Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters. Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for beta'ing!

Boulevard of Broken Dreams — II

The apartment was a nice one; on the outside, you couldn't see any of the rooms, only the windows. The large complex was painted an off-white color and the way the moon reflected off it made it seem like it was glowing.

"Can you walk from here?"

"What does it look like? From the moment you tripped over me, have I been able to walk? At all?"

He frowned at her.

"Fine," he said between clenched teeth. "But can you get up to your freaking apartment from here on out? You can crawl for all I care, just can. You. Do. It?"

"Those are stairs."

"I'm aware of this, you stupid, tiny midget ..."

He had ran out of words.

"Just help me!" she exploded, mustering her best glare and sending it in his general direction. He glared right back.

"Why?"

"Because I can't freakin' walk straight, there are exactly thirty-two stairs up to my apartment, and I will personally make sure you never bare children if you don't."

"Fine. God, what did I ever do to deserve this?" Ichigo said, rolling his eyes and picking Rukia up in his arms; the quickest way he could think of to haul her up to her apartment and drop her in a heap at her door. She protested until she, too, realized this was indeed the only way they were going to get up in one piece. When she was standing at her door, or, leaning on Ichigo for support at her door, she pulled out her key and opened it up.

She limped inside without Ichigo's help, wincing with every step she took.

Ichigo sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

He should have left right then. He really should have, but ...

"Do you have any ACE bandages around here?" he asked, sighing again as he walked in and shut the door behind him. "You need to wrap your ankle and ice it for at least several hours."

Rukia looked surprised and turned around to face him from her small, sky blue couch. She nodded, her violet eyes screaming in pain as she tried to pull her boot off.

"In the bathroom I have a first aid kit; there should be something in there."

Ichigo nodded and walked into the small room she pointed to. It was clean; way too clean for his liking. The bathtub was sparkling and the floors squeaked under his sneakers.

"Where do you go to school?" Ichigo asked from the bathroom, frowning as he shuffled through her cupboards, looking for the stupid first aid kit.

"Karakura High. I start tomorrow."

Ichigo groaned. That was his school. Shaking his head, he grabbed the first aid kit, after finding it in with the toilet paper, and walked back out into the living room where he slapped Rukia's hand away from her boot.

"Dope. Don't pull it straight off."

"Then, pray tell, how do I get it off? There's no way I'm cutting it off," she shot back, pulling her hands away and watching as Ichigo began gently wiggling it around. Finally, the boot became loose and he took it off without causing her too much pain. He smirked as he began pealing away her sock, then winced.

Her ankle was sprayed in an array of different colors. Purple bruises were covering the entire swelling area and he could see the aggravated skin pulsing red. The swelling was covering her leg from two inches above the ankle to her foot, and she was shaking violently from the pain.

"Ah ... do you have ice around here? And perhaps some pain killer?"

Rukia nodded, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.

"In the kitchen."

Ichigo stood to his feet and walked out of the living room. If he had walked away while he was at the door he would have felt like an ass. If he had left her alone to tend to her ankle, she would have made it ten times worse and doing that to someone he didn't even know, even if she was annoying and short, would have made him feel guilty.

Sighing, he opened her freezer and found a plastic bag to fill with ice. Once that was done, he began shuffling through her cupboards for a glass to fill with water and pain killer.

"OK, before I wrap it, I want to check and see if it's broken," Ichigo said, sitting down on the floor by her foot and handing her the pain killer and water before putting the ice on the ground beside him and reaching out to her ankle. She nodded and he gently placed his hands on her skin, probing with his fingers. Rukia screamed in pain.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Checking to see if it's broken, stupid. Hold still for a minute."

Rukia did, and several minutes later, Ichigo sighed and began wrapping the ACE bandages around her foot.

"Well, I don't think it's broken. You might have cracked a bone or twisted it really bad. Worst case, you'll be off your feet for a few weeks."

"And how do I know I can trust you as far as I could throw you?"

"Because, number one, you can't throw me. Two, my dad's a doctor, and three," Ichigo paused and smirked up at her. "Try walking on it, dope."

She settled for glaring at him.

After he finished wrapping her foot, showed her how to elevate it to help with the swelling, and suggested that she sleep on the couch that night so if her ice bag burst, she wouldn't wake up with a soaked bed, Ichigo left.

Well, his night was shot.

And his dad was going to blubber for hours about being out with a girl until eight O'clock.

Ishida stood to his feet to begin walking out of the room, but a soft voice stopped him.

"Wait, Uryuu-kun."

He turned around and pushed his glasses up further onto his nose, walking back over to the chair he had been sitting silently in for the past hour. He stuffed his hands into his pocket and said,

"Yes, Inoue-san?" he said, looking down at her.

Her movements were delayed and the sleepy look in her eyes betrayed her as she tried to hide a yawn. She smiled softly but didn't speak for a minute. When she did, her voice was even lower than usual and scratchy, as if her throat were dry.

"Uryuu-kun ... how did it go?"

Ishida reached over for the glass of water on her bedside table and helped her sit up before handing her the glass. She sipped slowly as Ishida spoke.

"We got into the finals, but honestly, we really need a singer."

"Sorry."

A sad look appeared on Orihime's face and Ishida sighed. He said,

"I didn't mean it like that, Inoue-san. It's not your fault; there was nothing you could have done to prevent the crash. It's just ... Kurosaki just can't sing as well as you can."

Orihime smiled a little and Ishida did, too; he had made her smile again. Her eyes held a small bit of the shine they had once held, but he knew it would take a while for her to be herself again. It would take months, even years, for that enthusiastic glow to return to her soft face.

"Uryuu-kun ... why did this happen to me?"

Ishida's smile dropped as he sat down beside her again.

"I don't know, Inoue-san. I don't know."

"All I ever wanted ... All I wanted was to sing. Because my brother loved it. I just wanted to sing for him, so maybe, my voice could reach him again."

There were tears in her eyes. It was the first time he had seen her cry over her brother. He had died years before, leaving her alone in the world. But she had told the band, when she joined, that she only sang because her brother used to love it and asked her to. He had always wanted her to sing and let everyone hear her. But she had been afraid to.

And he had died, without being there to see her fulfill his dream for her, and in the end, her dream for herself.

"I'm sorry, Inoue-san," Ishida said, looking down at the floor, trying not to meet her sad eyes.

"Ah, don't worry about it!"

All traces of sadness were gone from her face as she forced a smile onto her face. But he could see right through her mask. When he left ... she would cry. She always did.

"Hey, Uryuu-kun ... could I be alone for a while?" she asked. Ishida nodded and stood up, walking to the door again. He paused, looking back.

"If you ever need someone, I'm here," he said, giving a brief smile before walking out. Inoue nodded, and as soon as he closed the door, he knew that her smile had fallen and she was close to tears. His hand was still lingering on the knob when he heard her soft sobs coming through the door.

She hated crying around people.

He slid down the door and sat on the floor, trying to fight back emotions.

Why? Why had this happened to her, of all people? Why her? Why when she was so close to everything she had ever wanted?

Why?

The next morning, Ichigo dressed, grabbed his books, ran down the stairs, grabbed a piece of toast and picked up the ringing phone all in about five seconds flat.

"Hello?" he said around his toast, tapping his foot on the floor impatiently. It was Renji on the other end.

"Practice today, pass it on to Ishida. And where were you last night, man? I tried to call you, but you weren't home."

"I was helping an ungrateful midget home that twisted her ankle."

Renji laughed on the other end and Ichigo smirked. They talked for about two more minutes and Ichigo hung up to call Ishida; he had just woken up and was yawning while they talked. Then Yuzu came in, forced Ichigo to eat something more than toast, and rushed him to school like a mother would. Only she was shorter and was four years younger than Ichigo.

Said older sibling sighed as he walked along the street. He still had about half an hour before he had to be at school.

Against his better judgment and with both his feet and mind telling him not to, he began walking slowly to Rukia's apartment. She said that she was going to the same school ... so ... damn. Blame it on his upbringing, but, as he tried to keep turning away, he told himself that he needed to make sure she didn't need help walking to school.

She did.

Of course she did. She denied it ... but as he was walking into her apartment complex, he saw her struggling on a pair of hand crutches. When he said, "Where the hell did you get those on such short notice?" she looked up, surprise on her face, and tumbled down the last few stairs, muttering very colorful words at Ichigo.

"For your information, my sister used then once when she broke her heel ... on another, more important note, what are you doing here? The impression you gave me last night was that you hated me."

"Right," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes. "And you just love me."

Rukia glared at him.

"Whatever. I came to see if you needed help getting to school," he grumbled, sticking his hand out to help her to her feet.

"I'm fine; I'm very capable of walking myself."

"Funny," Ichigo said, scratching his head. "Last I saw, you couldn't walk."

She kicked him.

I liked the end, personally. I think I, basically, kept Rukia and Ichigo IC. They yell, kick, and scream. Yup. IC. But no, seriously, I think Ichigo being raised in a clinic would actually try and help someone even if they got on his nerves in too many ways to count. (Cough) Rukia (Cough)

Anyway ...

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