Day 8. Saturday. What You Want.

"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." – H.L. Hunt.

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." – Unknown.

Rukia woke up at 6am, left Chappy to her body and headed into Soul Society. Normally reports were made using the visual system but this particular area did not have one. Reports were also usually only made once a month; however, since she had a major mission she had to report once a week, more if something important happened.

She went through the gate and arrived at her captain's door. She knocked. "Rukia, come on in. I am feeling quite well."

"Captain Ukitake, I'm glad to see you are well." She stated.

"So what have you come to tell me?"

"I preformed approximately 10 konsos and I purified about 30 hollows. I had one encounter with that hollow. He seemed to have average speed and power, his attacks were a little quicker but lacked speed. He was able to cloak himself from my sensor, completely." He nodded.

"Any injuries?"

"A scratch here or there but nothing major," she responded, if she didn't focus he would note how her fingers were slow to close.

"Your arm seems weak." He nodded. "Are you sure you are fine?"

"Yes sensei. I was not as careful as I should have been."

"Alright, thank you for the report Rukia. Is everything to your liking?"

"It was a little boring at first but I brightened it up and made myself at home."

"Glad to hear you are well."

"Goodbye Sensei." He nodded and she exited, quickly returning to earth.

Rukia had only been gone about 2 hours. She checked over the town, all seemed peaceful. She could almost go back to sleep but she decided to think about her date… she needed to shop!

She picked out a purple dress with the white ribbon around the waist and some purple shoes to match. She was excited; she didn't look too dressed up. She looked like she would on any day. She was pleased with herself. She would then study the books she picked up on guys and dating.

I woke up at 10 and I tried not to think about the… lunch. I went into the bathroom with a clean set of clothes, and shaved my face. I guess I should go get her around 11:30 so we can eat by 1. I don't want to look like anything special if it's not a date. She'll look the same even if it isn't a date.

As I walked down the street I watched couples who were walking and holding hands down the street. Rukia would just pull me around if she wanted to hold my hand. If I walked too slow, she'd drag me. I laughed. She was funny, energetic but could be serious at a minute's notice.

I got there and knocked on the door. I couldn't sense the spiritual pressure. I soon saw why. The ribbon she usually tied in her hair was around her waist. She was wearing a violet dress that fell to her knees. "So Ichigo…"

"I don't know if it's a date." I said shrugging. "Do you want it to be?" A date with Rukia… I think that would be weird… It would be fun just to be with her, even if it wasn't a date.

"I don't know… actually, yes." I didn't know how things worked on soul society but I don't think dates were about of everyday life. I mean why would you go on dates, because you were bored. I don't think they even had time for them.

I noticed she grew impatient as we weren't talking, we were just standing there. I noticed her eyes were the same color as her dress. "You look nice, come on, so let's go eat."

"Thanks Ichigo," her enthusiasm was apparent by the way she was jumping up and down. She would have run there but she didn't know where we were going.

"Do you know where we are going?" I asked her.

"No, but I figure it's that way." I laughed because as I said, she took my hand and pulled me along.

"Calm down Rukia, there's no rush. No hollow." I stuck my other hand in my pocket and pulled her back. "Haven't you heard the expression stop and smell the roses?"

"I don't think so." She thought about it. "No."

"It just means enjoy life, slow down and take it all in. The sky. The streets. The light. The clouds. The roses…" she stopped and looked around her, closing her eyes to smell and take a deep breathe.

She hit me. "There are no roses." I rolled my eyes and looked around. "Wait here." I went around the corner to the flower shop.

"Welcome. How may I help you?" She asked.

"Half-a dozen roses," I told her.

"What color?"

"Purple," I said thinking of the color of the dress that matched her eyes. She handed them to me and I walked back to Rukia.

"Where did you…" she was unhappy about me leaving but pleased to see the flowers. I pushed them into her arms.

"Now you don't have to stop to smell them." She had the biggest goofiest smile I had ever seen on her face. It was so happy and so childish. She hugged me, careful not to damage the flowers.

"Thank you!" I had seen the good, the bad, and the crazy of Rukia but I had never seen her so happy… all it took were roses?

She had the roses in her left hand and had mine in her right. Every once in a while she would smell them and not for an instant would she stop smiling. It was the most peculiar thing about Rukia. She could smile continuously for hours.

We walked into the restaurant. It was an Italian place. I hadn't ever been here before but it was supposed to be nice. "Kurosaki for two," I told the man. I had called in yesterday upon Yuzu and my dad's insistence.

"Right this way," Rukia followed behind. She sat the roses on the table, we were sitting across from each other. She was smiling, it wasn't a huge smile, it was small and just barely noticeable but it lit up her whole face.

They handed us each a menu and thankfully it wasn't in Italian. "I've never heard of any of these things. Pizza? Spaghetti?" I laughed at her pronunciation. It sounded like pee-sah, thankfully spaghetti, sounded like spa-get-tea.

"Pizza, is dough covered in cause and cheese and you can put other things on top of it, usually meats like pepperoni, sausage, and types of fish like anchovies but you can also get almost anything you want on it."

"Like the tortilla?" She asked, I nodded.

"Spaghetti is just pasta, the stringy kind we eat at home."

"Oh really? I wondered what that's called…" Rukia was always amused at the different things people called foods. She pondered tomato's pronunciation for a while and settled on toe-may-to. "I think pizza sounds good. Yuzu didn't make pizza, it was because you had to make dough and she didn't have hours to spend.

She didn't want to experiment much with the pizza but decided to add a few toppings on my insistence. We split a large pizza. The restaurant was pretty casual, it wasn't something I'd do on a daily basis but it was a family kind of environment.

When it arrived Rukia's eyes got huge and she looked at it. "It looks so good."

"Then eat." She liked the taste much better than the appearance.

"This is great!" She had her half and ate it quickly. She was full and excited.

"So a movie?" I asked her.

"I guess so," she responded. She didn't seem enthusiastic.

"What do you want to see?"

"I don't know what's in theatres." She responded.

"I don't either." After we both finished eating, paid the bill and left. We walked down the streets, Rukia's following the same pattern of walking and smelling her flowers as before.

We arrived there and looked at the movie list. "They all sound horrible!"

"Uhhh…" they did. "So what do you want to do if not watch a movie?"

"We can go to the mall." I said, trying to think of something.

"I guess… or we can… do that!" There were a bunch of people in the park playing soccer.

"Haven't you played before?" I asked her.

"I've seen Karin play but I haven't got to. I don't know how."

"It's not hard, I can show you how. You just kick the ball."

I took Rukia over to the empty field where during the late summer to early fall she would play. It was the off season now so she wasn't practicing as regularly.

"The goal of the game…"

"Is to kick it into the net, I got that." She said, crossing her arms.

"You kick with the inside of your foot, not the front. If you want to make long passes or kick into the goal you should use the top of your foot." Rukia kicked the ball we found laying around. She didn't kick it hard. "I'll go block the goal."

I stood there and she set the ball in front of her and kicked it. It rolled forward but I stopped it. "That won't ever go in."

"Try using more power Rukia," Rukia looked at the ball and then like she was kicking someone who was being stupid she kicked it so hard it flew fast. It would have smashed into my face if I didn't catch it. "Not too bad,"

"I didn't score." She stated plainly.

"Don't aim for the guy who's trying to stop the net then." I told her.

She tried several times and finally one got past me. I was beginning to tire but she seemed as enthusiastic as the beginning. "Want to play one on one?" I asked her.

"Okay, what are the rules?"

"Don't use your hands and illegal moves like kicking, pushing and hitting are penalties." I explained.

I guess most people haven't tried to play one-on-one soccer. I can only expect that it went as bad for them as it did us, we got mainly no where. We each made a goal and stopped, it was pretty pointless. "So what now?"

Rukia went to the side of the field where she set the roses and picked them up. "How about we walk through the park?"

"Okay," she took my other hand and after a while of making circles in the park we sat on a bench. "Having fun?"

"I guess." I responded. "So Rukia… are you going to stay?"

"I don't know Ichigo. There are a lot of things to consider…" She said looking at him and smiling. "I mean I love it here, I really do. The people, the excitement, it's so great but I have my duties being a shinigami isn't meant to be a chance to have a new life. I also have to consider that I would be a captain if I returned… a captain Ichigo!"

"I know. I know." I told her.

"I worked really hard to get where I am. I have my doubts whether I'll actually become a captain… I mean I am even a seated officer!"

"Why not?"

"I don't know why, Ukitake says I should but why aren't I? I just don't know." She looked at the sky. "I want to be stronger Ichigo."

"Who says that means you're a captain," I said plainly.

"Look at my dad, Urahara, Ikkaku, and other people who are strong and not a captain. I think once you become a captain you get weak, you fight less and have more restrictions. Aside from Hitsugaya and Zaraki I think the others rarely fight and get weaker."

"You make a good point Ichigo." Rukia answered.

"If you want to get stronger, train. We can train together, I'll be easy on you to start out."

She laughed. "You don't know what you'd be up against. I'm a lot stronger Ichigo. If I wasn't there wouldn't be the slightest idea that I could become a captain."

"Well one day we'll have to see," she laughed.

"Definitely not, I am not going to fight you so you'll have to wait until this hollow comes to kill me to see my power."

"I can wait," I responded. I was curious; I didn't know what she was capable of. A bankai? She saw Renji and I accomplish it, with her control it wouldn't be that hard to obtain it. All captains had bankai, it had to be a requirement… right?

"Think of all the great things you could have if you stayed?"

"I would kill hollows and perform konsos at every random hour of the day for the rest of my days." She said it like it was the last thing in the world she wanted. That wasn't the Rukia I knew.

"Killing hollows is like your career, there's tons of time in between for you to do other things. You get paid and you can live the life you always wanted. Or has that changed?"

"What?"

"You wanted a chance to be human Rukia. You learned to speak and use the language we do by reading mangas, you went to school, made friends and kept coming back against the rules. Why?"

"I don't know anymore Ichigo."

"You don't?" I asked her.

"No, no I don't Ichigo. I don't know!" Rukia was upset, I didn't get why.

"Alright,"

"I do. I do know…" she looked at me her eyes that same frightened way.

"Then what? Why do you keep coming back? Do you just like it here? Do you want to live?"

"Yes. I love it here Ichigo. I love it so much more than Soul Society. If I had a choice I wouldn't ever go back but I can't stay…. I can't stay."

"Why not?" I asked her.

"They'll come for me… they did last time. They got stronger too… I'm still not strong enough!" Rukia yelled at me, it was like she was going to cry. "Last time… you got hurt. You got hurt, Ichigo! I won't let you again."

"Rukia…"

"You keep getting hurt when I'm around… I keep getting hurt." She looked at her hand, it still not in full health. "I'm not strong enough and you're right… going back and becoming a captain will make me weaker…"

"Then stay and get stronger…" I said.

"You don't get it, Ichigo. It's not my place. They won't let me stay, they want me to be captain so they can keep their eye on me. So they can step in and save that weak little captain. I will be the fool of the gotei 13. The captain that has everyone save her. I don't want that."

"I know you don't but who is doing this?"

"My brother, Renji, everyone… they want me to just do nothing all the time. I want to get stronger and show them. I'm still no match for them… I don't think I'll ever reach their level. If I become captain I want to know that I don't need them, I can take care of my squad and lead like a captain should!"

"Rukia," it was all I could say.

"I don't have anywhere to go Ichigo. I can't go back because my life is just sheltered, they hardly let me train and do anything. Keep her busy so she can't get stronger. It's been their plan all along, you don't think I know what they want…" She kept talking but I had to stop before she got really upset.

"Rukia… Rukia!" I grabbed her shoulders, she stopped.

"I'm weak and in order to get stronger I need a place to train where there are no risks… if I'm here I can train but you'll get hurt. I won't let that happen…. If I return I won't get stronger and I'll be pushed around but what they want."

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"You keep talking but I don't know what you want. If you could do and be anything what would you do, ignore them and the risks. What. Do. You. Want." I asked her.

"I want to stay and become strong enough, to defend everyone, to not be pushed around told what to do anymore."

"Then do that. Don't worry about anything else."

"But…"

"Shut up Rukia." I told her. "I'll take care of myself. You're stronger and I'm stronger. You made me promise to not let my friends get hurt, to never fail them ever again. Remember." She nodded. "Good, you're my friend and that's what I'm going to do. You have to promise the same thing. You're going to get stronger so that you don't fail your friends so you don't let yourself down."

She nodded, she was determined now. "Good advice," she said smiling.

"I took it from you. So you're going to stay…"

"Yes, I am. I'll make sure to change that in the report to Captain Ukitake next Saturday." Her phone went off and she smiled. "Be back soon." He grabbed her hand and she understood that he was coming, he pulled out his dispenser and chappy and Iron Bird took care of the bodies.