This was written for the LJ IchiRuki contest. Yeah I began writing my 11th chapter of Normality. Don't worry XD but it's IchiRuki goodness, so I thought it was okay too XD

Edit: changes done according to IntegralGirl, thanks to her /bow

Author: Syneiam
Rating: PG
Pairing: IchiRuki (who else? oO)
Words: 1151
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Bleach. I only muse with the characters. Still french too.
Spoilers: Until the most recent chapters (223)

Redefining was an interesting word, he decided. It fitted perfectly Rukia, and her way of interacting with him. Before he met her…

He gazed at the ceiling, trying to remember how it was before her… at that time, he had a nearly normal life. The only fact that he could see ghosts and hollows made his life rather uncommon. However, it was his normality. A normality where he felt lost. Where he wanted to have more power. Because strange things were happening. A normality where he was a standing at the bottom of a cliff, looking up, knowing that there was something else, and unable to reach it…

And then, she stepped gracefully in his world –in his bedroom to tell the truth. He first thought she was a thief –how dumb was this assumption, she entered through his damn wall– and kicked her. At this moment, she looked like a dumbass, but fate didn’t care, and quickly made its move.

Rukia redefined first his world, giving him her powers, making him standing at the edge of the cliff, and looking at the world from another perspective. Powers unknown, and wanted from a long time, even though he denied it at first.

She then stepped into his life, being adopted by his friends, teaching him how to be a good shinigami, showing both coldness and caring. He was always mad at her. Whenever she had that sugar voice with his friends –she was a really good actor, but how horrible it was– or when she was teaching how to aim, how she carelessly attacked some hollows… yes every time it made it mad at her. She was rough and tough, always bickering, but behind her attitude, he saw the concern, the rightfulness, even the smiles sometimes.

Life with her was… more fun. Standing at the edge proved only one thing to him: he needed this perspective. His name was the first joke in school for a long time, but its true meaning resolved his personality. He needed to protect everyone, not just his family. He understood that quite quickly with her at his side.

Then she stepped out his life, on this fateful night. It was raining, and she threw her life away to save his miserable life. It was the second time that a woman saved his life by throwing away hers. He felt so helpless… it was only now, that he was looking back, that he could grasp what happened during all the time she was with him before her leaving, and even after. She was redefining the core of his soul. She even didn’t know it, and he didn’t know either. But she marked him with an indelible ink.

For her sake, he regained the shinigami’s powers, bankai, and made his entry in Soul Society, swearing on his soul to save her. He turned the place upside down, fighting freaks with unimaginable and monstrous powers, only for her.

And he won. But she stayed behind, breaking without acknowledging it something inside of him. When he came back, just thinking of her made him uneasy, to say the least. It was as if something was missing. It didn’t hit him at first, but when Urahara spoke, the realisation came. She wasn’t with them. After that, Kon whined, and whined, and whined… and that was the worst to him. He wanted to clear his thoughts, but couldn’t. All he knew was that she was missing. Before she left Karakura, he was once again closer to his friends. Now that she left, he felt drifting away from them. Not that he wanted to, but he didn’t want to endanger them. And she was the only one who could stand by his side and call him an idiot anyway.

And when things heated up, when he didn’t have the time anymore to think about her and how she carved his life, she came back. And immediately threw some sense into his head. After that, he learned that she had her powers back, and that her zanpakutou was as beautiful as her soul. But that bastard nearly killed her. He frowned angrily at the memory. She was once again trying to save him, telling him to run away, because she knew he couldn’t win this fight. And she was right. Being saved by Tousen was bittersweet, but not as much as seeing her healed bit by bit by Inoue. He wanted that bastard to pay the high price for what he had done that night. He made his resolve while she was still unconscious. She told him to be stronger, well, he was going to be stronger. Even if it meant that she was going to be mad at him for the rest of his life, he couldn’t accept seeing her hurt like this.

He defeated his hollow side because of her. Because she told him to be stronger, and he wanted to be stronger. But now… Inoue told them… there was only four months left. And maybe after that, it was going to be the end. Four months of training…

He closed his eyes, feeling uneasy.

“You could have opened your door, dammit!” she exclaimed.

He opened his eyes, sat up, and found her with a plate in her hands, smoking tea and coffee displaying their strong aromas. He grinned inwardly.

She looked at him, quite puzzled. What was wrong with him today? He was acting strange lately. She had decided to make some tea and coffee to have some free time, but it turned that all she could think about was the last months she spent here and in Soul Society. Memories came back in snapshots, telling her the story of a petite shinigami who didn’t fit in her own world, and who learned to show emotions again. Who learned how to feel, how it was to have friends, and having someone strong enough to be an anchor. He changed her life forever, and she doubted he even realised that. Thankfully to him, she found that she had a brother who cared –maybe a little bit too much– and that her childhood friend didn’t hate her for being a Kuchiki.

Now he was grinning? She frowned, trying to understand what he had in mind.

“What the hell are you thinking about?” she finally asked.

He blinked a few times. “How you redefined my world,” he replied carefully.

“Uh? I always thought it was the other way around. You redefined my world,” she half-laughed.

His grin grew wider, as he grasped her wrist, pulling her in his arms.

“Isn’t it time to redefine it once again?” he asked, while leaning and kissing her.

As he deepened the kiss, his last thought was that normality was overrated anyway. Both of them didn’t really fit in their worlds, and they found themselves standing on the bridge across their worlds. And that was good enough for him at least.

A/N: hope you liked it XD