No Regrets

Chapter 1: Our Moments

The weeks went by, slowing as the numbers increased. Ichigo couldn't ignore that the girl he loved was missing.

School days became torture sessions, staring at her empty seat with no focus on the lesson. It was too much to handle.

Most nights, the young Substitute Shinigami found himself crying into his pillow. All traces of her reiatsu, her scent, they had disappeared from his room.

Had he done something to upset her? There were so many questions and curiosities about the mystery, Orihime Inoue had vanished from Karukura Town.

Not even Uryu could follow her reiatsu very far, it was as if she covered it up. Like she'd run away...

But it made no sense! Ichigo couldn't get over it that easily, this was no ordinary girl.

This was the girl that he had risked his life several times to protect, who had gained her own powers by just contact with him, the girl who was so important, the girl who he loved with all of his heart.

Now she was gone. No words of goodbye, no explanation

Half of him wanted to run the whole Earth in search of her, the other just wanted to her be safe and happy. But what did happiness matter? It was merely impossible that she could be anything close to happy if she had to run away to do it.

To think, recently their relationship together had been so much more exciting, adventurous and colourful than ever before. Ichigo had enjoyed every single moment with her one thousand times more with each day that passed. She was like a goddess, one of the only remaining things that really mattered to him.

The same question popped up in his head again and again, where could she possibly have gone? Then why?

It was like a nightmare, not having her there beside him. Not even the memories could calm him.

Every time he only remembered the heart-breaking sight of her empty seat. If only he could see the most amazing parts again, when she'd spend most of the evening in his room, they'd talk for hours on end about whatever they were thinking of. That never got boring,

Of course, there were the other nights they couldn't ever really forget, alone together in her apartment...

Those times were what he wanted back again, he wanted to hold her in his arms, to kiss her and see the familiar blush appear on her cheeks. Just what were the chances that he'd ever have that again?

With a sigh, he lay back on his bed. If only...the light would spark again. Then as he thought that, a most treasured memory came back, the first time...

"Keep your eyes closed, no peeking!".

"Awh, but I'm so tempted!" her angelic voice murmured. The blindfold tied around her head fully prevented her from sussing out the surprise or any essence of it.

"Hang on...you can look soon," he promised. His hands were on her shoulders, guiding her through the house, almost reaching the destination.

"Are we there yet?" she inquired to some adorable extent. Ichigo opened the door and stepped in front of her, chuckling at her pout. He reached to pull the blindfold away, revealing to her the secret at last.

"Surprise...".

Orihime's eyes became a little wide with her shock to the sight before her. All around Ichigo's bedroom were candles and rose petals, only an accessory to the blanket and picnic basket set in the middle of the floor.

"Wow..." she whispered, awe-struck as Ichi took her hand and led her to the blanket. They sat cross-leged, facing each other. He couldn't help but fall helpless to her gorgeous eyes, the light of the candle flames glistening in their surface.

"It's a special occasion!" Ichigo smiled, "Most teenage couples barley last a month," he laughed. Their one year anniversary had come much more quickly than they could ever have imagined, but the whole time had been just another wonderful experience.

"Well, most teenage girls don't love their boyfriends like I do," she bounced forward, wrapping her arms around him. There were slight tears in her eyes, since falling in love with Ichigo those years ago, every sense of romance had an emotional impact.

"In that case I can promise that nobody else could ever love you like I do, it's just not possible," he slid his arms around her waist, closing his eyes to enjoy the embrace.

When they let go, Orihime sat back as Ichigo started to pull out a bowl from the basket. He set it onto the blanket and took off the cloth covering the top.

"Strawberries?" she laughed, peering inside.

"Of course," he grinned, picking up one of the small berries, leaning over and placing it in her mouth. It was just like in a movie, she smiled before feeding him the same way. This little passing game lasted until the bowl was empty.

They sat back, slumped against Ichigo's bed. He looked over to her. Orihime was one hundred percent content, closed eyes combined with the smile that curved in her mouth.

He moved his hand above hers and curled his fingers around it, smiling as she looked back at him. Before any words could be said, he reached over and picked her up, cradle-fashion. She giggled in pitches ripping through several octaves, putting her arms around him again.

Ichigo smirked before capturing her lips, locking his focus to her, nothing could distract him during moments like these. Many seconds passed before he felt strong enough to pull away, they both exhaled through their noses and continued to dive deeper into the moment.

As Orihime began to lean back, with him following, until she was lay down on the floor with Ichigo knelt above her. His elbows rested firmly on the ground, his fists grasping the blanket as their kiss gradually got more intense.

Now a more elegant blush painted the 17-year old girls cheek, her eyes barely open to see the man she loved in front of her.

Then he moved up to her forehead, planting another kiss there before she stopped to breathe. Orihime hesitantly asked a questions before anything else happened, "So your family isn't here?" her words were quick, careful not to spoil anything.

"Nope, they'll be out for a few more hours...".

With that she placed her hands at the sides of his cheeks and pulled his face back in to continue. Few more moments passed before she let go, quickly and bravely beginning to open the buttons of his shirt. It was half unexpected, at least for Orihime to be the one to turn the whole thing in another direction.

However it made no difference, because both of them wanted it.

Next moment, his shirt was off and they were working on Orihime's. The blouse opened easily and she shrugged it off, before putting her arms back around his neck. Remaining clothes were all shed one by one until they both got up to their feet.

A line of moonlight leaked in through a gap in the curtains, shining right between the two, stood facing each other. Their cautious smiles were excited and scared at the same time, ready for whatever was next.

"The first time..." Orihime whispered, pressing her head forward to Ichigo's chest.

"Hmm?" he brushed back the hair from her face, holding her jaw and pointing her head back up to face his, so that she could answer.

"This is the first time..." she said a little louder, looking into his eyes. He smiled before leaning down to kiss her again...

Now he was angry, remembering had just made everything more painful.

He couldn't believe how much he missed it, just to touch her, to be near her. The joyful aura that surrounded here, if only it were here now, that could always make him feel better no matter what.

It was already too late, Ichigo's mind unravelled and twisted in the memory of her. He wanted to be mad at her for leaving like that, but there was not a single part of him that wanted hatrid of her.

The only thing left was desire.

As the last few of his tears were shed, he turned off the lights and drifted into sleep.

After some time, his eyes flickered open. Ichigo jolted out of bed, barely awake. The alarm had been the impatient knocking at the door.

Before he went to answer, he waited for a noise. His family were probably down there already, but then he saw the clock.

It read at four thirty in the morning, who could possibly be at that door? Now it was clearer, he could see the darkness outside his window.

As he stumbled downstairs, he began to hope it wasn't some joke, maybe Keigo. That would not end well for him. At all.

Then the knocking stopped. Just what was going on? He swung the door open, wide-eyed at what he saw.

Ichigo's breathing slowed down a lot, he stayed silent and fell to his knees. Still, he said nothing, he only reached out and grabbed the pale hand of the dead Orihime Inoue.

She lay limp and lifeless on the ground, covered in her blood, engulfed in cuts and gashes. It was all over now, he could safely assume that she'd never come back...

"No!" he jumped up.

"Ichigo, thank goodness you're okay!".

Yuzu and Karin leaned over him, gently giving him a hug before taking one of his hands each. "What were you dreaming about? We came to get you up for school, but you didn't wake up and then you screamed...".

"D-don't worry about it, okay?" he exhaled, getting up out of the bed. Soon he noticed where he was.

It appeared to be one of the clinic patient rooms, they must have been really worried.

Then Yuzu spoke again, "Dad was going to come in here too, but he said he'd wait outside for you. You should rest in here for a little longer before you go to school, it's kinda late but when you get there it'll only be an hour or so," she smiled.

At that information Ichigo got to his feet, "Thanks, but I need to get there soon. There's...an important lesson this morning," he lied.

"What's that?" Karin asked,

"Oh, it's...I...sorry, there are several important lessons and I don't remember which one!" he was never the greatest liar in the Kurosaki family.

Before they could ask any more questions, he fled to get dressed for school. That only took ten minutes, so before long he was several steps up from the bottom of the stairs. But he knew what was probably waiting, Isshin drama.

Ichigo gulped and continued to walk down, finding his father turned away facing the fire. He looked back at him, "You're awake?" he smiled.

"Yeah," he held his breath to see if there was a tackle or glomp coming.

Isshin calmly walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, son?".

This was rare, normal family moments with Isshin?

"I am, it was just...a really realistic nightmare."

"Aha, okay," he smiled again, "You'd better get to school then."

Before long, Ichigo was on the familiar path to his new place of torture. Every day, he got there excited to see if Orihime had returned. But it never happened, every day a fragment of his heart seemed to crumble away.

As always, he only paid attention to her empty seat. The lessons just didn't matter to him, school was now just a way to kill him slowly.

Death? Now that's an idea.

Ichigo exhaled sarcastically, a quiet laugh to himself. Nobody heard, so nobody looked at him. Even if they had, most of the class thought he was going crazy. It made no difference.

The soul society didn't know much about this, they had been busy for a few months. But they probably wouldn't do much about a human's disappearance without persuasion. That was something Ichigo did no want to do, he didn't even want to talk about it to anybody.

"Kurosaki, are you paying attention?".

He paused, "Y-yeah, Miss Ochi...". His sigh proved he wasn't, and his eyes had wandered outside the window.

It was very clear that had been a lie, but the teacher carried on with her lesson as always. When school ended, Ichigo was called to speak to her.

"Is something wrong, Miss Ochi?" he asked calmly, not seeming to care very much about whatever she might have to day.

"Ichigo, I know you're upset. You and Miss Inoue are very deeply in love, everybody can see that," she put her hand on his shoulder, like his father had earlier today. "Orihime's disappearance is tearing you apart piece by piece, but you should stop letting it distract you in class. School as very important. I understand that you miss her, we all do. But she wouldn't want you to be like this, whatever the reason she left was."

"I..." he struggled for words.

"Listen to me, she didn't do this to hurt you. That girl loves you more than anybody could ever love, she was trying to protect you. I...she sent me a message this morning, for you," - Ichigo's eyes lit up - "You need to go to...the water? That's what it says. I'm sorry, that's all the information I have, but I'm assuming you know what that means?".

Silence struck the near empty room before he turned to the door. His head was down, the look of determination burning in his eyes. "I know."

Nothing could stop him now, he ran full speed to the river. If Orihime had returned, he needed to see her, to kiss and hug her again.

It didn't take long to get there, because he so badly needed to be. The place looked empty, nobody seemed to be there. If somebody was tricking him, they would get shown how it feels to have a zanpakuto at their neck.

Minutes passed, nothing happened. So he sat on the grassy bank, looking out at the water. This was were they went on their first date. Well, at least they ended up here after the movie. It held so many good and bad memories, he couldn't control the flow in his head. His eyes closed and he arched over, one hand supporting his head.

Then the quiet voice came, "Ichigo?".

His head turned faster than ever before, he knew this voice better than anything.

Finally, she was there, real life. No longer just a picture in his head. She was here. "Orihime?".

Something was wrong. Her beautiful face was patchy and red, tears streaming down from her eyes. There was definitely something wrong there.

It had to be another nightmare, this couldn't be right. She rarely cried like this, who had done this to her?

"I'm...here," she looked guilty, seeing what she had done to him.

Ichigo climbed to his feet, he walked over to her with a serious expression on his face. Before he believed it, he had to know. His hands came up around her face, which he observed.

Orihime closed her eyes, afraid to hear what he might say. The second she opened her eyes again, she was surprised.

"Where have you been?" he smiled and wrapped himself around her. She kept still, with the tears still rolling down.

"I had to leave for a little while..." she whispered, no real explanations given right then.

"Why did you leave then?" he chuckled, putting one hand at the back of her head.

"I..." she began, Ichigo let go to listen properly, looking into her eyes. "Ichigo, I have a problem."

New story! This one is gonna be a substitute. My other stories are currently unreachable, so I cannot update at the moment. But this one, I have 100% access to, and I have many ideas and much inspiration. It may even have several chapters before the end of the year! :)

I actually like the plan for this story, which is quite rare for me to say XD

Sorry about any mistakes -_-

Please leave a review, I'd love to know what you think!

~HellYus