150 Year Old Best Friend
"Good fight, Hiyori!"
"Feh… You're even stronger than when I last fought you…"
"Hmph! Good thing we couldn't release Shikai - let alone Bankai - here!"
"Very! We'd kill each other!"
"Break your heart!"
"Actually…"
"Sentiment?"
"Bullshit!"
"Thought so, ya naughty little bitch!"
She went scarlet.
"Shut up!"
"Heh… Come here…"
He smacked her ass. She went a very, very deep shade of red.
"GWAH!!! I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"
"Wah!!"
"Oh come on! You have no sense of humor, you stupid fag!" although she was still bright red.
"OH! So I'm a British cigarette, now?"
"Let's light you on fire and smoke ya, then we'll see!"
"You're SO funny, you sick bitch!"
"I know, fucker!"
She softened sadly. She caressed his face with the back of her hand tenderly, like she was going to kiss him. She moved her face quite close to his, and softly breathed into his ear.
"Just don't push yourself too hard, shithead… I don't want to kill you…"
"Um… Er… I… Uh…"
"Just teasing ya, dumbass!" she winked (though quite pink).
"Cool! Let's do it while no one's home!!" he joked
She punched him, harder this time but still quite amiably.
"Sick bastard! You'd need a maximum-strength sex-magnet charm to get me into your bed!!"
"Don't need to! I've already got you hooked on the Ichigo drug! Besides, I have a maximum-strength sex-magnet charm! It's called a foot and a half of manhood!"
"YOU'RE A SICK, SICK, SICK BASTARD!! (Is it really that fucking long?!?)"
"Now who has no sense of humor? (And 3 inches in diameter)"
"You! (I can already imagine how that would feel!! (OW))"
"I have a better sense of humor than-"
He was interrupted by Hachi appearing at the door they were standing next to, dripping a large amount of blood from one shoulder and carrying the unconscious Mashiro and Lisa on his back. Immediately they knew something was wrong.
"Rose, Ukitake-taicho and Shinji're dead, whereas Urahara, Soi Fon, Love and these two are critically injured. Shinji was decapitated by Odin, Ukitake-taicho tried to give us time, and Rose tried to protect Love and was killed by Ikkaidomaru. Hitsugaya-taicho and Kensei held back to protect the others and to give me time to get here."
Ichigo and Hiyori stared at him. Then they looked at each other in pure, unadulterated shock. Ichigo was stunned, but he felt ashamed of himself. He should have gone. Shinji and Ukitake needn't have died. He should be the dead one. He cursed himself. That was when Hiyori's tough act finally came to a standstill. Broken, she grabbed Ichigo's front, buried her face into his chest, and began to sob uncontrollably.
Ichigo cursed himself again. Ukitake had become like a second father to him, but Shinko and Rose were some of her closest friends. She had finally begun to think of Urahara as the kind man that he was; she began to admire him; she had even begun to think of him as a father, and he was probably as alive by now as Shinji and Rose. Hitsugaya was a good friend, too, and he could very well die.
"Ohhh…" moaned Hiyori in total heartache.
"It's OK…"
"NO IT'S FUCKING NOT!!!!" she pounded his shoulder, "HOW WOULD YOU UNDERSTAND LOSS?! YOU'RE 19!!! IF YOU THINK YOU DO, THEN ENLIGHTEN ME!!! WELL!?!?!? YOU CAN'T, CAN YOU?!!? JUST TRY!!!!"
Ichigo looked at his best friend compassionately and forlornly.
"I lost my mother when I was four…"
"SO?!?!"
"She died to save my life… I fell for a hollow trap and she saved me. No one in my family ever fully recovered from it, and I thought I was to blame for over a decade. I couldn't laugh. I couldn't crack a joke. I could barely even smile. It was miserable… I was so lonely… And when I finally fought the hollow that killed her, all I wanted was revenge, and I was too weak even to have that. It was so painful… I felt like such a failure. When Rukia disappeared, I was scared that I'd let someone else who was that close to me die, and she almost did. Again, I felt like a total fuckup. Do you understand what I'm saying? Loss has torn me in half."
Hiyori looked up to see her own personal despondency (this means pain and suffering for the people without a dictionary) reflected and magnified in his young face.
"Ichigo…"
"Do you still think I don't understand?"
Hiyori's eyes shone with tears. She stroked his face with deep sympathy and even deeper shame. He stroked hers even more caringly.
'I'm so stupid… I'm supposed to be his friend? Bah… I'm no better than an Espada… I don't… I can't… I… I can't… I… can't… break his heart… But… I… I can't love this kid… He's too young… Way, way, way too young! It's… Too much to take!!!' she thought with agonizing realization. Even her thoughts bore the shame of her love. She took her Zanpaktou and tried to stab herself out of misery and guilt. Ichigo stopped her. She looked at him, and for the first time he saw what her true, inner self was. A scared, lonely, confused little girl who had a magnified sense of sympathy that she tried so hard to conceal. He couldn't bear to see her in such sheer agony. She dropped the Zanpaktou subconsciously. Then she rushed him and cried still more into him.
"It's OK, Hiyori-chan… It's OK…" he said, patting her back kindheartedly.
"Ichigo-chan!!" she gasped between sobs, "I'm horrible!! Just… Horrible!!"
"You're OK… You're not horrible… You're all right… I promise…"
Hachi smiled feebly.
'That boy doesn't cease to amaze me… I simply can't believe Hiyori trusts him so much… I don't even think she trusted Hikifune-taicho this much,' he thought.
Hiyori looked up at him one more time.
"I'm sorry… Ichigo… I made you relive such a painful memory… I'm so…"
"You don't need to say sorry, idiot…"
"Thank you, Ichigo… chan… Come closer…"
He did.
"I… really love being around you… You're the best friend I ever had. Take care of your sisters… Don't forget about me… Goodnight… you dumbass strawberry…"
And at long last, she drifted into a blissful sleep, completely atoned, in her own mind, in Ichigo's arms. After a minute, he looked up.
"I'll go get Unokuki, Hachi."
"I'm fine, Ichigo. Just take care of the girls."
"Right…"
"One more thing."
"What?"
"Don't you ever leave her side."
Ichigo smiled reassuringly.
"I won't. That isn't a promise to you, either. It's a promise to her."
Hachi smiled back.
"Then make this one to the both of us. Be her world."
"Don't you worry… I will."
And Ichigo walked away, carrying his sleeping friend away. He smiled at last.
'She looks so beautiful…I hope she recovers from this. She could have a great future with some lucky guy if she only recovers. So… She does think that much of me. Well! That makes me happy,' he thought, 'I guess from now on… She's my life… I can't go back to Karin and Yuzu… Not yet… She needs me… Here…'
And that's the story. Unokuki's a medic, by the way, and Ikkaidomaru and Odin are Bount-Espada hybrids. This is only supposed to hint IchiHiyo romance, BTW.