Title: Do You Still Believe?
Summary: AU His miraculous recovery only deepened the doctor's curiosity further. As she delves deeper into his mysterious past and learns more about him through therapy will she come out headfirst or go tumbling head over heels for him? IchiRuki
Shalan's Say: I am ACTUALLY working on an IchiRuki! You guys should be celebrating! I'm working on the old ones now I promise! Let me know what you think of this one!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach… I do own Kazumi Hasegawa.
Chapter: The Last Moment
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Monday, July 15, 1996
He stumbled down the stairs, blinking blindly as he heard talking in the living room. His sisters and his parents looked up at him as he stared at them dumbly before waddling off towards the kitchen to scrounge something to eat.
"Ichi-nii is still asleep…" Yuzu whispered.
"Of course he is, they had a big game last night and lord only knows what he was doing with his girlfriend until the wee hours of the morning." Karin snickered.
"Hush you two." Their mother chided. "Ichigo!" She called and the carrot top poked his head into the room curiously, a piece of toast hanging from his mouth. "Come in here we have something for you!" She smiled and beckoned him in he eyed them and cautiously scuttled into the room, he had never seen his family quite so somber before.
There was a pause as the four exchanged glances. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They screamed and he screamed and jolted back into the kitchen.
"HE SCREAMED LIKE A GIRL!" Karin laughed, chasing after him and jumping on his back.
"ICHIGO! You're a girl!" Yuzu followed jovially.
"Well if four—you all had to scare the pee out of me…" he clapped a hand to his chest, panting. "I think I swallowed my toast whole!" He wrapped an arm around each of his sisters, whirling them around. "You two ought to be thrown!" He grinned as they screamed with laughter, clinging to his neck and shoulders with slipping grips.
"Ichigo! Please don't hurl your sisters over the garden wall." Isshin wrapped his arm around their mother's waist. She beamed and kissed her husband's cheek. "Ichigo there's one other thing." She held up a set of keys. "Your father and I… well we thought that since your games have been going so well that you should have a reward… happy birthday." His eyes widened.
"Mom… Dad… you didn't!" He gaped.
"We picked out the color!" Yuzu and Karin chimed in happily.
He was floored, staring around at his family, before snatching the keys from his mother. "Thank you Mom, thank you Dad." He kissed his mother, ruffled his sisters' hair and snatched a piece of toast from the plate, sticking it in his mouth as he pulled on one of the clean shirts that was piled on the bottom of the stairs. "I'll see you guys later! I love you!" He slammed the door.
"And he's gone." Karin chuckled. "You guys should have never bought him that car…" She shook her head.
"Oh wel—Ichigo?" Masaki blinked.
"Mom, Dad how about we take it out for a whirl?" He grinned and grabbed his sisters around the waist and carried them, screaming and laughing, out to the car.
"Alright… we can do that…" Masaki smiled.
They were talking as they pulled onto the highway, Ichigo chattering away about the car as Karin and Yuzu argued in the backseat about some boy at school. Masaki sat in the passenger seat next to her son, smiling over at him, her eyes soft. Isshin sat begrudgingly beside his daughters as Karin cackled something about the boy again and Yuzu pouted.
"I still can't believe you two could afford a Mustang like this!" He stepped on the gas and joined the traffic carefully, he didn't want a single scratch on his new baby.
"Well it was hard but we have been saving up for a long time for it." Isshin said over the ruckus of his daughters, poking Ichigo in the back of his head. "Your legs are too long sport I don't fit back here behind you!"
"You should have sat behind Mom then!" Ichigo laughed back. "Hey!" He shouted at a semi-truck that nearly pulled over into the lane where they were. "What're you trying to do? Run me off the--" He never finished his sentence as the truck jerked over into their lane, slamming the passenger side of the car into the guardrail and crushing the rear driver side. His head smashed into the steering wheel and he had the faintest feeling of flying and tumbling, blood splattered on the splintered windshield, before his eyes shuttered closed.
He heard sirens, men talking in low voices, the screeching of metal, someone was screaming… screaming and screaming and screaming… wait… that was him… he could hear himself… it had to be him… he swam back out of consciousness and his world went black.
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He had the faint sensation that someone was touching his hand, it was a rather soft and warm hand, small and delicate wrapped in broad and long. He could just barely make out the sound of soft speech.
"…not your decision!" A woman's voice raised slightly and the little hand in his squeezed lightly.
"Dr. Kuchiki you can't possibly think that you can keep him on life support any longer! He's a vegetable!" A man's voice sounded annoyed.
"It's … his family wouldn't … you just want … to save money!" His consciousness swam as she spoke so he had the feeling he was missing bits and pieces but he desperately wanted to see who was talking and know what they were talking about. He forced his eyes open, but they only parted a sliver, it was enough to see the back of a white lab coat and a hand breached by a long sleeved shirt that he had the feeling was just to keep warm beneath a pair of scrubs.
"Of course I want to save money!" The man's voice snapped. "Ru-Rukia check his vitals!" The lab coat turned and he could see the light pink scrubs that went with the pink sleeve he had seen before. His heart pounded in his chest, did this mean—was he really?
"I-Ichigo? Ichigo Kurosaki can you hear me?" She leaned forward as his heart monitor rang in her ears. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to talk. "Oh dear god." She pressed a hand to her heart as his fingers clamped around her hand. "Hello, hi there…" she said softly, stroking his hair back from his face. "Get the intubation out! Hurry!" She snapped and an intern appeared at her elbow to do as she asked. He was elated to get the silly thing out of his mouth and closed his jaw almost immediately as it was removed, producing a light clicking sound.
"Oo ahw oou?" He struggled to speak, his tongue feeling far too big for his mouth.
"My name is Dr. Rukia Kuchiki… I'm your doctor and therapist." She smiled warmly as he kept a grip on her hand. "It's alright… we're going to get you back to normal, you're in a debilitated state-" she broke off at the confusion in his eyes. "You aren't able to do what you used to do." She calmed him, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb. "Now just listen to me… it's going to be quite some time before you are able to move under your own will again… much less speak. Do you trust me?" She squeezed his hand. He examined her a moment, someone with such soft and gentle hands couldn't be all that bad. "Blink once if you trust me." She said softly. He blinked. "Good… then let's get you on the way to recovery." She smiled kindly, smoothing his hair back from his face.
She's awfully nice. He smiled inwardly. I wonder how long I've been here, probably a few days. He looked around. The machinery in this hospital is really cool… I wonder if I'm not really awake I'm just dreaming… because hospitals don't look like this normally, maybe I'm in a TV show or something. He looked up at the ceiling. I wonder when Mom and Dad are going to come and get me… His eyes widened slightly. Why am I even in the hospital? What's going on? What does she mean debilitated? Why can't I—Why can't I remember? He squeezed his eyes shut.
Why is the only thing I remember… someone screaming?