A/N: Well, looks like I just wrote another IchiHime fic that I was dying to write, but never had the courage to post it. Why? Because this story contains one-sided IchiRuki and I'm afraid Ichigo will be a little bit OOC. But don't expect this story to end up IchiRuki, because there's Renji to the rescue and he'll definitely end this story as IchiHime. Isn't he nice? ^-^

Warning: Will contain snippets of one-sided IchiRuki, a heartbroken Orihime and a guilty Renji. Oh, and ratings might change to M in future chapters.

Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine.

Summary: Renji was torn between love and friendship. Rukia wished that she had never met him. Ichigo's lips spoke of her, but his heart yearned for someone else. And Orihime's mouth said she was okay, that she was fine, but her heart was hurting inside. They were all liars, and they knew it.

A Liar's Paradox

Prologue

He snapped his head to the woman descending the stairs, both of his hands busy wiping a wine glass. Satisfied that the glass was shining and pristine, he carefully laid the item into the cabinet behind the bar counter, joining the other wiped glasses before he picked up another identical glass. He nodded to the woman with the bright hair and grey eyes, and motioned towards one of his frequent customers and his long-time friend, drinking vodka straight out of the bottle by himself at one end of the bar. She smiled apologetically at him before handing him a couple of bills, which he declined, his face smiling. The woman frowned, and tried to pay the manager of the bar again.

"But Kojima-kun..."

Mizuiro's smile widened. He averted his gaze towards a group of women waving at him from one corner, gave a wink, and turned back to her.

"Ichigo's been there for a while... a little bit longer than he used to be."

Orihime turned towards the mentioned name, watching as the orange-haired man tilt his head backwards as he gulped from the bottle. His dark blue tie hung loosely from his neck, the top button of his shirt popped opened, and the sleeves were rolled up his arms. He propped up his chin with one hand, while the other was used to grip the glass bottle. He didn't seem to mind the probably burning sensation brought by gulping down a bottle of vodka as his eyes stared at nothing in particular.

"How long?"

Mizuiro paused from his task, and held up two fingers. "An hour longer than usual, he just started drinking like twenty minutes ago though so he doesn't seem to be drunk at all... well, maybe a little."

The sound of Ichigo's cell phone ringing caused him to momentarily let go of his vodka to fetch out the device. Orihime sighed as she watched him press a button –probably hanging up without even answering- and nearly dropped his phone when he tucked it back into his pocket.

"I think I should go to him, ne?"

Mizuiro nodded, and called out to Ichigo and told him that Orihime was there to pick him up. The man held up a hand, an indication that he had heard Mizuiro, and resumed drinking.

The sound of leather creaking as Orihime sat in one of the tall chairs next to him made him turn to her. She smiled at him, and a slow smile stretched the corners of his mouth.

"Hey, you're late"

He let go of the bottle, and stretched his arms before he tried to sit up straighter in his chair. He groaned as he felt the familiar buzz in his head. Massaging his temples, he motioned towards the half-empty bottle.

"Want some? I wanted to pay for that but Mizuiro didn't let me."

Orihime shook her head and motioned to her forehead. "Thanks, but I can't. I'm going to drive you home, Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo gave a grunt, and reached for the vodka again. He took two big gulps, before he took out his cell phone and gave it to her. His fingers brushed hers as he did that, and Orihime took a deep breath to control the tingling travelling over her fingers, coursing through the veins in her wrist and down her spine. He rubbed his nose before he spoke up.

"Can ya call Yuzu for me? Tell 'er 'm not goin' home for dinner t'night. I don't give a shit about 'er hubby's birthday an'way."

Orihime widened her eyes as she heard him. "You haven't called her yet? It's nearly midnight, Kurosaki-kun!"

She watched Ichigo gave a snort, and frowned as she flipped open his phone to see eleven missed calls from his sister. Sighing, she scrolled the list of his contacts and dialled Yuzu's number. Ichigo continued to down the vodka as he waited Orihime to finish her conversation with Yuzu. When Yuzu finally hung up, she turned to Ichigo and placed the phone next to the hand holding the glass bottle.

"She's mad, Kurosaki-kun. You haven't answered her calls and now she's worried about you."

Ichigo gave a dry chuckle. "Yeah, I know. I just don't want her ta hear me like this, ya know. I'll sound pathetic."

He coughed a bit, and Orihime stood up to pat his back. He muttered a silent 'thanks' before he finished the vodka in one take. Settling back onto her seat, Orihime tilted her head to one side as she waited for him to speak up. She didn't have to wait long, when he traced invisible circles on the side of the empty bottle with his thumb, his chin still propped up on one hand and then he started to speak up.

"I know what everyone thinks of me when they see me like this... They probably just don't have the balls to tell me that I've wasted my life chasin' for somethin' I can never have... They wanna tell me that I've been a fuckin' moron to think that maybe Soul Society would let me have a relationship with one of 'em... They're all lookin' at me, as if they were tellin' me that 'I told ya so'... right?"

He turned to her, his scowl gone, the wall he built around him crumbling to pieces as he looked at her with such defeated eyes. The small smile on his lips made him seem vulnerable; it made her heart go out to him. She had to hold in the traitorous tears clawing her eyes as she witnessed him in such state. She looked away from his eyes as she saw the small smile growing a tiny bit before he continued.

"But you're not one of 'em, right? You're my friend, aren't you, Orihime?"

Orihime nodded, and she could feel her cheeks heating up as he let out a chuckle.

"Kurosaki-kun, you're not all of that. You're being too hard on yourself."

Ichigo tilted his head to the side as he watched her. "Maybe Ishida's right after all... that prick keep tellin' me that I've been using you to make me feel better with your words. But ya know what, Orihime?"

He waited for her to look at him before he continued. A forlorn look flashed in his eyes as he let his eyes drop to the brand label on the empty vodka bottle.

"Maybe this time... I've really fucked up. Fallin' for Rukia was one thing... chasin' after her was really stupid, wasn't it? It's not worth it, to wait for her all this time and suddenly to know that she's into someone else. Renji's sure one lucky punk."

Orihime shook her head, and she angrily wiped off a stubborn tear that had dared to roll down her cheek. She stood up from her seat and bunched one side of his sleeve.

"Kurosaki-kun, you can't say that! You can't control who you fall in love with, and it's just not you to be like this. How can you just give up like this? This is not the man I've been friends with!"

By the time she finished her last statement, Ichigo had let the bottle to roll away from his loosened grip to one end of the counter. Warm tears rolled freely down Orihime's cheeks as she kept her hands clutching on his sleeve, ignoring the stares from other occupants sitting in the corners of Mizuiro's bar.

Ichigo turned to her, and his hands itched to wipe away the tears on her face as he watched her looking at him with stormy grey eyes. Instead, he let his lips curve up a bit.

"Then what do you want me to do? Renji's my buddy, and it's not like I hadn't gone to meet old man Yamamot yet. Even if that old man gives me permission to date Rukia, I can't just... ignore Renji. Out of all people, you should know that I don't betray my friends, right?"

Orihime let go of his sleeve, and wiped her tears away with sleeves of her trench coat.

"I know that, Kurosaki-kun. But please... please don't torture yourself like this... I don't want you getting sick from drinking too much... can you promise that... for me?"

She saw the way his eyes soften, and she felt bad when he sighed in defeat. She knew that he had vowed to promise her anything, and that was the only way she could get him to slow down on his drinking and stop degrading himself.

"Fine." He silently answered her, and tried to stand up.

Orihime managed to prevent him from falling sideways as she took hold of his arm. He chuckled as she supported his weight by draping his arm over her shoulders. Carefully, she led him to ascend the stairs towards the exit, making sure his coat hung nicely on his shoulders. She managed to say her farewells to Mizuiro, whom answered with a friendly smile.

"Thanks, Orihime, but I can walk."

Orihime sighed as she heard him mumble to her. She knew Ichigo has a high tolerance towards alcohol, but he had overdone himself that night. She tightened her hold on him as he nearly fell sideways, and he had to blink a few times when she stopped to let him breathe in fresh air to clear out his head. He groaned, and cursed under his breath as the clear air of the night ran through his system.

"Damnit. Sorry, Orihime."

Orihime shook her head, and when she was sure he could stand upright, she let go of him for a while to fetch for his car keys in one of the pockets of his coat. The keys jingled as she excused herself to drive his car over to the sidewalk.

The snow under their boots crunched as she turned around to cross the road, heading towards the parking lot. Ichigo cleared his throat as he tightened the coat around him, his eyes watching her as she looked right and left many times before she confidently crossed the street. From where he stood, still hazed, he could see the small clouds produced as she breathed through the cold night and the way that the ends of her long bright hair bounced with each step. The end of the dark red scarf wrapping her neck fluttered teasingly against the small of her back, and he was reminded yet again that she was small.

She was small, yet she had come into the bar looking for him, and helped him to literally stumble out of the bar without falling face down. Guilt washed over him as he saw her disappear into the parking lot. He could've called Chad, or maybe Ishida (even if he hated to admit it), but it had always been Orihime whom he would call for. She was busy herself, being a science teacher at a high school and all, but she had always been there. He wasn't one to really stay long in bars, particularly because he was a physician himself and he knew the side effects of excessive booze, but he had been easily depressed as of lately.

He sighed as he leaned against a lamp post. Orihime was right; he was being too hard on himself. Besides, he knew that sooner or later, this would happen. He had been in denial for so long, he had tried to escape his fate of falling for someone like Rukia, a shinigami, a woman whom was far out of his reach... but in the end, he failed. It wasn't that he hadn't known, about the unspoken rule that humans should only fall for humans and the same applied to shinigami as well. But he had failed that rule. He scowled when he thought of those who had been advising him to forget about Rukia. They were right, of course, but he just couldn't help himself. He had feelings too, and he had thought that Rukia felt the same so he had never told her how much he felt for her. When he heard Orihime talking about Renji courting Rukia, he was hurt. Very much so, that he sometimes wished that he had never met Renji before. But then he would squelch the idea just as quickly as it came, even hating himself for having such a thought in the first place.

So he had taken it like a man. He supported them, even when he was deeply hurting inside. And the only person who understood him was Orihime.

The sound of a car honking woke him up from his deep thoughts, and his eyes found her in the driver's seat, struggling to open the passenger's door for him. He couldn't help the small smile when he opened the door himself and plopped into the seat and let her in charge of his car.

"Sorry, I couldn't reach the door."

Ichigo let his back rest into the leather seat, and lazily, he rolled his head to look at her. He let out a chuckle as he saw the way her face looked as she focused on driving. Her eyes widened as she nearly bumped into the butt of a car.

"That's not funny, Kurosaki-kun." She finally said, despite the laughter in her voice.

She started to get the hang of it as they entered the highway leading to the apartment complex they were both living at. She glanced at Ichigo, and blushed as she noticed him looking at her.

"W-What is it, Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo shook his head, and turned his head towards the window.

"You still call me that, huh. I've really wanted to hear you call me Ichigo sometimes."

The blush on Orihime's cheeks deepened, and she thanked the dimmed interior of the car as it helped to conceal her face from him.

"We-Well, um... because I like the sound of it... you know? Like how Ishida-kun and Sado-kun sounds... Kurosaki-kun sounds the best to me!"

She could hear him chuckle, and she opted not to look at him again. Hearing no reply from Ichigo, Orihime tried to give another reason.

"I mean, um... it's just that I promised to Tatsuki-chan."

He turned his face to her, a brow raised. "Tatsuki?"

"Mhm. She made me promise not to call other men by their names, except for my husband... and I just got used to calling you Kurosaki-kun."

He didn't reply, and they spent the rest of the time in silence. Orihime carefully parked his car in the reserved box, and as she turned off the engine, Ichigo decided to speak up.

"Did you start calling your ex by his name after you married too?"

Orihime turned to him, and she could make out the shape of his face within the dimmed lights in the parking lot. Even thought she was sure he couldn't see the way her eyes turned glassy, she decided to look away from him.

"Yes, I did. Um, why are you asking me this, Kurosaki-kun? You're... very weird today. Are you really fine?"

He didn't answer her, and instead he unbuckled his seatbelt, and carefully stepped out of his car. He braced a hand against the door frame as he stood up, preventing himself from tripping on his own feet.

"I'm... fine... I guess..."

Orihime gave him a sceptical look, before she also stepped out of his car and helped him close the door. After she made sure his car was locked, she walked behind Ichigo, ever mindful not to let him stumble suddenly. They had made it to the elevator easily, and as they waited for the elevator to stop on floor seven, neither of them muttered a word.

After a few minutes, the doors opened up to the seventh floor, and due to dizziness, Ichigo had to be accompanied by Orihime towards his apartment. He mumbled to her the combination of his door, and they clumsily stumbled into his unit once the door unlocked. Once Ichigo kicked off his shoes, he prevented Orihime from following him into his apartment. He held her shoulders, and was oblivious as her cheeks warmed up at his gentle hold on her.

"I'm... okay, Orihime. You can leave me here, I've troubled you enough."

She looked at him, worry filling her eyes. Ichigo gave her a lopsided grin, and rested a hand playfully on top of her head, slightly ruffling her smooth locks.

"I'm really okay now, Orihime. Thanks."

Orihime smiled back at him, fully convinced and nodded. "Good night then, Kurosaki-kun."

When he didn't immediately pull away from her, Orihime blinked up at him. He was studying her, as if figuring out something in his mind. The careless and lazy grin he gave her was replaced with something more different. The curve of his lips faltered a bit, and Orihime knew at that instant, he was not the strong Ichigo Kurosaki everyone knew; but he was just a man. A heartbroken man.

"Why hadn't it been you?"

"Kurosaki-kun.."

The hand that was on top of her head moved downwards to cup her pink cheek, and he used his thumb to brush gently against her cheekbone.

"Why hadn't I fallen for you instead?"

Her cheeks warmed another notch when he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. When he spoke up, she had barely heard him.

"I'm sorry."

Orihime swallowed the lump in her throat, and as she forced her lips to curve upwards, she reminded herself that Ichigo was drunk. He was drunk and he didn't know what he was saying.

Even if it felt like he was confessing to her, it just wasn't him talking.

It was all the alcohol talking, and with that in mind, she pulled back.

As soon as he opened his eyes, she beamed a smile at him. Even though her insides hurt, very much so, she smiled at him. She tiptoed and pecked him on the cheek.

It was just a platonic gesture, she reminded herself as she stepped back from him and said a cheery good night at him.

He replied with a lift of one corner of his mouth, before she spun around and headed to her unit, situated five doors away from his.

A/N: Well, I hope you liked this. :D I was a bit worried if this chapter was too sad, and I know most of you are quite confused. 'What? Hime's married? She has an ex? What happened to her ex husband?' Oh, and maybe the most popular question: 'who was her husband?'

I'm afraid I can't answer those now, because the subsequent chapters will answer them, little by little. Can't help it, that's just how I write my stories. Oh, and another thing; what genre should I put this in? Drama? Hurt/comfort? Or maybe friendship and romance? Help me here please!