A/N: Thank you to Jackofalltrades32456, and Vizual-Era for the new reviews, Lightningblade49 for continuing reviews, and thank you to everyone who's favorited and followed, as well as all you other readers out there!

Bleach and all products thereof are copyright to Tite Kubo, et al.

Friday, February 14, 2003

By 7:56 AM, Rukia and Inoue were already in their third convenience store in pursuit of the latter's determined efforts to get the former to acquire chocolate. Most of the supplies had already long-since been picked over, everyone else having rather sensibly bought their gifts before the day itself had arrived. The odd pair were the only ones that were obviously conducting a last minute search.

Rukia had protested at Inoue's assertion that she would buy the sought-after chocolate, but the teenager had made it clear that she would not take no for an answer on the subject. She was likewise clearly not looking for something to buy herself, which made Rukia suspicious.

They left the convenience store and Inoue declared without a hint of lost morale "Don't worry, Kuchiki-san, some of the department stores will be open by now, and they'll have a way bigger selection!" Inoue had told Rukia that she had heard from Yuzu that Ichigo preferred bittersweet chocolate over both milk chocolate and dark chocolate, and it was proving hard to find something that matched.

As she was being practically dragged to the nearest department store, Rukia felt her heart growing increasingly heavier from the enterprise. It didn't make sense to her. "Inoue," Rukia started after they were halfway there.

"Mmm," Inoue replied, before facing the petite Shinigami, "yes, Kuchiki-san?"

Rukia hesitated at her cheery expression and looked down, taking a moment to steel herself, before asking with a tone of genuine disbelief "Why…are you doing this?" She found she couldn't bear to look at her friend's face. Am I still…such a coward?

She watched wrists come up and rest on the girl's hourglass hips, palms facing outward. "What do you mean?" said Inoue's voice, only a fraction less happily.

"Why are you…don't you like Ichigo?!" Rukia finally managed to snap, her tone becoming harsh at the end, surprising even herself. In the aftermath there were no other sounds around them, like the world had muted itself with her utterance. She watched as after a pause Inoue's open hands clamped into fists, the girl's reiatsu drawing up. She felt her eyes widen involuntarily at both. Now I've done it, she thought, feeling a growing dread. She braced herself for whatever was to come.

Nothing did. Ages seemed to pass as Inoue simply held her pose, not moving a single muscle. Finally, finally Rukia saw some kind of motion, felt a pair of wrists move across her shoulders as if going for her neck. She didn't resist. She would take whatever came from her friend on this subject.

Rukia was shocked enough to gasp as suddenly the world unfroze itself. Inoue had leaned forward and put her arms around Rukia's neck and upper back, head beside hers, hugging her. What… Neither said anything for some time, the tawny-haired girl just holding the raven-haired one. Rukia found herself too shocked to move.

"Kuchiki-san," Inoue eventually said by Rukia's ear. Her voice was soft and compassionate but unwavering, accompanied by small puffs of steam that were surprisingly warm, "I do like Kurosaki-kun. Ah, I've liked him more and more the more I've gotten to know him…" She trailed off for a moment before resuming, a certain sweetness coming into her tone, "But what that really means is, is that I want Kurosaki-kun to be happy. And…he hasn't been happy for over a year, no matter what I or anyone else does. He hasn't been happy since…the last time he saw you, Kuchiki-san." It felt to Rukia that something else went unsaid then but Inoue continued on, "I think seeing you will make him happy. I think spending time with you will make him happy, and so…I'll help in any way I can. Besides…you're my friend too."

"Inoue…" Rukia muttered, staring sideways at the wisps of richly-colored hair she could see in wide-eyed disbelief. Renji's final words to her before she had left once again replayed in her mind, hitting her this time like a lightning bolt. No way, she said to herself. No way, it's like they all think that I—that we—that Ichigo and I…

"It's okay," Inoue continued, lightly rubbing Rukia's upper back in reassurance. The teenager let out a soft sigh, saying "You're both such proud people and sometimes…no, I think that's part of why..."

Rukia grappled internally with what had just happened and, finding some purchase, forcefully reasserted control over her emotions. "'Why'?... Ne, Inoue, what—what are you trying to say?" she said, forcing incredulity into it, chuckling softly in a chiding way.

Inoue pulled her arms back to rest her hands on Rukia's shoulders and stood, looking down at the Shinigami with a mature, knowing smile. Rukia found herself in some degree of awe at the surprising sight, but tried to force a Kuchiki look-of-disdain onto her face. Whatever she managed just made Inoue tilt her head and giggle, letting go of Rukia's shoulders. "Come on," Inoue said, turning, "We still have to find you something!"

Rukia found she couldn't help but smile softly at the girl's back and proceeded after her with only a moment's delay, "So who are you giving chocolate, and what kind?" Rukia asked with sudden boldness as they continued along.

Inoue blushed slightly and lifted a hand to wag a finger, admonishing "Kuchiki-san, you can't just ask someone something like that out of the blue!"

Rukia felt a vein suddenly throb on her forehead and twitched an eye, "You—you just…!"

Inoue rubbed the back of her head and laughed nervously at her friend's aggravation.

Karin walked around the last corner between her and the Urahara Shop and caught sight of Ururu and Jinta, marching up toward them with purpose. She had only a limited timeframe between eating breakfast and getting to school to get what she needed from Urahara. Yuzu had known almost since she'd started and at any rate didn't ask questions, dad probably knew but hadn't said anything, and her brother was clueless. That was the way she liked it and that was the way it was going to stay, and so she wouldn't allow the strange shopkeeper to make her late.

"Um, there's someone already inside," Ururu offered weakly as Karin strode by, not hearing her. Jinta, for his part, just watched, having made the calculation it was still way too early in the morning to deal with the girl's wrath.

Karin slid open the shop door, exclaiming "Urahara! I'm running late, I just need the usual things!"

Tessai appeared in the open doorway at the back of the store area that separated it from the rooms further inside, adjusting his glasses "Ah, Kurosaki-dono, unfortunately, the tenchō is busy helping—"

"It's okay, Tessai," said Urahara's voice, the man himself appearing at the other side of the doorway. He was covering his mouth with his fan as he spoke, adding "Our guest has been unusually direct and I believe we have already concluded our business today."

Tessai nodded and disappeared from the doorway as a new voice, a deeper male one Karin had never heard before, replied "That's correct." The unidentified man appeared then further into the room, and Karin could see he was clothed in some sort of dark blue military uniform. She didn't know exactly what country's it was, but the look of it coupled with his bright blue eyes very quickly marked out to her that the man wasn't Japanese, although he spoke it flawlessly.

The man moved up to the doorway and added "You'll have everything ready by tomorrow morning, I trust?"

"Yes," Urahara replied without emotion. It was then that Karin noticed that he was looking straight at her even as he spoke to the other man. The look in his eyes was unreadable. She felt a chill creep up her spine.

"In that case…sorry about the short notice," the foreigner added with what seemed like contrition. Urahara said nothing, and so the other man made for the still-open front door of the shop. As he came up in front of Karin he stopped and looked down at her. Karin found her gaze shift from Urahara's eyes to the military man's as if drawn by some sort of force. Her view slid across one of the pins reading "U.S." on his lapels before meeting his eyes. In them she saw something that looked for all the world like total recognition. He smiled faintly and said simply "Miss," in what was clearly American-accented English, then walked past her, putting on a cap before he stepped outside.

She watched him as he went, putting on a pair of aviators shortly after he had made it fully outside, and she involuntarily shuddered. Besides his appearance the man had no reiatsu or anything to him at all that marked him out as being anything other than an ordinary man, but it was as if…

"So, will it be the Zetavoltan, the Spirepel X, and the Nobackpainu Alpha as usual, Kurosaki-san?" Urahara asked conversationally, although there was no humor or cheer in it. She slowly turned back to him and found his stare unchanged.

It was 8:45 by the time Rukia and Inoue had finally found chocolate that Rukia was satisfied with, and since Inoue was already late and had gotten up so early on her behalf, Rukia had demanded they stop for breakfast. They had gone to a small nearby restaurant that wasn't too expensive, and were presently ordering, Rukia picking tamagoyaki and Inoue asking for miso soup with honey and soy sauce.

"And then Neo is running along the wall with a gun in either hand going pewpewpew and the pillars everywhere are exploding in slow motion and—" Inoue continued, recounting the events of The Matrix for Rukia blow by blow. She was incredibly excited that its sequels were coming out later in the year and after they had finished shopping it had been the first thing she'd brought up. When Rukia revealed she'd never seen it (nor even heard of it), Inoue had immediately begun describing the movie in exacting if not entirely clear detail.

"Um, so why did Neo go to this imaginary building again?" Rukia asked. She hadn't entirely understood the concept of virtual reality with the way Inoue had covered it and was having difficulty keeping up.

"To rescue his friend Morpheus!" Inoue replied. "Like when we had to go to Soul Society to get you, except in the end they break him out with a helicopter with a minigun on it!" she said.

Rukia laughed at her friend's excitement despite not knowing what either a helicopter or minigun was, only to be surprised when Inoue suddenly produced a drawing of the bridge that led to the Senzaikyū being strafed by a helicopter gunship flown by Ganju, the gun manned by Ishida, and herself, Ichigo, Chad, and Yoruichi at the other end of the bridge in kung-fu poses. All six, without fail, wore sunglasses and black trench coats. The guards were jumping off to avoid the bullets. "We would definitely have gotten there way quicker," Inoue said with conviction, nodding at herself.

Rukia felt a sweatdrop form at the back of her head and hurriedly agreed to see the movie at some point in an effort to redirect the conversation as they finished up breakfast.

Once they had paid, she walked Inoue to school and promised, despite lingering reservations, to hang out with her and Tatsuki over the weekend. In the end the girl was only 45 minutes late, which shouldn't have been too big a problem.

Totting the bag that held her new gift for Ichigo, she went to visit the site of the reiatsu discharge, only to find the crater there had already been filled up by Karakura's municipal workers. There was, at any rate, nothing suspicious to be found within the park no matter how thoroughly she investigated it. She did notice an odd piece of bright orange plastic she couldn't identify in some bushes, but the only thing that marked it out was its presence; it was highly unusual to find litter in Japan.

Satisfied there was nothing further to be learned from the place and that she could attest to that officially, she went to question Zennosuke and Isshin.

The former had nothing to add that she hadn't heard already, and practically groveled at the feet of his fukutaichō when she brought up Ishida's criticism of his performance. She mentally modeled herself after her brother in that moment and sternly instructed him to train and better apply himself, which he swore up and down that he would do, and so she went on her way.

She arrived at the Kurosaki Clinic at about noon, catching Isshin on his lunch break, and was warmly welcomed by him. For once he seemed to be on his best behavior. He likewise had nothing of substance to add to what she already knew. She chose then to share her suspicions with the former taichō, finding he had arrived at a similar conclusion as she had, but had likewise run up against the same dead end. They postulated at that, but it came to nothing, and so she cordially left once his break was over.

She took to wandering about town for a bit to reminisce and think before heading back to Karakura High School.

Her business for the day done, Rukia sat in a tree near the front gate of the school, mulling over her work and daydreaming while waiting for Ichigo to finish with classes. It hadn't been her intent to ambush him, exactly, but as she had thought about it more it was clearly what had to be done. At last the final bell rang, and she sat up alertly, looking for any sign of that familiar orange hair. The vast bulk of the student body filtered out beneath and before her over the next few minutes and she found herself growing irritable at Ichigo's absence. What's keeping him?

She was about to abandon her plan and begin to search him out when she saw him strolling toward the gate across the now empty schoolyard. She waited until she was relatively out of view to his side and dropped out of the tree, stealthily moving up behind him. Once she was a couple meters away she abruptly declared "I can't believe that Inoue was right, but those glasses really do look kinda cool…Ichigo."

He seemed to freeze at her voice before looking over his shoulder. It struck her as oddly restrained but once she saw the light in his eyes she could tell the act for what it was. "Yo, Rukia," he said in response, smirking.

"Miss me?" she asked, smiling and slowly walking up to him. She found herself marveling internally at what less than two years had done in terms of maturing his look, even as he still acted the same.

He fully turned to face her and grinned, saying "Like a cold."

"Fool," she said with a laugh. They stood less than a meter apart, just looking at each other.

"So, what brings you back all of a sudden?" Ichigo asked.

"I just couldn't stand to be apart from you, Ichigo," Rukia said in the schoolgirl voice she knew he loathed, teasing him, before wagging a finger and saying "Work," normally.

"Ah," Ichigo replied. He didn't visibly react to that, but smirked at her again "Are you sure it wasn't the first answer? Your timing is oddly suspicious."

"Oh dear, you found me out," she said once more with the annoying innocent act, lifting an arm to cover her face, "I have to flee before my pure maiden's heart is broken!"

"I like what you've done with your hair," Ichigo said simply, his smile back to normal.

Rukia dropped her arm and pointed at his nose, saying "Flattery will get you nowhere," before producing a gift-wrapped box with her other hand and holding it out to him. "For you," she said.

Ichigo blinked and took the box curiously at first, before his smile twisted again to tease, "Should I ask which this is supposed to be?"

"Inoue said a man would simply know," Rukia said imperiously, giving him that dour Kuchiki look. It was clear she had been practicing her brother's expressions.

Ichigo laughed at that and said merely "I see," and looked down from her for a moment, before bringing his eyes back up to meet hers. There was a certain firmness to them now, though they still regarded her exceedingly kindly. "Rukia," he said, his voice sincere, "do you trust me?"

Rukia felt a coy smile tug at her lips. "What kind of question is that, you fool?" They had been through far too much together for him to ever need to ask such a thing.

"Do you trust me?" he repeated in the exact same tone, his eyes not moving a millimeter.

Her eyes narrowed as her smiled faded. The change in the mood was palpable. "Of course," she said without skipping a beat, returning his look.

In the corner of her eye she could see him slowly bring his right hand toward her left one. She didn't move away but looked down, muttering "…Ichigo…" as she watched in disbelief.

It was the soft way that he said "Be ready," that drew her eyes back up to meet his in surprise as his hand clasped hers all at once.

Her mouth opened in shock as suddenly, where before there had been no reiatsu of any kind, the familiar maelstrom of Ichigo's presence now streamed around her, as though she were suddenly in the eye of a typhoon. It was of exactly the same kind and magnitude she had last felt before he fought Aizen. Her own reiatsu, still weaker in comparison, at first contracted against the astounding force radiating from him, before stabilizing and seeming to harmonize, like two whirlwinds counter-rotating in synchronous. "Ichigo…!" was all she could manage to get out at the sudden sensation. They stared at one another in silence.

She felt him delicately squeeze her hand and realized their fingers had interlocked, and she found she didn't know if she had done it or he had. The look in his eyes conveyed that he was just as surprised. She froze at that for a moment, before squeezing back harder. She felt tears form at the corners of her eyes and abruptly pushed up against him to hide her joy, her right hand clenching at the fabric of the jacket he wore. His left hand, still holding the box of chocolates, came around the back of her waist, his arm supporting her.

A moment passed before Ichigo whispered "I promise I'll explain everything" down at her.

Rukia clenched both his hand and shirt tighter and whispered back "Shut up," as calmly as she could. They quietly leaned against one another for what seemed like forever.

"I'm not comfortable with this," Chad said. His tone was plain but there was a note of indignation that was unusual for the strong but silent teenager.

In front of him both Inoue and Ishida were looking through the fence on the roof at the proceedings below them, both clutching bird-watching binoculars Ishida had scrounged up from somewhere. All of them were suppressing their reiatsu to the utmost to avoid Rukia's detection.

"Shh, Sado-kun, they'll hear us!" Inoue scolded.

"You can borrow my binoculars if you want," Ishida said.

Chad had taken them out of Ishida's hands and was already peering down at their pair of friends before the Quincy could even react.

"You just—" Ishida began in vexation before Inoue shushed him as well. Ishida let out a huff and felt his head turn back down toward the couple as there was a sudden shift in Rukia's reiatsu, it contracting and then suddenly flaring, like it was reacting to something.

"They're holding hands!" Inoue said excitedly, almost squealing at how cute it was.

"They'll hear you," Chad said, by means of admonishment.

Ishida narrowed his eyes as Rukia's reiatsu seemed to become perfectly quiescent. He was certain that even for two people in a state like that such a spiritual reaction was not remotely normal, but said nothing to the others. He was, despite his suspicions, happy for them, and didn't want to ruin the mood.

Inoue started quietly chanting "Banzai!" and began hopping from foot to foot at what was happening.

Even Chad cracked a small smile beneath the binoculars.

Ikumi was collating and recording receipts in her down-time, an unusual smile on her face as she worked. While she had been a bit annoyed Ichigo hadn't shown up, she had known that was quite likely from the way he'd been behaving all week. The more she thought about it the more she smiled, and she found herself whispering "Do your best, Ichigo-chan."

No sooner had she said those words than she heard the door opening and looked up, finding a man in a strange blue suit. "Hello, and welcome to the Unagiya Shop, can I—"

She froze in sudden recognition at the smile the man flashed her.

"—You!" she managed.