Rukia's Heart

"Yuzu! Karin!" Ichigo yells, his eyes fixed in defiance and determination.

Rukia looks at him, and she sees among the defiance and determination something else, completely masked and undefinable, but it's there; she sees its presence in his eyes when he looks at his family, when he talks about his friends, and when he uses the free will of his mind to do a task instead of delegating it as a task itself, as she so often believes it to be: the work of a shinigami, work above all.

"You can't fight without weapons!" yells Ichigo, running alongside Rukia. She can be so stubborn, Ichigo thinks.

"Fool. You know you can't fight alone."

He can be so stubborn, Rukia thinks.

A shinigami's duty, work above all, above everything. Ichigo's sword sears the air and crashes into the hollow's mask; screams rocket the ground as Yuzu is let go and plummets to the floor.

Rukia no longer has her shinigami powers. She's a teacher now, helping Ichigo adjust to his own strength.

Yuzu and Karin are safe. And Ichigo places his sword back into its sheath. He and Rukia walk alongside, not running anymore, but breathing, feeling, living; Rukia with her thoughts of Soul Society, Ichigo with his of his family, his friends, and the past day's happenings. Rukia glances over at Ichigo, human again, staunch and thoughtful; in a flash she sees his shinigami attire, black robes billowing, with the same staunch and thoughtful expression gracing his face. He must be thinking now, she thinks.

She's amazed, still, at his quick learning of the shinigami powers, at how he is able to pull his heart into every situation but pull it back again as quick as the flash of his sword.

"You're learning quickly," she says, "you know."

Ichigo continues to stare forward. For a moment, in a flash of a sword, he glances at Rukia and acknowledges a smile.

They walk on in silence, alongside each other, and they will be this way, staunch and thoughtful, defiant and determined, and stubborn with this shinigami work, work above all.

But in a flash of a sword, Rukia has seen Ichigo's heart, and through his, she is able to find her own.