Bleach: Rukia's Requiem

Chapter 2

Slowly she looked in front of her. Ichigo was still a few steps away, but he was closer than Rukia wanted him to be at that moment. They looked at each other in silence, the others looking at each of them in turn. Chad was the first to catch on and gestured for Uryu and Orihime to follow him.

"Hey" Rukia said once Ichigo moved closer.

"Hay" he said back, putting both his hands into his pockets.

"How have you been?" Rukia asked first, unable to bare anymore awkward situations. Ichigo seemed relieved by her question and relaxed a little bit.

"Fine, just fine. And you? You were gone so long that I wasn't sure if you were ever coming back" Ichigo said, sounding a little like he was apologizing for something.

"Yeah, things got a little out of hand" Rukia said sheepishly "But I'm back now, I don't think I'll be sent on another mission for a while either."

Ichigo opened his mouth to say something, but he was stopped by one of the guests that came up to him. Rukia didn't recognise the man, but he and Ichigo seemed to know each other well. She wondered if it wasn't one of Ichigo's dad's work friends. Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know what Ichigo was doing with his life. All of them must have finished school already. When the man saw that Ichigo had company he said his goodbyes and turned to find someone else he could talk to.

"Sorry 'bout that" Ichigo said once he turned back to Rukia.

"It's fine, is he one of your dad's friends?" Rukia asked, accepting another glass of champagne from a passing caterer.

"Sort of, he went to university with my dad, but now he's one of my lecturers at Tokyo University" Ichigo explained, after a sip from his glass.

Rukia hadn't had any alcohol on her mission, which meant that her head was already starting to spin a little bit.

"Oh, I'm guessing he's an acquaintance of Uryu's dad, since he's here?" Rukia asked.

"I think all doctors know each other in some way or another" Ichigo said, laughing at the idea. Rukia joined in, wondering if it could actually be possible. It wasn't long before they fell back into old habits, talking to each other like they had never even been separated.

About two hours passed before the party was called to an end. The five of them had spent the whole night together, catching up. Rukia enjoyed it a lot, but when they asked about her mission, she redirected the question.

"Thank you, everyone" Uryu announced, holding his glass up. "Please drive home safely" he said before the guests started leaving. "Same for you guys" Uryu said when he turned around again, facing all of them. Orihime pouted and Rukia followed her lead.

"Come on, I have to get this place neat again" Uryu said, pushing them all towards the door. Once outside, Chad offered to walk Orihime home. She accepted and they waved their final goodbyes at Ichigo and Rukia.

"Where're you going now?" Ichigo asked once they turned the corner at the end of Ichigo's street.

Rukia was about to answer, but realised that she actually didn't know. She planned to ask Urahara if she could sleep there while she was visiting, but her plans hadn't worked out that way. She could still go to him, but she found it a little intrusive to bother him so late at night. She explained the situation to Ichigo who nodded understandingly.

"Guess there's no choice then, you'll have to spend the night at my place" Ichigo said nonchalantly, almost as if they were six year olds having a sleep over. Ichigo looked down when she didn't reply.

"In, in the closet of course" he stammered when he saw how red her face had gotten.

"Of course, idiot, where else could you have meant?" Rukia asked, jabbing him hard in the ribs. It's true that she hadn't thought of the closet first, but she'd rather go back to hell than admit that.