Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach

Chapter Eleven - The Joy of Two

Now that they were officially a couple Ichigo and Rukia were finding out just how enjoyable it could be to spend their time together. And since it was better for them to spend their time together doing something enjoyable rather than work Ichigo was making it more of a point to get his work completed so that he and Rukia could do something fun. Rukia was still growing accustomed to being in the world of the living and their fun usually involved a field trip to somewhere.

Ichigo didn't mind the fact that she was always wanting to go somewhere and, after a particularly long session of paperwork, he suggested that the two of them go to a nearby amusement park. Rukia had never been and he was fairly certain that she would enjoy the experience.

"Hey," he said, putting down his pen and gazing over at his girlfriend. He still got a thrill everytime that he thought of her that way. "What do you say the two of us go to an amusement park?"

"What's that?" Rukia asked as she too put down her pen. She gazed over at Ichigo, a questioning look in her violet eyes.

"It's fun," Ichigo said, not sure of exactly how to explain the concept of an amusement park with her. "You'll like it, I promise."

"Okay," Rukia said.

"Great," Ichigo said, getting to his feet and walking across the room to the spot where she was sitting. Reaching out he offered his hand to her and he was delighted when she took it. The two of them hadn't been dating long and they were still testing the waters, so to speak.

"Aww," a voice called out, startling the couple. "That's so cute!"

"Kaiya!" Ichigo exclaimed, his gaze going to the open window.

Sure enough his fourth seat officer was perched on the window sill, gazing at them with a 'cat that ate the canary' expression on her face. Her eyes were open wide and Ichigo could actually see the wheels inside her head turning, thinking about all of the people who would pay to hear about this.

"Is there something that I can help you with?" Ichigo asked, his tone slightly grumpy.

"I just came to inform you that a large group of Hollow have been discovered on the outskirts of town," Kaiya said. "Tomori's already gone to take care of it but you told me to warn you if anything came up that I thought he couldn't handle."

"And you think he can't handle a group of Hollow?" Ichigo said.

"Not sure," Kaiya answered honestly. "He didn't take any back up with him."

"Wonderful," Ichigo said, irritated over the fact that he was going to have to go out and check up on his annoying third seat officer. This fact pissed him off because he had actually been looking forward to his little date with Rukia, even though the two of them were only going to an amusement park. "Guess I'd better go and make sure that the idiot doesn't get himself killed."

"I'll come with you," Rukia said, hoping to cheer Ichigo up.

Ichigo offered her a smile, pleased that she wanted to come along with him. "Okay. And after we make sure that he doesn't die then I promise that we'll go on our date."

"Right," Rukia said.

So together the Captain and Vice-captain of Squad Five left their house and made their way across town toward the spot where Kaiya had directed them. As they grew closer they began to pick up on the reiatsu of the Hollow and it immediately became obvious that they weren't the low level enemies that usually attacked their town.

"Great," Ichigo groaned as he used his gikongan to emerge from his body. Normally he avoided the little device like the plague but there wasn't anyone around to see it and he didn't want to just leave his body lying around. It tended to cause trouble.

Tomori was engaged in battle with the Hollow and, judging by the injuries that covered his body, it was apparent that he was just barely managing to hold his own.

"Idiot!" Ichigo snapped as he leapt into the battle. Swinging Zangetsu he made quick work of the Gillian that Tomroi was fighting. "You should never go out without backup you fool." Another swing of his zanpaktou and two more Hollow fell.

It wasn't long before Ichigo had the situation under control and he turned to his third seat officer with a sneer. "I think that you should go to Squad Four and get those wounds tended to."

"Yes. . . yes sir," Tomori said, looking somewhat embarrassed that he's had to be saved by his captain. The man used his flash-step and fled the scene, leaving Ichigo to turn his attention back to Rukia. She hadn't even bothered to leave her gigai and had merely watched Ichigo fight with the Hollow.

"Amazing as always," she purred as Ichigo walked up to her.

"Thanks," he said as he returned to his body. It had conveniently chosen to follow them to the battle ground and he was grateful for this fact. It would have been somewhat annoying if he'd had to go out and track down his body. "So, shall we go to the amusement park now?"

Rukia nodded, looking excited.

Ichigo seized Rukia by the hand and together the two of them made their way across Karakura Town to the amusement park that Ichigo had visited, along with his sisters, when he was younger. It had been years since he'd been and as he and Rukia stepped through the gate he began to realize why that was.

He had never been a fan of large crowds and with all of the people at the amusement park it was somewhat difficult to walk. Ichigo began to regret this trip but that feeling soon disappeared.

Rukia squealed in delight as her gaze fell upon the collection of rides that was assembled around the park. Her violet eyes were shining and Ichigo decided that he could deal with the crowds so long as this made her happy. That was his main objective of the day.

"Come on Ichigo," Rukia said, her voice filled with excitement.

Ichigo allowed himself to be led around to the various rides and together he and Rukia went on them. Her all time favorite turned out to be the carousel and she forced Ichigo to ride that particular ride about twenty times. It probably would have been more than that but Ichigo was growing somewhat motion sick by ride twenty and he had to put a stop to it.

Rukia was a good sport about the whole thing and proceeded to lead Ichigo to the area were games had been set up. Her eyes widened as her gaze fell upon a large plush rabbit and Ichigo could tell by the look in her violet eyes that she wanted it.

The game consisted of throwing a ball at three milk bottles that had been stacked together.

Reaching into his pocket Ichigo pulled out a couple of folded bills and handed them to the man who was running the game. The man offered him a smile and handed him two balls. He got two chances for the amount that he payed however Ichigo was fairly confident that he would only need one. Pulling his arm back he imagined the face of Aizen and then threw the ball as hard as he could.

Not only did the bottles fall but they actually shattered.

"Sorry about that," Ichigo said to the startled man, rubbing the back of his head. He hadn't meant to put that much power behind the throw and absently found himself thinking that maybe he should have imagined someone else.

"No. . . not a problem," the man said as he gestured toward the collection of plushed animals that were hanging on the wall behind him. "Pick your prize."

Ichigo pointed toward the rabbit and, when the man handed it to him, he immediately turned and offered it to Rukia. There was a broad grin on his face and it grew even wider as her eyes lit up and she took the plush toy in her arms.

"Thank you," she murmured.

Those two seemingly simple words made Ichigo want to win some more and, when the couple left the amusement park, Rukia was caring a small pile of plush animals of various shapes and sizes. She was smiling broadly and Ichigo could tell that she had enjoyed the trip.

And that made it worth it to him.

A/N - sorry that it's been so long since I updated this. Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review and tell me what you thought. Til next time this is Hitsu-taichou signing out.