Alright, so the weekly update schedule is totally and utterly out of the window. I struggled a bit with this, dialogue isn't my forte, so I hope it reads ok. I've already started writing the next chapter, so hopefully there won't be so much of a wait this time.

I also got a bit distracted by finally getting around to reading Naruto, which seems to have eaten my spare time, and half my imagination. Damned plot bunnies.

Many many thanks to all of you reviewers, I live for your reviews:) Hope you like it and as always let me know what you think, constructive criticism welcomed!

The dark-haired girl draws her legs up onto the bed, listening to the faint but cheerful humming from the bathroom and glancing around the little twin room. It seemed like a long time since she'd shared a room. It was cheaper for all of them to share – Orihime had offered (blushing) to let Rukia share with Renji, but since Ishida had insisted on his own room, that had just been too strange. So the two girls shared, while Renji shared with Chad. Rukia couldn't help but be amused by the concept of her chatty and boisterous boyfriend trying to get any form of response out of the silent Mexican. On the other hand, Renji could probably talk enough to keep both sides of the conversation going, assuming he didn't decide he was being ignored and get angry.

Rolling her eyes, she leans back against the headboard. Luckily it wouldn't be a problem tonight. They'd decided to run patrols each night, to look out for this 'strange reiatsu' – and of course, Ichigo.

"Well if one of us is going to go, it should be me. I mean, I'm the boss of this little expedition, right?" Renji had leaned forward over the table eagerly. He hated waiting - preferred to be doing things. He'd always been that way, ever since they were young.

"You may be the leader of the Shinigami, but in this case that applies only to Rukia." Ishida had pointed out calmly.

The two girls exchanged glances behind the big red-head's back.

"Yeah, well, I'm the fukutaicho here! And I've got the most reiatsu, so if either this thing or Ichigo are gonna notice, they'll notice me!"

"It's more likely they'll notice you for the noise," Ishida had grimaced, pushing his glasses up his nose. Honestly, it was too easy to rile the shinigami. Almost as easy as annoying Kurosaki himself.

However, Renji had got his way (after threatening to make Ishida share rooms with Chad) and so had already slipped out to patrol. He had knocked at their door before he left, hanging in the doorway rather sheepishly as if afraid to step into female territory. Orihime had politely turned away and busied herself, but even so when he bent to kiss her Rukia had turned her head slightly so that he kissed her cheek, rather than her lips. He'd looked momentarily disappointed and she'd cursed herself quietly as he'd slipped away.

It wasn't that she didn't care. She just didn't feel comfortable around all these people. It had only been a few months… even in Soul Society a lot of people didn't know. Of course, all Renji's usual friends did… and her Nii-sama, who had taken the news rather frostily. But Rukia herself had been trained for so many years in hiding herself, in putting on a mask of formality and 'acting as a Kuchiki should' that she felt awkward about anything in public beyond a brush of the hand or occasionally, Renji's arm around her shoulders – things that they used sometimes to do even as friends.

One thing at a time. She was a little nervous about sharing a room – which was strange, really, given that she'd grown up in the slums of Rukongai, just one more body squeezed into a space too small, surrounded by warmth and snoring and coughs and occasionally less salubrious noises from all the kids around her. It had actually been tough to learn to sleep alone when they began at the Academy, just her in the little room, in a real bed. She'd slept on the floor the first few nights, focusing on the slightest noises echoing from people moving through the corridors, from the soft laughter coming from a room a couple of doors away, any noise to remind her she wasn't alone. But after almost 40 years of having her own room – hells, her own suite in the Kuchiki mansion – she had got used to her own space. Even her little room at the 13th barracks, which she used to escape to when she couldn't bear the scraping of the servants and her adopted brothers endless chill, was her own space, complete with Chappy the bunny bedspread. Actually, she'd been escaping there more and more recently – or at least saying she was, when most of the time she ended up in Renji's untidy fukutaicho's quarters, since his 6ft2 frame left little room in her small bed even before he sprawled out in his sleep. And he did always complain about having to sleep under Chappy…

The bathroom door clicks open and Orihime steps out, already dressed in her pyjamas with her hair in a loose braid, a rubber duck in her hands.

"The bathroom's all yours, Kuchiki-san!"

Rukia smiles as she slips into the bathroom, pulling on her own pyjamas (actually her own – Orihime had insisted on taking her shopping when they prepared for the trip, since the larger girl's clothing drowned her and she couldn't really go and ask Ichigo's sisters to borrow something). The buttons feel strange under her hands; she remembered wondering how such things could be comfortable to sleep in, and whether they'd stick in her. She smiles at the memory, imagining the look on her brother's face if she took them back to Soul Society.

Gathering her courage, Rukia steps out of the bathroom. Orihime is already sat in bed, writing something. Rukia slips to put her clothes away before straightening up, setting her Soul Society communicator and gikongan on the night-stand, and slipping between the crisp sheets.

Orihime smiles at her, resting her pencil against her chin. "Are you ok, Kuchiki-san? You look like you're nervous."

"Of course I'm not nervous." Rukia quickly schools any traces of apprehension off her face. "It'd be silly to be nervous!"

Orihime smiles again, putting her book and pencil down. Rukia can't help but admire her figure, and her long hair… she looks like a man's dream, and she crosses her arms over her own flat chest to hide herself.

"I'm nervous. Is that silly?" Orihime's voice startles her out of her self-consciousness, and Rukia curses herself inwardly. She'd thought…

"I'm just…. I mean, it's silly to worry about Kurosaki-kun. Of course he'll be fine. He was always really strong! But…" The large grey eyes turn away, staring at the fingers twisting themselves in her lap. "I'm just… I wish I could do more to help."

Rukia's heart goes out to the other girl. "Orihime… You always help. Just by being here, you help. I don't know why you don't believe in yourself more!"

"Hai!" For a second, Orihime's smile brightens. Though she's said the same thing to Rukia herself, many times. It was funny how both girls seemed to see so many of the other's strengths, yet none of their own. Orihime had been the one who smiled at her and encouraged her when she'd first confessed her feelings about Renji, the one who'd told her to not be so silly when she'd wondered if she was strong enough to become a seated officer, the one who'd sat with her and explained all the strange things in the movies while making her popcorn…

"I just… do you think…. he'll come home?"

Rukia's heart becomes heavy again. Ichigo… where are you? Why did you leave?

"I don't know." Her reply is quiet. "I don't know why he left. But all we can do is… just remind him that people miss him, and are waiting for him."

Seeing the girl's eyes droop and her mouth open, Rukia cuts her off sternly. "And don't go telling me that it won't matter if you're here. Ichigo trusts you, Orihime! He brought you to Soul Society. He knew you were strong. You're his friend! And his friends mean a lot to him!"

A soft smile curves Orihime's lips. "Hai."

"Besides, if he doesn't come home, we're all going to kick the crap out of him." Rukia adds with a smile as she reaches for the light switch.

She hears Orihime's noise of assent as the two girls settle down in the darkness.

Trying to relax, she concentrates on her own breathing. In and out, in and out…. From habit, she searches for Renji's reiatsu, finding it reassuringly quiet and only a few minutes away.

"Kuchiki-san?" Orihime's voice is soft, already sleepy.

"Eeh?"

"I'm glad… that I'm sharing with you."

Rukia smiles in the darkness, feeling warmth wrap around her.

"Me too, Orihime-chan."

********************************************************************************

Rukia awakes, a strange feeling coiling in her gut, forehead creased as she tries to work out what just woke her.

A strange feeling… strong… not a hollow… not a shinigami…

And then, a flaring of very, very familiar reiatsu.

Desperately in the dark she grabs for the lightswitch with one hand, her gikongan with the other.

"Kuchiki-san? What…." Orihime comes fully awake as soon as she sees Rukia step out of her gigai in shinigami form, and Rukia sees her friend's mouth fall open. "That reiatsu…!"

"We need to help Renji." The small shinigami says determinedly.

Orihime leaps out of bed, hurriedly pulling on shoes and grabbing hairpins from the night stand.

"Hai!"

Next update - what is this reiatsu? Is Renji ok?

*end teasers*

Hope you enjoyed it :)