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Forget Me Nots Tie Me to You

Title inspired by that Bleach splash page. Another year, another sad Ichiruki fic full of longing lol. This was written for Volume 2 of the @ichirukizine! Leftover sales are going on until April 15th, so grab a copy and some cute Ichiruki merch while you can!

Summary: In Hanakotoba, forget-me-nots symbolize true love and remembrance. Their roots weave through every intimate moment to tie certain fates helplessly together.

A look into Ichigo and Rukia's feelings for each other throughout the four seasons. Originally written for Every Day: Ichiruki Seasons 'zine!

Rating: Teen and Up

Pairing: Kuchiki Rukia/Kurosaki Ichigo

Additional Tags: Unrequited Love, Flowers, Language of Flowers, Protective Kuchiki Rukia, Angst, The Substitute Arc, Soul Society Arc (Bleach), Arrancar: The Arrival Arc, Post-Chapter 423: Bleach My Soul | Farewell Swords (Bleach)

Also on AO3!

Spring

Tiny blue flowers sprouted by the school gate right along the seam where a concrete pillar met the dirt. They fluttered in the mild breeze, defiant in the face of their likely uprooting.

“What’re you looking at?” Ichigo asked from above her.

Rukia snapped to her feet as though she had been caught doing something wrong.

His eyes fell to the cluster in front of her. “Oh,” he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “You wanna take them home or something?”

Rukia thought of the grasping merchants in Inuzuri who snapped up any blossoms they could. They tried their best to arrange them into bouquets, but they’d been too rough in the plucking and ruined them before they had the chance to truly grow. Most of their findings wilted and died on the stem. Those that weren’t sold were usually crushed underfoot, nothing more than weeds to the undiscerning.

Her lips wrung into a smile, soft and practiced. “No. They just remind me of home. That’s all.”

Let him conjure up images of an endless meadow, of peaceful gardens. Whatever it was that humans imagined Heaven to be like. Better than the bitter reality of poverty and weeds she likened to flowers anyway.

As she turned to head back to his place, Ichigo let out a slow sigh. “Ah, hold on, I forgot something. Go on ahead.”

“Huh? But what if I get an alert for a Hollow attack?”

He waved her ahead. “It won’t take long. I’ll catch up.”

Rukia eyed him up and down doubtfully. He would not meet her gaze. Instead of pressing the matter, she left without another word. Hovering around him would do little good. Not if they were to continue this partnership of theirs.

The flowers were gone the next morning. Unsurprising, but a shame nonetheless.

When she entered the classroom, the spray of rainbow light along the floor caught her attention. Watery sunlight spilled through a glass vase full of the little blue flowers. Someone had set it carefully on the windowsill by the chalkboard. The hum of confused whispering filled the air, speculating their purpose.

Their homeroom teacher arrived soon after. “All right, who brought these in?”

A timid girl with mousy brown hair piped up, “I-It was me! I…I thought it might make the classroom more lively.”

Ichigo snorted. Rukia’s eyes strayed to his desk, taken aback when he stared right back at her. He leaned against his hand, mouth pressed into his palm so she couldn’t see it. Somehow, even with only half of his face to see, she understood.

He had picked the flowers. Their classmate must have agreed to cover for his punk reputation.

All this gleaned with a single glance. What she didn’t understand was why. Why bother, especially for her?

Maybe he had sensed her distress at their loss. Maybe he just thought she liked them.

When she thought their destruction inevitable, he changed their fate for the better. Here, the flowers would be tended to. They would thrive.

Rukia felt her face heat up and she looked away.

Summer

“Man, how do Shinigami even survive without A/C? I’m dying!” Ichigo gasped, tugging at his sweat-damp collar. Being forced to wear all-black robes in this humidity was hell. It was much cooler in these underground sewer tunnels, but even so.

“What the hell’s A/C?” Ganju laid splayed in nothing but his underwear.

“Seriously? You guys don’t know what air conditioning is?”

“Is that a human invention? How does it work?” Hanatarō asked, eyes gleaming.

“It’s a machine that keeps a whole building cool. I think it blows cold, dry air around.”

Hanatarō nodded. “Ah! I think Squad Two might have something like that! It’s one of the only places in Seireitei that manages to stay cool all summer long. Lieutenant Omaeda had it installed in their barracks some years ago.”

“What, like a big fan or something?”

“Man, Soul Society really needs to catch up with the times,” Ichigo scoffed. “I’m pretty sure air conditioning’s been around for decades in the World of the Living. Same with fridges.”

“Fridges?” Hanatarō repeated.

“Yeah, they’re cold on the inside all year round. It helps keep food fresher longer.”

Ganju scowled. “Sounds like stuff only rich people have. Are you a rich kid or somethin’?”

“You sound like Rukia,” Ichigo snorted. “She was so fascinated by all this regular human stuff. Like how we have all kinds of different ice-cream, not just shaved ice. She always wanted to try all these weird flavors, but I never got the chance to get them for her before…”

He leaned his head against the cool stone wall with a sigh. “Whatever. When I rescue Rukia and bring her back with me, I’ll give her as much ice-cream as she wants.”

“Oh yeah?” The lilt in Ganju’s voice made him frown. “I thought you said you didn’t have a crush on her. Sure sounds like it to me.”

Now it felt hotter than ever. “Shut up! I do not!”

“Hey, you said all this Rukia person talked about was Ichigo, right?” Ganju asked, nudging Hanatarō’s arm. “You think she might have a crush on him, too?”

“Um, I don’t know if that’s for me to say!”

“Ganju, I’m warning you!”

“Why’re you getting so heated? Why don’t you go back to your ice conditioner creams or whatever and cool off?” Ganju shooed him away.

“That’s not even a real thing! You’re just mixing up the stuff I told you about.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Ichigo gritted his teeth and stood up abruptly. “Whatever! I’m heading to the white tower with or without you, stupid pig straddler.”

“Hey, wait up! I gotta put my clothes back on! Ichigo!”

Fall

The swell of summer gave way to decay and frost. Each falling leaf, every tree sprouting red, all a testament to a cycle of death and sleep.

An omen then of what was yet to come.

Kurosaki Ichigo returned to his family battered, bruised, and soundly beaten after disappearing for a month. His family set him up in his room to recover, more at ease leaving Rukia to watch over him while they tended to the patients in their clinic below.

His sisters later joined her for a quiet meal in his bedroom, all of them seated at the foot of his bed.

“Where did you find him?” Karin asked.

“He was fighting students from another school.” Rukia rehearsed this lie a dozen times in her mind. “One of the brutes pulled a knife on him. It was horrifying!”

“Don’t lie to me. I could sense him fighting someone strong. He’s…a Shinigami.”

Yuzu’s eyes were wide and confused as she looked at the both of them. Karin only stared straight at Rukia. “The truth. Please.”

What was that human saying? You reap what you sow? How very like her brother to demand a kernel of truth among all the sweet-laced lies Rukia had planted.

All her false innocence shed like a branch made bare. Ichigo would hate her for this, but he wasn’t awake to defend himself.

“Very well. I’ll tell you everything.”

One by one, every facade fell away like autumn leaves. She was not human. She had given their brother Shinigami powers in a fit of desperation, and now, he was part of a war that should never have involved him. This was all her fault.

Rukia expected their fury. Their hatred.

Instead, Karin’s shoulders drooped in relief. “Thank you.”

Yuzu stared at her older brother, trying to reconcile all this in her mind. She had never been good at sensing spirits. How was she to know how much her brother had changed?

Karin stood beside her. Her fists clenched and unclenched like she couldn’t decide what she was angry at. “Hey, Ichi-nii,” she finally began. “I hung out with my friends in your room the other day. They were touching your manga with their grubby hands.”

“I went in your room to play with your guitar!” Yuzu added. “One of the strings broke! I put it back facing the other way so you wouldn’t see.”

Confession after confession was thrown at him with increasing vitriol.

“You hear us, Ichi-nii? Go on! Yell at us!” Karin shouted.

Yuzu wiped away the tears streaming down her face. “Yell at us!”

Ichigo did not stir.

The twins suddenly barreled into Rukia, wrapping their arms tight around her. “Promise us you’ll protect our brother if he acts stupid again,” Karin said, muffled against her chest. “You owe us that much.”

Yuzu nodded. “Stay by his side always!”

His sisters were still so young. It was cruel to give them false hope, but she couldn’t bear to break them.

One last lie to soften the blow.

“I promise.”

Winter

Walking.

Didn’t know where. Just had to keep moving.

The chill of the ice rink spiraled down his back. Ah. He wanted to take her here again. Wanted to see her laugh again.

Had to keep moving.

The river churned.

Oh. When did he get here? How did he always come back here?

It was getting dark. Time to go home.

A flash of defiant blue just under the bridge caught his eye.

Oh…

Those damned blue flowers Rukia liked so much. The ones he picked for her back in spring. She had smiled so brightly when she saw them.

The cold and the damp stung his fingers when he clawed at the dirt. Fresh clod in one hand, he wandered to the nearest flower shop. The cashier gawked at him when he set a glass vase on the counter. He didn’t know how much he paid them. He didn’t bother waiting for his change.

Home.

It was warm inside, enough to jolt some feeling into his hands again. His father glanced at him, then at the mud in his fingernails. He probably wanted to say something. He didn’t.

He set the vase on his desk. They looked so much like that spring bouquet.

Should he get them water? They’d been washed over and over again by the river.

Darkness flooded his room as he stared at them, paralyzed by his indecision.

His phone light almost blinded him when he finally moved syrup-slow to search for tips on how to care for them. The day after Rukia was taken to Soul Society, the flowers in their classroom died. He couldn’t let that happen again.

small blue flowers Karakura-Cho

The image search turned up the exact flowers he had. Or at least something similar.

Forget-me-nots are perennial plants that are found near marshes, river banks—

Scroll.

Too far. Skipped the growing tips.

Wait.

In Hanakotoba, forget-me-nots symbolize true love and remembrance. In short, “I will not forget you.”

He swept an arm across his desk, knocking the vase to the floor. Soil and water and glass scattered everywhere.

The memory of her smile from that warm spring day fell apart. All that was left was her despair. The moment he lost his powers was not something he would ever forget.

His room was freezing. His hands wouldn’t stop trembling.

Yuzu and Karin burst through the door. The hall light was so bright behind them.

“Can you get another vase for those?” His voice was hoarse. It was the first time he’d spoken all day. “Take care of them for me?”

His sisters exchanged an unreadable look. Karin sighed and said, “I’ll get the broom. Help him out, Yuzu.”

Yuzu nodded and flicked on the light. He winced, but she simply walked past him to the fallen flowers. They gathered the glass shards in silence.

“I miss her, too, Ichi-nii.”

Ichigo met her eyes just the once. “I don’t miss her.”

Yuzu looked away.

Snow tumbled down outside, whisper-quiet. A mockery of all he’d lost. He tugged his window open and held a hand out. A single snowflake nestled in his palm. For a moment, it stayed a perfect crystal drop. Then inevitably, it faded away.

Vanished.

Gone.

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