Chapters: One (One-shot!!)

Status: Completed

Genre: ???tragedy? Romance?? I don't know.

Rating: T for a little minor violence and a slightly upsetting topic for some

Note: If you are offended by this in any way, I seriously do not care. I write my story the way I want to. If you don't like that, you can tell me all you want—no guarantee I'll listen. ^o^ Also, it's from both Ichigo and Rukia's point of view.

Pairing: IchiRuki. IchigoXRukia, RukiaXIchigo, KuroKuchi, whatever you like to call it. ^^

Song: None :P Unless you know one, then you can pretend it's that. :)

.::~Story Start!~::.

Ichigo's hair glinted in the dim light.

His eyes, though still their usual chocolate brown, had a strange look in them…a pleasant kind of insanity.

His fingers reached for the wall. When they hit, Ichigo felt nothing—he was confused. Where was the wall?

He didn't wonder for long…as the wall melted from his sight, replaced by a Hollow.

But Ichigo wasn't afraid. The Hollow looked so nice. Its mask boasted a kindly face formed by bone and small ears. The Hollow's hand was outstretched as if inviting Ichigo to come with him. Ichigo's eyes lit up as he took the welcoming hand and got up, walking after the Hollow, who was heading in the direction of a tall door—and at that moment, Ichigo wanted nothing more than to walk to that door.

But there was a small crunching sound as Ichigo hit an invisible barrier and bounced back. The Hollow kept gesturing, gesturing to Ichigo—telling him to come with him to the door. Ichigo tried once again, and once again hit an invisible barrier. Ichigo was starting to get frustrated, and it showed as his vision turned slightly red. Why couldn't he go with him!? Why not??

The door disappeared. Before Ichigo's curious eyes, a small orange-haired baby was sitting where the door once was.

The baby's lip quivered as his brown eyes widened at Ichigo. He reached his short arms to Ichigo, begging him silently to pick him up.

Ichigo watched the baby with wonder. What was this baby doing here? Whose what it? Was he an orphan? And why did he look so familiar…?

"Ichigo!" a voice said sharply, piercing into his thoughts. The baby melted away, but Ichigo could swear right before it disappeared completely, the colors flashed—orange became white, fair became pale, white with brown because black with yellow…leaving the most frightening baby to give him a tiny, brief grin before he was completely gone. Ichigo looked back to see a petite young woman with a stern, slightly sad look in her eyes.

"Ichigo, why were you looking at that wall?"

Ichigo blinked at her.

"Were you seeing things again??"

"…"

Rukia sighed. Life had been so hard to live with Ichigo since the day the accident had happened. He saw things, he heard noises, he sensed things no one else could—and in Soul Society, that was not a good thing. He would think he saw a duck flying straight through a door. He heard a cup of coffee singing opera. It was almost too much for Rukia.

Suddenly, the messy-haired Shinigami pulled Ichigo close to her. Ichigo blinked, surprised by this sudden contact. However, by instinct, he wrapped his own arms around her slender form. Sobs rocked through Rukia's body, her back heaving. Ichigo was slightly confused, but he did nothing…he did nothing that he did not understand. When he felt a slight poke at his back, he did nothing, either—it wasn't a pleasant feeling, but it wasn't pain. As the poke turned into a jab, though, he cried out a little. He tried to get up, but Rukia pushed his shoulders down with surprising strength. The poke that was a jab was now a stab—full pain that tore through him. Rukia dug the knife deeper into his back. Who would've known that it would be this hard, take this long to kill someone? She should've gone for his chest in the beginning.

For Ichigo, the pain was doubled by his confusion. Was this all happening—this pain—because he couldn't go to the door? Was it because he didn't pick up the baby? His mind was whirling.

Rukia refused to let the tears and guilt at what she was doing come. Suddenly, as she felt Ichigo's form go limp in her arms and the blood spill over her chest, she herself was exhausted. She began to cry—she was actually crying. Not like earlier, when she was simply letting sobs rack her body. The tears spilled over her cheeks as her vision blurred and dimmed to a pleasant blue. The wall was no longer the wall.

And the curtain…what an interesting curtain! The string on the bottom…was it made all out of one string? Or many strings? Maybe it wasn't a string at all. A giggle slipped from her lips as she thought of it. She could see a tiny bit of light peeking from the sides of the curtain. She wondered why the curtain didn't cover all the window. It would look much better—the light could shine through the curtain anyway.

And as she watched the floor begin to change shape underneath her…

She slipped into a pleasant kind of insanity.