Bleach: Not Here

Summary: A different take on the famous line that appears almost everywhere "Don't leave me here…" –IchiHime-- [one shot

Light Note: Decided that there needs to be some more IchiHime fluff around.

Listened to: Yours to Hold – Comatose(Skillet), The Noose(A Perfect Circle), Broken Bridge(unknown), Welcome to the Slaughterhouse(Lily Holbrook)

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It seemed to take forever for the lone figure falling from the sky to land. That forever was filled with dreaded silence that no one dared to break. Huddled outside the house, the rain pouring heavily onto their heads, the group of shinigamis did all there was to do. They waited, and prayed, and wished, though they knew there was no God to answer.

At the foremost of the group stood a girl, hands clasped, eyes closed, tears running unrestrained, "Please," she pleaded to the sky, holding the boy in a seemingly never ending fall, "Let him be alright."

The group behind her shared knowing looks, the truth flooding to the others, making the mood morbid.

Further and further he fell, not knowing that down below waited open arms and shoulder to lean on. A person who cared so much for him that'd she'd risk her life, just to make sure he would be alive to see the rising sun.

Further and further he fell, and the girl followed with her eyes, legs already moving as he picked up speed. Some one she couldn't replace. A man unlike any other, who'd protect her with everything he had.

Down and down. Faster and faster. He fell. She ran.

And with the rain as their connecter, they embraced. This time the man from heaven, and the woman of the earth.

She held his head, cooing somberly into his ear, not noticing the others coming to take him from her. The girl simply followed the lifeless form, caring not for the wounds inflicted upon her. He was all that mattered.

Finally reaching the house, a young shinigami already performing healing actions, she stood off to the side, broken as her power. Broken as her love. The crease in his forehead worried her. The way his breathing was coming harder scared her. Flying to his side as his eyes opened, she whispered his name, amorously, "Ichigo…"

Her eyes closed at his hand on her cheek. Grasping it in her own she listened to his labored dialect, "Orihime… I'm sorry. I should have been able to protect you, but I wasn't." She shook her head, the thought preposterous.

"No…Don't say that," sniffing, she looked into his golden brown eyes, "You make it sound like your leaving me." He looked away and she knew the truth.

He was leaving her.

"I can't hold on any longer."

A hand on her shoulder pulled her back, "Hana can't do anymore." She didn't register the voice, only the sickingly sad look plastered to his face. Figuring it was all a crude joke, she barked a laugh, surprising those around her.

"That look…" she paused and took him in again, eyes lingering at the open gash across his chest, revealing the bone, "So unbecoming of you Ichigo…" She came forward again, and took his hands. With fresh tears falling, she could only utter a single sentence.

"Don't leave me here."

Of all the places for him to die. Of all the places for him to spend his last fleeting moments of something that had barely begun. It had to be where she had lost everything once before.

In unison, their eyes followed the sky, landing themselves on the sign to the Kurosaki clinic.

How ironic. It was the place she lost everything once, it was the place where she had found something new to care for, and it would be the place she would lose it all again.

"Hey Dad."

His father looked down at him, eyes full of pride and grief, "Yes?"

"Make sure you have an exorcist come. This place has got to be possessed, I swear." His lips quirked into a smirk, his eyes dimming,

"I'll make a note of it."

Ichigo nodded and looked again to his Orihime, "Hime…" her stare was as dead as his, "I'm sorry to do this to you. It's not the way I had pictured my last moments." Wincing in pain, she found his hand and gave a squeeze, "I pictured, you and me. Someplace quiet and beautiful. Holding hands, and you giving me that brilliant smile. Then we'd lay down on the ground and we'd be off to Soul Society together. Forever. Cliché I know, but that's what I wanted."

Orihime couldn't control herself. Flinging her body over his and weeping miserably, Ichigo rubbed her back as she muttered that sentence like a mantra.

"Don't leave me here. Please…Anywhere but here…"

"I'm sorry…All I ever say to you is I'm sorry…"

"Don't go…Not here…Not here…"

"But now it's for the last time."

"Not here…Not here…"

"I'm sorry."

"Not here."

With their hands clasped, with friends surrounding them, and the ground beneath them, two bodies slipped into everlasting sleep, a final farewell gracing their lips.

"Maybe the next time…"