WAAAAAH! IT'S THE FINAL CHAPTER! THE END IS HERE! Okay, if you're interested in my end of story rant, you'll find it at the end, for now I'll spare those that aren't interested, so let's get on with it shall we?

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach, just this plot which is now done (If you exclude the epilogue).

PPS: this chapter makes me nervous, sorry if it's a letdown for a finale.

P.S: As a thank you treat for those that have stuck with this story and reviewed and faved and followed, I've decided to upload the epilogue tonight too! *throws confetti* keep an eye out for it, it will be up in a few hours. I just need to review it first!

ENJOY!

…

'Where am I? … who am I?'

There was nothing. Nothing was anything here.

'Wait. Where is here?'

She felt around blindly and was a little scared to find nothing there.

'What was that?'

She strained to hear it. The sound came again. Someone was calling for someone. Someone named Rukia, apparently.

'Wait..that's my name…right?'. She wasn't sure. But she wasn't given any more time to think about it. She suddenly realized that the reason for everything being dark was that her eyes were closed. She opened them. That was a bad idea.

There was a sudden flash of light, and Rukia quickly shielded her eyes, the sound of someone calling her becoming louder.

After a flood of thoughts and memories flowed through her head and left her ears ringing, she slowly sank down and sat on nothing as she tried to process where she was and what was happening.

…

"Rukia!"

After a few more seconds of yelling her name, Ichigo froze as he finally noticed where he was. Rather the lack of a 'where' he was. There was nothing but an endless stretch of white, seemingly starting from nowhere and never-ending. His colour seemed to stick out against the stark white of his surroundings.

"What just happened?" he asked no one. One moment he had been in Urahara's basement, yelling and pounding on barriers. Now, he was in the middle of nowhere, seeing nothing, and no one.

He frowned as he walked forward, choosing to ignore the fact that he wasn't stepping on anything, and that he seemed to weigh nothing here. It didn't even feel like anything here. He dint know how long he had been walking, nor how far. He froze when he noticed a speck in the distance, and then unconsciously started running forward when he recognized it.

He pushed forward, keeping his eyes locked on the speck in front of him, as if it would disappear if he didn't. Well, it had happened before, hadn't it? He wasn't taking any chances this time.

He stopped running and stood panting for breath, a few feet from where she sat.

She had her back to him, and seemed not to notice his presence. That or she was choosing to ignore him.

"Rukia…"

She flinched and then turned around to face him, shocked surprise written all over her features. She obviously wasn't expecting to see him…or anyone else really..here.

"Ichigo…?"

She knew it was him, having remembered everything. She knew where she was and what was happening. And she knew that he wasn't supposed to be here.

"OW! What was that for?!"

He scowled as he rubbed the sore spot she had just hit.

"Baka..What are you doing here?!"

He opened his mouth to answer, but shut it again when she continued yelling.

"How did you even get here in the first place?!"

"Rukia…"

She wasn't listening.

"Did Urahara-san send you here? No wait, he would have told me that beforehand.." she was mumbling to herself now. "hmm, maybe something happened…"

"Rukia…" he tried again.

"But I think I would feel something if something went wrong…right? Wait… What if I'm dead..No wait, technically I was already dead."

Ichigo was getting frustrated at being ignored. So he did what any rational thinking person in his shoes would. In this case, that would be silencing her with a kiss.

"You know, you could have just said something politely instead of rudely interrupting me like that." She commented after they broke apart.

Ichigo snorted. "So a kiss is a 'rude interruption'? And I did try to say something before, but you just kept on blabbing about nothing."

Rukia frowned…and then stomped on his foot. HARD.

"OW!" he howled as he hopped on one foot, cradling his, possibly crushed, other one in his hands. Rukia smirked with satisfaction.

"That should teach you some manners."

Ichigo huffed as he massaged his tortured foot. "Why did I ask you out again? Damn violent midget.." he muttered under his breath. When you're in a place where there's nothing, your sense of hearing can be amplified as Ichigo discovered when Rukia heard his muttered words.

"What was that?" she asked with deadly calm, and then her voice took on a teasing tone. "You didn't 'ask me out'. You were practically begging me to date you."

Ichigo's scowl deepened. "I wasn't begging!" he snapped, pride wounded. "You are just stubborn….hmph, you said yes anyways." He pointed out.

"Remind me why I did that again." She muttered as she rolled her eyes.

….

Flashback

"I- I c-can't do this."

Ichigo frowned, "Why not?"

She sighed and turned to face him, but said nothing as they stared at each other.

"It's not like I'm ugly or anything…right?"

She snorted at that, and he relaxed, happy to see her laugh, "very funny, Ichigo."

"What's wrong with being with me then?"

She sighed again and frowned. "Because…it wouldn't be..fair."

Ichigo blinked at her blankly. "Unfair? For who?"

She shook her head. "You..it wouldn't be fair on you."

"Me? What are you yammering about now?" he huffed. 'Annoying midget..' he thought irritably, choosing to ignore the hollow snickering in his head. 'oh crud..she's talking..'

"…and I'm a soul reaper, it wouldn't be proper. And the chances of us having children are almost non-existent…"

He froze. 'Kids…?', he thought blankly. He bristled when Hollow whistled in his head. "Looks like the queen is already thinking of heirs..ey, king?" he said slyly. Ichigo chose to ignore him in favour of listening to what Rukia was saying.

"…And there's also the rules of soul society, it's against the rules to be involved with humans and –"

"I don't care about soul society's rules. Obviously." He cut in flatly. "I don't think even they care about their rules," he continued, ignoring the look on her face, "I mean, if they did they wouldn't have allowed a human to become a shinigami. Not that I care, but isn't it against the rules to give a human shinigami powers?".

He was expecting the usual, 'they made an exception' argument, and was prepared to retort that they would either make an exception for them too or suck it up cos he didn't care either way. However, she probably didn't care much about that either as she chose to address something else.

"But you care about having children."

He blinked at her like she had grown another head.

She huffed. "You didn't say anything when I mentioned it, as you have now when I mentioned rules."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't care about that either."

"Ichigo, you say that now, who knows if you'll still say the same thing a decade or two from now."

He let out an exasperated sigh and scowled. "I'm only asking you to be my girlfriend, not to have kids."

She frowned. "But you will want them eventually. It is natural for humans to want them. And your father does always say he wants grand children, are you going to deny him and yourself that?"

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched. "I don't care what the crazy old man wants."

She frowned harder. "This is serious, Ichigo."

He sighed again, irritated. "Stop making it complicated. It's just dating. It's supposed to be simple. Like I said, I'm asking you to be my girlfriend, not bear kids."

Her eyebrow twitched this time. "Are you saying this is temporary? You plan to change your mind later?" she snapped.

He groaned and ran a hand over his face. "Quit making this complicated! I don't care about the future. I care about right now."

"You have to consider the future consequences of your actions and decisions in the present." She shook her head disapprovingly.

"Oh that's wise..did you get that from Byakuya?" he sneered.

She bristled. "Nii-sama IS wise!" she snapped back.

"Whatever, I don't care. Will you be my girlfriend or not?" he snapped impatiently.

"Are you even listening to me?!", she snapped. "And what kind of way of asking is that? Its rude and not romantic at all!".

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't have time to stop by the florist on my way here." He snapped sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant! Arrrrgh! It doesn't matter either way. I'm not doing this."

"Why are you being stubborn?!" he snapped.

"Why are YOU being stubborn?!" she shot back.

"Because I want to be with you!" he snapped. "Don't you want to be with me too?" he added softly.

She softened and lowered her arms.

"Of course I do…but –"

"No buts then! It's simple..we want to be together, we'll be together. I don't care about whatever the future holds, if you're there by my side, I know I can face whatever comes my way."

(A/N: I rolled my eyes here..corny, I know.)

She hesitated. "But…what if Urahara cant fix this?..and I do end up dying?"

"He will fix it…or else I'll break his face." He added.

She scoffed at that. "And how will that fix anyth-"

"I don't care."

Her eyebrow twitched. He smirked.

"Will you stop interrupting me-"

"I love you."

She rolled her eyes. "I think you're sick. You just said that three times in the space of one hour. I mean, its weird for someone like you, I thought you still think girls have cooties or something, I mean you've never had a girlfriend, how would you even know what love is?"

Ichigo scowled. His hollow was laughing again.

"Last time I try to be romantic." He grumbled. "Weren't you just complaining about that a minute ag-"

"I love you too."

They grinned at each other.

"Finally." Hollow and Sode No Shirayuki thought simultaneously as their respective hosts shared a kiss.

End Flashback.

…

"Okay, now that I think about it, I never agreed to date you," Rukia said thoughtfully after reminiscing. "We just said 'I love you' and kissed. I never said yes."

Ichigo groaned. "Does it matter? I don't care, we're dating, and that's that."

She frowned. "You can't order me to date you."

"I don't care."

Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you keep saying that? It's infuriating!"

"Which is why I keep saying it…I like it when you get pissed…its…you look prettier."

She huffed, but blushed at the same time. "That's the worst compliment I've ever heard."

"Don't care…" he answered lazily.

She rolled her eyes. "You know, you still haven't told me how you got here."

"Oh that…yeah, well, Urahara's machine was going crazy and you were disappearing, I panicked and broke through the barriers to get to you. And the next thing I know I'm here."

She sighed in exasperation.

"Idiot…you KNEW the machine was SUPPOSED to make me 'disappear'."

"I don't care about that." He replied mechanically, and then answered softer. "I just panicked because YOU were disappearing and the machine was beeping and Urahara was acting like that wasn't supposed to happen."

She giggled. "Cute Ichigo, Urahara-san was messing with you. He probably knew you would freak out."

"So..you're saying he tricked me? Oh he's going to pay…so, the machine was supposed to go berserk then?"

She nodded. "Not the word I would use… but yes. Urahara-san said it would take a lot of energy and power to operate, so of course it would look and sound like it had gone berserk."

He frowned. "What was it supposed to do again?"

She sighed. "I knew you weren't paying attention when he explained how it works."

He blushed slightly as his eyes drifted to her hair. "Of course I wasn't listening. Your hair is distracting. Did you know that if the light hits it… it looks blue? And sometimes black? And then blue again?"

She blushed as she blinked at him. "Um…no?"

"Well…it does."

She coughed awkwardly. 'Um thanks… I think."

He rolled his eyes. "That WAS a compliment, Rukia."

"I don't care." She beamed at him. He wasn't amused.

"That's not funny."

"Whatever you say, Ichigo. Now, do you want to hear the explanation or not?"

"Do I have a choice?"

She scowled. "Urahara-san said this would take a while…it's a good way to pass the time."

"I can think of a better way to pass the time." He intoned, eyeing her lips.

She blushed furiously. "Ichigo! We can't just sit here kissing, while someone rebuilds our souls, its seems inappropriate to me."

"Hmm, I never thought I would hear my girlfriend give me something like that for an excuse not to kiss, I always figured it would be something like bad breath or something."

"You don't have bad breath Ichigo. I wouldn't kiss you if you did."

"See, THAT is something I would expect from my girlfriend."

She blushed. "And you referring to me as your girlfriend is something I never thought I'd hear."

They shared a smile, and she laid her head in his lap, sighing contentedly when his hand immediately started stroking her hair.

They sat that way for a few minutes, in a comfortable silence….until…

"So…about the machine…"

He groaned.

"What? I'm bored."

"Rukia…"

She shot up. "Hey, you said the machine was going berserk and that reiatsu was shooting up everywhere right?"

"Yeah…so?"

She stood up and started pacing worriedly. "So…I don't know if those sensors you and the others placed around town will be enough to contain it all."

"What are you talking about?"

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Remember what Urahara-san said…" she trailed off when he gave her a blank look. "Never mind that. He said the machine would break down my reiatsu in a safe contained barrier, I don't know how he explained that with his science…but he said that in order for the energy not to attract hollow, the sensors you placed around town, when activated would connect and erect a barrier around the town that would seal in any stray reiatsu and mask it, making it undetectable. That way the hollows and soul society would be unaware of what was happening."

"Yeah..I know that, so what's your point?"

She frowned down at him. "My POINT..is that he only calculated for MY residual spirit energy..if my guess, that you jumped in and got your soul broken down too, is correct, then your monstrous reiatsu was released..SOME of it had to have leaked out…what if it attracts a horde of hollow, or even Menos. Or worse Arrancar."

He yawned. "Relax..they'll handle it."

She frowned and crossed her arms. "Don't blame me if we find Karakura in shambles from the massive hollow attack your stupid reiatsu is going to cause." She huffed.

"Yeah, right, whatever…now will you get back here? I miss the feel of your hair."

She frowned and huffed, trying hard not to blush…and failing judging from the smirk on his face.

"Will you stop being so carefree!"

"mmhmm..When you stop being uptight. Now get over here."

She huffed but complied. He sighed happily as his hand tangled into her silky locks. She giggled. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you had a fetish for my hair."

He rolled his eyes at her.

"Whatever..now what is that machine supposed to do again?"

She smirked up at him. "I thought you didn't care."

"I didn't…but that was before you mentioned that my soul had been digested too."

She frowned. "The machine isn't digesting us Ichigo. It's simply breaking it down, removing the bacteria and negating the effects of the hogyouku. Er…I don't know what it will do to you though."

He froze.

"Relax, Ichigo…" she laughed. "I'm sure you'll be fine."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and then she shivered. "Huh, that didn't take as long as I thought."

"What?"

"I got all tingly. Urahara-san said if that happened, it means the machine is almost done."

"Oh, I thought it was just a side effect of this whole being in love thing."

She rolled her eyes. "That's not funny Ichi- wait…you feel it too?"

She let out a sigh of relief when he nodded. "It means you'll be fine too." She explained when he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Oh? were you worried about me?" he smirked down at her. She blushed, frowning. "I don't care about that."

"Okay, you're right, that IS annoying."

She laughed and he smiled. "So, what do you wanna do when we get out of here?" he asked as he pushed the bangs off her face gently.

She shrugged, eyes closed as she basked in the feeling.

"Oh I know.." he suddenly said, causing her to open her eyes curiously. "What?" she asked.

"I'm taking you out on our first official date…like a celebration."

"Celebrate what? War is approaching."

He frowned. "Like I care about that. I meant celebrate that we're both fine…and together."

"Oh Ichigo…" she smiled as she reached up to cup his cheek…

And then shot up suddenly. "I have a BETTER idea!"

Ichigo scowled. "What could be better than our first date?"

"WE are going to have DINNER with Nii-sama!" she said with shining eyes.

He gave her a blank stare. "I'm sorry how's that better than our first date?"

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "We are going to tell him about us and get his blessing at dinner. Is that not obvious?"

"I don't care about his blessing."

"You do if you want to date me."

"He's going to Senbonzakura me all the way to Rukongai!"

"Nii-sama wouldn't do that…the worst he could do would be to put senbonzakura petals in your soup…I'M JOKING!" she hastily added at the horrified look on his face.

He sighed, irritated, as he ran a hand over his face.

"I really don't want to."

"And I really don't care."

"Love…" Hollow and Sode No Shirayuki thought simultaneously, one swooning the other gagging.

There was a flash of light.

"I kinda wish we could just stay here for a while longer…just the two of us."

"Ichigo!…do you loathe the idea of dinner with Nii-sama that much?"

"No….I just like having your undivided attention."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "That better have been a compliment and not sarcasm."

He sighed.

'I have the best girlfriend on the planet…' he thought to himself, smiling at how it sounded sarcastic but was true.

He took her hands, smiling at her and tightening his hold on her as she smiled back.

And then the light intensified, and neither saw the other anymore.

…

THE END! *sniffs and wipes away tear* I am so going to miss this fic. The first Multi-chap I have ever completed!

Okay, before I say anything I would like to say…I have no idea why Ichigo kept saying 'I don't care.' It felt funny lol..if that makes sense.

The epilogue will have no author notes, so I will say all I have to here:

Thank you so much to everyone for reading this fic, and enjoying the ride with me. Its relatively choppy and amateurish because it was my first work EVER, but I learned from it, and maybe one day I'll come back and revise it!

I'd also like to thank you all for reviewing! Your reviews really helped me a lot, I feel like I have grown as a writer thanks to you guys, constructive criticism is always appreciated! (-:

I don't know when the sequel will be up (it won the poll, thanks for voting!). But, I have most of the plot figured out already, and about the first three chapters are done. They still need work though so I don't know when it will be up. Probably, after the other multi-chaps I have going currently are done! The genre will be Humor/Romance. Pairings: IshiHime, slight IchiRuki and like maybe some UlquiHime.

Okay, that is all, THANK YOU ALL!

Now, how bout a review for old times sake? Haha, it hasn't been that long since I started this. That was July, it was published in September and is now complete, this is November so just about 3 months. Oh well, please review!

Hugs and much love, (blows kisses)

Chelty-chan.