Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters! Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for Beta'ing!

Our prints in blood, I'll hold your hand. You fell, I smiled, I'll help you stand.

Before The Rain — VIII

Ichigo wiped sweat from his forehead and leaned forward, panting heavily as he rested his hands on his knees. He winced in pain when his back started aching again. The cuts on his back had began opening again that morning when he had started working, but he was trying to ignore the pain.

Closing his eyes, he stood straight up and grabbed the edges of his shirt, pulling it off over his head. It was soaked through with sweat and blood. He tossed it to the side before he began working again. None of the other workers spoke, and Ichigo could see that none were in quite as much pain as him, or they were hiding it. Ten minutes later, Ichigo was breathing so hard that he had to stop working and put his hands on his knees as he leaned over.

"Yo, slave!"

Ichigo winced involuntarily as one of the guards walked forward, a whip in his hands as he smirked. He was slapping the handle of the whip against his own fingers, and when he lashed it out, Ichigo screamed in pain. The leather hit against his skin hard and when it flew back, it was covered in blood. The whip had opened a few of the cuts that had actually begun to heal, and now he could barely even keep his balance.

"Get back to work, you lazy bum!" the guard yelled, and before Ichigo could react, the whip made contact with his skin again.

Ichigo prepared himself for the next hit. But it didn't come.

When he looked up, he saw a black haired boy standing over him. The slave was wearing glasses and a black sweater. He had a look of determination on his face as he stared at the guard.

"Leave him alone."

It was all the boy said, and it was all that needed said. The guard, having dealt with the boy before, yelled a few choice words before walking off. The boy then turned to Ichigo.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. But I could have taken care of that stupid idiot myself. You didn't need to do that," Ichigo grunted, pulling himself shakily to his feet. His whole body was shaking. The other boy raised an eyebrow and dug around in a bag that was sitting at the edge of the work area.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked.

"This is the lunch bag that Inoue-san delivers for the workers each day. She added something extra this time, and I think you could use it."

He took out a ball of bandages, and soon, Ichigo was bandaged up from his waist to his neck. Ichigo, of course, insisted on doing it himself, so it was messy in some places and a small amount of blood was beginning to show through. But besides the stinging that was flying through his nerves from the soft cloth of the bandages touching his raw skin, he felt better.

"What's your name?" Ichigo asked, picking up his shovel and beginning to work again.

"Ishida. Ishida Uryuu."

Byakuya walked into his sisters room early the next morning. He found her laying on her bed, the clothes she was wearing the night before still on her small body. She was still sleeping on top of the blankets, and her hands clutched her pillow tightly.

Byakuya went over to her bedside table, reaching his hand out to turn on the light. But before he could reach the lamp, his eyes fell upon the picture that Rukia had been drawing the night before. In the picture, her face was still un-sketched. Ichigo's face was complete and his hair was as spiky as ever. His eyes were intense and smiling, though.

The elder Kuchiki was surprised by the picture. He didn't bother hiding his surprise as he turned the page on the drawing pad. The next picture was one of her more crude pictures. The ones she seemed to draw most of the time, and used to always draw until he had put her in art classes. Most of the pictures were the same, but the last one was ripped. The lower edge wase torn out, but he could guess what was there.

Turning the pad back to the picture that it had been on before he had started looking through it, he reached over and pulled a quilt over Rukia's small body. As he looked at her face, he could still see the tear tracks that floated gently down her pale face.

She had been crying last night?

Byakuya sighed sadly as he stared at his sister. Maybe an arranged marriage wasn't the best thing for her. He personally knew the man that it had been set up with . . . and . . . it wasn't that he wasn't a good man; he would do fine. But could Rukia ever learn to love him?

Probably not.

Ichimaru Gin - That man wasn't someone that he could imagine his sister loving.

Shaking his head, Byakuya turned to walk out of the room, but before he could reach the door, he heard his sister whisper something before turning around in her sleep.

"I-Ichigo . . . "

Byakuya walked out of the room, closing her door and leaning up against it.

What kind of pain was he causing his sister? Was he breaking his promise to Hisana by making his sister go through with something that hurt her so much?

What would Hisana think of him now?

By the end of the morning shift, Ichigo had changed the bandages on his back twice more, but the third wrapping wasn't even showing any blood, and it had been on for hours, so if he was lucky, his back had stopped bleeding.

After all the workers were offered water, they were thrown back into their stalls. The stalls were about five feet wide and five feet long. Not much room to sleep in, and you couldn't climb out because they were about seven feet tall and had barbed wire on the top. They were more like cages than stalls.

Dropping down into the straw, Ichigo pulled off his shoes and threw them and his blood-soaked shirt to the side. He wouldn't need either of them until later when he went out working again.

As he was about to sit up again because the straw was hurting his back, he saw a face looming above the door of his stall. He gasped when he realized who it was.

"Stand and come here," Byakuya said, motioning for Ichigo to walk forward.

Ichigo nodded and tried to stand to his feet, but fell down the first time. The second time, he was able to make it into a standing position and wobbled over to Byakuya. The older man noticed the bandages around Ichigo's chest and stomach.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, Kuchiki-sama. Someone hates me is all. He used the whip."

Byakuya looked slightly shocked.

"I said level three," he said slowly, looking around.

Ichigo winced and nearly fell over when a sharp, searing pain ran through his back. He wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, because the straw was rough and it would rub against his raw, torn skin all night. He was breathing hard, trying not to scream out from the pain. He could take short, sharp pains like being stabbed, but the constant, white-hot searing running through his nerves was too much.

"Are you alright?"

Ichigo couldn't answer. He just gasped sharply and his knees gave out beneath him.

Stand up! I'm not this weak! I can stand, dammit!

Ichigo staggered to his feet and leaned against the wall. Sweat was covering his forehead and he was having trouble breathing.

"Kuchiki, sir! Should I call Miss Rukia? She could heal this boy in minutes," one of the guards said, running up to Byakuya and bowing. The guard was one of the more kind ones, as Ichigo had found out, and was nicer to the slaves than the other ones.

"Hanatarō, yes, please call a healer. But not Rukia, if you can help it. Someone else."

"I'm not sure, sir. Most of the healers are gone on a mission, but I will try!"

The boy ran out of the stables and Byakuya opened the door to Ichigo's stall and walked in. He bent down beside Ichigo and frowned. They guards had beaten this boy severely and then put him to work right away. He was in too much pain to even speak. But, once again, Ichigo surprised Byakuya by forcing several words out from clenched teeth.

"Don't l-let R-Rukia see . . . . m-me like thi-"

He cut himself off as another sharp pain ran through his body. This time, he let himself scream.

Twenty minutes later, Hanatarō came back. He had Rukia with him. Byakuya looked up in surprise.

"Hanatarō! Didn't I say bring another healer?" he asked in alarm. He moved so Rukia couldn't see Ichigo just yet. Rukia tried to look past him, but Byakuya wouldn't let her.

"I want to help, Nii-sama. Who is it?" Rukia asked, folding her arms in front of her jean skirt and trying to see part her brother again. Byakuya sighed, his face remaining expressionless.

"Hanatarō, you are sure that no one else is available?"

The young boy nodded.

Byakuya moved to the side, and the second Rukia saw Ichigo, she gasped loudly.

"Ichigo . . ." she whispered, trailing off as she leaned down beside him. He opened his eyes for a brief second before hissing in pain again. "What happened, Ichigo?"

She sat down on the ground, reaching over and gently picking Ichigo's head up in her hands. Once his orange head was resting in her lap, she wiped away the tears that were suddenly falling down her face with the back of her hand. "This is going to hurt a little, Ichigo," she said, placing both her hands flat on his back. He flinched and cut off a scream by biting his lip.

A light green glow began to surround Ichigo, but it soon expanded to cover both her and him. Hanatar ō stood back and Byakuya did as well, as if somehow scared of the light.

Rukia closed her eyes and leaned her head back, letting her power flow through her body and into his. She reached forward and removed the bandages, needing to see if she was healing him enough. She bit her lip when she saw the endless slashes covering his tan back. The skin was torn apart and he was was covered in both dry and fresh blood.

"R-Rukia . . ." Ichigo stuttered, his hands clenching into fists when her own fingers made contact to his flesh, not even having the bandages between their skin.

"Sorry, Ichigo. Just bare with me for a minute, OK?"

If he could have spoken as she pressed her hands harder to his skin, he would have. But it was taking everything he had not to break out screaming.

Suddenly, as Rukia closed her eyes again and focused all her strength on healing him, the normal green light around them turned red.

Hanatarō stood further back, and even Byakuya showed surprise as the red glow seemed to expand. He held a hand out in front of his face to shield the wind that had suddenly started blowing. White flames seemed to erupt inside the glow as Rukia screamed. But her screams weren't from pain, they were from surprise at what was happening. Her violet eyes shot open and she stared intensely as the skin on Ichigo's back fused back together quickly, even the scars from past injuries healing completely.

Then, everything stopped.

Hanatarō came closer and Byakuya ran over to his sister, who had fallen upon the ground. The slaves, who were watching with wide eyes around their stall doors, suddenly jumped away from the gaze of the prince as he grabbed his sisters hand when he saw a small, red glow still emitting from her fingers.

As he held her thin, pale hand in his own, his eyes widened as he stared at her thumb. There was a cut going from the bottom of the thumb to the top, and instead of the mark being only a line, as he had seen it last night, it now looked like a vine, with leaves and small, thin branches springing from the line and twirling around it. It was beautiful . . . but what surprised Byakuya most was that now the cut, that he had seen was inflicted only last night, was now fully healed and had become a scar in less that twenty hours. And it had expanded and was glowing. The scar was as bright a red as the light surrounding her while she was healing Ichigo.

Gently putting her hand down, Byakuya reached over to hold up Ichigo's hand. On his thumb, the exact scar was glowing brightly.

"What the hell?" Byakuya muttered.

"Ichigo . . ."

Byakuya looked down to see Rukia, her eyes half open, sitting up. She reached a shaky hand over and grasped Ichigo's in hers tightly. Her small soft hand contrasted to his greatly. His was large, rough and scarred while hers was small and soft. Her skin was pale while his was slightly tanned.

But it amazed Byakuya how well her hand fit in his.

". . .I love you," she whispered to him, her hand gripping his tighter.

And Rukia dropped down, exhausted. Her head was gently laying on his stomach and her raven hair was pooled out on his bare chest. Byakuya stood to his feet and looked around.

"Move Rukia back to the castle."

When Rukia woke up, she was laying in her bedroom. She sat up and looked around the room, surprised to see Renji sitting backward on a chair in the far corner. He was holding a knife in his hands and was carving at a small piece of wood. He looked up at her and smiled.

"Yo."

Rukia placed her hand to her head, as if the pressure would stop the pain in her temples. When she pulled her hand back, she noticed the scar on her thumb. Her eyes widened in surprise as she let her fingers dance over her skin.

Then, everything that had happened to her in the last few hours came crashing back. She gasped loudly and jumped out of her bed, still dressed in her skirt and sweater, and ran barefoot out of her room. She didn't even turn around when Renji yelled at her to come back.

She needed to see him . . . she needed to see Ichigo.

And she knew where he would be. When she had woke up a few hours ago and asked Byakuya where Ichigo was, her brother had told her that he would continue working in the fields, and he would be in South field that afternoon because the guards in the North field, the one he had worked on in the morning, were not treating him fairly.

Only a handful of workers, about twenty, worked in the South Fields. She was sure to find him quickly.

She had something she needed to tell him . . . she had something she needed to do . . .

Once she had pulled on her boots, she ran outside into the snow and began the trip to the South fields. Those fields were the closest, and it would only take her a small amount of time to travel there. But she wanted, needed, to see Ichigo.

Last night, before she had fallen to sleep, she had thought about Ichigo a lot, and if she really did love him or not. She believed that she did. She believed that, even though they had only met a little while ago, she loved him with all her heart.

He had showed her how he has felt about her when he had kissed her. He had shown her when his lips touched hers and he gently coaxed open her mouth to let him inside. He had shown her when he had ran his hands across her face and neck.

She loved how his hands felt. It was stupid, really, but she loved how they felt against her skin. His hands were rough and calloused, but when he placed his fingers on her face, it felt wonderful. She loved the feeling it created in her as he ran is hands across her neck and followed them with his lips.

He had shown her how he felt . . . and she wanted to show him how she felt.

When she reached the fields, she stopped. She saw him. He was standing at the edge of the fields, not talking or even looking at the other slaves. He seemed tired, and she understood why. He had been put back to work only hours after being healed. And he was being forced to do extra because of the time he had lost while he was unconscious.

He saw her and he smiled.

She smiled back and waved a little, walking slowly to him. When she reached him, she didn't speak. She was nervous about what she was about to say.

"Does your brother know you're here?" he asked.

Rukia shook her head.

"What are you doing here?" he asked softly, putting his shovel down and walking closer to her.

Her heart began to beat faster and faster in her chest as he stared at her with his intense brown eyes.

"I came . . . I came to tell you something," she said, her voice steady, but her hands shaking. Ichigo looked around at the other workers in the field, then turned back to her.

"Come on, we can talk inside the stable. No one will notice that I'm gone."

He led her into a small, warm shed that was used for the work horses and the tools. It was slightly darker inside the shed than it was outside, but light filtered through the windows in the room.

"Rukia?" he asked, reaching out and placing his hand on her cheek. She shivered.

This shouldn't have been so hard; he had already told her how he felt . . . so why was she so nervous?

"Ichigo . . . I-I came her to tell you that I . . . that I love you," she said slowly, her eyes cast downward. Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise, and he pulled his hand back.

Rukia was shaking slightly, both from the cold and from her fear. Did he not feel the same? Why . . . why wasn't he saying anything?

"Rukia . . ." Ichigo began slowly. She looked up, and was surprised by the gentle, yet intense, look on Ichigo's face. He said, "Would you . . ya know, hit me or anything if I kissed you right now?"

Rukia's heart was beating so fast that she was sure it was going to jump right out of her chest. She shook her head, unable to form words, and felt her knees shaking as he lowered his lips to hers. It felt as if an electric shock passed between them and Rukia moaned as Ichigo didn't waste anytime in deepening the kiss. He plunged his tongue into her mouth and tilted his head to get better access.

"We . . . we shouln't . . . your brother . . ." Ichigo muttered, pulling away for a second to breathe before kissing her again.

"Forget him."

"Yes ma'am."

Icihgo pressed his lips to hers and she moaned as his hands ventured to her waist, holding her close to him. Pulling back, he muttered,

"Damn, you're too short. Too hard to kiss ya."

Rukia would have kicked him if, at that moment, he hadn't started nibbling her ear. She made a purring noise in the back of her throat and Ichigo moaned as his lips trailed from her ear to her warm neck.

"Rukia . . . I gotta stop," Ichigo said, pulling back. His hands were still resting on her hips and her hands were still tangled in his hair. She was flushed and breathing hard, and Ichigo knew that if he didn't cut off physical contact with her, he would do something they both might regret. He continued, "I don't want to go too far, and I don't think I could stop myself if we go any further now."

She nodded in agreement and laid her head on his chest, still trying to catch her breath.

"I have to go now, Rukia," Ichigo said, pulling back. She untangled herself from his arms and stood back. He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips before beginning to walk out. "Will I see you again?" he asked.

"Will you meet me somewhere tonight?" she asked, folding her hands in front of her.

Ichigo smirked.

She smiled and said, "Good. Meet me at the private stables at midnight, alright?"

Ichigo nodded and walked out of the barn, happy, for once in his life, to get back to his work.

Well, who, exactly, wants to kill me for making Gin the guy that Rukia has to marry? Hmm . . . everyone? Thought so.

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