Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.
Summary: She will always be his moon. He will always be her sun. After his death, he will finally see her again. IchiRuki one-shot.
Author's Note: I wrote this some time ago back in school, when I procrastinating from my work, so don't expect anything fancy. Please note the symbolism used in the fic. Ichigo is the sun, and Rukia is the moon.
Enjoy!
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Kiss of the Moonlight
An IchiRuki one-shot by Goku's Daughter
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Turn around, there's no distance between us…
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When we look up to the sky, we dream. The white moon, striking, round, and so inspiring, makes us believe we can have what we desire. That same moon, which possesses such colossal beauty, is what we want. It sits in the dark sky, bright among the little stars. Its glow is soft, always evoking attention with a long stare. Its radiance is refreshing from the harsh sunlight in the day, even if it is the same sun that causes this beautiful glow.
The moon, however, it is out of our reach.
Always out of our reach.
But it's always there.
Watching.
Lingering.
You could never forget about it.
Your hands try to grasp the glow, the moon, the beauty within your fingertips, but when you open your eyes, it's always gone.
Gone.
He looked up at the moon through the window of his room. His mouth twisted in smile and the woman beside him sniffed hard before crying.
"Daddy, I don't want you to die."
His face expression softened. He looked at the woman and his hazel eyes clouded. "It's my time to go, baby."
She had his hazel eyes. "But…" She squeezed his hand and bit on her lower lip.
"You're twenty-five now. You don't need me anymore." He chuckled a bit, his eyes glancing at the moon before looking back at his daughter. She stood up and forced a smile.
"Dad," another voice entered the room. It was his oldest son. He wore a very tired, depressed look on his face. He took a seat beside his father and touched his hand. He did not need to say a word; his dark eyes conveyed what he felt.
"I'll be going to a better place," he said to his son.
The younger man nodded. "Soul Society."
That name evoked a chuckle. "Yes, Soul Society." He saw another woman enter the room. It was his daughter-in-law, which happened to be Uryuu and Orihime's daughter.
"Will you find mom when you go?" he asked the older man. He looked so worn out today with deep wrinkles around his eyes and some near the corners of his lip.
The father nodded. "I will try, but there are so many people there. So many." He grew tired. "I will try." He had told his children about his stories of his youth. "I love you two." He told them about the shinigami, the hollows, and everything in between.
Before he slipped his eyes closed, the old dying man said the last set of words she had to him, "Please live a long happy life. Goodnight."
There was a flat line followed by a long buzz and a smile on his pale lips.
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When we look up to the sky, we dream. The bright, orange sun is magnificent. Its golden kiss on our skin makes us smile. Its warmth brings so much joy…a particular joy that cannot be explained. The fiery ball is always full of passion, full of spirit that could light any soul on fire. Its flames are refreshing from the cold, lonely nights.
It's the same sun that infuses such spirit and joy that make us believe that today will be a good new day.
It empowers us to give us strength in our activities.
It permeates a glow in our soul that even makes it possible to think the sky is the limit.
We can achieve anything.
We can have anything.
We are invincible.
We are immortal.
And she will forever live the way she is. She is a Death God.
"Kuchiki-san, I'm sorry but there's something going on outside."
Rukia looked up from her paperwork with a small frown. "What is it?"
The lower-ranking shinigami looked troubled. "There's a disturbance out there. They are saying your name."
"My name?" she asked, shocked and it showed on her face.
He nodded. "Yes. They repeat your name."
Rukia. Rukia Rukia. Rukia!
Her name gained popularity over such a short period of time. It floated village to village. Not Kuchiki Rukia.
Rukia.
Rukia rose from her chair with her sword by her side. She walked down the wooden aisle before being stopped by her brother's presence.
"Have you heard it?" he asked her, in a cold tone.
She nodded shyly, unsure. "I don't know why."
Byakuya looked at her carefully before he said his next set of words. "The name Rukia lingers in the poorest village to the walls of Seireitei."
Rukia looked away a moment, feeling a slight tinge of embarrassment. Then a large commotion was heard from the East gate that demanded her attention. The sound of walls crumbling, cheering and uproar immediately followed. Rukia excused herself from her brother's presence and instantly ran down to the gate.
The eleventh squad was there. Renji was there. So many Death Gods had grouped together. They sort of cheered, making a lot of noise that caused her to push through and see what was going on.
Then she saw her sun. The orange hair. The cocky grin sprawled on his handsome face. He looked about twenty, no more than that, but no less than thirty. And he had a little more muscle weight than the last time she saw him. It was so long.
And then everything froze when he looked down at her. Sound dissipated, fading out. The crowd was gone and all backgrounds disappeared.
He saw his moon. Her fair, beautiful face. Her big, violet eyes that shone with impervious ice, hiding her passionate soul. She looked slightly more mature the last time he saw her.
They smiled.
Then everyone return, the background resurfaced, noise buzzed and time kicked in.
"Yo," he said to her, ignoring Zaraki's challenge for a fight, ignoring Rangiku's offer for a drink, and ignoring the demanding questions and comments around him.
"Ichigo," she whispered, hardly audible. Her eyes narrowed at him, confused why he was standing before her. "You died?"
"I did what you told me. I lived a long happy life." His eyes drifted upwards to the sky, remembering that night when the moon was so large and full. Today, the sun was bright, and shining. "Good morning."
She was speechless for a moment and then her eyes strayed to the wall behind him. There was a big gap missing, like someone sliced out the white stone. Rubble and dust still filled the air, lingering. "Did you do that?" She knew the answer before he said it.
He nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. I had to get inside of here."
Rukia ran forward and hit him in the head with her hand. "Idiot! You know how much damages you have caused here already?!"
Ichigo rubbed his head, livid. "What was that for!? I didn't see you in fifty years and this is how you greet me?" He slightly regretted his words when he saw how it affected her. Her hands dropped to her side and her head hung low.
Without another word, the petite shinigami turned around the other way and was glad that he was so popular among the Death Gods so he could not come after her.
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She knew he would find her, eventually. But she didn't know her brother would let him come this far to her bedroom rooftop.
"It was a full moon when you last spoke to me," Ichigo first said, sitting down beside her. Both had their feet implanted on the slope of the roof.
Rukia looked up at the moon and watched him open his hand. Slowly he tried to grasp it but no matter how close it seemed, it would never be his. "I haven't realized it was fifty years." Then she corrected herself. "It felt longer than fifty years."
Ichigo smiled softly. "Sometimes, randomly, I dream about that night. We kissed and then you said goodbye. It was under the moonlight on my roof, I can still see it. I asked you 'why are you saying goodbye.' You smiled at me and said to live a long and happy life. Goodnight."
She nodded in remembrance. "I'm glad you did." Her hands became nervous, and the only place they found some sort of peace was when they were folded together on her lap.
Ichigo nodded and shifted uncomfortably. He arched his back, his hands supporting his weight behind him. "I became a doctor. Got married. Had two kids. I lived. I was happy." He paused and licked his lips. "But I waited for my death. I lived knowing that one day I will die, and I was perfectly fine with that." Ichigo turned to face her. He dared sit up and touch her soft cheek with his fingers.
The petite shinigami flinched slightly at his gentle caress, from the ticklish sensation, but could not pull away from his eyes. "How did you get here?" She meant to ask, how did you get past my brother?
Ichigo barely chuckled. "I told him I belong here. With you." Byakuya had always told him he did not belong in Soul Society; he did not want Ichigo near his sister. But Ichigo thought different.
And those words replayed in her mind.
I belong with you.
Like how the moon and sun came hand in hand.
Rukia's eyes widened subtly, and then realizing that she revealed everything so easily to him, she tried to conceal what she felt again.
But somehow, when it came to him, Rukia sucked at hiding her emotions.
The tears forming in her eyes were the tears he hate seeing the most. The tears she cried were always for him, he knew. When a droplet rolled down her cheek, he wiped it away with the pad of his thumb. His gentleness was surprising but he had lived and grown up.
The moonlight rained on them in a perfect splendour. Ichigo grasp her face, making sure his moon could not run away, and slowly bent closer to her. Their lips met and melded in a soft, feathery kiss. She responded to him slowly, deepening this contact in such moving silence. Soul met soul and nothing else existed in that moment.
After what felt like minutes, Ichigo pulled away to look at her again. Her wide violet eyes were bright and shining. Mesmerizing even.
"Do you know how hard it was to keep myself away from you?" she asked him, her eyes downcast. She felt her heartbeat pound in her temples and her breath grew shorter. "Do you know how hard it was for me to say goodbye?"
She felt a sudden tug on her shoulders, pulling her into his arms, and she found her sun, the warmth and joy enveloped her whole entity. Rukia did not cry. She was still shocked that he really had died and came to her… that he was really here. Rukia breathed in his scent of wild berries, burrowing her face in his chest.
"It was only fifty-years." They had forever. "And now you're stuck with me." Eternity was theirs.
Rukia smiled against his shinigami robes, wrapping her arms tight around him. When he was a teenager they were never physically close, unless she hit him, but he was different now. More mature, yet the same. This was her Ichigo, her sun. And though the act of holding a person like this was different for her, the warmth of the embrace placed a certain peace and pleasure in her heart and soul. Rukia looked up at him, Ichigo, her eyes begging for another kiss under the moonlight.
He smiled. Soul and soul met each other on lips again.
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There's no distance between us. I'm here now…
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Author's Note: If Bleach had to end and they could not be together in the living world, I would like for him to be with her in death anyways. Death do they meet haha.
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