• • •

"Jun-Kun's here~!" Yachiru cheered, instantly running over to my side and glomping me with all of the strength that she had. Even though she was small, she had more strength than you would imagine.

"Yes, yes." I nodded, before motioning down to the small stack of paperwork I had in my hands. "Ukitake-Taicho had me send this paperwork over; Thirteenth got it by mistake. I dunno who's in charge of the paperwork in Eleventh…but here you go."

"Aw~ that's no fun, Jun-Kun! You've been all work and no play recently! We've gotta have some fun together!"

Blinking, I sat the paperwork down on one of the desks in the office; it looked as if this room wasn't used very often. So what was Yachiru doing in here by herself?

"I guess I can have some fun with you. I've gotten everything done that Ukitake-Taicho wanted me too…well, the work that I volunteered for." I mused, bringing a finger to my lip as I thought before grinning down at Yachiru. "Okay! I'm up for a day of fun!"

"YAY!" The pink haired Fukutaicho cheered, jumping up and climbing up my back as her hands went around my neck. "Let's go sneak into Byakushi's house and eat all of the sweets!"

Laughing, I turned my head to the side so I could look up at Yachiru. "That sounds like a fun idea; only, Kuchiki-Sama is still in the Fourth Division recuperating. So nobody will really be there to catch us."

"That just makes it all the better! More sweets and we don't get caught in the end!" Yachiru reasoned, grinning. "Now, onward!"

• • •

"Kusajishi-Fukutaicho? Jun?" Rukia questioned, her large violet eyes blinking in curiosity as she watched the two of us stuff our faces with sweets.

Yachiru and I turned towards her with wide eyes as well; I'm sure we looked like deer caught in headlights. Both of our cheeks were puffed out making us resemble chipmunks and impeding our speech.

However, I managed to quickly chew the food and swallow before sheepishly grinning at my best friend. "Hey, Rukia! How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Rukia slowly said, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she looked at both of us once more. "But what are you two doing in the Manor and eating all of the food?"

"It's not all of the food!" Yachiru corrected, beaming up at her. "It's only the sweets! And that's 'cause Byakushi's house always has the best sweets!"

Sheepishly laughing, one of my hands rose up to scratch the back of my teased hair. "Sorry, Rukia, but could you keep this a secret? Kuchiki-Sama would get really mad if he knew we were here! But...wait? Shouldn't you be visiting him in the Fourth Division?"

"I just got back from there, actually. I was going to stop by the Manor and freshen up before I went somewhere else…"

"Oh, okay! Did you want me to go with you? 'Cause, according to Yachiru, today is my day of doing no work. I've got to relax for the rest of it." I offered, grinning at the started violet eyed woman.

Rukia sheepishly laughed, wringing her hands together. "No, that's quite alright. I was planning on going by myself, actually…"

"That's fine," I said, waving her nervousness off. "If you wanna go alone, then go alone. I guess I'll just go find Ichigo or Orihime; they're both heading back to the Real World soon."

"Aren't you going with them?" Rukia questioned, her eyebrows furrowing.

I bit my lip, adverting my gaze away from her. "I was planning on it, but I figured that it would be best to stay here for a little while longer. Soul Society is in chaos, and I feel like I need to earn Ukitake-Taicho's trust back. Besides, I'll be training a majority of the time I'm here, so I'll be strong enough to go back to Karakura."

"That's good; I'm staying here as well."

"What?!"

"Yes," Rukia nodded, sadly smiling. "I still haven't got my powers back, and Unohana-Taicho advised that I take my time… And if you're staying here as well, we can train together again. That way, when the time comes, we'll both be strong enough."

Grinning, I threw my arms around Rukia and pulled her into a hug. "That sounds good enough to me."

Laughing a bit as well, Rukia returned the hug.

"Well, I guess I'll have to tell everyone that I'm staying here soon…" I mused, pulling away from the hug and sharing a worried look with Rukia. "I don't think they'll take the news easily."

"I know, I've got to tell them as well." The violet eyed woman nodded, sighing to herself. "I was planning on telling them later today, because they're leaving tomorrow."

"Talk about waiting until the last minute, huh?" I teased, laughing. "Although you can say I'm the same way. I just finally made up my mind last night."

"You never change either, Jun." Rukia lightly laughed, shaking her head.

Grinning at her, I nodded. "Well, I'll be leaving. I'll take Yachiru with me as well, since we actually got caught this time."

"Aw~ no fair!" The small pink haired Fukutaicho whined around the food that she had stuffed in her mouth.

"Well, I'll let you take what you can carry with you. How's that?" I questioned, winking at her. Yachiru caught what I was implying, slyly grinning at me. "Let's go."

• • •

"Will Jun-Kun play with Ken-Chan when we get back?" Yachiru questioned, still munching on the bag of sweets that we napped from the Kuchiki Manor. Her dark pink eyes rose to meet mine as we walked back to the Eleventh Division.

Sheepishly shaking my head, I sighed. "I don't think so, Yachiru. That's not my kind of thing; I'm not that big of a fighter. That's why I'm not in the Eleventh Division."

"What if Ichi plays with Ken-Chan again? Will you watch?"

"Of course I'd watch, as long as I wasn't the one in the fight." I laughed, popping a piece of konpeito sugar candy in my mouth.

"Who would Jun-Kun root for?"

"Ichigo," I answered without skipping a beat, shoving another piece of candy in my mouth. "You'd cheer for Kenpachi, so Ichigo would need someone to cheer for him. It'd only be fair."

"'Cause Jun-Kun likes Ichi!" Yachiru sang at the top of her lungs, grinning up at me.

I flushed red, choking on the piece of candy in my mouth.

"Y-Yachiru! S-Stop it! That's not true!" I exclaimed, hastily bending down to cover her big mouth while sheepishly smiling at the passing Shinigami who were shooting us weird looks. "Sorry, she's just all hyped up on candy."

"That's not true! Jun-Kun likes Ichi!" Yachiru exclaimed, pushing my hand away from her face. Shooting a wide grin in my direction, she shot off like a firecracker. "I'm going to go tell Ichi, too!"

"Get back here, Yachiru!" I screamed, glaring at the pink haired menace as I chased after her. "Keep that trap of yours shut, you hear me?!"

Yachiru threw her head back and laughed, still managing to avoid my random grabs. Let me tell you one thing; she used that small stature to her advantage! I doubt even Yoruichi could catch her!

"Ichi!"

I balked, almost tripping over my own feet as Yachiru ran straight for the strawberry, which happened to be running straight towards us. Ichigo's cinnamon eyes widened as they landed on us, but he didn't stop.

The pink haired Fukutaicho launched herself towards him, only for him to dodge the attack at the last second. He was still barreling towards me, causing my own eyes to widen.

"If you don't slow down we're gonna crash!" I yelled at him, trying to slow down and not fall flat on my face. However, Ichigo just kept on running; in fact, it looked as if he started running even faster!

Just as we were about to collide, he shot an arm out and grabbed me around my waist and slung me over his shoulder.

"I-Ichigo! What was that for?!"

"Kenpachi!"

I looked up, seeing Kenpachi's approaching silhouette. He was gaining on us, but the man skidded to a halt once he saw Yachiru just standing there and eating her sweets.

"It looks like he stopped; he saw Yachiru!" I said, turning my head so that I was speaking into his ear so he could actually hear me.

"Have fun you two~!" Yachiru called out, widely waving at us from on top of Kenpachi's broad shoulder. I stuck my tongue out at her, only causing her to laugh even harder than she previously was.

• • •

"Ah, my feet hurt..!" Ichigo whined, stretching his muscles as bit as we walked side by side down one of the random streets in the Seireitei. Truthfully, I had no clue where we were. But I guess that's what I get for letting Ichigo sling me over his shoulder and just randomly run off.

"It's your fault! What were you doing? Teasing Kenpachi or something?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows as I straightened my Shihakusho up a little bit; it had become crooked from Ichigo carrying me the way he had.

"No! I was just sparring against Ikkaku when he came into the room and sliced my wooden sword in half!"

I laughed, shaking my head. "That's what you get for hanging around the Eleventh Division. Surely you didn't think you could spend all day there without Kenpachi bugging you for a rematch?"

"Maybe…" Ichigo muttered, rolling his eyes and lightly blushing a bit. "Oh crap… I left Zangetsu back in the Eleventh Division…"

"Zangetsu? Is that the name of your Zanpakuto?" I questioned, having noticed that he didn't have his sword slung across his back like he usually did. That wouldn't have made for a very comfortable ride.

"Yeah, I never told you his name, did I?" The strawberry questioned, sheepishly grinning down at me.

I shook my head, but smiled up at him none the less. "Nope, you didn't tell me a thing. But, it's not like you really had the chance to. We've been so busy lately; especially considering the fact that we were separated for most of our time here."

"Right," Ichigo nodded. "We've only had these few days to rest because it's taking them a while to fix the gate that'll send us back home."

"About that, Ichigo, I-"

"Kurosaki-Kun! Jun-Chan!"

Both of us looked up back at the sound of our names, curious as to what they wanted with us.

"What's up, Inoue?" Ichigo questioned, his eyes landing on the auburn haired princess.

I blinked, taking in her outfit. "Where did you get the change of clothes?"

"Sh…She's gone…" Orihime panted, bending over and placing her hands on her knees as she took big gulps of air in. Her face was flushed from her run, a sheen of sweat covering her face. "I can't find Kuchiki-San anywhere in the city!"

"Really?" I questioned, furrowing my brows. "I just talked to her earlier. She seemed fine then."

"Where did you run into her?" Ichigo questioned.

"Kuchiki Manor."

The strawberry arched and eyebrow at my answer. "Why were you there?"

Sheepishly laughing, I turned away from him and Orihime. "It was nothing-really!"

The two shared a look of disbelief before questioning me again.

"Did she mention where she was going, Jun-Chan?"

"Actually, she didn't. She told me that she was freshening up before she was going to head out again. I offered to come with her, but she brushed me off." I explained, feeling my eyebrows furrow. "Where do you think she could have gone?"

"One of two places." Ichigo answered, "C'mon!"

The strawberry took off running once more, leaving me and Orihime with no other choice; we had to follow him.

He was pretty fast when he was determined. And when he knew where he was headed, I'm guessing. Before I knew it, we were in front of the Fourth Division's healing quarters. Ichigo jumped up, grabbing onto a windowsill on the third floor.

Shaking my head, I sighed. "He gets really impatient, doesn't he?"

Orihime giggled, nodding.

I jumped up as well, holding onto the ledge of the window next to Ichigo. He and Renji were face to face, arguing about something.

"What do you want…? I was in the middle of saying something nice…" Renji growled, the vein on his forehead throbbing as he got even closer to Ichigo's face.

"My, my. What a compromising position." I observed, giggling as they jumped apart and blushed.

Ichigo seemed flustered, avoiding my gaze. "That's right… Uh, do you know where Rukia is?"

"Huh?" Renji questioned, a blank look crossing his face before he got back into Ichigo's face. "Why? Did something happen to her?"

"N-Never mind, if you don't know…" Ichigo stuttered a bit, pushing Renji's face away from his own.

I blinked, looking back and forth between the two of them. Shrugging my shoulders, feeling my left shoulder rub against Ichigo's right, I turned towards him. "Besides, don't you know it's dangerous to hang off of a third story building's window?"

"You're up here, too!" Ichigo exclaimed, narrowing his eyes at the teasing look on my face. "How did you get up here?!"

"The same way you did, duh."

"Che," Ichigo scoffed. "Sorry, Renji! Byakuya! We're outta here!"

"Yeah, sorry to bother you. Renji! Kuchiki-Sama!" I exclaimed, waving goodbye to them as we let go of the window and skillfully landed on the ground next to Orihime. "Well, that was a bust. Are you sure you know where Rukia's at?"

"I said that there were two places she could be!" Ichigo exclaimed, a bit flustered. "C'mon! I know where she must be if she's not in the Seireitei."

Ichigo took off again, running down the street like a mad man.

Orihime and I shared a look before shrugging and following after him once more. This kind of reminded me of the time we were chasing Chad around…except we had Orihime instead of Rukia and we were searching for Rukia instead of Chad.

"Junko! Ichigo! Orihime!"

All three of us blinked, sharing a look.

"Rangiku?" I asked, spotting the tipsy strawberry blonde Fukutaicho leaning out of a window in her Division.

"Yes, yes! Hey guys!" She cheered, waving a sake jug around. "Want to come join us?! We have some good sake!"

"Ah…" Ichigo hedged, "Maybe later..!"

"Yeah, I'll stop by later, Rangiku!" I called out, waving to her as we passed.

Orihime gaped at me, raising her arms to form a big 'X'. "We're all underage!"

"I have tea, too…" Rangiku muttered as we kept on running. "They're so cold…"

• • •

"Oi! I knew you would be here!" Ichigo called as we saw Rukia talking to Kukaku.

We had left the Seireitei, running all the way to Shiba Kukaku's house in the Western Rukongai district. I don't know how Ichigo knew Rukia was going to be here, but he was right for once.

Although if he was wrong, I'd make him carry me back to the Soul Society and until we actually had found Rukia.

"Ichigo…Jun…Inoue…"

"Looks like you're finished here, so… Let's go." Ichigo announced. "Tomorrow, they'll open the door to send us back to the Living World. You haven't completely recovered yet…so to prepare for tomorrow, you should rest!"

"Yes…about that, I have something to tell you…" Rukia murmured, her gaze drifting towards the grass blowing in the wind. Violet eyes rose, gazing deeply into rich cinnamon. "I've decided to stay in Soul Society."

Ichigo's eyes softened. "I see. That's good."

"Huh?" Rukia blinked, shocked.

The strawberry's hand rose, running his fingers through his hair. "Heh… Since you decided it for yourself… If you actually want to stay here, isn't that…a good thing?"

Rukia smiled, staring up at Ichigo.

Well, he seemed to take that better than we expected.

"You guys finally came! What the hell have you been doing?" Kukaku asked, shaking her fist towards us with a scowl.

I laughed, "Sorry we didn't drop by sooner, Kukaku."

"You're going home tomorrow? That's sudden." The fireworks technician noted, putting her hand on her hip as she gazed at our group. "Eat before you go. Everyone'll be glad to see 'ya!"

Ichigo blinked, an uncomfortable smile stretched across his lips. "Uh…well…but we…"

Kukaku scowled, punching him right in the nose. "You're one of them, too? Making me repeat myself over and over?"

"Uh, no, uh, we'll be pleased to accept your invitation, ma'am." Ichigo blubbered, holding onto his now bleeding nose.

"Yes, thank you very much, Kukaku." I agreed, stepping beside Ichigo and shoving his head down in a bow. I bowed as well, smiling up at the woman. "It'd be nice to spend some more time together before we have to part ways."