Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. It's property of Tite Kubo.
Author's Note: Hi and welcome back! You know what, guys, I'll stop promising double updates cause they are not happening. I'm so busy during the day that after writing one one-shot I have no energy for the other, and I also have other projects (not writing related) that I want to focus on. So. I'll finish when I finish and that may extend until September, honestly. Hope none of you mind.
Anyway, I'm glad you liked last chapter. I think it was a nice addition and it did fill in that gap between chapters. Everything is coming full circle and will be tied down in a nice bow by the final one-shot. So stay tune.
As for today's one-shot, it is romantic but I didn't want it to be too literally fluffy. As you read it you'll understand why.
Thank you so much for your support, for reading and for reviewing this collection! I'm so happy you all like it.
See ya!
the moon is beautiful, isn't it?
Prompt: I love you
Summary: Some words are best left unspoken. Yes. But that doesn't mean they don't feel them.
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
'Cause I'd already know
There are words that have been said so much, they have become redundant.
Almost meaningless.
What is the point of expressing them if you don't show them?
But that is how culture has evolved.
Empty words coming from empty hearts.
Trying to feel a void.
Words spoken to feed one's ego and not because you truly feel them.
Which is why Ichigo seldom says them.
When he was a child, sure, he had said such things to his parents and even to his sisters when they were babies.
But he had stopped saying them as he had grown older.
As a teenager, he would have never said them out of embarrassment.
They would have ruined his reputation, after all.
And now that he's older, Ichigo doesn't understand the value of saying them just for saying them.
Yet that is how the youth of today act.
They treat affection as a triviality.
As if it were a given.
And then, they just say the words, without measuring the weight they ought to have.
Becoming as inconsequential as saying, "The weather is nice today."
So Ichigo doesn't say them.
He has decided not to taint their bond with them.
Least they lose what makes them, well, them.
Then there is Rukia.
She doesn't say them either.
In the feudal society she had grown up in, there are just some things you can never say.
It is outside of the norm.
If nobody says them out loud, why would you?
No one is brave enough to break social standards.
And, furthermore, the Kuchikis believe that most feelings can never be said or shown.
That it is best to suppress them.
A true Kuchiki doesn't wear their heart on their sleeve.
A true Kuchiki is impassive no matter what.
Emotions should be treated as levity.
They are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
Appearances and status are what matter.
The rest is moot.
That is what they had taught her.
And for decades, Rukia had hidden her true thoughts and feelings for the sake of propriety under a mask of hardness.
But living in the human world has given her a different perspective.
Humans nowadays are far more expressive than all the souls in the Soul Society combined.
Even in Japan, the youth laugh and cry and feel so openly it is disconcerting for her at first.
They are not scared of living.
Of expressing.
And though she agrees there are some words that shouldn't be taken lightly, Rukia can't help but feel jealous of their broad-mindedness.
But there is one thing she observes.
Whenever they say those words, it seems like a chore.
Something they have to do and have to hear.
An obligation.
They lack depth.
They are not vulnerable at the moment of saying them.
It is almost paradoxical.
To be able to express yourself in any way you want, and yet not express anything at all.
So Rukia isn't surprised when Ichigo doesn't say them.
It is just like him.
Because Ichigo is all emotions, a fiery sun waiting to engulf it all.
He doesn't have it in him to be banal.
He would never do something he didn't agree on.
And Rukia respects it.
She stands on a similar vein.
She would never desecrate love.
It is hers to feel and it is hers to share in whatever form she wants.
They come to this mutual understanding as the seasons pass, and as they grow stronger together it cements.
Some words, after all, are best left unspoken.
However, this decision is not something others meet with understanding.
They are baffled by the ambiguity with which they carry themselves.
In their minds they simply cannot comprehend how anyone could live like this.
Without openly saying anything out loud.
As if the feelings weren't there.
They got it all wrong, though.
Some words are best left unspoken.
Yes.
But that doesn't mean they don't feel them.
Because they do.
Perhaps more than words can express.
And their feelings come in waves.
Sometimes they come with the force of a raging tornado.
With the potency of a hurricane.
(When they fight side by side
When they have saved each other
When they have bled for the other)
Other times is calmer.
Like the soft touch of hot chocolate on a rainy day.
Like the feel of your favorite blanket over your skin.
(When they sit side by side
When they train together
When the tips of their fingers brush)
But it is there.
Always present.
Forever engrained in their souls.
And when they want to say those three words out loud, they find other ways.
They are very creative after all.
"Tsuki ga kirei desu ne."
A/N: The quotes come from the song "More Than Words" by Extreme and the title is a way in which the Japanese author and translator, Soseki Natsume, who said that when translating the phrase "I love you" from English to Japanese you shouldn't be direct, as in Japanese culture at the time, nobody said I love you out loud. It is in fact a very rare occurrence to this day. So he decided to use a phrase that evoques the feeling, which is "the moon is beautiful, isn't it?" or "tsuki ga kirei desu ne." If you pronounce it, it kinda sounds like saying "suki." I think I mentioned this once on Tumblr. But, anyway, I thought both the song and this phrase fit what I wanted to say this.
I haven't been overtly romantic and it's not because this collection is just about platonic IchiRuki. It's just, for me at least, I don't think they should just say it to sound romantic. I prefer it if they show it. And, if we're being honest, they showed it throughout the manga. Maybe they never kissed, or they don't get married at the end, but they showed that their feelings were mutual and strong time and time again. And, personally, that means more to me than wash-down romance.
In our Western culture and even sometimes in certain anime, we trivialize love. We always imagine passionate romances with lots of kissing and sex scenes. Of people who can't live without the other. Or marriage and kids and a big house in the suburbs. Of big ass declarations of love. But we end up romanticizing trust issues, codependency, and it is very heteronormative. True love is not red. I think true love is pink. More subdued, yet more honest. And it's there. You feel it. You enjoy the feeling. You don't just openly declare it without not feeling it.
It's like the movie the Swan Princess. Spoilers ahead but Derek's big declaration of love to the "entire world" doesn't work not only because he got the wrong girl, but because he was doing it for show, for everybody to see. It only worked when he was being honest to Odette. The person he loved.
See what I mean?
And I love romantic IR as much as the next person, but if I'm going to keep things in character, I made this decision of a smoother transition. More than a change in their relationship, it's just the realization that their bond trascends the boundaries they had established at the beginning.
Anyway, hope this clears some things up.
See ya!