Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's notes: I really want to thank you all for your reviews on the last chapter. Just to let you know, the way the end was written was intended for you to think whatever you wanted for it. Either Ichigo just entered the bathroom or eh... you get the idea. Anyway, this one here is set on the future but a timeline doesn't really affect the story. Hope you like it and remember to review, please!
Morning Songs
29.04.2005
On the way to their home one hot August day, Ichigo and Rukia hear piano notes fluttering in the air. It is, by far, one of the most beautiful melodies that the orange-haired boy has heard in a long while; and he is very hard to please when it comes down to music, too. Rukia doesn't know much about music herself, but she does know the things she likes. And she finds that she likes this particular piece.
They wordlessly agree to follow the song until it takes them to the source of it all: an old man in ragged clothes, dirty and torn in some places. The man sits up against the brick wall by the corner of the street; his small keyboard set on his lap seems to be the only object of his property aside of the worn out hat that lies by his feet with a few coins inside. The sight itself is unusual in a town like this, but then again, reality hits them from time to time and shows them there are still sad things like this in the world. The man looks fatigued and thin, and yet he offers them a toothy grin as his long fingers practically fly over his instrument.
He keeps playing as both boy and girl stand in front of him, completely focused on the melody that, Rukia certainly believes, he produces like magic. His song is sorrowful and beautiful and it etches itself into the depth of their hearts, hiding in the darkened corners. Every musical note lingers inside their heads and echoes against the walls of their minds, evoking a handful of memories that they thought forgotten.
Ichigo glances at Rukia once and is startled to find one of the oddest faces he's seen on her, as though she is torn between the past and the present. Her blue eyes look so far away that it almost makes him want to reach for her – to touch her arm or her face and feel her skin against the tips of his fingers – and to prove she's really standing next to him. He wants to believe that this is not an illusion or his mind playing a trick on him. He snaps out of it before he shames himself in front of the kind stranger.
The man finally stops playing and he looks up at them with a new grin blossoming upon his wrinkled and tanned face. He nods at the two of them, a gentle greeting from a gentle old man to a pair of strangers. He doesn't ask for anything and yet, Rukia suddenly steals Ichigo's wallet. The boy is not bothered then or when she drops into the man's hat whatever that is left from his allowance for the rest of this month.
Ichigo does not care at all then and he does not care either when, two days or so later, he wakes up with Rukia in his arms as she sings the tune in his ear.