"Hyaaaa!" yelled Rukia as she lunged in for the attack.

Kaien easily stepped out of the way and shunpoed up behind her.

Rukia quickly spun around in order to block the incoming attack. The swords clashed and Rukia's arm shook as she tried to keep holding back his blade. As she struggled, Rukia brought her other hand up and started chanting a kido spell. Unfortunately, Kaien noticed and reacted quickly by reaching out with his free hand to grab her wrist. He then took a step back and yanked her arm forward to pull her off balance causing her to crash to the ground.

"Come on, Kuchiki. I know you can do better than that," Kaien said as he backed up, giving her room to get up again.

Sore and bruised, Rukia slowly stood up to once again face her teacher. Breathing heavily, she charged forward again. Though this time when their blades met, Rukia didn't stop instead she quickly shunpoed behind him. "HADO 33! SOKATSUI!"

Seeing the close quarters attack, Kaien immediately, jumped back to give himself some room before he brought his zanpaku-to across, slashing the kido in two. He then looked over to his student and noticed just how tired she was getting from practicing all morning.

"Alright," said Kaien putting away his sword. "that's enough for today. You can take the rest of the day off."

"B-but," Rukia tired to regain control of her harsh breathing. "I can still-"

"No," said Kaien, seeing that she wasn't willingly giving up. She's more like a Kuchiki then you'd think. He paused. "At least sit down for a minute and take a break." Then he promptly walked over to a grassy area and sat down. Rukia reluctantly followed suit.

Kaien turned to her. "You know, you really are getting better. You've really improved over the past couple of weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if you discover your zanpaku-to's name in the near future"

Rukia sighed. "Yeah, but…"

Kaien frowned when he realized the problem. "Don't worry about your brother. You may be part of a very important family, but that doesn't mean you have to be the absolute best." His words didn't seem to be having much of an effect.

"It's not him as much as…" she trailed off. She didn't want to talk about how most of the family ignored her and when they did care to give her notice, they give her looks that clearly told her that they didn't think she was good enough.

"Don't worry about them," he tried to give her a reassuring smile, but Rukia was looking away and didn't see. "Besides, even though you're a shinigami, doesn't mean that you should let it completely consume your life. You should think about other, more important things."

Rukia turned and gave him a doubtful look. "Like what?"

Kaien put his hand over his heart and looked up to the sky dramatically. "Like love!" His usual grin was now a full out smiled that was plastered onto his face.

Rukia snorted. Kaien dropped the pose and turned to her, smile still intact. "Speaking of which, where has your strawberry been for the past few days? Usually he comes by around this time."

Rukia glared at him. "First of all, he's not mine. And secondly, you're lucky that he's not around to hear you call him that." She folded her arms in front of her chest. "Besides, he doesn't come around that often!"

"Oh no!" said Kaien sarcastically. "He only comes over every single day!"

"So? That's his choice, which has nothing to do with me."

Kaien rolled his eyes. As smart as she was she could really miss the obvious sometimes. "And where is he?"

"Ichigo and a couple of others from his company went on a mission in the world of the living last Saturday."

"Saturday, huh?" Kaien looking out in thought. He then turned to her with a mischievous grin on his face. "Is that why one of my subordinates has been down for the past few days?" Rukia shot him another glare, but her cheeks were lightly brushed over with red. "Is someone a little worried about their 'friend'?"

Not bothering to deny it Rukia shouted, "There is nothing wrong for being concerned about a friend who went on a dangerous mission!"

"So when is our dear friend getting back?" said Kaien, mocking her stress on the word 'friend'.

"Today," was Rukia's immediately answer.

Kaien looked at her and even though she couldn't see it, he noticed how her eyes brightened up and a small smile snuck on to her face.

"That was a quick answer," said Kaien, his voice in every way teasing. "Does someone have a date tonight?"

"NO!!" yelled a frustrated Rukia. Kaien laughed.

"Kaien, what are you doing to Rukia-chan?" The two sitting on the ground looked up, surprised to see a visitor. A woman was approaching them. She was average height with long dark hair with her zanpaku-to casually hanging at her side.

"I'm not doing anything!" said Kaien defensively to his wife.

Miyako looked down at him accusingly, her hands on her hips. "Then why on earth does Rukia-chan look so annoyed? I don't see anyone else around." Kaien opened his mouth to speak, but Miyako turned to address Rukia. "Rukia, if my husband is bothering you, just come to me and I'll straighten him out."

"Oh come on," his voice was soft and gentle as he stood up, walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't be like that."

Miyako just stared him down, now that he was at a closer proximity. "But, I can't have you bothering Rukia-chan."

"No, it's okay Miyako-san," said Rukia not wanting to bother the woman.

"See. She's alright with it. Besides," said Kaien giving his wife an award winning smile, to convince her of his intentions. "It's for her own good."

Miyako rolled her eyes. "Really?" Kaien nodded his head enthusiastically. "And what might that be?"

"I am just trying to get her to realize her feelings for a certain boy-" Rukia opened her mouth to protest, but Miyako beat her to it.

"Who?" Miyako asked.

Kaien's grin widened as he started seeing the way to victory. "Oh, you know that boy who comes around here a lot to see Rukia. The one with the orange hair…"

Rukia tried to argue, but was cut off once again. "The one who looks a lot like you?"

"That's the one!" said Kaien. He gave Rukia a look that said 'I win' as he released his hold on Miyako.

To Rukia's dismay, Miyako's face brightened as she turned to the younger shinigami. "Oh Rukia-chan that's wonderful! You should have told me you had a boyfriend! And he's cute too!"

"Hey!" said Kaien.

Miyako looked at her husband. "What? I didn't say anything against you!"

"Humph," said Kaien, but his smile betrayed his false annoyance.

"Ugh!" said Miyako throwing her hands up in the air. "You're ridiculous!" She turned her back on her husband and turned to Rukia. "So…when do I get to met him?"

Rukia was about to protest once again for them making the wrong connections, when suddenly she froze.

Miyako looked at the girl, confused by her actions, but Kaien smiled knowingly. He had felt the spiritual pressure too. "It looks like you'll be able to meet him sooner than expected," said Kaien answering his wife's question.

Then as if on cue, Ichigo shunpoed right next to the group.

Rukia spun around to meet her friend. "Ichi-" Her words were cut off when she noticed the condition that he was in.

At first he didn't seem so bad, but on closer inspection that proved to be wrong. His uniform was worn and ripped in a lot of places. The orange head also seemed out of breath and judging from the distance that she noticed his presence, his spiritual pressure was down pretty low as well. In addition, Ichigo had several small injuries in varies places along his body, but the most critical was the long cut that ran across his chest.

"Hey Rukia!" said Ichigo as he stepped toward said girl. He didn't seem to notice how her eyes became wide at the sight of his injuries.

"Rukia?" asked Ichigo when she didn't respond to him. "Are you okay?"

"Okay?!" shouted Rukia finally blowing up. "Am I okay? Have you looked at yourself yet!?!"

"Wha- Rukia, I-" Ichigo tried speak, but Rukia would have none of that. On the side lines Kaien laughed at the scene before him. The two didn't seem to notice his amusement, but his wife took the liberty of slapping him across the head (though it wasn't too hard and it had to be mentioned that she had a small smile on her face as well).

"What so you think you're doing!?! You're injured, sat least SIT DOWN!" ordered Rukia. Ichigo didn't think twice and immediately sat down where he stood. He wasn't taking any chances; he knew how she could get.

Once he was safely seated Rukia marched over and knelt down in front of him. Rukia then reached forward to remove the top of his shinigami uniform so that she could heal the wound.

"Wait Rukia-" he hissed when she was finally able to touch the cut.

Rukia look up at him with a deadly look and then reach up and hit him on the head. "You idiot! How the hell did you get so beat up!?!"

"Oww…" Great now his head hurt too. "Damn it! You don't need to-"

"Be quiet!" said Rukia as she started healing his wound. Ichigo didn't talk though that might have been from the soothing effects of her healing kido.

After awhile, Ichigo noticed that Rukia was tired and that she was struggling to heal the wound, something that she should have easily been able to do. Discovering this Ichigo took Rukia's wrists and yanked them off of his chest.

Rukia looked up at him and glared, but this time Ichigo did not back down. "Stop it! You're just wasting your own strength. I'll just have someone from the fourth division take care of it later."

"I'm fine," argued Rukia reaching forward again, but Ichigo stopped her. They sat there holding each other's gaze to see as if it would decide who was right.

"You know he has a point Rukia," said Miyako breaking the silence. "You don't really have the energy to be doing any major healing." Ichigo gave her a triumphant smirk, but Miyako noticed. "And don't think that you're off the hook either, you aren't doing any better!" Ichigo's face fell again.

"I know!" said Kaien brightly. "Rukia, how about you take Strawberry up to the fourth division, yourself, that way you can ease your mind." Ichigo shot a glared at the fukutaicho.

"But, what about my training?" Rukia asked.

"Didn't I give you the rest of the day off? Besides, you obviously have other things on your mind right now." He flashed a grin, before taking his wife's hand and leading her off, ending the debate. Rukia glared at him, even though he had his back facing towards her.

Miyako turned over her shoulder as she was being pulled away and called out to Ichigo and Rukia. "You two have fun!"

"You know, you didn't have to wait for me," said Ichigo as they walked through the Seireitei. "I'm pretty sure the fourth division knows what it's doing."

"I just wanted to see how much better they are than I am seeing as you'd prefer them to heal you," replied Rukia angrily.

"What!?! That's not the reason that I went there," said Ichigo starting to get frustrated. Why was she still going on about this? "You could barely stand on your feet!"

"I am perfectly fine!" said Rukia, her voice steadily increasing.

"Like hell you- Oww!" Rukia delivered a beautiful kick straight to his already bruised shins. He faltered at the sight of the powerful woman giving him a dangerous look. "Damn…okay so maybe you're doing better than I thought." Rukia smirked at him, knowing that she had won.

"So," started Rukia as they continued walking. "What have you been working on lately?"

"Me? Well… I've been practicing with a few of the guys in our division and they've been helping me train. They keep telling me that I need to work on controlling my spiritual pressure."

"Funny how that's the same thing that I use to tell you."

"Shut up."

The two continued on talking about what they had been working on and about the people they met and worked with. After a while they finally reached the Kuchiki mansion.

As they walked up to the house, Ichigo raised his eye brows at the enormity of the place. "Wow, you live here?" Rukia nodded as they walked up to the door. "What are you suppose to do in a house this big?"

"I try to get out as much as possible and I spend a lot of time at the thirteenth company's barracks." Rukia glanced towards the house with a sigh. "Well… I guess I'd better get going." She then turned around and started reaching for the door.

"Wait! Rukia-" Ichigo reached out and grabbed Rukia's arm to spin her back around, but at the time Rukia was in mid step and unbalanced causing her body start falling forward. Luckily, Ichigo was still holding on to her and was easily able to prevent her fall by catching her in his arms.

"Ugh!" Rukia landed safely against Ichigo. And after realizing that she wasn't facing the ground, Rukia looked up towards Ichigo in question.

"Rukia…" he started again, but right as he was about to continue another voice interrupted him.

"What are you doing to my sister?" The voice was cold and demanding.

Ichigo and Rukia's heads shot up to see Byakuya standing at the door.

"I suggest that you let go of her right now." No way in hell was that a suggestion.

The two gave him a confused look, and then they looked at each other to better see their predicament. In order to prevent her fall, Ichigo had wrapped his arms protectively around Rukia's small waist, while Rukia's hands were clutching Ichigo's shirt tightly, in an effort to catch herself. Noticing this, the two instantly jumped apart, each trying to suppress the forming blush.

Byakuya turned towards Ichigo with a look that could have killed any sane person.

"Ni-sama…" said Rukia, trying to direct his attention away from Ichigo, but he ignored her.

"Get out. I never want to see you here again."

"What the hell? Rukia is my friend! Why shouldn't I be able to see her?" Rukia looked down towards her feet and bit her lip to prevent killing that idiot herself. He was just digging himself into a deeper grave.

"I said to get out, boy." Even though Byakuya Kuchiki was not one to show emotions, he was getting pretty upset at the moment.

"I have a name you know." Rukia growled, it was hard to kick someone who was standing too far away.

Byakuya's face deepened, the tone of his voice becoming dangerous. "Do you have any idea who you are talking to, boy?"

"Yeah," answered Ichigo, not backing down. "a real pain in the ass."

Byakuya's eyes went wide with anger as he brought his hand up. Rukia immediately sensed the danger and quickly rushed forward to stop her brother from killing Ichigo.

Standing in front of him, Rukia quickly tried to get her brother to stop. "Please Ni-sama! It's okay. Ichigo's a friend of mine." Byakuya turned his eyes towards the girl in front of him, though he didn't seem to be accepting what she was saying. "Please Ni-sama. I'll get him to leave and make sure he doesn't come back." Ichigo was about to protest when Rukia sent him a glare that effectively shut him up.

Byakuya's eye flicked back and forth between the two teens. When he met Rukia's eyes again, he held his gaze as if debating whether or not to believe her. After what seemed like forever, Byakuya broke eye contact and turned towards the house. "If I ever see him here again…" There really wasn't any need for him to finish the threat. As both a noble and a captain, one could only image what he had the power to do.

"Thank you Ni-sama," Rukia bowed to her brother's retreating back. "I'll escort him to the gate."

As soon as Byakuya had safely left with the door closed behind him, Rukia turned towards Ichigo with malicious intent. "YOU IDOIT!!!"

The next thing Ichigo knew was he was on the ground in a whole world of pain. But, Rukia didn't stop there, even while he was on the ground, she continued to deliver blows to his already battered body.

"Ack! Rukia stop! Oww!"

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!! HE COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!! ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID!!"

"Ouch! Damn it Rukia! What the-" Shit… she really wasn't showing him any mercy. "What about the way he was treating you?!?"

Rukia starting letting up on him. "What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? Is it illegal for you to invite a friend over? Does he let you do anything?!?" Rukia was too slow in coming up with an answer, so Ichigo just kept going. "I heard about him holding you back in the lower ranks and not allowing you to move up!"

Rukia froze. "Where did you hear that?"

"I overheard Kaien and Ukitake-taicho talking about it," said Ichigo. "Damn it Rukia, why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," said Rukia, guiltily looking down at her feet. "I guess I just didn't want to think about it and I thought that maybe if I got stronger and improved my skills…"

Ichigo looked at her and sighed. Grunting in pain he slowly started picking himself up. Rukia's head snapped up at the sound of his struggle and rushed over to help him.

"Sorry about that," said Rukia regretfully. "I guess I went a little too hard on you, huh?"

"A little? I think I might need to stop back at the fourth division." Rukia blushed in embarrassment.

"Here," she said reaching forward. "Let me at least try to heal…" She placed her hand in the middle of his chest. Rukia then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, allowing her spiritual pressure to flow from her body to his.

After of few minutes of healing kido, most of the damage had been undone and Ichigo stretched his arms to see how well they were working. Rukia smiled a little pleased with her work though the fact that she was the source of the problem prevented her from saying anything.

"So," said Ichigo. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"What? You're planning on coming to the thirteenth division again?"

"I figured I should stop by, seeing as I've been away for the past couple of days. If that's okay with you."

Rukia frowned at him and reached over wacked him across the head. "Do you even have a brain? Of course it's okay with me. Why would I have anything against it? Though I can't speak for the rest of the company, I don't know how much they'd appreciate some orange haired strawberry from the twelfth division walking around."

"Well, the hell with them," said Ichigo. "I fully intend on coming over."

"Alright then," said Rukia with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

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Okay, so what did you think about this chapter? I kept playing around with it but still don't think I'm completely happy with it. It just feels kind of rushed and choppy to me, but I kind of want to get going with the next thing I have planned for the story. I also hope that for the most part everone is in character, because their are characters that aren't seen as much in the books like Kaien and Miyako, so I was unsure about how to protray them in some of the situations, but hopefully I'll get better

Oh! And about Ichigo being in the 12th divison, I know there were a bunch of comments about that and I will say that there is a reason that I put him there, it sets up for later and hopefully it will make sense then.

Sorry for any typos or spelling/grammical errors. Hopefully I got most of them, but there's always a few that manage to escape

A BIG THANKS to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter! You truly make my day

PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I would like to hear what you think about the chapter, overall story, ect. I could use the feed back.

~StrawberryShinigami