No. No! This can't be happening. Why? Oh, why? Rangiku thought in panic as she raced over the rooftops of the dilapidated buildings, the crumbling structures that were barely standing, the desolation that was the fake Karakura Town- the desolation that was Aizen's destruction. Panting heavily as she jumped from unsteady rooftop to unsteady rooftop, her golden-orange hair swirling violently behind her as she raced toward the pile of rubble in the near distance, she could feel her heart pounding with the sharpest fear she had ever known.
"Gin!" she screamed in agony as she hurled herself off the edge of the final dilapidated structure. In a pool of his own blood, seemingly unconscious, he lay far below her in the ruin of the false construction. Her friend, her dear friend who had left her behind, her friend that she loved still despite all the wrong he had committed.
The friend who had been fighting for her all this time.
Nearly manic, she landed lightly beside him and immediately fell to her knees, horrified by the sheer amount of blood that was pouring from the gaping hole where his arm should have been. "Gin," she whispered miserably as she choked back a sob. Abruptly, he shifted, and with wide eyes she glanced up at his face, where his eyes were just barely cracked open.
"Rangiku" he mumbled. His voice was low, barely more than a whisper, and Rangiku had to lean forward to hear properly. As he gazed up at her, growing pale as his life ebbed away, her heart felt like it was shuttering into a million pieces. She couldn't even offer him false comfort, or tell him that he would be all right, because she knew that he wouldn't. He was going to die, right in front of her, and leave her for good this time. Without even realizing it, she had begun to cry. The tears flowed in twin rivers down her cheeks, splashing down on his bloodstained clothes. "I'm sorry. I promised that I wouldn't make you cry again… But here we are," he chuckled weakly, the faintest smile on his lips as he looked sadly up at her through lidded eyes. With the last of his strength, he reached up with a hand to tenderly brush a finger across her cheek, catching the falling tears that continued to spill from her eyes. "Goodbye, Rangiku," he murmured softly, and saw no more.
Sobbing, Rangiku caught his hand as it fell, feeling the warmth fade as she clutched it tightly in her own. She called his name to the accursed wind, but that would not bring him back. Nothing would bring him back now. She continue to sob, even as the air grew thick with energy, tensing with raw power as her enemy approached. She should run. She knew that, but yet she could not leave the side of her fallen friend. She could not abandon him, when he had never abandoned her. Even as she heard the soft crunch of sandals over the pebbles on the cracked ground, heard the disdainful chuckle echoing behind her; she would not leave, she would not let go of that hand that was so rapidly growing cold…
Even as she heard the grating sound of a sharp sword being freed from its scabbard, she just continued to silently weep, almost welcoming the death that was sure to come.
Suddenly, the world seemed entirely different. There was a presence there, a powerful one, and yet Rangiku could not sense it in the same way that she could Aizen. She glanced up with a gasp, the tears still fresh on her cheeks, to see none other than Ichigo Kurosaki standing there with his unconscious father slung casually over his shoulder. She recognized him, but at the same time he was different; his hair was longer, and had he grown taller? There was something about his sword, too- it had changed. It was more polished now, more complete, as if he had perfected it in some way.
But the biggest difference was the aura of sheer strength that he exuded. Even next to Aizen, the plague on the Soul Society and the human world alike, Ichigo seemed on the level of gods as he glared levelly at the kind-looking, smiling, homicidal ex-Soul Reaper Sosuke Aizen.
"Rangiku. You're not hurt, are you?" he asked calmly, glancing over at her through his peripheral vision. Stunned by his newfound change, she neglected to respond for a moment before hastily shaking her head. "Good. Now you just stay there. I've come to finish this," he told her before returning his attention to his knocked-out father. "Thanks, Dad. Now you rest," he sighed as he lowered the body gently to the ground. Rangiku blinked, wondering what had happened to make Ichigo appear so suddenly with an unconscious Isshin, and ignored the conversation that Ichigo and Aizen were having. Suddenly, without warning, the young substitute Soul Reaper surged forward with enough force to leave a rift in the ground, grabbing Aizen roughly by the face before vanishing within an instant. The sheer speed of his movement produced a violent wind so fierce that Rangiku had to shield her face from all the dust and rubble that was thrown up as a result. When it was over, she dropped her arms and stared wide-eyed at the place where Ichigo had just been.
He had saved her.
What is this… I feel?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach, nor any of the characters within; these right belong exclusively to Tite Kubo.