Author's Notes: Spoilers up to manga chapter 176. Watch out for Ichigo's potty mouth. XDXD
Inertia
Move, damn it.
But he can't and he knows that if he tries he's going to die faster. There's a numbness in his abdomen that speaks of the cold-ringed edges of something fatal. Despite this, he somehow manages to lift his head, panting desperately as his eyes find her there, in the clutches of that damned Captain that Ichigo aches to defeat more than anyone else. He's holding her in front of him, her small body limp against his hold on the collar around her neck.
She is still a prisoner.
And he can only watch, half in terror, half in rage, as the traitor speaks calm words reeking of betrayal and secrets and so much fucking ignorance that he wants to scream for him to stop. The look in Rukia's eyes is killing him, they're wide and shimmering as if she's come to some sudden realization, standing on a cliff of the heart and looking over the edge to find there's no bottom. Ichigo orders his body to get up. Get up!
But he can't, and his fingers dig painfully into the ground. He's never been able to save anyone. Even Rukia, in her awkward body, so naïve and wise both at once, has protected him in her own way.
"Why…" he chokes, "Why can't I…?"
And he's waking in the cold, bitter rain, his blurry vision resolving into the silent form of his mother's hand in front of his face. It's strange, but in his memory, his mother's hand is perfect, uncalloused, soft, refined, gentle. The hand that holds his as they cross the street and strokes his hair when he cries.
He sits up slowly and the rest of her comes into view, her body tangled in rain water and oh so still. It's so silent there, in the rain. There's no sound.
Not even breathing.
And now he's laying in the rain again, breathing water, as Rukia turns her back on him, hiding those tears from him with an angry voice. She's trying, and so is he, to stand up, to follow her, but his body refuses to rise even though he can hear her getting farther and farther away. He can only watch as she steps through the wooden doors of Soul Society, already so distant he's not even sure she's really there. She looks back only once, right before she disappears and he wants to call out to her, but even his voice fails him.
Instead, he screams her name in his head, brokenly.
"Rukia…!"
All his life, he's never been able to protect the people he cares about. Despite his best efforts, they always get hurt. His mother, Yuzu, Karen, Chad, Inoue… even that damned Quincy… He's dragged them all into this and now…
He grits his teeth.
Now he's just going to lay there while Rukia gets hurt? While she's tossed aside like a useless rag doll?
Fuck that.
All his life, he's never been able to protect the people he cares about. Until now.
"Zangetsu," he says to the shadow at the corner of his eye. "I'm going."
A voice echoes in his head, dark and familiar. "I'm with you."
Ichigo is done with staying still. It's time to move.
The End.