Sorry if this chapter is a little scattered and maybe a little confusing. My mind was very mushy and scattered while writing this… But other than that I was so happy to those who reviewed! Thank you!

Now time to explain some things as usual…

Like in our world, there are three major races, each with their own distinct features and traits. Each race has a majority of its people living in the three major countries. There is Seishin (meaning spirit), Ningen (meaning human), and Kokkaku (meaning skeleton). Seireitei is the capital city of Seishin while Karakura is just a small island within the Ningen territory. Seishin are generally very pale with – for the most part – naturally colored eyes (ps no Rukia does not have natural colored eyes). Ningen look like humans, natural skin, natural hair, and can be pretty tall to normal height. Kokkaku are deathly pale, almost white, and have very unnatural hair and unnatural eyes.

The different countries have their own trademarked style. Seishin is very England/ American 1920s kind of styling. The weather conditions are much like East Coastal America: a little rainy in the spring with some fog perhaps, hot and muggy in the summer, beautifully colored yet rainy in the fall, and snowing and freezing in the winter. Ningen is kind of like a mix of specifically Venice, Italy (being trademarked for its canals) and the 1990s Caribbean islands. They are mostly sunny year round, but can experience sudden tropical rain at any time of the year. The Kokkaku is desert, desert, desert. It is constantly overcast, getting very little sun.

Chapter 3

Sakura mau mada sukoshi samui sora no shita

Kimiwa yuku chiisana kata ni yume yakibou nosete

(Cherry blossoms dance under the chilly spring sky)

(You walk away, with dreams and hopes upon your little shoulders)

I returned the summer of my sixth birthday, the handkerchief hiding in the back of my pocket. Karin and Yuzu were just barely walking, or more like totting. They could take no more than a few steps before falling down forward or backwards. But as they tried to move themselves around in our home in Seireitei, their mouths would open wide and a few gurgling noises would come out along with some drool.

I rolled a pin around in my hand. It was one the captain of the ship had given me for my birthday. Stepping into my own home, I ran straight for the back door. My mom called after me.

"Ichigo, where are you going already?" My mom shouted.

"To play," I told her.

She gave me her tiger stare and I immediately ceased my actions. Then she smiled softly to me and patted my head. "Help us settle in first before you go running off alright?"

Slowly, though I really wanted to go and meet up with Renji and Rukia, I stood back up, and went to go help my dad unpack the trunks from the carriage that had taken us here. Even if I couldn't quiet lift too heavy things, I could feel that I really was growing muscles. And the martial arts lessons that I had stared almost a year ago had really helped with the development.

While my mom sat inside the house watching the twins, my dad and I brought the last of our things in. Or, it was more like my father was bringing the last of our things in and I was there touching the trunks and giving moral support. Then, immediately, once the last trunk was set down, my dad rushed to my mother's side and cooed at the twins.

Karin made a gurgling sound as Yuzu tried to stand on both of her feet, only falling forward once she did.

"I wish they would just be talking already," I had mumbled under my breath as I walked past them.

My dad snorted. "When did my son become so cocky?"

"Hmm," my mom hummed and tilted her head up to my father. "I'm sure he must have gotten it from you."

"Me? He's your son!" My father accused.

"Oh so now he's my son?"

"Are you implying that he got his cockiness from his humble old man?"

"Yes." She pecked his lips and gave him a cocky smile. "That is exactly what I am implying."

I shuttered at their public display of affection and for once envied Karin and Yuzu's inability to actually comprehend what they were doing. So I quickly put on my shoes and left the house just as the clock tower struck its first low bell.

All year, I had imagined over and over again in my head the route to the pear tree. Sometimes, I would even dream about myself running around and between houses till I reached the clearing. I would dream about Rukia and Renji, their faces lighting up at the sight of me. Though I would sometimes have nightmares where I would run around and around, but never find the pear tree. Other times I would find the clearing but Rukia and Renji wouldn't be there, or they would, and their faces would look at me with disgust. I shook the feeling from mind and continued to run through the spaces between fences. They would surely welcome me with open arms.

As I approached what I remembered to be the clearing, my pace slowed, almost stopping in place. Remembering the events of the previous year, my heart clenched. Would Rukia or Renji want to see me after what I made happen to them? When the pear tree, now bigger than last year, came into view, I didn't see Rukia or Renji. My throat clenched and I panicked. All of a sudden my nightmares seemed like they were happening right in front of me. In my mind, I had mentally scolded myself. Of course they wouldn't want to see me again this year, not after putting them in so much danger.

Walking up to the roots of the pear tree, I put my palm on the oily bark. Smoothing it over with my hand, I felt tears about ready to fall. I had worked so hard the past year to become strong like them. I would have an hour of training six days a week. I never complained about exercises and never complained about the soreness I would sometimes feel the next morning. I wanted to become strong for their sake. I drew my fist back and punched the tree hard. The searing pain that shot through my wrist, up my arm, and through my shoulder forced out my in held sob.

I made a choking sound and my vision was blurring. Because I was weak, they didn't want to see me. That was what I was sure it was.

"Ichigo?"

My head lifted at the sound of my name being called. I turned.

"I told you it was Ichigo!" Rukia said triumphantly, a wide grin spread across her face.

"Okay, okay," Renji grumbled, his arms were crossed against his chest. A sheepish blush was becoming very apparent on his face. "I just said that it might not be him."

Rukia pouted her lips and turned to me. Bringing up her hand and knocking it against her head. Baka.

"Hey I can see you!" Renji shouted.

Rukia laughed, head thrown back. I had no words. The tears that were falling from my eyes no longer had a meaning. Rukia and Renji were here; they greeted me with such friendliness that you would give a friend you had just seen the day before.

Walking closer to me, she held out her hand, expectant. "My handkerchief!"

Stunned I didn't move for a moment, the past few minutes still needing processing through my mind. But just one swift punch to my arm, I immediately reacted. Before she could actually hit me, I brought my arm up in my defense and swatted her fist away. She stepped back stunned. Realizing what I had down, I grinned at her cockily. "I've been training!"

She looked at me, wide eyed, mouth open. She had grown. I could look at her eye to eye now, and saw the different shades of blue and violet that swam in her irises. Her rose bud lips pressed together. Then what happened next went all too fast. One moment, I'm looking at Rukia's unnaturally porcelain skin and the next I'm staring up at the sky through the canopy of the pear tree. A sudden pain had shot in my back.

Rukia and Renji peered over me, Rukia's face giving me a smug smirk. "You still have to train more." She held up her handkerchief in her hand. How had she gotten that from my back pocket?

The two erupted into laughter. Their heads threw back, hands on their stomachs, Rukia's laugh sounding like the bells that we would hang in the window. Those bells and chimes that you would hang in prayer to make the rain go away. Though I could still feel like I would be stiff all week from Rukia's little moment of showiness, I couldn't help but laugh along with them.

"C'mon," Rukia said reaching out her hand for me to take. She helped me up to my feet, giving me a little squeeze in assurance. "We're going to the Time Tower!"

She pulled me, and I let her, a ridiculous smile on my face.

"Why are you grinning so much Ichigo?" Renji asked, running beside me.

I shook my head and wiped the dried tears off my cheeks. "No reason, just so happy that you guys are here!"

Rukia smiled back at me. "We're happy you're here too!"

I came every summer and they always welcomed me with open arms. They'd take me to the Time Tower or someplace around the city in order to show me around. We'd always play hide-and-seek tag or King of Tricks. But Rukia would always be the one to show us a new way to play. That was how it always was. We were like a unit, a body. That was what Rukia had told us once when I was eight.

"How are we like the body?" Renji had asked her.

We had been sitting inside of the large fountain in the city center. Rukia and Renji had been showing me around the center, the different street vendors (who all seemed to know Rukia and would just give her free food) and such when I suddenly slipped. I had slipped back into the fountain but not before sliding into the fountain's middle. There I discovered that there was just this empty cave like dome. Inside echoed and the sounds of the running water filled all around.

"Because we're each a certain part of the body essentials." She told us. She was in her bare feet as usual and sliding around in the little cave like thing.

"Uh huh," Renji nodded slowly. "So what part am I?"

"You're the arms and legs! You know." She slid around some more. "You're the muscle of everything!"

Renji nodded in agreement. I just remained silent, not wanting to break it to Renji that Rukia had proven in more than one occasion that she could probably whip even him into shape.

"And Ichigo is the stomach," She said happily gliding past me.

"The stomach?" I cocked my head.

"Yeah," She grinned. "You're the stomach. You are the courage and guts of our group!"

"Oh." My reply was weak. The title seemed undeserved. I wasn't all that courageous or gutsy. I still would cry all too easily and the simplest of things scared me. But at that moment, I told myself that I'd work to be worthy of that title.

"And so what are you Rukia?" Renji asked.

Just then she slipped and fell on her butt. Her clothes were certainly soaked now. But she didn't seem to mind.

Without thinking, I just said on my own, "The heart and brains!"

The two of them looked at me. Rukia had stood back up, rubbing her lower back with a palm. "I was going to say the eyes because I can see for all of you."

"Yeah, Ichigo," Renji said leaning back. "I think Rukia's makes more sense. Why would you say that she'd be the heart and brains? Isn't that just too amazing?"

I shrugged my shoulders and rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "No reason, I wasn't thinking sorry."

"See! You are gutsy," Rukia confirmed in almost overflowing smugness, "Saying things you want just because you want to, not caring what others think! Definitely stomach." She smiled.

And I didn't dislike the praise, I actually sometime found myself trying to strive for her praise. Once, the next summer I had gotten her a pair of shoes, since she never ran around with any on. But when she took them from my offering hands, she didn't put them on her feet. She had looked at them as though they were completely foreign objects, as though she had never seen Renji or I wear them. And with just a slip of her hand, she threw them on the ground, bent down, and put her hands in them instead.

"They're like gloves protecting my feet!" she had exclaimed while going into a handstand. She patted around on her hands like no big deal and would sometimes do a quick turn, just to show off.

"Do you want to learn?" She had asked me that summer. At first, I was hesitant to agree but Renji had been the one to answer for me, insisting that I would learn. And so when I went home that summer, I had a new trick to show to my friends.

But other than the interesting friendship that Rukia, Renji, and I shared, I learned things about Seiteitei too. Bit by bit, Renji and Rukia would teach me something new. Like how there were different districts of Seireitei, each one with its own reputation.

"What district is the pear tree in?" I had asked as we sat lazily on one of the large branches. I was seven at that time and it was one of those rare days that Rukia just wanted to sit in the tree and eat pears till our stomachs hurt.

"Twenty-third," Renji answered easily. His mouth was dripping with pear juice, it streamed down his face and he hissed, it had stung the sun burn on his chin. "This place has a reputation of being one of the nicest districts as far as people go. They say that the people who live around here are really nice which is why they haven't shopped down this weird pear tree yet."

"Oh," I nodded and bit my own pear. I didn't tell them that my home was near here, but felt a bit prideful that we lived in a district with such a standing. Then wiping the juice from my lips, I asked, "What districts do you guys live in?

Rukia had been swinging upside down like she usual seemed to like to do. She had become really good at it over the past three years. "We live in the seventy-eighth district."

"Oh, and what do people say about that?" I asked.

Renji's face then turned serious, something that didn't happen very often. "They call us dogs."

Rukia had lifted herself up onto the branch and she too looked a little disheartened, though she hid it well. "A nickname for the seventy-eighth district is Inuzuri."

"It's the place that most people will leave the children they don't want. Or the place that kids will run away to." Renji said clearly. "They call us stray dogs. Rukia and I," He pointed between the two of them, "We live in an orphanage."

"An orphanage?" I had looked at them. So I found out that they did not have parents.

"Renji," Rukia punched his arm.

"Itai! What did I do?" Renji pouted.

Rukia gave him a hard stare. It was very similar to my mother's but with its own Rukia flare. I supposed it was just a girl thing. But she stared at him, her eyes flickered deep blue for a moment. "You're making Ichigo sad!" Then she turned back to me and smiled. "It's okay Ichigo! We were left at the orphanage when we were babies, we never knew our parents so it's fine."

Her way of comforting me had a very strange affect that countered her intentions. It made me feel sullen, and grateful. Rukia and Renji didn't have parents. They didn't have a mother to tuck them in at night, or a father to pat them on the back when he was proud. They never knew what a mother's hug felt like, or a father's gloating smile. They didn't know a parent's love.

And again, I found myself crying.

"I-Ichigo," Renji sounded flustered, "Why are you crying now?"

"Renji! It's your fault!"

"My fault?"

"Yes," Rukia nodded her head. "Your fault."

Watching them through my tears, I couldn't help but feel like they sounded like my own parents. Renji was one year older than me, and Rukia had told me she was half a year younger than me. Yet still, I was the child, the one who cried. And Renji and Rukia were like my mom and dad. For some reason, at that time, I thought it was a rather sour thought.

But even through their own maturity, they didn't fail to show me that I was growing. They didn't fail to change me and help me grow. When I would return back home to Karakura, I'd always have something new to show my friends, something that I learned.

"My friends really like hide-and-seek tag," I told Rukia once as we walked along the piers. Renji was sitting on a rock up ahead; he had run past us, telling us he'd go up first. We were in a long strip of ally between some of the cargo piers. I was amazed at how many there were. Renji had told me that they were six other just like these, twelve all lined in two rows of six. Karakura only had one field of cargo piers: ten lined in two rows of five. Not only that but these cargo piers were twice and big as the ones in Karakura.

"Really? You taught them?" Rukia looked at me. She was now just a little bit taller than me, which hadn't been too great on my ego since now I was the shortest out of us three. And for a six year old at that time, the height mattered, especially since she was a girl.

"Yeah," I said with a smile. We had approached the rock that Renji was sitting on, he was looking bored and leaned on the wooden rail that was behind him. "They think I'm the coolest boy on the island!"

"Rukia," Renji whined. "I'm gonna have the first jump!"

Then Rukia's head snapped at Renji. "No, I'm gonna jump first!"

"Jump?" I looked at both of them funny.

"Yeah," Rukia stared at me expectant, "Jump into the water."

"Like this!" And without hesitation, Renji jumped up, pulling his shirt off and jumped back.

"Renji I said I'd be first."

Then Rukia leaned forward and just caught the rim of his pants. But his weight outweighed her and I watched as she was quickly tipping over the railing. In a moment of impulse, I reached for her. Only in time enough for all three of us to go falling into the water.

That moment that we all were swallowed by the tides and the water soaked all the way through my clothes and to my skin, I never knew that water could be so cold.

"Why i-is it s-so f-f-freezing?" I shivered when Renji and Rukia helped to pull me out, their demeanors were completely unfazed.

"The sea water is always this cold," They told me.

"No," I protested, "It's warm like Cocoa."

They cocked their heads. "This water is warm compared to in the spring or fall."

"Not to mention winter," Renji added, "Sometimes there's a layer of ice."

"Ice?" I had never known that ice could be outside of the ice chest, much less made on the sea.

"Yeah, when it snows," Rukia said to me with excitement. She seemed to look like she liked this 'snow'. And I found an instant curiosity to want to know why it seemed look so special in Rukia's eyes.

"Snow," I repeated. I had never heard of it before. I had been too embarrassed to ask the two what it was, in fear that they'd think I was dumb since it seemed like common knowledge to them. But I had later asked my mom on the boat home. In my pocket that summer was a vile of a cocoon that Rukia and Renji had helped me get from the top of the pear tree.

"What is snow?" My mom had repeated the question. She was patting Yuzu and Karin's backs, trying to get them to sleep. "Well, it is very beautiful." My mother told me slowly. "It's like the rain, only cold, and light. It makes things glow, bright. It's gentle and white, making things look so delicate. But it can also be strong when it wants to be." My mother sighed at her own musings and gave a gentle smile. "Karakura doesn't get snow so you wouldn't know Ichigo. It really is something you have to experience for yourself to know what it is like."

Listening to her description I was getting the feeling that I already did know what she was saying. A picture of a girl with large purple-blue eyes, pale skin, and black hair is what my mind was forming.

"The closest you could probably feel is like in Karakura winters, when there is that light breeze." My mom added.

"And the sun is out and it's quiet with just the ocean!" I said excitedly.

"Yes," My mother looked at me, her eyes seeming so proud. She reached down to hug me. "Exactly like that."

"Yeah," I sighed into my mom's shoulder, still picturing the girl. "I know exactly what you mean."

The summer that I had turned seven, I came up to them, with a jar of a butterfly in my hand. And inside, the butterfly was just fluttering about its black and violet wings. When the cocoon had cracked and this midnight looking creature came stepping out, my father had exclaimed that he hadn't seen one of these since he was just a child and asked me how I found one on Karakura. I didn't tell him that I had actually brought back from Seireitei.

It was odd though, that I noticed that year their worried faces when boarding the connecting ship to Seireitei from Hokutan. I saw their worried expressions and would have asked them about it, had my mind not been so preoccupied in keeping the midnight butterfly alive. I wanted to be sure that Rukia and Renji saw it.

"Whoa," Renji marveled at the sight. The jar had light refracting off it, making a display of rainbow around it. "I've never seen one quiet like this before!"

"Me too," Rukia was amazed, and how I felt so happy that she was.

But even in my happiness, I didn't fail to realize that in the next few years, just how more strikingly apparent the faces of my parents were becoming. Every time that we would be leaving and boarding the ship, their eyes would suddenly dart this way and that. They looked as if expecting some or something bad to happen, their grip on mine and the twin's hands were always tighter. Not to mention their restrictions on me and my times to play outside were growing shorter and shorter. If I came home even a minute late, they would be mad. If I came back with scrape or a bruise they would be mad. If I came back injured and late…. Well, I didn't want to think about that.

But running beside Rukia and Renji, I couldn't help but forget my parents' worried faces and slowly growing paranoia. When I was with them, the week, though passing fast in my fun, always made feel like I had known them for a year. Without a doubt, they were my most trusted friends. They were even more trusted than the friends I had on Karakura. They knew me inside out and I knew them in the same. But even so, I never tired of them. I couldn't help but feel like there were always new things to learn.

"Let him go!" Rukia had screeched so loud that my ears were rattling.

I had just turned nine and we had been between the piers that day. Running into older kids with ill intentions was rare but not uncommon for us. Usually we would just avoid them, much to Rukia's hot-headed dismay, but today, she couldn't seem to let them go. They were holding a rabbit by the ears, over the edge of the pier.

"Oh. But we were," The older kicks said, snickering.

"Let it go safely!" She pointed an accusing finger. "Or else I will make you!"

"Rukia," Renji hissed.

"They aren't any older than you," Rukia argued, "We can take them."

"Looks like your friend there doesn't want you to get her little girl," the older kid holding the rabbit said. The rabbit was trembling, whimpering. It was horrible and pathetic.

I straightened my stance and balled my hands into fist. "If Rukia is going to take them then so am I," I tried to sound heroic.

Renji, though sighing and looking apprehensive, stepped up and stood in line with us. "Alright."

We must have been an amusing sight to see. A girl much taller than the average height for her age, standing next to one lanky short boy and another shaggy haired red-head, we were definitely a misfit trio. And it was apparent the older kids thought so to because they scoffed.

"Go back and play your little games kids," One of them waved us off.

"Not till you put that rabbit safely on the ground!" Rukia screamed again.

With a mischievous smirk, one held the helpless creature further out over the edge. "Make me."

He needn't say more because in the next second, Rukia lunged forward in her almost inhuman speed and pulled the boy holding the rabbit further away from the water's edge. He stumbled and let go of the rabbit, it flew through the air. Renji, quick to react, ran back to catch is safely in his arms. I, after finally processing that Rukia had just engaged herself in a fight, ran to her aid.

The boys were throwing punches at her, but she had always been fast on her feet and was dodging them. In my few years of training, I knew how to block and redirect an attack (which by far, was a much better defense than I had just a few years prior).

Even if we didn't exactly fight back, we came out mostly unscathed. I just had a little bruise on my side from being knocked down by one of the boys. This being only the second real fight I had ever gotten into – if the first one could be even considered that – I was not used to the dirty play of street fighting. The boy had come from under me and knocked off my feet in a very harsh way. But before he could do anything to me, Rukia pulled my out of the way and threw me onto my feet. We ran after that.

"Are you sure you'll be okay," Renji asked, poking my side.

I winced and held in my tears. "Yeah, of course."

Rukia looked at me apologetically, guilt in her eyes as they flickered a dark purple. "I'm really sorry!"

"No, it wasn't your fault," I assured her.

"I shouldn't have protected you better," she said, head hanging low. But she looked back up at me, just as I had reached out to consol her. "I will work harder!" Is what she promised me, and she made an 'X' over her heart. I knew she meant it. And silently, I drew an 'X' over my own, promising the exact same thing to her.

"Rukia!" I had called out, trying to catch her attention. She and Renji were standing at the tree's edge.

"Yes?" Rukia turned to me. She smiled at the sight of me, making me feel giddy on the inside. Not that I would tell her that. Oh god why hadn't I told her?

"Here!" I handed to her a paper with my writing on it. I had written it myself and my parents had asked me what it was for. The blush on my face when they had asked made them eye me suspiciously, especially when I asked them for a bit of help.

Rukia took the paper from my hand looked down at it. I had often been commemorated for having much nicer handwriting than most of the boys in my grade, even some of the girls said I had nicer hand writing than they did. But the way Rukia seemed to scrutinize it, turning it this way and that, made me feel self-conscious.

"You know I can't read," she looked at me deadpan.

"Give me that," Renji said, snatching the paper from her hands. He looked it over, his eyes narrowing and running over the words I had written. My blush was growing, I had completely forgotten that she couldn't read and was feeling a bit ashamed. "An address and our names?"

I nodded with a sheepish smiled, rubbing the back of my neck. "I figured that since we are friends…" I looked up nervously at the two of them. "we could possibly exchange letters through the year. I don't get to see you guys too often and so, I want to connect with you more."

At first they didn't respond and I felt like I was being too forward. "Of course you don't have to write to me I was just thinking that-,"

"Of course we'll write to you baka," Renji said and then Rukia followed in with punching me in the jaw.

"Don't you dare underestimate us!" Rukia added.

And as they stood there, boring me with their eyes, I couldn't help but think that they looked so much older than just mere eight and ten year olds. But when I got on the boat back to Karakura, my dreams were filled with their faces and the things I had learned about them. Renji liked spicy foods, and was smart for his age. He had muscle and some brains. Then Rukia… Rukia was like the snow. But she wasn't, she was like the sun. She was the sun and snowy day.

Rukia was refreshing, always smiling. She was new, and honest. She was innocent but hated idiocy. She was empathetic and maternal, but never swayed from a fight. I laughed in my cot, musing over the last conversation we had had that summer for I left.

"So how do you write your name Ichigo?" Renji had asked me. When I found a nearby twig, he had tilted his head to watch me write it out. Then when he looked at it over his mouth dropped open.

So did Rukia's. "Can we just write Ichi instead? It looks easier!"

"Just Ichi?" I looked at her, a little offended. Even at my relatively young age, I took great pride in the meaning of my name. "Then it would just mean one!"

"Yes!" Rukia gave me a thumb's up. "Because there is only one of you! Because you are special, we'll call you Ichi-kun!"

My face burned with embarrassment.

"Oh!" Rukia perked up and pointed a finger at Renji. "And you'll be Niku-kun!"

"Niku-kun?" Renji repeated, his eye twitching just a bit.

"Yeah," She smiled. "We don't have to use them all the time, but we're best friends now. We need nicknames for each other! Besides, this way we'll have movements of our nicknames and talk about each other!"

"Yeah, but why did I have to be Niku…" Renji asked, his face drooping in a very funny way.

"What?" Rukia cocked her head. "Don't you like it?"

He scoffed. "Whatever. So what are you then Rukia? If Ichigo is Ichi, I'm…Niku. What are you then?"

"I'll be…" She put a finger to her lip, a habit she had when thinking. Her head tilted down a bit and her eyes lost focus. "I'll be Usagi!"

"Usagi?" Renji repeated, his face drooping again. "Why Usagi?"

"Because I like them?" She stated, a little unsure of herself.

"I don't like it," Renji said quickly. "I don't want to have to do this every time I want to talk to you." Lifting both his hands to his head, he gently tapped it with his fingers in the shape of rabbit ears. "It's stupid…"

I could see Rukia's eye twitch. "What part of that is stupid?"

"All of it!"

Through there bickering, my mind ran. I agreed with Renji, I didn't want to call Rukia Usagi. Sure bunnies were cute like she had been, but she didn't feel like a bunny at all. Bunnies were helpless and meek creatures, something that would be a complete oxymoron if given to Rukia.

"Hi-chan," I said affirmatively. Then again even louder, "We'll call you Hi-chan!"

Rukia stopped arguing with Renji and they both looked at me. I blushed at my sudden courage.

"Hi-chan…" Renji said slowly. "Strangely, that fits. And the movement it so much less annoying than Usagi." He balled his hand into a fist and moved it in a circle, the sign for the day. "Yeah, I like it!"

"So then it's settled!" Rukia clapped her hands together and puffed out her cheeks. "We are officially the best friends to have ever walked on this world!"

It was a childish statement, but it made me laugh anyways. We were so naïve then. We were so innocent. And though I didn't realize it then, I should have cherished those moments we all shared together more. Because even though I got back and received my first letter from Renji and Rukia just a week before the second term started, I was still young, and didn't know that you didn't stay young forever.

Ima tabidatsu kimi ni okuritai

Kyou kurai majime ni ittatte ii jan (Ittatte ii jan)

Arittake no egao o janataba ni

Kimi ni tsutae yo MESSEEJI

(I want to send you off as you begin your journey)

(I should have done that at least today (I should have))

(I placed all my smiles in a bouquet of flowers)

(That I am sending to you along with a message)

End Chapter 3

Garg! This is the shortest out of the three chapter so far ;^; But I had fun writing this chapter… though my mood was really ruined by the recent chapter of Bleach, I dealt with it and here you are lovelies! If it was confusing, this chapter encompassed four years of their life. Ichigo is 6-9, Renji is 7-10, and Rukia is 5-8.

Niku means meat in Japanese and Hi means day or sunshine :) I'll let you guys figure those meaning out on your own ;) Not much else to explain from what I can tell…. Um…. Oh yes! This is actually the half way point for this particular story! Yes, this story is planned to be only six chapters long…

Ask me any questions if you need too! And remember! The lyrics are a part of the story. They are there for a reason and sometimes may tell things that the story its self may not tell (hint hint…. Wink wink…) I'll let you guys decide the rest on your own ;)

Song is Tabidatsu Kimi He by RSP (the 22nd Bleach ending) the video to the song tears me up every time T^T

Please review if you can and I'll update as soon as possible!