Theme:Seize the Day

A/N:I know, I know. Three updates in less than 24 hours! I'm in as much shock as you are. O.O; But yeah. I woke up this morning and had this determination to write another installment. This theme has been giving me a particular amount of trouble, to be honest. I just couldn't find a situation that fit Ichigo and Rukia (or Bleach as a whole, for that matter) and keep it at least somewhat believable. So...this is what came out. It doesn't quite match the happy-go-lucky, sugary sweet images that 'Seize the Day' tends to inspire, but I like it anyway.

This is, once again, centered around chapter 423, but with a few changes. I'm assuming Ichigo regained consciousness sooner than he does in the canon timeline. Also, I've assumed that Ichigo would spend his last day with Rukia alone, for the most part. Because even though he does lose his powers, it's not like he'll never see Inoue and the rest of the gang ever again. So yeah. I guess this is sort of an AU take on chapter 423.

Sorry it took so long, Ice. :/ But this one's dedicated to you.

Enjoy!

~Song

Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi

finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios

temptaris numeros. ut melius, quidquid erit, pati.

seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,

quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum:

sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi

spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invida

aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

Translated:

Don't ask (it's forbidden to know) what end

the gods have granted to me or you, Leuconoe. Don't play with Babylonian

fortune-telling either. How much better it is to endure whatever will be!

Whether Jupiter has allotted to sink you many more winters or this final one

which even now wears out the Tyrrhenian sea on the rocks placed opposite

— be wise, strain the wine, and scale back your long hopes

to a short period. While we speak, envious time will have [already[ fled

Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future.

Movie Script Ending

Eyelids lift, briefly revealing brown depths clouded with the remnants of sleep. Ichigo blinks away unconsciousness slowly. Gradually, awareness returns to him. When he is lucid enough to comprehend his surroundings, he finds himself greeted by a crowd of faces that must have been there from the beginning, though he is only now aware of them. Memory returns, and his eyes seek out the one face he truly wants to see.

Violet eyes meet brown solemnly. His awareness of the world narrows to her pale face and dark eyes. Rukia. The only face that matters, the face he will not see again.

The other faces have disappeared now, borne away by legs and bodies that belong here in this world, forms that will not disappear with the dwindling power within him. There were other faces too-ones that will also disappear with time, but the loss of these is nothing compared to the loss of this one face.

They have not spoken much; neither wishes to mar this last day with any mention of the inevitable. Their silence is their mutual understanding. There is no talk of the future, for tomorrow does not exist for them. The past is gone and done. And so they have only the here and now. The reality of her presence has been a truth he has thus far taken for granted; not so this day.

He has resolved to regret nothing. If tomorrow does not exist, he simply must make the most of today. The words between them are few and far between. Mostly they are names, exhaled softly and tinged with all that cannot be said.

"Rukia." Her name is a prayer, a thank you, a farewell. A declaration of love, of friendship. It is irritation and sadness and joy. Anger. Fear. Desperation. But mostly it is an acknowledgement of who she is and what she means to him. Affirmation that in this moment, she is still real and tangible before him.

The sun has neared that western horizon. And though he would sacrifice himself a million times over to halt its descent, the uncaring world continues its rotation. The time for last words is now. There will not be another chance.

"Rukia." It is the only word that will escape the barrier of his lips.

The edge of that fiery orb touches the distant edge of the earth. Her form melts away before his eyes, dissipating as sparks thrown from a fire. "See you later, Ichigo." Even though he won't.

And then she is simply gone. The last of the sun disappears beyond the edge of the world, and he is left alone with his thoughts.

"Bye, Rukia."

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