And I've lost who I am
And I can't understand
Why my heart is so broken
Rejecting your love...There's a light
There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones
To the place, we belong…

~Shattered by Trading Yesterday

XIX. Coming Home

Knock-Knock

Rukia looked up from her textbook, surprised. "Since when do you knock?" She asked Hisana conversationally. The woman did not look overly amused. She made her way into the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Uh oh. Rukia knew that look. "What's wrong?" She asked, turning in her chair so she could face Hisana.

"I need you to be honest with me."

Oh boy. Definitely not a good sign. "I'm always honest with you, Nee-san." Hisana just raised an eyebrow, disbelief clear in her expression. "Oh don't give me that look. What do you need?"

Hisana leaned forward, her elbows coming to a rest on her knees. "Have you seen Kurosaki-kun since the last time he was here?"

Rukia pressed her lips together, swallowing hard. Had she seen Ichigo? No. Had she wanted to? Oh definitely. Not that she'd ever admit it. "No, I haven't."

"Rukia—"

"I haven't Nee-san," Rukia interrupted impatiently, recognizing Hisana's tone. "What's going on?"

Hisana sighed, running a hand through her hair and looking thoroughly put-out. "Kurosaki-kun went out last night and he never came home." Rukia felt her face morph into a look of worry before she could stop it. "With his history you can understand why I think he's probably run away again. I thought maybe —I hoped — he came by here."

Rukia shook her head slowly. "I haven't seen him, Nee-san. Honest. If I had I would tell you."

"Do you promise?" Hisana asked, and Rukia nodded. Hisana sighed again, shaking her head and closing her eyes. "Great. Great."

She stood up and left without another word. Rukia frowned as she looked back at textbook, no longer seeing the words on the page. That idiot. He was getting himself into trouble again. So much for giving this new home a chance…

"What's so great about living on the streets?" Rukia asked, kicking at a rock on the sidewalk in front of her. She didn't usually mind the silence that dominated their walks to and from school, but today she was bored. Ichigo looked over at her, as if trying to figure out what game she was playing. After a moment he gave up and just answered.

"It's easier."

Rukia snorted. "It's easier trying to find a place to hide when it's raining or it's too cold and stealing everything you eat and drink?"

Ichigo shrugged, not at all put out by her words. "Easier than dealing with some of the crap that happens in a foster home."

Well that was probably true…

Hisana was probably right. He'd probably run away again. But what could have happened at Urahara's that was so bad? Rukia's own memories of the place were fairly decent, especially when compared to some of her…other homes. They weren't strict, not by any stretch of the imagination; Rukia had pretty much had free reign when she'd lived there, as long as she was home in time to leave for school the next morning. She had to assume it was much the same for Ichigo; after all, they'd let him come here every weekend without any protest…

"So what do you do when you're on the streets? Just walk around?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I have friends."

"Friends?"

"Well, friend. This guy I hang out with, he makes it more fun. We usually stick to the downtown area, always something fun going on down there…"

Ugh. Rukia groaned as she threw her pen down, giving up on her homework. That idiot.

"Your social worker is probably throwing a fit," Renji said conversationally as he handed Ichigo a bottle of soda. Ichigo shrugged, cracking the bottle open and taking a long, deep sip. "So much for all that progress you were supposed to be making."

"Three steps forward four steps back, right?"

"…Something like that, yeah."

Ichigo took another sip of his soda before turning his eyes up to the sky. The sky was a deep, velvety blue. For a moment he was reminded of sitting on the roof at Hisana's house, cursing Rukia for locking him out and at the same time enjoying the view of the stars he never saw when he was downtown, surrounded by the lights of the city. It really had been a beautiful view. And Rukia, annoying as she had been, had certainly been interesting to talk to…

"So you're really not going home?" Renji asked, draining the rest of his soda in one sip. It made Ichigo kind of sick to watch him. How could he drink that much soda in one sip without exploding?

"What's the point?"

The next few seconds were a rather confusing blur. Before Renji could come up with an answer to Ichigo's mostly rhetorical question, something hard connected with the side of Ichigo's head. He yelled out in surprise as the force of the blow sent him flying into Renji, and the two of them became a tangled heap of limbs on the ground.

"Ow! Oh Jesus Christ…"

Ichigo muttered incoherent swears under his breath as he straightened up, rubbing the injured spot on his head. His eyes shot up to look at his attacker. "What the hell?" He asked furiously, stumbling up to glare at Rukia; to her credit, she wasn't at all put off by the fact that he stood a good foot and a half above her. But then, she never had been. "What was that for?"

"Well I figured you suffered a head injury and if I kicked you in the head that would get your brain back in working order."

Renji coughed loudly as a poor mask for the laugh he was trying to hide as he stood up as well. "Nice. I like her." He stepped around Ichigo, holding a hand out. "Name's Renji, nice to meet you."

Rukia put on an overly-innocent, completely fake smile as she shook his hand. "Rukia. Nice to meet you."

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be Ichigo's social worker's little sister, would you?"

"Don't answer that," Ichigo growled, shoving Renji away. "What the hell are you doing here, idiot?"

"Eh, you know. I was bored, thought I'd go for a walk."

"You're a little ways away from home."

"I really like to walk."

"I'd say so."

The two glared at each other for a long moment. Finally Renji peaked around the two of them, his expression torn between curiosity and amusement. "Would you two like to be alone?" He asked with a smirk. If looks could have killed, Ichigo would have had the boy dead on the ground. Unfortunately for Ichigo, Rukia spoke before he could.

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind…"

Renji made a show of bowing before turning and making his way down the street. Ichigo glared after his friend before turning back to Rukia. "I repeat: what the hell are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

"Why?"

"To tell you you're an idiot."

"Well great," Ichigo snorted, turning away. "I'm so glad you came all the way out here and kicked me in the head just to tell me I'm an idiot. So glad we got that out of the way, now if you'll excuse me…"

"You're also stubborn, unreasonable, stupid…"

"So basically there's just nothing good about me, right?" Ichigo asked sarcastically.

"Not with the way you act, no. You know my sister's worried about you."

"Great. So why don't you run home and tell big Sis exactly where I am so the cops can come down and collect me."

"Because I'm not an idiot. I know that's not the right way to handle anything."

Well she was smarter than Ichigo often gave her credit for, then. "What do you care anyway? I seem to recall you saying something about how we should stop being in each other's lives, if I remember correctly. So what does it matter to you what I do?"

For the first time, Rukia honestly didn't have an answer. Her shoulders slumped, and after a moment Ichigo realized that she was stumped by this. "Why are you here, Rukia? Really."

Rukia considered this for a long, long moment…and finally just shrugged. "I don't know. Why did you feel the need to push me incessantly about what happened when I was in the foster system?"

Ichigo blinked, surprised by the question. And more surprised to find that he didn't exactly have a satisfactory answer.

The two stared at each for a long time. Finally Rukia sighed, starting to turn away. "Come on. Let's go for a walk."

Renji smirked as he watched Ichigo hesitantly follow Rukia down the street. He had a feeling he wouldn't he seeing Ichigo again anytime soon.

They walked in silence for a bit, Ichigo wondering what game Rukia was playing, and Rukia just enjoying the silence for a moment.

"What are you planning on doing when you age out of the system?" Rukia asked finally, and Ichigo blinked, surprised. No one had ever asked him that before…

"I…don't know. I never really thought about it before, I mean…does it matter? I've still got a couple of years before that happens."

"You'd be surprised how quickly a couple of years will go by." Ichigo didn't have much of an answer to that. "You're smart, you know."

"Which is funny considering you just finished yelling for all the world to hear that I'm an idiot." Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration. But she didn't contradict him.

"Oh you're definitely an idiot. You're just a smart idiot, which is a very dangerous combination." O -kay…because that just made so much sense. He'd learned a long time ago though to stop expecting Rukia to make sense. "Do you really want to spend the rest of your life on the street?"

Did he? Not really, no. He knew Renji, who had been on the streets since before he'd met him, often had a difficult time. He wasn't overly sure that was something he felt like dealing with for the rest of his life.

"What do you care what I plan on doing?" Rukia shrugged, shoving her hands into her jeans pockets. "That's not much of an answer."

"It's the best one you're getting." How irritating. Whatever the real answer was, he assumed it had something to do with why she had come looking for him in the first place. And of course she hadn't offered an actual explanation for that either.

Ichigo shifted his eyes around, annoyed. He made a noise in the back of his throat when he realized that Rukia was leading him with a destination in mind. "So what, you're going to lead me back to your house and your sister's going to nab me when we get here?"

"Do you think my sister would, in any kind of reality, let me walk around the streets, unprotected, in the dead of night?" Ichigo had to admit, Rukia had a point there. "Anyways if you think that's what I'm doing, why are you still following me?"

Damn it, why did she always have to make such good points? "So if I turn around now and just walk back towards the downtown area…"

"I have no reason or incentive to stop you."

Ichigo stopped walking; Rukia followed suit. They looked at each other for a moment, then Ichigo turned and started walking back in the direction they'd come from. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw that Rukia was still standing exactly where he had left her.

"Oh please, don't let me stop you."

Damn it she was annoying! Ichigo growled under his breath as he turned back to look at her. There was about ten feet of space between them now. "Thought you were walking away," Rukia called, and damn it all, she sounded so smug. How annoying.

"Do you really think there's a point in going back?" He asked after a moment. Rukia tilted her head, a faint look of curiosity coming to light in her eyes.

"Do you think there's a point in not?"

She really was the most infuriating person he had ever met. Intriguing. Without a doubt one of the most intriguing people Ichigo had ever met. But infuriating. So infuriating.

"You can turn around now, and walk away, and Nee-san never has to know we even talked. I know dragging you somewhere you don't want to go isn't going to do anyone any good; you'll just take off again. If you want to go back, that's your choice." She paused for a moment, and then held out a hand. An offering. "But you do have choices."

Ichigo stared at her hand for a long time. He cursed when his feet moved him just a little closer to Rukia.

"Your call."

Somehow, Ichigo found himself closer to Rukia; close enough to reach his own hand out, resting it in hers.

God…she really was annoying.

Author's Note: So um…thisisthelastchapter *dives to hide under her bed* I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just lost my inspiration, I just thought I would be better off ending here instead of dragging it out and letting it turn into a (bigger) piece of crap (then it already has). Please, please, please don't kill me.

As always, thank you soooooo much for all the reviews and all the support! It's more appreciated than I think you'll ever understand. And um…review please? I know this ending is really abrupt — I honestly might revive the story later, if I ever get inspiration again, but I don't want to keep dragging this out without any ideas. So for now it's getting a completed tag. Review please? ~Sam