Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ A Continuing Threat ❯ chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: halfdemonfan81 
Anime/Manga: Bleach Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.21.2011 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 154 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Bleach Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.21.2011 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 154 | Status: Completed
Orihime smiled into her mirror as she got ready for school. The past few days had been fun for her even if they were once again under the threat of attack from Arrancar.
Their group of friends had met up at Urahara's shop a few more times but none of them had really had anything new to add to the situtation. Regardless, Orihime enjoyed spending time with them.
Urahara had even suggested they go into his large underground area and train a bit with each other since it had been a while since they worked together. Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun had been a little too happy at the thought of attacking each other. The spar had went well though, and she had a few injuries to heal when they were finished.
She smiled even wider at the thought of Kurosaki-kun. Everytime they left Urahara-san's shop at night, he would walk her home. She had tried several times to ensure him that she would be okay by herself but she finally gave up on that after he began refusing to even listen to her protests. Sado-kun and Ishida-kun gave her surprised looks the first night but after that they just nodded with understanding when Ichigo patiently waited for her to finish talking with Tessai-san each time.
As she sat her hair-brush down she sighed. She was trying very hard to keep her feelings in check. Kurosaki-kun was protective of all his friends. She kept reminding herself of that before she read to much into his actions. She loved him so much but she would never do anything to make him feel uncomfortable or to ruin their friendship; but, sometimes, he would look at her just so and she thought she might still have a glimmer of hope.
A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts; her best friend stood on the other side.
"Tatsuki-chan! When did you get back? How was the competition?" she asked as she hugged her friend.
The karate champ went into the apartment and sat on the couch. "Last night and it went good. I won of course. So, what's been going on Orihime?" she definetly wasn't expecting her friend to visibly start at the question and turn away from her.
"Oh, nothing much Tatsuki-chan."
"Orihime." the red-head turned to face her. "What did we promise each other?"
Orihime sighed and sat on the couch with her friend. After Aizen had been captured and they waited for Kurosaki-kun to wake up, Orihime and Tatsuki-chan had talked for a long time about everything that happened. When they finished, they promised each other they were never hide anything from each other again. Tatsuki-chan could see the hollows and shinigami so keeping something from her was useless. Plus, Orihime hated lying to her friend.
"I know. It's just...you're not going to like this." Orihime went ahead and told her everything that had happened. She knew better than to try and down play her injuries as well; she would know she was lying.
Tatsuki had her enveloped in a hug before she could even finish speaking.
"Tatsuki-chan?"
"Damn," she said, "it looks like I owe that idiot again. You're right, I hate this Orihime. I can't do anything to help you. I have no power what so ever against these things."
"I know but it's okay. Sado-kun and Ishida-kun and Kurosaki-kun are with me, we'll be okay."
"I know he may hate it but if those bastards are back than I'm very, very happy that he got his powers back."
Orihime smiled at her best friend. "He's not unhappy about it. What he told me was that this was what normal was for him. I think he enjoyed the break but he's okay with having his powers back. I tried to think of it this way, if he didn't have his powers right now with more Arrancar coming back, how would he react?"
Tatsuki-chan laughed. "He would be working his ass off trying to find a way to get them back." she gave her friend a long, hard look. "Are you sure you're okay? It sounds like I damn near lost you this time. You've got to stop doing this to me Orihime." tears gathered in her eyes and she hugged her friend again to try and hide them. Unfortunately, for her, her voice cracked as she spoke. "I don't know what I would do without you. You're my best friend! You can't get hurt like that anymore!" she gave up and allowed her sobs to overtake her.
Orihime was crying just as hard onto her friends shoulder. Just knowing that she had someone like Tatsuki-chan, someone who cared about her, cared if she got hurt, touched her so deeply. After her brother died she was left all alone in life. She was bullied everyday but she didn't have the confidence to stand up to any of them. Tatsuki-chan gave her her confidence back. They supported each other; and both would give everything for one another.
They stayed with their arms around each other for a long time. Finally Tatsuki drew back and smiled weakly at Orihime. "We're skipping school today. We've got a lot to talk about and I've missed hanging out with you."
"Sounds good to me Tatsuki-chan. Let me go change back into some pj's and I'll get you a spare too. We'll just lounge around today!"
"That works!" she waited until Orihime was about to walk into her room. "So, tell me more about Ichigo walking you home. You been doing something I should know about?" she laughed as her friend promptly ran into the wall.
Ichigo was tapping his foot impatiently under his desk. Class had started 15 minutes ago and Orihime was still not there. What the hell is she doing? I can feel her reiatsu so I know she's still here at least, but it's all over the chart. Like she's excited or something.
"Or like she's worried or struggling or fighting you stupid fuck! Get your ass over there! What if she's hurt!"
"You know, you've gotten way more protective of Inoue lately. Since when did you give a shit about anybody but yourself?"
"Are you really gonna sit here and ask me this shit now when she could be dying again? Get moving you bastard or do I need to do it for you?"
"Oh fuck off I'm going!"
Ichigo raced out of the room giving his teacher an excuse about going to the nurse. He ran outside and used his badge to pull his shinigami form out. Laying his body behind a patch of thick bushes he used shunpo to rush towards her apartment.
"Tatsuki-chan! I can't believe you!" Orihime laughed loudly.
"Oh believe it! What was I supposed to do huh? The guy was trying to put his hands on me. Who the hell did he think he was?"
Orihime continued laughing. "Still, you hit him in his...well, you know. And in front of everyone!"
Tatsuki turned her glance onto her friend. "Yeah, well from what you told me Ichigo wouldn't even let that guy put his hand on your shoulder." she laughed at Orihime's now very red face. "I guess I can rest easy when I'm away and trust him to protect your body as well." a large grin split her face as Orihime began stuttering badly.
"B-b-but Tatsuki-chan! It's n-not like that!" both girls laughed until a large bang caught there attention.
"Inoue!" Ichigo came bursting in through her door, Zangetsu in hand, looking wildly around for any intruders.
The girls sat stunned on the couch, staring at Ichigo.
He slowly lowered Zangetsu as he locked gazes with Inoue and found her un-harmed.
"W..what are you doing Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime finally managed to ask.
He watched her eyes for a moment, just happy that she wasn't in trouble, until his short temper activated. "What are you doing Inoue?"
"Huh?"
"Class started almost 20 minutes ago. You never miss class! I thought you were hurt or in trouble!"
Orihime began to feel bad. He was right, she never missed class and now she had un-necessarily worried him. "I'm so sorry Kurosaki-kun. It's just that Tatsuki-chan came over this morning and we started talking and we hadn't seen each other in days and so much has happened that we had to talk about and then we both got emotional and decided we needed a day off so we could catch up with each other and we..."
Ichigo held up his hand to stop her rambling. "It's okay Inoue. Just....do me a favor and let me know if you won't be at school okay? Don't worry me like that."
Tatsuki's mind was having a very hard time processing what was going on in front of her. Did Ichigo just run from school and burst into Inoue's home because he was worried about her? He even yelled at her a little bit. She normally would have busted anyone in the face that raised their voice to Orihime but Ichigo had never done that to her. She could see just how much her unexpected absence had affected him. Wait a minute....was he looking at her like.....
For the first time in her life Tatsuki gave in and did a happy dance and squealed like a pre-teen, in her head of course. Oh she was so going to tease Orihime about this!
"Ichigo." the orange haired shinigami turned to look at her. "Thank you for being so concerned for Orihime but as you can see she's perfectly fine. Now we were having a girls day if you don't mind."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes at his childhood friend but strapped Zangetsu to his back anyway. "Yeah, yeah. I'm going."
"Kurosaki-kun, wait!" Orihime got up and ran to the door to stop him.
"What is it Inoue?"
She almost lost her nerve as he turned those intense brown eyes on her. Her body felt hotter than it did just a moment ago. "W-well, I just wanted to say thank you." he raised his eyebrow quizically at her. "I mean, for worrying about me. For running here from school just to make sure I was okay. It means a lot to me."
By the time she was finished her voice was nothing more than a whisper and a faint blush had decended on his cheeks; but he still couldn't make himself look away from her deep, expressive eyes.
He gave her one of his rare, small smiles and spoke just as softly to her. "Your welcome, Inoue." with that he left for school.
Orihime was light headed with happiness as she closed the door. She turned slowly and froze, she had forgotten all about Tatsuki-chan being there!
Tatsuki eyed her friend and started laughing at her expression. "Oh yeah, I'm still here and we are so not done talking!"
--------------------------------------xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--------------------------------------------
Ichigo stood up from the desk in his room and stretched his long, lean body. He had been doing homework for over an hour and was surprised no hollow had interrupted his work. He went to the kitchen in search of a snack before dinner.
His shoulder throbbed and he rubbed it as he searched the fridge. Unwittingly, he flushed as he thought of the reasons causing the fight that had resulted in his injury.
Ichigo dashed into the bushes and got back into his body. After making sure no one was around he left the shrubbery for the rooftop. Chad and Ishida were waiting on him.
"Kurosaki, we were about to go after you but I felt your reiatsu returning. Where did you rush off to? I never sensed a hollow's presence." Ishida asked in his usual smug manner.
"There wasn't one. I just had to go check on Inoue since she skipped school."
Both men eyed the orange haired teen in disbelief.
Sado broke the silence first. "Was she okay?"
"Yeah, she was okay. Tatsuki got back into town and the two of them are skipping to have a girl's day. Whatever that means."
"So you shunpoed out of here in shinigami form just to check on Inoue?" Ishida asked.
Ichigo stared at the qunicy. He didn't like the arrogant tone in his voice.
"Yeah, and?"
Ishida pushed at his glasses. "Oh it's just amazing to me how chivalrous you've become lately."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Chivalrous? It means to be curteous, generous..."
"I know what the hell chivalry means!" Ichigo yelled.
"It's just unexpected of someone with your usual brash nature. Since it is Inoue-san I suppose it makes since. Though it still astounds me that a brute such as yourself could act human even for her."
Ichigo clenched his fists and gave the quincy a death glare. "Ishida you're asking for it."
"Bring it Kurosaki."
"Calm down. Inoue was okay so why don't we go back to class." Sado stated. With the looks the two were passing back and forth he could tell a fight was about to erupt.
"Fine with me Sado-kun. I can't help it if someone around here acts like a worrying mother hen."
Ishida didn't even see Ichigo move until he was knocked to the ground.
Ichigo was still disappointed that Chad had broken up the fight only a few minutes into it. That bastard quincy still deserved a few punches for calling him a mother hen. Could he help it if Inoue made him worry? She always had. The girl could just be so scattered brained sometimes and she didn't have anyone else to look out for her.
Besides, he had come so damn close to losing her this time. He simply couldn't let that happen again. If he had to follow her everywhere she went he was going to make sure she was safe. He stopped himself for a moment. He realized if someone could tell what he was thinking, they would have thought he was a stalker.
"Ichigo!" his father called from the living room. "Come here boy, you've got visitors."
He grumbled under his breath but made his way towards the living room anyway. The closer he got he though he could sense something familiar. A lot of familiar something's.
He hurried around the corner and stopped, gaping at the sight before him.
"Rukia."
--------------------------------- ---xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx----------------------------------------- -----
Orihime waved to a couple walking down the street as she made her way to the Kurosaki household. Karin had forgotten her notebook at her house the other day. She had intended to give it to Kurosaki-kun that morning at school, but since she had skipped with Tatsuki-chan she was now making the trip to return it.
She was still a bit flustered over Kurosaki-kun's appearance at her house that morning. Tatsuki-chan had teased her relentlessly after he had left. She didn't mind it though. Tatsuki-chan knew how much she loved him and was simply glad to have, as she put it "the dumbass", him returning her affections.
Orihime didn't want to get too hopeful and think of it that way. She knew he would do anything to protect his friends, and to fullfil his promises. He had sworn he would protect her and she knew he would do anything to uphold that. It was just another reason she loved him so much. So, she wouldn't read into his actions too much, but secretly she would smile as she went to sleep every night knowing he was watching out for her.
She looked up, surprised to find herself in front of the Kurosaki residence. She had zoned out again, thinking about everything. She was just glad this time she didn't run into anything or fall down again.
She rang the bell and waited patiently for the door to open.
"Ah! My lovely Orihime-chan. What brings you to my humble home this fine day?"
She laughed at Kurosaki-san's smiling face. He was so exhuberant in everything he did she couldn't but to chuckle at him. "Good evening Kurosaki-san. I was just returning a notebook Karin-chan left at my house the other day."
He placed his hand at her back and gently ushered her inside. "Well come in my dear. I would never leave a beautiful woman standing on my doorstep. Ichigo is in the living room with some guests."
"No, no that's okay Kurosaki-san. I don't want to intude. You can just give this back to her when she comes home."
"Nonsense Orihime-chan. Besides, they are friends of yours as well." he kept his hand to her back as he guided her into the living room. That's why he noticed her stiffen immediately when they entered the room. Suddenly he felt like he had just done something extremely wrong.
Orihime couldn't help the shock she felt when she entered the room. Sitting on the couches and floors were some of their friends from Soul Society. Renji-kun, Ikkaku-san, and Yumichka-san were sitting on the floor around the table. Rangiku-san and Toshiro-kun were sitting on the couch near the wall. Kurosaki-kun was sitting on the other couch with Kuchiki-san next to him. He was....smiling, and laughing at something she had said.
Orihime felt something inside of her tear.
"Orihime-chan!" Rangiku-san said and bounded off the couch to run to her.
Orihime held up her hand to stop her.
She couldn't really describe what she was feeling at the moment; there were simply too many to process. She was happy to see everyone, happy to see they were okay. But another part of her, one she never acknowledged until she was at home alone, often during night time, was mad. Mad that they had never shown up after everything they had all been through together. A year and a half she had missed them, worried about them, wanted to contact them but had no way of doing so.
It seems they didn't want to.
She had fought right along side the rest of them. So had Ishida-kun and Sado-kun but the shinigami's didn't come to check on them after everything was over. However, the moment Kurosaki-kun got his powers back they all just showed up? How could they all be so callous? She went to Hueco Mundo, willingly, not just for Kurosaki-kun but for them as well; to save their lives. But it seems that didn't mean anything to them.
Or....did they...could they have possibly believed she had betrayed them?
She wasn't an idiot. Just because she was innocent didn't mean she was naive. She knew exactly what it would look like when she left for Hueco Mundo after she had written that letter to Toshiro-kun and Rangiku-san. She had even overheard Ulquiorra talk about it from her room.
But they had come for her. Didn't that mean they didn't think she had betrayed them?
It didn't matter, it hurt anyway. Rangiku-san, who she had spent a lot of time talking with, sharing her feelings with, hadn't come to see her. Kuchiki-san, who had encouraged her when no one else had, took her to Soul Society and trained her to get stronger, hadn't come to see her.
She could feel the tears burning her eyes and she knew she had to get out of there fast. For once in her life, she didn't care if she was going to sound rude or not.
Every shinigami in the room had watched on wide eyed as Orihime stopped Rangiku from coming to her. They had all expected her to jump into her arms laughing and babbling as usual, but none of that came. Instead, she had stood there, silent, head lowered so they couldn't see her face.
When she finally looked up there was only a slight smile on her face that was most definetly fake.
"Hello everyone. I'm glad to see you all are alright. I didn't mean to interrupt. I was simply returning something Karin-chan had forgotten at my house the other day. Now, if you'll excuse me." she turned to leave.
Rukia didn't understand why she was acting so upset with them. She wouldn't even look at her! "Inoue, wait! Come talk with us."
Orihime stopped only for a moment to look over her shoulder at them. "I'm sorry but no. I wouldn't want to interrupt a shinigami reunion." she made to leave once again. She barely turned her head to Kurosaki-san and whispered so only he could hear, "Please forgive my rudeness" and she left.
She started running the moment she was out of the house.
------------------------------------------xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-------------------------------------------------
Everyone sat in stunned silence after the auburn haired beauty left. No one could believe that sweet, caring Inoue had just left after delivering that harsh statement to them.
Rangiku's cries soon pulled them from their trance.
"I didn't want to. I swear it wasn't my choice!" she cried.
"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked.
"Not returning. For the first couple of months we just had so much to do in Soul Society. There were many still wounded and we had to re-build what had been destroyed. After everything settled down I wanted to come see Orihime but Captain commander forbade any of us from returning. He said we had interfered with the human world for too long and had disrupted your lives. He said we should leave you all alone now especially since all your reiatsu had been sealed. I argued that the rest of you still had your powers but he said they weren't shinigami powers and we had to let you all return to your lives. I never wanted to not see Orihime again!" she began crying again and couldn't continue talking.
"She thinks we abandoned her." Rukia said quietly from her position on the couch. She hadn't turned away from the spot Inoue had last been standing. "Especially now, after seeing us here when you just got your powers back." Rukia leaned back on the couch and a look of despair come over her face. Renji went to sit next to her and placed his arm around her shoulders. "She hates us."
"Don't be stupid." Ichigo said as he got up. "This is Inoue you're talking about. If she couldn't even hate the damn Espada that took her hostage there's no way she could hate her friends."
"Did you not see the look on her face Ichigo? Didn't you hear what she said?" Rukia fired back at him.
"Yeah I did. She's upset. She's hurt. And you are going to fix it."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Rangiku cried. "She doesn't even want to see us."
Ichigo turned back to look at them. "I don't care how you do it but you will fix this! She's put herself in danger for everyone of us in this room more times than I like to count and I'll be damned if she's gonna think that you all abandoned her. Besides, this is no time to be fighting. We've got to concentrate on these damn Arrancar running around." he paused to get his bookbag and went towards the stairs to his room. He spoke to them again before he left. "Now get going. Oh, and if you hurt her even more I'm gonna kick all of your asses."
Hitsugaya Toshiro had not said anything during the exchange but he did raise his eyebrow at Ichigo's last statement. It seemed like more had changed around here than he previously thought.
Since when has Kurosaki Ichigo became the voice of reason? But if he continues his disrespect I'm gonna have to hurt him. How many times must I tell him to address me as captain?
Convertin g /tmp/phpA0KBhc to /dev/stdout
Their group of friends had met up at Urahara's shop a few more times but none of them had really had anything new to add to the situtation. Regardless, Orihime enjoyed spending time with them.
Urahara had even suggested they go into his large underground area and train a bit with each other since it had been a while since they worked together. Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun had been a little too happy at the thought of attacking each other. The spar had went well though, and she had a few injuries to heal when they were finished.
She smiled even wider at the thought of Kurosaki-kun. Everytime they left Urahara-san's shop at night, he would walk her home. She had tried several times to ensure him that she would be okay by herself but she finally gave up on that after he began refusing to even listen to her protests. Sado-kun and Ishida-kun gave her surprised looks the first night but after that they just nodded with understanding when Ichigo patiently waited for her to finish talking with Tessai-san each time.
As she sat her hair-brush down she sighed. She was trying very hard to keep her feelings in check. Kurosaki-kun was protective of all his friends. She kept reminding herself of that before she read to much into his actions. She loved him so much but she would never do anything to make him feel uncomfortable or to ruin their friendship; but, sometimes, he would look at her just so and she thought she might still have a glimmer of hope.
A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts; her best friend stood on the other side.
"Tatsuki-chan! When did you get back? How was the competition?" she asked as she hugged her friend.
The karate champ went into the apartment and sat on the couch. "Last night and it went good. I won of course. So, what's been going on Orihime?" she definetly wasn't expecting her friend to visibly start at the question and turn away from her.
"Oh, nothing much Tatsuki-chan."
"Orihime." the red-head turned to face her. "What did we promise each other?"
Orihime sighed and sat on the couch with her friend. After Aizen had been captured and they waited for Kurosaki-kun to wake up, Orihime and Tatsuki-chan had talked for a long time about everything that happened. When they finished, they promised each other they were never hide anything from each other again. Tatsuki-chan could see the hollows and shinigami so keeping something from her was useless. Plus, Orihime hated lying to her friend.
"I know. It's just...you're not going to like this." Orihime went ahead and told her everything that had happened. She knew better than to try and down play her injuries as well; she would know she was lying.
Tatsuki had her enveloped in a hug before she could even finish speaking.
"Tatsuki-chan?"
"Damn," she said, "it looks like I owe that idiot again. You're right, I hate this Orihime. I can't do anything to help you. I have no power what so ever against these things."
"I know but it's okay. Sado-kun and Ishida-kun and Kurosaki-kun are with me, we'll be okay."
"I know he may hate it but if those bastards are back than I'm very, very happy that he got his powers back."
Orihime smiled at her best friend. "He's not unhappy about it. What he told me was that this was what normal was for him. I think he enjoyed the break but he's okay with having his powers back. I tried to think of it this way, if he didn't have his powers right now with more Arrancar coming back, how would he react?"
Tatsuki-chan laughed. "He would be working his ass off trying to find a way to get them back." she gave her friend a long, hard look. "Are you sure you're okay? It sounds like I damn near lost you this time. You've got to stop doing this to me Orihime." tears gathered in her eyes and she hugged her friend again to try and hide them. Unfortunately, for her, her voice cracked as she spoke. "I don't know what I would do without you. You're my best friend! You can't get hurt like that anymore!" she gave up and allowed her sobs to overtake her.
Orihime was crying just as hard onto her friends shoulder. Just knowing that she had someone like Tatsuki-chan, someone who cared about her, cared if she got hurt, touched her so deeply. After her brother died she was left all alone in life. She was bullied everyday but she didn't have the confidence to stand up to any of them. Tatsuki-chan gave her her confidence back. They supported each other; and both would give everything for one another.
They stayed with their arms around each other for a long time. Finally Tatsuki drew back and smiled weakly at Orihime. "We're skipping school today. We've got a lot to talk about and I've missed hanging out with you."
"Sounds good to me Tatsuki-chan. Let me go change back into some pj's and I'll get you a spare too. We'll just lounge around today!"
"That works!" she waited until Orihime was about to walk into her room. "So, tell me more about Ichigo walking you home. You been doing something I should know about?" she laughed as her friend promptly ran into the wall.
Ichigo was tapping his foot impatiently under his desk. Class had started 15 minutes ago and Orihime was still not there. What the hell is she doing? I can feel her reiatsu so I know she's still here at least, but it's all over the chart. Like she's excited or something.
"Or like she's worried or struggling or fighting you stupid fuck! Get your ass over there! What if she's hurt!"
"You know, you've gotten way more protective of Inoue lately. Since when did you give a shit about anybody but yourself?"
"Are you really gonna sit here and ask me this shit now when she could be dying again? Get moving you bastard or do I need to do it for you?"
"Oh fuck off I'm going!"
Ichigo raced out of the room giving his teacher an excuse about going to the nurse. He ran outside and used his badge to pull his shinigami form out. Laying his body behind a patch of thick bushes he used shunpo to rush towards her apartment.
"Tatsuki-chan! I can't believe you!" Orihime laughed loudly.
"Oh believe it! What was I supposed to do huh? The guy was trying to put his hands on me. Who the hell did he think he was?"
Orihime continued laughing. "Still, you hit him in his...well, you know. And in front of everyone!"
Tatsuki turned her glance onto her friend. "Yeah, well from what you told me Ichigo wouldn't even let that guy put his hand on your shoulder." she laughed at Orihime's now very red face. "I guess I can rest easy when I'm away and trust him to protect your body as well." a large grin split her face as Orihime began stuttering badly.
"B-b-but Tatsuki-chan! It's n-not like that!" both girls laughed until a large bang caught there attention.
"Inoue!" Ichigo came bursting in through her door, Zangetsu in hand, looking wildly around for any intruders.
The girls sat stunned on the couch, staring at Ichigo.
He slowly lowered Zangetsu as he locked gazes with Inoue and found her un-harmed.
"W..what are you doing Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime finally managed to ask.
He watched her eyes for a moment, just happy that she wasn't in trouble, until his short temper activated. "What are you doing Inoue?"
"Huh?"
"Class started almost 20 minutes ago. You never miss class! I thought you were hurt or in trouble!"
Orihime began to feel bad. He was right, she never missed class and now she had un-necessarily worried him. "I'm so sorry Kurosaki-kun. It's just that Tatsuki-chan came over this morning and we started talking and we hadn't seen each other in days and so much has happened that we had to talk about and then we both got emotional and decided we needed a day off so we could catch up with each other and we..."
Ichigo held up his hand to stop her rambling. "It's okay Inoue. Just....do me a favor and let me know if you won't be at school okay? Don't worry me like that."
Tatsuki's mind was having a very hard time processing what was going on in front of her. Did Ichigo just run from school and burst into Inoue's home because he was worried about her? He even yelled at her a little bit. She normally would have busted anyone in the face that raised their voice to Orihime but Ichigo had never done that to her. She could see just how much her unexpected absence had affected him. Wait a minute....was he looking at her like.....
For the first time in her life Tatsuki gave in and did a happy dance and squealed like a pre-teen, in her head of course. Oh she was so going to tease Orihime about this!
"Ichigo." the orange haired shinigami turned to look at her. "Thank you for being so concerned for Orihime but as you can see she's perfectly fine. Now we were having a girls day if you don't mind."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes at his childhood friend but strapped Zangetsu to his back anyway. "Yeah, yeah. I'm going."
"Kurosaki-kun, wait!" Orihime got up and ran to the door to stop him.
"What is it Inoue?"
She almost lost her nerve as he turned those intense brown eyes on her. Her body felt hotter than it did just a moment ago. "W-well, I just wanted to say thank you." he raised his eyebrow quizically at her. "I mean, for worrying about me. For running here from school just to make sure I was okay. It means a lot to me."
By the time she was finished her voice was nothing more than a whisper and a faint blush had decended on his cheeks; but he still couldn't make himself look away from her deep, expressive eyes.
He gave her one of his rare, small smiles and spoke just as softly to her. "Your welcome, Inoue." with that he left for school.
Orihime was light headed with happiness as she closed the door. She turned slowly and froze, she had forgotten all about Tatsuki-chan being there!
Tatsuki eyed her friend and started laughing at her expression. "Oh yeah, I'm still here and we are so not done talking!"
--------------------------------------xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--------------------------------------------
Ichigo stood up from the desk in his room and stretched his long, lean body. He had been doing homework for over an hour and was surprised no hollow had interrupted his work. He went to the kitchen in search of a snack before dinner.
His shoulder throbbed and he rubbed it as he searched the fridge. Unwittingly, he flushed as he thought of the reasons causing the fight that had resulted in his injury.
Ichigo dashed into the bushes and got back into his body. After making sure no one was around he left the shrubbery for the rooftop. Chad and Ishida were waiting on him.
"Kurosaki, we were about to go after you but I felt your reiatsu returning. Where did you rush off to? I never sensed a hollow's presence." Ishida asked in his usual smug manner.
"There wasn't one. I just had to go check on Inoue since she skipped school."
Both men eyed the orange haired teen in disbelief.
Sado broke the silence first. "Was she okay?"
"Yeah, she was okay. Tatsuki got back into town and the two of them are skipping to have a girl's day. Whatever that means."
"So you shunpoed out of here in shinigami form just to check on Inoue?" Ishida asked.
Ichigo stared at the qunicy. He didn't like the arrogant tone in his voice.
"Yeah, and?"
Ishida pushed at his glasses. "Oh it's just amazing to me how chivalrous you've become lately."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Chivalrous? It means to be curteous, generous..."
"I know what the hell chivalry means!" Ichigo yelled.
"It's just unexpected of someone with your usual brash nature. Since it is Inoue-san I suppose it makes since. Though it still astounds me that a brute such as yourself could act human even for her."
Ichigo clenched his fists and gave the quincy a death glare. "Ishida you're asking for it."
"Bring it Kurosaki."
"Calm down. Inoue was okay so why don't we go back to class." Sado stated. With the looks the two were passing back and forth he could tell a fight was about to erupt.
"Fine with me Sado-kun. I can't help it if someone around here acts like a worrying mother hen."
Ishida didn't even see Ichigo move until he was knocked to the ground.
Ichigo was still disappointed that Chad had broken up the fight only a few minutes into it. That bastard quincy still deserved a few punches for calling him a mother hen. Could he help it if Inoue made him worry? She always had. The girl could just be so scattered brained sometimes and she didn't have anyone else to look out for her.
Besides, he had come so damn close to losing her this time. He simply couldn't let that happen again. If he had to follow her everywhere she went he was going to make sure she was safe. He stopped himself for a moment. He realized if someone could tell what he was thinking, they would have thought he was a stalker.
"Ichigo!" his father called from the living room. "Come here boy, you've got visitors."
He grumbled under his breath but made his way towards the living room anyway. The closer he got he though he could sense something familiar. A lot of familiar something's.
He hurried around the corner and stopped, gaping at the sight before him.
"Rukia."
--------------------------------- ---xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx----------------------------------------- -----
Orihime waved to a couple walking down the street as she made her way to the Kurosaki household. Karin had forgotten her notebook at her house the other day. She had intended to give it to Kurosaki-kun that morning at school, but since she had skipped with Tatsuki-chan she was now making the trip to return it.
She was still a bit flustered over Kurosaki-kun's appearance at her house that morning. Tatsuki-chan had teased her relentlessly after he had left. She didn't mind it though. Tatsuki-chan knew how much she loved him and was simply glad to have, as she put it "the dumbass", him returning her affections.
Orihime didn't want to get too hopeful and think of it that way. She knew he would do anything to protect his friends, and to fullfil his promises. He had sworn he would protect her and she knew he would do anything to uphold that. It was just another reason she loved him so much. So, she wouldn't read into his actions too much, but secretly she would smile as she went to sleep every night knowing he was watching out for her.
She looked up, surprised to find herself in front of the Kurosaki residence. She had zoned out again, thinking about everything. She was just glad this time she didn't run into anything or fall down again.
She rang the bell and waited patiently for the door to open.
"Ah! My lovely Orihime-chan. What brings you to my humble home this fine day?"
She laughed at Kurosaki-san's smiling face. He was so exhuberant in everything he did she couldn't but to chuckle at him. "Good evening Kurosaki-san. I was just returning a notebook Karin-chan left at my house the other day."
He placed his hand at her back and gently ushered her inside. "Well come in my dear. I would never leave a beautiful woman standing on my doorstep. Ichigo is in the living room with some guests."
"No, no that's okay Kurosaki-san. I don't want to intude. You can just give this back to her when she comes home."
"Nonsense Orihime-chan. Besides, they are friends of yours as well." he kept his hand to her back as he guided her into the living room. That's why he noticed her stiffen immediately when they entered the room. Suddenly he felt like he had just done something extremely wrong.
Orihime couldn't help the shock she felt when she entered the room. Sitting on the couches and floors were some of their friends from Soul Society. Renji-kun, Ikkaku-san, and Yumichka-san were sitting on the floor around the table. Rangiku-san and Toshiro-kun were sitting on the couch near the wall. Kurosaki-kun was sitting on the other couch with Kuchiki-san next to him. He was....smiling, and laughing at something she had said.
Orihime felt something inside of her tear.
"Orihime-chan!" Rangiku-san said and bounded off the couch to run to her.
Orihime held up her hand to stop her.
She couldn't really describe what she was feeling at the moment; there were simply too many to process. She was happy to see everyone, happy to see they were okay. But another part of her, one she never acknowledged until she was at home alone, often during night time, was mad. Mad that they had never shown up after everything they had all been through together. A year and a half she had missed them, worried about them, wanted to contact them but had no way of doing so.
It seems they didn't want to.
She had fought right along side the rest of them. So had Ishida-kun and Sado-kun but the shinigami's didn't come to check on them after everything was over. However, the moment Kurosaki-kun got his powers back they all just showed up? How could they all be so callous? She went to Hueco Mundo, willingly, not just for Kurosaki-kun but for them as well; to save their lives. But it seems that didn't mean anything to them.
Or....did they...could they have possibly believed she had betrayed them?
She wasn't an idiot. Just because she was innocent didn't mean she was naive. She knew exactly what it would look like when she left for Hueco Mundo after she had written that letter to Toshiro-kun and Rangiku-san. She had even overheard Ulquiorra talk about it from her room.
But they had come for her. Didn't that mean they didn't think she had betrayed them?
It didn't matter, it hurt anyway. Rangiku-san, who she had spent a lot of time talking with, sharing her feelings with, hadn't come to see her. Kuchiki-san, who had encouraged her when no one else had, took her to Soul Society and trained her to get stronger, hadn't come to see her.
She could feel the tears burning her eyes and she knew she had to get out of there fast. For once in her life, she didn't care if she was going to sound rude or not.
Every shinigami in the room had watched on wide eyed as Orihime stopped Rangiku from coming to her. They had all expected her to jump into her arms laughing and babbling as usual, but none of that came. Instead, she had stood there, silent, head lowered so they couldn't see her face.
When she finally looked up there was only a slight smile on her face that was most definetly fake.
"Hello everyone. I'm glad to see you all are alright. I didn't mean to interrupt. I was simply returning something Karin-chan had forgotten at my house the other day. Now, if you'll excuse me." she turned to leave.
Rukia didn't understand why she was acting so upset with them. She wouldn't even look at her! "Inoue, wait! Come talk with us."
Orihime stopped only for a moment to look over her shoulder at them. "I'm sorry but no. I wouldn't want to interrupt a shinigami reunion." she made to leave once again. She barely turned her head to Kurosaki-san and whispered so only he could hear, "Please forgive my rudeness" and she left.
She started running the moment she was out of the house.
------------------------------------------xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-------------------------------------------------
Everyone sat in stunned silence after the auburn haired beauty left. No one could believe that sweet, caring Inoue had just left after delivering that harsh statement to them.
Rangiku's cries soon pulled them from their trance.
"I didn't want to. I swear it wasn't my choice!" she cried.
"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked.
"Not returning. For the first couple of months we just had so much to do in Soul Society. There were many still wounded and we had to re-build what had been destroyed. After everything settled down I wanted to come see Orihime but Captain commander forbade any of us from returning. He said we had interfered with the human world for too long and had disrupted your lives. He said we should leave you all alone now especially since all your reiatsu had been sealed. I argued that the rest of you still had your powers but he said they weren't shinigami powers and we had to let you all return to your lives. I never wanted to not see Orihime again!" she began crying again and couldn't continue talking.
"She thinks we abandoned her." Rukia said quietly from her position on the couch. She hadn't turned away from the spot Inoue had last been standing. "Especially now, after seeing us here when you just got your powers back." Rukia leaned back on the couch and a look of despair come over her face. Renji went to sit next to her and placed his arm around her shoulders. "She hates us."
"Don't be stupid." Ichigo said as he got up. "This is Inoue you're talking about. If she couldn't even hate the damn Espada that took her hostage there's no way she could hate her friends."
"Did you not see the look on her face Ichigo? Didn't you hear what she said?" Rukia fired back at him.
"Yeah I did. She's upset. She's hurt. And you are going to fix it."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Rangiku cried. "She doesn't even want to see us."
Ichigo turned back to look at them. "I don't care how you do it but you will fix this! She's put herself in danger for everyone of us in this room more times than I like to count and I'll be damned if she's gonna think that you all abandoned her. Besides, this is no time to be fighting. We've got to concentrate on these damn Arrancar running around." he paused to get his bookbag and went towards the stairs to his room. He spoke to them again before he left. "Now get going. Oh, and if you hurt her even more I'm gonna kick all of your asses."
Hitsugaya Toshiro had not said anything during the exchange but he did raise his eyebrow at Ichigo's last statement. It seemed like more had changed around here than he previously thought.
Since when has Kurosaki Ichigo became the voice of reason? But if he continues his disrespect I'm gonna have to hurt him. How many times must I tell him to address me as captain?
Convertin g /tmp/phpA0KBhc to /dev/stdout