Ichigo was stretched out on his bed and stared blankly at the ceiling above his head. Rukia lie on her stomach beside him and propped herself up with her arms. She flipped pages through a manga happily. From the moment she had woken up, Rukia noticed that Ichigo was in an irritable mood today, which was not uncommon for him, but she still wanted to cheer him up. She glanced over at Ichigo and turned the page conspicuously loud. After releasing a heavy sigh, Ichigo slapped a hand over his face. Rukia lowered the manga, pushed herself up, and leaned over Ichigo, looking down at him playfully.

   "You look pretty flustered, Ichigo," Rukia said teasingly. Ichigo gritted his teeth and let his hand drop to his side. He scowled and looked up at her in annoyance. Rukia had a hard time keeping a straight face because she thought that his face looked funny when he was annoyed.

   "Well, if you weren't sitting over there flipping through that manga like you don't have a-," Ichigo cut himself off when he noticed that she was just messing with him. Rukia smiled, amused, and buried her face in her manga. Ichigo ran his hand through his spiky orange hair nonchalantly," What manga are you reading anyway?" Rukia ignored the question and flipped another page in the manga. Ichigo took a quick look at the cover of the manga.

   "Oh, isn't that one of those cheesy romance manga?" Ichigo asked suspiciously, meeting Rukia's eyes as she lowered the manga once again. Rukia gave him a look of slight offense.

   "It's not cheesy," she said defensively. Ichigo raised an eyebrow skeptically. Rukia's face reddened and she slapped his arm playfully,"Stop making that face, Ichigo. You look pathetic." Ichigo smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.

   "What face?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Rukia folded her arms across her chest. "You are just jealous because you can't do it," Ichigo said with a laugh. Ichigo felt a quick sharp pain in his head. He yelped and sat up in his bed. Rukia sat beside him holding a tiny orange hair in between her fingers. "What was that for?!" He asked, exasperated.

   "Sorry, that piece of hair was sticking up, and it was bothering me, so I plucked it," She said with a mischievous smirk as she flicked the hair to the side.

   "All of my hair sticks up!" He said as he jerked a finger at his hair.

   "If you don't stop yelling, I'm gonna rip all of your hair out," she threatened as she grabbed a handful of his orange hair.

   "Itai! Itai," Ichigo shouted as she tugged on his hair. Before he could say another word, Rukia's phone began to beep. She released her grip on Ichigo's hair and took it out of her pocket and flipped it open. A look of boredom crossed her face when she saw another order from the Soul Society.

   "Hollow," she said glumly," I will take care of it. Do you want to watch over Chappy for a while?" She pulled out her Soul Candy and was about to pop one in her mouth until Ichigo grabbed her hand. Ichigo's hand was large and warm in comparison to her own hand. Rukia's eyes widened and her heart began to beat faster at the sudden skin contact between them. She knew it was wrong to think of him that way, but she could not help herself as warmth spread to her face.

   "Do not leave me with that thing," Ichigo said as he began to pull his hand away. He pulled away slowly and his fingertips softly trailed along the back of her hand. The feeling sent shivers down her spine, and she let her hand return to her side. "Here, let me help you," Ichigo insisted as reached into his pocket and pulled out his Substitute Shinigami Pass. Without warning, he smacked Rukia in the face with the Pass, quickly removing her soul from her gigai. She have him a thumbs up and jumped out of his window, running off to meet the Hollow with Sode no Shirayuki in hand.

   "She's a handful," he laughed, shaking his head as a smile crossed his lips. He tossed his Substitute Shinigami Pass onto his desk. Ichigo decided that he should probably take a shower before Rukia got home, so he set some clothes on his bed and headed to the bathroom. After locking the door behind him, he snatched two towels from the cabinet and turned on the shower.

   Ichigo disrobed quickly and tossed his clothes on the floor. Once he stepped in the shower, a sigh escaped his lips. He tilted his head up, letting the hot stream of water wash over him. Steam rolled from his skin and rose to the ceiling. Water dripped from his chin and trickled down his chest.

   As he began to cleanse himself, he began to wonder how Rukia was doing. Ichigo hated to admit it, but he worried about Rukia when she was dealing with Hollows, and even when she was reporting back to Soul Society. He remembered that she had told him time and time again that she was not as defenceless as he thought and that she did not need his protection. Despite her frequent protests about not needing protection, Ichigo still believed that at heart, she was just as fragile as any other person.

   He washed the soap from his body and began to scrub his hair thoroughly. Unintentionally, Ichigo reached out for Rukia's reiatsu, an old habit of his, and he immediately scolded himself for doing so. Although, he had found nothing unusual about her spiritual pressure. Ichigo told himself that she was okay, and that he should stop worrying. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, but he still was unable to suppress the feeling of uneasiness.

   When he was finished, he shut off the water and dried himself with one of his towels. With the other towel, he dried his hair and slung it over his head. Ichigo unlocked the door and deftly snuck to his room, shutting the door behind him. He was about to grab his clothes from the bed when he noticed that Rukia was standing beside his desk, still in her Shinigami form.

   "Rukia! I, uh... um," Ichigo stuttered. He nearly lost hold of the towel around his waist, so he tightened his grip. Rukia stood in shock, as well as awe, and could not help herself from staring at his bare skin. "Well, don't just stand there," Ichigo said bashfully, and his face began to burn with embarrassment. Rukia returned to her senses and went to stand in the hallway as he dressed himself.

   After he put on a pair of shorts and a skin-tight t-shirt, he beckoned Rukia to enter. She peeked around the door before she entered, and then shut it behind her. Her gigai was on the floor where she had left it, and she returned to it. Ichigo began to rearrange the blankets in Rukia's makeshift bed. She sat down on his bed and let her legs dangle over the side.

   "I didn't know that you were gonna be back that fast," Ichigo explained as he sat beside her," You couldn't have been gone more than fifteen minutes."

   "It was a small Hollow and it was nearby," Rukia explained.

   "Was there any trouble?" Ichigo inquired.

   "No, but there was a strange reiatsu. It was a far ways off, but the fact that I could feel it from that far away means that the source must be strong as well," Rukia replied, pondering her finding. Ichigo closed his eyes and reached out with his spiritual awareness. He found the reiatsu Rukia had described. It was extremely powerful, but surprisingly stable.

   "The reiatsu is definitely that of a Hollow, but it is also very stable," Ichigo observed.

   "I have only seen a Hollow this powerful once, and it was..." Rukia trailed off as she meditated on a memory. Ichigo had released his most powerful Hollow form on the roof of Las Noches in a previous battle. It was the form of the most powerful of the Menos. "A Vasto Lorde," she said grimly.

   "I was thinking the same thing," Ichigo's brow furrowed as he looked down at her," By the way, it's here." As soon as he uttered those last words, the spiritual energy grew until it was almost unbearable, even for a Shinigami. Ichigo grabbed his Substitute Shinigami Pass from his desk.