AND TITE KUBO SAID, "LET THERE BE BLEACH" AND THERE WAS. AND IT WAS OOOH SO GOOD.

That said, bleach isn't mine!

Living with our choices

With a heavy sigh, Byakuya gave in to the rushing tides of change and allowed himself to be swept

away by whatever thoughts and actions might come. Without really standing and walking, he

somehow found himself next to Rukia in the back of the cave. He was only minutely aware of the

worried gazes of Renji and Ichigo, and even then they didn't seem to matter right now... He had to

know, from Rukia herself...

"Rukia... When you look at me... who do you see?" The world as this group knew it seemed to

shatter, like a funhouse mirror that had been distorting the world, but now, as it was broken, pure

truth was revealed behind it.

Silence came again, an ever-present entity for this group. "I… I see…. A strong taichou, silence,

confidence. Someone who is confident of all his choices and never wavers or is unsure of the right

thing to do."

Byakuya sighed. He wasn't getting the response he was searching for. "Are you angry at me for how

I have composed myself since your return?"

"No, of course not. I broke the law, and I was aware of that when I did it. You have no reason to

treat me different simply because I am family. I shamed the Kuchiki name. I wouldn't have been

surprised if you had killed me yourself for such a crime. Plus, I've meddled in Ichigo's life….

Quite possibly I have doomed him." Rukia could no longer hold her head up. Now that she had

started in on her pity party, she felt herself begin to tumble downward into despair itself.

"Oi! Would you stop saying that!" Ichigo cried out, placing himself in front of Rukia and sitting

back on his haunches. "I told you already, it was my choice! I WANTED it! I'm glad you did what

you did. Rukia…. You gave me the best gift ever: The ability to protect those I care about. That's

all I ever really wanted in life. You have not; HAVE NOT ruined my life, ok? So stop with the self

pity over me!"

Rukia jumped to her feet. "You baka! I HAVE TOO messed up your life! You're merely too thick

headed to realize it just yet! You were never meant to have this power, bonehead! In giving it to you

I have altered fate!" Rukia's face was taking on a color similar to cooked lobster, and it almost

looked as if a vein would pop any minute in her upper right forehead.

Ichigo answered the unspoken challenge by popping up from his crouching position to loom nearly

a foot above his female counterpart. "Stop frigging callin' me a baka! YOU'RE the frigging

BAKA! Wallowing in your own damn self-pity like this, it's pitiful. Half an hour ago you were

saying how you'd do the same thing over again, and now here you are whining about how you've

messed up the very fabric of time and life, and how you've ruined my life and all that junk. You

haven't, ok! So stop hating yourself for actions that aren't really mistakes!" By now Ichigo was

fairly blue in the face from the sheer volume he was using in yelling at Rukia. In reality his forceful

screams were merely a way for him to bury the sadness he felt at seeing Rukia so unhappy. He

wanted so deeply to take her into his arms and make the world dissolve into peace for Rukia. What

was it about this stubborn shinigami that captured him so? He truly thought it odd, his feelings

towards her. Ichigo had always thought of love as a strong desire to be with someone, to be next to

them, to hold their hand and kiss them and…. Well he didn't know… all that other commercialized

love stuff. If this was so, then he figured that maybe he didn't LOVE Rukia. With Rukia… yes he

argued a lot with the woman… but somehow there was always an unspoken understanding between

the two that their words weren't meant to hurt, they were just for play. He didn't have an

overwhelming desire for Rukia. Instead he just wanted her to be happy and safe and…. Well yes, he

DID want her to stay with him, this was true. But it was also true that if she ever wished to leave,

Ichigo would let her go and be happy for her, if leaving was what made her happy.

"WOULD THE TWO OF YOU QUIT BICKERING FOR KAMI'S SAKE!" Kenai cried shrilly.

"First of all, it's past the middle of the night. And second of all, do you think the two of you could

be civil for the short time we have left with Rukia? Stop yelling at her, Ichigo. It isn't helping

anyone at all, ok!" Tears were beginning to mark their journey down the girl's sandy tan cheeks,

leaving in their wake skin that was just slightly less browned. "What's done is done. So please just

stop yelling about it, ok? Rukia didn't do anything wrong!"

"The young Kamikiri is right." Kuchiki Byakuya spoke with a certain wise gentleness, a voice that

no one had known he possessed. No one, that is, but Hisana.

Note: Kami is a made up goddess from a series I read. For the sake of this story, Kami is the goddess of orphans and daughter of the trickster god, which Kenai sometimes swears by

Kamikiri: praying mantis