Disclaimer: Bleach and all its characters are property of Kubo Tite, not mine.

Author's Notes: This is a contest entry to the Halloween fanfiction contest at the IchiRuki Fan Club in Bleach Asylum.

Treat Me If You Dare!

"Trick or treat!" said Rukia with a radiant smile, her raven hair held up under a silver crown, her body lined in all the glory of its feminine frame emphasized by a pure white lace dress with nude lining underneath the snow flake patterns. The bodice was a sleeved corset, tied at the front from chest to hip by a slender satin lace, leaving a considerable cleavage and all the delicacy of her neck, shoulders and collarbone completely exposed. The sleeves were a second skin down to half way the forearm, where they opened into a shaped flounce with ruffles. The skirt was floor length, the back extending into train, with a deep front ruffled slit that only halted half way up the thy, leaving no room for imagination regarding Rukia's bare legs, with satin straps tightly crossing each other down each cap into high heels white sandals. The lining perfectly matched Rukia's porcelain skin, thus creating the image that, instead of wearing a dress that wasn't even transparent, Rukia was actually scarcely covered in translucent snowflakes, which seemed to melt from her body and trail into oblivion at the end of the dress' train.

Snow Princess - this was the name of the costume Isshin bought for Rukia to wear on this year's Halloween and this was the sole culprit of Ichigo's heart skipping a considerable number of beats, as his eyes widened and his chin dropped, his expression closely resembling a fish out of water. It's not certain on whether it was due to the obstinate halting of his heart or the short-circuit inside his brain, but all the blood on his body seemed to rush to his face, making it turn several dramatic shades of red. Unable to keep halted, under the risk of cardiac arrest, Ichigo's heart decided to race instead, causing him to start hyperventilating, in sharp hot breaths through an ever wide opening mouth, as the nose proved insufficient towards such violent carbon-oxygen transactions.

"Oh, the fish can breathe!" remarked Karin, amused with her brother's reaction as he first laid eyes on the Snow Princess Rukia, but she was the only one amused. Yuzu was silent in astonishment and Rukia herself was starting to nervously grip the white lace umbrella that completed her costume set, in clueless wonder of what was going wrong. But Ichigo couldn't see none of it. All his eyes could behold was the scarcely snowflake covered Rukia, which is already quite an achievement to be processed inside a brain that stopped functioning. But, opposite to his heart, that started to overwork after a halt, his mind had a slower recovery. The first thing it could process was that what was in front of him was wrong. The second thing was that, it being wrong, it was someone's fault. The third and final train of thought his brain was able to produce, that finally caused him to wake from the stupor, was that it was his job to punish the culprit of such evil. Hence a clueless Rukia, an astonished Yuzu and an amused Karin stood witness to Ichigo's long inhale to the point of his chest threatening to pop, but their ears were the ones at the verge of popping, as Ichigo's exhale came in the form of a monstrously loud "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!"

The scream caused cracks on every old concrete structure within a two mile radius and even made Urahara, several blocks away, open the fan concealing his face in instinctive reflex, startled wide eyes quickly roaming the length of the horizon several times from in between the fan and the striped hat.

The scream was all the warning of hell on Earth that Isshin had, and too short a notice at that, for the shock was quickly replaced with terror, as he turned back from the TV and saw a fuming devil red creature slightly resembling his son, with long fangs clenched in foam, craving for his neck. Before the girls managed to leave their room and actually restrain the orange haired gift from hell under twelve limbs (yes, all of them had to use both their arms and legs to keep Ichigo still), Isshin was already beaten to unconsciousness and currently having dreams with a Japanese version of Texas Massacre with the main bad guy oddly having orange hair and a built-in chainsaw replacing his teeth.

"Stop it already! What's wrong with you, Ichigo?!" Rukia was on top of Ichigo's back, both legs securing his arms to his torso, one arm around his neck and the other one holding his head back, over his eyes.

"Wrong with me?! Can't you see what my perverted father bought you as a costume?... Let me go, I'm gonna kill him!"

Rukia gave a sad sigh, learning that all this fuss and ruckus was over her costume, and spoke with more authority on her tone.

"Ichigo, your father may have bought it, but I'm the one wanting to wear it. And I liked it and I'm going to wear it tonight, either you like it or not. If you have a problem with that, beat yourself out of it instead."

"Rukia, you don't understand! That costume isn't decent, it's just the old fart wanting to look at your-"

"No, Ichigo, I do understand. I know this outfit is revealing, but it is my choice and my choice alone to wear it tonight. If you don't like it, don't look at it, but nothing you say is going to change my will. Now stop this nonsense and get changed, if you still want to attend Mizuiro's Halloween party!" and she added on a lower tone, barely hiding the sadness "If you don't,... I'll just go alone."

With this, she loosened her grip on Ichigo's head, slowly slipping her arms back. Ichigo turned his head to the side, facing the ground.

"... I'll go change."

Rukia's lips drew a slight smile, as she came down from Ichigo's back. The twins were already tending to their father's pitiful state, as their brother went up the stairs to his room, face down like a defeated animal out of a bull fight.

He pouted all the time, while getting into his Pirate Captain costume, mumbling his thoughts in between clenched teeth.

"Stupid Halloween... A bunch of people dressed up like retards... If I would want to dress up as something, I'd get myself on a god damn cosplay club... I'm still gonna kill father... perverted freak... And Rukia, of all people, liking that costume!... I never thought I'd say this, but, in times like these, I wish Byakuya was here. HA! I would love seeing Rukia even dare to act all right and mighty dressed up like that in front of that stiff brick!... Oh, yeah, Byakuya would teach you something about proper ways for a lady to be dressed... not that... that..."

The image of scarcely snowflake covered Rukia, with her smile and haughty pose, when he entered their room, started to assault his mind again. Truth be told, she looked divine. Without noticing, he halted his dressing efforts, to revel in remembrance. He already had his tight black pirate pants and boots on and his bare chest was now moving to the rhythm of an uneven breathing, as all he could listen to was the strong pounding of his heart and Rukia's sweet voice saying, with that sweet smile... what was it?... What did she say when he came into the room? He could clearly remember her lips moving...

"Trick or treat!"

"... Yeah, that was it, alright."

"Trick or treat!"

"... Yeah, I already know."

"TRICK OR TREAT!" - it wasn't Rukia's sweet voice, but in fact a group of kids at his door, with their annoying voices, annoying costumes and annoying predispositions into disrupting people's important train of thought.

A very muscular bare-chested scowling Ichigo on a bad orange hair day jerked half his body out his bedroom window screaming a very menacing "TRICK ME IF YOU DARE!!"

It actually caused the tricking of the Clinic against the poor youngsters' will, as half the rotten eggs they brought in baskets fell and splashed on the sidewalk by accident, when they jumped with terror, before running away from Flaming Head Nightmare, among their panicking "KYYAAAA!"s.

Ichigo let out a long sigh as he returned to the room, dressing his white pirate shirt, with a white cord crisscrossing the "V" shaped opening from the collar down to the end of the ribcage, a big square buckle belt, a red waist band diagonally across the hip (it was supposed to be a bandana, but he preferred it this way), tied to a knot and with the ends at knee length and a black Captain coat.

The costume also had a sword - but it's not Zangetsu, an eye-patch - but he's not Zaraki, and a huge Captain hat with the trademark pirate symbol of the skull over two crossing bones – and he's not Urahara with hollow camouflage neither - thus Ichigo became the sword-less, patch-less, hat-less Pirate Captain.

"You look gay!" - Kon had just come out from underneath the bed. He had heard the black scream of death and had decided to hide till it looked safe to be within arm's reach to Ichigo.

Instead of answering, Ichigo immediately smacked the Shinigami Representative Badge against the stuffed lion's head, causing the mod soul to come out and bouncing into Ichigo's hand. He held the pill up "This way, you might end up looking gay too." and dropped it inside the coat pocket.

When Ichigo finally came down the stairs, the twins had already gone out to trick or treat and only Rukia was waiting for him in the living room. She couldn't hide her smile upon seeing the half pirated Ichigo, with his titanic scowl and low gaze that still didn't feel comfortable with facing her.

"Gonna tell me I look gay too?"

Rukia actually found him to look quite manly, with his muscular chest showing in between the cords at the shirt's opening, and the red waist band giving him a warrior hint, but saying it wouldn't do any good, at this point.

"Stop fussing with this, Ichigo. For once in your lifetime, try to have fun without fighting."

Ichigo just quickly glared and faced the floor again, as they both left the house.

It was a warm late afternoon, a nice temperature to walk outside. It was a long walk till the house where the party would be held, apparently courtesy of one of Mizuiro's girlfriends.

Mizuiro had invited this world and the next, Keigo was at a permanent state of ecstasy during the preparation days, he just couldn't talk about anything else but their first really big Halloween party. Ichigo didn't want to go, never wanted to go. He couldn't understand why Rukia's eyes seemed to spark flashes when she started learning about Halloween and why she immediately accepted Mizuiro's invitation to the party. Of course, he had to withdraw his previous refusal faster than Keigo could elect himself as Rukia's escort. No bloody way would he let that moron escort Rukia, nor any other moron, for that matter. Rukia was a member of his house now, it is his duty to be her escort. ... though he can just guess what kind of rumors will be floating around, after them coming to this party together... specially with Rukia wearing this kind of dress... he should have known, he should have known his father was up to no good when he told Rukia he would give her a costume, when she spoke of Halloween... Good thing he didn't even get to see her wearing it, served him right... Though all the other guys will see, he'll have to keep the order in there... He still can't believe she doesn't mind it!

And so Ichigo's thoughts carried on, as vein after vein continued to pop in his face. And it was this spaghetti on tomato sauce expression that met the next unsuspecting group of kids that oh so leisurely dared to try to get treats from Ichigo, causing the pits of hell to open from the mid bottom of the Italian plate (roughly where the mouth should be) and roar the words "TRICK ME IF YOU DARE!!"

Rukia sighed, as she walked, holding the opened umbrella with both hands and evading looking directly at the downcast fuming spaghetti with carrot dressing face that slowly walked beside her with his hands buried deep into his pockets.

"Do you really hate it so much, Ichigo? Is it really so abominable to you to go to such a party with me wearing such a dress? I'm not going to argue about its decency, no matter what the dress suggests, compared with my school uniform, it just shows more cleavage, which, even so, can easily be topped by anything Matsumoto-fukutaichou wears. Meaning I've seen worse both in the real world AND Soul Society, so why are you sulking so much? I consider myself to know the enough about the real world to take this liberty, but I know you understand the ways of this world far better than I ever can. Does it really look cheap? Is my sense of feminine completely off? Does it shame you to be by my side with this?..."

With this, Rukia stopped walking and touched Ichigo's arm. He offered no resistance to also halt and turn to her, though still facing the ground.

"... It's not cheap."

"Then, what is it?"

Ichigo finally gathered the will to look her in the eyes again, since the first time he saw her as the Snow Princess. Her expression wasn't of innocent amusement, like back then. This time there was concern and a slight scowl framed by the tied hair strands under the silver crown, the iron tube of the umbrella resting on her left bare shoulder, as she gently held the marble handle. Yes, she definitely looks divine. Ichigo looked away again. His voice was calm now, the lines on his face seemed to soften.

"It's... I don't understand. I'm not used to this, I've never been into this kind of stuff. You come from Soul Society, they don't have Halloween there, all you guys do is take care of the world's balance, it's all serious stuff. But suddenly, you go all crazy on Halloween, and I'm forced to tag along."

"Do you want to go home, Ichigo? I told you before, I can go by myself."

"No, it's not like that. It's just... why?" He took two steps back, entangling his fingers behind his head "Why did you get so crazy about Halloween? Why do you want to go to the party so much, why do you want to wear that costume so much, how come you don't even mind that people see you looking like you're dressed in nothing but snow? Why did you even ask my dad to teach you how to dance because of this party? Why?... Why is this so important to you, it's just a bunch of morons with time on their hands, dressed like freaks, moving to some music, why did it become so important, all of a sudden? It's not like you at all."

Rukia smirked softly "Exactly because it's not like me at all." She walked towards Ichigo, taking his arm, so they could resume their way in a slow pace.

"As you know, before Nii-sama took me in, before even entering the Academy, I lived in Rukongai, where I first met Renji, when we were still just kids. Back then, neither of us knew another living besides the harsh survival in the gutter. We were raised among trash, using everything we had to reach the next day, ignorant of who we had once been in the real world, or what we could be, if we were in the realm of the living instead of the dead. But there was one day that wasn't like that. A day we could forget who we really were and just pretend we were someone else. It's called the 'Wonderlife Day'. Soul Society is really big, I have no idea if all the districts celebrate it, but it was an infallible custom, at the place I grew up. It's meant to celebrate the life we lost in the real world, to revel on what we wish it would have been. So, basically, for one day, that day alone, we could all forget the sewer rats we really were and just play pretend to be whatever we wanted."

Ichigo was observing Rukia, as he walked, noticing how she was seeing everything around her, but her gaze seemed to focus somewhere far away, far in both time and space. It troubles him picturing Rukia's childhood hardships, it troubles him not to be able to touch her past, to change it, to rid her from all the sadness.

"For one day, the adults would even be kind to us, drunk in their musings of being rich benefactors or really too drunk on sake to do us any harm... The gutter didn't even look like the gutter at all, all sorts of decorations were used to disguise the buildings into what their owners would wish their real world shelters to resemble. Even those without a shelter would simply disguise their own appearance to a one day long dream..." and she added with quite an affected tone, raising her chin and waving the umbrella on a majestic arc "I would pin flowers to my robes and hair and pretend to be Rukia The All Mighty Goddess of Bloom! Without whom no plant could flourish on Earth!"

Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle at the picture of a juvenile self proclaimed Goddess of Bloom Rukia, for all to praise and fear, at the cost of the loss of spring. He shouldn't be surprised, Rukia has been acting half way through her stay in the real world, it must have been born with her!

"Renji would tie a rope to a box and drag me around, with a plate on his head and a branch on his hand to both fight and speed the horses - self proclaimed Defender and Chariot Master of Gods!... though he was really making the horses' work, hahaha!"

"... Idiot..." - though oddly and secretly, Ichigo could imagine himself having fun with doing the exact same thing, if both him and Rukia were kids. ... and he'd be a stronger Defender! He looked at the sky, raising an eyebrow, lost in images of his juvenile self dragging a box with a juvenile flower covered Rukia trying hard not to fall off, as he runs at the speed of his bankai, menacingly waving a branch that oddly looks like a huge kitchen knife...

"It's like you said, Ichigo. This is so not me. It's so not serious stuff. Everything in my life is serious stuff. Lives depend on what I do. The Kuchiki name depends on what I do. The people that expect from me depend on what I do. ... I'm not complaining, I have a good life, but a great part of who I am is what I have to be. What the world made me be." Rukia paused to take a deep breath before meeting Ichigo's gaze. "... So... for one day, this day alone, let me be able to forget I'm the Gotei 13 13th Squad Kuchiki Rukia the shinigami for as long as I can. Let me forget the proprieties of the Kuchiki name, the horrors of hollow fighting and the scars of the Rukongai childhood. For one day, let me be whatever I choose, for fun instead of duty. Let me dance steps which aren't a martial art. Let me pretend I'm just a character, let me wear an outfit that's not a uniform and that makes no sense to be worn, let me be what I'm not." Rukia stepped in front of Ichigo, grabbing both his elbows "Just for today, let me be this Snow Princess."

Her eyes were intense, firm, but carrying a plea within them. Ichigo was slightly lost in her gaze. Something was definitely wrong with him, because he was feeling a strong urge to just hold her, snowflakes and all. Yeah, it must be the snowflakes' fault.

" ... I understand now."

Rukia smiled widely and tightened the grip on Ichigo's elbows, before releasing him to walk ahead, circling her umbrella in between her fingers and pacing more enthusiastically. Ichigo took a couple of moments to start following. He just knew he was going to regret this whole Halloween party thing... but seeing her smile like that felt so great!

They arrived the party a radiant Snow Princess Rukia and a trademark generic scowling Pirate Captain Ichigo. Upon entering the huge, heavily Halloween themed decorated house, Rukia looked like a shinny star everyone would turn to admire. A star followed by a black hole. A very dark glaring shadow, for even though Ichigo promised himself he would just face the floor and ignore all the attention Rukia would receive, he couldn't stop glaring random targets, getting particularly infuriated on how they took so long to notice his glare that retracted them into shiver, over being distracted with Rukia!

"Whoa! Kuchiki-san, you look like a goddess!"

"Why, thank you, Kojima-kun! Congratulations on the party, everyone seems to be having so much fun!"

Rukia was using her affected tone, causing Ichigo to rest his glare on her, for a moment, before deciding on the next target.

"Ichigo, stop glaring at my guests, people already say you and Kuchiki-san are a couple as it is, you're only making it worse."

Ichigo mumbled in between teeth "I knew I would regret coming to this stupid party!"

"What's that, Ichigo?"

"Nothing, let's look for Chad, Ishida and Inoue, before Keigo gets here and rolls on the floor crying."

"Keigo what?"

"KUCHIKI-SAN!!"

"Oh, no, too late!"

"Oh, pure princess from the snow! PLEASE! Let me admire every inch of your beauty until I'm drunk of bliss and-HUFF!"

Ichigo's punch to the stomach made Vampire Keigo bend upon himself on the floor, while tears of joy became tears of pain.

"Told you he would roll on the floor crying..."

"… maybe just one dance then?..." - his plea was completely unheard amidst the booming music.

They finally found their three classmates, that greeted them enthusiastically. ... for the most part, at least, given Heavy Metal Chad only nodded and Priest Ishida still tries to convince the world he hates shinigamis, though sincerely enticed by the perfection of detail shown in Rukia's outfit, but Angel Inoue was enthusiastic for the whole group.

When Ishida was inspecting the ruffles on Rukia's sleeves, Ichigo had a brilliant idea.

"Hey, Ishida, let me talk with you a second."

"What now, Kurosaki?"

"You made a dress for Rukia back in Soul Society, right? I mean, you can do costumes too, can't you?"

"Don't insult my genius, Kurosaki, I could even build a city with thread and cloth, if I would so wish it." he retorted, pressing his glasses into place.

"Tell you what, next year's Halloween, make me Rukia's costume, anything she wants - but make it decent, nice and decent, just like the dress you did in Soul Society, deal?"

"And what's in it for me?"

"I'll let you sew the Quincy cross at the back of my shinigami robe when the time comes, and keep it there through a whole month."

"And the line 'Owned by the Pride of the Quincy'?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and hesitated for two seconds "... And 'Owned by the Pride of the Quincy'."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Kurosaki. I'll remember to keep stock of reflector material."

Ichigo's eye was already twitching when Ninja Tatsuki joined the group.

"So, when did you and Kuchiki start to date?"

"We don't date! What the hell are you babbling about?!"

"Hey, don't blame me, people all over the place are saying so, I just overheard."

"It's all a bunch of bull-"

Rukia interrupted them, pulling Ichigo's shirt.

"Ichigo! Let's dance, your father taught me how to dance this song!"

"Kuchiki, you're too forward, guys should be the ones to ask girls to dance."

"Why? What's the difference?"

Ichigo was feeling in between a sword and a wall - on one side, being seen dancing with Rukia would only increase the venomous rumors, on the other side, not dancing with her would cause some asshole to do it in his stead, taking advantage of Rukia's little knowledge of real world customs to do things... unspeakable things... Unnoticed by the two girls discussing dancing ethics, Ichigo's face was sweating in terror, as he silently begged "God... please... save me!..."

"Beep beeep beep beeep beep beeep" The whole group startled at the familiar sound of Rukia's cell phone, sharing the knowledge of what it meant - Soul Society orders - hollow appearing. Among them, only one was showing a goofy smile of relief, drying the sweat from under his orange mane with the tips of his waist band, thinking to himself "Thank you, God!" But his joy was short lived, as he took a glimpse of Rukia, her low gaze through half closed lids, her face, so lively just a moment ago, now obscured with sadness. It was the first time she didn't pick up the phone right away, the first time an order made her expression reflect loss instead of urgency. Something inside Ichigo ached.

"I'll go."

Rukia was already flipping the phone, her voice not sad, but somehow... empty.

"These are my orders, Ichigo, I am the shinigami, you're a representative."

"Screw that, it doesn't matter which sword strikes them, the end result is the same."

"It's my duty."

Ichigo rested his hands on her shoulders and craned his neck over her head, as if wanting to isolate her from the world.

"I thought you said tonight you wouldn't have duties. ... Come on, Rukia, I know you want to stay, let me take care of it for you."

She felt moved by his concern, pressed her forehead slightly against his chest for a moment, just allowing herself to briefly feel that bit more of support.

"I said tonight I would pretend not to have duties for as long as I could. This phone says time's up. There's no way I can pretend not to have duties, while just letting someone else take care of them. I'm not that good an actress, Ichigo. Nor do I want to be."

"All right, how many hollows?"

"It was a message from the Research Department saying they're picking up a severe disturbance. Most likely rapid successive hollow appearances on multiple points. I need to hurry."

She was already grabbing her Chappy soul candy, as Ichigo pulled his mod soul out of the jacket aswell.

"Alright, we'll do it together, then. We'll finish it up in half the time, we'll return even before the party is halfway through."

Rukia's quick smile pumped up Ichigo's spirit and they both swallowed their pills and emerged out of their costumed bodies into their shinigami forms.

"Will you guys need a hand?"

"Thank you, Inoue, but us two are already more than enough, nothing but low level hollows have been showing their face, lately." Rukia's eyes clouded again, as she looked at Chappy as her Snow Princess "Have fun in my stead, but don't overdo it. And make sure Kon behaves!"

"Leave it to me, Rukia-sama!"

Before they left the house, they could yet listen to Kon's cry "I WANT OUT OF THIS GAY THIIIIING!!"

They both stopped on their tracks.

"Ichigo, are you sure you won't rather stay?..."

"See how dressing up silly makes a guy cry? How can you even suppose I want to change with Kon again? I want to do this EXACTLY to get out of that thing!"

Rukia smirked as they went on their way.

"He'll be alright. The rest of them are there to keep him contained and Chappy has enough strength to pin him down."

"Oh, really, you're telling me!" Ichigo's body knew it all too well, amidst the insufferable "Pyon!" callings.

Within minutes, they stopped on top of a tall office building.

"Ok. This is the center of the disturbance. Hollows should start appearing from the outskirts of a three mile radius from this point, within time intervals that will considerably decrease as they start showing up closer to the center."

"In other words, hollow here, hollow there showing up at the outskirt, and the longer one takes to get back to the center, the bigger the chance to fight a crowd, right?"

"Yes. Given there's two of us, we can divide the area. North half mine, south half yours?"

"Got it. ... Hey!" Ichigo stepped back to Rukia, so she could fully see his scowling expression and accusing finger pointing close to her nose. "Don't slack off just because they're low level hollows. Don't wanna shumpo six miles back and forth just to save your butt from trouble!"

Rukia slapped his finger away "Don't insult me! In between you and me, you're the reckless one! So you shut up and be careful!"

They shumpoed their way to the outskirt of the circle, reaching it as the first hollows were starting to arrive. It was child's play moving from the three mile mark to the two mile. The only downside was the large distance they had to cover from one hollow to the other, but they took enough time in between spawns for both Ichigo and Rukia to slash them without breaking a sweat. From the two mile mark onwards, it started to be crowded, they needed to move fast and kill fast, as the area to cover was still large and the hollows were appearing much faster. From the one mile radius towards the center, was when things started to get rough, with the hollows appearing simultaneously and having enough time to set foot on land and chase human souls. Ichigo and Rukia stopped minding which half belonged to whom and started dashing for hollows that laid foot in the ground as a priority, to protect the human souls. As a result, by the time they reached the center, the same office building from where they parted, they were surrounded by a sky of hollows. They stood with their backs against each other, contemplating the dark sky spotted with white masks.

"Let them gang up, the closer they concentrate on top of us, the more we slash with each strike."

"You know, if I'd just go bankai, they would all die in four seconds, regardless of the distance in between them..."

"Fool! Don't even think of wasting your bankai on something even I could take care of by myself!"

They turned to face each other, to better carry on a proper argument.

"By yourself?! You only had half the task and you're exhausted!"

"How dare you!"

"I could feel your heart pounding all the way across your back to mine! Dealing with the whole circle, you would be dragging yourself by now! With your tongue sticking out! Like this!" and Ichigo stuck his tongue out, a childish act on his already childish mocking expression.

The hollows got caught up in the awkwardness of the situation, starting to stare at each other, shaking heads and shrugging shoulders, while witnessing the unexpected scene below. Rukia was already fuming and popping several veins of annoyance on her face and clenched fist.

"Why you!... I'll show you who's going to be dragging a tongue by the time I finish pulling it out from your throat!"

But something unnoticed by the two of them had poked the hollows' danger alert, and they dashed down to the building. As both shinigamis felt the sky coming down in darkness, they both let go of their swords' handle, grabbed the white cloth of the hilt and started spinning their blades furiously.

"Not now, you freaks!"

"Can't you see we're busy?!"

"Who wants to be the first one to die a gruesome death?!"

But before the hollows could touch the blades, a rain of fireballs started reducing them to dust, all the way up to the last one of them. They grabbed their swords' handles again and turned backwards to meet an amused Urahara, amidst the smoke of his recently fired cannon.

"My, my! I was wondering what was taking so long for these hollows to disappear, on a town so populated with strong and capable people, but I should have known it could only be a lovers' quarrel!"

"Shut it, Urahara-san, not you too!"

"No I won't shut it, giving you're causing so much ruckus to my surroundings."

"What are you talking about? It was under control the whole time. Barely a hollow laid foot on the ground for more than a minute."

"Yes, but do you know what caused it in the first place?..."

"How should I know?!"

"The Research and Development Department is still trying to determine the cause of the stir."

"Yes, Kuchiki-san, but that's because they are in Soul Society, whilst I'm in here. I know very damn well what caused it."

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other for a moment, before meeting the shadowed eyes of Urahara again, that seemed to dance from Ichigo to Rukia in an accusing manner.

"No clues?... How about a high pitch war scream to your papa, this afternoon, that even reached my store and would scare away customers?"

"You don't have any customers."

"That's beside the point."

"No way! My scream called hollows?!"

"Not your scream. Sure, it was annoying the enough, but what stirred the hollows was the titanic amount of reiatsu you spilled away while doing it! Where the hell do you think you are? What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Ichigo and Rukia exchanged a quick guilty glance.

"And you, Kuchiki-san, aren't you in the real world to actually help Kurosaki-san with controlling his power, so that it doesn't end up causing more harm than the one it prevents?"

Rukia looked at Ichigo, his slight pout, his left hand scratching his hair, his eyes on the floor.

"Know your place, Urahara! If you think a better job can be done, why don't you take up on my responsibility, then? As if you're someone to talk about other people's power causing more harm than the one it prevents!"

Ichigo looked at Rukia, startled. Her tone was defiant, her chin was raised with all the authority of a Kuchiki. It brought him the image of Rukia the Snow Princess giving her Goddess of Bloom speech. Heaven and hell to fear you, Kuchiki Rukia.

The fan was finally opened to cover Urahara's face "Oh, no, no, Kuchiki-san! No one doubts your unique valor when it comes to secure Karakura Town and dealing with Kurosaki-san in particular! Nor Kurosaki-san's value and irreplaceable contribute to both the realm of the living and the dead! No, no, no!" but his voice soon recovered its serious tone again "But, you must realize these kind of events jeopardize not only the safety of Karakura Town... but also Soul Society's tolerance on letting so many powerful people stay together, if the extra muscle proves more hazardous than beneficial. Please do try to find your way through releasing stress without involving a reiatsu nuclear mushroom." he was already walking away "... Ah, and don't forget to stop by Soul Society, they need to analyze the residue of the hollows to determine the current state of their evolution, in search for signs of arrancarization."

"Can't I just give my sample device to you?"

"No, Kuchiki-san, as opposite to the cause of this whole thing, the study of hollow evolution flow of information works the other way around. Soul Society analyzes the data, then also provides me with the results." Urahara's voice faded in the distance with his outline, a strange silhouette in the dark, with an odd hat, an odd coat, odd pants, odd sandals and odd crane, carrying an odd cannon. Though tonight, no one would find him odd – it's Halloween after all.

"When aren't things my fault, huh."

"You'll learn how to control it. We all did, you'll be no different."

"Even managed to be ruining your Halloween."

Damn that Ichigo. He can still remember that kind of thing in a time like this.

"Yes, I'll really pull your tongue out for it before tonight is over. But now I have to pay a visit to Soul Society."

"You mean we."

"Ichigo, it's alright. Return to the party, return to your friends. They aren't locking me inside a tower in Soul Society again, stop having unnecessary worries."

"Rukia, I didn't even want to go to the Halloween party to begin with. You're not there, there's no reason for me to be there neither. Chappy is there, Kon is there, and our gang will keep them in order, I mean Kon can't even spread his wings, he already finds the costume gay, the more so if Ishida threatens to shoot an arrow up his ass, and, trust me, Ishida would even pay to be given a motive-"

"Ichigo."

"I mean-"

"Ichigo."

"What?"

"Just felt like reminding you it's actually your ass that's at stake in that."

"... oh... yeah... ow!..." Ichigo covered his butt at the thought "Anyway, my point is, I'll return to the party when you return to the party. That's final, it's not open for debate!"

Ichigo crossed his arms on his chest, wearing his most affected scowl. After a moment, he chanced looking at Rukia by the corner of his narrowed eyes. She was close to bursting into laughter. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder, to hide her face. Ichigo lost the affected scowl, and kept watching her, amused. Damn, he felt like holding her again! It's not the snowflakes effect after all! Rukia lifted one eye to peek at Ichigo's face from below his shoulder level.

"Again... all my opinions are rejected?"

Ichigo gave a vigorous nod "All your opinions are rejected."

As she used Sode No Shirayuki to open a gate, two hell butterflies came out and Ichigo and Rukia started walking the path crossing the severing world into Soul Society.

"I hope you didn't tire your legs too much on the big mile chase of the hollows."

"Why?"

"Because I think today is the Cleaner's day on this portal - not that my opinion matters anyway..."

"Oh damn!" was the last thing that could be heard from Ichigo in the real world, before the gate closed behind them.

Rukia's prediction wasn't wrong at all, the Cleaner made both of them hit their heels on their butts all the way to the entrance of Soul Society, from where they dashed out, landing on top of each other, quite resembling a black uneven X mark on the ground, loudly panting from the race. Ichigo was the first one to roll from his landing position, so that his back was on the floor, to give more room for his chest to weave. Rukia was landed face down across his stomach.

"I swear, this is punishment, you cursed me over that opinion remark!"

"Fool! What kind of curse of mine would drag me along in it?!"

Rukia was trying to lift herself from Ichigo's torso, with little progress, her dark mane covering most of her face, being blown up and down, at her breath's fast rhythm.

"Come on, we need to get up before your stone stiff brother sees us like this and bankais my ass again, over getting the wrong idea."

"I agree."

At the shock that voice sent through both their brains, they jumped into a perfect stand in attention faster than they could utter the words "Byakuya!" "Nii-sama!"

Rukia still had her hair hiding her face, so Ichigo started combing it back with his fingers, just to uncover her eyes that were screaming him to stop, and so he jerked his hand back and faced the stoic gaze of the all mighty better than thou Kuchiki Byakuya.

"I know what brought Rukia here in this late hour, but what is your business here, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"I asked him to come!" Byakuya directed his eyes towards his sister, maintaining his stoic expression. "There might be times my responsibilities make me spend prolonged periods of time in Soul Society. Should a massive hollow stir occur, Ichigo might be considered to collect the data in my stead, I saw no harm on familiarizing him more with the whole process, so he can carry out the mission to full success, should the need for his help arise."

Ichigo didn't like this. He was just feeling like saying he came because he so damn wanted and be done with it, but to interfere now would discredit Rukia in front of Byakuya, and he didn't want that neither, so he decided to just close his eyes and face the ground.

Byakuya read Ichigo's attitude like an open book while letting out a short sigh and closing his eyes in condescension. "Kurosaki Ichigo, I think you came because-"

"Kuchiki-san couldn't carry all the sweets by herself!"

"Ukitake-taichou!"

"Long time no see, Kuchiki-san! You came at a great time! I know today there's some kind of celebration in the real world that involves the offering of sweets, so I've been encouraging our people to bring some here to be offered as well, but Hitsugaya-kun firmly refuses to take more than one bag, so I have two bags to give to you. Your coming here actually spared me the trouble of sending someone to the real world on purpose!"

"Surely you're not serious when you say you would send someone to a real world mission just to deliver bags of sweets, Ukitake!"

"Here, here, Byakuya, take these!"

As Ukitake, Ichigo and Rukia walked away, Byakuya ventured a bite at the strange candy that was handed to him. After a brief munching, he arched an eyebrow and moaned a short but approving "Uhn!"

Matsumoto passed by the trio striding hurriedly, singing a loud "Trick or treaaaaaaat!" as they crossed.

"Not here too! Trick me if you dare!"

"Oy, oy, Kurosaki-kun! Give him sweets, Ukitake-taichou! Give him sweets to smooth his humor! ... Not that it ever worked on my taichou anyway... "

Ukitake accompanied them to the 12th Squad quarters, leaving them there with the two bags of sweets. Rukia delivered a small device for the researchers to empty its energy and cleanse it to make it ready for use again and returned back to sit on a balcony where Ichigo was observing the night sky.

"I have to wait until it's ready again, to bring it back. They might take a while."

They stood in silence for a few minutes, Ichigo was the first one to break it.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"One day off was all you wanted and I ended up making it an even more duty filled day than usual. It is my fault."

"Ichigo... truth is... even if you didn't spill your reiatsu to cause a whirlpool hollow spawn event, there's no telling if I would be able to run away from myself for one day. Shinigami isn't my work, it's who I am. It's not an occupation, it's a being. Even when I sleep, I'm still a shinigami. Maybe there is no such thing as a day where I can not be the shinigami Kuchiki Rukia and just be Rukia as whatever I wish. It was easy to do when I was in Rukongai and all my responsibility started and ended on surviving, but maybe it can't be done anymore. ... Maybe that's what it means to achieve the purpose of becoming something. No matter what we do, no one can take it away from us. Not even ourselves."

Ichigo had his eyes fixed on the slender crescent moon.

"Before you were anything else, you were already Rukia, even if you were just Rukia. You might take joy and pride on everything that you've worked so hard to become, but if it also brings you joy to be able to escape what everything you are demands from you, everything others demand from you, and just be whatever your joy demands from you, for so little a time as a day in a year, no one should deprive you from it. You smile when you fulfill your duty as a shinigami, you also smile waving your white lace umbrella, as if giving royal orders, from the top of an icy throne, commanding the falling and melting of the snow. And this night won't be over before I see that smile again."

Rukia was glad Ichigo had his eyes so focused on the moon that he couldn't see her own eyes getting teary. She pressed her clenched fist against her nose to try to regain a hold of herself. Half of her wanted to bury her face on his chest and cry, the other half wanted him to simply be reassured that, whatever this night ends up being, it's ok. The latter half won and she fetched for her bag of sweets.

"Oh, don't worry about it, this night is great as it is! Look, we got ourselves two bags of sweets!" and she started digging inside her bag, to distract herself in curiosity. "Hey, eat this, I've seen you with these before, I know you like them. ... What does your bag have? These look good. No, the blue packages. ... How does this open?" and they started to munch their way through Ukitake-taichou's treats, as they waited for the data collecting device to be ready.

After some candy and almost an hour, Ichigo was the first one to feel sleepy. His lids closed, as he was sitting on the balcony's floor, with his back resting against the wall. Rukia fell asleep next to Ichigo, but, amidst her sleep, her body searched for warmth on its own, hence replacing the wall for a quarter of Ichigo's torso, to serve as back support. They don't know how long they slept, till a 12th Division member came to give them the fully ready and operational sample device. Ichigo was the only one to wake up, holding the device and looking at Rukia sleeping on his side, her head peacefully resting on his chest. He hesitated. Maybe it was better to just let her sleep like this. But, nah, she wants to still be able to attend the Halloween party. Not to mention they'll both have a killer pain in the back tomorrow, if they sleep in this position. And Byakuya would carve both their backs in sharp cherry blossoms, if catching them sleeping in any position, so, yeah, Halloween party, here we go! He started ruffling Rukia's hair, taking it even further out of place.

"Hey. Rukia, time to go."

He didn't know why he was whispering, if his intention was to wake her up, but he only caused her to slightly open her eyes, turn herself towards his body, bury her face on the black fabric across his chest, take a deep inhale and continue sleeping. He definitely didn't want to wake her up now, they both seemed to be comfortable, so, Byakuya forgive him. ... The hell Byakuya would ever forgive him, nor Rukia, on that fact, for sleeping in such improper manners, he had to wake her up.

"Rukia, it's time to goooo."

His voice was still soft, but louder than a whisper this time, and he ruffled her hair with stronger motions. It seemed to work, as Rukia started to stretch her limbs, while still tugged against Ichigo's torso, but as her eyes caught notion of her surroundings, she slowly drifted back against the wall. Ichigo was trying to comb her hair back in place with one hand, while the other held Rukia's device.

"It's ready. Back to Halloween?"

"Sorry, I fell asleep."

"We both did. If you don't get fully awake now, surely the race against the Cleaner again will scare the rest of the sleep away."

Rukia widened her eyes in response.

Given they were carrying a bag of sweets each and already knew it was Cleaner day, they decided to play safe and already dart at full speed as soon as the portal opened, being able to cross the whole of the severing world without the Cleaner giving too close call of a chase. They landed safely, instead of on top of each other this time. Leaning to their knees, to recover their breaths, Ichigo still managed to shout "Try cleaning my ass next time, you sick moron!" and stuck his tongue out to the severing world, just before the gate closed. Rukia was staring at him with half surprised, half amused eyes. "… What?" But Rukia just shook her head in reply.

They passed by the Kurosaki Clinic to leave the bags of candy and darted in shumpo towards the party house. As they were nearing, they were intercepted by a help pleading Kon closely chased by a pyon screaming Chappy. Kon imediately jumped into a surprised Ichigo, while Chappy cordialy raised the sides of the skirt in a gracious bow "Rukia-sama." before also jumping into Rukia, without giving her the chance to ask any questions.

The first thing Ichigo noticed, once back inside his body, was the way his whole torso was aching, specially the ribs and the joints on the arms down to the wrists. Actually, on his wrists, there seemed to be handcuff marks?!... What the hell?... Rukia just felt stiffness on her limbs, as if having worked out for several hours, but her feet were aching considerably... What exactly happened in there?... They reluctantly approached the now dark house, to find Mage Mizuiro closing it before leaving.

"Mizuiro, what happened?"

"Ah! Ichigo, Kuchiki-san, did you pull this out on purpose? Never thought you guys would go this far just to reverse the rumors."

"What rumors?"

"What the hell did Kon and Chappy do in there? Why is the party over so soon?"

"You guys really don't know? You mean those two artificial souls actually act like this on their own? Jeez! I really thought you were the brains behind it all, I mean, you really don't cope well with there being rumors about-"

"Just tell me what happened, Mizuiro, Kon jumped on me before I even had time to react, why is my body all beaten? Who cuffed me?"

"Chappy."

"WHAT?!" - both Ichigo and Rukia screamed at the same time.

"Why?"

"What did Kon do?"

"Besides first trying to undress from the costume," Mizuiro explained as he walked down the road with them "he later developed a bigger interest into other people's costumes, female ones, to be more precise. Apparently, he does have a sort of fetish... To prevent him from harassing Chappy and other guests (and don't worry, she was quite quick, so no one outside the circle that knows it was actually Kon noticed your strange behavior, your reputation is intact)" - Ichigo let out the loudest sigh of relief - "she first manhandled him, then borrowed some handcuffs and cuffed Kon around the huge water tubes on the top floor."

"Eh?!"

"With Kon stuck there, she proceeded to dance with nearly all guests she could ask." Ichigo's nostrils fumed black at this point "Don't worry, Ichigo, no man would be brave enough to even dance too close to Chappy, after seeing what they thought being you powerless under her restraining. Everyone danced with her over fear of what she could do if getting refused. ... Anyway, eventually Kon managed to free himself, at the cost of kicking the pipes out, which caused a major water infiltration that forced me to call it a night."

"Uh-oh!"

"Luckily for you guys, it doesn't matter, given the whole house is going to be demolished. That's why the owner let me make a party in it. It simply didn't matter if people would crash the whole place apart. ... She did order me never to invite the two of you again, though... you know, the next house to have a party probably won't be as disposable... Anyway, Kon's freedom was short lived, as he fell under the crushing limbs of Chappy again, right from when the people had to leave until you both arrived. So, physical pain aside, and the shame of having been easily manhandled by a girl, you really got your wish, Ichigo."

"Huh?"

"For as long as people can remember tonight, the only false rumor that will be spreading in that high school is how you and Kuchiki-san actually hate each other's guts, hehehe!" Mizuiro's closed lids became two arched lines, as he smiled "Well, this is where we part ways, but, before that, trick or treat?"

Ichigo's glare spoke enough, but he still said "Trick me if you dare!" in between teeth.

"I get it, I get it, good night, you two!"

"Let me use my kidou to fix you." Rukia said, once they were left alone.

Ichigo was grateful, he felt like a cripple. He kept silent, letting Rukia's light do its miracles. But when Ichigo thought they were ready to return home, Rukia started to use the kidou on herself as well.

"It's still a long walk, let me just fix my feet. Damn that Chappy must have danced the whole time we were away."

"Rukia, I'm-"

"Don't apologize!" Rukia raised her head, the light from the kidou forming in between her hands reflecting on her face, making it resemble a mask "I won't die over having a snow princess costume I can't actually use. Tonight was a petty wish, and I'm not bothered with petty things. Nor should you, for that matter, Ichigo. Tonight was a good night. We worked well together, a spawning whirlpool without casualties is not that common a feat, even for two shinigamis. But we also learned the price of not crossing the needed distance ahead of us. We have a lot to learn, a lot to do, and if we don't overcome our difficulties, someone will pay the price, as our strengths become the danger to our surroundings." And she added in a softer tone "Tonight was a good night, Ichigo. Let it go."

"Yes" Ichigo thought to himself, remembering their backs together in battle, Rukia's eyes peeking at him from underneath his shoulder when she hid her face there, him ruffling her hair when she was stretching awake across his chest and finally her joyful expression when he entered the girls' room and first saw her dressed to short-circuit his brain. "Yes... tonight was a good night... but, where's that smile?" he sadly thought, while watching Rukia's focused expression on her kidou, her face still looking like a mask.

They walked in silence. It was a surprisingly warm night, so Ichigo had taken the coat off and was carrying it folded over his wrist, as he continued to stride forward, over the low grass, next to the river.

"Trick or treat!" a chorus of child voices echoed at the distance.

"Can you believe that? There are parents that still let their kids trick or treat at this late hou-" as he turned to face Rukia, his breath caught up on his throat.

About thirty paces away from him, she followed, absorbed in herself. Her hair had started to rebel from her silver crown into slender strands that caressed her face and neck. The umbrella still circling behind her head, the iron tube resting on the bare shoulder, her fingers playing with the handle. All the lights of the city reflecting on her ivory skin that the deep front slit could show, the soft breeze rustling the tips of the lace that tied the corset and the ruffles of her sleeves, the train that looked like the shinny trail of a star's fall. For the second time that night, the mere sight of her was causing his heart to race, the sight of the ice goddess, whose body is covered in snowflakes that, once melting away from her, disappear into oblivion as she walks. So beautiful... yet so sad.

Her gaze seemed fixed at one point in the river, Ichigo's face started to follow the direction she was looking at, but his eyes took a few moments of resistance to actually leave her slender frame and rest elsewhere. Anchored in the middle of the body of water was a large recreation boat, full of lights and decorations, where several dozens of people were spending a Halloween river party together. The music reached all the way to the shores. Ichigo dropped his coat and took a deep breath when facing Rukia again. He just knew he was going to regret this, but Rukia's sad and distant gaze just couldn't sit with him no longer.

"Would you give me the honor of this dance, Snow Princess?"

Rukia was awaken from staring at a distant festivity to no less than a kneeling Ichigo - right leg bent forward, left leg kneeling, bowed head, right hand extended and left hand behind his back - thus posed Kurosaki Ichigo, as a Prince right out of a fairy tale, that just happened to cosplay a pirate instead. Rukia dropped the umbrella to use both hands to cover her mouth to choke the laughter, reveling on her own disbelief on the scene playing before her eyes.

Veins started popping all over Ichigo's face, upon listening to Rukia's mockery, he knew he would regret it! He tilted his head ready to glare Rukia to dust, but her expression made the anger short lived. Half hidden behind her delicate fingers - there it was - her smile.

"Way to go, Rukia," Ichigo thought to himself "how can you do even the mockery be worth it. I'll definitely make a fool out of myself tonight. Please, treat me kindly."

Rukia was still absorbing the sight of Prince Pirate Ichigo. She was feeling an urge of running her fingers all over his spiky orange hair, for some odd reason, that she didn't have the time to muse about.

"What, here?..."

"It's as good a place as any. Has music."

Rukia looked at the boat again, from where the music was coming from.

"If it's over Your Royal Highness not having an entourage to dance amongst, the fireflies are your entourage. Tonight, you are the woman among insects, the star among comets, the goddess among mortals."

As Rukia's eyes widened in undisguisable shock, Ichigo bowed his head again, to hide his firmly shut eyes, banging inside his brain "Now I've done it! This time she'll mock me all the way to lunacy! Kurosaki Ichigo, what have you done!"

But instead of Rukia's deafening burst of laughter, he felt her hands gently touching both sides of his scalp, and it looked like her face was resting at the back of his head, because he could feel her warm breath all over his neck.

"This time, I really couldn't resist it..." thought Rukia, while letting Ichigo's spikes tickle her nose and fingers, to distract her eyes from the tears that almost fell. Suddenly, Rukia jerked up and gave a slight hop backwards, taking Ichigo's extended hand.

"You may have this dance!"

Ichigo released the air from inside his lungs with relief. Rukia's face looked like a meeting point of extremes. In one hand, it showed an electric enthusiasm that made her look more childish, in another hand, there was a focus that made her look more mature. Ichigo couldn't understand it at all. Nor did he have the time to dwell in such matters as they started to dance, for the way Rukia was facing the ground to look at their feet was getting to his nerves.

"Oy! You're supposed to look at me."

"I have to look down, or else I can step on you."

"It doesn't matter if you step on me, you're really light, I could even dance with your feet on top of mine, like my dad still does with my sisters."

"I have high heels, they hurt."

"I already told you, you can even be on top of my feet all the time, look at my face instead of my feet."

Rukia jerked her heel right on Ichigo's boot, causing him to gasp in pain.

"Told you they hurt."

"You didn't step on me, you kicked me, it's different! Face me, god damn it!"

"Don't want to!"

"Fine, don't then!" and he let go of her hand to press Rukia's head against his chest and circled his arm on her waist, erasing the distance in between them. Not happy with having her face shoved against his chest, Rukia tilted her head back, trying to vent her anger directly at Ichigo's face.

"Oy! Ichigo! You..." but he didn't even look like he was listening. His eyes were shut, his face was peacefull, didn't even feature the trademark scowl, and his chin was resting on top of her head. Rukia returned her face to Ichigo's chest in unbothered defeat.

In her mind she started to see the palace, the musicians, the guests, the chandeliers, the whole grandeur of her icy reign...

... Ichigo and the fireflies...

... and Ichigo and the fireflies. In truth, she didn't need to imagine herself to be someone else to enjoy a night where one's supposed to simply have fun and joy as if there's nothing else in the world. All she had to do was to think herself just Rukia, dancing with just Ichigo and the rest of the world doesn't exist. ... How odd... instead of wanting to escape from who she is, she in fact just wanted to feel more in touch with herself. "How foolish, Kuchiki Rukia" her thoughts trailed on, as the untied cords of Ichigo's shirt brushed her cheek "you don't even need to forget the rest of the world. Just allowing yourself to be like this in the existing world is all there is to it. ... Silly Kuchiki Rukia..." she kept thinking, as her lips continued to curve upwards against Ichigo's chest.

"Are you smiling yet, oh Holy One?"

Rukia chocked her laughter against Ichigo's shirt and peeked up at his face. Her eyes alone let him know she was smiling, the rest of her face was seeking hideout where Ichigo's pectorals meet.

"Ready to twirl?"

"What?"

Instead of explaining, Ichigo grabbed her by the waist, held her up above his head with ease and spun around. Rukia first screamed, then kept calling him in exasperation.

He landed her back on her feet, after a few spins. "Seriously! A shinigami used to shumpo across the heights to scream over being held up. Tsk tsk."

"Fool!"

"Not the heel again, not the heel! Ow!"

They don't know how long they spent dancing near the river shore, but, when next they noticed, the music on the boat wasn't playing anymore, the lights were out, the party was over.

"We better go."

Rukia nodded her eyes and went back to pick up the umbrella, as Ichigo reached for his coat. He covered Rukia with it, turned and kneeled down to offer her the piggy ride on his back.

"Ichigo..."

"A Princess shouldn't have to walk."

As Rukia still hesitated, Ichigo turned his face to her. "Come on, the night's not over yet." managed to convince her to hop on.

And what an odd sight they made, slowly roaming in the night. Ichigo with his back dressed by Rukia, that had her back dressed with Ichigo's coat and the opened umbrella resting behind both their heads as a halo.

"Thank you... Ichigo." was the only thing Rukia said. She was starting to feel really sleepy, under the warmth of comfort, but was determined to find out why Ichigo felt so comfortable to her. She searched for the answer, while tightening the grip around his collarbone and burying her nose amidst the spikes on the back of his head. Half asleep, half awake, softly cradled by Ichigo's slow gentle pace, struggling to clinge around his neck with erratic fingers and lost in between a brushing sea of orange, it occurred to her. The reason Ichigo was so comfortable, so different from being anywhere else, with anyone else, it was because it felt like home. The place one feels one belongs, that she never had before. Ichigo could carry her to the end of the world, and it would still feel like being home. It was the last thought on her mind, before it drifted into slumber.

Ichigo felt her sleeping. The even pace of the breathing, the hands that didn't grip his chest anymore, now falling limp down his torso, her face that no longer searched hidden sanctuary among his mane, and instead rested over his shoulder, supported by his own neck as well, that felt caressed by the waving strands of black hair. She was so light, she felt like part of him. In fact, he felt like he could carry her to the ends of the world. Sheltered in between his arms, she's safe, she's comfortable, she's happy. He walks slowly across the streets. In a way, he wishes this night would never end, he wouldn't mind carrying her forever.

And so they arrived at the Kurosaki household. Ichigo bent forward, so that Rukia wouldn't slide down his back when her legs lost the support from his forearms, to get the umbrella and close it. He unstrapped and took off her sandals and kicked his boots off. After climbing the stairs, he entered his sisters' bedroom, both of them sleeping peacefully, pushed back the covers on Rukia's bed and laid her, taking off her crown. Only then did Rukia lazily open her eyes, in time to watch him as he tugged the covers around her.

"Good night, Snow Princess. May angels watch over your sleep till morning."

"And when the morning comes, I'll just be Kuchiki Rukia again."

"Well, that's just a Snow Princess with decent clothes and minions."

"What minions?"

"Those horrible bunnies you keep drawing."

Rukia threw her pillow at Ichigo's stomach as an answer. His face made an unsuccessful attempt to scowl.

"Oy! No matter how much it makes you smile, that dress still makes you way too violent!"

"It wasn't the dress that made it."

Ichigo just smirked and left the room, slowly closing the door behind him. Rukia's eyes followed him, peeking up from the pillow she was burying her face on. "It was you that made me smile, Ichigo." Funny how, now that she was back in her bed and could get a proper sleep, she was so alert. On the hallway, Ichigo was still standing, with his back resting against the door. He missed Rukia's weight on his back. Tonight was over after all.

Back on his room, Ichigo was quite restless. He wanted to sleep out of it, but it kept him awake. As if his bed became suddenly less comfortable, as if he had suddenly become out of place in his own room. He tossed and turned on the bed, took his t-shirt off and threw it to the floor, as if it had the blame. A long time passed until slumber finally caught up with him. But not for long.

"Ichigo."

He fought against having to open his eyes, now that he was finally resting.

"Ichigo."

His lids were lazy to open, under a frown of annoyance. Rukia was kneeling next to his bed, already wearing pajamas, chasing his sleep away by softly calling his name so close to his face. Ichigo pulled himself up, so that his shoulder was over his pillow and that the head of the bed could help him raise his own head straight.

"What is it?"

Rukia had her arms crossed over the bed and was resting her chin on them.

"Trick or treat?"

"Hell, Rukia..."

Ichigo covered his eyes with a hand, not sure if it was to help him run away from sleep or towards it, his brain wasn't yet fully awake. Rukia raised her head from resting over her arms.

"Come on. I'm the only one you didn't answer to. Trick or treat?"

Ichigo had taken the hand away from his eyes, but kept them closed.

"Treat me if you dare."

Rukia slightly raised her eyebrows in surprise "Treat?"

Ichigo barely opened his eyes, with his eyebrows frowning from the effort.

"Huh?"

"You said treat."

"No, I..."

His brain was still making everything slightly hazy. But somehow, as he became more alert, things got even hazier. Instead of working towards remembering what he had said exactly, his mind could only focus on that face a palm away from him, that strand of hair that loved to rest across Rukia's face, those huge violet eyes that looked at him so intently.

Rukia noticed how, suddenly, Ichigo's gaze became different, his amber eyes looked what Rukia could only describe as filled and she felt herself as the one charging those eyes. It moved her inside. But in a different way from all the other occasions during that night, in which Ichigo's words and actions had moved her. It didn't cause her eyes to become teary, it gave them a different shade of warmth.

It also caused her voice to come out much lower and husky, when she finally asked "So which one is it?"

After a moment's silence that somehow felt too long, Ichigo's "Treat." came out without thought and was no louder than a whisper.

With two fingers, Ichigo just slightly touched the base of Rukia's neck down her collarbone until hooking on the soft fabric, to slowly pull Rukia closer to him, by the collar. The pressure from Ichigo's fingers was minimal, just barely the enough to be felt, but somehow too strong to allow resistance. Their lids closed with the vanishing distance in between them. As their mouths met and tasted each other, their tongues tugged and danced to a soft and slow music only they could listen to.

Ichigo was a gentle pleading need lost inside a turmoil of hunger. Slowly washing in waves of warmth and abandon. The silent demand of his kiss, the urgency on his breathing disguised underneath its deep long compass, all the muscles in his arms continuously tensing and extending in twirling patterns underneath his skin, but producing a gentle embrace, fingertips brushing caresses instead of gripping, afraid of holding too tightly.

Rukia was a calm restlessness. Ever blooming into a flame of yearning hidden in a soothing mist. Her hands felt like they were touching Ichigo for the very first time, everywhere they touched now quenched a thirst, but erupted a fire. It was like crossing a field where each time she sees a flower and takes it to herself, more flowers grow and bloom. Her fingers played amidst the soft orange spikes, they explored the shape of Ichigo's ears, they gripped the muscles on his back, they followed the lines of his pectorals, they brushed unknown alphabets on his ribcage, they touched, they felt, they caressed, reveled in their own trail of goose bumps.

Their kiss didn't need to halt in search of air. Mouths only wanting to breathe each other's taste. Noses that breathed only intoxicated on the scent of the other. All that was enough. More of that was never enough.

And thus were Ichigo and Rukia found by the day after Halloween, the snow zanpakutõ shinigami, princess of the Kuchiki family, kissing the once outlaw ryoka with the power of a captain. And, right now, there is nothing they would rather be other than exactly who they are. Halloween had given them the costumes just so they could find out how to take them off to each other.

Down bellow, on one of Kurosaki Clinic's beds, one still very bruised Kurosaki Isshin with a very sharp sixth sense smiled as he watched the rising sun through the window. "What would you do without your papa giving it a little push, Ichigo..." his lips curved leisurely "Still... I'm so proud of you, son!"