Summary: Ichigo's job as a shinigami has ended. Now it is time for them to say their goodbye. But what if goodbyes are harder than they ever imagined? Maybe it is better to forget, and pretend that nothing ever happened between them. IchiRuki. ONESHOT.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. -.-
-Just Forget-
"Ichigo," she said suddenly, sitting on the side of his bed.
"Hmm?"
"I need to go,"
"Soul Society?"
She paused for a moment before replying, "Hmm, yeah."
"Sure," he replied shortly, turning the page of his book. "When are you coming back?"
Silence.
He turned at her and spoke again, "When are you coming back here?"
She looked down toward her feet. "I… I won't be," she said in a quiet voice.
He froze. "What?"
"I, umm- the soul Society… umm-"
"Rukia, you know that despite his powerful spirit energy, that boy, is still a human?"
She nodded.
"The Soul Society is very thankful for his actions, but this rule… is the one that could never be broken,"
"Hai, Yamamoto Taichou,"
"Rukia, I would like to keep him here. But we couldn't. We cannot make an exception for this."
She nodded again, yet remained silent.
"A human cannot be connected to the Soul Society forever. It would only destroy him, and us as the same time. It would create the imbalance between the two worlds. For the main rule of the Soul Society, is that a human shall never crossed the gate to come here. I know exceptions had been made before, but we could not afford to continue this any longer."
"…Hai,"
"Kurosaki Ichigo could no longer be a shinigami, for he cannot come back to Seireitei or the Soul Society ever again."
"Taichou,"
"I am sorry, Rukia. Yet there's nothing I can do. The lost and consequences is far too great,"
She looked down on the floor, unmoving.
He nodded. "Yes, Ichigo will have to stay on the Earth forever… till he dies. And until then, he shall not be in contact with any of us ever again."
"But…"
"Rukia, I'm sure you understand. It is your job to tell him."
Silence filled the entire room for a moment. And as Rukia finally found the strength to regain her composure, she muttered her answeri n the softest voice, "Hai, Yamamoto Taichou."
She sighed at her flashback, closed her eyes, and turned at him. Remembering the conversation with Yamamoto Taichou was painful, but reciting it to him for an explanation, was even more so.
"Ichigo," she whispered quietly, "Just… goodbye. Just forget about everything."
"How could you?" He whispered.
"Just pretend that I never existed. That's… the best choice for both of us."
"It's wrong, and we both know it. It's too late, Rukia. We can't deny it. We can't deny the fact of your existence. The reality of Seireitei, and the Soul Society… everything. They are real. You are real."
"Humans shouldn't know anything in the first place. For us to meet… it was a mistake. Let's end this before it's too late."
I'm sorry, Ichigo.
"It's allready too late. Rukia… Don't do this. You don't know what you're doing. Anything… anything would be fine, anything but this. Trust me Rukia. It's not the right choice. It's the worse choice that you'll regret."
"It's better for us. We can't sink any deeper than this. No. It'll never work out. So let's just end this."
Trust me, Ichigo... this is for the best. I'm sorry.
"Rukia…"
"Please Ichigo," she begged. "Please, just forget. Just pretend that it never happened. That you never knew about us, shinigamis. And that… and that we never met…"
Her once stern voice turned into a plead. But why? She was supposed to be the strong one. She was the one who was supposed to make this decision. She was the one who would leave him behind, for god's sake. So why is she pleading?
"No," he whispered, shaking his head. He looked at her in the eyes – a look so soft that he had never shown before. From his eyes, she knew, that he too, was pleading for her to stay. "We've been through too many things together. It just can't end like this. We can make this right, Rukia. We can talk to the Soul Society. We can-"
"There'll be no more we and us," She cut his sentence down.
"Rukia…"
"It is now you and I. Soon, we would be strangers. And as strangers, it is best for us… to forget each other. Goodbye."
"Rukia, this isn't the way. Or maybe, you don't have to stay here. You can come sometimes, to visit everyone here, to say hi to Urahara, Inoue, Chad, and even Ishida. And also, for us to meet."
She closed her eyes and inhaled the atmosphere of his room. This was the room that she was going to miss the most… this particular scent, this smell, this calmness that his room held, and practically everything within it that would remind her of him. She bit her lips and clenched her fingers.
"Ichigo," she began, whispering her words slowly, while trying to hold her shaky voice into a strong, determined one. "We never knew each other... not anymore. We'll be as strangers. We'll never meet each other. It's the end… so just forget."
"No," was his reply. He grabbed her thin shoulder tight, while shaking his head down. "No."
She sighed. "Goodbye. Please take care of yourself, Ichigo."
"Rukia…"
Now it was his turn to plead. Normally, the Kurosaki Ichigo would not plead for he had too much pride for him to hold. He would rather fight… he would rather bleed and yet never begged. Yet this was different. Right now, he would beg her, kneel down to her, or anything. He would do anything to make her stay... to make her continue their friendship… and their relationship.
Anything.
Tears started forming, yet she held them inside. Her heart was torn into painful little pieces. It hurt her too much to say the goodbye. But she knew that she had to be the strong one, and she forced herself to do so.
Tears would not help. Crying would only make it harder. There was nothing she could do but to stay strong, or at least… to pretend to be the one.
"Goodbye Ichigo," she said, opening the world penetration gate to the Soul Society.
"RUKIA!" He yelled as her hand touched the gate.
I love you… don't go.
"RUKIA!" His voice was hoarse, full of desperation and anger.
Desperate, because he did not have the power to reach out for her, and anger at himself for he could not hold her back in his arms. He did not train to become stronger for this to happen. He did not break through the Seireitei when he rescued her, just to say goodbye for her forever. He did not fight those hollows down with her on his back for this.
It wasn't fair.
No. It wasn't. But what could he do?
"Rukia!" He shouted for the last time. "I love you!"
Her eyes opened wide, and she froze for a moment. And as if she regained composure, her eyes softened, and she stepped inside without looking back at him. She could not look back, for she did not have the power to do so. She could not let him see her tears. This was their fate, and she accepted it… regardless how her broken her heart became.
"Be well, Ichigo," she said her last words to him, and disappeared.
And inside, into the darkness she sank down, letting her tears falling down freely down her pale cheek. A hell butterfly flew slowly besides her, as if telling her to move on, to walk and go forward into the Soul Society. Yet she ignored it. She did not care anymore. There was nobody there to see her tears, nobody to witness her weakness, nobody to notice her fragile state.
When she arrived in the Seireitei, there might be her Kuchiki Nii Sama to greet her. There might be Rangiku to smile at her, and there would be Renji who would tell her enough jokes to make her laugh. There might be Hitsugaya Taichou and Momo who would ask her if she was okay… there might be Unohana Taichou who would look at her with a silent understanding, and there would be more of them who would keep her company.
But at that moment, she was completely, utterly alone. And the person she needed the most could never stay with her.
She was a shinigami, and he was a human boy. It would never work out, for the two of them. Sometimes, there are some things that hope, faith, and love would never solve. And they were one of them.
She would continue to live forever… to do her job as a shinigami. While he would aged and die. Their worlds are too different.
"I love you too, Ichigo," she whispered into the still blackness and let herself drowned into it.
Just forget.
A/N: sniff… need tissue, anyone?
Writing this story makes me kind of depress. -.- But I hope you guys can see the emotion that I'm trying to set in this story.
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