Eclipse Of The Heart
Part Thirty-Seven: The Unhappiest Place On Earth
"Rukia wake up," Ichigo hummed quietly, lightly shaking her shoulder, she groaned and pulled the blankets up further over herself, "Nnng..." "Come on, it's time to get up, don't you want to go to Disneyworld~?" he hummed, she slowly opened her eyes and turned over, "Disneyworld....?" "Uh-huh, but you'll have to get up if you want to," he replied, she groaned and slowly got out of bed, stumbling over to the bathroom and shivering, "It's too cold out here," she muttered, he chuckled slightly as he followed her, running some water in the sink and placing his toothbrush under it, "Well then bring a blanket with you," he chuckled, "Mm... why is it this cold in July?" she muttered, shivering slightly as she reached for her toothbrush as well, "Because the bed was so comfy, it makes everything feel cold when you first get up," he explained, sticking his toothbrush in his mouth, she frowned slightly and reached for the toothbrush, he glanced over at her as she shivered and slowly shook his head, he couldn't help but chuckle at her, she looked like she was still half asleep and it was honestly pretty endearing, he smiled, even when her hair was a mess and she was shivering... she was still absolutely adorable...

~+~

"So are you sure you know where we're going?" Rukia asked as she and Ichigo got into the car, "Yeah, I have the map right here," he replied, waving the green and blue material in front of her as he leaned over to buckle her seat belt before starting the car, "You know I AM capable of buckling my own seatbelt," she said with a pout as he started backing out of the parkinglot of the condo, "Really? Last time I checked you couldn't," he teased, reflecting on the first time he took her for a car ride and she couldn't get the belt buckled to save her life, she frowned, "That was almost a year ago!" he shrugged, he sort of liked buckling her seat belt for her just like he liked opening her juice boxes, "Whatever," he muttered, she rolled her eyes and looked over the map again, "So how long do you think it'll take to get there?" she asked curiously, he shrugged, "I don't know... a wile, maybe a half hour? Maybe fourty-five minutes," he said, she nodded slowly as he drove out of the parkinglot and turned the radio on, if she was going to sit here for a half hour, she'd sit here for a half hour listening to music at least...

~+~

Rukia yawned quietly and leaned back, glancing out the window, "Are you sure that you know where we're going?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, "Yeah," "And are we anywhere NEAR where we're supposed to go?" "Yeah," he repeated, "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I just passed a sign that said 'Fantasy Island- 20 Miles'," he replied, "But we're trying to go to Disneyworld... not this 'Fantasy Island' place..." "Ah no no, Fantasy Island is part of Disneyworld, it's such a big place that they section off the different places and each one has a different road and stuff, like Adventure Island and Animal Kingdom," "Oh... wait the animals don't get an island?" "No, a kingdom is better though," he noted, she nodded slowly, "I suppose that's true," she offered with a slight shrug

~+~

"Ichigo, it's been TWO HOURS," Rukia said with a groan, "I know I know!" "So why aren't we there yet!?" "I don't know why!" he cried back, "What about the map? What does the map say?" "I don't know! I can't tell! It says the Magic Kingdom is ...  somewhere with a castle..." he groaned, "This is not happening..." he muttered to himself, "Why don't we pull over and ask for directions?" she suggested, "We can't pull over and ask for a directions," "Why not?" "We're on a highway, you can't pull over on a highway and there's not going to be anyone there to ask directions from anyway!" he replied with frustration, she huffed and looked out the window, a few moments passed in near silence, the only noise penetrating the tension in the car being the radio, however, this short silence only lasted for a few moments before being interrupted by Ichigo's sudden cursing, "Oh no..." he grumbled, raking his fingers through his hair, "Now what?" Rukia asked with a frown, "...We're right back where we started..." he muttered, "What do you mean?" she asked with an even deeper frown, "The condo is right around the corner," he muttered, Rukia glanced out the window and gasped, "Ichigo! Ichigo stop!" "What what?!" he cried, "Look there!" he slowed down the car and looked out her window, "There's the entrance right there right!?" she asked excitedly, "Not really.... that's Downtown Disney, it's basically just shops and resturaunts and sort of more of ... an 'adult' Disney you know? No rides or charectors," she sighed, "Ichigo, at this point, I don't care about rides or charectors, I don't think I ever did, I just want to do SOMETHING out of this car!" he nodded slowly, "If you want to go in..." "Sure! It sounds like it could be fun," "Well that'll work since we don't have to pay to get in and the parking is right there..." he nodded slowly and turned the car around and entered the route to the parking lot

"Where are we going first?" Rukia asked with a bright smile as she and Ichigo walked through the park, "First, it's way past noon and I haven't eaten all day- I'm starving, we're getting food," he replied, she nodded slowly, looking around at all the stuff around her, the stores, the resturaunts, the people, "Oh Ichigo! Look at those fountains!" she said in amazement, "Mm-hm, they're nice," he replied, she was truly amazed at some of the people walking around, they had on elaborate costumes and stilts and other such things as if they were going to perform a show, but before she could really concentrate on what was going on they dissapeared into the crowd and she and Ichigo were standing in front of a food stand, "Oh Ichigo! Look! They have snow cones!" "Mm-hm," "Can we get snow cones?" "After we eat some decent food," "....This counts as decent food....?"

After eating a couple of hot dogs and getting snow cones, the two started looking for what they wanted to do in the park- well, from what they could access atleast- "So you're sure that it doesn't bother you that we can't get to any rides or see any of the charectors huh?" he mused as Rukia ate the last of her snow cone, "No, why would I be bothered? They're just actors in costumes right?" "Yeah," "So then why should I care?" he shrugged, "I guess... I don't know.... my sisters and I went to Disney Tokyo once and Yuzu wanted to meet every single princess there was," she paused, "Princesses? They have princesses...?" "Yep, all ten of them, and I think they even put in that new one now, what's the one with the red hair and the Scottish accent?" "You mean Merida!? They have Merida!?" "Yeah, I'm pretty sure," she paused, then slowly went back to her snow cone, "It isn't a big deal, I mean I'm not a child after all," she said with a huff, "Oh really?" he asked with raised eyebrows, she nodded slowly, ofcourse, only five minutes after she said this....

"WOW! A toy store! Ichigo look a toy store!" Rukia cried as she ran towards the giant building so aptly labled "Once Upon A Toy", Ichigo groaned, "Not a child huh?" he muttered as he walked after her, he had already had to go through this excitement with Yuzu every time he took her to a toy store or an amusement park, the fact that Rukia wasn't any better was frightening,"WOAH!" she cried as she burst through the doors, "Look at all the toys! And the candy! And the plushies!" she said with a grin, he couldn't help but smile softly at her from this, really, how often did he see her this excited? He supposed he could let it slide... "Wow! Ichigo look at that!" she nearly shouted as she made a sprint for something or other, he reached out and grabbed her by the dress collar, pulling her to a hault, "What's the matter with you!?" she huffed as he dragged her back to his side, "The matter is I'm not letting Hurricane Rukia blast through this place, see that kid over there?" he asked, pointing to a small child wearing one of those backpacks with built-in leashes, "Yes," "Yeah, you're going to be wearing one of those leashes if you take off like that again, this place is massive, I'm not losing you in here and wile I'm at it, I'm setting down the ground rules that during this vacation you BETTER not take off anywhere on your own without telling me because all of these parks and places are huge, this is a foreign country, and I'm not going to be pleased if I have to chase you down or worse put out a police alert for your scrawny behind, so take it SLOW, the toys will be here, and furthermore not only are you not going to go off and get yourself lost but you shouldn't be going hog wild in here either," he said in an authorative voice, Rukia was glaring daggers at him, "Are you done?" she snapped, "I think so..." "Good, what are you my father? I don't NEED the 'hold my hand or you'll get lost' speech, I've lived this long you know, the younger half of my life alone, as a child, on the streets, I think I can survive running through a toy store without getting lost or kidnapped, and I AM a Soul Reaper, and even if I DID get lost or in trouble I'd know how to find you with that unstable reistsu spilling out all over the place of your's, not to mention that if you put your mind to it you could find me the same way," she said as she shifted her weight onto her other foot and put one hand on her hip, he sighed, "I know... sorry.... I'm just so used to spilling that speech to my sisters anytime we go some place even remotely big or crowded that it's sort of a habbit now..." he said with a small blush, she smiled slightly, "It's fine, I know, it's a good thing really, it means when we have our kids you'll already have that speech ready to go at any moment, although ... you realize that you're enough of a mother duck to everyone around you without adding that extra sprinkle of insanity right?" she teased, he groaned, "I get it..." "Well I just can't help but flashback on our group trip to Tokyo back in May when you instructed everyone to stay by you because you didn't want to have to hunt anyone down, and then you threatened to put a rope around Uryuu when he wandered into that fabric store, you know he still hasn't forgiven you for that right?" he groaned, "I know, I know," she giggled slightly, "Rukia you have to admit though, you did sort of take off like a hurricane a minute ago," "Yes that's true enough," she replied with a shrug as they walked through the store more calmly

"Wow...." Rukia muttered as she stared at the huge room full of plushies, Ichigo felt his heart sink into his stomach, he had the feling that he'd be forced to lug this entire room back to the condo... "PLEASE Rukia, I'm BEGGING you not to go crazy in here," he stressed, "I won't, I mean, I don't care much for the charectors really, I only really want stuffed animals, things such as Mickey Mouse don't catch my interest," she replied, he sighed in releif, "Good, I'm DELIGHTED to hear th-" "Ohhhh!!!!" he cringed, he knew that 'ohhh', he reckognized that 'ohh', that 'ohh' made his wallet scream in agony! He slowly looked over to her direction to see her clutching a little white cat wrapped up in a pink and purple blanket, "It's ADORABLE!!" she nearly sobbed, "That's Marie from The Aristocats, it's not just a stuffed animal you know-" "I don't care!" she cried as she hugged it tighter, well... alright... ONE stuffed animal was not a big d- "Look!!!!" he sighed and turned around, there she was holding a small Winnie The Pooh clutched onto a pink and white polka dotted blanket, "Rukia that one's a baby toy..." "But it's soft and cute and... soft!" he sighed and leaned his head back, slowly shaking it and closing his eyes, this.... this was where he came to die....

Much to his releif, Rukia kept the stuffed animal extravoganza to those two, the rest of the store was of little interest to her, she had considered buying some candy but had seen a candy store across the street and so decided against it, things like games and race cars weren't interesting to her either, however, his luck only stretched so far, because once they found the doll room.... well.... that's when the true meaning of torture set in....

"Ichigo Ichigo Ichigo!! Look at all the dolls!! Ohhhh this is AMAZING!! They have EVERYTHING here!" Rukia cried in excitement as she looked around the room in astonishment, in the center was a large purple castle with kids running in and out of it and on every corner of every wall was a set of shelves stacked to the brim with dolls- each set of shelves hosting merchindise from different Disney princesses, oh, and there were the Disney Fairys too.... Ariel on one wall, Tinkerbell on another, it was madness! And the worst part was... the limited edition ones... oh that would surely put him in the hole! He watched in anxiety ridden terror as Rukia ducked into the castle and began thinking of a reason- ANY reason- to get out of there and get out of there FAST! It then hit him like a ton of bricks, his cell phone!! He could send a distress call to another man who would understand his situation and help him! Oh YES his cell phone!! He grabbed the thing from his pocket and started dialing like the wind, hoping, PRAYING that someone, ANYONE would answer with a way to save him! Just as he was punching in the last number to Uryuu's phone he heard "Ichigo~" and when he slowly looked up, he almost dropped the phone out of horror, there, standing in front of him, was Rukia, holding a box with all ten "official" Disney princess dolls in one hand, a box of Disney Fairy dolls in the other, and box with that new Merida doll on top of them, he felt the last drop of masculinty drain from his body and began to shake, "It's just such a SHAME that there aren't more mermaids don't you think?" he kept staring, "They had the Disney princes too but I really just want the princesses, I don't care anything about the men," look at that, a saving grace.... "I'm so glad I found these big boxes! It'll be so much more convinient and less expensive than getting them all individually!" was she trying to make him feel better? "You know, these will look PERFECT sitting up there with my Monster High dolls, don't you think?" yep, she had started collecting those things way back when they first came out, but, due to a force of nature that he could ONLY assume to be either fate finally taking his side, a supernatural turn of events, or God himself intervining, she only had one doll of each charector of the charectors she really liked, wich, believe it or not, really limited the pot here, Monster High was quickly climbing the ranks and was butting heads with Barbie and Disney here, in fact the month before last when he went to Toys R' Us with her to look for a Robbecca Steam doll he nearly had heart failure to find that the Monster High side of the aisle was almost wiped clean wile the Barbie side was fully stocked, and the clerk had ASSURED him that they couldn't keep a single doll in stock for more than a few days or a few weeks before they were low on inventory and had to re-order, he remembered that back when Abbey Bominable came out he couldn't even order directly from the Mattel company because the pre-orders had been so much that the COMPANY was out of stock days after the doll was released- that doll took six months to find and even then it wasn't an original version! To make matters worse, there were a ton of different charectors and tons upon tons of different versions- Base, Gloom Beach, Skull Shores, Dawn Of The Dance, Sweet 1600, Ghouls Rule, Scary Tales, Roller Daze, Dead Tired- just to name a few, it relieved him that she only wanted the charectors and he PRAYED to the powers that be that she was the same way with these Disney dolls so that an end could be put to this madness... "You know anything you buy you're going to have to lug around the park, take to the condo, pack up to take to the next state, unpack when you get there, pack again, and take home right?" he said in the hopes of detouring her, however it didn't do anything at all, "I know that, anyway, these will look nice in my collection, I believe that since I have Monster High and Disney dolls, and those are the only dolls I like charector wise and therefor bother to buy, and since YOU collect action figures, I think I'll just stick to my mission to find a nice ball-jointed doll that comes as is, where you don't have to add anything custom and rack up a huge bill and give yourself a headache, I think I saw one in that Ashton Drake catalouge at home..." he stared at her in wonder, was this really the end? Was she SERIOUSLY just going to stick to the occassional new charector that came out here and there in either Monster High or Disney and then switch her focus OFF of the doll train!? ...Well with ball joints excluded but really, how many of THOSE could one person have? Not many.... and more importantly was he really going to get out of here now!? He looked up at the ceiling and, ignoring the Peter Pan decor, made a mental thank you to the powers that be, "So you're getting all those with YOUR money right?" "Ofcourse, Brother said that he wanted me to have fun and to use the Kuchiki bank account for all of our expenses, since I usually use my own paycheck for things, he wants this vacation to be on him," Ichigo grinned, so she was not only not going to bother him with those things but she was putting them on Byakuya's tab too? Excellent..... granted it wouldn't even make the noble bat an eye most likely, but it was still nice to know that Byakuya was funding his sister's doll addiction, "Let's go," he said, grabbing her arm and sprinting for the check out counter, "Oh Ichigo! Wait! Look! Limited edition fashion princess dolls!!" "We're GOING!"

~+~

"Wow... look at all this candy!" Rukia cried as she looked around Goofy's Candy Company, "Yeah, all I ask is that you don't get so much that you give yourself cavities, I'm not going to listen to you moan and groan for weeks on end because you had to get your teeth yanked out," he teased, she turned around and stuck her tounge out at him childishly, "Oh please," she huffed with an eye roll as she walked through the store, looking at some of the various treats ranging from salt water taffy, lollipops, hard candies, pretzels, and gummies, everything sweet and tasty really, and despite that they both had rather large sweet tooths both Ichigo and Rukia maneged to keep their loot to a minimum, keeping it to some simple things that they liked in small doses and not really getting anything out of the ordinairy... except that Rukia insisted on buying some salt water taffy, even though she had never had it and Ichigo wan't sure if she'd like it or not, she had also insisted on buying some rock candy, reminiscent of her childhood, and Ichigo was somewhat interested in trying it since he never had before- due to the fact that he knew just how bad it was for you- the man had also found some hot chocolate that he wanted- wich Rukia didn't understand considering it WAS August... but hey, there was never a bad time for hot chocolate, there was only one thing in the entire candy store that sparked an argument, and that thing was? Lollipops.... Rukia just HAD to have one of those big, rainbow, swirly lollipops, and Ichigo- who had made the mistake of getting one of those big rainbow swirly lollipops before- was against it, in his opinion, they LOOKED good, but in reality tasted like crap! Besides they were already buying a small bag of decent sized, good looking lollipops shaped like Mickey Mouse, did she HAVE to have one of those giant things? "Rukia I'm telling you, you won't like it," "But I want to try it! I see these things everywhere in magazenes and books and TV and such and yet I've never tried one," with a relented sigh, he agreed on the terms that she would wait until they got back to the condo before breaking into the thing- much to his releif this was fine with her

~+~

The day lagged on with the two of them stopping in various places, doing various things, most of it was walking around "ohh"ing and "aww"ing at things with a bit of shopping in between, at one point Rukia had even gotten mixed up in a school choir and almost forced onto a bus to Alabama.... that wouldn't have ended well if Ichigo hadn't broken her out at the last minute, it was then that she decided to get a fake ID (because really, with no birth certificate or any other proof of her existence how would she get a REAL ID...?) for the future, as hilarious as Ichigo found it at the time he soon came to the sad realization that she could, in fact, have passed for one of the sixth graders in question..... because at the very next store she insisted on trying on some of the Disney princess dresses, and in fact, if the Merida dress hadn't made her so hot from the heat outside, she likely would've bought it, it sadened her that none of the dresses worked out, Merida, Mulan, Ariel, Rapunzel, Aurura, and Belle had long sleeves (as for some reason they didn't have any of Belle's yellow dresses, just the blue and white ones) she was too self concious to wear Jasmine's outfit (and even if she hadn't been the top was too small and the pants were too long, thus presenting a simaler problum that the sleeves did...) they didn't have any Pochahantas dresses (much to Rukia's severe dissapointment and suspecion of a consiperacy) and the only dresses left in Cinderella's and Snow White's categories were for very small children and didn't fit, she would've liked Tinkerbell's dress... but let's just say the porportions weren't built for a grown woman, a young prepubescent girl, but not a grown woman, she was sorely dissapointed in this as well, although Ichigo was relieved that none of the dresses worked out for her because, just by virtue of carrying bags full of toys with them, he already felt like he was doing something illegal by being lovers with this woman... the sickest part was that SHE was older than HIM....

"It's getting pretty late, do you want to head back to the condo now?" Ichigo asked as he shifted some of Rukia's bags to his other hand, she thought on that for a moment, reaching out and taking his pocket watch out of his pocket, "Hm... it is sort of late... and I'm getting hungry..." she mused, "Then we should go back, besides, we want to go to Universal Studios tommorrow right? So we can't be up all night," "I thought we were going to Potterworld..." "Potterworld is inside Universal," "Oh..." she mused, placing his pocket watch back in his pocket, "So then do you want to head on? Maybe since we're getting back earlier than we thought we can make cookies," he suggested, she nodded slowly, "Sounds like a-" she paused suddenly and he was forced to pause along with her, turning his head to the direction of her vision, "Ichigo look! The Rainforest Cafe'! Remember I said I wanted to go here?! Well we're right here!" she said excitedly, he smiled softly her at her, "Alright, we'll go in and eat before going back to the condo," he suggested, she nodded happily and the two walked inside, suddenly cringing at the line, "This ... can't be good..." she muttered, "No I don't think it is..." she huffed, "I guess we have to have a reservation," "They didn't say we did when I called but then I guess they're just busier some nights than others..." she frowned, "Oh.... alright then.... I suppose we'll come back another night..." he glanced at her for a moment before handing her the bags and walking off, "Stay right there, I'll be back in a second," he said, she frowned, huffing slightly, 'What does he think he's doing...?' she thought as she started looking around the resturaunt, it was... pretty amazing in here... there were anamtronic animals everywhere and the sounds of the rainforest as well as music blasted in a deafening way throughout the building, a beautifull aquiarum formed a wall near where the line of people was formed and directly behind her was an open gift shop full of stuffed animals and t-shirts and the like, in fact, she was just about to turn and start looking when Ichigo's familiar mop of orange hair came bouncing around the corner, "Come on, let's go put this crap back at the condo and change into some less sweaty clothes, by the time we're back we can eat," he said, she raised her eyebrows as he picked up the bags again and took her hand in his free hand, dragging her out, "W-What did you do?" "Nothing, I asked the hostess if we could reserve a time for tonight and she said she could have one open with no problum in two hours, by the time we get back to the condo and put our stuff down then hastily change clothes and get our butts back here it'll be two hours easy, she said she holds each table for thirty minutes too so if we're a little bit late it's no big deal," she blinked as they walked down the cement pathway, "Ichigo you didn't have to do that," she wispered, "I know, but I wanted to, and besides think about it, what night would really be better to come here?" she sighed slightly and smiled, "Thank you," he snorted, "You don't have to thank me for anything,"

They were probbably about half way back to their car when Rukia spotted an ice cream vendor and the two decided to stop off and get something, not only were they hungry but the heat outside had barely gone down any and all this walking was killing them both, "Just try not to get anything messy, if you get something on a stick make it a popsicle or something else that won't wreak havoc if it melts and if you want real ice cream get it in a bowl ok?" Ichigo instructed as he and Rukia approached the vendor, "I'll have one of those chocolate-covered vanilla Mickey Mouse ice cream bars please," she said with a smile, he huffed, "...You just did the complete opposite of what I asked you to do, do you realize that?" he asked rhetorically, although personally he supposed if he was going back to the condo anyway, why not? "Ah.. make that two..." he said, paying for the ice creams and recieiving them shortly after, "I love ice cream," Rukia said with a small sigh as the two of them walked, "I could guess," he chuckled as she bit into her ice cream bar, the two were in a comfortable silence as they walked, Ichigo barely even noticed when Rukia had stopped walking, "Hm? Rukia?" he asked with raised eyebrows, looking over in her direction, "Wow... Ichigo look at those dancers," she mused quietly as she looked over at the square by the fountains that they had passed earlier, there was apparently some sort of street show going on and she was absolutely mesmerized by it, he checked his watch and took another bite of his ice cream, standing still and deciding they could watch for a few more moments

~+~

"Ack! We're going to be late if we don't get out of here!" Ichigo shouted as he hobbled around the condo putting his shoes on, the Rainforest Cafe wasn't exactly dressy but it was a fairly nice place and he didn't think cargo shorts and the grey t-shirt he had on that said "Talk nerdy to me" with a little blue frog on it was exactly the BEST thing to wear... and plus he had sweat stains going all the way down to his pants and that just wasn't attractive for any reason... but it had taken him a wile to find something relatively nice to wear... especially something that wouldn't give him heat stroke the minute he stepped out of the building, maybe he should've listened to Rukia before they left Soul Society when she told him to mind what he was packing... "I'm trying! I'm trying!" Rukia yelped from the bathroom as she ran out in a loose, black, short sleeved dress with purple and green peacock feathers painted around the collar, all the wile blowing on her nails.... blowing on her nails.... BLOWING ON HER NAILS?! "Did you paint your nails?!" he shouted, "Well yeah, remember that Orihime keeps telling me to try keeping them painted so I don't bite them? I figured, what better time to try it than when we're going some place nice? I should paint them," she said, he stared at her purple fingernails for a moment before hitting his head against the wall, "Uh-huh, mm-hm, and how do you expect to get out to the car without touching anything?" ".....Oh....." "Yeah! OH!" he then made the mistake of looking down... and saw the disaster that was her toe nails.... needless to say staying in the lines wasn't her BEST ability, "What did you do!? Dunk your feet in the paint?!" he shouted, "I tried! I tried! I just can't bend that way or balence very well! I kept falling over every time I tried to put my foot on the counter!" "...Did you maybe think of sitting in the floor and doing it!?" ".....Oh...." he screamed, he. just. SCREAMED....

~+~

By some miracle that was beyound his understanding the two of them made it to the resturaunt on time and- even more to his amazement- Rukia didn't get fingernail polish on everything she went near, it was a big releif to him... "I'm so glad we were able to come here!" Rukia said excitedly as the two of them finished eating, "...What?!" Ichigo hollered in response, well, there was ONE problum with this place... it was loud, incredably, horribly loud, and Ichigo and Rukia happened to be sitting between two large, animatronic elephants that let out a mighty trumpet every few minutes, "I'll tell you later!" she replied over the noise, Ichigo rubbed his head, "What?!" she shook her head slowly as the two of them got up, walking towards the front of the restruaunt where the aquarium and gift shop were, "I just said that I'm glad we came here," she said as the noise started to fade around them, Ichigo rubbed his ears and nodded slowly, "So am I, Universal Studios will be a cake walk for my ears next to this," he teased, she smirked slightly, "And I want you to know that I'm not going to get a ton of stuffed animals," "Really?" "Really," "You promise?" "I promise, I got that out of my system today," "Thank Heaven...."

She couldn't keep that promise, she had walked out of the place with a grand total of five stuffed animals and if it weren't for the fact that Ichigo had only brought a certain amount of cash and he swore that anything she bought, she carried, she likely would've come away with more too... but oh well, things worked out and that was the point of the matter, or atleast, he hoped that it was... one thing was for sure, when they got back to the condo, they wouldn't be staying up long....

"Rukia why did you think it was nesscisarry to unbox all of those dolls right in the middle of the floor like this?" Ichigo asked with an agonizing sigh as he walked out of the bathroom and raked a hand through his damp hair, "It'd be a pain to carry around these huge boxes, by unpacking the dolls I can easily put them in my suit case," "Define 'easily'," he muttered back as he looked down at her, as he noticed that she was ever so carefully propping each doll up against the wall and brushing her hair he came to the sad conclusion that this wasn't just simply her repacking the dolls, she was playing with them too.... but he didn't say anything, that is, until he saw the bed, "Rukia what is this!?" he cried, pointing to the monstrosity that was once a bed, "Um... the bed?" "No I mean what is the monster that has INVADED my bed?" "......My stuffed animals......" "They leave. Now." "Nooo!! I want to cuddle with them!" she cried, "Cuddle with me," he replied dumbfoundedly, "Oh that's not the same! And I'm not going to put them on the dirty floor or lock them in a suit case for a week either! They're staying on a bed!" he stared at her for a moment before gathering them in his arms and walking out of the room, Rukia, abandoning her dolls, gasped and ran after him, "Hey!" she cried, he then walked into one of the spare bedrooms and set all of the stuffed animals on the little twin bed, organizing them and even pulling the blanket over them, he then grabbed the softest, cuddliest one and handed it to her, "Cuddle with this one and me, the others sleep here," she stared at him for a moment, "....Quite a comproise," "Years of living with a plush-hoarding little sister who slept in my room every vacation, what do you think I had to do then to keep her from putting half of them in my bed? Ofcourse back then I used the couch and a spare blanket but the concept is the same," she smiled slightly, "This will work, I'm going to go try out that wirlpool tub now~" "Sure," he replied, listening to her walk into the room and then into the bathroom and close the double doors behind her, he smiled and grabbed a glass of juice before following into the bedroom, intent on doing some light reading wile she was taking her bath.... and then he stepped on one of those cursed dolls that she left in the floor and let out an almighty scream that shook the building