She watched the sky turn from dark to light to deep blue. It wasn't dawn like she had originally planned, the sun was high and she had dragged her knees up to met her chest. She eventually stood up.

"I understand why you're here… but why are you still here?" she asked with crossed arms. She didn't ask like she was angry at him, but her body language was… defensive and defiant.

Ichigo finally looked over at her. "Don't ask me questions that you should be asking yourself," he countered.

Rukia didn't even finch, like she was prepared for it. "I took the week off, the senkaimon won't open for me until next Friday. Unless, of course, there's an emergency that requires the captains' strength. What about you? Are you ditching work?"

Ichigo looked away again.

"What about Orihime? Shouldn't you go back to her so that she doesn't worry?"

"I can't." Ichigo said it with force.

Rukia thought she could tell what was going on in his head. After all, she didn't feel like she could go back either, regardless of Soul Society's strict scheduling. She gave him a moment before trying to force an answer out of him. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to hurt her."

"Isn't disappearing and not coming back hurting her now?" Rukia refuted.

"That's not what I mean. Right now I don't know what I'll do or what I'll say, so until I know, I can't go back," he reaffirmed.

Rukia frowned. "Don't be stupid, whatever you might say, she can take. Orihime's not so fragile a person that she'd break when you say something idiotic. You say idiotic things all the time. Didn't she wait for your attention for years? Clearly she didn't give up," Rukia was going to say more.

"Shut up! Don't act like this is easy or like it's no big deal! It's not that I think I'll say something wrong, I just…" he slowed down. "I don't know if I can say something right."

Oh. Well that hit her through the chest. A lance chilling her spine. She didn't know what she'd say when she went back either. What could she say? How could she communicate what she was feeling and why? She didn't understand fully to begin with. Although she remembered a lot of things now, she didn't know why they happened that way. She knew the answers but not the reasons. You can't teach others without understanding the 'why'. Sheep leading sheep. But humans tend to have more wisdom to offer others than themselves. "Tell her the truth, that can't be wrong."

"No, but it is right?"

"Why?"

"Because the truth can change over time."

She understood. "No, what once was truth will always be truth of that moment." Those were words of comfort that, perhaps, only Ichigo was capable of understanding the true meaning. She wasn't actually refuting him in the moment, but reassuring him that a time would come when he had the words. Still, she felt more lost after telling him that than she had been before. Surely if words came to him, they would also come to her. She seemed to have more words than he did on a regular basis. But, when it came to herself, she was somehow less sure. It was easy to hope for others, but frightening territory to hope for herself.

They were silent again. Rukia got tired of standing and sat back down. After a while, "What about your kid?"

"Orihime is… a good mother." Clearly he was pulling up fuzzy memories. "What about yours?"

Rukia thought for a moment. "She's tough… But I guess… I don't want to her hurt either." She flashed Ichigo a smile that looked like she was in pain.

Ichigo turned to her. "So we are the same."

She processed what he could mean. "As much as I hate the idea, yeah. I'm as much of an idiot as you are." She didn't spit it like an insult. It was more like she had sighed to herself. "So, if we aren't going back yet, what are we going to do? If all we do is sit here and think, we'll kill ourselves, won't we?" she smiled. Again, it was painful.

Ichigo had thought a bit about what to do. "Figure out what happened. You weren't wrong last night. If this affected both of us at the same time in different worlds, something had to have happened."

"Right! So first we need to figure out if there's anyone else who's been affected." Now that they were finally talking about something more immediately productive, her brain was singing in rejoice at fluid thought instead of the viscous mess that only turned about repeatedly all night and morning long. This was free flowing. "Also, what's the last thing you can remember clearly?"

Great. Now Ichigo would have to order his memories again. He breathed in and out deeply as if he were meditating. "I think it was when the Zero Division was healing us. Or… no, Nimaiya let me choose an Asauchi. Somewhere around there I think."

Rukia thought for a moment too. "I do have memories of the Soul King Palace. And not much that's clear beyond that, I think. And if that's the case, we could indeed be affected by the same thing."

"So then, who else might have been affected?"

"You mean besides Renji and Orihime?"

Ichigo didn't give a verbal answer.

"How about anyone who was around after we went to the Soul King Palace?" This was admittedly a good place to start.

Ichigo knew the answer immediately but he was reluctant. "The hospital where Ishida works is on the other side of town," he finally conceded. That would be the easiest person to find out of the… many others.

"Great!" Rukia stood. "Then let's go." Ichigo stood slowly as well. Rukia watched him carefully and had a thought. "You have to walk, don't you?"

Ichigo looked at her like she was dumb. "In this body, yes."


A/N: I wanted to give an extra thanks to Chuain, Aaina, , Alternate and katrum. You each have contributed to making my last two days. Thank you very much.

Also, to Alternate, although I can't say that any of what you've said has changed the direction I plan on taking this story, I don't think you'll be disappointed in certain regards. I think I look forward to your reviews the most though. You're very honest and the most consistent reviewer I have. Thank you again. *bows*