I have decided to continue this one-shot into a short series...I present the Epilogue: the rest of the story will be featured in a sequel, entitled 'The Way Back Home'. Because, after all...Home is where the Heart is, right?
*gets shot*
Sorry, I had to do it...
Anyway, the reason for the separation into two separate stories is due to the gradual shift in mood...you will soon see what I mean, provided that you read the rest as it is posted.
Thank-you all for the reviews, follows, favs...I am so pleasantly surprised at all of the positive feedback thus far! I am exceedingly grateful.
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Epilogue:
Not long after the last words were shared, a redheaded shinigami and a Quincy, battered and exhausted, came sprinting into the canyon as dawn broke. Inoue padded along after them, worry evident on her face.
"Dammit!" Renji cursed, kneeling and slamming a fist into the ground as he took in their surroundings. "I can't feel a shred of their reiatsu anywhere! They can't seriously be—"
"Hold on a second, Abarai-san! Look!" Ishida took off suddenly, his companions quickly following with agitation evident in their tense steps. All that was to be seen was barren rock, dry earth, and the occasional still body of a fallen shinigami or Quincy.
At last, the trio came upon a huddled pair of shinigami: one was lanky with bright orange hair, spread out limply across the body of a smaller figure, whom he held protectively, his face buried in her midnight-black locks. Inoue's eyes were wide, and she swallowed hard twice before carefully approaching them, gathering her resolve and willing her tears to remain hidden behind her lashes. As she knelt, she could see them move ever so slightly as they breathed. Her own breath hitched audibly.
"They're alive!"
The soft words sent an electric shock through the two men present. Renji scoffed, though the relief in the redhead's eyes was poorly hidden. "Well, c-come on, then; if we don't get them to Unohana-taicho, they won't be alive for long." His gaze lingered on Rukia's battered figure as he hoisted her partner off of her body.
Inoue simply nodded, a dazed look plastered on her face.
Ishida's eyes were clouded and he fidgeted with his glasses for a moment as he thought. You two never cease to amaze me, Kurosaki-san, Kuchiki-san… He chuckled to himself as he knelt to gingerly pick up Rukia's form, Renji already having tossed Ichigo over his shoulder. You spend all your lives trying to avoid and deny what is so obviously true…and yet in the face of death, your true colors emerge. Ishida hadn't failed to notice how peaceful the pair looked, even unconscious, cradled gently in one another's arms. He also hadn't ignored the intertwined hands between their tattered chests.
Neither had Inoue and Renji, though perhaps they didn't put the pieces together to form any real meaning.
Perhaps they chose not to, for the time being.
To be continued...