Request: Awake
"Death is not the end" Kuchiki Rukia
A/N: This was a request made by Toushi. The song is 'Awake' by Secondhand Serenade. I hope you like this oneshot^^! I tried really hard to write something you'll like. Believe me, I brainstormed so hard, I got a headache XD
A/N2: Thanks for reviewing, that makes me happy, really. So namely: Toushi, Javane, ryokablade! Favorite Stories! Toushi, MarieRock, ryokablade! And now the Story Alerts: Toushi, Kari-chan17! Big bear hugs for every single one of you!
She stood there like an angel, his breathe hitched in his throat as he locked gazes with her. He could see it right there, in those violet orbs of hers. She had missed him just as much as he had. A smile crept onto his features, nearly unrecognizable but he knew she could see it. And she smiled as well; the breeze ruffled her raven hair.
"Rukia…" he said in a choked whisper.
"Long time no see… Ichigo."
'When was the last time I… felt like the rain stopped?'
///
With every appearance by you, blinding my eyes,
I can hardly remember the last time I felt like I do.
You're an angel disguised.
///
He could hardly breath; the oxygen mask didn't help in the least. It felt more like it made the feed of forcing air in his lungs ten times more difficult. The nasty sound of the cardiogram next to his bed signaled his heartbeat was very slow, just barely above a cardiac arrest.
But when a well-known and loved presence forced itself inside his hazy brain his slow-beating heart began to nearly explode in fast beats, pumping blood through his venues and made breathing the more impossible.
"It had been only 8 years, Ichigo."
With a lot of effort he managed to remove the mask from his face and it felt like stones were lying on his already damaged chest and ribcage. But he wouldn't have been himself if he hadn't managed a cocky grin: "That were exactly 8 years too much. Long time no see, midget."
He couldn't hear it but he was sure as Hell her heartbeat was as fast as his. 8 years. They hadn't seen each other for 8 fucking years. And Ichigo had spent 7 of them with trying to get himself killed. Life had meant nothing to him at all. All that mattered to him was waiting for him in death. And although he had stopped being suicidal… he had never really lived. He had just endured the torture of being still among the living, of being still bond to this world that meant absolutely nothing to him. Not since she had left.
And now there she stood. In all her eternal beauty. Because she was a Shinigami. Because she guided souls to the afterlife, to Soul Society.
She now stood there because he was about to die.
"Seriously… why did you let yourself getting run over by a bus anyways? Stubborn mule."
He chuckled but regretted it at once because he began to cough up blood. Rukia didn't even flinch, did nothing to ease his pain.
She was a Shinigami and wasn't allowed to interfere with the businesses of the living. She had to learn that the hard way, just as he had to.
///
And you're lying real still,
but your heart beat is fast just like mine.
And the movie's long over,
that's three that have passed, one more's fine.
///
It was an order and orders exist to be followed. But he never wanted to follow rules. He never wanted to play fair. Because it just hurt too much. Because it shattered his soul and heart.
It had been a fairy tale. A fairy tale coming true.
He had gained the power he always wanted, had gained the power to protect what was precious to him. He had fought for the life of a 'comrade', had fallen in love with the woman that gave him those powers. He had fought a war to get his point across. To get the point across that it doesn't matter what you are. What mattered was where your heart was.
And this fairy tale ended, ended without the words 'And they lived happily ever after' spoken aloud, because they would've been a lie, a cruel lie.
He had saved them more than he could count but they never acknowledged this. But he kept on doing this, risking his life for them. His friends said he had a hero complex but he never cared. He kept on fighting for two worlds. Worlds never saying 'thank-you'. Worlds he felt he did not belong to. And he didn't belong in the third one he had fought against either.
He was no human, never had been.
He was no Shinigami, never had been.
He was no Hollow, never had been.
He had been born in the world of the living but he never was a full human being, there was always the faint realization that he was no real human. He had been born as the child of a human woman and a Shinigami man, not belonging here or there.
And although he was partly Hollow he knew he didn't belong there either. He belonged everywhere and nowhere. Lived and was dead at the same time.
He realized that… after the people he so selfless had fought for, those people that had put him out before them, those people that had let him fight their fights…
After those people had turned their backs on him. It felt like they would've been more mercifully with stabbing him than just turning their backs on him.
He hadn't understood. It had sounded like they weren't saying what they really wanted to say. It sounded way too… fake to be considered real.
That was until they took Kon with them, and his license. They had erased every single evidence that this fairy tale of his ever happened. None of his friends seemed to bother. Not even his father. He had said his reunion with her would be sooner than he would realize.
But those years had felt so torturing long…
And the wait wasn't over yet.
He knew she remembered the same thing as he did. They were this way, always knowing what the other thought. They were this connected with each other.
He couldn't move. The paralyzing venom of the Kurotsuchi Mayuri's Zanpakutõ restrained him from moving a limb as he laid there, his upper robe removed.
The commander of the Kidõ Corps stood there, murmuring words the young 'Shinigami' couldn't make out. He was still losing blood from the wound inflicted to him by the maniacal scientist.
He then felt a tucking sensation in the middle of his chest and slowly the haze in his brain begun to draw him more and more into a sleep of oblivion. He only barely heard what the Sõtaichõ was saying.
"Kurosaki Ichigo… as soon as your Konpaku reenters your physical body you won't be able to leave it again until you die. We won't allow you to use your 'powers' again until you die. You interfering in our business is a danger for the balance between life and death. We as guardians of that very balance cannot allow that to happen any longer. We allowed you to fight because we needed your help. But the fight is over, we don't need you anymore. Now go live out your life."
Ichigo only managed to choke out one word until he lost consciousness.
"Bas… tards…"
"Back then… a fairy tale ended."
She had never asked why he referred to their experiences as a fairy tale. She just brushed it of as something only he understood.
"Yeah… and it didn't have a very pleasant ending."
"Not really. But that doesn't matter anymore."
For the first time an emotion showed on her features: surprise.
"How so?"
He smiled.
///
Will you stay awake for me?
I don't wanna miss anything
I don't wanna miss anything
I will share the air I breathe,
I'll give you my heart on a string,
I just don't wanna miss anything.
///
"Because…" He struggled to get out the words he wanted to say but his heartbeat slowed down more and more and finally Rukia let all the orders fly away and rushed to his side.
"Because?"
His hand came up to the back of her head and gently brought her face towards his own.
///
I'm trying real hard not to shake. I'm biting my tongue,
but I'm feeling alive and with every breathe that I take,
I feel like I've won. You're my key to survival.
///
His emotions were like an open book to her while their lips were connected.
She could clearly feel the raw pain he was in for the last 8 years he had to stay apart from her.
As he tasted her for the first time for little less than a century he could feel the pain in his body slowly diminish to a faint sensation.
When they parted again he smiled at her like he only does in her presence and only for her.
///
And if it's a hero you want,
I can save you. Just stay here.
Your whispers are priceless.
Your breathe, it is dear. So please stay near.
///
"Because… a new one is about to begin, stupid midget."
///
Will you stay awake for me?
I don't wanna miss anything
I don't wanna miss anything
I will share the air I breathe,
I'll give you my heart on a string,
I just don't wanna miss anything.
///
She felt a stinging sensation in her eyes because she lacked of the ability to cry. Because she cried too much in the past years.
"Idiot. Before you 'die' at least let me hear you saying my name one last time."
What he said next was something she hadn't expected even after that kiss of his. Easily because he never said that before. Not one time they kissed in the past. That wasn't an art seeing they only kissed 2 times. Once back after the war before Soul Society banished him… and once now.
"I love you… Kuchiki Rukia."
///
Say my name. I just want to hear you.
Say my name. So I know it's true.
You're changing me. You're changing me.
You showed me how to live.
So just say. So just say,
///
Finally the ability to cry returned as his physical body closed his eyes and a teenage Shinigami stepped out of it, not looking older than 17, just like herself although both of them were – more or less – far away from that age.
The Vaizãdo smiled as he bent down and whipped away her tears whilst brushing his lips against her own. Keeping them against her own he whispered: "Let us go… 'home', Rukia."
Her violet orbs became moist again as she choked out: "Yeah… let's go… strawberry."
///
That you'll stay awake for me.
I don't wanna miss anything.
I don't wanna miss anything.
I will share the air I breathe,
I'll give you my heart on a string,
I just don't wanna miss anything
///
Having you by my side for the rest of eternity… was definitely worth that torture called life… yeah… definitely, Rukia…
So, yeah, the end… again XD LOL
Oh, and thanks for the song suggestion. While writing this I had that song on auto-repeat. It's a great one, I can really recommend this. Went straight onto my iPod XD
R&R, pleeeeeaaaaaase?
And - again - I would like you guys to make song suggestions. Thanks.