Title: Emihiro
Rating: Read at own disposal
Manga: Bleach
Pairing: Ichigo x Orihime

Disclaimer: All characters and plot before this story belongs to the almighty genius – Kubo Tite. The plot of this actually fanfiction (however much it sucks) belongs to me!

For you, I'd grown wings,

So I can shield you from the world…

So I can protect you.

"I'm sorry. Everyone."

The wind was ferocious, slamming into everything with the intensity of a million daggers. She stood tall and beautiful at the top of an overturn mound of earth, her white arrancar cloak bellowed wildly beneath her. Ichigo pulled his zanpakuto out of Aizen's lifeless form and gazed up, confusion splayed over his face. She was sorry?

Inoue Orihime saw him and smiled.

"It's alright, Kurosaki-kun." She called, soothingly, "Don't worry. Everything's going to be alright. It's all going to end… soon."

Even at a distance, Ichigo saw the shimmer of a tear as it ran down her face. Something cold and sharp stabbed him painfully in the chest.

"What are you talking about, Inoue!" Rukia cried out from the floor. "The arrancars, Espadas… Aizen…!" Her eyes flickered to Ichigo's, and then at the dead body at his feet. "… have been defeated! We've won!!"

Won…

Ichigo looked down at the former-shinigami captain, lying motionless on the floor. The face was scar-less and the eyes wide open; they stared straight up into the sky, as blank as a doll. Still, as Ichigo gazed into those voids, a frightening shiver crawled up his spine. They were sightless, but they were smirking.

Why…?

"Kurosaki-kun."

His head snapped up, and locked onto grey irises.

Orihime had descended from her platform, so quiet that he didn't even realise, and was moving swiftly towards him. Her long auburn hair blew around her in a frenzied dance and pale hands knotted themselves white. She was shaking, Ichigo saw. No… She was crying.

Another wound punctured his chest.

She stopped three feet from him. Nothing was said. Tears trailed quietly down her cheeks and were soon swallowed by the wind.

Ichigo didn't know what to do. This wasn't how he pictured this moment to be. She was meant to be happy, happy that she was saved. She was supposed to beam, smile, laugh and fill up his heart with joy. That was the Orihime he wanted, longed, to see. Not this. Not any sadness, not any tears. Not this Orihime who was making his heart scream in agony.

"Inoue-san," Rukia started, now sounding tentative, "Is there something wrong?"

Orihime didn't reply. Her hands clenched together tighter still, to the point of strangling each other, and her body visibly stiffened. Abruptly, she tore her eyes away from Ichigo and looked down to the dead body at his feet. A sharp breath was taken and Orihime's face screwed up in pain. She huddled over; blood trickled from her lip as her teeth sank into it.

For one horrible second, Ichigo thought he saw something black invade the cornea of her left eye. But just as soon as it came, it was gone.

He watched through a stranger's eyes as Orihime shuddered through the pain. He couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't do anything. Blood trickled down her chin splashed onto the floor. What had they done to her?!

An eternity seemed to pass; wind turned into gale and howled its rage through the speechless crowd. At last, Orihime straightened up, and inhaled shakily. A trembling, pale hand was lifted and brushed away the blood that lingered on her chin.

"Heh, don't look at me like that, Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo choked. Orihime lifted herself up and he saw her hairpins had fallen. She held them gently in her hands as her hair obscured the entire left side of her face.

"I'm so very, very happy that you came to rescue me. Really…" Beads of sweat trickled down her temple and she panted. "But now…" Her voice hardened, "You h-have to, have to," She looked up, "Kill me."

Silence.

"Wha…"

Orihime smiled, sadly, resigning to her fate. A ginger hand lifted to her face and carefully brushed back her auburn hair.

A white eye stared out, familiar and haunting, into Ichigo. His lips dried, as a fear more powerful than when Aizen had taunted him on the brink of death, gripped his heart.

There was no mistake about it. It was his eye.

"I thought you would recognise it, Kurosaki-kun." Orihime's voice was softer now, floating like a melody across the wind.

Ishida turned to Ichigo, "Wh-what on earth is that… Kurosaki?"

All eyes focused onto him, but he couldn't even open his mouth.

It was Urahara who answered, "That is a hollow; or more precisely, the inner appearance of a hollow. Kurosaki-kun would recognise it because he also has one inside him." He paused, "But like I said, that is the inner appearance of a hollow, we should not be able to see it. Inoue-san, why…?"

Orihime bowed her head, "You are correct, Urahara-san. Aizen-sama has also told me of what should've happened. He said I should've acquired a mask, with this eye that you all see belonging to the inner hollow within me. But," She gave a lopsided grin, "he miscalculated.

"I was not a shinigami, but nor was I a hollow. Aizen-sama had meant to create me into a half-hollow being which could still access my powers; a vizard, perhaps, or even better, an arrancar. But I was only human, the transformation was therefore… different to how he had expected" She gazed down at the hairpins in her hands.

"My power, the ability to reject events and circumstances, he wanted that. I-" She hesitated before continuing, "I had tried to use that power to reject the existence of the Hougyoku."

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"But he caught me. It was all a trap really… Anyhow, it was then that he changed me into this thing you are all looking at now. As a hollow, it would be much easier for him to control my powers. He didn't completely transform me into a full hollow however because he feared that I would lose my powers completely. No matter what, the result is this…"

She trailed off, her voice drowned by the wind.

No one said anything for a while, their minds reeling. None of them had thought this was possible, and lest of all, Ichigo. He could hear the hollow inside him calling, sneering as he absorbed the fact that Orihime was just as cursed as he was, by this disease.

"Kurosaki-kun," her voice called out his name, as sweet as her nature, so sweet that it hurt.

He locked eyes with her again, unwavering and empathetic. She smiled in reply, only it didn't reach the hollow's eye. Her chin trembled.

"I'm so sorry, Kurosaki-kun."

Her face crumbled again, as pain contorted her features. Orihime dropped to her knees as her body buckled. Before he could even think, Ichigo was already next to her, holding her gently, gripping her hand.

"Inoue! Inoue!" He cried, watching hopelessly as Orihime whimpered through torture.

"Orihime!" A loud crisp voice yelled from the distance.

Startled, Orihime's eyes flashed alarm, "Don't come near, Tatsuki-chan! Stay back! I-It's not safe! No, no one come near me!!"

Ichigo understood her reason, and he gestured for everyone to keep their distances. The crowd of shinigami fell silent once again, as a few guards wrestled to stabilize Tatsuki.

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun." Ichigo felt the grip on his hand lessen, and looked towards her again.

He did a double take. The entire left side of her face, the left side of her hair have become white – hollow white. And it was spreading, like a virus, like a disease. Orihime saw his expression and touched her left cheek; it was cold, the hollow was taking control.

"Do you understand why you must kill me now, Kurosaki-kun?" She gazed down at their interlinked hands and the ghost of a smile broke out. "Do you know why Aizen-sama desired my powers? It wasn't to speed up the Hougyoku, as I had believed, or to heal his minions. But for this… now."

Her hand detached from his and Ichigo felt something small but solid in his palm.

"Kurosaki-kun," her eyes welled up, "I'm going to revive the Espada… no, the entire arrancar army, if you don't kill me now."

His breath left him; Ichigo couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"There is nothing I can do to stop myself. The hollow within me will soon be awakened; Aizen-sama has planned it this way. You would know, Kurosaki-kun, once it awakens, there is but little I can do. Aizen-sama acknowledged your strength and so I am a back-up device. You are all still exhausted from the battle before, and there would be no possible way for you to win, or even stand on even grounds, with the Espada once they gain their strength back. I am extremely weak in comparison to my hollow self; it is capable of great power. If I can heal one shinigami, it can heal twenty arrancars in the same amount of time, and not even break a sweat."

Her last word fell upon the horrified crowd, soft and honest. Ichigo turned his eyes to Urahara, who held his tattered fan before his face, eyes delved into shadow, and choked out his question, "I-Is that p-posible… Urahara-san?"

Never in his life has Ichigo hoped more for the answer to be no.

Urahara clipped the fan shut, and his eyes gleamed from the shadows. "It is an outrageous idea, but… not impossible."

Gulping, Ichigo felt his body go cold. Defeating Aizen… he didn't even understand how he had managed to do it. The man was ridiculously powerful, and frightening to the extent that one look from him could send a monster like Grimjaw crashing to his knees. It was mere luck that Ichigo had been able to gain an edge and managed to scrape a win.

Blank smirking eyes broke into his memory. Realisation dawned on Ichigo as his eyes crept over to the lifeless form of Aizen Sousuke. Even when he was dead, those eyes still held triumph, and now Ichigo knew why, for victory was ultimately still Aizen's. A fine trembling consumed his body; there was no way he or anyone could defeat the Espada again.

A cold yet soft hand touched him.

"Do not worry, Kurosaki-kun."

He turned to her. She was calling him.

"All is not lost." Her remaining human eye was warm, familiar and beautiful. "I give my hairpins to you." She covered his large hands with hers, and again he felt the solid object within his palm. "As long as you have them, it – no – I can do nothing. I still need the hairpins to draw on my powers, human or hollow."

Her hand tightened as her eyes shut again in pain. "I-I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun. I-I-I can't hold it off any longer." Wincing, she peeled open her human eye one last time and looked at him as though she wanted to memorise everything. Ichigo saw the tears before they formed. "Please… Kill me before it… I kill you."

Please…

And then it all turned white.

Author's Notes
Again, my lazy ass cannot be bothered to finish this before posting it all. I'm really sorry about "Finding Her Heart"; I've got writer's block atm. And since my mood has been kinda depressed lately, it's hard to write humour.

Hope you like this darker fic so far. Read and Review please!! I'll be updating as soon as possible.