Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's Notes: For episode 54. I've wanted to see the animated sequence for over a year already! This one was one big headache to write for me, since I didn't use dialogue and developed the entire story based on my narration. It may be different from previous shots, but I've been trying to work on my use of description and stuff…

I would like to thank you for all your encouraging comments; they made me really happy and gave me the energy boost I needed! I would also like to reply to you all, but if I did, I'd probably take longer than the fic itself… X3 Special thanks to Akai-chan, Strawberry-chan, Sarah (Piyoko-chan!), SxStrngSamurai13, amwong, notnow, Outsane, Azamiko, and all of you who've kept sending reviews with each update! I couldn't possibly name you all without missing someone, but still: Many thank you's!

(UPDATED! revised version up on 03/June/2006)

Roles
23.10.2005

Rukia is not a princess.

Rukia does not live in a castle of white pure walls and high towers, own fancy, elaborated gowns embroidered with silver tread and silk fabric, or wear golden bracelets or crystal jewelry or crowns encrusted with precious stones. She usually won't attend a great number of dances and mingle with other royalty or live a leisurely life a noble is supposed to lead. She is not destined to marry her charming prince from a faraway kingdom the way it is told in fairytales. To her, fairytales don't exist, because she isn't bound to live happily ever after with the people she loves. And she is not supposed to be saved by a knight in shining armor when she found her life pending on death itself.

Rukia has lived in many places, a dusty, poor neighborhood, a huge estate of many long halls, and a fifteen-year-old boy's modest closet. She has gone from worn-out clothes to a shinigami trainee uniform, from the grand black robes to a twenty-first century school uniform, from a plain-looking white yukata to a flowered-patterned one. Her only pieces of accessory had been that red-collar placed around her neck to hinder her spiritual strength; a binding red-collar that gripped and pierced her pale skin. Her only pieces of jewelry had been a flower crown her childhood friends from Rukongai had made for her as a little girl and the beaded bracelet a gentle, red-headed girl had given her as friendship sign.

Rukia has grown between robbers and thieves and young children struggling to survive their world. She has been raised surrounded by indifferent nobles and etiquette rules, always feeling left out even after gaining an almost royal status. She has trained in a school where she has been rejected by most of her peers due to the heavy weight her name brought. She has interacted with normal kids at a local high school. And she has gained important friendships throughout it all. Rukia has done her best to get to this point: survived childhood, grown stronger, learned from everything she could and from her mistakes, and worked hard, even if it meant reaching exhaustion. She has seen her loved-ones fall or get torn away from her: first her childhood friends, then the dismissal from the only person she believed to be her family; the death of that person she had admired and treasured so much; and lastly, the struggle against death of the boy that had changed her life in more ways than one.

And when she had once thought everything would end and she floated on the air, with those unphysical binds keeping her against that execution pole, she had been rescued once again from death. Her rescuer hadn't been a knight wearing an armor that whispered soothing words in her ear. Quite the contrary, the boy had been smirking cockily amidst his bandaged body and billowing cape, gripping his sword tightly with one hand and holding her close with the other. He'd cause a great deal of a commotion, acted rashly without even thinking of a way to escape, but yet she'd understood how much he'd grown since the time she'd last seen him. She'd wondered how long that had been, because even if she didn't want to cry, the tears had slipped before she could stop them.

Ichigo looked gently at her at the very end, holding her against him. She was relieved because he was alive and smiling.

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Ichigo is not a knight.

Ichigo doesn't want to become a hero nor is he a little boy who went out to the big world in search for adventures of glory. He doesn't ride a white stallion over the green pastures and off to far away kingdoms, wear a steal armor that glistens brightly when the sun rays touch its surface or a red cape to go with it. He doesn't have any princess to save from a mighty dragon or meets the lovely girl in an epic encounter and falls in love at first sight. He does meet a girl, but it isn't love that moves him to save her when her life is in danger, so he doesn't slay dragons with his sword just to do it. He isn't even aware of the extent of the strength of what he is facing, for he has erased from his mind that a boy like himself cannot defeat a real dragon.

Ichigo rose as a hero with the occasion, not really thinking of himself as one but merely knowing that he was doing what he was expected to do. Yes, his heart just makes his body move before his brain is able to act. His heart has been his best guidance up until now, that's why he must trust himself. It have been his legs that have taken him this far, that he has strained so much to reach his goals. He doesn't want to run away with those legs and doesn't plan to do so. He doesn't have a shield to protect himself, only his body, fists, and the bandages which overlap over his skin. Even the cape he's been given not so long ago by one of his mentors, he's lost to the wind already as he engaged another fight.

There is someone he needs to save. She is young woman that doesn't fit the role of a princess, but he will save her even if she isn't one. He's met her under abnormal circumstances and has sustained an awkward relationship with her (of teacher and student, of friends, of partners he doesn't bother to decided which) so he isn't really sure why he is doing it. And while his sword, already an extension of himself, will cut through anything for her sake, he insists on not calling it love or any other sort of affection. It isn't love even if her image has slipped into his thoughts and etched itself on the far corner of his mind. Admitting such things will only make things harder and he can't be selfish or forget that there are other people depending on him this time.

She's trapped in a ferocious beast's claws, but it doesn't have scales and breaths fire. Her captor is called death and it has been imposed upon her for the sake of codes and rules that he doesn't understand and that he is intent on breaking. Her beast is a conspiracy that even he isn't aware of, one that his blade won't be able to cut through if he isn't smart enough. But the boy is very much determined to break through this place's system and succeed. No matter how many rules he needs to bend or how many swords he'll meet in battle, he is convinced that he will rescue her from this nightmare. He will win, at whichever cost, because he never wants to see that desperate look on her face smothered by tears.

Rukia had cried softly when he held her on top of the platform. He promised he'd try so she would only cry out of happiness from then on.

¤:¤:¤

Rukia is not a princess and Ichigo is not a knight, but that's alright with them. Even if they haven't reached their 'happy ending' yet, there will be one someday. Certainly.