Picture? ...Oh. He'd taken it with him from the hospital, then. Rukia's puzzled gaze dropped from his face to the picture, then back again. Confusion slowly changed to warmth, manifesting in a faint, sincere smile. It was just a little thing, she knew, but even so she was glad he'd kept it.

"Well, I'd already put a moustache on Yuri's face. I didn't want the joke to get old, naturally," she replied with a coy gesture...that somehow fell flat.

She'd left him the note because she didn't want him to be burdened with anxious friends. And yet, here she'd been, anxious and hopeless just the same. Rukia just wasn't very good at not worrying about him, or anyone else she cared about.

Her short nails moved absently back and forth on the table's wooden surface as she fretted internally. "It was a long time, so..."

So I was worried you might not wake up, like the others there.

"So...thank you for coming back."

You're one of my best friends, it would have hurt me to lose you.