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She had loved him, and he had loved her. That was the story that no one knew, none of them closest to them. In the seventeen months since their parting, they moved on as best they could. She worked hard, became a lieutenant and the jewel of the Kuchiki clan. He dealt with the loss of his powers as best as he could, trying to be normal for the first time in his life. She was infinitely more successful than he was, because she had managed to move on in her life without spending every sleeping moment thinking back to the past and what was left in the living world.
It would have been easier if they had confessed that love to each other. Was it not, according to Shakespeare, better to have loved then lost than never to have loved at all? And they had loved, oh, how they had loved, but they’d locked it down, deep in their hearts, where it gave no outward appearance. No stolen kisses, no words of poetry dropping from lips to ears, welcoming them with open arms. No, it was slaps to the back of the head, sacrifice and going to what felt like the ends of the earth just to make sure you both came back alive. And then it was gone, and in its place was a void.
When she came back, all those months later, it was different. He had learned, and so had she, that things needed to be said, things needed to be done. And she had learned, too, that some things just had to be done, despite the consequences. So after the transfer of power, after the defeat of Ginjou at Ichigo’s hand, Rukia stubbornly refused to go back to Soul Society. In the view of everyone, from her brother to her best friend in Soul Society to people who could probably care less what she felt for Ichigo, she laid her burden down and laid her feelings out for him to see.
And he reciprocated, which filled her up with such joy that she nearly burst into tears. Yes, she could see the heartbroken look on Renji’s face, and she knew that when she found out this would most likely crush Orihime, but she couldn’t lie to them, couldn’t lie to herself, and apparently he felt the same way. But there were barriers, the first of which was from her beloved nii-sama, who would sanction no such thing. So she made the decision, then and there, to abandon the Kuchiki household, the Kuchiki name. He took it well, or at least as stoically as he could, taking her gloves and walking away without another glance.
She had expected resistance from Renji, but instead he left, not wanting anything to do with either of them. No, the next bit of resistance came from Captain Hitsugaya, though it was not much. It was more in the vein of a warning, that if she broke with Soul Society she would be outcast, and never allowed to come back. In her head she knew what it meant, that when Ichigo died she would have to stay on by herself, wandering until he got reincarnated again, if that happened at all. But it was a risk she was willing to take, and she said so, and he removed his protest and left.
Soon they all had left, leaving her and Ichigo alone, with Urahara on hand to watch and offer his help of a gigai that would age and drain her reiatsu, just as he had provided to Isshin twenty or so years before. It would allow her a normal life, one with the young man she loved, and that was all she wanted. And they sealed their new life together with a kiss, their first, and walked hand in hand away from the carnage and wreckage towards a new future together. She knew that together, they could do just about anything, and she truly hoped they would.