Ah, yeah, Undecided is still in progress though I'm totally brain-dead. Anywhoo, many thanks to Black Sun Upon An Icy Sky for suggesting a sequel and I'm really hoping that this would suffice. It was made in a little over 4 hours so expect lots of errors whether it be the storyline, plot, sentence structures etc. So yeah.

Happy reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

It's been six years since he had last seen her. It's been that long and he barely remembered what she looked like.

Ichigo was never a person you would expect to die so soon but here he was, lying on a bed, waiting for his song to finish.

A little over a year ago, a terminal disease had hit Karakura like a fast-spreading virus. Many died, apparently and less than half survived. Even though Ichigo was well over dead after his own soul chain was severed, it didn't stop his human side from catching the wave of diseases.

He had been suffering for a year now, lying in bed, doing nothing. Once, just once, he would like to pick up his Substitute Shinigami badge and let his soul run free of the pain.

He had grown so thin and all that charisma had gone out from him completely. He was waiting, like a hopeful little puppy, for his song to finish. For him to finally blow out his breath.

Death wasn't a bad thing, really. It was sweet because truth be told; if he had continued living, if he had continued to live, he would be suffering even more. Thinking of her day by day, without fail made his heart beat in pain. He wished for nothing more than to see her again.

But he barely remembered what she felt like in his arms and he missed her voice more than anything.

Ichigo was never the one to go for these sappy romance shit but it was true that once you've found that someone, you couldn't help feeling those feelings. Maybe before when she was still around, they weren't exactly a couple you could call happy or romantic. Quite the contrary; they were anything but.

They were always getting on each other's cases, always arguing, always bickering about everything. In fact, even in Valentine's Day, they would be having fights about their gifts towards each other. Sometimes people wondered how they even hooked up with each other but only their close-knit of friends would know why and how they've come to terms with their feelings.

Believe it or not, it was Rukia who made the first move and man wasn't that a bruise on his ego?

Oh, Ichigo remembered that memory clearly.

It was night time, after they had rounded off a good amount of Hollows. As always, she would climb in his closet and bid him goodnight and he would do the same, getting in his bed and wishing her goodnight.

Neither of them slept but rather kept slow steady breaths with eyes wide open.

"Hey, Rukia?"

"Yes?"

He was surprised she wasn't sleeping yet. He knew very well she was tired. "Can't sleep?"

"I don't think so." She said and sighed. "Ichigo, would you mind going down and getting me a glass of milk?"

"Get it yourself." Ichigo snorted. He expected her to throw a bunch of insults from behind the closet but none came. Curious, he got up and peaked inside. Rukia was lying on her makeshift bed, her eyes open, staring upwards. She looked at the crack and rolled her eyes.

"Open it, will you? It's getting stuffy in here."

Ichigo obliged and opened the closet door. Rukia jumped down and proceeded to get herself a glass of warm milk to which Ichigo protested angrily.

"Are you insane? What if my family found out you were lying about sleeping over at Inoue's?" Ichigo hissed. Rukia gripped her hips.

"Look you, I told you to get me a glass and you wouldn't. And now I want to get a glass but you won't let me." She said, frowning. "Make up your mind but the bottom thing is; I want a glass of milk!"

"You know what? We'll go downstairs together. There, happy?"

"Much happier." She said and both of them padded down the stairs.

After a few mugs of milk later, Rukia set her glass down in the sink and began washing it. "Hurry up with that, will you?" she asked. "I'm washing here."

Ichigo passed her his mug and she washed them in an instant.

"Thanks." He said and turned off the lights. "Come on, let's get back upstairs."

"Hey, Ichigo." Rukia muttered, not budging from the kitchen sink. She had a blazing look on her face and her eyes were a deeper colour than normal.

"What?"

Rukia considered for a moment and shook her head. "Nothing." She said and they went upstairs.

Since none of them could get a proper shut-eye, they spent the whole night talking. It was rare of them to do this. They were talking; just talking about pointless things, about meaningful things, unimportant facts, important details... just about everything.

Ichigo's heart jumped slightly when Rukia mentioned that she liked his new fighting style. True that, he had been working on some new moves lately. He was glad she noticed. Very glad.

Though he didn't expect that simple 'your new fighting skills are quite good' praise could make his heart jump like that. He gulped. What kind of feelings were these?

One thing led to another and they started bickering again. Arguing didn't call for a time and place for them. In his bedroom in the middle of the night works fine for them. They were having a hissy fit with each other.

Finally, Rukia jumped up his bed and instinct took over her. She glared at him with deep azure eyes before unconsciously planting a soft kiss on his mouth.

Shocked, Ichigo scrambled backwards, his hand on his mouth. He looked as if he had kissed something hot. Rukia sighed and folded her arms.

"Well?" she asked, wanting it to sound like a joke. But he never took it as one when he pried her arms apart, much to her surprise and told her to give him a minute as he wasn't used to these kinds of things. Rukia snorted.

"How can a healthy sixteen year-old not know how to kiss a girl?" she asked him and thought of something in her mind. A hundred and fifty year-old woman and this was probably her second kiss in her whole life. "Shit." She mumbled and Ichigo smirked.

"Yeah, looks like I'm not the only one." He said before framing her face with his hands and kissing her like there was no tomorrow; swallowing her insults in the process.

"You really are an idiot, you know that?" came a voice not too distant from him. Ichigo's warm brown eyes widened and he looked sideways. His breath caught in his throat because there she was, as clear as the sky on a sunny day.

Rukia.

Rukia, Rukia, Rukia, Rukia...

She was there, in the flesh, exactly how he remembered her. Soft smooth skin, pale against the moonlight, dark blue orbs which sparkled and midnight coloured tresses cascading down her neck, ending just above her shoulders.

"Seriously, I told you to lead a happy life. I told you to die old, damn it, Ichigo." She said in her usual commanding voice but he could see the specks of tears in her eyes. He snorted.

"So how much time do I have left?" he asked. Rukia looked at the bedside table and sighed.

"About a few minutes." She replied. Ichigo pursed his lips. "Honestly, you buffoon. Don't you ever read the news? I know you were too busy studying for you finals but still, to ignore the world completely?" she asked, resisting the urge to give him a wallop on the head. Oh how she missed doing that.

"Sorry." He croaked. "I guess I've just been running on autopilot all these years." He said. Rukia bit her lip and sat down beside him on the bed.

"You look terrible." She mumbled, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"You look short. But what else is new?"

Rukia smiled. "You're right." She said and leaned towards him. "I..." she said and stopped. "I'm sorry."

"You did what you had to do."

"But that still doesn't cover it. I'm sorry that we've ever gotten involved those years ago. Really, I'm so sorry. If it weren't for me, you would have had a nice girlfriend by now, excelled in your studies, and gotten into a much better college..."

"And I'd have missed the best years of my life, you idiot." Ichigo said and with whatever was left of his strength, reached for her hand. "Missed you." He said. Rukia smiled.

"I did too." she said, tears filling her eyes. "But you promised not to die."

"No one's immortal." Ichigo said, clasping her hand tightly. "In case you don't know." He said dryly. Rukia bent one of his fingers and he winced in pain.

"Just a little parting gift from here to the spirit world." She said and let go of his hand, kissed his lips and waited for him to pass on.

"Hey Rukia?" Ichigo said, just a few seconds left before he died. His eyes fluttered and closed for the last time as he blew his last breath.

When his soul form, never changing the least all those years- joined her, it was then Rukia answered him.

"Yeah?"

Ichigo sighed, watching his body sleep in peace. He then looked at her with warm amber eyes and gripped her small hand tightly. "We've got forever stretching out in front of us."

"That we do." She said, returning the pressure of his hand in hers. "Why?"

"Nah, nothing. But just in case we don't..." he said, dropping down to wrap his arms around her and give her a solid kiss. "I want you to know..." he whispered huskily, his eyes had this hazy look and Rukia blinked. "That if you ever leave me again, I swear to God I'll murder myself again."

Rukia frowned and flicked his forehead. "Not funny."

"Who was joking?" he asked, his scowl returning. "Now c'mon. I've got some scores to settle with Renji." He said before giving her a last kiss.

Rukia watched him as they confidently marched up to Soul Society. Now they've got a whole future ahead of them.

And who knows what would happen then?

A/N: How was it? I know, not that good but hey, I gave it a shot. That's officially ended. There, I'm brain-dead. Oh by the way, I have a very important question since I'm working on a story later on.

What kind of question would you think Rukia would ask Ichigo in an AU story when they first meet? Yes, new story's gonna be an AU so expect OOCness. But I'll try to make them not OOC, okays?

Review and tell me what you think.