BLEACH
Summary: To prevent the same thing from happening again, Rukia makes a choice.
Warning:
Spoilers for Rukia's backstory (from the Soul Society arc).
She hadn't noticed their similarities at first. Yes, this boy was loud and brash and rude, just like he was, but weren't all humans like that?
She wasn't expecting it, and so it hit her hard. He looked up at the Hollow with the exact same expression on his face. He was angry, he was bent on revenge, he was despairing over his loved ones -- and he was scared. He was scared that he couldn't protect the ones that he loved, that he wasn't strong enough, that he would fail, and that it would all be for nothing.
She never thought she would see that kind of look on anyone's face again. She never hoped to. And she never wanted to relive what had happened afterward.
And so she made a mistake, one that any novice shinigami would never dream of doing. She lunged straight in front of the attacking Hollow in order to save his life -- and almost got bitten in half for her trouble.
When her vision stopped blurring from the pain, she saw the boy looking back at her. She remembered that look. It was the look of self-sacrifice. And then she knew it would end just like it did the first time. The Hollow would consume the orange-haired boy with the ridiculously strong reiatsu. And then he would be strong enough to control it just for a moment. And in that moment, she would have to take another life. She would have blood spilling on her hands again. She would be thanked again for killing him.
She didn't want it to end that way. And so she made a choice.
Just before she made it, she wanted to know who this boy was, in case things went wrong. She wanted to know a little bit about him -- and maybe figure out why he was just like Kaien-dono -- before they both died. She knew she couldn't live through that pain a second time if her gamble failed. And so when he called her a shinigami, she corrected him, and replied with her name.
He introduced himself as well. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo."
For the second time -- but for an entirely different reason -- she plunged her zanpakutou into a body she never meant to kill. She hoped this time things would turn out differently.
Originally written in writersfunk. Any comments and criticisms are much appreciated.