Hey Guys!

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. Life has been sort of crazy in the last year. I have been wanting to complete this story for so long and it has been weighing on me hard that I haven't been able to post. I am going to try to get as many chapters out as quickly as I can to try to catch up. The good news is that with the break taking so long I have tons of ideas as to where I want this story to go.

****I do not own bleach, but I do own the OC that will be in this fic.

-Chapter 9-

Privacy?

Ichigo and Rukia were still sitting on the park bench hand in hand when Ichigo's phone rung and cut through their comfortable silence. Looking at his phone and noticing both the time and who was calling, Ichigo groaned.

"Hey, What's up?"

He said as casual as possible even though he knew what the person on the other end of the phone was going to say.

"Hey there Ichigo! I know you and Rukia are probably discussing marriage and love and kids right now, but you really should be getting over here. Everyone has been waiting for a while now. Of course, if you want to take a little bit of more time alone with your new girlfriend, I could always just tell everyone that you two have went back to your room to be alone."

Kisuke smiled as he prepared for the shouting he knew was coming.

"HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU KNOW ALREADY! NO. DON'T YOU TELL ANYONE ANYTHING! WE ARE NOT LIKE THAT YOU DAMN PERVERT!"

Rukia looked wide eyed at Ichigo upon hearing his sudden outburst. Red-Faced, Ichigo had managed to calm down enough to not continue screaming and responded quickly.

"We are on the way right now. And I want to know how you could possibly already know about Rukia and I. No one else knows. Hell, its hasn't even been more than hours that we have figured it out ourselves!"

Ichigo was still slightly panting from his previous outburst as he heard the old shopkeeper chuckle.

"Ichigo, you should already know that I never tell all my secrets. But just this one time I will give you a hint. Who am I always with hmmmmm?"

Ichigo dead-panned when the obvious answer hit him.

"Yoruichi."

He said simply and as if by magic his other mentor dropped out of a nearby tree.

"How can I help you Ichigo?" she smiled amusement dancing in her eyes.

He could hear the laughing from the other side of the phone as he hung up grumbling.

"I suppose you saw everything?"

"Of course, I did. But I kept my distance so that you two could have your private conversations. I just wanted to be the first to congratulate you two idiots for finally coming to terms with your feelings. I have to say Ichigo you guys moved a lot faster than I thought you would. I lost a bet to Kisuke because of you two. He is probably thrilled."

"What did you two bet on?"

Before she could even respond Ichigo saw the look in her eyes and the way she started to smile

"Yeah you know what. I don't even want to know."

He said as his face went red.

"Why were you spying on us?"

Yoruichi turned to the petite girl who had just posed the question.

"I wouldn't call it spying per say. It was more like just keeping an eye on you two. Never know what could happen. When you changed back to your Shinigami form yesterday you sent out a massive flare of reiatsu the likes of which I haven't felt since before the war. That amount of energy is bound to attract high level hollows. We thought that you two deserved some time without being bothered. So, I decided to keep an eye on you two and take out anything that showed up."

Rukia's eyes widened, she hadn't even felt any hollows nearby. She was totally focused on what had been going on with her and Ichigo. She looked down ashamed as a lieutenant she should have been paying more attention. She was about to speak up when Yoruichi gently grabbed her chin and rose her eyes to meet hers.

"Don't you even think about it Rukia. You two have fought hard to get to this point and you deserved to be able to enjoy it. I assume you are concerned that you didn't feel any hollows nearby. That's because I was blocking their reiatsu."

She smiled warmly down at the petite girl. Even thought she was slightly irritated that she had lost her bet to Kisuke (she had thought it would take at least a year) she was truly happy to see the two of them this happy. She noticed that not too much had changed about the way they acted around each other. They were just standing closer to each other and both of their reiatsu's were calm, even Ichigo's even though it was still flowing out like a river.

"Thank you Yoruichi."

Ichigo had to remember that next time he punched the pervy old shopkeeper to pull his punches just a bit.

Yoruichi looked at Ichigo more seriously.

"Your welcome of course Ichigo. You are still my pupil after all. Now you really need to get to your family and friends. We have a feeling that we know what is store for you once you get to Soul Society. Have as much fun as you can while you can."

With a smirk she disappeared without giving Ichigo the opportunity to respond. Ichigo ran his hand through his hair and looked at his new girlfriend.

"Do you think we will ever have any privacy with those two around?"

"Likely not."

Rukia laughed as she responded although in the back of her mind, she was already forming plans to ensure that they would get some true alone time.

"Wanting to be alone with your new boyfriend already Rukia?" Shirayuki mused

"Shut up you."

Rukia was by no means acquainted with what it is like to have a boyfriend. As she had never had one before. But she knew that eventually she and Ichigo would want to be just alone. Even if it is just to be with just each other. She was still reeling from having kissed Ichigo. It amazed her that she even now was slightly irritated that she couldn't just run off with him and spend his last day together just the two of them.

She was brought out of her musing by Ichigo.

"Hey, I guess we should start heading over there can you tell if everyone is there?"

Rukia looked over to where she could feel gathered spirit energy and felt for everyone's specific reiatsu.

"Yes, they are all there. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah let's get over there before my crazy old man send out a search party."

He took Rukia's hand and started walking towards where everyone was gathered. He felt a slight resistance and looked down at the hand that hers was in then glanced up at her. She had a concerned look in her eyes.

"What's wrong Rukia?"

She looked down at her hand enveloped by his much larger one and then looked back into his eyes.

"What do you want to tell people about this?"

Ichigo thought about it for a second before he responded. He like Rukia knew that everyone would be happy that they had finally confessed their feelings to each other, but he wasn't ready yet to be bombarded with questions about something that is so new to them.

"I say for now we keep it to ourselves. I don't believe that hat and clogs or Yoruichi will say anything either. It's not that I don't want them to know or that I want to hide it from any of them. I just want us to be able to figure this out more for ourselves first. It's not like we don't have all the time in the world."

Rukia smiled once she had been thinking the exact same thing. There would be time to tell the others that they had sorted out their feelings, but it didn't have to be today. She resolved to at least tell Karen though, after all she had made a deal with the girl.

"That's good I feel the exact same way. Today is about you spending time with your family and friends. We will tell them on our own time."

"Do you have any idea what Yoruichi was talking about when she said that she had a good idea of what I am in store for?"

Ichigo thought for a second, he saw Rukia's lips curl upwards then it was gone like it never happened.

"I don't know honestly."

Rukia, in fact had a very good idea of what Yoruichi was talking about but she wasn't about to tell Ichigo. Was she lying to him? Not really because she didn't know for sure what the Gotei had in store for him but of course she had heard the rumors.

"Well whatever it is you will be there with me so it will be ok."

"Of course, I will be there with you idiot."

Rukia looked forward as they fell into a comfortable silence as they walked. She could sense that their friends were just around the next small patch of trees. She stopped walking but didn't let go of Ichigo's hand. He didn't notice until he felt her pulling him towards her. She gave him a quick embrace and pulled him down for a small kiss before smiling warmly at him.

"Tonight will be a lot of fun. Let's have this night with our friends and then tomorrow we will go to Soul Society. Try not to bring the whole place crashing down Ichigo."

Ichigo gave her a quick smile and turned to walk towards their friends. She was right of course. Today was going to be a good day.

I am so glad to be back working on this fic. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I am going to try to at least get to Soul Society by the end of the week. It should just be two more chapters and then the new arc will start. For those of you that have been waiting for a new chapter for a long time thank you for sticking with me. -firefly