Prologue

Rin Ichimaru looked up at the increasingly blurry figure of Sosuke Aizen with a surprisingly detached feeling of disappointment. So many years. She murmured. All for this one moment. Gone. But she asked herself: Did she expect to emerge victorious? (Or even happy?) I overestimated myself. She smiled bitterly. How shameful of me to cling onto a happiness that have always been way out of my reach. She knew she was destined to fail, the moment she witnessed the captains of the elite Soul Society cut down like flies left and right.

(I'm Sorry.)

Ren-kun. I hope you're ok.

"You were the perfect subordinate, Rin." Aizen's voice hit her with force, forcing her blue eyes to widen to their normal size and struggle to gaze at him with clarity. "Pity you….."

Yes. Pity. She thought venomously. Pity you didn't die like you were supposed to. Her thoughts flashed back to the past two and a half centuries, from the moment she discovered Ren raped and close to death on the road, face full of horror and less like the innocent child he should be, she had plotted for this moment. And what for? Everything is done for now.

Her thoughts flashed to her time with Aizen-taichou. The (horrible) act she employed to fool him, and the number of times she shared his bed… I've been played. She realized, and yet an unbearably sad look graced her face. I love Ren. I do. She assured herself. But there had been a point where she had succumbed to the charms of Sosuke Aizen.

Despicable.

A hand, familiar, caressed her face. She struggled to focus. The gruesome face of transcendental Aizen grinned ghoulishly down at her, -eliciting an unbidden feeling of longing for the original- "Goodnight, my love." He murmured.

I'm going to die.

She thought of her past. She closed her eyes. This is my fate.

A gentle wind blew past.

She opened her eyes. I'm… Still alive?

Instead of the detested (loved) face of Aizen, prepared to watch the life bleed from her eyes when he snaps her neck, the grief-stricken face of Ren greeted her. He looked tired and battle-weary, short and smooth auburn hair slick with sweat and grime, and his handsome, rugged features were ceased with grief and fear. She tried to reassure him (forget about me/I'm sorry/I love you/escape while you can/I don't want you to die with me/don't associate with a traitor) and opened her mouth to say something, anything, and instead a spray of blood exited, a gurgling cough expelled even more down her pale lips and down the side of her neck and chin. Gazing with resignation at the horrified, desperate face of Ren, her eyes fluttered, trying to keep open. Oh fate. She thought. You are cruel. Why didn't you get let Aizen kill me? (There is no one worthier) Instead, a slow, unfulfilled death in front of the one I love (Do you? Do you really?) Who didn't deserve anything but the best…

I'm going to rectify this, she decided. She looked up, behind Ren, and saw Ichigo Kurosaki, the ryoka (so different from the kid whom she nearly killed a long time ago) engaging with Aizen, his face determined and eyes steady.

I can leave everything to you. She believed with her entire being. I leave everything in this world, my dream, and my hopes to you. At that moment, Ichigo turned, making eye contact with her. She projected her entire will into her eyes with the last of her draining energy.

Take care of Ren.

(Don't die.)

His eyes flickered with sadness, and an unexplainable amount of grief for someone who was an enemy, and directed a small nod, unnoticeable to Aizen to her. She smiled, (her last one) and cast hungry eyes onto the face of Ren. At least his face will be the last thing I'll see. It's more than what I could ever wish for.

To her surprise, Ren swooped down and stole a kiss from her lips, gentle and delicate, on her bloodless, numb lips. She smiled, the first genuinely joyful one in centuries, and closed her eyes for the final time.

Even across the battlefield, Ichigo could still see Ren, the confident lieutenant of Squad ten break into a thousand pieces.

I don't want it to end this way. Can I have another chance?

Author's note

Continue? The last line could be the start of an exciting fic….

VastoLordes