Falling
There were often mornings that Ichigo would find Rukia waiting for him in front of his house. On these mornings they would walk to school together, either talking about Hollows, Kon, their friends or just enjoying the silence. Ichigo liked these mornings walking with Rukia, headed towards the day. He liked them even better than when they walked home together in the orange glow of late afternoon.
Today Rukia staggered. She would sometimes do that, blaming the faux body that wasn't as adapted to gravity as a real human body. She would get dizzy and go on about the earth tilting the wrong way and the axis through the center shaking.
Ichigo was always there to catch her, help her up and listen to her babble willingly. Living, walking, learning, fighting, eating... He does all of these things with Rukia every day.
He has come to learn where she stumbles and where she falls.
Fin