Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long but please enjoy! I recommend listening to some music while reading! My favorite is the music made popular by the movie "Gladiator": www yourepeat com/watch?v=xbHPTPUpQ1I (places periods in the spaces). Oh, and have some tissues nearby just in case...
Again
Pulling on his shihakusho to quickly straighten himself out, Ichigo rushed onward toward the open senkaimon. He didn't want to be late for the day's only gate opening to allow him to travel back to the Living World. He had missed the last few days' opportunities due to training schedules and a rather intimidating amount of paperwork to be completed. There were some days more than others that he enjoyed being a shinigami full-time. The others were a struggle not to give in to nostalgia for his days as a substitute.
But he'd check in with Mizuki for a day or two and that short respite would restore his motivation for sure. It wasn't just his need to protect her that rejuvenated him; his senses genuinely recognized her spiritual signature and it was intoxicating. He could watch her in life and wait patiently. That would be the easiest part of his past 100+ years without her.
"Ichigo!"
Now, he just needed to get there in time.
"I said WAIT, Ichigo!"
Nearly tripping over his own feet to stop his speed walk and turn at the same time he couldn't help but bark out, "Renji, I'm going to be late. Is this really-!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just listen." The redhead caught up and huffed a bit before straightening to his full height, a handful more centimeters than Ichigo's himself. "Just… take care of her, all right?"
"Eh?" Ichigo wasn't sure if it was the sudden mention of Rukia's reincarnated self that surprised him, considering Renji's previous behavior, or if it was the fact that his longtime friend locked eyes with him in a very serious manner.
Oh. Ichigo knew that body language. He was sorry.
With a small smile, Ichigo nodded once, "ah." With that, he nearly flew the rest of the way to the senkaimon before it closed.
It was really nice being right on occasion, Ichigo decided. His stress and frustration left him somewhere between the senkaimon and the grassy field he reclined in. He could feel a warm breeze over his face, the grass soft under his body, and the sun on his face peeking through the leaves of the tree above him. He couldn't stop the smile on his face if he tried when he heard the sound of children's laughter not but a few meters from him, unware of his protection.
"Not fair! All of you are too fast for me!" Touma, the little boy lightly whined, trying to 'tag' one of the other children. Ichigo could hear laughter and the movement of a couple kids running in circles around the younger one.
"I'll be your partner, Touma! We can get them!" Mizuki exclaimed in excited determination.
"That's not fair, Mizuki-chan! You're faster than- eeeee!" Rei squealed as she ran as fast as possible away from the girl her same age.
"Ha! She'll never get you now, Rei! She'll- AHHHHH!" Ichirou's face met dirt and he groaned a bit with the weight of Mizuki, giggling, basically sitting on top of him.
"I think that's a bit excessive for a tag…" Jirou started saying. But when his brother's face lifted from the ground and he saw dirt smears and grass stains on his cheeks, he doubled over in laughter. "Never mind! That's great!"
"Heh. Sorry, Ichirou. You got to be stronger if you want to be Rei's hero." Mizuki smirked as she stepped off her friend and placed her arms akimbo.
"I'll remember that," he groaned again as he slowly stood up, wiping off his face and clothes as best he could.
The rest of Ichigo's visit went just as well. He watched as the children made their way home, helped the elder man complete the household chores for the day, and have a family dinner together. It brought him peace and was becoming his favorite way to kill his off-duty time. He never really foresaw a reason for this to end.
The thunder rolled over the aging farm house and the lightning whipped light temporarily through the windows. It was not complete silence in the house with the rain beating on the roof and the trees oscillating in the fierce winds right outside. But all inhabitants slept on, unaware of the raging storm, which seemed to linger too long on the Mouri property.
But one inhabitant was far from peaceful, turning in her sleep in search of comfort. The space between her eyebrows wrinkled in concentration and distaste, a little fist clutching to her bed sheets with desperation. The world her mind flew to in her slumber was just as unpleasant as the weather outside her window. A whimper escaped her mouth as she struggled against feelings flowing in her mind, ones she felt were more memories than imagination but could not recall at all.
"The rain holds bad memories for me."
"Me too."
"We'll be all right though."
"We always are."
Panting into her pillow, she couldn't comprehend why she was so upset. Was this dream real? Why was she so troubled? Was it sorrow? Grief? Perhaps fear or heart break? Whatever it was, it sent shivers down her spine as she instinctively curled further into her sheets and tucked her face away from the sight of the storm banging on the glass pane next to her bed.
"Why did you do such a stupid thing!?"
"Why do you think!?"
"Why didn't you just listen to me?!"
"They're the same reason, stupid!"
She didn't understand the pain her chest or the familiarity in her mind. And she was oblivious to the lightning growing closer to her home. Electricity and light coming down from the sky in bolts as it landed and sparked on the damp earth outside. The only thing she could think of was the growing anticipation in her heart. Shivering under covers that would have usually kept her sufficiently warm, she squeezed every muscle in her body as tight as she could against everything pounded in her dreamscape.
"Thank you for everything… I hope we meet again..."
"No…" she whispered in her sleep, fighting against the feelings that were building to a crescendo within her soul. And as the dream began to leave her, she whispered the last remnants of the vision to herself. "This is goodbye…"
Before Mizuki could blink the strange hallucination from her eyes, a strike of lightning hit the tree next to her window. She jumped, startled by the sound of the trunk being thrashed against the house and the flash of light that temporarily blinded her. And before she could even recover from the initial shock, terror set in.
Her house was on fire.
"Kurosaki-taicho!" An unseated shinigami soldier yelled as he ran through his division headquarters, his foot falls heavy on the wooden boards. "Kurosaki-taicho! TAICHO!"
"WHAT?" the said captain yelled back in irritation, grumpily pushing aside a half-complete form. He had been trying his best to get through the week's paperwork early: training schedules, duty reports, and off-time requests seemed to pile up faster than he could fathom.
His subordinate passed all normal protocol in not using the normal chain of command. Not that Ichigo stuck to tradition and formality much, but he found it actually useful to use the strategy to keep relatively unimportant or nonessential matters from reaching him. If his third and fourth seats could handle it, then they had better! But with the panting and terrified shinigami before him, it probably classified as significant enough for him to hear.
"I-it's news from the Living World, Taicho." He tried to explain through heavy breathing. "They said it had to deal with a child you've been watching over."
That certainly got the orange-haired man's attention. His eyes opened wider as he started to rise from his desk. "What about the child?" he demanded.
"There w-was a fire…" The lower ranking shinigami stumbled. But no more words were necessary as his captain flung himself bodily from his desk, grabbed his zanpakuto, and practically flew from his office. Once out of the way of the main building, Ichigo jumped into his flash step to reach the only portal he knew would get him there in time: the Kuchiki house.
"You do realize this is a rather rude way of entering one's home, do you not?" Byakuya berated in his quiet but hard voice, though none of the vemon that existed while Ichigo was mortal laced his words.
"Byakuya, I need your portal. NOW!" Ichigo all but interrupted him, stomping his way toward its location. Before the fellow captain could even utter a word of repulsion at his manners, the younger man added in a low, dangerous voice, never even pausing in his mission. "She's in danger."
Despite his awkward friendship with the noble, he knew he would find support and immediate action here, even more so than if he went to the Soutaicho to seek passage into the World of the Living. He could feel Byakuya fall into step with him as they neared the portal location.
"Kurosaki-taicho," the senior captain said with a familiar edge to his formal words, "I will help you open the portal as fast as possible. Go swiftly."
"Hai."
By the time he arrived the rain had been reduced to a drizzle, a mere misting on the violent fire that was consuming the house. He counted the heads of the children he could see on the lawn below as they were wrapped in thermal blankets and carried away by the fire fighters that seemed to just have arrived before him. It was too chaotic for him to be able to spot the one dark head of hair he was hunting for.
Lowering himself further to stand just a few meters above the heads of the terrified by concerned neighbors that gathered, being kept a safe distance from the home by a chain of fire volunteers in linked arms. Ichigo finally spotted the elder man, Mouri-san, as he struggled against receiving treatment with the first aid crew.
"You don't understand! There are still children inside! Stop worrying about an old man and go save the children!"
Horror. That was what he felt.
Concentrating his spiritual pressure and power, Ichigo decompressed his spirit body to allow for material from the Living World to pass right through him: rain, walls, and fire. And he stepped into the crumbling house before him. The wooden supports crackled as they were spent as fuel to feed the inferno. The only thing he could see was the world swathed in orange and red flame and a building black smoke filling the air. He could almost feel the tendrils of flames licking at his skin. But more strongly, he could sense a building despair and rage within himself if he managed to lose his heart a second time.
"MIZUKI?!" he yelled, making his way through the bottom floor as he mentally reminded himself that he hadn't the need to step over fallen boards or dunk under enflamed doorways. "MIZUKI?!" Calling again, he pleaded with the universe to hear an answer back.
Growling with fury at the feeling of helplessness, he picked up speed and shot his way up the staircase. There, at the top of the stairs, he found two little bodies lying on the landing. They had been struggling for freedom and could go no further. One child lay draped protectively over the other.
With too much adrenaline in his blood to stop and think anything through, he re-compressed his form and snatched the children into his arms. Pushing them into his chest to avoid the smoke filling the air, he spun on his heel to find the quickest and safest exit for the mortal babies cradled in his arms. He made a hurried decision and rammed his back through the glass of a window at the end of the hall and himself out into clean, cool air.
Lowering himself to the wet ground at the back of the house he inspected the children in his care. It was little Touma that had been squished at the bottom and Mizuki, his little heart reincarnated, that had laid herself over her friend and adopted sibling. Both sets of eyes were closed but their mouths were open from the struggle to breathe through the thick smoke when they collapsed.
Ichigo placed them both on their backs on the lawn, unconcerned about the water seeping into their thin pajamas for the time being. He leaned his ear down to the mouth of the youngest and allowed himself a moment of relief when he heard breathing. It seems the smoke didn't get much of a chance to enter his little lungs, nor the flames the opportunity to melt his body with Mizuki laying on top of him.
Mizuki!
Turning to the other child, Ichigo could feel his heart slamming against his ribcage. This child was not as lucky. The flames had begun to burn through her pajamas and singed her hair. Her face, however, seemed unharmed. He slowly leaned down to put his ear to the other child's mouth.
Nothing.
He heard nothing.
Biting back a sob, the shinigami captain leaned down to place his hands on the chest of the child. Trying to keep it together and focus, he recalled his first aid training from battle protocol: apply life-saving treatment until the healers could arrive. He began to pump his arms, hoping to encourage air to fill the lungs and save the girl from death.
Death, you've come too soon! She was supposed to have more time!
"Rukia, please…" He begged, unsure if it was a slip of the tongue or not. Uncontrollable tears began to pool in his eyes, obscuring his vision as he leaned down to administer CPR. Sudden flashes of memories came to him unbidden. Her injury to save him the first time they met, her arrest and retrieval for her crimes, her tears, her being sacrificed on the scaffolding, her stubborn refusal to be saved, her smiles.
Pumping again, he swallowed the cry that threatened his wilting composure. "Breathe. Live. Please…"
A weak cough from the child below him almost caught him off guard. He wipes his eyes across a black sleeve and smiled weakly. Lifting the child carefully into his arms, he whispered. "Hey, you'll be ok, Mizuki."
"Ta-tamashii-san?" the dark-haired child whispered hoarsely, barely loud enough to be heard. "I… I had a dream about yo-," she begun before coughing uncontrollably.
Ichigo pulled her against his chest and shook his head against the sound of her pain. "Shhh, your lungs can't take it. Don't talk."
When her body stopped confulsing, she used what little strength she had to try and smile at him. "Idiot," she whispered with her smoke-injured voice.
"What?" he whispered back, taken aback by both her calm attitude and her familiar insult.
"I have to t-tell you…" Mizuki's eyes began to close as she struggled for control enough to finish saying what she needed said. "Thank you, I-Ichigo."
"Y-you know my name…?" He battled with himself on trying to figure out how she could have known. Was it the dream she was trying to mention? What did she see?
And why wasn't she opening her eyes again?
"No! Open your eyes back up, Mizuki!" He panicked when he noticed she stopped breathing again, her body becoming limp in his arms. "MIZUKI! NO!"
The hardest thing Ichigo had to do was to set her down on the lawn, in the wet grass and mud, and step back when the paramedics noticed the two children on the other side. Though the flames were nearly extinguished from the house and the rain had passed, he felt a ferocity within himself that could not be tamed. How could she die with a smile on her face? How could he fail her? Why did the powers-that-be in the universe seek to constantly destroy this soul so early in life? Why did he always lose her once he thought they were safe?
Unbeknownst to the community that descended on the small child that survived, thanks to the sacrifice of another, a death god fell to his knees and wailed. Trembling and weeping once again for the loss of a love, twice lost.
A/N: Sooo I know some people are going to wish I worked on my other story. And I know some people will HATE me for doing what I did in this chapter here. But everyone STOP! Don't hurt me! I know this is damn angsty but I PROMISE it does get better! Just hold on and bear with me! Enjoy the catharsis for now, ok? Oh and review if you want the fifth chapter!