Chapter 11

Rukia didn't know where she was going. Her feet just led her, further and further away from Ichigo, but his words kept on replaying in her head.

You don't belong here.

Her feet stopped moving, and she felt a single tear roll down her cheek. "Fool!" She scolded herself as she wiped it away. She squeezed her eyes shut, but they escaped in a steady stream. She didn't notice the spritual pressure that followed her, nor the footsteps that approached.

"Stupid, if you're going to do that, then do it right." Renji came up and embraced her from behind. "I'm right here by your side, so cry as much as you want." She didn't know it was because of his words or if it was because she was just too tired to hold it in any longer; but as he held her, Rukia cried.

It was a side of Rukia that Renji had never seen before. When she left him for the Kuchiki house and even when her vice-captain died, Rukia had tried her hardest to seem cool and poised. But now, because of this human, her spirit seemed broken. Not knowing how to comfort her, he just rocked her gently back and forth as he waited for the tears to subside. "If he's the kind of bastard that can make you cry like this, then leave him. Leave him, and come to me."

"..What?" There was something in his tone that made Rukia's back stiffen. She was suddenly aware now of the arms that wrapped around her small frame, and she knew that Renji was serious.

"That ugly kid with the funky hair.. you like him, don't you?" She didn't have to say anything for Renji to know that he was right. The silence answered it for him. "I've known it since I got here. In your eyes, you only see him.

The reason that I know this is because in my eyes, I can only see you. It's always been you, Rukia." Renji rested his head on her shoulder and spoke softly into her ear. "So if he's the one that makes you cry, can't you let me be the one to make you smile?"

Renji, he- Rukia felt stifled as her mind struggled to comprehend what he was saying. Her hands trembled slightly as she pushed his arms away, "Renji, right now I, I can't-"

"No, don't answer me now." He understood that she needed more time, so he stepped away. "I'm leaving at dawn. I'll be waiting for you."


Although his face held his usual scowl, inside Ichigo was a man possessed. Alternating images of the pain in Rukia's eyes, his mother's smiling face, Rukia bleeding after saving him from a hollow, his mother's dead body, and his hands covered with their blood flashed through his mind. Sorrow and rage churned in his stomach, growing with every step that took him closer to home and away from Rukia.

When he entered the house, his family was gathered at the kitchen table. His father stood with a ridiculously oversize chef hat on and an apron that blazed "Kiss the Cook" on it.

"Ichigoooo" His father literally threw himself at his son, "You're just in time for the Super Special Delicious Kurosaki Takoyaki!"

He produced a plate out of nowhere, heaped with takoyaki. "Try some!"

"I don't want any." He tried to push his dad aside, but Isshin jumped back into his way.

"Just try it! It's good, right girls?"

Karin shrugged as she popped another one in her mouth. "That old man may be crazy, but he sure knows how to make these."

"That's because Daddy perfected the recipe so that your Mother would fall in love with him. Mother-" he wailed overdramatically at her giant poster, "did I raise our children wrong, that they won't even eat the takoyaki you loved so much?"

Isshin stopped abruptly and went back to Ichigo, shoving the plate in his face. "Try one!"

"I said I don't want it!" Ichigo snapped and tried to bat his father out of the way but accidentally hit the plate. The plate landed with a crash and takoyaki rolled across the floor. They all stared sadly at the wasted food, and for some reason, that just made Ichigo angrier. "I don't care if Mom loved it! I never asked for your stupid takoyaki! I never asked her to die for me!"

"So why," the words just came crashing out of his mouth and he was unable to control it, "why did she have to go and do something so stupid?"

A grim silence fell across the house. "Yuzu, Karin, go upstairs." There was steel in their father's voice that they had never heard before, and they obeyed without hesitation. Once they were out of sight, he turned to Ichigo. "You. Come outside."

Ichigo's foot barely touched the pavement before Isshin's fist came towards his face. He backed away in time to just get grazed by the blow, but it was enough to send him reeling.

"If you want to fight, then you fight me." Isshin rolled up his sleeves and put his fists up.

"I'm not going to fight you." But when the fist swung at him again Ichigo blocked it and countered with a kick that Isshin dodged easily. Ichigo spun around and tried to punch him, but Isshin ducked and gave him an uppercut to the jaw.

"Is that all you got?" he taunted. With a speed that Ichigo never witnessed before, he landed a jab on Ichigo's side. He tried to return it with a swift sidekick, but his dad was behind him before he could even blink. "You can't even lay a scratch on me at your speed."

Ichigo swung his fists wildly now, but Isshin calmly brushed him aside and caught him with a well aimed blow to the solar plexus. He then gave him a final kick in the stomach that brought Ichigo to his knees. Ichigo drew in ragged breaths as he tried to get back up, but his legs buckled beneath him and he sank to the ground again. His dad came and squatted in front of him.

"I'm fine with you hating me, mocking me, or cursing me till you die. But you will never ever speak that way about your mother again." For the first time in his life, Ichigo was aware of an immense power that seemed to emanate from his father. "If you even think for a second that Masaki wasted her life on you, then you don't deserve to be called her son."

"You're right about one thing, though," Isshin stood up and the menacing pressure that Ichigo had felt disappeared. "You never asked for your mother to die for you. She made that choice herself. She made the choice to be a woman who lived to love her children, and that meant teaching you, protecting you, even dying for you. But if you get angry like this, then you take away from that."

Isshin made eye contact with Ichigo and smirked. "So don't be angry and trust your mother! She's smarter then the two of us combined. She was the one that named you so that your name would mean 'to protect one thing.' So when you find that one thing that's worth dying for, Ichigo, live for it!"

Ichigo just stared at him for a long time, wondering who this man that stood before him. As if realizing that he was totally out of character, Isshin tilted his head back and laughed heartily. "Go away! I'm wasting all my coolness on you. Yuzu! Karin! Come see how cool your daddy can be!"

Aaand he's back, he thought as his dad proceeded to do what can only be described as dramatic modeling poses. Ignoring him, Ichigo got to his feet with a new light of determination in his eyes. He knew now what he needed to do. But before he set off, he turned and faced his father. "Dad," Isshin stopped mid-pose and stared at Ichigo who bowed his head low. "I'm sorry."

"You should be sorry," Isshin muttered as he headed back into the house, "that was some damn good takoyaki."


Rukia sat in a tree at a place where she knew nobody would look to find her. The tree stood above the grave of Ichigo's mother. This place was important to her because it was here that she truly saw who Kurosaki Ichigo was. It was here that when she held his bleeding and broken body in her arms, she no longer saw Kaien-dono's face in his.

And now.. she sat and wondered how it had come to this. How she, Kuchiki Rukia, was a mess because she was in love with a human that she couldn't have, and had a shinigami who loved her that she couldn't ignore.

Ichigo- Over the past few months she had come to know him as more than just a orange-haired kid with a short temper and a constantly angry face. He had become someone that she knew she could depend on and who, despite his cold outward appearance, cared deeply about the people around him and would protect them at all costs. Memories flooded her mind and she remembered the first moment that she had introduced herself into his life, not just as a shinigami but as Kuchiki Rukia. She thought of all the time they had spent together, all the times she had worried about him only to be greeted by that smug look he always wore, the way he remembered little details, and how he could be so unexpectedly thoughtful; and she realized that she had fallen in love with him long before today.

But then there's Renji, Only 24 hours beforehand she had been delighted to find out that he had missed her, and she was happy to think they were still friends. She missed him, too, more than she would allow herself to admit. They had gone through so much together. They had survived the Rukongai, stood side by side in front of the gates of the Seireitei, and had become Shinigami so that they could both become stronger. Renji provided what Ichigo could not; he gave her a past, a sense of security, and tonight he had given her a shoulder to cry on.

How am I supposed to choose?.. But her thoughts were interrupted at the sound of footsteps coming up the path. Drawing herself into the shadows of the tree, she was surprised when she saw who it was.

"Masaki, its me." Kurosaki Isshin came and bowed his head in front of the grave stone. "I came to apologize for fighting with your son."

He fought with Ichigo? Curious, Rukia leaned forward to eavesdrop.

"I may not be the best father, but I can tell that something's been bothering him. If you were here you'd know exactly what to say to him. Me, I just let that boy make his mistakes and then try to beat some sense into him. But I know it makes you sad, so I came here to say I'm sorry."

Isshin fell quiet for a moment and then smiled to himself. "Do you remember that dream you told me about, right after you gave birth to our girls? You said in your dream we were both old and we're stting in our living room. We sit and we eat takoyaki, and we watched as our kids play with our grandchildren. You told me about your dream, and you smiled, and then you told me, 'That is the one thing I want to live for.'" He paused and bent down in front of the grave. "Even though you can't be here with me, I will do everything I can to make your dream come true."

"Oh no, it's raining." Isshin stood and casually wiped the drop of water off his face with his sleeve. "I better go now."

Rukia glanced up at the clear night sky. It's not raining- But when she looked back down at his face, she understood. He bent down to the grave stone one last time and whispered something that Rukia could not hear.

Isshin whistled as he walked away. A cool night breeze passed between them, taking with it the sound of his whistling and the words he had spoken at the grave.


A/N: Hmm.. somehow Isshin ended up being the main character. I don't know about y'all but i really like him (obviously) because he knows alot more than what he lets on. I hope no one thinks that Ichigo is being physically abused by his father, I think the abuse is kinda mutual. This chapter turned out alot cheesier than I thought, but alas, once again it could not be helped.

People have been asking about my other fic 'Butterfly Kisses'.. I know I haven't updated that in years, but I will be continuing it after I finish with this one.

The story is almost over! Please read and review! Thanks!