Author's Note: Firstly, I want to thank every reader (Guest inclusive) who has reviewed Chapters. It has been a tough 24 Chapters (Inclusive of this Chapter) for all of you. And, I wouldn't even have the courage to come to Chapter 24 without all of your support. :3 It's coming to the end of the first arc and I know that we have had our conflicts of viewpoints and pacing of Chapters, but all of you has never gave up on me and has stayed. Words cannot express how grateful I am. :3 I can only hope all of you continue staying for the rest of the 4 arcs. :3 Once again, I thank all of you. :3 Enjoy the last Chapter of Rukia Tachibana Arc! :3
Guest - Hm... It looks like everybody, inclusive of Guest, has the idea that Katsura went to Ichigo's bedroom for sex. :3 Why do I have this feeling you want something bad to happen to either Rukia or Ichigo? D: Although, you must know, although Rukia hates Ichigo and had a cold war in the previous Chapter, she is kind, whole reason Isshin had chosen her anyway, you have to know she's kind and if Ichigo does have amnesia, she would help him, you know that, right? XD And, let's say if your assumption is right, she would feel torn between Ichigo and her new love. You sure you still want Rukia to suffer through that? XD
reesen555 - I can only say Isshin is too delusional. Hm... Well... I shall stay silent. You think that Katsura is in Ichigo's bedroom because of sex... Hm.. Okay. I honestly expected that answer. Rather than saying having a soft side for Ichigo, it is because I was met with such a problem. I felt that a particular of a guy is so bad that I don't care about him anymore, wanting him to die and going against everything that he has spoken (Even if what he spoke are true) because he is irredeemable to me. Yet, amazingly, writing this story has given me another viewpoint. That man is a lot alike Ichigo, not as worse but to me, my viewpoint is fixated on him. That is why, when I wrote this story, as an author, I would naturally want people to like my characters, especially when I am a IchiRuki fan but when I see reviews of people possibly hating him or not caring about him, (Eh, not that it's wrong. I mean, he does treat Rukia wrong but I mean his mindset) I see a little bit of myself in all of you and feels bad for what I am fixating on him, you get what I mean? :3 Especially when you have given up on Ichigo but Ichigo... How should I say it? Ichigo treats Rukia like a jerk but... Eh, it's not up to me to prove anything anyway. Let Ichigo prove that to you. :3
Ichirukitrash4ever - I gotta admit, you are a clever Reader but there's something I have to disagree with you. Emotionally burdened? From what I know, those who are kind loves helping people so how would it e emotionally burdening? You might have to enlighten me on that. :3 Why not we put it this way? Let's go through the History of this story before the circumstances, shall we? Aizen harrassed Rukia for a whole of 3 Chapters and I allowed Aizen to have his retribution because Aizen know Rukia's place, Rukia's name and is disrupting her future. Toshiro harmed Rukia by using her to get fame for the art gallery but I did come back to that as well, having Rukia set Toshiro up for a gallery. I don't necessarily think every scene of the story would have to affect the next scene because I said I am not sure whether my muse would bring him back in future and I crossed my fingers. :3 Next, circumstances. The said 'Molester' has no information on Rukia whatsoever, just that she has a husband. Abandoning the fact that Rukia is not one to tell Ichigo Kurosaki of her troubles, up until now anyway (Also because Rukia is a virgin and she is still in shock, of course), do you expect the 'Molester' to just miraculously be nabbed when nobody knows of his existence? :3 That's a question I wanna ask you. :3 If I am writing this story on how Rukia mainly suffers (That is a main aspect of the story but not the entire story itself), would I have written the aspect where she felt accomplished setting up the art gallery for Toshiro? It was only a tiny Chapter but she was happy, you can't deny. :3 Well... I am not treating it personally, I just love debating with people.who have different viewpoints than me, honestly. :3 It's always a joy to view how others think. :3 Would this turbulence be brushed off, you would have to read to know since this is the last Chapter of this arc. :3
Guest - I an glad to have someone who hoped that Katsura wasn't having sex with Ichigo. :3 Yeah, that is a good suggestion, we will see if that happens. :3 I will also look forward to the time where Rukia will be happy once again. :3
Disclaimer: I neither own Bleach nor its characters. :3
Cracking her eyes open, Rukia immediately felt a searing pain on her leg. Her right one, to be exact. Her hand reached towards the pain, feeling something wet and Rukia knew that it had to be blood. Knowing she needed to focus on her surroundings rather than on her injuries, all the memories came back to her. Apparently, she wasn't inside the plane anymore as her head was staring directly at the sky. She gazed at her surroundings and it became clear to her that although the jet was beside her, she was currently located on a beach. "H-Hello?" Rukia called out, her tone unable to hide the pain and fear that she had felt. She was on her back, afraid to move for fear of worsening the damage. Watching the Doctor Shows on TV, she knew that shock had a way of masking the pain one felt. Rukia pushed herself up onto her elbows, really having a look around the area. She hadn't seen anybody near her, or rather, nobody was in sight. What she had seen was the plane, monstrous in size up close, which she had been really lucky. If she had fallen 5 feet closer... Peering down at her leg, she knew she would have to take care of that herself, especially if she was alone out here. Back home, she was always the one to take care of Shuuhei and Yumichika when they were sick or needed to be rushed to the ER from a sports injury. Having seen her fair share of stitches, Rukia knew the drills. And, judging from the incision on her thighs, she knew that she would be needing stitches as well. Taking her long-sleeved T-shirt off, she wrapped it around her thighs, forming a tourniquet and reminding herself to have it stitched later. Knowing that there were 4 other people in the flight, Rukia knew that waiting wouldn't have solved anything. Realizing that they had to be somewhere around here, Rukia stood up and started limping, searching for any survivors. As Rukia took the first limp, it had hurt. It was as if every step she took, knives were penetrating inside her wound but she couldn't be the only one in danger, she knew that much. Despite scared of what she was gonna find in this deserted beach, she prayed that there were no bodies, scratch that, no dead bodies. "Is anyone here?" Rukia called out once more, her voice a sharp contrast against the silence of the island. It was haunting, being on the beach and not seeing a soul. Her cell phone had disappeared and she had neither source of food nor water. She knew that from the health textbooks she had read, a person could go 3 days without water and 30 days without food before succumbing to dehydration or malnutrition. Reassuring herself that she would be out before then, she continued limping. Besides, Ichigo was in the same state as her. Knowing Isshin, he will send a search party. On that note, where's Ichigo? "Ichigo!" Rukia screamed, missing him for the first time in her life. The thought of Ichigo being dead scared Rukia and at the same time, fuelled her determination to find Ichigo. Rukia walked through the trees in the island, weaving in and out of them when she had reached the end of the route, finding more sand and water on the other side. Biting her lips and falling onto the sand, her hands reached for her leg, feeling blood leaking out from the shirt. Gazing around from left to right, she noticed something on the shore a few yards ahead of her. Getting up to her feet, she squinted and tried to make out what it was. Debris from the plane? A tree branch?
She limped closer, her heart speeding up as she saw orange. No, it was neither debris from the plane nor a tree branch. It was Ichigo Kurosaki! She ran, ignoring the pain in her leg and the caution in her mind. Before she could have stopped herself, her hands were on Ichigo, rolling him over. His back was on the sand, his face ashen. He had a massive bump on his forehead and a lesion next to it. His eyed were closed, his lips dry as a desert. "Ichigo... No... Don't scare me..." He looked dead and as Rukia tried to feel a pulse on his neck, she couldn't find one with her hands shaking too badly for fear of Ichigo dying. Putting her cheeks right up to his lips, Rukia waited to feel a breath, or rather, anything from Ichigo, a hint that he is alive. She had felt it then -- The slightest and shallowest breath in the world but it was there. "Thank God, Thank God..." She said, getting to work. Running to the water, she ripped a piece of her camisole off and dipped it into the sea. After wringing out the fabric, she ran back to Ichigo. Crawling beside him seeing that he was still unmoving, Rukia used the damp fabric to wipe the blood off his forehead. Scanning Ichigo for the rest of his injuries, Rukia noticed that Ichigo's left arm looked kind of ajar. Feeling over his sweater that he had worn to the plane, Rukia came to the conclusion that the collarbone was dislocated. Ripping another piece of her camisole, this time a bigger piece, she made a sling and wrapped it around Ichigo.
Katsura, the stewardess on the private jet, was used to keeping Ichigo company in the bedroom. It wasn't sexual or anything -- Their clothes had never came off even once. Katsura would lie with him until Ichigo had fallen asleep, making sure Ichigo had enough bourbon and Xanax to last the flight. Ichigo had never liked planes even though planes were a part of his lifestyle. Something about being out of control so high up, putting the entire wellbeing of himself into the hands of a near stranger with less schooling and less money than him had made him uncomfortable. Everything was going good or as good as it could have been going given that he was on his way to a honeymoon with a woman he had loathed. A woman he had been having inappropriate intimate dreams about, but still a woman he was supposed to loathe nevertheless. Opening a bottle of Johnny Blue, Katsura had handed Ichigo a double dose of Xans in regards of the flight's duration and Ichigo had fallen asleep right then. Thankful for the fact that he hadn't dreamed, he woke up a few hours later, finding Katsura's hand wrapping around him protectively, like a Sister. Ichigo had smiled then, feeling the comfort a nice gesture. That was when he had felt it, the plane dipping. Knowing that wasn't supposed to happen in planes, Ichigo nudged Katsura. "Hey, what's happening?" Ichigo could still feel the pills in his system but they weren't doing much to keep the edge off at this point.
"Probably just turbulence." Katsura had said, her tone of voice heavy with sleep. Yet, it wasn't enough to convince Ichigo because he knew a turbulence wouldn't make you feel like you were freefalling from the sky, just like a rollercoaster ride. Ichigo stared at Katsura, mouth wide open, unwilling to admit how fucking scared he was. Katsura's widening of eyes had made Ichigo fear more. "I'm sure it's fine." Katsura had said, as if to reassure Ichigo but as they went down the next moment, Katsura screamed. Both Ichigo and Katsura clutched each other, eyes wide open, going all the way down. The last thing that Ichigo had remembered was him free-falling from the sky. He had hit something hard at that moment and it had all went black.
Feeling something on his face, so cool and gentle, Ichigo had tried to open his eyes but something was stopping them from opening. He could feel the sun shining on him but he had no fucking idea where he was. Successfully opening his eyes for a crack, Ichigo saw a woman's face. She was bringing something to Ichigo's head and Ichigo felt the damp thing rubbing his forehead in the gentlest way possible. It was like the woman had knew what Ichigo had needed without Ichigo having to say anything. Ichigo tried thanking her, but Ichigo's throat was not letting the words come out of his lips. "Mmmm..."
"Ssh..." The woman had said, rubbing the damp cloth over his lips, giving them a little bit of moisture. "You are okay." The woman had said. Who was she? Had Ichigo died and go to Heaven? Was the one tending to him an angel? He tried to open his eyes more but everything was still blurry to Ichigo. He had known he was on sand and he had also known there was a ocean nearby, he had seen it out of the window when they were plummeting down. "How's your arm?" The woman asked and the minute she had asked, Ichigo felt an urgent ache in his shoulder. Right hand going to the source of the pain which was his left side, Ichigo winced, feeling the loose collarbone. Hearing him wince, she grabbed onto his right hand. "Here, get your neck off the ground, I will help you." With that, her hands came underneath Ichigo and helped lift him off the ground and before Ichigo knew what she was doing, he had felt some sort of fabric being secured around him and under his arm. "This is going to hurt..." The woman had said. "...But I promise it will be over quick."
"Mmm...?" Ichigo was confused as the woman put a hand on top of his collarbone. It wasn't till a pop sound indicating that the collarbone was back to its rightful place that Ichigo knew what she was doing. Wow, that had hurt more than expected was Ichigo's only thought as a tear dripped down from the shock of the pain.
"I'm sorry..." She had said, using the moist cloth to wipe the tear away. As she bent closer to Ichigo, Ichigo racked his brain for a name because he had found her familiar. He was trying to figure out who she was, this woman who was helping him, who was treating his injuries without him asking. "I'm glad you are okay." She said then and Ichigo saw one of her hands reaching out for her leg, with blood pooling around a deep cut on her thigh. It had looked painful and Ichigo couldn't believe how this woman was acting as if the wound was nonexistent at all. "I know we have... Our differences. But, I just can't imagine being here alone..." Ichigo blinked a few times, getting a clearer image of who this woman was. Her black hair, the way her pale skin glistened under the sun's rays, it was more than familiar to Ichigo. But, as Ichigo saw her violet gaze that was laced with kindness, when he had felt her fingers stroking her face, it was as if Ichigo was seeing Rukia for the first time.
"Thank -- "
A cough interrupted Ichigo and Rukia cupped his chin. "Shh, don't talk yet, it's okay. Get some rest."
Rukia looked around towards the water and Ichigo moved his hand slowly, until it had reached her hand on her wounded leg. Knowing that he wouldn't have been able to speak even if he tried, he squeezed Rukia's hand, hoping that she had felt his gratitude. Refusing to think what would even have happened to him if Rukia hadn't been there, he was very grateful and thankful to Rukia. Feeling Ichigo's hands on hers, Rukia squeezed back and gave Ichigo the warmest smile he had ever seen. It had all came back to Ichigo then: This woman, who had been treating him so kindly, was the woman he spent so long hating and terrorizing. And, here she was, nursing him, overlooking the fact that she had her own injuries as well. Had he mistaken an angel for a devil?
Knowing the sun was going to set soon, Rukia left Ichigo in the sand to try and find food. Rukia had known she had needed to get some sustenance into him and if she could find some materials to stitch her own leg up, that would be helpful as well. Rukia had also known her only source of food was either the forest or the ocean. Whatever might have been in the plane before it crashed was now ash, just like most of the plane itself. Aside from the bare-bones structure of the vehicle, there was absolutely nothing. She gazed around, surveying her options. The forest looked like it could have housed different types of animals but knowing her leg, there wasn't a flight or fight option if the animals hadn't taken well to being eaten. Rukia definitely wasn't looking forward to being eaten by animals in a deserted island, thank you very much. Turning to the second option, Rukia limped to the sea when she turned back to see Ichigo in the same position as he was before, his left arm shielding his face from the sun. Rukia had never seen Ichigo so helpless before and she had to admit, part of her kind of liked seeing this human side of Ichigo. When Ichigo was in pain or injured, she had felt that Ichigowas just like the rest of them. Shifting her attention from Ichigo and wading into the water, Rukia liked the way the cool water had splashed onto her calves. All of the sand that had stuck itself onto her ankles came off the seconds she had walked into the waves, Rukia feeling instantly clean. Realizing that if she was going to catch any fish as a food source, she was gonna have to go deeper and get a weapon. Travelling back to the shore, she found the nearest tree and picked off the nearest branch that was the nearest to her head, scraping its end against the tree until it was passable sharp. Undoing her jeans and slipping then off, Rukia would rather have a dry piece of clothing if it got cold at night, thank you very much. Armed with the makeshift spear, Rukia headed back for the water. As soon as the saltwater had stung her gash, she had cried out, feeling pain like never before. It was a different kind of pain to Rukia though. A type of pain that made her feel free, a type of pain that hadn't required her to hide what she was going through. After the pain subsided, she ducked her head into the water. Located at the seafloor as Rukia swam deeper, there were seaweeds, rocks and some tiny fish that moved faster than Rukia could have reacted. Not knowing what she was expecting anyway, there was nothing for both Ichigo and Rukia to eat. A bit further now, unable to touch the ground with her feet any longer, she saw a boat up ahead and flailed her arms, beginning to cry for help. Alas, waves splashing over her and water entering her mouth in gulps made the attempt unsuccessful. Coughing, she knew she had to get back to the shore since she had doubted that, with her injured leg, she wouldn't have been able to get to the boat in time and it wasn't just her in this island, Ichigo was in a more critical condition than her. Making her mind up, she swam back to the shore once more until her feet could have felt the sand beneath her before standing on her tiptoes and screaming once more. "HEY! OVER HERE! HELP!" The boat hadn't came any closer than before and it lasted for a full 10 seconds, with Rukia waving her hands above her head and screaming out but to no avail. As Rukia watched the boat taking off towards the horizon, she sighed, feeling defeated. Just then, she felt something hit her foot and without any hesitation, she dove, her face inches away from the ocean floor's sand, her spear poised, seeing a fish the size of a grown man's palm. She instantly stabbed at it, the spear going through its little body. As she resurfaced, she felt a sense of newfound accomplishment. She had found food, for the both of them, just by herself! Holding her spear like a trophy, she headed back for the shore.
His whole body was pulsating with a distinct kind of pain, the pain from waking up after a night of heavy partying and hearing every organ inside of you complaining the very next morning. Apparently, his whole body had felt the weight of the crash. Feeling the sun-rays coming down on him strongly, he had rolled onto his good shoulder to angle himself better against the breeze. The cool wind hitting his face, it had almost relaxed Ichigo. Keyword: Almost. He was gazing out at the ocean when he saw a figure emerging out of the water. Not just any figure, but Rukia's figure. His wife's figure, almost entirely exposed. He squinted, trying to make out what she was wearing. He saw the top of her tank top since the bottom was ripped off to make a sling for him, and some panties. Wait, that was all she was wearing? Even though Ichigo had known it was wrong for him to be looking at Rukia in such a way when their lives were in danger and without her knowing, he couldn't tear his eyes away. As if on cue, the dream had came back to him -- Rukia Tachibana in various stages of undress, of her pleading with Ichigo for more. Shaking those thoughts away, Ichigo knew he had needed to get it together. Rukia was taking care of him for goodness' sake! The least he could do is treat her with respect, especially after the way he had treated her for so long and 'Respect' in this sense excludes those dirty thought of his! Watching Rukia grabbing her jeans and putting it on before proceeding towards Ichigo, Ichigo closed his eyes, pretending to be resting. "I'm back. And, look what I got!" Ichigo opened his eyes to gaze at... A tree branch with a sharp end? Ichigo was mildly impressed at the thought of Rukia sharpening it by herself and on the sharpened edge was a fish. "Are you hungry?"
"How did you..."
"It wasn't too hard." Rukia smiled. "I'm good with my hands. Tou-San taught me how to fix cars when I was young. After that, fixing about anything else became easy." Ichigo's thoughts had drifted back to the time where the Bentley had broken down and Ikkaku telling him a random woman stopping to help him fix it. Could it be...? Before he could have thought more of that incident, Rukia had already torn off a piece of the fish, handing it to Ichigo. "I know it's not exactly Fillet Mignon but you need to eat something. Please."
Allowing Rukia to feed him the first piece of the fish, he gazed at Rukia and before he knew it, the whole fish was devoured by Rukia feeding him and not taking any for herself. "What about you?"
"Don't worry about me." He went out of his way to make her life harder than usual, why was she treating him with such kindness? Who was she? Wasn't she Rukia Tachibana, a gold-digging slut who had conned Isshin and wiggled her way to his life? If that was who she was, wouldn't it be in her favor to let Ichigo die and taking the money all for herself? Ichigo certainly would have done it if it was him. Instead, she was tending to his injuries and feeding him fish that she had caught for herself? It had felt surreal to Ichigo, as if she was an angel being placed beside him for a reason. Attempting to sit up by himself with Rukia seeing his struggles and helping him, he touched the back of his hand to his forehead and felt moisture. "It's sweat, not blood." Rukia had said, seemingly reading his mind. "Are you hot? Do you want to take that off?" Ichigo nodded and Rukia assisted to pull off Ichigo's sweater that had no place on an island, well, on a beach with sun shining on him like the fucking desert, that is. Rukia stood behind Ichigo for a moment after that and Ichigo had felt her gaze on his back. Particularly, on his scar. "What happened?"
Ichigo lowered his gaze, he knew this wasn't the best time to think about it, he hadn't needed another reminder of pain since he had plenty already. But, Ichigo had wanted to answer Rukia, to give Rukia something after all that she had done for him. "I was in a car accident."
"Recently?"
Ichigo shook his head. "A year ago."
Ichigo was looking at the sand now, picking up the sand and watching it fall. Rukia came back around, watching Ichigo play with the sand, simply being an observer and saying nothing else. They sat there in silence for what felt like hours, getting to know each other through words that they hadn't said.
The Ichigo Kurosaki in front of Rukia Tachibana was a different Ichigo. A Ichigo that thanked her, a Ichigo that had smiled at her, a Ichigo that answered her in full sentence without a hint of sarcasm. It was as if Ichigo had became a different person after the plane had crashed. Either that, or he had seen Rukia as a completely different person, that is. They were sitting in the same spot on the sand, letting the easy silence take over as the sun was setting. The temperature had dropped a little but not by much and Rukia, for the first time, had felt comfortable by Ichigo's side, as if she had nothing to worry about. She knew that by the morning, there would be a cause to worry but for now, she was at peace. Kind of at peace, anyway. She laid on her back now, counting the stars in the sky and that was when she had heard it. It was getting closer and closer but she had recognized the sound instantly. A helicopter. It was too dark for her to see anything but judging from the sounds... She woke up Ichigo. "Ichigo, hey, wake up. They are here for us." Ichigo woke up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looked around. Few moments later, a helicopter landed near the destroyed jet. Helping Ichigo up, they limped towards the jet together. A man in military-looking outfit was inspecting the outside of the jet when he heard them calling out to him. "WE ARE HERE!"
He turned to them. "Kurosaki-San?"
"YES!" Rukia shouted, overcoming with relief that somebody had picked them up. When they had gotten to him, he called to another man on board the helicopter, assisting both of them up. They were then seat-belted into the leathered seats and given massive headphones to minimize the sound. A huge blanket was thrown across Rukia and another over Ichigo.
Rukia gazed at Ichigo and Ichigo gazed back at Rukia, none of them saying anything. "Alrighty, folks. We are ready, we will get you home safe."
"What about the others? Are they..."
"They were found on a different island, a few miles away. They must have been thrown from the plane and are on their way to the hospital as we speak."
Rukia allow a sigh of relief to escape her lips right there and then. At the very least, everyone was okay. Soon, the helicopter was taking off, flying them back into sky that had let them go hours ago. Under the weight of the blanket, Rukia had felt Ichigo's hand sliding into hers and squeezing it. Rukia sighed before turning to Ichigo. "I hate flying."
"Me too." Ichigo had answered.
Turning to look out the window beside her, Rukia didn't know what life was going to be like for her when they returned to Japan, Rukia didn't know whether Ichigo would go back to being the monster that chastised her at every turn or whether they would keep holding hands, like what they were doing now. All Rukia had known at that very moment was that she had liked being there for Ichigo, taking care of him and helping him feel okay. And maybe, just maybe, Isshin was right after all, that there was more to Ichigo Kurosaki than meet the eye.
Author's Note: We have come to the end of Rukia Tachibana Arc and I will focus on planning and writing the 2nd arc. :3 It looks like Katsura was simply there to accompany Ichigo. :3 I said before, Ichigo has a lot of misconceptions towards Rukia so for their relationship to even progress, I had to remove those misconceptions and this is my way of doing it. Ichigo sees Rukia in a different light now. They hadn't exactly fallen in love but it is a step in their relationship, no? A major big step. :3 It isn't exactly how people would have wanted, I'm sure but I feel happy because this Chapter is full of Ichigo and Rukia's interaction. :3 I also got to write from Ichigo's viewpoint so I like it as well. :3