AN: I know, I know. It's been a century. And that's an understatement. Thanks a lot for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

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Return to no Home: School Trip (Part I)

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He attracted attention. He always did. Renji knew that his hairstyle and hair color wasn't exactly the norm, but after years of the same thing, he really couldn't care less. What he was focused on now was his job.

'His job'. The phrase had a nice ring to it, he thought, while pulling up to his next destination. Even though, he added as an afterthought, the actual job wasn't nice at all. He stepped out of his maroon sports car, adjusting his sunglasses. The building in front of him was an abandoned apartment; broken glass lay around the perimeter. Not exactly a place where little kids would be playing, he thought dryly, though immediately he recalled his own past, mucking around in a junkyard like this.

He took one step forward, but before he finished crunching the gravel underneath him he was met with the cool barrel of a revolver. He casually stopped, not even bothering to glance sideways to the person holding the firearm.

"We've been expecting you."

"I know."

Renji knew from experience that people weren't used to being answered in this way, and in the brief moment of surprise, he snapped out his arm, catching the assailant in the jaw.

- - -

Drug dealers. Byakuya rolled his seat back an inch and crossed his legs. They had always been an annoying pest to the special forces, but there really hadn't been any major drug circles that required any focused attention. Until about a decade and a half ago.

During a small raid in the south of Japan, Byakuya and his team had uncovered a trail which hinted towards the existence of a huge international drug ring that Japan was part of. The problem was, every time they got closer to finding out exactly who was behind the organization, the trail seemed to disappear. That was expected, but for years and years?

Finally, they had gotten hold of a reliable clue, which originated from USA. Immediately headquarters had requested that they send a team to the states in order to investigate. They did know for certain that the drug lord did come from Japan, but in order to find his or her whereabouts, there would probably be more chance finding out information in the US.

They chose the youngest member of the force, a student named Abarai Renji. The boy had originally been found by Byakuya himself. Byakuya's team were following a lead when they encountered the child, nearly dying from starvation in an abandoned building. Protocol explicitly stated that they do not take any risks, and to Byakuya, as team leader he commanded that they leave the child to die. A nearly-dead child would just endanger his team.

They all agreed. Except her. Hisana.

She didn't listen to him, and gave him a look which shook his composure. They did end up bringing the child, but it was a costly decision. In the battle to come, she was wounded while trying to protect the child. It was a decision which made even the stoic Byakuya fall in love with her, but in the end she never fully recovered. She died a month later.

- - -

Renji knew this story very well. He knew he owed his life to Byakuya, and so, after he had recovered he asked Byakuya to enlist him into his task force. Byakuya agreed, and the first and only mission Renji had received (other than his current one) was to protect Byakuya's sibling: Kuchiki Rukia.

In retrospect, Rukia was never in any real danger; Renji was just there to ease Byakuya's hidden (but apparent) worries about his smaller sibling.

He tried to ignore the familiar twinge of pain in his chest as he thought of his ex-girlfriend. At first, when Byakuya offered him the choice to go to the USA, his initial reaction was 'no way'. What about Rukia?

But, he had known long ago that he couldn't stay with Rukia forever. Oh, he had loved her, to be sure, but he knew that his lifestyle and job wouldn't be able to give Rukia the full satisfaction and protection that she needed and deserved. Besides, he knew he owed the very fact that he was living to Byakuya. Renji's conscience would never be fully sated until he brought down the international drug ring that Hisana had died tracing. After all, Renji was pretty much the reason why she had died. It would be selfish to pursue such nice things such as love.

Enough reminiscing.

He surveyed the mess around him. He had survived unscathed, of course. He walked back to his car.

Damn. They scratched the paint.

- - -

The bell had rung, but unlike the rest of the students hurrying to pack up their belongings and go home, Rukia continued writing. She was in no rush.

"Hurry up already!" Matsumoto whined, stretching beside her friend.

Rukia finished the sentence she was writing, and soon fell in step beside Matsumoto as they made their way outside of the classroom. It had been about a month since her and Ichigo had officially started 'dating' even though their friends hadn't found out until a week ago.

"I still can't believe you're going out with Ichigo," Matsumoto said to her shorter friend.

Rukia didn't bat an eyelid. "He's very sweet, and –"

"Yes, yes, I didn't mean there was anything wrong with him – but, judging from what you told me, wasn't that a pretty fast transition?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you broke up with Renji – and then in such a short period of time you're going out with him." Matsumoto paused to look at her friend. "What if he's just really a rebound guy?"

Rukia let out a 'hmm' as they turned the corner.

"Besides, is he even that great?" Matsumoto continued. "Isn't that him over there?"

Rukia looked to where her friend was pointing. It was definitely her boyfriend, standing at the school gates. Rukia frowned as two girls from a different high school approached the orange haired youth. They giggled and carried on in front of him, and while Ichigo was polite enough, she wondered if he was being too polite.

Ignoring what was happening, she took off her school shoes. She wasn't jealous. She wasn't.

"I'm not worried," she proclaimed more to herself than Matsumoto.

"Uh-huh," the strawberry blonde mumbled as she removed her school shoes. "I have to go ahead ok?"

Rukia nodded. "See you tomorrow."

"No you won't. It's the weekend, dummy."

Rukia mentally slapped herself. Of course. Her older brother was out somewhere doing business, and Ichigo had told her that his dad and his sister's were going out that weekend – they would have the house to themselves.

Somehow, she was glad – in the last week they really hadn't been able to talk much, with school work. Even though they were a couple now, the rivalry they had in academics hadn't dimmed a bit. She started walking towards Ichigo, getting more displeased with every step that the girls hadn't left him alone, and two, he hadn't told them to get lost. Of course, it would be quite rude to tell people to just 'get lost' but – love makes people think rather irrationally.

The two girls must have felt something rather cold and angry coming their way, because they made their exit quickly before Rukia reached them.

- - -

Ichigo studied his girlfriend. She was cute when she was mad. Very cute, he decided. She sat on the opposite end of his bed, arms crossed, glaring at him. She hadn't said anything on the way home, letting Ichigo know immediately that something was wrong.

Ichigo sighed. He scooted over to the end of the bed, and placed his arms around her.

"Don't touch me," he heard her growl, but she didn't move.

Ichigo pulled back, trying to stop himself from laughing. She was really too cute.

"Who were those girls?" she blurted out, obviously jealous.

"Which?" he replied, feigning innocence. Her glare intensified.

"…"

"Don't worry," he said, knowing that making fun of her when she was angry was actually very fun – but it could get dangerous. "They just wanted to know whether I knew if some random guy was still at school."

"That was a pretty long conversation just to find out whether a person was at school," Rukia grumbled under her breath, but she visibly loosened up.

Ichigo leaned in and kissed her briefly.

"You're so unfair," she said after he finished kissing her. "Do you see me talking to any guys?"

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "Not really," he admitted, even though the reason was probably because no one wanted to be beaten to a pulp. Because he would do just that, if he caught anyone trying to flirt with his Rukia.

"Hmph," she pouted, but she let the matter drop.

- - -

Friday night dinner was pizza. Both of them were tired out from the busy week, and Rukia had quickly agreed to Ichigo's suggestion of ordering fast food. As Ichigo threw out the two pizza boxes he shook his head at the girl sitting in the middle of his room.

"You ate more than me." It wasn't a question, rather, a statement.

Rukia nodded happily. Ichigo shook his head again, and sat down on the floor next to her.

"It's a wonder you don't get fat," he mumbled to himself, as he stretched out on the floor, feeling lazy after eating.

Rukia glanced back at him. "As if I will ever get fat," she huffed. "You, on the other hand might," she said, running a hand underneath his shirt to feel his stomach. It was surprisingly toned, even after eating.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Her fingertips felt nice against his skin, but he didn't say anything, hoping she would leave her hand underneath his shirt.

"What's the matter?" she asked playfully, crawling up into kissing range.

Ichigo looked away, embarrassed. After a month of dating, they hadn't progressed passed kissing – not that he had a burning desire to – but because they hadn't really done anything there were times where it was rather awkward for the both of them.

"Nothing," he grunted, trying to keep his hands to himself.

"Hey, Ichigo," he heard her say as she curled up next to him.

"Yeah?"

"You know how…we started dating pretty close to my break up?"

Ichigo nodded.

"Didn't you think that was a bit dangerous?"

He shifted his gaze to the girl next to him. "Nope."

"You could just be my rebound guy, you know," she said casually. She felt his body stiffen momentarily.

"But -"

She silenced him by putting her finger on his lips, and kissed him softly.

"Mmm…it tastes like pizza," she said.

- - -

The weekend passed uneventfully, with a few kisses here and there. Monday morning came too fast, Ichigo thought, as he rolled out of bed. Minutes later his dad came crashing into the room. Ichigo casually side-stepped his father, used to the treatment.

"Wait!" His dad wailed, as Ichigo started to exit his room. "How was your weekend with Rukia?"

Ichigo froze. How did his dad know? Even though his family had already found out that the two were dating, Ichigo only briefly discussed his relationship with her to them.

"Actually, I purposely brought the girls with me this weekend so that you two could have a passion – "

"Dad. Shut it."

"Oh! So you did have –"

"A passion-what?" came a voice belonging to Yuzu.

Ichigo groaned. It was another normal morning for the Kurosaki family.

When he was finally dressed and ready to go to school, he walked out the front door, followed closely by his inane father. Rukia was always waiting for him at his front steps, and Isshin always took this opportunity to ask when he would be expecting grandkids.

"Sorry, once again," Ichigo apologized as soon as they had gotten far enough away from the house. She looked up at him.

"It's fine…I kind of enjoy it."

"Enjoy being asked when we're going to have kids?" he said without thinking.

Rukia blushed a deep red. Ichigo immediately realized the implications of his question. "Uh…sorry – I didn't mean that we – well, us, would –"

He suddenly felt his neck go hot, even though the morning wind was quite cool. He glanced at Rukia, who was still blushing at the ground.

Oh god…what have I done now? Ichigo punched himself mentally for being so stupid and let his big mouth blurt out something it shouldn't have. They had only been going out for a month – hardly enough time to be even having this sort of conversation. Even if they did know each other before, they still didn't really know each other, and were still finding out new quirks and habits of the other.

He breathed in awkwardly.

"It's okay...I don't mind…" he heard her say in a small voice, her eyes still nailed firmly to the ground. His heart skipped a beat, and he pulled his arms around her for a quick, awkward embrace.

"Uh…so, anyway," he said when they parted, eager to change the subject. "Have you started organizing the school trip?" Rukia was on the committee that was in charge of planning the annual trip."

Rukia looked up at her boyfriend, glad for the change of topic. "Um…actually yes," she paused, reaching up to adjust his collar. They started walking in the direction of the school. "We'll probably be going to Okinawa…but we have to talk about it in class today."

- - -

Rukia banged her hands on the desk in front of the class, signaling for quiet. "Alright," she commanded. "The committee has decided we will follow on the school tradition and travel to Okinawa Island, in the Okinawa prefecture. It will be for three days and nights, two weeks from now. Any questions?"

The noise level grew slightly, as students murmured amongst themselves.

One student raised his hand. "What's the accommodation like?"

"We'll be staying in a dorm the school rented out last year. It's two levels high – the boys will be on the bottom floor, and the girls will have the top floor. After 10pm boys are not allowed on the top floor, and vice versa," she said sternly.

"What about you and Ichigo?" Matsumoto called out, causing the class to go into hysterics.

Rukia blushed furiously. "He is no exception," she managed to say, making a mental note to smack her friend later.

"We better watch you two," someone yelled out.

"No, we better watch our school captains. They'll probably provide us with better action," another replied, making the class laugh once again.

Before Hitsugaya could knock the offender out, the home room teacher stood up, signaling for quiet. "Alright, that's quite enough. Let Rukia continue."

Rukia inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to ignore the rising heat on her cheeks. "Anyway, we'll discuss our itinerary at a later date, but for now, just let your parents know. Thank you."

- - -

"God, I can't believe you said that!" Rukia exclaimed at the lunch table. Ichigo had forgotten something in the classroom, and Rukia took this opportunity to scold her friend in front of the rest of the group.

"Oh please." Matsumoto winked at her. "Doing it on the school trip is such a normal thing these days."

Rukia, Hinamori and Hitsugaya blushed simultaneously. Rukia opened her mouth to protest, but she saw Ichigo walking towards the table. Murdering Matsumoto would have to wait, she decided. Talking about that topic in front of Ichigo was impossible.

- - -

Byakuya answered the telephone on his desk after the first ring. "Hello?"

After a few moments of listening to the voice on the other end, he circled a few words on a paper on his desk.

"Of course. I'll fly down there in two weeks with a team to examine the area."

Placing the receiver back on the handle, he leaned back in his chair. Headquarters had contacted him, saying that they had a new lead on the drug case they had uncovered those many years back. The location was circled on the paper in front of him.

Okinawa Island.

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