A week later, Ichigo trudged down the school hallway after classes ended. A 'C' on his book report was not the way he wanted to start his weekend. Teaching Rukia a little guitar over the last few days was fun, but it didn't exactly help his grades.

'Oh well,' Ichigo thought. 'At least I have the weekend to relax.' He opened his school-bag and looked for his iPod. It wasn't there. "I swear I put it in here," Ichigo muttered to himself.

"Put what, where?" a voice behind him said. Ichigo turned to see Uryuu standing behind him.

"My iPod," Ichigo grumbled. "I swear I put it in my bag."

"You think someone stole it?" Uryuu asked.

"Maybe," Ichigo said as he continued to rummage through his bag. "I don't know."

"Well, who do you think could've taken it?"

"I said I don't know!" Ichigo snapped. "I left my bag in the classroom when I went to lunch, so I guess anyone could..." Ichigo trailed off.

"Could what?" Uryuu asked.

"Dammit," Ichigo muttered, grinding his teeth. "Rukia."

"You think she took it?"

"I'm certain," Ichigo said.

***###***

Three hours later Ichigo returned home. He ignored his father and sisters' hellos and stomped his feet up the stairs to his room. He tossed his bag onto the desk by his bed and threw open his closet door.

Of course, there was Rukia, lying there so calmly, headphones plugged into her ears. The closet was dark, so the sudden burst of light caused her to open one eye and see Ichigo. She sat up, paused the music and smiled at him.

"Hey," she said. "You're home a little late. Did you spend some time with Uryuu and Chad?"

Ichigo, breathing heavily from his nose, just glared at her, like a bull at a red sheet.

"You know," Rukia began, still blissfully ignorant of Ichigo's rage, "I like some of the stuff on here. I mean, some of it it is trash, but there's some really pretty songs on here.

Ichigo continued his death-stare.

"Something wrong?" Rukia asked, plucking the buds out of her ears.

"You," Ichigo growled. "You were the one who took my iPod. I was stuck on an unmoving train for hours without my music. Just sitting there, listening to the old man sleeping next to me and his snoring."

"Well, sorry," Rukia said. "No need to get angry. I just wanted to listen to some more music."

Ichigo snatched the iPod from her hands, wrapped the earbuds around the device and put it in his pocket.

"You don't just take something expensive like an iPod from a person's bag!" Ichigo yelled. "I didn't know who stole it. I was about to start beating people up."

"Well, there's no reason to get that angry about it," Rukia yelled back as she slammed the closet door shut. Ichigo gave the bottom of the door a quick, light kick, and decided to go for a walk.

***###***

Ichigo walked a lot farther then he intended to. He'd trudged all the way to the train station, hopped on board after saying a quick prayer that this one wouldn't break down, and arrived at the mall. It was quite crowded, which was hardly a surprise, but Ichigo thought it would be a good place to walk around and listen to music. He kept it loud so he couldn't hear the crowds. Unfortunately, he kept it so loud that he didn't notice someone loop their arm around his neck until it was too late.

He heard a faint "Gotcha" as he was pulled down into a headlock. He looked up to see his aggressor, Tatsuki. Orihime stood next to her, a nervous smile on her face.

Ichigo pulled free and yanked the headphones out of his ears. "What the hell!" he screamed. Tatsuki just laughed.

"You need to pay more attention," she said, a big smile plastered on her face.

"Hi Ichigo," Orihime said simply.

Ichigo rubbed his neck. "Hey Orihime," he said. "What are you two doing here?"

"Just looking around," Orihime answered. Tatsuki looked less than thrilled.

"In other words," she said, "nothing. What are you doing here?"

"Killing time, I guess," Ichigo said. "Listening to music." He looked at his iPod. The screen was dark. He pressed a button but nothing happened.

"What the hell?" he said, almost screaming. Tatsuki grabbed the music player and pressed a button.

"Dead battery," she said handing it back to him.

"Of course," Ichigo sighed.

"You should really charge your stuff," Tatsuki said.

"I do, but...Rukia," Ichigo muttered.

"What about her?" Orihime asked.

"She ran the battery down," Ichigo said. "I'm going to kill her." Ichigo stomped away, ignoring his friends' goodbyes.

'Why the hell does she have to be like this?' Ichigo asked himself. 'She's so annoying.' Ichigo stopped in front of a small electronics store.

'Maybe there's something in here that will get her to leave me in peace,' Ichigo thought. While browsing the store he found a glass case full of different iPods. 'Well, that could work,' he thought, until he looked at the price. He turned heel and started to walk out of the store when a box caught his eye.

***###***

Rukia woke from her restless nap and sat up in her closet. She was still pissed at Ichigo for yelling at her. 'I just wanted to listen to a little music,' she thought. 'Why is he so snippy all the time.' She heard the bedroom door open then shut. Ichigo was back.

'I'll just wait for him to settle in then I'll run downstairs and grab a bite to eat,' she thought. 'I guess there's no chance of a guitar lesson today.' She listened to Ichigo through the closet door. First she heard what sounded like cardboard ripping. A minute later there was something shuffling on the ground, then a slight 'thunk' and a curse from Ichigo. Rukia just rolled her eyes.

A minute later she heard music. Pretty music, not Ichigo's favorite noisy music. Rukia slid the closet door open slightly and poked her head out. Ichigo was lying down on his bed, eyes closed. The music was coming from something on his desk.

"What's that?" Rukia asked, tilting her head in the direction of Ichigo's desk. A strong, beautiful voice streamed through the mysterious new device.

"A speaker," Ichigo answered without opening his eyes. "For the iPod. If you're going to listen to my iPod and drain its battery I might as well be listening too."

Rukia smiled a little. "That works for me," she said. "Who is this?"

Ichigo sat up and grinned. "You want to know?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's why I asked." she said.

"Too bad," Ichigo said. "I won't tell you. That's the price you pay for stealing my iPod."

Rukia opened the closet door all the way and stepped out. "Fine," she said. "I'll just look on the screen." She walked to the speaker with the iPod attached but Ichigo snatched it from its dock and held it above his head where Rukia couldn't reach it. Rukia looked up at Ichigo's stupid grin, kicked him in the shin, dove back into her closet and closed the door. A few seconds later the music started playing again.