A/N: Don't blame me, blame the story. It writes its self.

Song: Say Anything's "Walk Through Hell."

I'll Follow You into the Dark.

xXx

"I'd walk through hell for you.
Let it burn right through my shoes.
These soles are useless without you.
Through hell for you.
Let the torturing ensue.
My soul is useless without you."

Avoidance was an art form when performed by Ichigo. He was a natural of sorts. Before he even grew into his bones, he was taking care of everyone else. It was easier than learning how to ride a bike. He never even needed training wheels or lessons on the craft. There was an added benefit to that talent, an uncanny yet unconscious ability to navigate around his own emotional qualms, qualms that lofted his tongue and kept his internal conflict on a battleground that he'd never let his friends tread across. He did all of this thoughtlessly, and it carried with him through the years. Yes, he was a child prodigy at avoiding.

So when Jushiro asked him 'what next', what new and shocking challenge would he undertake after the peace treaty had been completed, he reflexively tried not to think about Byakuya.

Ichigo was watered down. Most people were in their own ways, but Byakuya crossed over Ichigo's boundaries that filtered out all the part he didn't want the world to see. More importantly, he noble loved those parts. He gave those parts a home, a home so fundamentally necessary that Ichigo's soul locked to it.

Ichigo understood that Byakuya was the one he soul locked with. That much was clear once it was explained to him. He understood that it meant Byakuya could likely reciprocate his feelings. He understood that when Byakuya said pink meant hungry, it meant the noble was hungry for his heart.

So when Ichigo thought about his future, he couldn't not think about Byakuya.

Only, every time he thought about it, he'd tell himself he'd deal with it when the chaos passed, but the steadier things became, the more uneasy Ichigo felt. There was something about the calm that terrified him.

He was an artist, however, the Pablo Picasso of avoidance, and all he needed was a bout of inspiration. Ichigo never did have to look very far for another distraction. If he wanted, he could avoid this until there was nothing left to avoid.

Ichigo forced a cool expression as he stood by a makeshift stage and watched the festival. He had to brace himself against the air. It was cold, the type of cold that could choke you, the type that made your fingers recoil and hibernate within your palms.

It was a typical bash by Seireitei standards. There were vendors and sparklers and paper lanterns. There were hanging lights, a current of chatter that accumulated into a roar, and plenty of alcohol - which, thankfully, helped to abate the awkward atmosphere created by having Shinigami and Quincy at the same event.

The two groups weren't exactly making brunch plans or concocting secret handshakes, but at the very least, they hadn't killed each other yet. That's what Ichigo called a successful evening.

Beside him, Jushiro started coughing into a handkerchief.

"Are you okay? Are you sure you're well enough to do this?"

"Of course," Jushiro said, putting on a strained smile. "You don't have to dote on me, Ichigo-kun."

Ichigo looked at his pitted cheeks and washed out complexion with a frown. "Here," he said, taking off his thick wool haori and placing it around Jushiro's shoulders. "Take this."

"But won't you-"

"Really, I insist."

Jushiro sniffed and pulled the fabric around his bony torso. "You're too nice for your own good sometimes."

"It's the least I can do!" Ichigo contested. "I'm the one who asked you to speak in this condition."

"This condition isn't changing rather I speak here or not. It's like you wrote in your speech, people will die, but it's up to us to make that life worth something."

Ichigo nodded reluctantly before looking back into the crowd. Jushiro placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "It will reach them."

"You think so?"

"Yes. Maybe not all, but we can never reach everyone. Not everybody has it in them to understand reason."

Ichigo snorted and turned a tiny smile towards the crescent haired man. "Honestly, I'd settle for just for a couple."

"Well then you've already succeeded." When Ichigo prompted him with a cocked eyebrow, he said, "A lot of us already stand behind you."

"Right," Ichigo said, "I think it's probably time for us to start."

"I think you would be correct" Jushiro laughed, and his breath came out in vapors. "Enough sake has been consumed to make everyone respective, yes?"

"That or drunken ass holes."

Jushiro smiled sweetly. "Let's hope it's the former."

xXx

"Ukitake Taichou speech was really moving." Rukia sipped at her hot tea and looked up to her brother with bright eyes. "Don't you think so, Nii-sama?"

Byakuya declined his head in approval. "Yes, he is an eloquent speaker with much wisdom to embark."

The pair stood patiently waiting for Ichigo to appear, neither attempting conversation, as the pair had never been one for trivial small talk. That was until Byakuya asked offhandedly, "Rukia, are you available Saturday evening?"

"Um, I can be, Nii-sama."

Byakuya cleared his throat and opened his mouth a couple of times in a false start. Rukia had never seen Byakuya fumble with his words, and if it wasn't so abnormal, it might've been endearing.

"As you know, the gala is that evening."

"Yes..."

"These types of events can be exasperating for people who are not use to them. It is best to be accompanied by a date, as it typically makes the evening flow more smoothly." Byakuya closed his eyes for no more than a second before opening them again. "Perhaps you could consider going with Kurosaki Ichigo."

Rukia blinked, and then she blinked again, over and over. "Nii-sama...Are you asking me to go on a date with Ichigo?"

"I am asking you to be his date for the galla. Is that a problem?"

"No-no," she urged. "It's just, isn't that something he should be asking me?"

"Typically, yes, but I assume that, between preparing for this evening and the gala, he has not had much time to consider it one way or another."

Rukia nodded, finding herself short of words. For a moment, she idly rolled the beverage between her palms. "I don't mind, Nii-sama," she finally said, "but...well...You don't think Ichigo and I are romantically involved, right?"

"I do not think about it at all."

"Well we're not!"

Byakuya sighed, and a bit of annoyance penetrated his typically aloof expression. "If you two were involved, there's no need to fear my reaction. Kurosaki Ichigo is a suitable choice for a partner."

"It's not that, Nii-sama!" Rukia interlocked her fidgety fingers around the width of the cup as she explained, "I know everyone thinks Ichigo and I have feelings for each other because I helped him find his powers and because he came to save me, but it's not like that. It could've been anyone that night."

"But it was you."

"Yeah...but," Rukia cut herself off. "How do I explain this? Ichigo and I, were friends, but we're not as compatible as everyone would like to think. I mean, half the time we're together, we argue, and yeah, that's good for us, but..."

"No one can be everything a person needs and especially what they want. Ichigo and I make good friends, but we're not lovers. If there's anyone I would've wanted to marry..." She closed her eyes and reconsidered her words. "Well, it wouldn't be Ichigo."

The rustling of feet and the popping of nearby grease existed around them, but Byakuya seemed to shut it all out. The surrounding gained none of his attention, just Rukia's words.

"I see."

The low rumble of the festival was dampened as Ichigo stepped out to give his speech. Byakuya put her words to the back of his head for now.

xXx

Ichigo had never given a speech. Not unless you counted the occasional impromptu scoldings he'd give while throwing around cheeky school yard punks, though their effectiveness had more to do with the accompanied punches.

Despite his inexperience, Ichigo was past the point of carrying rather this was beyond his depth or not. He was sure it was, but his only options were to swim in spite of it, because Ichigo Kurosaki didn't know how to drown.

As he looked out over the heads of the audience, he could see land. It wasn't too far out, but he needed to pace himself. There was still the galla and the finalization of the peace keeping laws, but even that was just the first leg of this race. He knew he could only carry this cause so far. After a while, it would be up to the Shinigami and Quincy to continue what he started.

Byakuya's pink speckled eyes broke through the fog of people like a lighthouse guiding him home, and Ichigo smiled to himself, finding encouragement in the color that shined only for him.

"After the war ended, all we could see were the losses. Our comrades, our homeland, even parts of ours souls. We would never be the same."

Ichigo's eyes drifted over the audience. They all stood with sullen yet steadied glares. He bypassed his reluctance and continued.

"There was this silent mourning that became almost tangible. For a while, we were buried under it. So we started making as much noise as possible. We started reconstructing not only Seireitei but our divisions and our lives. We found no sense in the silence, because it just left us with all these questions we couldn't answer. Like, what did all the loses mean? Did all these people die solely for others to live? If you were like me, you didn't find any sense in that either." A pause. "But you also saw that, despite the hell we had to walk through, there were good things that happened after and because of the war too. It made us form unlikely friendships and taught us lessons. I won't say that any of that made all the loses worth it. I think I speak for all the Shinigami when I say that we would go back and trade it all if we could, but we can't. All we can do is learn from what happen here and chose to make the best of our circumstances, because if we don't, if we keep repeating the same mistakes, then all the loses really will be worthless."

Everyone was so still, as if a single motion would disrupt the atmosphere created by Ichigo's speech. Amongst the blob of indescribable eyes settled in rapt anticipation, all Ichigo could see was a soft pink. It filled him with the warmness of a long awaited homecoming.

"It's easy to take the actions of a few Quincy and label them all monsters. Especially when you don't know anything about their culture..." Ichigo stopped at the stiffness of his words. Even though there was heart behind what he said, coming from his mouth, they felt too formal to be anything but contrived. "Look," he said, slinging his hands in the sewn on pockets of his garment, "I'm a simple guy. I don't know any fancy words, and I'm not nearly as wise as Jushiro, but I do know this. Your hate, maybe it's justified, but it's selfish. You have to look past your own feelings and think about the consequences. If you fight hate with hate, then that's all you'll have... and we'll just keep repeating these same mistakes... Fightings easy, it's instinctual for Shinigami, but after the fighting is over, when all we have left is the silence, that's when we really find out who we are. We have to be better than this." He inhaled sharply. "We are better than this."

He let out a breath, absorbed the silence, and then, one by one, captains and seated officers alike lifted their swords and shot beams of colorful reiatsu into the sky as a sign of solidarity.

Ichigo put on a smile that warmed up his face. Just for the briefest of moments, looking at the unifying rays of light, he felt overwhelmed by the sensation that everything was going to be okay, and then that's when the blast happened.

xXx

Ichigo, a simple man. Byakuya wanted to smile at the notion. Only Ichigo would consider himself such a thing, but the thought evaded him when he heard a low growl beneath his feet.

Because of his advanced senses, he could, at times, almost feel the earth's movements echo through him, the shifting of tectonic plates, but this was different. This was a growl that grew by the second, filling him with it's malicious strength.

Reflexively, Byakuya did something he'd never done before nor even knew he was capable of doing. He slammed the hilt of his sword into the ground, causing a blast that sent everyone in the near vicinity flying back, and simultaneously, the earth erupted from underneath him.

xXx

It was an instant.

A heart beat.

Just enough for a breath to get caught in his throat. Everything was fine, pure harmony, and then he blinked.

There were two back to back blast broken up by a bright light. Lanterns and strung bulbs crashed into a tangled messed of greater destruction, causing flames to crackle against the cold night air.

It was unfair, the way life could chose to steal away your happiness on whim. What's worst was the way it seemed to find cheap thrills by altering your world in one instantaneous, unexpected thrust, and how it always seemed to happen in the most blissful of moments.

Ichigo opened his eyes, and for a few long seconds everything he took in was through a static haze. There was a hissing in his ear, and he felt six years old again, laying flat on a merry-go-round, looking up to see the colors of the world spinning around him in a dizzy blur.

Finally, the world shifted, and he jolted up. There was a symphony of gasps and screams blanketed by fire and a billowing smoke. Ichigo wobbled to his feet and found that trying to breath was like inhaling cotton. His eyes couldn't move fast enough and neither could his head. How could this have happened?

The captain commander flashed beside him, and the flames reflected a grim disposition in his eyes.

"What happened?!" Ichigo shouted.

"A bomb, I believe."

Ichigo's hands went dull with disbelief before they tightened dangerously. "Who would do this?"

"That doesn't matter right now." The commander bit his thumb and broke the skin. He used the blood to draw a symbol on his arm and then a symbol on the ground. Holding out his palms, the commander recanted, "Black and white net. Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns and belts. Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night, sea of clouds, blue line. Form a circle and fly though the heavens need water."

A glowing rectangle formed in front of him, and he moved his hands frantically to form a jillion of roots that shoot up into the sky.

Mentally, Ichigo heard the commander's voice say, 'Attention, I need all water type zanpakuto users and healers to the stage immediately.'

Ichigo looked at the commander, his body brimming with incitement.

"What can I do?"

"Nothing until we put out the fire."

He couldn't just stand there doing nothing. He had to help. He had to...

His heart lapsed, and when it began again, he could feel it in his throat.

"Byakuya, Rukia, I have to find them!" Before he could flash away, the commander grabbed his arm, and the look he gave Ichigo made him feel dirty inside. "What th-"

"Listen, Kurosaki-san, I was near the explosion when it happened. Kuchiki Taichou, he used a technique to cause a blast that sent everyone flying back from the radius of the explosion. The bomb, it happened right under his feet."

Ichigo's eyes widened, and his skin felt too tight around his bones. Every part of him was pulsating madly.

"I don't think he made i-"

"I don't want to hear that!" Ichigo shouted, jerking his arm free. "Byakuya, he couldn't be- He's alive and needs my help!"

Ichigo flashed away, refusing to heed the words of warning the commander tried to squeeze in.

'He's fine.'

'Byakuya wouldn't just die like that. He's too strong.'

'He's fine...'

Yes, Byakuya was fine, so why were tears writhing around in his eyes? Why did painful Images keep playing in his head like a gory picture show?

A blood drenched Byakuya.

A mother lying breathlessly on a wet ground.

The wails of a child so powerful that the gods could hear them.

The parting words of a dying man.

The waning smile of a loving mother.

Gray eyes eclipsed by crimson rain.

These flickering thoughts, they raced as fast as he did. They drove him, motivated him with their painful depictions.

Ichigo couldn't see anything. He just moved, moved without direction, moved with a hopeful desperation, Byakuya and Rukia's names exuberant on his tongue. He choked through his screams, but their names were louder and more vigilant than the smoke.

His heart thumped in his ears, and his pulse ticked like an internal clock counting down the seconds he had until it was all futile. He couldn't be sure of how many minutes had past, but he knew enough to know he didn't have many of them. Luckily, it wasn't long before Ichigo saw an ashed covered Rukia leaning against the remnants of a food vendor that sat outside the zone of danger.

"Rukia," he shouted as he ran up to the woman. He grabbed her shoulders and gave her an appraising glare. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said, gathering herself outside of Ichigo's hold. "Just had the breath knocked out of me."

Ichigo tried to follow her gaze, but it was discombobulated and floated lazily over the chaotic landscape.

"Rukia, listen to me," Ichigo urged, "Where's Byakuya?"

Her eyes widened and shook in their sockets as recognition finally found her once more. She pointed one trembling finger towards the flames. "Somewhere in there. Ichigo..." She blinked rapidly and found a way to steady her eyes. "Nii-sama, I think...He's dead!"

"No, he's not!" Ichigo dismissed as he took a few steps back. "He's alive. I would know if something happened to him. I would feel it! He wouldn't just die like that."

He could see the unspoken retort in her eyes.

'Like Renji wouldn't just die like that?'

She was right, but he wasn't ready for her to be. Some might call it denial, but Ichigo considered it faith. He had to have faith that Byakuya was alive. Anything beyond that was beyond him, at least for right now.

Before he ran towards the flames, Ichigo said, "Get a healer. Byakuya's going to need one."

xXx

Senbonzakura leaned helplessly against Zangetsu, gasping as he clawed desperately at his armored chest in an attempt to remove the formidable pressure that sat perilously against his lungs.

"Senny, what can I do? Tell me what to do," Zangetsu asked while rubbing Senbonzakura's hair. He tried to keep levelled for the sake of his lover, but it was taking an amazing amount of restraint.

The Samurai's dampened eyes floated upwards and his mouth contorted feebly with each sharp inhale he strained to take. "I...he…"

"Come one, Sunshine. You're the smart one." Zangetsu's jaw clenched, but he managed to keep the applications of his hands gentle and reassuring. "I need you to tell me how I can help...I can't lose you, okay? Who's going to annoy me if you're not around?"

"He...can't see...I...I can't manifest... to... help him...He...can't find...me...He needs to...find me...but...but…."

Senbonzakura's eyes began to glaze over and flutter as his words trailed off into indiscernible slurs. Zangetsu shook him roughly, pleading, "Hey! Wake up! I need you to wake up!"

The Samurai's eyes darted open as he sucked in one huge, harsh breath. "Soul lock!" he shouted before coughing hysterically.

Zangetsu's eye's lit up. "Why didn't I think of that?" he said as he softly yet quickly laid Senbonzakura down. Hovering over the strange spirit in which he'd recently came to realize he'd rather die without, Zangetsu place a bracing kiss against the others forehead.

"I won't let you die!"

xXx

Ichigo charged into the carnage, trying to find a crack in the wall of flames. Only the smog was too thick, and soon a ripple of fire lashed his arm like a whip, refusing him further entry into the inferno.

He didn't allow himself to register the pain as he shot up again with faulty breathing, clogged by whopping breaths and frantic thoughts.

The tears wouldn't stop.

His heart wouldn't slow.

He had to keep going.

He had to get to him.

'King'

"Not now."

'I know a way you can help Byakuya, but you need to get out of this mess.'

Against all instinct to the contrary, Ichigo halted. His legs were shaking with a need to jolt forward, but for Byakuya, he stopped.

'He doesn't have a lot of time. Listen to everything I say and don't argue.'

"Stop wasting my time and tell me what to do!" Ichigo demanded, his voice as whispy and broken as it was the day he watched his mother take her last breath in front of him.

'First you need to go back to where you saw Rukia.'

Zangetsu was calm and straight to the point, more so than usual. He was all the things Ichigo just couldn't be in the moment, so he listened despite every cell in his body raging against retreat. He didn't ask questions. He didn't care how Zangetsu knew all of this. All that mattered was getting to Byakuya.

As he shunpo back, the spirit said, 'You're going to intertwine your spirit ribbon with Byakuya's just like you did before. After that, you'll know what to do, but it won't work if you don't calm down.'

When he returned to the where he had previously been with Rukia, he closed his eyes, and the tears stung as they drained onto his cheeks. He took a breath, long and jagged, and with every ounce of resolve and love that he had within him, he calmed enough to make the connection.

xXx

Pain what alive in Byakuya, and perhaps it was the only thing keeping Byakuya alive. There was blood sticking to his eyelids and coloring his lips, and with the way that his thoughts kept wavering, diving into the realm of unconsciousness, Byakuya knew it was the pain of his mangled leg that kept him alert and in the moment.

All around him, he could feel a heat, the magnitude of which was incomparable to anything he'd ever experienced, but that wasn't the most imperative enemy he was fighting against. The smoke would undoubtedly kill him first. So he held his breath, but his head wound wouldn't allow him to keep that up for very long, and as a result, he took breaths through the fabric of his uniform in hopes to filter out just a bit of that black mist.

He knew his intelligence would only go so far. His senses were muddied by the smoke and the stampede of panic. It was a deafening hodgepodge of pure horror, and Byakuya couldn't stand the way it made his ears tremble. This and his injury kept him from finding Senbonzakura, whom he had lost somewhere when he'd been catapulted into this situation. If he could find his sword, the blades of which had the fortitude of steel, he could use the petals to surround himself like a fire-proof wall, but even then, how would he walk with so much damage to his leg?

Eventually the fire would be put out, but he knew better than to think time was on his side. Even amidst these grim circumstances, the irony of his situation did not elude him. Not even a year ago he was faced with a strikingly similar set of choices, only now his deepest instincts were clinging to survival. He knew why. He knew what had changed.

Again, it was Ichigo's face that made him refuse defeat. If this fire was going to take him from this world, from Ichigo, it would have to burn through every bit of his will power. Byakuya would not surrender until his skin was dripping from his bones.

With shaky arms, he crawled onto his hands and knees and attempted to tune into his senses. He inched forward, playing a game of hot and hotter. When his hand touched a flame, he gauged the differences in the heat, trying to figure how close he was to the fire by how hot it felt against his face. He did this over and over, changing his direction every time he got too close, but as resilient as he was, the smoke was more enduring.

As he began to think that this was probably it for him, that these flame would be his deathbed, something miraculous happened. Admittedly, he didn't realize what it was at first, if only out of pure disbelief. He heard Ichigo's voice say, 'Open your eyes,' and at first, he thought it was a simple hallucination from the lack of oxygen, but he was inclined to do as the voice instruction all the same.

His eyes opened to a smokey landscape, and though it was hard to see, he was in fact seeing.

"Ic-Ichigo."

'Save your breath, Byakuya. I'm going to get you out of here.'

Not only could he hear it in Ichigo's voice, but he could also feel it as if it was his own. Ichigo's resolve, fear, and desperation, it filled every empty space inside of Byakuya.

When two people entered into soul lock, one person does not take over the other's consciousness, but instead, they share awareness. Now all of Ichigo's capabilities were also Byakuya's. However, it certainly didn't take away his pain nor put breath back into his lungs, and Byakuya knew if he was to pass out, they'd lose the connection. Ichigo must've understood that too, because he wasted no time in forcing Byakuya to his feet.

Byakuya screamed against the incredible pain. He was more disciplined than most, but even he didn't possess the mental grit to stand on such a severe injury. However, Ichigo did. He didn't feel the physical pain, only the emotional, and therefore, was able to make Byakuya stand.

It was Ichigo's strength that carried him.

As Byakuya took steps forward, he began to sob. He had never felt something so grizzly in his life, and yet he had, also, never felt so happy in his life. He could feel Ichigo's guilt, but he knew Ichigo could feel his gratefulness, so they both continued forward until he reached Senbonzakura.

He knew the whole ordeal had taken less than a minute, but the pain dragged on for lifetimes. At least with Senbonzakura's petals around him, he could manage to breath once again.

Within moments, he was exiting the flames.

xXx

When Ichigo saw himself through Byakuya's eyes, without thinking, he dropped the connection. Byakuya fell to the ground, but not before Ichigo could slide to his knees and catch him.

He managed to stand up and carry Byakuya further away from the smoke, but he didn't realize how much energy a soul lock required, because he soon dropped back to his knees.

Byakuya shifted in Ichigo's cradling arms and leaned his head against Ichigo's shoulder. On Ichigo's part, he was overflowing with breathless tears and vaporous laughs of relief.

"Byakuya," Ichigo managed. His throat was scorching, but he was soaring, unable to get enough of how real and alive Byakuya felt in his arms. The thought that he might've never felt Byakuya again made him cry even harder. "You're all right..."

His smile quickly faded when Byakuya gasped against his arms and attempted to muffle a groan. Fingers dug into his charred forearm, but he ignored his pain to assess Byakuya's damage.

It was bad, probably worse than it looked. His leg had bone deep lacerations, and the rest of his body was riddled by gashes, the biggest one gushing from his temple. Ichigo laid Byakuya down gently before ripping both sleeves off of his yutaka, using one as a makeshift bandage for Byakuya's head wound

Byakuya made this godawful gurgling sound, like he was drowning in his own blood, and Ichigo gathered him up in his arms once more. It was all he could do, offer his comfort, or maybe it was to comfort himself. All he knew was that he needed Byakuya's body against his own.

He used the other sleeve to wipe an accumulation of sticky blood and smut from Byakuya's face, making the noble's eyes fluttered in awareness.

"Good, you're awake. Don't slip away, okay? You gotta stay here with me."

He could tell Byakuya was trying to keep the agony off of his face. Even near delirium, he held his pride as closely as his sword.

"Ich... i..go, you're...hurt." he said, lanky fingers lazily tracing the charred skin of Ichigo's forearm.

"This is nothing! Don't worry about me."

"Compared...to me...I suppose...I suppose...you're right," Byakuya said, his voice barely a whisper of itself, a ghost, just drifting in the air before it passed over. Ichigo held him tighter.

"Hey, you're not too bad yourself," Ichigo lied, wishing these thunderous tears would stop spilling his secrets. "You've survived worse."

At least that part was true.

"Yo..you came...after me, right? Don't you...dare... sacrifice yourself...for me..."

Byakuya was gasping, and Ichigo swayed him like one might rock a crying child.

'Where are those damn healers?'

"How could you ask that of me?!" Softly, Ichigo promised, "I'll always run in after you..."

"Ichigo..." Byakuya's features widened and embers of orange and pink collided in his eyes. "If I do...not make it...I want to tell...you."

"Shh," Ichigo hushed, running his thumb affectionately across Byakuya's lips. "You don't get to talk like that. Whatever it is, you can tell me tomorrow. The healers will be here soon... just, you gotta hold on, okay?"

His tears shamelessly fell onto Byakuya's face, and the saline smudged his blood stained lips, lips that quirked into the tiniest of smirks.

"Fine...but if you...must cry...do it over...the flames."

A wet, trembling laugh ripped from Ichigo's constricted throat, and his cracked lips stretched across his swollen face. "Don't make me laugh...you bastard."

The swirls of orange and pink in Byakuya's eyes dimmed like a match, a single fleeting light flickering against an overwhelming darkness. "Why not?" he asked, lifting his hand and brushing his fingers against Ichigo's mouth. "It's such... a... beautiful... sou...nd..."

The hand against him went limp and the last ember lighting up Byakuya's eyes was ate up by the surrounding blackness.

"Nonononono, Byakuya!"

Ichigo's weeping eyes screamed before his mouth could. His heart drummed against his gut which such a force that he thought he might throw up as he gagged and convulsed on his own shuddering heaves.

He screamed for a healer in between murmured pleads that just couldn't reach Byakuya's ears. "Please… please," Ichigo begged, his weeping eyes baptizing Byakuya's motionless face with his despair. "Byakuya… please… I… I… can't… can't do this without you!"

Ichigo pressed his lips against Byakuya's unresponsive mouth. He kissed him through the blood and the ash and the burning tears, and all he could taste was all the moments they shared and all the moments they may never get to have. He kissed him as if all the storybooks had been right and all that was needed to save Byakuya was one act of true love. He kissed him, swearing this wasn't good bye.

"You can't do this, Byakuya. You can't make me love you and then leave." Whimpering, he said, "You can't."

Ichigo could still feel his warmth. He could still smell the lingering scent of sakura on his skin. Byakuya couldn't be gone. He just couldn't be.

"Kurosaki Fukutaichou, stand back!"

He looked up to see Isane, Rukia, and another healer running up to the pair and skidding down to their knees. Ichigo couldn't make his hands let go until Rukia yanked at his arm. Everything went slack as he drew back and watched in wide eyed, mind numbing shock.

His hands wouldn't still and the blood on his face, Byakuya's blood, suddenly felt revolting. He looked down to his hands and then up to the prone figure of Byakuya. One healer was attempting miracles on his tattered leg while Isane manifest what looked like a green pouros slime across Byakuya's mouth. The tiny pores glowed blue and sucked up the air around him.

"What's that?" he asked, flinching when Rukia answered. He had forgotten she was there with him.

"It's purifying the oxygen in the air and forcing it down his t-"

"His heart's not beating!" Isane shouted.

Thoughtlessly, Ichigo jolted forward, caring about nothing other than reaching Byakuya. Good sense be damned. In his frenzied state, Rukia flashed in front of him with her sword at the ready.

Their intense eyes collided, and Ichigo felt as if he was standing in quicksand.

"Don't your remember what you said? Byakuya won't just die like this, but he could if you interfere."

Ichigo closed his eyes and pushed all of his raw impulses down as far as possible. He felt them sink to his gut, slide down his legs, and inhabit his feet, anchoring him to his spot. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and nodded wearily.

Looking up, he saw the tips of Isane's fingers vibrating a blue hue as she pressed them against Byakuya's chest. "Ready," she commanded, and the other healer paused in his procedure, lifting his hands. Her glowing aura pulsed, and Byakuya's body inflated.

Isane checked his pulse once again.

"Still no response. Alright, one more time."

...

Up Next: Placing blame, our inner world, the things we don't say.

xXx

siwon661: This chapter was really hard for me. As much as I write emotions, high intensity chapters like this really drain me. Hopefully you enjoyed it! Thank you!

Anonymous Crew: I guess we'll find out in the next chapter if the attack made thing for the better between them or for the worse. :)

ThousandxSunny: This was such a lovely review. Thank you! I agree that stories with Byakuya being vulnerable arn't very prevalent. Which is a shame, because he's a complex character, and even though he's stoic and reserved, he's still a man with insecurities at the end of the day. I see a lot of people write Ichigo as being rather one sided. Either he's always brash and loud or out going and happy, but I wanted to show them both as whole people. I thought the slow burn might lose people, so I'm glad it has caught your interest so heavily.

Tifanny91: Have you ever hear the idiom 'it has to get worst before it gets better'? I always think of a labyrinth where you have to get further away from the exist before you actually get to it. Or how when you clean, things typically get messier before you finish. This is a step forward, but it may also be a step backwards. We'll see in the next chapter! ;) Until next time, dear!

Kaz the King: As they say, all good things come to those who wait.

tkhiroshi: Thanks for the review! I read a ByaIchi story by you, and I actually really enjoyed it. Wish you would do more. :)

Guest: Thank you!

LustfulAvarices: Haha, it may take more than rope to fix their stubborn asses.

Rosebud: Ah, I'm glad you like it so much! Badass Byakuya is the best Byakuya. Thank you for the review.