"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—
And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—
I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.
-- Emily Dickenson
The space under Urahara's shop was big. Big and wide, and bright, in sharp contrast to the night time outside. It made Orihime want to take off running, to see how long it took to make it to the other end. The bottoms of her tennis shoes slid on the loose dirt though, and she didn't want to fall and embarrass herself in front of her classmates. Her comrades, now. She looked down, to see that her shoelaces were tied properly. They were.
She sort of expected that such a desert-like place should be hot, but it was plenty cool in here. But then, she reminded herself, deserts aren't all hot. Antarctica is a desert, and it's very cold there. Urahara stashed Kurosaki's body somewhere upstairs and returned to tell them about the Senkai Gate.
"We have to convert your human bodies to spirit bodies before you cross over." Orihime frowned. What about Kurosaki, then? "Even if we removed your souls from your bodies, as we did with Kurosaki, you still would have much trouble moving around in Soul Society."
"I see." Said Ishida from atop a nearby rock. Orihime looked up at him, in his pompous white Quincy uniform, and she felt very small. "So this isn't a regular Senkai Gate."
"Correct." responded Urahara from behind his silly fan. "This one has been modified, so that in order to transform yourselves into spirits, you only need to walk through the gate."
Ishida had always been a pessimist. Oh, he had sure faith in his own abilities, and perhaps in Kurosaki's power (if not his skill) and he had a suspicion of what Yoruichi was capable of. But he had little to no faith in Inoue's (she just didn't have it in her to fight) and he didn't even know what Sado's were supposed to be. So, even though he knew it was cruel, it was only his nature to bring Kurosaki back down to Earth before they walked through this gate.
"No matter how you look at it, Kurosaki, we are four teenaged humans and a cat, about to break into Soul Society and face a better military than any that probably has ever existed in the Real World, in order to save a girl we've only known for two months."
Kurosaki looked at him, and, as Ishida had expected, his face filled with doubt. Truthfully, Kurosaki had a lot of courage; if he hadn't, he wouldn't have gone Hollow slaying every night since he'd first met Kuchiki. His sense of justice was honorable, and Ishida understood it well. And even as he tried to instill fear into Kurosaki's heart, Ishida knew without a doubt that it would not deter him.
As a Quincy, I draw my arrow to protect that which is precious to me. Kuchiki gave Kurosaki the means to do that same thing for himself, and in doing so she became one of those who are precious to him; how could he stand by and let her be executed for such a thing?
"That's the truth, I guess." Kurosaki was saying, having mulled over Ishida's statement a bit. "Can we really do this?" he looked askance at Urahara, shoulders slumped.
"Of course you can." Urahara said patiently. "I've already told you: the power of love is stronger than any sword."
Yoruichi jumped down from Urahara's shoulder. "Do you believe you can do this?" he asked bluntly of Kurosaki. His tail was held jauntily high, but still, as he waited.
Doubt would put this mission in peril. Ishida knew with sudden clarity that whether Urahara allowed them to walk through that gate would depend on Kurosaki's answer here. Unfortunately, Inoue piped up before Kurosaki had time to think about it.
"Of course we can!" she exclaimed indignantly. "If we don't believe, then Kuchiki will fade into the Mists like Avalon did, and then where would we be?"
"FOUR MINUTES?"
"Well," said Urahara calmly to Ichigo, "This was a rather unreasonable endeavor to begin with."
As if they hadn't already known that. Sado, though, had perhaps a better outlook on the situation than the others. He had no family, and few friends, to miss him if he were gone. He had nothing to lose, and if he were to die by Ichigo's side, fighting for a just cause, that was good enough for him.
And Sado was sure that saving the life of Kuchiki Rukia was as just a cause as he could think of. As much as she was a stranger, she had saved him and Ichigo and Inoue, and probably countless other nameless and faceless humans and spirits in the process. And the day she'd saved him, he'd watched her fight the invisible nightmare without any show of fear on her face. Knowing what he knew now--that she had no blade to draw, no effective magic to call forth against the creature--and having watched her turn to face the thing head on, and dare it to come at her--that was an uncommon kind of courage.
It was worth protecting, Sado thought. And that's what his large fists were for: to protect.
"Then what do we do?" Inoue was asking uncertainly.
"You will walk forward." Yoruichi said, lashing his tail back and forth, looking irritated. "The important thing here is not the supposed impossibility of the mission, but rather the state of your heart. You must have the will in your heart to move forward, and to come out on the other side. That, and that alone, will take you to Soul Society."
"You understand, don't you?" the cat said to him, and Ichigo's stomach felt as if it were somewhere near his throat. "If you fail, you'll never come home. If you lose, you'll never see your family or friends again.'
Yes, Ichigo understood. And he kept telling himself it was worth the risk--Rukia had changed everything for him, and after all that had happened, all that he had seen, how could he just go back to normal now? He couldn't. Without her, the world would be as empty as it had been before, and that wasn't something that Ichigo could rightfully allow. If she died, if she were really gone, the memory of her smile, her energy, her determination, would haunt him forever. To know with certainty that she would never again kick him in the shin or shove his soul out from his body was unimaginable.
The doubt still lurked there in his soul, dark and unforgiving. He might never see his sisters again. But, had Rukia not come to their rescue that first night, they wouldn't even be alive for him to see. Tatsuki, Inoue, and Chad, too. Half the people in Karakura town. Saving Rukia was the only option--his heart left him no other choice. And if he failed, well, he just wouldn't fail.
Ichigo set his jaw.
"Then we just have to win, right?"
"Exactly." Yoruichi turned away from Kurosaki rather snottily, and Orihime got the impression that if Yoruichi were a person, he'd be a very rich, aristocratic person. Perhaps on his off-days he wore a diamond-studded collar and drank milk out of a champagne flute.
"So, are you all ready?" Urahara asked, kneeling by the edge of the gate.
Orihime was ready. She didn't know Kuchiki all that well, but she was sure that the girl didn't deserve to die for the crime of saving lives. Besides, Kuchiki and Kurosaki had saved Tatsuki and Orihime from her brother the Hollow. What was more, they had saved him from himself. Orihime had looked into Sora's eyes that night and seen the heroic older brother she had known and loved, who had picked her up one day and taken her away from their abusive parents. Who had cooked and cleaned and read her bedtime stories as if she were his own daughter. Who had refused to leave her side, even in death.
Kuchiki had made that possible, and had allowed Orihime to give him a proper goodbye. And for that, Orihime felt that she could spend the rest of her life thanking Kuchiki, and it would never be enough. Saving her life in return? The very least she could do. Whatever was about to happen, she would set aside her fears and doubts, and embrace the hope that fluttered softly against her heart like a shy little bird waiting to take flight. They were going to do this. She took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and she believed as hard as she could.
We are going to save Kuchiki Rukia.
Orihime reached out to each side of her, and took Kurosaki's hand and Ishida's. "We're ready." she said clearly, tugging their hands. "Let's run fast, and don't look back, okay?"
They were gone. Tessai watched Kisuke stare through the gate for the full four minutes before it snapped shut with a crackle of blue electricity. He adjusted his hat then, and that flyaway blonde hair fell back down into his eyes.
"What do you think, boss?" Tessai asked, stepping back toward the ladder.
"I think that if it had to be four teenage humans and a cat, at least it was those four teenage humans, and that cat. All we can do now is keep the faith, right?" Kisuke picked up his cane with an uncharacteristically nervous grin and followed Tessai. "Let's go upstairs. I could use a drink."