Omoide

...I'm back. Hooray.

Sorry for being so down today. It's the opening chapter for my new fic... I should be thrilled.

I geuss that dark cloud's looming above me again....

This story is based off of the songs 'Last Night on Earth' by Delta Goodrem, and 'Memories in the Rain' by Ichigo and Rukia's voice actors.

Anyway, I don't own anything used in Omoide, except for my OC's and the plot...

Prologue: Three Years and She's Still Same Old Rukia

If tomorrow never comes
I want you to know right now that I
I'm gonna love you until the day I die
And if tomorrow falls asleep
Can you hold me first
I'm gonna love you like
It's the last night on earth
Like it's the last night on earth

--Last Night on Earth by Delta Goodrem

It had been three years.

Three years since Rukia Kuchiki lost all her memories. Ichigo, Rukia, Inoue, Tatsuki, Momo, and the rest of them were in college.

The group, no matter how close they were, never thought they'd go to the same college. They had never really talked about life after high school. Momo had thought her singing career would have taken off by now, Tatsuki, after years of karate thought she finally get into the Vale Tudo, and Inoue... Inoue thought she could settle for a few years in med school, then go off to a hospital somewhere in Kyoto and be a nurse or something.

Alas, they were all just dreams.

And now they were going to a junior college in Karakura Town, hopefully a starting point for there dreams to take off.

...Hopefully.

Ichigo, our favorite little berry-head, had himself a small apartment down the street from the school. Ishida and suprisingly, Toshirou, who had come to live in Karakura merely a year after the... incident, lived in the building as well, except on different floors.

Rukia still lived in the old Kuchiki House, that's what she, Tatsuki, Momo, and Inoue called it, at least.

But about a year after moving into the big, empty house, she became lonely. She had bought a rabbit, naming it Chappy-although she had no idea why- to try and cure her loneliness, but it didn't work.

So that's why she immediatly invited Tatsuki, Momo, and Inoue to live as her housemates until they were out of college.

And now, here they were, 365 days later.

"Good morning, sunshines!" Inoue sang, bouncing into the room.

Momo waved back happily, and Tatsuki groaned, banging her head on the table. "Please, Orihime. I haven't had my coffee yet, and I can't handle your annoying cheerfulness this early!!" She said, praying the coffee maker on the counter would just hurry up...

What Tatsuki couldn't understand was how Momo and Inoue could be so... happy, this early in the morning, where as Tatsuki, as well as Rukia, were the Wicked Witches of the East and West.

Well, Tatsuki thought, pouring herself a cup of coffee as soon as the buzzer went off, I suppose there ARE such things as early birds and night owls. She brought the mug to her lips, and then thought of one very obvious fact.

Rukia wasn't down yet.

"Yo, guys," Tatsuki said, grabbing both Momo and Inoue's attention. They turned their heads and smiled. "Yes Tatsuki-chan? What is it?" Inoue asked, starting to munch on a nearby blueberry muffin.

Tatsuki was on her final nerve. One would have thought after an entire year of living with her, she would be used to Inoue's spacey behaviour.

But, no.

"Put down the muffin." Inoue shook her head protectively. "Fine then. If this is what it gets to make you actually listen!" Tatsuki said before snatching the muffin and biting into it.

She grimaced.

Inoue sighed as Tatsuki spit the muffin out, little bits of blueberry sticking to her mouth. "I warned you." More head shaking.

"What was in that?" Tatsuki gasped, after washing her mouth out with her coffee.

Inoue smiled. "I'm happy you asked! I baked them myself... nothing in the batter but eggs, flour, sugar, blueberries..." Tatsuki drank more coffee. "Anything else?" Inoue thought. "Oh! Yes! Some wasabi was mixed in the batter, red bean paste, soy sauce..."

Inoue was cut off as Tatsuki gagged into the trash can.

"Hey you guys..." Momo said after Tatsuki recovered.

"Anybody know where Rukia is?"

Tatsuki jerked her head up. "I was gonna ask that!"

Inoue, choosing to ignore the spiky-haired girl, responded, "I think she's still asleep.

"Well... I don't blame her. Look." All three looked at the calender. In red, the date was circled.

May 29.

The worst day of their lives.

DREAM

"If tomorrow never comes, I want you to know right now that I, I'm gonna love you until the day I die. And if tomorrow falls asleep..."

"Oneechan?"

Mitsuki turned, and smiled sleepily at her seven-year old stepsister.

How long had Rukia been standing there?

"Hai, Ru-chan?" She asked, stifling a yawn. Rukia walked forward, a teddy-bear clutched to her chest. "Can you... can you tell me a story? Nii-sama and Nii-chan are asleep."

Mitsuki thought for a second. "Sure thing, sweetie."

Rukia happily sat next to her stepsister.

"Yay! What're you gonna tell?"

"I don't know. Cinderella? The Three Bears? Snow White...?"

Rukia shook her head. "Nope."

Mitsuki smiled. "Then what?" Rukia closed her eyes, and thought.

"Yukihime."

Mitsuki sat up straight.

"Snow Princess? Okay then... Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess who was named Rayna. This princess was known as the White Moon Princess because she was born in the middle of winter, and she preferred the night to day. She had shoulder-length, black hair, and beautiful purple eyes. But, no matter how cold she was, she always liked the Summer, too. For she believed the summer could melt her icy cold heart."

Rukia sighed dreamily.

"And one day, she met a knight. This knight was known as 'The Black Sun' to Rayna's father, the King. She met him at the annual palace ball, and he had asked her for a dance. She gladly accepted, and that night, the two fell in love."

"But the king didn't like them loving each other, so he sentenced the princess, his own daughter, to death. He had already sentenced his last three kids to death because of them falling in love with the wrong person. What was one more?"

Rukia sat up. "And then what happened?"

Rukia knew this story by heart, but that didn't stop her from getting excited. "Did the knight save her?"

"Yes,"

Mitsuki smiled at Rukia's impatience. "But as he approached her cell one night, she told him this: "I love you, dear knight, but we can never be together. I will love you until the Earth stops turning, but this is my last day on Earth... although I can't think of a better way to spend it than with you.". The next day, however, the knight killed the king to save the Princess. They ended up together." She said, yawning again.

"Now, it's time for you to go to sleep." Mitsuki said, pushing Rukia off her bed.

"G'night, Ruru." Rukia smiled.

"'Night, 'neechan! Can you read me Yukihime again tomorrow?"

Mitsuki smiled. "Of course."

Rukia opened her eyes.

"...Another one? Well at least this dream's about someone I actually need to remember..." Rukia looked at the calender. "Well that makes sense... May 29. The worst frickin' day of my miserable life..."

She slipped her blue robe on over her tank and sweatpants-normal nightclothes for her- and started walking down the steps to her kitchen.

"Oh! Good, Rukia, your up." Momo chirped, bouncing up and down.

"Hm." Rukia grunted in response, pouring her coffee. She looked up. "Wait a sec... who made this?" She asked, pointing at the cup, eyeing Inoue suspiciously. "Me." Tatsuki answered. "Oh, good." Rukia sighed, dragging her feet over to the table, picking up a chocolate-chip muffin. "Just don't eat the muffins." Rukia spit them out, immediately downing her coffee, ignoring the scalding hotness of the drink.

"Oh, god." Rukia gasped, leaning over the counter.

Inoue raised a brow. "My cooking isn't that bad!"

Momo shook her head. "Actually, Orihime, your home-made guacamole has enough of a punch to knock out a small elephant."

Inoue blushed. "Jojo had it coming."

Momo rolled her eyes. "'Hime! It was a children's circus for pete's sake! How would you feel if you were eight years old again, going to your first circus, only to have a young packaderm try to crush you to death?"

"Well... it sounds so... unnatural when you say it like that." Tatsuki shook her head as the two kept arguing.

"I'm going to the library." Rukia said, walking away. Tatsuki tilted her head to the side.

"On a Saturday?"

Rukia nodded. "Well, yeah. Ichigo said he was having trouble with English. I offered to help him."

Tatsuki smiled. No matter how long Rukia went without her memories, Ichigo was always there.

Even in he came in the weirdest ways.

"Okay, have fun." Tatsuki said, walking back to the table.

"It's a library, Tatsuki. I'm pretty sure 'having fun' is impossible." Rukia said, collecting her breakfast- cold black coffee and a deadly muffin- and walking back up to her room to get ready.

Tatsuki shook her head, Momo and Inoue still fighting in the background.

"Three years. It's been three years and she's still the same old Rukia."

Rukia walked out of the house. "Sayonara! I'll see you guys later tonight, okay?!"

She heard a bang, and the quiet, yet pained voice of Inoue. "Alright..."

Rukia sighed. "You hit your head on the bathroom doorframe again, didn't you?"

"...Yeah."

Rukia rolled her eyes and closed the door, locking it behind her.

"Ohayou." Rukia whirled around at the voice, and smiled. "Hello, Shirayuki-san. Gardening this early? It's only eight o' clock."

The woman smiled kindly. "I like getting things done early... Plus, I'm dragging Zangetsu to dance lessons downtown. Thirty years ago on our first annaversiry he promised me we'd go dancing. I'm done with waiting, so tonight I'm dragging him there."

Rukia laughed, trying to imagine Zangetsu waltzing, Shirayuki clinging to him. "I'm headin' for the library. Helping Ichigo out with English." Shirayuki nodded. "Ah. I see."

Rukia walked forward, and her eyes glazed over, lost in the scent of the beautiful red roses.

"You're good at that, gardening, I mean. These roses are gorgeous." Shirayuki smiled proudly. "Well, then, here." She said, cutting a rose bud off the bush and handing it to her. "You can give it to your friend."

"Shirayuki-san! He is just a friend!" Rukia said, blushing and stepping back. Shirayuki smiled. "You know, red roses don't always mean romance and love. They could also mean an intense friendship between a boy and a girl."

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Nice try, but no."

Rukia walked off, waving goodbye to Shirayuki.

She never noticed the red rose sticking out of her backpack.

Prolouge is done.

So far, I like where this story is going.

Anyway, reviews make me happy. Review and make me happy?

I won't update if you don't review.

TMU