THE LONG GOODBYE [End of Arrancar Arc]
Ichigo was asleep in his bed; there was an IV drip next to him, and an oxygen tube slipped around his cheeks and under his nose. His eyes flickered a little, and then slowly started to open, revealing the room to the weak teen. Surprised, but alone, he pushed himself up and looked around.
I'm...at home... And...I feel like Hell. He thought, looking at himself, taking note of the casual attire he'd been put into and pulling the implements from his vein and off his face, ...I've been here a while. My reiatsu...
He sat up and tossed his feet over the edge of the bed and sat up, ...I can hardly feel any reiatsu...
Disturbed but hardly surprised, the orange-haired teen moved to stand.
Not even the kind that just...floats around...
His mouth was dry and tacky; an expected result of being out for a while. The poor fool had no idea how long he'd been out for, though. He wobbled a little and had to grab the doorframe to keep from falling over outright.
"Jeeze...I've been out for so long that my legs feel like Jell-O." He complained.
How long has it been?
. . .
He showered, brushed his teeth, and looked at his reflection in the mirror.
Kurosaki Ichigo...16 years old...High school student...
Ultra-normal guy...
He looked at himself and pulled the towel off his head.
"Nah...doesn't sound right."
. . .
He got himself dressed, and stepped out into the hall again. He wore a dark grey coat, with a white fur trim along the shoulders and around the back. The sleeves bore red lettering on a white base, reaching BLEACH down each side. He was hardly paying attention to where he was going.
Where is everyone? It's not like them to just leave a patient alone like this, even if it is me...
Abruptly, he found himself running straight into a shorter figure; the latter falling flat on their backside. When Ichigo looked down to see who it was, he realized it was Rukia...and she wasn't in a Gigai.
"Damnit, Ichigo!" She started, "Watch where you're going!"
"Rukia...!" He said quietly, I can still see ghosts...but I thought...?
"Yeah yeah...it's good to see that you finally decided to wake up. Urahara said it would happen any day now."
Ichigo quickly shook his head and reached a hand down to help the shorter woman up."He did? How... long was I out?"
"A month. It's November 12th now." She answered as she got back up to her feet.
Ichigo noticed she wouldn't let go of his hand right away.
"Oh..." He answered, "So if you're here...I guess everything worked out then."
"Yes. Aizen was sentenced by the Gotei 13." She answered, looking to where their hands were still held together, "The Hougyoku is still inside him, and it's made him unkillable, so he can't be executed...but by the time he comes out of the prison beneath Seireitei, he'll be lucky to remember his own name. His zanpakuto is completely gone though, so even if he does remember...he'll never pose the same threat as before."
"How long is his sentence?"
"Somewhere shy of twenty thousand years."
"Wow." Ichigo said, the number being far higher than he could've imagined, "I guess the old man isn't messing around."
"No." Rukia said flatly, then changing the mood, "Listen, Ichigo...the reason I came..."
The teen was looking at the baseboard quietly, but then nodded, "I know. I was...gonna get some air. Let's go outside."
. . .
Ichigo was in awe, not having noticed till now that the weather had completely changed since last he remembered.
"It's snowing!"
"Yeah."
He turned back to the woman beside him, "But where is everyone? ...My family?"
"Your father took Yuzu and Karin out for the day. Urahara told us that...your father taught you the move that you used against Aizen. That means your father is..."
"A Shinigami. Yeah. It surprised me, too." He answered, cutting the younger-looking woman off. "There's a lot I want to ask him...but I told him, like you once told me...if he had his reasons for keeping it a secret, then I don't really have any right demanding answers. All I can really say about it is that apparently Aizen knew. The way they talked to each other...it was like they knew one another in the past. I felt like I was listening in on a conversation that had been going on for years already." He paused and clarified how he wanted to ask his next question, "Rukia... I know it's not my place to ask, but... Before you came to Karakura Town, did you know Kurosaki Isshin was a Shinigami?"
"Ichigo, you know me better than that. I wouldn't lie to you about something like this. Whatever life your father might've had in Soul Society before you were born...it ended before I was established in the Gotei 13."
"I see." Ichigo said, seeming a bit forlorn, stepping off again. "You know...I can't really feel any reiatsu anymore. Not even yours..."
"Urahara told us that when you woke up, you would have already lost your Shinigami powers. So if I pulled your soul out of your body right now, you wouldn't have a shihakusho anymore... Soon, you won't even be able to see spirits..."
"Yeah, I know..." Ichigo said, "...Let's walk a bit."
. . .
Ichigo cleared away the snow from a bench in a park not far down the road. Ichigo sat quickly, slouching into it as Rukia withdrew her whole sword to set it down and sit next to him.
"So Aizen's Bankai showed you your worst fears?"
"Yeah..." Ichigo answered sullenly, "Some of them...I didn't even realize until I saw them happen." He explained further, seeming to sink further down into his sweater, "That day, in the rain...when we went to my mom's grave."
"Ah..."
"I saw Grand Fisher, and my mom again, just like back then. But...it went further than that. I saw my powers disappear...I watched you disappear...and I saw that Hollow attack you as you faded away. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't see you; I couldn't find you...I couldn't...do anything..."
Rukia saw his eyes sink a little; the memory clearly affected him on a much deeper level than he could say in words. She looked at her hands where she held them in her lap, "A long time ago, decades back, when I first joined the Gotei 13 as a Shinigami. My first squad assignment was under Captain Ukitake, and his Lieutenant...Shiba Kaien-dono." She started, "His wife was a Shinigami as well. One day...she and her group were attacked and killed by a Hollow. Kaien-dono, Captain Ukitake and myself went to seek it out...and Kaien-dono begged he be allowed to face it alone. He wanted to face the Hollow that had killed his wife and the others, and avenge them. It was a 'fight for pride,' I was told. In the end...the Hollow overtook him...invaded his body and used it against us. Captain Ukitake told me to run, and I tried...but I turned back...and Kaien-dono attacked me. All I could do was...strike out in fear...and I killed him." Her eyes were welling up, which surprised the teen, as he'd never seen Rukia cry before, "But he thanked me. Kaien-dono regained himself again for a split second and he thanked me. But, as it turned out, that Hollow had managed to get back to Hueco Mundo after that, and it was eaten by another Hollow...one that eventually became one of the Espada."
Ichigo's eyes opened wide, "One of the Espada? The one that...?"
"Yes. The Noveno Espada, Aaroniero Aarureri. He knew about me, about Kaien-dono because of the Hollow he'd eaten. He used my relation with Kaien-dono to put on his face and fight me with his power. But I was able to overcome it...I was able to kill that Espada with my last move. I told him that I could do that because Kaien-dono had already left his heart with me. Ichigo..." She turned her head back up towards him, "Even though you won't be able to see me anymore...remember...we've been friends, and a little bit of that Heart has come to be because of it. I'll keep it with me. I won't forget..."
Ichigo was stunned, and quite moved, but he didn't know what to say. His eyes gave him away enough as it was.
Rukia deadpanned him, "Ah jeeze. Don't look at me like that, you're just making this harder than it already is."
"Don't look at you like what!? I was just looking!" He said defensively, looking away and putting his hand on the back of his neck. "You're the one that's being all sentimental anyway!"
Rukia watched him, but then smiled...and actually laughed. Ichigo was caught off guard by it and glared at her.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing...I suppose..." She mused, "I was just thinking...how much you remind me of Kaien-dono."
Ichigo just glowered at her for a moment, not saying anything. Suddenly though, he dropped his hand on the top of her head, much like Kaien had once done. But...instead of just ruffling her hair like a proud mentor beaming over his pupil, Ichigo twisted it and brought Rukia closer, staring her in the eyes, and then pulling her to his shoulder. It caught the woman off guard, but she let it happen, feeling as his hand moved lower and his other arm came up on her other side, holding her close.
Idiot...
Rukia didn't say anything; she simply let him hold her for a moment, and then soon moved her own arms up around him to return the gesture. She dropped her wet eyes into the crook of his neck, and whispered even as her throat started to hurt, "You're so stupid...you always have to do things the hard way..."
"I guess that's just the way it has to be." He replied, "I don't know any different."
They held there for a while, until Ichigo's eyes started to catch sight of the fact that Rukia was starting to disappear. His fingers held her tighter, and she did the same, "Rukia...it's happening..."
"You're..." She started, "You're going to be okay, Ichigo... don't worry..."
He pulled apart from her a little, enough to see her face one last time as the vanishing progressed. His eyes quivered and he felt his hands sweat, even as he still held onto hers...his worst nightmare was coming to pass.
My heart is pounding...
My throat is killing me...
She's really leaving me...forever...just like in that nightmare...
What do I do? ...What can I do?
She was disappearing in front of him a little bit more...and the heartbroken teenager did the only thing he could think of.
He leaned his face forward and pressed his lips to hers.
She was shocked, her eyes wide open, but Ichigo pulled away again almost instantly. Rukia had her fingers clenched around his fingers though so he wasn't able to get far.
He could do nothing more than stammer a weak apology.
Rukia looked down, confused and stunned, but then lifted her left hand, placing it on Ichigo's cheek to calm his nerves...and then leaned in closer again. Ichigo's arms were immediately wrapped around her small frame, holding onto her desperately.
And then...
...she was gone.
His arms passed through the space she once occupied, leaving him to stare at his empty hands with a devastated look in his eyes. His whole body started to tremble as it took everything he had not to start screaming. All he could do was wrap his arms around himself and sit there, alone, in the snow.
