I'm such a sap :) But here you go. This should address a couple things you guys have been wondering about

Chapter 10

Dear Brother,

Urahara has been most helpful during my time here and sends warm wishes.

I have been careful during my time in the city. I am almost certain that no one has witnessed my eating.

I understand the importance of your work, but I do hope you will come to Karakura when you have a chance. Your garden is in full bloom, and I would hate for you to miss its beauty.

Forever Yours,

Rukia

Rukia folded the letter and sealed it in an envelope. She'd be going into the city again tonight and she wanted an excuse to visit Urahara again.

Technically, she hadn't lied. She had made a genuine effort to be careful; that effort just hadn't been quite enough. And, as far as she knew, no one had seen her eating in the city. Ichigo had caught her just before she had a chance to sink her teeth into that man's neck.

She certainly did hope her brother would visit soon but, now that she had written it, she wondered if it was a good idea.

After all, when Byakuya does finally make it over here, I won't be able to see Ichigo anymore...

Rukia pushed the thought away. That was a problem to be dealt with when it arose, not worried and fretted about before then.

She had seen Ichigo every day since they had run into Elisade, but he hadn't seen her. She had sensed him walking by her house the day before, but it seemed that he hadn't mustered the courage to knock on the door because he continued walking a few moments later.

Rukia had wondered if he would come by again today. She hoped he wouldn't, because it was Friday, and seeing him always made her question whether or not she really wanted to kill another human for her meal.

She hung up her latest painting, a shadowy scene with a cherry blossom tree blooming with bright white and pink flowers off to the side. She knew it was something Byakuya would be pleased by, so she hung it by his favorite chair in the sitting room before leaving for the night.

.

Ichigo sat in his room, on his bed, bored out of his mind.

He hadn't seen Rukia for days now. It was almost embarrassing how often he thought of her, wondering what she was doing when they weren't together, wondering if she still followed him every now and then.

He got a weird feeling sometimes, usually when he was walking around outside, that made him uneasy in the same way that he felt the weekend Rukia was spying on him. He tried not to admit it to himself, but he kind of liked the feeling now, hoping that it really was her watching him.

Ichigo sighed. He had gone by her house yesterday, but the ominous old mansion still creeped him out too much. Besides, he didn't want to come on too strong. The last thing he wanted was to scare the petite girl off.

Like I could ever scare a vampire... Ichigo rolled his eyes at himself.

His eyes strayed to his window. It was open, how he liked to keep it now, and he stared at the sky. It was dark; Rukia would probably be in the city by now.

Ichigo had understood when she told him she couldn't eat around him. Still, he was itching to go out and find her, just to see her again.

Instead, he forced himself to stay put. He reassured himself that he would go to her house tomorrow, and this time he would actually knock on the door.

Ichigo preoccupied himself by thinking of all the questions he wanted to ask her, all the things he wanted to know about her, until he fell asleep.

.

After dropping off the letter at Urahara's, Rukia went further into the city.

It was sobering to think how easy it was to find suitable humans at night, in places like this. As if on cue, a man and woman walked past. Rukia knew the woman was incredibly intoxicated, and likely drugged.

Her heart was beating erratically, but the man seemed fine. In fact, he was excited; his blood flowed forcefully throughout his body.

But Rukia couldn't quite bring herself to kill him. It seemed like such a waste of time. Instead, she blinded him.

He yelled and flailed around for a while. The woman abandoned him, as Rukia had expected, and managed to get herself into a taxicab.

Once the cab was gone, Rukia let him see again. The idea of eating him still disgusted her though, and she decided to keep walking.

It was strange, feeling hungry but not wanting to eat. Rukia just couldn't bring herself to do it; she kept thinking about Ichigo, and how low it was to eat such despicable creatures.

Finally, she gave up.

Urahara had clearly been expecting her when she returned in the early morning. He had a large buck waiting for her, and she ate eagerly.

When she tried to thank him for his thoughtfulness, he just brushed her off.

"It's no trouble. I remember how my feelings changed too, when I took in my Ururu and Jinta. Loving humans makes it so much harder to justify our way of life." The old man took her hand tightly in his own before she left again. "But remember, we are what we are. You don't have to explain your choices to anyone but yourself."

Rukia nodded, gave his hand a gentle squeeze, and made her exit. She had a lot to think about before she saw Ichigo again.

.

When Ichigo woke up, he was almost disappointed to see that his room was empty.

He took his time showering and getting ready for the day until he remembered that Rukia never slept anyway. He made it to her house in record time.

Ichigo took a deep breath before knocking on the huge wooden door. He waited a minute, but there was no answer.

He almost knocked again, but it occurred to him that Rukia would have sensed him coming. If she was here, she could have opened the door before he even reached the porch.

Or maybe she is here, and she just doesn't want to see me... Ichigo pushed the thought away.

Around the side of the house, he heard the gate door swing open. Double-checking that Rukia wasn't watching him from a window or a tree or something, he walked around the porch to get a better look.

The gate was wide open, swinging slightly in the wind. It led to the back yard, into the garden.

If Rukia really isn't here, surely she wouldn't mind me just looking... Ichigo knew that was a lie, but he couldn't pull himself away from the familiar scene in front of him.

The stone path, the tall plants, and the bushes with the tiny white flowers, everything looked exactly like it had in his dreams.

Ichigo continued between two perfectly pruned bushes to find that he now had a perfect view of the back porch.

And there, on the back porch, surrounded by curling vines and bright flowers, was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Rukia looked up at him from behind some sort of art easel, smiling. She was wearing a flowing sundress and held a paintbrush in her hand.

When Ichigo finally found his voice, it was a pathetic attempt at an excuse that came tumbling out of his mouth. "I didn't mean- The gate was open and I thought..."

But, much to his surprise, Rukia didn't look angry. Instead, she just chuckled. "I left it open on purpose. I wanted to see if you really were nosey enough to trespass into my home."

Ichigo blushed. It sounded a lot worse when she put it that way.

"I just... You have a really nice garden," he said lamely.

"Isn't it?" Rukia's eyes sparkled proudly. "My brother designed it."

Officially out of things to say in the strange situation, Ichigo just stayed quiet. He was tempted to join the petite girl on the porch, but he thought it'd be best to wait for an invitation.

"You want to come inside?"

That was certainly more than Ichigo had expected. "Aren't vampires supposed to be super secretive about where they live?"

Rukia laughed again. "I think it'll be all right. Besides, I was about to take a break anyway."

Ichigo followed her cautiously into the large mansion. It wasn't as dark or dusty as he had expected. In fact, it was actually kind of welcoming.

Sunlight streamed into the plush living room where Rukia gestured for him to sit. The walls were covered in paintings, all done in the same style, most likely by the same person.

"I didn't realize you liked painting so much," Ichigo commented.

They're almost kind of good, he thought in surprise.

Rukia shrugged, but it was obvious that she was pleased by his noticing. "It passes the time."

Then, his eyes fell on another painting. This one was much darker. It hung above the fireplace and featured three people. None of them looked happy.

"Is that... from when you first became a vampire?" Ichigo asked. The figures were dressed in old-fashioned clothes, and the style was much more depressing than the paintings Rukia had done.

The dark haired girl looked up at the portrait with him. She was pensive for a long moment, but finally she took a deep breath, as if she had just made a decision.

"Yes. That's me in the middle, and then my older sister. Byakuya wanted it done to symbolize our becoming a family."

"I didn't know you had a sister," Ichigo said. The woman in the picture did look incredibly similar to the younger girl, but the man didn't bear the same family resemblance. He looked very serious, with sharper features, even though all three had the same raven-colored hair.

When Rukia didn't say anything right away, Ichigo turned his attention to her. Her expression was sadder than he had ever seen.

"Hisana... died many years ago. She couldn't... The change was incredibly difficult for her."

Ichigo frowned. He didn't want to make her continue with such a painful topic, but it seemed like she wanted to talk about it.

"I thought... Did you all change at the same time?" Ichigo asked gently.

Rukia shook her head. She looked down, her bangs covering most of her face, and when she spoke, her voice was thick.

"Byakuya is much older. He came to Karakura about 150 years ago," Rukia started. "Eli- I mean, Orihime had only been here for a short time. Even now, she wouldn't have been able to do much. Byakuya is incredibly strong, one of the most powerful vampires alive. But, he isn't proud or cruel. He never ate inside Karakura, out of respect for her."

She looked up at him now, gaining confidence as she fell into the rhythm of the story. "My sister was about to go to college when she met him. They kept their relationship a secret for a long time, until... Byakuya didn't want to do it, but Hisana asked him to change her, so they could really be together."

Rukia glanced back up at the portrait before continuing. "Sometimes, vampires are created by accident. It happens when a vampire doesn't take every last drop of blood from a human. These accidental vampires are weak, because they have so little blood when they change.

"When Byakuya bit Hisana, she was the first and only human he's ever changed. It's amazing that he had such self-control at all, but he left her with little human blood. Neither of them were prepared for the amount of Byakuya's strength that was passed on to Hisana... And how starved she was for blood." Rukia paused, fighting against the memory.

"Hisana returned to our home and killed our parents. She found me next, hiding in my room. She bit me, but she was already full of my parents' blood. She took very little of mine. That's why I'm as strong as I am, and why Byakuya's powers were passed down to me."

Ichigo quickly shut his gaping mouth and tried to process everything she had just revealed to him. "Rukia, I'm so sorry..."

I can't believe the stories about the Kuchiki mansion were actually true...

"Don't be. Orihime hadn't been able to stop Hisana, but she handled everything else for us. She arranged the funeral and she's taken care of this house ever since we left. She lets me and my brother come back and stay here because she feels so guilty... She thinks it's her fault that I changed."

Well, it is... But Ichigo didn't want to interrupt her story.

"I know what you're thinking, but I don't blame her. She did her best, and now she allows me to live in this house, even though I'm a danger everyone here."

"But you're not," Ichigo protested. "You wouldn't hurt an innocent person. Orihime should know that."

Rukia gave him a sad smile. "I have, though. When I first changed, I didn't care about anything but Hisana, and when she died, it got even worse. I killed anyone I wanted to, humans, elves, wolves, innocent, or guilty, indiscriminately. I haven't acted like that in a long time, but to Orihime, I'll always be a threat."

Ichigo crossed his arms. All the things he was finding out about Orihime still bothered him, but he was more curious about something else.

"How did Hisana die?"

Rukia swallowed back tears. "She never forgave herself for what happened. She refused to eat humans after I changed, and it was a struggle to even get her to eat animals. She finally starved to death. It broke Byakuya's heart..."

Bright violet eyes looked at him, desperately searching for forgiveness. "I wasn't there," she whispered. "I was still so frustrated, I never stayed with them long. I was roaming the world, doing whatever I wanted, eating whenever I felt like it, and I wasn't there for her when she died."

Ichigo's chest tightened with sympathy. "I'm sure she understood. She knew how much you cared about her."

Rukia shook her head. She stood up abruptly, sniffing tears away, and walked over to stare up at the painting.

"She had no idea. We got the painting done together when we were still almost a family. But, I left just days afterward because Byakuya had scolded me for killing humans without eating them. I said I hated them both, and that I was never coming back." Rukia wiped her eyes dry. "Byakuya found me, almost dead, because I had tried to attack a group of elves. He's taken care of me ever since."

Ichigo got up and walked over to her small frame. He tentatively put a reassuring hand on her shaking shoulder.

Rukia didn't turn to face him, but she leaned into his touch and covered his hand with her own. "Thank you," she whispered.

Then, after taking a deep breath to build up his courage, Ichigo wrapped his arms around the girl in front of him.

She was rigidly still for a moment, and Ichigo wondered if he had made a mistake. But then, Rukia relaxed and put her hands on his arms, holding them against her.

Blissfully relieved by her reaction, Ichigo let his chin rest on the top of her head, savoring the sensation of her soft dark hair against his skin.

When they finally broke apart, the sun was high in the sky, and Ichigo had no idea how much time had passed while they were standing there, protectively gathered up in each other's tight embrace.

Awwwwww :)

Also, for those of you who've been reading First Impressions, let me know if you have any ideas/suggestions.