Author: Uchiha Yumi

Title: Rainy Thoughts

Genre: Romance/Angst

Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo had lost his battle. Kuchiki Byakuya and Abarai Renji had just stolen his most precious thing. What did he think back then, laying bloody and defeated on a wet, cold sidewalk? IchiRukia, One-Shot

Rating: G

Parings: IchiRukia

Main Characters: Kuchiki Rukia, Kurosaki Ichigo.

Special thanks: A special thank to Lilya-chan and FunnyNeko, for reading and correcting all of my nasty stuff.

Notes: English is not my native tongue. Please tell me about my mistakes!

I'm not good at writing about Bleach.

Introduction: I hate the pairing, really. But today it was a difficult day for me, and this story helped me to avoid the pain. Please let me know what you think about it.

Dedicated to all my friends: Ale, Laura, Michelle, Roy…I love you all!

A/N: I decided to say Rukia and Ichigo knew each others for a month or so, for I liked it.

I know Ichigo is not the type to "chase girls", but I wanted to describe a normal teen's life.

Rainy Thoughts

The song is: Iris, by Goo Goo Dolls

He just laid there, hard rain pouring on his orange hair.

The pain was overwhelming. Small, red droplets of blood were dripping out of his body, blending with the wet soil and slowly running away in thousands of tiny, crimson rivers as myriads of fragments of life escaping forever from our possessive grip.

Ichigo sighed, the cold air sharply blazing into his wounded lungs as he tried to tilt his head a little, his half-lidded eyes vaguely looking at the void space in front of him.

It had been a moment. A huge door appeared before his tired, vague irises and then…

And then, in a flash of white light, it was all over. The heavy wood had silently creaked for a long moment, hiding two male, black-clothed figures.

And a girl.

And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

"Filthy human. How dare a filthy human seize nii-sama's leg! Know your place, boy!"

Her voice had been cold, harsh, wounding; her every single word striking him as a pointed sword. He had never imagined some simple letters could have hurt him so much. But right now, laying half-dead in a desert street under the ungodly, rainy sky, had showed him so many things.

In a month his life had changed so much: the responsibility of being a Shinigami, his little, perfectly-known world completely shattered and crushed, his certainties changed and twisted. Why the hell the earth had started shaking under his feet?

But, even if in the middle of a desert of ruins and insecurities, his eyes had caught a little light shining through.

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
'Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

He had hated her in the beginning. Oh, God! She was so loud, and annoying! And why was she trying to always be the leader even if she was just a short, frail woman?

Frail…

"You can say everything about Kuchiki Rukia, except that she is frail!" or at least that was what their mates usually said.

Everything but frail, huh? And so, why did he wake up in the middle of the night, woken up by the soft sound of hurting sobs? Why did he hear her whispering her brother's name behind the heavy doors of his closet? Why did dust choose to bother her eyes so often?

Acting tough doesn't mean being strong.

That is, the secret of the real frailty. It's easy to smile in a sunny day. Easy to see a beam of light in a rainy day.

But…the night is long and cold and thoughts just keep on racing through your mind. What would you do if you were far away from home, lingering in a body that doesn't belong to you?

So, when he opened the closet in a moony night and saw silver, small paths of dried tears on her ashen face, he swore to himself he would have never left her alone.

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

Ichigo chuckled a bit, cruel waves of pain shaking his numbed body.

Why the hell was he thinking random things like that? Why the hell in that moment?

Not that it mattered so much, anymore. He was going to die, he was sure of it.

The cold, metallic blade of Kuchiki Byakuya's sword had pierced his body from part to part, splattering his poor, mortal blood on the wet sidewalk.

Rationally analysing, he had no regrets in his life: he had just lived as any other 15-years-old boy would have done.

School, friends, chasing girls. But, then, why was it so hard to leave? Why could he part from that wintry, mortal soil?

Something warm crawled around his eyes as the image of a short, black-haired female Shinigami hit his mind.

Oh gosh, from when rain had become so heated?

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive

Hard, heavy droplets still kept on falling down from the grey, clouded sky. A unique, intense sound reverberated in the wet air, absorbing every other noise in the enchanting deep melody of pouring rain.

It was cold. Even more cold as a wintry breeze slightly caressed Ichigo's wet skin.

Breathing was now harder than ever, as if his bosom had been loaded with tons of steel.

His life was slowly making its last, insecure steps out of his body, creeping out as a defeated soldier in a trench.

Small, heated droplets were now down running his cheeks.

There was no point in hiding it anymore.

He was about to die, why denying a few, bitter tears?

He sobbed a little, shifting and grabbing a handful of mud in his right hand.

Why? Why was it so hard? It had just been a month.

30 days, 720 hours…

Why was he suffering so much about such a stupid thing?

Wet, dirty drops of brown mud trailed down his fingers, tainting his pale, mortal skin.

Flashes of black hair and wooden doors flared in his mind.

He did not fall in love with her.

He did not….

Fall in love…

With her…

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

"Filthy human. How dare a filthy human seize nii-sama's leg. Know your place, boy!"

Her voice had been cold, harsh, wounding; her every single word striking him as a pointed sword.

But why did that look in her dark eyes betray her?

She cried! He could swear it.

It wasn't rain. It wasn't water pouring from the sky.

Was she afraid of death or…?

She…..

She cried…

She cried because she had to leave him.

'Rukia, why? Why did you do that?'

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

"Filthy human"

But she cried for that filthy human.

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

"Know your place, boy!"

But the painful look in her eyes showed him she cared a lot.

What was his place, then?

Earth? Heaven? Hell?

I just want you to know who I am

Everywhere….

Everywhere…if she was with him…

' I must live… I must save her…'

I just want you to know who I am

He had to live. For her… he had to survive… to have her again… by his side.

I just want you to know who I am

' I must… Live…'

I just want you to know who I am

Then, it all went numb, as a dark-green, umbrella-shaped thing stopped right above his head.

Ichigo faintly looked up, his sight numbing second by second as his last hints of energy were flying out of his strained, pierced body.

' Ehi…it …doesn't rain…anymore…'

OWARI.