Hello! New chapter! Enjoy and R&R :)
The Prisoner was defeated.
The next second she instinctively turned to Ichigo who had broken his seal and who was now in his shinigami form. Since there was no spiritual pressure, he was suffocating and he couldn't move. She knew he was in pain as she knew his eyes were fixed on her in shock during the whole fight. Now she was approaching him and somehow she felt like crying. Was it because she hasn't seen him in years in his shinigami uniform? Was it because he was in pain? Was it because he had broken the sealer of his powers? There was no need for that! She had all under control!
She saw him falling in his knees almost passing out so she took his face into her palms:
"Why Ichigo? Why did you do such a stupid thing? Haven't I told you that I will protect everything dear to you?"
Her voice was cracking and her lips were trembling. She put her palm on his forehead and turned him back in his human form. Immediately he got up and started to breathe deeply and loudly.
"Kurosaki-kun! Kurosaki-kun! Are you alright? You're bleeding!" Orihime started to shout, crying.
Indeed! He was bleeding. He had a head injury. It was her fault! She should have been more careful! She should have used Bankai from the beginning! With all these heavy thoughts, she kept standing in front of him speechless watching how… he was starring back at her with empty eyes. Was he even seeing her? She couldn't bear that look. It was hurting her too much…so, without thinking, she jumped into his arms and embraced him with all her left strength. She couldn't abstain herself anymore so she set free all her feelings… But, why was she crying? Because he was injured? Because he had missed him? Because she was tired of hiding her sorrow?...
She felt the rain falling over them. It was the melting ice of her zanpakuto :
"Rukia…Rukia it seems to rain again…"
Those words broke her heart. She knew she was the one who made all that rain fall… again and again…
"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry, Ichigo"
And then she felt his body falling unconscious… That brought her back to reality!
"Kurosaki! Kurosaki!" yelled Orihime scared and pulled her away so she can embrace Ichigo.
Without riposte, she stepped back and saw Isshin along with his daughters, coming out from the house.
"Dad! Dad!" Orihime yelled. "Hurry up! Kurosaki's injured!
"Dad?... Did she just call Isshin 'dad'?" Rukia told herself as she saw 'the old man' passing in front of her as if she didn't exist. He was closely followed by Yuzu.
The only one who stopped next to her was Karin:
"So you're back, huh?" she told her in her specific cold manner.
Rukia widened her eyes but she couldn't say a word.
"You stupid child ! Why did you have to rip the necklace? Rukia was already here!" she heard Isshin's voice shouting in the street as he was carrying an unconscious Ichigo.
"What? Rukia-chan is here?" immediately Yuzu asked.
The same moment Orihime stopped in front of her:
"Thank you Kuchiki-san! You saved us both !"
But Rukia was still mute and shocked.
"Come on Orihime! Hurry up!" shouted Isshin "I'll you need to heal Ichigo!"
"I'm coming Dad!" Orihime answered and she disappeared from her sight.
Stoned, Rukia watched them all was leaving.
"Ar you coming or what?"
She turned surprised. It was Karin. Without knowing what she was doing she followed the girl.
"By the way…" she added "Nice outfit"
Rukia looked at herself surprised: She still was in her bankai form.
The moment she stepped into the house, she heard again Isshin's voice shouting annoyed and troubled:
"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid child! He had to break the necklace! Now when there's no spiritual pressure! He could have got himself killed!"
"I'll finish healing Kurosaki-kun in a moment!" the low voice of Orihime was heard from the living room.
"When you finish I'll move him in his room" Isshin added.
Rukia stepped into the room and she saw the unconscious Ichigo. Something pinched her inside.
"Rukia! Thank Goodness you were there! Otherwise he would have been dead now!"
Those were the first words Isshin had addressed her in years. So familiar, as if they haven't seen each other since yesterday.
"Ichigo it's stronger than he looks…I'm sure he would have also managed without me" she said."But this doesn't change the fact that he's stupid! I'm sure that Soul Society it's already informed about the broken seal!"
"I'm done! You can move him in our room, dad"
Rukia looked again troubled at the sound of "dad" on Orihime's lips.
"You stupid child! He's a stupid child, Rukia! said Ishhin again, almost crying. "I don't need those bastards from Gotei 13th to burst in his life again. He just started to have a normal one!"
"I'll go prepare the room for nii-chan !" Yuzu said and went upstairs.
"Rukia, should Karin prepare a futon for you in her room?" Isshin asked before he lift Ichigo in his arms.
"There's no need I can take the closet in Ichigo's room…This way someone will keep an eye on him tonight…"
"Rukia… Actually…" begun Isshin not very confident.
Next to him Orihime lowered her face.
"Are you sure you want the closet?" insisted Isshin.
Rukia was confused.
"Actually that room belongs now to Ichi-nii and Orihime…" Karin added coldly.
Rukia's eyes widened.
"No, Kuchiki-san! Don't worry!…." begun Orihime with her soft voice. "You can sleep there if you want, and I will sleep with Karin-chan"
Rukia looked at both of them puzzled.
"I think… I will go to Urahara's…" she finally said. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience!"
"Nonsense! shouted Isshin. "My daughter came to visit after years of absence and you think I'll sent her to sleep among strangers?"
"Daughter?" Rukia asked ironically.
"Yes…Daughter" confirmed Karin…"You're just like a sister to me…or to Ichi-nii"
Rukia's eyes widened again.
"I think that's enough for tonight!" concluded Isshin annoyed as he lifted Ichigo. "Karin, go and prepare a futon for Rukia! Orihime, go and check if the bed's been made in your room!" and before disappearing he gave Rukia a meaningful look.
It was past midnight and she didn't approached yet Karin's room. She was still sitting at the kitchen table with the lights off.
"I thought you were on my side…" she suddenly said.
"You told me there was no side to take since you were not part of this game, haven't you?" Isshin answered as he stepped into the moon light from the corridor.
Rukia smiled with a sad expression.
"You do know how to twist my words!"
"These are words from 6 years ago." he added. "I thought you were gone…so i couldn't make him wait for you... forever…"
"Maybe you were right…but still…you had to let her move in here?"
Isshin tried to fake a smile:
"She moved by herself, it's not like I have insisted for her to do so…However, I had no reason to refuse her since she had no intention of leaving his side. Weren't we the ones who wanted him to have a normal and happy life?"
"And do you think he will still have a normal life after he broke the seal?"
Ishhin didn't answer and Rukia remembered Ichigo's expression as he was standing in the rain.
"I wonder if we were right and if this is what he really wanted…I sure he desired college…but I don't think he ever wished to have his shinigami powers taken."
"Yet you were the one who proposed the sealer to Gotei13…"
"And didn't you agreed with it?" riposte Rukia.
"I did! And I still do! But i'm sure that Soul Society would pressure him to have his powers back now that we have this Prisoner's Revolt"
"I can handle this!" she shouted. "You saw my bankai! I promised to protect this town for him so he could have a normal life! But if he wants his powers back I won't stop him this time!"
He bowed his head with a thoughtful expression:
"Rukia…I just want my son to be happy. I think you can understand this!" he added with the voice of a worried parent.
"Then we shouldn't decide his happiness by ourselves …"
"Perhaps you are right …And we should discuss about this tomorrow morning. I'm sure that Gotei 13 won't burst here in the middle of the night…So you should also go and have some rest…"
"…I don't want to disturb Karin" she answered.
Isshin lift his eyebrows distrustful and then he laughed:
"If you are so fond of closets I can borrow you mine"
"Shut up! You pervert old man! You haven't changed a bit!" she shouted.
Isshin laughed again.
"Have your way then! But i'm going to bed…..Oh! And just for the record Rukia…" he said while he was heading to the stairs " I still am on your side…"
Rukia's eyes widened, but before she could say something, Isshin added:
"Don't bother to thank me…let's just say that I have a weakness for lost causes"
He wanted to laugh again, but in front of the stairs he stopped as he saw Ichigo's figure in the dark. He must have heard all the conversation. Isshin frowned his eyebrows for a second and then, he continued to climb the stairs:
"It's strage, Rukia" he added "The people we love the most are the ones who hurt us the most!"
She waited for his steps to move further and then she said to herself:
"Hmm…You are a crazy old man…but you know the truth better than anyone"
Then she lift her head and saw a silhouette next to the stairs :
"What old man? You're already back?"
"Can't sleep either?" Ichigo's voice was heard.
Rukia's eyes widened.
"Ichigo, it's that you?"
He stepped into the moonlight and she saw him well. Tall, with ruffled orange hair and a torn expression.
"How are your injuries?" she asked him.
"Inoue healed them all"
"Good to hear that…"
"Yeah…"
And silence fell between them for a few moments as neither of them didn't know what to say.
"What were those?" he suddenly asked.
"What 'those'?"
"Those zombie creatures…"
"Oh…" she said with a bored air. "Just some escaped Prisoners from Seireitei who feed on spiritual pressure and who are organizing a revolt in order…to take over the Soul Society…or the entire world..or who knows what else."
"You don't seem troubled by their presence"
"Ichigo…" she added irritated. "We both know we have seen enemies more terrifying than this, during our existence"
Ichigo looked around.
"I don't feel their presence anymore…"
"Well…of course you don't since I've chased them away"
"I can sense your presence though…"
Rukia frowned her eyebrows confused.
"Your reiatsu…I meant…I really missed that ability…Somehow, now that the seal is broken I feel that I'm myself again "
"Right…" she added with the same bored air.
"I'll help you get rid of those Prisoners or whatever you called them, if they'll be back" he added enthusiastically.
"They will, certainly…but I think I can manage them…"
Ichigo remembered then her bankai.
"So you achieved bankai…"
"Well… a lot can happen in 6 years, Ichigo!" she answered annoyed.
Ichigo gasped. He could no more ignore her bad mood:
"And why do you make it sound as if it's my fault for not being there these past 6 years? Weren't you the one who said that we shouldn't see each other anymore?"
"Well…maybe…Oh! Com'on, Ichigo! It's late! Weren't you supposed to be sleeping with your wife at this hour?"
Ichigo frowned his eyebrows annoyed:
"Inoue's not my wife!"
"Right!" added Rukia ironically.
"She is not!" he shouted.
"She's not your wife…but she lives with you and she calls Isshin "dad"!…Oh! Wait! Maybe your family adopted her and meanwhile she became your sister!" she shouted with the same sarcastic tone of voice.
"She's not my wife!"
"Yet!"
"Rukia!" he yelled. "You're pissing me off! We haven't seen each other in 6 years and that's the way you're acting on our reunion?"
"Fuck off! I already saved your ass, once this evening! What else were you expecting?"
"Well I saved your ass hundreds of times before!"
"Then we're even! Plus it's not like we haven't see each other in years! Maybe you have forgotten the party, two weeks ago!"
"Oh, right Rukia! The party on which you disappeared without saying goodbye!" Ichigo responded annoyed.
"Well give me a reason for which i should have remained…when I went to your room and i burst into your wife there!"
"She's not my wife! Wait!...WHAT? You went to my room in the middle of the night? Why?"
"It's none of business ! I was drunk! "
"Fuck, Rukia! Of course it's my business since your were in my room….You were drunk? …WAIT! Don't tell me you were…"
And here Ichigo put his hand over his mouth shocked. Rukia's face turned red.
"Oh, my! Rukia! I can't believe how stupid I was!...I…
But before he could say anything else, she grabbed a porcelain plate and she threw it in his direction.
"FUCK, RUKIA!" he yelled. " I didn't knew Inoue was coming!…And I was so drunk …and all those college mates were there…and…
Here he stopped, noticing how lame his excuses were.
"Cut it off Ichigo! There was nothing wrong with that party…it was your true live there! It was me, the one who didn't fit in that picture! "
"WHAT?"
"ADMIT IT ICHIGO! I'M NOT PART OF YOUR LIFE ANYMORE!" she yelled.
His eyes widened in shock wondering if he really heard those words from her mouth. When he understood that there was no 'taking back', he bowed his face disappointed.
"Weren't you the one who wanted this from the beginning?" he finally said with a low voice.
"The hell I wanted a broken heart!" she riposted. "I just wanted the best for you!"
He lift his face surprised and her eyes widened, scared because she had never spoke of her feelings before. She immediately put her hands over her mouth, in order to prevent other confessions. That reaction made him even sadder:
"The best, Rukia? …But, haven't I told you before…what is best for me?..."
She lowered her face.
"Stop it Ichigo! Please… just stop it! She said with an almost crying voice. "It's too late…and it doesn't matter anymore…"
"Stupid! How can you say…that it doesn't matter?" he whispered and slowly approached her.
When she lifted her head prepared to throw another sarcastic line, he was already next to her with arms wide open.
"Just keep your mouth shut and don't ruin the moment!" he said as he took her in his arms. "Maybe you don't know yet, but you never stopped being a part of my life….even when you seemed to be farther then ever, I kept you hidden in the corner of my mind, waiting for a moment like this to get you out of there. You asked me to enjoy this world and I did…but I never forgot you…I never wanted to do so, even though, it hurt me more than anything else.
"Ichigo…I.." she begun with a confused voice.
"Shhh! Just keep your mouth shut, will you? I'm sure if you won't, you'll certainly ruin this moment!" and while he said that he held her tighter. She gave up! She could no longer listen to her senses! Slowly, she closed her eyes…She knew he was getting closer. But how close could he get?
"I should have done this ,years ago…" he whispered.
Hearing those words, she opened her eyes and she saw his lips approaching her's. In that moment she regained her rationality and pushed him away with an angry expression:
"Then you should have done it years ago… not now!" she spoke.
Ichigo looked at her confused … blocked.
"You still have your wife waiting for you in bed!" she added with the coldness of her brother.
Ichigo's eyes widened. Those words were for him a cold shower which brought him back to reality. The moments spent with her seemed cropped from another world. He couldn't believe he forgot about Orihime!
"I-I'm…sorry" he said hardly.
She turned for a second and looked at him. She wanted to remain silent, she wanted to ignore her angriness but she couldn't:
"You should be better apologizing to her…not to me!"
He felt his stomach aching.
"I'll just blame it on that head injury you had…" she added and left the kitchen.
Yes, his stomach was aching. It was that guilt sensation…He lift his head and watched her go.
If only he could… blame it all on a head injury…
Ishhin and Karin were woken up by the sound of broken dishes. They both got up, thinking of going downstairs to check if everything is alright, but at the top of the stairs, they stopped as they saw Ichigo embracing Rukia. At that sight, Karin's eyebrows frowned:
"I never hated her… But if she breaks once again Ichi-nii's heart, I'll break her throat in sleep!" she said.
"Shut up, Karin! And go to bed!" said Isshin in one of his rare moments of seriousness.
With no other comment Karin went back to her room. When he heard the door of this daughter's room closing, he also saw Rukia pulling back Ichigo and leaving the room.
Isshin bit his lips troubled.
"Karin should forgive me!...But I know that you would have done the same, Masaki!" he whispered.
Then approaching the stairs he shouted: "Oi!"
Ichigo immediately turned his head and saw his father coming downstairs.
" What are you doing, old man? Weren't you supposed to be asleep?"
"Actually I was asleep…until you started to demolish the house and you woke me up" he said as he looked at the porcelain's crocks. " You know? That was one of Masaki's favorites…"
"You saw it, didn't you?" Ichigo suddenly said.
Isshin looked at him but he didn't say a word. He took a chair and sat at the kitchen table.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Ichigo insisted.
"Would you like to have me saying how disappointed I am on you?"
Ichigo clinched his fists. That guilt feeling stroke him again.
"Nothing happened…" he said, but he was more trying to convince himself.
"Nothing, indeed?" asked Ishhin with a calm yet surprised voice.
Ichigo gave him a torn expression.
"Maybe nothing happened, in fact…" continued the father. "But could you tell me that also nothing happened here? And he put a finger on his son's chest.
Ichigo's eyes widened.
"If you really like to use the word 'nothing' you should better admit that nothing is what changed in your heart during the last 9 years…"
He watched his father speechless. Isshin gasped and turned to the porcelain's crocks:
" You know you'll have to clean that up, right?"
Ichigo gasped annoyed and finally he got up from the table to take the brume.
"But not now, you stupid child!"
Ichigo turned to his father confused.
"Now, you should just go after her…"
Ichigo's eyes widened again.
"…Or are you waiting for her to go back to Soul Society?...And maybe another death execution as an excuse to enter there?"
Ichigo punched the table with his fists.
"How can you ask me to do something like this?..." he spoke trough his teeth as Orihime's image kept appearing in his mind.
"I'm not asking you to do anything." Isshin answered calmly. "I'm only asking you to be happy, Ichigo"
Ichigo, put his forehead on the table and passed his hands over his ruffled hair.
"This human life it's too short to have the time to live to the full the love, the sorrow, the guilt and in the end the happiness." continued Ishhin. "You might end up dead before you'll overcome your guilt…and wouldn't that be a waste? If there is only one thing that you could enjoy here to the full, I wish that could be 'happiness'."
"What would you know, dad, about my happiness?"
"I always thought that a good parent knows his child better than the child knows himself…Just don't try insinuate that I failed at this rubric!"
Ichigo gasped with his eyes still facing the floor, but he didn't contradict his father.
"If you don't hurry, you might loose her reiatsu…"
" That would be impossible…That's the most familiar scent I know…I could find it anywhere"
"Then anywhere is indeed, where she might be…"
Isshin's voice was deep and calm as Ichigo never heard it before. He raised his forehead from the table. The way his father was standing right now in the pale moonbeam, with eyes facing thoughtfully the dark window, made him remembered the dream he had earlier in the train.
"Dad…" he mumbled. "Did you ever tell mom to not hang around you and find a nice college boy instead?"
Isshin's eyes widened surprised.
"I often told her that before we got married…But how would you know that?"
Ichigo smiled.
"Now it makes sense…why do you care so much about Rukia…your stories do reassemble a little…"
"It's so strange Ichigo you keep searching other persons to compare me with but you fail to see the most important resemblance. Ichigo, even if you don't notice it, you and me, are alike."
" You mean that I'm also an eccentric, loud, pervert old man?" said Ichigo while he got up from the table.
"Oi!" riposted Isshin. "I'm not as old as you think!"
"Right, you're a shinigami… you're even older!" Ichigo added as he was heading to the main corridor.
When, he heard him putting his snickers on, Ishhin added:
"I meant that both, you and I have the courage to stand up and fight for what we love…"
Ichigo stopped with a smile before he could open the door and leave.
His father tried to chase away Masaki…He tried to keep her out of troubles, the same way Rukia was doing now with him...maybe, he even tried to runaway and eventually he came back. He turned his world upside down so he could be next to her the short time of a human life. He must have known from the beginning the consequences and the weight of the life he gave up in order to be part of her's and the pain he will suffer when that short time will be over… and yet none of this scared him..
He remembered again the image of his father, as it appeared him in the dream: That lonesome man, standing against the wall and having a smoke… He was proud, to be his son.
"Dad" he added " Mom was right…you do look cool when you smoke"
After he heard the entrance door closing, Ishhin smiled and gasped at the same time.
'See, Masaki? We do are alike!'
Byakuya passed the gates of his manor and instinctively, he turned his eyes to Rukia's room. The lights were off. Of course they were off! She must have been already in the real word.
"Okerinasai, Lord Kuchiki!" one of the servants said.
He kept looking at the darkness of her room. It's been only 2 weeks since she returned and now she was away again. He couldn't help himself but wonder if that old game of splitting her time between Ichigo and her Kuchiki duties has started again. He couldn't help himself but ask which one from these two was being pleasure for her and which one was being a burden…
"Lord Kuchiki, the meal is ready…where would you like to have it served?"
When he found out about the Prisoner's escape to the real world, he was decided to keep it a secret form her as long as he could…perhaps until another lieutenant was eager to offer himself for the mission. As a matter a fact, before Rukia burst in his office he was thinking of sending Renji.
It was not jealousy…but he couldn't bear the feeling of having his exclusivity taken. It was a thought that scratched his mind… No matter what, she still preffered… Kurosaki Ichigo.
"Lord Kuchiki?..."
Byakuya gave a menacing gaze to the insistent servant and then he made his way to his dorms.
At the 12th division headquarters, the 3rd seat, Akon, stood still in front of the big survey screen.
He asked for a hell butterfly to be sent to Yamamoto's headquarters with the message: " Kurosaki Ichigo's sealer was broken. His shinigami's powers were released."
"This might be interesting" he told himself when the butterfly disappeared.
Ichigo went to the roof of the house, knowing that she was there.
"Still mad?" he begun with a forced good mood.
Rukia turned to him with a straight face.
"Well, of course you can't be mad since you blame it on the head injury!" he added faking a large grin which made him think of his father's words. They do were alike. And yet... "Can I seat next to you?"
Thanks in advance for reading! The next chapter will be out in a week ( plus , minus): Wedding plans, Inoue asks Ichigo to learn Rukia how to dance, Byakuya receives a visit.. and so on ...Until then, waiting for your impressions. ( and correct me if you find grammar, spelling erros)