Standard Disclaimer Applies:

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"I'm not superman, so I'm not saying I want to protect everyone in the world, but I'm not saying I want to protect the people I can hold in my arms either.

I'm not like that.

I want to protect a mountain of people."

~Kurosaki Ichigo~

~.~.~.~.~

For the Love of Ichigo

Chapter 6

"Stop staring at me" she said.

As she sat on the floor in her living room at her spacious New York apartment, she felt like she was going crazy. She had stared at the plane ticket again for the umpteenth time wondering what to make of it. She had went to work and came back but she couldn't get over the fact someone had sent her a ticket. After she had read the newsletter she turned to the back of the letter looking for any hints of who may have sent it to her. There on back of the newsletter were words written in blood.

"Return to Karakura Town"

Of course this message had scared the crap out of her.

'Was the little green men capable of something like this?'

It had never occurred to her that the little green men were actually evil. Sure, they had the tendency to invade her brain every once in a while but this time they had gone overboard. Why would the little green men send her a message like that?

Was there something she was supposed to do back home?

A quick three knocks on the door interrupted her thoughts. She stood up and walked to the front door. She looked in the tiny peephole and saw no one.

'Weird'

She opened the door cautiously and peered out. Of course, there sitting on her front step was a box. But, this time the box was huge.

"Maybe the little green men sent me a million dollars." she screamed excitedly.

Why she thought a million dollars was in this box she had no clue but she was going to find out what the little green men had sent her this time.

She opened the box slowly and carefully.

Inside the box was rose petals and a sheet of paper.

"What? Rose petals?"

She picked up the paper and again its contents made her gasp.

This letter she held in her hands made her blood run cold; similar to the time that Yami guy punched her in the head while she was 'trying' to save Tatsuki.

This letter was from Kurosaki-kun.

He was asking for her to come home.....to him.

~0o0o0o0o0o0~

Urahara Kisuke was proud of himself. Not only was he the most brilliant scientist in all of Soul Society but he was a brilliant scientist in the Real World too. Sure, in the past there had been some, um glitches in some of his plans but it all worked out for the best, right?

As he sipped his tea with the infamous pinky sticking out on the side, he pondered how his subject was going to react to the news she had gotten. Sure, he hadn't done anything terrifying like kidnap her or kill her best friend but he was sure she had gotten the point of his message. He hoped.

But then again,Orihime Inoue had always been kinda dense...

Now he regretted the fact that maybe he should have sent the little tomboy to retrieve her. Sure, she would have found out about his plan but that didn't mean she would be able to stop him or his partner.

He stood up and took a long stretch. Things on his end wasn't moving fast enough. Now it was time for drastic measures.

He grinned.

Oh how he wished he could be a fly on the fall when Ichigo found out about his father's plan.

Oh well.

Kurosaki wasn't going to find out that he was involved. He had removed all evidence that he was involved in the first place.

A good scientist always knew to keep his hands clean at all times. Besides, Kurosaki was simply terrifying when he turned full hollow, he didn't want to put himself in the line of fire of something like that.

Isshin was on his own with this one.

~0o0oo0o0o0o0o00o~

Five pairs of eyes stared back at him, as he read the contents of the note Nel had brought out from her jacket. He could feel his control slipping. This was worse than that time when Inoue kept screaming at him and he turned full hollow pawning everything in sight. This was something out of a nightmare.

Ichigo, for one, felt like he had died and ended up in the 12th division. He had been to the 12th division only once and he never wanted to see that place ever again along with the creepy clown called the captain.

This letter was worse than anything he could have imagined. Not only was it filled with some romantic, girly crap he would never ever say but it was the mother of all lies.

The note asked Nel to marry him.

He didn't understand how in the world he would be able to marry her. Sure, he loved her like a sister or a centuries old friend but he never dreamed over EVER marrying her. Not only did she have those two arrachar following her around like two long lost beanie babies but she still lived in Hueco Mundo and there was no way he would go back there willingly.

No. Freaking. Way.

Plus the simple fact that she was dead topped the reasons of why not.

He balled up the note and threw it out of the kitchen window. Whoever wrote this note was going to die, seriously.

"Where did you get that note?" he asked turning to Nel.

She turned a bright red as she recalled where and how she got the letter. Apparently, it had appeared inside her room one day seemingly out of nowhere. As she talked, Ichigo grew more suspicious and suspicious. Whoever sent the letter obviously knew him very well. Too well almost.

He glanced over at Rukia. Her violet eyes were squinted like she Omeda had fell on her again or something.

He wondered what she had to say about this note. Surely, two heads were better than one. With her help, they could figure out once and for all who sent this note to Nel. He couldn't wait to torture the poor soul who had gone to all this trouble to cost him so many problems.

Whoever did this was going to die very, very slowly.'

He was so lost in thought on the upcoming beat-down that he had realized that Rukia said something.

"I'm going back to Soul Society now" she blurted. She snapped out of her gaze and walked away as Nel continued the conversation by herself.

Ichigo followed her out of the door. He was about to protest when she cut him off.

"Train with me tomorrow Ichigo." she said quietly.

Now Ichigo wasn't by all means the sharpest tool in the box, but he turned to her and asked the most obvious question anyway.

"Why? Aizen was defeated?"

Rukia's sharp eyes filled with anger.

"Fool, do I need a reason to train? I want to get stronger, idiot" she said walking away. As she opened the gate to enter back into Soul Society, she turned around and gave Ichigo a last look over her shoulder.

Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

~0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0~

As Ichigo finally cleared the table and sent Nel home, he wondered how he was going to get out of working tomorrow. He was scheduled to work all day at the clinic. But surely, if the midget wanted to get stronger, then he was more than happy to help. Surely, Renji wouldn't help her get stronger.

As he walked to his room to finally get to bed after a long day, he knew one thing for sure.

Tomorrow was going to be very interesting.

~0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~

As he slept,a lone figure stood outside the window watching his every move. When Soi Fon finally established that he was asleep, she crept to the side of his bed. She stared down at the orange haired shinigami. He had done something that no man had ever done. He had won her respect.

Now she was going to repay him.

She leaned over and stared down. As her lips drew closer and closer, she grew even more nervous. She had never done this before. This would, in fact, in all of the 250 plus years she had been 'living', her first kiss. Well, it was too late to turn back now. She was going to do this. She could feel his hot breath against her face. Just a bit as she was about to give herself the memory of a lifetime, the target did something she didn't quite expect.

His eyes snapped open.

'Crap. He had caught her.'

~0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~

From the front step of his shop, Urahara heard a scream that could have rivaled any Kuchiki fan-girl. The scream sounded familiar but he couldn't place it.

Oh well.

He went inside and slid the door closed.

Now was the time to implement the next step in his, I mean, Isshin's plan.

He almost felt sorry for his student.

"Kurosaki has no idea what he is in for."

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~End Chapter~

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Responses to Questions asked in reviews:

1) Is this an Ichiruki story?

~Hmm.....I am not going to say. But, one thing is for certain don't ever underestimate Rukia.

2) How does Ichigo's family not notice a giant skull mask on top of Nel's head?

~This story takes place 5 years after the war with Aizen so Nel while in the real world is in a gigai. Since Isshin is also a shinigami, it is safe to say that family knows what Nel is.

3) Will Ichigo find a wife in the end?

~ We will just have to wait and see. Big Smile.

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A/N: As always reviews are welcomed like ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. (yum). I am glad to see I have such a big response to this story. Thank you all who saved this as a fav or even put it on alert. Your input means a lot to me.. Feed the author, Review :-)