His hand reached up and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes widened as she realized he was awake. They then softened and she looked down at him with a smile.

"Good morning." she said brushing his feverish cheek. His temperature was lower than the day before. He groaned and turned his head, looking away from her.

"When I'm better…I have to show you something, okay." he mumbled shyly.

She blinked twice and tilted her head a little to the left. "What is it, Ichigo?"

He briefly looked up at her in embarrassment before turning his head and mumbling something under his breath.

"What was that?"

He turned back to face her with a feverish face…or was that a blush? He clenched his lips together for a moment before speaking.

"Nothing much really…I just want to show my thanks, that's all…"

To his embarrassment, she just stared at him for a moment. Finally, her mouth curved into a smile and she stroked his cheek.

"Okay."

-O-

"Ichigo! Where are we going?"

He looked over his shoulder and at the girl whose hand he was holding. To her annoyance, he offered her only a mysterious grin.

"You'll see." he answered in a tone that seduced her mind to ask even more question. Her lips quivered with her want to pry further.

A huffed left her as she allowed herself to get pulled up after him. She slid down the brown rock a few times before being successfully hauled up by Ichigo. For a moment, she just stood on the top of that rock, squinting up at the rest of their climb. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she turned to look at the world around them.

Below her lay the city, a lone palace standing above the other buildings. Trees got more common towards the edge of the city until it was just lush greenery. Her view of the world below her was obstructed by the brown rocks that lay a long way below and above her. Some of the rocks were soft and ready to crumble while others were just as firm as their jagged shapes suggested. Looking up, she couldn't see their destination, just the clear, blue sky above the light brown rocks.

"Hey shorty, hurry up!"

She turned towards her amber eyed climbing partner and placed her hands firmly on her hips.

"I. AM. NOT. SHORT." she said in a low deadly voice. He turned away from her with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever helps you sleep at night." Ichigo said under his breath.

He immediately received a swift kick to the butt and she stomped ahead.

After regaining his composure, he quickly climbed up next to her.

"Damn evil midget."

"What was that?"

"I was saying that you're a damn evil girl who always overkills!"

"Overkill? I do not!"

"Yes you do!"

"Then you look for the overkill!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Ichigo let out a frustrated sigh and climbed ahead of her.

"Okay, okay! You don't! Sheesh! Just shut up!"

She looked at him like if he told her to slap his ass.

"Shut up? I am not shutting up and you don't tell me what to do! For that I'll never shut up…"

Her voice trailed off as she felt her breath stick in her throat. Her heartbeat slowed drastically and her eyes widened considerably. Ichigo looked back at her with a smirk.

Were those smirks always that sexy? She doesn't believe she noticed them this much before. His eyes strangely seemed to seduce every part of her body without him even trying. Those lips of his caught most of her attention around his white teeth with such emphasized canines.

"Yeah midget that shut you up, didn't it?" he asked triumphantly. Hell, his voice sounded too good. It was just a pure turn on!

"It's…it's…it's amazing." Rukia managed to say breathlessly.

With that smirk still playing on his lips, he turned to watch 'it'.

"I know…I love it here too."

Before them lay ruins of what seemed to be a temple. The light brown ground was broken and uneven with strange patterns on them. To the back of the area was a cave nearly concealed by exotic flowers. A little before the cave was a small, shallow pool filled with the cleanest, stillest, bluest, clearest water imaginable. An altar with strange carvings stood proudly on a rock in the centre if the pool.

This place didn't seem real; her being her and seeing it felt like a dream. It seemed like at any moment Indians would come rushing from the bushes and begin some sort of ceremony.

"Come, follow me." Ichigo said softly as he took her by the wrist. She didn't even think about resisting but kept her eyes locked on the scenery. He led her around the pool and into the cave.

The cave gave of a slightly sweet scent. The rock in there had a dull green glow to it. Above them were crystals that caused this effect. The cave was rather wide but pretty shallow. Right to the back of the cave was a shrine. It was a dull reddish-brown colour and gave off a glow of its own.

"What is this place?" Rukia asked when she finally gained back her voice.

"Truth be told, nobody really knows." Ichigo admitted. "It was just here since anyone could really remember. "

She slowly brushed her fingertips against the wall closest to her.

"This place seems so…magical." she gasped.

"It probably is too." he smirked.

She gently pulled away from his grasp and slowly absorbed the area. Her fingers browsed every corner and her eyes slowly memorized every edge. As she arrived at the shrine, her hand reached hesitantly at it, wondering if it was alright to touch it. She looked back at her companion and he nodded encouragingly. Still filled with doubt, she looked back at the structure made of rock. Her fingers inched closer to it until they unintentionally stopped right before the rock.

Her breath hitched as she felt something pulse through her body. She felt blood pushing at her fingertips, trying to find a way to escape her. Her head went light and a bit of saliva ran down the corner of her mouth. Images of steaming caves and wavy air flashed through her head. Dripping lava and desperate voices sounded through her ears and bounced on the walls of her mind. Pleading green eyes stared into begging pale violet ones and…

"Hey Rukia, are you okay?" Ichigo called worriedly, snapping her back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she lied as she snapped her hand back to her side. It then moved upwards to wipe the drool from the corner of her lips. He didn't look convinced.

"Are you s-"

"Hey Ichigo, dance with me."

His head jerked in confusion.

"Huh?"

"You deaf now?" she turned to face him with a grin plastered on her face. "Dance with me." The grin she was wearing seemed contagious and caused his heart to involuntarily jump in his chest. Her reddened cheeks contrasted against her pale face and her long, dark eyelashes stuck together. Pale lips were parted and her hand was extended towards him.

"Are you dumb or something? Answer me, idiot!"

Her voice brought him back from his trance.

"I don't dance." he said firmly as he crossed his arms over his chest. The only fault in the firm stance was the fact that the tips of his ears were a deep red. She didn't miss that.

"Just say you don't know how to dance."

The blush crawled down to his cheeks proving that she hit the mark. His blush became bolder as she grabbed his left hand and placed it on her waist.

"Rukia, I-" he stuttered nervously,

"Shut up. Stuttering doesn't suit you." she sighed as she placed her hand on his shoulder and grabbed his right hand. She looked up at his face and giggled. He opened his mouth to retort but his mouth instantly clammed shut as she began to move.

To him, Rukia calling the ruins amazing was a mistake. To her, they were just little insignificant stones. She looked amazing and not those crappy pieces of rock.

Her hair flowed with her every step and her lips parted into an absent smile. Her enhancing blue- nearly purple eyes glistened in amusement. She was clearly enjoying herself and forgot about him a long time ago. Her movements were swift and he struggled to match her skilled pace.

Unknown to her, each of her steps froze up to four inches around them. Snow began to fall down from the roof of the cave. They floated and danced towards the ground. For some reason they just seemed to keep getting redder and redder and brighter and brighter until they were…

Ashes? Ashes falling from the sky?

Rukia's eyes darted as she tried to find her dancing partner. Instead of him she found herself in a smoky, burning, wooden building. The flames jumped threateningly at her but she couldn't feel the danger of them.

"Thousands of flowers and thousands of words…"

Her head jerked towards the sound.

"Left unsaid to my darling rose…"

She took off in the direction of the voice.

"Give me protection and I'll give you my love…"

She knew this song…

"When your heart is unready I'll give you my words…"

…this was the song she sang to Ichigo!

Her feet skidded to a stop on the hot wood and she could hear her heartbeat slow. The scene was too deep to take in at once.

"I'll wipe your sweat and pick you a rose…"

Several dirty, bony children were huddled in the only damp corner of the room in a desperate attempt to avoid the flames. They were all keeping their eyes down, looking at anything but the cherry of the room.

"I'd put it to your heart and give you a smile…"

A dirty girl with raven black hair sat in the middle of the room. Her head was bowed as she looked down into the bloody face of her brown haired friend. His breathing was labored and his eyes dim. A long piece of rusty metallic pipe was sticking out of his chest. The girl's mouth moved as she looked gently into his eyes. Her fingers caressed his cheeks as she sung him his last song.

"Our hearts would flicker and collide…"

Feet pounded on the burning floorboards of the hall. Next thing Rukia knew a tin boy with long, red hair was standing next to her. He stayed there silently on looking.

"They'd shine and flutter into the sky…"

The dying boy coughed and sharply inhaled. The breath came out slow and final; his last breath.

"And they'd fly away in joy."

A pregnant silence filled the room.

"R-" the boy with blood coloured hair started.

"Renji, he's dead."

The girl looked up at the boy. Rukia saw she had a bang falling between her teary, deep, blue-purple eyes- HER blue-purple eyes.

Her younger copy and the boy stared at each other for a few painful moments before the boy finally broke the silence.

"I know."

-O-

"…Rukia! Rukia!"

Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she gazed up into concerned, amber eyes.

"Ichigo?" she answered weakly.

His worrying didn't let up one bit. He immediately shot her a question.

"Are you okay?"

Her eyes snapped alert and her fingers reached up to touch the white substance around his temple- ice.

"Are YOU okay?" she asked pulling up from his warm strong arms. She looked around the cave. It was frozen solid.

"What happened?" she asked.

He gave the room a one over.

"Snow started to fall out of nowhere and next thing I knew, you had gone limp. The place just started to freeze after that."

She looked at him in disbelief.

"The place just started to-?"

She was cut off by hundreds of feet echoing through out the cave. Before they could think, a mob of mindless soldiers were pointing weapons at them.

A young man with a shining bald head and small eyes stepped from the mass of people. He lazily eyed the confused individuals and yawned. In one swift movement, he lifted a shiny, sharp spear and pointed it at them.

"Ikkaku, what are y-?" Ichigo started before being cut off by the man.

"You two are under arrest. Let's go- now!"

"Ikkaku, I don't understand." Ichigo said.

"What? You stupid are something." the man called Ikkaku snapped impatiently. "You two are under arrest so get up a let's go."

_O_

Ha! Done before 1 am!

I'm really stupid. Saturday I hurt both my feet and today, when my feet are better, I knocked one of my toes and now I'm limping again. :(

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave me a review. Please?