Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's notes: The style in this one-shot is different to that of recent chapters since it's one of my older fics but I just never considered putting it up until now. (And I so need to make some proofreading and editing... sigh...) Pretty much Ichigo-centric + Ishida's incesant questions and implied IchiRuki. Hope you like it anyways. Exact timeline would be the night of the day Ichigo and the gang met a certain guy with boar.

Motifs
30.04.2005

'Hang on, I'll save you,' he thought once again, completely self-absorbed as he frowned deeply and gripped his right fist with his other hand. It was ironic, it was pathetic… it was almost as if he was trying to convince himself that he could keep his promise. But there he was nonetheless, haunting himself with his thoughts for the sake of forgetting his helplessness. The moon shone ever-so-softly over him, its silvery blue glow drowned by the darkness of the night and the clouds that refused to leave the natural satellite alone and hid whatever was left of the strikes of light.

A male voice, baritone and young, interrupted the silence with one single word and successfully shook the brooding boy out of his thoughts, "Kurosaki."

The orange-haired, black-clad shinigami looked up and turned around slowly only to meet Ishida Uryuu, the shinigami-loathing quincy, walking towards him and sitting beside him on the other side of the porch.

"Ah, it's you, Ishida," Ichigo's gaze fell from him and back to the floor, inwardly wondering about the other's boy presence. "Where are Chad and Inoue?"

"Sado-kun went to take a bath," he informed Ichigo, looking straight forward as well and staring at the dark sky and the moon that hung over the clouds. "Inoue-san wanted to keep on practicing with her powers but she was tired and I told her to go to sleep already," a rare but barely visible smile graced the dark-haired quincy's features, "She was pretty stubborn."

"Ah… alright," the orange-haired one said absently, staring up as soon as he got bored of the dirty ground. There wasn't much there but the dusty floor and his feet.

"What a guy, that Ganjyu… eh, Kurosaki?" Uryuu pushed up his ever-falling glasses to the bridge of his nose, smirking as the shinigami scowled smugly for that had been the reaction he was expecting.

"That bastard," Ichigo's frown deepened at the mention of the 'boar-riding weirdo with fuzzy eyebrows', as he had dubbed him, "I'll get him next time, for sure!"

Ishida shook his head at the other's childish nature, his blue eyes then following the path of a particularly large and grey cloud. It seemed like it was going to rain in no time. "I still don't understand why those two insist on following you so intently," the bespectacled boy commented casually as he leaned on one of the porch's frames, refering to their two partners. He clenched and unclenched his hands, then flexed his sore fingers as he recalled the earlier conversation he had had with Inoue and Sado about dogs and cats and samurai...

On the opposite side of the porch, Ichigo shrugged genuinely, instantly forgetting about his sword and looking up straight at the sky while leaning against the wood on his elbows. "I really don't know, but I'm really glad and grateful to know I count with friends like them. I'm very lucky," he replied sincerely, a grin spreading amidst his frown. He then looked at the other boy, putting up a thoughtful look on his face. "What about you, Ishida? Why are you following us?"

The Quincy smirked and pushed up the rear of his glasses against the bridge of his nose, yet again repeating his previous movements as though it was already a natural motion for him, one that gave him an air of conceited superiority sometimes or a complete geek at others. Sometimes, Ichigo wished he could simply stick them with glue to his face.

"I told you already, Kurosaki. I have to beat those shinigamis. My pride as the last of the Quincy demands me to do so," he began serenely, "And also, I want to see by myself how strong you've really become."

Ichigo pulled a face at him. "Yeah, whatever…"

Ishida was a strange guy.

It wasn't like he didn't appreciate the fact that the proud quincy was taking his time to accompany them. And it wasn't like he really didn't understand that the boy before him was actually trying to help him either, so it was okay even if he was a strange guy.

"Hmph…" the black-haired youngster frowned darkly, seemingly slightly offended by the other boy's indifference. "Then, Kurosaki Ichigo, why are you doing this? Why are you so intent in rescuing that girl?"

Ichigo turned around to face him, eyes large at the question but showing no other evidence of surprise. "Well, I owe it to Rukia," he replied calmly, resolutely; his face was set on a determined frown.

He had said it almost too quickly. This did not went unnoticed by Uryuu.

"Are you sure that's the real reason?" the other inquired testily. His inquiry slipped easily and calmly off his tongue, the smirk evident on his handsome face. Boy, did he enjoy frustrating the substitute shinigami.

"What the heck are you talking about?" He snapped, glaring at him angrily. Ichigo wasn't completely sure if he was liking where the conversation was going to.

"You know what I'm talking about, Kurosaki. Are you sure that just owing it to Kuchiki is enough to risk your own life to save her? Is it worth it? Enough to even get into the depths of hell?" Ishida's tone was serious this once, the slight mockery he had used before was gone. "Even when she is likely not to want you to help?" Uryuu questioned again.

Ichigo nodded, his hand reaching for his soul-cutter and then his eyes staring at the shiny surface of the blade. His fingers grasped the cloth enveloping the place where the hilt would have been. He sighed deeply when Ishida kept looking at him unskeptically.

"You're probably right," he breathed a deep sigh once again, "I don't know. I really don't know if that's just it. I just know I have to save Rukia." He plunged the sword on the soil ground, gripping the handle tightly. "But I believe that, after I do that, I will understand everything else."

Ishida stood up, his glasses gleaming with the light of the moon. The round satellite shone brightly among the even more evident grey, dark clouds.

"I see. Then I hope you do so," he told him, climbing up the step and walking inside the wooden house. He kept on walking inside along the halls, his voice fading as his figure was lost in the darkness. "Goodnight, Kurosaki."

"'Night."

And then, Ichigo was alone again, lost in the memories that plagued his mind every day of a girl clad in drenched clothes, of darkness and butterflies, and of the smell of blood and tears and rain... memories of death… He had promised it, not to anyone else but to himself, to his very soul. He'd be the one to save her.

The rain started falling.