Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ A Continuing Threat ❯ chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

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

Sorry for the late update everyone, but you know how the holidays are.
Thank you all again for your reviews and alerts! Please Please Please keep them coming!

No, I don't own Bleach but I sincerely wish I did! :)

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Orihime tried, unsuccessfully, for the tenth time that afternoon, not to laugh at Kurosaki-san's face as he looked around the corner of Yuzu-chan's door.

When she arrived at their home that evening she had been fully prepared to talk him into letting his daughter attend the festival with Jinta-kun, but the moment he opened the door it was obvious he already knew about it.

Ichigo-kun said Yuzu had actually told him on their way home last night and the resulting argument lasted until well after midnight.

In the end, Kurosaki-san had relented and allowed Yuzu-chan to attend the festival with Jinta-kun but only if Ichigo went to the festival as well.

Yuzu had then threatened her brother with every torture known to man-kind if he embarrassed her in anyway.

Orihime chuckled quietly as she continued to do Yuzu-chan's hair. The girl hadn't quit talking since she arrived.

Yuzu-chan's excitement was contagious, and even Karin, who had at first teased Yuzu mercilessly (she thought Jinta was a bigger idiot than their father), had gotten into the spirit - going so far as to help her sister pick out an outfit.

All the girls in the room ignored the sigh that came from the door. Kurosaki-san had been watching them the whole time with such a sad look on his face. The only time he left his position by the door was when he would occassionaly run to the poster of his late wife, crying loudly about how it wasn't time for their daughter to grow up and how did he stop this "punk" from defiling her. Those rants didn't last long however, Ichigo-kun would wind up kicking the older man effectively shutting him up.

"Orihime-san, thank you again for helping me." Yuzu said.

"You are more than welcome Yuzu-chan. Now remember, just be yourself and make sure you have fun tonight."

Yuzu smiled as she admired her reflection in the mirror. Orihime had arranged her hair in soft curls around her face. "I will. I'm still nervous though."

"It's okay to be nervous. I promise you, he's probably just as nervous as you are."

"Really? You think so?" she asked with hopeful eyes.

"Oh come on Yuzu. It's just Jinta. He's not anybody special. Besides you've known him for a while now. Whatever bad side you may think you have I'm sure he's already seen it." Karin said as she laid on her bed.

"Yeah, your right. I'm gonna have a good time tonight and just relax and be myself!" the girl replied, pumping her arm as she had seen Orihime do several times.

All three laughed and began talking about Yuzu's night to come.

Ichigo sat in his room trying to ignore the happy laughter that was coming from the twins bedroom. He had agreed he wouldn't try to stop Yuzu's date but everytime he thought about it he got mad.

He was still surprised at the bond that seemed to have formed between his sisters and Orihime.

When she entered their house, Yuzu grabbed her hand and pulled her into her room. They hadn't emerged since, but from their laughter it was easy to tell they were good friends.

Ichigo still couldn't believe he had been so self-absorbed the past year. So much had been changing, in his own house, and he had never realized it.

He knew he had to talk to Orihime soon. He overheard Karin talking to her earlier when Yuzu left the room about some hollows from last month. Had she been the one protecting his family and not his father like he had origionally thought?

He laid his head down on the desk and tried to ignore the newest round of laughter from the girls. Orihime got along with them so well. It didn't seem like their friendship had begun mere months ago. They were now confiding in her. He knew he had grown somewhat distant from them ever since he got his shinigami powers, but had he truly been that bad?

"Ichigo."

The intrusion startled him so badly he fell backwards from his chair with a yell. He looked over to the window only to see Rukia sitting on the ledge.

"What the hell Rukia? Can't you just come in the front door like normal people?" He righted himself and took his position in the chair once again.

"If I did that I wouldn't see you acting all depressed now would I? What's your problem?"

"Nothing. What do you want?"

"Everyone will be at the festival tonight. I heard your little sister had a date so I asked everyone to be there to watch out for the Arrancar so you can focus on her new boyfriend."

Ichigo felt his eye twitch at her words. He also didn't miss the teasing light that had appeared in her eyes. "I'm sure that's the reason. It has nothing to do with allowing everyone to get a few good jibes in at my expense huh?"

"Of course not!" the scarcasm was laid on thick with that statement, "Although, Renji did say he was looking forward to seeing you tonight, and we all know Jinta is just his favorite person." she couldn't hold her laughter any longer.

Before she could get more than a few chuckles out, Ichigo shoved her out of the window and closed the pane. She was in shinigami form so he didn't fell bad about pushing her. As it was, she simply tumbled back before righting herself and taking off.

He noticed the time and quickly changed clothes. He decided to wait in the living room for the girls. Jinta would be coming to pick Yuzu up in ten minutes and he wanted to be ready to scare the hell out of him when he showed up. Somehow, Orihime had talked him into waiting another fifteen minutes before they would leave.

He didn't like it. Yuzu and Jinta would be walking alone to the festival and it would take him a little while to find them once he got there. His frown deepend. This was already starting off to be a horrible night.

"Ichigo-kun?"

He turned around to see Orihime walking into the living room and he immediately felt his ears turning red. The soft silk of her white skirt brushed against her calfs as she walked. Her tight, red shirt clung to her form like a second skin, enhancing her already generous bust line. The neckline dipped just low enough to show a little clevege and he had to make a physical effort to look away.

"Y-yes? What is it?" Shit, now I'm stuttering? What the hell?

"You were spacing out a little. I thought that was my job?" she laughed gently and tucked her hair behind her ears. Once again Ichigo felt that unfamiliar stirring in his stomach.

"Sorry, been thinking about a lot of things lately."

Orihime came to sit beside him on the couch. "Please try not to worry about Yuzu-chan too much tonight. I know you don't really like Jinta-kun but he treats her with a lot of respect. You'll see."

"I hope you're right about that." he didn't bother to hide the disbelief in his words.

"Trust me. Besides, you should try to have fun yourself tonight. It seems like we are going to be busy again so we should enjoy ourselves while we can."

"About that, Orihime..." the doorbell cut off his sentence and he flashed a hard glare at the door.

Jinta was on the other side looking quite nervous. Ichigo couldn't stop the smirk that came to his face. Good, if he's already nervous than scaring him won't take too much effort.

"Um....g-good evening, Ichigo-san." Jinta stuttered, unable to meet the vizards eyes.

Ichigo said nothing, merely raised his eyebrow at Jinta's greeting. Ichigo-san? What happened to his usual name calling? Little bastard wants to try and be polite now. Oh, I am gonna have fun with this.

Ichigo continued to be silent but stepped aside and allowed the young man into his home. Jinta was slow to come in and kept his eyes on Ichigo as he went into the living room.

The orange haired shinigmai leaned against the wall, crossing his arms and regarding Jinta in silence. It wasn't long before the boy was squirming in his seat.

"So..umm...is Yuzu-chan ready yet?" he asked.

Ichigo continued to stare at the boy, unmoving in his perusal.

Jinta didn't say anything more, opting to stare at his feet and occassionaly glance at Ichigo.

Ichigo's hollow was having a field day inside his mind. Torturing the young man was nearly as fun as fighting for the twisted individual.

Ichigo didn't bother repremainding his hollow because he was having almost as much fun as he was. Jinta was visibly sweating now. He twisted and turned in his chair, avoiding looking at the scowling young man against the wall.

Unfortunately, his fun ended with Orihime.

"Jinta-kun, Yuzu-chan will be down soon." he turned his thankful gaze on her and she gave him an encouraging smile.

She had to strain not to laugh at the poor child. Ichigo had been scaring the boy so badly she could see the sweat running down his forehead. She wanted to scold Ichigo for his behavior but.....it was too funny to watch. He hadn't said a single word to Jinta but the boy was clearly scared beyond belief.

"I'm so sorry to keep you waiting, Jinta-kun." Yuzu came down the stairs and Orihime was very pleased with their efforts that afternoon. The young girl was adorable in her black skirt and yellow top. Her excitement showed in her face and Jinta was immediately more calm in her presence.

"Don't worry about it Yuzu-chan. I only got here myself. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Let me grab my purse."

She disappeared into the kitchen and Ichigo turned his gaze back onto Jinta. Immediately the smile that had been on the boys face fell and he began shuffling his feet again. He looked at the stairs and his eyes widened in fright. When Yuzu came back she had to grab his arm and lead him out of the house.

She narrowed her eyes at her brother as she lead her date out of the house. "Geez onii-chan, stop scaring him will you?"

When the door closed behind them Orihime let loose her laughter. "Poor Jinta-kun."

Standing at the bottom of the stairs was Kurosaki Isshin in his shinigami form, Zanpakuto in plain sight.

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The festival was quite crowded by the time Orihime and Ichigo arrived. Bright, colorful lights decorated all the stalls and nearby trees giving the park a glow that cut through the darkness of the night. The sound of children laughing filled the air and Orihime's smile grew larger.

The walk to the fair grounds had been pleasant, even though most of the way Ichigo was grumbling about his father. Isshin could not go because of an issue with his work so he made sure Ichigo understood to watch over Yuzu. This understanding was issued, of course, in the form of a fist fight.

Orihime glanced at her companion. Ichigo was looking around the park grounds, trying to find Yuzu she supposed. A small sigh escaped her lips and she was glad he was occupied so he didn't hear it. If she tried at all, she could forget the fact that he came to watch over Yuzu. Karin had left them earlier to find Tatsuki in the crowd, leaving her and Ichigo alone.

It almost felt like a date.

She tried, hard, to push that thought from her mind. Somehow, she had been confident (and convincing) when she talked Yuzu through her nervousness earlier, but the truth was - she had not been on a date before either.

Oh, she had played the senairio out many times in that over active imagination of hers, normally the lead male was played by a certain scowling, orange haired man, but she had never actually been out with anyone.

Not that she hadn't been asked.

For the past two years she had been approached buy quite a few young men hoping to take her out; but her heart was only set on one person. It wouldn't be fair to those men if she went out with them because her thoughts would be fully on Ichigo.

A particular stall caught her eye. "Ichigo-kun, I'm gonna get some ramen from over there. I know the owner and he'll put some wasabi paste on it for me. Do you want anything?"

He inwardly blanched at her choice of foods. "No thanks, I'm good. I'll wait here for you and keep looking for Yuzu." He watched her run off and he continued scanning the crowds.

While searching for his sister he noticed most of the men around him turning around to focus on something. Curiousity got the better of him, but when he turned around he was surprised.

All of the men had been focusing on Orihime.

The frown on his face grew ever more prominent as he marched over to stand right behind her and shoot the men the most scathing look he possessed. They all turned and left, though the braver of the men glared right back at him.

What the hell? Did those bastards not have anything better to do?

Okay, so she looked good tonight.

Well, better than good. She had damn near caused his brain to shut down when she walked into the living room earlier but still, they didn't have to stare at her like she was a piece of meat.

Orihime almost ran into him when she turned around. When had he moved?

"I'm so sorry Ichigo-kun."

"Don't worry about it Orihime. Come on."

She followed along silently beside him and enjoyed her ramen. He was in a worse mood than when they left the house and she wondered what happened.

Had someone picked a fight with him? Not that it was hard to do, especially when he was in such a foul mood already. He really enjoyed his fighting. He could easily have a future in that American wrestling. Orihime's mind traveled down a twisted road of his future in the sport, so much so that she didn't notice he had stopped and ran into his strong back.

"Ichigo-kun, what is..." She glanced over his shoulder and found what had stopped him.

Sitting on a bench, away from the crowds, were Jinta and Yuzu. The pair were laughing and eating ice cream cones. Jinta was gesturing wildly during the story he was telling and got some ice cream on his cheek. Yuzu laughed at him but brought out a napkin to clean the cold mess away. The look on Jinta's face spoke volumes.

He gazed at her with such tenderness and held her hand gently, almost as if she were a fraigle piece of china that would crack at the slightest pressure. Yuzu had a faint blush on her cheeks as she wiped his face. Her hands dropped away quickly but Jinta grabbed one of them and tugged her up. Orihime watched as he led her back into the crowd.

"Damn it." Ichigos curse caught her by surprise.

"What is it?"

His shoulders slumped and he trudged over to the same bench they had just left vacant. Orihime slowly sat next to him.

"You were right."

Her confusion showed on her face. "About what Ichigo-kun?"

"He is different with her. Shit, how am I suppsed to beat the hell out of a guy that treats Yuzu like that?" he threw his head back and gazed at the sky.

"You don't. You let Yuzu-chan and Jinta-kun enjoy themselves. Trust him to take care of her. But you make sure you are still there if she needs to talk."

The pair didn't say anything for a while. She was content to simply be by his side for the moment. He continued to gaze at the sky with a thoughful look on his face. Someone waved to her over the heads of the festival goers. She smiled, she would know Tatsuki's armband from anywhere.

"Thank you Orihime." she turned back to him. "I'm just gonna let them be for now, I guess. Although, if she wants someone to talk to I'm sure she'll go to you. I didn't know you had gotten so close with my sisters."

"I'm sorry if that bothers you but..."

"It doesn't." he interrupted.

"Huh?"

"I'm glad you and them got to be such good friends. They've never had a woman to talk to, and I'm glad that it's you." he turned to look at her. She forgot how to speak for a moment when he turned his warm brown gaze on her.

"Tha..Thank you." she lowered her head so he wouldn't see the blush that covered her face. "I may have become friends with them but never forget, Ichigo-kun, you are their brother. They will always need you."

Her voice was soft as it came to his ears. When she turned to look at him with her cheeks slightly pink, her innocent storm grey eyes, her full, pouty lips, he felt the desire to kiss her run through his veins.

Could he do it though?

This would complicate things immensly. This wasn't just some random girl, this was Orihime. The girl he fought beside. His friend. He couldn't just kiss her and walk away...pretending it never happened. It would have to mean something.

Did it mean something?

That he didn't know.

He knew he cared about her. He had went into Hueco Mundo, despite the danger, just to bring her back. He wanted to protect her; but did he care for her like that?

This was a new situtation for him. He'd never had the desire to kiss any woman before, never felt anything more than friendship for anyone so he wasn't sure what he was feeling. He could feel his hollow laughing at his expense, so he tuned him out with the promise of a lot of pain later.

He also didn't know how she felt.

He knew she cared for him. Her actions and words in Hueco Mundo alone told him that but, Orihime was a caring person. She was nice to everyone and didn't want to see people in pain so he couldn't tell how she felt from that alone.

Thankfully, Tatsuki and Karin walked up at that moment and ended his internal struggle.

They all left to go walk around the festival grounds, never knowing that a certain orange haired member of their group was confused as hell.

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The group of teens laughed together as they journyed back home from the festival. They had all had a good time, even Ichigo admitted it had been fun.

Later in the evening, they had met up with the group of shinigami that had come back. Urahara had given them all their gigais, which is why they had run late.

Yuzu and Jinta walked a little ahead of the group.

All the shinigami had teased Ichigo about his sister's unlikely new beau; that was until Ichigo and Renji started fighting about it and Orihime had to drag both of them to a private area so she could heal them. The teasing had stopped there.

They had split up when it was time to leave. Orihime, Tatsuki, and Jinta left with the Kurosaki's while the shinigami went back to Urahara's to drop off their gigai before patrolling. They hadn't found any other Arrancar but everyone agreed it was best to be on strict guard for them.

Ichigo had to admit, Jinta may be a jerk to everyone else but he was very nice to Yuzu. He still didn't like the kid but if he was going to treat Yuzu with such respect then he really couldn't object to her seeing him.

Even if they were so young!

Though, the date had been harmless enough. The red-head had better rememeber to keep it that way or Ichigo planned to bring him pain like he had never experienced.

When they rounded the next corner, everyone but Yuzu tensed at the reaitsu they felt.

"What is it Jinta-kun?" Yuzu asked.

"Well, well, well....look what I found?" a teasing voice called from above. The group looked up to see another Arrancar hovering above them. His mask only covered his mouth and his long, black hair laid over his left shoulder. He wore no shirt, only a pair of white hakama. His sword was strapped to his side, still sheathed.

Ichigo moved closer to Orihime while Jinta moved closer to Yuzu. Tatsuki went up to the younger pair and started ushering them forward.

"Hey you two, why don't we go on ahead and leave Ichigo and Orihime alone for a while." Tatsuki said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

Yuzu was confused, but when she looked back she saw how closely Ichigo was standing to Orihime and she smiled in appreciation. "Okay Tatsuki-chan. Ichi-nii never bothered me once tonight so I guess he does deserve it."

"Hey!" her brother yelled from behind her. She only giggled and kept walking beside Jinta.

Jinta looked back to Ichigo. The pair nodded to each other and Jinta put his arm around Yuzu's shoulders to keep her close.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the boy but he would have to get him later for that. He had other things to worry about. When Tatsuki and the others were well out of sight, Ichigo put his shinigami badge to his chest and told Orihime to step back and watch his body.

The Arrancar seemed to have no desire to attack him during all this. He stood, unmoving, in the same position he was in when they spotted him.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"I felt your reiatsu so I came looking for you." he responded.

"Not that. Why are you in this world?"

The Arrancar swept his hair behind his shoulders. "Oh, that." he paused and Ichigo felt his stare drift towards Orihime. "Why not?"

Ichigo pushed off from the ground and attacked him. He slashed Zangetsu against the Arrancar's arm, but it didn't cut him. He pulled back and sharpened his reiatsu so that he could pierce the others heirro.

Orihime had leaned Ichigo's body against a fence and stood in front of him watching the battle. Ichigo fired his getsuga tensho and she had to call her shield up to protect them. He had not used his bankai yet and this Arrancar was stronger than the one she had faced.

She watched as Ichigo lunged for the Arrancar again, swinging Zangetsu towards his neck. The Arrancar moved backwards and went to kick Ichigo. He parried to the side and brought Zangetsu up in an arc, slicing the Arrancar's chest.

A bright, red light shone from the Arrancar's hand and before she could even call out a warning, he fired the cero at Ichigo, throwing him backwards.

Ichigo stood up, panting hard. The cero had caught him off guard but he had been able to protect himself from the worst of the blast. "What do you Arrancar want? Why are you now coming to this world!" he demanded.

The Arrancar didn't answer. Suddenly he was in front of Ichigo, holding his sword. He had used his sonido to close the distance. Before he could swing at Ichigo, a blast of ice from the left made him move back quickly.

Ichigo turned his head in the direction the blast came from. "Toshiro!"

The young man's eyebrow twitched, "Hitsugaya-taicho." he reminded the vizard. "Who is this?"

"Dunno. He won't say much of anything." Ichigo responded. He watched as the Arrancar prepared another cero and the two shinigami's lunged out of the way.

The Arrancar was now having a hard time. With Ichigo and Toshiro fighting him he had shown signs of tiring. The Arrancar fired another cero but it wasn't as strong as the previous ones.

Toshiro used his shunpo to get behind the Arrancar and deliver a hard blow to his back. The Arrancar plummeted to the ground, close to Orihime.

Ichigo watched in horror as the Arrancar lifted himself up and pointed his hand towards Orihime; the red glow becoming brighter.

He didn't think about his actions, he only reacted as he sped towards them screaming her name.

The Arrancar never had the time to fire his final cero as Ichigo plunged his sword into his chest, killing him.

Orihime watched Ichigo catch his breath. She scanned his body for injuries and was glad to note none of them were very bad.
"Are you alright Orihime?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. Hold on and I'll heal you right away." he tried to protest but this time Orihime got her way and he sat on the curb as she quickly healed him.

"I told you not to kill them Kurosaki. We need to interrogate one of them." Toshiro said, landing beside the pair.

"Well too bad. You can capture the next one. I wasn't really concerned about interrogating him at that moment." he fired back.

"Obviously. I'm going to see if the others found anything." with that he left.

Ichigo returned to his body after Orihime finished healing him and the pair set off towards her house.

Ichigo stayed alert, searching for any other foreign reiatsus around the area.

Nothing else attacked them but that didn't stop the foreboding feeling he had.

 

 

 

 

 

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