Sorry for the wait! The last time I wrote for this story was back in january, which seems like an awfully long time ago now. Since then I've had exams and other important things which I had to put before writing. But now all those sort of things should be out of the way, so expect lots of updates!

As a small peace offering this chapter is pretty long to try and make up for the long wait. I've tried to write it in a way which gives quite a natural feeling progression to the story. Hopefully it does that and with any luck it's quality will meet its quantity, so there's nothing left to say now other than enjoy!

Ichigo woke up to a thin beam of light pouring through a gap in his curtains onto his face. He drowsily registered the sounds of birds tweeting outside and could smell the calm summer's air wafting in through his window. It was morning.

He turned over in his bed. He could remember having a dream about Senna again last night, although he couldn't quite remember what had happened in it. He thought about it for a moment, but the peaceful quiet of the summer morning was soon broken by loud footsteps charging up the stairs.

"GOOOOOOD MOOORNING ICHIIIIGOO-"

"Not a chance!" Ichigo roared as he leapt across his bedroom. Just as quickly as the door had burst open Ichigo had slammed it shut again, followed by the sound of a body slumping to the floor on the other side of the door.

"Right on the nose..." Isshin groaned, "You've learnt well to attack the vital gateway to the body!"

"Wouldn't that be the mouth?" Karin replied as she walked past, her voice muffled by the door.

"What? Ohh... possibly."

Dammit! I've forgotten the dream now, Ichigo thought to himself irritably. He walked back to his bed and laid down, trying to salvage what he could of a good dream. His sister and father were still bickering outside of his room;

"How can you even call yourself a doctor if you think the gateway to the body is the nose?" Karin asked exasperatedly.

"Hmhmhm," Isshin chuckled to himself, "These are the secrets you learn after forty years of medical practice!"

"How can you have had forty years of medical practice? You're only forty-three!". Karin pointed out before pausing to allow her father to argue with her. After he said nothing she continued with her assault; "That would have made you three!"

"I started from an early age!" Isshin retorted. "I was operating on Lego people from the age of fourth months old in order to gain vital experience in the medical field! By the time I was your age I could serve a whole town of Lego people in less than ten minutes!"

There was another pause in the argument.

"I feel sorry for that poor girl downstairs in clinic" Karin replied, this time with a slightly more remorseful tone in her voice.

Girl? Ichigo broke away from his day dreaming. He couldn't remember there being a girl in the clinic last time he checked. She must have been brought in sometime yesterday.

"Yes... she's lucky the medics brought her in when they did..." Replied Isshin. Ichigo noticed that his tone had changed as well to one of concern.

"The night might have been a bit rough for her," Isshin continued, "But I expect she'll be alright by the time she wakes up. I'll go and check on her in a while."

"I guess..." Karin said quietly. "Although I was referring to the fact that now she's being looked after by you. She'd have been better off in the water in my opinion."

Ichigo chuckled quietly to himself. Even the with a door between them he could still hear the gasp of shock from his father.

"H…HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH THINGS? Oh Masaki, how did it come to this? How can our daughter have such a low opinion of her father?" Isshin cried before running down stairs to be consoled by his wife's picture.

After a while Karin had finished in the bathroom, and poked her head around Ichigo's door on the way back to her room.

"Hey Ichi, you okay?"

"Uh yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

"Good. I heard you had a fight with the medics last night."

"Medics huh?" Ichigo answered. He wasn't paying much attention to what Karin was saying as he was still staring at the ceiling and trying to remember bits of last night's dream. "Something about going swimming with Senna? Nahh that's not right..."

"Who's that girl you brought in with you anyway? Apparently she was with you when you decided to fall in the river."

"Idiot! I didn't fall in the river! I... wait, what girl?"

"The one downstairs in the clinic?"

Ichigo sat upright on his bed and looked at Karin. He couldn't remember any girl in the clinic.

"The one you brought home half-drowned?" Karin asked, waiting for the light bulb to click in her brother's head. She sighed tiredly; it must be one of Ichigo's slow days today.

"The one who you wouldn't let go of? It was like you were scared she was going to turn into dust in front of your eyes of something."

Ichigo vaguely remembered something Senna said to him in a dream once. "Don't let me go..."

"Dad was pretty annoyed with you, you know." Karin continued. "He was trying to give her something to help her breathe but you wouldn't get out of the w-"

"SENNA!" Ichigo shouted before dashing out of the room and down the stairs, leaving a stunned Karin in his wake. He sprinted through the house towards to clinic, frustrated at himself for having forgot. How could he forget something like that?

Ichigo reached the clinic and tore the doors open.

"S..Senna!" He choked as he burst through the door.

There she was, along with Isshin. She was sitting in the clinic bed, her hair messy from sleeping and her deep amber eyes were brightly staring back into his. It was only after a few moments that Isshin, who was sitting at her bedside, made himself known by continuing to explain to her about the bottle of pills he had in his hand. He quickly realized that she was taking no notice to his words.

"I'll explain these to you later." He announced before getting up from his chair. He walked over to the door, but before leaving whispered to Ichigo;

"Is this by any chance the young woman who has been making you into a man every night for the past week?"

"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled back at Isshin before punching him hard in the stomach.

"Oww!" Isshin wheezed before stumbling out the door. "Good punch..."

After he left it went quiet. For the first time in over two years they were together again, and it suddenly dawned on Ichigo that he should have thought of something cool to say before coming to see her. It wasn't as if he hadn't been thinking of things he could have said to Senna since the last time he saw her, it was just that now that she was actually sitting in front of him those things seemed somehow small and insignificant. After a few moments had passed he realized he was staring, and settled for a less than adequate "Hey".

"Hey." Senna replied.

"Are you okay...?"

"Yeah, although your dad said I need to take some antibiotics or something. It's only to make sure that I don't develop an infection from all the dirty water I breathed in." She stated. "Or something like that. I wasn't really listening." She added with a nervous giggle.

It went silent for a few moments. This is going to get awkward if I don't say something, Ichigo thought to himself.

"Uhhh…You wanna…uhh…go get some breakfast?"

"Sure." Senna smiled appreciatively. She took the bedcovers off and gingerly stepped off the bed. She was wearing what looked like a patient's gown, Ichigo thought to himself. It made sense as she wouldn't have been able to stay in wet clothes, and seeing her in a gown which ended just above the knee was something he could get used to. He didn't get long to look though, as when she put a second foot down she stumbled forward onto the floor. Ichigo grimaced before stepping towards her and offering her his hand.

"Thanks." Senna winced as she grabbed his hand and pulled herself off of the floor. "I guess I'm a little weak at the knees."

They look at each other for a moment, before Ichigo realized he was still holding her hand and tried to pass it off as nothing by running his hand through his ginger hair, earning a small giggle from Senna at his attempts to act smooth in front of her.

After a few minutes of careful walking as to avoid any more falls, the two of them got to the kitchen. Karin was sitting at the table watching television and was already dressed for school. Isshin was also sitting at the table and was drinking coffee whilst reading the morning newspaper. Yuzu meanwhile was busy cooking and was the first person to notice Ichigo walk into the room.

"Good morning Ichi-ni!" Yuzu chirped, "We're having bacon and eggs this morning, would you like some?"

"Sure." Ichigo answered plainly. "Can Senna have some too?" He added, signaling to the purple haired girl who was hobbling through the door in tow. Yuzu turned around in surprise at the guest before giving her a cheery smile.

"Of course! I'll just fry some more eggs, they'll be done in a minute."

Ichigo walked up to the table and pulled a chair out for Senna to sit.

"Thank you." She said shyly as she hobbled over to the seat. Isshin looked up from his newspaper and gave Ichigo a sly smile.

"She can't walk properly." Ichigo announced loudly before his father was allowed jump to any conclusions, before pulling a chair out for himself and sitting in-between the two.

As promised Yuzu had finished cooking after a few minutes and had placed a plate of food in front of everyone. Yuzu placed a plate opposite Ichigo for herself and sat down.

"You know Ichi, I thought it was soooo cute that you didn't want to leave Senna last night in case she needed you or felt scared." She said cheerily.

"I did that?" asked a confused Ichigo.

"Uh-huh." Yuzu mumbled between mouthfuls.

"Weird. I can't remember it."

Yuzu looked up from her breakfast. "Really?"

Isshin put his newspaper down and chuckled lightly to himself before slurping at his coffee.

"What's so funny?" Scowled Ichigo.

"Well that would be my fault that you can't remember." His father admitted. "I gave you some sleeping pills to get you to rest. The regular ones didn't work though, and I couldn't find any stronger ones so I gave you the next best thing."

"Which was?"

"Horse tranquilizer."

Ichigo's scowl deepened. "You..."

Karin looked up from the television; "Maybe the first pills would have worked if you'd put them in the right 'gateway' ."

Isshin made a gurgling sound in his coffee in protest before collecting his composure and calmly continuing to explain himself.

"I put them in his mouth! But he was so distraught over the thought of his girlfriend being in danger that-"

Ichigo scowled even harder and went to argue with him about his choice of words, but ended up choking on his eggs.

"-the sleeping pills did nothing. So I has to make a split second decision on whether to use the horse tranquilizer, or whether I should muster all of my fatherly courage in order to administer an enema to the body's second vital gatew- "

"DAAAAAD!" Yuzu whined loudly. "I don't think we should be talking about that sort of thing when we're eating! Especially not when there's a guest with us!" she said, signaling to Senna as she did. Senna however was too busy wolfing down her breakfast to listen to what was being said.

"So Senna, you're enjoying Yuzu's cooking then?" Ichigo asked in an attempt to change the direction of the conversation.

"Yeah, it's great! It's been so long since I last had bacon!" Senna said enthusiastically.

"You're eating it as if you haven't been fed in a month." Karin pointed out.

"You can tell, huh?" Senna grinned sheepishly.

Isshin let out a chuckle. He must have thought she was joking, Ichigo thought to himself.

"Well you're welcome to stay with us and sample Yuzu's cooking for as long as you need! I'll need to keep you nearby for a few days anyway just to make sure everything's alright, but if you keep taking the antibiotics and keep eating Yuzu's delicious food you'll be back to full strength in no time!" Isshin announced whilst giving a beaming Yuzu a pat on the head.

"He's just saying that to get more bacon." Karin muttered under her breath.

"Besides," Isshin added, "It just wouldn't be right to throw you out on the streets. Especially not when you've been making Ichigo into a man for the past week!"

"Dammit Dad!" Ichigo snarled at him. In response Isshin closed his eyes and wagged a finger in the air.

"Now now Ichigo, your father understands." He stated smugly. "There's no need to be embarrassed about it."

Upon opening his eyes Isshin was greeted with the sight of Ichigo giving him a look that said "continue, and I will end you.". Taking the hint he dropped the subject.

"Now then Senna, what is your home phone number?" Isshin asked. "I'll need it so I can call your parents and explain why you didn't come home last night and that I'll need to keep you in for a few days."

"Oh... urmm... I don't remember all of it. But I could always visit them later and tell them."

Isshin thinks for a moment.

"Hmm... yes that should be fine. But for now its nearly time for school, so you need to get ready Yuzu."

Yuzu nodded happily in agreement.

"What school do you go to?" Isshin asked Senna. "I could give a lift since you can't walk very well."

"I go to Ichigo's school." Senna lied, giving Ichigo a subtle smirk.

"Ah well in that case I'm sure Ichigo could walk you in!" Isshin decided, leaving no opportunity for Ichigo to argue. "And if you want you could borrow one of the girl's uniforms."

"Sounds great!" Senna beamed.

A few minutes later Ichigo had gotten changed and was waiting outside Yuzu's room. She was in there with Senna, looking for uniforms that would fit. After a further ten minutes of waiting he was getting impatient.

"Will you two hurry up? We need to go!" Ichigo shouted through the door.

"We'll be out in a minute!" Yuzu's voice replied. Shortly afterwards Yuzu emerged from the bedroom in her school uniform. "She'll be out in a minute, she's just getting changed."

"Sure thing." Ichigo replied.

After another five minutes had passed Senna swung the door open and strode enthusiastically through it.

"Ta-da!" She grinned as she struck a pose, "What do you think?"

"Hmm..." Ichigo murmured. It must have been one of the newer uniforms that were too big for Karin or Yuzu as there was no way that either of their clothes would have fitted her. He began following the her body with his eyes, starting at her petit shoulders, moving across the curves of her hips, and down her slender legs to her shoes. He liked what he saw.

"It looks good on you." He said, making Senna break out into a beaming grin. He then took the opportunity to look over her again, since it wouldn't make him look like a pervert. He thought he'd better add some criticism so that she didn't think he was just saying it to be nice. "Although the skirt is a little short."

He looked back up to her face to see that she was wearing a slightly inquisitive look.

"Not that I'm complaining." Ichigo added.

"So you like it then!" Decided Senna, breaking out into a grin again.

Ichigo smirked a little. That girl's smile is infectious...

Ichigo locked the door behind him. Yuzu and Karin had already left by the time he and Senna were ready, and his father had disappeared somewhere, so the two were left to walk to school alone.

"Is it like this every morning?" Senna asked.

"Yeah pretty much." Ichigo replied with a casual scratch of his head.

"Good! It was fun!" Senna giggled.

"So why did you say you went to my school anyway?"

"Welllll... I don't know any schools around here, and I had to say something" Senna said pensively, "So I said yours."

"That's smart thinking." Ichigo said. "I can keep an eye on you too that way."

"And I can annoy you." Senna added with a grin.

"Ah, so that was your plan."

Senna giggled girlishly in response as they walk around a street corner.

"So what's going to happen later?" Ichigo asked.

"Later?"

"Where are you going to go after school?"

Senna's upbeat expression sunk a little at this.

"Well...I don't have anywhere to go...so..."

I can see where this is going, Ichigo thought to himself.

"I was thinking of taking your dad up on his offer of staying at your house for a while."

"Sure." Ichigo agreed. "I haven't got anything against it."

"Thanks Ichigo!" Senna chirped.

"Oh and sorry about my dad this morning. " Ichigo added apologetically.

"That's alright, I thought he was funny!" Senna replied, still smiling toothily.

"That's good." Ichigo said as he pushed the wait button on the traffic light. "You'd better get used to it though because he'll be making the same joke about us two being together every single morning."

"Hmmm..." Senna put on a mock serious face, saying. "Well I guess in that case I'll have to rethink it."

After pausing for a moment she continued;

"I think I'll be able to put up with it, so you're just going to have to put up with me!" She ended by sticking her tongue.

Ichigo let a smirk wash across his face before it set into a slight scowl once more. He knew he was going to have to ask her about last night and about where she was for the past two years. They were alone now so this was a good time to ask, and the longer he left it the harder it would be to ask. They crossed the road as the traffic light turned to red and the pedestrian walk signed turned green.

"Hey...uhh...about last night..."

Senna looked up at him wearing her inquisitive face again.

"I mean... one minute you weren't real and the next you were. What happened?"

"I... don't really know, if I'm honest." She admitted, and looked back down at the ground. "For a long time I was in this dark room. There was nobody there, just me and the dark."

She looked up at Ichigo again who was looking worried.

"It wasn't painful or anything." She added, which eased his concerned expression. "I was just... lonely, I guess."

She sighed longingly and paused for a moment before continuing.

"I don't know how long I was there for, but then one day I heard your voice. After that the floor started to leak water. Since it was just a small, closed room it began to fill up. I remember that when it got above my head I heard a splash. Thinking back that was probably you." She said with sheepish grin. "Either way, the next thing I knew you were pulling me to the surface. I don't where you came from or how you got there, but you brought me to a riverbank. It's a bit of a blur after that..."

"The important thing is you're safe now, and you're back here where you belong." Ichigo said, trying his best to sound comforting. It must have worked because Senna's face lit up again.

A few minutes passed without anything being said, where the only noise came from their footsteps and from the cars driving past. This is nice, Ichigo thought to himself. It was good to be with her. It didn't really matter if they were talking to each other or not, or whether they were alone. It was good just to have her back in his life. He didn't really understand where she'd been all this time, or even how he managed to get her back. All that matter to him was that she was at his side.

"Thank you."

"Huh? For what?" Ichigo muttered. He looked down to Senna who was staring at the ground quietly. Ichigo grinned a little.

"I wasn't about to let you drown."

"It's not just that..."

"Then...what is it?" Ichigo asked, a little confused.

"It's everything else as well." She said as she looked up at him.

"You stayed with me and held my hand in the ambulance. The medics tried to put you in a separate one, but you just wrapped your other arm around the stretcher's leg and said 'I'm not moving until I know she's going to be alright'. Even when we got to the clinic you wouldn't leave until you knew I was comfortable and wouldn't disappear back to wherever I came from while you were away."

Senna stopped walking and Ichigo stopped next to her.

"So thank you."

Her voice was almost a whisper now. Her bright amber eyes were staring into his; a tear began rolling down her check.

"I missed you Ichigo..."

"I missed you too Senna. Every minute of every day..."

Senna stepped closer to him; her hand gently nudged into his. She smiled lightly;

"I think I could tell..."

Ichigo brushed his hand along her arm.

"...I was so lonely Ichigo... I wanted to see you..."

His hand followed the curve of her shoulder until it reached the softness of her cheek.

"Its okay now..." Ichigo cooed. "You can see me anytime. I won't let the same thing happen again."

She lightly nuzzled her head against his chest as he brushed stray hairs from in front of her eyes. Ichigo quietly wondered how he managed to live without her in his life for so long. He watched as her gaze slowly travelled back and forth between his eyes and his lips. He knew what she wanted him to do.

...

"ICHI-GOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ichigo's head bolted round at the direction of the interruption. Keigo and Mizuiro where standing back at the traffic lights they had crossed a few minutes before, waving at them. Senna quickly stepped back from Ichigo before wiping her eyes and fiddling profusely with her skirt. Ichigo sighed deeply and waved back. Before long the two intruders were within talking distance.

"Hi Keigo, Mizuiro."

"Good morning Kurosaki." Mizuiro started. "How are you this mor-"

"Ooohhhh! Ichigo! Who's this?" Keigo squealed whilst signaling to Senna.

"Oh this is Senna. Senna, this is Keigo and Mizuiro."

"Hi, nice to meet ya!" Said Senna whilst wearing her customary grin.

"You too." Mizuiro acknowledged. "I'm Mizuiro by the way. He's Kei-"

"You never said you had a girlfriend Ichigo!" Keigo interrupted.

"I don't!" Ichigo growled. "Senna isn't my girlfriend, she... just lives near me. And she's joining our school today so I thought I'd walk her in."

That sentence wasn't entirely true, Ichigo thought to himself. He had his back facing towards them when they saw him so they couldn't have seen anything which would tell them otherwise.

Keigo looked positively ecstatic at the news.

"Ahhh! That means she's free! Maybe I have a chance...?"

"No." Senna said simply, still smiling away.

"B-b-but you don't know me yet! We could be a perfect match!" Keigo stuttered.

"Nope, sorry."

"Awww..." Keigo sighed.

"I hope you guys don't mind, but I'm going to get moving." Said Mizuiro. "We're going to be late enough as it."

"Sounds like a plan." Ichigo agreed solemnly.

With that the four of them walked the rest of the way to the school together.

So, its been a long wait. Has it been worth it? I hope it has, I busted my b***s on this thing!

I've been watching some of the older episodes of bleach recently and I think I've managed matched Isshin's level of..."uniqueness" that he displays in them. He's certainly a good character to write for.

In my opinion I'm not a particularly good writer of romance scenes (or action scenes for that matter), but I don't think I did too bad a job of the scene in here. If you have any compliments or criticisms of the way romance is handled then be sure to leave a review.

Finally, thank you to all those who left a review on the first chapter. If you hadn't left reviews on it I probably wouldn't have bothered writing this second chapter so this is all because of you! I'll be writing a third chapter soon so stayed tuned! ...Or whatever the internet equivilent is!