002. :to do your duty:
Word Count: 1,097
Universe: Hueco Mundo Arc
Warnings: blood, implied character death

.:Fading Embers:.
:.4/30/2011.:

-.-..-.

Somehow he always knew this is how it would turn out, this would be its outcome. Running through the dark halls of Hueco Mundo, searching for Inoue Orihime. He began to determine in his mind that this is how it would be. No matter how he tried to ignore it, he knew that they wouldn't all be coming home.

It was the fight with the Arrancar, the former Espada Dordoni, that first brought this thought to his mind. With a slight tinge he came up with the thought, but he ignored it, focusing on his friends reiatsu. Ishida and Chad; they were fighting somewhere. He could feel it, even if it was distanced. He ran forward, going through the halls and leaving the Arrancar behind him.

After running through the halls for what seemed like hours, the thought came back to him, edging on the front of his mind, but he chose not to recognize it. Suddenly the halls seemed like endless corridors, sucking him into a mindless void. He continued to run, with Nel under his arm. She hadn't said a word since they left the Arrancar, maybe she was worried about her friends, having been separated when she ran after him. For a while, the thought vanished.

He kept running when he felt Ishida's fight end. He had to put faith in him that he wasn't laying in a corner of his own blood, he knew that bastard wouldn't die that easily. He put the end to the fight as a sign of relief, that they'd be alright.

He almost turned back when Chad fell. His best friend's reiatsu was gone, or quickly vanishing, he couldn't tell with the distance between them. He swallowed hard and kept running, faster than before, refusing to believe that Chad was gone.

He put his faith in believing now, running blindly into the darkness. The thought was growing more and more, a parasite on his brain. Invading his thoughts and he refused the notion that they would die here. They made a promise before splitting up, that they'd all return to each other alive. He had to put faith in that promise.

He turned when he felt Rukia fall. The speck on his radar that had been fine till now had vanished into a dark air. A chill ran threw him and he started off back the way he came, back to the spot he felt her before. He placed Nel before the entrance, tell her to stay put and tell him if anyone came.

"Rukia!" her name echoed through the tall room covered in ice. He entered the room with caution, the thin, melting ice cracking beneath his feet as he passed by two skulls which he had guess to be her opponents. Cracked skulls held looks of anguish and anger on them, each baring the number nine. He looked ahead of them and finally saw her; covered in ice and with a broken sword extended outward. He felt something tense up inside him. Her eyes were open, but they didn't seem to register anything. They were dull. Deathly looking. He felt like a rock had been dropped into his stomach.

He shouldn't have come here.

"Oi! Rukia!"

He ran the rest of the way to her, skidding next to the floor, the hard ground was cold and water soaked into his robes. He tried to move her but found she was stuck to the floor. He found a bloodied piece of metal and used it to chip away at the ice around her. Fresh blood dripped down the blade.

"Rukia! Hang in there!" he shouts, hastily clearing the ice. "I'll get you out of here..."

Suddenly, he hears a slight groan as her eyes began to blink and twitch. She breaths a raspy breath, as if air had been barren from her. She looks up at him, eyes shaking as she did.

"Ichigo? What are you doing here?" she says, her voice a whisper. She tenses slightly, her hand going to her front and it was a few moments before she opens her eyes and speaks, her voice a bit stronger, "You should be saving Inoue..."

"I'm not gonna let you die here." he says, chipping away the last bit of ice and lifting her slightly from the ground. Placing her into his lap. "I didn't go through all that trouble of saving you so you could die here!"

"You shouldn't have come..." she breaths out. His hand twitches and he closes it into a fist. Blood drips from the cut across it.

"What are you talking about? I would have come, no matter what..." his voice is low, and he leans over, slouching above her. Her eyes sadden and she takes hold of his closed hand, gently grasping his fingers in hers.

"Ichigo." he lifts his head slightly at her call. She closes her eyes before opening them, resolved in her next statement.

"You should leave. Now." She finally lets out, and she can feel the tips of his fingers tense and twitch. But not close. He opens his eyes, looking down at her face.

"What?" he asks, his eyes are wide and questioning.

"You should leave me here. Go save Inoue." she says, looking him straight in the eye. He wonders how she can resign herself like this, to give herself away so quickly. Her voice brings him back to the present.

"You should go get your friends out of here. Safely."

"They're your friends too!" he says, clenching down on his teeth as soon as he said this.

"I'll save Inoue...and get everyone out of here..." she looks away from him.

"That includes you too!" he says, his voice is firm. For a second she believes him and looks up at him, but it soon fades away.

"Ichigo...look at me." she says, tenderly holding her stomach, her robes wet with her blood. She's dying. She knows that.

"I'd just slow you down. Waste precious time that you still need."

"Then we'll get Inoue to heal you!" he says, his voice a little louder now. And he begins to shake softly.

"Come on... we'll save Inoue, then we'll get everyone else and get out of here, right?" His voice drops so low, only she can hear it even though she's the only one in here with him.

"We promised...to come back no matter what..." His finger tighten slightly around hers, and she takes them back from him.

"This isn't a promise we can all keep." she says, her voice sad for him. Their eyes connect, and his hand closes into a fist once again. The cut around it stings, but it's stopped bleeding.

"Go, Ichigo."

-.-..-.

.:Fin:.

Wheeu~! I've been wanting to write a scene like this forever! I'm so glad I finally did it. The original title of this one-shot was going to be "Knowing The Outcome" but while writing this I was listening to a song by Nox Arcana named "Fading Embers". I liked the song and it helped me think through the last scene with Ichigo and Rukia. So I decided to place that in place of the previous title, which I didn't care for so much.

On a side note: I realize that I switch point of view a lot in this. I started out with third person past tense, but it converted into present tense midway through the writing. Ugh... -.- I don't really know how that happened, it just came out that way. Sorry if it bugged you! Please tell me if it did, and I'll try to format it so it fits better but I do like the way it flows at the moment, but that might just be me...

~Toushi