Bleach: Rukia's Requiem

Chapter 11

Rukia put the bowl of soup down next to Hana's bed, hoping that the smell would wake her up.

To her surprise, it actually worked. Hana's eyes fluttered open slowly, focusing on something far away, something Rukia couldn't see.

"Hay," Rukia said softly, placing herself on the edge of Hana's bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked when Hana didn't respond, putting her hand on Hana's forehead to check her temperature.

Hana stirred and tried to sit up, but seemed too weak to do so.

"Here," Rukia offered, reaching forward and helping her up.

Hana looked at Rukia with grateful gaze before turning her attention to the soup. Slowly she reached out and took the bowl, obviously having a lot of trouble doing so.

"I-," Hana said, but stopped suddenly. Instead of continuing she lifted the spoon to her mouth and drank some of the soup.

Rukia waited patiently for her to repeat the process several times, but it pained her not to reach out and help the girl.

Finally Hana handed the empty bowl back to Rukia, sighing as she leaned back into the pillows.

"I'm okay," she whispered, but her feeble voice wasn't exactly convincing Rukia. She knew nothing serious was wrong with Hana, she had made sure of that while Hana had been sleeping. The problem was that Hana had slept for three days, never even changing her position.

"That's good to hear," Rukia said, putting on what she hoped was a soothing smile.

"What happened?" Hana asked, a question Rukia had luckily planned on getting.

"It looks like you fell and hit you head," Rukia said. "You've been out for a few days now."

Hana looked at her curiously, "How long?"

Rukia didn't know if she had to answer, or just leave it until Hana was feeling better. Luckily the decision was made for her.

"Three days," Ichigo said, leaning against the door frame.

Rukia looked away, trying her best not to blush. She hadn't seen or heard from him since they're episode on the roof- something she regretted every time she had checked up on the sleeping Hana. And it was clear as day that Ichigo regretted it just as much. He wouldn't even look in her direction.

"Oh," Hana managed to sputter, lowering her gaze to her hands, "That's pretty long."

Ichigo moved away from the door and Rukia stood up so that he could sit down next to Hana.

"Hay, don't look so sad, it was just a tiny bump, nothing to be worried about," he reassured her, taking her hand and leaning in to kiss her lovingly on the lips.

Rukia blushed at the memory of those lips on her own, and scolded herself for missing their softness.

She wanted to leave the room, to go somewhere her conscious wouldn't hinder her, but she knew a place like that didn't exist. Instead she wondered into the kitchen and rummaged around for her pills.

After five minutes she realised that they would be where she had left them last, but she couldn't remember where that was.

Leaning over the counter, she racked her brain to try and remember, but she came up blank.

"Where did I put them?" she repeated as she once again started looking through everything.

In the back of her head she heard a door open and close, but was so preoccupied that she didn't acknowledge the sound until the source was standing in the kitchen with her.