Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: This is another one of my more experimental stories. Rukia-centric, for once. Review please?
Déjà vu
Rukia knew what to do. She should go ahead and fight the Hollow.
She volunteered to go ahead and fight the Hollow.
But the boy had- impossibly!- broken her kido and run ahead of her to fight the Hollow himself.
He had asked to fight it himself.
He did it to save his sisters-
To save his wife's memory.
-but it was still foolish. Suicidally so.
The Hollow had killed so many already.
She should intervene. Save him.
Her taichou stopped her from helping him.
He argued with her, wanting to fight the monster himself,
He wanted to do this himself. For his pride.
but before she could fully explain how foolish he was being, the Hollow swatted her aside.
They'd told her to run.
The boy stood up to fight in her place. Told the Hollow to fight him, to eat his soul instead of those of his sisters.
How could he hope to win without his zanpakuto?
He couldn't. The Hollow was going to eat him.
She couldn't save him.
She could save this boy, for a few seconds at least.
She ran through the forest, hearing the sounds of her companions fighting behind her.
She dived in front of him, saving his life. But now there was a sharp pain in her shoulder, and she could barely move her arm.
Despite her terror, she turned to go back to them, though she didn't know what she could do.
She didn't know what to do now, she realised. There was only one option, and that option was insanely dangerous.
This was insane, she realised.
She explained to the boy how she could give him her powers. How dangerous it was. He accepted anyway.
He ran towards her, and she was more scared than she had ever been.
She levelled her sword at him,
She levelled her sword at him,
looked at the face of nostalgia and regret-
looked at the face of a nightmare-
-and he impaled himself on her sword.
-and he impaled himself on her sword.
She saved Ichigo's life.
She killed Kaien.