Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's notes: I decided I would put together the things I had written collection of drabbles and one-shots dedicated for IchiRuki. Please check them out and enjoy!
Death Butterflies
24.01.2005
Night soon came down upon the small town that day. The moon hung over the sky, lighting up the already dark streets along with the flickering, yellow glow from the light posts. The flimsy, nimble butterfly posed itself gingerly on top of Rukia's nose and lingered there for a fraction of a second before flying off into the darkness. Her eyes followed the tiny black creature closely as its frail form disappeared in the night, quickly fluttering its wings.
"What happens if it gets lost?" Ichigo's grumpy voice reverberated in the silence of the lonely alley. "What if the soul never really reaches the Soul Society?"
Rukia snapped out of her thoughts at this, her brows knitting together as she became exasperated. 'Is he doubting Soul Society again? Really, this boy…' she thought in annoyance. Ichigo was getting a little bit too paranoid for his own good recently; but not only that, it was getting bothersome for her as well.
She scowled darkly and turned to look up at his face, ready to snap at him. Ichigo, though, rather than mocking as she had expected looked in deep thought, gripping the soul-cutter with which he had performed the soul burial minutes before. Her features softened at the sight, understanding, but she still frowned at him.
"Of course it doesn't get lost, you idiot…" she scolded sternly. 'He is so very unfaithful.' She crossed her arms and looked at him in a motherly fashion. "Once a soul burial is perfectly executed, the soul is attracted to Soul Society like a magnet. Besides, our butterflies aren't ordinary messengers," she told him, a proud air about her, "there is now way a soul will get lost with their assistance."
Ichigo paused, face seriously looking up at the obscure sky. A smirk was imprinted in his lips suddenly, as though something had just occurred to him. "Do you mean that was a perfect soul burial, then, Rukia?"
She almost gasped, almost dropped her jaw, but quickly gained composure. "I-I never said that…" she exclaimed, hands resting on both hips and blue eyes large and round.
He smiled, turning his head down to look right at her. "Aa, I see." His grin never faded. "Thank you, Rukia-sensei," he added as an afterthought, knowing fully well that the added title would irritate her further. Teasing her like this seemed just fair for making him do all her work.
"Ichigo!" She whined.
"Oh, shut up," he told her, absently reincorporating into his body by the brick wall. The tall boy stood up, flexed up his knees once to regain control over his body, and turned his head as he stared at her. "It's getting late. Let's head home already."
He walked off unconcernedly, leaving the shocked dark-haired woman standing there by herself. "Rukia, are you coming or what?" he yelled as he was about to turn around the corner out of the cold alley, some ten meters away from her, and walk down the usual street to his house.
She strode up to him, completely forgetting how he stole a compliment from her. "Whatever…"
The death butterfly flew past them and the clouds, guiding another soul into heaven.