Where they were meant to belong
Full Summary: Inoue is kidnapped by an unknown group of assailants and Ichigo has to go and rescue her, again. However, he soon realizes that the girl meant more to him than he realized, and he could not bear to lose her all over again. He would always go and rescue her, even if it meant risking his own life. Will he manage to save her in time or will this time prove different than the other times?
Main Pairings: Ichihime, nuff said.
Timeline: The events in this story occur after the Fake Karakura Town Arc, where Inoue has been rescued safely and Ichigo's group resumed its daily life. Ichigo still has his shinigami powers in this fanfic though.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, they are the sole property of Tite Kubo (who I have to admit has done a brilliant job in designing his characters, his artwork is amazing!)
A/N: Welcome to my third fanfic. This time I decided to write a Bleach one, since one of my best pairings ever is in that anime i.e. IchiHime. I hope you all enjoy it and I promise it will be worth your time. Read and review ;)
Reminder
Kurosaki Ichigo lay in his bed staring into the roof. Tilting his head a little, he looked at the clock that lay on his bedside. It read 1 pm. Those guys must be having lunch right now, he thought to himself. It was the fourth day of the week and he was aware that school would be closing for the summer holidays soon. It was with this knowledge that he had decided to skip the last three days of school, stating to his group of friends that missing one or two final days of school wouldn't really make much of a difference. He really didn't leave them much room to protest, since he immediately left for home when he broke the news to them. This had occurred a day ago.
Shifting to his side purely out of coincidence, his phone which also lay there untouched immediately sprung up with a ring. A bit startled, Ichigo reached out for the device, although he had a faint idea as to who had decided to interrupt his peaceful afternoon, away from everyone. Flipping the phone, Asano Keigo's voice immediately filled the room, causing some birds that were perched on a nearby tree to scurry away in fright, "ICHIGO WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST DROPPED BY AT SCHOOL SO THAT WE COULD HANG OUT!" The words flowed continuously from Keigo, which made Ichigo wonder how come he had not even run out of breath yet. When he was sure that it was his turn to speak (after a slight pause where the recipient had gone silent), Ichigo replied, "Dude for the last time, I'm not appearing in that place till next semester. I already told you this. Besides I'm sure you guys aren't really doing anything of much importance, are you?" At this point Mizuiro Kojima's voice was the one which replied (he had taken the phone from Keigo, apparently unable to tolerate more of his shouting).
"Forget him Ichigo. You know Asano-san can't go a day without being head-locked by you. "(Keigo shrieked at these words, he still couldn't believe that Mizuiro called him Asano-san, despite the fact that they were friends for almost two years now) Ichigo chuckled at this reply, before saying, "I know man, either way what's up? I don't think you called me to discuss Keigo's weird habits." Mizuiro replied again,"Oh yeah, I wanted to remind you about the Bad Shield ticket I got you a while ago. The concert is on Saturday so I wanted to confirm if you were going so I would pass by your place and drop off the ticket this evening." Ichigo suddenly realized what Mizuiro was talking about.
A month had passed since the defeat of Aizen Sousuke at Ichigo's hands. Inoue Orihime had been successfully rescued and Ichigo had resumed his daily life, alongside Ishida Uryuu and Sado Yasutora. Luckily, none of them had perished during their quest in Hueco Mundo to save Inoue, so Ichigo was more than pleased and he felt like he deserved a break after all that had happened. His other friends in school; Arisawa Tatsuki, Keigo Asano and Mizuiro Kojima had also emerged unscathed, even after the whole incident with Aizen in Soul Society. Ichigo remembered that he had indeed asked Mizuiro to get him the Bad Shield ticket a few weeks before he left for Hueco Mundo, promising that he would indeed return in time for the concert, and now it looked like the time to pay his dues had arrived.
"Yeah, I'll definitely come. (Keigo let out a squeak of delight next to Mizuiro). What time is the concert again?" he inquired. "It's at 8 p.m," Mizuiro replied almost immediately, with a much lighter tone in his voice. He was also obviously happy that Ichigo had decided to accompany both him and Keigo. He then continued, "Oh, and by the way it would be cool if you brought a girl with you. It would help kill the stale atmosphere surrounding three guys. I'd suggest bringing along Inoue-san."
Keigo at this point was jumping up and down in complete bliss, while chanting, "Inoue-san is coming with us! Inoue-san is coming with us!" while skipping around the area where Mizuiro sat. "Ichigo?" Mizuiro asked through the phone. He was not wrong to ask, however, since Ichigo had fallen dead-silent on the receiving end of the call. He stared at his cellphone to make sure that Ichigo had not hung up, he was still there. Meanwhile, on the other side of the phone, Ichigo was stunned by what Mizuiro had just suggested to him. Sure enough, he and Inoue had been friends for as long as he could remember, but he had never before asked a girl to accompany him to an event, much less a rock concert. He simply found it too troublesome. Therefore, he was dead-sure that asking Inoue would be a hassle, but that wasn't the case as in his reply.
"I'll think about it," Ichigo finally managed to speak up. "Good. I'll see you in the evening then," Mizuiro concluded, before finally hanging up. Ichigo placed his phone next to his bedside, before placing his hand over his eyes and becoming deeply endorsed in his thoughts. Honestly, asking Inoue would be harder than he originally thought it would be, all because of revelations he had received in the past. "Inoue Orihime was in your room last night to heal your injuries," he remembered concluding to the Captain Commander to prove that Inoue was still alive. "Why did you protect him? Let me tell you the answer. It's because you-," Ulquiorra Schiffer informed Inoue during their battle in Las Noches. These two revelations had helped him come to a really unsettling conclusion, and deciding not to think about it much further, he slept the rest of the afternoon off, awaiting Mizuiro's arrival.
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Inoue Orihime casually skipped across the street to the store, herself having skipped school too for that day. When asked the reason by her best friend, Arisawa Tatsuki, she lied that she had stomach flu. Tatsuki seemed to think otherwise, considering the piercing glare she gave her. Inoue immediately ran to her house, deciding that it would not be better to carry more of the lie to her friend. This also happened a day ago. However, the real reason she decided to skip school that day is because a certain orange-haired guy was not around that day too. Immediately blushing at the thought, Inoue stopped in her steps and decided to proceed after recollecting herself. Little did she know that, the shadow of a man watched her from behind an electric pole. Inoue Orihime's sense of danger was seriously terrible for her own good.
End
A/N: Well, there's chapter one guys. I made it considerably longer than the first chapters of my previous two fanfics, so I hope that you will enjoy this fanfic. Again, read and review. IchiHime for life.
