Alone in the Rain [Ichigo, Tatsuki]

She could never mistake his spiritual pressure.

Even amongst the ugliness that had twisted it into something so very inhuman.
Even with the roar and flare of so many spiritual pressures both friend and foe that tore the Soul Society at the seams to its very foundations.
Amidst the Death. Amidst the Pain. Amidst so much Hatred.

She still found him, her presence swift and sudden with the crackle of a shunpo as she placed herself in the path of the man whom had deigned to destroy soul society. She had sensed his fight with the Veteran Komamura Sajin. Even if she didn't quite recognize the twist to the ex-captain's spirit energy, seeing the man's Bankai was enough to recognize just who it was that Kurosaki had been fighting. The roar and flicker of spiritual pressure had told her enough about the fight, such that when she arrived and saw the blood staining him, she wasn't surprised in the slightest. No less, recognize the sheer danger that radiated from him like a wounded animal.

But she didn't see a wounded animal.
She didn't see the broken shell of an arrancar that he had become.
She didn't even see the hero that he had once been. The man that had thrown himself against heaven and hell for the sake of those he cared about.

All she saw... was the little kid she'd seen wandering the edge of the river. Looking for his Mother.

Looking at him now, she tightened her hands into fists, but she didn't have her zanpaku'to in hand. It was securely sheathed at her hip. Even in his wounded state, it wasn't as if she could do anything to him anyway. She was a born fighter, and even a look at the thing infront of her told her that he could and would, erase her without a trace.

All the same, she strode up to the man and stopped just a short distance from him. Looking at him not with fear, or judgement, or disgust. But with plain, pained anger.

The very same look she'd given him more than a hundred years ago. And the words out of her mouth would be so very familiar.

"Where is she?"

There was only one person that he would go so far for. And Rukia had informed him of what she knew about what happened in the City of Lights. But that still wasn't everything.

His response caused a crease in her brows. And she felt the slow boil of anger welling up inside of her as she stepped toward him. But it never boiled over. How could it. Her eyes shifted down his frame to the wreck of his body. Slashed up. His arm hacked off. She stepped in and looked at the wound on his chest and her expression twisted with worry. No pain on his face. It was like the idiot didn’t feel a thing.

”I never thought you were dead. For years and years, even as people moved on and came to accept you were gone, I didn’t. I thought I’d find you one way with that stupid smirk on your face.” Her voice wavered a bit as she stepped in and reached to grab his collar. Not to attack, but to demand his attention as she glared up at him.

”Why. Why did it come to this? When you needed help you turned to these hollows. But not to us? And what the hell are you here for huh? What is it? Medicine? Some fucking…. Chunk of god I don’t know about? Whats so goddamn necessary that you turned soul society into this!?” her voice shuddered as the look of anger on her face twisted to pain. Pain at having to see what he’d done. What he’d become.

”Why do you always have to keep everyone in the damn dark? Its been a hundred damn years and you still have that DAMN LOOK ON YOUR FACE!” She shouted as she glared up at him. Was it coincidence? That the look eternally on his face was still that dead ineffected look?

Like he didn’t even know her anymore?

”We’re your friends. We’re HER friends.” She looked down at the blood pooling on the ground. He wasn’t the regenerative type? What the hell Ichigo. He was bleeding like crazy and he didn’t even care.

”Whats it gonna be Ichigo. Are you gonna tell me anything? Or do I have to still be in the dark?”

She closed her eyes at that and her grimace almost turned into a smile at his comment.

”I may as well have. Shinigami aren’t the living. So what. Yea we died but you know damn well thats not the end, dammit.” She furrowed her brows and shook her head. She easnt dead but she was dying? What did that mean? It had been a hundred years. But somehow she felt like he didn’t mean that she was just going to pass over. Something was up. And his further explanation only compounded that worry.

”And is that what you guys took from the roman empire too? And just how many more burning cities is it gonna take? How many rings do you still need to pry out of someones hands?” She asked with a shake of her head. ”Why does it gotta be like this. If it can save her why the secrecy? Why all of… this!? You thought we were all dead. But I’m not. Rukia isn’t and theres plenty of us still around. Don’t you think we wanna help. That we WOULD help? Why is THIS what had to happen!?” She asked as she threw a hand to the side and gestured at all of the destruction.

”Is THIS what you want for Orihime? Do you want her to live with THIS in her conscious? Just how much blood are you planning to saddle HER with? Trust me I can see it on your face. You think this is the only way. You said it yourself ‘Whatever happens to me doesnt matter’. Yea? And what about HER? What about US!? What do thinks gonna happen when everything is done and WE’RE left standing on the bones of you and EVERYONE you destroyed!?” She demanded.

He couldn’t possibly be this stupid. Or shortsighted. Surely some part of him knew that whatever he did, Orihime would try to undo. He’d destroy the world to bring her back and shed either destroy herself to return the favor, or she’d suffer in the absence he’s leave behind.

”Is that what you want? To trade places with her. So shes the one with dead eyes?”

”And what. You think they’re just going to vanish once you’ve used them? Or do you think that as soon as this is over that these damn rings are gonna start a whole new war once people know about them?” She sighed and felt her shoulders slump. She could tell he had made up his mind. Not that that had ever been in question. He had always been stubborn.

And she had a feeling that even if she had some way to stop him here that wouldnt be the end of it. Even if Ichigo wasn’t relying on them, he wasn’t alone. And from what she could feel she didn’t know what to think of the company he kept.

As a member of the stealth force she had no real recourse here. Even if she put everything into it. Even from behind. There was nothing she could do to him. The best she could do was gather information. He was bleeding badly but she couldnt risk glancing down to see how much. And even then, who knew what she could actually get out of it.

”I’m not giving up on you. Even if you shut me out. Even if you leave me in the dark. I’m still going to try. I can’t stop you. I don’t even know if I could save you. But I refuse to do nothing.” she murmured and took a step back. And then she took a step to the side. A million things popped into her head. What she should reasonably do.

But no. Calling the alarm. Trying to stop him. Or reaching out to someone else. Nothing would get in Ichigos way and remain intact. But she couldn’t sit idle. She needed to get whatever information she could from his blood, and if not his. Shed find something else to bleed for information. But she was going to find out what he was hiding.

She refused to remain in the dark forever.