timeline A sometime-in-the-future fic. When everything is nicely resolved (or so I like to think.) General Soul Society spoilers.
pairings InoueIshida…kinda…if you want to read it like that…implied IchigoRukia, because I love them like that.
warnings Inoue being…thinkative. (is that a word? Nevermind.) She's being too moody-ish…Uhm, the missing quotaton marks are supposed be like that. Uh…yeah. Trying something new again. Please review.
GratitudeThis is for a thank-you she tells him stubbornly and a little harshly, but things change, and she's seen the dark side of things now, and her smiles are not so carefree anymore. None of theirs are, and as she tells him, she tries not to remember Kurosaki-kun's eyes as he looked at her and thanked her as well, and she remembers more or less ignoring him, fussing over his wounds, and chatting brightly to other people. (She allows herself to cry later, and wonder if the Shun Shun Rikka can mend broken hearts.) It is the last time he thanks her, and while she knows that he knows, she still does nothing about it.
She wants to make it clear that she has no feelings for him. All of hers are wrapped up in Kurosaki-kun, wrapped in pain and forced smiles, and even though she's smart enough (in school at least, and Tatsuki-chan wasn't the only one that was proud) to know when something is hopeless, she still isn't wise enough to learn to let go yet. And she is polite, and manners dictate that there are measures to be taken to show your gratitude.
She does not meet his eyes as she holds it out to him, instead focusing on an eyebrow, and the tint of light reflecting in his glasses.
He is shocked speechless and looks down at the gift, then up at her, then down at the gift again.
Take it, she orders, and he pushes up his glasses to buy time.
Why did you—he starts, and Ichigo, traveling down the hallway, not-so-subtly kicks him in passing, and with equal subtlety, flashes her a thumbs up. She smiles brightly back at him, and when he turns his back she lets her face fall, and she looks down to observe her gift mournfully. –OW you bastard, he finishes, I mean…thank you Inoue-san.
She looks very carefully at the figure at the retreating boy's side, and as if feeling her gaze, Kuchiki-san turns around, and smiles at her. She smiles back, and reminds herself to breathe. After all, this was the girl that Kurosaki-kun risked death for, a girl that meant more to him than life here. She knows the mechanics of giving things up, and of loss, and it could have been a lot worse—they could have died, but that thought doesn't lessen the pain. She wants to move on and forget and to smile for real when she sees them together.
It's for all that you've done for me, she announces loudly, and then in hushed tones, not wanting to promote any other messages like the ones that Kurosaki-kun probably thought this was all about, and in Soul Society too. She remembers laughing together, and forgotten pasts, and he really was a sweet guy. She remembers pretending that she was the one being rescued, and right now, she pretends again.
Please take it, she adds, seeing that he needs an extra prod, and shoves the gift into his hands.
He handles it gingerly, still shocked, and she shifts from foot to foot, wishing she knew what to say.
He mumbles something under his breath, and she snaps to attention, tossing away old memories and old wounds. What?
He looks up and looks her in the eyes, and somehow, past that, as he always does, and she sees the look of pain still rests in his own, and she knows with sudden clarity that he has been following her gaze all along, and says, this time louder, I'm sorry Inoue-san.
And her heart breaks again.
end
end-notes Hey lookie! No after the end-but-not-really sentence-thing! Whee! (Ivy is trying too many new things at once… -.-;;) Yeah I didn't feel one would fit here. You know to run when Ivy gets 'feelings' about things… Please review anyways.