So you prefer the daily updates... Hmmm...
Anyway, the next few chapters will be a little shorter... because in every chapter i want to point something different.
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saiya-jinPan140, you're the only one who said that once a week it's alright :)
teshichan , uuuu,... another reader who thinks of chaining for Byaruki. Hihihi!
andyantopia, yeah... Haruna is't such a bad influence on Byakuya!
Rndd, oui, j'ai des fautes ( trop fatigue pour les remanquer ) et oui "the power of love" est un chishe... mais justement, je n'ai pas trouve aucune autre sortie pour fair Rukia revenir.
.71, "great" well, that is a true compliment! Thank you, enjoy the new chapter!
Jenny V, i will try to keep it up with the "almost daily udates)
annia9semi, yep... caught between the two of them... still preferring Ichigo?
ngoknguyen3004, another byaruki supporter! my dream is coming true!
Araiae4u, you read the other story?... i haven't undated in a while. I was thinking that same way when i wrote about Ichigo and Rukia's "death"... it looks a lot like the other one ( bykuya's) , i wasn't really satisfied by this thing...
Guest, thank you for the compliments! :)
purplepam, one chapter you love me, the other one you hate, right? :)
Noctis Vee Caelum, you know i thank you for the reviews, but the rest i'll right in a message later.
SchelmaAnimeFan, so you were ok with this " love it's more powerful than death" ?
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"Rukia, i know you can hear me… hang on! I'm coming after you!"
In that moment, form his living room, Isshin got up from the couch with scared eyes and exited the house in hurry. Within the same second, in Urahra shop, Renji got up from the floor of the hallway and looked around with the expression of the man who had lost all hope. He reached his zanpakuto wondering if he should finish what he started. From the next room, Urahara raised his gaze from his work and faced Yoruichi with a worried expression. She turned to the direction of Rukia's room.
Five minutes later, Isshin burst in the shop with his face transfigured from sweat.
"Ichigo!... WHERE'S ICHIGO?!" yelled the old man desperately.
Urahara got up and encountered him.
"HIS REIATSU IS GONE!" Isshin yelled.
Yoruichi immediately appeared beside Urahara.
"Ichigo went to get Rukia back." The woman said.
Isshin's eyes widened scared, but as he felt that he had no second to lose he begun to look in all the rooms of Urahara's house, until he finally got the one in which Ichigo was with Rukia. Everybody followed him silently, as he entered to room, Renji being the only one looking at all of them confused. The first thing Isshin saw was Ichigo in his shinigami uniform, curved around Rukia's body with his eyes closed. He leaned over him and took his writs to look for his pulse… but then, he saw next to him two broken zanpakutos: Sode no Shirayuki and Zangetsu.
"You stupid child!" he mumbled with a pained voice. "How could you do such a thing!... My stupid child!"
Yoruichi approached the ex- shinigami captain, who seemed torn apart by the view of the modern Romeo and Juliet couple.
"You should trust, Ichigo!" Yoruichi encouraged the father.
"This is something too big for him to handle!" Isshin hissed as he hardly let go of his son's cold hand.
Renji, still confused, remained in the threshold and looked at Urahara as he waited for an explanation.
"Ichigo is trying to get back Rukia…" Urahara finally spoke toward the confused shingami. "He tries to trace her and bring her to life…"
"Can he do that?" Renji asked his heart almost stopping from the hope that resurrected in his heart.
"Theoretically it's possible. He must find her soul before her body will disintegrate and become part of the spiritual pressure of Soul Society. But even if he finds her in time… he must find the way back to the living world…"
Renji's eyes widened as he noticed Ichigo's broken zanpakuto.
"This means that Ichigo is also… dead…" he hissed horrified.
"No living can follow the path of the dead. To bring her back he needed to die also…"
Renji dropped his zanpakuto on the floor. He suddenly understood how much Ichigo loved Rukia… So much that he had gave up at his life, with no hesitations or second thoughts. He was afraid to ask himself if he would have done the same thing.
"But ichigo…will come back to life?" he asked with a low, hurt voice.
"If he comes back, he will bring Rukia along… but if he won't be able to find her, he will also die" Urahara concluded.
Renji's eyes widened again. Isshing also raised his head troubled on Urahara's last words. Yoruichi approached the father and with a hesitant gesture she put a hand on his shoulder in order to comfort him.
"But Yoruichi was right… we trusted Ichigo all this time… we mustn't loose hope now." Urahara added.
"How much time does he have?" Renji asked.
"Until Rukia's body will disintegrate… 3 days…"
"Stupid child! Stupid child… One day I'll die from being worried about you!... Stupid child! What would Masaki say for letting her only son die?" Isshin's voice kept hearing in the silent room.
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Day 1
"Rukia! Rukia keep talking! I need to hear your voice so I'll find you!" Ichigo shouted.
Around it was dark. The only thing he could see was a big, glowing snow flake. It was surprisingly warm and he kept it in his palm as if it was his most valuable treasure. Rukia's heart...
For a while he kept hearing her voice as it was furthering away but a while ago it stopped. He kept calling for her, but no answer came back.
"Rukia! Say something!"
But then the dark slowly vanished and he begun to distinguish things around him, the same way as if he had recently woken up from sleep. He looked around.
Rukongai?!
"Rukia?!" he asked intrigued as a small, stringbean girl with big violet eyes passed beside him in a hurry. She was carrying a bowl with water. The moment she heard her name being called she stopped for a second:
"What are you doing here?!" she hissed. Then she turned around and continued running. Ichigo immediately followed her. "Oh that Renji!" she shouted talking to herself. "His skills on stealing water worsened! I don't know what am I going to do with him!" but then she noticed that was Ichigo still following her. "Hey ! Why are you still here? There's nor the time nor the place for you here!
He didn't pay attention to her words and he kept running. Soon they reached a wood and she begun to act friendly:
"What do you think I should do with Renji? … I heard that he wants to marry me!"
"What?!" Ichigo stated in his mind, but surprisingly he found out that his voice was gone and he couldn't talk.
"You're surprised, too? The same went with me when my other three friends told me this. They said that he confessed his intentions in front of them a few evenings ago. Oooh! I'm so nervous when I think about him waiting to marry me! He and the other three friends are the only family I have. I must admit, I keep something for Renji… it wouldn't mind me to with him…but we don't even have a proper place to stay! How can we raise a family like this?"
Ichigo was shocked as he kept following the teenage Rukia. Did she ever have feelings toward Renji?... If Renji had admitted he wouldn't be surprised. But Rukia?!... That was something he just couldn't imagine.
Rukia suddenly stopped as they got out of the forest. They reached the top of hill from which Seireitei could be seen. Rukia suddenly started to cry as she approached what seemed to be three improvised graves.
"My friends! My family !" Rukia mumbled trough her tears. She dropped the bowl of water and its content filled like a river the whole platform of the hill.
"Rukia, you'll drown! Grab my hand!" Ichigo tried to yell but his voice couldn't be heard.
"What?! You are still here?" Rukia snapped annoyed as she turned to him. "Go away! You mustn't be here!" The water kept falling, almost reaching their chins, but untroubled by the water, Rukia took her face into her palms and cried: "Oh, Renji! Let's become shinigamis! Let's go to Seireitei! Let us leave a normal live… and then… then… we can be together!"
And suddenly dark took over again. He heard footsteps rezoning with echo. Then he saw Rukia running on the halls of the…
Shinigami Academy?!...
"Renji! Renji! " she kept calling as she approached the red haired man.
"Rukia!" he snapped excited. "Look! Look at my shikai!" Rukia stopped and Renji released his zanpakuto, Zabimaru's blade surrounding her like a snake ready to suffocate her. "Hey Rukia, what do you think? Isn't it great? Are you proud of me?" Rukia looked at the blade, but slowly as he kept talking only about his strength and his zanpakuto, her smile disappeared.
"Renji…" she whispered "… What have we become?... Our paths have parted. It was easier when we were children. Renji… this was supposed to be about us looking for e better life! Together!"
But Zabimaru kept surrounding her.
"Renji!" she suddenly yelled. "You're losing me!"
On those last words, the blade's circle loosened until Renji retreat totally. He faced her with a hurt expression when he said:
"The Kuchiki's have come…"
"You're losing me, Renji!" she insisted. "Aren't you going to anything about it?"
"The Kuchiki's have come…" he repeated.
Then Rukia turned. Ichigo did the same thing and saw Byakuya stood with a stiffed expression along with his army of servants and counselors. With a sad expression Rukia slowly approached Ichigo.
"Tell me…"she begun as her eyes were fixed on Byakuya." Why is he so cold toward me?... Does he hate me? … Why do I look so much with his ex-wife?..."
Then she turned to Ichigo: " And you, Kaien-dono… why did you marry Myako? Kaien-dono, why am I not beautiful and gentle like her?"
Ichigo backed of intrigued, trying to explain her that he was not Kaien, but then he saw his reflection in a river. His eyes were green and his hair was black… and those were not his only things that shocked him. He also saw Rukia's blade trough his chest. He felt no pain from the wound. Instead he felt as if Rukia had taken his heart out of his chest.
"I'll take care of it, Kaien-dono!" she whispered with a crying face as she kept in her hands a little blue ball of light. She turned around and started to run again. He followed her and somewhere in the distance he could distinguish the Kuchiki manor.
"Nii-sama where is my home?! Nii-sama… I need to become stronger! I need to be like you! I need you! Don't turn your face away from me!" she yelled like a child as she tried to reach the Kuchiki gardens in which Byakuya was stainding next to a cherry tree, cold and indifferent as usual. When she arrived at the gardens, the cherry tree suddenly blew away all his petals. She tried to pass through them but they were sharp as a blade. With bleeding hands, she took her face into her palms, but this time she didn't cry.
"I will become stronger Nii-sama! I'll make you pound of me! And then you'll look at me! It's a promise!" she said and left the garden.
Her eyebrows frowned as she saw again Ichigo.
"Still here?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" she snapped.
"Rukia..." he said and suddenly he noticed that his voice returned. "I came here after you!"
But her eyes suddenly widened scared.
"Ichigo ! Watch out!" she shouted and jumped in front of him. Ichigo saw hollow attacking her. He instantly recognized the hollow from the first night they met. Rukia tried to fight it but in the end she was thrown on the asphalt.
"You crazy human… Didn't you know that your strength means nothing against that?"
Ichigo was confused but he approached her.
"Rukia! This is not reality!" he snapped. He saw with corner of his eyes the hollow vanishing in the dark while being replaced by little flames. "Rukia give me your hand! I've come to save you!"
"I don't want to be saved!" she snapped coldly.
A déjà-vu sensation, he stated and suddenly saw the flames taking the shape of the Sokyoku.
"Rukia come to your senses! These are things that happened long time ago! None of this is real!"
She bowed her eyes.
"They are all real, Ichigo…because they're my heart…" she whispered.
"Rukia, grab my hand! I want to save you!"
She raised her eyes with a troubled expression.
"To save me from what, Ichigo? To save me from myself … and my broken heart?"
His eyes widened and retreat his hand.
"To save me from my feelings?... From the fact that I've been in love with you from the moment I first laid my eyes on you? Oh, Ichigo!" she gasped and got up from the asphalt, trying to approach him. Flustered, he noticed that her presence was slowly fading, the same way it did when he lost his shinigami powers. As a matter a fact, Ichigo suddenly realized that it was, the day he lost his powers.
"Rukia! Grab my hand!" he yelled. "None of this is real!"
Her eyes widened.
"This is good-bye…" she whispered.
"No, Rukia! This is only a memory! Grab my hand!"
"Don't look so sad… I'll still be able to see you even if you won't …"
"You know I wouldn't like that! Rukia, let's go back together!" he yelled, alarmed by the fact that her presence was rapidly fading.
"Together?..." she stated confused. "But we were never meant to be together…"
"No, Rukia! We can be together! I want for us to be together! Come with me!"
She slowly reaches her hand, but then she suddenly stops tormented. Before he could ask himself what made her changed her mind, Ichigo felt warm hands embracing him from behind and he saw Inoue's ginger hair. Rukia lower her gaze and backed off…
"No, Rukia! This is a lie! Rukia you're the only one I love…" he shouted with worry in his voice.
"Ichigo…if you only knew how much I wanted to kiss you that day…" she whispered.
"Kiss me now! You can kiss me now, Rukia! But please, come back!" he yelled as he was desperately trying to break from Inoue's grip.
"I can't … It's too late… I'm sorry Ichigo, but I don't want to be saved…" she replied.
Ichigo tried to reach his hand and grab her, but she took another step back.
"Ichigo… forgive me, but I don't want to live in a world where my love cannot be returned. Go back to her Ichigo… go back to college and your human world…"
"Rukia!" he yelled. "This is only the past! The past doesn't matter anymore!
"Then look for me in the present…" she whispered.
"Rukia take my hand!"
But then she disappeared and everything went back. He was alone again, in the dark, his only source of light being the beautiful and warm snowflake from his hand. He felt his heart beating strongly… but Rukia was nowhere to be found in this darkness…
He thought of her words: "Look for me in the present"
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Ururu approached Isshin with a tray with food. He thanked as his eyes were still fixed on Ichigo and Rukia but, he didn't touched the food. Shortly after Ururu left, Urahara entered the room.
"One day it's already gone…" Isshin said. "One day… and nothing happened!"
"There are still two more days left…" Urahara said kindly.
"And after that?!" Isshin snapped violently. " What if they're not coming back?"
Urahara didn't answer, but both of them knew the risks and the consequences.
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Byakuya… I think I've heard Ichigo's voice calling me. Is it possible that he came after me? Or is it only my imagination going insane?
My entire existences passed in front of my eyes while I keep hearing my name spoken by his voice…
Oh, Byakuya I didn't thought that dying would hurt so much… Oh, please, just do something so this pain would stop! Save me or make me dead already! Whatever you choose, just make it stop!...
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Byakuya's heart suddenly startled. For a second all he could hear was Rukia's voice. He had forgotten where he was and what he was doing. Slowly as he was regaining his conscience he recognized around him the Elders, at the council's table.
"I don't think that voting it's necessary…" Goroza Ryoing stated. "It's obvious that everybody here emphasize with this marriage…"
"Even you, Lord Ryoing?" another voice replied with sarcasm. "That's rather generous of you…"
"I will advise you to keep your little vulgar ironies to yourself, Katsuya" Goroza replied.
But Byakuya wasn't listening to any of them. He needed to find a way to get in touch with Rukia. There were still 5 days until her repost … He couldn't wait anymore.
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For those who founded a little confusing this chapter... maybe... What was ichigo seeing were not exactly Rukia's memories, but the way she felt about those memories (that is why they are slightly changed). With other words it's the way a heart remembers a memory.
That was it for the moment! Until next time let me know what you think ( honest opinions as usual :) )