User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 497: The Winter Mage, Review./@comment-73.191.17.103-20160818134854/@comment-1776824-20160818150419

Kubo confirmed in an interview a long time ago that Ichigo and Rukia was never going to be a thing. It was around the time he gave a list of plot points that the Final Holy War was going to cover. And one of those things was, essentially, "IchiRuki isn't going to happen. Give up on it." People who still hoped for it were naive. Ever since Goodbye, Halcyon Days it was going to be Orihime. This is the Bleach fandom equivalent to when Naruto wound up with Hinata.