She climbed through Ichigo's window, settled in his wardrobe, kicked Kon in the face; all the normal after-school things. Ichigo always came in through the front door, and Rukia strained her ears to hear the familiar sound of Ichigo's father attempting to kick him in the face as a 'welcome back'. She needed to hear all the normal, daily things. She needed to convince herself that nothing had changed. Nothing had changed between him and Orihime Inoue.

"He's crazy! I mean, what kind of father kicks his son in the face as soon as he enters the house?!", Ichigo complained, stumbling into his room. Rukia grinned at the sight.

"Did he get you that time? You're losing your quick reflexes..." It was a joke, she teased him all the time.

"God, at least my other friends are capable of sympathy", he grumbled, rubbing the side of his face. Usually, Rukia would reply with a sarcastic comment, but Ichigo's last statement had got her wondering.

"Which of your other friends, exactly?", she asked, slowly. Her brow furrowed as she tried to imagine her reaction if he said... that name...

"I don't know! All of them", he snapped, collapsing in his chair, missing Kon by a millimetre. Rukia nearly breathed a sigh of relief. "To be fair... Chad wouldn't say anything... Uryu wouldn't care... Orihime..." 

Rukia's stomach clenched.

"...probably would give me something strange to eat, but that counts as sympathy, right?", Ichigo murmured, getting out his homework and slamming it on the desk. Rukia frowned. 

"At least I help when we battle Hollows", she said, bitterly. Ichigo ignored her, twirling his pen in the air as he tried to figure out a particularly difficult homework problem. Rukia's cheeks heated up; she hated being ignored. "It's all fun and games, having a healing power, but it's kind of useless if you don't survive because you didn't help fight!", she snapped. Ichigo turned in his chair.

"Hey, calm down! Yuzu and Karin will hear you! Have you and Orihime had a fight, or something?" Rukia gasped, and leaned back. What had she been saying?! What if Ichigo told Orihime everything she had just said?!

"No, of course not! It was just a joke, Ichigo. You can never take-" she paused. Perhaps teasing him wasn't the best thing to do, especially as it could just lead to another argument between who was more sympathetic. Oh, Rukia was sympathetic, all right. Sympathetic enough to feel sorry for Orihime...

Because she was going to lose the battle for Ichigo.