Hi guys! Thanks for checking out my FanFic^_^

This is my first fic that I've decided I really want to work on so I'm uploading it -I've started quite a few but haven't done much.

This is an IchiHime fic, so if you don't like this pairing, then please turn away now!

I'm hoping for this fic to be at least 6 chapters long as I already have an idea of where I want it to go.

Oh yeah and I don't own Bleach, if I did Grimmjow would be back already.

"Inoue-san, please wait!"

Orihime slammed the sliding doors of the small town shop open, ignoring the owner's plea to stop and continuing to run as hastily as she could.

Her vision had blurred from the tears that had already started to fall, Urahara's words resounding inside her head.

"Inoue-san, how are you feeling?" Orihime squinted towards the direction of the voice as she came around. Urahara was knelt beside her looking more sombre than usual. As she looked around she recognised the familiar panelled walls of his shop. She sat herself up, becoming aware of a dull ache in her chest that caught her breath making her cough.

Urahara reached over and patted her back gently.

"Thank you Urahara-san," she gave him a weak smile and rubbed her chest. There were no bandages so she must have just been hit hard there. "Hmm, my chest is a little sore but everything else seems to be fine!" She wiggled her bare toes and tapped her head lightly with her knuckles letting out a little laugh.

Urahara's face flinched, and he closed his eyes slowly, taking in a deep breath preparing himself.

"Inoue-san, I'm afraid that I have some bad news for you, you are not as fine as you seem." Orihime looked at him questioningly, completely unprepared for what was about to come. "When you were fighting those hollows earlier, I'm afraid one of them managed to sneak up on you, and although you detected it at the last second, it managed to disconnect your soul from your body by pushing your soul with such force. Before I could stop it your chain attaching you to your real body got broken."

Orihime's eyes had widened and she was now crying silently, her hands trembling, covering her mouth in horror.

"Are…are you saying…that I…I'm d-dead?" Her words were muffled from coming out between her fingers, but still decipherable. She was scared, had her life really ended just like that?

Urahara looked her in the eye, "No. Don't worry you're not dead, I managed to save you." Orihime sobbed into her hands in relief, murmuring numerous 'thank god's'. "Inoue-san, I'm sorry but, although I did manage to save your life, I'm afraid that because your chain had shortened so much in that space of time, you began to Hollowfy. Inoue-san, I'm afraid to tell you that.." before he'd had a chance to finish she'd already scrambled clumsily to her feet and ran.

Urahara hadn't needed to finish what he was going to say. She'd heard from Ichigo himself one time when he'd explained to her why he had his hollow side.

But she'd felt her stomach drop at his words, her senses becoming numb like they weren't her own. How could something like this have happened to her?

Her legs felt like lead but she willed herself to keep running, her breath beginning to get caught in her throat, she gasped for air but her lungs ached greedily for more.

She eventually reached her apartment door after racing up the steps. She fumbled with her keys to open the lock on her door, a task made harder by her hands that wouldn't stop shaking. After five or so attempts she managed to get the key into the lock, which clicked open letting her shove her way past the door as soon as there was a gap large enough to let her through, then she re-shut it. She ran straight over to her bed and flung herself on top of it.

Tucking her arms under the pillow she buried her face into it, breathing in the smell of her orange and mango shampoo that had soaked into it, trying to let something else intoxicate her mind, but her salty tears were now also mixing into it, the warm damp irritating to feel on her skin but she didn't move her face away, her tears were a sign that she was still human.

Orihime felt her heart beat jitter as she wondered to herself how much longer she would stay so human, and if she would stay human at all. Thoughts like this swam through her head, which only caused her to cry more, which she continued to do until she eventually drifted off to sleep.

Orihime awoke to the sound of a visitor knocking on her door. She blinked a few times to clear her vision, her eyes gazing blearily around her room. It took her only a few moments to remember the day's earlier events, her stomach feeling achingly empty as she placed her delicate hand on top of her chest.

Hearing another knock on the door she turned onto her front, burying her face into the futon and pulling her pillow over her head. She wasn't in the mood to see anyone right now. She concentrated for a moment to sense who it was at her door, and was surprised to find that it was Ichigo. She gritted her teeth. Normally seeing him was enough to brighten her day, but she couldn't bear to face him like this.

"Inoue? Inoue please open the door." His voice sounded out of breath as he continued to knock on the door, each knock becoming rapidly louder. She pulled the pillow harder over her head, trying to just block it out.

"Inoue, I know you're in there, I can feel your reiatsu!" There was a hint of a growl in his voice as he began to feel agitated, not necessarily with her, but with the fact that he really wanted to be there for her right now, and she wasn't letting anybody in, not even him. He thought that he was at least more important to her than Urahara, but that clearly wasn't the case. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist on the door. "FUCK!" He slammed his fist harder on the door.

The cursing and the bang caused Orihime to flinch. She couldn't believe that she was making him act like this. She felt the tears coming on again and buried her face into her futon.

Next thing she knew a pair of calloused hands had grabbed her by the arms and lifted and turned her into a sitting position.

Her eyes had become puffy and red from the crying, the usual warm brown irises were now dull and lifeless as they met with a pair of fierce bronze tinted brown eyes.

She looked past Ichigo to the door to see that he had broken his way through on that last bang on the door.

"Inoue…" his voice had become gentle upon finding her in such a state. It hurt him to see her like this. Along with her puffy eyes, her hair was a mess and she'd obviously fell asleep, still in her daywear.

He suddenly became aware of how small and fragile she was.

"Inoue…are you okay?" She looked back to him as he continued to survey her. She could feel the slight shake in his hands that were still gripping her firmly. She wrapped her small hands around his wrists, confirming to herself that he was really there, a solid entity that she needed right now. She hung her head and began to cry out loud.

"I…I'm just so scared. I have th-this thing…inside me," she clutched the shirt over her chest, "…I don't want it…it d-disgusts me." She got her words out in broken breaths, trying and failing to stop her sobbing.

The sound of her crying tore through Ichigo like a blade. But at the same time her words made his stomach churn. Was this how she saw him? Did he still scare her? Was he disgusting to her?

Orihime felt Ichigo's grip weaken on her, she glanced up and saw that his face was contorted and he was no longer looking at her. She instantaneously knew what was going through his head, he could be so easy for her to read sometimes, and she regretted what she said though she had meant no ill harm to him.

"K-Kurosaki-kun, no that's not what I mean…I-I could never see you th-that way. Nothing you do could ever scare me again. It's just th-that, it's another reminder of what happened to my brother. Having this…hollow side of me, it's going to be like a constant reminder of it…every day." She sniffed loudly, hoping that he would understand. She loved him; there was nothing about him that could ever falter that.

Ichigo cursed to himself. Of course…her brother. Ichigo felt a wave of relief flow through him.

He looked back into her eyes, and brushed the stray strands of hair away from her face then gripped her shoulders.

"Inoue, I'll help you get through this. I promise you. I won't let anything bad happen to you." His voice was so sincere and full of promise, his eyes became bright with amber tints, Orihime knew he meant each word. For the first time since finding out about her fate, she felt some relief. Maybe everything wasn't going to be as bad as she initially thought, but still bad. She managed a small smile.

"Th-thank you K-Kurosaki-kun."