A/N: I'm so sorry, you guys. I've been under so much pressure and writer's block is just killing me. Though I guess it's kind of and improvement consiering it usually takes me months. I hope you guys still like this chapter.

I Do, Stranger

Chapter 10: Restless Nights

"Come at me, midget."

"With pleasure."

With that Rukia went charging at him, leaping up to cross swords with him. Hanatarou had suggested for them to use wooden swords but they wanted to go all the way. Rukia evaded his movements with the grace and agility of a Kuchiki.

These past several weeks had been nothing but harsh training for both of them. They had both indeed improved but they were still from able to fight in another battle with the arrancar. With a final crash of their swords, they both stepped away from one another and decided to call it a day.

Ichigo and Rukia panted in unison as they face one another. Rukia sheathed her zanpakutou without taking her eyes off her husband.

"Good work out," Rukia said, panting as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

Ichigo laid his hand on the hilt of his zanpakutou. "You're a better sparring partner than I thought you would be."

"Of course, don't think so less of me," Rukia said, snorting unladylike.

"Let's go get dinner. I'm starving."

Rukia walked alongside Ichigo as they walked back into the castle. She tilted her head as she gazed at him.

"Any leads on the hougokyou?"

Ichigo's eyes hardened at the mention of this. "Not yet. I have Yoruichi searching information out in Sereitei while Urahara is down in earth looking up whatever he can. If they know the slightest thing, they'll get back to me right away."

"So tell me Ichigo, why was your mother in possession of such a powerful object?"

"She created it. I never knew what its purpose was but I still promised to protect it for her," Ichigo said, staring straight ahead.

"I see..." Rukia's eyes saddened.

Ichigo noticed the sorrow in her tone and quickly turned on her. "Will you quit that? It's not your fault," Ichigo muttered irritably. "We're gonna get it back. One way or another, we will because I said so."

Rukia smiled after a moment. "Yes."

Rukia jolted upright in her sleep, her hand clutching at where her persistent heart was beating rapidly. She wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. She was still shaking. Those damn nightmares just wouldn't leave her. She got up from her futon and crawled over to her drawer to grab another sleeping yukata. The one she was wearing was coated in sweat so she was in dire need of a bath. With a towel in hand, she began walking off toward the baths.

If the castle was gloomy during the day, she didn't like facing it when it was night. She had a small wax candle holder leading her way. The light from the candle created ominous shadows that seemed to be following her. It made the most beautiful portrait she passed look dark and sinister. Very little moonlight filtered in from the curtains on her right.

Soon she had reached the room with the large marble bathing pool. The fountain in middle began to spit up soap and bubble when she turned the knob on it.

Rukia allowed her yukata to drop below her shoulders, and revealed the many scars that trailed down her left arm. She began tearing up at the very sight of it. Her gaze returned to the sash of her yukata and allowed it to pool around her feet. She placed a tentative foot into the warm bath before allowing half her body to be submerged.

She numbly began scrubbing at her body as if hoping to cleanse the impurity. Those scars she had to bear were from the night she had tried to save Kaien. They would appear on her arm when she was was under a lot of pressure or guilt.

Rukia shut her eyes tightly as she let the wet cloth of soap slip from her hands. She grabbed at her arm and let herself sink beneath the water.

'I am to blame...I could nothing but watch him die.'

She opened her eyes to see the the light sparkling through the water. After a moment, she stretched her arms above her and began swimming back up. Her hair matted against her cheeks, and she felt new tears spilling down her cheeks.

She gasped when she felt herself being pulled up by her arm. She swiveled her head to see Ichigo's face a short proximity from her own. His deep brown eyes were penetrating into her very being. She didn't even have time to be embarrassed at her nude body. Her feet were barely touching the water as she hung there.

Ichigo who was on his knees brought her down in front of him. As Rukia tried to cover herself, he grasped her arm for a better look. She stiffened as his touch but didn't pull away from him. His hand slid down her shoulder to her forearm. The look in his eyes was soft as he continued to stare down at the scars.

"Should I ask?" he whispered, his eyes meeting hers' once more.

"...It happened a long time ago when I was trying to protect someone important to me. The scars will appear again sometimes."

"I see...and you blame yourself for that too?" he asked quietly.

"There's no one else to blame. His life was in my hands and I let him slip away. My vice-captain...my friend."

Before Rukia realised it, Ichigo had brought her against him, his arms around her bare back. Rukia's eyes widened as she felt her face being pushing gently into his shoulder. After a moment, a sob escaped her and she clung onto his shoulders. It was a long time before either of them pulled away.

"God, I must be turning soft," Ichigo muttered to himself. "You have to stop thinking everything is your fault. I'm right here. If you have to rely on anyone, let it be me. I will put you to rest," he whispered his silent vow.

Rukia's eyes softened at this. "Thank you...

Ichigo tossed her her towel and rose up on his feet. "Get dressed and go to sleep. Stop worrying about the past. Isn't that what you told me? We're living in the now, you need to forget about the then to move on."

Rukia wrapped the towel around her body and stared up at his retreating back from the floor.

"You...that's the first time you've ever told me something so sentimental."Ichigo looked like he wanted to protest when he turned around but one look at Rukia and he stopped. She had a flush against her cheeks and she was smiling sweetly at him. "Thank you, Ichigo. That means so much to me."

Ichigo stared at her for a moment. "It's nothing," he grunted, turning once more to leave. "Go to bed, already. We have a long day of training ahead of us tomorrow." Rukia nodded in understanding. Ichigo turned slightly back toward her. "Really, you should get dressed or I might do something that might make my old man proud."

As Ichigo walked out, it took Rukia a long moment to figure out what he meant. Her face heated up instantly as she tightened her towel around her.

"Idiot," she murmured.

She couldn't understand. Why wouldn't anything grow in this wretched garden? Night after night she had come and tried to plant something. Her hands were calloused from pulling out weeds. A certain section of the area at the far side of the wall was almost completely pulled out but of course Ichigo hadn't noticed...yet.

Rukia didn't want to end up wasting her packets of seeds Hisana. She had decided to just continue clearing out the garden for the time being. She would come clean the fountain statue at least twice a week. She nearly fell in several times but thanks to her ninja-like reflexes, she came out clean and spotless...who was she fooling? She had some sort of gravitational pull to that fountain. She had fallen in countless times nearly waking up the entire castle in the process.

Today she was hoping to clear out the east section of the garden. It was quite large and she was sure it may take about a month or so to finish. She knelt down and picked up a pair of blackened roses and placed them in a basket on top of the weeds and grass she had already picked.

She figured that maybe she could find some kind of spell in the library to revive the garden. She snuck back into the castle, aware that it also had ears and listened to every step she took. She slid the door aside and slipped inside as quietly as she could. She held up a lit oil lamp to light her way.

Rukia leafed through several books but found nothing but medicinal ingredients for healing shinigami. She had, although, found a book of lovely flowers she thought might be a nice addition to the garden. She sat up in a sofa chair with her knees pulled up and the book resting against them. She spent a good amount of time flipping through pages.

She nearly lept to her feet at the sound of a thump from somewhere behind her. She twisted her neck around and held the oil lamp to illuminate the dark corner. There a large green book lay and she watched in fixation as the pages flipped themselves to a certain page. She walked around the chair and bent down to pick up the book. It was at a page that had a list of ingredients written in elegant script.

A book of powerful demon arts.

The ingredients themselves weren't too hard to get; in fact most of them were in the castle. According to the spell, it could only be done on a moonless night. That was next month. There was still a lot of time to prepare for it.

- coriander

- mint leaves

- rosemary

- lavender oil

- lock of hair from a maiden

- kiss from a prince

"Kiss?" Rukia whispered, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "A prince...where the hell am I supposed to- ?" She cut off when she finally understood. The spell would certainly allow a kiss from noble to replace a prince's. Problem was getting herself mentally prepared and exactly how she would kiss him. "Backwards fairy tale; a maiden kisses the sleeping prince?"

She shook her head. She didn't want to over-complicate things while she was so close. She would worry about that later and focus on getting the rest of the ingredients for now. As soon as she finished clearing the garden, she would use them and surprise the whole castle.

Rukia held the book to her chest, her excitement barely contained.

Ichigo sat up in bed, holding up his newly bandaged arm. The hollow inside him was demanding release, but the great thing about Ichigo was that he was stubborn. He slowly got up and walked over to his mirror. He blinked and within the next second he could see his hollow sneering back at him. He pressed a fist against an eyes as he stood with his back against the mirror. But still, the persistent whispers in the back of his mind were nagging at him.

'Listen, king, when do you think you'll let me out, huh?'

"I'm ignoring you," Ichigo murmured.

'You can't ignore a pal...we go way back, don't we?" he mocked.

"Shut up." Ichigo closed his eyes as walked forward and leaned against his bedpost. "Just leave me. You don't need me so just go."

'Oh, but I do. Your power is much needed. Besides, without me, where would you be? You'd be in the streets crying for you mother's comfort.'

Ichigo's eyes snapped open at this, the hollow's golden irises swimming around in his eyes. The black part of his pupil was starting to dilate.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother," he snarled. "You...if you hadn't been there that night then-

'Wrong. Without me, you wouldn't have made it out alive. It was you, Ichigo... with these hands you killed your own mother. I had no part in it,' he hissed, holding up Ichigo's hands for him to see.

Ichigo looked away in disgust, unable to say anything to that. His back hunched over as he let himself settle onto his bed. As his eyes slowly glanced upward, he could see the hollow behind him from the mirrorr, his amber eyes keeping watch over his movements. He suppressed a shudder when the hollow grasped hold of his shoulder and whispered into his ear.

'You're slipping, king. You've become far too weak.'

Ichigo stood up straight as if to get rid of the lingering sensation of the hollow's presence. He could almost feel the hollow smirking.

'All you have to do is let go of any attatchment you have left in this world and I will give you immortality.'

Ichigo scowled. "I don't care about that. I want no part in it."

"It makes no difference, each day you and I are becoming one. You feel it, don't you?' Ichigo's silence was answer enough to him. 'Since you understand, a good king needs his sleep. Don't think so much as the life given to you as a curse, I'd say it's more of a blessing in disguise,' he snickered.

With those final words said, the hollow's presense left the room and Ichigo was able to breathe easier. He closed his eyes painfully as he raised a hand to cover them.

Rukia slowly rose from her futon, rubbing her eyes wearily. She rose to her feet as she went to her balcony. She could see how well- erm better the garden was starting to shape into. Hopefully once the true transformation was complete, Ichigo would be sooo ecstatic that he'll just...oh, who's she kidding? He was gonna roast her alive once he found out. But who cares! She was finally doing her part in the castle. Lately with the hougokyou missing, she had been feeling so useless.

The only ones aware of her plans were Yoruichi, Michiru and Ryo and even they held some skepticism. She tried to reassure them that things would turn out alright and should they be discovered, she would take full blame and responsibility for it. She turned her head at the sound of a knock on the wall. The shoji screen slid aside and revealed Yoruichi kneeling there.

"Morning, Rukia," she said with a smirk.

Rukia smiled. "Good morning."

"Wanna come down for breakfast or would you rather change first?"

Tightening the sash on her sleeping yukata, Rukia glanced up and replied, "I can dress myself, it's alright. No need to call Michiru and Ryo."

Yoruichi placed one hand at her hip as she leaned in her doorway. "You really know how to spoil the fun. The girls and I really love making you look cute. By the way, how did last night's weed diving go?"

"Well, I'm sorry for that but I really insist on handling my own dressing. As for last night, it went pretty well. Look for yourself."

Yoruichi made her way across the room and peeked over the balcony. "Wow...it looks nice."

Rukia pulled on her drawer and pulled out the list of items she would need for the garden. "That's not even the best part. Look at what I found. It's a spell specifically for reviving dead plants."

Yoruichi gave it a quick skim. "...Where are you gonna get the kiss from a prince?" she asked, a knowing smile tugging at her lips.

"...I was thinking of using a certain noble as a replacement. Though, I don't think the spell is referring to a kiss literally. It must be something else," Rukia said quickly, stashing the list back into her drawer.

"But if it's not, things could get awfully steamy, don't you think?" Yoruichi grinned.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "I hate to disappoint but I'm almost positive that the spell isn't referring to a real lip locking kiss."

Yoruichi shrugged. "You never know."

Rukia went up to her wardrobe and pulled out two different kimono. Yoruichi placed a pensive finger to her chin for a moment before pointing at the lavender one with multi-colored flowers lining the sleeves and hem of it. Rukia allowed her to help her tie her white obi with silver thread lining it. Rukia left her hair down for a change and walked out of her room without the slightest jewelry or trace of make up on her. With Yoruichi following close behind, she descended the staircase and headed into the dining hall.

As expected Ichigo was already at his usual seat. He lifted his head up to watch his new company joining him. Rukia felt her ears burn the whole time as she sat down beside him. When she got tired of him gaping at her the way he was, she turned in her seat and gave him a sharp look.

"What?! What is it?!"

Ichigo frowned. "You look...different."

"Huh?"

"I can actually see the real face underneath all those paints and rouge that you use."

Rukia rolled her eyes. "You've seen my face before. So what's your point, anyway?"

"I like you better this way."

Rukia looked up at him when he said this but saw that he had returned to eating. She stared for a moment before starting on her own meal. Yoruichi watched from the sidelines as they made early morning conversation. A soft smile graced her features. Somehow seeing them converse and speak to each other like respectable beings made them look all the more beautiful beside one another.

A/N: There you have it. Another chapter of IchiRukiness. Plz R/R for me or I'll cry! lol. :P Here's something good to hear...another slice of Ichiruki. Let me give away the chapter title; Mind Boggling Kiss. XD XD So if you'd like to read this chapter any time soon, I hope you guys review.