Matsumoto's POV

Oh, gosh, my back is killing me! It's this stupid hard floor. It's so shiny and fancy but it hurts!

I got up and looked around. The sun was up and I could hear the traffic outside. Momo's still asleep.

I got up and went to check on Captain and Rukia-chan. What I saw make me smile and almost yell out in joy! Rukia-chan was in Captain's haori and she was sleeping in his arms! Captain was holding her protectively! They're the cutest couple ever!

I realized that I had my camera in my room. I was taking pictures yesterday, too. I took two when they weren't looking. I'm glad Captain didn't hear the clicks!

I got the camera from my room and took a bunch of pictures. Rukia-chan looks amazing in that captain's haori. After I took the pictures, I left and went down stairs. I want to eat some breakfast. I looked at the things we got from the store. Where are they? I thought we left them on the counters.

I remembered that Captain and Rukia-chan stayed here longer. They must have put the things away. I want to eat those popsicles Rukia-chan got for me. I looked in the freezer. I got one and started to eat it. I finished with it fast so I got another one. Then I got another and another and another. I realized something and I screamed.

Toshiro's POV

I heard that stupid clicking noise again! I was going to open my eyes but I decided to let it go so I could sleep as much as I could. Today was going to be a long day. We have to go get furniture and more food and Matsumoto's going to want to go… shopping. I shuddered at the thought.

I remembered that Rukia was in my arms. I tightened my arms around her. I love the feeling of having her so close to me.

I was about to fall asleep again when I heard Matsumoto scream.

My eyes shot open and I saw Rukia wake up, too. We had no time to apologize for sleeping so close to each other. We rushed down stairs.

"Matsumoto, what's wrong?!" I yelled.

"Brain freeze, I have brain freeze!"

"Are you serious?" I muttered.

Momo was rushing down the stairs now.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Matsumoto was being an idiot," I replied.

"Why is she in your haori?!" Momo venomously asked, pointing her finger at Rukia. "Take that off! It's Shiro-chan's! You don't deserve to wear something like that! You're just a weak unseated officer!" she snapped.

Rukia was hurt by her words. It showed easily.

"Momo!" Matsumoto exclaimed.

"Hinamori! What you're saying! I let her borrow it because she was cold! There's nothing wrong with her using it!" I snapped.

"Shiro-chan, she's an unseated officer!"

"And she's shown me that she deserves to be a captain already! Hinamori, stop insulting her! You shouldn't be putting her down when it's obvious that she's stronger than you! You can learn a few things from her!"

Momo looked shocked. She shouldn't have snapped at Rukia like that. Momo ran upstairs.

"Whoa, I've never seen you that mad before, Captain," Matsumoto said.

"Hinamori shouldn't have said those things to Rukia."

I looked at Rukia. She looked surprised. I saw that she was about to start crying.

"You-You didn't have to do that," she said.

"No, I did."

Just then, Renji and Kira stepped into the house.

"How did it go, you guys?" Matsumoto asked.

"It went well. Nothing to report," Renji said.

Kira yawned. "Can we sleep now?"

"No, we have to go get things for the house now. Everyone, get dressed, do what you have to. We're leaving in a moment," I said.

"Would you two like something to eat?" Rukia asked Renji and Kira.

"Yeah, I'm starving!" Renji replied.

"Yes, that would be nice," Kira said.

"All right, I'll make something."

They went upstairs. I turned to Rukia.

"Do you want help?" I asked.

"Sure, that would be great!" she replied.

"Matsumoto, you should go get ready too," I said.

"Ok," she said as she headed to her room.

Rukia and I went into the kitchen.

"What should we make now?" she asked me.

"I don't know. Can you make rice or something?"

"I think I can." She started to tell me the things she needed and I went to get them. When all the things were gathered we began to cook. I like cooking food with Rukia. Soon, the smell of the food was everywhere. It smelled so good. Matsumoto, Kira, and Renji came down stairs.

"What smells so good?" Renji asked.

"It's obviously Rukia's cooking. She's amazing at this stuff!" Matsumoto said.

"It's just rice," Rukia said shyly.

They all gathered and got some rice. When Renji took his first bite he gasped and started to eat the rest of it superfast. Rukia smiled. We all ate all of it and got more and more.

"Should we take some to Lieutenant Hinamori?" she asked.

"Let her calm down. She'll eat later," I told her.

"I'll be back in a moment," she said. She left and went upstairs.

I finished eating and went upstairs too.

I stopped at the door and knocked. There was no response so I went in. I looked in front of me and I saw Rukia changing! Her face went red and I closed my eyes shut.

"Hitsugaya-san?!"

"I'm sorry!"

I turned to face the opposite wall. She finished changing.

"You can turn around now."

I did. She was still blushing.

"Sorry about that," I said.

"No, you didn't know."

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"I'm going to change. Could you…?"

"Yeah," she said then left the room.

I changed then headed downstairs. Everyone but Hinamori was there.

"Isn't Momo coming?" Matsumoto asked.

"I don't know," I replied.

"I'll go see if she's coming."

"All right, but wait a moment. What are we going to go get?"

"We need furniture and food," Rukia said.

"And clothes!" Matsumoto added.

"All right, who wants to go furniture shopping and who wants to go for the food?"

"I'll go to the furniture!" Matsumoto said.

"I'll go to the store," Rukia said.

"I have to come with Rukia," I said.

"I guess Abarai and I'll go with Matsumoto since neither of us knows anything about food," Kira said.

"Ok, here," I said, handing them some money. "Only buy necessary items. At noon, we'll meet up here then go buy clothes."

Rukia and I headed to the store. I hope nothing happened since Matsumoto isn't with us.

Rukia seemed to be walking fine on her own. Regardless, I still worried.

"Are you ok? Are you feeling ok enough to walk on your own?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She smiled at me.

We entered the store and started to get more food. We got meat, fruits, vegetables, and other foods.

"Do you want to get any sweets?" she asked.

"No, I don't really like sweets."

She gasped. "How could you not like sweets?!"

"I don't know. I just don't."

She pursed her lips. "All right, is there anything that Matsumoto really likes?"

"The popsicles you got her yesterday," I replied.

We got the same popsicles and went to pay for the things. We paid and carried the bags home.

When we got home, we went straight to the kitchen and started to put things in cabinets and the fridge. We finished and I checked the time. We still had about an hour left until we had to meet up.

"We still have some time. Do you want to do something?" I asked.

She thought about it. "Could we go to the park?"

"Sure," I said. We left the house.

We walked together to the park. It was quiet out today. It felt nice.

We got to the park. I looked around. There were so many trees and flowers. It was beautiful. We walked together and looked around. We were both silent. I looked at Rukia. She looked tired.

"Rukia, do you want to sit down?"

She nodded. We went to a bench and sat.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, it's incredibly peaceful too."

After that, neither of us spoke. I looked at Rukia. She was kicking the air with her feet and looking at the sky. I was reaching for her hand when she pulled away.

She gasped. "Ice cream! Can we get some?!"

I smiled. She can be such a child sometimes. "Sure, here's some money." I handed her some money.

"Do you want some too?"

"No, thanks."

"They have watermelon flavored ice cream."

"They do?" I asked, trying to hide my excitement.

"Yeah," she said.

"All right, but only a little bit for me. Wait, how did you know I liked watermelon?"

"The game Matsumoto mad us play," she replied.

"You paid attention?"

"Yeah, I'll be back in a moment."

She ran to get the ice cream. As she ordered, I noticed the ice cream guy smiling at her. He better not try anything.

Once she paid for the ice cream, she rushed back to me and handed me an ice cream cone. I tasted it. It tastes so good!

"You like it, don't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks," I said.

She smiled and continued eating her ice cream. She finished before me. After a while, I finished mine. We just sat together in peace. It's nice siting with her. It's so quiet and beautiful right now. I looked at Rukia. She was looking at the blue sky. I looked at what she looked. I looked at so many beautiful things. The green trees, the flowers, and the birds that were flying. My eyes landed on two birds in a nest. They were sitting close together. Then I saw that the mother feeding its baby birds. It was such a nice moment. I was enjoying my time a lot. I wonder how Matsumoto and the others are doing.

Matsumoto's POV

When Captain and Rukia-chan left, I went to my room to check on Momo. Why is Momo irritated by Rukia-chan? What made her so mad at her today? I've never seen Momo be so mean to anyone.

I went into my room. Momo was sitting against the wall.

"Momo, do you want to come with me and the guys to buy furniture?"

"Is Kuchiki coming?"

"No, she's… with Captain. They went to get more food." I saw her start to get angry when I said that Rukia-chan and Captain are at the store.

"Sure, I'll come."

We all left the house and started walking. It was a long and awkwardly quiet walk. We got to a furniture store. We all went in and looked around.

A guy that works here came up to us. "Hi, do you need help with anything?"

"Oh, yes, we just moved here and we're looking for furniture to buy," I replied to the now nervous looking guy.

"All right, is there anything in specific that you're looking for?" he asked, his voice shaky. I noticed that he was starting to sweat.

"No, not really."

"All right, what are the things you need?"

"Let's see, there are a total of six of us. So, we need six beds, six mattresses, a sofa, oh, maybe some recliners. That would be nice."

"Ok, you need a lot of things. Let's start with the beds then we'll go from there."

"All right," I said. He led us to a counter and pulled out a catalog. We flipped through the pages and chose out the things we wanted. It took us a long time. I was getting bored.

When we finally finished, I was so happy. The guy took us to the front and added up the prices. We paid what he told us was the price.

"All right, this will all be delivered to your home in a week."

"A week? That won't work out!" I said.

"I'm sorry. We have all the things you want in the back but we have a lot of deliveries scheduled."

"Are you sure you couldn't make an acceptation?"

"I'm sorry, miss."

I undid a button on my blouse and looked at him. This always works.

"Please, we really need those delivered today."

The guy looked more nervous and he started getting even more sweaty.

"Um, I'll get those delivered today. How does six sound?"

"That'll be just fine," I said smiling.

We left the store and headed home. That trick always works on guys like him!

Toshiro's POV

"I just remembered something! Can we stop by Ichigo's?" Rukia asked all of a sudden.

"Why?"

"I promised I'd come by today."

"All right, let's go."

We got up and started walking. It didn't take long to reach Ichigo's house. I was expecting to knock at the door. Rukia had a different idea. She climbed to the roof and I followed. She knocked on a window and Ichigo came over and opened it.

"Hey, Rukia," he said happily. Then he noticed me. "What is he doing here?"

"Shut up! It's none of your business!" Rukia said as she entered through the window. I followed her inside. "Are your sisters here?"

"Yeah, they're downstairs but my dad isn't here. He disappeared again this morning."

"Where does he go to?" Rukia asked.

This has happened before? I wonder why Kurosaki's father disappears so much.

"Who knows? Come on. Karin and Yuzu will love to see you."

We all went downstairs.

"Karin, Yuzu, look who came to visit," Ichigo announced.

The two girls turned around. Both their faces lit up. They rushed to Rukia and hugged her.

"Rukia, I'm so glad you're here! Please tell me you'll stay for dinner!" the blond one said, hugging Rukia tightly.

"Yeah, it's boring around here with just Ichi-nii," the black haired one said.

"Hey!" Ichigo said, obviously offended.

"Yuzu, I'd love to stay, but I can't. I have some things I have to take care of while I'm here," Rukia said, disappointing the girls.

"What things?" Yuzu asked.

"Um, I have to… um—"

"She's a busy person, Yuzu," Ichigo said.

"But, she's only like 16!"

"Um, yeah, but she's still busy."

I looked at the time. It's almost four.

"Rukia, it's four. We have to go," I said.

"No, don't leave!" Yuzu begged.

"Sorry," Rukia said. "I'll try to come later, ok?"

"All right," both girls sadly said.

"Bye, Yuzu, Karin," she said. We went out the door. Before we left, Ichigo stopped us.

"Rukia, are you planning on coming to come to school tomorrow?" he asked.

"I don't know. I haven't thought of it."

"The girls at school miss you, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"I'll think about it."

We left and headed home. I looked at the time. It was almost four. Should we run? I looked at Rukia. She seemed happy and calm. Oh well, the others can wait.

We took our time and enjoyed each other's company. It's nice walking silently with someone. I knew if Hinamori was here, she'd never stop talking. She can be really obnoxious sometimes. And what happened to her this morning. I've never seem her that angry at someone. And I don't think Rukia's done anything to her. Has she? Matsumoto's never mentioned anything about it. She usually knows everything about things like that.

I stopped thinking about it and saw that we were about to reach the house. We walked to the door. I opened and let Rukia go in first. She smiled at me. We went in and the others, even Hinamori, were waiting for us.

Renji came towards Rukia. "Where have you been, Midget?"

"Shut up! Where I'm at doesn't concern you!" she replied.

"It does when there's a psycho out there that's after you!"

"I told you that that's none of your business! I can take care of myself!"

They kept at it until Matsumoto came up and calmed them both down. Once she had both of them calm, we left and headed out.

This time, our walk wasn't as silent or awkward. Everyone had something to say to each other. That is, everyone except Hinamori.

I sighed. Why is Hinamori being so difficult? She's always been such a pain! I wish she could be less annoying. And why is she being so—

My thoughts were interrupted by a squeal. It was Matsumoto. I looked at the huge building in front of us. I sighed. We were at the mall. We were going to go… shopping.

The others kept walking while I stayed back to mope. I really don't want to go shopping. Especially if Matsumoto is there.

"Captain, come on! What's the hold up?" Matsumoto suddenly asked.

"It's nothing," I replied.

"Then that's go!"

She ran back to me and grabbed my arms. She dragged me along with the others and into the mall.

This is not going to be fun.