Konnichiwa~
This is my third fanfic and yes, this is a Ichihime one, much to my surprise.
Don't get me wrong—I'm still a fan of ichiruki!
I got the idea of this story while reading Bleach manga ch. 448.
I thought that Orihime's word was cool and then decided to give this a try.
I'm not an English native speaker, so please forgive me for any grammatical errors!
As usual, any constructive criticisms are always accepted.
Hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it :)
Warning: A bit OOC, please deal with it.

Disclaimer: Bleach and all its characters belong to Kubo-sensei. I respect him a lot.

Healer

Orihime P.O.V.

The Winter War has ended. Ichigo finally managed to defeat Aizen and saved all of us at a very high cost—yes, losing his Shinigami power. Now he couldn't sense any spirits, including Shinigami. And that meant he was no longer able to see Rukia.

Rukia…

I still remembered that day. The sky above Karakura Town was clear and sunny. After waiting for quite a while, I was really relieved when Ichigo finally regained his consciousness. He had been out cold for almost a month. At first, I was scared to death. Renji, Rukia, Chad, Ishida, and I went to see Ichigo after his battle with Aizen. We were shocked when he suddenly collapsed in front of us. I thought he would never open his eyes again. For a brief moment, I even thought that I was going to lose him.

Well, I wasn't completely wrong. It's true that he finally awoke. But he was no longer the Ichigo I knew. He wasn't surprised when Rukia told him Urahara's theory of losing Shinigami power—how it brought intense pain, loss of consciousness, a reverse flow of the time his body experienced in the precipice world, and the fact that the remainder of his spiritual power would completely disappear. Ichigo knew it from the beginning he decided to fight Aizen with his full power. I found no sign of surprise on his face… Just a hint of pain.

He said he wanted to go outside, so we accompanied him. As I thought, the sky outside was much clearer than what I saw from Ichigo's bedroom. After taking a few steps, Ichigo turned around to face Rukia. It seemed that Rukia's presence was slowly fading from his sight. Apparently, Rukia felt it, too. She walked closer to approach that orange-haired boy.

"This is goodbye, Ichigo," Rukia said faintly.

Ichigo took a while before answering, "…So it seems."

"What? Don't look so sad… Even if you can't see me, I can still see you," Rukia began to mock him.

"What? That doesn't make me happy at all!" Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. His face looked kind of annoyed, but I knew that wasn't his true feeling. "Anyway, I wasn't looking sad!"

Then there was a long silence.

"…Tell everyone I give them my best," Ichigo finally said.

"Okay," Rukia answered without looking at Ichigo's eyes. Then slowly, she lifted her head to meet that hazel gaze.

Ichigo looked down like he always did whenever talking to that Shinigami, due to their height difference. I didn't know what was on his mind at that moment. His gaze was something I couldn't interpret. I could saw many different emotions there—loneliness, pain, emptiness—but didn't know which one was the strongest. His face was a mixture of gratitude and regret.

Slow but sure, Rukia's presence disappeared from his vision. I knew it because suddenly Ichigo lifted his head and stared deeply at the vast blue sky above his head. "Thank you," he murmured softly. I noticed a slight smile plastered on his face.

Little did he know that at that moment, Rukia was still there. My chest tightened in pain as I saw something glistening on the petite Shinigami's face—tears? She turned her head to face the rest of her friends who were still standing there and gave each of us a farewell smile before vanishing completely.

And that was how Rukia disappeared from our lifes.

17 months had passed. A little over one year. We were 17 and we were seniors now. The rest of our friends—Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, Chizuru—already knew everything. We told them while Ichigo was still unconscious. At first, I thought it would be hard for them to accept it. But they believed it immediately, much to my surprise. Yeah, I guess they had no choice but to believe us. After seeing something like that with your own eyes, no one would know what to believe. I felt bad for them. They had had a tough time, too.

But I'm glad they didn't say anything in front of Ichigo. They just simply accepted it and acted as if nothing happened. When Ichigo came back to school, they greeted him as usual and so, time went by. It felt like a dream for me. It was as if I had just awakened from a long sleep. And all thanks to Ichigo who finally brought an ending to our nightmare. When I opened my eyes once again, I realized that slowly, things began to come back to normal. Or almost.

Except the fact that I still had my power within me. Of course, I didn't change at all. So did Chad and Ishida. Maybe the only thing that came back to normal was Ichigo. Well, I didn't know if we could really call it 'normal' since normality wasn't something Ichigo attached to. He had been different from the start, right? And now, he was only an ordinary human without any special power. No ability to see ghosts, no Shinigami power, no hollows inside of him. Only a mere human.

I wondered how it feels to be so mighty once and then lose all of your powers. Ichigo has changed since the day Rukia left. Now he was… less alive. Of couse, he still went to school everyday, fooled around with Keigo and the others, and sometimes hung out with me and Chad. He even had a part-time job at a jack-of-all-trades shop with a strange name, 'Unagiya'. He also accepted requests from some sports clubs that need his help with payment. His life seemed so normal.

But I had caught him looking at Ishida with an envy look several times whenever the Quincy left class with unreasonable excuses. Unreasonable for most people, but of course, some people knew way too well the reason he needed to leave during classes. Ishida had been taking care of what used to be Ichigo's job and that fact didn't help at all.

One day, I overheard the conversation between Ichigo and Keigo at the rooftop. Ichigo was drinking his favorite juice while Keigo dangled on the railing like a monkey beside him.

"Hey, Ichigo! Have you decided, like, what are you going to do when you grow up and stuff?"

Ichigo stopped sipping his juice and turned to face his friend. "My career path?"

"Yeah, like that! What else is there?"

"Isn't it still a little early for that?"

"There's going to be career guidance at the end of the semester. You got to start thinking soon!" said Keigo. "Your grades were great when you started here, Ichigo, but they sure dropped in the second half of your first year!"

Ichigo didn't look too happy to hear that. "Shut up! I was busy with a lot of stuffs then, I had no choice. And I was still at the top of the middle," he defended.

Then, out of the blue, Keigo said, "…I wonder what Rukia-chan's up to."

The mention of her name had successfully attracted Ichigo's attention. "Why does Rukia have to come into the discussions there?"

"Because… don't you think it'd be nice for her to show her face around here once in a while? Don't you think it's kind of cold that she hasn't come back even once?" Okay, Keigo was being honest here.

"No, it's not. She isn't the representative of Karakura Town, to begin with. It's normal for her not to come." Ichigo firmly said. Or was it really what you think, Ichigo? Did you seriously think that it was normal for her not to come, even once?

Not satisfied with Ichigo's answer, Keigi pouted. "…Aren't you lonely?" he asked.

My heart skipped a beat at that question. That was something I never dare to ask. Yet, it was being asked nonchalantly by Keigo. But Ichigo's answer was something I had expected before.

"Like hell I'd be." Ichigo turned around so that his back was facing us. "This is the normal life I've worked 16 years to get. I'm fine with peace until I die."

I wondered what kind of face expression Ichigo had when he said those words. That was what he said, but I knew that he was lying. Not only me, but Chad and Ishida noticed it as well. As his friends, we understood exactly how he felt. Ichigo might had tried his best to hide it, but honestly, it had been painful for us to watch him since he lost his power.

He wanted to fight. Not being able to protect everyone hurt him more than anything. He wasn't the type of guy who could just sit in the class while the others were fighting hollows out there. He couldn't relax, knowing that somebody might get hurt and he couldn't do anything about it. It must hurt his pride. I knew that fact way too well.

And that was also one of the reasons why I love him.

To be honest, I was also missing Rukia. It had been a long time since the last time I saw her. After all the adventures we had together, I started to think of her as my best friend. She had always been nice to me. In fact, she had always been nice to everyone. No wonder Keigo, Mizuiro, Ishida, Chad, Kon, Isshin, and Yuzu (and maybe Karin) missed her so much. Not to mention Ichigo as well.

Yeah, that orange-haired guy must be the one who missed her the most. We all knew that Ichigo and Rukia shared some kind of special bond. She was more than just a friend to him. A partner, I assumed? Since they always fought together and all. Well, it was such a rare occasion not to see them arguing with each other. They almost argued anytime, anywhere—yelling, blaming, and sometimes kicking each other's butt. But their arguments actually represented how deep their relationship was and how much they cared about each other.

Sometimes I couldn't help but feeling jealous of her. The fact that Rukia and Ichigo lived under the same roof was painful enough to deal with. She was so lucky because she could see Ichigo everyday, while all I could do was missing him silently. That was why I always cherished every single second we spent together.

It seemed like Ichigo's father and sisters also liked her. They even thought of Rukia as a part of Kurosaki family. I wish it was me, though. I wish it was me instead of Rukia.

But, what else could I do?

I knew that Ichigo wasn't that oblivious of my feeling. He wasn't as dumb as his appearance, wasn't he? All this time, I had been dropping hints about my admiration toward him, hoping silently that one day he would realize my true feeling. He might look ignorant at the outside, but actually he was a warm guy inside. He cared so much about people around him. He must have noticed my feeling since a long time ago. Then, why didn't he take any actions? Because he didn't feel the same—that's it.

I should have known since the beginning. For him, I was just a friend. It was true that he always treated me nice, cared so much about me, and protected me from any threatening dangers. But he did those things because he was such a nice guy who couldn't let his friend get hurt before his eyes. If it was Tatsuki instead of me, I was sure he would do the same thing.

However, Rukia was different. If she was hurt, Ichigo would suffer even more. She meant a lot to him, probably much more than we thought. That was proved when she left. Now, I couldn't even bring myself to look at Ichigo. He always smiled in front of us, but who knows… Perhaps deep inside, he was being torn apart. Those hazel eyes no longer reflected the spirit he used to possess. All I found there was solitude. Deep solitude that no one could lay a finger on, not even me. And seeing him like that hurt me so much. It was as if he was struggling against the tugging pain inside his heart, all by himself. And there was nothing I could do about it.

Was losing Rukia that painful to you, Ichigo?

Well, I thought I kind of understood how he felt at the moment… because I was also feeling the same. I lost the Ichigo I loved the most. The Ichigo in front of me now was not the same person as before. He kept saying that he was okay, that he had gotten over it, and he was satisfied with how things were now. But those were all lies. His face betrayed his words. The look in his eyes told the opposite thing.

I kept thinking what I could do to make him return to his old self. The wounded look on his eyes... I really couldn't stand it anymore! If there was anything I could do about it, I was willing to do it for sure. That was when I suddenly bumped into Chad on my way back from visiting Ishida at the hospital. Chad told me everything—about this Xcution thing and Ichigo's training to gain his power back and how my power would be necessary for him. I didn't need to be told twice to agree on helping him. Like what I had stated before, I was willing to do anything, anything in order to return Ichigo's smile. I was glad if my power could be of some use.

I quickened my pace as Chad leading the way to Xcution's base camp. Right after entering the gate, I was surprised by the abrupt 'greeting' of a burgundy-haired girl. She jumped from the rooftop and within seconds, she already landed on the ground in front of us.

"Hey! Who's the girl?" she asked in a high-pitched voice. Her body was slender and her hair was tied in twin pigtails. She was wearing a cute goth-loli dress with laces around the chest and a pair of black boots. Actually she was kind of cute, except for the frown on her forehead.

"…That's Inoue," Chad introduced me.

"Oh… That's her, huh?" In a blink of eye, she already stood close to me (a little too close, maybe). She observed my face for a while and I was too surprised to react.

"H-hello!" I said groggily.

"I've heard about you from Chad. You can heal people's injuries, huh? Why are you here? Do you come to help with Ichigo's training?" Somehow, I could sense from her tone that she wasn't too fond of me.

"Hey, Riruka…!" Chad tried to warn her.

"…Yes, I did," I said.

Riruka had not moved her gaze from me, not even once. "You know, right? That healing his injuries means he's just going to get hurt again afterwards… If you heal him, then he'll end up getting hurt and suffering over and over!" I could feel her gaze pierced into me.

Oh, so that's it… "I can see that you're worried about Kurosaki-kun, too."

Now she was taken aback by my words. "N-no way—!"

But before she could mutter a single word, I passed her and continued walking. Riruka was getting upset. She turned around and yelled at me, "Hold on…!"

I took a deep breath. It was not that I never thought about her words. I knew that my existence there would only cause Ichigo to get injured over and over. Of course, seeing Ichigo got hurt was the least thing I wanted.

"…I already know that," I admitted with my back still facing her. "But I'm long past the point of worrying about it." Yes, that was true. "If Kurosaki-kun needs my power for what he's chosen to do, I'll use my power for that purpose, no matter what it is," I firmly said.

Riruka had not given up yet. "…Hmm. So what happens if he sustains some kind of serious injury he can't recover from?"

I knew exactly how dangerous this training was. Chad had told me that Ichigo had to go through a long, rough training if he wanted to get his Shinigami power back. To tell the truth, after living in peace for more than a year, I wasn't getting used to the sight of injured Ichigo. Just imagining those horrible experiences was enough to send the shiver down my spine. I could feel the nausea started to take over my body. But that fact wouldn't make me change my mind, not at this rate. I've decided to prove my love to him. If this was the only thing I could for him, I would do it without any doubt. I wanted to show him that no matter what happens, I would always stand by his side.

Suddenly, the vision of Ichigo laying, bleeding and injured before my eyes because he tried to save me came into the sight. I had lost count how many times he had sacrificed himself in order to protect me. Countless times… And I couldn't do anything about it. My chest tightened in pain as I realized how useless I was back then. But this time, I decided not to be a burden anymore. Instead to be the one who's being protected, I wanted to be someone who could protect him, someone who could support him during his battle. I wanted to return his favor. I wanted to become his strength. I would do anything for that purpose.

This time, I turned around to face the unmoving Riruka. Then I made my vow.

"He won't sustain any more serious injuries that he can't recover from…" My heart was determined. Without noticing it, hands on both side of my body clenched into tight fists. "…Because I'll heal all his wounds, no matter how serious or hopeless."

Yes, that's right. I wouldn't let him get hurt anymore. I would heal all his wounds—when I said 'all', I meant any kind of wounds and not only the physical ones. Even the wound Rukia left in his heart. I didn't care if it took a long time. I wouldn't mind spending my lifetime to stay by his side… because I was his only 'healer', right?