Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ A Continuing Threat ❯ chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"I...I don't know if I can." Isshin hesitated to say.

"Just try!" Karin screamed at her father through her tears. Ichigo had yet to say anything. He couldn't say anything. His mind had shut down the moment he looked at Inoue. All he could process was the massive amount of blood covering his friend. Anger clouded his system and made his vision run red. He needed to kill someone, no not someone, he needed to rip whoever did this to Inoue apart limb from limb; but...it would have to wait. Inoue was laying before him dying and he couldn't do anything to help her.

He saw his father move from the corner of his eye and watched as he pulled an aritifcal soul pill from his pocket. He swallowed it and he knew the body standing next to him now was not inhabited by his father.

"Go home and wait for Yuzu." Isshin instructed the artifical soul.

Ichigo watched as his father's body left the apartment. He couldn't see him in shinigami form but he knew he was there. Karin began talking to an empty spot in the room and he knew she was speaking to their father. For the first time he hated the fact that he didn't have his powers.

Isshin focused his kido into the girls body trying desperately to close the wound but he knew it wasn't going to do it. Her injuries were beyond what he could do to help her. Even if he ran to Soul Society and dragged Unohana back he knew it would be too late. He would try though. For the sake of his daughter that was crying next to her and for his son that hadn't moved since he came in to the apartment, he would try.

He liked Orihime. She was a gentle woman whos' smile lit up the room when she walked in. In fact, she reminded him a lot of Masaki. He knew she was someone important to Ichigo and over the past year she had become close with both of his daughters. He remembered the first time he met Orihime. It had been the day she carried her broken and bleeding brother on her back to their clinic door. He wouldn't see her until a few years later, and when he did he was stunned by how much she had changed.

He watched her now. The rise and fall of her chest was slowing and her skin was becoming grey. He closed his eyes and tried to strengthen his kido, pointless as he knew it was.

"Your reiatsu is close to his but it's not enough." Isshin turned his head towards the voice that had spoken and was shocked to find a....fairy?

"What are you? Where'd you come from?"

"Don't bother asking me right now. My power is fading fast. If we don't do something that annoying woman is gonna die!" the masked little man said. Though he tried to sound mad Isshin could detect the worry in his voice. He reminded him of Ichigo.

"Kurosaki Ichigo-san. Though it is small your reiatsu....it's back."

Karin turned to Ayame. "What?"

"His reiatsu....I can feel it now. We have been unable to detect it ever since he awoke after Hueco Mundo but now I can feel it. This is perfect! Ichigo-san come over here." Ichigo didn't move from his spot on the floor. "Ichigo-san we have no time to waste."

"He can't hear you."

Ichigo lifted his head to look at Karin. She was speaking to someone about him but who? She turned away from him to listen to someone then spoke again. "Ichi-nii, come over here please."

"What is it Karin?" he asked but moved over next to Orihime anyway. He couldn't help but cringe as he knelt in the puddle of blood surrounding her.

"Just trust me for now okay? Take Orihime's hand."

"Huh?"

"Just do it!" she screamed and he grasped Inoue's hand in his. Immediately he felt a strange weakening from his body. His strength was leaving him rapidly and he was glad he was sitting down or else he feared he would have fallen. Karin watched a spot by his shoulder and nodded her head.

"Since you still can't see them I'm gonna let you know what Orihime's powers want to say to you. Ayame said that she could feel your reiatsu again." Ichigo was shocked. He shouldn't have any reiatsu. "Apparently you were the reason the Shun Shun Rikka materialized long before they said they ever would have. Because of that they are able to link with your reiatsu easily. You feel so tired right now because they are pulling from your reiatsu. I know you can't see it but you and Orihime are under her Soten Kisshun."

Ichigo didn't say anything to this. He was still too shocked over the news that he had reiatsu again. Everything was making more sense now though. The times he would think he sensed reiatsu or a ghosts presence, the weird dreams he had been having. His reiatsu had been coming back. He looked at Inoue and noticed her color was picking up a little bit. It seemed the Rikka really could link with his reiatsu. He wished he had more. He would give anything at that moment to be able to send a large pulse of energy out so they could heal her faster.

"Where's dad?" he asked.

"Standing beside me. Now that they are using their power to heal her he can't use whatever power he was using to help her." She paused as he obviously said something to her. "Kido, yeah whatever."

They all sat there in silence while the Rikka tried to heal Orihime. Ichigo studied the hand in his. Her skin was starting to warm up and she had lost the horrible pale color her face held. Her hand was so small compared to his. Her skin was smooth against his rough, battle hardened one. He glanced up to her face wishing he could look into her shining grey eyes. He knew he had not been spending as much time with her as he used to but he had selfishly been enjoying his new found freedom. What had she been doing? Had she been in danger this whole time? He sat there mentally berating himself for ignoring his friend for so long.

After a couple of hours he noticed he no longer felt weak. He got worried. "Are the Rikka still healing her?" he asked Karin.

"Do not worry Ichigo-san. Everything is going well so far."

Ichigo whipped his head side to side trying to find the owner of the voice. "Who said that?"

"Could you hear that Ichi-nii?" Karin's surprised voice reached her brother.

"Yeah. I can't see who said it but I could hear them."

"Interesting."  A tiny male voice replied.

"Whatever. Karin, tell me what happened. What attacked Inoue?"

Ichigo sat and listened as Karin explained everything that had happened during the attack. His eyes narrowed in anger as she spoke. There were still Arrancar running about Hueco Mundo? Why hadn't Soul Society dealt with them already? He wished he could actually ask one of them about it.

Actually he wished he could kick someone's ass for not dealing with this already.

He unconsciously linked his fingers with Inoue's as Karin told them how she had healed her and shielded her from attack. Ichigo could see Karin's arms were slightly away from her body and resting on something. He figured his dad had wrapped Karin in his arms.

"Really though, I wish you could have seen it Ichi-nii. Orihime was wailing on that dude." Karin laughed for the first time in what felt like ages. "I knew she knew karate but she was totally kicking butt!"

"Since when did she know karate?" Ichigo asked.

Karin's eyes narrowed at her brother. "Do you even know anything about her? Tatsuki has been teaching Orihime karate for years! She's got the skills of a black belt!"

Ichigo could feel the anger rolling off his little sister towards him. He couldn't help it if Inoue didn't tell him something. How was it his fault if he didn't know something about her? Though, he was sure he didn't know a lot about her. They weren't particularly close like he and Sado or Tatsuki were. How much did he really not know about her? He wasn't exactly the kind of guy that just sat down and talked with someone either.

"No shit king. That would take brains."

Ichigo froze. No way. No freaking way was that what he thought it was.

"As I said. No brains. Yeah it's me dumbass. Good thing I've finally got my strength back if those damn Arrancar are back."

"How the hell are you back!" Ichigo demanded of his hollow.

"Ask Orihime. Woman's got talent. She ain't even doing it on purpose and yet her power reaches me. You finally did something right and picked a good one for us to protect."

Ichigo decided not to ask him what he meant by that cryptic comment.

"Ichigo? What is it?" he looked up and was shocked yet again to see his father, in his shinigami garb, sitting across from him holding Karin.

"Alright, what the fuck is going on?"

One of Inoue's powers, Ayame he thought, looked over to him from where she was healing Inoue to answer him. "I'm sorry Ichigo-san. We...we never thought this would happen."
"What do you mean?" he asked.

"It has been necessary for you to keep contact with Orihime-san therefore you have been under our healing as well for the past few hours." she looked away, hesitant to continue. "It seems that we were able to heal the part of your soul that was locked away when you activated your final getsuga tensho. Your reiatsu has been fully restored."

No one spoke. Isshin looked just as shocked as Ichigo did.

"She....Orihime-chan can heal a soul?" Isshin asked in disbelief.

"Tch, the woman isn't much of a fighter, she's getting better I'll giver her that, but she is powerful as hell. More so than she even realizes." Tsubaki said. "Hell, in Hueco Mundo she brought that other Arrancar bitch back to life. I'm sure the reason it didn't work on berry-boy was because..."

"Enough Tsubaki!" Ayame interrupted him. "That is not spoken of and you know it."

"Yeah, whatever."

"This is unreal. No wonder Aizen kidnapped her." Isshin declared from his spot across the room. "I knew her reiatsu was powerful but never would I have thought her abilities would be this great."

"She's always been really good at healing. I watched her heal Rukia when she had a hole punched...." Ichigo stopped himself before he could finish the sentence. Inoue had the same injury Rukia had gotten. For some reason, thinking of Inoue with the injury bothered him much more than when Rukia had been injured. He had been worried about Rukia but most of it had been guilt he had felt because he had not been able to prevent the injury; but Rukia was a warrior just like he was. She had been trained for much longer than even he had and she had dealt with injuries before. Knowing Inoue had been hurt, regardless wether he had been there or not, caused his chest to tighten in pain. He squeezed the hand he held tighter to reassure himself that she was there and breathing.

"Of course she's amazing." the larger Rikka stated.

"Yeah, just cause you can't see it doesn't mean it ain't there berry boy." Tsubaki taunted him.

"I know she's amazing! And who are you calling berry boy you...."

He was interrupted by the sweetest sound he thought he'd ever heard.

"Kuro...saki-kun?"




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The pain filled fog was slowly lifting from her brain. She had not passed out from the injuries, but instead had been in a weird semi-conscious state. Her powers had alternated talking within her mind to keep her awake and occupied.

Now that she was fully waking up she could hear people around her talking but she couldn't make out who just yet. She slowly tensed her muscles, feeling around for any injuries. She was still in a lot of pain but it wasn't anything like before. She didn't feel well enough yet to sit up so she continued to lay there and let her head clear completely.

She felt someone squeeze her hand and only then did she notice her fingers were laced with someone elses.

Someone familiar's.

In fact, she felt an all too familiar reiatsu, one that shouldn't be possible.

"Kuro...saki-kun?"

"Inoue. Inoue are you alright?" his frantic voice called to her. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking them a few times to clear her vision before she could clearly make out Kurosaki-kun's face. His kind, brown eyes, filled with worry for her, were hovering above her own. If she had the energy she would have blushed.

"I think so. It still hurts a lot but it's much better than before." she answered with a whisper. Her throat still hurt from Ildefonso crushing it in his grip.

"Orihime-san. I'm so glad your awake." Ayame said and the rest of her powers came in front of her.

"Thank you everyone. Thanks for talking to me and keeping me awake. I know if you hadn't I would have died."

"You damn near did you stupid woman! Just wait, when you're better I'm gonna hit you so much!" Tsubaki screeched at her.

Her smile was as bright as she could make it under the circumstances. "I'm sorry I worried you Tsubaki-kun."

He turned his head away and tried to hide the blush that came to his face. "I wasn't worried." he grumbled. Orihime tried to laugh but wound up coughing instead.

"Woah, be careful there Orihime-chan. It looks like you were strangled so your throat is gonna be sore. Try not to talk so much."

Orihime looked over to see Kurosaki Isshin speaking to her. Karin was in his lap.

"Karin-chan. Are you alright?"

The young girl moved away from her father and crawled closer to Orihime. "I'm fine and you should listen to goat-chin. He's an idiot but sometimes he does know what he's talking about. Be quiet. Just lay there and let them finish healing you." Karin gave a small smile at turning Orihime's words back on her.

"Okay. I'm just so glad you're alright." she turned her attention to her Shun Shun Rikka. "Guys, I'm gonna be okay but I'm really, really sleepy. Let's just stop here."

"Are you sure Orihime-san? You're still in a lot of pain." Ayame asked.

"Don't worry about it. We'll finish the healing later." she finished with a yawn and before anyone could say anything she fell asleep.

"Well, I guess that settles that. Kurosaki-san, Ichigo-san, Karin-chan, allow me to thank all of you. Without any one of your help Orihime-san would not have survived." Shuno spoke for the rest of the Rikka.

"We are just glad we were able to help at all." Isshin said. "Are you all alright?"

"We are fine. Our health depends on Orihime-san's. We are drained though, so we will rest with Orihime-san now." Ayame stated.

Tsubaki got right in Ichigo's face and turned his hardened gaze on him. "Can we trust you to watch over her while she recuperates or are you just gonna continue to be useless?"

Ichigo was glad he was still holding Inoue's hand or else he would have been tempted to crush the loud mouthed power. "Be glad you belong to Inoue midget or else I'd kill you."

"And yet you still haven't answered my question." Tsubaki retaliated.

"Of course I'll protect her!" he shouted.

Tsubaki studied him for a moment before nodding his head once. "Good." and all the Rikka returned to her hairpins.

Ichigo studied Inoue's form. Her breathing was much easier now. Her skin had regained it's normal alabaster color and her lips were once again a rosy shade. Her flat, toned stomach no longer held the horrible wound she had been inflicted with. The only way anyone would have been able to tell she had been wounded was the blood that still remained on her clothes and her kitchen floor. His eyes unknowingly softened as he watched her sleep. He had spent too much time away from her. She had been placed in danger, again, and she had been closer to death than ever before.

Not again. Never again will I allow you to be hurt so badly Inoue. I'm sorry I didn't fulfill my promise to you yet again. But I swear I will protect you.

Isshin watched his son carefully. He almost wanted to tease him like normal but decided for once to let the moment pass. He had never seen Ichigo treat someone so gentle before. Karin remained at Orihime's side as well. Tears silently streaking down her face. He was right all along.

Orihime really was a lot like Masaki.

"What should we do now dad?" Karin asked.

"We go home and wait for Yuzu. Orihime-chan needs to sleep to regain her strength. I suspect Ichigo will have no problem remaining here to watch over her."

"Of course not." he hesitated, "But what if..."

"Get your badge Ichigo." Isshin's serious face turned towards his son. Ichigo looked confused but grabbed his badge from his bag anyway. He held the familiar weight in his hand. His reiatsu had returned but would he still be able to become a shinigami?

He was slow to bring the badge to his chest. He closed his eyes as he pressed the cool metal to it.

He felt the pull as his soul seperated from his body, and he heard the thud as it hit the floor. He looked around him and sure enough, his body lay on the floor in front of him and Zangetsu was once again strapped to his back. He was neither happy nor was he upset by the return of his powers. He only knew it felt....right. This was how he was supposed to be. This was how 'normal' would be for him.

"About time you accepted everything again. Damn you can be a stubborn ass!"

He once again ignored his hollow. When everything was calm once again he would enter his mind and speak with the bastard face to face. Well, maybe he'd talk a little bit, mostly he'd enjoy kicking his ass with Zangetsu again.

"How does it feel Ichigo? Are you disappointed?" his father asked him.

He bent down to gently pick Inoue up and moved towards her bedroom. "No. It's how it should be. Leave my body here will ya?" he answered his father without ever turning around.

Isshin grinned at his son's back. "Alright Karin, let's head home. Come, jump into daddy's arms and let him carry his darling....oof"

Karin landed a hit to his jaw when he began his rant. "Ain't happening old man. Come on before I leave you. And don't try and make me talk to you. I don't want people thinking I'm crazy."


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It was dark when Orihime woke up again. She sat up slowly, noting the pain her body was still in. She looked around and saw the familiar items of her bedroom. Her torn, bloody shirt was still on her so at least whoever had moved her had not undressed her.

She had to steady herself as she got out of bed and took careful, measured steps to the door. Once again she felt his heavy reiatsu cloaking her apartment.

"Inoue, what are you doing out of bed? You shouldn't be moving around so much."

Kurosaki-kun was at her side the moment she tried to step out of her room. Now that she was awake fully she could take her time to look at him. Unfortunately the first thing she noticed was his shinigami robes.

"Kurosaki-kun....you got your powers back?"

"Um...yeah. Apparently they had been slowly returning but I got them back fully today." he ran his hand along the back of his neck as he spoke to her.

Her grey eyes widened at his words. She looked upset and suddenly he wished he would have kept his mouth shut. She may be a little ditsy but she was still one of the most intelligent people he knew. He should have known it wouldn't take any more than that for her to figure out what he meant.

"You.....you were beside me in the Soten Kisshun. Please, please don't tell me I did this to you." tears gathered in her eyes.

"Hey don't worry about it! I told you they were already coming back." his words fell on deaf ears. Orihime had begun crying, hard, the moment he confirmed it.

How could she do that to him? He would hate her now, she just knew he would. He had been happy! His normal life he had always wanted had been taken away again and this time not by his choice....and it was all her fault.

She would have fallen to the ground if Ichigo and not wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Her sobs were heavy and every one made his gut clench.

"Inoue." she didn't respond. "Inoue, please quit crying."

"I'm sorry.....I'm s-s-orry Kurosaki-kun. I didn't mean to. Please...p-please don't hate me." she choked out through her sobs.

He was confused again. Why would he hate her? Not that he ever could hate her. Inoue was the most gentle person he had ever met. There was nothing she could ever do to make him hate her.

"Inoue, calm down. Please." he sighed and took the girl in his arms. He could feel her tears soaking into his top. He didn't know what else to do. He had never been one to comfort anybody. Karin had never cried again after their mothers death and his old man had always cheered Yuzu up by being his usual goofy self. Almost of their own will, his hands began rubbing her back gently. He didn't know why he did it but the action seemed to be what Inoue needed. Almost immediately her crying lessened until finally it stopped.

"Inoue. I could never hate you." he spoke softly into the top of her hair. "I told you my powers had already begun to come back. You just sped the process along. Think of it as payback. I origonally did the same thing to you didn't I?"

"Are you sure you're not mad at me? I know you were happy being normal and I...I never wanted to make you unhappy Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo pulled back enough from Inoue that he could look into her beautiful, grey eyes. Beautiful? Where the hell did that come from?  "I have never been normal Inoue. This is who I am and I should not have been so quick to throw it away. Truth is I was getting bored." he smirked at her and was rewarded by a small smile from her. "Besides, I can't be happy if it means I can't protect you."

Orihime's stomach began fluttering wildly at his words. She was standing in his arms and he was smiling down at her. Well, as much smiling as he could do. She had to almost physically restrain herself from reaching up and kissing him.

He didn't mean it like that Orihime! Get a grip on yourself. Kurosaki-kun wants to protect all his friends. It didn't mean anything special to you.

She told herself that but deep inside she would hold his words close. They would be what she used to chase the nightmares away.

"Better now?" he asked.

She wiped the remaining tears from her face. "Yes, thank you."

She smiled at him and he felt an unfamiliar feeling begin in the pit of his stomach. He stepped back from her a bit but kept his hands on her shoulders to balance her. The feeling lessened.

"So, what do you want first? Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

She bowed her head and tried to hide the blush that stained her cheeks. "Actually, I would like to take a shower first."

"Are you sure you're strong enough to do that?" he asked.

She pumped her fist into the air enthusiastically. "Of course Kurosaki-kun! I'm very resilent you know."

"Yeah, well try not to push yourself too hard okay." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her towards her bathroom.

If possible, her blush deepend. "Wha....What are you doing Kurosaki-kun?"

"Huh? I'm gonna help you to the bathroom. You can say you're fine all day long but that was a life-threatening injury you had and I know you don't have all your strength back yet. I'm not gonna let you wear yourself out."

"Thank you Kurosaki-kun, you're so kind." her timid voice relied.

Her words caused him to blush and he looked away. "Don't worry about it."

He led her into the bathroom and slowly took his arm from her shoulders. He looked down at her face to speak only to realize how close they were standing. Her bathroom was small and with both of them in there the space tightened even further. He couldn't fight the blush that stained his cheeks again. He backed away from her quickly.

"S-so....you've got this right?" his hand came to the back of his neck again and he looked anywhere but at her.

"Yes, I'm fine Kurosaki-kun. Thank you for your help."

He looked at her only to find her gazing at him with an expression he had never before seen on her face. Her eyes were softend, her normal bright smile was smaller but filled with more emotion, one he couldn't place immediately. Whatever it was caused that same feeling to flare up inside him once again and made him panic a little.

"Okay then. I'll see you in a few." he backed out of the door and closed it softly behind him.

Orihime watched the door for a moment before turning the shower on. She sighed softly as she removed her now ruined clothing. As the warm water beat down on her she smiled. Everytime she was with Kurosaki-kun he did something to make her fall in love with him a little more.




Ichigo sat on Orihime's couch listening to the sound of her shower running. He had tried, without success, to figure out what that feeling was he had had whenever he looked at her. It was something he had never felt before so he had nothing to base it on.

"Why do I have to be horse to such a dumb ass king! Do I have to beat your head in everytime to get you to listen to your instincts?"

Ichigo smirked and closed his eyes, meditating until he got to his inner mind. When he opened his eyes he was once again in his sideways world standing across from his hollow.

"Don't think I forgot about you." Ichigo taunted before running at his hollow. The familiar clash of swords was like music to his ears.




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By the time Inoue got out of the shower Ichigo had finished throughly kicking his hollows ass and had put himself back into his body. He was sitting on her couch (a new purchase he had heard from Tatsuki) with two bowls of soup in front of him.

He watched as Inoue slowly made her way to the couch. Her movement was slow and jerky. He knew her pain must still be intense. Damp auburn locks hung over her shoulder, a few stray droplets landing on her blue tank top she wore. Her plaid pajama pants fit snug on her hips and Ichigo looked away as she approached. He was disgusted with himself. He had caught himself appreciating her form as she approached. She was his friend, someone who trusted him, and on top of everything she was hurt! He had never felt more ashamed of himself.

"Wow, can you be more of a pansy ass? So you were checking out a beautiful chick? Get over it. Hell at least one part of your instincts are intact. I was starting to think you would never notice those fine ass tits on her..."

"Shut the fuck up! Never, and I mean never speak about her that way again!"

"Or what? What the fuck are you gonna do about it? I have to see what you see dumbass! If you look at her tits so do I!"

"I know that! Don't worry it's not gonna happen again, but you are not going to disrespect her like that. Did you forget so quick that I just whipped your ass in there?"

"Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo looked up and found Inoue standing in front of him with a very hesitant look in her eyes. He shook off the remaining anger at his hollow. "Hey Inoue. Sit down, I made you some soup while you were in the shower."

She eased herself onto the couch and grabbed the soup he had placed in front of her. "Thank you so much Kurosaki-kun. Are you okay though?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Your reaitsu was getting really heavy for a moment. What were you so mad about?"

He averted his gaze while he answered. "Sorry 'bout that. My hollow was just pissing me off."

She stopped eating and looked at him. "Oh, he's back too? Is he okay?"

Eyes wide with shock locked with hers. "Why would you even ask about him?"

Her head dropped and her voice became nothing more than a whisper as she answered. "I'm sorry Kurosaki-kun, if that was an inappropiate question. It's just that....well...he's a part of you and even though you've had to struggle to keep him from taking over, he ....he was able to help you when I couldn't. I accept him because he's a part of you but I'm glad he's there because....well, because he's the reason you're still here."

Ichigo sat there, staring at her lowered head, mouth still hanging open at her words. Even his hollow was silent. No one ever even wanted to speak about his hollow out loud but he still could tell how they felt about it. They were scared. Everyone worried the power would overtake him one day. He knew they were all justified in it. It had taken him over before and Ishida had almost been killed by it. Inoue....she had seen it; seen him fully hollow and she....accepted it? How big could this girls heart possibly be?

"But...when you first saw my mask, you were scared. You were scared of me."

She looked back at him with that smile on her face. "I'm sorry about that. I was scared, at first. I didn't know what power you were using, your reiatsu felt so dark and your eyes..." she sighed and leaned back into the couch, "I just felt like you couldn't see me anymore. It reminded me of when Sora attacked me. That's why I was afraid. Then I realized that you were still in control. You weren't just throwing away everything for power. I know that your hollow is a part of you, it always will be but that's okay. Does he always hear everything you do?"

He couldn't even open his mouth to speak, he nodded to her instead.

"Good. In that case hollow-san, thank you so much for saving Kurosaki-kun's life. Oh and for saving me as well. I'm sorry if that sounded like that I wasn't appreciative because I am, I really, really am, it's just that...I'm so happy you saved Kurosaki-kun's life. I couldn't do anything then and if it hadn't been for you...well....anyway. Thank you!"

Kurosaki-kun hadn't moved during her rant. She hadn't meant to ramble like she did but sometimes her mouth starting working faster than her brain. He sat watching her with the most astonished look on his face.

She started to get nervous under his stare. She could feel the blush trying to work itself on her face. Just when she was about to stammer out an apology and leave his face relaxed and his eyes softened. His hand grabbed hers in a gentle grip.

"Inoue, thank you."

She squeezed his hand, "You have no need to thank me but your welcome anyway Kurosaki-kun." she held his gentle gaze for a moment before a yawn caught her by surprise. "I'm sorry. I guess I am still quite tired. Thank you so much for making me dinner, it was delicious, but I'm going to go back to bed. I think after I sleep tonight I'll heal myself fully in the morning."

"Do that. Can you make it okay?"

She gingerly got off the couch. "I'll be fine thank you. Tell your father thank you for me as well when you get home."

"That'll have to wait til tomorrow then." he replied.

"Huh? What...what do you mean tomorrow?"

He gathered their bowls and took them to her kitchen. She followed him and noticed there was no sign of the blood that had been covering her floors. Ichigo noticed her gaze. "I cleaned it up while you were asleep. And I mean I'm staying here tonight. You're still in no condition to protect yourself if another attack happens."

Her face turned impossibly red. "But...b-but you don't have to do that Kurosaki-kun. I'll be alright, I don't want to burden you with anything. I promise I'll..."

Ichigo interrupted her. "Save it Inoue. I'm staying. Now weren't you going to bed?"

She tried to argue further, "but.."

"But nothing, go rest and regain your strength. I want you to be able to fully heal yourself in the morning." he put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her towards the door.

"Okay. Thank you Kurosaki-kun."

"Stop thanking me Inoue. Go to bed."

She looked at him over her shoulder. "You really are so kind."

He blushed at her words and turned his face away. Before he could answer her she had already went into her bedroom.

She leaned back against the door and tried to calm her beating heart. How was she supposed to sleep knowing Kurosaki-kun was sharing her apartment for the night?

He sat back down on the couch and replayed their earlier conversation in his head. He still couldn't get over the fact that she accepted his hollow, even went so far as to speak to him personally.

He replayed the words over and over again in his mind. Everytime he did his smile got a little bigger. She had not only stunned him but his hollow as well who couldn't seem to even form a proper sentence after hearing her. He had only said one word after she had made her little speech.

"Damn."














































































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