A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Hopefully you love this chapter and just feel amazing enough to leave a review? Haha. This chapter isn't just in Ichigo's point of view, so keep a look out for who's POV it says!

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Disclaimer: See previous chapter

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My throat felt tight with regret and my stomach felt like a rock, my lungs constricting and making my breathing shallow. Maybe I could have talked him out of it. Maybe I should have taken his place. After all, he had a six year old son. Kenta, I remembered. How was I to explain to Kenta that his father would never come home from work? How would he react? Not only was Kenta motherless, but now fatherless.

And it was my fault.

How could I let that happen right in front of me? Why was everyone I wanted to protect dying? First my mother, my boss Ukitake, my friend Renji, and all the workers that were above me. I've failed everyone.

"Rukia," my voice was strained and my throat was dry, causing my voice to be almost husky.

We were walking down another unlit hallway side by side. The adrenaline disappeared and I could now feel every bump and bruise on my body. My movements became slower and my back slightly hunched as I braced most of my weight onto the short girl next to me.

She was silent the whole time, her face a mask. She didn't want to show it, but she was hurting.

"Hey," I said softly, pulling her to a stop. I turned her to face me but she avoided my eyes. "Rukia…" I tipped her chin up and she finally looked at me as a tear silently slid down her cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb. "Don't cry, okay?"

"It's just all finally hitting me and it feels like I'm suffocating. Ukitake…is dead. Renji…is…dead." Her voice broke as sobs wrenched through her chest taking deep breaths but it didn't help.

"Shh," I shushed her as I wrapped my arms around her and she reluctantly hugged me back. Her shoulders shook and I rubbed her back in small circles, oblivious to the recent cuts she had from the glass.

"Ichigo," her voice was slightly muffled from where it was pressed against my chest. "Don't go. Please don't go," she cried.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise, Rukia." I tightened my grip and we swayed on our feet.

She stepped back and nodded softly. Her violet eyes were slightly rimmed with red and yet, were completely hypnotizing. In that moment I realized that she wasn't like the others. Rukia was different. She was strong and independent. She wouldn't take no for an answer and knew how to pack a punch. It made me want to be in her world. I wanted to feel her heart. She had opened my eyes. For her, I'd risk it all.

She stared just below my nose and for a second, I wondered what she was looking at when I realized. I subconsciously leaned forward and she did the same, looking nervous. Hell, I was nervous! I didn't know what I was doing. What had me do it was the thought that I would lose her, and this was our last chance.

"Ichigo," she closed her eyes, lips slightly parted and that's when I finally did what I've wanted to do from the start. I kissed her.

She responded immediately. Her mouth was warm, the touch of her lips were softer than I would have imagined. Rukia opened her mouth with a low moan. She raised her hands to wrap around my neck, having to stretch up on her tip toes to reach my height and held tightly as she began to kiss me back. We kissed passionately, holding each other in a warm embrace. After what felt like hours, our mouths finally parted, and our eyes finally met. I continued to hold her, silently staring into her eyes. After giving me a breathless smile, she placed her head against my chest and exhaled. I could feel the beating of her heart pound and stroked her hair gently, placing another kiss on top of her head.

"As long as you're in my arms, I'm happy," I told her honestly and heard her softly chuckle. I replayed my words in my head and could feel my face growing red. What did I just say? That was beyond stupid. What guy says that!

"And to think I wasn't going to come into work today," she mused.

I smiled, refusing to let my stupidity get the best of me. "I'm glad," I flicked her nose and then quickly dodged her oncoming punch. "We should probably get out of here."

Her eyes widened as if just realizing we were still in the demolished building. "What are we doing after this?" she suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" I gave her a sideways look as we quickly walked down the long passages.

"Well, Renji wanted us to raise his son. How is that going to work?"

"We already live in the same apartment complex. One of us will move into the other. So, how do you feel about yours?"

"It's okay, I guess," she answered with a shrug.

"Well my hot water doesn't work," I stated right off the bat.

"I guess you're moving in with me." Her face suddenly paled. "What is Kenta going to call us? I don't want to take the place of his mother and take Renji's wife's title."

"I see what you mean. We'll just see what he feels comfortable with. For now, he can just call me Ichigo and you Rukia."

She nodded. "It's probably for the best. We should probably start running. I don't like the noises I'm hearing above us."

I quickly agreed and we started to run, dodging various holes in the ground. The walls were completely obliterated around us. It was as if the angel of calamity was shadowing me. We finally reached what I believed to be the final stretch of the ominous stairs. I gave them a dark scowl as Rukia stopped. I turned to look at her questionably. Why had she stopped? We were almost out!

"Rukia, we have to go!" I urged and started descending the crumbling stairs.

"Right." She seemed to shake herself before we ran down them simultaneously.

Rukia's POV

I was running beside Ichigo, my mind clouded with thoughts. How had things moved so fast? It didn't seem real. It seemed like my day would be the same old, same old. I got a call from Ichigo to come into work and I took my time actually getting to work because I wanted to piss him off some more.

Then an earthquake had to happen and now I'm literally running for my life. I took my heels off long ago when they continued to pinch my feet and now I was stupidly running barefoot and managing to land on every piece of glass. I didn't think Ichigo noticed I was barefoot. But then again, I didn't think he even realized he was missing a shoe.

Not only was my back burning from the glass that had struck me, but my feet were sore and I was starving. I felt short of breath and emptiness inside me every time I thought about Renji and Ukitake.

Was it my fault Renji died? If I had snuck away to look for Ichigo a little more quietly, Renji wouldn't have noticed me leaving the group and run back to tackle me.

And now here I was, selfishly thinking about saving myself. Not even wondering what happened to anyone else. What was wrong with me? Was this behavior normal? What was going on in Ichigo's head? Did he think I was a bad person when I said to not save the workers that were above us? I hoped not. I was only being rational.

I sighed as I continued to run. Occasionally, I would notice Ichigo cast his eyes down to me as if checking to make sure I was okay. How did I get so lucky for him to suddenly be a part of my life?

Lucky…

No, that wasn't right. We had to live together for Kenta. So is that why he kissed me? Did he feel forced to have feelings for me?

I stopped running, staring at the dark steps. What was I doing? Was any of this real? My feelings for Ichigo obviously were. Or did I just want to believe that in the current situation we were in?

"Rukia, we have to go!" Ichigo urged, interrupting my thoughts and he started descending the crumbling stairs.

"Right," I answered, in a daze. With that said we flew down the stairs. Ichigo was taking them three at a time and was farther ahead of me due to the fact that he had a head start and the blessing of longer legs. "Ichigo! Will you wait up?" I yelled as I was falling behind and by the looks of things, the walls and ground didn't look like they would hold for much longer.

Ichigo stopped at the bottom of the stairs and spun back to look at me. "Jump!" he yelled. I didn't see the point but I listened and trusted him. I leaped into the air, about to fall into his waiting arms when a loud creak was heard overhead and a second later, I felt a huge weight and searing pain go through my leg. I yelled out in pain and surprise as the weight increased on my leg, efficiently weighing me down to fall straight down and my arms instantly flew out to break my fall.

I managed to lock eyes with Ichigo, his amber eyes were wide and I saw him reach out his hand for me, but he wasn't fast enough. My arms broke some of my fall but my head slammed into the concrete ground, causing black spots to dance across my vision. I lay there, pain rocking my body.

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, though his voice was muffled, like he was far away.

Ichigo's POV

Rukia's face contorted and blanched from pain. In a daze, I ran to where her crumpled form lay. I felt the strong presence of agony and fear cut into me like a knife. To see her lying there caused something to grasp at my heart with claws. All my adrenaline faded. I felt like a dead man. I should be…

There was the faintest shadow of a smile on her lips as she looked up at me with her violet eyes, but I saw right through her strong demeanor. She realized and gave a soft groan. I fell to my knees and cradled her head in my hands.

"Rukia…Rukia, I'm sorry. Hang on. I'm going to get you out. I promise," I told her urgently. I unwillingly let her go and stared at the massive clumps of concrete that crushed her. In a blind rage, I started shoving various objects off her like they weighed nothing and in the process, strained my crack rib. "Rukia, keep talking!" I demanded through clenched teeth. I heard her cough.

"I'll try," she said, weakly. Then: "Dammit." I continued to throw things off, driven by madness. "Ichigo…"

"I'm right here!" I answered desperately, not stopping from my unbearable task. Smoke from the rubble started wafting up to me and stung my eyes. As it got thicker and blacker, I became confused. This smoke didn't fit. I hastily snapped my eyes up to a closed off room and could see a steady stream of black smoke billow out of the cracks in the door. Then I saw the unmistakable glow of orange.

No.

No!

"Ichigo," Rukia said, hesitantly, "I think…there's…"

"I know. Hang on, you're almost out. How are you doing? Can you feel anything?"

"My head hurts…it feels like it's going to explode. Everything's blurry." As if to confirm it, she gave a soft whimper.

A concussion, I realized. "Anything else?" I demanded. "Anything at all?"

"I—I can't feel my legs." The reality must have hit in the next second. "Oh, God, Ichigo! I can't feel them unless I think about them!"

My eyes suddenly widened. "Don't move! You hear me, Rukia? Do not move."

The cement that fell from above only covered her lower half and she was lying on her left side, trying to support herself on her left elbow. In a flash, I saw her face mask in pain before she collapsed and rested her head on the ground.

I growled and shoved the last of it off. I ran to her front and placed my hands under her arms and dragged her back. Her head lolled back and I realized her eyes were closed. Not only that, but one of her legs was bent at an odd angle and were banged up. Since she was only wearing a skirt, her bare legs were exposed and cut up. Her shoes were also missing. I saw a flash of an off color of white poking out of her one broken leg and my stomach dropped.

Carefully to not jostle her and risk anything, I cradled her light body in my arms.

Flames from the electrical fire were beginning to lick their way around the edges of the door and the light had me realize that Rukia had a nasty gash on her forehead that was steadily pumping out blood.

I panicked. I had to get her out of here now! I spun on my heels and flew down the steps.

Byakuya's POV

"Sir!"

I ignored the annoying voice of authority and continued ahead.

"Sir!" Hands clamped down on my shoulder and I spun to glare at who dared to touch me. The bald man, who a badge and a shiny name tag that read I. Madarame, didn't flinch from my icy glare. Instead he at least had the decency to release his hand. "I'm sorry," he continued, now that he had my attention, "but I can't allow you to go in that building."

I hardened my gaze. "I must." This time as I took a few more steps to the entrance—what was left of it that was—to the crumbling, smoking, and yellow taped building, two more officers blocked my path. The man on the left was lankier with chin length dark hair and ridiculous feathers and his name tag read, Y. Ayasegawa. The other was large and burly, hands in massive fists and I caught his name tag to read, M. Omaeda.

"Turn around, now," Feather-boy ordered. "We are doing everything to rescue the remaining occupants. You cannot interfere. Stay put."

I felt my resolve breaking. "Do you have the slightest idea who you are addressing?" I demanded.

Omaeda crossed his arms. "Yeah, yeah. Byakuya Kuchiki. But your name and rank don't matter here. Now let us do our job."

I frowned. Did they not understand that my sister was trapped in that weak excuse of a building?

"Do not have us ask twice," Madarame snapped. "Or we'll be forced to arrest you."

I was about to reply when a new hand landed on my other shoulder. I turned to see a man I thought I'd never come across again. "Isshin Kurosaki," I recalled.

"Just listen to them, Byakuya," Isshin said, solemnly. He looked worn out and worried. "I'm sure—" he swallowed and gave a glance to the main doors. "I'm sure they will make it out."

I didn't believe him. No one had one out of those doors for the past half hour.

"I'm going in," I stated and—ignoring the three officers—stalked forward.

"Dammit, Byakuya!" Madarame growled. "Stop! You'll be arrested! I'll have no choice! It's Zaraki's orders."

I said nothing.

Suddenly, I heard a grunt followed by what sounded like bodies hitting the hard ground.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Omaeda yelled.

I squinted my eyes slightly and turned around to see Isshin efficiently landing a blow into Omaeda's face—knocking him out completely.

"Go!" Isshin yelled, struggling against Madarame. "I'll hold them off! Find Rukia! And find Ichigo!"

I regarded him carefully. "I'm going for Rukia," I told him clearly. "But if I see your son…" I chose my next words carefully. "I'll see what I can do."

"I'll be in as soon as I can!" he shouted as I turned my back and made my way inside the Seireitei Building.

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A/N: New poll on my profile for this story! Very important! I also am writing another story called Last Chance! And if you could also leave a review for Hunted, that would make my day simply fantastic! And of course, REVIEW! I love, love, love them! A little more than halfway to 100 reviews! Let's make this dream Reality (haha…Reality)!