Just so you guys know, the implication of IchiHime is just for drama and to give Ichigo and Rukia time to bond and really, "feel."
Realistically speaking, if you met up with your opposite gendered friend after 10 years who you STILL see as a friend and/or brother, you wouldn't be feeling jealous or anything since you're not in love with them yet. So calm down and just read, if I made Rukia jealous right away, this story would be pointless.

Disclaimer: I don't own or claim Bleach by all means. However, I do own Bleach metaphorically speaking… eh, I can't even own Bleach that way either. Fml…

Previously…

-Ichigo and Orihime-

"Uh, Kurosaki-kun, how are you?" asked Orihime, scanning a couple of books. She looked up at him, but blushed and looked down, avoiding his eyes.

He simply shrugged, "I don't know, fine I guess. And you?"

She smiled, "I'm doing great! I made two new recipes and-" she then stopped after noticing she got side tracked. Tension filled the air between the two as they stood together in silence.

"Ano... um... actually, I wanted to ask you if you want t-to... hangout sometime!" she said, pretty loud, but not loud enough that people could hear. Ichigo blinked and looked at her questioningly, he opened his mouth to reply, but she beat him to it. "I invited Rukia-chan, Tatsuki-chan and Abarai-kun too!" She added quickly, it was clear she was nervous, but Ichigo was too oblivious to notice.

"Sure, but to do what?" Ichigo lifted a single orange brow, and tapped his fingers on the counter.

Orihime blushed and quickly thought of something, "Uh, how about we go to the fair this Friday after school? It'll be fun with all of us together. Please say you'll come!" Ichigo hesitated but then nodded reluctantly. "That's great! It will be so much fun!" She laughed nervously as played with her fingers under the counter.

After several minutes in silence, Rukia came trotting down with a smirk on her face. She had 3 books in her arms, "Could I take these out, Hime?" she placed them on the counter and the other girl gladly took them and started to scan them.

Rukia glanced at Ichigo and leaned over the counter and whispered into Orihime's ear, "So, how'd it go?" she was hoping for good results.

"Well, I got nervous and asked him if he wanted to come to the fair with you, Tatsuki-chan and Abarai-kun. I'm sorry...," the auburn-haired girl whispered back. This caused the raven-haired girl to sigh.

"It's okay. I suppose we'll work from there," she said, backing away and winking at Orihime before taking the books and walking away.

Ichigo felt there was something fishy going on. Why did Rukia want him to go the library with her just to have him wait, she didn't even ask his opinion for anything! He eyed the shorter girl suspiciously, "What was all that about?" he asked. She shrugged and chuckled when he didn't notice that she had handed him her books to hold and how she was walking empty handed. He looked down, and instead of noticing he was holding her books, "I thought you were looking for Shakespeare? Not shit about rabbits."

"It's not shit! I happen to like rabbits more than plays and stuff," she retorted, crossing her arms and looking away. "Seriously, how do you have a fan club? It's beyond me," she mumbled to herself.

"What? Did you say something?"

"Nope, nothing."

Chapter 5: Of Missions and Meetings

It has been a whole week since she arrived in Japan. A week wasn't what one would call "long," but she felt as if she had been in Karakura the whole time.

She had made friends with almost everybody and was casually moving around and about by herself now. This feeling, she absolutely loved it. It was known by most as "freedom," something she didn't have much of back in France. She always had to stay holed up in the manor either studying or helping Hisana with her work, but most of the time she was by herself with her personal maid. It was unbearable and lonely. Byakuya was either on a business trip or was in his private library doing whatever he did in there. And Hisana on the other hand would either be in her studio, or somewhere around the city, usually in the outlets.

"Rukia-san, are you okay? You've look a bit dazed," asked a girl with black tied up hair, known as Hinamori Momo. She looked at her with concern and held out a juice box.

It was lunch time and Rukia had been sitting under their usual tree with Momo. While Orihime had gone to get sandwiches, and Tatsuki went to go fetch more drinks.

Rukia blinked and smiled, "Oh, I'm fine, Momo. I was just thinking about something," she gladly took the juice box and attempted to poke the straw into the cursed hole. She had always hated juice boxes… they never seemed to want to open for her. It was always someone else who had to open it for her; usually it was Ichigo.

Yes, she was a girl of many talents, but the only thing she lacked talent for was opening juice boxes, and maybe drawing according to the two buffoons she called her best friends.

"Argh! Damn it to hell," cursed Rukia, literally stabbing her juice box. She, like Tatsuki, had a bad habit of cursing and getting angry easily. It wasn't exactly safe to be around the girl when she was mad. She, herself, even had to admit that she was a hypocrite when it came to cursing though. She yelled at Ichigo and Renji for cursing, but honestly, she had hell of a potty mouth.

Rukia attacked the poor juice box with her straw repeatedly before having it taken out of her hand from above, "Gently, like so. Remember, the juice box has feelings too, you know," said someone sarcastically from above.

She looked up and found Ichigo standing over her with the juice box and straw in hand. He was wearing the school's gray uniform jacket with it unzipped to reveal the black shirt he wore on the inside. She watched as he slowly stuck the straw into the little hole with ease and then handed the juice back to her. "See? Wasn't that easy? No need for unnecessary frustration," said Ichigo, smirking down at her. "You and Tatsuki really need to control those anger issues. You're never going to find a guy that way."

Renji, who was behind Ichigo, crossed his arms and nodded, "Yeah, for once I agree. It's not the least bit attractive. Guys will start acting like pussies and avoid you. Just look at Tatsuki, guys cower in fear just by looking at her."

"And you, being one of them?" Rukia retorted, sipping her juice box innocently.

Renji glared at her and moved closer, "Like hell I'd be scared of that bitch!" Rukia arched her brow and continued with her sipping.

"Who's a bitch?" Speak of the devil.

Tatsuki walked up behind Renji with a plastic bag of juice boxes and slapped her hand on his shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze.

He scowled at her, "I was just talking about how much of a bitch you can be!" replied Renji giving her a nasty glare.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Excuse me? What did you just say?" she tightened her fists getting ready to deck him in the face.

"I. Called. You. A. Damn. Bitch!" he said, mocking her. And that was the signal for Tatsuki to tackle him down to the ground, throwing the plastic bag over her shoulder.

While they were rolling around on the ground, Orihime returned with an armful of wrapped sandwiches. As if not noticing the commotion, she obliviously stepped around the two and proceeded to walk to her spot under the tree. "I brought the sandwiches!" She announced gleefully before blindly bumping into something hard. "Eeek!" She squealed as she threw all the sandwiches in the air before landing on her bottom.

"Owee… when did they put a giant garden gnome there?" she said, rubbing her backside. She looked up to the "garden gnome" and immediately widened her eyes.

Oh. Dear. Heavens.

"Sorry about that, Inoue," said Ichigo, extending a hand out to her.

The said girl blinked before taking his hand. "Oh! No, it's fine! I should have been paying attention anyways! Hehe, silly me! I kept thinking about this funny T.V. show I saw last night and totally got distracted," She laughed and rubbed the back of her head and started to pick up the sandwiches off the ground to only have them drop again.

Ichigo lifted a single brow before kneeling down to help her get the sandwiches. After picking them up, he handed them to her. "Thank you, Kurosaki-kun!"

While on the side-lines, Rukia smirked as she watched them, amused. "Oi, Ichigo, are you going to the fair with us later?"

Ichigo looked down at the raven haired girl and shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I'll go. Renji's coming too, right?"

"Yeah, he's coming," she said, widening her smirk, "See, Hime? Ichigo's coming with us, no need to worry about it. You ranted for an hour for nothing," She teased her blushing friend.

The said girl turned a bright red color, putting Renji's hair to shame, when she noticed everyone was staring at her, including Ichigo. "Ano… I-I-I… uh, have to go the bathroom! Here, Rukia, take the sandwiches," said Orihime, fidgeting and quickly handing Rukia the sandwiches –practically throwing them at her- before she made her escape to the "bathroom" to hide her tomato colored face. Must Rukia embarrass her so?

After running a safe distance away, she let out a sigh. "I need to control myself…" She let out another sigh and leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She looked up at the sky and observed the moving clouds. I wonder if I can catch a unicorn cloud… that would be so awesome! It could turn into a real unicorn and take me to a forbidden land where I'm the princess and Kuchiki-san is the queen and she arranges for me to marry Kurosaki-kun and we could happily ever after, daydreamed Orihime.

She stood there dazing off until something caught her eye, up on the roof of the school sat a black haired teen –presumably a guy- with his back against the railing. "He must be one of Kurosaki-kun and Abarai-kun's friend along with everyone else up there. That's where they usually hang out," thought Orihime out loud.

From where she stood, it seemed like the black haired guy was looking at the clouds, like she had just been doing just a moment ago. Being the curious girl she was, she moved a little closer to the school and turned a different angle to see if anyone else was up on the roof with them. To her disappointment, she couldn't see anything other than the person.

However, she did happen to catch a glimpse of the side of his face. He had pretty pale skin, and she wasn't sure, but she could have sworn his irises were… bright emerald green.

Orihime started inching forward slowly and just stared at him, she didn't want to stare, but she was curious about him. Why was he alone? How come she had never seen him before? Was he a new student?

Just as she finally got a good glimpse at his facial features, someone walked up to him and leaned on the railing on the side Orihime had been looking at. She frowned and looked up to see who it was, and it was undoubtedly, Grimmjow due to the wild teal hair.

Disappointed, she pouted and walked back to her friends. When she returned, Renji and Tatsuki weren't tussling anymore and everyone was calm… except for Ichigo and Rukia who were having an argument, of course.

"What do you mean you can't find my notes?" asked Ichigo, his eye twitching.

"I looked in my bag this morning and they weren't there! I gave them back to you last night!" said Rukia, stabbing her food with frustration.

"No, you didn't! I would have remembered. So what am I going to do now? I'm going to get killed if I don't have them." Ichigo crossed him arms and leaned on the tree.

"I don't know? Take mine and just recopy them, it's not that hard."

"I can't read your chicken scratch handwriting! And you draw crappy rabbits everywhere and write part of your notes in French or in some confusing code!"

Everyone just watched as the two bickered back and forth, enjoying the entertainment.

Finally, after the last straw, Tatsuki spoke up. "What notes are you missing anyways? You can have mine."

"She lost my English notes," replied Ichigo, jerking his thumb towards Rukia.

"I didn't lose them for the last time, you dumbass! You lost your own damn notes!"

And the fighting initiated again.

Tatsuki sighed as she pushed her hair off her shoulder. "I feel like they can make an argument out of anything, I swear," she said, rolling her eyes. "Even over some stupid English notes."

That's when Renji's ears perked up, "Wait, did you say English notes?"

"Yeah, they've been yelling about Ichigo's notes for a while now. What's with the sudden surprise?" Tatsuki swallowed the last of her sandwich and looked at Renji suspiciously. "Don't tell me you're the one who has the notes?"

The red haired teen laughed nervously, "About that…

"After dinner yesterday, Rukia told Ichigo she was putting his notes in his school bag, and I thought he knew. So I went through Ichigo's bag and took his notes. I forgot to tell him I was borrowing them after Karin asked me something," he said, pulling out Ichigo's notes.

"Knucklehead! I knew there was a reason why I wanted to punch you today!" said Tatsuki, looking about ready to shank him.

"Just so you know, you want to punch me every day, but that's besides the point right now," he said, slyly. "Yo', Ichigo! Here are your notes! I forgot to tell you that I was borrowing them yesterday." Renji threw the orange haired teen his notes.

"AHA! See, I didn't lose your notes did I?" said Rukia, crossing her arms with a smug expression. "And I don't need an apology since I know your male pride wouldn't give in. So just get me some cotton candy at the fair later, 'kay?" She put on her actress voice and smiled awfully sweetly at him.

Ichigo scowled deeper and sighed, "Of course, M'lady," he said, sarcastic. "And just so you know, male pride doesn't prevent me from being courteous. Despite what Byakuya may think…"

"Oh, and I thought you didn't have manners." Rukia smirked at him, to which the sides of his mouth quirked up a bit.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Where should we go next?" asked Orihime, enjoying her ketchup ice cream.

They had just left the exotic ice cream stand, which the auburn haired girl had persistently pestered everyone to go to. Luckily for them, it also served normal flavors, like chocolate and vanilla, along with flavors like hoisin sauce and mayonnaise, to Orihime's delight.

Rukia had ended up getting strawberry and vanilla since they were her favorite, while Ichigo got chocolate, Renji got some kind of fruit mixture and Tatsuki got mint chocolate chip, leaving Orihime as the only one with a weird flavor of ice cream. She had spent a good ten minutes trying to decide what she wanted and just ended up mayonnaise, red bean paste, and ketchup flavored ice cream with raisins, sprinkles and mustard on top. It was even unbearable for the stand owner to watch her eat the concoction.

"I don't know? We already went on some of the rides. Why don't we play some of the games?" suggested Rukia, licking the small melted drips of ice cream flowing down her cone.

Tatsuki nodded, "Yeah, that's sounds okay." Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Why don't you guys go? I'll wait here and finish my ice cream," offered Rukia, taking a bite out of her cone.

"I think I'll wait here too," said Ichigo, finishing his ice cream.

Rukia narrowed her eyes, "Nope, you're going too, Ichigo," she said, kicking him in the ass lightly.

Before he could say something, Renji grabbed his arm and pulled him as he, himself, was being dragged by Tatsuki. He muttered something akin to, "You can't leave me alone with this crazy ass chick."

Rukia laughed at her stupid friends, and continued to slowly eat her ice cream. It was nice to hang around with friends. Ishida was invited along with Keigo and Mizuiro, but they couldn't make it, so it ended up just being the five of them. It was better that way though. Her plan could fall into place smoother.

She had asked Ichigo before if he hung around with everyone often, to which he said "sometimes." He said he only hung out when there wasn't a test coming up, and since it was their last year of high school, free time wasn't exactly spent having fun, unless you were Keigo.

Apparently, whenever he hung out with his friends, Tatsuki would bring Orihime also, making her part of their "group." It was kind of weird since everyone actually had friends, or acquaintances from other "groups." Sometimes when the girls weren't sitting at the tree, they would sit on the roof with Ichigo, Renji and their other friends. Rukia knew some of them as they had introduced themselves to her. There was Ikkaku, Yumichika, Toshiro, Hisagi, and Izuru if she remembered clearly. Sometimes Shinji and Grimmjow came, along with a black haired depressed looking guy who would also show up with Grimmjow. She didn't know who he was. She didn't really dwell on it though since it wasn't really important, but she was curious.

Putting those thoughts to the side, Rukia bit the last of her cone and yawned. She looked around at all the lights and people. The fair was really lively. There were people around everywhere and there were children running around every corner. It was more like a westernized fair than anything, but with some Japanese changes.

She looked over at her friends, and laughed when she noticed Ichigo standing there like an idiot with his arms crossed as Renji and Tatsuki went against each other in some kind of shooting thing while Orihime cheered them on.

They've all been having fun, but Rukia felt kind of awkward, like a third-wheel... or a fifth wheel in this case. Not that Renji and Tatsuki were "together" or that Ichigo and Orihime were together either. Actually, Rukia just felt like a mother who had to baby sit children as they ran wild, it was kind of annoying. Despite feeling that way, Rukia had to concentrate on her mission; getting Orihime alone together with Ichigo so she could confess.

The job wouldn't be easy though. The idiot was known for being stubborn and stupid, so she had to make up a situation that would work. Maybe if I bribe him before Orihime confesses, he'll say yes… yeah, that would work, she thought to herself, feeling satisfied with the idea.

As she was about to walk over to them, someone abruptly walked into her, causing her to lose her balance and tumble over.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't see you there," said someone, most likely a guy, extending his hand out to her, which she took.

While she was pretty pissed, she couldn't start rampaging in public, so she cleared her throat and brushed off the dust on her skirt. "It's fine," then she took a look at the person, and widened her eyes. Ichigo?

"How about I treat you to ice cream or something as an apology?" asked the person, who oddly looked very similar to her orange haired friend. He scratched the back of his head, "And the name's Kaien by the way, Shiba Kaien."

She blinked and realized that he indeed wasn't Ichigo, "No, it's okay. And I'm Kuchiki Rukia, nice to meet you Shiba-san."

Kaien grimaced, "Ugh, no, don't call me that. Kaien is fine," he said, smiling.

"Then Kaien-san it is, and me, I'm just Rukia," she returned the smile.

"Okay, Rukia, sorry again, do you want me to get you ice cream or something?"

She shook her head, "No, I already said it was fine and besides, I just finished an ice cream cone two seconds before you bumped into me," she said, laughing.

"I still feel kinda bad though. How about I take you on some rides? You know, just to hangout. I don't think I've seen you around before, so you must be new at our school," he said, shrugging, looking at the school uniform she was wearing.

Rukia looked downwards and picked at her shirt, "Yeah, I am. I just recently moved here.

"And your offer sounds nice, but I'm here with my friends and I might be taking you away from your friends, so I don't know…"

Kaien chuckled and shook his head, "My friends already left, and I'm sure your friends won't mind right? Where are they?"

She pointed over to her little group of weirdos, who were staring at them. Orihime waved and gestured with her hand for them to come over there. She nodded and looked back at Kaien before walking over with him following close behind.

"Hey, if it isn't Kurosaki and Abarai, I haven't seen you guys in awhile," greeted the dark haired teen, sending them a friendly grin.

"Yo, Kaien, what are you doing here?" asked Renji, returning the grin.

The other teen shrugged, "My friends forced me to come. How about you guys?"

This time, Ichigo answered, "Rukia black mailed us." He glared at the said raven haired girl, who she returned it.

Kaien laughed, "She's a piece of work. She can keep you dumbasses in order," he said, smirking as the other two teens glared at him. "By the way, I was wondering if I could steal her for awhile. I owe her some fun since I un-gentlemanly bumped into her?"

Rukia raised her brow, but stayed silent.

"We don't care, go ahead," said Renji, shrugging.

"You'd be our savior. She nags and complains like a mom on menopause," added Ichigo, avoiding a hit from Rukia.

"Yeah, she looks like she hasn't been having much fun, so go ahead," said Tatsuki on the side. "Just don't try anything funny."

"Who do you think I am, Arisawa?" laughed Kaien.

While they chatted, Orihime looked worriedly at Rukia, obviously worrying about their plan.

"I've gotten Ichigo to go on rides with you today, so he's softened up. I think the rest is up to you. Go on the Ferris wheel or get Renji and Tatsuki distracted with some game and drag him away and start small talk. It should be easy," whispered Rukia, smiling.

The wind picked up, blowing Orihime's bangs into her hopeful face. "Okay! While I think it's easy for you since you know him so well, I'll try my best! And have fun Kuchiki-san!"

"So Rukia, you ready to go?" asked Kaien.

"Yeah, let's go."

Rukia stretched her arms out and yawned, "Next time if we go on the bumper cars again, I'm not going to hold back! I'm smashing into you full force."

"Yeah, okay. We'll see about that," Kaien chuckled and dropped down on the bench right next to her, watching as the small children ran back and forth with their tired parents following behind. "That was pretty fun, wasn't it?"

"It was. Thanks for "playing" with me," she said, resting her head on the back of the bench.

They sat in silence and just enjoyed the fragrant smells of food and the colorful lights.

"How come you weren't having that much fun when you were with your friends?" he suddenly asked, curious.

She shrugged and smiled, "I didn't necessarily come here to have fun. I'm on a mission-"

"Wait, that's kinda weird. You sound as if you're in one of those suspenseful secret agent movies."

"If you'd let me finish, then maybe you'll know why I said that… honestly, there are times you and Ichigo act the same," she said, crossing her arms.

"That isn't new. People think we're twins, but anyways, continue, about the 'mission."

Rukia laughed, but continued anyway, "Orihime, likes Ichigo, but she's not good with the whole confessing and shit ordeal. So I'm trying to be a good friend and help her and Ichigo get closer. Then she'll feel comfortable enough to talk to him, and eventually confess. She's supposed to confess today, so I'm hoping my efforts work."

"Inoue-san likes Kurosaki? Since when? Actually, now that I think about it, it was pretty obvious…," said Kaien, thinking.

"Yeah, it's obvious to everyone but that idiot."

"You talk about him so casually, are you two close?"

She nodded, "We're childhood friends, Renji too. We're all best friends," she smiled, remembering a stupid moment in the past where her idiot friends were being… well, idiots. "They're dumbasses, but they're my dumbasses."

Kaien nodded, noting her smile, "Usually all the people I know who have opposite gender friends always have a period in time where there is a 'change in feelings.'"

"Nah, that's not us. I'm just like any other guy friend, except I'm not. I have ovaries and estrogen, not testicles," she said humorously, smirking up at an amused Kaien.

"I see… that's a nice way to think about it, I guess. We should hang out at school some time. I heard you came from France right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Maybe sometime, you can teach me stuff about France. I like learning about foreign places from people who have actually lived there for many years."

Rukia grinned at him, "That sounds nice… maybe we can do that." She stared up at the stars, and sighed, "Well, it's getting late. I better go," she said standing up.

"See ya' some time in school, Kaien-san!" She then waved and walked away, unaware that Kaien was still watching her.

The next day…

"So?" Rukia looked expectantly at Orihime as she approached the other girl's desk.

Orihime looked down nervously and started to play with her skirt as if she was a child who had done something wrong. "Ano…"

"Well?"

"Ara… I chickened out. It was so hard because he kept staring at me and I froze! Then Tatsuki-chan interrupted and I didn't get another chance!" she cried. "Gomen!"

Flashback…

Orihime managed to get Renji and Tatsuki distracted with a frog catching game, hence the duo screaming at each other at each failure to catch a frog.

She sighed, having gotten that part down. Now she had to start the small talk.

Ichigo was standing next to her with a hand in his pocket, watching as his friends bickered over some frogs. They were standing a pretty far distance away from the other two and it was getting fairly dark, so it felt like it was just them.

"Today was fun wasn't it?" asked Orihime, smiling.

"I guess it was, excluding the part where Renji spilled his drink on me," he answered, frowning at the memory.

"That was pretty funny though! Especially the part when you and Abarai-kun started fighting and turning red!" she laughed, rubbing the back of her head.

They stood awkwardly in silence for several more minutes before Orihime piped up, "So... I need to tell you something."

Ichigo looked over at her with raised eyebrows, "What is it?"

She lightly blushed as he stared at her, suddenly losing the confidence she had minutes ago. She was already comfortable talking to him and everything, but when he just stared at her, it freaked her out.

"Ano… I… well… how do I say it?" she said fidgeting with her hands, looking downwards.

His brows lifted higher on his head, if possible, as he waited for her to finish.

"I just wanted to say that…," then she completely froze, and forgot what to say. The fidgeting of her hands increased as she tried to think.

"Why are you so fidgety?"

"No reason… and what I want to say is that,

"I think… ABARAI-KUN AND TATSUKI-CHAN LIKE EACH OTHER!" she said loudly, many decibels higher than her usual tone.

Ichigo blinked at her outburst, but then laughed. "You think so?"

She nodded and breathed heavily, calming her nerves.

Suddenly Tatsuki stomped over, "I do not like that red haired buffoon, I'll let you know!" she yelled, furious.

End of Flashback…

Rukia groaned and mentally facepalmed herself. She sighed, and pet Orihime's head, "Oh well… there's always next time right?"

She was kind of relieved actually. Now she could talk to Ichigo before Orihime confessed so that the chances of him accepting would be at least more than half. This whole process would take time, but she really believed that there was potential that Ichigo could learn to like Orihime. She was sweet and kind, and could possibly loosen up his scowl and toughness.

Rukia believed that Orihime was what Ichigo needed.

Preview…

"Ichigo, I can't sleep…," whined Rukia, walking into his room uninvited.

He was still awake and at his desk, probably studying or doing homework. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Play with me!"

He snorted, "Play? How old are you? Seven?" he said, not facing towards her.

"I was seven the last time you saw me, so that's why you should hang out with me right now!" she demanded, latching herself onto his arm, and forcefully pulling him out of the chair.

Ichigo frowned and lightly smacked at her arm to get off, "If you haven't noticed, it's eleven already!"

"Let's play video games," she said, awfully loudly, ignoring him. She managed to completely pull him out of the chair, despite her small size, and jump on top of him. She held his arms back, and used her legs to keep his legs from struggling

After some friendly outbanter and tussling, he finally gave in, "Fine, whatever! Just don't make so much noise!"

Rukia grinned in victory and rolled off of him.

A/N: After more than a year of no updates... here you go! I hope you enjoy! And I made the chapter a little longer to make up for my disappearance!

And please check out my other stories for those of you who haven't read my stories!

Please tell me what you think! I'd love to know your opinions [since it's been forever since I updated]!