This is the 2nd part you guys have asked for. It's a lot shorter from the first but anyhow, I think it's still okay. Thanks for the reviews! I totally appreciate it! Hope you like this one just as much you did with the first, I put my best efforts to make this great just for you all! Again, leave loving reviews and you shall be blessed, I'll pray for you all so don't worry! Now, please enjoy! :)

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Part 2:

He had caught her in his arms, in a place she where only felt safe and protected.

She heard his heartbeat inside his chest, where she rested her head. The language it spoke, it was a mystery and she didn't understand. Only humans knew. The emotion kept within it was another piece she didn't really figure out either. Love; she knew what it meant but what did it really mean to her?

She had to idea.

Until he came and made her feel it for herself.

They were alone and it was quiet. The place they hid their selves in was secluded, it was only a small cottage that probably had been abandoned for years; but that didn't really matter now. Their only concern was the security and how well they could follow only one rule—to not get caught.

It had stopped raining minutes ago but the wood made it feel like that it still was. The flooring and walls were wet, cold and somehow it almost looked like it would fall down, but this was their only option. Rukia watched him as his eyes were roaming around their small lodge, his orange hair plastered on his forehead and his shinigami robes soaked, which showed off the sculptured body hidden underneath as his clothes clung onto his body. It was vagueness who really was Kurosaki Ichigo in her life; moments ago she hated him and taunted to kill him but now, here they were escaping from the manor in secrecy, managing to tell herself that they'd be just fine when she was with the one who killed the man whom everyone in Seiretei mourn for and honored. She was crazy.

Just God damn crazy.

The coldness never left her, the water dripped from her hair down to her flesh and she winced at it. Just like how her tears were camouflaged away with the rain on her face and slid down her delicate cheeks. The wetness wasn't the reason why she wiped them away, but it was to cover her hurt. Her demeanor was breaking and Ichigo saw that. He even had the courage to come back and piece it back together, even when it was too late.

He heard her sneeze faintly. Instinctively he went to her, sat there and made sure was just fine. She only nodded and looked away from him, looked away from her mistake and her brother's death. The minute she did so, he felt something pierce him. The shatter inside his chest, he didn't know how to place to it quite well to elaborate what he felt. The sun rose minutes ago but the dark had them captured in the place they were dwelling in, only the small light that peeped right through the windows illuminated everything else within it, including the both of them.

No one spoke a word.

The silence slowly ate them.

I can feel you falling away,

No longer the lost; no longer the sign.

I can see you starting to break

Rukia heard the orange-haired shinigami sigh frustratingly as he stood and leaned over the table positioned right next to a wooden cabinet draped with cobwebs. He stood there and crossed his arms under his chest, placing Zangestu just behind him and looked at her with his eyes.

Those eyes that tore her apart and she again, looked away.

"There's no use taking me here if you won't talk to me" Ichigo told her and Rukia's eyes flicked from the ground to him and back again as a few tears dripped down her cheeks. Maybe she shouldn't have brought him here in the first place anyway. Although she wasn't sure that they were as mental as she wanted to believe.

She just stared at him, her violet eyes growing colder at his fumbled attempt to redeem his words. "I just don't know what to say. Knowing that I already screamed at you back at the manor, screaming again will do nothing"

"Locking yourself from people will also do nothing. Isn't it the reason why you brought me here?" It would have been easier for him to retaliate to the words if her voice hadn't broken at the last word she just told him.

"I brought you here so that you wouldn't be made a feast if anyone ever saw you. On the other hand, would you want me to do it instead?" she said and he let out a distressed sound, looking away from her, as he tried to force himself to calm down.

The words hurt. He knew the pain, but not like what she was having right now. He saw her cry, he heard her scream it all, and how she was just so defenseless against everything. Now that everything was broken for her, it was hard to put it all back when the one he was fixing tries to push it all away. It wasn't easy.

"I'm not going to start a fight with you, Rukia" He said and her head snapped around to look at him, her eyes wide with demand and barely contained tears anymore. The cold wind had dried it all away as it entered through the broken glasses of the window, embracing her soul tightly with need.

"Then what are you going to do? Kill me just like my brother? That would be better for you, right?" The last words were spoken in a protest and Ichigo winced at them, the unintentional sting in them biting at him as he looked away from her, understanding her meaning and wanting nothing more than to touch her. She demanded and he didn't respond.

She just looked at him, the tears that had been threatening brightening her eyes as she looked at him with profound silence again. He then said, "I—no, it isn't like that. I just…I just want things back to where they were, that's all I'm asking for"

He had wished for the impossible.

Does anyone care?

Is anybody there?

"But it won't. You can't bring him back and it's your fault. He's gone, no one and nothing could change that" She said and he shook his head at the words.

The feelings were the reason that the false hope of him caring had woven itself into her mind, those feelings were always there whenever he would show up and she'd let herself be taken to the place only he could take her too. They've been pretending for the longest of time and now that they're finally awake from fantasy, she wished she could've slept a little longer. Something was getting in their way to not have known much sooner. The tears blinded her and her vision was again a blur. Everything was gone, gone and just…gone. Something was just about to break her eternally, and it was her heart.

It was him.

"You're right. It won't" He agreed, his voice almost a whisper and he looked at her again. Seeing the hurt in her eyes and the tears spilling down her cheeks, his stomach jolted, ignoring the hand under his chest that curled into a fist. "I'm sorry"

Months of being together, of fighting, of bickering and constantly causing each other pain, none of them ever really apologized. Those words were forbidden, it had meant guilt. And Ichigo and Rukia never regretted anything that came between them, so no one ever really got used to saying it. But he ignored those rules and said it anyway. The words they swore to never utter were now a way of forgiving him. It was another thing she got disappointed about. Again.

He was sorry.

"Well I'm not" The shock in his eyes hurt, the fact that the shock turned to an unemotional void hurt even more. He watched numbly as she stared at her, the tears gone but he knew they'd come back just as he knew that anytime she could've released her zanpankotou and kill him.

She wasn't sorry. So he had to accept that.

Like it was the hardest thing he had ever done.

All I have is one last chance;

I won't turn my back on you. Take my hand drag me down,

If you fall then I will too. Then I can save what's left of you.

Rukia Kuchiki rarely cried. The first time Ichigo saw her like this was when her brother took her away from Karakura and he was there half dead on the ground, doing anything to just possibly let her stay but he was still powerless and the tears she gave was something he had known all this time. It was her fear. And now, he saw her again with dejection. But this time her tears screamed out pain, anger, hate and just everything else pinpointing to revulsion. He got that. He got it very clearly.

"Do you mean it?" He asked and she looked to just stare at him, the need to hurt him the way he had hurt her overtaking any other emotion.

"You think I was just joking with you? I'm not sorry" She snapped and the hurt flashed through his eyes so quickly she wondered if she'd imagined it. Something she'd never seen before.

She still kept her words.

He approached her and he saw in her eyes that she was scared, as if she saw him as his hollow. He knelt in front of her, soulfully giving himself to her, exposing his weakness and disregarding his strengths. He wanted to mended to her, and if this was the solution then fine—he'd let her kill him. Their distance was just an inch away and his wet clothes brushed against hers, making her cold body even colder. She saw him there, kneeling and his eyes made contact with her irises. Her violet orbs meeting his striking ambers, tearing all else away what was inside again. Why was it so hard? Impassively he knelt there, meaning to let his eyes give away his intentions. But she was too preoccupied to have noticed it. She could hardly tell who this person was anymore, and their connection slowly faded.

"Are you really, Rukia? Tell me, can you live to not forgive me? Can you live to just hurt me like that?" He asked and she stared at him, there was something desperate in his eyes. Something she'd also never seen before.

They stared at each other. Soul looking at rival soul. The discussion was irrelevant, but she couldn't keep running away from the truth, could she?

"I don't know" She whispered and this time the hurt in his eyes was unmistakable. The knowledge that she had hurt him; hurt her even more and she turned her head away from him.

Swallow me under and pull me apart,

I understand there's nothing left. No more no less, I won't forget.

I guess she was just as naïve as a little girl was.

"Answer me" He said and she shook her head at his words.

"I don't need to say anything because you just don't care! You just don't! My brother died because of you and if I had listened to him before, this wouldn't have happened! If you really cared about me, you would've fought harder! He would've been still alive and that we wouldn't have to be hiding like idiots! I can't believe you lost to him so easily without even trying" She yelled at him and he just stared at her, letting her words sink in and realizing that he had to say more, do more, to make her understand. To make her his.

"I did what I had to! I did everything I could to stop him, believe me—"

"No you didn't!" She interjected him with a cry, "If you did then why is my brother dead? Why is he in a damn coffin right now? Why do I always have to cry every five minutes thinking that out of all people—you did this to me? You didn't care, you just didn't!"

"No it's not true! If I didn't care do you think I'd come for you? Do you think I'd have to taunt Renji that I'd kill him just for me to get to you? If I didn't care, would I be here right now kneeling before you asking to be what we once were? How can you say I don't care when I'm right here with you now, being the person you need!" He shouted back, the torrential rain hammering against the roof as he yelled at her. A sob tore from her throat at his words and she was about to hit him, unaware that he had caught it before it got him hurt.

He wasn't her brother.

And it was raining again.

"Because I saw what you did to him, with my own two damn eyes! Nothing stopped you. You just killed him!" She cried and he closed his eyes, wishing to God that he hadn't done that. That he hadn't done anything to hurt her like this. And he let go of her hand.

"Yeah, there was nothing stopping me because it was too late. If you wanted to stop it, why didn't you just kill me instead of watching?" He asked gently, lifting her face and framing it with his hands. The tears he'd caused continued to slide down her cheeks, mingling with raindrops as she stared up at him, her eyes swimming with confusion at the sudden change in him.

Why could've she done that?

Why couldn't he be in that damn coffin instead of her brother?

Why?

The answer so simple really—she just couldn't do it.

Come back down, save yourself.

I can't find my way to you and I can't bear to face the truth

She was everything to him. His light, his moon…his entire world. There was nothing he could not do for her. He needed her that's why he was here. He wanted her to be okay, to smile and be the Rukia she was before.

But it was complicated

"Do you think I'd just let Hichigo take Byakuya away from you like that when I knew that he was all you ever had here in Seiretei? Would I?"

"No." She whispered and his thumb swept across her cheek, catching the tears sliding down to drip off her chin.

"Do you think that I'd just leave you here like this drowning with every possible pain?" He asked and she tried to force her head down, his hands prevented her and his eyes held hers captive.

"Yes." She whispered

Ichigo shook his head, "Well I'm not. I won't leave you Rukia. Even if you'd try pushing me away for the thousandth time, I'll still come back for you. I'll always be here when you need me…because I care" he leaned down to brush her lips with his own, causing her to tremble at the gentleness of them. He pulled away and swept his thumb over her cheek again.

He had kissed her.

He did something prohibited. But he wasn't scared. He did it; he just did it…for her.

"It's been like that ever since the time I almost lost you twice. I know it's still my fault but I would never hurt you like this. Believe me Rukia, I would never" He said and the tears fell faster as she looked up into his honest tawny eyes.

"You broke my heart Ichigo" She whispered and he bent to whisper his lips across hers again.

"Let me put it back together." He said and she shook her head, more tears falling as the rain eased.

It was a proposition no one would succeed in doing. Who was he even kidding? Could he raise her brother from the dead? Could he devastate his own hollow? Could he make her his like before? This was all a joke to her, something not even a God could've possibly done. The conversation was irrelevant.

But Ichigo wasn't.

She must've been a joke too.

I believe in you.

I can show you that I can see right through your empty eyes,

I won't stay long in this world so wrong.

There were reasons why things had to happen. There were reasons why people had to leave, it would hurt but sooner or later you'd find the answer to the question 'why?' Rukia knew that now when she looked at the man who made her see it. It was funny how, out of all people, it had to be him. Another thing which she didn't understand, but there was a reason behind it.

And she didn't have to know.

"Let me fix you Rukia," his voice pleaded "Let me help you live again"

It was to prove how much she meant to him,

"Let me hold you"

To prove that he'd never leave her,

"Let me amend for my mistake"

To prove that he could make things right for the both of them,

"Let me make you happy again"

To prove that he could do it, do everything she asked of him,

"Let me be the Ichigo your heart knows"

And to prove that he was worthy of her.

He had asked for too much, but she knew to herself it was enough to make her composed with a time being. To let him do those things meant suicidal, everyone in Gotei 13 would have him buried next, although this was her choice. She had the right to say whether he had to leave her or to stay where he exactly was—in her heart. So he'd do justice for his actions, it was debatable but hey, this was the one time he failed. Rukia knew Ichigo wouldn't do it ever again.

Though he didn't say he wouldn't, she just knew.

And that was enough for her to believe. To have him back.

To say yes.

"Promise me. Promise me Ichigo, tell me you promise" he heard the fear in her voice, heard the wounds still open from his words and knew that she wasn't going to let him mend her broken heart. Before she could speak, he spoke.

"I promise" His voice placate, bringing so much assurance in itself and she believed him. Just like that, she had her whole trust in him once again.

She was demented but no one had to care

This was her choice.

Something she knew her brother would be disappointed about again.

Close your eyes, so many days gone by.

Easy to find what's wrong, harder to find what's right

Without a word, he pulled her close and kissed her. Her tears continued to fall and he could taste the salt of them on the lips that he had never been denied. He felt her fall into the kiss and pulled away. Her eyes opened as he looked into them, questioning and still hurt. They fell into the pit of silence and only stared at each other's eyes. Each other's soul talking even words if weren't needed because they got used like that. One look and the other understood. Yet it be something simple or complicated, they just know how the heart works for them. It wasn't debatable anymore; it would be just had been useless.

And they stayed like that for minutes until the rain had completely vanished. Their eyes had already given away what each wanted to say. He still wanted to prove it to her

"I love you Rukia." He said and she looked at him, her eyes softening at the utter desperation in his eyes as he looked at her. Pleaded with her to give him another chance. She looked down and found they were still linked, her hands gripping his wrists as tightly as his hands were gripping her wrists. She didn't want to let go and realized that he was telling the truth and maybe, just maybe, he'd never meant to hurt her. Seeing the truth in his eyes caused her to close her own.

"I know" She said and let go of his wrists even as he let go of hers as brought her close for kiss. The jagged pieces of her broken heart melding together as she clung to him tightly.

He would not fail her again.

Say something new, I have nothing left. I can't face the dark without you.

There's nothing left to loose, time never ends, and I can't face the dark without you

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Like it? Hate it? Love it? Bad? Good?

I think it happened all too fast. Still, it was the best I could think of. I hope you all enjoyed reading it, leave me reviews so that I know what YOU guys think. The words in between the lines come from the songs of Breaking Benjamin, one of my favorite bands. They're awesome. You should try listening to them and check it out :"

Thank you!

With love *kisses*,

Moonshine79