11. Brothers In Arms

Prompt: You are in the army now

Setting: Historical AU inspired by Mulan

Genre: Drama

861 Words

"Oi, Rukia!"

She tested the fastenings of her saddle, and then straightened, seeing the orange-haired young man stomping towards her.

"You were just going to leave?" he demanded, coming to a stop next to her, a scowl on his face.

"The army was disbanded," she shrugged, long used to the weight of the shoulder plates. "It's been six years, Ichigo. Past time to go home."

"You'd think six years would be worth a goodbye," he grumbled.

"I don't like goodbyes," she told him, avoiding his eyes and resting her hand at the neck of her horse.

He huffed.

"I heard they offered you an official post as a reward of your service."

"They did, but I turned it down."

"Why?" he gaped at her. "You deserve it."

"The war is over now," she spoke softly, her hand lightly brushing the hilt of her sword in passing. "My place is back home now, with my brother and sister."

Ichigo shook his head. He seemed to disagree, but in the end he only scoffed, "Whatever makes you happy, I guess."

She smiled at him then.

"Thank you, Ichigo."

The armour creaked as she mounted the horse. She looked down to the orange-haired man. As anxious as she was to get back home at last, it was hard to part ways with someone she had fought side by side with for the past six years. She wondered if she would ever see him again. A part of her wanted to, as they had grown close. But she knew it was better if this was where they parted ways for good. After all, she had been deceiving him as well as her other comrades in arms all this time. After being together for so long, after sticking to one another through thick and thin, after fighting together for their lives, she did not really even know how to tell him the truth. Perhaps it was for the best she didn't. He did not have to know.

"Well, best get going then," he called to her gruffly. She nodded, the unvoiced farewells lodged in her throat.

She did not need to say the words. He could probably read them in her eyes.

Rukia nudged the horse's flank with her heels and never looked back.

It was all on a pure whim, Ichigo told himself as he sat on the tatami in the unfamiliar room. He had simply chanced to pass by the estate, when all of a sudden he had decided to stop and pay a visit to the friend he had not seen once in the seventeen months following the end of the war.

He was just wondering how he was doing, though for some reason now that he was here, he was starting to feel rather nervous. Sure they had been companions in the army. They had fought and faced battles together, but this was the time of peace. Everything was different now.

Finally, he heard footsteps approaching. The painted fusuma doors slid open to admit his friend. Rukia took one step into the room and then froze at the sight of him. Her deep violet eyes were stormy and conflicted. What are you doing here? they seemed to ask. Why did you come?

Ichigo was just as speechless as her. His throat felt dry and his breath seemed to have left him, as if someone had punched him hard in the stomach. This was the person he had fought alongside with for six long years. He knew those eyes; he could read her each move.

And yet this person standing in front of him in the pale pink kosode embroidered with peach blossoms and her hair inching freely past her shoulders seemed a perfect stranger.

She was every inch the soldier he knew so well, yet every inch a woman.

At last, she sighed and crossed the room, taking a seat on the cushion laid out across from him. She stared at her hands, clenching the fabric of her kosode as if struggling to find the words.

"My sister has always been sickly," she spoke at last, as Ichigo's disbelieving stare bore into her. "My brother-in-law was loathe to leave her side, so I chose to enlist in his stead. I am sorry for deceiving you. I had hoped we would not meet, so that you might never have to learn the truth."

Ichigo's scowl darkened and he crossed his arms.

"It is a shock," he grumbled. "Though hearing you spout that nonsense is even a bigger shock. What's all this about hoping we'd never meet, is that supposed to make me feel happy?"

"I thought the truth would upset you, that you would resent me for my lies."

"It will take some getting used to," he allowed, giving her a rather pointed glance. "But it doesn't take away from what we've been through."

Rukia finally raised her gaze to meet his. Her eyes were brimming with emotions she rarely let anyone see; they were deep, unguarded and vulnerable as she faced him.

Ichigo swallowed and his hands clenched. His voice grew emphatic in a final reassurance.

"You're still you."