STOP ME WHEN YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH

Well, The End

"I suppose my voice did get deeper," he sighs.

He releases her defense fairy, and it quickly retreats to Inoue. Their friends get back up to surround him in a kill circle. He puts his hands on his hips, ready to give up the charade. It's no fun when they can't figure out who he is.

"Wait!"

Ichigo's heart freezes at the sound of her voice. He whips around to watch her descend to the ground. She lands inside the kill circle.

"Rukia, what are you doing?" Mizuiro shouts.

"Get out of there!" Keigo adds.

"Is it really you?" Rukia whispers to him. "We caught record of your Reiatsu in the Soul Society. It was in this area, and here you are, right in front of me."

Even with the distance between them, he can still hear her perfectly fine. Ichigo studies her. The last months have not been kind. Rather her pearly color, her skin is an unhealthy pale, and the bags under her eyes are almost as purple as her irises. She looks frail and weak. Her uniform is disheveled with lack of attention, and her eyes betray her loneliness.

Ichigo is glad his charade caught the Soul Society's attention. That was the point of doing this in the first place. Well, also to see Rukia and how well his friends have adapted without him, but he knew they would be fine regardless. He's mostly here for Rukia.

"Yes," he finally answers.

"Show me," she orders.

Ichigo chuckles. "Mom won't like it, but how can I refuse you?"

No one comments on his statement about his mom from the lack of understanding. He reaches for his plain mask and pulls it off, followed by his hood. His friends gasp.

"Ichigo," Rukia murmurs.

"Yo." He waves.

She rushes to him. Her arms wrap around his torso, and she buries her face into the junction between his shoulder and chest. He really hopes his European casual wear isn't causing her discomfort. He pulls her closer into his arms with a small laugh of relief and joy.

"I love you," she weeps.

His heart clenches in both warmth and pain. He keeps an arm around her, and uses a free hand to wipe what he can of her tears away.

"I love you, too," he proclaims.

Ichigo leans down to cup her face and kiss her cheek. They stand there in the gawking audience embracing each other. Neither one has felt so at peace in months.

"I missed you," he tells her, wrapping her up into a tighter embrace.

"I thought you were dead," she replies.

"I am dead, technically," he corrects.

"But I thought you were dead dead. Just gone. Urahara thought maybe your soul evaporated with Aizen's. It was the only explanation why we couldn't find you," Rukia shakes her head.

Her tears have mostly stopped by now. There is still the occasional tear that makes its escape, yet Ichigo manages to wipe them away before they get too far down her face.

"Rukia, my mother found me."

"What?"

"She took me to her home in the afterlife. I told her what happened, that I had to find out for myself what I am, and she refused to let me leave until I understood what it meant to be a Quincy. She was protecting me by showing me how to protect myself," he explains.

"That's why we couldn't find you?"

"I'm sorry, Rukia. I tried to get here as fast as she would allow me. I never meant to cause you pain."

"I doesn't matter now. You've come back to me."

He smiles at her with the warmth of the sun. He takes her hands in his as he mentally prepares himself for what he's about to say next.

"Rukia, there's something else I need to tell you," Ichigo starts.

"Yes?"

"My mother. She's... uh, how do I say this?"

"Hell's Queen?" Rukia quirks an eyebrow.

He gapes like a fish out of water. "How did you know?"

"Nii-sama and Captain Ukitake went looking for you. They said they were trying to seek an audience with Queen Masaki. Once I heard she has orange hair, I kinda connected the rest of the dots," she says sheepishly.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Sorry," she laughs.

"Well, I was going to say after that was I only went to Hell because I'm a Quincy, and it's not because of what happened in Las Noches."

"What? Quincys go to Hell?" Uryū exclaims.

"Oh, hey. I forgot you guys were here."

"Kurosaki!" The Quincy irks.

"Quincys go to Hell because their ability to destroy souls. On the bright side, they live pretty good afterlives regardless if it's in Hell or not. Like, Uryū, I met our grandmother. She's fucking terrifying. Like, worse than your dad and Captain Unohana in one."

"You met grandma?"

"Yeah!"

"Ichigo, let's stay on topic, please," Rukia requests.

"Yes, my love. What else do you want to know?"

"For one, what makes you think you can call me that?" Rukia mumbles with a thick, hot blush across her face. It leaves Ichigo breathless.

"To see the cute look on your face when it makes you blush."

She bats him in the arm half-heartedly, but keeps her one hand in his. She grips tight on his bigger hand, and all he can feel is her icy fingertips numb his nerves. It oddly enough brings warmth to his Hollow heart.

"Fine."

"What's the second thing?"

"If your mom is Hell's Queen, does that make you Hell's Heir?"

He grins. "Perhaps. Why?"

"Because I need someone to marry."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to get married off, and there's no way the council will let me marry someone without benefits. So, you would be perfect."

Ichigo holds his hand up to ask a question, but no words come out. He has no argument. What is he supposed to say to that? No? Why the fuck would he say no to Rukia? About anything?

"This is kinda sudden. You could at least buy me dinner before you propose," he jokes.

"Ichigo," she sighs. "If I get married off to the wrong person there's a good chance I won't get to be a Shinigami anymore. I'll just be some housewife to a man I don't know or love."

Fuck. Well, he kinda wanted to take things slow with Rukia, and get a chance to catch up with everyone - especially his sisters. Maybe he can just court her for a while? He's going to have to ask how that works later.

On the other hand, Rukia not being a Shinigami is basically illegal. The ginger can't let someone take her career away like that. Plus, Rukia can't cook for shit, so Ichigo would be saving this stranger the hassle. Everyone wins.

"Shit, when are you supposed to get married?" He finally says.

"You wanna find out?"