Rukia wakes up in a medium sized bedroom. The floors are wooden (just like most rooms in the Ishida house) and the walls are painted a light yellow colour which matches the light yellow and white bedding. The bed is on the left side room with two bedside tables either side. Opposite the bed on the right wall is a small wardrobe and there is a window opposite the door with the white curtains closed. This was the guest room in Orihime and Uryuu's house and Rukia was their guest.
"What in the..?" Rukia whispers getting out of her bed wearing a pair of light blue pyjamas which are far too long for her after she borrowed them off Orihime. Rukia walks across the hall towards the door of the strange sound.
She pushes the ajar open fully and blinks at Yoshino's room. Rukia tip toes over to the cot to see the baby stirring in her sleep. Her little fingers are wrapped in the sheets and her black hair is curling all around her head. Rukia smiles as the eyes lids open to reveal pools of light blue surrounded by walls of black lashes. Yoshino looks up at the beautiful young woman and hesitantly tries to reach up to her with no victory. Rukia blinks as the child sees fill up with tears and she opens her mouth to cry.
"Oh no wait…" Rukia panic and then gently reaches down and scoops Yoshino into her arms. Rukia wraps the blanket around Yoshino gently and then holds her in her own folded arms. The baby shuts her mouth immediately and just blinks up at the young woman. The woman looked slightly younger than her mummy but she had old eyes but they were also beautiful pools of violet. Rukia shakes her head and slowly rocks the girl back and forth in her arms while humming to herself. Yoshino's little fingers wrap into the baggy material of her pyjama sleeve and Rukia grins.
"Oh good morning." A soft voice says from behind her. Rukia turns around to see Orihime leaning against the door frame. Her orange hair now let down but Rukia is surprised to find in now only falling a few inches past her shoulders. Orihime looks beautiful even in the morning. Her own pyjamas are silk lilac shorts and a baggy lilac top with thin straps to match. Her feet are bare and her toe nails are painted a light pink.
"Good morning." Rukia replies with a smile.
"Yoshino seems to like you." Orihime nods towards her daughter with a smile.
"Well I like her." Rukia says in a playful voice grinning down at the baby who blinks back happily.
"Anyway if you want to bring her down we'll get some breakfast." Orihime suggests and Rukia follows her down the stairs with Yoshino in her arms.
They walk into the single door which now seems to be on the right side of the hall. The room reveals a beautiful kitchen and dining room. To the left is the kitchen area with white marble tops on the light wooden units and a window hanging over the sink. In the centre is a dining room table in a circle shape with six five chairs around it. Then to the left is a set of French doors looking out into a medium sized garden which leads onto stone floor and then further onto a large patch of grass. At the end of the garden are flower beds cut off by a fence only a few inches high. To the left of the French doors is a sort of cage with blankets and pillows in the cage circle as well as a few teddies and a few items which seem to help with teething. After a quick order from Orihime, Rukia lays Yoshino down on her back in the cage thing and then goes into the kitchen.
Orihime opens the fridge and a cupboard hanging above one of the units to reveal different cereals. Orihime says Rukia can have a cooked breakfast or a continental breakfast or both if she wants. Rukia laughs and asks Orihime what she will be having.
"Well first I'm going to make Uryuu his bacon and eggs on toast and then I usually have some cereal and then a piece of fruit. Though I sometimes cook extra food and have a cooked breakfast." Orihime says with a smile.
"I think I'll go with the cereal and fruit idea if that's good with you?" Rukia asks and Orihime grins.
"Why wouldn't it be you Muppet?" Orihime laughs grabbing the eggs and bacon out of the fridge before grabbing a few boxes of cereal and finally opening the bread bin and grabbing a few sliced before popping them into the toaster.
"So do you work Orihime or does just Uryuu work?" Rukia wonders and Orihime smiles.
"Well Uryuu works for a clothes company designing and even making some of their products. Well he makes the prototypes anyway and then lets the machines do the rest." Orihime laughs briefly. "I work part time for the same company helping out with the colour schemes and things like that so really Uryuu and I work together."
"That must be nice then because you're not away from each other all the time." Rukia smiles and Orihime nods.
"Yeah but lately we've been doing separate shifts so someone is always home with Yoshino. We don't really want to get a babysitter but sometimes Chad watches her or even Yuzu sometimes." Orihime says smiling. "Yoshino is loved by everyone it seems."
"Well if you want I'll watch her today." Rukia suggests and Orihime blinks as Rukia pours a bowl of cereal and Orihime turns over the bacon strips in the pan and then runs to the toaster.
"Really? It would be great for me to work today but I don't have to." Orihime says buttering the toast lightly and Rukia grins.
"Yeah it'll be cool. We could take a walk and whatever. You have formula right?" Rukia asks and Orihime nods.
"Only for emergencies like when Uryuu's home and I'm not otherwise I just feed her myself." Orihime says and Rukia nods with a smile.
"See it'll be fine." Rukia tells her and Orihime hesitantly smiles.
Ichigo leans back in his chair with only Nanao, Isane, Ukitake, Byakuya, Ikkaku and Yachiru now waiting in the room to keep his good sides awake. If just one falls asleep it makes the others chances weaker and he could wake up with the mind of a hollow.
"You'll be fine Ichi…" Yachiru chirps and he smiles.
"Hopefully I will." He replies squeezes his eyes shut as three different opinions flood his head at once.
"If you'd just give up your life as a Captain everything would be fine. I can beat the hollow without you." His voice changes slightly and he shakes his head.
"What's so bad about being a Captain anyway?" His soft voice says.
"I want to go back. I want to see my sisters and dad. I want to protect my family." His voice says in a dark tone. Nanao and Isane shake their heads but then both smile slightly. No matter which side wins they will love Rukia equally.
Rukia carries Yoshino into the hall. The baby girl now dressed in a long sleeved pink top, denim dungarees, black leggings and little black boots. Rukia smiles at the child as she dresses her in a little denim jacket and then sits her in the pram in the hall. She'd asked Orihime about if they had a pram hoping she could take Yoshino for a walk. Rukia was now dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, a dark blue long sleeved turtle neck top and a long black coat that falls to her knees. She slips her feet into her converse and then runs into the kitchen and grabs the spare keys and a blanket. She walks back into the hall and tucks the blanket around Yoshino before strapping her in and then opening the front door. She pushes the pram outside and then locks the door behind them before sliding the keys into her jeans pocket.
She pushes the pram along the road humming to herself as Yoshino blinks up at the blue sky and glances either side to see trees and small birds. The sound of Rukia's humming send Yoshino into a relaxed state. As they reach a park entrance Rukia leans over the pram handles and looks down at the top of Yoshino's head. Her black curls blow around in the wind and Rukia smiles before pushing the pram into the park. She wheels the pram through the play area and Yoshino watches other children play happily. Rukia pushes her down a path towards a huge pond. They stop to look at the ducks and Rukia smiles happily.
"Rukia?" A voice asks and Rukia turns her head to the right slowly to see two beautiful young girls. One's black hair falls past her shoulders but two thick bangs at the front are cut to her chin length. The other had shoulder length golden hair and a soft smile plays on her lips. The two girls both wearing jeans and hoodies but the girl with black hairs is red and the others is yellow.
"I can't believe it's you." The one with blonde hair says and Rukia eyes scan over the girls for a second longer. They must be about sixteen. Rukia blinks before a smile spreads across her face.
"It's been a while hasn't it." Rukia whispers and the two girls nod smiling.
"I've missed you." They both say and Rukia laughs.
"I've missed you guys two." Rukia laughs and then throws herself at the two girls who hug her back laughing. "Of all the people to bump into I find the Kurosaki twins."
"We wouldn't have noticed but we recognised Yoshino." Yuzu laughs pulling away and Rukia smiles holding the handles of the pram gently in her hands as Yoshino looks at the twins with a happy expression on her face.
"She actually looks like she could be yours." Karin points out and Rukia shakes her head. The three of them talk for a while and Yuzu mentions the twins were going to stop by for dinner at Orihime's tonight anyway. Rukia tells them about everyone in the Soul Society but she can't bring herself to mention his name. They are his sisters and her heart nags begging her to tell them but the idea of telling them this is scary.
Tatsuki and Rangiku walk down an empty street but it wouldn't matter anyway since no one would be able to see them. Tatsuki rubs her shoulder where the hollow had scratched her. It wasn't a bad wound and the battle ended quickly. Rangiku lets out a sigh unable to feel Rukia's pressure properly.
"It was just a hollow after all." Tatsuki mentions realising how they panicked before.
"No can't you feel it." Rangiku says looking around quickly. "It's out there still. It's just waiting to make its move and we were distracted by a simple hollow."
"If we hadn't stopped the hollow people would have died." Tatsuki points out and Rangiku nods but sighs again.
"Still… We need to protect her." Rangiku says. "It's after her for some reason and until it gets her we need to stop it."
As Rangiku said the thing was there. Sat on a tree branch, invisible to the human eye. It watches the three girls and the pram impatiently. It couldn't make a move here. It hadn't been noticed yet and who knew what capabilities the Kurosaki twins had gathered over the years. It needed to wait. The thing sighs before using flash step to disappear. It had escaped the two Shinigami earlier by running past a low level hollow. He would need to keep hiding if he wanted to get her at the right time.
