After The End

"Why are you out here by yourself?" The female voice said which drew the attention of the male who was seated outside. "Shouldn't you be with the others instead oh great defeater of the Almighty Yhwach?" The female told him but with a teasing smile on her face.

"Rukia…" Ichigo said to her as he turned to look on at her. She sat beside him as she unstrapped her blade and sat it on the ground beside his own.

"Why so glum? You're acting like something terrible has happened just now. Did someone eat all the Mentaiko Karashi again?" She asked and leaned on him in a sympathetic way. "It'll be alright. I'm sure more can be made."

"Knock it off." He said and shoved her off him and she smirked at him knowing she had gotten a reaction out of him.

"So what's got you in a sour mood then?" Rukia asked him looking on at Ichigo.

"I'm just…confused right now." Ichigo replied to her and Rukia looked on. "Don't get me wrong I'm thrilled we won and defeated him and that its over, it's just…where do we go from here on out?"

"Hmm?" Rukia said a bit confused. "I think you're over thinking this whole situation Ichigo, it's over. There's no more threats anymore."

"Not yet." He told her. "There's still questions that are left unanswered for us." Ichigo said to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Me, You, Orihime, Chad, Uryu and others. Where do we go from here on out? What do we do next?" He asked her. "I, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. Either stay here, leave, head back home or whatever. My mind's a blur right now about what to do. What about you Rukia?" He asked and the black haired girl looked on at the orange haired Soul Reaper.

"Me? I guess I'll stay here. Soul Society is really all I know." She mused bringing her hands up behind her head to stretch. "I heard that Chad has decided to use his strength and fists to protect others and wants to open up a business in the human world where he uses them to help those who have no one else to turn to. I think he got inspired to do so by that Comic Book I saw him reading once or twice. But whatever you decide to do you'll have our support. Me and all the rest, there's so many of them it's hard to keep track of their names at times." She told him with a laugh "Whatever happens happens, we'll figure it all out and we'll cross over that bridge once we get to it. Let's not worry about the future, let's focus on the present and what we do now alright?"

"Well you're always invited to live inside my closet, provided you pay rent of course." He said and Rukia snickered as well at his remark.

"Hey Ichigo, there's something I wanna talk to you about." Rukia said to him.

"Oh really, well I kinda wanted to talk to you about something important as well." He told her.

"Oh? Well since you're the big hero, you can go first then." Rukia said with a smile. Ichigo took a deep breath readying himself for what he was about to say.

"Listen," He said and paused for a second before going on. "I'm not exactly good at this kind of thing but I just want you to know that it's alright." He began speaking to her. "There's nothing to be worried about."

"Hmm?" Rukia said looking on at him confusion in her eyes not understanding what he was talking about.

"It's okay, I understand. I've got no problem with what you got in mind. I'm mature and grownup enough to accept it. Maybe in some other lifetime it may have worked out but I guess it wasn't meant to be. It hurts sure right now, but I'll get over it. You don't have to worry about anything about how I feel or how I might react."

"Okay this isn't making any sense Ichigo," Rukia told him a bit annoyed as he wasn't making any sense whatsoever right now. What was he rambling on about?

"I know what's going on, between you and Renji and I can deal with it." He told her and Rukia's eyes widened at what he was saying.

"Me? And Renji?" Rukia said looking on at him and Ichigo nodded his head in response at her.

"Just to let you know that you two have my blessing and that I harbor no ill feelings towards it if you're afraid that I might." He said with a sad but approving smile on his face. "I know that you care deeply about him and that you have my blessing and I know that you'll be very happy together." He told her and patted her hand with his and a long silence came between them as the two looked on at one another. Neither Male nor Female said a word between them as their faces were in front of one another's. The silence continued as though the world had stopped just now.

A long drawn out silence that was starting to border on painful…

"BLEAH!" Rukia shouted sticking out her tongue and pointing her finger at her mouth at his words which caught him off guard as it was not the reaction he was expecting just now.

"Rukia?"

"Ichigo you've said some dumb and crazy things the whole time I've known you, ever since I had to transfer my powers to you when we first met so you could kill that Hollow, but that's easily in the top ten." Rukia told him shaking her head a look of disbelief on her face.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm not in love with Renji you twit!" She told him. "At best he's a good friend and someone I can talk to about problems, what made you think that I was in love with him?"

"What?!" Ichigo said a bit surprised at her.

"Seriously all those blows to your head you've taken finally turn your brain into scrambled eggs?" Rukia asked him dryly. "I feel nothing towards him, sure as heck not love like you thought I was. Renji's a good guy but he's not who I wanna spend the rest of my life or afterlife with. That's crazy talk Strawberry!"

"I don't."

"C'mon, have we really spent that much time together so we could get to know one another and develop feelings for him and that you thought I was in love with him? I'm not in love with him, and he's not in love with me. There's a certain someone out there he has his eyes on and its not me I can tell you that much." Rukia told him crossing her arms over her chest.

Ichigo looked on at her feeling a bit embarrassed and like a fool just now after her reaction.

"Honestly Ichigo if you had told him the same sappy thing that you just told me he'll break his ribs from laughing so hard at you." Rukia said shaking her head at Ichigo. "We're not involved in anyway, not romantically or in any sort of sick twisted way that you thought we was. Kon must've finally rubbed off on you."

Ichigo facepalmed realizing what an idiot he must look like right now on as Rukia smiled at him. "Now that you've gone and made a fool out of yourself, now its my turn to talk and for you to listen to what I have to say. And I promise I won't be making a fool out of myself like you just did."

Rukia stared into his eyes. "Ichigo, you're not far off on the mark of what you was talking about earlier. There is someone I do care deeply about." She told him. "Someone I've been wanting to talk to about my feelings for quite some time before this whole wild mess started. I talked to someone else as well about and they told me it was for the best if I told them instead of keeping it always locked up inside of me and not act when I have the chance to do so. There's some stuff in life I've made regrets over what happened and I don't wanna add it to that pile."

Ichigo was silent as he looked at her. Waiting for her to say what it was she had to say to him.

"The guy I care about is someone who's very important to me, not only as a companion but also has a special place in my heart as well as he made me try new things that I was a bit afraid to do at first and I know that I can always rely on him no matter what." She said and stood up so that he was looking up at her now.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, we've ran out of room for it and we've played this game for too long now with one another. There's no point anymore in fooling and dancing around with how we feel." She told him. "Ichigo, I love you."

"R-Rukia!" Ichigo exclaimed to her and she smiled down at him.

"Ichigo if you will have me, If you'll take my heart and let me have yours in exchange. I promise to be with you for as long as time goes on." She said to him.

Ichigo was silent before his hand took her own in his and he stood up as they looked on at one another's eyes.

"Rukia Kuchiki, I love you." He told her with a smile. "And I always will no matter how many ages between life and death past by."

Tilting his head down the two leaned forward and kissed one another as their fates and lives became intertwined with one another.