Sunday, August 25, 2002

Rukia woke up to the smell of something enticing, shifting a bit before blinking her eyes open to find the bed empty. She sat up with a yawn, deducing Ichigo was making something for her, and smiled to herself before getting up to check on him.

She made her way to the kitchen, peeking inside as stealthily as she could. He appeared to be making tamagoyaki and some sort of onigiri. She watched curiously, having never seen him cook before. He looked unusually patient and calm as he worked, moving meticulously and carefully. It was a side of him she'd never seen.

It was after a minute that he said "If you're going to watch me, you may as well have a seat at the breakfast bar," without looking up from what he was doing.

Her brow furrowed but she followed the suggestion as she chided "If you knew I was here you could've told me to do that from the start."

"I didn't want you thinking I thought lowly of your sneaking skills," he replied tautly. He had by then moved on to plating as the eggs were finishing.

She continued watching silently and soon a plate was in front of her with the tamagoyaki and onigiri, as well as a cup of hot tea and a glass of water.

After attending to her, he laid out a plate for himself and washed his hands before sitting down beside her. They both started in.

Rukia quickly realized that he'd used a cucumber tsukemono in the onigiri, and glanced over at him. He'd made the dish with her three favorite ingredients, and that couldn't just be a coincidence. Ichigo seemed to be busy with eating and so she looked back to her plate, continuing without comment. It was simple and rather traditional, but actually quite good beyond that. They ate in comfortable silence.

It was as she was finishing with her tea that he asked her "So, how was that?"

"It needed more salt," she said nonchalantly, not willing to immediately reveal her true feelings about it.

He lightly slapped at her nearer arm with the back of one of his hands in dismissal before making his way back around into the kitchen, starting to clean everything up.

She let him take her plate and then her cup and glass, waiting until he was fully distracted by the dishes before getting up and joining him. She hugged him rather more firmly than she had the prior day and whispered "That was really nice," holding it for awhile before letting him be and going upstairs to shower and dress.

Ichigo continued cleaning the dishes with a little smile.

She packed a small bag with a change of clothes for her return, as well as the clothes and other items she had gotten from the Urahara Shop before heading out to Tokyo almost a month prior, intending to return them. She kept the ID, although she left it among her things, intending to get a new one with an appropriate age for her cover and using the older one for nights out. Satisfied that she had everything and her note to Yoruichi was plainly visible atop it all, she met Ichigo in the lounge area, finding he wasn't carrying anything. "Don't you need clothes while over at your family's house?" she asked with suspicion.

"I can just come over here to shower and get new clothes at night before changing to sleeping clothes there, it's like a three minute walk," he said without any great concern. It wasn't an inconvenience and the bathroom there would feel tiny after he'd gotten used to his new one.

She chose not to press the point and turned, leading him downstairs without a word.

He followed and soon they were outside. He casually took her hand in his as they went.

They stood together outside of the Urahara Shop, regarding one another. For once there was no evidence of Jinta or Ururu about.

Ichigo had decided not to follow Rukia in. He didn't really want to see whatever was going to be done with handling her gigai and also knew that once she was out of it he couldn't see her off any further. He'd be spared seeing her leave through a senkaimon yet again simply because he couldn't perceive it. He rubbed at the back of his head and glanced away. He didn't want their parting to be sappy or sad. It was only for five days. "So, I guess I'll see you again soon," he said, putting a bit of optimism into it.

She'd decided not to drag things out. Their last real departure from one another was still unpleasant to think about. This wasn't nearly so permanent, so there was no point in making it complicated for both of them. "Yeah," she replied, smiling a little.

His eyes came back to meet hers, and something unsaid passed between the two of them that was at once both wistful and hopeful. They both moved at the same time, surprising each other for a split second, before lightly embracing for a moment and pulling apart.

"Take care of yourself, Ichigo," she said softly, before turning toward the door.

"You too, Rukia," he replied quietly.

Before she could reach the door it was being opened by Tessai, revealing Urahara and Yoruichi. It was obvious they'd been waiting and quite probably listening in as well. "Oh, Kuchiki-san, right on time," the shopkeeper said with a smile, gesturing for her to come inside. It was entirely theater.

With a last glance and a continuing small smile to Ichigo, Rukia obliged without comment, heading in.

Ichigo turned away then, deciding not to watch, and so the first he was aware of Yoruichi's movements was the arm she put around one of his shoulders, firmly walking him away from the building's entrance and back across the lot outside. She said nothing but her grip was reassuring in nature. Although he found it a bit presumptuous he didn't fight her or object.

Yoruichi chose not to tell Ichigo that they'd take care of Rukia's gigai while she was away. With everything that had gone on that one was definitively hers for the foreseeable future. It wouldn't do to have an artificial soul walking around in it for several days at the shop or to recycle it back to stock format and issue her a new one upon her return, but talking about body-soul duality wasn't likely to help at the moment. She decided to direct his focus to other matters instead. "So, want to know what he's working on?" she asked once they were out of earshot, removing her arm and just walking alongside him. She didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea.

"Would I even understand?" Ichigo said in a deadpan, rolling his eyes over toward her. Most of the mechanics of souls and spiritual matters were nonsense to him.

She was already looking at him, eyes narrowed a bit. "It's not completely accurate to say you have no reiryoku or reiatsu."

He gave her a quizzical look.

"Everyone has some level of reiryoku and thus some level of reiatsu. For you to have none at all would be . . . pretty odd," she said, electing not to explain this wasn't necessarily the whole picture. "What's really going on with you is that your reiatsu is so weak as to be indistinguishable from background noise. Even a highly skilled Shinigami trying to use something like reiraku to track you would find it to be a pain, which is why Soul Society had to largely rely on visual observation to find you. So that leaves the matter of your reiryoku."

He glanced around for a second, trying to figure out where exactly she was leading him, as they were still walking somewhere. It seemed to be back toward Minamikawase.

"Nothing about your reiryoku has actually changed. Your potential remains the same. The trouble is it's not able to be accessed and so its output—your reiatsu—has gone dormant. There are two ways to get it back. One involves using a very large amount of reiatsu to restart it. That'd be like jump-starting and recharging a car battery at the same time. How to do it safely is what Kisuke is trying to solve and he's taking his sweet time doing it," she said.

"What's the other?" Ichigo asked.

Yoruichi smiled at him in a way that was both cool and cryptic, before looking ahead of them.

He grudgingly took the hint and did the same, knowing she wouldn't tell him anything she didn't want to.

"So I heard you've been keeping your nose clean and staying out of trouble these past few months?" she asked after awhile.

"I guess . . . Why?" he replied. He'd had a few scrapes with the local gangs but that was nothing new or notable.

She let out a noncommittal hum, leading him more toward Tatsuki's house than his and Rukia's or the Kurosaki household. They were all in the same general area and he wouldn't figure out the difference until they were basically there. She had already talked it over with the young woman. Pitting him against the second strongest female high school student in Japan would do for a start.

Rukia departed the Living World after having briefed Zennosuke—who had been given instructions to see her off by Byakuya, despite the fact the latter had little formal authority over the former—on her expectations while she was gone, having been told about her gigai being stored in a kind of stasis, and having made a few requests about its handling and the procurement of some other items in her note to Yoruichi. She would never admit it, but she'd gotten a bit attached to the gigai. It was an extremely accurate representation of her and she'd been through a lot in it. She would handle questioning Urahara when she had more time on her return.

She arrived in the 13th Division's district right outside headquarters and wasn't greeted by anyone in particular. She'd assumed it would be that way since she had sent no advance notice of when exactly she'd be arriving. She made her way inside to report to Ukitake, having decided to get as much done as she possibly could in the time she had available. Wrapping up the training sessions she'd started with other members of the Division would surely be the most important thing, especially given an impromptu month-long hiatus.

She was so focused on reviewing it all she didn't notice Sentarō and Kiyone were for once silent in their shared office. They intended to wait until she was with Ukitake before getting up to prevent her from possibly running off and doing anything rash, unlikely as that seemed to them.

Rukia knocked and was greeted with an unusually neutral "Come in, Kuchiki." She did so, making her way to one of the chairs in front of his desk and sitting down opposite her taichō rather informally for once. He seemed to be troubled by something. "It's good to see you again, sir," she offered with a polite smile.

Ukitake's mood lightened, but not entirely. He lifted up a hand from the desk as much in greeting as to stop her from whatever she was about to say. "You don't need to give me a formal report on what's been going on or what you intend to do, I trust in what you've provided so far and your intentions in being here," he said. He knew there was relatively little she could add except some more detail about Ichigo's disposition, mood, and psychology, and that was all tied up in . . .

She frowned slightly and seemed to consider something before deciding to get straight to the point: "What's wrong, taichō?"

He looked a bit chagrined at how easily she saw through him, but it was probably to be expected. If he danced around the issue it would just build things up so he had to cut to the chase. He considered his words before saying "A situation has developed. Nothing dangerous, but you might not like it. It's honestly easier if I just show you. I ask that you hear what I have to say before doing anything." He let his tone indicate this was more a request than an order.

Rukia's eyes narrowed in wariness, not liking it already, but she steeled herself and nodded.

Ukitake withdrew a copy of the Seireitei Communication's special issue from a drawer and turned it such that it would be facing her before setting it down on the desk in front of her.

Her eyes went a bit wide and her cheeks slightly red at what she saw. It was not at all the kind of thing she had been expecting.

The white-haired taichō explained that it seemed Yachiru had somehow acquired the footage from Byakuya's soul pager and then showed it to the Shinigami Women's Association, and things had gone from there. Byakuya had told him she knew he'd gotten a video, and he felt no need to inform her he'd gotten a copy too on top of everything else. He did tell her Kiyone had tried to stop it, as had he, but short of perhaps fighting Kenpachi the best option had been to try and direct it as much as he, Renji, and Byakuya had been able to.

Something in the petite Shinigami processed all his words but she gave no reaction, instead just staring at the picture of herself on the cover. As he began to finish she reached out a hand and pulled the magazine closer before opening it.

Ukitake fell silent and looked away. He suddenly felt out of place in his own office and was keenly aware of the 3rd Seats standing silently outside the doors.

Rukia gave all of her attention over to the magazine and read through it quickly but carefully. Hisagi's letter from the editor and the interview with Renji were oddly if only mildly touching. The photos throughout the program section filled her with an intense nostalgia, though she wondered how some of them had been taken. It was sometime later when she reached the back cover and the magazine laid face-down. She turned it over again, considering it once more. The things that replayed in her mind were the smile Ichigo had given her when she'd left the stage, her brother's exhortation of Please continue to sing beautifully, Rukia, and the applause of the crowd. She closed her eyes. "How many people have seen this?"

"It went out earlier this morning, so . . . everyone," Ukitake said quietly. He'd given Hisagi the deadline because if it was going to happen he wanted it over and done with—that was better than having it consume her time or trying to keep it secret until she left only for it to inevitably be revealed in some way.

It was some time before she opened her eyes and gave him a small smile. "Thank you for your concern, sir," she said without elaboration.

He seemed moderately puzzled by this, though he kept his reserve up. "You're not angry?"

She shook her head. She wasn't happy about it either. It would make being there and doing what she'd come to do awkward, but she'd sung for Ichigo in public without care for who heard her. If there were more people that would hear her than had been there that night, well . . . the magazine at least wasn't gossip. If her brother hadn't gone to war over it, it was because he was proud of her. Something occurred to her then. "I want two copies though, and a copy of the recording," she said plainly. If nothing else, she would have mementos to augment her memory. She was due that much.

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Ukitake replied, giving her the first genuine smile of the day. It was then that the doors opened and he looked past her.

Rukia could tell it was Kiyone and Sentarō without turning around.

"Kuchiki, I tried to stop them!" Kiyone said.

"You sing amazingly well, Kuchiki!" Sentarō offered, not one to be outdone.

"It's okay, really," Rukia said, trying to reassure them. Had they really all been this worried about her? The 3rd Seats' concern was always exclusively for their taichō, and if they were suddenly extending it to her, she had to stop them before they really got started. She adopted an angry expression, adding "What are you doing just barging in here during a meeting anyway?!"

Both suddenly looked surprised before glancing at each other. She saw the flicker of knowing smiles before they retreated in a torrent of apologies, shutting the door again.

She continued to glare at the door for awhile until Ukitake's voice drew her attention back forward.

"So will you go?" he asked.

Rukia looked at him in mild confusion.

"To see it played," he clarified.

She looked down at the magazine again. That could be really awkward, and yet . . .

Ichigo shifted in his karategi a bit uncomfortably. It wasn't really all that different from wearing a shihakushō, yukata, or kimono, but there was something weirdly nostalgic about it. He still wasn't really sure about all this.

Tatsuki wore a small smug smile around the mouth guard she had in. It had been years since Ichigo had consented to fight her. Maybe he'd gotten a lot stronger with his Shinigami nonsense, but so had she, and they were in the real world.

Inoue and Yoruichi sat off to one side of Karakura High School's dōjō. It was otherwise empty. Tatsuki had free access as part of her summer training. It had taken less convincing than Yoruichi anticipated to get Ichigo to agree, and so after having gone to get him a karategi, collecting Inoue, and having lunch with his family, they'd assembled there. The princess was there largely as a medic, although she probably wouldn't be really necessary on the first day. "Get on with it already!" Yoruichi called, earning a glare from Ichigo.

He turned and bowed to Tatsuki, getting a knee to the head protector he was wearing that sent him sprawling backwards for his trouble. Once he'd come to rest he pulled his mouth guard out and shouted "What the hell was that?! That's completely against the rules!"

Tatsuki removed her own mouth guard, replying "Did you really think you were here to practice karate, Ichigo?" a bit coldly.

His eyes narrowed as he began to understand.

Tatsuki smirked and said "Come on then," before putting her mouth guard back in.

Ichigo put his own back in before getting to his feet in a ready stance. If she wanted to play rough then that was on her.

Rukia waited until the show really started before fully clambering up onto one of the walls of the 4th Division's training ground rather than merely peeking over it. She had her reiatsu clamped down as much as she possibly could, not wanting to be a spectacle any more than she already was. Nobody she had engaged with throughout the day after leaving Ukitake's office had said anything, but they'd given her curious or knowing looks on occasion. It was clear everyone was waiting to see what the fuss was about first.

For the Seireitei, the crowd was massive, there being several thousand Shinigami in attendance. It appeared to be the majority of the Gotei 13. She told herself it was because the event was free—the Shinigami Women's Association apparently intended to raise funds through concession stands and snack bars. She'd anticipated it being mostly women, but there were quite a lot of men present too, and the gender balance wasn't all that lopsided away from even. Given that, she told herself it was because there was relatively little else to do on a Sunday night. There were a lot of recognizable reiatsu signatures out in the crowd, including all of the taichō and the sōtaichō. She did her best not to focus on that. They were encamped mostly toward the center at the best viewing spots. The screen that had been put up was massive and easily visible even from her position.

The speakers were no less enormous and as the screen came to life the noise of the karaoke club washed out of them moments before "In an unusual turn, we now have a very special team lineup for you all here tonight! First up, here from Karakura, Yasutora Sado! Please welcome him!" sounded out.

Rukia let her worries fall away and just watched her friends perform. The soul pager had truly impressive audio and video capture for its size, and so although it wasn't quite like being where they'd been covertly sitting, combined with her memory she could easily imagine it. She couldn't help but smile as she listened to the songs again and even found herself quietly singing along on occasion. She didn't pay her peers much attention and it was hard to hear them over the audio, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

It was when she saw Ichigo up on stage with Ishida that the footage struck her differently. Her chest suddenly felt tight around her heart, even though she felt very light, as though she was beset by an ache and could float away at the same time. She fought against the feeling and she tried to just listen but it wouldn't stop. It hurt but also didn't. She'd never felt anything quite like it before and it gave Ichigo's lyrics a new poignancy. She suddenly understood the things they'd been saying to one another beyond what they'd selected their songs for at the time.

She was so distracted by it she didn't notice more than a few heads turning her way in recognition of her reiatsu flickering out from beyond her control. They all politely turned away again.

Soon she was on screen. It was the first time she could recall ever watching scenes of her past self and she found it incredibly strange. She watched intently even as her own memories of the events replayed as she took the stage. It was likewise the first time she'd ever heard herself and she hugged her chest at the feelings the performance conjured up, that soaring-and-aching sensation returning with a vengeance.

When the video ended the approval from the crowd didn't, albeit much diminished, and she realized it was the Shinigami on the training ground. Rukia looked out onto the sea of black uniforms as they reacted, and saw one in a haori stand and turn. She knew who it was even at such a distance. "Nii-sama . . ." she whispered. She abruptly realized she'd stopped suppressing her reiatsu at some point.

Byakuya began to clap for her.

Even as he did so others were rising and following his lead. She recognized them all. Soon the rest of the officers were doing the same and after looking about with confusion so were regular soldiers, spotting her and realizing who she was.

Her cheeks turned a bit red at the standing ovation she was receiving and she froze, not knowing what to do. Most of her wanted to flash step off into the night. Something else in her said to rise, and Shirayuki added her voice in support of that. Slowly she stood and bowed. The clapping only intensified.

Suddenly Ukitake and Byakuya were at her sides and gently grasped at either of her arms.

She looked to both questioningly and was met with reassuring expressions, and then they were on the training ground proper. They released her and led her toward the crowd. It was okay for her to enjoy the moment—it was hers, and she was due her time.

Karin and Yuzu walked with Ichigo as he went to the new house to shower and retrieve new clothes. "I don't need to be chaperoned, you know," he muttered.

"We're just getting some fresh air," Yuzu replied.

"And keeping you from peeking at any of Rukia-nē's things," Karin added quietly, earning a glare from Yuzu.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, not bothering to dignify that with a response. He was still focused on the fight with Tatsuki. He'd been wrong to underestimate her—she'd gotten a lot stronger and was more than capable of giving him a run for his money in a no-holds barred match. It'd been an even thing for several hours until neither could stand and Yoruichi had finally ended it, sending Inoue in. Neither of them had sustained any serious injuries, but the Flash Goddess had explained that was their last match with protective gear. They'd reconvene every other day. As he walked he realized it was like none of it had ever happened as far as his body was concerned. He wasn't even sore.

"You know, you could've invited us all to stay at your new house instead of sleeping at ours," Karin continued. There was more than enough space, they could easily get back in time to work at the clinic, and business was extremely slow anyway.

"We can still do that if you want," Ichigo replied idly.

"Could we sleep in your room?" Yuzu asked.

He looked down at her and then at Karin. The latter had an expression that indicated she had the same question but wouldn't voice it. He knew they were worried about him.

"Yeah, sure," he said after a moment, "We'll talk with dad about it and if he's okay with it we'll do that after tonight."

They both smiled.