Title: Earth and Sky
Author: Mellie
Rating: G
Wordage: 592
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Ichigo, or Rukia.
Notes: This is between when they met and when she gets taken back to Soul Society. There is no real specific time when it occurs.
The sky overhead is gray, like the heavens want to cry over the great tragedy that is life. But it seems to honor the melancholy woman dancing like a phantom through dark streets. Her aura hangs heavy, thicker than the brewing storms waiting on the horizons. A brilliant twist of hot gold streaks through the sky, leaving the air charged and the clouds a haunting midnight purple. It won't be long before celestial tears descend upon the earth, crying for a love that never was and never could be.
Earth and Sky. Life and Death. Ichigo and Rukia.
It falls soft, at first. But bitter and jealous winds lash out and throw the rain against anything in its path. The petite figure notices it, her face tipping up to welcome the onslaught of tears. She cannot cry her own, emotions long since buried beneath a carefully constructed facade. There is an irrational envy in her heart; it screams out at the world for everything it has dealt her, everything it has taken away. She would always be without a place to live, and her heart would never be able to accept love.
Two opposites- ever destined to dance together but never to touch.
Once, she might have fancied herself in love. But it was foolish of her to think as much. When everything was at stake and only one change could ruin everything, there was no such thing as love or feeling. There could only be jealousy, competition, pain; but never love. In a place of the dead, there could be little life. Few would ever know anything but death and suffering. She had once been one of those.
The wind pulling on her cotton dress brings her out of the past and into the present. The rain is falling harder now, the storm's power rising. Through the veil of water, she sees a shock of orange waiting for her. Against her resigned mind, her childish heart dares let loose a smile. It is a small gesture, but it holds so much meaning.
Of one voice, one soul. Two hearts entangled.
Their lives had collided violently. It was as if they were meant to meet, meant to be together. He knows it. She knows it. But she has the knowledge of the years. Her mind is wizened in love, in loss. As the rain falls harder, he reaches his hand out to her, asking her to come to him. Her steps falter, fear holding her back. This is everything she wants, but it can't be real. How soon before her brother comes to drag her back to her death in Soul Society? She is already living on borrowed time-she has ever since she'd arrived in Soul Society, probably before even. Still, she moves towards him. Her spirit yearns for him, to feel his strength ebb and flow around her.
Her hand slips easily into his larger one and he flashes a grin at her before racing through the downpour of rain. In his shadow she can feel her sins washing away with each drop of water. Her mind eases away from the years of pain, the suffocating rules and expectations loosening their grip on her every movement. For now she is with him. It's all that she needs to know, and all she cares to know. She'll face her past one day. But for now it's just her and him and the growing storm around them.
And like the rain connects the earth and sky, the hearts of Ichigo and Rukia are joined.