"At first, I thought "I want to protect Mom."

The ones to protect increased with the birth of my sisters.

I kept going to a dojo for the sake of protecting them. I got a bit stronger.

The ones I thought I wanted to protect became more and more."

~Kurosaki Ichigo~

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

For the Love of Ichigo

Chapter 13

.~.~.~.~.

"What type of plan, Ishida?" the raven haired shinigami asked out of curiosity.

The Quincy turned to the woman his blue eyes glowing in the light.

"We will talk later. I'm going to take Inoue-san home."

As he turned and walked away from her toward the dazed and confused orange haired woman, Rukia felt a pang of regret run through her body.

She considered maybe she should have been a little nicer to Inoue since they were once friends. It wasn't until after they saved her from Hueco Mundo that she realized that Orihime had changed. She was no longer the same girl she was before she had left. She didn't know the exact details of what exactly went on at the top of the dome that day when Orihime was rescued but it had to be something life-changing.

Ishida and Inoue had both came from the top of the dome looking extremely stress and fatigued. Orihime had the look of a shell shocked victim and Ishida had a look of extreme worry. It was as if, there was some unspoken agreement between the two that they would never talk about what happened at the top of the dome. And it was then that Rukia realized that she she might have had some feelings towards the Quincy.

Most people would have called it jealousy but she called it an unforeseen emotion. She had seen the way Ishida looked Inoue. She knew there was something there even though the orange haired girl was oblivious to his feelings. They talked that later day and she and Ishida got a little closer by talking about the battles they had endured in order to secure Orihime's safety.

That talk that day had bridged the gap for the beginning of a much doomed relationship. The shinigami and Quincy was sworn enemies but they had done the impossible. They had conducted a relationship without Soul Society's knowledge and everything had been going well until the day Ichigo lost his powers and everything, including the relationship went downhill from there.

0o0o0o0o

After standing there a good 20 minutes of trying to find his voice, the orange haired young man finally spoke.

"What in the hell do you mean you are dying?"

Isshin looked up with a pseudo-painful look upon his face. He hadn't quite thought of an excuse to explain his mystery illness. He thought Ichigo would have immediately called him on his BS and proceed to kick his behind. He had never thought that Ichigo would actually believe him.

"Um, Urahara tells me that my spirit chain is conflicting with the two worlds and that if he didn't find a cure then I would die."

Silence.

Isshin looked up at the young man with a pleading look upon his face. Now it was time for the finishing blow.

"Do you see why I did it now? I didn't want to leave this world without knowing my grandchild. I wanted to at least see you settled before I passed on. Ichigo I did this for you. If Masaki had been alive today she would have been proud of the man you have become but it would truly hurt her heart to know that you aren't settled yet, Ichigo."

Ichigo closed his eyes and took a deep breath but remained silent. There was a long range of silence before the young man spoke again.

"OK Dad. I'll look into settling down. But don't expect a miracle." Ichigo said quietly.

Isshin smiled mentally.

He had had him.

Now it was time to implement the next step of the plan.

0o0o0o0o00

As he struggled about the large town, Zaraki Kenpachi didn't want to admit the impossible. That he was absolutely lost.

When he had came to this stinking town, it had been to fight Kurosaki Ichigo for proposing to this child-like vice captain. He wasn't going to let some orange haired pedophile take advantage of her. He would rather just kill Kurosaki with his rusted, still nameless sword instead of just talking things out. He didn't have time for talking. He had a young man to kill.

0o0o0o

-Second Division Headquarters-

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Soi Fon asked the blond haired woman who was helping her tie the monstrosity behind her back.

In all of years of being a shinigami/ninja, she had never encountered something quite like this. Her expertise involved slapping around her vice-captain for eating on the job, beating up members of the second division and proving to people that she was not a lesbian.

"Don't worry it'll work." said Rangiku flipping her blond hair over her shoulder.

The two women had sparked up an unusual friendship one day after a SWA meeting. Normally, Soi Fon wouldn't come within a 5 foot radius of Rangiku outside of an SWA meeting but today Soi Fon had called upon her expertise considering the fact she had no idea what the hell she was doing.

Rangiku Matsumoto was known as a ditsy blond who everyone thought used her "assets" to get ahead in the shinigami world. It never occurred to people that she actually had a brain that actually worked. As a matter of fact, she secretly had a bankai but she would never reveal that. She wanted people to go through life underestimating her so when she did show that she was serious, she would crush them like a bug under her shoe.

Yes, Rangiku could be quite the ruthless woman if she wanted to be but she wasn't. After the disappearance of her one true love, Gin, Rangiku had sworn off showing people what she could do. She simply lived her days like she had nothing to lose..She had lost her kitten. And there was really no way back from that, no matter how much sake she drank.

After the last tie was fastened, both ladies turned to the reflection in the mirror.

Gone was the Onmitsukidō uniform, in its place was a black halter dress with a plunging v-neck neckline. Rangiku had even went as far as to do her hair and makeup that caused Soi Fon to take on a more feminine sort of look. But of course, most would still mistake her as a male but she now looked somewhat like a woman.

"Do you like it?" Rangiku asked expectantly.

"No, I do not." Soi Fon sighed.

Since she had failed at obtaining Kurosaki Ichigo the first couple of times, she thought maybe she should change her approach.

Instead of hunting him down as if he was a criminal of the Soul Society, she would try to seduce him with her feminine wiles. After all, she was a woman it couldn't be too hard, could it?

"I think you will finally land him now" Rangiku replied completely oblivious to who exactly Soi Fon is trying to obtain.

As she opened the senkai gate to the real world, Soi Fon turned and gave a nod of thanks to the woman who had took time away from her sake to help her.

Rangiku waved bubbly as the gate began to close.

As she took a step forward, her face hardened into a rarely seen serious expression.

"Poor girl. She doesn't stand a chance."

0o0o0o0

That night as Orihime sat down alone at her old apartment for dinner, two once friends now enemies came together for an impromptu meeting.

"So what's the plan Ishida?" Rukia asked bluntly as she sat down at a table at the fancy restaurant Ishida insisted on going to.

Uryu brought his hand upon the table loudly, capturing her attention.

"Understand this Rukia, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for Inoue-san." he commented his voice softening a little as he pushed up his glasses.

Rukia gave a small smile.

Of course, he was doing this for Inoue. Who else would he do this for?

"I feel Inoue-san is just hurting herself by holding on to this crush she has on Kurosaki." he continued his face twisting into a frown. "I want to free her of those feelings so she can finally move on."

Rukia sat quietly taking in what exactly the Quincy was saying.

"I had always thought Inoue-san was too good for Kurosaki. He never appreciated her or saw her as the beautiful woman she is." he paused his eyes gaze growing softer. "I would like that chance to finally make her happy. To give her the love she deserves."

"So, what's the plan?" Rukia asked impatiently.

"Tell me again why should I help you?" Uryu fired back his blue eyes blazing.

"Because I want Ichigo and you want Inoue. The best way for us to come out of this happy is to work together instead of against each other." Rukia said before gaping at the prices of the food on the menu.

"I suggest we try to push them together" Uryu commented signaling a waiter that he was ready to order.

"Are you serious? No freaking way." Rukia snapped.

Uryu smiled. He could always count on Rukia to respond the way he wanted her to respond.

"You did not give me a chance to explain, Rukia."

Rukia sent a glare at the Quincy across the table. She was sick of him dancing around the issue. She wanted to know the plan, NOW.

"Then what's the plan, Ishida? Are you just here to waste my time?"

Uryu's smile disappeared and a warning glare appeared in his eyes. She knew she had struck a nerve. She knew Uryu hared the idea of wasting time on anything. The man was of course, a perfectionist just like her nii-sama. And she knew just how to handle him.

"No, Rukia unlike you I do not believe in wasting time. You simply did not let me finish. What I mean is by pushing those two together they finally at last see that they are not right for each other or in Inoue-san case, she would see that Kurosaki is not worth her time nor attention."

"Ichigo is worth..." Rukia began and then she paused.

She leaned back and pondered the plan for a few seconds and then...she smiled.

For once, she felt like things were looking up. She would finally get Ichigo to see her as a woman at long last and he was also the perfect distraction to keep the elders off her back.

Rukia lifted her glass of water and nodded her head in appreciation of this delicate plan.

"For once, I agree with everything that just came out of your mouth aside from the comment about Ichigo not being worth Inoue's time. So, okay Ishida I'll go along with your plan"

And there in the middle of the most expensive restaurant in town, a plan was born.

Too bad the spiritually gifted people, didn't notice the spiky, dark haired young woman who had been listening to the conversation from a table nearby.

The young woman eyes narrowed as she turned to the colleague who had escorted her to dinner.

'Maybe it was time to finally pay an old friend a much needed visit..'

End Chapter~

A/N: Sorry about this chapter being extremely late. A pesky thing called life got in the way so I had to take care of that first. On the other hand, I have good news. I am finally graduating from college! I will be graduating with a degree in Biology and Psychology(yes, that's two degrees). So hopefully you could understand why I haven't been updating. In other news, If you are a fan of "Shift in Time" or have been reading the story there is a poll on my profile if you guys want me to continue that particular story. So please vote so I will know when to update. Thank you so much for sticking with the story if you still are and um...if you are no longer interested let me know and I will stop it here. Thanks again!

~Omake Rejected Scene~

As a man who had lived for a few centuries Shunsui Kyoraku could say that had seen some strange things in his lifetime. It was his experiences and his laziness which prompted the Head Captain to appoint him to a job he had grown to dislike with a passion.

As he sat in his office with his pink floral haori billowing out behind his back. he listened to you young man speak about what was going on in his mind.

Yes, you guessed it.

Shunsui Kyoraku was Soul Socitey's newest resident therapist.

Originally the plan had been for Captain Unohana of the Fourth Division to take over the spot as therapist but due to the fact that Captain Ukitake seemed to be getting sicker lately she had insisted on around the clock care for the man, even though he had refused.

"I don't understand why she feels the need to turn into a cat..."the young man stated drawing Kyoraku from his trance.

He had been seeing this one particular patient for a while and it was always the same thing. He either talked about his pride, his dead wife, or this cat he was dating.

As he lifted the disguised bottle of sake to his lips, Kyoraku began to drown out what the young man was saying.

This happened every single time he talked to Bya, I mean, the patient. Kyoraku wanted to tell the man he just needed to go out and have a little fun but he couldn't exactly do that. That would be...what was that world Unohana used? Oh right..unethical.

As the young noble talked again, Kyoraku noticed something...

He was out of sake...oh no...He could feel the soberness creeping up on him like a spider on its prey. Sake kept him sane at this job. Sake kept him from telling people what he really thought of them. Sake kept him from paperwork...

"And yesterday I dressed up in this maid uniform to get her attention and..."

That one sentence alone caught his attention. He couldn't take it anymore. He had to end this session. One way or another because he was five seconds from tossing the young noble out of the window.

"Tell me Byakuya when you dressed up as this maid what happened?" Kyoraku asked.

A tick appeared over Byakuya's head.

"Haven't you been listening? I have been talking about this for over an hour."

"Oh forgive me. Your boring antics are not something I usually keep up with but if you feel the need to continue then please do so unless you would like for me to give you my assessment."

The young noble nodded is consent.

"Your assessment please"

Kyoraku turned to the left and pushed a button calling for his secretary.

"What?" the secretary asked once she answered.

"Nanao-chan ,can you please send in a bottle of sake after I am done with this patient?"

"What are you talking about? You are booked for the entire day! You shouldn't be drinking at all especially while dealing with patients. Why are you so..."

"Nanao-chan, please send in that bottle. Thank you."

"I will not and don't call me Nanao-chan" she snapped before cutting off the connection.

"Sorry about that...Nanao-chan thinks the sake interrupts my thinking and..."

"She is right you know." Byakuya said stiffly.

Kyoraku smiled. "Now back to your assessment."

"Yes?"

"Byakuya, I think your problem is...you need to get laid."

Byakuya sputtered in shock.

"No, that's not the problem...I"

Kyoraku glanced up from the notes he had actually written about the young man.

"According to my notes, that despite being married to Hisana you two never actually engaged in any sexual interaction. Am I correct?"

Byakuya remained quiet so Kyoraku took that as a signal to continue.

"Your problem is you care about all these types of things when all you should care about is being a man. You have a beautiful girlfriend who has the ability to turn into a cat. Take advantage of that and get out of here and get laid. If you don't step up then I can assure you Urahara Kisuke will."

Before he could get the man's last name out, Byakuya had stood up and stalked towards the door. He opened it and walked out without another word.

As he moved about the hallway leading to the front door, Nanao noticed the smile etched onto the noble's face.

She walked back into the office and slammed the door.

"What did you say to him?" Nanao asked suspiciously.

Kyoraku looked up his face crinkling into a smile.

"Oh I didn't say anything. I just gave him so helpful advice..."

0o0o0o0

The following afternoon Yoruichi had woke up with a bright smile upon her face. Her clothes was nowhere to be seen but she had only one thing on her mind.

She had to remind herself to thank Kyoraku for the helpful advice.

-Fin-