Ichigo and Rukia mouthed together.

"Anti-climactic?" Ichigo asked, a lilt in his voice.

Rukia gave a mischievous smile.

"Maybe a little," she joked.

He rolled his eyes and she stuck out her tongue.

Both laughing, he leaned forward to kiss her forehead. She pulled away playfully, like the world around them did not exist, they took their time, focusing only each other.

"To forever," he whispered to her.

And with just a small shift, his lips were on hers. A scene that had played out so many times before, reality tasted sweeter. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he brought her waist closer to him. Enveloped in each other, two puzzle pieces finally finding one another, they kissed.

Sounds of a clapping crowd flooded back when their lips slowly pulled apart. Eyes still connected, the two smiled – a glimmer in both of their eyes.

"To forever," she whispered back.

Hands and voices fly into the air. Classmates and friends with smiles on their faces. Orihime in her flowing auburn hair twirls to the music, a flustered Ishida Uryuu caught in her wake. Tatsuki stands by the refreshment table with Keigo and Mizuro goofing off beside her. A rowdy bunch cluster when Chad joins in to defuse the situation. Byakuya ignores everyone around him, acting cold and aloof as usual, while Hisana tucks a strand of flyaway hair. Her smile glows watching Isshin talk to an empty chair. Masaki's spirit would enjoy the festivities with her two daughters stuffing their faces with sweets and wedding cake.

But Ichigo spins her like they're gliding on ice. He was never a good dancer but practiced hard for this one night. Effortless, he pulls her in again. They smile. Someone accidentally set their plate on fire.

"What's so funny?" Ichigo leans closer to Rukia.

Newlyweds walked down the aisle, Rukia's kimono flowing behind her. She looks up to him and opened her mouth, voice being almost drowned out by the cheering around them.

"Let's just say it's going to be one hell of an after party."

It was only a dream, she told herself.

She ran a finger over the small, handheld frame of them at their wedding. His hand was wrapped around her waist as her lips were pressed to his cheek, it was a moment captured in spontaneity – candid. The expression of shock and happiness on his face was something he could never fake, not to her.

Despite Ichigo's insistence that they get a slightly larger version to put in the living room of their shared apartment, Rukia enjoyed the simplicity of it being her own personal keepsake, so the silly photo of them on their honeymoon was on display instead.

"Do you want me to take you to class?" Ichigo emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist and steam dissipating into the air.

Rukia looked up, her expression a little startled.

"O-oh," she mumbled. "No, it's fine. You need to study anyways don't you?"

Ichigo looked at her quizzically.

"I can always study at your library, I just need to call up Uryuu to get the notes I missed from our last pathology lecture."

Ichigo walked to his bedside and unplugged his phone from the charger, the beams of late morning shining through the half open blinds. Watching him as he began scrolling for Ishida Uryuu's contact information, Rukia remembered that his pathology lecture was the extra seminar he had missed to catch the last of her competition the day before.

"Fool," her eye visibly twitched, "how many times have I told you not to skip out on any lectures for my sake?"

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head as he began typing a message into his phone.

"I didn't skip the whole thing, just the last half hour," Ichigo mumbled under his breath. "Plus, I already read ahead, I just need to know if the professor emphasized anything for the final."

Rukia put a hand on her forehead, exasperated, but knowing better than to argue her point further. Despite the countless times that Ichigo had flaked out on lectures, missed seminars, and outright bailed on informational meetings, Rukia knew that Ichigo took his school work seriously – though it was not always evident. She had seen the hours he would put into his books and the number of sleepless nights he would spend in their living room watching and re-watching podcast, taking notes and retaking notes. He was serious when he needed to be, and she couldn't condemn him for that.

"Well, you still haven't even gotten dressed yet, plus you need some breakfast if you're going to spend the day studying."

Rukia put the picture frame back into her bedside drawer, standing up and patting down her dress.

"Doesn't take me that long to throw on a shirt and a pair of pants," Ichigo said, "and what about you? You haven't even taken a shower!"

Rukia playfully slapped her husband on the arm.

"Are you saying I smell?" She feigned hurt.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and gave her a quirky smile walked around the bed, leaning in so that their noses touched.

"I'm saying," he started, voice raspy, "do you really want to go to class smelling like sex?"

He pecked her lips and she playfully pushed him away, her face just a little flushed.

"Don't be so crude," she told him, "and besides, I just smell like sweat. Like always."

"But I like your sweat," he chuckled.

"So does my whole kendo team." Rukia grabbed her bag from the foot of the bed.

"Is that an attempt to make me jealous?" Ichigo quirked a brow.

"Don't know." Rukia shrugged, giving a flirtatious look and sly smirk. "Is it working?"

Ichigo returned her expression with a look of his own.

"Don't know, is it?"

There was a silence as Ichigo raised a brow, a towel over his damp hair. Rukia chuckled and walked over to give him one last kiss on the cheek, her toes straining to reach his height. A hand reached out and forcefully pulled his neck down to aid her.

"H-hey, hey, hey," he stammered.

"So I'll find you at the campus library?" she asked.

"Yeah, the old one by the science buildings. Are your classes done at three today? Or four-thirty?"

Ichigo straightened himself, pulling out a shirt from the closet. Rukia scanned the room, feeling her bag to be sure she had all her things.

"Three," she confirmed, "I'll text you to ask which floor."

Ichigo nodded, pulling his shirt over his head. Rukia was heading for the door when she heard Ichigo call her name one last time. She turned to find his lips suddenly met with hers.

"What are you-…?"

"Stay safe," he told her.

The words were usual for him, it was usual for him to worry for her, though there was a playful smile playing on his lips. The sincerity in his eyes was always something she knew to be something characteristic of him. And suddenly, there was that image of his back to her, head low, their eyes no longer communicating. It sent a shiver down her spine and all she wanted to do in that moment was hold onto him tight, hold him to her close so that she could be sure what she saw wasn't real.

Instead, she could only give him as reassuring of a smile as she could.

"I will." She said.

And with a last kiss for the morning, she left their apartment as Ichigo began preparing his own materials.

"Excuse me? Do you have some time to spare?"

Rukia had a difficult time refusing the array of fliers that were constantly shoved into her face on a daily basis. Her small stature and doe-eyed appearance, mixed with her inability to ignore the various vendors and community service leaders, made her a perfect victim for their assaults. So, with a wary smile and hands filled with pamphlets and fliers, she was stopped – for the tenth time – by another friendly face in the crowd.

"Yo, Rukia!"

Renji stood like a giant amongst those around him. Having grown tall early, he had learned to waltz with her height in confidence, which seemed to only add to his massive size.

"Renji?"

"Miss?" The shelter representative looked at Rukia quizzically.

"Sorry, we have a lecture starting now and the professor takes attendance."

The fib rolled off his tongue like water as Renji began to pull the disoriented Rukia away from the information booth.

"It'll only take a minute," the shelter representative pressed.

"And we don't really have that time," Renji continued.

Rukia gave the shelter representative an apologetic look, though she made no attempts to resist her friend's tugging. The shelter representative sighed, but still kept a warm smile and friendly appearance.

"Well, then just contact me if you're interested and have questions."

And with that, Rukia left with another hand-out in hand.

"This is a new record," Renji mused, "want me to carry any of that?"

Rukia gave a playful eye roll as she stuffed the various pamphlets and handouts into her book bag. The lecture hall was mostly empty, save for the first three rows that had an occupant every two or so seats.

"So, can you tell me what it exactly is that you're worried about?" Renji chose a seat somewhere to the left and Rukia followed behind.

"Worried?" Rukia gave him a disconcerting look.

"Your eyebrows have been furrowed this whole time we walked to class," Renji observed. "If you aren't worries, you're at least thinking about something."

Rukia gave a jovial chuckle and swallowed her nerves along with a swing of her water bottle.

"Not really thinking about anything," she said, "just tired."

Renji, much like Ichigo, seemed to have a perpetual frown when he wasn't making any real expression at all. But Rukia had missed the slight raise of the brow, transforming his look of complacency to one of wary disbelief.

"Really?"

"Really," she assured.

The lecture hall doors came swinging open as more students began to enter. While the breeze of budding spring made the campus smell of cherry blossoms and sycamore, the bite of a lingering winter made Rukia shutter and pull her sweater closer around her body. Championships were over only a week till the semester finals arrived and their times as third years would come to a close. It was an exhilarating yet bewildering feeling that in approximately another year, she would be leaving the safe structure of school and education to be thrust into the real world.

"Well, well, well! Look who we have here?"

"Hey, Momo."

"Hinamori!"

Blithe smile and hickory eyes, Hinamori Momo's brunette hair was pulled back into a bun – as per usual – as she approached the duo.

"Excuse me miss, but do I now find myself in the presence of royalty?" Momo sat in the empty seat beside Rukia, her hands clasped beside her face and voice fluctuating with playful adoration.

"Royalty, Hinamori-san?" Rukia chuckled, if only for the absurdity of Momo over exaggerating her sighs and swoons.

"Yes!" Momo squealed. Renji made a face and grunt of obvious discomfort to the pitch but Momo paid him no heed. "Am I not in the presence of, her majesty, the kendo queen?"

She gave an exaggerated bow, with the twirl of the wrist and lowering of the head, all for good measure. Rukia couldn't help but laugh and feel a slight inflation of pride.

"I wouldn't call myself much of a queen…"

"Oh, no need for modesty. You won the All Universities' Championships for the third time in a row." Momo pulled her bag up to her lap and began rummaging. "See, you even made a headline in the campus paper."

Momo had retrieved a half folded bundle of paper, the seams creased to reveal a title written in bold letters: The Queen Reigns Supreme! Kuchiki Rukia Continues to Win All Universities' Kendo Title for Third Year. Though the photo the paper had used was not one that she would have used for herself, there was no denying to warmth and joy she felt remembering how her teammates had surrounded her once she had landed her finishing strike. It was hard for her not to smile.

"Hey, Momo," Renji leaned over his legs so that he could be in better view of the two girls, "I won my competition, too. Does that make me the king?"

"Were you written with the association of a king?" Momo held up the paper. "No? Then how about just a monkey?"

"You know, there's such a thing as monkey king?" he defended.

"But he isn't you," Momo continued to chide.

Renji's eye twitched.

"Careful Hinamori, this monkey might just go bananas on you."

"Kuchiki-tan! Renji is acting like a baboon like usual!" Momo whined and latched onto Rukia, her voice pitched just at the frequency she knew that Renji found annoying.

"Am I just a hybrid of all the ape family now?" He gave a tight smile as his words were hissed through his clenched teeth.

"Kuchiki-tan!"

"Okay, you two." Rukia couldn't help but roll her eyes at the childish display beside her. She pushed Renji back into his seat as she patted Momo on the head, giving a sigh. "You can be kind of the sword wielding baboons."

"Somehow, it doesn't sound any better coming from you," Renji mumbled, eye still twitching.

Momo laughed and pulled herself closer to Rukia, sticking out her tongue in triumph.

"What are you, five?" Renji retaliated.

"Maybe?" Momo laughed. Her arms were wrapped around Rukia's and her cheek pressed into the smaller's shoulder. Her brows furrowed. "Hey Kuchiki-tan, did you have practice this morning?"

Rukia had been laughing at the disgruntled look on Renji's face when she heard Momo speak to her.

"Practice?" Rukia questioned.

"We just had champs yesterday," Renji said. "Why would we practice just the morning after?"

"Eh, then did you not shower afterwards?" Momo asked. "I'm sorry, but you really smell like sweat."

"I mean, it's pretty hot today," Renji reasoned.

Momo's face was still scrunched in thought. Leaning in closer, she sniffed.

"But it isn't just sweat it also smells kind of like…" her lips always pursed when she was thinking, her mind going off on a tangent. "It isn't just sweat…?"

"What are you rambling about?" Renji gumbled.

Rukia hadn't thought she would feel so bashful, or regret a decision she had just joked to Ichigo about earlier that morning, but the sudden redness in her cheeks could not be hidden beneath the tussles of her hair. Renji and Momo looked on with puzzlement on their faces, but it only took Momo a moment to realize.

"A-ahah! So it was like that!"

"Like what?" Renji still looked on in confusion.

Momo let out a snicker along with her blush. Her bangs brushed the bridge of her nose as she patted Rukia on the head placed the girl's head onto her chest.

"No worries Mr. king of the sword wielding baboons." She waved him off, flustered. "I think I might have intruded a little bit on the real king and queen."

"What are you on about?" Renji narrowed his eyes.

"Nothing! Nothing!" Momo continued to wave him off.

Rukia's face seemed to get even hotter, but Renji only continued to look on with one brow raised.

Sitting at a desk by the window, looking down at the campus and their students. Some swarmed like a pack of ants while others were just slugs meandering along. His chin was resting in the palm of his hand while his pen was being fidgeted between his fingers. The textbook on biological pathways and viruses had been flipped to the middle of the "Diseases of the Blood and Hematology" chapter for the past half hour, not a page turned since he had arrived.

Ichigo wasn't the fondest of the old, science library located on the Seireitei University campus, at least no more than any study room or facility at SMU. Arguably, Seireitei Medical had superior facilities if only for the fact that it was a newer institution with access to more modern architecture and designs. The stuffiness of the molded walls and towering wooden bookshelves made him feel small and lost amongst the corridors while the dimness of the chandeliers, covered in dust and cob webs, did little to quell his springtime allergies.

"Studying hard I see."

Rukia set down her things as softly as she could before sitting in the seat across from Ichigo. Her eyes were looking at the blank page of notes in front of him.

Ichigo leaned back in his chair and stretched his hands behind his head.

"What if I just got here?" he smirked.

"Then, start studying," she whispered and started pulling out and opening her own textbooks.

"Vice-captain Kuchiki-san?"

Both Rukia and Ichigo looked up from their books to see a mousy looking student with straight dark hair and drooping eyes standing by their table with a stack of books weighing his arms down. Ichigo couldn't help but think of him like a dong he had once encountered when passing the adoption center back home.

"Hanataro," Rukia greeted familiarly, "no need to add the vice-captain title, we aren't in practice right now."

"R-right, vice-… I mean…" Hanataro paused. "I mean Kuchiki-san."

Rukia laughed at his nervousness, giving him a few words of reassurance.

"So what are you doing with all those books? Studying?" She asked.

Hanataro looked down at the stack of books in his arms and heaved a heavy sigh.

"I guess? Sort of," he sheepishly admitted. "I have a final report due this week and I have to do well or else I might fail the class. I didn't do too well on the midterm exam."

The base of his neck began to flush, as though speaking of his failure brought him utmost shame. Rukia did her best to give a comforting smile.

"That is always pretty nerve wracking," she said in agreement. "But don't worry yourself too much. If you put about half as much effort into your essay as you do in practice, I'm sure you'll pass without a problem."

Hanataro, in all his nervous jitters, gave Rukia a genuinely grateful smile.

"Thank you vice-captain Kuchiki-san," Hanataro said.

"Hanataro…"

"Right, right," Hanataro laughed, "just Kuchiki-san outside of practice."

Rukia smiled and nodded. Her eyes, only for a moment, glided back to Ichigo. But in that moment, she noticed how his lips parted and eyes only just slightly widened. The expression had been fleeting, scarce – unnoticeable to anyone upon a glance. But Rukia was not just anyone, and she knew that expression well. He had seen something, and her breath could not help but be caught in her throat as her heart began to pound faster.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hanataro sounded flustered, his attention on Ichigo. "I'm Yamada Hanataro, a s-second year Psychology Major on the same team as vice-…" He paused and looked back at Rukia, who was barely regaining her composure. "I'm on the same team as vice-captain Kuchiki-san."

"Ah, yo, Hanataro," Ichigo said, almost as familiarly as Rukia had moments earlier. Hanataro appearing flustered at the sudden display of familiarity by using his given name. "Rukia's mentioned you a few times. I'm her ball-and-chain, vice-captain Kuchiki's prison keeper."

"O-oh…" Hanataro began looking even more flustered – if that state were even possible – not knowing how to respond.

Rukia simply rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

"Don't mind him too much Hanataro," Rukia said. "This is my husband, Ichigo. He actually came to the championship yesterday."

"Yes! I think I did see you," Hanataro spoke meekly. "I heard you go to Seireitei Medical University. So you want to become a doctor."

Ichigo chuckled and scratched the back of his head, a look of sheepish embarrassment playing on his face, something rare that many didn't see often.

"Yeah, well, we'll see in a few years," he said.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Hanataro reassured him. Looking on at the textbooks and notepad sprawled on the desk between them, Hanataro had regained his nervous and flustered mannerisms. "Well, I should let you two get back to studying. I'm sorry for bothering!"

"Eh, no worries, I already know all this stuff anyways," Ichigo sighed and rested his cheek onto his hands and pushed the textbook a bit to the right.

"Cocky aren't we?" Rukia turned a page in her textbook and began side eyeing her husband.

Ichigo smirked, a playful glimmer in his eyes.

"No, just at night with you—agh!"

He winced and gripped his shin. Rukia continued to read her textbook, looking unconcerned as she flipped to the next page – save for the sly smile that played on her lips. She had kicked him from under the table.

"Oh goodness, Ichigo dearest!" Rukia spoke in a saccharin sweet voice, her doe eyes almost growing comically larger. "You should be more careful, kicking the table can hurt."

Ichigo gave a wry smile, his eye twitching.

"Table my ass," he grit through his teeth.

Hanataro looked on with puzzlement and shock.

"Ah… well, I think I should be going," he said. "I should really get back to writing my essay."

As he began to leave, Rukia turned back to Hanataro, her sugary expression disappearing immediately as though what had just transpired had never happened.

"Good luck! Remember, just work hard and don't worry too much," she assured him. "You'll be fine."

"I really hope so," Hanataro said. With one last sigh, he began heading for the stairs. "Well, bye vice-captain-…"

"Just Kuchiki-san," Rukia corrected.

"Right." Hanataro smiled. "Bye Kuchiki-san, Kuchiki-san's husband."

Ichigo gave a wave of acknowledgement, though his hands were still wrapped around his leg, nursing his abused shin. When Hanataro was away from sight, he let out a sigh and hiss of pain.

"Damn, you really went for it."

"Fool," Rukia chastised, "those aren't appropriate jokes to make in front of people."

She returned to her textbooks and was flipping to find the pages she needed to review for her final.

"Sorry, just got caught in the moment."

Rukia sighed. Her head lifting and lips pulling sideways, she rested her cheek against the back of her hand.

"What ever happened to the Ichigo who could barely even mention sacred parts of a girl's anatomy without getting all red in the face?"

"Maybe I lost him on our wedding night?" He smirked.

"And there he goes again," Rukia spoke, her voice thinning.

"Sorry, sorry," Ichigo chuckled, "that was the last one, I promise."

"Better be," Rukia gave a warning voice.

Returning to her textbook and lecture notes, she began writing a few things down while returning to her study materials and grabbing a marker from her bag. There was a seriousness in the way that she worked, her brows knitted together and eyes focused. She never realized that her tongue often stuck out when she was concentrating hard enough: right when her mind was engrossed in whatever she was doing, left if she was struggling to keep it clear. It was sticking out left.

"He's going to pass."

"Huh?"

Rukia looked up from her work, a dazed expression on her face.

"Hanataro," Ichigo mentioned, "he's going to pass."

"Well of course he is," Rukia said, "he's a kendo team member he has to-…"

"No, I mean that I know he will," Ichigo interrupted. "I saw him tell us."

Rukia blinked a couple of times. Her mind taking a moment to process what he just said. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes widened and she leaned in closer to him. Her shoulders relaxed.

"Is that what you saw earlier?" she asked, her voice forgetting they were in a library.

"No need to shout to the heavens," Ichigo chuckled, "but yes. That's what I saw."

It didn't happen immediately, but the sudden look of relief that washed over her features, there was something that nagged at the back of his head. A part of him knew that whatever reprieve Rukia was showing, it wasn't only because of the information of knowing a teammate would succeed. There was something heavier weighing on her mind.

"That's good," she said as she nodded. "That's good."

Her head lowered once more to read through her textbook, pen picked back up and ready to write. Now her tongue began to stick out to the right. Ichigo could not help but reach out and tuck a strand of her loosely tussled hair behind her ear.

She looked up again.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Ichigo responded.

Ichigo gave an innocent smile, one that Rukia often had a difficult time not feeling giddy and warm inside for. It wasn't long before a small grin began tugging at the corners of her lips as she shook her head and returned back to her books.

"Idiot," she said, "get back to studying."

Ichigo was hard pressed to obey. As her tongue began creeping out between her lips again, twisting to the right like the multitude of rabbit photos she had saved on their computer at home, the sun was slowly making its way down the blanket of the sky.

Ichigo may not have been the fondest of the old science library at Seireitei University, but he was fond of his wife. And whenever the two of them would just sit in that secluded corner on the top floor, between towering bookshelves and long forgotten chandeliers, when the sun just shined through the windows and onto her midnight hair, she glowed.

And that was enough for him.

End

Finally updated! Wow, what has been happening since the last time I updated? Bleach ended? What? You all are crazy!

*sigh* yeah. I know. I know and I was upset (still am) but this is my story and I don't want to use it to vent or spread negativity. Honestly, right now I'm just exhausted. If you want to talk, I'm always open to, but please refrain from unnecessarily or excessively mentioning the final chapter if you review.

Which reminds me! Please remember to review if you can~ I greatly appreciate every single one of them!