The people at the meeting table sat quietly, frantically taking down notes as their captain went through the new evacuation plan. Their eyes never once left the paper in front of them for fear of being called out for not paying attention. Who knows what he'd do to them then? Their black haired captain walked around the room as he talked, his voice stoic as ever.

Suddenly, a gush of familiar reiatsu rippled through his body. He stopped talking, and the rest of the members in the meeting room struggled to decide if they should look up at their captain or continue taking down notes. "Who the- why is she back so soon?"

"Meeting adjourned." Byakuya merely stated before walking out of the room, leaving the rest of the occupants confused and lost. Once out of the room, he put his amazing speed to the test as he quickly shunpoed to the Kuchiki Manor and into his room, shut the door, and quietly crept towards his bookshelves. After a quick look at his surroundings to make sure he was alone, he pulled a secret lever, which revealed a hidden room. At the sight of what's in the room, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

Placed in the middle of the room was a half-done wooden carving of Chappy the rabbit holding hands with Wakame the Seaweed Ambassador. Both characters are standing on a platform that has the words "Happy Birthday Rukia" carved at the front.

"Still, I should keep it hidden." Byakuya thought as he pulled a huge white sheet over the carving. Giving one last look at the sculpture, he left the room, closing the door behind him. He, then, proceeded to lock the door with 3 keys, a password, fingerprint, voice, and eye recognition. "One can never be too safe."

Author's Note: Hello my lovelies! So here is the epilogue…. Uh, I shall not say anything further because I have absolutely NO EXCUSE for posting this so late! Anyway, squint for canon material! I think I have 2 in there (8

Byakuya's eyes travelled from left to right to left again as he watched his sister paced around the sixth division vice-captain office. She was holding her head with both her hands while murmuring incoherent words about reporting to Ukitake-taichou, killing hollows, and failing her mission. Wait a minute. She had a mission? Since when? A slight twitch appeared on Byakuya's forehead. He'll need to have a chat with Ukitake soon. "Rukia."

"There's just too much things to do here. I need to stay here. This is where I belong. No point going back to the Living world. Really." She mumbled.

"Too much things to do?" Screw "soon", he's going over to pay the thirteenth division captain a visit right after this.

Suddenly a loud bang was heard as Renji burst into the office, startling both Byakuya and Rukia. "RUKIA! Why are you back so soon?" He smiled as he walked towards the petite shinigami.

"W-what do you mean back so soon! This is m-my home! I can come back anytime I want." She snapped.

"Erm, well I didn't mean it that way! Just thought it was kind of sudden, that's all." Renji laughed nervously at Rukia's sudden outburst, "Did Ichigo bully you or something?"

"I-Ichigo? WHAT ICHIGO? He didn't do anything! We didn't do anything. What are you talking about! I don't know what you're talking about at all."

"Erh… o-okay… I didn't ask-"

"ASK WHAT? Oh my God! WOULD YOU STOP INTERROGATING ME! NOTHING HAPPENED. WHAT IS WITH YOU." Rukia suddenly screamed before she stomped out of the office.

The other two watched in shock as the door slammed shut. Renji blinked. He turned towards his captain with a questioning look. "Does any of that seemed a little weird to you?"

"Indeed." The black-haired noble replied solemnly as he held his chin. "She didn't even greet me the whole time. Perhaps she couldn't even sense my reiatsu. I'd have to bring her to see Unohana-taichou soon."

Face-palm.

"Ever since that day, Rukia hasn't visited once."

Ichigo tries to tell himself not to think so much about it. Perhaps she was just really busy back in Soul Society. Perhaps her idiot of a brother was just being too overprotective again. Perhaps she was just confused? "Maybe I shouldn't have… showed my feelings the way I did. Maybe I was being too rash. BUT Yuzu called it romantic! It's not like it scared her or something… right?" But with each passing day, his resolve gets weaker and weaker. "What if she doesn't feel the same way about me?" Suddenly, he wasn't so confident anymore. Suddenly, he realized that she had the choice of actually rejecting him. Maybe she already did. Suddenly he became painfully aware that Rukia might not come back at all.

At least, Ichigo concedes, everything else seemed to be back to normal.

At home, the old man goat wouldn't stop whining about the loss of his third daughter for a month. Even suggesting that Ichigo should go to Soul Society to look for her; an act that Ichigo himself had to struggle really hard to stop himself from doing. Chad was right after all; he had to give her time to think. Soon, the madness died down… only to give way to another kind of madness.

Isshin had took a photo of Rukia, blew it up into life-size poster proportions and placed it right next to Masaki's picture.

Needless to say, the poster was taken down within seconds after Ichigo chanced upon it. And it now resides in the deepest and darkest corner of his closet.

Anyone who dared ask him why he didn't just throw the poster away would be given a death glare.

Things were much better at school. At first, Inoue's eyes always seemed red and a little swollen, and she would avoid him at all cost. But after a week, she began smiling at him, sometimes greeting him with her signature "Kurosaki-kun". By the end of the month, they were able to converse again. And just yesterday, she showed the "ultimate" sign of moving on.

She asked Ichigo about Rukia.

All Ichigo could say and do, really, was wait.

Most of his classmates don't even remember Rukia, just like the other times she went back to Soul Society. And he guess, that was for the better, at least he didn't have to deal with the impending wound threatening to open every time someone asks about her.

It has been close to 5 months now, and at some point, Ichigo find himself getting used to this feeling. But can you truly get used to missing someone?

So when Rukia appeared right in front of him, seemingly waiting for someone outside the school gate, Ichigo was in utter shock and felt as if he had completely forgotten how to speak, or even think. He stared at Rukia, with his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, gasping for air as he frantically looked for the right words to say so that she wouldn't run away from him again.

FLASHBACK

"Nope, there is nothing wrong with you. You did well in all the tests! Do you need me to pass a copy to your brother?" Unohana said with a smile as she handed the test reports over to Rukia, who was currently sitting behind the 4th captain's desk in the 4th division hospital.

Rukia eyed the pages before letting out a sigh. "It's fine. I'll do it myself."

"Hmm, what is this? It is almost as if you wished you had a problem."

Violet eyes snapped up to stare at the lady in front of her. "What?"

"I- I just had a lot of problem controlling my powers lately. I- I feel so unfocused. T-that's why I feel that there h-has to be a problem." Rukia reasoned.

"Seems like you do have a problem, but I bet it is not anything reiatsu-related."

STILL IN THE FLASHBACK

"How absurd! How could she assume such a thing!" Rukia thought out loud as she walked back to the Kuchiki Mansion after her talk with the 4th division captain. The raven-haired captain had speculated that maybe she had some unresolved feelings for someone or something in the Living World. To which Rukia so uncharacteristically yelled that she had absolutely NO feelings for Ichigo.

"ARGH! I'm such a stupidhead!" Rukia screamed as she pulled on her hair. It had irked her to no end that Unohana's reply to her Freudian slip was, "I never said anything about the substitute shinigami" followed by a giggle.

She fumed as she stomped her way into the Kuchiki Mansion, she had been so distracted by her own anger that she literally jumped when she heard her brother ask, "So how was it?"

"N-Nii-sama!" Byakuya was sitting leisurely in the reading room with a book in his hands, his eyes still glued to the words in the book as his sister greeted him. "I-It was okay… I passed every test."

"Good." Byakuya replied impassively.

A few minutes passed, and a frown started to show on Byakuya's face. Rukia was still in the room. She just stood there, kicking lightly at carpet beside her feet. "What did I told you about fidgeting, Rukia?"

"S-sorry, nii-sama." Rukia quickly replied, slightly embarrassed before plucking up the courage to ask, "Nii-sama, how did you know nee-san was the one?"

Rukia eyed him closely, but his expression never changed. At all.

"Great. I have officially gone crazy. I just asked a wooden plank how it fell in love."

"Sorry for my impoliteness!" She quickly apologized bowing. "I'll be in my-"

"When I'd do anything for her."

"What? So apparently dead trees can talk. And feel for that matter. But his answer is so ambiguous! I'd do ANYTHING for any of my nakamas!"

This time Byakuya looked up at Rukia as he continued, "And when she unknowingly slips into my mind, into my thoughts."

"Okay, so maybe that's pretty applicable to my case." He was EVERYWHERE in her mind lately. She often found herself thinking about their times spent together, how close they have become, their hug… their kiss. She often wondered what he was doing, how he was coping with the hollows alone, was he talking to other girls, and worrying about his well-being in general. And it was getting annoying.

"OH! Like a parasite!" She exclaimed, knocking her fist in her palm.

Byakuya's eyebrow twitched, his lips twisted as he repeated, "A parasite?" No one associates Hisana with such unholy creatures. No one. If Rukia weren't his sister, and her sister, pink petals would've blinded her right about now.

As Rukia ran towards the other side of the gate, with the sweeper closing in on her, she mentally cursed. Unohana had asked her to go back as she felt that staying in Soul Society would not make anything better. She had initially declined the offer, until Byakuya stepped in and literally forced her into the senkaimon, asking her to solve her "petty problem." (Secretly though, he knew he needed more time to complete his masterpiece of a birthday present to her. He hasn't been able to do much while she was around.)

What was she supposed to do once she's back in the Living World? "Shit, but there's no going back now. Perhaps I could just ask open another gate once I'm there. Come to think of it, the kiss happened months ago. He probably forgot all about it."

"But I haven't." Rukia let out a distressed scream. Why is she still thinking about this? It's not like that kiss meant anything to her. For one, kisses are just a form of greeting! "But I've never seen Ichigo kissed anyone… And he was rather annoyed when Kon used his body to kiss Tatsuki and Orihime the other time." So what if he meant more with that kiss? Kuchiki Rukia does NOT like him, so the kiss doesn't mean a thing to her. Does it?

The late afternoon sun shone brightly at the couple as they stared at each other for what seemed like hours before Rukia broke the silence by saying, "You forgot my birthday, you dimwit." Ichigo's confused expression turned into an annoyed one as he retorted, "No, I didn't, stupid. It's tomorrow."

Slim lips unconsciously let out a small smile before the ebony-haired girl turned away from him, walking towards the direction of home.

Now, walking back together after school side by side, with Rukia slightly in the front, it was almost as if nothing had changed, and they were back to how they were like in the past. The only difference being, Ichigo is no longer looking around with a bored scowling expression; instead, he was practically burning holes into Rukia's back as he stared at her petite form wrapped up in a coat that was obviously two sizes too big for her. Why did she come back? What was she going to do, what was she going to say? What does she think of him now?

After letting out a rather frustrated growl, he asked, "What are you doing here in the human world anyway?" and immediately regretted his choice of words. "Does it sound as if I didn't want her here? Fuck. I can't even tell if that was totally in-character of me or just plain rude."

Tiny footsteps stopped for almost a millisecond after hearing that question. "Hmm? I can come back anytime I like. Problem?"

Unbeknownst to her, that nonchalant tone actually pissed Ichigo off. Here he was struggling to even string a sentence together, to even fucking breathe, while she act as if nothing happened! "Yes. I do have a problem." Ichigo snapped as he bent forward to Rukia's height. "May I remind you that you are free-loading in my house!"

"Oh yes, and I think I also remember your family saying I can stay as long as I want." She countered, using one hand to push lightly on Ichigo's chest. "Too close." A slight blush already forming on her cheeks, she quickened her pace not daring to look back once as they walked the rest of the way home in silence.

Rukia sat in her closet as she watched Ichigo pacing around the room, listlessly touching random things. Inside, she was also battling her own inner conflict. "What the hell did Captain Unohana wanted me to do anyway? What the hell am I supposed to say to him?"

"So…"

And then silence. He still fidgeted around while Rukia's nails suddenly intrigued her as she stared at those little cuticles.

"So… Uh"

She looked up at him. "So…"

That was it.

"It's funny huh? How the word "so" is technically a word, but it doesn't really mean anything." She stated plainly having enough of his hesitance.

A twitch appeared at side of Ichigo's forehead as he yelled, "OH. SO YOU'RE SAYING I'M STUPID NOW, BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY OTHER THAN "SO"? "

"How the hell did you link- You know what, forget it. You ARE stupid anyway." Rukia asserted as she threw her arms in the air to emphasize her annoyance.

"Listen midget, I would have you know that I am in the Top 20 list of my grade in school!" The orange-head injected as deepened his scowl and stalked towards Rukia.

"Hah. Being book smart doesn't mean anything if you don't even have common sense."

"WHAT! I don't have common sense?" Pointing an accusing finger at her, he continued, "Speak for yourself. You've been in the Living World for how long and you don't even know what a microwave is for!"

"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK OF THAT AGAIN!" The shinigami screamed, face flushed with embarrassment at the memory of herself placing her Chappy doll into the microwave thinking it was some kind of teleport device. "And it is YOUR fault anyway for not teaching me! Hell, you won't even let me near the kitchen!"

"Tch. You can't blame me for that! I only did it because, based on your dumbness, you will probably get yourself hurt in there, or worse, you'll mess up the whole place!"

Folding her arms, she gave Ichigo a challenging look. "Says the person who can't even do a simple kido spell without blowing his own face up!"

"Turns out, I don't even need kido to save your little ass when you're in trouble."

Rukia clenched her fists so hard that it actually shivered with anger as she snapped back at the teen, "THE ONLY REASON WHY I NEED SAVING is because you keep throwing yourself recklessly into unnecessary fights making me so worried all the time!"

"YOU? WORRIED?" Ichigo flung his arms left and right in frustration and irritation as he countered, "All you ever say to me is BAKA THIS AND BAKA THAT! I was starting to think you're just one heartless little midget!" Without noticing, Ichigo had leaned so much that he was barely inches away from Rukia as he exclaimed, "YOU'RE AS SENSITIVE AS A DOORKNOB!"

"A door- what the hell is a doorknob?" She asked with a frown, but Ichigo continued, seemingly unaware of her question. "AND IF YOU'RE SO SENSITIVE, HOW THE HELL DID YOU NOT SEE THAT I WAS SO BLATANTLY IN LOVE WITH YOU? ARE YOU BLIND OR SOMETHING?"

Wide violet eyes stared right into intense amber ones in shock. "W-well. I- uh- WAIT. HOW AM I THE INSENSITIVE ONE WHEN YOUR IDEA OF SHOWING YOU LIKE ME IS BY LITERALLY SMASHING YOUR FACE INTO MINE?"

"Oh, did Miss Kuchiki expect fireworks?" Ichigo replied sarcastically before continuing, "You were practically ignoring me during those weeks! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO? It's not like you would've said YES if I just asked you out on a date or something."

"Yes."

"SEE! YOU DON'T- wait what?"

"I SAID YES I WOULD IF YOU ONLY ASKED, ARE YOU FREAKING DEAF?"

Shinigami and human glared at each other as they panted hard after that rather exhilarating fight. After reality sank in, Rukia quickly looked to the side as her face heated up in bashfulness. As if controlled by unstable strings, Ichigo felt the tips of his mouth twitching uncontrollably into a smile. He took a small step towards the petite ebony-haired girl, so that he towered over her sitting form.

"W-w-what a-are you doing?" Her eyes grew wide as she leaned back to avoid any contact with the teen. "OH! What's that sound!" Rukia asked dramatically, cupping her right hand behind her ear. "I- I think I heard Y-Yuzu!" She stammered, before she slipped between Ichigo and the closet to escape from his self-made cage.

Ichigo watched as Rukia stumbled out of the room and chuckled to himself. Though disappointed that he didn't get to kiss her again, he was content by her answer and obvious reactions. "Rukia likes me too!"

" Shit…. I can't stop smiling…"

HELLO AGAIN! Haven't been sleeping well, so I am skipping the proof-reading. Hope it turns out fine. This, I have to admit, is not my best chapter. But I still thought I needed to wrap up this story after the unsatisfactory ending I had. My Rukia is this story had been largely unresponsive, so I hope she isn't too OOC in this Epilogue! But anyway, I want to give my special thanks to the following people:

Allytsuki, xXRedPokerGirlXx, .passion, your-darkangel07, broken-hearted heart-breaker (Cool name!), LoveDieYouzxcBleh, Tatiana-Azuma, Hekka, angelicsorceres, CrayonNaoChan, TagoMode, purebloodragdoll, blooded wyngs (Thank you for reviewing EVERY single chapter. Ahahah! You talking to yourself in your reviews were really funny and cute!), RebelLion16, TheHedgehog22 (Sonic, by any chance?), NieveDrop, Rose-MaxareBadass, .x, khaycee, Miwokgirl101, rikary, lonelyflame, AngelxBeatsxx, hqiongmei, Erikaorios, kushi13, Kemeyeoz, guillenlulu, Nyuu-neechan, In the head (Funny name, you have. I like it!), lightning chrome, Pandorrah, RosyDigzzz23, purplepam, xXGrayGuitar14Xx, curio cherry, Angel cheesecake (Yummy name), Star Fire Girl 788, DinieLuvYunho and a few anons and guests who reviewed.

I am really sorry if I left out anyone! Once again, thank you so much for going on this journey with me (8 See you in the next story (8

So have you spotted the 2 canon material? (8