Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. It's property of Tite Kubo.

Author's Note: Hi! Another day, another prompt. But before getting into that, I just wanna say I'm so happy by the way this story has been received. I didn't think a lot of you would be this excited by my new project, but I'm so glad you're digging it so far! Again, I want to thank you all for your support. Thank you for reading and reviewing this collection! I appreciate it.

And now, for today's one-shot we have a timeskip to before this story began. We're now in the middle of the way, in the Royal Realm. So this is about two years before the first one-shot.

I really hope you like this one too!

See ya!

promise

Prompt: crossing blades, crossing hearts

Summary: As their swords clash, their true feelings come to light.

Their swords clash in rapid succession.

The thunderous sound echoes throughout the room.

Rukia takes steady breaths before they collide once more.

Each time their swords meet, she feels a sudden surge of energy rushing through her very soul.

It is almost as if she and her opponent were connected.

But there is no time to wonder about such things.

Training is crucial, and, so, she has to take this session seriously.

When she had woken up in the Soul King Palace, completely healed from her previous injuries, she wouldn't have ever imagined that she would get to train, knowing that time was ticking by and their enemy was fast approaching. Yet here she is. And although nii-sama had told her that she must acquire Bankai, she's not sure how she's even going to achieve such a feat in so little time. After all, it normally takes a Shinigami ten years of rigorous training to get their Bankai. The only Shinigami she knows that had done it in less time was Ichigo, and even then it had taken him three full days.

And speaking of which…

Ichigo is currently forcing her back with another round of attacks.

As always, his form is impeccable and his parries carry all of his strength.

He's not holding back, and Rukia is thankful for that. It means he's not underestimating her. Or worse, attempting to protect her. It shows he trusts her to meet each one of his attacks with one of her own.

It is not easy, though.

Her kenjutsu has never been the best, and though she excels at kidō, now it is not the time to use it. She really needs to focus on her zanpakutō. She needs to trust in her abilities, to trust Sode No Shirayuki, so that she will grant her this new ability she desperately needs if she wants to help defeat the Quincy King.

But try as she might, she can't quite focus on her task.

Her opponent is being very distracting.

It is not his fault at all, though.

Yet Rukia can't keep herself from overanalyzing the situation.

Because when Ichigo had come back to the training grounds, she had immediately noticed that something major had changed.

It is not only in his reiatsu or the fact he has two swords now. There is just something in his gaze and in the way he stands.

There is a surety in him that wasn't there before.

And Rukia can't help but wonder what had transpired in his trip to Karakura or in his inner world that had changed him so.

Ichigo's less a boy and more like a man than ever before.

And the thought is a little scary, quite honestly.

It makes her feel restless.

"Is something the matter?" He suddenly asks, jumping back and relaxing his stance.

Damnit.

Of course he had noticed something was amiss with her.

"Nothing." She replies, keeping her voice neutral. "Let's keep going."

Her opponent nods and attacks her again, but as their fight continues, Rukia cannot keep up with him, and Ichigo can perceive the way she hesitates during each attack.

It is not really her fault that her mind is everywhere but on the fight.

There is so much she wishes to say, to ask, but can't.

And it starts showing in her attacks.

"Ok. Time out." Ichigo says out loud as he stops fighting completely.

"What?!" She exclaims. "We can't stop now! There's much left to do!"

He shakes his head. "Rukia, whenever our swords meet, I can feel how unfocused you are. I know something's bothering you. So we can either keep going without making much progress, or we can talk about it and then resume our training."

Too bad for her that she can't disagree with that.

But inside she curses the fact that her brother and Renji had gone off to train together, and had left her with Ichigo. Because he is so attuned to her reiatsu and her body language, he is instinctively aware when something's not right. And right now Rukia doesn't think it's the time to talk about feelings and changes, much less because she doesn't mean to pry into his life.

And yet…

She can't say no to him.

So she lets him lead her to a secluded corner where they can sit down to talk.

She notes that Ichigo is unusually calm for someone who has been through so much in the last few hours.

It is kind of unnerving, how at ease he seems.

Just what in the world had happened to him?

"So what's wrong?" Ichigo asks her, looking directly into her eyes.

She, instead, looks down and her eyes trace the double Zangetsu, as it rests next to Sode no Shirayuki.

"Ah. You're probably wondering about that." He says as he scratches his neck.

"Look, if you don't want to tell me anything, it's fine. You don't need to go out of your way to tell me something if you don't want me to." She retorts, hoping he would drop the subject.

She has no such luck.

Ichigo sighs and then turns to her. "Rukia, when we first met, you told me you would wait until I was ready to tell you about my mom. Do you remember?"

She blinks in surprise twice before answering. "Yeah. I remember."

"Well, I think I'm ready now." He responds.

"You really don't have to─"

"I think it's time."

"Ichigo, don't─"

"Rukia." The way he says her name silences her. "My father is a Shinigami… and my mother… my mother was a Quincy." He reveals, but his voice doesn't sound angry or disbelieving. It seems as if he has already come to terms with this fact.

The resolve that laces his words is enough to stop her from trying to keep him from sharing too much. Instead, Rukia listens.

She listens as Ichigo tells her a story about destiny.

But, most importantly, a story about love.

Rukia is rendered speechless by the way he unravels in front of her the image of Kurosaki Masaki. His beloved mother.

And now she understands with more clarity his pain in losing her. His guilt. The weight he has been carrying since he was a young boy. How everything he thought he knew about his parents wasn't the actual truth. And what that means to him. To find out about his true heritage.

Yet there is no grief, no anger, no resentment.

Ichigo is not upset anymore.

He has finally found his peace.

And Rukia is so grateful for that, because if there's someone in the Soul Society or the Human World who deserves a semblance of serenity, it is Ichigo and his restless soul.

"So… what do you think?" He asks at the end of his tale, clearly worried about her opinion.

He needn't worry.

"Ichigo… I…"

There's so much Rukia wants to say.

That his mother sounds like a wonderful person.

That Yhwach is even more evil than she had thought.

That his parents lived through a real love story.

That she's sad that Ichigo had to experience such a loss at a tender age.

That she wishes she would have been able to meet Masaki.

But, instead, she takes his large hands in her tiny ones and entwines their fingers together, as she feels herself fill with resolve.

"I'm glad you know the truth now." She tells him and Ichigo smiles in relief.

"Yeah… me too…"

"And now everything makes sense. No wonder you're so weird." She jests, gently poking his chest.

He rolls his eyes as he swats her hand away. "Yeah, yeah. Let's see if now you'll be able to focus."

"Ha! Of course I will! I'll even beat your ass."

"I wanna see that." He retorts, and now there's mirth in his voice.

He sounds younger now, and happier too.

It is as it should be.

Ichigo shouldn't have to carry so much weight on his shoulders.

Sadly, there is not much time to sit and mull on this new information she has received.

The Quincy King will not wait for anybody, and Rukia has a duty to uphold.

To the Soul Society.

To her brother.

But most importantly, to Ichigo and to herself.

The two don't take long to stand up and parry again.

As their swords meet once more, it feels more like a dance than a fight.

They are finally back in synch.

Each time they clash, Ichigo smiles at her so tenderly that Rukia can feel her breath leaving her.

But now's not the time for that.

Later, when they have defeated Yhwach, she will have the time to sort through her thoughts.

In the meantime, she uses shunpō to step away, and attack Ichigo from behind.

He barely manages to duck.

She can't help but laugh at how easy it feels to train with him.

It is reminiscent of how she had taught him how to be a Shinigami all those years ago.

Who would have thought the mentee would become the mentor?

Ichigo instructs her on what her mindset should be.

She closes her eyes and envisions her inner world.

Inside of her, Sode no Shirayuki buzzes in excitement.

"Are you ready?" Her zanpakutō asks her.

"I am." Rukia answers with certainty.

"Then promise me─"

Promisemepromisemepromiseme

As ice and snow fall inside of her, and as she looks into Ichigo's warm eyes, she makes a promise to him and to herself.

She's now ready for Bankai.

A/N: So I think everyone had this same idea lmao. To be fair, I thought about writing this story from the first time I read the prompts for this IR Month. This is the second one-shot that didn't suffer changes from my original idea, which was to write independent stories for each month.

I guess we're all curious to what could have happened when Ichigo and Rukia trained together, as apparently that happened (unless it was a mistranslation). I was expecting to see a flashback or something, but it was at the moment Kubo probably decided to fuck things up. Anyway, since them we've all speculated on what could have happened. My take is that Ichigo finally told Rukia about his mother, as she was too the only character that noticed immediately something was wrong with Ichigo after Yhwach revealed to him they were related. I also have this headcanon that he was the one to help her achieve Bankai, as he was the only other character there to have done it in such little time. I'm also very curious about what exactly Rukia vowed to achieve Bankai. As in the picture for the chapter Dance with Snow White, it is written "ice, snow and a vow." So what was the vow? My headcanon is that Rukia decided to be true for herself and do right for herself, as she hasn't put herself first in the past, and has been self-deprecating. But I also believe she wanted to protect everyone, Ichigo and Byakuya specially. But since I don't know, I left it blank so that you guys can headcanon something else if you want.

Anyway, I hope you liked it!

See ya!