Ichigo was dreaming.
Everything was fuzzy.
Hazy.
Words were warped. Sometimes soft, sometimes they amplified so much it hurt.
Sometimes though.. It sounded completely natural.
It was just a bad dream.
A face.
So familiar.
He knew that face.
He tried to move. But… It hurt. It hurt so much.
A warmth.
It clenched his hand. What was that warmth?
Whoßs warmth?
Their fingers were soft. And delicate. The palms of their hands, warm and velvety.
The warmth trembled, like a butterfly might, caught in a rain storm. Fluttered.
And suddenly. He could hear.
Breathing.
Warm breath tickled his face. It was not unpleasant. Quite the opposite.
Her face.
Of course he knew that face.
He had seen that face first when he was only ten. That face had dragged her dying brother to his clinic. Had carried him on her small, tiny back. He had first seen that face covered in blood.
And then he knew.
Orihime.
He wanted to reach out. Her face was getting closer. Her eyes clenched shut. Her face, somewhat pink.
Then.
Hot tears dripped heavily on to his face.
They slid down his cheeks.
"I can't."
"I just cant… it's the very end and I try something like that… I'm so stupid." She rubbed her face.
"There were a lot of people I wanted to say goodbye to. Sado-kun, Tatsuki-han, Renji-san, Ishida-kun, Kuchiki-san… I wish I could say goodbye to them all, but understand that I can't. You know… There were a lot of things I wanted to do. I wanted to become a robot, a baker, a teacher, and astronaut… Ahh… If only I could live five lifetimes! I could eat five lifetimes worth of food, be born in five different cities, have five different jobs… And.. Kurosaki-kun, I could… Fall in love with the same person, five times." The tears had stopped.
"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun. Goodybye."
And then a golden light swallowed him up. And he fell in to a state of dreaming.
…
Ichigo. Fell.
"Ouch! Damn it, my head, my head!!! Jeez, falling out of a bed because of a bad dream, how cliché."
He rubbed his sore head.
His eyes widened.
His hand was working.
"Who..?"
Damn, he had always been bad at this.
But.
There was no mistaking the golden traces of reiatsu.
"Inoue…"
"Orihime most likely."
Ichigo jumped, he spun around, and relaxed upon seeing Hitsugaya.
"Come, Kurusaki, there is much we need to discuss."
You see as Ichigo heard that cod emotionless account of Orihime's disappearance. He knew. He had always known. From the moment he saw that little gril's face. The girl who had asked him to help her brother. From that moment.
"I forbid you to rescue her."
He knew.
"You bastards!" Ichigo strained against Renji's grip.
He…
'Why, WHY, did he have to chose between the two? Save Orihime Inoue. Or… Betray Soul Society. His friends lived there. They would be restrained.'
He knew.
"Ichigo…"
He knew.
Hew knew that the auburn haired angel.
Wouldn't change the world as he knew it.
That had been the raven haired girl.
She would.
Shatter it.
But.
The girl who would shatter his world. Was the girl he had fallen in love with. As he stared at her blood spattered face, and she begged for his help.
And suddenly. His bad dream.
Became reality.