I was frustrated and started writing, and surprisingly this came out. I don't know whether to skip because I wrote something passably poetic or criticize it mercilessly as the melodramatic mess it probably is. (Woah...did you notice that? Two Alliterations in a row!) I had fun writing it though- the choppy, spread out style isn't one that I normally use- and I hope you, the reader, enjoy it as well. Reviews are always, always appreciated! Oh, and the beginning's probably out of chronological order/ never existed. Just thought I'd warn you now.

Ichigo and Rukia's first meeting. Told from Rukia's perspective.

You said hello.

Not to me, but to another girl.

I didn't exist.

But I was still there.

You walked, and I followed.

I didn't know what I was following at first.

I was looking for something that, in an instinct that I cannot describe or name, I knew I had to face.

I thought it was a Hollow, but it was more than that.

And I found it.

And it changed my world.

But not in the way I expected.

I met you again.

It was in your bedroom.

But I didn't care.

I was the butterfly and you an ant.

I didn't even look at your face.

But you looked at mine.

And somehow, you knew.

You, of a different material, different mind, different age, different world than I, looked at me with my eyes.

And you reached out.

You hit me and called me a burgler.

And it was like a bridge had been formed between my world and yours, and in spite of myself, I kept that connection.

I told you everything.

~~..~~..

I am a Shinigami.

Shini…gami?

Yes.

~~..~~..

All you did was insult my drawings.

I smacked you, you yelled at me, and it felt irritating, strange, but good.

When did I lose that blissful quality of humanity?

Why did it go in the first place?

It wasn't until later that I realized it.

But, as ironic as it is, after meeting you, I did more soul-searching than I had done in a long time.

And I found something.

Then, you asked about the Hollow.

I didn't think you'd understand or believe, much less put up a semi-intelligent question.

Something was blocking me.

I couldn't sense it.

I was so blind.

We heard a scream, and the shockpainrage in your eyes told me that you had figured it out before I had.

"Karin!" "Yuzu!" You yelled.

"It's got Yuzu!"

And you rushed down the stairs as if your puny human body could make a difference against a monster.

So I stopped you.

"Hado Number One: Sai!"

And as I passed you , your veins were popping out of your head, your fists were clenched, and your eyes were glaring at me with that white-hot fear, and you were so human.

"I have to save my sister!" you yelled, a hint of hysteria in your voice.

Then you saw your sister on the floor, the tears mixed with blood on her face, and she begged you to be safe, run away.

You wiped away her blood so gently.

"Karin!" "Yuzu!" "Dad!" Like the cries of a wounded animal, cornered by the hunters.

You turned on me, every inch a desperate boy.

"You bastard, let me go!"

You should've seen yourself.

You were thoughtless and crazy, driven mad by the screams and pain of your sister and I pitied you.

I told myself I understood, but I didn't.

"You'll kill yourself."

"I don't care, I have to save them!"

You lunged for me in all your clumsy gait and I leapt through your arms like a ghost.

I was not bound by the limitations of mortal life.

You fell, crashing, to the floor.

"Baka. You can't save anyone! If you get in the way, you will die, along with your entire family! Stay here and be quiet- Let me take care of this."

You didn't listen.

Your kind never did.

You struggled so furiously against my magic that held you captive.

"Stop! Stop! You cannot break a demon incantation with human power! You'll kill yourself trying!"

"Ichi…" came the weak sound.

"G…Get…Away.."

"You baka, didn't you listen? If you force it your soul will-"

!

You ran out the collapsed wall.

Time slowed as my magic rained above, like falling petals in water.

How?

Why?

But most burning: Who?

Who are you?

What were you?

I don't think I'll ever find out.

I'm not even sure I want to.

You ran, and I followed.

I saw you, you know standing against the Hollow, your sister so tiny and helpless in its hands.

It was night, and there were no lights.

You were so small too.

Just one boy.

You had no plan.

Your only weapon was a cheap wooden stick.

You were rash and stupid.

You were an idiot.

You were going to get killed.

But you stood, nevertheless.

Like somebody else had, once upon a time ago.

I could save you.

I would save you.

The hollow reached to grab you.

I stopped it.

Why you, when it had a perfectly intact soul in its clutches?

I felt it.

I felt you.

It all made sense.

How had I not felt it before?

I had told myself, you were just a boy.

Boy you were though, your spiritual pressure was massive, unheard of in any human being ever.

It was shinigami level reiastu.

But you weren't one.

Still, you looked at me with shock, admiration, fear—I could not tell.

"Yuzu, will she be okay? Yuzu! Yuzu!"

Funny that I realized it now, but I never heard you talk about yourself in all this time.

It was always about them.

Or what you could do for them.

But you were selfish, selfish in a way that I could not be.

Shinigami do not place a preference on any souls.

It was our duty, to save all.

"Do not lose focus boy."

You looked up, startled.

Thankfully, "None of your family has had their souls eaten. Not even your father."

"…None?"

Recognition started to dawn.

"But…Why? Don't Hollows attack humans to eat their souls?"

I knew why.

I knew what it would do to you, although not the severity of your reaction.

I told you anyways.

You deserved to know the truth.

"Hollows wander for souls, searching for souls with high concentration for spirit energy."

"For that reason, humans are sometimes arbitrarily attacked in the process."

"… What do you mean?"

Did you not understand?

"I have never seen or heard of a human who can see shinigamis and defeat demon magic on their own or a human who has such high spiritual concentration."

"…No…"

I looked in your eyes.

You stared on ahead.

Were you finally scared?

"Most probably, its target is you."

The Hollow screamed, and its sound echoed to those who could not hear.

It sounded like laughter.

It was laughing at you.

No, not you, but us.

You slumped, defeat in the curve of your spine.

Strange, how that simple theory could do this to you when the sight of your family bloodied, the hit of a hollow, and my demon magic could not.

"So does that mean…it's all my fault."

You shook.

"The reason my dad is over there almost dead…the reason why Karin and Yuzu are covered with blood…"

"It's all my…"

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

It was my fault.

How could you even think it was yours?

You couldn't change who you were anymore than I could.

Didn't anyone tell you that you didn't have to hold the world on your shoulders?

That was my job.

"Wait!"

"I did not mean…"

The next thing I knew, I was slammed into a wall.

"Shinigami!"

What a rookie mistake, turning my back on my enemy.

Turning around to comfort you.

Such Incompetence…

"Shinigami, are you okay?"

You were worried for me.

Was it for me myself or just for the protection I offered?

Judging on your bullheadness…

Whatever, it didn't matter much anyways.

I think something changed in you though.

Or maybe what had always been inside you finally decided to come out.

Either way, you stood up straight.

And smiled.

"Hey..you…you want my soul right?"

It was so silent, I could hear blood dripping, both yours and mine.

"THEN FIGHT ME FACE TO FACE!"

No!

"NO ONE ELSE HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT! TRY KILLING ME AND TAKING MY SOUL!

You cocked a thumb at yourself, an invitation to the Hollow.

As if it needed one, you Fool!

Run you idiot!

You didn't move and the Hollow opened its maw and struck—

NO!

Me.

"Shinigami!"

"Ha…Ha…"

It hurt to talk.

I could see my blood around me, pools of crimson red against the cold sidewalk.

It was cold, so cold.

The stars were so bright.

And you, I could see you.

"You…idiot…"

"I already told you that your power was no match for it…or did you think everything would be over if you just gave it your soul to eat?"

"Either way, you are an idiot..!"

"…I'm sorry…"

"I just…-"

You couldn't express yourself in words.

But your feelings were deeper than that.

"Do not worry about. Or at least that is what I would like to say."

The hollow's screams seemed so far away.

"Unfortunately, I am unable to fight the Hollow."

"Now all of us can only wait…"

"As we become its food."

You must never die alone.

Whenever you think, whenever you remember someone, whenever a connection exists between two people, a little bit of heart is formed.

When the time comes, where will your heart go?

With your family, friends, loved ones.

So your heart lives on…

Lives on…

I tried to remember the faces I longed for the most, but I could only live in this moment.

I saw your face again.

I guess it would not be so bad to die here.

But for you and your family…

It would be unacceptable.

I wanted to see your face again, before we died.

It's my fault…

You were hurting yourself for our deaths.

Everyone'll…

Die…

In the end, you never stopped caring, never stopped carrying the world on your shoulders.

You never gave up.

Your connections were too strong for you or your family to leave anything behind.

I understood.

Sometimes, the strongest thing of all is the thing that seems the weakest, the most tenuous.

Love, or more precisely spirit, is a strange thing to understand.

But maybe that's it.

Maybe you can't really understand it, you can only experience it and live it.

He told me that we should never die alone without leaving our hearts behind.

But no one is going to die today.

Whatever the price.

"Do you want to save your family?"

"!"

"Is there a way? A way to help them! Tell me!"

"There's a way…the only way."

"What?"

My fingers clench the hilt.

It weighs like concrete.

I lift her up.

"You…Become a Shinigami!"

"Wha?"

"Wha- What are you saying?...How can I…"

"You can."

I hold up my zanpaktou, my sword, my soul.

"Pierce the middle of your chest with this zanpaktou, and half of my shinigami powers will be transferred to you."

"Is this even possible?"

"I do not know."

"I based it solely off your high spiritual power."

"I must warn you though, the success rate is not high and…"

"If you fail, you die."

'Wha—"

"However, there is no other way."

"There is no time to deliberate."

There. Finality.

I gave you the choice.

Now all you had to do was take it.

But you hesitated.

Sweat poured from your temple.

I did not blame you.

It was not an easy choice to make.

To take that plunge into a different world, of uncertainty.

"Ichigo…"

You looked away.

Your sister called to you weakly.

She told you to run away.

I will never understand the human soul.

"Damnit…why are they all worrying about me when they're about to die?"

"Makes me, who's scared for myself…"

"look stupid…"

You cast off the weakness and weariness and hesitation of fear.

It didn't suit you in the first place.

There was a gleam in your eyes as you looked at me.

"Give me your sword, shinigami."

"Let's give your idea a try."

I think I was smiling back too.

~~..~~..

And in that moment there was no one else in the world.

And we were not shinigami or human,

But

Two

Connected

Souls.

We just were.

~~..~~..

"It is not "shinigami"

"It is Kuchiki Rukia."

You smirked.

"I see…I'm Kurosaki Ichigo"

"Let's pray that this isn't the last meeting for the both of us."

The Hollow was running towards us, but each second felt like an eternity.

"The Hollow's coming..."

"If we don't hurry…"

I held the hilt,

You held the sword.

Pointed to your heart.

No turning back.

~~..~~..

"…Let's do this"

"Yes…"

~~..~~..

I held the hilt,

You held the sword.

We moved as one.

And I pierced your heart and ripped out your back.

A white flash.

And everything changed.

Because we are amorphous

We hold that in reverence

The Death and Strawberry