All around the town, there were signs of life. The day was winding down and people were beginning to head home from work. The sun was hanging low in the sky. The main roads were heavy with foot traffic and sounds of dozens of indistinct conversations. But none of that mattered. As far as Ichigo was concerned the world only went as far as the girl in his arms. This wasn't anything he had expected to happen, but now that it had he was completely lost in it.

When the moment finally passed, they slowly pulled their lips apart. Rukia's face was a few shades redder than it had been before. Ichigo was practically a tomato. Neither of them knew what to say for several moments. They simply stood there for a few seconds in each other's arms.

"That…was unexpected…" Ichigo said, breaking the silence.

"Did you…not like it?" Rukia asked, sheepishly.

"No...I mean, yes? I did…Like it, I mean. I just-" Ichigo stammered.

"That's good." Rukia said warmly, seemingly relieved to hear Ichigo's response. She then pressed her head against Ichigo's chest and squeezed him tightly. "I guess it's my turn to answer isn't it?"

She pulled her head back and met Ichigo's eyes and said, "I love you." As soon as the words left her mouth, she turned even redder and pressed her face back into Ichigo's chest, breaking eye contact.

Ichigo responded by hugging her tighter against his chest. "Now I feel like an idiot for not realizing it sooner…" He muttered quietly.

"What?" Rukia asked, "Do you think my feelings were that obvious or something?"

"No," Ichigo responded, " I mean mine were. I've been dancing around how I feel about you for a long time. Ever since this marriage thing came up…No, that's not right. Since I lost my powers maybe. Or maybe even as far back as when I rescued you. I always told everyone that I was just there because I owed you or something. I just wanted an easy to say excuse. In reality, I just didn't want to live in a world without you in it…" He paused, "Honestly, those seventeen months when I'd lost my powers and couldn't see you were some of the worst times of my life, even though I did everything I could to deny that fact. I went about my life and pretended I was okay, like I didn't miss you…but no one ever really believed it. Least of all, me. I felt like the world was just moving way to fast and I was being left behind. I couldn't keep up…I nearly gave up after everything with the Fullbring…But then, you showed up." He smiled softly. "I'll never forget the sight of you standing there behind me. I hadn't seen you in over a year and you had even changed a little, you'd gotten a new haircut and a new promotion, but you were still the woman I'd fallen for. Even if I didn't really know it yet…" Ichigo trailed off.

Rukia pulled back just far enough to look into Ichigo's eyes again. Ichigo thought that he saw tears in the corner of her eyes, but he barely had time to process that before she pulled his face down toward hers once again. As their lips met once again, Ichigo found himself wishing that this had happened a lot sooner.

A cough from behind them snapped the two of them out of their moment, causing them both to jump a few feet apart. The two of them were mortified when they saw the source of the noise. Isshin Kurosaki was standing a few feet away with a big mischievous grin on his face. Oh no. Ichigo hadn't realized how close they were to his place. They may have been on their way to tell his family about the engagement, but still this was embarrassing.

"WELL DONE, MY BOY!" Isshin shouted loudly enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. "I always knew you had it in you!" He started clapping animatedly. "A regular lady killer, just like your old man!"

Ichigo groaned loudly. Just kill me now, he thought. Hell would be better than listening to his father right now. He took a deep breath to try to calm himself down, but he was shocked to hear Rukia speak.

"Um, good evening." She was a bright shade of red, but she managed to keep her composure for the most part. "We were just on our way to see you, actually. We have something important to tell you."

"Oh? To see me?" Isshin asked quizzically. "You finally decide to join the family officially, Rukia?" He asked in his usual joking manner, unaware of how accurate that was. "If you wanted, I'd be more than willing to adopt you into the family…though given what I just saw you two doing, that may be a bit awkward…" He trailed off.

"Well... Actually, me and Ichigo are getting married." Rukia said simply.

"Well, that's a shame, if only you-", Isshin began seemingly not realizing what she had said. "Wait." His eyes widened. "YOU'RE WHATTTTT?"

This time Ichigo answered, "You heard her. Or are you going deaf in your old age?"

Isshin's face turned serious. It was an expression that Ichigo was still unused to seeing on his old man's face. Usually he maintained his goofy and annoyingly chipper persona no matter what. But he would occasionally become almost respectable. "You're not kidding are you?"

Ichigo stood up straight and looked his father in the eye, "We're serious…I mean, you just saw us."

"True, but a kiss is nothing compared to marriage." Isshin said solemnly. "I always thought that the two of you would end up dating or something, but this seems sudden. As far as I'm aware, you two were just friends this time last month."

"Yeah, we should probably explain that." Ichigo started, "But it'd be better if we only had to do it once, so would you mind waiting until we all get home so that we can tell Yuzu and Karin too?"

Isshin nodded, wordlessly. He lead the two of them the rest of the way back to the Kurosaki Clinic. As they stood outside, Ichigo took a moment to think about everything that happened in his life the past few years. And how it all started when the short little reaper next to him walked into his room looking for a hollow. Who could have ever seen this coming? If someone had told Ichigo that night that the girl who he believed to be a robber at first would one day be his fiancée, he probably would have hit them for being stupid. With a smirk, he looked over at Rukia. "Well, let's go on in."

Dinner was hectic. Not that Ichigo had ever thought it wouldn't be. It was always a noisy affair as far as his family was concerned. His father, for his part was being as energetic as usual. It seemed that Isshin wanted Ichigo and Rukia to be the one's to broach the subject that they had touched upon on the way here, but he didn't want to pressure them into speaking before they were ready. He was occasionally considerate like that. Rarely.

As the dinner began to wind down, Ichigo and Rukia exchanged glances. It was time. "Dad, Yuzu, Karin." Ichigo said, to get their attention. "We've got something to talk to you guys about."

Yuzu looked up at him inquisitively. "What is it, Ichigo?"

"I know this is gonna sound sudden, but…" Ichigo paused, looking around the table before continuing. "Rukia and I are…getting married."

As expected, both Yuzu and Karin were shocked by the news. Isshin had once again shifted back into a more serious mood, undoubtedly awaiting the explanation that they had said was coming. "Since when were you guys even dating?" Karin asked pointedly.

"Uh…we weren't." Ichigo said, he knew that was sure to cause confusion, so he quickly added, "I realize how that sounds, but I promise there's a reason we went from friends to engaged so fast. And it wasn't just some spur of the moment thing."

Yuzu and Karin looked at each other, before looking over at their father. "And why aren't you surprised by this?" Karin asked.

Isshin smiled softly, "I'd already heard this much from them."

"Why did they tell you first?" Yuzu asked.

"I happened to witness them…being 'friendlier' than normal, let's say. I wanted an explanation, but they said it'd be better if they could explain it to us all at once." Isshin replied.

Rukia looked at Ichigo and nodded, "Thank you for being patient. I realize that this is no doubt a lot to take in at once, and I know you must have a million questions. So, I'll do my best to address what I assume you want to know." She paused, "This all came about during Ichigo's stay in the Soul Society after the war. My brother told us that the public morale was still in a poor spot after the war and as such it was taking a long time for things to return to the way that they used to be. With that in mind, he told us of a plan that they Nobles had suggested, that a very public engagement of two of the biggest war heroes would help to take everyone's minds off of the aftereffects of the war. It would give them something nice to focus on for a change…"

At a break in the explanation, Karin interjected, "So you mean to tell me, that you guys are married because…of political benefit?"

"No, we're not." Rukia answered firmly. "That may be what the Nobles all had in mind when they concocted this plan, to be honest, I personally suspect that they don't even care about the public morale at all. It's most likely just some power play in an attempt to make sure that Ichigo here is permanently on the Soul Society's side."

Beside her Ichigo was shocked, "You never mentioned this before."

Rukia looked at him and smiled, "Because it doesn't actually matter what they want out of this. We want this." She placed her hand over his and gave it a little squeeze, then she looked back over at the rest of Ichigo's family sitting across from them, "We are getting married because we want to. The plan was mentioned to us, but we weren't forced into it or anything. We had every chance to say no, or to back out of it. But we chose to go through with it all. This has nothing to do with being a public service for morale, or some ploy to bring Ichigo into the fold. This is just a matter of me…loving him. And him loving me. And in the end, that's all that matters."

Ichigo's face had gotten a few shades redder during her speech, he wasn't expecting her to be so sappy. Not that he disagreed with anything she was saying, it was just embarrassing to hear it out loud in front of his family. He looked at his father and saw him returning his gaze. His father was inspecting him closely with a small smile.

"Are you two sure about this? It's a big step. Are you sure that you want to spend your lives together? No matter what?" Isshin asked the two of them.

At the question, Ichigo laughed a little, "We were gonna spend our lives together even without the marriage thing…Even if none of this had happened, I just know that we would always be an important part of each other's lives. And I don't personally believe that there's anyone out there who could change my world as much as she has." He took a breath, "So yes. I am sure. More than I've ever been about anything."

Rukia nodded, "No matter what our destinies were intertwined. Even our literal souls are connected. So no matter what it feels like fate would always bring us together in the end." She smiled before continuing, "And to be perfectly honest, there is no one I'd rather have by my side than Ichigo. There is no one I trust more in the whole world. And he saved me. And I don't mean from being executed. I mean he…helped me find a reason to live when I believed there was none. And now just looking into his eyes makes me want to stay by his side forever."

Again, Ichigo was surprised by how emotionally charged Rukia's answers were. Though he completely understood what she meant. And he felt the same way about her. To an extent, he appreciated that Rukia was being as upfront as she was, because he wanted his family to know the truth, without any filters. It'd make it easier for them to understand their position he hoped.

As if on cue, Isshin began to speak, "I can see that you two care deeply about each other. To be honest, I knew that already anyway." He smiled a big goofy grin like he usually wore, "And if you were looking for my blessing, well you've had that for a long time as far as I was concerned. I'd been expecting something between you two for a long time now, after all."

The rest of the meal passed uneventfully, with lame jokes from Isshin aplenty. As the night was drawing to a close, The girls and their father invited Rukia to spend the night like she always used to back when she was staying with them. Yuzu offered to room with Karin and let Rukia have her room for the night. Naturally, Rukia accepted.

It was a little past midnight. Ichigo lay in bed staring up at the roof recalling the events of the day. All the people they had told the news. But most of all he remembered Rukia. The confessions. The kisses. The hugs. It kept his heart racing and made it practically impossible to sleep. So he was reduced to laying in his bed staring up at his unchanging roof hoping for something to help him relax.

At that moment, he heard a light knock on his door. It was so light that at first, he assumed he had simply imagined it. Nonetheless he sat up and listened intently for a few moments, before he heard it again. Curious he got up and walked over to his door and opened it slowly. On the other side stood Rukia, in her pajamas. She smiled sweetly at Ichigo.

"I'm having trouble falling asleep." She said quietly. She looked down. "I was wondering…" Her face reddened as she spoke her next words, "I was wondering if I could…sleep with you tonight?"