LC333: Sorry for the wait. Here's the next chapter.

Chapter Eleven

"Kurosaki Isshin," he greeted stiffly.

"I'm his girlfriend."

Isshin raised an eyebrow. "You're his girlfriend?"

Senna nodded, oblivious to his confusion. There was silence again until Isshin turned to Ichigo.

"I thought your girlfriend was Rukia."

My eyes went wide, my arm falling back to my side. Those words he spoke. Isshin-san had to have known Kieta was his girlfriend. If anyone had wanted to date me, Byakua would have known the moment someone would have shown interest. Isshin-san seemed really interested in his children's lives, one of his kids would have had to tell him.

Yuzu's eyes went from Ichigo to myself and back again. She opened her mouth, unsure what to say. Karin had her eyes glued to us, her rice bowl stuck near her lips. Isshin's expression was still serious, looking at Ichigo. His eyes were contemplative as he looked at Senna then at myself. I could almost see him making a list, comparing the two of us.

I forced my eyes to move to Ichigo and Senna. Her face was changing from white with tranquility to pink with embarrassment to red with anger. Ichigo… he seemed frozen. He didn't blink with his eyes stuck on his father.

I shook my head, ready to protest and state the truth.

"Isshin-san-"

"THAT'S INSANE!" Senna screamed.

Ichigo jumped, breaking out of his mold. "Dad-"

"SHE-" Senna pointed at me with disdain, "IS NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!"

I frowned at her, trying to focus on Isshin. "What she means is-"

Senna pointed at herself. "I-"

"Senna!" Ichigo's chair toppled to the floor. He grabbed her arm, pulling on it as he tried to lead her away from Isshin.

"Ichigo," Senna spoke edgily, trying to pull her arm out of his grasp. "Let go."

"Outside." He tried to pull her in the direction of the door.

"No!" she yelled, not ready to give up. "I'm going to tell him!"

He pulled on her arm harder, settling on dragging her outside.

"Ichigo." She tugged back, trying to escape. "Why won't you tell him-" He got the door opened.

"-I'm-"

He let her out first then himself.

"-Your girlf-"

The door slammed shut, cutting her off. Senna shrieked, frustrated Ichigo didn't let her finish.

Isshin stared at the door then looked over at me, Yuzu and Karin's gaze following afterwards. With their eyes staring at me, I coughed as I tried to compose myself. "You see, Isshin-san, Kieta is his girlfriend."

He closed his eyes, nodding. "How long?"

I shrugged, unsure on what to say. If Ichigo kept him in the dark, these details weren't for me to say. "I don't know." Which was partially true. Five months was just one small detail compared to how everything began.

Isshin opened his eyes, "I see." He looked to his daughters. "Did any of you know?"

"Yeah," Yuzu replied.

I angled my ear to the direction of the door.

"Ichigo! How could you disrespect me like that?" Senna demanded.

I heard him sigh. "You were yelling and over reacting. I had to calm you down."

"Your father didn't know who I was. How could you not have told him? There was enough time for you to do it!"

"It didn't seem like something worth mentioning."

Silence. I tapped my fingers quietly. Where was Senna's reaction?

"YOU DIDN'T THINK IT WAS SOMETHING WORTH MENTIONING?! Me? Us? Our relationship? That wasn't worth mentioning!?"

"Well-"

"Your father didn't know about me! After five months! Five! We've been together for five months and you never introduced me to him! You know her for a week and she's already having dinner! At your house! With your family!"

There was a rustle and a sigh.

"Say something!" Senna insisted.

"I think we should end this."

"Karin, what did they say?"

I tuned back to everyone else at the table. Karin had her ear pressed to the door. Isshin was sitting, anxiously waiting for an answer. Yuzu shook her head.

"That's a private conversation. We shouldn't be listening." Yuzu chastised.

"Then why are you whispering?" Karin whispered back.

Yuzu blushed, turning back to her meal.

"Well?" Isshin gestured to the door.

"Ichigo thinks they should end it." Karin whispered, pressing her ear back to the door.

Isshin frowned. "I'm never going to get grandbabies!" he murmured.

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the door.

"End it!?" Senna shrieked.

Karin grabbed her ear, falling dramatically to the floor. "I am not going to miss that voice."

Isshin ran to the door, squatting next to Karin.

"I think we should end this." Ichigo repeated.

"He's really serious," Isshin commented.

Yuzu turned to the door, tip-toeing next to the rest of her family.

"Ichigo, be serious. You don't want to do that!"

"But I do. Like you said: we were together for five months and I never asked you to meet my father. I've known Rukia for about a week and she's already met my entire family. Clearly, you're not that high of a priority for me."

"Ichigo!" Senna protested. "That's not funny."

"I'm not joking." Steps shuffled towards the door. "I'm sorry I've been a horrible boyfriend and you deserve better."

"Ichigo, you… This… You can't-"

"But I am."

"Ichigo!"

"Goodbye, Senna."

The door opened. Karin ran back to her seat and Isshin fell to the floor face first, his nose taking all of the impact.

Ichigo looked at his father, then up at the rest of us. I looked past him and out the door. Senna had watery eyes, her fists balled up and her body shaking, face still red, now with anger. Her gaze was piercing at Ichigo then it moved to me, furry now in them.

She raised her pointer finger at her throat and moved it across her neck.

A vampire hunter had (unknowingly) given me the death sentence.

The door closed cutting her gaze off from me.

"Get up. You're making a fool of yourself." Ichigo told Isshin before he picked up his chair and sat back down.

No one spoke a word as Isshin slithered back into his seat.

"Anyone want desert?" Yuzu asked shyly.

Karin shook her head. "I'll pass."

"I'll take one, Yuzu-chan!" Isshin chirped.

"Anyone else?"

"I'll take one," I whispered, glancing at Ichigo.

"It's your favorite, Ichi-nii." Yuzu added.

Ichigo held up two fingers.

Yuzu hustled back into the kitchen, the clattering of plates keeping the house from falling back into silence.

"Ichigo," Isshin asked carefully, "when were you going to introduce me to her?"

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched. "I wasn't planning on it."

Karin shrugged. "She wasn't worth the effort to know."

"She wasn't really nice." Yuzu placed sliced of chocolate cake down in front of her brother.

"She popped my soccer ball the other day when I wouldn't tell her where you were the day Rukia and her family first showed up," Karin swirled her drink around.

Ichigo's head popped up, his cake almost gone. "She did? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Karin shrugged. "You liked her. You had to dump her on your own."

"She threatened Ruki-nee, Ichi-nii." Yuzu passed Isshin and I our slices before she settled down with her own.

He turned to me, the corner of his lips turned down.

I shrugged, deciding to not rehash the tense moments I've had with her. "I didn't think much of it."

"At the pastry shop, she said Rukia was ruining your relationship and calling her a home wrecker." Yuzu continued.

"I thought she was joking." I lied.

Ichigo's facial features seemed to tense even more. "Did this really happen?"

My eyes widened. I could hear the blood rushing through my ears.

"Rukia-chan," Isshin rose out of his chair. "We have some things to discuss."

I nodded, finishing the last bite. I didn't want to answer this in front of his family. It was too humiliating to really say what happened, how Kieta had embarrassed me in front of people who were blinded to what was really happening.

Ichigo shook his head. "Wait-"

"Later Ichigo!" Isshin chided, whisking me away to the hall of the house.

"Rukia-chan, I know you're here for a different reason." Isshin said.

I nodded. "Yes. Nii-sama wanted me to learn from you."

"Byakuya wanted me to teach you about vampire hunting." Isshin spoke quietly as he led me down the hall.

I nodded. "Right, vampire hunting."

The words were taboo, burning my lips as I forced them out.

Isshin opened the last door, leading me into what appeared to be a doctor's office.

"You're a doctor?" I asked.

He nodded. "That's how I support myself and the kids."

His smile was bright. Isshin motioned me to sit on one of the chairs.

"Do you think you're ready to learn how to hunt vampires?" Isshin asked, sitting on one of the roll-able stools.

"H-hai." I hesitated. Agreeing on learning different ways to die; this would not be enjoyable.

Isshin raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. Why all these questions? No one ever really asked me if I wanted to learn this.

He frowned at me. "Tell me why you would want to learn this?"

I shrank into my seat. I wasn't expecting someone to actually care about my opinion on this. "Um."

"Is it because you want to?"

I bit my lip. I'd be humiliating Nii-sama if I said no. But I didn't want to learn the different ways how I would one day die if my secret was exposed. I shook my head.

"Then why didn't you tell Byakuya you didn't want to do this?"

I shrugged, unsure on how to explain.

"Ah." Isshin stood up straight. "You don't want to disappoint Byakuya."

I nodded, looking at his shoes.

"So why should I teach you out secrets?" Isshin asked.

I stood up. "You shouldn't, Isshin-san. Vampire hunting isn't what I want to do."

"Of course it isn't." He leaned forward, his eyes no longer held the jaunty look they had from earlier. "There is no reason for me to teach you these things. I'd be exposing our tricks of the trade to someone who wouldn't use them."

I nodded. "Then maybe you shouldn't."

Isshin nodded. "You make a good point. After all, why would I teach a vampire our secrets?"

He smiled at the shock I must have shown.

"Wh-what?" I asked breathlessly.

"I may play a fool, Rukia, but I know what I see. My eyes have never proved me wrong."

I shook my head. How? I was so careful. How could he know what my brother, Renji, and Ichigo could not when I had spent so much time with them? In a few minutes, how could Isshin tell?

Deny. Deny, deny, deny.

"Kurosaki-san," I shook my head again. "I'm not-"

Isshin held his hand up, silencing me. "You are. You are. You are. You are. You can hide it from the others, but not from me, not to the trained eye. I know the truth. You're a vampire, Rukia."