Written for Halloween, because its my favorite holiday ever, Christmas be damned.
Posting it a little early because I will more than likely (hopefully) be out of town through the weekend, and I want it up by tomorrow. ^^
I believe this story took the least amount of time to write ever. This is probably because the amazing Copper was bugging me to write more of it every time we talked, so before long, it was finished.
Hasn't been beta'd yet, though I'll more than likely post the beta'd version along to this one once I have it and I'm back.
Until then, enjoy this with all of the errors it may have.
Disclaimer: Do I own Bleach? Is Harry Potter blonde?
(...The answer's no.)
It was smothering her.
Her mouth flopped open, trying desperately to breath from behind the thin, porcelain-like texture of the mask. Not enough oxygen was getting through her lungs, and she saw multicolored spots dance in front of her eyes.
Her fingers, broader and more tan than normal, clutched at her throat, rubbing brusquely against the sharp corner of the mask covering her face. Get it off! she attempted to scream, though only a choked sob escaped her throat.
Desperately, she clawed at the slick mask, digging short blunt nails into the rim at the top, though sweat made her grasp slippery, her body aching for oxygen, desperate.
Please!
"Take it off!" She finally managed to scream into the resounding darkness, her voice deeper and huskier and eerily familiar. Finally beneath her insistent pulling, the mask crumbled off of her face, and she caught a brief glance of maroon stripes. She sobbed when she recognized the design.
"Too little too late."
The smooth, cold voice reverberated around her, and she looked around wildly, futilely, for the source, sticky, bloodied bright orange hair sticking to her cheeks. At the flash of silver, she jerked her head around, only to see the glistening, cruel metal of Kyouka Suigetsu sail towards her. Attempting to block the attack, her reactions were slowed and she could only watch as the silver zanpaku-to embedded itself into her chest, which was surprisingly flat with a hint of tanned skin peeking out from the slight dip in the collar.
It took only one second for the crimson blood to start oozing from around the blade, splashing down her front and to the dully-tiled floor at her sandaled feet, staining the white fabric of the tabi socks covering her feet a crimson red.
Hands frozen in the air, she stained down at the blade and hilt protruding from her chest. Reflected in the stained metal, she saw Kurosaki-kun's face, drawn and tired and smeared with blood.
"NO!"
The shriek echoed throughout her otherwise empty apartment, as Inoue Orihime lurched upright from her bed. Long strands of auburn vision swung into view, and she lifted a shaking, clammy hand to cup them, making sure they were real and not an illusion. Her chest was heaving, and she shifted a hand to press against it, feeling the resounding thud of her heartbeat, erratic and frenzied, thump against her cold fingers. Orihime took in a shaky breath, trying to calm down. The air conditioning blew gentle, cool air against her feverish forehead, causing the sweat to chill her skin.
"Just a dream," she whispered hoarsely, throat sore from all of the screams that had been ripped from her throat. Pulling her sweat soaked sheets from her legs, she clambered out of her bed, knowing that she would not be getting any more sleep tonight. Her camisole was sticky from sweat, and she shivered as she passed by a air vent on the way to her bathroom. She padded down the short hallway to her bathroom, closing the door firmly behind her.
The face that looked back at her from the mirror resembled her former self in no way. The deep, visible bags under her eyes spoke of many sleepless nights, and her normally bright gray eyes were bloodshot and dull with exhaustion. Her rosy cheeks were washed out and pale, and the tiny hint of baby fat that she used to have on her cheeks had been washed away, leaving her cheekbones almost painfully prominent.
In short, she looked like a girl who had seen hell itself and survived.
Looking away from the pathetic image in the mirror, Orihime bent to splash water on her face. The cold water awakened her senses, and helped to banish the remaining traces of the nightmare. How many did this make now? She wondered to herself as she stripped off the sweat soaked clothes and stepped into the warm, soothing spray of her shower. She had lost count in the three months since the end of the Winter War and Aizen had been killed by the combined efforts of Shinji and Ichigo.
But it had come at a price. Kurosaki-kun, in a final blow from Aizen, had been struck in the chest by Kyouka Suigetsu, and been put under an illusion. Nothing anybody could do could wake him from it. He had been comatose for two months, a tall, brightly-haired figure in a bed in fourth company. He didn't respond to anything. Voices from friends, nakama, had not done it. He did not respond to painful stimuli.
Nothing would work.
She had visited him every chance she could, whenever she wasn't throwing herself wholeheartedly into helping out the swarmed Fourth Company deal with all of the wounded in order to stop her worrying about Kurosaki-kun.
And then, shortly after the two month anniversary of the end of the war, he had awoken out of it screaming. It turns out that the illusion had kept him in a constant cycle of nightmares. Friends dying. Family dying. Himself dying. Torture. Rape. Aizen had not skimped on the details, and he had had to live with it for two straight months. Despite the screams he had emitted upon being released from the illusion, which had been weakening and finally snapped due to no more strength, he had not given any signs that the nightmares had affected him, other than a distinctly haunted look deep in his brown eyes.
It was a look Orihime was familiar with, as she was sure her own gray eyes carried it.
A week later, they returned home to mountains of school work, and to find that relationships had been changed. Her friendship with Tatsuki had been altered irrevocably, and Orihime would have been lying if she said that she hadn't been expecting it. Tatsuki now knew everything about them, the Soul Society, the Arrancars, Hueco Mundo, everything, and it clearly bothered the raven-haired girl that her best friend, almost sister, had suffered through so much and she couldn't help her in any way.
Ishida-kun had been removed from the Handicrafts club, both as its president and as a member. He had never said as such, but it was pretty clear, to Orihime at least, that it had bothered him, being replaced so easily. She herself had quit the Handicrafts club some months before the Winter War, and while she missed the interactions, she hadn't tried to join again.
From what she could tell, nothing much had changed for Sado-kun, though he seemed more quiet and withdrawn than he had previously. A result, she supposed, of having to kill so many. It would have no doubt affected the gentle giant, even if they had been Arrancars, and considered trash by so many.
Feeling better, Orihime stepped out of her shower, and wrapped her fluffiest towel around her thin frame before walking back up to her room to get changed into her school uniform. There was only the tiniest hint of light on the horizon outside, but the fabric of her uniform was comforting, even if she had had to buy a new one with her measly savings, due to her last one disappearing in Hueco Mundo.
Only a few minutes later, she was heating up her standard nightmare tea, as Tatsuki called it wryly. It was peppermint tea with just a hint of cinnamon that she added herself, and it had become a standard for whenever she had a nightmare, which was every night currently. The crisp smell of peppermint helped calm her frayed nerves, and made her feel that she could face the world and not break down.
After adding in the required dash of cinnamon, she sat down at her small, but quaint dining room table with a cup of tea. She sipped at it, feeling the comforting warmth spread throughout her body, right down to her fingers and toes. It didn't take her long to finish off the first cup of tea, and she moved on to her second, and then third.
Distracted by her thoughts, she lost track of time until the knock at her door dragged her back into the present. Blinking, she glanced at the time, before starting. After hastily dropping her cup into the sink to be washed later, she rushed towards the door to throw it open to see Tatsuki waiting for her. "Hi, Tatsuki-chan," she smiled genially, stepping aside to allow her friend inside before closing it. "I got a little distracted, let me just get my shoes on, and find my school book, and then-"
"Another nightmare, Orihime?" Tatsuki asked quietly, observing the deep bruise-like shadows under her best friend's eyes. Orihime paused, not answering as she avoided her best friend's sharp blue eyes.
"And then I'll be ready to go, alright?" She forced herself to smile, avoiding the question as she slipped on her knee-high socks and brown flats before picking up her book bag. It took only a few minutes, and Tatsuki waited patiently, trying not to notice just how much weight Orihime had lost since her return.
"Have you eaten today, Orihime?"
Orihime paused again, and then shook her head, smiling slightly once more. "No. But I don't have anymore time, Tatsuki-chan! I'll eat lunch today though, okay? I promise!" She attempted to go for her typical cheerful attitude, though her eyes lacked their bright twinkle that made it genuine. Tatsuki looked at her sadly, but merely nodded. Orihime smiled again, and they left.
The book dropped onto the auburn-headed girl's head roughly, and Ichigo couldn't help but wince as the girl immediately jolted awake, sputtering apologies. Their teacher looked at her disapprovingly. "This is the third time this week, Inoue."
Inoue looked guilty, biting her lip. "I know. I'm sorry."
Ochi-sensei eyed her, then sighed. "Try to stay awake, okay?" Orihime nodded, hiding a yawn behind her hand.
Ichigo shifted in his seat, trying to fight the urge, as he always did, to go up and ask Orihime why she looked so exhausted. It wasn't difficult to see the bags under her eyes, and her bloodshot gray eyes. She had also lost a lot of weight recently, and it made his stomach clench almost painfully just thinking about it. She now looked so thin, he was afraid she would blow away in a particularly hard wind.
His eyebrows crumpled at the thought, making his scowl seem that much more fierce. His teeth grated together out of irritation, and Tatsuki glanced back at him as if saying, "Stay away." He gave a quick nod. He knew that Tatsuki didn't want him anywhere near Orihime. Not anymore. She had made that clear with the punch that had nearly broken his ribs.
It had been only days after they had returned to school and she had cornered him after school and told him flat out that she didn't want him hanging out with Orihime any longer. That Orihime had gone through too much danger when around him; so much so that it was giving her nightmares. Ichigo, who had come to the same conclusion himself, had agreed almost immediately.
Wait a minute.
He stiffened in realization, amber brown eyes widening slightly. Was she still having nightmares? They had been home for a month; he had naturally assumed they had ended, or at least lessened in ferocity. Examining the too-thin frame of Inoue again, he had to deduce that the nightmares had indeed not.
The realization made him frown.
At lunch, Tatsuki intercepted him, dragging him brusquely by the sleeve, leaving Chad to stare in confusion after them, silent. Moments later, the gentle giant shrugged and continued up to the roof.
When they were down another deserted hallway, Tatsuki released her death grip on his sleeve, allowing him to straight and scowl at her, waiting.
She crossed her arms, matching his scowl. Several tense seconds passed silently, before she sighed, arms unfolding to hang limply at her sides. She immediately looked defeated; weaker than he'd seen her look…ever. "Look, I know I said that I wanted you to stay away from Orihime from now on, but," she visibly hesitated for a moment, "I need your help."
Ichigo lifted an eyebrow skeptically.
Tatsuki sighed, avoiding his gaze. "She's not sleeping," she whispered, so quiet Ichigo had to strain to hear her. "She's been having these nightmares since you guys got back. Nightmares bad enough to make her start screaming in the middle of the night. I was staying with her, but since I got suspended, mom's been making me stay home.
"And now, she's trying to pass it off as nothing, but I see the bags under her eyes and the exhaustion practically carved into her. And now she's not eating and-"
"So what do you want me to do about it?" He cut in rudely, arms crossed defiantly. "I thought you said that I was a bad influence." Did she detect a hint of bitterness in his voice?
Pride recovered, Tatsuki scowled at him. "And I stand by that!" She snapped agitatedly. "But I also realize that you and Orihime have a special relationship; one that I hoping will help her."
"What about me?"
She shot him the evil eye. "I'm not doing this for your benefit."
He was unperturbed by the glare. "Why should I do it?" He was clearly needling her now, she could feel it, but that didn't stop her frown from deepening.
"The pathetic look on your face," she answered bitingly.
His eyes narrowed. "What about my face?"
"For the last two hours, you've looked at Orihime like you want to throw her over your shoulder and protect her from the world. That's what I meant about your face," she answered fiercely, running a hand through her spiky raven black hair.
The snickers of Ichigo's inner hollow were so loud he almost missed Tatsuki's next question.
"So will you do it or not? If you won't, just say so, and I'll go see if Ishida can-"
"I'll do it," he butted in gruffly. Tatsuki eyed him for a moment, before nodding.
"Good. Now get down to the old oak near the southern corridor. That's where we're eating today," she ordered him.
"I thought it was going to be after school!"
She snorted. "Why should we wait until then? Orihime needs help now."
"…Fine," he grumbled under his breath sullenly. "Southern corridor, you say?"
"Yeah. Get going. I'm already late and I need to go talk to sensei." She immediately turned and walked back down the hallway towards the dojo. Ichigo watched her leave, scowling, glancing an almost longing glance at the stairs that led to the roof before walking down the other hallway towards the southern corridor.
Orihime studied the small plate of food in her lap intently, trying to silently convince herself that she needed to eat. She had promised Tatsuki-chan, hadn't she? With a quiet sigh, she picked up a small slice of sashimi with her chopsticks and popped it into her mouth. Despite her grumbling stomach, she force herself to chew before swallowing. She could almost hear the dull thunk as the piece of fish slid into her empty stomach. Feeling distinctly nauseous, she set the food down on the grass and folded her hands into her lap.
"You'd better be planning on finishing that, Inoue," a distinctly male voice, husky and throaty, had her freezing before she whipped around to meet the not amused amber eyes of Kurosaki Ichigo. He nodded briefly at her, before his eyes flickered towards her unfinished food, only to flick back to her own gray eyes.
The chatter of her friends-- What had they been talking about? She didn't know-- quieted and then ceased as they stared up at the tall, scowling form of the orange-haired man. She was sure their expressions matched her own dumbstruck one.
How long had it been since she had spoken with Kurosaki-kun at all? It had to be close to the same time they had been back. And yet he was, staying down at her with narrowed brown eyes, expression set in the scowl that had given her so many smiles.
But something was different.
She furrowed her eyebrows slightly in concentration before she realized what it was. His face was more angular; the last traces of baby fat having been melted away into taut, tanned skin. His bright hair was the same, though a little longer than she remembered. Had it only been a month? He seemed so different, even in such a short amount of time.
If she had been bewildered by the fact he had said something to her for the first time in over four weeks, then there wasn't a word to describe how she felt when he sat, or rather sprawled, next to her and immediately dug into his lunch with only a foot between his knee and her's.
Moments passed, and the silence was now overwhelming. Pausing with a fleck of rice on his cheek, Ichigo glared at her friends sullenly, and Michiru eep'd before hiding behind Ryo. "What? Never seen somebody eat before?" He demanded to the silence of her friends. They just blinked at him owlishly.
Orihime cleared her throat quietly to draw Ichigo's attention to her. "Um, Kurosaki-kun," she winced at how hoarse her voice sounded, "what are you doing here? I mean, not that I'm not happy to see you or anything." She added on quickly. He studied her for a moment, and her cheeks warmed unexpectedly at the scrutiny as she glanced back down at her barely touched food shyly.
"Finally got the okay from Tatsuki to sit here. And Keigo was being annoying so I ditched him," he answered casually a few minutes later, shrugging his broad shoulders carelessly.
"Oh," she answered to her food, not wanting to look up to see that calculating gleam in his amber brown eyes again.
It gave her the feeling that he knew more than he was letting on. And that worried her.
It was as Tatsuki had said.
Inoue looked haggard; exhausted. Looking a little closer, he could see the pale blue of veins underneath her milky white skin. Her face was stark white, paler than he'd ever seen it, with the only exceptions being the vivid bruises below her eyes. Her gray eyes, normally an almost silver in color, were dim and darkened, the color of rain clouds. Her long auburn hair, other than being a little mussed from the wind, looked pretty much the same, as it tumbled down her back loosely, curling ever so slightly at the tips.
And her blue hairpins were nestled firmly into the hair on her temples, he noticed with a secret twinge of relief. Even if he couldn't protect, her fairies could to some extent.
His frown grew more severe as he noticed her almost full bento and the way that her arms were much thinner than they had been before. Inoue had indeed stopped eating, as Tatsuki had mentioned.
"Inoue, you'd better eat at least half of that," he told her firmly, pointing towards the bento box with his chopsticks, expression clearly saying that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Inoue bit her pale lower lip but nodded and picked up her lunch once more.
Ichigo kept a sharp eye on Inoue until he made sure that she had eaten at least half of her lunch. Her starving herself was not going to sit well with him; the gnawing, tightening sensation in his own stomach told him that.
When the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, Ichigo got to his feet at the same time the girl did before touching her lightly on the arm. "Hey, Inoue. I'm going to walk you home, okay?" The way he had it phrased made it sound like a statement.
More than a little surprised, she stopped in her tracks and twisted to look at him with wide eyes. "Kurosaki-kun, you don't have to do that!" She protested weakly, looking earnest despite her exhaustion.
He shrugged once more, looking deliciously blasé as he did so. "Tatsuki asked me to," It wasn't technically a lie. She had asked him for his help, hadn't she? "Besides, not like I've got anything better to do."
Orihime worried her lower lip fiercely with her teeth, looking indecisive. Impulsively, Ichigo patted her head and she looked up at him with surprise written clearly on her face. Ichigo was surprised at his own actions himself, but he didn't let it show on his face even if his stomach suddenly cramped tightly. "Don't worry about it, Inoue. I'll meet you after school. And don't even think about running off without me."
Her hair was just as soft as it looked, he mused absent-mindedly as he patted her on the head once more before bidding her goodbye and walking off towards his class.
And despite her wan appearance, she was just as beautiful as ever. The thought made him flinch violently in surprise.
"Inoue! Over here," Ichigo called, lifting a broad, tanned hand in greeting towards the girl, standing near the open gate that allowed them to leave campus. She waved back at him timidly, walking over as fast as she could handle. She had been feeling strangely lightheaded right about an hour after lunch, and she had had to be excused to the bathroom for fear that she would lose her lunch.
She figured that the nausea had come from the fact that she had gone a while without eating much. She had been drinking a lot of tea, and the occasional small snack recently, but the eating of her lunch had probably thrown off her stomach, which had adjusted to mostly liquid and small, moist foods.
Her appetite had all but disappeared, she mused briefly as she approached the orange-haired substitute shinigami with a halfhearted smile. He merely smirked down at her, the closest she would ever see to a smile from him, and took her books from her. "You okay, Inoue?" Ichigo asked her as they started on their way to her house. "You look like you're going to faint."
She waved off his concern as airily as she could manage. "I'm perfectly alright, Kurosaki-kun!" She chirped in faux cheer. "I'm just a little tired, that's all." She was absolutely exhausted, having felt that she hadn't gotten a decent amount of sleep since their return, but she was too terrified to sleep deeply.
If she had to stare into the blank, violet eyes of one more dead Kuchiki-san, she would lose her mind.
"Uh huh," his tone was skeptical but he didn't press the issue. Orihime heaved a secret sigh of relief. That was one fact that she had always adored about Kurosaki-kun; he didn't press matters. "Well, make sure you tuck in early tonight. I'll stay over if you want; in case you get sick or pass out or anything." He offered up casually. Too casually.
Confused, she paused for a second, trying to figure out what he meant by that. However, she was not feeling her best and so gave up quickly, feeling her head throb warningly. "If you'd like, Kurosaki-kun," she mumbled, massaging her temple in a futile effort to get rid of the oncoming headache.
Ichigo blinked. He hadn't been expecting her to cave in so easily. She must be feeling worse than he thought. He glanced at her sharply, immediately seeing when she stumbled but caught herself. He normally would have passed it off as being clumsy, but he had noticed that Inoue typically ran into things or tripped and fell when she was rambling about something or was in one of her ultra-chipper moods. She had been doing neither. She had to be in severe exhaustion, worse than he'd originally suspected, as he also noticed her furrowed eyebrows and the way that she seemed vaguely confused and dizzy.
Once again, without thinking he placed his hands on the small of her back and ushered her to walk a little faster. "Once we're inside, I'll get you something to eat. We're almost there, I think." He murmured to her, trying to be soothing as he attempted to recall the way to her new apartment. He'd only been there once and that had been when he had first learned of her kidnapping. Toshiro had shown him the way, but he had been so confused and worried, even if he never admitted it, that he hadn't retained anything along the way to help him remember the next time he came around.
"Right here," Inoue mumbled out almost ten minutes later, her tongue feeling strangely thick and heavy. He nodded, helping her up the stairs. Luckily he remembered the correct apartment number and where she stashed the second key (Toshiro had told him), and he opened the door before ushering Inoue inside and closing it behind her. Herding her to the couch, he immediately instructed her to lie down and close her eyes before retreating into her kitchen in search of food that would be appropriate for a stomach used to liquid.
Namely, soup.
Despite her overwhelming fear of having another nightmare, Orihime couldn't help but sink into the comfortable softness of her couch, resting her throbbing head on the cool arm rest wearily. Dim gray eyes fluttered closed slowly, hesitantly.
Only a few seconds had passed, and the briefest flicker of blank violet eyes set in an ashen face smeared with crimson passed over the blackness of her eyelids, and she shrieked wordlessly, bolting upright as her gray eyes flew open quickly. She took in a shaky breath, looking around. Not a second after that, Ichigo burst out of her kitchen, eyes narrowed fiercely as if he was about to fight an invisible enemy. "What's wrong?" He demanded, expression bordering on murderous.
Surprised, both at how fierce he looked, and the fact that he had slipped on her pink flowery apron (which was so cute that she would have started laughing if she had the energy), Orihime could only stare at him for a minute, blinking rapidly. Then she shook it off, and smiled wearily at him. "Everything's perfectly fine, Kurosaki-kun!" She responded, finding it difficult to find the energy to be perky though somehow she managed. "I just…saw something scary."
He cocked a tangerine eyebrow at her. "What'd you see?"
A dead friend.
"Just a shadow," she lied, feeling her cheeks heat up guiltily as she couldn't make herself meet his stern brown eyes.
It was clear to Ichigo that she was lying, and badly at that. Inoue had never been the kind of girl who jumped at the smallest of things. If anything, her normal nature would be to rush towards the unfamiliar things in an effort to find out more about them.
And the haunted look from earlier that day was back in her eyes, more vivid than he could remember.
His eyes narrowed, almost slits. "Okay, well, your soup's almost ready. Try not to look at any more shadows, okay?" And with that, he disappeared back into her kitchen. Only minutes later, the haunting smell of tomato soup wafted to her nose. Despite the fact it smelled amazing, her stomach rolled nauseously.
Ichigo had watched her intently to make sure she ate at least most of the thick soup. She had forced herself to ignore the way that in the right light, it looked so much like a bowl full of blood. It had been tasteless to her, just like heated liquid ash, but she forced herself to swallow it, feeling pleased at the satisfaction gleaming deep with Kurosaki-kun's brown eyes, which had caused a warm sensation to bloom within her chest.
Now they were working on their homework, sitting down at her low kotatsu pushed against the wall on the other side of the room. She was finding it easier to concentrate now and her head was no longer feeling as if it was going to fall off, even if she felt no more awake than she had earlier. If anything, she was feeling even more sluggish, possibly due to the fullness of her once empty stomach. She was fighting against her heavy eyelids, but she was terrified of falling asleep, and her homework needed to be finished.
Ichigo noticed her losing battle with staying awake, and inwardly smiled at the listing, mostly asleep form of Inoue. "It's late. You should probably go to bed soon, Inoue," he commented, eyes studiously focused on the mostly filled in Japanese homework in front of him. It took her several long minutes to respond, and she blinked at him sleepily before what he said dawned on her and her eyes widened drastically. She shook her head rapidly, long auburn hair whipping around her face.
"No!" It burst out of her unexpectedly, and they both flinched back at the uncharacteristic sharpness of her tone. "I…I mean," she hurried to amend embarrassedly, "I still have so much homework! And I'm not really that tired! Just a little… um, bored!" She added on brightly, finding that her former cheerfulness was a little easier to access this time around.
He eyed her. "Fine. But you're going to bed soon, you hear? I don't think Ochi-sensei will be very happy if you were to fall asleep in her class again," he told her, with only the faintest hint of smugness lacing his husky tones. She winced as she remembered the book being dropped on her head, cheeks turning pink. It hadn't really hurt, more of a surprise really, but it had damaged her pride more.
Orihime bit the inside of her cheek to refrain from screaming that she couldn't, that she wouldn't be able to handle another nightmare like that. Instead, she merely smiled shakily and nodded hesitantly. "Hai, Kurosaki-kun," she murmured softly, biting her chapped lower lip fiercely as she ducked her head back down to the homework.
"Inoue."
Ichigo snapped his fingers under the dozing girl's nose, watching as she started awake, a bit of drool smudged on her lower cheek. Looking confused, she stared at him uncomprehendingly for several minutes, before hiding a yawn behind her fist. "K-Kurosaki-kun?" She stammered out around the yawn.
He put away their homework, separating it into neat pile of his and her homework. "Go to sleep, Inoue. You keep falling asleep and its nearly midnight."
"But-But-" She attempted to protest weakly, but had to fight another yawn, and losing.
"I'll tie you down if I have to," he told her calmly, glancing up at her with stern brown eyes. She flushed brightly at that, which he missed, before paling slightly with wide eyes, which he did notice with narrowed, suspicious eyes. She sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat.
"O-Okay, Kurosaki-kun," she bit her lip against the urge to tell him why she couldn't sleep, as she got to her feet slowly, swaying dangerously in a mix of exhaustion and lightheadedness. Ichigo looked up at her sharply, but relaxed ever so slightly when she managed to right herself before trudging off to her bedroom to change.
After making sure that he had gathered all of their homework into two piles for the next morning, he got to his feet and pulled out his sleeping clothes to go change in the bathroom and brush his teeth.
Moments later, safely wearing his pajama bottoms and a black wife beater, Ichigo spat out his toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. Running a quick hand through his shaggy orange hair, he turned off the lights and left the bathroom. Orihime, being her normal considerate self, had left him a spare pillow and blanket on the couch, and he smiled slightly at the thought.
Feeling weariness settle into his body, he slipped under the blanket and almost missed Inoue's quietly murmured "Good night, Kurosaki-kun," as she too disappeared down the hall into her room.
He was just conscious enough to bid her good night as well before falling asleep.
The blood stained the floor. Her. Him. Everything.
The gaping hole in his chest, bloodied and raw, allowed her to see clear down to the crimson floor below him, and her stomach clenched painfully once more.
Drying tears caused her skin to feel tightened on her face, and cold.
The cold. It sunk through her clothes and into her very bones.
She shivered, so violently her bones ached.
She stared up at the beastly form of the second resureccion, knowing that what she was feeling now was like nothing she had ever felt before.
It was truly the living embodiment of fear.
Ulquiorra, eyes so different from what she knew and yet so similar, stared back at her blandly.
"Behold, Inoue Orihime. This is what you've placed so much faith in," he told her in that bland, expressionless voice that he always used.
Even turning into a monster couldn't alter that.
She attempted to spit out a response, something that was smart and witty, something that Kuchiki-san or Rangiku-san would have said, but all that came out was a strangled choking sound.
And then, a blinding light and acidic, toxic smell of burning, charred flesh filled her nostrils, choking her, smothering her as deceptively thin porcelain grew over her face, tinting her vision gray and cutting off her air flow.
At the shriek that echoed throughout the apartment, and hung heavily in the air, Ichigo launched himself out of bed, wild-eyed. Taking a split second to gather his bearings, he realized that loud sobs and the wordless, high-pitched shrieks were coming from Inoue's room and a heavy sensation caused his stomach to plummet.
The loud sound of his feet slapping against the hardwood floors echoed loudly as he raced down the short hallway, only to throw himself against her door. Thankfully, the lock on the door had never been able to click easily and it slammed against the wall behind it with a resounding thud. He barged in, eyes wild, only to land on the writhing, sweat soaked form of Inoue. Vivid red lines were down her face, as fat tears ran down her cheeks as she chanted out, "Take it off! Oh please, take it off!"
The vision had him freezing for a second before he leapt for her and her bed. As soon as he touched her, her cries and screams increased in volume as she lashed out at him blindly. "Please! Don't touch me!" She sobbed out brokenly, hiccupping uncontrollably.
Trying not to wince at the blows that rained onto his arms, Ichigo grasped her shoulder gently but firmly and shook her as hard as he dared. "Inoue! Wake up, its just a nightmare!" He pleaded with her, attempting to be heard over her cries. Her gray eyes remained tightly closed, as if she was too terrified to open them. "Please! Open your damned eyes!"
As if recognizing his touch, her thrashing reduced down to violent trembling, as she whimpered. She still didn't open her eyes though, as she scrunched them closed, tighter. "Kurosaki-kun…" she whispered them, voice sounding broken in its hoarseness as she tilted her head to the side; away from his roving gaze. "I'm so sorry."
Utterly frozen with surprise, his muscles locked together tightly. His eyes widened. What was she apologizing for? With an effort, he pushed that aside, shaking her shoulders ever so slightly. "Inoue, wake up."
Seconds later, her haunted, terrified, but still so gray, eyes cracked open as she stared at him out of slitted eyes. "K-K-Kurosaki-kun?" She asked hesitantly, voice quavering as if she wasn't sure he was real. He smiled at her, slightly lopsided, in response. He released her arms and backed off, off of her bed, feeling awkward with the closeness between them. He could still see the trembling of her body as she sat up, rubbing her arms fiercely as if cold.
She stared at him for a few minutes before reaching a timid, shaking hand towards him. Despite his first urge to back off, he forced himself to stay still as her small, frail hand pressed lightly against his chest, then with slightly more force as she explored it. "No hole," she mumbled almost incoherently under her breath, "There's no hole." Her fingernails dug into his skin as if to reaffirm its solidity. He tried not to wince; both at the slight pain on his chest and at the pain in his chest.
He…was why she was having nightmares. He knew what she meant by 'no hole.' It was referring to when his inner hollow had complete control over him, symbolized by the hole that Ulquiorra, that emotionless bastard, had blown into his ribcage.
Without even thinking, he engulfed her in a hug, arms wrapping around her in a firm hug. She smelled sweet, a mix of the vanilla shampoo he had seen in the bathroom and honey. "I'm so sorry, Inoue," he told her quietly into her ear, feeling shaken by the ferocity of the nightmares. No wonder she didn't want to sleep. Originally stiff in his arms, she relaxed as her arms came around him in a vice grip. She buried her face into his chest, inhaling the scent that was distinctly Kurosaki-kun.
Moments later, the telltale wetness on his shirt told him that she was crying, and his heart hurt for some reason. Heartburn?
"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun," she whispered hoarsely, brokenly, into his chest, sniffling pathetically.
"Why are you apologizing?!" He demanded, sounding angry in his guilt. She stiffened once more at the sharp tone, as her fingers dug into his shirt. She hunched into herself, smaller, and he felt guilt once more. "I'm sorry, Inoue. My bad."
She sniffled and didn't respond. The reassuring thud of his heart thumping next to her ear was helping calm her, banishing the last traces of the nightmare and making her breathe a little easier. Even despite the knowledge that nightmares could attack her again, she felt relieved and comforted to have Kurosaki-kun here.
Even now, the many sleepless nights were taking their tolls on her, and now she felt no fear in letting her eyes slide shut. Merely relief.
Minutes late, Ichigo was sitting there with an unconscious Inoue in his arms. He briefly considered detaching her from him and laying her back down in the bed, but her death grip on him and the recent knowledge of the source of her nightmares convinced him not to. Instead, he managed to awkwardly readjust their position so they were both lying on their sides on the bed. Then, he had to do more readjusting to make sure he didn't crush her arm, so he wound up on his back and she was half on his chest.
Even though the position was far from comfortable, he found himself dozing off only moments late, comforted by the warmth and scent of In- Orihime.
Cobalt blue eyes narrowed in concentration, Tatsuki studied the forms of Ichigo and Inoue. The latter looked better than she had in several weeks, even if the shadows under her eyes didn't look like they had lightened at all. But her gray eyes looked brighter and she looked more alert. Almost the entire day had passed and the auburn-haired girl had yet to fall asleep. There was also a fine dusting of pink on her cheekbones, highlighting her entire face.
And Ichigo.
The frown on her face deepened as she eyed the orange-haired shinigami once more. She hadn't been able to get a read on him the entire day, even though she was normally very skilled at it. She could see that he had practically been hovering over the tiny girl, which lead her to believe that he now realized how violent her nightmares were, but there was also a bit of fluster there, which confused her. What the hell had happened between them last night?
As she watched, Orihime turned to glance at Ichigo out of the corner of her eye and when he turned to look at her, she flushed brightly before looking down.
Tatsuki's eyes softened unconsciously. There was that blush she had missed so much.
Then they hardened. Now she had to know what happened between them.
Ichigo winced as he prodded at a loose tooth with his tongue. "What is it with you and having overprotective friends, Orihime?"
Still unused to him calling her by her first name, she merely pinkened and didn't say anything. Ichigo also didn't say anything as they continued on to her place.
That might have been because his jaw was killing him so much, though. Tatsuki's punches really hadn't lightened at all in strength.
What had been her problem, anyways?
Over the next two months, Ichigo continued to stay over at Orihime's house. After the first night, her nightmares had greatly lessened in strength, though she still frequently woke up whimpering, though more often than not, it was his name she was whispering.
However, he was always right there to keep her from clawing at her own face and to snap her out of the nightmare, and she was now sleeping at least most of the way through the night.
They were now on a first name basis with each other, much to the dismay of everyone they knew. It confused Tatsuki as to how that had happened so fast, but they had agreed together that it wouldn't be wise to enlighten her.
Orihime now resembled her former self more and more with each passing day, even if the haunted look in her grey eyes would never completely go away. The color was back into her face, and he could now say that it was increasingly difficult for him to see the veins under her skin. The bags under her eyes took more time to disappear, though even they vanished after time and plenty of rest.
Scratching his head, Ichigo yawned, glancing up at the bright sky above them before looking back down at the longhaired girl next to him. She lifted her gray-eyed gaze to meet his own amber brown eyes, and smiled brightly up at him.
"Is something wrong, Ichigo-kun?" She asked him brightly, pushing some of her auburn hair out of her eyes.
He looked vaguely anxious for a few moments afterwards, before shaking his head. "I was just wondering…have you had anymore nightmares recently?" He had stopped coming over about a week ago after many assurances from Orihime that the nightmares had all but stopped.
She started to shake her head, then stopped and bit her lower lip nervously. He immediately became alarmed. "Orihime?"
"Well, no…" She trailed hesitantly, and his brown eyes narrowed dangerously. "I did have one the other night that could be considered a nightmare," she answered slowly, thinking over her words carefully.
"What happened?" He demanded almost immediately.
"I dreamt that the little green men had come to fight with the little blue men and take all of the strawberry cake for themselves to give to their queen on the moon!" She answered brightly.
Ichigo had to chuckle at that, looking immediately relieved as he leaned down to brush his lips over her forehead. "Happy Halloween, you silly girl."
Had to end it on a happy note, because I'm me and I don't do sad very well.
This is probably my favorite thing I've ever written, and its probably tied with AWIP.
I guess the only thing I can say is, Happy Halloween!
-Vampyre Heartbreak