Me: Back again!

Ichigo: (Wallowing in self-pity, eating a strawberry-shaped chocolate cake with strawberry décor from animelover1993) My life SUCKS ASS.

Me: (Pats head) It'll get better! ...Eventually. Maybe. Hey, be good and maybe, JUST MAYBE, i'll be nice enough to throw you in a lemon soon!

Ichigo: A...A lemon? As in...A LEMON? THE FANFIC DEFINITION?

Me: You bet your ass!

Ichigo: (Glomps me) YESYESYESYESYES!

Me: (Temple throb) You gotta be a good boy, though!

Rukia: What is he, a do...(Trails off as Ichigo sits in a rather dog-like position and i toss him tiny candies)

Rukia Still: ...A dog? Enjoy...

"Itsygo?"

"Huh?"

"How is Itsygo not tired?" Nel asked with a yawn from his shoulder.

"Because...I dunno. I guess because I'm too ready for this to end, to sleep and make it last longer," he said thoughtfully.

She nodded, satsified. "Dat makes sense, Itsygo. Nel tinks Itsygo's girlfwiend is weady for dis to all end too..."

Ichigo felt a pang as he realized how much he wished Peyton was on his back right now, so much it almost hurt him physically, but simply nodded. "I do too."

"Matsumoto sure is," the aforementioned Soul Reaper added from behind them groggily, making everyone roll their eyes.

Ichigo hated how they hadn't been attacked by any Iga Clan ninjas yet. He kept his contact lenses constantly on their aura, and couldn't see a damn thing as far as assassins were concerned.

It made him nervous, it made him think they weren't on the right trail. If there even WAS a trail. They could've taken her to Hueco Mundo or even back to his house for all he knew.

Everyone else was probably thinking about the same thing, too. He knew they were tired. It had been a day and a half since they had hit that dead end.

Senna had realized early on that she could sense the Iga Clan's aura at a further range than they could, they could mostly just SEE it.

So she was trying her hardest to do just that. She and Ichigo were the only ones who hadn't stopped to rest once during their visit to Soul Society.

Even Nel had stopped to rest with Rukia so she could color for a moment.

But he refused to. Sappy and slightly-dramatic as it might be, every time he felt like stopping he unconsciously gripped Peyton's necklace and decided to keep going until he collapsed.

...Which he had done.

...Twice.

And THEN he stopped for about thirty seconds or five minutes, however long it took for him to wake up/get up.

So technically he had stopped twice.

Senna refused to rest simply because she insisted as soon as she did they'd miss an important clue as to where she was.

"How long do you think we have until she's executed?" Senna asked no one in particular.

"Not long. If they've got her in the handcuffs and moved to a different facility, my guess would be no more than four days. Five at best," Toshiro answered grimly.

Ichigo sighed, glancing up at the stars before closing his eyes briefly. Where the hell could she be?

MEANWHILE...

The bed was so comfortable. Last night, despite being terrified of her death sentence, Peyton had sighed contentedly and fallen asleep in mere seconds.

Tonight, she was staring out her window. The two women were asleep. They had referred to the place as a sort of "Solitary Cell of Reflection".

Where she was supposed to reflect on her crimes.

But like hell Peyton was thinking about THAT. She had killed that dude under fair terms, she didn't feel the least bit guilty.

She had saved lives, taking his. His fault for choosing the wrong side.

But she was reflecting. She was thinking about everything that had happened, from her last day in Tennessee to the day she was kidnapped.

"Jeez, it could all fill a book," she said out loud, earning a snore from one of the girls.

She didn't turn her head to see which one.

Somehow, Peyton got onto the mental topic of grapefruits, which led to her thinking of other fruits, right until she got to orange.

THEN guess who she thought of.

As if he hadn't been on her mind often enough already. She wondered what he was doing, and where he was. She wondered if he ever felt pain when he thought of her, like she did about him, knowing she might die and never get to see him again.

Not that she didn't have all her faith in Ichigo. Peyton just knew how her luck worked, and when her luck would inevitably run out.

She closed her eyes briefly as she felt a pang once her first time crossed into her mind. The feeling it had given her. The feeling every time after that gave her. Oh, what she'd give to be laying there with him right now, both of them trying to come down from such a high, even IF someone was always totally ruining it.

A tear slid down her cheek, and she didn't bother wiping it away.

I hate reflection. It's so painful. Damn ninjas and their mind tricks.

Peyton wondered if it would hurt terribly when she died. Of course there'd be pain, but...how long would it last?

And if she died in Soul Society, where would she go from there? Reincarnation? Constant darkness until the world ended?

What?

That's when she felt real fear sink in. Genuine, cold fear, gripping her throat and making it feel as if she were being choked.

It felt like her stomach was that giant ball on New Year's Eve, and the clock in New York City had just hit zero, making it crash to her toes.

Realizing she wasn't just SAYING she could easily die, but that she really, truly, honestly could...It was terrifying.

She hated this. She hated feeling helpless. Peyton glanced down at her handcuffs, more tears stinging her eyes, blurring her vision.

"Less than two days..."

She nearly started flat-out bawling when she saw a shooting star streak down the sky, looking like it had landed right beside her window.

"...Goddammit, mom, I'm just like you. I have the best intentions, but someone always ends up crying," she whispered with a half-sob-half-laugh.

MEANWHILE...

"Ichigo...I really hate to point this out, but...We really should stop to rest. It's been almost three days since we got to Soul Society, and we need to be in the best possible shape to stop these guys," Senna said carefully.

Ichigo sighed as he kept walking, slowing to a stop. When he actually stopped, he almost instantly slid to the ground.

He sweatdropped. "...Guess you're right..."

Everyone sighed gratefully and collapsed on the side of the road, breathing heavily. As the others talked about things like battle strategies and torture devices- things he could go his whole life without hearing about ever again-, his damn mind started whirring again.

Like he did at least eighty times a day, Ichigo wondered what she was doing right this second. Was she thinking about him? Did she even think he was coming for her?

Had she realized she lost her necklace yet? Did she even care? Stupid question. Peyton always fiddled with it, she loved that necklace, whether she'd ever fully admit it or not.

He knew she loved it from the second he slipped it around her neck.

Ichigo knew it was kind of random, but he thought about the day she convinced almost all of Karakura High that "Schmorange" was indeed a word and beloved soda and gum franchise from America.

And the day they and his family all got into Ghostbusters and quoted it almost word-for word. And the time he totally made the best grilled cheese ever.

And Disney World. Oh damn, how could he ever forget Disney World?

Ichigo thought it was a bit unbelievable, to think about what major events would never happen if the people involved didn't do something so simple.

If Rukia hadn't let him take care of that ONE Hollow alert in particular. If he hadn't dragged Peyton along and told her everything.

If she hadn't believed him.

If he had never been in the cemetary that day. If that ghost kid, Hura was it? ...If he hadn't asked for their help.

If she hadn't said yes when Jake asked her out. If he hadn't marched after them, if she hadn't said yes when he brought up ditching Jake.

If there hadn't been a fair that day. If fireworks hadn't been involved- oh, DAMN. If those fireworks hadn't happened, he might've never really noticed how beautiful she was, and probably never would've decided they were worth each other's time.

And if Toshiro hadn't talked him into making that note.

And if there had never been mistletoe at that party.

If she hadn't said yes when HE asked her out, if that Hollow hadn't been on Expedition Everest, if he hadn't been hit by that lightning.

If her uncle never went to jail, and that phone conversation and those voicemails never happened, if their lists hadn't been written.

If he hadn't just manned up and told her he loved her, in person. If Byakuya and the rest of Gotei 13 hadn't showed up.

And if he had never eaten that cake. Or MORE IMPORTANTLY, if Peyton hadn't wanted him badly enough to shave her legs.

If they hadn't had the strength to do it twice that day. If Hiyori and Shinji hadn't busted down his do-...No, he could totally live without that happening.

It'd be so fricking great if he could just go back to that day, that day right there. Back to the part where she thanked him.

Yeah. And let it play all the way to one millisecond before the damn Vizards showed up. And then pause. And replay until he couldn't take it anymore.

...Could he just do that?

"Nel doesn't see why not, Itsygo." He jumped, looking at them strangely.

Orihime and Matsumoto looked like they were about to cry, and Senna was staring at him with a really sappy expression on her face.

Rukia was looking away, blinking a bit fast. Renji and Toshiro's jaws were on the ground.

"...Dude...That whole thing was just...so...DEEP," Renji finally said.

Toshiro nodded. "It's quite unlike you."

"Oh. I said all that out loud, really? Hey...WAIT a minute...WHADDAYA MEAN IT'S QUITE UNLIKE ME?"

Rukia ignored that. "You really miss her, don't you?"

"Damn, Rukia, what the HELL do YOU think?"

She shrugged. "I didn't realize exactly to what EXTENT your internal pain was. Until now..."

Senna suddenly pointed to the sky. "Holy crap, look at THAT!"

Ichigo and everyone else glanced up in time to see a shooting star falling to their far right, almost deliberately landing somewhere down there.

His eyes widened.

"You wanna know about something weird?"

"You mean besides you?"

"Yes, besides me."

"Okay."

"After mom died, whenever me or anyone else in the family was having a hard time or something, we'd see a falling star. Every time. But I've never seen one that big.."

Ichigo looked at her. "You know what I think?"

"You think?"

"I'm serious. I think that was your mom's birthday present to you."

Peyton grinned. "Maybe so. Maybe so.."

He squeezed her shoulder. "You alright?" She smiled at him, wiping at the bottom rims of her eyes quickly. "Huh? Oh, yeah, fine."

He shot up and ran towards where it fell. "That's her, that's Stephanie tipping us off!"

"Stephanie?" Senna wondered. Rukia stood up as well, running after him. "Peyton's mom. Ichigo, what the hell gave you that idea?"

"Whenever she's in trouble, or having a hard time, Peyton always sees a shooting star. Every time. It's Stephanie. She's telling us where she is. I just know it, I swear my iPod, and my bank account, and anything else valuable on it!" He said excitedly, running as fast as he could.

"Did anyone get a good look on where it landed?"

"It looked to be about eighty to two hundred miles west of here, past Soul Society's border," Toshiro answered.

"Awesome!" Senna cheered, catching up with the Soul Reapers with relative ease.

"AwesomeSAUCE," Ichigo corrected before laughing. "Itsygo, your girlfwiend's mom sends pwetty hints," Nel informed him as she finally managed to hop onto his shoulders.

Ichigo smiled. "Doesn't she?"

"I guess Itsygo's girlfwiend had to get her pwettiness from somewhere, right?"

"Right."

Thank you, Stephanie. I'll bring her back home soon, back to Mark.