Hey guys!
I'm still updating...here's chapter three for proof!
Sorry for the rather slow updates :/
This is a rather shorter chapter compared to the others so sorry for that too, but this is a two part chapter so I shall update with part two soon!
Read it, comment and most of all love it!
The pieces of white mask crumbled around Ichigos feet as he ripped it off his face. Panting he looked up, everyone was there, Shinji and the vizards, his friends, even Renji...but where was Rukia?
He walked forward towards the group of people, as he got closer he noticed that Orihime was crying, no, not just Orihime, Renji was actually struggling to stop himself from bursting into tears.
"What happened?" Ichigo mumbled nervously.
A thousand questions sped around his head, what happened? Where was Rukia? Why were Renji and Orihime crying?
"K-Kurosaki-kun..." Orihimes voice shook as she gulped to steady her breathing, "I'm s-so glad you're alright..." She burst into another fit of tears, collapsing onto the ground.
"Inoue! Are you alright? What happened here?!" Ichigo rushed to Orihimes side to help her stand up, she leant into him, crying into his chest.
"I asked what happened?" Ichigo demanded, getting more and more scared of the idea that flashed into his mind.
"You killed Rukia." Renji said without hesitation.
Ichigo fell to the ground, on his hands and knees. He was shaking uncontrollably, his breathing was heavy and his whole body seemed to be held down by some weight, leaving him frozen.
"W-what?" He choked.
Rukia, one of his best friends, the girl who saved his AND his families lives, was killed...
...By him?
"What?" He repeated again.
Someone kicked him to the ground, "Tch, that's what you get for not controlling your inner hollow!" Shinji shouted in rage, "You're pathetic, to have let your guard down for even a minute, not to mention we had to get Orihime to infiltrate your inner world just so you could be healed! And then I had to use my Bankai to kick his ass!" He continued.
Ichigo rolled over onto his back, Shinji's rant and everyone else's voices soon fading away into the background. Something wet started to drip onto him, and soon it was pouring with rain. Rain. He breathed deeply, how many other people were going to die, just because of him? And why, why must it always rain.
His Mothers face flashed into his mind, how happy she had looked before she died and then how emotionless she had looked as she lay in the rain, dead.
Now Rukia was joining her, dead, cold, emotionless in the rain, only invisible to the world. She would never come to school anymore, asking him how to open a juice box; she would never jump out of his wardrobe again, knocking him out of his body as a new order rolled in and she would never ever just be there again.
"Kurosaki-kun can you stand?" Orihimes worried voice filled Ichigos ears as he snapped back into the real world.
"Er, yeah." He lifted himself off of the ground so as he was facing everyone, apparently the vizards had already left and Renji had told the others he had work to get back to at the soul society.
Ichigo knew that wasn't true though, because he knew how much he had loved Rukia and this thought suddenly made him feel even more depressed, it was like everything that happened was slapping him the face over and over.
Uryu, Chad, Orihime and himself started walking aimlessly, not knowing where to go. They were all shocked of course and also they generally didn't have anywhere to go until they made it back to Karakura town.
The rain thickened around them, but all of them were too drenched already to care. A silence stretched over them, but it wasn't a comfortable one, it felt like one word would send shatter the delicate shields everyone had up to hide their grieving.
Orihime hated the silence, as much as she was sad that Rukia died, she couldn't handle these sort of situations, they made her feel vulnerable and alone, just like how she felt when she lived by herself the first time. On that night, it was pouring with rain and the thunder was echoing everywhere around the house, scaring the little Orihime, so she ran desperately through the house trying to find a source of comfort or her brother and then his death became prominent to her when there was only silence instead of his comforting voice answering.
"U-um, w-we should ch-cheer up! R-Rukia wouldn't like th-this…" Orihime tried to encourage the others to smile, or talk, or do something that would break this silence.
A thumb rubbed across her cheek, "It's okay to cry Inoue, even a person such as yourself has the right to cry." Ichigos soothing voice rang through her ears as she suddenly became aware of the little drops running down her cheeks.
"I should've been of more help…" She burst into tears, leaning into Ichigos shoulder to hide her face.
"You did help Inoue, everyone did, it's just…" Uryu trailed off, his glasses glinting in the direction of Ichigo.
"It's just that I let this happen."
