...

...

...

You and I
we don't want to be like them
we can make it to the end
and nothing can come between
you and I

...

...

...

...

He heard a knock at his bedroom door, along with the feeling of an all too familiar reiatsu as Ichigo wordlessly leaned out of his desk chair and grabbed the handle, twisting it open.

Rukia stood at the doorway, a small smile on her face as she put his house key that he'd given to her back in her purse. "Hey."

"Hi." Ichigo replied with a teasing smile, pushing his chair back a bit as she closed the door behind her before turning back to him. He heard the soft thud of her bag dropping to the floor as she climbed into his lap, her lips colliding with his as she wound her arms around him. Kissing him after not seeing him all day always felt incredibly cathartic, like that first step into a bathtub of hot, sweet-scented water at the end of a long day of training, sweat, and a mountain's worth of writing. It was a bonus that he was way bigger and taller than her and could hold her easily, that he was clean and warm and smelled like citrus and bergamot and whatever else the notes in his cologne were; absolutely delicious.

"Nice greeting," Ichigo's voice was low and a little gritty, and she smiled in response, letting herself relax against him. She rested her head on his shoulder, content at the feeling of his hands on her waist and his lips on her neck. "How was your day?"

"Busy," he whispered against her skin, and she shivered lightly and glanced at his desk from over her shoulder.

"Deadlines?"

"Yes." he nipped at her neck and she gasped in feign offense, which made him laugh, his fingers grazing her neck gently.

"Am I distracting you?" Rukia whispered against his neck, twirling a lock of his hair in her fingers. It was starting to get quite long- long enough for him to tie up.

"Oh yeah. I'm not getting anything done now." he said, rocking his hips up to press his hard on against her, causing her to slide forward into him even more with a gasp from her. Rukia felt her cheeks burn and her stomach tighten as her hands gripped his shirt as she squeaked, "Ichigo!"

He laughed out loud in response, and she hit his shoulder lightly in embarrassment as he kissed her cheek. "I'm just teasing you, sweetie."

He admired her pouty expression and flustered red cheeks from feeling shy about the nickname as she mumbled his name in response, and pulled her in for another kiss. "Anyway, I'll be done in 20 minutes, then we can go have dinner together, ok?"

"Okay."

She slid off of his lap then, savoring how he could make her feel as if she was in the midst of an afterglow, with her body warm and humming with awareness as she felt his hands slide slowly down the sides of her waist before he finally let go. Rukia turned around and picked her bag from the floor where she'd dropped it before walking around to place it on the bedside. She reached to his bookshelf and picked up her manga before returning to the bed, placing it there as she glanced at him, biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing at the sight of him pressing his hand down on his lap.

A draft blew in from the bedroom window and she shivered in realization, "Oh, it's cold in here. Have you been sitting like this all day?"

Her tone was scolding as she pushed the sun-aged curtains away, sliding the bedroom window shut with a click. Despite how beautiful and summery it had been during the day, the night air was cold and a little windy, as she could hear the sound out there.

"Ah, sorry.. I didn't really pay attention," he replied, standing up from the desk in his room where he had been working and going into the hallway, "I'll turn the heater on for a while, okay?"

"Okay.."

Rukia sat back down on the bed, leaning back with the book she had been reading as Ichigo came back in the room, sitting back at his desk. He glanced over at her, questioning, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said simply, not wanting to break his focus. He nodded before going back to it.

Rukia meanwhile, busied herself in her thoughts. It was a little weird, to be sitting in the room- and the bed- that his ex-wife used to live in. Where his own parents used to live. Her eyes roamed over the mostly barren walls, a single bookshelf and empty vanity table that now had random books and Ichigo's scattered files and work papers over it. The house was so empty- at least it had been fine before Kazui left, but with the boy moved out, it was suddenly a lot emptier. The difference from how it had been when they were young and she slept in his closet when they'd get home and have dinner with his father and sisters, was stark- it was lively, warm. You could tell the house was lived in. Her eyes fell on Ichigo's back, who was busy scrawling something in his book very fast, focused on his task. She felt worried each time they parted ways and he would go back to an empty house.

Her voice was low as her question came out, slowly and slightly unsure. "..Are you happy, Ichigo?"

The scratching sound of the pen on paper stopped, and she could tell the wheels were turning in his head as he thought about her question, though he didn't turn around. Then the scratching sound resumed, and he replied in an equal low, easy tone, "You make me happy."

Rukia pursed her lips together, unsure how much she liked that answer. Of course, it made her happy to know he was happy with her, but that wasn't quite what she'd meant by the question.

"I don't mean just about me... I mean in general."

He sighed, then leaned back in his chair slightly, placing his pen down. "...I'm not sure, Rukia. I mean, every choice I've made in my life up until dating you was for the sake of my son... now that he's an adult and doesn't need me to hold his hand anymore, I kind of feel like I have no idea what I'm doing with my life."

She was quiet for a moment, contemplative about what he said. "Don't you get lonely?"

"Not really.. I mean, you and I see each other almost every day. So I don't feel lonely."

"But the house is empty. It makes me worried."

Ichigo stood then, walking over to her and sitting on the side of the bed where she was curled up in his comforter, his hand falling on her knee in reassurance. "I'm okay, Rukia. Really. When you're gone, I mostly just do work anyway."

Rukia bit her lip, her fingers idly folding a page corner in her book as she looked back at him in indignation. "...I don't like it."

Ichigo couldn't stop the blush at that and looked away, his expression a bit meek. "..Neither do I. Sometimes I feel like there's nothing left for me here. I've been thinking of moving for a while, but I wonder if the Gotei would even take me."

"They'd be demented not to." Rukia's voice held venom, which made him chuckle. "You're stronger than most of the captains... I'd say stronger than all of them, to be honest. But is that really what you would want? You could always try a career change here if you wanted to. What did you want to be when you were a kid?"

"I never had a career goal like that," Ichigo confessed, and he crawled over the bed to lay down in the space beside her with a sigh, folding his arms behind his head. "I never thought about it as a kid, and once you sacrificed your powers to me, that was the only thing I really loved being. I never thought my life would be anything else."

The pair was quiet for a moment, Ichigo savoring the feeling of Rukia's reiatsu, ever-present and comforting; the base of his own soul.

"...Do you have an idea of where you want to live?" the question came, even more quiet than before. Ichigo turned his head to look at her, she was looking at him with red cheeks, the look in her eyes telling him she wanted him to be honest. He nodded. "...I don't have a set idea, but I would like to be near you."

Move in with me. Rukia's mind whispered the question, making her cheeks burn with heat in response as she swallowed hard, slowly whispering, "Would you think about moving with me?"

His eyes flickered to hers then, and she could see surprise and hope in them as he said slowly, "..Are you serious?"

Rukia blushed, nodding in answer. "Of course I am.. I wouldn't just say that."

Ichigo paused. "What about Ichika? I don't want to encroach in her space.. I know she isn't there all the time, but it is still her home."

"Ah," Rukia nodded, "She's actually planning to get her own place soon. She asked me for help with it last week."

"Really?"

"Yes. She's been saving money for a while now, and she has kept all of the monetary gifts she gets from me, Renji, and Nii-sama, so it adds up."

"Wow," Ichigo nodded approvingly, leaning against the headboard, "She's pretty smart."

"Yeah. It makes me feel old sometimes. I remember when she was a kid and she'd track mud into the house and keep bugs in her pockets."

Ichigo reached a hand out, and Rukia put her hand in his, savoring the feeling of his fingers entangled in hers, his thumb running over hers gently. The two of them sat in comfortable silence as she added, "It'll be a while- construction and then moving in and whatnot. But I think it will be a good enough amount of time for us to figure things out."

He nodded in agreement, a strange feeling of excitement in his heart as he whispered, "We're really going to do this."

Rukia smiled in response. "Yes, we are."

Rukia set two plates on to the table, arranging their spoons and grabbing the oven mitts to carry the steaming pot of rice to the table as she called upstairs, "Ichigo, come on."

He didn't respond, and she placed the pot down on the table, glancing over at the stairway before walking over, glancing up as she called out again. "Ichigo?"

He appeared then, a stunned expression on his face as he held his phone up slightly as if she was supposed to see what was on his screen. "Rukia."

His demeanor concerned her, and she grew serious as she responded, "What? What is it?"

"Rukia. It's Ishida. He... got married."

Rukia's expression changed from concerned to surprised as she stared at her companion, who still stood holding his phone at the top of the staircase. "What?"

"Ishida," Ichigo reiterated as he glanced again at his phone as if to check if he was really seeing what he was seeing. "He got married."

"When?" she questioned as he moved down the steps; she followed him to the dining table, sitting down across from him.

"Three years ago, apparently," Ichigo replied, and Rukia could tell he was slightly irritated by the tone of his voice, still reading on his phone.

"Well, that's not a bad thing," she emphasized, as Ichigo seemed stunned by this sudden knowledge. "How did you find out? He told you?"

"No, actually Sado just messaged me." he said slowly, his voice holding sorrow. "He said Orihime met him at a store last week, and she called him about it. I haven't talked to Ishida in years.."

"That must be why we didn't know about it," she said softly, trying to not add to the look of hurt and disappointment on Ichigo's face. He said nothing, but leaned over and propped his chin in his hand, his eyes closing.

"..He said his wife's pregnant, too."

Rukia blinked, even more surprised this time. "What? Really?"

"Yeah."

"Wow." she glanced down at him, trying not to laugh at his pouty expression. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Ichigo's voice was a little morose, then moved from her shoulder to her lap, pushing his face into her with a sigh. "I feel bad, I guess. It was so awkward and negative after everything that happened, and we just drifted apart.. especially once he moved away to Tokyo."

"You could always call him," Rukia suggested gently, "I bet it would make him happy."

"Would it?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

Ichigo was quiet for a moment, before his voice came again, this time low and embarrassed. "I think he hated me for what happened."

Ah. Rukia fell silent, unable to say anything to that. Had Ishida had feelings for Orihime? They could never be sure, but certainly, it was a possibility. They got along well and had even been in the same school activities... and he'd always been a gentleman towards her.

"But that was years ago. I don't think he would care to keep a grudge about it now. So much has changed."

Ichigo's expression was unsure. "You think?"

"I do," her tone was firm but gentle and reassured him in a way. Ichigo sighed.

"Maybe I'll call him... I wonder how long he'll stay in Karakura. Chad said he's just here to visit his dad." he looked back down at his phone, his face lighting up then. "Oh, I forgot to tell you!"

"Hm?" Rukia looked up from her bowl of rice and veggies, her chopsticks paused in midair in her hand as Ichigo held up his phone to her again.

"I managed to book the beach house for us."

"Oh!" Rukia's face lit up now as well, and it made Ichigo grin even more in excitement. "What days are we going?"

"August 5th to August 8th. The dates you wanted," he placed his phone down then, spooning veggies onto his plate. "I could've gotten more days, you know."

"We both still have work, Ichigo." Rukia reminded him which he merely scoffed at, earning an eyeroll from her. "Besides, it's expensive. Don't you have bills?"

"My finances are perfectly in order. And I'd rather spend my money on you." Ichigo said as if it were a matter of fact, startling suddenly when Rukia flung a piece of carrot at him. It hit him on the cheek and bounced off, falling perfectly onto his plate, a small smear of sauce left on his cheek in evidence. "Hey!"

Rukia snickered, and Ichigo glared at her in feigned anger, "You'll pay for that, Kuchiki."

"Will I now?" Rukia replied in a sing-song voice, sticking her tongue out at him. Ichigo rolled his eyes.

The two finished dinner, Ichigo washing the dishes while Rukia dried them as they talked together. She took his hand then, pulling him towards the living room as she said, "Come with me."

She opened her senkaimon and they stepped through it, right to the gate of her house. It was night, and they could hear the peaceful sound of crickets chirping and water trickling from the water fountain, the stars above them vast and dark, twinkling like little backlit diamonds. She looked out of the corner of her eye at him; he seemed fairly unaware. Good.

Rukia kept her hand in his as she reached over, flipping the cover of the keypad open and typing her gate code in. The doors slowly and surely slid open, and she gently pulled him through, slowing down a bit so he would get ahead of her as he took a few steps and then paused, staring at everything.

Rukia's front yard was a spectacular sight. Hanging ropes of twinkling lights were suspended over their heads. The iron bistro table that always sat in her front yard was covered with a table cloth and as he approached, being guided by Rukia's small hand on his back, he noticed it had a beautiful little cake sitting on it, pretty and white with frosted balloons and the words Happy Birthday Ichigo elegantly frosted in red gel icing over the top. The chair next to the table had a stack of presents ranging in size, all wrapped in shiny red and gold paper and ribbons. It looked almost like Christmas.

"Wow.." he said softly, a mix of emotion swirling in his mind as he turned to look at her. She was looking at him shiny-eyed, full of hope and excitement. "You did all this..?"

"It's 12:04. Officially July 15th." Rukia replied, her voice low and in dulcet tones as she reached out, her hands on his waist. "Happy birthday, darling."

It was a rare thing to hear her use a word of endearment, and Ichigo felt a little breathless as she pulled him close gently, kissing him.