Hi, as i promised, i returned with a fast update. Let's see how Ichigo will handle the big news. Will he accept to marry Rukia? What Rukia thinks of all this? It's all in this chapter.

Thank you for your good reactions. I hope this chapter won't disappoint your expectations (because i'm planing to make this story long... you know, that kind who enters the category " more than 100, 000 words )

If some of you read my other stories, you should already know that i answer each and one review and the A.N' note, so...

-Guest , thank , all in all i should understand it's a good start. :)

-Star fire girl 788, i'm glad that my english wasn't bad on this first chapter. If am not wrong, i think you are also following A frozen ocean of rain, am i right?

-byakuya7687, glad you read the my notes ( well at least someone it's paying attention to what i'm saying. kidding). Well in this story Byakuya doesn't hate ichigo... but that doesn't mean he likes him. He just thinks he's the best solution for this issue.

-pmw928, i'm glad you think this is a fun fic. I really wish it to be so... ( actually it's the first time i'm doing something of this kind... usually i'm better at writing shakespearean's tragedies.)

-annia9semi, hey, i know you... you're also following "A frozen ocean of rain". Hope you'll like this on too... it's much lighter than A frozen ocean of rain.

-LumineNightshade35, is this your new favorite fan fic? I'd be really glad to hear that.

-anon, well to be honest i'm way past K rating... so rating my change.

-Pancakes, told you... english it's not my native language. I've learn it from tv so mistakes still might come.

-IchigoMoonCutter, i'm glad it caught your interest. :) you know how they say it on tv: "stay tooned for more", haha.

-hunterofcomedy, " limitless potential to have fun with." - that's that exactly the reason i've chosen this plot! :) As for the reason why Byakuya chose Ichigo... It was a compromise he made. He knew that only Rukia would be the one "to suffer" from the resolution he had found to the Elders's decision... so at least he will allow her to marry a person she'd feel comfortable with. He doesn't really like Ichigo, but he's not blind and he can see the connection Rukia has with him. That's wyu he chose him.

-ichiruki3, i'm glad it sound funny. That's why i intended in the first place

-sleeplygirl, happy to hear that! :)

-jelly , hi there... so you're following this story also... well this one will be very different from A frozen ocean of rain. To start with, i'll cut here all the heartbreaking moments :)

-vic, well i hope it's going in a good direction

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Enjoy and mind the english mistakes (if i'll try to get a beta, then the updates will slow down so...)

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2. Resolution

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Extracts from an interview Rukia and Ichigo gave a couple of decades later to the SWA monthly magazine:

Question1: What made you, Ichigo, accept marrying Rukia back then?

Rukia (maliciously smiling):I think he was secretly in love with me...

Ichigo:Actually i wasn't... i just didn't want you to marry Renji.

Rukia:So you were jealous!

Ichigo:~sight~

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Rukia wasn't the kind of person to sleep until noon, but she liked Saturdays because even if she could stay laid on the futon and listen to the sound of birds and chilly breeze playing with the leaves of the trees. This morning, though, she wasn't paying attention to any of these. She kept thinking of the conversations she had the other evening with Nii-sama. He actually asked her if she was in love with someone. She was shocked, unable to offer him an answer. The first thought that crossed her mind was why would her Nii-sama ask such a questions. Did he read lately the Shinigami Women Association's magazine? Those girls did have the habit of spreading false rumors… but she wasn't aware of an article concerning her love life… because she actually had no love life. She was too busy with her lieutenant duties. Between a meeting with her captain and a training session with the recruits, when could she find the time for a boyfriend? And wasn't she supposed to be in love before thinking of a boyfriend?… The romantic feeling was an unknown notion for her. She just didn't have the time, nor the right person for that. Or maybe she had… but it was out of the question… he was just…

"Uuuuuuh!" she growled getting out her futon. "What am I thinking?!"

She washed her face, got dressed and went to have breakfast with her Nii-sama. She hoped that today he came to his senses and he won't put questions regarding her inexistent love life. It made her feel too embarrassed.

During breakfast, both Rukia and Byakuya were silent. For Rukia it was a comfortable silence, but soon it was broke by Byakuya.

"Today, at lunch we'll have a guest…" he begun.

She nodded and poured herself a glass of milk.

"I will ask you to take your time and look your best… The maids will help you with preparing yourself" Byakuya added.

Rukia put the glass down and frowned confused. Nii-sama never asked her before to look her best in front his guests.

"May I ask who this guest is?" she questioned.

"It's Kurosaki Ichigo" Byakuya replied simply.

Her first reaction was an enthusiastic smile given that she will get to see her best orange haired friend after six months… but then her smile slowly fated, puzzled by the unexplainable reasons for which her brother was: first inviting Ichigo to his house and then he was asking her to take the time and look her best.

"Is there anyone else coming except Ichigo?" she asked.

"No, just Kurosaki…" Byakuya replied and put aside the plate, finishing his breakfast.

Rukia was more than confused. Something was wrong with her Nii-sama and she couldn't figure out what exactly.

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Ichigo made his appearance at the Kuchiki manor early then he was expected. He found out that Byakuya was at his headquarters and he will return in less than an hour. Meanwhile he was invited to serve a traditional green tea, but he refused, preferring to spend that time with Rukia. He walked on the porch until he reached her room and trough the opened door he saw her standing in front of the mirror, unsuccessfully trying fix in nice style her raven hair, now longer then ever.

"Yo, Rukia!" he shouted cheerfully from the threshold, causing the petite shinigami to startle, while she dropped both the hairbrush and the hair pin.

"Ichigo!" she hissed surprised and a second later coming to her senses she shouted at him: "Is this a way to greet someone after six months?!"

Ichigo frowned annoyed.

"You tell me if that's a way to greet someone after six months, by shouting and yelling!" he replied.

"I'm in full position of yelling. You just burst into my room without announcing yourself! What If I was changing my clothes?"

"But you weren't…" he replied untroubled.

"I wasn't… but what if?!" she snapped.

"Well… the door was opened… where was i supposed to knock?" he asked exasperated.

"That's not the door, Ichigo! That's the porch! If you wanted to come into my room… you should have used the entrance door, there!" and she pointed the closed door of her room.

He cocked an eyebrow, looking at the door with a serious lack of interest.

"Look who's talking…" he stated. "The one who used to sleep in my closet without my permission!"

On that line Rukia couldn't reply. She just took the hairbrush and he pin from the floor.

"You promised you'll call!" she said after a couple of minutes with a slight reproach in her voice.

"And you promised that you'll visit…" he replied borrowing her stiffed manner of talking.

"I was busy!" she defended herself.

"I was busy also!..." he replied. " You know, writing a dissertation on commercial procedure for middle manufacture products designed for Japanese export is not actually a piece of cake!"

She frowned. She didn't understood a word from what his dissertation was, so she figure it out that it must have been difficult. Then she gasped. Why each reunion she had with him was violent, in a physical or verbal way? Couldn't they at least once go for cheesy lines like: "It's been a while! I've missed you and I'm really glad to see you"?

"At least I came to see you now…" he added with a grin.

She turned to him surprised.

"You came to see me?... I thought that you had some business with Nii…"

But she was interrupted by a servant who knocked on the door in order to announce that Kuchiki Byakuya had returned and that he is expecting them in the dining room for lunch.

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Ichigo was looking at his food. He barely touched it. Usually, he ate the quantum of two normal persons, but the silent and up-tight atmosphere made him lose all his appetite. He kept asking himself, what was he actually doing here? Next to him, Rukia was eating, looking only at her plate. She seemed relaxed and mind absent at the same time. At the top of the table Byakuya was supervising the two of them intensively. In his opinion Rukia was looking kind of slipshod. Especially her hair that was totally ruffled. Didn't he just tell her to look her best? Then his gaze ran down to Ichigo Kurosaki. He was aware of the reason he called him to lunch, but in the same time he knew that food must be eaten in quietude so he will him to finish his plate first. 'Until then some small conversation won't do any harm' he thought.

"How do you find the mushrooms sauté, Kurosaki Ichigo?" Byakuya asked. "Our cook it's one of the best in Seireitei and he makes sure to use only fresh and healthy ingredients"

Ichigo stared at the strange ingredient on his fork. Was that even a mushroom? He asked himself. He didn't even like mushrooms.

"The food is fine… I guess…" he replied absent.

The next moment he felt something hitting hardly his ankle under the table. He turned and saw Rukia throwing him a deadly glare. "You're being rude to Nii-sama" she hissed trough her teeth and then she turned to her brother with one of her fake and sparkling smiles:

"The sauté it's delicious, Nii-sama… I'm sure Ichigo would like to ask for seconds…"

"Very well…"Byakuya concluded and made a sight to one of the servants.

Ichigo's eyes widened worried.

When the lunch was over and Ichigo promised himself to no eat mushrooms again for the next ten years, Byakuya invited him to his study. Then he turned to Rukia and asked her to follow them, also. When the three of them remained alone each of them with a cup of traditional green tea in front of them, Byakuya turned to Rukia and spoke with his specific impersonal voice.

"Rukia, I believe you are aware of the fact that the elders are extremely preoccupied on who the 29th Kuchiki leader will be. My personal desire would be to name you as my heir…"

Rukia's eyes widened. Ichigo frowned, wondering what was his connection with the Kuchiki matters? Rukia as the heir of the Kuchiki clan. He didn't even know how to react. Was he supposed to congratulate her?

"However, the elders did not found this position suitable for you." Byakuya added. "They wish by all means to have a pureblood heir, in other words a child of mine. Moreover, they concluded that its mother and implicitly my wife should be you, Rukia."

Rukia remained blank. Ichigo suddenly turned to Byakuya, making a weary face.

"That's gross!" he stated.

Byakuya's eyebrows slightly frowned:

"I'm glad, Kurosaki Ichigo, that at least once we agree on something" he said apathetically.

"For kami's sake! You are brother and sister!" Ichigo insisted.

"Adoptive brother and sister" Byakuya needed to mention.

"Still… it's sick!" Ichigo replied with repulsion.

"Still…if the elders are delusional it doesn't mean that I'm the same with them. I didn't say that I wish to marry Rukia!"

"Then don't! It's simple!" Ichigo concluded.

Rukia blinked a couple of times and finally decided to silently bow her face. Finding out that her Nii-sama wanted to name her his successor and that the elders wanted to marry her with him was just…too much for a single afternoon.

"I'm afraid it would not that simple, Kurosaki Ichigo…" Byakuya continued. "Once they've settled their mind on something, the elders won't back down."

Ichigo frowned.

"I saved Rukia from the Sokyoku execution… I think I can handle some alienated and senile nobles!"

On Byakuya's marble face, suddenly a pleased expression appeared.

"So you are willing to help?" he asked.

"I thought it was obvious!" Ichigo answered.

Rukia turned to Ichigo surprised. She was prepared to say something. She wasn't quite sure what, though.

"Very well" said Byakuya. "But this time your help won't imply the usage of physical or spiritual strength"

"Should I understand that you have a plan?" Ichigo asked.

"As a matter a fact I do…" Byakuya replied. " The only situation in which the elders will give up the idea of marrying Rukia with me, would be the one in which Rukia will marry someone else first"

Rukia's eyes widened. She thought she heard it all, but apparently she was wrong. She turned to Ichigo, who was visibly displeased with Byakuya's answer.

"That's why I believe the best solution to this issue, Kurosaki Ichigo, is for you to marry Rukia!" Byakuya added.

"WHAT?!" both Ichigo and Rukia shouted at the same time, sharing the same shock that did not impressed the apathetically noble.

"It's out of the question!" Ichigo snapped. Then he turned to the petite shinigami: " Right, Rukia? It's impossible!"

But Rukia didn't answer. She was just starring at him and at her brother.

"It's doesn't have to be a real marriage." Byakuya added. "If you both desire it, you can keep it only for the appearances while you'll both sleep in separate rooms and allow yourself the freedom you need.".

"A marriage for appearances!" Ichigo repeated annoyed.

"This way, Rukia won't have to marry me." Byakuya concluded.

"I think that using bankai on our crazy relatives would be easier…" Ichigo commented. "If you want I can help you with that… but me, marrying Rukia?! That's too far even for a joke… right, Rukia?"

Again she didn't answer. He concluded that the girl was still in shock so he will end this with Byakuya:

"I mean Rukia will never marry me! … She's my nakama and she will never see in me something more than her best friend! I'm sure Rukia deserves to marry a person she would actually love… in a romantic way, I mean."

"So, from your words, I should presume that you do no wish to marry Rukia. Is that right, Kurosaki Ichigo?" Byakuya asked objectively.

Ichigo remained speechless. That question was too forward. He never thought of marrying Rukia. Not even in his craziest dreams. She was just too far away for him to touch. She lived in a different world from his, so in order to maintain his sanity, he never wanted to think of her being more then she already was: his nakama. Even so, he couldn't just bluntly say that he doesn't wished to marry her. He didn't know why… he just couldn't.

"I will take your silence as an affirmative answer, Kurosaki Ichigo!" Byakuya answered. "And since this is your final position I will think of another suitor for Rukia"

"But maybe she doesn't want to marry anyone yet!" Ichigo snapped.

" It may be so but I'm sure that she prefers this instead of marrying her own brother. I will make sure to find a man that will suit Rukia" Byakuya replied.

"And since when do you know what it suit her best? Maybe she likes being alone… have you at least asked her? Doesn't she have anything to say in this?"

On Ichigo's last words both men turned to Rukia with an inquiry expression.

"I..I…" Rukia tried with a nervous voice. She would have liked to say that all this was pure madness and that it couldn't be more than just a dream. But these kinds of words were futile. She ended up saying: "I will do whatever Nii-sama thinks is best"

"Very well" Byakuya stated " And I think the best is a man, that even if Rukia won't care for in a romantic way , he will cherish her more than anything. If you are not willing to be that person, Kurosaki Ichigo, be sure I will find another one. Renji, for example… I'm sure will be more than glad to accept the proposal."

Rukia's eyes widened again. This time they were visibly worried. Ichigo was a crazy idea… but a relation with Renji would have been more incestuous then if she would have married her Nii-sama.

"Renji?!" Ichigo snapped. "She won't just marry Renji!"

"Why not? They know each other since childhood… and he obviously have strong feelings for her" Byakuya replied nonchalantly.

"Really, Renji?!" Ichigo kept repeating annoyed. "No, Rukia would never agree this!"

"What makes you so sure, Kurosaki Ichigo?" and then he turned to his sister. "Rukia, tell us, what do you think of this solution?"

Rukia looked for a second at Ichigo. This marriage thing seemed pretty real. It was obviously that Ichigo was not going to change his mind and she couldn't marry her Nii-sama. On the other hand, Renji wasn't a solution either, because he would never understand the concept of a marriage for appearances. It was futile. There was no way out. She bowed her head in front of her brother and said:

"I will marry, whoever Nii-sama thinks is best for me"

"What?!" Ichigo snapped angry of Rukia's resignation… and then a crazy thought crossed his mind. Maybe Rukia actually liked Renji and that was the reason she wasn't objecting.

"It's settled then, Rukia… you will marry Renji Abarai!" Byakuya concluded.

Rukia didn't answer. Her head was still bowed. Ichigo was intrigued. Maybe she was trying to hide her joy… and if there was joy, it was annoying him. He couldn't explain the reason, but he couldn't stand the idea of Rukia being with Renji… But why? Wasn't a good thing if she will marry someone she actually liked?

"That is of course, if you don't have anyone else you prefer, Rukia" Byakuya added.

But then Ichigo reconsidered. It wasn't just Renji. He couldn't stand the idea of Rukia being with someone…

"There is no one else, Nii-sama… Renji will do" Rukia replied with a low voice.

But what was with that voice? She didn't seem happy at all. Ichigo was confused. He hated when Rukia was acting like this. He only wanted her to be happy. She was his best friend after all… his nakama… "Oooh! Maybe i will curse myself later for this!" he shouted mentally, while Byakuya was giving Rukia details about her marriage with Renji.

Ichigo clinched his fists and without facing Byakuya he said:

"I will do it!"

Rukia turned to him surprised.

"I beg your pardon?" Byakuya asked, pretending to be confused.

"I said that… I WILL DO IT!" Ichigo said out loud and clearly, looking into Byakuya's eyes. " I will marry Rukia!"

Hardly surprised, Byakuya asked:

"Should I presume that you changed your mind?"

"Yes, I have!" he snapped, half annoyed of himself, half embarrassed by the whole situation. "If Rukia agrees…"

Both men turned then to Rukia, but her face was red.

"I guess…" she said with a low voice.

Byakuya was ready to state the conclusion of the meeting, but then Ichigo added:

"But I will do it under one condition!"

"And what will that be?" Byakuya questioned.

"I want a ceremony in the human world… not here…" Ichigo answered.

Byakuya frowned:

"It can be arranged, but for that you'll have to accept to attend the engagement party here"

"Settled." Ichigo replied.

"And also, the wedding must be planned as sooner as possible" Byakuya added.

"Four, five months from now?" Ichigo proposed.

"It will be autumn by then… summer time it's better for a wedding reception"

"August, then?" Ichigo aked.

" The first of August?" Byakuya proposed.

"Make it better 15… my sisters are on a cruise until the 5th…"

"15th of August then!" concluded Byakuya. "All charges are on me!"

"Impossible… it's my wedding. I can't have anyone paying for it!"

"I appreciate it, Kurosaki Ichigo, but you do not have the ways to afford a Kuchiki wedding. If you insist, you could take over Rukia's expenses…such as dress, shoes…and so on"

"Settled." Ichigo agreed.

Then an awkward silence fell between them… and Ichigo realized: Was he really going to marry Rukia?

A slight, self pleased smile appeared on Byakuya's lips. He knew that convincing Kurosaki Ichigo wouldn't have been an easy thing to do. For a moment, he even thought he lost him, but the "Renji" recovery proved better than he expected. After all, jealousy is every men's weakest point. He felt relieved. Rukia would be safe with Ichigo, even though he wasn't the ideal brother –in-law he wished for… At least he won't have to marry Rukia now.

Then the silence was broke by nonetheless, the subject of the conversation:

"Excuse me… I think I will retreat to my room…" Rukia said.

Caught in the "wedding planning" discussion, both Ichigo and Byakuya overlooked "the bride" 's opinion in all this. The good news was that she was so shocked that she didn't have an opinion yet… The bad news was that when she will overdraw her state of shock, her reaction toward the people around her, especially toward Ichigo won't be worthy of a loving and carrying future "bride".

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So only two months until the wedding. i wonder how the new couple will handle the stress... especially Ichigo... i can already see him having some sleepless nights.

Anyway until next time, let me know what you think... and don't forget: the more you review, that faster i update :)

See ya!