She blinked owlishly right back, her hair a crow's nest from being mussed against a pillow. "Was all that foul language you hitting your head?"

"No!" He shook the cat for emphasis. It yowled in protest. "Don't lie to me, short-stuff. Are you spying on me?"

"Ichigo," she said with a long-suffering air. "If we wished to conduct covert surveillance on you, cats are notoriously whimsical and unreliable."

"Unless it's robotic. Or a shapeshifter."

"Oh, is there tea?" She whisked past him to a cupboard. "Or that coffee stuff, for preference. I am not awake enough for this."

"Somebody mention tea?"

Ichigo turned to see Renji leaning on the doorjamb, plainly as fresh out of bed as Rukia had been. "A little respect here! I'm trying to have an interrogation. She keeps evading."

"Oh, oolong," came Rukia's voice from the depths of the cupboard. "Can you find the tea kettle, Renji? And convince this nitwit that the little feline isn't set here to spy on him."

Renji took the squirming cat from Ichigo, and it scampered eagerly up to the safety of his shoulder. With a flash of yellow eyes at Ichigo, it began to lick its toes with great care. "Look, would we be here if we could just go to the Twelfth and stare at ya through a creepy monitor?"

Ichigo sank against the kitchen counter and nearly smacked his temple on the cupboard Rukia had left open. Reaching over, he plonked the tea kettle down beside her. "Don't overfill it this time."

She huffed in supreme consternation. "I am not incapable of learning from my mistakes, thank you."