Disclaimer: The following story has elements of real life places in Japan, which were merely used as fan fiction reference.
Do you believe in a miracle?
If it can be said that loneliness pierces the heart enough for it to die, then what does it take the universe to save a life?
Perhaps it is a hand reaching out to you so you won't fall on your own or a voice ringing loud until it lives within you. Maybe they are tears streaming down from the ocean of your soul, a simple sign that the world has sympathy left for you. And if you wouldn't let one person suffer next to you, then maybe… when you ended up alone, you would be more than willing to embrace the shadows.
A realm without certainty… it has been in existence with them for years.
Ichigo Kurosaki shuts his eyes as he tries to suppress unbroken stream of tears after daydreaming about the same sequences of a mirage for the second time around (or third, as he doesn't remember the first one) since his mission in Nagasaki began. He grips the rim of his jacket as if fastening his hand on the green fabric would make the images go away.
Somehow, once he closes his eyes, the dreams vanish. But the moment they are gone is when the headache happens. His mind links the strangest parts of his memories as they swivel like bolts twisting into shackles. He is imprisoned to his own thoughts day after day of traveling with his troop in the southern prefecture, yet none of those would have been a fleeting glimpse to the future.
He wouldn't deem it as true even though he thinks that he suddenly gained a keen intuition.
Or, under his normal circumstances they are just called episodes.
Ichigo brushes off this concern and humors himself with the idea of a sixth sense. He never held a high opinion on such bizarre ability, but considering the vivid hallucinations, he wonders if it is some kind of strength endowed upon him. It might be twice the overwhelming conduct attached to Superman's responsibilities, except the Captain-Commander of A.R.M.Y.'s Rikujō Jieitai is nowhere near a man of steel; only that he is the bigger fool of the two for opening the portal to Crimson Solarre.
(The name doesn't promise anything. The world, which they live in its last fourteen days, is collapsing.)
"Captain," the Sergeant Major taps the superior sitting to his right. "We've arrived."
The twenty-seven year old man jolted from the touch as he turns to look at his comrade in half-awake brown eyes. The trickle of tears that rolled past his cheeks left a damp mark on his face. As he watches him pack things he notices that his subordinate carries a grimace that is drawn against a sunless sky.
"Was I asleep?" He puts a hand to his forehead and brushes away orange locks that are tinged with dirt. Outside their truck, Team Alpha prepares for the Captain's orders to dispatch.
The Sergeant Major dares to give him a cold shoulder but he remembers how disoriented the superior has been since they step foot on the field.
"No, Sir." He pauses to let the Captain speak. Although as distressed as himself, something is missing in the superior's youthful features. He was sure, despite the usual furrowing of his eyebrows, that he could form smiles and show genuine glee.
With a lack thereof, the Captain could only utter, "So it seems."
The First Division A.R.M.Y. comprises Team Alpha of Rikujō Jieitai, Nihon's Special Forces Group deployed to the western region of the country, which has the largest populace of rebel-occupied cities. Since the emergence of the great Superchunk comet to hit Earth, the Imperial Government mandated the military to seek refuge in a parallel dimension called Crimson Solarre, and the Captain-Commander himself opens its only known gateway at the central Metropolitan Tokyo more than a week ago. News has widely reached the entire state and A.R.M.Y was left to aid civilians with their departure.
And it hasn't been easy. Nihon has to get away from a massive calamity without losing to their men's auspices of salvation. Seven days earlier, they found out that there were larger groups of alleged doomsday cult performing sarin attacks on public places to instill skepticism over the Government's decision. Regardless A.R.M.Y.'s power and control above all organizations it hasn't destroyed the objective of rebellion.
One week passed by like a storm. Tempest of bullets pounded the almost empty streets in heavy loads of disgust, rage, and fear. City lights which mirrored vibrancy of fireflies now shut dead in a glassy night. Nihon has no town identical to one after another, but at the edge of downfall nothing graces everything it had ever been.
In the southern west, Nagasaki is embraced by mountains on one side and bordered by the sea on the other, hiding the cities of Hirado, Matsura, Kitamatsura, Omura, and Isahaya. Today, Team Alpha embarked in the Capital to continue their 'scavenger hunt' (they like to put it) and send remaining civilians back to Tokyo until they leave for Crimson Solarre.
Today (and they are still grateful to say) is the sixth day before the cataclysm.
The Sergeant Major straps pocket pouches to his back and readies to join the troop outside. While he doesn't want to be dilly-dallying he allowed room for his Captain to get back on his head.
"It happened again," he said in a low voice. "The visions start to become clearer and clearer and I–" He grasps harder at his jacket as the frustration grows in his face. Whenever he talks about his daydreaming he couldn't let himself at ease.
"Please don't be upset, Captain. You can't let it get through you at a time like this."
"I know," and then his heart responds with a deep sigh. Team Alpha endures all things together, but he can't let them have this. "I know I shouldn't mess up."
"You won't."
The Captain finally loosens grip of his jacket, "How many people are there?"
"Unit B and Unit C await us at the northwest point near the station. There are 106 civilians reported to be safe. As soon as we check all of them we'll be heading straight to Tokyo; Sasebo has been cleared."
The information seems to lighten the mood surrounding the two soldiers.
"Then let us see them," the Captain opens the door to his left and leaps from his seat to the ground with a quiet thud. Unsure of what the sergeant major had told him, he decides that Team Alpha will approach the station to meet with the other troops and the civilians. The lack of sleep wears him out, but when he thinks about going altogether to a new home, to a place far away from chaos, he doesn't need to hide a sign of relief at all.
He stands by his teammates Strife, Hamlet, and Dogbite as they watch him take the lead. The Sergeant Major followed —
He notices that the Captain's back was unguarded but firm. His rear side bears no tension.
They stride past diminishing seconds in what seems a god-forsaken terrain with mere evidence of the errors of humans. Buildings create a plethora of glass shards while the façade of former skyscrapers don ruined architecture. Clouds are hovering rooftops and dust particles dance in the wind. At the far end of the asphalt road, Nagasaki Railway Station arises. There is a twenty-three-foot advertisement hanging in its dome with picturesque landscapes of the world heritage port city. Tourists could just about read the faded letters spilled across the banner.
'Welcome to Nagasaki, a place of endless discovery!'
They spotted the yellow flags of Team Alpha's smaller units waving at their direction. A man patrolling in beige uniform sees the approaching group and ushers three people to accommodate the party they have been waiting for. The grounds fill smiles of relief and hushed words of gratitude from fellow members of the troops lining in front of the Rikujō Jieitai.
"Everyone, attention! To Captain-Commander! Salute–"
"–Salute!"
Ichigo raises his right hand to his eyebrow, "Salute." His gaze drifts from a senior officer to the civilians eyeing him. He turns to their direction to verify his acquired knowledge about them.
"Do those people comprise the total number of 106? Are there no children?"
"There are none, Sir. The number of civilians is 1-0-6. Nobody from the survivors is younger than twenty-year olds."
The Sergeant Major nods. "These people are the entirety of the Capital's populace after the attacks took place. We didn't get anybody else with us from when we were in Hirado or the eastern cities either."
"We asked those guys about their family but none of them answered if they were separated or lost," the senior officer continues.
Ichigo's worry resurfaces. "Did you check their identities?"
"We did. Most of them don't remember anything – from their jobs, their homes, their relationships... they won't speak of it."
"So their memories were wiped clean or they didn't tell us anything," the Sergeant Major glances a sharp look at Ichigo, who might be thinking his exact same thoughts. He studies his expressions and knows that at the back of his mind he didn't want to trust the senior officer's report.
He folded his arms as the Captain points toward southwest of the station.
"We'll escort them to our trucks. Unit B should watch within the perimeters while Unit C queues the people. Those who needed medical attention will be prioritized. Nobody should be struggling for remedy…"
Ichigo's words trailed off to a man walking towards the troop. He wears rugged denim clothing, one shoe missing, and has unruly hair. Ichigo didn't see him encircled with the group of civilians, but he runs and calls out to him, "Oji-san!"
The man collapses.
"Hang in there, Oji-san!" Ichigo kneels beside the stranger. The latter's hand has been blood-smeared trying to cover a wound on his stomach.
"H-help me… find… p-please find…"
"Don't say anything yet but a few nods and shakes will help. You'll be fine. I need you to cooperate because we'll take care of you, got it? Just relax and stay with us." Ichigo feels a surge of impulse through his body as he recognizes the red stain.
"Take him to the surgeon now. He was shot."
The troops heed the Captain-Commander's words.
"He was bait," the Sergeant Major steps in.
Everyone stood still. They glance at the old man laid onto the ground underneath them, and then back to the Sergeant Major and the Captain.
"I'm afraid we don't have much to argue here. Get him to the stretcher so that his operation could begin."
"Captain–"
"Are we forgetting something here, Sergeant Major?"
The air becomes dense. Ichigo could see the hesitation in his comrade's eyes.
"No, Sir."
"Then we must proceed. Senior Officer, take this man to the surgeon. Your unit shall aid the rest of the people."
"Yes, Sir."
A short gasp escapes Ichigo's lips. "Attention!
(The soldiers' boots clamored in the background.)
"I'm given privilege to approve actions within the Special Forces before I consider the group's interests altogether, and until I grant you my consent. I know that there appears to have been baseless activity that I fail to realize, but I don't wanna resign myself to my own doubts. This mission goes deep in our will to return those civilians back to where we're all supposed to be. We won't surely concede to any misdemeanor that we, the A.R.M.Y., are watchful of, especially when innocent lives are at stake.
"If we're interfered by others from accomplishing our goal then we don't let them take it away from us. Whatever happens from here on out we'll only bring everything we think should be with us. And because this world keeps getting smaller and smaller we shouldn't be making it more suffocating for us.
"Isn't that right?"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Stick to the original plan. Unit B is guarding southwest of the station with Unit C in charge of our vehicles. Team Alpha's on the lookout in the north and east sides of the route. Remember to follow the course when we release the flashing signal. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Sir!"
"And I ask," Ichigo adds, "that we lend each other's strength once more."
The patriots raise a parting salute to their Captain-Commander.
Oh how the sky paints a celestial white instead of blue.
To drive through the Nagasaki by-pass, the A.R.M.Y.'s trucks will have to get past the shinkansen line connecting the northern and eastern sides from the Nagasaki Railway Station to the south. Since the rebel attacks, structures were ruined and have blocked huge portions of the terrain, which prevent land transportation from accessing highways. The Nagasaki by-pass would lead them to the main line until they reach the isolated region of Fukuoka. It would take them a 12-hour ride to Tokyo if they make it there before sunset. Seeing the odds there could still be room for rest.
The shinkansen is clad in buildings intersecting Chitose and Ieno, two towns abandoned from a recent meteor sighting three days before the portal was opened. However, the debris was scattered across a reservoir eventually saving a route for the A.R.M.Y.'s escape. Team Alpha could only hope on being wrong about a potential assault, but they wouldn't want to mess up for their last mission (here on Earth).
They make a right turn to a series of hallways from the main line station. Upward, forward, backward, and everywhere they look just resembles the empty, quiet places they had gone to. Ichigo's eyes wander to a makeshift garden on the second floor until his visions seem to materialize in front of him.
In bits of crystal imagery a hand reaches out to him and cries for his name.
His heart pounds against his chest – unforgivably fast – and different sequences of dreams flash all at once.
But which are they from, the past or the future?
Perhaps neither, but the present.
"– CAPTAIN!"
It suddenly rains down on Ichigo, the Team, and silence.
And for a moment there time spun counter-clockwise.
(Seconds were ticking from twelve…)
Guns cackle through glass and windows; a contemptuous laugh directed to the soldiers–
(Lowering to ten…)
–stenched with raw hatred
(Gliding six…)
–like venom
(Onto four…)
–slipping their veins.
(One.)
Ichigo bids farewell to an enemy as he fires back from a vertical vantage point.
Hamlet strikes three gunmen standing on platforms.
"Above you, Strife!"
"I know!"
"These motherfuckers–"
"Can't get tired of being angry, can they?"
Hamlet glowered at his teammate.
"Two holding Dogbite!"
Strife shoots. "Clear!"
"Take cover!"
Raven slams his comrades into the side.
The rebels showered them with another hand full of bullets.
"Where the fuck did they try to hide their asses?!"
Ichigo was shouting in grimace. "It's the garden, a holographic projection."
"Well these walls aren't gonna do for us either!" Dogbite swoops two gunmen at eleven o'clock.
"Stupid… don't… let your guard down!"
"Raven!"
The Sergeant Major is bleeding on his knees.
"Sorry, Captain. I was s'posed to tell you about that earlier. You noticed as well."
"Quit babbling! Just– just stay put!" Damn it! Ichigo rose to his feet and charges his gun to the faux landscape hindering their sight.
It crashed upon the cemented floor revealing enemies that loomed directly above the ground.
He anticipated the repercussion, but he didn't see it would be swinging in the air.
The blast came.
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Ichigo.
He remembers seeing in monochromes.
At some point in his childhood, he couldn't distinguish colors. No reds, no greens, oranges, violets. He could identify schemes in black, white, or grey. But that was that.
When he turned seven he saw the sky. It was the first thing he knew that was blue.
When he turned fifteen he saw the sun. That object was closest to the color of his hair.
When his father died he saw grief. It was not blue or orange or black and white. There was nothing.
Just as when saw the bomb, he felt nothing.
He despised that sort of nonexistence.
He imagined a comet as something warm – the kind of vibe that summer gives – making you feel alive in its beauty. They were wonders that brought wishes. Maybe it wouldn't look bad dying from one, he thought. He would perish in stardust and space candies. And the future would be told of this story. His sisters loved space candies stories.
But Ichigo didn't want to die. He would cross dimensions first to do that. He didn't want to be on that scheme of black, white, and gray ash. He wanted to live. He had to live.
When the burn subsided he felt a stinging sensation. He couldn't breathe. His ears missed hearing. His mouth was on solid ground yet he couldn't taste anything. He was swallowing dirt for trying to speak, but his sense of sight didn't fool him. There is light.
He is still on Earth.
He blinks back tears that threaten to fall as he searched for an object to hold on to. Everything seems messy and there was not anything that he could make of. He rolls to his side, slowly, slowly, but with a hurried instinct to run from too much heaving concrete and a lack of noise in his surroundings.
The collapsed building floors to his right made a wall of impossible height for him to see the other side. He thinks that he must have been thrown somewhere apart from a group of people, because he couldn't have simply found himself in the middle of a place, dumbstruck and thighs shaking.
He looks down to his feet when it touched a metallic barrel. His handgun immediately told him of the explosion that happened.
He remembers how it jumped in front of him and why he was separated from his teammates–
Team Alpha. Where are they?
Raven was shot. Strife, Hamlet, and Dogbite were dealing with the rebels. They should be with him. They can't be without him. They must survive like their Captain-Commander did. It never has to end like this.
As if Ichigo heard them screaming he tries to knock off a pile of rubble to the other side. The walls didn't give in to his effort.
He shook it one more time desperately finding the people who helped him over the years. There are hundred things going through Ichigo's mind and they rile his bones in deep anger and frustration. He couldn't stop swearing under the shades of these ruins.
If he had taken the warning, if he had listened to the Sergeant Major's plead, they wouldn't have met their demise because of him. He was carried away between his vow for the people and the vow for himself, but it must have been selfish for him to do it out of both.
He surprisingly jerks when someone missed a shoot to the pavement he was leaning on.
He grabs his handgun to fire back but the attacker injures his left shoulder, tossing the weapon away in the process.
"Shit!"
Ichigo leaps by a second for it only to get shot in the arm again.
As the former savors the Captain's final breath something cackled through their ears. Ichigo is unsure if the dripping sound came from his abdomen. He gropes to feel the skin still intact.
His enemy lies limp on the ground.
For a moment he forgets whether he recovered from being unconscious a while back or his soul is wandering Earth before departing for the afterlife. Just now, he couldn't leave behind everything he feels.
He could tell this is far from dreaming.
It is as if time spun counter-clockwise ever since.
Ichigo doesn't take his eyes off the woman who looks back at him – shocked, confused, but partially relieved. She holds the handgun pointing downwards, a gesture of surrender that he easily picks up. Her dark hair contrasts her dress and pale skin likely bathed in the ashen surroundings. Within obscured vicinity he wonders if it was light that he had seen earlier or it was her moon-like glow that sent him back to the real world.
"Don't lose focus," she finally spoke. "We'll get us out of here. Could you walk?" He notes the well-hidden quiver in her voice.
He couldn't hold himself up. She moves to grip his free arm and steady him in place.
"I could walk."
"Barely looks to me," she said. She drops the gun (totally removing it of its magazine) and unties a red handkerchief from her neck.
"I could walk." He insists.
She ignores his comment. "Listen. If you stay like this you're going to have a hard time. You're losing too much blood."
"It's not in the way–"
The red hankie has neatly sat on his left arm.
"Hold still." She puts her hand on his shoulder next, and the touch left him weak.
"Why are you here?" He worries about blood staining her immaculate dress.
"Is that what you've been meaning to ask?"
He casts his gaze somewhere else. "Are you someone from the opposing side?"
Her eyebrows knitted. "Depends on which kind of opposition you're talking about."
Ichigo lowered his eyes. "Can you name something that doesn't go against the A. .?"
Silence waited on the cracks of the wall. He could hear a sullen expression escaping her lips.
Then she answers, "There is none."
He looks back at her. The place seems crowded with just two people in the area.
"Are you gonna examine me for more than an hour?"
"Well you should be thankful you didn't break a bone."
Her small fingers camouflaged with dirt on Ichigo's uniform.
"We have to do something about that wound on your shoulder," she said. "I don't have the means to repair the damage."
"The army surgeon– there's one among us in the southwest station," he suggests. "All the other troops must have safely retrieved the civilians. We could get help there."
The woman stared at into Ichigo's eyes, and suddenly he feels apologetic for the situation. Wind came billowing around her dress.
"I'm afraid you can't go back."
It was him staring at into her. "What do you mean?"
"I… I saw the explosion," she went on. "There's nothing to go back to."
He looks down on the floor, then to the pile of rubbles, then back to her eyes. He feels like spitting out his gut but he couldn't picture Team Alpha and everyone else to have died.
She said 'I'm sorry,' then looked away.
Ichigo didn't say a word. He thinks that his knees would start to buckle, but instead he couldn't move. His eyes fixated to the back of the woman's figure, and something behind her, not far away, a smaller shape hides in a corner.
No, it is someone. He emerges from the shadows and reveals himself to be a boy.
The woman tends to the child as he calls to her, "Onee-san…"
He appears to be around ten to twelve years old with disheveled dark hair and tired eyes. He is rather frail in a hooded jacket, boy shorts, and rubber shoes.
"I'm right here, Yuichi. Are you alright?"
Yuichi nods. He glances at Ichigo, whose face resembled a deeper exhaustion than his.
"I found a friend," the woman said.
"But isn't he the Captain-Commander of the soldiers?"
She smiles.
"How did you end up here?" Ichigo sounded devoid of emotion.
"I found him on the streets when I was in Togitsu. It's the nearby town affected by the meteorite crash from a week ago."
"Are there other people with you?"
"No." She began walking to Ichigo's opposite direction. "But families were separated and got lost."
He follows her along with Yuichi beside her.
"Tell me. Were the civilians a part of a scheme?"
Her forehead creased, "Yes."
"Did they lure us here to the rebels?"
She clenched her fist. "Yes."
"Did they hurt innocent people to bring us down?"
She paused before answering him with a resounding 'yes.'
Ichigo stops in his tracks. It feels as though he only needs to go back.
"This is my fault."
"Don't be such a fool!"
Ichigo fell silent.
"Here is not a place anymore," she said. "You might've been days too late searching for people elsewhere, and they could've died from starvation, violence, or have chosen to join those men. None of those asked you to take the blame." She grits her teeth.
He doesn't know what to say. Her words cut through him, and it just consumes the guilt crushing his bones.
"You can't burden yourself in their place. But please don't give up what you promised them, even if it means fulfilling it without them."
Yuichi watches his two adult companions argue on a thing he couldn't understand.
Either the sun has shown itself, or it simply went brighter underneath for Ichigo, he clearly understood her.
"How do you leave something behind?"
She turns to her left, eyes wandering into a distance, and answers, "I don't know. There's always someone who has to forget, and it could be the one leaving or the one being left."
He traces after her sight, surprising himself to see the shinkansen stretched on vast fields in front of them. The reservoir sits in calmness of still blue some kilometers away. Up north, the region of Fukuoka, and Tokyo, awaits.
"It's the way to where our new home is," Ichigo said.
"Look over there," the woman points toward a mountain. "There are oppositions residing at the foot of Hobadake-yama. If we're able to ride the train before sunset we'd pass by without getting caught."
Ichigo glances at the woman. He thinks he misheard the 'riding the train' part. "What did you say?"
She holds Yuichi's hand in hers. "We'll have to reach Tokyo before those men can make it, and we have to do it in the fastest way possible."
"We can't–ah!" He writhed in pain.
"Are you alright?"
"Captain-san, what's the matter?" Yuichi grabs Ichigo's sleeve.
"It's just my shoulder." The light outside made his eyes squint, but he could see the mountain rising against the city. "Hey," he turns to the woman, "are you planning something crazier than Superchunk or what? The shinkansen is inactive since I opened the portal."
"They're not. The operators are," she said. She gestures to the power cab emptied of anyone who runs the high speed trains.
"But it's not impossible at night. The stations in Nagayo and Nishi-urakami operate to transport people from neighboring districts to the Capital. The trains also go from there to Fukuoka because they need forces to bring the rebellion in the region."
Fukuoka was the first southern prefecture to be isolated of civilians, but they were the last to have reached Tokyo. Meanwhile, the rebel-occupied cities surrounding Nagasaki have two people who were left from the day of the departure in Fukuoka. It hasn't crossed Ichigo's mind up until now.
"There's gotta be another way around."
"Captain," she speaks in a matter-of-fact tone, "since we don't have any mode of transportation except the trains, it's our only option. If we prolong our stay here things will get worse for you. We're following your route. But we're taking the shinkansen instead of driving through the by-pass. The commute spans two hours and twenty minutes, so we'll reach the region by 6 P.M. This is our chance, because the fog will soon rest at the foot of the mountain.
Ichigo was unsure if it sounds less risky than he imagines it to be. Her face paints a vivid determination now that it is more evident under the light.
He must have also imagined that her dress was white, and not a bright yellow that he could surely distinguish in the dark.
Perhaps he was already used to the blacks, grays, and whites in his life.
"How do you operate a train?"
Her lips curved as if in a smile. "How do you 'know' how to operate a train? We don't. But we'll see."
Ichigo finds himself laced into the woman's arm, with Yuichi on the other, as they walk toward the shinkansen. The rebels must be clever than they seem to be, he thought. When the explosion happened back at the main line station, everything fell into debris, but to see the trains still in one piece is really something else.
Yuichi hops first to the driver's cab, and then the woman helps Ichigo, who trips in his steps. The gunshot hasn't stopped from bleeding, although it appeared to dry from outside his uniform.
Within the train, Yuichi delights himself to the technology. Nihon has truly improved over almost a century, and he has read a lot of books about the empowerment of their country through these discoveries. He would miss the magnitude of development in the future here on Earth, but he thinks that only celestial things would be able to bring equal caliber. Maybe even the greatest and it would crush every component that makes up their existence.
The woman occupies the driver's seat. She studies the control system for a moment, and the next thing she does is bringing the power to life, which earned her a whispered 'wow' from the boy. Ichigo looks in subtle amazement.
Minutes passed and the train started to run. They keep quiet to themselves as they wait for fate to lead them in the region of Fukuoka.
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Ichigo.
He gets particular with names. His family, of course, is an exception to the rule, but there is someone else fond of the first name basis without nicknames or honorifics.
It's the friendly manner in which he's called that keeps him at ease – straight out of three syllabications of the romaji – simplifying until they're all one complete word. I-chi-go. Ichi-go. Ichigo.
They fade in the background of a slowly stopping train.
Noiseless, but can still be heard.
Ichigo looks up to see Yuichi waving his hand in front of him.
"Captain-san's awake! Onee-san, he's awake!"
The woman leaps from her seat to Ichigo. "Can you hear us? Will you nod if you can?"
He turns to the woman and nods.
"We thought you passed out!"
Ichigo thought he had died again. His dreams contained partings for each time he gets unconscious.
"Where are we?"
His female companion's eyes glimmered in shades of midnight. "Fukuoka."
He struggles to stand up, but he saw dark has fallen outside.
They went to the open, and sought shelter under trees that filter the stars bright. Yuichi lies to his back and easily falls asleep.
The woman sat beside Yuichi and glides a hand through his hair. Ichigo buries himself with the kindness of her actions toward the kid.
"How did you meet Yuichi?"
She spared a glimpse to the young man. "I was alone in the streets when this kid came running to me out of nowhere. He was terribly crying, and babbling things I didn't make sense of. When he calmed down he told me that he got separated from his father during the meteorite incident. He's been out on the road for three days.
"I asked him what he remembered from during that day, and he said, 'It touched me on the shoulder, but I didn't feel anything.' I didn't know what he was talking about; I was so clueless about this child. And then something just occurred to me, and I was able to understand how he felt. I noticed lately that he was scared of looking at the sky."
Ichigo pretends that he wouldn't want to see the stars no matter how beautiful they are tonight.
"He asked me to take him with me, to take us to where his father is, and he always mentions Tokyo because he believes he's there. I wish I didn't have to make him see how troubled I am too."
She closes her eyes for a second. The leaves seem to be illuminated by constellations, and their unique silhouette gently touched her face. Ichigo recognizes a silver necklace resting on the skin on her collar bones.
"It looks good on you."
"It looks good on me," she repeats, and asks, "Which is?"
"The necklace. Who gave it to you?"
She lifts the chain to reveal that it is a name tag. "Somebody."
"Was that somebody a friend?" He tries to hide his face from her eyes. "Or was he a lover?"
A sentimental tone escaped her lips. "He was an idiot."
Ichigo didn't say anything, but a 'tch' formed halfway lopsided grin.
"And why did that idiot give you something to remember his idiot-ness for?"
"He gave it… before he took a bullet for me," she said.
"Ah…"
She folds her legs across her chest. "Why did you become a soldier?"
That stung Ichigo, but he wanted to tell her anyway. "My old man was the Lieutenant Colonel of the First Division A.R.M.Y. He wasn't a role model dad figure, but his people looked up to him. I didn't.
"When he took an assignment for a black operation, he was killed."
Her fingers gripped the hem of her dress.
"He was sort of an idiot too."
She fakes a laugh, but he sees her blinking back tears.
"I could tell."
"Somebody had to give their life for others, but I'm a different kind of somebody.
"I'm a soldier. I take others' lives. I'm not the idiot that I think I am."
"You are," she brings that subtle playful quality in her voice. "At least that's what those men think of you."
"You never call them 'rebels.'"
This time she leans her back further to the trunk, almost touching Ichigo's wounded shoulder. Yuichi sounds deep in sleep between them.
"It's because where I came from, I was considered one."
"You were?" Ichigo is partially amused. "What did you rebel for?"
"A lot. Things were bad."
"Were they as bad as here?"
She bitterly smiled. "No… There are good things in this world, and I think they're meant to last."
The soldier turns to face her, and it isn't until now that he says this. "Thank you."
In their muted conversation, they find solace. The night sky witness two people get bound by fate.
"It's Rukia," she said.
"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."
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.
He wakes up with no memories of his dreams.
Normally, his visions would flash in moments when he is most anxious, but this time it is different. He doesn't feel the headaches.
He doesn't remember a storm of kicks to his stomach.
But he has it coming for him. He lies on the solid ground, defeated.
"Get up!"
"–Stop it already!"
"Renji, that's enough."
"Shut up!"
Ichigo can't make the scene before him. A guy clad in black lashes out on him, and his companions keep shouting around to make him stop.
His eyes widened in realization.
Rukia and Yuichi are nowhere to be found.
"Where are they?" He demands in a weak tone.
"Fighting back already, huh?" The one called Renji shoves his heel on Ichigo's jaw.
He spits blood in raw anger, and then charges.
"Renji!"
"I said stop it already!"
"Don't make me warn you again, Hinamori. Stay out of this!"
"Where… are… they…!"
Renji tries another kick on Ichigo, but the latter draws his right fist to Renji's gut, owing him a loud growl.
"Stop it, please! Please!" The lady throws herself in between Ichigo and her friend. "Don't hurt yourselves anymore! I'll bring you to them!" Her eyes plead for their fight to end.
"Shit, Hinamori!"
"I'll handle it, Renji." Another man steps in and pushes Hinamori to the side.
"Captain," he commands in a hoarse voice, "tell us how to shut down the portal to that other world, or I'll break your bones."
"What, like that would scare me?"
Ichigo receives a direct hit to the head with a quick movement of his legs.
"Answer me!"
The young man could only huff.
"It wouldn't do us any good to hurt him! Just take him to the child and–"
"I can't shut it."
"What do you mean, Captain?" Renji grabs him by the collar of his uniform.
"It can't be shut. The portal closes on its self when it knows that every person has entered the gate."
Hinamori shakes her head. "I told you Renji, there's no point in this!"
Renji stared at into Ichigo's eyes. His resentment toward the soldier solidifies his grip on the gray fabric.
"Then maybe she can. Hisagi," he ushers the other male to a cellar.
Hisagi brings along two people from the basement area, and Ichigo sees Rukia and Yuichi walking out of it, but tied in ropes. He couldn't contain the frustration growing stronger in his stomach.
"Fuck you!"
Renji slams him onto the ground once more.
"Stop hurting him already! Don't kill him in front of the child!" Hinamori is shouting in tears. She feels a surge of pity for the soldier beaten up in this weak state.
The trio grew up in the wards outside Fukuoka and has been part of a smaller number of rebels who invaded the region. They are among the people whose lives were ruined by the emergence of meteorite sightings, the portal, and the sarin attacks all over Nihon. When they found out about the A.R.M.Y.'s movement in Nagasaki, they traced the person responsible for the departures, and kept Rukia and Yuichi in their watch.
"I'll ask you one more time, Captain. How do we shut down that god-damned portal in Tokyo?"
"I know how," Rukia exclaims in between hushed quivering of her lips.
Renji eyed her imposing figure from afar and prompts Hisagi to release them.
Yuichi runs toward Ichigo as tears drip down his face. He couldn't see his Captain's eyes behind those orange locks.
Renji sends a glare back at Ichigo before proceeding with their next move.
He then asks Rukia, "Should I repeat myself to you, woman?"
"You don't have to if you don't need to. I already heard what you wanted to know." She cleared her throat. "And what would you do with the knowledge?"
Renji takes a long look at her before answering. "We're going to shut it down as planned. Any more than that, it's up to the heavens. If we die, then we die. As long as people like you think that a world such as Crimson Solarre exists, there will be more suffering than you'd ever imagine."
Rukia takes it all in one swift motion of her hand to Renji's face.
"Because people like you hold on to despair, there is more suffering than you'd ever inflicted!"
"And what do you know about suffering? Have you lost a loved one because some selfish prick made you believe that there's life on the other side of this mess? Why do you easily accept that if we cross the border of two worlds everything will be the same as before? You say that we can just forget and leave things behind but not everyone will do that!"
Rukia didn't mind the tears threatening to fall by any time.
"I used to think that it's all going to be fine. But I can't even begin to meet my new life when it's already ruined by it."
Hinamori and Hisagi have packed up their things as they wait for Renji's orders.
"Is that it?"
Rukia watched Ichigo's form slowly approaching her.
"If you're gonna shut it down then you're agreeing with us about closing in ourselves when doomsday happens.
"If you're just saying such things in front of a child who still hopes, and to a woman who has seen good things before the end of this world, then you're all cowards who don't deserve to move on in the first place."
Renji stops in his tracks.
"We'll follow whatever you say. But once you have the knowledge, don't expect us to turn around and re-open everything for you."
Ichigo looks down on Rukia and Yuichi, and apologizes. He doesn't have the strength to fight back anymore, but he wanted to act brave for the two important people who gave meaning to the last days of his life.
Renji shoves his things along Hinamori's and Hisagi's before he starts the engine of a military truck reminiscent of the A.R.M.Y.'s. Hisagi hops onto the driver's seat while Hinamori reluctantly assists Ichigo, Rukia, and Yuichi.
"Please get in," she said. "We're all heading to Tokyo."
Yuichi's eyes brightened, thinking that he is going to see his father anytime soon. Hinamori picks him up to the truck, not expecting to sit beside Renji. Ichigo comes second, and then Rukia.
The truck speeds up north, and the sun glints against the blue sky that Ichigo doesn't wish would fade.
.
.
.
.
.
Tokyo is more than hopes and dreams. It is now the place where everything starts and ends. Ichigo could see Nihon's and the A.R.M.Y.'s flags rising into the wind. The portal to Crimson Solarre sits at the center of the former Metropolitan Tokyo Hall, motes gleaming around the gate. He could sense a deep sadness growing inside him, but he thinks it couldn't be that his visions are coming back to him.
Ichigo explains that the portal could only be closed on its self when every person has entered the passageway. Although Rukia said that there's a real way of shutting it down, he didn't want to see it come into action. He hoped that she was lying a while ago, but he wouldn't know how Renji and the others would take their deception. He watched her as she goes through the gatekeepers of the A.R.M.Y.
The remaining people are still in hundreds, some of which are civilians who worked for the Imperial Government, while the others were families of the members of military. Ichigo wanted to surrender Renji, Hinamori, and Hisagi to the hands of authority, but for the sake of no bloodshed – that they are capable of – some things just needed to give up on its self.
And sometimes they did.
(They do.)
A flash of light bursts without a warning into the open sky, and everyone looks up to see a massive body zooming in onto Earth, making it look like space dust pulverizing the atmosphere. The smaller particles leave a trail of shooting stars splitting, and Nihon suddenly harbors the celestial legion.
Things are beginning to destroy.
The people stormed through the passageway, pushing and pulling each other in panic, but they get caught in between searches for separated loved ones and missing valuables.
Renji and Hisagi have to get an enthralled Hinamori away from the mad dash. The comet came a little too early than they predicted, but it should have been nothing to them when they had prepared to meet their demise.
With billion sparks coming at once, Hinamori embraced her childhood friends with a single tear that rolled her cheek.
Ichigo grips Yuichi as they try to get to Rukia.
She pushes away people in between and stumbles upon the riptide of men fighting against each other. Blood gets drawn everywhere, and selfishness takes over the determination to live. She looks around to find Ichigo and Yuichi, but it would be impossible to reunite with them in this chaos. She turns to where the portal is.
Up close, it is only as vast as an ordinary entryway would be, but she doesn't have to think about it anymore. She places her hand around the swirling blue, and when it touched the imaginary surface, the barrier locks.
The portal shuts down.
Ichigo looks ahead, and he instantly knew where Rukia is.
The blaze of the comet caresses Earth as if it pledged eternity to its lands. But Ichigo doesn't let go of Yuichi's hand. He wanted to say a million things to him and Rukia, for giving up about his father, and for letting go of things he wished he wouldn't leave behind.
For now he could only take two with him, and that is the most important.
At last his eyes meet hers.
"Rukia!"
The woman gently pulls them away from the crowd and into her safe haven.
The world doesn't think about three people at this moment, but they wanted it to spare them a little more time, a little more than enough for a last second chance.
Rukia takes Ichigo and Yuichi to the Metropolitan Tower that stands as the heart of Tokyo. The skyscraper brings memories of her from seven years ago, and she knew things that co-existed lie beneath it.
Ichigo searches her eyes when it wandered in the edifice.
"Rukia," he wanted to ask what goes through her mind.
Rukia simply looked at Ichigo with raw emotion.
"Where does this lead us?"
"I don't know. But I wanted to try. I wanted to see good things happen until the end. Ichigo..." Her voice is barely a whisper. "I could open another portal, and I'd be able to take you to a different world–"
A gust of wind crashes the windows from the impact of meteorites. Yuichi receives a broken shard on his leg that has left it bleeding.
"We have to go! The gate sits on the top floor, and we can't lose it!"
They hurry through stairs that round up about eighteen until they reach the white room that used to be an observatory. The doors reveal a glass tube of a confined space, and it turns out to be, a second passageway that transmits people into different dimensions.
Recognition dawns on Ichigo's face as if he knew all about this. There are vague memories in his mind threatening to flash all at once, and he couldn't tell apart which has been a dream or the past.
"Step aside or I'll shoot."
Ichigo glances up at Hisagi and to the handgun pointing at Rukia.
"Is that a portal?" He asks Rukia.
"Yes."
He nods with a gloomy expression on his face. "Renji was wrong. I was wrong to believe him. But he chose to stay with Hinamori out there."
Ichigo grits his teeth.
"Onee-san, help me…"
Rukia's eyes widened at the enlarging wound on his leg.
"Look at me. Look at me. You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay." Her shaking fingers brushed Yuichi's sweating forehead.
"You're all going to die here. Isn't that what you've told us?"
"You make me sick," Ichigo lowered his head.
Hisagi hardens his grip to the gun. "Let me in. Please."
The soldier looks up at Hisagi again, and he feels the weight of his words on his shoulder.
"Alright. I promise. You'll go in."
"Ichigo–"
"Take Rukia and Yuichi."
Hisagi pursed his lips, "I will," before he turns to shoot Ichigo.
The inevitable still happens. In slow ticks of time, he could see his visions materialize in front of him. He reaches out to hold the hand he had missed, and before he knew it, her name was a familiar territory in his lips. She fell to his side as blood trickled from within her chest.
Rukia.
"Rukia!"
"Onee-san…!"
Ichigo charges at Hisagi and throws the gun down the stairs. He lands a fist to his jaw in several punches, until he sheds tears in agony for what he has done. The soldier's knuckles bleed with the pain of death engraved on it.
"Onee-san! Onee-san! Onee-san! Don't die!" Yuichi cries against the pressure on his wounded leg that he seems to forget. "Captain-san, help Onee-san!"
Ichigo lifts Rukia's frail body into him, and she whispers something that he couldn't make sense. Maybe they both didn't know what to say when they part ways.
"I-chi-go…"
"Hey, c'mon. Say my name properly."
"But it's still you…" Her mouth forms a grim line despite the cheer in her voice.
Ichigo is crying in between forced smiles.
"You know the bullet's for me."
"I know… you saved me before… so now I… played the role of the idiot."
He thinks she doesn't make sense, but his heart feels something else. When she jumped in front of him, he realized that she was there in all of his daydreams.
"It was you."
Rukia breathes in the sight of Ichigo, and it sends her back to the place, million miles away, where he first met her. He was always there first. It was always him first.
Meteorites rain outside and started to break into the tower. She, too, cannot hold on any longer.
Ichigo carries her to the portal with Yuichi by her side. The building begins to shake, and by any moment would collapse.
"Ichigo," she clutches her silver necklace. "Do you believe in a miracle?"
He answers with a resounding, "Yes."
She gives him the necklace. "Then it should take you to the right place…"
The world knows not of goodbyes but sadness. As Rukia fades away, the last comet descends upon Earth like it would shatter fate.
.
.
.
.
.
Ichigo wakes up in gray skies.
He sits up from his bed and sees that his arm and shoulder are bandaged. He grips the place from where he thought a red handkerchief had been.
There wasn't anything but the rough fabric of his uniform.
"Kurosaki-san?"
Ichigo looks up at the nurse examining him.
"You should be able to move your left arm now."
"Yeah, but it wasn't even numb when I was shot–"
Ichigo's eyes widened.
"Yuichi! Where is he–"
"Don't worry. We have treated all your wounds. The boy is resting for now."
He catches the kid on a smaller bed across him. He appears to be sleeping soundly.
"Where am I?"
The nurse smiled. "I think you'll be pleased to meet everyone. For now, I'm leaving you, but if you need anything I'll be on the nurse's station."
"Thanks."
Ichigo feels light. He moves around to check people and things, and even this large building housed in green plants and ornaments. The ceiling sits high on metallic railings and window panels. Outside, children are picking different flowers in reds, oranges, and violets.
They are in oranges, and violets.
But he particularly looked for the reds.
Ichigo could already see those colors, and they didn't appear in monochromes.
He figured out that this is it. This is the right place. This is where he ought to be.
This is Crimson Solarre.
He raises his hand mid-air when he noticed a silver necklace wrapped in his fingers. It looks similar to the name tag soldiers wore.
The owner's name is printed in bold letters.
ICHIGO KUROSAKI
With a sudden eagerness, Ichigo runs to his feet, as if searching for something he knows would be here. He passed by rooms, corridors, staircases, and gardens, but he doesn't know where it could be.
"Captain."
Ichigo turns to the voice, and a sergeant salutes to the Captain-Commander. Behind him is the First Division A.R.M.Y advancing in troops.
"The Intelligence Security Command, with Lieutenant Colonel Kuchiki, is here," the sergeant said.
In the midst of this crowd, he finds what he has looked for. Everything else appears in motion blur. He doesn't need to ask, but they just knew. It will fall into place like how they would always meet.
In between, and bound by fate.
"Everyone, attention! To Captain-Commander! Salute–"
"It's nice to finally meet you, Captain." She extends her right hand to him. "Lieutenant Colonel Rukia Kuchiki; I've been waiting for you."
A/N: There goes my entry for this year's IchiRuki Big Bang! I enjoyed writing my first Ichigo/Rukia AU, and tbh this went through a lot of changes in plot sequences. The original outline was about finding Yuichi's mother in their war-torn country, but there were more necessary things I wanted to focus on like Ichigo's team, Rukia's past, and of course their short-lived yet meaningful relationship. I decided to write on something that calls back to the good times of Bleach, because how we all missed this kind of stories about destiny.
And lately, Ichigo x guns have been my thing.
So this was heavily inspired by the 2016 Korean drama, "Descendants of the Sun," but Ichigo's and Rukia's characters were different from Yoo Shi Jin's and Kang Mo Yeon's respectively.
Please do check out the lovely art of mojave-green (also on Tumblr) accompanying this piece. Thank you so much for reading!