A/N- Sorry for the long delay, I've been having major issues with my internet. I've had this chapter done for a few days already but this is my first chance to post it. Hope you enjoy!

It was early morning the day after Byakuya had mentioned the noble's plan of marrying Rukia and Ichigo. Rukia lay awake, she had hardly slept at all. The previous night she and Ichigo had both decided to accept the plan and go through with their engagement. She was still somewhat surprised that Ichigo had agreed so quickly. She honestly expected that he'd need way more convincing.

She'd stayed up most of the night trying to understand what was going on in Ichigo's head. She most certainly didn't have trouble sleeping because she was excited about being engaged. She had not spent several hours thinking of wedding plans and various ways to incorporate Chappy into the decorations. But most of all she was not excited that it was Ichigo. She wasn't happy at all about it…or maybe just a little.

Her totally nonexistent joy aside, there was another matter that had been on her mind since hearing about the engagement. At some point they'd have to tell the public. And that meant that everyone would know. Renji, Ichigo's friends, and most terrifying of all- Rangiku. Rukia shuddered thinking of the millions of questions she'd hear from her. And she guessed at least half of them would be…risqué in some fashion. Rukia wasn't sure she had the mental fortitude to handle that just yet.

Deciding that lying in bed any longer was pointless, Rukia slowly got up and attempted to shake the last vestiges of sleep from her body. As she got dressed, she decided she should go and check on Ichigo. Just to see how he was handling all the news. Not at all because she just wanted to see him.

He had stayed in a one of the guest rooms in the mansion last night after their talk. It happened to be the closest spare room to Rukia's. That made the trip over rather short and was in no way an intentional choice on her part. Having him close by didn't make her feel more relaxed, or safe. Rukia shook her head slowly. Even she had to admit her denials were pretty flimsy.

Her internal debate still raging, she found herself outside the door to Ichigo's room. She hesitated for a moment. She suddenly felt nervous, for some reason. She couldn't quite think of why. Ever since the engagement had been brought up, she had moments like this when Ichigo was involved. She took a deep breath in order to calm herself down.

Just as she was finally about to knock on his door, it swung open on its own and the orange haired Soul Reaper was standing there. His sudden appearance startled Rukia slightly. It took her a second to recover and realize he had asked her what she was doing.

"I…uh…I came to see if you had spoken to my brother yet." It was the truth, yet it still felt like it was only half of the truth. In reality, it felt as though she just wanted to see him. Not that she was willing to admit that out loud, of course.

Ichigo for his part didn't seem to notice anything unusual in what she had said. "Oh no. I was just on my way over there in fact."

She quickly offered to go with him. He accepted easily enough. Rukia was interested in seeing exactly what Ichigo was going to say to her brother. Byakuya was a very…old fashioned man, so she hoped that Ichigo didn't do or say anything too bad and cause Byakuya to possibly call off the engagement. The thought of going through all this thinking about marrying Ichigo and then having it called off was enough to infuriate Rukia. After all this, they had better get married dammit. She didn't want to have gotten her hopes up for nothing.

Wait. Gotten her hopes up? She replayed that thought back in her head. So, she had her hopes up about this situation? About marrying Ichigo? She wanted to deny it, out of habit at this point if no other reason, but she couldn't bring herself to deny it. Not that she had too much of an opportunity, because shortly after this realization the two of them had made it to Byakuya's office and Ichigo had already knocked.

After Byakuya's voice beckoned them inside, the two of them sat in the same spots they had the day before. It didn't take long for Ichigo to announce that he had accepted the engagement. Byakuya showed no reaction to this news, beyond a quick glance over at Rukia, as if to gauge her thoughts on the matter. After confirming that Rukia was still okay with engagement as well, Byakuya had said that he wanted to ask each of them a question. Individually. And he had ushered Ichigo out of the room so that he could speak to Rukia first.

Rukia felt a twinge of her earlier nervousness return, but she quickly dismissed it and granted her brother her full undivided attention.

Byakuya's voice was as stoic as ever, "I'll try to keep this as simple as possible. Do you love him?"

Rukia's eyes widened. She hadn't been prepared for this line of questioning from her brother. It felt more like something she'd have to deal with coming from the Soul Reaper's Women's Association. Though it honestly shouldn't have come as such a surprise that Byakuya would want to know that, after all this is marriage being talked about. She opened her mouth as if to answer but couldn't immediately find the words to say so she closed it again.

Byakuya seemed to notice her having difficulty and said, "Maybe it would be more prudent to ask what you think of the idea of marrying him?"

Rukia took a deep breath. She was determined to give an actual answer. "To be honest, brother, I haven't exactly figured that out myself…On the one hand this entire situation is ridiculous, I mean an arranged marriage out of nowhere with barely a day to even think about it? It's kinda overwhelming. This time last week marriage was the furthest thing from my mind and now it's being pushed to the forefront. I'm having to ask questions I wasn't really prepared to ask…It's enough to make you go crazy if you think about it too much." Rukia chuckled, "But on the other hand…I can't say I don't want to do this…the idea, as much as it may terrify me to think of getting married out of nowhere like this, the idea of it being Ichigo…makes it okay, I think. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be forced into marrying." She paused for a moment. "Actually, that's not quite right. It's not even that I'm being forced to marry him or anything. I just want to. I want to marry him." As she said those words she realized the truth of them, and all her little attempts at denying it to herself fell by the wayside. The realization spurred her on and now that she had started, she found it difficult to stop talking, "I never really thought of the future that much, but ever since I met Ichigo, he's always been a part of it. No matter what the situation in the future, I've always believed that he and I would face it together. Either as friends, colleagues, or…something more. He's been by my side ever since we met, and he has risked everything for my sake more times than I want to remember. He…is the most important man in my life. He saved me, not just from being executed, but from myself. He helped me grow to love myself again…To be honest, even without this arranged marriage, I know our futures would be forever intertwined. It just feels…right."

Byakuya nodded with a slight hint of a smile, "So I guess I have the answer to whether you love him or not."

Rukia smiled, "Yes. I suppose I do… I love him." Once again, the words felt good to say, and helped her dispel any lingering thoughts or doubts she'd been harboring about her feelings. "I don't know if I'd ever have realized this without being forced to consider all this because of the arranged marriage idea, but I feel as though I've loved him for a while. I just…never had the word for it. I've wanted nothing more than to help him. To save him like he's done for me, so many times now and so many ways. It honestly feels as though I was just waiting all my life for that idiot to show up." She felt a sense of happiness wash over her as she thought about all they've done for each other in such a short span of time.

After listening to her answer, Byakuya took a moment and asked, "Then allow me to ask one final question. Do you think you will be happy with him?"

Rukia nodded, "I don't think I could be happy with anyone else…I mean I'm sure that at some point I'll want to smother him in his sleep. But I wouldn't want it any other way…He's a crass, annoying, self-righteous idiot… But he's my idiot." Her possessive declaration brought a smile to her lips. "Despite how often we argue, I've never felt as happy as I am with him…As natural. I don't have to act, to pretend…I can let the masks fall to the side. I can just…be. And nothing could ever make me happier than knowing that I'll be by his side for the rest of my life."

Rukia finished her little speech. She suddenly felt a bit embarrassed when she realized just how candid she had been. She was glad that Ichigo had left the room, because there was no way she would have managed to say all of that with him in earshot. Knowing that she was in love with him was one thing, but there was no way she was about to inflate his ego by telling him all that…Yet.