Wing!Fic draft

[fay_e]

Armageddon didn’t happen. Yeah, the job of ensuring that Armageddon didn’t happen was long and also involved an epic battle in which Aizen was thrown down. The chink that he had wedged in the doorway to the King’s realm was closed, but not before the apocalyptic waste that Aizen’s army had left strewn around was mysteriously healed by the single ray of light issuing from that chink. So Rukia, who had gotten a good look at the King’s realm and a good dose of that healing light should be perfectly fine, shouldn’t she?

That didn’t explain why she suddenly collapsed just as the gateway to Soul Society was opened. Ichigo was far too bloody and injured to make a save, and he was leaning on Renji in a haze of mutual hurt and sheer will not to collapse. Byakuya however, caught her easily. She looked small and limp in his arms, and the wavering of her reiatsu was not reassuring at all.

The gathered shinigami paused, unsure of how to react. Within moments Unohana parted the crowd, having sensed the disturbance. She gestured for Byakuya to lay Rukia on the ground and quietly made her diagnosis. Both Ichigo and Renji watched. Ichigo ignored how tightly Renji was gripping his shoulder, just as Renji was ignoring the worried look in his eyes. Renji’s grip got tighter as Unohana shook her head. “Her reiatsu is too unstable to travel.”

“She can stay here,” Ichigo barged in. “I’ll stay with her.”

“What about your wounds dumbass? You think you’re in any state to take care of someone?”

“It appears that we have no other alternatives, Abarai-kun,” Unohana replied passively. “I will make arrangements with Urahara-san myself. Rest assured that she will receive the best of care.”

Renji hesitated for a moment, then grudgingly shoved Ichigo upright. Ichigo wavered a little before finding his own feet. “You better take care of her, you hear,” Renji said lowly, eyes still fixed on Rukia.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Ichigo shot back, and limped his way towards Urahara's shoten.


Saying that was all well and good until Rukia woke up in the night of the night, screaming in pain.

Ichigo blinked his way back to consciousness, dimly aware of the sound of running feet. He’d been forcibly dragged to a futon just a door away from Rukia’s room after bleeding all over Rukia’s bedside. That didn’t stop him from bolting up and throwing the door open. If Urahara’s diagnostic tests were causing her any pain…

The sight that greeted him wasn’t any more reassuring. Rukia was sitting upright in her futon, rocking back and forth. Around her the rest of the Shoten people were rushing around in a flurry of bandages and various odd contraptions. Urahara himself was seated beside her, letting her rock and murmuring soothing words.

Ichigo joined him. “What’s wrong?” he demanded. Rukia’s gasps for air were harsh and grating to his ears. He tried to grip her shoulders but was blocked by Urahara.

“Kuchiki-san’s reiatsu is far too unstable at the moment for outside contact. You might hurt her more if you touch her.”

“Hurts… a lot… already,” Rukia squeezed out, her voice small and choked.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. The stabilization field should be ready soon.”

She only whimpered in reply, fingers gripping her arms tightly. Ichigo’s fingers itched to reach out to her. “Isn’t there something we can do now?”

“I don’t believe so. Although I have no idea what is happening to Kuchiki-san at the moment, all of my hypotheses have a similar basis: somehow her spirit is changing. To interfere now would only endanger her life. All we can do is guide her to the next level of change.”

“The next level… ?”

Urahara’s expression behind his fan did not change. “Watch, Ichigo. Just watch.”

Tessai joined them. “The stabilization field is ready. Kuchiki-san, if you please.”

“Just do it,” Rukia bit out. Just feeling her reiatsu made Ichigo giddy, because it was doing some strange loop-a-loop. He tried to stagger to his feet as Tessai shooed everyone out, but didn’t quite make it before he was bodily hauled out by the kids. It seemed to be happening to Ichigo a lot today. He shook himself free so that he could see what was happening.

Tessai was drawing strange patterns on the ground that glowed briefly before sinking into the woodwork. That didn’t hold Ichigo’s attention. Instead he watched Rukia, whose rocking was beginning to slow. Now and then she would hold herself still, shivering in place with her face upturned to the sky. But she would then resume her rocking. Ichigo watched, waiting for some change, any change.

She suddenly shuddered to a halt and arched her back. Her fingers scrabbled on the sheets, the floor, looking for some firmer grip. Now and then a moan would slip out from her, but otherwise she was deadly quiet except for her nails on the wooden floor. Ichigo kept his eyes fixed on her, trying to figure out what was happening. Her reiatsu was no help, still making those maddening loop-a-loops, but smaller and tighter. Ichigo wondered what would happen when it reached wherever it was spiraling to.

He never got the answer, because Rukia passed out.

Tessai immediately dropped the stabilization field and headed to Rukia. Ichigo stumbled in, not knowing what he could do but still wanting to be there. There was something odd about her back: the cloth was bulging and tight in places.

“Let us see her back, Tessai,” Urahara said calmly.

Carefully, Tessai adjusted her top so only her back would be exposed. It took some time to get the cloth over her shoulders, but once that had been done it moved down easily. Ichigo couldn’t help staring as the cloth slowly revealed a pair of tiny, blood-covered wings. In bits the blood had been rubbed away to reveal white feathers.

“What is that?” Ichigo blurted out.

Urahara tugged his hat lower. “I don’t rightly know, Kurosaki-kun.”


Over the next few days Rukia slipped in and out of consciousness. At first, when Ichigo had seen Rukia lying on her back he had freaked out - wouldn't it hurt those - those things growing out of her back?

"I've put Rukia-chan in another gigai to help stabilish the changes. The gigai will protect her. And please don't make Tessai sit on you again Kurosaki-san, you're recovering as well!" He tsked as Tessai carried Ichigo to enforced bedrest. Ichigo somehow found himself next to Rukia's futon when no one was looking, although he told Sandal-hat that it had nothing to do with guilt or obligation, dammit!

Then Rukia woke up, and Ichigo didn't even know why he bothered.

"What are you frowning about?" was the first thing she demanded.

Ichigo stared. "You've been in bed the last few days! I was worried!"

"I'm awake now aren't I?" she sniffed, and tried to get out of her futon. Ichigo was pleased to see that he wasn't the only one jumped on when he tried to get out of bed. Not that it did much good - she behaved long enough for Urahara to chase everyone else out of the room, and then disappeared herself. It was Ichigo who found her, looking out into the distance. Somehow, just looking at her gave Ichigo a prickly feeling - Rukia looked like she always did, and yet she didn't.

Ichigo dealt with it by telling Urahara where she was. In retaliation, Rukia didn't talk to him for the rest of the week.

The day that Ichigo was set to leave the Urahara shoten, he knew exactly where to find Rukia. He made as much noise as possible walking over the wooden porch, not knowing if she would continue to ignore him, or snap at him for disturbing her.

“Healed already, Ichigo?” she said without turning. Her voice was surprisingly calm. His eyes naturally fell on her back, and even though the gigai she wore hid the wings, he swore that he somehow got the impression of fluttering.

“Yeah, I’m going. I’ll visit when I can.”

“Ichigo, what’s happening to me?”

He didn’t know how to answer that question. Urahara had sworn them all to secrecy, but there was no way Rukia was not going to find out that she had a pair of wings on her back. Still, Urahara had his sneaky ways: telling Rukia to stay in her gigai at all times was one of them.

“Urahara told you.” Ichigo took the place beside her, bending his knees to sit on the edge. He almost asked Rukia what was so interesting about a dusty backyard, but he probably already knew. It wasn’t the backyard that was interesting; it was being outside in open air.

Ichigo had no intention of finding out the significance of that.

Rukia had her head cocked to the side a little, and Ichigo knew the look of annoyance on her face was directed towards him even though her eyes were still fixed on that patch of blue sky. “Urahara never tells me anything. He’s worried about giving away his trade secrets, that stupid merchant.”

“Well, it’s not like anyone else here can take care of you.”

“I can take care of myself!”

“Normal people aren’t prone to collapsing.”

“I haven’t collapsed since that day! Not once! And if an idiot like you who can’t look after himself can go home, why can’t I?”

“You – !” Ichigo firmly reminded himself that throttling Rukia was not an option. “Well, I’m going home now! And I’ll prove that I can look after myself, thanks!”

Rukia didn’t jump up and yell back as expected, which made her tone later even more unnerving. “Ichigo?”

Against his better judgement he stopped. “What?”

She was still looking at the sky. “I want to go with you.”


Ichigo knew he had done a lot of stupid things in his life, but smuggling Rukia out right under Urahara’s nose had to top them all.

Alright, almost top them all. Rukia had taken a little too well to her new-found freedom, and she was running for the sheer joy of it, completely ignoring his advice on what to do when they reached his house in the process. Now he was forced to run after her, because who knew what she would get up to when she got to his house?

“Rukia, stop right now!” he yelled, too incensed to care about the strange looks he was getting. It wasn’t fair. He had longer legs, why couldn’t he outrun her?

She laughed. She had been laughing a lot since she left the Shoten. “Catch me then.”

“Aren’t you too old for games?”

“Aren’t you too slow?”

“What??? I- I’m just letting you win! Ever since my injuries I’ve been feeling a bit rusty, and I just need to warm up!”

“Excuses,” she trilled, and now Ichigo really had to catch up, because he could see the clinic just down the road. There was even a familiar silhouette by the glass doors.

Wait a second.

The familiar silhouette started moving towards them. As it got closer, it became more and more recognizable as Kurosaki Isshin.

“WEL-COME HOME MY DAUGH-TER!”

Screw it. Rukia could totally have all of his old man’s crushing love hugs. Ichigo was going to take it easy and walk.


“Some escape plan.”

Rukia was unperturbed. “I just asked if I could go with you. You were the one who wanted to sneak out.”

“Urahara had you under observation! He promised that shinigami captain!”

“Unohana,” Rukia filled in absently. She was wandering around his room and staring at everything like it was new. Ichigo wanted to snap at her to stop, but the only place for her to sit was his bed. “But this is for the best. I get to go out, and Urahara gets to continue his treatment. I think I like it better when your father administers it.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Like?”

“ME?”

He wasn’t sure when Rukia’s smile became life-changing, but he swore that he had never seen it like this before. It was a little bit like looking into the sun, and a little bit like looking at all the joy the world had ever known. It was something that couldn’t be comprehended.

“I’m sure you’re more than happy to have me here.”

He was still dazzled by her smile when she came up to his bed and wriggled past where he was sitting. Ichigo only realized what she was doing when she settled down on the part closest to the window. He didn’t dare to look back, but he could guess that she was lying down from the way her side rested against his back.

“What are you doing?”

“Resting,” she murmured. He could imagine her lashes sweeping downwards and the lethargic look on her face. “The sky’s nice enough.”

He wanted to ask her if it hurt to lie on her back, even with the gigai, but her even breathing checked him.


Maybe there was a real reason for Ichigo's nervousness. The minute the Hollow alarm went off, Ichigo had already grabbed it and hit himself out. The rest of the house was sleeping, including Rukia who was back on her borrowed hospital bed and not hogging his. So there was absolutely no need to wake her up for a simple Hollow that Ichigo could take care himself. He let himself out by his window.

Even the night air seemed more cool and welcoming than usual. Ichigo quickly made his way over quiet streets and houses, jumping from roof to roof with quick step. His anticipation peaked when he saw the white of Hollow bone as he neared the location. Time for some more normal opponents.

Then the white figure turned around and it wasn't a Hollow at all. The white bone was actually softer white fabric. It was Grimmjow, smirking and gloating and whole again, just as mysteriously as his arm had been healed. But that was not important.

"Why are you here?"

Grimmjow laughed, loud and obnoxious and not caring about either. "Don't tell me that you still need a reason to fight?"

Ichigo grinned, and he knew that his grin mirrored the one on Grimmjow's face. "No, I'm just wondering why you're here when I already kicked your pathetic ass."

By now the mask came easily, flowing over his face like it was just waiting to appear. The bankai came just as easily too, with just a brief focus of his reiatsu. Grimmjow's figure blurred as Ichigo was pulling down his mask, but Ichigo was already prepared and parried the blow easily. They twisted down to disengage and push the other away.

"I tore you apart once," Ichigo said, starting to circle. Grimmjow mirrored him, and kept pace and distance. "I can do it again."

"And wouldn't you have fun doing it," the Arrancar said, and lunged. One hand was blocked by Ichigo's sword but the other was already swinging past, curved like claws to gouge out Ichigo's throat. Ichigo grabbed the offending hand before it reached and twisted. The momentum carried Grimmjow through and let Ichigo toss him like a rag doll. But it was too early in the fight for Grimmjow to stay down. He flicked the hand that Ichigo had cut, dislodging the blood from the slash in his palm. The sudden spike in reiatsu following it told Ichigo what it was even before Grimmjow yelled it.

"KING CERO."

Ichigo blocked it without any problem. What Grimmjow wasn't expecting was that Ichigo had both blocked his Cero and advanced at the same time. Now Ichigo was right in his face, and he couldn't help smirking at the shocked look the Arrancar gave him.

"What's the matter Grimmjow?" he taunted, and slashed down. The Arrancar crossed his arms above his face to block, but Ichigo could feel his sword sinking into skin and flesh. He repeated the slashes several times, ignoring the sick sticky sound of impact. "Can't take it? Can't even give a good fight? Answer me!"

The impact of the last strike sent Grimmjow skidding back over the air. He came to a stop a distance away, still holding his bloody arms over his face. Ichigo grabbed the chain of his sword and started to swing it in lazy circles. "Any last words before I run you through?"

Grimmjow lowered his arms from his face and of all things he was grinning triumphantly, much like he had been when the fight first started. "You're doomed Ichigo. You're doomed and you don't even know it,"

Ichigo scowled and on the next downswing caught the hilt of his sword -

- and was unceremoniously yanked forward. His sword had disappeared, so he grabbed onto the next closest thing. It was an arm, and it was probably Grimmjow's so he should break it -

"Ichigo," said Rukia. "You're hurting my arm."

He blinked and realised he was not standing on the air above the streets of Karakura. He was in his room and Rukia was half-kneeling on his bed. Her expression was calm though her face was rendered pale white by moonlight. She was also leaning over him. Perhaps if he pried his fingers from her arm she might move away.

He didn't let go. "Why are you here?"

"Your reiatsu was swamping the whole house. It was almost like you were fighting." She shook her arm free and Ichigo let her. "Maybe you should be at Urahara's."

"Not interested." He sat up and Rukia took advantage of the empty space to sit down. He wanted to shove her off, but he had been cranky ever since he woke up. Maybe he should try ignoring some of his frustration in the hope that it would go away. "Did I wake you?"

She shrugged with more rolling of her shoulders than was necessary. "This gigai is a little uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?"

"Tight. Small. Constricting. Take your pick."

"How the hell can a gigai be tight?"

She gave him the same look that she used to give him when she was badgering him about what exactly was happening to her. It made something in Ichigo twist as he thought about what he was keeping from her. There was no Urahara around. Perhaps -

But it's Rukia who got up instead. "It's much better now," she assured him, though it had the opposite effect. She briefly gripped his shoulder in a farewell gesture. "Let's get some rest."

Ichigo watched her go before flopping back down and turning on his side. There were no more dreams for the rest of the night, though the pressure of her hand on his shoulder seemed to have followed him into sleep.


Ichigo had been trying to not do any work, including thinking in the last few days. Rukia didn't seem to like this, and spent all her time trying to involve Ichigo in conversation. Ichigo usually managed to avoid her, but the old man seemed to be on Rukia's side. He had rolled out a whole slew of tricks, the latest of which was bringing Ichigo's sisters out for dinner. Only Ichigo's sisters.

"Are you sure you have the right dishes?" Rukia demanded. She crinkled her nose at the smell of the gas cooker being lit. "You aren't going to burn our dinner are you?"

"It's only reheating," Ichigo grumbled, even as he turned from the stove to the rice cooker and tried to remember whether he needed to add water to reheat rice. Rukia's constant questions weren't helping.

"The dishes are still over an open fire," she pointed out. "And are you sure you need so much rice?"

"I like rice."

"Maybe you should eat a bit less? Just to see if it stops your nightmares."

"It was just the ONCE," Ichigo howled.

"That you know of."

"They're MY dreams aren't they? I should know!"

"Or you just don't want to know."

Sick of the conversation, Ichigo fumbled in the cupboard for the stash of Rukia's medicine, and tossed them at her. "Just eat your medicine for the illness you know nothing about and shut up!"

Rukia had caught the bag easily, and was working the ziploc with more grace than Ichigo had. "I do know what it's for. They're reiatsu stabilisers. Not unlike the soma fixers I used for my gigai."

"And why would you need those?" Ichigo shot back.

"Urahara explained it already."

"Urahara doesn't explain shit."

Rukia levelled a look at Ichigo. "Not like you're doing any better."

Ichigo had had enough. Without thinking he had already grabbed her hand and pulled her after him. His feet were instinctively leading him to the nearest mirror. He did not slow even when he heard Rukia stumble against something.

"Ichigo - "

"It's gone on for long enough." She deserved to know, because even if Ichigo didn't understand the least he could do was tell her. He pulled her into the bathroom and shut the door behind them. Rukia was watching him in confusion, which grew as he fished out his shinigami badge. He turned the hand he held up and slapped the badge into her outstretched palm.

It worked; she burst from the back of the gigai without a hitch. She grabbed her arms, as if unused to her shinigami form. "Ichigo?"

He didn't reply, turning her around instead. The wings were bigger than he remembered them, now double the size of his hands. Someone had cleaned them lately, but the parts lower down were still bloody. He grabbed a towel from the rack and started to rub.

She hissed, and the wings arched along with her back. "Hold on," he murmured, wiping the blood off. He had no idea why they had to be clean, but he didn't have the luxury of figuring out. There were new holes in the back of her shinigami uniform, and he could see now that they were definitely growing from her back. He could even feel her muscles moving when the wings twitched.

When he was done he made her stand in front of the mirror with her back to it. "Look," he told her, because he didn't know what he could say.

Slowly, she turned her head until she was peering over her shoulder. There was silence. Ichigo couldn't see her face, but he watched her throat instead, saw the slow swallow she made before she began to speak.

"These are mine?" she asked, and one hand went up, probably to brush the feathers. Ichigo wasn't looking; he couldn't bring himself to look.

"Yes." Beside him, the wings rustled as Rukia observed her new form. Then there were fingers on the side of his face, making him look at her. Even in the dim light of the bathroom, her eyes seemed to gleam.

"Thank you," she said, and suddenly everything in the world had to be alright, because she had thanked him.


Ichigo was starting to think that it wasn't such a great idea to have told Rukia about her wings. Of course, she had throughly chewed Urahara out, and Ichigo had to admit there was a perverse pleasure in watching the shopkeeper get what had been coming to him. She'd also given Ichigo an earful, but that was normal for Rukia, and as long as she didn't kick him, he didn't care. No, what really got to Ichigo was Rukia insisting that she was fine enough to resume her shinigami duties.

"I don't get it! Your captain excused you from all your duties, don't you want a break?"

"I've rested for too long," she stated primly, polishing her sword. He didn't see why her sword needed polishing, seeing that she hadn't used it in a bit, or why she was walking around in her shinigami form.

"You have... things growing out of your back! You can't think you're alright!"

"They're called wings. And they do not hinder my movements."

"That's not the problem!" yelled Ichigo, tempted to lean over and shake her. He wasn't sure if it was part of being dead, but Rukia seemed to have very strange ideas when it came to things. 'Hindering movements' was the last thing that he would be thinking about if freaking wings were growing out of his back.

"Then we don't have a problem," stated Rukia, choosing to be literal minded, and swept past him. He turned to catch sight of her disappearing around the doorframe and those wings, arched and proud despite their tiny size. He very resolutely told himself that he was never going to get used to them. At all. Ever.

Still, he had to admit that there was a new grace to Rukia's movements as she shunpoed alongside him on their patrol. Not that she wasn't graceful before, but now she leapt from lamppost to lamppost with no visible effort. Ichigo just concentrated on running in mid-air.

"You're wasting more reiatsu that way."

"But less energy." It was true - by flat out running he didn't have to pay attention to where things like lampposts were and made sure he aimed for them. He could more or less firm the air under his feet. It was mindless.

"What if a Hollow tries to jump at you midway?"

"No problem at all," Ichigo scoffs. "It'll take an Espada to really knock me off."

"Ichigo," Rukia warned.

"What?"

"Just because they are Hollows doesn't mean you should treat them lightly."

"Just stating facts," Ichigo shot back, and increased his speed. He did not notice Rukia's wings quivering in indignation before she followed him easily. He didn't notice at all.


Ichigo went straight to bed after patrol - he didn't need to supervise Rukia getting into her gigai. The monotony of the patrol had lulled his mind and body into a state that was ready for sleep, and he did have school the next day.

Which was why he bolted upright swearing when his Hollow alarm went off. He knocked himself out of his body and yelled for Rukia to bring her phone.

That was before a Hollow hand smashed right into his bed. Ichigo leapt out of the way, thinking this all felt a little too familar. "Inoue's brother?"

"Who?" the Hollow demanded. He turned his huge face to Ichigo's window, allowing Ichigo to see the broken mask of an Arrancar. "I've finally found you, Kurosaki Ichigo!"

"You're not one of the Espada," said Ichigo. "Then this should be over quickly!" He hacked at the hand, but it moved away with deceptive quickness despite its size.

"Your blade has changed, but it's still as reckless! I thought you learned something, after I left you alive on that hill."

The voice finally clicks with a memory of a rainy day in Ichigo's head. "Grand Fisher!"

"That's right!" the Hollow bellowed, and followed it up with a powerful swipe. "This time I'm going to kill you!"

"That's my line!" Ichigo shot back, as he ducked over the arm and followed it with a Getsuga Tenshou.

Grand Fisher laughed and batted it away. "I have hiero now," he boasted. "You can forget about cutting me."

"Oh yeah?" Ichigo put out his hand in a now familiar position. "Ban. Kai."

Both his bankai and his mask flowed easily into place. Ichigo let fly a Getsuga Tenshou, and couldn't hold back his laugh as Grand Fisher looked down at the multiple gashes appearing all over his body in shock.

"Not so tough, are you? Maybe I'll cut you down to size!"

"No! Stop! That hurts!" the Grand Fisher screamed.

"Your form may have changed, but you're still a coward!" Ichigo told him, and would have continued if not for an insistent push on his shoulder.

"That's enough, Ichigo," Rukia said, an exact mirror of herself on that day at his mother grave except for her wings, arched and proud behind her.

"No," Ichigo replied, pushing back. "NO! You stopped me before! I want to kill him this time."

"It's over Ichigo!"

"No it's not! Not until I say it is! I can do it!"

"No you can't! Look at yourself!"

Ichigo tried to say he was alright, but all that came out was an incoherent roar as he stared down at his arm and found bone rippling over his skin -

A wing cut into his awful vision. "Ichigo? Ichigo!" The wing fluttered again, and Ichigo found the white that he was staring at was the white of his ceiling, not of Hollow bone. "Ichigo! Were you dreaming again?"

It takes Ichigo a while to understand words. "Dreaming?" he repeats. His shirt is sticking to him uncomfortably, and his hair is plastered down by sweat. Rukia's fingers are digging into the flesh of his arm.

"Yeah, I was dreaming," he replies, and watches her wings curve over him to blot out the night.


Ichigo doesn't expect Renji to suddenly drop by.

"Yo," he says, his gigai hale and healthy. Ichigo isn't sure if Renji's soul is still sporting injuries underneath. "Long time no see."

"Renji!" Rukia's surprise and happiness is clear. "I'm surprised Nii-sama let you come!"

"Probably skivving work," Ichigo mutters. Renji raises a fist in mock threat but Rukia slaps it away with a frown.

"Are you really?"

"No! Taichou's interested in how you're doing too. He's a bit tied up with work so he sent me instead."

Rukia beams, no doubt pleased by this show of concern from her brother.
(Have Renji come visit Rukia to see if she's alright, and have Ichigo go pseudo sappy on him, only for Ichigo to reveal that he thinks it's a symptom of Rukia gaining wings. Have Renji be both relieved and amused.)


(Deleted)
but Rukia managed to wheedle the old man into letting her go shopping with Yuzu. Ichigo, as the 'big, strong older brother' in his crazy old man's words, had been ordered to watch over "poor Rukia-chan, what if she fainted?" "Then she shouldn't go out." "HOW CALLOUS MY SON IS!" "Go cry on someone else, old man! Argh, you're messing up my shirt!"

Despite his complaints, Ichigo didn't mind; the girls would walk ahead, chattering and occasionally ducking into shops. Yuzu didn't bother him to go into any strange ones, since Rukia was more than happy to accompany her. He would just hang behind and enjoy the chance to stretch his legs. That was all he wanted really.

Rukia seemed bothered by this arrangement, but it wasn't until they were home that she had the chance to speak to him about it. "You looked bored," she said, arranging bags on the kitchen table. In the distance, there was the sound of Yuzu putting things away.

"It's fine. Yuzu usually brings me along on these things anyway and I always hang around outside."

"She liked having you there."

"She liked having you there more." Rukia took a drink can out of a bag and held it out to Ichigo. He took it, popped it open and drank straight from the can. Rukia made a face and took another can. This one Ichigo opened and handed straight back to her. "Why are you so distant?"

"I'm not," Ichigo shot back. "I've just had a lot happen to me, why can't I take it slow now?"

Rukia was too busy frowning at him that she almost knocked over one of the containers she had unpacked, and Ichigo had to make a save. She shook herself irritably and visibly straightened her shoulders. "Are you tired?"

Rukia made an annoyed sound. "I am fine. I wish everyone would stop babying me."

"If you are - "

"I already said I wasn't." She set the things down on the table with an emphatic thump, and moved over to the window. "It's better when I go out. Staying in makes me more tired."

Then she turned her face to the sunlight, and it seemed like the light was rebounding off her to make her glow all over with a matching brilliance. It highlighted her expression, and the first thing Ichigo thought was she looks wistful.