Thanks for keeping interested in this everyone! I appreciate the reviews! I'm sure you're curious how Rukia and Shuuhei met so here is their story with a little preview into their future! :D Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Six years later…

"I want another story, mama! I want to hear how you met daddy!" A sleepy Hisana asked.

"You want to hear our story again?" Rukia asked her daughter. The little girl rubbed her eyes as she fought sleep, but she desperately wanted another bed time story.

Suddenly, the door way to the room darkened. Shuuhei had a broad smile as he peaked around the corner to checked in on his wife and daughter. Then his smile grew even bigger as his glaze swept to his wife's barely there belly. He suspected that they'd soon have another little one running around judging by Rukia's food cravings lately. He couldn't wait for her to confirm his suspicion.

"Yes, mama." Hisana's musical voice broke through Shuuhei's ears as he watched his beautiful little girl and her mother. Rukia's violet eyes locked with Shuuhei's dark grey ones.

"Why doesn't daddy come sit with us? I'm sure he would love help tell the story!" She threw a smirk at her husband.

"Anything to make my princess happy." He replied as he made his way through the pathway of Chappy the Rabbit dolls. The bed slightly dipped with his weight as Shuuhei sat by his raven haired daughter. "Now, where was mama?"

Hisana's eyes lit up with excitement. "She hasn't even started yet, daddy!" She giggled. Hisana looked in awe at her dad with those lovely violet eyes as she thought about her parents tale. "Auntie Ran always says you were mama's knight in shining armor since the first time she met you!"

"He sure was sweetheart. Daddy rescued mama from the evil prince!" Shuuhei sent Rukia a heated look. Their first meeting official meetings seemed straight out of a fairy tail.

With a soft sigh, Rukia began Hisana the child friendly version on their story. "Once upon a stormy afternoon, a raven haired maiden worked hard at Urahara's Café on her birthday…"

Ichigo and Rangiku burst through the double doors of the café bearing gifts. They were soaking wet from the storm, but the rain couldn't damp their spirits. The couple had a mission - give Rukia her presents to use for tomorrow night!

"Hey, midget, where are you?" He asked loudly. The café was dead except for a single customer and its raven-haired waitress. The orange haired man zeroed in on his target in the back of the store putting syrups in bottles. Ichigo sat Rukia's two gift on a nearby table before running up to her and grabbing her from behind. Rukia let go of the bottle that she was holding right before she was swung around in a big circle. "Happy birthday, Rukia." He said as he placed her on the ground, then gave her a big hug.

"Thanks, Ichigo!" Rukia returned his hug. She glanced around Ichigo to see Rangiku smiling at her. "Where is my hug, Ran?"

"Right here!" Rangiku squealed as she stole Rukia from Ichigo smothering the poor girl in her rather large cleavage.

"Ran! You're suffocating me!" Rukia barely got out.

"Honey, leave Rukia alone. Are you going to kill her before we have her party tomorrow?" Ichigo asked as he tried not to laugh at the sight before him. His petite friend was being suffocated by his girlfriend's breast.

"Oh, right! Sorry, Rukia!" Rangiku looked away sheepishly as she let her victim go.

Rukia sent Ichigo a nod. He knew she meant thank you. They always knew what the other were thinking. It's been that way since they were little. "So how has today been?" Ichigo asked Rukia.

"Well for working on my birthday, it's been pretty good. Urahara gave me a spiced latte and a vanilla cupcake with sprinkles on the house. Then I got a surprise lunch from Byakuya. Finally, my two best friends came to wish me well! What's not to be happy about?" Rukia asked. She felt so content today.

Seeing a small smirk appear on Rukia's face, Rangiku walked to the table holding two bags. "Today gets better because what's a birthday without gifts?" She asked.

"You didn't have to get me anything! You know stopping by would have covered it!" Rukia let out an exaggerated sigh, but a large smile graced her face in the next instant. "But thank you for my presents." She tackled Ichigo and Rangiku in a double hug.

"What are you waiting for? Open your presents, midget!" Rukia sent Ichigo a glare, but he just smirked at her. He knew that she wouldn't cause a public scene even if "public" one person that wasn't part of their close group.

The birthday girl opened a bright blue bag. A small gasp escaped her lips as she pulled out a snowflake shaped necklace with matching earrings. At the center of each was an opal. This was one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry she had ever seen. "Ichi… You shouldn't have this is too much!" Rukia said as she tried to give him the jewelry back.

"This is from the whole Kurosaki family, Rukia. Old goat chin insisted on something special for his third daughter on her 21st birthday." Ichigo stated as he stared into her violet eyes for a moment.

"Oh! Open mine!" Rangiku exclaimed shoved a bright, pink bag in Rukia's face.

Rukia was slightly scared to open the bag, but she did it anyway. A glittery, deep purple dress greeted her as she opened the bag. A sigh of relief escaped her lips because she never knew what Rangiku would by her, especially after the fiasco of her last birthday. Byakuya wasn't amused by her trying to sneak a striper into his little sister's very large birthday cake.

The trio was distracted from talking about Rukia's gifts as they saw a vase of red roses coming through the café door. "Hey, Hanataro!" Rukia called out as she recognized the deliverer.

"Miss Rukia! It's such a pleasure to see you!" He blushed as he made his way towards the trio. "This is for you!" Hanataro handed Rukia the roses.

"Thank you, but who is it from?" Rukia asked curiously. Hanataro handed her the card.

"It seems like you have an admirer, Miss Rukia. Have a wonderful day!" He said as he turned to leave. The group called out their good byes before the young man left.

Rukia pulled the card from the vase. She apprehensively opened it. Only one man ever sent her flowers at work, and he long had disappeared thanks to her brother.

My dearest love,

Cheers to another wonderful year, beautiful! You look lovely with every passing day! I'll be waiting for you! Happy birthday, my love!

Kaien

A chill ran down Rukia's spine as she dropped the card on the floor. Ichigo and Rangiku noticed Rukia's paling complexion and sudden shaking. "Kaien..." She whispered.

Blood froze in their veins. Kaien Shiba was a black sheep noble, Rukia's ex-boyfriend, and at times her obsessive stalker. The couple wrapped Rukia up in a group hug.

"Do you want us to stay? I'm not sure closing by yourself is for the best." Ichigo stated. His trade mark scowl became deeper as he worried about his best friend.

She finally gained her composer back. "I'll be fine. We right at two hours before close." Rukia refused to let Kaien's words shake her any further. This was a move to make her fear him, and she wasn't giving into the temptation anymore. Besides, she has a few years of martial arts under her belt now. She should be fine.

"Rukia…" Ichigo started to argue, but he was cut off.

"Strawberry, go take my beautiful best friend out! You've been gone to without a break! She needs some alone time with you! Now, go take Rangiku out! I'll call Byakuya and Kisuke before I leave. I'll be safe behind all these locked doors until one of them arrives to drive me. "

"I'm less worried about him grabbing you at home. He's more than likely to strike here." Ichigo growled. He couldn't understand why Rukia wasn't seeing the bigger picture. Kaien was all about showing

"In public? I don't think he's that stupid, especially not after last time." Rukia scoffed at Ichigo's fears.

Rangiku wrapped her hand around Rukia's wrist. "We don't feel comfortable leaving you here by yourself!"

"I'll be fine! Customers are in and out of here all the time." Rukia countered.

"But it's been dead since we've been here except for that guy over there." Ichigo pointed to the pink haired customer with glasses.

"It's been raining! Rain either brings in the craziness or its dead! This is normal! Besides Szayelporro is working on a dissertation, strawberry. He's been a regular for three months. I can tell you his schedule like clock work! He comes in at 3 every day after his classes, except on Wednesday then it's 5, and he stays till 5 minutes' shy of closing then he leaves."

"I could make your birthday present from me a bloody Kaien. No one messes with my best friend."

"Yeah, Rukia! Let Ichigo kick his distant cousin's ass. Then we wont have anything to worry about!" Rangiku said as she placed her hand on Ichigo shoulders. The poor man was all wind up with tension.

"That's it! I am tired of arguing with you two! I'm officially kicking you out! Go on your date!" Rukia dragged the couple to the door. "I'll call you if I get scared or if he shows up. Hell, I'll even check in every 10 minutes. If its gets busy, then I will even inform you of that! So please leave!" Rukia begged. As much as she wanted her friends around, she knew this was for the best.

Ichigo and Rangiku were still not happy with the situation, but they knew the check-in was going to get as good as it got. Rukia was to stubborn to ask for help. The couple planned to call and warn Byakuya so he would have a man on stand-by near the café after they left. Rukia would surely be safe then, especially if it was Renji guarding her.

"Promise me you'll be safe." The couple pleaded with their petite friend.

"I promise!" Rukia simply stated. Her vein above her eye was slightly twitching showing her aggravation.

"Let's leave before she pops that vein…" He stated with a smirk as he wrapped an arm around Rangiku, but not before Rukia got in the last "word". She kicked his shin with all her might forcing Ichigo to lean on Rangiku as they left the café. A smile graced Rukia's lips as she went back to check on her customer. She was determined not to let anything dampen her mood anymore tonight.

The front door of the café opened. Rukia was in her own little would cleaning until she heard a man clear his throat. She looked up frozen in her tracks as she looked up into the one face that she dreaded and despised. "What are you doing here?" She asked her stalker. Ichigo was right. Kaien was even more stupid than she gave him credit for.

"What? I can't get a cup of coffee from at the café across from my work?" Kaien man replied with a cocky smirk. His aqua green eyes brightened as he saw her fist clinch into a ball.

"You've been watching me this whole time then?" Rukia asked suspiciously. She maneuvered herself to hide her phone as she carefully attempted to pull it from her pocket, but a hand stopped her.

"You wouldn't want to cause any more trouble now, would you, Rukia? Last time, your brother put me away for two years in some Kami forsaken prison."

Rukia saw red as he began to move closer to her. She jabbed him in the stomach causing him to double over. As she scrambled away, she turned back to see if Kaien remained on the floor. Then, Rukia ran into a wall of solid muscle. A blood curling scream erupted from her mouth as she stared at the man in horror.

"Hey there. It's okay." A gentle voice replied. It held authority and safety. Most importantly, the voice wasn't Kaien's. Tension drained from Rukia's shoulders as she let that sink in. Dark grey eyes stared into her violet ones. A brief sense of comfort flowed through Rukia as she examined the tall, dark haired man. Dark grey eyes, black spiky hair, a 69 tattoo, claw marks, and a stripe across his nose composed his extremely handsome. She wondered what type of a man he was.

Kaien's voice broke through Rukia's analysis of her mysterious savior. "Let go of her! She's mine!" His eyes were wild with craziness.

"I think you should leave." The mysterious savior stated as he gently nudged Rukia behind him. He saw one to many cases like these, but he was glad that he arrived in time to save her from whatever fate the psychotic, black haired man had in store for her

"Leave before I call the police, Kaien." Rukia stated with venom lacing her voice. "My brother will make sure you don't see the light of day this time!"

Throwing his hands up in defeat. "Fine. I'll leave!" Kaien walked by Rukia and her protector.

Just as Kaien was past them, he lunged for Rukia only to be met with a fist. Kaien fell unconscious on the floor with a loud thud.

Rukia turned to the dark-haired, tattooed stranger. "Thank you…"

"Shuuhei Hisagi." He extended his hand to her.

A tired smile graced Rukia's lips. "Rukia Kuchiki." Their glazes held for a minute before Rukia looked away blushing.

"So what are you going to do about dumb ass over there?" Shuuhei asked as they made their way to the counter.

"I'm going to call his sister. She lives a few houses down from here, and she will handle him. I really hate to be him when he wakes up cause Kukaku is one scary lady when she's mad."

"Why don't you call the cops?"

"He likes to escape their custody apparently, and its a noble thing. I owe it to his sister. Besides with Kukaku, Kaien isn't going anywhere unless she wants him to." Rukia replied with an evil smile. Kukaku was going to have his ass for pulling a stunt like this.

"I'll close the door so you don't have to worry about customer's coming in asking questions." He walked towards the door to place a closed sign before he walked back to here.

"Can you stay till she comes?" Rukia asked Shuuhei.

"Of course. I'm not leaving you with the idiot over there." He replied with a pearly, white smile. Rukia grabbed her phone to place the call.

After she came back, Rukia asked Shuuhei, "Can I get you anything as a thank you while we wait?"

"How about a large coffee with double shots of espresso and the largest cinnamon roll that you have?" Rukia raised a raven eyebrow at him. "I have a 12 hours shift, but I have a little time to kill before I have to be at the hospital. Caffeine and sugar are my go to fix to get my blood pumping right when I wake up."

"Nice. One of my best friends is in medical school. I can imagine all the late nights you've had."

"Yep one of many! But I'm usually saving patients on the operating table not knocking people out." He said laughing. "I'm glad I could help you though."

"Me too!" Rukia replied as the continued to chat happily and throwing glances at the unconscious Kaien until Kukaku arrived.

Kukaku had Kaien on the first flight to America much to Byakuya's displeasure. He wanted Kaien's head. He was sent to his fiancée, Miyako. As soon as he met her, Miyako had Kaien by the balls. He followed her around like a puppy, and if he got out of line, the woman whipped him into shape.

As for Rukia and Shuuhei, two weeks later and numerous visits for coffee before his shifts Shuuhei finally asked Rukia out. Of course, she said yes!

"Yay!" Hisana cheered. "Daddy saved mama from the evil prince!" She rubbed her eyes trying to fight sleep.

"Yes, he did!" Rukia said with a smile.

"Now, it's time for you to go to bed!" Shuuhei told Hisana. She gave him a glare, but she snuggled up to her fuzzy Chappy the Rabbit that Rukia placed in her bed. Both parents placed a gentle kiss on Hisana's forehead before they left the room.

"Good night, sweetheart. We love you!" They said in unison.

"Good night, mama. Good night, daddy!" Hisana said right before she drifted off to sleep. The couple left the room smiling holding hands as they left their sweet little baby girl.

Thanks for reading y'all! I had them meeting a little different originally, but this seemed to work a little better. I think the next one will be the first date!