something they can live with: 20 facts about ichigo and rukia
Co-written with Silverlight/Eve
(Written for LJ: 20 souls)
01. Ichigo lets Rukia sleep in his closet because that's the only place in the mortal world he trusts her to not blow up.
02. She hated him for a while, at first, seeing his raw, untamed power go wasted while she watched, helpless, powerless. But she was a shinigami and hate was inefficient. She got over it. (That was when she learned how important discipline really could be.)
03. Ichigo and Rukia would die for one another. Just not live for one another.
04. Ichigo hates but is thankful for Rukia coming into his life. His conscience and mother can now rest in peace, even if he never gets another good night's rest ever again.
05. Fiction: The nights after Rukia leaves, Ichigo dreams about her.
06. Fact: He dreams about his mother for the first time in four years instead.
07. If they had never met in the mortal world, Rukia would have been Ichigo's mentor in at the Academy.
08. Rukia is the one who explains to Ichigo that Orihime is in love with him. She tied him to a chair and drew diagrams to make sure he got the point.
09. Fact: What Ichigo didn't know he needed until he met Rukia: The realisation that some people were crazier and weirder and more screwed than he would ever be.
10. What Rukia didn't know she needed until she met Ichigo: Sometimes the simplest answers were the the hardest. They were also the only ones that really worked.
11. They do not need each other beyond the knowledge that they are still alive.
12. Fiction: Ichigo is jealous of Renji. Rukia is jealous of Orihime. They are in denial about this, of course.
13. Fact: Ichigo is a two-minute man. Rukia swears that she does not know this.
14. Fiction: Ichigo swears never to drink again even as he drags a pregnant Rukia to the wedding chapel.
15. Fiction: They pray that their future kids never become shinigami.
16. When Rukia returns to Soul Society, she does not miss Ichigo so much as she misses listening to someone breathe through the night and knowing she's not the only one with nightmares.
17. Fact: She's a bitch and he's a jerk and that's okay because the last thing they ever wanted from each other was kindness.
18. Ichigo does not remind Rukia of Kaien. His hair is too bright, his scowl too omnipresent and smile nonexistent.
19. Now he knows: Masaki's death was not his fault. He also knows: It's not his mother that'll be waiting for him when he dies. It's Rukia
20. They are not pieces of a puzzle that fit together; she's an edge piece and he's a middle piece, but some smartass thought it would be a funny idea to take a knife, shave off her protruding joint and try to fit her with Ichigo. They still haven't forgiven Providence (or Urahara) for doing that.
end
December 2005
