Her eyes darkened and welled with as many tears as there were raindrops falling from the hazy sky. She looked at the product of her own judgement gone wrong as she lay the body down for its final rest. She turned her back on what was once her truest friend as she picked up her pace to a run, trying as hard as she could to escape from her harsh new reality. Why did I do it? She thought to herself. The memory was vague, as if something had taken over her very being just to make her feel such pain. She closed her eyes and forced herself to call up the images of what was the only moment in her life she would ever regret…
- FLASHBACK TO MOMENTS AGO -
He was standing in the open field, waiting for her to show up. He had that same pissed off look on his face that she came to see as his trademark appearance. When he turned to great her, his face changed, as if he was wearing the mask of the Hollow once again. He moved his lips as he clutched his abdomen in fear and pain. "Rukia…" Her eyes became focused again, turning back to that deep purple colour he had grown used to seeing every day. He held on to her arm, and she looked down to see what had happened. She screamed in a mixture of frustration and agony as she tried to remove the poison tipped dagger lodged in his bleeding wound.
She rushed him to the side of a crystal clear river, all the while holding back her tears as he gasped breathing just to hold on to life; just so that he could tell her what he really thought of her company, her face. "Do not die. I won't let you die! Please! Don't leave me alone in the world!" she forced the words out of her mouth as he lifted a heavy arm to silence her. "Rukia…why…I forgive you…not you…" and he fell silent again. She let out a heart wrenching scream that tore apart her lungs and her heart. She remembered something. An angry face, a spell, instructions…. An angry face, a spell, instructions; Byakuya? She said a silent prayer for her lost love, knowing now that she could never express her true feelings.
END OF FLASHBACK –
With a whispered "I love you…" she took the dagger from the ground, said her final goodbyes, and plunged the tip of it into her heart. She fell to lie beside him on the grassy forest floor, her eyes becoming unfocused for the final time. She couldn't feel it, but before he took his last breath, Ichigo clasped her hand in his, whispering his final farewell. "I love you, too."