"You're painting?" asked Ichigo, incredulously.

Rukia nodded, dipping the brush into the palette. She had found a box of paints in Karin's drawers and had been unable to resist the inexplicable urge within her which commanded her to use them. It was the same urge which compelled her to draw bunnies, and predictably, she was trying to paint one of her shapeless yet cute rabbits.

Ichigo was bored. Very bored. He still had half an hour before he left for work, and there was nothing interesting on TV.

"Did you ever try to find meaning in something nonsensical, Rukia?" he asked, observing her painting with impassive eyes.

"What do you mean?" asked Rukia, with a frown, as she lowered her brush.

"Like…finding a rabbit in that shapeless muddle of colours" said Ichigo, grinning.

That earned him a punch and a "Baka!" from Rukia, who then returned to her painting.

"Ok, Ok, I didn't mean that. Let me explain." He took the brush from her, dipped it in some paint, and flicked it on the canvas.

"Abstract art is very interesting, because you can see so much hidden behind a mere mess." he said, ignoring Rukia's alarmed eyes.

"See this? A circle of black within a circle of white?" he said, pointing.

She nodded, as he continued, "Good over evil. Always. It could take a day, an year, or 50...the end result is that the good will swallow up the evil"

She looked at him and wondered what had come over him. A fever maybe?

Ichigo was already flicking more paint on the canvas, using different colours. He pointed to a stream of yellow and red, intertwined.

"Happiness and pain co-exist. You can't have one without the other, can you?" he asked, with a grim smile.

Rukia widened her eyes in slight surprise. Ichigo was in a philosophical mood?

He next pointed to a spot of black and orange colour, their boundaries just touching.

"Wanna give a shot at this?" he asked Rukia.

She smiled and thought about it. "Hope…will outshine fear?" she asked him, her eyes shining.

He shook his head. "No, it means I'll be kissing you for the next five minutes" he said, pulling her towards him.

He hoped that he would be safely out of the house by the time Rukia realized he had ruined her painting.

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(The black and orange spots were supposed to signify Ichigo and Rukia by their hair colour, just in case you were wondering)