HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I am so super sorry for not updating. I just ended my semester in college and have been catching up on all of my stories. I'm really happy to be back! I will be updating more of my stories including this one which I have been working on for the past few months. So please enjoy Chapter 7!
"And what will this do?" Ryuken asked with doubt as Isshin dropped liquid into the liquid I.V.
"This will raise her blood pressure." He said. "She'll contract sepsis if her blood pressure becomes any lower. Her organs will shut down completely with that. But it'll slowly weaken her muscles." Isshin said depressingly. The old man was run down. He couldn't eat. He could barely get an hour of sleep. And he was starting to smell from sitting in one spot for so long.
"But it'll do very little to put the virus at bay." Ryuken said.
"She's still on the steroid." Isshin informed him. "So long as she's on this steroid she'll manage. With this solution I've given her, her heart will still pump blood through her body and keep her organs going as well as give Ichigo a little more time." Isshin said. Ryuken gave a curious look.
"I thought he was going to be able to make it with just three days." Ryuken said sarcastically. Isshin glared at him.
"Don't give me that bullshit. You and I both know that with this weather Ichigo will be lucky enough not to freeze to death. Look, he has one day left and they want another blizzard coming from the north, where Ichigo is at. If he's reached Urahara now it'll take almost two days to get back down here if he's lucky. The same amount of time Rukia has left." Isshin said. Ryuken shook his head disapprovingly.
"She'll die by then." he said coldly. "Her body is shutting down rapidly already and here you are pumping her with drugs." he had ice in his eyes.
"Look, if I didn't think this wasn't going to work then I wouldn't be doing it, would I?" Isshin snapped back. "If I'm correct, Ichigo is currently there. Getting to Urahara's is simple, but with the amount of snow it's a lot harder, but I know Urahara. He wouldn't let Ichigo come back down alone." Isshin said and stepped away from Rukia. He wondered if she was ever going to wake up again. And wondered if he'll ever see Ichigo again…
Ichigo gritted his chattering teeth, tightening his hands on his coat in an attempt to keep his body heat to himself. He was so cold. Too cold for words. The winds had picked up in dramatic speed, pushing Ichigo further and further off the path. He stumbled through the white sea of snow, trying his hardest to keep trudging forward. The light, loose layer of snow that sat on the top of the ground and covered trees was blowing with the wind, making them just like minuscule bullets.
They stung Ichigo's face and blinded him. As his eyes watered, his tears froze in the frozen wind. He was starting to wonder if this was the snow on the ground, or if he was stuck in a blizzard. The worst part: it was getting dark. And in this blinded condition with darkness, he was bound to fall into the gorge to his death.
"Fuck…" Ichigo drew a shaky hand into his pocket and pulled out a flashlight. He shined it forward but couldn't see far. The wall of frantic flurries made seeing impossible. The white crusted trees were just odd silhouettes that told him what direction to go. His legs were tiring quickly. He hadn't much time left. He was growing weaker and weaker with no food in his stomach and little warmth. If he didn't reach Urahara by tonight, he'll literally end up dead trying.
A strong gust of wind nearly plowed Ichigo into the snow and he stumbled the other way. He straightened himself out and panted. His body was a mixture of fear, panic, and anxiety. His body was telling him to run, but he couldn't move to find a place to hide. His head was telling him to stop and rest, but he couldn't see to find somewhere to pass out. But his heart was telling him to keep going; find Urahara and get the medicine to save Rukia and prove that bastard Ryuken wrong.
But he couldn't find his way to the live-saving medicine…
"Damnit!" Ichigo screamed to the grey sky. He was on the verge of losing his sanity. "Show me the way! I need to save my wife!" Ichigo screamed louder, his lungs igniting with the cold air. Tears blinded his vision as he stumbled forward in the snow. "Show me a sign! Anything! Anything that's telling me I'm going in the right direction!" Ichigo dropped his head and sobbed loudly, only getting a howl of wind as a response. He gritted his teeth, his heart shuddering with anger and fear and he threw his head back up towards the sky. "Answer me damnit! I need to-" Ichigo was cut off when his foot suddenly slipped forward and he jerked forward, dropping his flashlight. Gasping, Ichigo realized that there was no solid surface under his foot. He staggered back wards and fell into the snow. He panted in disbelief, knowing exactly where he was. He had reached the gorge.
Peering down he saw the black, endless pit that looked like it was created by the earth splitting in two. He could see snow piling on the outstretched rocks going down into the sea of darkness below. He couldn't even see the light of his flashlight below. It had fallen into oblivion.
Realization hit Ichigo like a boulder. He almost fell in there. He scrambled backwards and panted. He was lucky. He almost died. He almost fucking died! But he realized something else, too. He was just minutes away from Urahara. He had made it. He was almost there!
Struggling to frozen toes, Ichigo put his arm over his face to cover himself from the snow. He looked around and saw a dark-looking bridge. He staggered over to see what it was and came to look at a fallen tree. The protruding roots were almost as tall as him sticking out of the ground, covered in snow. The tree itself was massive, the bare top wedged between the opposite side of the gorge. Ichigo could only assume the bare trunk was frozen in place, but he was extremely hesitant to climb on top of it and cross it. It's trunk was probably slippery and icy. How was he supposed to cross that?
"Wait…" Ichigo dug in his pocket and struggled to read the paper his father gave him. "There's supposed to be a bridge. "But where…?" Ichigo looked beyond and found the bridge several yards away. He quickly scurried to it and saw in the blinding wind a worn wood panel bridge with ragged rope sides. Ichigo gulped. He knew his father told him not to, but…
Ichigo took a weary step onto the first wooden plank. It creaked in pain as he put all his weight and trust onto it. He gripped the frozen, tattered ropes and took another step, and another, another…
His hands burned from the temperature as he held onto the ropes for dear life. The bridge was swinging below him in the wind with his weight and its unsteady wooden planks. He felt his empty stomach suddenly fill with terror. He felt like throwing up if it weren't for the fact the bridge would collapse if he lurched suddenly. He inhaled deeply and fought back the urge to cough hard from his lungs burning. The bridge was about twenty or thirty feet long. But in the cold darkness, it seemed like it stretched for miles. But Ichigo knew what lied ahead was what he's been searching for his whole time.
Ichigo kept stepping hesitantly forward on the weakened bridge. He felt like he was walking forever. He didn't dare look down. He had a bad phobia of heights. If it weren't for his desire to save Rukia, he would never have crossed this thing.
Ichigo was almost blinded to the world until a huge gust of wind almost knocked him off the bridge. His hands locked onto both ropes and he froze in place. His eyes were wide with terror and he couldn't catch his breath. He closed his eyes tight. 'Just don't look down… don't look down… keep walking, Ichigo… just keep going!' Ichigo gave a shaky exhale and took another step. The wind and ice was tearing at him viciously, pushing at him. His feet were moving on his own at this point. The creaking seemed to scream over the blistering winds. The ropes were aching as he gripped them painfully. His heart was beating a thousand miles a minute, everything flashing through his head at once. His father, his sisters, his friends, Tatsuki, Orihime, Rukia…
He opened his eyes, seeing nothing but a blackening sky with sheets of snow before him. The bridge almost had disappeared, but he saw, just a couple yards away, the end of the bridge and solid land again.
Heart fluttering with hope, Ichigo took his steps quicker, knowing the hill was just a short distance away. He was going to reach the shack and get that medicine. He had made it.
Ichigo could see in the barely lit night the last wooden plank and started taking larger strides across, not hearing the louder creaks and cracks of the wood. As Ichigo reached the last few planks, his foot went through. With a shout of terror, Ichigo felt his entire body plunge downward. His hands clasped the snapping ropes, kicking his legs to lift himself, but all he felt was air. "Gah! No!" Ichigo tried to lift himself, but the strings on the rope, one by one, snapped until one side of the bridge was remaining. It all happened so fast. In a heartbeat everything went a horrifying turn for the worst.
The right side of the bridge dangled just as Ichigo did and he began to panic. "Help me!" Ichigo screamed out. His hands were gripping in rope while a few planks of wood dropped into the oblivion. The icy winds had suddenly picked up in ferocity and it was now a full-on blizzard. Ichigo dangled, hundreds of feet above the ground over a bottomless pit of death. His heart raced as he held on for dear life, hearing the rope he was hanging on to begin to snap and feeling it sink lower and lower. Ichigo was weighing it down.
Quickly thinking, Ichigo released one hand from the rope and let the strap of his backpack slide off his shoulders. He did the same with his other arm and let his bag drop. It fell into the gorge silently and Ichigo was now hanging with less weight in his shoulders. He had to reach the other side. In the midst of the blizzard, Ichigo slid his hands along the frozen ropes as quickly as he could. He felt his hat blow off his head and his ears received a painful battering from the hail. Squinting, Ichigo kept going. He felt the rope weakening. It was snapping more and more, the planks falling into the black depths. It was when Ichigo felt his hand reach snow did he realize he had made it to the other side. Hesitantly, he let go of the rope and dug his hands into the snowy cliff. He kicked hard at the icy, rock cliff and managed to get himself up onto the ledge. He scrambled frantically to the flat ground and crawled a few yards before collapsing on his stomach in the snow. He heaved for air, trying desperately to calm his racing heart. He had almost died. He almost died…
Ichigo didn't dare look back when he heard that stomach-clenching snap of the rope and the sound of the wooden planks clanking against the edges of the gorge. He crawled forward in the snow until he felt himself on even land and collapsed onto his stomach yet again, heaving in hysteria. After a while of lying on the ground, Ichigo was able to get to shaky feet. He looked around but in the darkness he couldn't see anything. Night had fallen, and the blizzard was stronger than ever. He shut his eyes against the ice crystals and started to stomp forward. The directions had told him there was a hill he had to climb. If he could just find that hill and climb it, he could find the rest of his way blindly.
So Ichigo trekked through the snow and experienced pain. Because his hat had blown off, his ears were freezing and aching badly. His lungs were heavy like rocks and his legs were becoming frail like twigs. He was becoming weak. He was exhausted, hungry, frightened, and cold to the bone. His boots hadn't protected him enough. His toes were numb and stinging from the cold. His face was stiff and turning a painful red from the icy winds. He knew he hadn't much time left... for himself. Rukia was dying, and so was he. Slowly and painfully. It'd been quick if he would've fallen into the gorge, but he didn't. Now he was suffering.
"Rukia..." Ichigo's breath was a visible cloud. "I'm coming back no matter what..." he muttered. He started shivering. Hypothermia is going to set in soon... Ichigo thought to himself. I'm not far away from death myself... he hadn't noticed that he was walking upwards on a slope. It's so cold... I've never felt so cold in my entire life... it hurts... Ichigo hugged his arms to keep his body heat inside of him. He was slowing down... he was taught to keep moving around to stay warm, but it wasn't working. He didn't want to die here. To be frozen in a place like this? To never be found again? Never to see his family and break his promise to Rukia. He didn't want to die before her. He didn't want her to die at all. If only if Ichigo died, his life would be given to Rukia. If he could die knowing his death wouldn't be in vain and given to his wife, he would've jumped in that gorge. He would've crashed head-on into that truck days ago. He would've killed himself days ago to save her. He would've died for Orihime and Tatsuki.
He was beginning to wonder if this shack existed still. His father seems to know this man, but for how long? When did his father first find out that this man lived here? If it was years before he was born, how did his father know he was still here? What if he moved on and the shack was demolished in one of these terrible snowstorms? What if the man was dead? What if he wasn't here at all? This journey would mean absolutely nothing. It would be a pointless travel in the middle of hell. On top of that, Ichigo would have to face the fact that there was no hope in saving Rukia, and die trying to make it back to tell his father that this whole attempt at saving his wife was a huge failure and shamefully accept that Ryuken was right. That Rukia would die, and Ichigo would fail.
Ichigo tripped suddenly and fell face forward into the snow. He groaned in pain feeling the snow sting his skin. He struggled to lift his head and his arms shook as he got to his hands and knees. He rasped for a single, open breath, but it was impossible. He ended up coughing hard, his entire diaphragm racking with pain. After he caught his breath as much as he could, he looked up. His eyes widened despite the vicious winds whipping at him. His shivering stopped instantly at the sight before him. The single lantern hanging from a pole just before the door shook violently in the blizzard, it's light dim, but vibrant in the snowy holocaust. The light was enough to illuminate the outline of the small shack standing firm in the middle of the snowy gale. To Ichigo, it was almost like a mirage. He had done it. It existed.
He had reached Urahara Kisuke.
Ichigo's finally made it to Kisuke Urahara. But will he make it back to Rukia? Find out in the next chapter!
I just want to thank you guys for all of the reviews. I've had a hard year in 2015 and I'm really hoping or a better one in 2016. So let's make this a good year shall we? Stick around!
