Hey guys!! Hope everyone had a rocking Christmas and a New Years Eve!! Oh, yeah and before I forget…HAPPY 2009!!! New Year already. I honestly can't believe it. Ha. Well, just want to say SORRY again for the long wait between updates. Hopefully you all like this chapter. I had major writers block for this one. Eh, hopefully…no more writers block for me!

This is dedicated to all the reviewers…especially xSolitude's Shadowx. Thank you so much for helping me better the first half of this chapter. I'll always be thankful. If not for you, this chapter would not have happened!!!

Sorry about any spelling, grammar, punctuation errors. Enjoy!

---x--

CHAPTER 18

---x---

"So, Headmaster…why don't you take Kurosaki, and I take Abarai."

Renji gulped. He was suddenly feeling very cold.

---x---

"I don't think so Rukia. I mean, I should talk to the headmaster…right?" Renji looked at Ukitake, his eyes relaying a silent plea. He did not want to face whatever Rukia was going to throw at him.

Ukitake chuckled. "I'm going to have to agree with Miss Kuchiki, here. If you were going to listen to anyone, it would be her. Don't think that I won't talk to you afterwards, though, because I will."

Renji mumbled something unintelligibly under his breath.

"What was that Renji?" Rukia asked.

"Nothing!" The red head exclaimed, holding his hands up in surrender.

Rukia walked forward, glancing momentarily at Ichigo. Her brows furrowed as she saw the dark mark on the side of his face. Her eyes went back to Renji as she grabbed his tie, yanking him forward, dragging him ruthlessly out the door..

Ichigo watched as they walked-or, in Renji's case, pulled- away, leaving him alone with the headmaster. He couldn't help the small smirk that appeared on his face at the comical scene that was displayed before him.

"Well now, don't be shy. Have a seat, and tell me what happened."

He glanced over at the headmaster's pleasantly smiling face and frowned.

---x---

Rukia pulled Renji into a little adjoining room and shut the door. She quickly turned back around to face him, an accusing look in her eye.

"What the hell happened!"

"Well, lets se-"

"What the hell was that on his face!" she interjected, jerking a thumb at the closed door.

Renji winced. "That was what we call a bruise. A bruise is-"

"I'm not stupid Renji! I know what a bruise is. A bruise! What the hell!"

"Don't get all angry at me! It wasn't my fault!" He defended.

Rukia snorted. "Oh, I'm sure."

"Oh, I love that you have so much faith in me. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at him! He isthe reason you're feeling like shit!" Renji watched as an emotion he couldn't decipher crossed her face. He froze, realizing what he had said. "Oh, damn. Rukia…I'm sorry. I shoul-"

"No. It doesn't matter. Just," she paused as she took a breath. "just tell me what happened."

"Okay," Renji started. "he started saying some things he shouldn't have…and it just got out of hand. I got angry…"

Rukia bit her lip and moved closer towards Renji, looking up at him expectantly.

"What did he say?"

He groaned. "It doesn't matter."

"Renji…"

"Rukia…"

Rukia went to a chair near the door and sat down slowly, her eyes never straying from Renji's rigid form.

"Renji, I'm going to ask once more, and I want you to answer me. What did he say?" The tone of her voice left no room for argument.

"Nothing really important. All of it was untrue." He paused as Rukia gave him a look, but he just held up his hand to silence her. "I guess everything just got to him, and he sorta snapped. I was already wanting to give him a piece of my mind, but when he said that I would leave Tatsuki to be with you…I snapped."

Rukia's eyes widened. "He said that?"

Renji nodded, moving towards her. He leaned against the wall next to the chair. "I couldn't believe it myself. But that guy is seriously going through some crap right now."

Rukia let her head fall back against the wall. "I don't blame him." She mumbled.

Renji turned down his head sharply. "Look, just because you fucked up doesn't mean that he can go and spout all this crap. Same with him being angry."

"Renji, just do me a favor and give him a break." She looked at him, a pleading look in her eyes. A look Renji couldn't deny.

"Fine." Renji begrudgingly said, arms crossed. He didn't really think that he should give Ichigo an easy getaway, but he would do this- if only for Rukia.

Rukia stood up, and pulled Renji into a hug.

"Thank you." She said softly. Renji rolled his eyes.

"He better watch what he says though…" Renji let off. He had a feeling she knew exactly what he was going to say.

"I'll talk to him, okay? Don't worry."

Renji wrapped his arms around her, giving her a gentle squeeze before letting go.

"I guess we should go back out there." Renji turned and opened the door, letting Rukia walk out before him.

---x---

"Well, it was wonderful getting to talk to you Mr. Kurosaki, and please, let's refrain from the violence here in school."

Ichigo stood up nodding. "Of course. It was a lapse in judgment, and it will not happen again."

"Very well, I shall give you and Rukia a pass for your class at this time. Second period if I'm correct. Mr. Abarai, your turn."

Renji's mouth opened.

"What? I thought if I talked to her that was it. I didn't think that you were serious about me having to talk to you."

Rukia snorted as Ukitake chuckled. She walked over to Ukitake to get the pass out of his hands.

"He probably thought I would soften you up. Good luck Renji!"

"Renji, I'm-" Ichigo started.

Renji waved his hand in dismissal. Ichigo nodded his head. An understanding was met, and that comforted Ichigo. At least he didn't really have to explain himself out loud.

Renji sighed as he took his seat in front of Ukitake's desk.

"So, where do I start?"

---x---

"So you have the pass, right?"

Rukia turned her head slightly. "Yep." She replied holding it up between the two. She bit her lip in thought. She hated this thing, whatever it was, between the two. Not only that, it was affecting others as well. What happened between Ichigo and Renji shouldn't have happened. She felt slightly guilty for it no matter what Renji said.

The two continued walking as an uncomfortable silence resounded around them.

Ichigo clenched and unclenched his hand absently, lost in thought. Things were just awkward between the two of them now, he tried to convince himself. At least, they were for him. But what could he do about it?

Well, the most important question was, did he even want to do anything about it? His eyes veered towards the petite girl next to him. Yes. Yes, he did want to do something about it. There was just something blocking him from acting on it. Was it fear? No. It couldn't be that. He was not scared of anything. Why would it be that anyway? He had nothing to fear, especially about Rukia…But…He shook his head. It was not fear. It most definitely was not that.

Then what was it? He couldn't name it, and he'd be damned if that would be stuck in his mind all day.

He kept on walking until he noticed that there was only one set of footsteps echoing in the abandoned hall.

Curious, he turned to see Rukia looking out the window.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he moved closer to her. "What are you staring at?"

"Hey," Rukia looked up at him, completely ignoring his questions and firing one of her own. "It's a nice day out don't you think?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow in confusion, and looked out the window himself.

"I guess. Why?"

She grabbed his arm and pulled him to a bench that was situated close by.

"Listen, we need to talk. We can't avoid this. I can't avoid this. I'm pretty sure that you need to talk about it too. You can't just go saying these ridiculous things that can provoke someone."

"You're referring to the Renji thing."

"Yes." Rukia stood up and held out her hand. "Let's just leave. Somewhere we can talk without other people all around us."

Ichigo sighed. "Rukia…I don't think that's a good idea." He was tired. Physically and emotionally tired. That crap with Renji took a lot out of him. He just wanted to go straight home and sleep. Though…her offer did sound tempting.

Rukia studied his features. A mix of emotions were in his eyes, but she knew for a fact that she could see a bit of longing in them.

"You know you don't want to say no." her voice came out a whisper.

Ichigo looked at her small dainty hand. She had a point. Apart of him didn't want to say no even when he knew he should. He grabbed her hand and stood up.

"Where are we going?"

---x---

"Welcome to my humble abode."

Rukia pulled the door shut behind her and took a step aside, watching noiselessly as Ichigo looked around.

"It's nice."

She chuckled. "Sure. From what I've seen of your place, it's almost the same."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I'm sure your place is still more extravagant."

Rukia motioned for Ichigo to follow her as she led him into the conservatory.

"That's my family for you. Make yourself comfortable, please."

He took a seat, and watched Rukia go to the side bar.

"Do you want some water or…" She trailed off.

"Water would be great."

Ichigo stood up, feeling out of place sitting alone, and made his way to the fireless fireplace. His eyes gazed over all the pictures that were stationed on the mantle, taking in some images of when Rukia was younger, and then finally landing on one.

He picked it up and looked at it closer. There was Rukia with another guy. Someone he didn't know, and they looked awfully snug. Rukia was in front of the guy looking up at him. The guys arms were around her waist, and he was looking down at her. At a quick glance, it almost looked like they were about to kiss. For some reason, that didn't sit right with Ichigo. With his jaw clenched he turned around, picture still in hand.

His eyes went straight to Rukia, who was sitting on the couch with the glasses in hand.

"What's with that look?" She asked, slightly taken aback.

"Who in the hell is this?" There was a slight edge to his voice that she wasn't expecting.

He held the picture up for her to see, as she set the glasses on the coffee table and made her way towards him. Her eyes never strayed from his as she took the picture from his grasp.

"Do you make it a habit to snoop around other peoples houses?" Her voice was filled with humor until she looked at the picture now encased in her hand. She stiffened.

Looking straight ahead, she walked around him and placed the picture back where it belonged.

"I thought Hisana put that away…" She didn't turn back to face him right then. Instead, she stayed tense looking at the wall behind the picture.

"Who is that guy?" Ichigo's voice came out less harsh sounding and more understanding. "You look…" He paused trying to find the right word to use. "close."

Rukia took a silent, shaky breath before turning around. "He's nobody."

He silently watched her as she went to sit back down. He followed her idea and sat down next to her looking ahead. His curiosity was getting the better of him. He wanted to know, but then again he didn't want to push her.

Apart of him couldn't help but compare whatever was going on between the two to his relationship with Senna. The fighting part. Though this was different. With Senna he found himself getting tired of the fights with her, but it was different with Rukia. For some reason, he found himself not tired of them. They just made him on edge.

What was wrong with him? Wasn't he grateful for leaving Senna because of how their relationship was? But here he was, getting into the same thing with Rukia. Thus came the frustrating part. Why did he not care?

Not liking the silence anymore, Rukia repositioned herself so she was facing Ichigo. Giving a heavy sigh she spoke.

"Ichigo…"

The said man glanced over at her.

"That guy in the picture is not…important right now. What's important is us."

He ran a hand through his hair and asked the question on his mind at the moment.

"Is there still an us?"

Rukia reached her hand out towards the coffee table and grabbed his glass of water.

"I already told you. I want there to be." She answered, giving his glass to him.

"Yeah, because I'm different." He scoffed, recalling her words from earlier in the day and grabbing the glass.

Wincing at the apparent bitterness in his tone, she tentatively reached out her hand and rested it on his forearm.

"That did not come out right. I didn't mean for it to sound the way it did. I meant it as a-"

"A good thing?" He cut in.

"Yes, but from the way your making it sound, it's almost as if it's the worst thing I could say. I thought that being different was a good thing?"

"It is."

Rukia watched as his closed his hand in a tight fist.

"Then what's the problem?"

"I don't know!!" He exclaimed, yanking his arm out from Rukia's grasp and standing up. "I don't know."

Rukia sighed for umpteenth time as she watched Ichigo pace near the fireplace.

"Ichigo, you being different is a good thing. That's something I need now. Someone who can ground me when I'm all…you know?"

He stopped pacing and started listening to Rukia.

"I'm a complicated person, at least I think so." She chuckled. "A lot of things have happened, and they've really effected me."

A quick image of the photograph of Rukia and the still nameless face flashed in his mind.

"I've done quite a few things I regret, including the situation with your sister. I was wrong."

When she mentioned his sister, that was when Ichigo wanted to stop.

"I don't want to talk about that."

Rukia let out a strangled sigh.

"Have you even talked to your sister?"

He looked at her and saw the accusing tint in her eyes.

"No."

A simple and straight forward answer. He didn't want to talk about it, and he'd be damn if she made him.

"You're stubborn."

He raised an eyebrow at the annoyance in her voice.

"Ichigo…If you won't talk about that situation with me, will you at least talk about it with your sister? When it comes to this, it's obvious that you won't listen to me. I can only hope that you'll listen, and I mean really listen to your sister."

Silence overwhelmed the two as they just stared at each other, trying to decode each other. She frowned and turned the other way. Ichigo didn't like that. He wanted to see her face.

"It's frustrating."

Rukia's head quickly whipped back over to him.

"What is?"

He moved back to the couch and sat back down, closer to her this time.

"Listen…I want-" Ichigo was suddenly cut off by Rukia's hand on his mouth. He tried to speak, but his voice came out muffled.

"Shh!!! Do you hear that?"

Ichigo yanked her hand off of his mouth.

"Hear what?" He whispered gruffly.

"It sounded like a car pulled in?"

"What the hell! Do you have ears like a cat or something?"

He got no reply. Instead, he earned a dark glare and another hush sound.

Rukia's eyes widened when she heard a door close.

"Yes. I'm taking the rest of the day off. It's for personal reasons. If anything happens at the shop make sure to call me…" Hisana's voice floated into the room from the kitchen.

"I thought no one was home!" His voice was low.

"What?" She whispered back.

"I thought no one was home!" He said louder than before only to get a be quiet look from Rukia. Nonetheless, she answered.

"No one wassuppose to be home. Hisana was supposed to be at work…Oh, crap! She's coming!"

Ichigo sent Rukia a panicked look. They were suppose to be at school. Not here in Rukia's house. What was worse was that he had no clue how the sister of his kind of girlfriend would react to him being here.

"You need to go." Rukia stood up abruptly, pulling Ichigo with her.

"Go!" His voice was laced with shock. "Where the hell am I suppose to go!?"

Rukia's eyes went towards the hallway where Hisana's voice sounded closer. She sent Ichigo a "good going" look before groaning.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but the stairs are on the other side of the hallway where your sister is currently residing."

Rukia's eyes narrowed.

"I know where the stairs are, you idiot! All I can think about is you needing to leave!"

"Is someone there?"

The couple's heads swiftly turned towards the entrance to the room. The voice was closer than before. The two gave each other one last look before Rukia reacted on instinct. Before Ichigo knew what had happened, he found himself on his back on the floor…

"Rukia!!" Hisana's voice sounded surprised. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in school."

'Well,'Ichigo thought as he dropped his head to the floor. 'At least Rukia has some sense of good timing…'

"I felt bad about not calling you last night when I stayed the night at Renji's. I wanted to make it up to you, so I thought we could just hang out today. It will only be one day of school that I'm missing…"

"Rukia…" Hisana started as she turned around to place her things on a table near the entryway.

Rukia used that time to sneak a glance at Ichigo, who mouthed something to her.

You pushed me down?

She shrugged.

What did you expect me to do?

"I just-"

Rukia's head went straight to Hisana.

"What were you just doing?"

Rukia's mouth opened then closed.

"Doing what?"

The older of the two sisters narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"You were-"

"No I wasn't!"

Hisana cocked her head to the side while frowning.

"Hisana, why don't we just go into the kitchen and get something to eat?"

The frown left Hisana's face and a small smile replaced it. Yes, she knew that Rukia shouldn't be missing school, but it's not like she could change it. The older sister stared at the younger one and decided that she was going to make the most of it.

"Sure. Lets go sis!"

Rukia smiled as she watched Hisana's retreating form. In a swift movement, Ichigo was up and by her side.

"You couldn't have thought of anything else?" He hissed.

"It was instinct."

He growled and grabbed his things that were stationed on the side of the couch out of sight.

"I think I should go." He concluded.

"Yeah, I agree."

She walked him to the entrance to the hall but stopped when Hisana's voice rang out.

"Rukia! What are you doing? Are you coming?"

"I'll be there in a minute! I'm putting my things up!"

The two paused making sure Hisana wasn't coming. When she didn't come, Ichigo grabbed Rukia's wrist and pulled her towards the front door.

"We didn't get to finish talking."

He sighed. "I know. Maybe some other time." He dropped her wrist and opened the door. "I'll call you later, okay?"

Rukia nodded.

"That's fine."

He was about to leave when Rukia pulled him back. She made sure he was looking straight at her.

"Do me a favor and talk to you sister."

He didn't answer. Instead, he shook her hand off of him and grabbed it, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm not making any promises, but I'll try."

The corners of her lips pulled up in a grin.

"That's all I'm asking for."

He shook his head in amusement, and turned around to leave. Rukia stood there until something crossed her mind. She quickly went outside and called out for him as loud as she could without attracting attention. He turned around.

"Thank you."

He drew his brows together in confusion.

"For what?"

"For taking a chance and coming with me."

He smirked. "Then I guess you're welcome!"

She rolled her eyes and went back inside, walking past everything and making her way into the kitchen. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight before her. There was an array of food items on the counter top.

"What's all this?" Rukia asked, eyeing all the food.

"Well, seeing as how you took 4 hours doing who knows what, I decided to get this ready, so we can have our sibling bonding time. I think it's long overdue."

Rukia hopped up on a stool, sitting next to Hisana.

"I think you exaggerated too much." Rukia reached out and grabbed a fork, sneaking a piece of cake into her mouth. "I agree, though. I think we are long overdue for some bonding time."

---x---

Ichigo threw open the door to his place and strolled in, shutting the door behind him. He threw his bag down by the door and made his way to his room. He plopped down on his bed burying his face into his pillow.

So many things have happened in such a short amount of time. He broke up with Senna, started a new relationship, and found out that his sister almost got raped by some guy that he didn't even really know. Not to forget that said girl in new relationship knew all about it.

Needless to say, he was exhausted.

He thought back to the picture that he had held in his hand earlier. The way Rukia reacted to it made him want to know more about her. He wanted to know who that guy was. He flipped over so he was lying on his back facing the ceiling.

So, now there were two thoughts that needed his attention.

Thought one, were he and Rukia still together? He closed his eyes in thought. She wanted to be, that was something he did know. So, it all fell on him. What he wanted. A decision needed to be made and soon. So…?

After a few moments of in-depth thinking, he finally came to a conclusion. It was worth a shot. Apart of him felt bad for just leaving her hanging and confused. He was going to give it a try, but he knew that he was going to have to make her promise that she would never lie to him again.

He let out a deep sigh as the next thought loomed over his head. Talking to his sister. That was one thing he couldn't avoid. As much as he wanted to. But if he was ready to start over with Rukia, he sure was ready to start over with his sister. After school today, he decided, was when he was going to confront his sister about this whole situation. Maybe, hopefully, after this, he could just forget this happened and move on.

---x--

There it is! Hope you liked it and that it was at least semi-decent. Not much to say except SORRY again. Haha. So let's help me start the new year in a great way…by what? None other than REVIEWING!!!

So drop a review and tell me what you thought…even if you hated it. ^_^ So PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! They will, as always, be greatly appreciated!!

Umm…I think that's all! Thanks!!