At the Bottom of Night

These moments were the greatest.

Ichigo was sitting on the porch next to Rukia, a beer in both of their hands, the full moon glowing softly on the grass in front of them. It had been six years after Aizen's defeat and almost all of the Hollow activity in Karakura Town had stopped. It was almost as if some benevolent force had ordained that the poor district had gone through plenty already, that enough was enough. So Ichigo didn't have too much to do in the way of substitute Shinigami work.

It still didn't stop his old friends from stopping in to see him, though.

When he and the rest of his "band of heroes" had graduated from High School, they'd been congratulated by a swarm of Shinigami in artificial bodies. Renji and Rukia had been there, as well as Ikkaku and Yumichika and Matsumoto. Even the normally sour-faced Captain Hitsugaya had attended.

When he'd turned twenty one, his apartment had been filled with not only his college classmates, but that same group of gigai-clad Soul Reapers. And it had only been natural that the more Shinigami had shown up for that event, Matsumoto bringing along her drinking buddies to further "spice up" the festivities.

Spice things up, his ass. Ichigo was still plastering up the holes that Kira had put in the drywall.

But nothing could compare to the time he spent alone with Rukia, the two of them simply sitting together in his tiny apartment. As much as he enjoyed the company of all those other characters from his past, Kuchiki Rukia would always take precedence over them. And it was completely unexplainable. If he held a choice between going to a strip club with Renji and Ikkaku, or sitting around doing nothing with Rukia, he would always pick the latter. Something about the young girl had always soothed him, had always filled him with a feeling of comfort.

Even from the moment she'd first appeared in his room, he'd been able to talk to her like he'd never talked to anyone before. He was able to be himself around her, a luxury that he found with fewer and fewer people as time went on. He couldn't act the way he did with Rukia with anyone else, even with his own family. They both had sacrificed so much for one another; they held a personal bond that was, for lack of a better word, unbreakable.

Which was why she visited him the most.

Rukia would spend a weekend or two in the real world every couple of months. And with the lack of Hollow activity, she wasn't there on business, either. Sure there were nights when the two of them would need to run out of Ichigo's little apartment and dispose of the odd ghoul or perform a soul burial. But they really were few and far between moments.

Most of the time they just sat around and watched shitty movies and drank shitty beer. And on especially nice nights, like the one that they were currently enjoying, they would forgo the bad movie and simply look at the moon. They kept the shitty beer, though. Ichigo's dad couldn't stress it enough that a "real" college student drank only the cheapest of beers.

Sometimes, like tonight, he would even bring it over for them.

Rukia came back out onto the porch, sliding the glass door shut behind her. Ichigo smiled as she handed him another brown bottle; he'd been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't even noticed her get up and go inside. She sat down on the bench next to him, smiling back before twisting the cap off her beer. The small piece of metal hitting the tiles of the patio with a clink, joining the dozen that were already littering the floor of his terrace.

"Hey, look," she said suddenly, pointing out into the night sky. "The moon's coming back out."

She was right; the moon had been hidden behind a string of clouds for the majority of the night, its blue light only shining along the edges. Now it had emerged fully, and the entire field in front of them was illuminated once again. Ichigo couldn't help but look at Rukia's glimmering violet eyes as she looked up at the lunar surface. He smiled at her smile, the way she looked up innocently at the beautiful full moon.

"What are you looking at, dummy?" Rukia asked, noticing him looking at her. She squinted at him in a half playful, half threatening manner as she took a swig from her beer.

"Ah," Ichigo droned out, lifting his own bottle to his lips. "Nothing, you stupid midget."

She laughed softly before she leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder. Ichigo chuckled inwardly— there were two strong indicators that Rukia was drunk. Either she started to punch him, or she leaned her head against him. He was glad tonight was going to be the latter; it was way too out nice to be sparring against an intoxicated Shinigami.

As the minutes ticked by in comfortable silence, Rukia began to get more horizontal on the bench, her thin legs stretching across the whole surface as she rested her head in his lap. Ichigo sighed as he looked on at the sinking moon. This wasn't the first time his best friend had fallen asleep this way. He just hoped that she didn't drool on his jeans again. Those white marks looked suspiciously like another variety of stain that he had no desire to have on his denims.

"Did I ever really thank you for saving me?"

The voice itself surprised him as much as the content of the question. Ichigo looked down at Rukia, her wide eyes looking up at him in silent appreciation. She hadn't ever thanked him, really; in the six and a half years since he'd fought through the whole of Soul Society to save her life, she hadn't truly thanked him. But he'd never expected her to thank him. After all, she'd told him to leave her behind.

"Shut up, dummy," he said stubbornly, cutting his head to the side. "You know I never wanted one in the first place."

Instead of the harsh reply he'd expected, he heard a quick sniffle disguised in a chuckle. His eyes shot down at her quickly, his brow furrowed in confusion. Was Kuchiki Rukia crying? And sure enough, tears had begun to form a border around her large eyes. But her smile remained as she looked up at him from his leg.

"I'm sorry I put you through all of that," she said, her voice quivering slightly through her smile. "I'm sorry that I made you risk your life for me, and that you've had to deal with it ever since." She looked off to the side for a moment, a single tear rolling down her ivory cheek and spattering on his pants.

"I'm sorry for being your burden, Ichigo."

"Rukia…"

Ichigo didn't know what to say. He'd had no idea that she still felt this way. He thought she knew how he wanted to save her, how she changed his life for the better. How he simply enjoyed her being around him.

Rukia sat up and placed a hand on his cheek, her fingers fitting perfectly against the curve of his jaw. She looked at him, her violet irises shimmering in the moonlight. She smiled only a little, the corners of her mouth curving up ever so slightly as she leaned closer to him, her face merely inches from his.

"Thank you, Ichigo," she said softly before touching her lips to his.

Instinct took over almost immediately, and Ichigo found himself kissing her back. She pushed in deeper, her hand sliding lithely from his cheek to the back of his head, her fingers gently digging into his orange hair. He put his own hand on her neck, cupping the angle of her face in his palm. His other hand slid itself around to her waist, the mischievous arm pulling her petite body closer to his.

She moved with him, her body soon sitting on top of his as their tongues gently slid against each other. With her knees resting on both sides of his hips, it wasn't difficult for him to stand up and carry her little body inside, quickly making it to the bed within the apartment.

He sat her down atop the mattress, his hand sliding up her leg, slipping underneath the hem of her blue sundress. She reached a hand of her own up to his shoulder, her fingers digging into his shirt as his fingers began to caress the inside of her thigh. She moaned slightly at the touches, her body quivering slightly as her fingertips pushed further into the fabric on his shoulder.

She rolled then, her body finding itself on top of him, both her legs straddling his left thigh, the edge of her dress still hiked up around her thighs. They looked at each other through the darkness, their mouths finally having broken apart. Her colorful and innocent eyes looked down into his stern and dark ones, both of their bodies heaving from air deprived during their passions.

Wordlessly, Ichigo began to pull at the cloth of her dress, sliding the light-blue fabric from her body and over her head. She sat still for a moment, her groin subtly pushing onto his thigh, her orange underwear rubbing against his jeans. He quickly placed his lips against hers once more, his hand reaching around to her back, his calloused fingers brushing against her fair skin.

Rukia reached down and began unbuttoning his shirt, the white fabric spreading at her fingers as she slowly exposed his lean torso. She grabbed at the now open shirt and pushed it back and over his shoulders, leaving him in only his jeans.

She undid the buckle of his belt slowly, the thin metal clicking with a whisper.

They quickly found themselves naked against the cool sheets of the bed, Rukia slowly moving her hips down and against Ichigo's, her little voice moaning as he pushed up and into her. She reached up with her left hand, her fingers running through her own hair. Her right slid down her flat stomach and met with his flesh, her fingers trailing a line up to his chest. She bit her lip as she looked down into the brown eyes of Kurosaki Ichigo, of the boy that had truly saved her life.

The eyes of the boy she loved.

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inspired by some wonderful art by NTDevont:

http://ntdevont.

deviantart

.com/art/IchiXRuki-collab-114350844

never thought i'd write about this pair. i've always loved them, but never thought i'd actually do it.

at the bottom of night - yasunori mitsuda