-25-

To literally no one's surprise, once deadlines have been hit and all school work caught up on a few days later, Rukia's confirmed her plans to meet up with Ichigo:

"I can take you to dinner."

"Now we both know we won't get through that," Rukia snickers, balancing the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she throws some clothes into a bag, making sure her towel is still in place from her shower.

She's not a hundred percent sure she'll start her heat, but if it does happen, she wants to be prepared. It's something she's been working up to telling him, but couldn't find the words. Rukia doubted a bombshell like "I think we mated a little" was going to go well over text message anyway.

Nonetheless, whether or not her heat does start, Rukia doesn't think she'll be coming home this weekend.

"Grab a pizza," she instructs over his own snort of laughter, "I'll be there at yours in a few."

"Get your own condoms," Rangiku declares as Rukia leaves her room, bag in hand. "I'm serious: get them." With a gesture between herself and Tatsuki, Rangiku says, "Neither of us are financially prepared to spoil our godchild."

"Who says I'll make either of you godmothers," Rukia retorts, "you'll fight Renji and my brother for the honor."

"It's called female solidarity," Tatsuki protests, then, turns her nose up with a sniff, "Whatever, I'm definitely Ichigo's pick."

"He does have two sisters of his own, you know," Rukia reminds, even though she really shouldn't be tempting fate by entertaining this nonsense. She's already bought condoms for the occasion; Rukia didn't get through most of her degree to end up not using it.

"Yeah but…shut up, I'm his best friend, I should get first child privileges. They had to deal with him because they were related, I had no such requirements."

"That just means you aren't as smart as you think you are," Rangiku says only to make another noise of protest when Tatsuki tries to scent mark her vindictively. "Stop it, I'm seeing Gin tonight!"

"Then I guess he gets to enjoy eu du Arisawa," the alpha deadpans.

Rukia rolls her eyes fondly at the pair of them, and waves them off. "I'll be safe, no babies for us. I'll see you guys on Monday."

"Oi, wait!" Tatsuki calls, untangling herself from her play fight with Rangiku and stumbling to catch up with Rukia. "I need to talk to you about something."

"What?"

"Inoue."

Rangiku groans.

Tatsuki ignores her, and adamantly tells Rukia, "She still needs to get some of her things from the apartment so she'll be by tomorrow morning. You should lock your room." At Rukia's look of confusion, Tatsuki shakes her head. "If she's willing to look through Yuzu's old file at the omega dormitories, who knows what she'll do in your room."

"Look for Ichigo's shirt that you've been religiously wearing? Sneak away with your sheets where Ichigo lay? Steal your whole goddamn mattress on the off chance she could feel the phantom touch of his body heat? Who knows? Girl's a little unhinged," is Rangiku's dramatic musing, and it should say something about Tatsuki and her state of mind around the Inoue topic that she makes a sounds about right expression.

"I'm just saying, it's better to be safe than sorry," Tatsuki says.

Though, Rangiku raises a hand to say, "And if she pulls any kind of shit while she's here she will be sorry."

"You're gonna be here tomorrow morning?" Rukia asks surprised, "I thought you were seeing Gin tonight?"

"I am, he's staying over. And Nanao's coming by with breakfast from the usual spot so she can supervise," Rangiku says, adding with an eye roll, "Something about avoiding an Incident if there's an altercation. Apparently, it wouldn't look good if there were two alphas and a beta versus an omega."

"It wouldn't, and she's right," Rukia says, to their dutiful chorus of, "She's always right." Then, with a furrowed brow, Rukia asks, "Did Inoue arrange to fetch her things tomorrow because she knows I might not be at home?"

Tatsuki opens and closes her mouth, and Rangiku breathes, "That bitch."

"Well," Tatsuki huffs, "if she thinks she'll get away with anything of yours while you aren't here, she has another thing coming."

"Wait, what about Ichigo?" Rangiku asks.

Rukia blinks. "What about him?"

"Well, she knows where he lives, right? What if she's gone to see him before you do?"

"We might be giving her too much credit," Rukia says uncertainly, then with a glance between the three of them, they unanimously decide they're going to drop Rukia off at Ichigo's. Just to be sure.

Rukia thinks it's a little unnecessary, but apparently Tatsuki and Rangiku had been right.

As they get into the elevator, they stop the doors just in time for Yuzu and a dark-haired beta to join them, both dressed in the health center uniform. "Tatsuki-chan!"

"Yuzu, Karin," Tatsuki greets in turn, her smile a little strained. "What are you two doing here?"

"Ichi-nii called us," the dark-haired one, Karin, says with a familiar-looking frown, at the same moment that Yuzu notices Rukia and she's grinning, "Rukia-chan, it's great to see you again!"

"Ah, you too," Rukia replies, managing to forgo her awkwardness with genuine surprise.

"Oh, this is my younger sister," Yuzu says, gesturing at Karin. "We were hoping we'd get to see you before you and Ichi-nii's weekend, or at least after –"

Rangiku giggles at the implication there while Rukia just blushes, waving her hands. "Ah, it's alright. So, you were saying? You're here for Ichigo? Is he okay?"

"Oh, he's fine," Karin replies, shaking her head. "It's Inoue that isn't."

Apologetic, Yuzu explains, "She found out where Ichi-nii lives, and she's been at his apartment for the past ten minutes and won't leave. The apartment building's security is on stand-by, but we're going in first to see if we can talk her away."

"And into therapy, I hope," Tatsuki mutters, and at Rukia's look, she says, "What? I'm not disparaging it. Therapy's great. It's how I'm getting over her. Though, I have to say, this whole situation is doing wonders for me."

Rangiku jabs her elbow in Tatsuki's side but she just barely muffles her own snicker.

The elevator doors open, and they move as one towards Ichigo's unit, catching the tail end of Inoue's plea, "– she isn't a good omega, Kurosaki-kun. She's the absolute wrong kind for you! You can still change your mind – you can still choose –"

But Ichigo's unmoved, unimpressed. "You say that you're a good omega like it matters." Inoue stiffens. And with brutal, polite efficiency, he reminds, "Look where being a good omega got you. You've hurt and taken advantage of people who cared about you, and for what?"

"For you – for you, Kurosaki-kun!"

"I wish you'd stop saying that," he exhales, a shadow over his brow as his lip curls. "I didn't ask you to do any of those things. You can't make me responsible for your actions when you made them entirely independent of me. You choose to behave the way you do, and your consequences are yours. I have no part in it, you just used me as an excuse."

He steps back into the threshold of his apartment to her whimper, "Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo sighs. "You deserve to love someone who loves you, and that someone isn't me."

Tatsuki sighs, something like relief while Inoue gasps, struggling for something to grasp and keep Ichigo's attention, "You can…you can learn to! I – I'm easy to love, Kurosaki-kun, I promise. Kuchiki-san is -"

"Right here," Rukia interjects flatly. Inoue's mouth snaps shut, and whether it's because Rukia's made herself known, or that she's not alone that gets Inoue's eyes to widen and her skin to pale, Rukia doesn't know. Nor does she care. With narrowed eyes, Rukia says, "Go on, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just figured that this time you should know I'm listening."

Audibly, Inoue swallows, then, "Tatsuki-chan…Yuzu-chan?"

Behind her, Karin just barely conceals her scoff of disbelief, but Yuzu is better at hiding her displeasure behind a placid smile. "Inoue-san, let's go, huh?"

Inoue shakes her head. "Yuzu-chan – Kurosaki-kun…"

"Leave," Ichigo orders quietly, putting just enough of an alpha growl into his voice to get her to whimper and recoil. "I don't want to spend my rut with you, and I never will."

"B-but," Inoue stutters, "It's – I'm starting my heat too and – and it's fate, don't you see? We-we presented on the same day, Kurosaki-kun! I just…I knew you weren't ready for an omega so my heat didn't start until last year and -"

"You're starting your rut?" Rukia interrupts Inoue's tirade to ask, tilting her head to take a lungful of Christmas in his scent.

He has the audacity to blush, reaching to grasp at the back of his neck. "I was going to tell you later but -"

"We're true mates, Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue interjects, and fortunately, with the momentary distraction, Yuzu and Karin have Inoue in their arms, and are pulling her gently away from Ichigo's door.

"C'mon, Inoue-san," Yuzu coaxes gently. "Let's go."

"How did she even know you were going into rut?" Tatsuki asks, and Rangiku's expression is equally horrified as she asks as a follow-up, "Do you guys smell that strong?"

"N-no, Yuzu-chan, didn't you hear?" Inoue sobs, "Didn't you – didn't you hear what I said? I…I scented him when we presented, and I knew-I knew! I remember what he smells like, I always will! And-and I scented him in the quad today, and my heat is starting and I just – I thought he'd want to be with his true mate!"

The look she sends to Rukia, tear-stained and red-tinged, is venomous. But this time, Rukia isn't deterred. Ichigo isn't either.

"We aren't true mates," he says, his frustration making his breath flutter. "True mates don't just exist, they aren't found; they're made. And I know – I know you aren't mine."

"How?" Inoue all but cries.

Ichigo ignores her then, gaze firmly on Rukia, cheeks darkening beneath a flush that brightens his eyes as he replies quietly, "Because she is."

And Rukia's blush is…incendiary.

"Oh," Tatsuki breathes, "we are definitely getting out of here." Then, with Rangiku's elbow in hand, the alpha turns them both around to charge after Yuzu and Karin, dragging Inoue away, and shouting, "Wait for us!"

With the distant sounds of their procession getting into the elevator, Ichigo reaches down to kiss her – a hello, and I'm sorry, and an I'm glad you're here all in one. It helps with Rukia's blush exactly zero percent.

"Hi."

Negative. We're in the negatives, Rukia despairs, whispering back shyly, "Hi."

From the end of the hallway, Rangiku shouts back, "Hello!" To everyone else's laughter and Rukia and Ichigo's shared embarrassment.

Nonetheless, he ushers her inside, pausing just long enough to flip their friends and his sisters off before the elevator doors close, only to have Rukia push him against the door and seal their lips together – more a claim than a kiss.

"Is it true?"

"I didn't…I didn't mean to," he says which isn't the same as him lying about it, Rukia wants to point out but is distracted by the way he's sucking on her tongue, the way his hands are sculpting themselves up and down her body; slow and searching like he's relearning every inch with taste and touch.

"You aren't ready, I know you told me," he murmurs, between one haggard breath and one long kiss, "I didn't just…ignore what you said. I don't-I don't expect you to say it back -"

"I want to," she interjects, nipping at his lips, and pulling away just long enough to get the words out, "because I do."

His exhale comes in a sweet, warm rush; his scent – his scent – makes her mouth water. "You…do?"

"I do," she murmurs, and he grips her hips and spins her until she's the one against the wall, a surprised gasp ricocheting from her tongue onto his as she makes contact with the door. She tugs the strings of his joggers loose and feels him fill and swell against her hand, he groans, thrusting into her palm and making the door rattle; Rukia hums, "This feels familiar…"

His chuckle is wicked as his hands slide down her bare thighs, rolling her underwear against her hip because she'd gone with a summer dress instead of a pair of jeans this time around, having hoped for a situation just like this.

Ichigo's smirk is fierce. "I like this better."

"I knew you would," she says with a cheeky grin until it melts on a moan as he tugs her underwear down, sliding his fingers in its place with a sigh.

The digits are dewy hot in seconds, his answering groan rapturous as he presses in, alternating from gentle to rough just to hear the hitch of her breath, catch the roll of her eyes beneath her lids.

Impatiently, she pushes down at the waistband of his joggers, but just before she's able to get them off his ass, he pulls out a foil pack from the pocket and sticks it between his teeth as he lifts her, her legs hugging his waist.

Rukia has thought about this moment so many times since the first time it happened to right now, and right now is infinitely better.

While he pauses just long enough to slide the rubber on, he doesn't sheath himself immediately. Instead, he nudges the head of his cock through her curls then between her lips, teasing firm pressure and scalding heat at the core of her until she's panting for him to fuck, just fuck me, Ichigo – god, please – I need you – please, please –

"What if," he breathes hotly against the shell of her ear, "I want to hold you on the edge…just like this?"

She digs her nails into his biceps viciously and hisses, too strung out to utter any threats until he slides home in one smooth motion.

Though Rukia had asked for him to – begged him to – she's still surprised about how full she feels of him; how at this proximity his every breath quivers from her chest to her lips; how his muscles tremble beneath her fingertips, between her legs, against her abdomen; how every flutter of his lashes moves in time to hers. When he moves, her body arches in turn; when she gasps and whimpers, his groans and purring murmurs answer; and when she comes with his hand framing where they're connected, caressing and touching as he works himself inside her, he follows after with a shudder and a whine.

For a moment, they simply breathe before Ichigo makes a choked off sound and hastily tries to pull out.

Rukia digs her fingers into his shoulders, shaking her head minutely, "Don't – Don't -"

He hisses through his teeth, "Rukia, I'm gonna -"

"Yes. I know, I know; I want you to. It's okay, I want you to," she babbles, even though the first yes was enough, and her mouth opens in a soundless gasp as she feels his knot inflate his dick from the head, every nerve-ending and cell vibrating with shock at the intrusion until they're softening around him in a velvet embrace.

Ichigo muffles a whimper against her shoulder, the hint of teeth there making her bite her lip as her inner walls squeeze around him.

"Fuck, we're gonna have to – fuck," he mumbles, and sympathetically, she runs a hand through his hair from the nape, and flits a kiss against his cheek in apology.

Rukia doesn't envy the fact that Ichigo has to move them from against the front door, though they equally lament that it wasn't exactly the best place to be knotted together.

"It's better than the kitchen counter," she tries to placate.

"Is it though?" he drawls with a grunt.

They put his muscles to use as he totes Rukia down the hall and onto the bed, his relieved sigh emptying his lungs as she settles against his chest.

As they lay on the bed, catching their breaths and waiting for his knot to deflate, Ichigo runs his hands down her back to unzip her dress, rolling the sleeves of her dress down her shoulders and peppering a kiss there, and there and there. Making her sigh. Making her melt.

His satisfied purr in reply makes her smile.

"We're true mates," she murmurs, pressing a kiss against his pec. "Huh…" Then, peering up at him, she asks, "Did you know, this whole time?"

"I suspected," he admits. "No one's ever…smelled like you to me before."

Her brows furrow in curiosity. "What do I smell like to you?"

Running his knuckles up and down the apple of her cheek, Ichigo's smile is soft. "Like freshly fallen snow, brisk winter winds and pinecones. Like Christmas." Rukia hums, hiding her smile against his skin. He continues unabashed, voice quiet, "I didn't know for sure until today, not until I could scent your heat on you the same time I could feel my rut coming on." Ichigo squeezes her in his arms. "I hoped though."

Pillowing her chin atop his chest, her lips quirk in a smile. "Because you love me."

"Because I love you," he parrots obediently, his answering smirk lazy.

"You aren't going to ask me to say it back?" she teases lightly, adjusting herself until she's close enough to reach his mouth. His knot pulls at them both, and when their lips touch they both shiver.

Though his gaze darkens a smidge, he replies steadily enough, "No, not until you're ready to."

Backing away to put less pressure on the knot between them, Rukia teases, "Even if it's a year from now?"

Shoulders rolling in a shrug, he says, "That just means you see us together a year from now." Like it would even be an option because they're true mates, why would she ever try to find anyone else?

"Even if it's ten years from now?" she continues to prod, and indulgently, he agrees to that too; the darkening flush beneath his skin slipping down his neck to fill his chest, Rukia discovers as she readjusts herself.

He steadies her and gets himself into a sitting position as she situates herself on his lap, straddling him. Momentarily, she's distracted by the movement of his abdomen, but manages to get back on track with a quirk of her brow as she asks casually, "How about right now?"

He's already nodding and then, "Ye – what?"

With the distance between them lessened, there's no strain to kiss him, to murmur against his mouth, "I love you too, Ichigo."

When they pull away, just far enough for her to see the radiance of Ichigo's smile like the dawn breaking over the horizon, it's precious and lovely, and Rukia intends to see it as often as possible.

For now, with an impish grin, she pushes him gently back against the mattress, and lifts the hem of her dress up and off.

His expression then is just as priceless; a little dazed and almost begrudgingly turned on, a sight she intends to see as often as possible.

"What are you -"

With a tut and a salacious grin, Rukia teases, "What, did you think I was going to let you get away with that little stunt you pulled against the door? Oh, Kurosaki, you really have messed with the wrong omega."

"The right one," he corrects, serious as ever. Like he knows that the little voice that sounds like Inoue is in the background in Rukia's head. Like he knows he needs to silence it. "The only one I want."

Her smile is soft, there and gone. But she hums, rolls her hips up before sliding slowly back down. The noise he makes is beautiful. Surrender. Absolution. "Just for that," she purrs, "you can come once."

A/n: The end! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this off-the-rails, incredibly unscripted delve into ABO with me, I've appreciated your kind words so much during this experiment. If there are any common questions about the fic - it's ending, the world-building, the fates of certain characters,etc - I'll be answering them on my tumblr in an a "spoilers" post.