.when the rain comes;
Tsubasa was sure she never ran so much in her entire life. Not like this, not when the feeling of something really bad was going to happen rushed through her veins and made her body move despite the tiredness she felt.
Yet she kept running.
For the sake of that person. For Ichigo's sake.
She would find the Kinogaya graveyard and hopefully, avert that vision in her dream.
Suddenly, it started to rain heavily on the town, soaking her all over, making her movements even slower and heavier than usual.
Her legs stopped against her will.
Her ragged breathing and slumped shoulders showed signs of defeat. The sky never seemed so dark, so grey.
Ichigo-kun...
She swallowed hard, trying not to give in and start crying; She would feel pathetic if that happened. Tsubasa put her hands on her knees, trying to rest a little, and looked up the rest of the path that was left in front of her. She still had a lot to go, a lot to run.
I can't give up.
She forced herself to walk, slowed down as the rain seemed to want her to be: almost stuck, dragging her small figure unlike the people around her that either took cover in their umbrellas or in a bus stop nearby.
Yet nobody seemed to mind her tiredness and offered her help, ask her if she was okay; The world left Tsubasa alone to deal with her own issues.
I won't give up.
Yet she kept walking.
If Ichigo-kun dies, it will be my fault I did nothing to help before!
Under the heavy June rain, Ichigo was already fighting the damn Hollow Grand Fisher; The one who claimed his mother's soul and almost destroyed his family to the core.
Blood was spraying on the grass as the substitute shinigami tried his damnest to fight back, but the Hollow was an experient killer himself. He taunted Ichigo plenty, knowing the boy was too proud to ask for help, trying to solve it all alone.
Rukia saw it too, but had to refrain herself to help. Like her Captain in Soul Society said, it was a fight to protect the pride. The pride of a young man that would be destroyed if he couldn't do what he promised to. To protect his family, avenge his mother, win this fight.
The only thing she could hope it was for him not to die, much like a girl who was walking under the heavy rain of summer.
She finally made it to the gates. Panting heavily, she crossed it and start to walk upstairs, feeling a immense negative energy in the air.
Tsubasa pushed forward, feeling her head dizzy. She held her own body as she walked a step, hoping not to fall behind – her family would be sad if she did something to hurt herself after so much pain of waiting for her to wake up from a coma.
The girl pulled her weight, nevertheless, despite start thinking things were hopeless by now.
I'm not a fighter.
I don't have power like Ichigo-kun to fight back, or else I'd help him always.
She thought of that princess she saw in the dreams, and why she had that vision of Ichigo.
Was it to torture her further? Some kind of curse she didn't know she carried? She had no idea of what those fragments of dreams were showing themselves to her, why Tomoyo-hime said she was a "yumemi" or warned her to not alter futher someone's future – Ichigo's future.
If this power helps me with nothing, then why bother?
Tsubasa was halfway through the staircase when she fell on her knees and did the only thing she could at the moment, having no strength to move.
Scream.
Just when Grand Fisher used Masaki as a bait to provoke Ichigo even further before killing him, the Hollow did not expect that shomething like that would interfere and give the weak boy will to fight back.
"Don't die, ICHIGO-KUN!"
He could swear, he heard it, it was her. It was Tsubasa. He would never mistook her voice for anyone else.
Ichigo had no idea where she was, or how it was possible for him to even listen to her right now, but it pushed him back to conciousness.
And it gave him enough strenght to make his sword cut through Grand Fisher, enough that the Hollow pulled back, wincing in pain and screaming insults, forcing himself to hide back in his bait again and run.
The fight was over.
Ichigo didn't won. But he didn't lose either.
He fell on the wet grass, feeling numb as the blood kept leaving his body.
If that was or not a dream, he couldn't tell anymore. The only things he knew it was true before falling down was that he heard her voice, and that Grand Fisher bleed, too.
The orange-haired boy woke up in his body, half an hour later. It was still raining. Rukia scolded him for all the energy he made her waste on him to heal back his injuries, and that he would have to live with some scraches thanks to that.
He thanked the shinigami, since she was still recovering her powers – or so she said. And putting effort on healing him was probably a tiring process and could take a toll on her soul.
She was right, he could live with some scraches, even if it hurted a bit, it was nothing compared to the hollow pain he felt in his soul when he thought of that fatidic night where he lost his mother, and his family suffered because of it.
The rain kept falling on her body, and after passing out on the staircase – and taking a nap on top of that – for a while, Tsubasa woke up startled, embarassed that something like that happened. She didn't bother with her now dirty dress, she could wash it at home, but even her face had some dirt on it.
She got up and didn't felt the negative energy anymore, for some reason.
It went away? Ichigo-kun!
For some reason, she was glad she could run again. And this time, she didn't stop until she has finally arrived on the top.
Grasping for some breath, she startled the boy who was waiting in the front of his mother's grave.
"Tsubasa..." - he said with a small smile. The only reason that could made him smile in such a day like this.
Seeing him alive, she didn't thought twice, and ran to the substitute shinigami, jumping at him in a unexpected but welcomed
embrace.
Author's notes: Guess who's getting a update after 2 years of hiatus? I told you guys I planned to finish this story! But a lot happened, including my english got a bit better, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.
I just want to know if you guys are still following or still want to follow this story, so I can go back writing full force. Thank you guys for you patience and 'till next time.