Miracles - Epilogue

March 31st, 2010 ― Two Years Later

Kurosaki Ichigo kneeled down on the soft ground, a small bouquet of violets clutched tightly in his left hand. He ran his right hand over the letters on the gravestone in front of him.

Kuchiki Rukia

January 14, 1990 - March 31st, 2009

"Your place in our hearts will last forever"

In the last year of her life, Rukia had taken a drastic turn. The year before, she'd been in remission. Then the cancer had come back. With a vengeance.

Ichigo set the flowers down at the base of the gravestone. "Hey Rukia. How's it going?"

Ichigo grumbled angrily as he dragged himself out of bed. Whoever was calling this early in the morning was going to get a real piece of his mind. "Hello?" he said gruffly, not really caring who was calling.

"Kurosaki-kun?" the phone nearly slipped from Ichigo's hands. It was Kuchiki Hisana.

"K-Kuchiki-san? What's wrong? Is it Rukia?"

"Kurosaki-kun," Ichigo looked around. Rukia's mother was standing behind Ichigo, looking down at him. Like him, she had a small bouquet of violets in her hands. "I had a feeling I'd find you here," Hisana walked over to Ichigo and kneeled down next to him. She imitated Ichigo's action of running her hand over the letters in Rukia's name. A small smile crossed the older woman's lips as she quietly mouthed the her daughter's name.

Ichigo was too busy taking in Hisana's sudden appearance to really notice what she was saying. After Rukia had died, Hisana and Byakuya had been unable to face their daughter's grave. Ichigo knew that, in a way, they blamed themselves, though he wasn't sure how they could. They'd done everything they could, after all...

Ichigo's mind was blissfully numb. He was too busy trying to take in what Hisana had just told him to really notice that tears were trying desperately to escape his amber eyes. He'd known it was coming, of course; the last year, Rukia had deteriorated, fast. But he hadn't expected it so soon...

"Can I see her?" he finally muttered, "Please?"

He expected Byakuya to say no, and the older man looked ready to do just that, but Hisana cut across her husband. "Of course."

And with that, Ichigo stepped into Rukia's room. She was in her bed, asleep, her breathing raspy and her body shaking. Ichigo just stared at her for a moment. Precious seconds were being taken away with each breath she took...

He sat down in the chair next to her bed and took her hand in his. She stirred slightly, and her eyes opened a little, enough so that Ichigo could take in the shocking violet color - one last time. "I-Ichigo?"

"Yeah." he murmured, "Yeah, it's me"

"I...I'm sorry." That took Ichigo by surprise.

"For what?"

"For not being able to keep my promise." Ichigo bit his lip, willing the tears not to spill over. Rukia, being Rukia, would worry if he started crying. But how in the world could she think of that at a time like this?

"It's just a stupid promise," he muttered, reaching out and running his free hand through her raven hair, "I don't even care about it. It's you I care about, Rukia," he stopped for a second, trying to recollect himself. This was the last time he'd be able to say it...

"I love you"

A small smile played around her lips. "I love you too," and her eyes drifted close again. Ichigo was shaking, but he didn't let go of her hand. Byakuya and Hisana were in the room as well, standing at the end of the bed. Byakuya's arm was wrapped tightly around his wife's shaking shoulders. "Mom, Dad?" How Rukia knew her parents were there, Ichigo could never guess. It was one of those things. "Thank you. For everything."

Tears were slipping down Hisana's cheeks. Even emotionless Byakuya was working hard not to cry. Rukia didn't speak anymore after that. Her chest was no longer rising and falling; it was still. Her small hand was already beginning to lose heat; Ichigo could feel it. But he didn't let go.

A soft hand played over Ichigo's cheek, wiping away a single tear that had fallen. "Sorry." Hisana whispered. "I hate seeing people cry though."

"Sorry I'm crying." He muttered, reaching his hand up to wipe the tears out of his eyes. "So stupid...she'd probably hit me if she saw me crying."

Hisana laughed a little at that. Very little. She knew it was true, after all

WHAM!

Ichigo had left Rukia's room, leaving the girl with her parents. This wasn't his place, he was intruding. So he went down to the living room, debating on whether or not to leave. A loud crash brought him back to reality, however. His fist, the one that he didn't remember swinging, was crushed against the wall, red blood slipping down the bright white paint. He made no move, however, to back away from the wall. It wasn't until a hand wrapped itself around his wrist that he pulled back; Kuchiki Hisana had come down to investigate the source of the noise. "Sorry," Ichigo muttered, looking down at his hand and flexing it; nothing broken.

"It's all right." Hisana said. Her face was still tear-streaked, but she managed to with-hold some sort of dignity. "Are you okay?"

He thought about this for a second. "No. I'll never be okay."

"She'd want you to be happy, Kurosaki-kun." Hisana said quietly. "You shouldn't spend the rest of your life grieving. She'd want you to move on."

"I won't spend the rest of my life grieving." He said. "But I doubt I'll ever fall in love again either. Nothing will ever be the same after her."

Hisana nodded. She understood

Ichigo clenched his fists in his lap, refusing to look up. He knew if he looked up, looked at the wooden box in which the girl he loved was laying, he'd cry. And if he cried, he may never stop.

He was at Rukia's funeral. Hisana had just finished trying to deliver a eulogy. It had gone quite badly though; Byakuya had to lead her away from the podium, she was crying too hard to make the way on her own. Now it was his turn to get up there and deliver a speech. But he wasn't sure his legs were working properly.

After a minute though, he stood up and, with legs that felt more like water, he stumbled over to the podium. "Er..." He looked around at the small group. A few kids from school were there, Keigo among them. For once his life he actually looked solemn. Inoue Orihime, the nurse from the hospital, as well as her husband, Ishida Uryu, were also there, and Hitsugaya Toushirou, one of her two old hospital friends, as well as Rukia's friend Renji, who was resting a hand on Miyako's leg (the girl was crying into her hands). Ichigo's family was there also; they'd grown attached to Rukia in the time they had known her.

"Look..." Ichigo took a deep breath. "I don't exactly...I didn't prepare a speech. Now I know you probably think I'm being insensitive or something, but that's not it at all. I didn't prepare a speech because...there's nothing preparable to say about Kuchiki Rukia. She wasn't a person, she was a hurricane. She blew into my life and changed it in more ways than I thought possible, and I'm sure she did the same with all of you. Rukia...she had this way of taking something, and making it into something completely different. But when I met Rukia...she wasn't the person I knew she could be. She was sick, and scared and...hollow. She felt as if she had nothing left for her. Seeing her that way...it made me feel terrible, looking at her, and knowing she could be so much more. And I...I wanted to help her. And I tried. Really I did. But the more I got to know her, the more I realized she was out of my reach. Because...nine out of ten times, you can't help her."

He stopped. He didn't have anything more to say. After a minute, someone in the back started clapping. Then, one my one, everyone started. It was slow at first, but then it picked up. Ichigo noticed, though, that quite a few people had tears in their eyes now. And he knew they agreed with him.

"I miss her everyday." Hisana whispered. "Sometimes I forget, and I'll go to her room in the morning, to wake her up. But she isn't there. She'll never be there."

"She is." Ichigo said, his fingers playing around the letters on the gravestone. "She's everywhere now. With you. With me. With everyone she cared about. As long as we remember her, she'll be there."

Hisana smiled at this. "You're a deep boy, Kurosaki-kun." She sighed as she stood up. "I never thanked you, did I?"

"You don't have anything to thank me for." Ichigo muttered, standing up as well.

"Yes, I do." Hisana said simply. "Before the cancer, Rukia was an upbeat, happy girl. She was a lot like Hinamori-san, as a matter of fact ― she brought light with her anywhere she went. After she was diagnosed though…she changed. I think a lot of it had to do with keeping the secret. It became a full-time job, trying to hide everything, and it made Rukia grow up faster than she should have. But you, Kurosaki-kun…you brought that light back to her. You made her life better."

"It didn't save her."

"Oh I think it did." Hisana said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. The eyes that resembled Rukia's so. "I think it saved her more than you'll ever realize."

She rested a hand briefly on Ichigo's shoulder, and turned away. "Don't let her see you, Kurosaki-kun," the woman said over her shoulder, "if you can't smile just once."

Ichigo blinked. "My dad said the same thing to me once. On one of the anniversary's of my mom's death."

"Isshin always was smarter than we gave him credit for." Hisana smiled and started to walk away. Ichigo looked back at the grave. And against everything in him, a smile, a small smile, played over his lips.

Love you, Rukia. He ran a hand over the stone. Don't forget me, wherever you are. I know…I'll never forget you.

—The End—

Author's Note: Never said this would be a happy ending…did I? /random tomato is thrown; ducks/ Okay, okay! I know, you all wanted a happy ending! I'm sorry, but I wanted to tie the seriousness of the story back at the end, and this just seemed like the best way to do it. Sorry. Oh, and for anyone that doesn't know, when a cancer patient is in remission, that means that the cancer ― in simplistic terms ― goes away. But the patient has to go back every year and get tested to make sure it doesn't come back. Just in case there's anyone that doesn't know (hey, it's possible…I didn't know what it meant either, until I heard it on a show…but then, I'm an idiot).

All riiiiiiiiight then. Time for the customary ForeverSam's Sappy Corner. This is the part where I thank everyone who has supported me through my story, which is, of course, all my reviewers, who encouraged me to keep going even when the story completely sucked. So thank you all so much! You're all the absolute bestest (yea, that's a word…now). And an extremely special thanks to Zapenbits, who's loyally stuck with me and my ridiculous-ness through every story I've written so far, and never has anything but kind things to say. Thanks Zappy!

Sorry I couldn't give everyone the happy ending they wanted...trust me, I kind of wanted one too, but...this is just how it worked out. Review? - Sam