Misty stared down at the note that her 'phantom' had left behind before he had scurried off to parts unknown to hide himself away until later in the evening, after she was asleep again, and scrunched up her nose a little bit as she read.

Misty,

It's nice to finally have a name to go with that angelic face. I don't mind the origin of your name in the least. I plan to use it a million times or so today.

My name is Ichigo. And I'm twenty four.

My favorite foods are my late mother's recipe for curry, tempora, and cookies. I like the cinnamon spice ones the best. The white chocholate ones are pretty good too. But the spice ones are better.

I have one favorite color.

Red.

But I like various shades of blue too.

I've met you're cats. And you are probably right to suspect Gale of being an alien. I've seen some of her behavior- I thought that she was building something the other night I showed up to check on you, and found her dragging some aluminum foil through the house along with a bra (sorry for looking, btw) a chewed up pencil, and what was left of a scrunchy or two.

Turns out that she was just making herself a clubhouse or a nest or something.

She looked so happy to have the stuff that I couldn't bear to take anything that wasn't breakable from her because of choking hazards. I'm not going to lie, it was a pretty cool looking clubhouse/nest.

I'm jealous that she could actually manage to make off with one with one of your bra's though.

Raphael has attempted to attack me on several occasions though. So I don't know where this 'sweetheart' behavior is, cause I rarely see it any.

I've noticed that you're an artsy kind of gal. I like creative people. They drive my friends up the wall with their art speak, but I like them.

Besides, most of my friends are uncultured savages with the IQ's of rocks. So enough said there.

I'm glad that you (and the cats) liked the bento and other stuff. I do try.

I'm worried about you getting out of bed and passing out. And though you have an art exhibit coming up, kindly remember to take care of your health first. The next time I find you passed out on the floor- I will call someone to come and get you and take you to the hospital.

So rest well, don't worry about the little alien and her brother- they've both been fed, watered, and their litter is nice and clean. There is also some more food for you in the mini fridge across the room. I made more than one bento just in case. I also made some soup.

Vegetable. It's easier on you're stomach.

Take care sweetheart. I'll check on you later!

And at the bottom of the note was a doodle of a large knife shaped sword with a piece of cloth wrapped around the top part of it, the end of which looked as if it were blowing in the wind and the very end of the cloth was in the shape of a heat.

Which was...weird. Right?

"Phantom- er, Ichigo is flirting with me..." She muttered in a slightly freaked out tone, not really understanding how that was even possible. After all, her phantom- er, Ichigo- she meant to say Ichigo, was dead wasn't he? And to her knowledge, ghosts and such couldn't feel love.

It just wasn't possible of an echo of something that had once lived.

"Maybe he's secretly a demon?" That would explain the emotions right? She wondered as she slowly set the note aside and then climbed out of bed to go about her morning routine.

Ichigo tried to pay attention to Rukia as she spoke to him. Really he did. But he just couldn't seem to muster up the energy to bother paying too much attention. So it wasn't terribly surprising to him when she finally realized this fact and hit him.

"Ouch!" He hissed as he rubbed his sore skull. Dammit, how could he keep forgetting just how hard and bony her knuckles were? He'd known her for years now. A person would think that he'd learn after the first or second time she hit him.

But no. Not him.

It was times like this that he genuinely felt like the child he was treated as.

"Am I boring you?" She asked in an irked tone as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"No," She really wasn't boring him. In fact he secretly liked it whenever she'd pop in for some reason or another to visit and broke out her notebook of sucky drawings. And he wasn't exactly just saying that to save himself from being hit again. He was just tired from being unable to sleep upon returning home this morning. "I'm just tired. That's all."

Rukia hummed, her expression softening a little bit in understanding as she gave him an appraising look. "You went to see you're new friend last night. Didn't you?"

He had been in the process of trying to stifle a yawn when she mentioned his visit to Misty's home and that yawn of his quickly turned to a choked cough. Was it even possible to choke on air? He wondered idly as soon as he was done finally clearing his air way.

"So what if I did." He finally said. His tone defensive.

Rukia just shook her head and sighed before muttering, "You're hopeless..." Pure exasperation bled from her tone as she eyed him for a moment before finally asking curiously, "Did you finally find out her name?"

"Yeah, I did."

She smiled a little bit. "What is it?"

"Misty. Her name is Misty."

"That's a pretty name." Rukia said as she watched his face light up in a way that was rare for him. In all the years that I've known him, he's only looked this happy a few times in the past. Maybe this...weird relationship that he has with Misty will be good for him.

All Rukia could do was hope at this point.

"Yeah it is." He said as his face heated up a little bit as he wondered if his girl was doing as she was supposed too. Knowing her, she probably wasn't. But he couldn't help but hope that maybe she'd take it somewhat easy today so that she could get better. He really didn't want to find her unconscious or something.