A/N: Holy shit ... it has been forever. To all the people who have followed me. All the people who have liked my stories and demanded that I finish them, I'm sorry. Real life has been ... incredibly strange these past few years. This is the first time I've ever been able to sit down and really write anything. Thank you though, all of you, for your support. It means the world to me.

After 686, I felt the need to write this. I might be riding high on emotion and anger, but honestly ... I need to get this out. This has been a story idea that I've been trying to make work as it's own original piece, but I've never been able to do it. So I'm turning it into a fanfic, because it hit me today, that it would work best as one. And, I need to do these two justice. I need to give them a proper story. IchiRuki is not dead. They live forever in my heart. They will always be the pairing that I turn to. I will never except the 'ending' we were delivered. Not ever. And this is my tribute to one of the greatest manga couples I've ever invested my life into.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I wish I did. The characters deserve better.

Ichigo Kurosaki stood on the roof of his apartment building, staring up at the full moon. It was another night of no sleep. Another night where the insomnia won out again. Closing his eyes as a cool gust of wind hit his face, he enjoyed the cold breeze for the moment it lasted before it disappeared, his eyes opening to look up at the moon again. There was a scent on the breeze, it smelled like lilac. The scent was strangely comforting, but Ichigo couldn't exactly place why.

It was getting close to three in the morning, but being outside always seemed to help calm him down. Tonight though, something felt different. Something felt off. He couldn't quite describe what, but it was a strange feeling, like someone was watching him.

Ichigo ignored it though, just staring up at the crystal clear moon. It was bright tonight, brighter than it had been in a while. His dad used to say that when a moon was that bright that life was going to get interesting very soon. So far, his old man hadn't exactly been wrong about that. Whenever the moon was bright, something in Ichigo's life did change, but tonight … the moon was the brightest he had ever seen it. It filled Ichigo with a bit of hope, that maybe life was going to get better. But with his luck, life was just going to get so much stranger.

Taking a deep breath, Ichigo turned his back on the night sky and wandered over to the rooftop entrance, opening the door and taking a step into the stairwell, sneaking one last glance at the bright moon above him. In his sleep deprived state, he almost swore that he could have seen a figure in the bright, white moon. But it was more than likely just his imagination. Shaking his head, Ichigo made his way down the stairs and back to his apartment to try, for the second time tonight, to get some sleep.

XXxxxXXXxxxXX

He was out again tonight, standing on the roof and staring up at the moon. He was there for a few hours, and she had only ever seen him stay out this long during full moons. Most nights weren't bad. He'd come up, push the door open and take a few deep breaths, run his fingers through his hair and then head back down. On full moons though … he stayed. He looked up at the sky and he would just spend hours staring. Rukia wondered why that was. She had been tempted to go over and ask, to comfort the man, but she had resisted. Something about it .. it just didn't feel like the right time.

Rukia could remember one night when she saw him come running out of the door, nearly knocking it off the hinges as he shoved it open, the sound of the door swinging open had been like a thunderclap in the mostly quiet night. She remembered seeing the sweat on his brow, and his heavy breathing. She remembered the panicked look in his eyes and the way his head rotated as if on a swivel, looking around for unseen threats. That night had been hard. But still, she felt that even in those moments, it wasn't the right time to introduce herself.

Turning her gaze from the roof across from her, Rukia looked up at the moon, her purple eyes wandering over the surface of the bright moon. She wondered what he saw in it, what exactly it was about nights like this that caused him the most distress. She stared at the moon for a long few moments before her body stiffened. She felt a presence behind her, someone coming close to her. It seems that her nightly rituals had been discovered.

"How many times are you going to return to this place, Rukia?" The voice was stoic, the tone stern. She knew it well. The voice of her brother.

Turning to face him, Rukia steeled herself for the judgement that was to come, her relaxed mood gone, replaced with the mannerisms that had been drilled into her since her birth. After all, it wouldn't do well to have Rukia Kuchiki be improper.

"I wasn't aware that my nightly habits were any of your concern, brother."

"You cannot be with him." The words cut through the air, and they stung her a bit, causing Rukia to recoil slightly. Her gaze drifted to the floor for a moment, her own voice quieting.

"That's not why I come."

"Then why?"

"He … intrigues me." It was as close to the truth as she could get. The absolute truth was she didn't quite know. She just felt drawn to this place, to him. Every night she would come, and he would be there. It was their own little ritual that he knew nothing about. But he did intrigue her. There was something about him, something that she couldn't put her finger on. Something that she felt pulled to.

"I see." There was a tone that Rukia hadn't really heard in her brother's voice then, something that sounded almost like sympathy. Like understanding. It caused her to look up, her eyes a bit wide. She had only heard that tone a few times in her life, but when she heard it, she knew that her brother had been in a reminiscent mood. "It doesn't change anything though," he said, a twinge of regret in his tone.

"I know, brother." Rukia said softly. They stood in silence for a long few moments before her brother stepped forward, resting a hand on her shoulder. Rukia looked up at the taller man, her eyes soft and her body stiff. That stoic expression remained on his face as he looked down at her, but the grip on her shoulder was almost comforting.

"Let's go home. I won't tell the others about your nightly visits, as long as you remember our laws."

"Thank you, brother." Rukia said, her eyes looking down at her feet. Her brother turned, walking off to the edge of the building they had been sharing before stopping and waiting for her to join him. Rukia cast a glance back at the apartment building across the way, wondering when, or if, she would ever meet the man with the orange hair, before looking back up at the moon one last time. It was so bright. So full of hope. Rukia had a feeling that she would meet him soon. And it would be almost world changing.

"I'm coming, brother." Rukia turned away, walking to her brother, but there was something in her step. A feeling of hope she hadn't felt before.