A/N-Sorry for taking so long to update, work has been crazy. Big thank you to everyone who's reading and letting me know what you thought so far.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

It was nearly noon the day after the arranged marriage had been brought up. Ichigo was still laying in bed. Rukia had let him stay in one of the guest rooms at her place instead of having to go all the way back to Squad Four's for another night. He hadn't slept much the night before. There had been too much on his mind. Which was to be expected, all things considered. He had gone from single to engaged overnight, after all.

Engaged. The word felt strange in his head. Foreign. Like it was used to describe someone else, not him. He may have ended up agreeing with the plan, but it still didn't feel any less odd to think of him and Rukia getting married. They had known each other for roughly two years and this was honestly the first time the thought of marriage had ever entered his mind. If he was being completely honest with himself, he had considered asking her out once or twice. It had never been a very serious thought in his head, but the idea had crossed his mind nonetheless. After all, nearly everyone at school had believed them to be dating or something when she had first given him her power. Not that he could blame other people for thinking that, after all the two of them would often disappear together and were almost always seen around each other. The idea of them dating definitely made more sense than the fact that they had been hunting down monsters and that she was not exactly human.

Life is strange. One day, Ichigo Kurosaki was a (relatively) average student. The next, he's off fighting monsters at the behest of a bossy little Soul Reaper. Ichigo smiled to himself. That little Soul Reaper changed everything about his life in one fell swoop. She gave him power when he had been powerless. She gave him courage when he had been weak. She had even been willing to give her life to spare his. And all this had been within the first two or three months of knowing her. She was really something else.

Maybe that had been the real reason that Ichigo had fought so desperately to save her. He hadn't just been paying back a debt. Though he had been grateful for the excuse to give everyone else. He couldn't exactly tell everyone how…bad it'd felt to see her disappear beyond that Senkaimon, how painful it had been to lying there in the rain unable to save another woman he cared for. He couldn't even understand himself at the time, all he had known was that he was going to save her.

And save her he had. Partly against her wishes. But he wasn't going to let her die. No matter what. She had been willing to die for him so it seemed only fair that he be willing to die for her. Of course, neither of them had ended up dying. And with their mutual survival, it left doors open for further developments in their relationship. Like this engagement, apparently.

Ichigo sighed, he figured it was about time to finally get up and get dressed. He had to tell Byakuya what he had decided soon. It was not a conversation he was looking forward to. Even though he was agreeing to the plan, he still felt like Byakuya would find some way to be pissy about it.

"It's no use delaying the inevitable, I guess." Ichigo muttered to himself as he got dressed. He checked himself in the mirror to ensure that everything looked fine. After rubbing the last of the sleep out of his eyes, he slid open the door to walk out and nearly bumped into Rukia, with her hand raised mid-knock.

"Oh, hi there." Ichigo said somewhat surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Rukia for her part seemed mildly flustered, "I…uh…I came to see if you had spoken to my brother yet."

"Oh, no. I was just on my way over there in fact," Ichigo replied.

Rukia seemed to be suppressing a smile as she asked, "Wanna go together?"

Ichigo nodded, "Yeah, sure. I mean after all it does involve both of us…"

As they made their way toward Byakuya's office, Ichigo's mind began to wander. He tried to imagine the look on Byakuya's face when he had first been informed of the idea of the engagement. Would Byakuya have even made a face? Or would he have taken the news with the same stony stoicism he always had? Imagining a emotionally shocked Byakuya was more amusing though, so Ichigo spent the next few minutes picturing different versions of Byakuya freaking out.

His mental exercise left Ichigo with a bit of a smile on his face as the two of them knocked on the door to Byakuya's study. The sound of the owner's cool voice dampered Ichigo's mood only slightly.

"Enter."

Ichigo and Rukia did as they were bid and entered the room they had been in yesterday. The room looked the exact same as it had the day before, except for an even bigger pile of papers sitting in front of Byakuya this time. The two of them sat in the same chairs in front of his desk as they had last time. The three of them were silent for a moment.

Byakuya was the first to speak, "I take it this is in relation to the conversation we had yesterday?"

Ichigo looked over at Rukia before he replied, "Yes. It is."

"Have you come to a decision, Ichigo Kurosaki?" Byakuya's voice was as stoic as ever.

Ichigo took a deep breath. "I'll do it." He looked from Byakuya's impassive face over to Rukia, who had a slight smile tugging at edge of her mouth. It seemed she was still trying to appear "professional" around her brother.

Byakuya nodded, "And I assume your answer is the same, Rukia?" He looked over at his sister. He gave her a searching look.

"It is. I accept the engagement." Rukia answered, full of confidence.

Byakuya closed his eyes for a moment, "Very well." He was silent for a few seconds, "In that case, I have a question I wish to ask the two of you. Individually." He gestured toward the door, "Kurosaki. If you would be so kind as to leave me and my sister alone for a moment. I'll talk to you afterwards."

"Oh…uh sure." Ichigo replied as he quickly stood up and made his way to the hallway outside.

While he was standing outside the room, Ichigo began to wonder just what Byakuya was asking Rukia about. Their voices carried slightly to the hall. He strained to listen in, but he couldn't make out anything being said. All he could tell was that Rukia was doing most of the talking.

A few minutes passed, before the door slid open and revealed a slightly pink in the face Rukia standing there. She looked embarrassed. Ichigo looked at her quizzically. "What did he ask?"

Rukia shook her head. "You'll find out soon enough. Just…try not to make too much of an ass of yourself in there."

"An ass of myself? What the hell is that about?" Ichigo asked.

"Just go." Rukia said, "It'll make more sense after."

Ichigo simply nodded and made to walk past her into the study. As the door slid shut behind him he was once again greeted by Byakuya motioning for him to sit across from him. He did as he was bid. As soon as he sat down he asked, "So what's this big question you wanna ask?"

Byakuya took a breath, "I'll make it simple. Do you love my sister?" His face showed no indication that he was the slightest bit embarrassed asking such a blunt question.

Ichigo on the other hand, immediately turned a shade so red that it put Renji's hair to shame. "WHATTTT?!"

"It's a simple enough question, I believe."

"Did- Did you ask Rukia the same question?" Ichigo stammered.

Byakuya shook his head. "Of course not. I asked her if she loved you. Not if she loved my sister."

Hell of a distinction there. Ichigo suddenly understood the embarrassed look Rukia had.

"What…did she say?" Ichigo asked before he could stop himself. He couldn't help but wonder what she had said about him when asked that.

"Feel free to ask her after this." Byakuya said, "But first, you still haven't answered me."

Ichigo felt like was nearing a stroke. He wanted to implode. He wanted to run away and hide. He really didn't want to be having this talk with Byakuya right now. He almost found himself missing Aizen. Sure, Aizen may have been an irredeemable psychopath with a god complex, but at least Aizen had never asked him to think about romance.

"I…" Ichigo began, "I…don't know." It was the truth. He really had no idea what exactly he was feeling toward that little Soul Reaper anymore. Once he would have just said that they were friends and nothing more, but the whole engagement thing had forced him to reexamine some things. He knew he wanted to keep her safe and happy. He knew he would do anything for that. Is that love? He wasn't really sure. "I…just want her to have the best possible future she can. She…is very precious to me." Ichigo realized what it was beginning to sound like, "But I don't know if I'd say I'm in love or anything…" He added the last line hastily as if he was trying to convince himself.

Byakuya seemed utterly expressionless as he said, "In that case, allow me a second question…What would you be willing to give for her happiness?"

Without even thinking about it, Ichigo had an answer, "Everything. I'd give everything I had for her to be happy." Ichigo chuckled, "You should know that, Byakuya. I kicked your ass for her after all."

Danger flashed across Byakuya's face for a brief moment before he simply closed his eyes and nodded once. "I understand." Byakuya then stood up and Ichigo quickly rose to meet him. Byakuya extended a hand for Ichigo to shake.

"Welcome to the family."