The Candy

The meeting after the forth failed attempt was very awkward indeed; Byakuya was furious that Shuhei's plan involved nearly having Rukia violated by Kon, and everyone was feeling the strain of Byakuya's anger.

"Captain, please don't take it to heart." Renji said, trying to calm Byakuya down. "It was the only way to get Kon on our side. I'm just as mad that Rukia was close to getting raped by the plush, but if it worked, then Rukia would be on the first Senkaimon here."

"But it did not work!" Byakuya growled furiously. "And what's worse, Rukia trusts him more now!"

"We just need to figure out a plan that turns that trust into hate." Kira said, adding to the efforts to calm Byakuya down. Ikkaku, however, wasn't one to be talking right now; his fatal injury caused by Yoruichi (To which he didn't know who his attacker was, since he didn't see the attack and was knocked unconscious afterwards), leaving him in the care of Yachiru to treat a nasty wound to the head, as well as a broken collarbone.

"Can't I just go to the Squad 4 Barracks?" Ikkaku yelled at the young Lieutenant, who was adamant in wrapping Ikkaku's entire body with bandages.

"Of course not, baldy! You are in good hands!" Yachiru lectureed, patting Ikkaku in his bald head as she continued the wrapping with her cute laugh. Kenpachi, who was watching the scene, laughed to himself, watching how Yachiru was tormenting his Third Seat.

"Zaraki!" Byakuya commanded. "You are one of the group's least contributing members! Not once have you or your Lieutenant have come up with one idea, or at least assisted to help out with other member's plans."

"It's only natural, though." Mayuri spoke. "Apes aren't one to formulate ideas on a whim." Kenpachi stood up with fierce Spiritual Pressure.

"You wanna die, clown!" He roared with ferocity, ready to draw his unnamed Zanpakutou. At this instant, Yachiru looked away from her efforts in 'treating' Ikkaku and stood on the table separating Mayuri from Kenpachi.

"Kenny doesn't wanna formulate a plan, other than kill Icchi!" Yachiru spoke on behalf of Kenpachi to Byakuya.

"And if you don't have any other ideas, besides bloodshed, then there is no place for you here." Byakuya said, slightly more calmer. Yachiru growled, slightly more serious than her normal self.

"Okay! I have come up with a plan that will see Icchi be separated worlds apart from Rukki!" Yachiru speeched.

"That's a little fast, seeing as you were saying you've got no ideas." Renji laughed. Kenpachi sat down once more, easing himself down.

"Thata girl, Yachiru." Kenpachi smiled.

"What is this idea?" Byakuya asked. Yachiru then took from her pockets a small piece of candy.

"Candy!" She squeaked. This made the entire meeting room silent in awkwardness.

"How will candy separate them, Lieutenant Kusajishi?" Asked Kira humbly. Yachiru dashed towards Izuru and came eye-to-eye with him.

"Don't you see?" Yachiru squeaked then came to the centre of the table. "Candy is the Living World's most popular treat! We shall overtempt Rukki to buy candy to the point where Icchi and Rukki will be mad at each other!" This actually made sense to everyone, except Byakuya.

"Your idea is simply r-" Byakuya spoke, but was cut off by another question by Mayuri.

"Can we put more poison in the candy?" He asked.

"No!" Yachiru yelled, making Mayuri recoil in disgust.

"How do we go about doing this plan?" Asked Shuhei.

"Just leave it to me!" Yachiru said craftily with a gleam in her eye. Once Yachiru left the meeting, she sped to the Squad 4 Barracks to meet Captain Unohana, as soon as she arrived, she met the motherly Captain. "Can I have some cute bunny sweets, please?" Unohana, loving Yachiru's sweet childish demenour, smiled happily to this, thinking she was asking for sweets for her own personal satisfaction.

"Of course." She said. "I knew you'd ask, so..." She went to one of her cupboards and took out a small tray of bunny-shaped chocolate bars. "I had my Squad make this." Yachiru took it with happiness.

"Thanks, Unni!" Yachiru cheered, leaving the barracks with Unohana smiling at Yachiru's high charisma. Unknown to the loving Captain, Yachiru's new destination was the World of the Living.

It was now the weekend for Ichigo and Rukia and they were spending a lot of time now fighting Hollows, instead of focussing on schoolwork. Right now, the two were relaxing, having defeating three tough Hollows all at once.

"Man, Hollows just don't know when to learn, do they?" Asked Ichigo, relaxing on his bed.

"They act on instinct, Ichigo." Rukia said. "I'm sure if they did learn they'll be killed by Soul Reapers, they'd stop hundreds of years ago."

"True." Ichigo replied with a yawn. Just then, someone tapped the window, attracting the attention of both in the room. They seen it to be Yachiru.

"Lieutenant Kusajishi!" Rukia said in surprise, going over Ichigo to open the window and let the cute Soul Reaper in.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Ichigo in annoyance. Whenever Yachiru was around, it meant Kenpachi was angling for a fight with him. Yachiru smiled.

"The Women's Club are doing a candy sale to raise some money!" She explained with a lie. Rukia smiled to this.

"Well, I'm sure we can buy something to help you out, right Ichigo?" Said Rukia tenderly. Ichigo wasn't buying it.

"Whatever." Ichigo said, with his arms folded. Yachiru then pulled out the tray of bunny-shaped chocolate bars; on seeing this, Rukia's eyes gleamed with wonder.

"They're chocolate chip bunnies! We made them especially for you and Icchi!" Yachiru said happily. Rukia instantly searched her pockets, but had no money.

"Ichigo! Can you lend me some money?" Rukia said desperately. "How much is it Lietenant?"

"1000 Yen each." Yachiru said with a hint of her devillish attitude. Ichigo gaped at this. That kind of money he wasn't willing to waste on chocolate.

"Can you buy some?" Rukia pleaded like a little child herself. "Please, please, please?" Ichigo sighed.

"I'm not gonna waste that amount of money on a few chocolate bars." Ichigo said. Rukia was outraged by this.

"How can you be so damn selfish?" Rukia hollered. "What if it were you who wanted something and I didn't buy it for you? How would you feel?"

"I wouldn't ask you to buy it for me, that's for sure." Ichigo replied. Rukia's fists clenched.

"Idiot!" Rukia growled, slamming herself away into her wardrobe. Yachiru smiled while nobody was looking and headed for the window.

"Well, I better go, duty calls." She said, before jumping away. When she was sure she was far away enough, she gave an evil smile. "Success!"

The results of the incident were indeed bad; Rukia hadn't come out or said a word in four hours. When it was time for dinner, Ichigo decided to break the silence.

"Rukia, it's time for dinner." Ichigo said to Rukia behind the wardrobe.

"I'm not hungry." She called. Ichigo sighed at Rukia's isolation and just followed her words. Rukia peered out once he was gone, drew a tear and slammed herself back in again. Later, when Ichigo was preparing for bed, he checked on Rukia in her wardrobe.

"You okay, Rukia?" He asked.

"I'm fine!" Rukia said, with her face buried in the pillow. Ichigo just shut the wardrobe door and let Rukia to enjoy her peace. The next three days were the same for the two, whenever it was a meal time, Rukia would skip it, whenever it was Hollow hunting, she'd let Ichigo handle it, not even concerning herself when it was a top-graded Hollow. It wasn't until the fourth day, that this crisis was inflicted on them that someone decided to take action, and it was neither Ichigo or Rukia, but Yuzu, who was more worried about Rukia than Ichigo was. While Ichigo was away, getting his body ripped to shreds by more Hollows, Yuzu went to Ichigo's wardrobe to check on Rukia, it wasn't a good sight: the entire wardrobe smelled badly, since Rukia hadn't left for a majority of the week, with no shower or bath, and her entire covers were stained with Rukia's tears, while Rukia made more with her wiping some tears with her covers.

"Are you okay, Rukia?" Asked Yuzu tenderly. Rukia smiled to disguise her sorrow to please Yuzu.

"I'm fine, Yuzu." Rukia smiled. Yuzu wasn't having any of it, only taking Rukia by the hand, dragging her out of the wardrobe, filled up a nice hot bubble bath for Rukia and forced her in. Five miutes later, after Rukia soaked up the water, she finally spoke. "Thanks, Yuzu, I needed that." She laid back to relax her tensioned body.

"Why weren't you coming out, Rukia?" Asked Yuzu. "We were so worried about you." Rukia sighed.

"It's nothing to concern yourself about. It's just that idiot, Ichigo." Rukia said.

"Big brother doesn't look like the type to do this to you." Yuzu replied, having great respect for Ichigo, instinctively defended him.

"Oh yeah? The other day, he wouldn't buy me a piece of chocolate I was dying to get." Rukia explained. Yuzu was a little unfazed by this.

"How much was it?" Asked Yuzu.

"1000 Yen each." Rukia replied. Yuzu had to gape at this price, just as Ichigo did.

"Rukia! That's a little too much!" Yuzu said with shock. "Not many people in this town can afford to pay that much for a single chocolate bar!"

"Maybe you're right..." Rukia said, lifting her foot up from the immense bubbles. "But high-priced or not, I was hoping Ichigo would buy it...do anything to keep me happy..." Yuzu sighed gently.

"I understand..." Yuzu said. Once Rukia finished her bath, with the help of Yuzu, Rukia decided to help Yuzu out with her housework, at least to pay her back for her kindness. While Yuzu was cleaning, Ichigo returned to his room and got back into his body, before Yuzu noticed his appearance.

"Ichigo!" Yuzu cried. "Why didn't you buy her that chocolate bar she wanted? She's very upset now!" Ichigo had to sigh.

"Yuzu, believe me, I wanted to buy it for her, but I couldn't. The money I would have used would have come from the money I'm saving for her." Ichigo explained. Yuzu had to 'awww' inside. "Yuzu..."

"Hmm?"

"I need your help with something." Rukia was positioned by Yuzu to clean up Ichigo's room, whilst being kept in the dark about Ichigo's return. While Rukia was busy cleaning, Ichigo and Yuzu got ready in the kitchen.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, big brother?" Asked Yuzu gently.

"If you help me do this, I'll do all my clothes for the next month." Ichigo offered. Yuzu gave a gentle laugh.

"Alright." Yuzu said, readying Ichigo for what he wanted from her.

A few hours later, Rukia refined herself in her newly washed wardrobe; it was good to convert all her anger towards him into energy to help Yuzu, but he still felt rage towards her boyfriend. She gave a loud sigh.

"Ichigo, you idiot..." She said. Suddenly, the door to Ichigo's room opened and two seconds later, the wardrobe door opened to reveal Ichigo. Rukia's eyes lowered at the sight of Ichigo, who looked ultimately tired. "What do you want?" Then Ichigo took out his left hand, which was behind his back, to show a neatly wrapped purple gift box. It was small in height, but it's width and length were palm-sized. Rukia's eyes widened when the box was given to her. "I-Ichigo...What is this?"

"Open it..." Ichigo said with a smile. Rukia did just that, making sure not to damage the contents inside. When the cover was removed, a mixture of shock, joy and surprise hit her all at once. What was inside the box was a Chappy-designed chocolate bar which was designed perfectly to be the kind Rukia herself draws. It was only one, but it was carefully placed on a small cushion to keep it from breaking.

"Ichigo...I-I don't know what to say...You bought this for me?" Rukia said, with happiness pouring into her.

"I was a jerk to you..." Ichigo began. "I knew you liked the stuff Yachiru was selling, but two reasons stopped me from buying it...The first and most obvious was the price." This made Rukia give a gentle laugh. "The second was that it came from the Soul Society, and I was afraid that it might have caused you to get sick again, like the creeps who made you sick the last time..." Rukia had to give Ichigo credit, she never thought of that, and if she were to buy Yachiru's chocolate, then she would have taken the bait and be tangled up in another of the unknown splitter's webs. "I didn't mean for you to be mad at me, more to it, I never imagined you'd still be mad at me for this long. So, I'm sorry..."

"Ichigo..." Rukia whispered, holding the box to her chest.

"Oh, and for the record, I didn't buy it." Ichigo said. Rukia looked up to Ichigo in confusion. "I made it." At this point, Rukia gently laid the box and chocolate on her bed and jumped to hug Ichigo.

"Ichigo, you are the most wonderful person I've ever met!" Rukia cried in happiness. Ichigo smiled and returned the hug, even to the point where Rukia's centre of mass caused Ichigo to fall back on his bed with a loud 'whoa!'. Ichigo seen from his angle that Yuzu was watching and gave an encouraging thumbs-up. Ichigo returned it with a grin. And so things turned back to the way they were, the only exceptions were their relationship was one hundred times stronger and Rukia's stomach was satisfied with the chocolate she finally got to eat.