Title: Eclipses of the Sky

Torture: Bondage

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Character/Pairings: Ichigo, Rukia; Ichigo/Rukia

Rating: PG

Summary: Nothing can stop Destiny. Nothing.

Warnings:A HAPPY ENDING?! WTF?! Sequel to Hide and Seek and The End of the Line. Also, this story features the theory that someone will have to pay for Orihime bringing the dead back to life - in this version, it is the formly dead who must pay the price.

She walked among the remains of the shadows and the endings of light. A vision in white robes, she shone out in that strange world between life and death. Waiting and watching for her exit.

The curtains shifted for a moment, but then they were closed again, trapping her in this world of endless half-life.

Her eyes narrowed, and Shirayuki was in her hand. She stepped towards the World of the Dead - the world that had once been her home and held her childhood in its hands. Shirayuki sang as it forced itself through the curtain, and for a moment she could see the world that was hers. Her hand darted out through that small gap and for a moment she was real. She could feel the wind as it brushed against her hand, weaving amongst her fingers. A drop of rain fell upon her hand, before she was pushed back.

The curtains snapped shut, hiding the world of Death from her eyes.

Rukia smiled grimly in the darkness.

For a moment, she had been flesh and blood once more.

For a moment, she had been able to feel him once more.

For a moment, she had been free.

XXX

He walked through the night, following the path that the moon gave him. He didn't quite know why but for some reason he thought that it had been helping him - leading him back to her.

She had gone someplace where he can't follow, but he knew that it was only a matter of time now before he found her or she found him. He knew why she had done what she had done when she had decided to disappear forever from his view. He had been drawing unwanted attention upon himself - the gates of Hell would have opened eventually for him if she hadn't stopped him from going too far.

Rukia was still out there somewhere is one of the worlds, and he knew that just like himself, she was searching for a way out, a way back to the past.

The Sun chased the Moon and the Moon chased the Sun in an endless attempt to belong to the other's world.

Thus, it was impossible for either to catch each other.

Unless, of course, there was a bit of help along the way.

XXX

Shirayuki's ribbon glided along the air as it called out for him that they left behind.

The chain of Zangetsu rattled in the wind, as it sung its lament of the woman they had cursed to a life of servitude.

Their songs wrapped around each other and danced between the worlds.

The gates of Separation were parting.

XXX

Are you so unhappy? The voice was gentle and kind. The voice was angry and wrathful. The voice was that of a man. The voice belonged to a woman. It was a child that cried with that voice. The voice was the earth. The voice was the sky. The voice was everything and nothing.

She didn't turn around. She knew that she would see nothing there. The splendor of the King of Heaven was not meant for her eyes or anyone else's. "You could say that," she says, carefully. "Yes. You could say that." She fingered the door behind the curtain that separated her from all other worlds.

Do you miss him?

She wondered why He asked her these questions when He already knew the answers. "Yes. Very much."

Did you love him then?

"Yes."

You never told him.

She turned around to stare at nothing and everything, her eyes wide with shock. "Does everything need to be said out loud for it to be true or to exist?"

No. No, it does not. The voice was smiling at her.

"He knew," Rukia stood tall, a woman in love if there ever was one. "Ichigo knows how I feel, he has always known. I've never needed to tell him, because really, what would have been the point?"

Did you know about his love for you then?

She smiled a sad smile, the smile of a woman about to marry another, the smile of a woman who would never know love again. "Of course."

Warmth surrounded her body. You understand then, do you? Words mean nothing in the end. There is only acknowledgement.

She smiled. "Thank you." She closed her eyes, and walked forward.

There was no door. There was no curtain. There was no boundary. There were no more chains, except one.

XXX

The Sun chased the Moon forever and ever, longing to make her his bride. It was a never-ending chase, as he did not realize that she chased after him as well.

But there was always the chance that they could one day meet, if either one decided one day to turn around to greet the other.

He saw her in the fading light of the Moon and the raising light of the Sun. She stood right in front of him, looking almost exactly as she had when she had disappeared that day so long ago when he was only sixteen. She smiled and raised her arms towards him, and then she was pressed against his body and she was real once more and so was he.

"It's over," was all she said as she clung to him in that mixture of light and darkness. "It's over."

Sun and Moon had passed the test that God had placed upon them.

They were free from all chains, except one - which was the strongest chain of all as they had proven over the long years of searching for an opening between worlds - an opening that had always been there.