Review time!
Gaeas: Thanks!
SGL: Yeah, I was worried when no one got the Good Omens reference.
Tank: You shall have your Renji, and possibly some Byakuya angst.
Onionroach: interesting name, onion roach. I like light stories, so that's what I try to write.
AZNpuffyhair: Yeah. I've always had a problem with the length of my chapters. I have said everything I've needed to say in four or five pages. Sorry.
Momoiro-chan: ahh! I'm sorry! I took my sweet time updating, huh?
Sinmay: ha, ha! Yes, cliffhangers are cruel and unusual.
Kuro- Ippikiookami21: Panted/painted. This is why I need a beta. Thanks!
Hyourinmaru: Yay! Renji getting beaten up by girls! Yay! Ganjuu and Ichigo being weird! Yay! Hanataroulove! Yay! Don Kanonji! Yay...!
And here's your chapter! This was a surprising and rewarding fic, and I'm glad I was FORCED to make it more than a one-shot. Though, at times, I neglected to update on time (like right now), I'm glad I wrote it.
To everyone who reviewed, and everyone who didn't, Honto Arigatou. Thank you, truthfully.
"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something."
-Henry David Thoreau
Renji sat at his desk, in the vice-captain office of the sixth division building. His office. It always seemed so big when he was worried. He had long ago finished his paper work for the day, long before the deadline, but something was still bothering him.
"Section Ju-go," Renji mumbled, under his breath, "Section...Ju-go."
Why was that section so familiar? He started tapping his ink brush on his desk, thus splattering ink everywhere. Ju-go. Ju-go...
Renji's eyes widened with realization. Those bastards!
Section Ju-go was the section where Kurosaki lived! And they where sending Rukia there! Who would do that?
Somewhere in soul society, Byakuya sneezed. Again.
"Do you have a cold or something?" Hitsugaya, who had been standing next to Byakuya, asked.
Byakuya just stared at him.
Rikichi walked into Renji's office. He was slightly surprised to see his vice captain sticking his head out of a window when he came in.
Rikichi opened the window next to Renji and looked up at the sunset.
"Rikichi," Renji said, without looking at his subordinate, "what does it mean when the sunset is red?"
Rikichi though about it for a moment, "Sailors say... it means choppy waters."
"Well," Renji pulled his head back into the room, "I'm not a sailor." Renji shut the window.
Rikichi chuckled, closing his window in response, "Neither am I."
"...What...?" Ichigo was stunned.
Rukia raised an eyebrow.
"...You're..." Ichigo starred, unblinking, at Rukia for a moment before he retained his composure, "Hey," he said.
Rukia started to laugh. She couldn't help it. Laughing at the top of her lungs, she pointed at Ichigo, "You should' a seen your face!" She gasped and giggled, sitting on top of a lamp post, "Priceless!"
"Hey!" Ichigo, angry now, yelled at her, "I was just suprised you could throw something and not miss the target completely!"
"Oh?" Rukia stopped laughing, "as I recall, you aren't on a single sports team!"
"Nether where you!"
"I had better things to do!"
"Like what?"
"Killing hollows!"
"Well, me too!" Ichigo yelled.
"Not always!"
"Well..." Ichigo huffed, "What're you doing here?"
"I got assigned to this area." Rukia nodded.
"Heh," Ichigo said, "Just my luck."
Rukia scoffed.
"Nee-san!"
Rukia yelled to Ichigo, "You brought Kon here?"
"What was I suppose to do?" He yelled back.
Kon, in Ichigo's body, jumped onto the lamp post.
Ichigo just watched them fight. He was still mad at Rukia.
"Hey! Get off me!"
"Nee-san!"
Isshin sat at the dinner table. Yuzu had made sobayaki for dinner. Isshin slowly ate his food.
"Where's Ichi-nii?" asked Karin.
"Maybe," Speculated Yuzu, "He's out on a date!"
"With a girl!" Karin giggled.
Isshin was in a quiet mood today. These days where very rare for Isshin. He drank his tea.
Isshin suddenly sensed a new Shinigami in the area.
He started to choke on his oolong.
"Daddy!" Yuzu gasped.
"Is her tea really that bad?" Karin smiled, smug.
Isshin had set himself up for that one, "No!" Isshin stood up, "It's so terrific, and I was surprised!" He waved his arms over his head, "I'm so amazed!" He continued to shower his daughter with complements concerning her tea-making skills.
Karin smiled. She sipped the tea. It was alright.
Yoruichi sat in the corner of Urahara Shoten. She almost looked like a customer, reading that trashy magazine. Not that Urahara Shoten got all that many customers. Mostly outlaws and stranded weirdo's like Rukia.
The odd thing was, last week, Yoruichi hadn't cared less about the lives of Japanese pop idols. Then Ururu had taken her aside and told her about the weird lives these people lived. And now, Yoruichi couldn't get enough of them!
Then, Yoruichi sensed something. The reiko of an almost familiar Shinigami. Kuchiki Rukia.
Urahara popped his head out of the back door, "It seems like the little Kuchiki is back!"
"It seems that way," Yoruichi didn't look up from her magazine.
They had somehow managed to calm Kon down, after Ichigo realized that Kon did have a human body, so there was a tiny, tiny, tiny chance he could overpower Rukia if she dropped her sword. Though the only words that Kon would say where 'Nee-san!' 'till they got home.
Ichigo, now in his own body, started to climb back into his window. Kon, now as a stuffed lion, rested on the windowsill.
Rukia waived goodbye. Ichigo, very slowly, raised his hand. In a slow fashion, he waved goodbye.
"Honto Arigatou," He whispered.
Rukia stopped. She looked back up at him, "Honto Arigatou?" she asked.
Ichigo gave her a look that said, 'Huh?'.
Rukia smiled, "Just arigatou."
Ichigo nodded, and Rukia was gone. He closed the window, pulling Kon back into the room, and sat down.
"The rain stopped." He said.
"It wasn't raining." Said Kon.
"Maybe not," Ichigo shrugged, and hurried down for dinner.
Byakuya watched the sunset. He had sent Rukia to see her old friend. It was against his better judgment, but...
'I think she would be happier that way, Hisana.' Byakuya though.
And that was the end of Honto Arigatou.
By the way, Nee-san is what Kon calls Rukia, usually. It means 'older sister', and 'Ichi-nii' is what Karin calls Ichigo. It means either 'Ichigo-older-brother' or 'number one older brother'.
REVIEW OR YORUICHI WILL THROW TRASHY MAGIZINES AT YOU!