I am running. Running as fast as my legs can take me. A strange, white sword is in my hands. I glance down. I seem to be wearing some strange black robe. I feel pain in my side. I am bleeding from a wound. I see two men fighting in the distance. A powerful wave of some magic hits me forcefully. I fall to the ground, breathing heavily. I get up again, now struggling, running towards these two men. One is wearing a mask, though I cannot see his face clearly. The other is moving to fast for me to catch up. I keep running towards them.
I feel the need to take action. A need to fight. And win.
I call someone's name. The man in the mask looks over, and shouts something back. But before the words could reach my ears, he is struck, straight through the heart by the other man. Blood is everywhere. I hear a shriek leave my lips, and I too, fall to the ground, uncontrollable tears falling onto my pale cheeks. It is my entire fault, it is all my fault.
I hear someone calling my name, but I pay no heed. I killed that man. It was my fault. "I love you, I love you, I loved you. I loved you." I whisper these words, now hysterical. I wish to run to the man, and be by his side. But my wound makes me unable to move. I feel numb. I have no choice, now. My numb hand grips my sword and plunges it within me.
"I love you. I loved you."
All fades to black.
The last words I hear every time begin to echo within the darkness.
"Don't die, don't die. Please, do not die. I love you, I love you. It was all an illusion, a fake… Please, I love you."
I love you.
--
I wake up, gasping for breath. My alarm clock just went off, the incessant beeping ceases as my hand slaps the "off" button. Another nightmare. Yet again.
The oddest thing is that I cannot make any sense of it. I have the same dream almost every night. I probably just read too many action mangas and stuff. Or maybe not. I always feel as though something is wrong about me.
Name: Rukia Takayuki.
Age: 16
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Ice blue
Occupation: Student at the Karakura High School. Second year.
Today is my first day of school this year. I hope it turns out well.
--
My alarm goes off, and I turn it off, sitting up and yawning due to another sleepless night.
I can't sleep. I can't sleep at all. It's been a month now, without Rukia. She's been dead for a month. I miss her. I want her back. She'll never come back and it's all my fault. I couldn't protect her. I couldn't save her. The realization happens everyday, the fact that she's not here. That she's dead.
Maybe if I hadn't even met her in the first place, she would be perfectly fine. Perfectly alive.
Name: Ichigo Kurosaki.
Age: 17
Hair color: Orange
Eye color: Brown
Occupation: Student at the Karakura High School. Third year. Substitute Shinigami/Vizard.
Today is the first day of my third year in high school. My first day in school with Rukia being dead.
--
"Rukia!" I turn around and see my best friend, Arisa.
"Hey, Arisa-chan." I give her a smile and loop my arm in hers. "Another year, eh?"
"Yup."
We leave for class and listen to the morning announcements.
"Welcome and good morning students! I hope your summer didn't turn your brains into mush…"
--
"… Because that just would not be good!"
I blink and look out the window. I feel like my heart's turned into mush.
The announcements continue to babble on about pointless stupid stuff.
"God, I just want this day to end," I mutter to myself.
--
"Would Ichigo Kurosaki please come to the office? He has some items to receive. And this concludes this morning's announcements!" The class resumed back into the normal class chatter.
"Ichigo Kurosaki? I hear he's pretty hott," Arisa whispers to me.
"Oh really? Well he's a year older than us, so I don't think he'd notice a bunch of sophomores."
"Yeah…" Arisa sighs.
Somehow, the name Ichigo Kurosaki sounds nice to me. I repeat his name in my mind a few times. A sudden image of him holding my hand and kissing me comes to my mind. I suddenly feel very hot and dizzy.
"Rukia, you okay? You don't look very good." Arisa puts her hand on my arm, making me flinch.
"A-Ah y-yeah I'm fine. I just…" I trail off, and Arisa gives me a funny look. "It's just the hot weather." I throw her a smile to reassure her. She smiles back.
"Okay, just take it easy!"
/ later that day /
"Yes, lunchtime! I am starved," Arisa declares, looping her arm through mine again and forcing me to trot alongside her to the courtyard.
"Wait, Arisa-chan… Only juniors sit there." I try to slow down, but she speeds up.
"So? Come on, it'll be fun with older kids around!" I roll my eyes but follow her anyways. We choose a nice shady spot by the trees, pulling out our home lunches and munching on them while talking about our day. I still feel a bit woozy from this morning. There is a crowd of juniors heading our way. "Psst! Rukia, look! It's the juniors… do you think they'll talk to us?"
"I have no idea," I murmur, taking a sip of my apple juice box. The juice is sweet tasting in my mouth, and I wonder why I suddenly enjoy drinking juice from a paper box so much. I stare down at the little container in my hand, and another vision came flitting across my mind.
"Open my juice box!"
"No, do it yourself!" The man from my dreams replies angrily.
"Please?" I find myself holding the juice box in front of his face. He has soft brown eyes and flaming orange hair. I give him a sweet smile. "For me?"
He reluctantly grabs the juice box and sticks the straw in. "There."
"Thank you," I give him a light kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for everything."
--
"Dude, why are sophomores sitting in our lunch spot?" Keigo practically shrieks. I pay no heed, still distracted about Rukia. A few months ago, we would've been eating lunch happily. With Rukia.
"Whatever," I say scratching my head and not looking at the sophomores. "Let's find another spot somewhere near there."
"Good idea, Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue cheers a little too happily. She wants to cheer me up. It hasn't been working.
We keep walking, and I see one sophomore has dark hair and the other with platinum blond hair. The blond one is talking and the other one is looking down at a juice box in her hand. I can't see her face, and suddenly I'm curious about her. We get closer, and the rest of my friends are chatting, looking for a different spot to sit down at. The dark haired girl reminds me of Rukia. A lot.
She has the same body form, perhaps this girl is even smaller. I walk past the girl, intently staring at her, when she suddenly looks up at me.
Oh my fucking god, it's Rukia.
--
A tear rolls down my cheek at the moment I look up at a guy with brown eyes and orange hair. Odd how I noticed his eyes and then his hair. I see Ichigo. The man from my dreams. The man in my vague memories. Who is he? Why is he everywhere at once for me? Why do I feel such strong emotions for this guy?
Ichigo stares down at me, his eyes are lit up with hope and pure happiness. Why is he looking at me like that? As if he loves me? He may have loved my in my dreams, but certainly not in real life. We don't know each other, right?
"Rukia," Ichigo breathes, and he suddenly grabs my shoulders, lifts me up, and kisses me. From the sudden movement, I do not kiss back. Arisa is sitting there absolutely speechless. Ichigo lets go of me from my lack of reaction. "Rukia, what's wrong?" I look back at him, utterly confused with mixed emotions. I feel like I've known this guy for my whole life, and yet he is a stranger. He searches my eyes and he looks as if he is in pain. "Your eyes, what happened to your eyes? Why are they blue?"
"M-my w-what? W-Why a-are you h-here?" I stutter, still gripping my now empty juice box.
"Rukia, it's me. Ichigo," he stares anxiously at me, and I see the rest of his friends are staring at me too, with a mix of confusion and surprise. "Rukia, don't you remember me?" I stare back at him, suddenly at a loss for words. I remember you, oh yes I do. But at the same time, I don't. Who are you, Ichigo Kurosaki? Why do you look at me with such eyes? "Is this some joke? Do you not remember me? And why, why are you looking at me like that?"
I have nothing say. I suddenly feel numb again. Just like the way I feel in my dreams. It scares me, and I feel like crying. I start to cry, which then turns into sobs, and I feel Ichigo's arms wrap around me. The gesture is unfamiliar to me, but his warmth, his body against mine feels so natural. I cry harder. Ichigo, can you help me? Can you tell me who you are? Can you tell me who I am?
--
author's note: I didn't want to start I new chapter, but I felt as though I should. Don't worry if you are confused now, the answers shall be revealed in the next chapters!
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