I never wanted to see him again.

But I knew my wish was futile.

I said Goodbye.

He said See you later.

----

"Rukia." He stared, amber eyes wide as saucers.

Don't worry.

She cringed, then took a quick step back.

This is all a dream.

"Rukia." He took a quick step forward.

I need to wake up now.

She backed up farther, leaning back on her heel, ready to pivot and run as far as her legs could take her.

RIGHT NOW.

He appeared to have caught on to whatever the expression on her face revealed, for he suddenly stood still, then looked away and pouted his lips in his familiar glare.

"Why are you here instead of Zangetsu? This doesn't make any sense..." He muttered.

Rukia stared at him in silence, wary.

"Hey, Rukia... Um...." He glanced at her, awkwardly scratching his fiery muss of hair. "Is this... some kind of.... communication... thing? Are you a hologram? This a soul society message? Like a cell phone? You know what those are, right?"

"......" She twitched at his rude perspective of her intelligence.

"Rukia? Can you hear me? Do. My. Words. Make. Sense. To. You?" He spoke as though she was the fool.

"No. I can't understand a thing you're saying."

"Oh crap, I thought so...."

Silence clouded them for a minute.

"Hey, wait a second!"

------

Renji sighed as he plopped himself beside Byaukya.

The bench was rock, and it hurt his butt.

"What a mess this is, huh?" He groaned, pulling at his neck. "Kurotsushi told me." He said at Byaukya's questioning glare. "Like a coma, eh? Only thing we can do is wait and see if she'll wake up or not. At least she isn't dead, huh?" The words were like eating sand.

"It would be easier for me if she were dead."

------

Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he glanced at her.

"Rukia, why are you here?"

"Where is here?" She shot back, the hairs in her neck rising.

"No, Rukia. Answer my question. Why are you in my world?" He jabbed his thumb towards his chest upon using the possessive "my".

"If I knew, I would have told you." She sighed, looking down at the blue cement. Then she turned her back on Ichigo and began walking down the blue wall. Destination unknown.

"Rukia, wait!" He called, jogging to get in pace with her. "Where have you been?"

"In soul society. Where else would I be?" She looked away from him, trying to keep the----

Man? No, not even close.

Boy? He's nowhere near that.

He's a child. Nothing but a child compared to me.

----out of her line of vision.

"Well..." He scratched his hair again, and she felt her heart pang at the familiarity of the gesture. "...All right then."

Silence clouded over them again. A silence she welcomed with open arms.

"Where is this place? How many times have you been here?" She cursed herself for encouraging his attempts at conversation.

"I'm not quite sure." She felt the relief at conversation roll off his tongue as he spoke. "I've always been here whenever I was in trouble. There was this one time when that crazy captain whatshisface tried to kill me, and before that when hat 'n' clogs tried to slash my throat open, and I seriously thought I was going to die both times. Those were the only times I was ever in this world. Why do you keep looking away? If someone's talking to you, you should at least look at them."

She growled. "You have no right to talk to me about rudeness, Ichigo Kurosaki. Who was the fool that couldn't tell strawberries from the supermarket?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Of course it's a bad thing." She stared at a nearby window as she quickened her pace, hoping he would tire of her and try to find a way out of this place. "When-" She bit her tongue. This conversation had gone on far enough.

Silence clouded over them a third time.

hehehehe I GOT HER DONE!!!!!!!! ARENT YOU PROUD OF ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

isosorryfordelay