Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, the characters, or the song Far Away by Nickelback.


This time, This place,
Misused, Mistakes.
Too long, Too late,
Who was I to make you wait?


Far Away — Chapter Three

December 26th, 2002 — Soul Society, Rukongai — 8:20 AM

"You didn't get me anything for Christmas yesterday, you realize," Ichigo said, yawning and wrapping the blanket more tightly around his body. "So, I'm stealing the blanket as a... present of sorts."

Rukia shivered beside him, the second, thinner blanket wrapped around her own, small body. She shakily stuck her tongue out at him, then frowned as she snuggled further into her blanket. Ichigo, sighing, finally gave in and looped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him and flopping the thicker quilt around her shoulders, too. She grinned; he had a weakness for girls.

"But only because I'm a nice guy, and you know it."

"Nice, my foot."

"What was that? You'd rather sit under your own blanket while I keep the warm one?" he taunted, raising an eyebrow as he began to move his quilt from her shoulders.

"You're very nice, Ichigo," she grumbled quickly, moving closer to him to take the warmth that he offered.

He smirked. "I thought so."

Rukia rolled her eyes, then said, "I though you were going to meet Misa-Misa today. It's been hours since we woke up, and you haven't made a move to leave... yet."

"Stop calling her Misa-Misa! And I will. I'm just trying to mentally figure out what the hell to say about what you did yesterday," hr grumbled, stretching his toes at the painful memory of freezing feet and insane situations in which Rukia mentioned babysitters.

"Well, if you're trying to figure it out mentally... should I go tell her you'll be a week? I mean, after all, you're not very good at thinking. You don't want to try too much at once, or you could hurt yourself."

Three seconds later, Rukia was pouting on the floor where Ichigo had kicked her off of the bed and out from under his quilt. They stayed like that, pouting and thinking, for quite some time. Finally, Ichigo stood up and dropped his blanket in an ungraceful heap on Rukia's head.

"I'm going out now."

"Where?" Rukia asked, frowning and blinking, wrestling to get the blanket around herself and not on top of messy, raven hair.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, smirking. "To drown myself. Where do think?"

"Misa-Misa?"

"Are you going to keep calling her that? No matter what I say or do?"

"Yup."

Success! She'd finally gotten the blanket around her small, shivering body. She grinned up at Ichigo and then stuck her tongue out at him again. He raised an eyebrow and then turned to walk out of the little trap door that led to the cold, freezing world. He'd had his shoes and coat on for thirty minutes; now all he had to do was get to the market without freezing to death.

"I'll be here when you come sulking home from rejection, k?" Rukia shouted, grinning to herself.

"Ah, stuff it, Midget!"

She continued grinning and snuggled deeper into Ichigo's blanket. It smelled like him; the smell of pine trees, and a tiny hint of dirt. She breathed in deeply, then sighed. They needed water, and even if Ichigo had said she couldn't go alone, he wasn't going to be much help is he was ogling over Misa-Misa all day.

Pushing the blankets off her shoulders, she grabbed her coat and shrugged it on before staring at the new shoes that Ichigo had gotten her.

She left without them.

9:30 AM

Ichigo stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked into the shoe shop. He wasn't surprised in the least to see Misa sitting behind the counter, and as he walked up, she smiled and waved him over.

"Did the shoes not fit your daughter? Do you need to trade them in?" she asked, grinning brightly as Ichigo gaped.

Wow.

Rukia's feet were smaller than he though, if her shoe size got mistaken for that of a child.

"I don't have a daughter," he said quickly. "I'm sixteen. Those were for my girlfriend... my friend who is a girl! Um... she was playing around yesterday when she called me Ichi-chan, you know. We're not together or anything, and there was no babysitter involved. And I came out her today to ask if you'd liketogotothelakewithme!"

Misa blinked a few time, her green eyes wide as she mulled the mashed-together words over in her head, trying to make out what he'd said.

Finally...

...she gave up.

"What?"

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair, and moved his eyes to the counter.

"Would you like to go to the lake with me?" he said, his words fast again—but not nearly as fast as before.

"Oooh..." Misa seemed to think this over for a minute before nodding, smiling, and then asking, "But why the lake? What will we do there? I mean... it's like... totally frozen!"

Ichigo shrugged, then smirked. "I dunno. But there's not too many places to go, you know. This hell hole of a district is a mess, and—"

"Why don't you introduce me to your family?" she suggested, climbing out from behind the counter and closing the entrance to the back of the shop. Ichigo bit his lip.

"Umm... no, I can't..."

"Why not? Do you... think they won't like me?" Misa questioned, grabbing Ichigo's arm and hauling him out of the shop. He quickly began walking, trying to match her steps as Misa bounced around outside. She was only a little shorter than him, and was very strong; a very strange transition from tiny Rukia, who was usually the only one who hauled him anywhere.

"They're not here. I was the only one who died when I came to Soul Society. They're still in the human world."

"Ooh! All right. I see..."

"Here, let's just look around the market," Ichigo suggested. "We can always go somewhere else tomorrow, if you can think of something... and if you'd like."

Misa nodded, and was about to say something when a loud, pained scream pierced through the air. Ichigo gasped, stopping in his tracks, his face going pale as Misa turned to him curiously.

"Kurosaki-kun...?"

"Rukia! That was Rukia!"

Breaking free of Misa's grip, he began to run. His feet kept catching in the dirt, and he kept falling down. His jeans were covered in mud and his amber eyes were quickly—urgently—scanning the streets. He saw people panicking, women gasping, men screaming... but not Rukia.

"Damn brat! Steal from me, will ya? I'll teach you!"

Another scream filled the air, then...

...time seemed to stop when he saw her, on the ground, and covered in blood.

It took him less than a second to run in front of the knife, and when it was plunged down, Ichigo bit back a scream of his own, twisting his hand to pull the knife out of the old, dirty man's grasp. Blood dripped down his arm, staining his jacket as he gripped his right hand in his left; the knife had pierced straight through his palm and out the other side; the rusty, filthy blade dripped with his blood and with Rukia's.

"Rukia!"

Remembering his friend, he turned around quickly to see her on the ground, blood pooling beneath her stomach. She was whimpering quietly, but her eyes were closed. He dropped down beside her, pulling the knife out of his hand before picking her up into his arms.

"Damn you, kid! Leave the girl! I'm not done with her; she stole from me!"

"Leave her the hell alone!" Ichigo screamed, holding Rukia closer. "Get the hell away from me!"

Without waiting for a response, Ichigo ran off, through the crowds and through the freezing cold air. His feet kept stumbling, but he didn't let himself fall, because he knew that, if he did, he'd risk hurting Rukia.

"Kurosaki-kun! Kurosaki-kun!"

The voice of Misa brought him out of the cloud of shock that he was in. He stopped running and looked around until he saw her; she gasped when her green eyes landed on them, the blood staining her vision as she numbly walked up to them.

"H-help her," Ichigo gasped, his amber eyes wide as he winced in pain. "I can't do anything... I think she's dying... Please, help..."

Misa nodded quickly, and began running, motioning for Ichigo to follow her.

"My father's a doctor! Hurry; she's losing a lot of blood!"

And as he ran, Ichigo let loose a tiny prayer, hoping that whatever Gods existed were kind enough not to take the most important person in his life away... again...

2:23 PM

Misa silently wrapped Ichigo's hand up after washing it with water; she couldn't do anymore, because her father had very little medicines to help with gashes and cuts, and the little bit of disinfectant that he did have was being used on Rukia; Ichigo had insisted upon it.

"I..." she began, then cut herself off when she saw Ichigo's empty eyes; his amber gaze rested on Rukia, who was resting beside them. Her breathing was fast, and her face was pale and sweaty. Her raven hair, brushed back by the worried hand of Ichigo, was clinging to her face as she took each shaky breath in.

"Is she gonna be all right?" he asked quietly, still not looking up.

Before Misa could answer, her father said, "I'm not sure, son. I did all I could for her. But I haven't the medicines to treat her right. I'd have to go into the bordering districts, and that's a no-can-do for me at this point. She'll be fine if she doesn't develop an infection, and if the knife didn't scrape any vital organs."

"...oh. Thank you, Abe-kun."

"Misa, come here," her father ordered. She nodded and stood up quickly, walking into the other room with her father.

"What's wrong?" she questioned, her gaze darting back and forth between Ichigo and her father.

"She's going to die. I didn't want to say it in front of that boy, but... she needs better treatment. That knife was filthy, and left behind too many germs; she's already developing an infection, and it's only been four hours. I know a doctor in the sixty-ninth district that can help her, but it's a several day walk. She might not make it. I want you to tell Ichigo, and go with them. Offer whatever medical assistance you can, and help them make it there... alive."

"But Father, you should—"

He shook his head.

"No, I want you to go. I can't; I have many patients here who need me, but the shop can live without you for a month or so. I'll give you whatever I can spare; cloth bandages, water, food, blankets... but you have to go now. She doesn't have a lot of time left."

"All right."

Abe-kun nodded.

"You'll leave come dark. Get ready. Pack lightly; only what you can carry and run with at the same time."

Misa nodded and went back in the room to tell Ichigo. With each word, his eyes grew darker and darker, and when she mentioned that Rukia might not make it if they didn't get her to the doctor, he stood up so quickly that his chair fell over and clattered to the floor. His fists clenched so hard that blood began to seep through the bandages and pool in his palm.

"Damn it, Rukia! You can't do this to me! No!"

He slid down the wall and dropped his head in his hands.

"No... God, Rukia... please don't die...I can't go through this again..."

As Misa quietly left the room to pack up the things they would need on their journey, she could have sworn...

...that she heard him crying.


All right, here it is. All my reviews are going to say "Ichigo is OOC" but the reason he's so emotional has to do with the person he lost in the past. Keep reading, and you'll learn more. So don't flame too much about that! But that was some plot-twist, huh? I hope you're enjoying my story, though!

And does everyone hate Misa? I don't want people to hate her too much...

P.S. I made a Halloween Story a few days ago. It's in my profile, and its name is: Happy Holloween. Please Read!

Pleeeeeease Review! (I'll give hugs... actually, I need a hug. But I'll give you one, anyway 'cause I'm nice. XD)