After that, they fell into a routine of sorts. One where they spent a certain amount of time together per day, ate some meals together and did other things to get to know one another and then took a short rest period.

After all, courting took a lot of effort and energy from both parties. And after he had received his little 'gifts' from his chosen, the ball had been back in his court.

He'd sat down to come up with a plan for his next move since it was his turn to bestow a gift of some kind on Ichigo.

The trouble with that was that as much as he wanted to give her something nice- he also kind of wanted revenge for being saddled with Psycho, who had resumed his previous deranged behavior after she had left them together.

Needless to say, Psycho and Bee were of no help at all since when he tried communicating his thoughts to them- in fact they had fled his presence as if afraid of what may happen if he went through with his initial revenge plan.

So, with little options, and with his pets hunkering down in hiding places unknown to him to ready themselves for a potential war... He did the only thing that he could think of.

He decided to go straight to his chosen herself and ask her what sort of gift she wanted from him in person. He had the day off and a multitude of free time to do as he pleased, so if she asked him for something specific then maybe he could get her to tag along with him for an impromptu date of some sort.

And after taking a little bit of time to make sure that his appearance was immaculate as usual- he was wearing a nice sweater, and denim pants. His hair was brushed, his breath was fresh and minty- he then slipped on some shoes and went up to the tenth floor to see her.

Since he was going to ask her what sort of gift she wanted, he was feeling a tad bit nervous. He was fidgety and couldn't seem to decide what he should do with his hands. One second, they were by his sides, and the next they were in his pants pockets. Then he would remove them and begin the whole process over again and again until he finally reached her door.

Then he simply put his hands behind his back after knocking on her door to announce himself. After that he stood there and waited for about ten seconds before the door opened and he got his first glimpse of Ichigo today.

The first thing that he noticed about her was that she looked different to him.

Mostly because her hair had been dyed a vivid shade of red like his own. In fact, as far as chemically based hair dyes went, the color that Ichigo had used to color her hair was much closer to his actual hair color than he'd ever seen anybody ever get before.

It looked good on her but that wasn't the only thing different about her.

Her eyes were different too. The color was exactly like Yuki's. He smiled at her as he noted that the deep indigo color was lovely on her. Especially with her hair dyed red. It made her look even more exotic than she usually did.

He really liked it.

"Hello, Ichigo." He said with a warm smile.

"Hi," She said as she stepped back to let him in. "What's up? Aren't you usually at work by now?" She asked him with a frown as he moved past her into her apartment.

"Usually, yes. But luckily I have today off and thought that I would come by and ask you something."

"Oh," She said questioningly as she shut the door and then turned to him and asked. "What's that?"

"Well, I'm a bit stumped about what sort of gift to give you next. I've thought about capturing an animal like one of the ones that you have gifted me with. But Bee and Psycho didn't seem to like that suggestion and ran and hid just in case you decide to declare war on us." He explained, watching as her curious expression change to amused as he then went on to say, "And my friends have proven themselves to be rather useless to me at the moment."

She chuckled and then cooed at him, "What a shame."

His lips quirked up a bit at the corners, his own amusement beginning to surface as he muttered, "Indeed. So, as you now know, my options for help are extremely limited."

"It certainly sounds like it." She said with a grin as she stepped closer to him.

He took a second to look down at her and then step back once he noticed that she had slowly been closing the space between them. But no sooner than he took a step back, she took another forward.

And before he knew it the two of them were sort of dancing around each other in her living room. The two of them matching each other's steps and direction perfectly until he'd finally reached out and pulled her into his arms and began to lead her around that way, while occasionally taking a moment to spin her around and pull her back into his arms and then pick her up and spin her around again until they were both dizzy, breathless, and laughing.

It was nice.

Especially since he hadn't danced with anyone in ages. He'd forgotten how much fun the mere movements of a dance could be.

Resting his cheek on the top of Ichigo's head, her head resting on his chest, the two of them still swaying to an imaginary rhythm... It felt right to him in ways that he'd never imagined before. It felt perfect.

"This is nice." He heard her say quietly.

"Yes, it is." He agreed as he lifted his cheek from the top of her head. "But it does nothing to help me with my task."

"Sure, it does."

"Oh? How so?" He couldn't help but ask her curiously.

"Dancing with the right partner is a great gift. Or at least I think so." She said as she lifted her head so that she could look at him.

Kurama suddenly felt as if he couldn't breathe for a moment as he stared down at her happy face before slowly saying. "Since you like dancing so much then how about I take you out on a date? A proper one. We can go out to a nice dinner, and then I can take you dancing. I mean, if you can find a sitter for Yuki, that is."

"Yuki should be fine," Ichigo said easily and then explained. "She's currently being smothered with an overabundance of love at my childhood home with my dad and both of younger sisters. Apparently, they don't get to see her enough since I moved, so they're planning to keep her for the next two weeks."

"Really? They're keeping her for two weeks?" He asked in an incredulous tone as he stared down at her. "And you're okay with that?"

"Not really. But they made a good point about not seeing her often enough," She said with a slight shrug. "So...I thought it would be good for the both of us if I allowed it."

"Will you at least be able to reach them easily if something happens?"

"Yeah," She said as she reluctantly moved away from him. Kurama studied her as she moved back, absently noting that she was already feeling Yuki's absence rather deeply and was attempting to hide it from him as she went on to say, "My number is on speed dial. And so are a bunch of doctors, and emergency numbers too. So, they should be covered if anything happens to her." She paused for a moment and then suddenly said in an overly cheery tone that alarmed him a bit. "But I also have emergency money, safe houses, fake I.D.'s, and passports ready too. Just in case something very seriously unforeseen happens and my dad and sisters need to take Yuki and leave the country."

He blinked at her, unsure of how to respond to those last words as she pulled her phone out and snapped a few pictures of his face and then repocketed it and started muttering to herself something along the lines of, "I need a new hobby." as he opened his mouth to ask her,

"Ichigo, are you a doomsday prepper?"

"Only when I'm alone and I start to get paranoid." She said as she gave him a slightly nervous smile.

Kurama just stood there for a second longer digesting this information since he'd never really come across a doomsday prepper before, but eventually decided that this was a hobby or habit of hers that he could live with.

After all, it was probably just her mother's instinct screaming at her to cover every base that she could think of in case of some unknown emergency. And as far as he knew, the end of all things in the world was an unforeseen emergency. So, it fit. But so did everything previously mentioned if her family was joining the Witness Protection program.

Though he kept that thought to himself as he decided to steer the conversation back to the topic of their date.

"Um, back to our date-"

"Oh right, yeah, yeah! Let's do that," She said with another smile, this one less nervous looking than her previous one as she then asked him. "What sort of clothing is required for our date?"

"Nice but comfortable," He said firmly. "So, you may or may not need to wear a dress depending on what sort of clothing is most comfortable to you."

She was quiet for a moment before finally saying thoughtfully, "Okay... I think I have some outfits that may work for our date. But maybe you should look them over just in case I'm wrong."

Kurama quirked an eyebrow at her suggestion that he look her outfits over for himself, idly wondering what exactly he was looking them over for but still nodded his head and agreed to do just that. Causing Ichigo to take him by the hand and lead him back to her bedroom.