A/N: Okay first things first.
You're author needs a beta anyone willing to do her bidding as a beta... is welcome :D
Second, writing this particular chapter struck a cord with me... so please pay close mind to the words...
Thank you!
The sun shone brightly over the heads of the laughing group of close friends. Side by side, dressed in white they walked down the sunny streets of Karakura, attention placed on them in their matching attire. One of them began telling a story, whilst the others laughed. Thus was their routine. They would all dress in their coolest attire and slip into their sandals. One person would bring the blankets, another table cloths, some one would bring a water melon, another would heft a large sun umbrella whilst a few packed a decent lunch. Renji always brought the bat. It was like this at the end of every summer, but this day in particular was special...
Their last summer.
Rukia walked along side her closest friend, her white skirt billowing in the light summer breeze. He looked down at her with an odd smile and she smiled back, picnic basket swinging in her hands. Her hair was done up in two braids that seemed to flow easily in the breeze and her eyes glowed with an intense brightness. He turned his attention back to the sky, taking in the warmth of the sun that seemed to match his hair. He placed his hands on the back of his head and sighed deeply as they strode in peaceful silence, the others laughing along to Keigo's daring adventure.
Step by step they made their way to the beach, each step bringing them more excitement and each step bringing them more fear. Fear to what the future would hold beyond this evening that was fast approaching.
Keigo was leaving first thing in the morning for America, to spend more time with his father who lived out in California. Ishida was due to leave in a few days for Medical school in Okinawa. Orhime was going to pursue a career in culinary arts, she was going to Tokyo in two weeks to learn from a chef of high caliber that had taken an unique liking to her recipe ideas. Mizurio was off to the Swiss Alps to visit his twenty eight year old fiance for a quick wedding in three days. Tatsuki had already gotten into soccer team and would be touring the world in two months time. Chad was headed to Mexico for three years in a days time. Ichigo had already picked out a school in the area, true to a promise he had made to a certain raven haired woman that walked beside him. As for Rukia, she was making plans and arrangements with the Captain Commander so that she could remain in Karakura indefinitely, true to her promise.
In the sense of things, they were all departing.
No one knew for how long, but they knew that no matter where they went... they would be connected by the universal truth in their hearts.
But when they boiled it all down, this was -indeed- their last summer. After this, things would certainly be different.
Before now they shared experiences, now... they would be off for who knew how long learning things without the others that impacted them. Stories would be told down the road that only one person could tell. Bonds would be made between people they had never met, some others would never meet. And the stories of their high school misadventures would dwindle down to distant memories of a time long gone.
"That was when she came up to me and said 'Wanna ride, hun?' " Keigo shouted, throwing his arms into the air. Orihime laughed into her hand and Renji rolled his eyes.
"I call Bullshit on that one.." Renji stated, swinging the bat over his shoulder, the watermelon under his other arm.
"It's true!!" Keigo shouted, grasping Mizurio by the shoulder. "Tell him Mizurio!!"
"Asano, I was half asleep in your car when it broke down. I can hardly remember.." Mizurio explained, shrugging Keigo off and walking once more.
Keigo's face fell and he cried. "Why do you guys never believe me!"
"Because you're more full of shit than my old man.." Ichigo muttered, shoving Keigo away.
"Rukia! You believe me.. right?" Keigo begged, coming up to Rukia. She grinned fake-like.
"Suure.." She chimed.
Keigo's face fell. "I know you well enough to know that's an act!!"
Rukia frowned. "Sorry, Keigo but to be honest... I wasn't really listening."
Keigo cried again. "I don't even know why I'm friends with you guys!"
"I often ask myself that at times as well." Ichigo growled, walking ahead.
Keigo sighed and slumped off behind them as they neared the beach.
Rukia smiled as she slipped off her sandals when they got to the patio of Uryu's beach home. She then ran off towards the beach, not minding the slight burn the heated sand produced. Orihime did the same, her long strands of orange billowing behind her as well as her white dress. Her hat blew off haphazardly in the wind as she passed Uryuu who was setting up tables out on the beach. He picked it up with a slight grin and ran off to return the hat.
Ichigio walked over to Chad, his eyes never straying from Rukia who was giggling alongside Rukia as Uryuu approached. He wondered, to himself, when they had grown so close. Not just himself and Rukia, but rather the group as a whole. He remembered that in the first few months, perhaps even a year they were more like machines. They never had time to stop and play together. Now everyone seemed at ease, everyone seemed lighter.
Uryuu chased after Orihime down th sandy shore her laughter floating through the air, Rukia chasing after the two,her short legs forcing her to give up on the game of tag.
"You seem... Melancholy today.. Ichigo." Chad muttered, placing the umbrella into the ground beside the chairs.
Ichigo looked to his friend. "Yeah I suppose I am."
Chad shrugged. "You should know that nothing will change between any of us. we're all bound not only in our secret lives, but by our hearts."
Ichigo looked out across the bleached white expanse of sand and then to the ocean, clear blue under the midday sun.
"Every time we think of one another, every time we save a life, every time we talk... a it's like we've thrown a drop of water into a glass. Over time the glass fills and no matter how hard you try to find which drop of water came from who... they're so much alike, so mixed.. that you can't really put them back in the right place. Because they've made their home in that glass."
Ichigo smiled. "I suppose you're right. Even if the water is shared with another person, it still retains the pieces of the people it came from. No matter where we go, we're sill connected, because we've left an impression in one another."
Chad nodded, standing up. "We'll always be friends, not just you and I, but all of us.. Uryuu, Orihime, Rukia, Mizurio, Keigo, Tatsuki, Chizuru, all of us stay connected."
Ichigo nodded. "I guess so."
"Don't be so melancholy, Ichigo," Chad stated, "not on such a good day."
Ichigo shrugged and walked off. Chad knew Ichigo would take his advice, even if he never said so.
Ichigo took off in a run down the sandy white beach, headed towards Rukia. The ground burnt up his feet as he ran and he felt a sweat breaking out, but he could hear clearly the sound of his own laughter. This noise was almost foreign at times, but as of late he had heard it more and more often. He supposed he owed all that to Rukia, she drew them all together in one moment.
Rukia spun around at the sound of his laughter, her eyes wide with horror. "I-Ichigo?"
She was tackled to the ground, the hot sand searing her back slightly. She cracked open an eye and blushed open seeing a grinning Ichigo leaning over her.
"I-Ichigo?" She muttered once more, placing her hands on his chest so he'd keep his distance.
He laughed and fell to the ground next to her. Still laughing. Rukia sat up and looked at the laughing teen.
"I think I broke Ichigo!" She cried, leaning over him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her on top of him. She blushed as he wrapped his arms around her, still laughing. "I-Ichigo!" He let go still laughing and sat up as soon as Rukia got off. "Whatis wrong with you?"
Ichigo took in a deep breath. "I just realised that I've never had friends as good as you guys. As long as I remember that, I'll always hold you dear to me... no matter how far away we split from one another, I know that we'll see each other again, and that our feelings will remain the same."
Rukia smiled. "So why'd you tackle me to the ground? I'm not leaving?"
Ichigo shrugged. "I felt like it."
Renji rolled his eyes. "Get at room."
Rukia blushed. "Baka."
Ichigo stood up and dusted the sand from his pants before extending his hand out to Rukia. She took it gratefully and he pulled her swiftly into his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. He leant in and breathed against her ear. "Maybe we should take his advice ne?"
Rukia pushed back laughing. "Pervert, let go!"
Ichigo laughed and tossed Rukia over his shoulder, who kicked and screamed in protest.
"PERVERT!"
Keigo grinned. "Young love."
He set her down gently as Orihime walked back from her chase with Uryuu. "Lunch time!"
Everyone sat down and enjoyed the meal as the sun slowly made it's descent below the water, casting an orange glow on the inhabitants. Rukia sat beside Ichigo, his arm placed across the back of her chair, her hand resting on his leg. Uryuu sat beside Orihime who was excitedly telling him about an idea for a recipe and he was nodding in agreement. Keigo and Mizurio sat side by side, Keigo crying over the fact he'd miss his dear friend. Tatsuki sat beside Renji and Chad telling them about the fight she had gotten into with another girl on the team, both the guys laughing over her triumph.
Ichigo stood, leaving the remnants of his crushed watermelon untouched. Rukia looked up at him in an odd fascination. He shoved his hands in his pockets as the last moments of sunlight dwindled into a black abyss. "I suppose it's time for fireworks..."
Rukia raced to the basket that Keigo had brought, filled tot he brim with fireworks. She claimed an entire box of sparklers before running off with Keigo to light them.
Ichigo took a seat on the sandy shore, the waves occasionally touching his feet. His eyes were cast to the side, watching Rukia dance with the sparklers and Keigo nearly blow himself up. Rukia's smile was always vibrant on nights like this. Nights where the warm summer breeze calmed, where the ocean was gentle, where friends were more important than anything else. Her eyes would light up and she's laugh more easily. It was nights like this that he truly felt alive.
He supposed -at times- that he lived vicariously through her. Because when her eyes lit up upon discovering something new that he had grown to used to... it seemed that everything took on a new light. Because it was new and exciting to her, it was the same for him. It truly made him appreciate all that he had, and everything that seemed everyday... turned into something extraordinary.
Orihime sat beside him, her knees brought up to her chest and her arms resting across them, one hand hanging onto a dying sparkler. The salty sea air blew at her orange locks, making them tangle in the wind. She looked out across the black ocean for a moment before turning to face Ichigo. Her eyes reflected himself and behind him Rukia's laughing as she danced with the sparklers. Orihime smiled softly. "How are you, Kurosaki-kun?"
Ichigo shrugged, turning to look back at the sky. "Good. You?"
Orihime nodded, and he caught it in his peripheral vision. "I'm fine."
Silence passed between the two as the sparkler slowly died in her hands, fading into just an orange glow. "WE don't have much time.." She mused, turning her eyes to the stars. "Like the sparklers, we only have tonight. It seems that after the sun rises, we'll be torn from one another."
Ichigo nodded. "Yeah."
Orihime blushed deeply. "I want to make the most out of tonight. This is the last our, of the last day, of our last summer."
Ichigo shrugged.
Orihime looked to him for a moment. "You should really tell her."
Ichigo looked down for the first time in minutes. "What?"
Orihime looked at the slowly fading heat on the wire. "Tell Rukia. We only have tonight, Ichigo. Let her know before we go. I think some of us don't want to leave and come back to a shock of your two married."
Ichigo blushed. "I have a life ahead of me... school, I'm too busy for romance."
Orihime raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then why is it that you and Rukia are the only one's making efforts to stay here in Karakura?"
Ichigo shrugged. "A promise, we made... two months before school got out. I promised that I would stay, if she stayed with me."
Orihime nodded. "There was once a time, where I dreamt of making those promises with you."
Ichigo turned to her, his amber eyes wide. "really?"
Orihime laughed. "Of course, why else would I have kissed you that one time in our Junior year? Why else would I have fought along side you to save Rukia? I mean I love Rukia, but over all I really just wanted you to be happy. Over time I realised that I could never be happy with you.. and you could never really be happy with me. I opened my eyes and I saw Uryuu had always been beside me, even when I was carelessly pining after you. He seemed to always be there to pick up the pieces, like you have for Rukia.. and Vis versa."
Ichigo sighed, leaning back on his hands. "You really think I should?"
Orihime nodded.
Ichigo stood, dusting off his pants. He silently walked the few yards to where Rukia stood with her sparkler. Orihime watched as Ichigo took her by the shoulders and whispered something in her ear before pulling back and crushing his lips against hers while he dipped her slightly. The sparkler in her hand slipped and fell to the ground burning out in the wet sand. Time was out.
They no longer had the last minute, of the last hour, of the last day, of their last summer.
But with each end there was a new beginning.
Ishida took a seat in the sand next to Orihime, his hand gently resting atop hers, fingering the silver band and diamond on herring finger, their eyes connecting.
Tomorrow, or rather, today they would set off all around the world. What they had learned from each other, in the few years they had been friends, would be taught to those they would meet in their travels.
Renji snorted at Ichigo's insane displays of affection as Tatsuki did like wise.
They would meet again in the future, and tell over exaggerated tales of their adventures. They would share their hopes and dreams once more.
Ichigo released Rukia and looked deeply into her midnight eyes. "I love you."
And the bond that kept them tied to one another, would remain just as strong as it was that night.
The last moment
The last hour
The last day
Their last summer.
A summer they would always recall as the summer they realised how much they truly mattered to one another.
The summer they became a family.
A/N: When I first came up with this idea it was intended to my Fanfiction "Friends" but I laced in some past chapter references so I guess I have to put it in here. But I think it melds nicely in here.
Upon the first paragraph of the chapter I hit a startling revlation that the cast of Bleach has grown to look more and more like a family and less like a group of buddies. By the end -excluding the romance- I realised that I had basically written about how I feel about my friends myself. I feel like over the past few months we've grown so close we're nearly family. Chantel in particular has become like a sister to me. So yeah this chapter holds something dear to me in the words. And I hope that as you read this you realise how much friends are worth.
I know because until just recently... I never had friends that felt this much like family.
