Ichigo squirmed and fidgeted, trying desperately to get comfortable against the tree trunk he was leaning against. Today was scorching, and in the interests of everyone's health the group had decided to forgo sitting on the exposed roof and Ichigo, Rukia, Uryu, Chad, Mizuiro and Keigo ate their lunch in the shade of one of the large trees that dotted the school grounds.

Ichigo rummaged in his bag for not only his lunch but the additional food he had bought for Rukia. Following his conversation with Tatsuki he had gone to get her some lunch as he knew she had left that morning in too much of a hurry to pack any herself.

He glanced over at her, she was sat in the shade, her legs folded under her as she watched everyone eat, seemingly only just realising she had no food. Ichigo couldn't help but take a second to admire her again, it was one of those brief moments when he realised how much he'd missed her these past few years. Ichigo returned his attention to his bag, he still had some questions about this morning, not to mention many questions regarding what she had done to everyone's memories, but it was so hot that he just didn't have the energy, it could wait.

After taking his own lunch out of this bag, he placed the extra food on the ground between himself and Rukia, making it obvious that she should take it without saying out loud that he had bought it for her. He would also never admit that he couldn't stand the slightly pained expression on her face.

"So, Kuchiki..." Uryu said, breaking the silence, "...I can only assume you're here to check up on Kurosaki?"

Still midway through investigating what Ichigo had bought for her, Rukia opened her mouth to respond to the Quincies blunt question. It wasn't far from the truth, but she wanted to word it in a way that would spare Ichigo's ego. Unfortunately for her she couldn't find the words quickly enough.

"I'll take that as a yes..." Uryu said before she could utter a single word, "I can't say I'm surprised".

That got Ichigo's attention, he glared at the boy sitting across from him. "What's that supposed to mean? You saying I need checking on?"

Before Uryu could respond, Keigo piped up. "I wish someone would send pretty girls to look after me..." he mused, dreamily, "...you have it so easy Ichigo"

Ichigo bristled further, "She isn't looking after me! Also, no one asked your opinion."

"So..." Mizuiro said with a smirk, "You aren't denying that she's pretty then?"

Rukia and Ichigo reddened simultaneously.

"I never said that!" Ichigo spat.

"So you're calling her ugly?" Keigo replied, deciding that as Mizuiro had started the teasing then they must be pretty safe. Clearly he'd forgotten this morning's beating, Ichigo must have hit him too hard.

Sadly Ichigo had no response and silence descended, he glanced at the others for help but he was to be disappointed. Uryu just coughed and pushed his glasses up his nose and Chad had suddenly become very interested in trees.

"Kuchiki-san!" Inoue's shrill voice cut through the silence like a knife. Some way off, Inoue was stood with Tatsuki and a few of the other girls who were making their way to another part of the field. "Come eat lunch with us!" she beckoned.

"Ah...Coming!" Rukia practically beamed in reply, clearly glad to be getting away from this conversation. She grabbed her bag and without a second glance, went to join the other girls.

Ichigo could help but watch her go, slightly irritated that she was leaving because these idiots couldn't keep their mouths shut. He was very aware of a need to spend as much time with her as possible and this was the exact opposite.

"Well done Ichigo!" Keigo huffed, snapping Ichigo from his trance, "You scared off the only girl here!"

"How is that my fault again?" Ichigo replied, he was still watching Rukia go, despite his best efforts to stop looking at her. Only once she had disappeared from view did he return his attention to the others. "And you!" he said, pointed an accusatory finger at Uryu, "What was all that 'checking up on me' business?".

"Alright, why is she here then if not to check up on you?" he replied.

"She...err..." Ichigo scratched the side of his head, he had no answer. His mind flashed back to the concern he had felt regarding Rukia's orders after dinner the night she had come back, but he was so pleased to see her that he hadn't given it much thought after that. He still wasn't convinced there wasn't something else going on, but he wasn't about to share those misgivings with Ishida and the others.

"That's what I thought..." Uryu sighed, returning to his lunch.

Ichigo didn't reply, he was still deep in thought.


The rest of the day seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Before Ichigo knew it, he and Rukia were walking back to the clinic. The temperature had dropped considerably but Ichigo didn't feel any more comfortable. He was apprehensive about what he was about to ask Rukia for reasons he wasn't sure of.

He glanced down at her, she was obviously off in her own little world as she walked, Ichigo had no clue what she was thinking about but if he wanted to ask her to dinner tonight he needed to work his way round to it gradually.

"So aren't you going to explain it to me then?" Ichigo said, out of the blue.

"What's that?" Rukia replied.

"You know what!..." he scoffed, "I'm sure you're dying to tell me what you did to everyone's memories"

"Well if you really want to know..." Rukia said with a smirk, "I didn't erase their memories, I returned them"

"Huh?"

Rukia sighed, "I brought their old memories of me back to the surface"

Ichigo pondered that for a second, "Surely that only covers up until you left..." he said, thinking back on the day she disappeared and how everyone had forgotten about her, "...What about the last eighteen months?"

"I've obviously added a few fictitious memories to flesh out that period of time..." she replied with a shrug, like it was nothing.

"Oh yeah, obviously..." Ichigo replied sarcastically.

Rukia made to elbow him in the ribs, but it lacked its usual force, her first school day in years had been far more exhausting than she had expected.

"Hang on..." Ichigo said, a thought suddenly crossing his mind, "I thought you couldn't pick the replacement memories?"

"If you're referring to the incident with Inoue and her brother, that was a long time ago, Technology has moved on..." she replied, impressed that Ichigo had remembered something she had told him so long ago. "I can now pick and choose what memories I give to people"

"That is reassuring..." Ichigo deadpanned.

They walked in silence for awhile and Ichigo again found himself thinking about Rukia's so-called 'orders'. He had mulled it over all afternoon and now he thought about it, everything seemed a bit too relaxed, which wasn't Soul Societies style. He certainly didn't feel like he was being evaluated, that was for sure. He probably should have asked Renji when he had the chance on Sunday, but it had completely slipped his mind.

He took a deep breath and decided to ask her about it.

"So, how is this mission of yours going?" he asked as casually as he could.

"Well I've only seen you fight a few Hollows but I know what to expect of you there", she said, cocking her head to one side as if deep in thought, it almost seemed to Ichigo as if she had completely forgotten about her orders herself, "Plus your school life seems pretty normal..." she finished, trailing off.

Shit! Ichigo thought, does this mean she's going to leave?

"But I guess I'll keep an eye on your for a little longer, besides Captain Ukitake said I wasn't to rush" she finished.

It was at the moment that something Renji had said that night came back to him.

'She has to be forced to take a break'

The penny suddenly dropped with a resounding clang. Perhaps this wasn't a mission at all, it seems her captain was forcing her to take some rest and this was the only way he could make her do it. He decided he wouldn't say anything, If Rukia suspected she was getting special treatment she would head back to Soul Society this instant, and that wouldn't make Ichigo happy at all. Even so, something still didn't add up, Rukia was very intelligent, surely she would have seen through this?

"And I am sorry about forgetting your birthday..." Rukia said, quite suddenly.

"Would you quit that?" Ichigo sighed. "You can't forget something you didn't know In the first place, besides I really don't care"

"Inoue said as much..." she replied, "But I think it's only natural I make it up to you, that's what humans do isn't it?"

The words 'make it up to you' sent Ichigo's mind running away with him again. The possibilities...

Stop it!

Suddenly, Ichigo spotted his opening and decided to make the most of it," Fine, If you really want to do something for me, you can come out to dinner with us tonight" he said.

"Us?"

"Yeah...my Dad always takes the family out to dinner on my birthday"

"If it's just family, he might not want me there..." she said matter-of-factly.

"It's cool, I already asked." Ichigo replied, suddenly feeling she might read into that too much he moved on, "It won't be anything formal, I'm sure you get enough of that back at Kuchiki manor"

Rukia nodded in agreement, Ichigo wasn't wrong and dinner with his family did sound nice.

So why did she feel so nervous?


"Are you sure you want me to come?" Rukia asked Isshin for the fourth time as Yuzu pulled her towards the stairs by the hand. They had barely been home an hour but Isshin was insisting they get ready for dinner.

"Of course Rukia-chan!" Isshin beamed from the doorway. "Its Ichigo's birthday and you're an important part of his life!". Ichigo, who was stood next to his father, turned red faced. "Besides..." Isshin continued, "It's the least I can do for the future mother of my grandch-Ooof!" he was cut short by his son's knee connecting with his gut.

"Come on Rukia-chan!..." Yuzu said, dragging a similarly red-faced Rukia away from a beating she wanted to be involved in for the second time that day. "...let's go pick what to wear!".

"Take your time!" Ichigo growled as he wrestled his father in the hallway. Once the girls had gone he decided to explain a few things. "Would you stop that!?" he grunted as Isshin attempted to escape a headlock.

"Stop what?", came the strangled reply from Isshin as he tried to loosen his sons arm from around his neck. Ichigo let him go and shoved him away.

"Saying shit like that in front of Rukia!" Ichigo snapped as he turned and walked into the kitchen, his father close on his heels.

"I don't see what you're so ashamed of..." Isshin sighed, rubbing his neck. "You two are...you know...aren't you?"

Oh I can't believe he said that...

"NO!" Ichigo yelled back, before he dropped the tone, he didn't want the police around again. "I told you, nothing happened!"

"But you want it to, right?" Isshin said with a sly wink.

"I'm not having this discussion with you!" Ichigo retorted, storming out of the kitchen, forgetting what he went in there for to begin with.

"Good, then have it with her!" Isshin called back.

That's it, I'm going to have to kill him!

Ichigo stomped up to his room and slammed the door, looking less forward to this evening with every passing second. He wanted his father to be normal for just a few hours, that was all.

It was hard enough that he couldn't make his mind up about Rukia, he didn't need it from his Dad as well. The one time he actually decides got involved in Ichigo's life and it had to be now. Ichigo hurled his schoolbag at the wall in anger.

Ichigo sat heavily on his bed with a sigh. His father hadn't been wrong, he did want to be with Rukia at that present moment in time, but he seemed to be changing his mind about that about fifty times a day. He really couldn't think or act rationally when she was around, which had never happened to him before.

Ichigo ran his hands through his hair in frustration, he felt like screaming, girls were complicated enough, Shinigami girls were even worse. Maybe he should have had a girlfriend before now, perhaps he would be a little bit more prepared.

Deciding this time would be better spent getting ready, he did just that and ten minutes later he was back downstairs, dressed in a short sleeved shirt and black jeans. Even though he said it wasn't formal, he decided to make more of an effort than he usually would.

Ichigo tried to sit and relax, but he was suddenly very anxious. He kept trying to tell himself that this was just dinner with his family, and Rukia just happened to be coming along.

It's not a date!

Rukia was still upstairs with Yuzu when his father reappeared, dressed in a dark blue suit without a tie and Karin, would was dressed as she always was which was no surprise. She sat next to Ichigo and snatched the remote from his hand as he wasn't really watching the television anyway, his eyes never left the stairs for long enough.

"Rukia will be down in a second..." Karin sighed, "Don't look so nervous".

Ichigo shot her a glare, it seemed everyone in his family could read his mind. It was then he realised that he was unconsciously bouncing his knee up and down on the ball of his foot, an obvious sign of nervousness. He placed a hand on his knee to still the nervous tick.

"Rukia-chan, Yuzu!" Isshin called, "Taxi's here!"

"Coming!" Yuzu called back, and Ichigo could quite clearly hear two sets of feet on the stairs.

Karin stood and brushed past him, "Good luck..." she whispered sarcastically to him and she did so.

"What do you mean, good lu..." he started to ask, but completely forgot what he was talking about when he laid eyes on Rukia. She was wearing a deep purple halter top that matched her eyes. It hugged her body tightly at the sides but was low enough at the front to cause Ichigo to avert his gaze, unfortunately in doing so he realised her legs were sheathed in the dreaded jeans.

Oh damn...

Rukia tilted her head to catch his eye, "Everything all right?"

Ichigo ran his gaze back up her body before getting eye contact, something he regretted instantly.

"Yeah, fine..." he breathed, feeling her spell wash over him again.

I should really tell her she looks nice...

Ichigo shook that thought from his head, that was never going to happen. Rukia turned and headed for the front door. As she turned her back on him , once again Ichigo couldn't stop his eyes from sliding down. Her back was exposed, Ichigo took in the soft lines of her shoulder blades and her pale skin. The urge to touch her was back, stronger than ever. He felt the now painfully familiar pull in his gut, every fibre of his being was screaming at him to take hold of her.

His eyes dropped again and he just watched her jean-clad rear as she made her way to the door. He felt dirty, watching her like this, thinking about her like this, almost as if he was dishonouring her.

Ichigo balled his hands into tight fists.

Stop it Ichigo, STOP IT!