Well ... this is sad. Hope you like it and I hope it can make you feel the emotion I put into it. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.

No One Heard

"Are we going t-to die?"

Ichigo winced as another explosion hit overhead. Little bits of dirt and debris floated down and landed in his lap, and he felt a rather large piece of wood hit into his back as he leaned over Rukia to shield her small body from the falling chunks. He pulled away from her and tucked his coat around her shaking body.

"Someone will come," he said, fighting to keep the shaking out of his own voice.

But no one would. They were half a mile underground in a bunker built hundreds of years ago. No one would find them; no one would care.

More explosions hit and more dirt and debris fell. The bunker was weakening. The wood holding the thousands of pounds of dirt was crumbling, and each explosion sent more and more tumbling down onto them.

"Why l-like t-this?"

The shaking in her voice wasn't from fear; it was from the deadly cold that had swept in hours ago. It was the below freezing temperatures and the cold that wouldn't escape to the surface.

"Why d-do we h-have to die like t-this?"

"We won't die," Ichigo said firmly, but the empty look in Rukia's eyes had begun to scare him. "We won't die. We can't die; the world needs us to fight for them, to keep them safe. This war ..." Ichigo trailed off.

This war ... it was a fight to keep the whole world safe. It was a fight against people they had once called friends. It was a fight against people who they had trusted; captains in their own world betraying them and forming armies of powerful beings called Arrancar. It was a fight for pride.

"I'm so tired ..."

Ichigo reached over and pulled Rukia closer to him. Her whole body was shaking violently and her breathing was slow and ragged. He could tell her body was giving out; she could barely move and her skin was freezing to the touch. Even his coat around her hadn't changed anything; she was freezing to death and he was, too. He didn't want to admit it; he wanted to get out of here alive.

"Someone will come," Ichigo said again, rubbing her arms to try and get some heat back into them. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, but Ichigo was making her open them again in only seconds. "No! Don't go to sleep, Rukia!"

She jerked up and Ichigo caught sight of the pain in her eyes.

She was in pain ...

Her lips were blue with the cold and her pale skin was even more pale in the dim light encasing the small area they were sitting in. Another explosion hit overhead and Rukia shook visibly from the shock. Large pieces of wood fell down upon them and Ichigo threw his whole body over Rukia, wincing as the wood hit into his back. She was barely aware of what was happening, and when the wood stopped falling, Ichigo pulled back and sat up, taking her into his arms and holding her tightly.

She was in pain ...

He said quietly, trying to keep the own emotional pain out of his voice, "Go to sleep, Rukia. It'll all be over when you wake up. Someone will come ..."

Rukia just gave a short nod of her head as she buried her face in his chest and gripped his shirt tightly in her frozen hands.

"Goodbye ... Ichi ... go ..."

She knew she was dying. She knew that as soon as she closed her eyes, she would never awaken again. Ichigo swallowed all of his pride and gripped her tighter to his chest.

"Love ya, Rukia."

"Love you ..."

She didn't finished her sentence as her voice trailed off. Ichigo looked down; her chest wasn't rising and falling with breath anymore.

She was gone ...

"God, no ... "

And, as explosions sounded overhead, the screams of the dying weren't heard. Everything was silent as the world fought for their freedom. Even in the worst and most terrible time of all, silence took over the ears of those fighting. They heard nothing ... they didn't hear the screams of pain of the dying and the screams of determination of those who had lost a loved one.

And no one heard Ichigo as he screamed out and buried his head in Rukia's hair, his tears twinkling in the frozen air and his frozen hands grasping her body to his chest.

The world was silent, even in anguish and pain.

And no one heard.

Well ... Hmm ... what to say, what to say. I needed to write something sad, I had to, and this came and attacked me, so I wrote it down in ... 28 minutes.

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