Author's note: I decided to write this in a slight AU in that Ichigo has not lost his shinigami powers after defeating Aizen. I simply do not know enough about that story to include it in my fiction. There will most likely be high amounts of OOC moments for many of the characters but that should be expected since I'm writing what I would like to have happen as opposed to what Tite decides will happen. The beginning of this story has a bit of angst but later on there will mostly be fluff and romance (hence the OOC moments, particularly for Ichigo because let's be honest, anything akin to romance is OOC for him). With that said there may be trigger topics for some readers here (ie depression, accidental overdose, etc).

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in anyway but am inspired by the work created by Tite Kubo

Note: Italicized texts are thoughts, flash backs, dreams

Chapter 1: Healer, Interrupted

The day started out like any other for Ichigo Kurosaki. Rising from his bed he stretched himself and headed to the bathroom to take a shower…a cold shower. Getting dressed was a simple task and would have been even if he didn't have the uniform to make his clothing decisions for him. Picking up his bag he headed downstairs to be met with the scent of hot cinnamon and apples pluming from the kitchen. Yuzu pretty much rose with the sun to make sure her family had a healthy, hearty breakfast before they headed out for their respective days.

"Good morning," her bright bubbly voice sang out and Ichigo grunted his reply before sitting down to the table. A moment later he was blocking a kick to the head from Isshin and promptly plastered his father into the wall.

"Oi, old man, can't we have one morning of peace in this house?!" yelled Ichigo irritated.

"Ahhhh my son, you have grown faster in your reflexes! Your father is so proud," Isshin gushed making way to hug his son only to be punched in the face for his efforts.

Sighing as she entered the room Karin stepped over her father's prone body to the stove to heap oatmeal into a bowl before sitting down to eat it. Yuzu served her brother and father after she'd gotten them both to calm down a bit and the rest of breakfast was fairly uneventful.

Ichigo waved goodbye to his family and started off for school. Upon arrival he, as usual, fended off the over enthusiastic greeting of Keigo and sat down in his seat waiting for the arduous school day to begin.

It had been three months since the war against Aizen ended with victory in their favor and life had returned to normal. Well, as normal as life could be for a substitute-shinigami, a Quincy, a Full Bringer and a healer who were friends with death gods.

It was this thought which made him realize that the room felt odd. Something was out of place, missing…then it hit him: Inoue Orihime. He couldn't believe it took this long to notice that he'd not heard, "Good morning Kurosaki-kun," in her high cheer-filled voice. He'd noticed that she'd been absent a lot since her return, that her eyes had a far off look in them more often and that though she tried she did not maintain her sunny disposition as much anymore. Still, when she was there she always made sure to greet everyone enthusiastically, especially him.

Normally these things would not have been apparent to him. Ichigo was a tunnel vision type of person which was both beneficial and, though he hated to admit it, detrimental for him. Beneficial in battle, detrimental in, well, almost everything else. He'd reasoned with himself that it was perfectly normal for him to be noticing Orihime more these days because he was concerned about her. It was normal for him to want to watch over her more now because she'd been taken once and he wasn't about to let it happen again. It was normal.

"Sure, and the dreams you've been having about her are normal too. You know the ones King, that make you run to a cold shower like a pervert," he heard his hollow cackle from inside his head.

Ichigo hissed but did not reply. He knew if he did it would only make the hollow pester him more. But today he needed no encouragement to proceed with his jabs, "Really though, who could blame you? I mean, she's freaking hot, all that innocence just waiting to be tainted."

Now Ichigo was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists but still did not reply.

"I bet there's not much you wouldn't give to have her here and just bend her over the desk," the hollow continue before Ichigo bellowed in his head, "ENOUGH! Shut the hell up before I come in there and kick your sorry ass!" The hollow just laughed at his rage.

"What's the matter King? Feeling frustrated? Personally, I'd be saving energy for another more pleasurable meeting of bodies. I certainly wouldn't mind feeling what the hottie is like in the sack."

Ichigo had reached his limit. It was one thing for the hollow to taunt him about himself. He could handle that just fine and usually just ignored him. But he was infuriated by what the hollow said about his friend. She was his nakama and he would defend her. He'd gotten to his feet and brusquely stated he had to go to the restroom. His teacher didn't bother stopping him as by this point Kurosaki wasn't worth the trouble of getting worked up about.

The irritated orange hair had almost reached the door exiting to the roof when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Spinning around his amber brown orbs met the cool stare of the sapphire eyes belonging to Ishida Uryu.

"What the hell do you want Ishida?" Ichigo asked roughly jerking his arm to get the Quincy to release his shoulder.

"You're exploding reiatsu everywhere idiot, are you trying to attract hollows?" came the clear reply, Ishida not backing down from his position in front of the man before him.

Ichigo huffed and closed his eyes in an effort to reign himself back in, taking a few deep breaths to do so. Once he'd put a cap back on himself he opened his eyes and met those of the man in front of him again. "Better?" he asked sarcastically.

"Marginally, now what the hell was that outburst about?" Uryu asked adjusting his glasses as he took a step back.

There was no way Ichigo was going to disclose the nature of his hollow's "conversation" to Ishida. Though they had worked through some of their trust issues in relation to battle, when it came to personal matters they both remained resistant and too prideful to condescend to any actual friendship. Theirs was a tumultuous alliance of alternative forces though both conceded their differences helped in creating optimal battle plans. Each had strengths that somehow complimented the other, were they ever level headed enough to see past their irritations with each other, which was hit and miss at best.

So instead of answering Ichigo scowled deeply and turned away to continue to the roof. Ishida heaved a frustrated sigh but did not pursue him. His goal had been obtained: he'd made Ichigo calm down enough that they would hopefully not have to run to kill off a half dozen hollows or so. Such being the case he headed down from the direction he'd come and back to class.

Ichigo made it to the roof much calmer, though he'd never thank the Quincy for his role in that, and stared out over the school yard. He was worried about Orihime and didn't know what to do about it. Initially he'd tried to reach out to her but because he was so bad at talking to anyone, particularly girls, it had not gone as well as he'd hoped.

He'd seen her in the store on a Sunday, picking up red bean paste, wasabi and other such odd ingredients for which he had no idea why she had such a penchant for. Walking up behind her he'd said, "Hey Inoue."

Shrieking at the sound of his voice the tube of wasabi paste she'd been holding flew up into the air as she flung her arms up and stepped away from him. Unfortunately she'd stepped onto a can which had also fallen and was rapidly descending to the ground. He'd reacted instantly, catching first her and then the wasabi. He'd had to catch her while leaning and practically had her in a dip, secure in the crook of his arm. Looking down he saw her eyes wide and a faint flush rising on her cheeks. He'd smiled then as he righted himself pulling her with him.

"Sorry Inoue, I didn't mean to scare you," he'd said quietly as he released her and handed her the paste. She didn't say anything for a few seconds but then waved her hands wildly in front of her.

"Oh no, Kurosaki-kun, it's ok. My brain was wandering; the little blue men you know…" she replied before trailing off, her eyes not meeting his anymore. He'd frowned then and touched her shoulder. She'd jumped at the contact and he pulled his hand back again. Now he was really concerned. Granted, he didn't usually touch her this much (though it hadn't really been a lot) but she was acting even more strange than usual.

"Are you sure you're ok? You seem really spooked," he'd asked gently. He was surprised at how often she brought out his softer side. His reputation was that of a hard punk-ass who didn't give two craps about anything or anybody. He preferred it that way, with pretty much everyone else besides Inoue. With her, he could be gentle, he could be kind.

She smiled, but he noticed it didn't really reach her eyes, as she said, "Yes, I'm fine Kurosaki-kun, thank you for your concern." After that they'd made small talk about the coming school week while each finished their shopping and he said he'd walk her home.

"Oh no, you don't have to do that," she'd begun and he'd interrupted her gently but firmly, "Inoue, I'm not asking. I'm walking you home." Her eyes widened slightly but then she'd smiled and nodded to his decision. Gathering up their bags of groceries (again thwarting her protests) they'd walked to her apartment and climbed the stairs. After she'd opened the door he followed her in to deposit her bags on the counter before saying goodnight. He'd given her one last look at the door with concerned filled eyes but decided not to press her. If she wanted to talk to him, she would, simple as that. "Lock your door Inoue," he said and waited until she'd closed it and he'd heard the bolt slide in place before heading back down the stairs and to his house.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door behind him opening and turning around he saw his friends heading over to their usual lunch spot. He walked over to join them sitting between Tatsuki and Chad. Leaning back against the fence that surrounded the rooftop he took a deep breath in.

"What's your deal? You seemed more stressed than usual," Tatsuki asked, her mouth full of sandwich.

Ichigo huffed, "Nothing, just…do you know why Inoue isn't here today?"

Tatsuki was surprisingly quiet for a moment but then replied, "She's home sick. She called in and then texted me."

While Ichigo was no stranger to sudden onslaughts of illness (his father did run a clinic after all) he instinctively felt Tatsuki was lying to him and turned to face her. Normally she'd have met his gaze head on, literally if she was feeling nasty, but today she averted her eyes. Now he knew there was something really wrong.

"Tatsuki," he said firmly and still she wouldn't look at him. By now Chad was also looking at her while she stared straight ahead of her not meeting either of their faces. Ichigo sighed in frustration and tried again, "Tatsuki, don't lie to me. What's going on with Inoue?" Now everyone was looking at them and her cheeks were getting red with frustration.

"Ichigo, look, just…it's not my place to talk about it. If she needs some time to herself then we need to respect it you know? So, just calm down with the over protective hero crap and leave her be yeah?" Her steady voice was more disarming than if she'd been shouting at him, which was her normal way of speaking most of the time.

Raising his eyebrows Ichigo glanced up to Chad's face with a look of perplexity. The gentle giant seemed as lost as he was. Focusing his attention back to the girl he shifted to crouch in front of her and stared at her until she finally looked him in the eyes. "Tatsuki, that's the last thing she needs after what she went through I would think," he said. He'd meant to go on but the next moment he found himself on the ground looking up at a furious Tatsuki.

She held him by the collar of his shirt, her hand clenched in a fist and breathing hard, "How the hell would you know anything about what she needs Kurosaki!" His eyes were wide at her violence as were the rest of the boys' surrounding them. Before he could reply, that is if he'd known what to say, she continued, "You have no freaking clue what she's been through, what she's still going through because you don't ask! You barely notice her when she's around but the second she's not here all of a sudden you give a crap! It's because you need something from her, right? Then of course you'd notice she wasn't here!"

This accusation caused him to go from confusion to anger. Despite her hold on him he was able to stand up, though she did not let go of his shirt. Her eyes never left his even as he towered over her, his glare piercing, "What the hell are you talking about Tatuski?" he growled, unheeded by their audience.

Tatsuki clenched her fist tighter. "Ichigo," she began but stopped when Ishida had moved next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

He said gently but firmly, "Arisawa-san, it is not your place to do this." Her eyes flashed from Ichigo's to Ishida's but she held fast to the orange hair's shirt. Ishida continued, breaking his gaze from hers to lean in and whisper in her ear, "If you do this you will hurt her more. Let her decide when or even if she wants to tell him. If you take that choice away from her, even if it's because you're trying to protect her, you're in no position to criticize him for his rash actions."

She'd stiffened then and Ichigo wondered what Ishida had said when he felt her release his shirt. The fire in her eyes was doused by a sudden flooding of tears. Never had any of them seen her cry and it was shocking. Before they could do anything about it she took off running, yanking open the roof door and disappearing into the gloom of the hallway. Ichigo had watched her leave but the sound of slamming metal brought him back to himself and he whirled around to face the Quincy again.

"What the hell was that all about?" he asked with a mix of bewilderment and frustration. Ishida merely adjusted his glasses before bending down to pick up his bag. Looking at Ichigo he sighed and said, "Kurosaki, though you probably care little for it, my advice to you is to talk to Inoue-san. I know you've tried," he said with a hand up when he saw Ichigo open his mouth to interrupt him, "but try again and try harder." With that he walked to the same door Tatsuki had fled through.

{OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO}

It was the same scene all over again. Orihime running as fast as she could through the seemingly endless empty corridors of Las Noches trying to both get away from someone and get to someone. "Hang on, just hang on," she thought as she ran, her lungs burning in the efforts of fueling oxygen to the rest of her body. Just before she would reach the door she was sure would lead her to where she needed to be she was yanked off her feet by the scruff of her neck and thrown backwards. Her hard landing knocked the wind out of her already pain filled lungs and she cried out as her attacker then lifted her by her throat and slammed her against the wall. She didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to see the face of her nightmares.

"Where do you think you're going pet," she heard the vile voice of Nnoitra Jiruga hiss in her face. She squirmed trying to get away but he merely tightened his grip cutting off more of her air. "Now, now, if you play nice this time, maybe I'll let you off with a few less bruises." Tears were streaming down her cheeks by now, her desperation to get away reaching fever pitch.

"Let…me go…please…I have…to," she spoke in rasping gasp, barely getting enough oxygen to function let alone speak.

The next moment she felt his free hand on her chest, squeezing her and laughing. She was beginning to black out from the pressure on her neck but before he could continue she felt a violent jerk as his body went flying and she with him. However, before she'd landed on the hard ground again she felt herself caught. As she began coughing and gasping for air her savior slowly came into view. Though she realized savior was a misnomer as her grey eyes met the green ones of Ulquiorra Cifer.

"Woman, what are you doing out of your quarters?" his emotionless cold voice asked. She still couldn't speak so he continued, "I suppose you realize the trash you call your friends have arrived. They are all fools, come here to throw their lives away and for what? To save you? A traitor?"

She winced before softly saying, "I…I'm not a traitor."

His eyes narrowed and he brought his face closer to hers causing her to try to back away but his hold on her remained firm, "You walked away from them of your own volition. Your faithfulness died the moment you decided not to when I came for you. And now they will burn like the worthless trash they are because of you." She was crying harder now, eyes closed as she refused to look at him anymore.

The next instant she felt herself lifted high into the air, spiritual pressure smothering her and making it hard to breathe again. When she opened her eyes she screamed in horror at the face before hers. It was no longer Ulquiorra but that of Ichigo in his full hollow form. Then he'd suddenly slammed her to the ground, his hands on her throat. When he spoke his voice was wavy, almost as if it were under water, "This is your fault Inoue! Why did you let this happen to me?"

Crying harder Orihime shrieked, "I'm sorry Kurosaki-kun, I'm sorry! Please, please forgive me!"

With a roar of anger and frustration she felt him snap her neck.

Shooting up in her bed, covered with sweat and tears, Orhime gasped frantically for air while clutching her chest and neck. After she realized she was in her bedroom she covered her face with her hands, sobbing hard. Almost every time she would fall asleep this nightmare or one similar to it caused her to wake up in terror. Since returning from Hueco Mundo there had not been a time where her sleeping did not lead to nightmares. Going to the bathroom to splash water on her face she noticed the dark circles under her eyes more clearly. Normally she would have makeup on to cover them to avoid the questions and the stares but today she'd not bothered because she had not planned on going outside. She just couldn't face the day and had decided to hole up in her home. Though she craved the presence of others after so much isolation during her imprisonment she also avoided it because it became overwhelming to constantly hide her true feelings.

Yawning she stretched and found herself longing for the sweet relief of sleep. But sleep no longer brought comfort, only terror and pain.

She had lain down but when she closed her eyes images of Aizen and his demands for the healing of her enemies came into view. Opening her eyes she sighed, counted to ten and closed them again.

This time it was a flash back of her beating from the Arrancar girls. Eyes open, count to ten, deep breath, eyes closed.

Flashes of Grimmjow, the maniac warrior, commanding her to heal Kurosaki-kun so he could hurt him again. Eyes open, breathing harder, count to ten, eyes closed.

That horrible moment of realizing Ulquiorra had killed Kurosaki-kun and her screaming for him to come back, to save her. Eyes open, tears flowing, prayers for sleep. Even death could not save her now because she'd remember everything forever.

Turning on her side the bottle of sleeping pills Isshin Kurosaki had written her a prescription for came into view through her tear filled eyes. She'd been at Ichigo's house for a project and his father noticed the glazed look of exhaustion in her eyes. She'd taken them a few times over the last couple weeks but even they were not able to keep the nightmares at bay long enough for her to get a solid unbroken stretch of sleep.

"Maybe I just need to need to take a little more of it, really get deep into slumber. Even if I sleep the whole night and day that would be fine with me," she thought as she contemplated the bottle. The prescribed dose for someone her height and weight was 2 pills within an 8 hour period. Thinking it over she remembered the time she'd taken them they worked for 4 hours before she'd bolted up in bed again, though more hazy than previous times, and figured if she wanted a full 8 hours she should take 4 pills all at once. Maybe 6 to be absolutely sure she'd fall asleep.

Resolving this to be the best course of action she filled a glass with water and quickly downed 6 of the pills. Lying down on her pillow and tugging the blanket up she waited for them to take effect. It didn't take long before she was drowsy and not much longer after that she began to slowly slip into unconsciousness.

{OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO}

As Ichigo neared Orihime's apartment he reached out for her reiatsu to see if she was there. He stood outside her home for a long while letting her presence sweep over him. Usually he felt warmth, even tenderness from her when he really concentrated. But now, it was like she was slipping away. He couldn't describe it in any other way excepting sinking.

"Something's wrong," he thought as he bounded up the stairs. Standing outside her door he reached further into her reiastu signature, trying to figure out what was going on. Initially he'd thought the faintness of it meant she was resting, possibly sleeping, and he didn't want to wake her. But as the signature grew fainter and fainter he'd had enough. He needed to make sure she was ok.

"Inoue! Are you ok?" he shouted at the door. Met with silence he knocked firmly before trying again, "Inoue, come on!"

Suddenly he felt her spiritual pressure plummet. Panic seized him in a way it had only once before: when he'd witnessed his mother killed by the Fisher King. Raising his leg he kicked the door at the bolt juncture and it splintered. Leaning back he kicked at it again and it shattered into the room. He knew something was terribly wrong because not once during his assault on the door had he heard her make a noise.

Rushing through the living room he entered her bedroom and saw her in bed under the covers. Flinging them back he could see her skin was a sickly pale accentuating the darkness under her eyes. Were it not for the faint rise and fall of her chest he would have thought her dead. He knelt by the bed and grabbed her shoulders, trying to be as gentle as possible but knowing he had to wake her up.

"Inoue, come on, you need to wake up," he said urgently, shaking her slightly but he received no response. Turning his head he leaned forward and placed his ear over her mouth. He could hear her airway struggling and felt her pulse weakening. Now he was panicking even more, his brain forgetting what he needed to do.

"INOUE!" he shouted inches from her face and all he received was a slight flinch. Not knowing what else to do he grabbed the cell phone from his pocket but right as he was about to dial 911 she murmured almost imperceptibly, "No…no…Grimmjow…stop." His heart wrenched in his chest hearing her desperate pleas. Not knowing what she was seeing he decided that if he took her to the regular hospital like this she might end up talking about things that made her sound like a crazy person. So he called the next best person he could think of.

"Hello, Kurosaki clinic.." he heard his father speak into the line and interrupted the greeting by practically shouting, "Dad, I need help. Something's wrong with Inoue!"

Isshin pulled the phone away from his ear shocked at the loudness and panic in his son's voice. While he knew Ichigo could get worked up it was normally anger or exasperation in his tone, not panic.

"Ok son, tell me what's going on?" he asked as calm as possible. He knew he had to get Ichigo to calm down if either of them were going to be any help to her.

"I don't know…I…I came by her place and felt her reiatsu level drop…so I broke down the door and when I found her in her room she…Kami…dad it looks like she can't breathe right…she's breathing but she's not getting full breaths and…" here Ichigo stopped as he noticed the bottle of sleeping pills. He read out the label and his father stiffened.

"How many are left in the bottle," he asked. Ichigo dumped them on the floor and counted answering, "12, there are 12 left dad."

Doing a quick calculation of how many he'd given her and how long ago he knew there should be more than that. If she'd taken too many of those on purpose or by accident they needed to get them out of her now.

"Ichigo, I need you to get her here. Just leave your body there and use shunpo," he said sternly.

By his instruction and the tone in his voice Ichigo knew things had just gone from bad to worse.

{OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO}

After Isshin hung up the phone Ichigo grabbed his spirit badge and slammed it against his chest. He wasted no time scooping Orihime up into his arms and raced out the front door. He'd never gone this fast in shunpo before. Landing in front of the door he was about to kick it in when Yuzu opened it and he stepped through the threshold.

"This way Ichigio," she said and he followed her to where their father had set up an exam room with the stomach pump ready. Isshin indicated for him to lay her down on the table and he complied. She was moaning and gurgling but her pulse was growing weaker and weaker. Isshin lifted her eyelids and based on the dilation knew he was dealing with a potential overdose. Even in her severely unconscious state she'd flinched at his touch and he wondered what was going on in her head.

He moved away and grabbed an intubation tube. Moving over her face he held her head to insert the tube into her nose only for her to turn her head sharply and grab his wrist. The movement shocked him because with the estimated amount of medication in her body she shouldn't be able to move much at all. Whatever she was dreaming about must have been terrifying.

Orihime could see Szayel Grantz poking and prodding her, treating her like a science experiment. She felt his strong hand hold down her wrist and struggled against it, felt him trying to pry her mouth open to stick only Kami knew what into her. Was he trying to force feed her? Ulqiuorra had threatened to do that from time to time but she'd been good! She'd eaten even though the food tasted horrible and made her want to throw up. Speaking of throwing up, Szayel had put something into her throat and it was causing unpleasant sensations in her stomach. Was he poisoning her? What purpose would there be in that? The desire to throw up was getting stronger as she felt sweat forming on her brow, running down her temple and onto her neck. Oh Kami, she was going to be sick! When she opened her eyes all she saw was white and turned her body.

Isshin had just barely had time to drop the intubation tube and grab a receptacle before Orihime was throwing up violently into it. The sound of her retching filled the room as she filled the bin with the contents of her stomach. Isshin held her hair back and looking over her head saw his son's face. Ichigo looked scared and that was something rarely seen.

"Ichigo, I doubt Inoue wants you to see this. Go get your body. You can see her when she's decent. Go on!" he said firmly. Ichigo did as he was told. He wasn't sure he could watch her like this anymore. It was painful, it was shocking and it made him feel ill too.

After getting back into his body he wasn't sure what to do about the door. Calling Chad he asked if he could stay the night there to make sure no one went in or stole anything which he readily agreed to do. Before he'd left his father had called asking him to get some stuff for Inoue. He would be keeping her under observation for at least a day, maybe two, and knew she'd want clean clothes. Not knowing where she kept anything and not wanting to invade her privacy anymore than he already had that day he'd called Tatuski for help.

To say she was upset was an understatement but she'd come over and helped him back an overnight bag.

"Ichigo, I…I'm sorry about today," she said shuffling her feet uncomfortably. He took pity on her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok Tatuski, I understand you just care about her. I do too, ok? I…I may not show it well but I do care," he said, not overly pleased at showing her this side of him though he knew that she knew him better than anyone. She looked up and smiled at him then. By that time Chad had arrived and Tatsuki offered to keep him company so that Orihime could have some peace and rest before she saw her.

By the time Ichigo had gotten back home Orihime had been changed into a fresh nightgown and was asleep. "Dad, why did you write a prescription for sleeping pills for her?" he'd asked once they'd settled in the living room. By now it was late and his sisters were in bed. Normally at this time of night Ichigo would be up in his room either doing homework or just avoiding having to be around his father but he wanted to stay as close to Orihime as possible without disturbing her so he elected to stay downstairs.

"I noticed her eyes were glazed with exhaustion and after some coaxing she finally told me she hadn't been sleeping well since she got back," his father answered. Ichigo felt a stone fall in his stomach, ashamed that he hadn't noticed her suffering. He'd sworn to protect her, to not let anything happen to her again. Isshin felt he could interpret his son's thoughts fairly well and said, "Son, you can't blame yourself for this. If she didn't confide in you or anyone else how could you know there was anything wrong?"

Ichigo frowned as he replied, "We…I…we should have known dad. After what she went through, there's no way she could have been doing as well as she seemed. I mean, at some point I think we all realized she was hiding how bad it was but we didn't want to pry."

Isshin clapped his hand on Ichigo's shoulder to make him look in his eyes, "Well, now that you know just do the best that you can, that's all any of us can do."

Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "Yeah, I guess…" but his words were cut off by a piercing scream. Isshin and Ichigo shared a shocked expression before they both bolted for the door to the room Orihime was in. She was thrashing about on the bed, screaming and crying, incoherent words flooding out of her. By now Yuzu and Karin had rushed downstairs and were standing in the doorway with horrified looks on their faces.

"Inoue! Inoue calm down," Isshin was saying loudly but the girl couldn't hear him. She managed to wrench herself away from him and bolted for the door but Ichigo was there and caught her in his arms. She struggled violent, striking his chest and clawing at his face to get him to release her.

"NO! Kurosaki-kun, I have to get to Kurosaki-kun!" she was shouting hoarsely, tears streaming down her face, "Please, no, don't die, Kurosaki-kun, don't die!" Isshin and the girls stiffened at her words. Ichigo hadn't really given them details of what had happened in Hueco Mundo both because he didn't remember all of it and because he didn't want to worry them. Not knowing what else do to Ichigo increased his reiatsu level higher and higher hoping it would penetrate to her. Slowly she began to calm down and stopped thrashing against his hold. Then she slumped forward into his arms and embraced him about his waist, "Kurosaki-kun, you're…you're alive," she murmured. He held her up in his arms, eyes wide with the horror of what he'd just witnessed.

Finally Orihime seemed to come to herself and looking up into his face registered that this was no longer a dream! She was standing in a room that was not her own hugging the man she was in love with and his face looked as though he'd seen an unspeakable horror. She gasped and moved to step back but he tightened his grip and looked full into her eyes.

'"Inoue?" he began gently, "Are you ok?"

Wordlessly she shook her head and neglecting to notice the three pairs of eyes on them she leaned her head onto Ichigo's chest, "No, Kurosaki-kun, no, I'm not alright, not at all." He had no words of comfort to offer so he simply picked her up and sat down in a chair to hold her, stroking her hair as she cried quietly.

Isshin had ushered the girls out of the room and shut the door, telling them to go back to bed and they would talk in the morning. Leaning against the wall he placed a hand over his eyes and felt the warm trail of tears going down his face. His son and his friends had all suffered so horribly, but none worse it seemed than Inoue Orihime.

Walking to the phone he lifted the receiver and dialed. A voice came on the other end, complaining of being woken but silenced when Isshin spoke, "Kisuke, I need your help with something."

"Hmmm? And what might that be?" the former captain asked with a yawn.

"I don't know if you know but Inoue Orihime is not doing well, not at all," Isshin began and the shop keeper felt his heart lurch a little, "I think that…we need to do something to help her but I'm not sure what. She has no family, well, other than us, to help her but," he trailed off, his thoughts failing to come to completion. He wasn't even entirely sure why he'd called Kisuke but he was the first person that came to mind when he'd realized he needed help.

Kisuke was silent for a moment, thinking over what could be done. By now Yoruichi had come into the room where they kept the phone and gave him a questioning look. "It's Inoue-san," Kisuke answered.

The flash step goddess raised one eye brow, "She called you of all people?"

He winced slightly at the accusation in her tone before replying, "No, no, Isshin is on the phone, apparently Inoue-san is not doing well and we're discussing how to help her."

"Awfully quiet discussion," she murmured and Isshin chuckled when he heard her words over the line. She took the phone from Kisuke and spoke, "Isshin, I think I have an idea of how we can help Inoue-san, just leave it to us, we'll be in touch." He thanked her and they both hung up the phone.