Author's Note: Hello all! This is a little lit piece inspired by a few pictures of Rukia and Ichigo's eyes in Volume 18 of Bleach. That means DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS! Now that that is out of the way, I used dialogue from the manga's English edition, as well as specific characters and events, which all belong to Tite Kubo. I just added some filler is all. Peace!
She had accepted her fate. Her heart held no regrets as the Sôkyoku became Kikô Oh, the Firebird King, ready to wipe life from her body. She felt the flames on her cheeks, and braced herself for her execution.
She wasn't dead. Rukia opened her eyes, and felt her heart leap into her throat. Rukia's large violet eyes stared in wonder at the human boy she had given her Soul Reaper powers to. That gaze betrayed everything that next came out of her mouth. She feared for his safety more than her own, though she'd never admit to it.
"Ichigo, you fool! Why did you come back?!"
"Wh-what?!"
"You should realize by now you can't beat my brother! This time he'll kill you for sure!!! I've made my peace with death; I don't want you help!!! Go away!"
She had prayed he would heed her warning. He looked so much like Kaien, but she wouldn't loose Ichigo the way she had lost him. Yet here he was, his eyes laughing defiantly despite her protests. He would save her whether she wanted it or not. She knew he felt he owed it to her, to repay her for sacrificing herself in the name of duty. She was beginning to believe he could do it. He had blocked the full force of a thousand zanpaku-to with his one, then when Ukitake, a great risk for himself as a captain of one of the Thirteen Guard companies, destroyed the Sôkyoku, Ichigo destroyed the scaffold she was bound to and caught her before she fell.
"Quit telling me to leave you alone and go home. I told you, I'm rejecting your protests! This is my second try. And this time, I'm going to save you, Rukia."
"Don't expect me to thank you, fool."
"Fine."
"Ichigo, so what do you plan now? You're hopelessly outnumbered; you can't just disappear."
"Run away."
"That's absurd! There are captains down there. There's no way you can –"
"Then I'll beat them up and run away." What a typical teenage male response. "You're not the only one I have to save. There's Orihime and Uryu, and Chad too. And Ganju and Hanataro, everybody who helped me. I'm gonna save them all and get outta here."
Rukia could feel his strength. She was loosing her doubts of his abilities. He would succeed by sheer force of will, that determination that had not yet seen him fail. He had pushed on, through pain and injury, to be at her side now. He'd gone through hell and back for her; there was no going back now.
Their eyes locked one last time before Ichigo moved to fight his next opponent, Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia's brother, a captain of the Thirteen Guard companies. In spite of the battle-ready hardness, Ichigo's brown eyes spoke the three words his lips couldn't form, and Rukia's answered that the feeling was mutual.