Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo.
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Summary: A friend's death had left Ichigo empty. An emptiness that nothing could fill. The only thing that could ease his pain was to be alone in the darkness. But the dead have a way of popping up when you least want to think of them... IchiHime RenRuki IshiNemu
Rater for a tasteful, artful Lemon later.
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Main Pairings:
Ichigo x Orihime
Rukia x Renji
Uryu x Nemu
Toushirou x Momo
Rangiku x Izuru
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Bleach – A River Is Flowing
By Cyberweasel89
Prologue: Elegy of Emptiness
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"No!"
That was the one word on Ichigo's mind. As the rain fell down, every droplet seemed to fall in slow motion, while at the same time pounding down like a bullet. The orange-haired Shinigami ran to the bloodied body of his fallen friend. As he scooped her up in his arms, he pressed his ear to her bare chest, succeeding in getting blood on the side of his head in the process. There was a heartbeat, but just barely.
"Hey! Wake up! Can ya hear me?"
Her eyelids were half closed. A gurgle came from her slightly opened mouth. Her naked body was shivering in the cold downpour, so she probably had enough feeling left in her body to feel the cold.
"Hey! Hang in there! I'll get us out of here!"
Easier said than done. Now that the adrenaline from the battle was wearing off, Ichigo could barely move. He definitely couldn't stand. Only his sheer will kept him from collapsing over the body of his friend. As he attempted to stand up anyway, he felt cold skin touch his hand. The orange-haired Shinigami looked to see her gazing up at him with empty eyes, her fingers lightly grabbing his wrist. Her skin... it felt ice cold. The bleeding didn't look like it was stopping anytime soon. And the wound... it looked painful...
"C'mon! You can pull through!"
"Kurosaki-kun..."
The orange-haired Shinigami barely heard the throaty, pained rasp that escaped his friend's pale lips. He leaned in and strained his ears to listen.
"Kurosaki-kun... I want you to-"
"No! Don't speak! You need to save your strength!"
"No... Kurosaki-kun... I want you... I want you to know..."
"I said don't speak!"
"I want you to know... to know..."
Then her arm fell limp.
"No! Wake up! C'mon, wake up!"
But she didn't reply. Her body seemed lifeless.
"No... INOUE!!!"
The cry echoed far, having enough volume and filled with enough pain to travel onward for eternity.
"Ichigo!"
The orange-haired Shinigami turned to see Rukia, Chad, Uryu and the others running to him. They all looked injured. Renji was visibly trying to conceal a limp. They ran forward and gathered around Ichigo and the fallen princess. None of them stopped to blush at her nudity. Their concern was too great. Rukia knelt down to feel the girl's pulse... When she stood up, she gazed downward, shaking her head forlornly. Ichigo gazed down at his friend and knew she was gone, but didn't believe it. He couldn't believe it.
"No! It can't end like this! It just can't!"
Rukia placed a hand on the orange-haired Shinigami's shoulder. "Look, Ichigo, we need to get her back hom-"
He shook her touch off. "No! She'll be fine! Right? She'll be fine!"
Nothing but silence... silence that did nothing to halt the seed of emptiness that had already begun to grow within Ichigo's soul.
"INOUE!!!"
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The funeral was held several weeks later. The entire time leading up to it, Ichigo tried to hide his pain. Rukia tried to cheer him up by staying with him again, like old times. But even she could feel the oppressive gloom looming over him like the Reaper over a man on his deathbed.
The day of the funeral, the sky was gray and cloudy, but it did not rain. Despite the forecast calling for rain, and despite the heavy feeling in the air, it did not rain. And as the dirge played in everyone's heads and the meaningful words were spoken, everyone cried. Except Ichigo. He didn't show that day. And for the week that followed, no one saw him at school, either. Rukia knew that he felt it was his fault. His fault that he couldn't protect her. But even that was not enough to make him cry. He had promised to protect her, to protect all of his special people, but he felt he had failed. He had failed the one thing he felt born on this planet to do. He was broken. And with this brokenness came a void that nothing could feel. An emptiness that could only be eased by the darkness.
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"Ichigo? Are you ready to come out yet?"
Silence...
"Okay, fine. We'll give you another day. But at least come down for dinner in a bit."
Silence was just half of what helped ease his emptiness. The other half was darkness. As he lay on his bed, dressed but with nowhere to go, the dreary darkness of his room eased his heavy heart. He had failed. He had let someone who he was supposed to protect... die...
The day of Orihime's funeral, Ichigo did not attend. The entire day he spent in the darkness and relative silence of his room. But even though he was not there, he could have sworn he heard a song playing in his head. An elegy. An elegy for a lost friend. But the elegy did nothing to ease his emptiness...
More pounding on his door. "Ichigo! At least take a shower! We don't want you to stink when you finally decide to come out!"
Sighing, the orange-haired Shinigami got up and headed into his bathroom.
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The river pounding down on him from his showerhead reminded him of the rain that fell that day... the rain was like a flowing river. And this water pounding him was like a river as well. But this river was warm, compared to the ice cold river from that day. Well, it was supposed to be warm. It felt warm to his skin, but it felt numbingly cold to his empty soul...
So many things had happened... Tilting his head upwards at the showerhead with his eyes closed, Ichigo couldn't help but think about all he had accomplished. Aizen and his army were gone. But that victory felt worthless after so many had been lost. Without Orihime, he could not have won the battle with Aizen. Had she not gotten involved, he surely would have lost. But in the process...
The orange-haired Shinigami turned around to reach for the bottle of shampoo, but felt something soft instead. It felt like human skin... Opening his eyes, Ichigo felt his blood run cold. Staring at him, face to face, dripping wet and completely naked, was...
"Inoue?!"
"Hi, Kurosaki-kun!"
The cheery greeting caught him off guard. But as his eyes roamed down her dripping wet, nude body, he caught sight of the Chain of Fate protruding out from between her ample bosom. The chain fell down to the floor of the shower, where it was neatly coiled, before trailing up and ending at his own body. It came to about his chest before it vanished, hanging in the air just short of touching his skin. The orange-haired Shinigami grabbed at the chain, looked back to the naked girl in his shower... then stumbled backwards so abruptly that he banged into the wall of his shower and tripped, falling to the ground at Orihime's bare feet.
"Kurosaki-kun! Are you okay? That didn't hurt, did it?" she asked, bending over to stare at him, resulting in a rather interesting hanging effect on her anatomy.
"Inoue?! What the hell are you doing here?" he stammered from his position on the floor, a deep blush across his face.
The girl looked pensive. "Um... I don't know!" she concluded.
"Just... Just... Get out of the shower and give me some privacy!"
"Oh! I forgot. Boys and girls aren't supposed to be in the bathroom together..."
"That's not it, just... get out!"
"Right!"
She stepped out through the shower curtain, the chain dragging behind her. The orange-haired Shinigami stood and rubbed his head, wondering just what in hell's name was happening.
But Kurosaki Ichigo and Inoue Orihime would find out that the Chain of Fate linking their two bodies not only bound them together, but also bound their destinies in an endless torrent of fated events. Much like the rain that day, and much like the falling water of the shower...
A river...
Is flowing...
End Prologue