Orihime's Protector

The cold rain pelted down from heaven, determined to make the day wretched and horrible.

I stood completely still in front of a vase of flowers. Darkness covered my features, and because of the rain, no one would notice the salty sorrow coming from my eyes.

My black hoodie had been dampened completely, clinging tight to my frame. I shivered, but refused to leave the spot.

I felt responsible for the need of a vase of flowers on this city road in the middle of this rainstorm.

I gripped my gloved hands tight, clenching in my teeth, trying to control my need to fall on my knees and begin sobbing.

I managed to keep my composure, but stood rigid.

The rain continued to fall, but it ceased to land on my face.

"Did you know him?" A soft, warm voice said from behind me. I turned my head, sad brown eyes meeting hazel.

"Yeah... We... We were friends... "I said slowly.

She moved forward slightly, so she stands next to me. Her soft orange hair cascaded over her shoulders and curled at the end.

"We were neighbors when we were kids; I hadn't seen him in a long time... But we used to play together." Her words where soft, and her eyes sad.

"It hurt to know he was killed in a petty gang fight." She said her words bitter at the mention of gang.

I looked down.

Silence bloomed between us, only filled by the patter of the weeping sky.

"He was a great person," I said, breaking the silence.

"It's a good feeling to know someone cared for him..."

She turned towards me, her sad eyes meeting mine once more. "I going to miss him, I hadn't seen him in so long and..." Her voice broke, and tears began to fall.

I pulled her towards me, holding her face close to me as she sobbed into my shoulder.

We cried on each other's shoulder that day.

That was the day I met my beloved, ray of sunshine, Orihime Inoue.

I was the leader of a group on the streets of Karikura. We were a motorcycle gang that had recently gained control of this half of the town. Sadly, I cost us one of our own. He had been caught from behind with a heavy brick, caught in the perfect spot; he had died a fast and immediate death.

We still mourned the loss of this significant member of our gang. We had known each other for so long and he had been our number two.

We sat in our hideout, a small cabin off half- hidden in an ally way.

I had an open beer in my hands, but hadn't drunk any.

Our gang was never power hungry, but others had always come to challenge us, and we would always win. Eventually, people began to foolishly think of us as people who kill openly and accept any fight. Being their leader, they called me the Shinigami of Karikura.

The others laughed while playing a hand of poker, though the sounds of their merriment seemed strained.

My mind was on Orihime. After meeting her, she had sent the first warmth into me I had felt since my friend's death. She had shielded me from the rain, and began to make me feel a bit more human.

I got up from where I had sat and gave my can of beer to Renji, who accepted it happily.

He was playing cards with a couple members of our gang. Many members had left us recently following the death in our ranks. The only ones that remained where Renji Abarai, my new and reluctant number two, Toshiro, Yumichkia, Ikkaku, and Rukia. The only female of group had fallen asleep on Renji's arm, and the others looked up as me as I was about to make my exit.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow, don't have too much fun."

Renji gave a stiff nod, looking into my chocolate orbs.

"And don't have too much depression, Ichigo. It's bad for your skin."

I sighed, brushing my hair back.

"Yeah, yeah." I said waving my hand dismissively at the guys as I left.

I got on my bike and began to cruse down the road when I pulled off to go into a small cafe. I had promised I would bring something home to my sisters, Yuzu and Karin.

They didn't know about my being in a gang, being a bit too young. Though, I'm sure Karin knows I'm not actually going to the library every time I leave on my fancy bike.

My dad knows, but never voices his opinion.

Moving up, I placed my order. Two donuts and a small coffee. The coffee was for me, I knew I was not getting a wink of sleep that night anyway.

I was digging through my wallet, getting some cash out to pay the cashier when the person next in the second line moved up to place her order.

"A medium coffee please, also, could you get me an egg sausage bagel, but put a donut in-between it?"

It was a sweet, kind voice that had called out the (strange) order.

Orihime was wearing a purple jacket, black scarf and jeans. Her hair was a bit frazzled, most likely from the extreme cold wind outside.

I pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to the cashier waiting on me. "I also want to pay for this young lady's order." I said, placing my wallet back into my pocket.

Orihime looked back over to me, surprise graced her features, and it was pleasant. "I-Ichigo, I can't let you do that." She said looking over to me.

I gave her a warm smile. "Of course you can, and will. I want to repay you."

Her brow furrowed. "For what?"

"Being his friend, letting me lean on your shoulder, after we had just met."

Her smile was a bit sad, but bright.

"Alright." She said as both the cashiers went and got their orders.

They soon brought back two bags and the drinks. I grabbed mine, and Orihime grabbed hers.

Sitting down, I took a drink of the sweet warm liquid.

We sat in silence for a bit.

"So, uh... Ichigo, right? I'd love to learn more about you." She said, a blush barely dusting her cheeks.

"Well then ask me a question."

"What's your favorite color?" I smiled, "Blue," I responded.

"What kind of blue?" She said. "Dark, sky..?"

"Sky, like the color of your hair pins." I said my eyes locking onto her blue flower pins. "Their very pretty on you."

"Thank you, my brother had given them to me." She said with a happy smile. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her donut, sausage egg bagel thing and opened it.

It seemed like it could be okay, that is until she put ketchup on it.

My mind still reels at the concoctions she calls meals, to this very day.

She took a bite of her donut-egg-sausage-ketchup bagel and smiled, a bit of jelly filling coming out the corner of her mouth. Her small pink tongue flew out and brought it back in.

Make that a jelly doughnut- egg- sausage-ketchup - bagel.

I gave her a smile, trying not to cringe at what that must taste like.

"What subject do you like best in school?"

She asked, tilting her head to the side.

My mind went blank. You see, at that time I just simply didn't go to school.

Looking down, I closed my eyes.

"E-English." I lied without really thinking about it. I really didn't want this girl to dislike me because I didn't attend high school.

"I love English as well," she said, smile very evident on her face.

Silence was filled with cafe chatter for a bit.

Finally, she swallowed another bite of her sandwich.

"So, I know you guys where friends, where did you guy hang out?" I knew she was talking about, and my eyes saddened just a bit.

I almost told her we were in a gang together, but stopped thinking about her words from yesterday.

"It hurt to know he was killed in a petty gang fight."

She must not like gangs, especially since her childhood friend was killed in one, and to know I was the leader, she would hate me for sure.

Once again, I lied.

"Well we would go bowling sometimes..." I said, realizing how stupid it sounds.

Orihime gave a smile. "Sounds like fun!" She said, sipping her coffee.

I blushed, but inside kicked myself for lying. Getting up, I decided I shouldn't hang around much longer. I had lied twice to this nice girl who had been nothing but kind to me.

She reached out to grab my hand. Her hand was delegate and soft in mine.

"Where you going?" She asked, her eyes surprised that I had hopped up.

"I uh, need to get going. It was nice meeting you again!" I said bowing.

"Wait," she said hopping up. Grabbing a pen she wrote a phone number on my arm, and after it, drew a kitty face.

A gentle smile graced my features. "This is my number, please call some time. I'd love to see you again."

I smiled, "Okay." I said, then grabbed my donuts and left.

After that we began to see each other regularly, and I had grown quite attached to her laugh, hair and smiles.

Sometimes we would go to the park. Sometimes the mall. When the winter came, we went sledding, and as summer rolled around once more. We would go swimming.

She reminded me a lot of my late mother.

Sadly, I had never told her the truth about me being in a gang of not going to school. I don't know how I kept it from her, honestly, she was a tad dense. But the way question marks would seem to spin in her eyes was absolutely and utterly adorable. I regretted it every day that passed, but never found the courage to tell her the truth.

The thought of losing her warm smile, orange hair and warm presence and me want to curl up into ball and never uncurl for fear of falling to pieces.

We were on a date. I was hesitant to call our little meeting dates at first, but she had assured me they were dates, and she was fine calling them such.

We had gotten ice-cream and sat on a park bench. Above us, the street lamps had come on, along with Japanese styled lanterns that where strung from light to light casting purple colored light everywhere.

It shimmered off the water in the fountain in front of us and shined in her eyes.

It was a magic night, until it fell apart.

The stars continued to glitter as a bloody Renji ran up to me, collapsing at my feet. I had not told a single person in the gang of Orihime, out of irrational fear.

He looked up at me, and his eyes held a sad look.

"It's the Arrancar, Ichigo. They found our place... Please, come." He had said pathetically, coughing.

Orihime looked down at Renji, then at me.

The Arrancar where the other major gang in the city, and were our biggest rivals.

I got up. "I'm sorry Orihime, I guess I'm going to have to cut this date short."

I prayed to god I could get away from this without my beloved Orihime learning the truth.

Sadly, no miracle came. "Why? Tell me what's happening, Ichigo..." She said, her voice soft. Renji was bleeding from his nose and a scratch in his cheek. He breathed heavily, but a smile graced his features. "You never told me ya got a girl, Ichigo."

I looked down, wishing this entire thing away. It never disappeared. "Yeah, Ichigo, never thought you soft enough to eat ice-cream with a girl. Imagine that, the mighty Shinigami of the north side gang, eating ice-cream on a park bench." The voice was taunting and I snapped my head up to see two Arrancars. You could always tell ambers of the gang because they wore all white and had masks covering part of their faces.

The one who had done the talking was Grimmjow, a blue haired freak who seemed to slink like a panther as he approached. Behind him, a tall pink haired man had a bright but dark smile on his face.

"Why don't we all have some fun? The girl could join in as well." The blue haired gang member said, flicking open a knife.

"Leave her out of this." I said sternly. "Your conflict is with me."

Grimmjow gave a large laugh and spit to the side. "Like hell I will, she's obviously the great gang leader's soft spot." Before I could stop him, he grabbed Orihime by the wrist and pulled her tight to him, pressing his knife to her throat.

"If you don't want this girl's throat cut, disband your gang and give all your territory to us, The Arrancar."

I was silent. My entire gang had meant so much to me, but so had Orihime.

I was prepared to agree, but then Grimmjow stuck his fucking tongue out of his mouth and dared to lick Orihime's neck in a seductive way. She squealed, and tried to pull away, causing the knife to dig a bit into her throat. Her next whimper was one of pain, and something snapped in me. Before I could think, my fist landed in Grimmjow's face, knocking him backwards, and causing the knife to skitter away. I grabbed Orihime and held her tight. "You okay?" I asked, my voice a bit hoarse.

Her only response was a pain filled moan.

I handed her to Renji, who was now on his feet. "Protect her." I said, as I moved forward to where Grimmjow was recuperating.

I placed my foot firmly into his gut, knocking the wind out of him.

"Damn punk!" The pink haired Arrancar cried out, launching his own punch forward. I was able to dodge, then landed my fist in his stomach. He gripped his midsection after my blow to him, and fell to his knees, where I took the opportunity to kick him in his face. Blood splatters from the sharp edge of my boot. Grimmjow was up now. He had retrieved his knife and brandished it as he came at me again. I managed to grab the hand that held the weapon, but got a punch in the face. Taking a step back, I managed a round house kick, knocking Grimmjow back , then landed another kick in his gut. He fell over, unconscious. Szayel had gotten up, but thought differently than to attack me again.

Pulling up Grimmjow's unconscious form, he hobbled away.

I went to Orihime, and gripped her tight. "Please tell me you're alright..." I said.

No answer.

"I'm sorry I lied to you about myself. I'm the leader of the gang our friend was in and it's my fault he died in that fight. If only I had not agreed to the war.. If only..."

She stopped my words with a tender, sweet kiss that made my heart beat quicken.

"I don't care Ichigo, all I know is you protected me, and that, that I love you Ichi."

Happiness flooded me that night.

Later that night, my beloved had patched up my few scrapes and we were holding hands.

"Hey Ichigo..." She said, turning to look me in the eyes.

"Yes?" I asked her, eyes alight with the curiosity to know what her question was.

"I wanted to ask you why you kept it from me."

I looked down. "I liked you, and I didn't want to lose you. You had seemed mad and sad that gangs took away your friend..." I said, looking up to meet her eyes. "I didn't want to lose you."

She returned my statement with a passionate kiss. We kissed for a bit, then pulled away, resting our foreheads on each other's as we smiled, looking into each other's eyes. We kissed again, out tongues dancing together this time to a sinful dance of love. She took my hand, then. Leading me to my bed room. She had pulled off her shirt by the time they got the room. Her orange hair cascaded down her from shoulders onto her lacy bra and over her breasts.

We kissed again as I pulled my shirt off, tossing it in the corner with hers. With me on top, her on the bottom, we deepened our kiss, mouths interlocked and not releasing their grasp. With a moan, she rubbed my midsection, moving down slowly to my awakening member. A deep blush covered her features and she moved her head up to mine to meet for another deep kiss. "I ..." I said, as her hands found new places to explore. "Orihime..." I moaned kissing down her neck to her breasts. I kissed savagely, but sweetly to. Pausing just a bit to take off our pants and her bra, also to put on protection, our hot flesh met hot flesh as she massaged my member. Moaning, kissed deeply and let my hands wander around her body. We still kissed sinfully, our embrace longing and passionate. I licked my fingertips, and began to gently swirl them around her hardening nipples. Leaning down, I then outright licked them and blew a cool breeze around them. Orihime moaned, calling out my name into my shoulder.

I put my member at her entrance. "You... Ready?" I asked, panting.

She shook her head eagerly.

I kissed her as I began thrusting gently into her. She had let out a moan with every thrust I sent her way, and I began going a bit faster and rougher. She massaged my nipples, and kissed my chest. Her hands clawed at my back, her breath steam from her lips. "Ich.. Ichigo..." She moaned as I pulled away and kissed her deeply. I then reentered and her moans intensified.

Moaning as well, our lips met in out hold of love and longing.

"Orihime... I... I'm gonna.."

I said, ready to climax.

"Do it.." She said on my lips as I let myself come.

We fell asleep in each other's arms the night. Her head rested in my chest and my hands held tightly around her head, as if shielding her from harm.

I vowed, from this moment onward, I would be Orihime Inuoe's protector. Forever, always. I would do whatever necessary.

I would never forget the warmth she brought back to my life, and the smile on my face, unlike any other it had held since my mother had died