Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

By the time Ichigo got back, he was worn out and ragged from the fighting. His clothes were ripped all over from some very angry petal leaves and he had one too many cuts on his body for his liking.

"Stupid Byakuya." He mumbled to himself, trudging through his own barracks.

In the end, he had to use bankai to fight the two of them, though both his spirits had agreed to hold back their power to his older bankai levels. Which lead to a tricky fight and ended with Kenpachi complaining that he wasn't as strong as he expected.

To top it all off his haori had been obliterated by his future brother-in-law.

He was sure that somewhere inside, the noble was feeling smug.

Finally, he reached the door to his office and pushed it open wearily, calling out in a tired voice as he did so.

"I'm home."

His response came in the form of a bear-hug.

Between the large chestsuffocating him and his own dulled senses he just managed to make out the end of what he presumed was Nel's 'welcome home'.

"...and we were so worried about you!"

"We?" Another voice scoffed.

Ichigo stopped flailing and scowled at Rukia's words. Nel, thinking that he had accepted her hug, started to relax her arms, giving him the perfect opportunity to break free of them.

She pouted, but he ignored her for the time being and eyed Rukia.

"You should be, I was assaulted by my colleagues." He argued, making her raise an eyebrow.

"I would have thought you'd expect this by now, Ichigo."

He crossed his arms and grumbled. "I bet this doesn't happen to Ishida in his job."

Rukia walked up to him and pulled him into her arms.

"But his job doesn't come with other benefits." She replied, making him scoff lightly.

"Like wha-"

She cut him off by pulling him down for a deep kiss. The irritation he held towards her for getting him into that fight melted away at her soft touch, gentle hands running over his tattered shihakusho and brushing against the cuts and welts beneath it. It lasted for a few moments longer before they both pulled away, slightly breathless.

"Like that." Rukia Breathed, getting a small smile from Ichigo.

"I suppose that is a plus." He responded with faux nonchalance.

She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm lightly.

The Captain just grinned wider and pulled away from her, turning attention to Nel, who looked away. She had been...watching the couple and wasn't about to admit that to him.

Luckily he didn't noticed her slightly flushed cheeks and surprised her by pulling her into a hug of her own.

"Thanks for worrying Nel, but you know I'll always protect you when you need it. Besides, Rukia wouldn't let me die, you know how she is." He joked.

"Idiot." Rukia muttered but with a gentle smile on her face.

Nel could feel her heartbeat pick up slightly because of his close proximity, but had more pressing thoughts on her mind. The warmth, the love she felt from her adopted mother and father, from Ichigo and Rukia. It had never been more pronounced to her than a this moment. It was overwhelming, to have someone so strong, so kind look after her.

She was a hollow.

She had eaten souls to get where she was now, and he...he had sacrificed everything. His own life was something which served as a shield to others time and time again.

And she was here, in his arms. He wasn't pushing her away, like he should be. He wasn't taking her life, like he never could.

He was holding her like she was precious.

Even Rukia, his lover, looked at her with a warmth in her eyes that she could feel inside her. Despite the fact she lovedIchigo, despite Rukia being taught to be a shinigami in the strictest sense. Her mentor had lost his life to a hollow. Her idol, his wife, had lost her life to the same hollow.

Ichigo almost lost his life to his own inner hollow.

But she cared.

She cared.

So, Nelliel tu Kurosaki: one of the more intelligent Arrancar and better strategists of the old Espada did something she had never done in her adult form before.

She cried.

Ichigo felt her arms tightening around him and the slight shaking of her shoulders and looked down, alarmed.

"Nel..." He said with a start, looking over to Rukia for help.

She frowned and walked over, putting a hand on the Arrancar's shoulder.

"Idiot, what did you do?" She accused, internally wondering if that kiss had somehow been too much for the Arrancar to watch, given her feelings.

Ichigo glared back at her. "Oi! I didn't do anything, midget, one moment she was fine, then..."

Gentle giggling stopped him and he looked down to see that it was Nel making the noise. He looked confused, until she raised his head and looked at him, her eyes still with a film of tears over them.

"But you did do something...I'm crying because I'm so happy." She said with a smile, surprising the two of them.

"Nel." Rukia said simply and tightened her grip on the Arrancar's shoulder.

Nel turned slightly to look at her and Rukia was surprised to see the emotions practically bursting out of the older woman's eyes.

"You know what my life was like. I have done bad things, but only once I regained consciousness as a hollow could I even tell that they were bad, not that that's much of an excuse. But you...you are here, and you don't care about that." She said softly, despite the tears still in her eyes.

Ichigo smiled down at her and pulled her into a tighter hug. She berried her face into his neck and he raised a hand up to her head, running it soothingly through her hair and touching the bone on her head lightly.

"No, we don't. And we'll always be here." He said softly, with a glance towards Rukia.

She nodded in agreement and rubbed Nel's back gently. "That's right, it doesn't matter what happens, if we have more children or anything like that. You will always have a home with us."

Nel finally pulled away and smiled at the two of them, wiping her eyes with the long arm of her shihakusho.

"Haha, if the Espada could see me now." She joked lightly, getting a chuckle from the Shinigami.

"Well, you've still got Harribel and Grimmjow now." Ichigo pointed out, before correcting himself. "But I'm not hugging Grimmjow."

Nell giggled and laughed harder when Rukia corrected him.

"Harribel neither, one busty woman hugging you is quite enough."

"Aww, someone is jealous." Ichigo smirked, getting a well deserved smack on the head from his smaller Lieutenant.

"Ahh, well you have me, ne, Ichi?" Nel Grinned, going to pull him into another of her bone crushing hugs. However, this time Ichigo dodged out of the way.

"Not when I'm wounded." He pointed out.

One thing that he failed to notice in his haste to move out of the Arrancar's way was that he had stepped closer to his own desk. Rukia, however did notice and let a sly grin form on her face.

"Ah, good to see you getting to work..." She said, getting a confused look from him.

In response, she nodded to the desk and watched, amused as his eyes widened. The desk was groaning with stacks upon stacks of paperwork, leaving him precious little space to actually work on. Rukia happily added the final nail to his coffin by walking over to a cabinet and pulling a form out of it, resting it on the top of one of the piles.

"Wha-" Ichigo gaped.

Rukia feigned innocence and gestured to the paper. "That is the requisition form for a new haori, and this," She waved at the paperwork. "is what you get for loosing a race against your Lieutenant.'

"Can't you-"

"Nope." She cut him off again, already walking towards the door. "I've got some business to do, so have fun.

"Yeah..." He said, unenthusiastically. Nothing he said at this point would save him from either the paperwork or the laughing of his inner hollow.

Rukia stopped just be fore she left and smiled at Nel. "Make sure he stays here will you?"

The Arrancar nodded.

"Be safe, Mother." She said, getting a smile in response as Rukia left.

Which left her alone with Ichigo and a mountain of paperwork.


Freezing cold once again filled the air in and around the secret cavern that both Ichigo and Renji used to achieve their bankai. A slightly out of breath Sode no Shirayuki flung her sword outwards with both hands, sending Rukia crashing into a nearby rock formation.

"You've gotten stronger Rukia, there's no doubt about that, but you're still a ways off from unlocking bankai." said the beautiful Zanpakuto.

She was truly surprised at how fast Rukia was advancing, they had been fighting for over an hour and her master had forced her to spend a considerable amount of reiatsu. Rukia breathed heavily as she forced herself out from the rubble.

She plunged her sword into the ground next to her and gathered every bit of reiatsu that she could muster without de-materializing her Zanpakuto. Sode no Shirayuki raised her sword to her side.

"Some no mai, Tsu..."

"Rikujokoro!" yelled a determined Rukia, with her right index finger pointed at the woman in white.

Sode no Shirayuki scowled slightly as six huge yellow rectangles slammed into her, paralyzing her whole body. She began to greatly raise her reiatsu in order to break the binding spell but Rukia was two steps ahead of her.

The black haired woman opened up her hand in a 'stop' gesture and yelled "Bakudo Number Sixty-three, Sajo Sabaku!".

Sode no Shirayuki's scowl deepened as multiple bright, yellow chains of pure energy surrounded her body almost instantly, weaving in and out of the six rectangles that already bounded her in place and constricted tightly around her torso.

'This is it, all or nothing.' Rukia thought to herself as she held out both of her hands, putting one palm on top of the other while simultaneously extending her fingers outward on each hand. Sode no Shirayuki's eyes widened at the sight, she was all too familiar with the devastating kido that she was about to unleash.

" Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus! In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens! Hado Number Seventy Three! Soren Sokatsui!"

Shirayuki gasped as an enormous amount of blue energy formed around Rukia's hands and blasted outwards towards her.

The Zanpakuto watched with an unperturbed expression as the wall of energy approached her. Only at the last second did she speak softly as the energy engulfed her.

Even Rukia was shocked at the magnitude of it as she was thrown back against the rock formation by the force of the blast.

Once the reiatsu had died down enough, Rukia summoned the strength to get out of the rubble once more. She grabbed her sword and stabbed it into the ground in front of her as Ichigo often did with Zangetsu when he was exhausted.

She leaned against it, looking down and breathing heavily, cold sweat dripping down her chin. Rukia looked up and gasped at what she saw, Sode no Shirayuki standing before her. "How did...you...withstand...that?" Rukia asked, panting.

The elegant Zanpakuto gave a small smile, almost wincing at the pain it caused her, but managed to remain composed despite that. Her Kimono was torn up the arms with stingng burns running up her arms where the blast had broken through her defense.

She looked back and spoke, breathing heavily despite her appearance.

"I...used Tsukishiro...on myself...right..before...the blast hit." she answered in the same, exhausted tone.

"I see...you...formed a...shield of ice...to mitigate...the damage." stated Rukia. Sode no Shirayuki nodded as Rukia continued. "Alright, then..I guess...it's a tie."

Her Zanpakuto smirked "Not quite, Rukia." she said, holding up her hand. Rukia groaned as her legs became encased in ice up to her knees. The elegant Zanpakuto lifted up her sword, pointing it at Rukia's chest.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!" she yelled as a blast of snow and ice came out of her sword's tip, roaring towards an immobile Rukia. The small but determined shinigami raised her reiatsu as high as she could around her, trying to form a makeshift dampening shield of energy.

Rukia was stunned as the large blast of snow and ice stopped just inches in front of her face and solidified into rock hard ice before it started to break apart. She glanced over at her Zanpakuto, who had am approving smile on her face as she de-materialized.

"I look forward to our next session, Rukia." Sode no Shirayuki said, just before completely vanishing along with the ice around Rukia's legs.

The exhausted shinigami collapsed back against the nearby rubble, leaning her back against it and tilting her head up to catch her breath. She closed her eyes and analyzed the battle that she just had, looking for flaws on both sides. Her mind raced through the various decisions that she made throughout the battle, approving of some but criticizing more.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a familiar voice.

"Wow, your bankai training is so much more fun to watch than Ichigo's was."

Rukia glanced over at the entrance of the cavern to see an amused looking Yoruichi looking at her with her arms crossed.

"Yoruichi? What are you doing here if you don't mind me asking?" questioned a puzzled Rukia. The goddess of flash shunpo'd beside her and sat back against the rubble next to Rukia.

Her display of speed always deeply impressed Rukia, after all, not even her Nii-sama could keep up with her.

"Well with the captain's tournament looming on the horizon, Kisuke and I figured we could help you out with some training." declared the purple haired woman. Rukia's eyes widened in surprise.

"Training? Please don't take this as offensive, I hold you two in very high regard, but why would you want to train me?" asked Rukia.

Yoruichi gave Rukia a big smile and place her left arm around the small, but cute looking woman. "Oh that's simple, we're training you for two very distinct reasons. One, you're our protege's girl, or he's your man, so I'd love to see the look on his face when you whoop his ass in the tournament and two." Yoruichi's smile widened even more. "Out of all the lieutenants, you are by far our favorite."

Rukia's expression of surprise grew before returning Yoruichi's smile. "I didn't know that you guys regard me that highly...I'm honored, thank you."

Yoruichi laughed and ruffled Rukia's hair. "Oh come on now, no need to get all formal on us! You and Ichigo are practically family to us! Actually we'll literally be family once the idiot finally asks you to marry him." remarked Yoruichi in a cheerful tone.

Rukia looked away blushing ever so slightly, "Yeah, I guess you're right about that." she said with a smile on her face, finding the thought very comforting.

Yoruichi jumped up and pulled Rukia to her feet.

"We'll go over the details and start the training tomorrow, but you need to rest today, come on."

Rukia wobbled a tiny bit as she stood up, her strength was completely gone. There was no way she would be able to make it back to the barracks in this condition.

"Damn it!" she exclaimed as she fell over just before being caught by Yoruichi.

"Oh wow, you're more drained than I realized. Don't worry though, I know the perfect thing for you right now!" an amused Yoruichi chuckled before flash stepping over to a hot spring with Rukia in her arms. "Alright, just take off your clothes and relax in there. I'll be back with a fresh uniform for you." ordered a cheerful Yoruichi after setting down the tired shinigami.

"Wait! I told Ichigo I'd be back soon! I can't just relax in a hot spring!" expressed a needlessly panicked Rukia.

Yoruichi laughed, "Don't worry about it, I'll handle Ichigo. Besides if he were here, he'd want to relaxin there with you! Now just take it easy and I'll be back soon!"

Before Rukia could respond, Yoruichi sped off in a burst of shunpo, leaving the small woman by herself with a very noticeable blush on her face.

Rukia sighed and took off her uniform, dipping into the magical hot spring. She felt every stress on her body fade away as she sunk into the soothing warm waters of the pool.

She leaned back against the rock with only her face sticking out of the water. She marveled as every injury that she just got from bankai training started to heal very quickly. She had never been this relaxed in her whole life.

'Now if only Ichigo were here.' she thought to herself, causing Sode no Shirayuki to chuckle elegantly.


"KUROSAKI-TAICHO!"

Ichigo awoke to someone shouting in his ear, and jolted up with a start.

"Wha- argh!" He shouted as he fell backwards on his chair.

The Captain groaned and made no move to get up from the undignified position. He was tired, and now embarrassed so whoever had shouted could go screw themselves as fer as he was concerned.

Unfortunately for him, Yoruichi popped her head over his desk to grin at him.

"I'm ashamed of you Ichigo, Captain's should always be alert." She chided mockingly, getting a glare from Ichigo.

"Nel! Why didn't youwake me?" He complained from the floor.

The Arrancar popper her over face over the desk and smiled at him brightly. "Because Auntie Yoruichi said that you would like it more if she did it." She said cheerfully.

Ichigo turned his glare back to Yoruichi, who smirked at him.

"I can see why Byakuya doesn't like you now." He grumbled, pushing himself up from the floor.

She just laughed and sat on the desk, which was markedly cleaner than when it had been when Ichigo had started doing the paperwork. Seeing that she wasn't going to leave any time soon, he sighed and pulled his chair back up, sitting back down to face her.

"So..." He started, propping his head up with his arm against the desk.

Yoruichi stared at him for a few moments, then responded. "Is the big-shot Captain still up for a bit of training with his mentor?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Training?"

She nodded, mischief in her eyes.

"Of course, I barely taught you any of what I know from the stealth corps. You make have the power but technique..." She slid out her Zanpakuto and had it at his throat before he could react.

"Is still a bit lacking in some aspects." She taunted.

Ichigo glanced at the blade before grunting and nodding his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine, if it'll make you happy." He agreed.

Yoruichi smirked: training one fighter to beat down the other Captains, that was nice. But training two, now that was just plain fun.


(A/N) Right, in this chapter, the section where Rukia is training? That was written by Tenshot. The rest is bits of his idea's and bits of my own but certainly written by me.

Now, for the good news, this is the last chapter before the tournament starts. So, you know, the end is nigh and what-not. Hope you enjoy it, and no I don't know when I will update next!