Author Notes: Ok so this is first attempt with no one helping me, Reviews are encouraged if you want to help me message me I will accept any help right now, please ignore the way I wrote my old stories i had no idea what I was doing and still don't but i'm willing to learn

Summary: 2 years have passed since Ichigo has lost his powers. The fullbringers never came but nothing bad has happened to make Ichigo want his powers back...yet, as he tries to figure his feelings about it all out he tries at the same time to understand what he feels toward Orihime. Will it be stolen from him before he can realize it?

The Hardest Path

Chapter 1 A normal life

The war had passed almost two years ago now, that fact still bothered Ichigo a little as he walked to school by himself staring upward into the sky. It was just another normal day for him and everyone else, everyone who had no spiritual pressure and had no idea what hollows or soul reapers were.

To Ichigo it was not like he could just forget and live the normal life he thought he wanted so badly, he was enjoying it very much but with time one small thing hits in the back of his mind, he was normal….but his friends were still able to see everything and he had to find a way to try and live with the fact that he couldn't do anything about it.

"Good morning Ichigo!" Ichigo turned his head toward the school gate and his normal scowl faded for a few seconds and a small rare smile showed through. "Hey Orihime." Ichigo said making his way toward her and Tatsuki. "Morning Tatsuki." Ichigo greeted his childhood friend as well as he moved up to them. "The hell were you doing Ichigo it looked like you were day dreaming." Tatsuki said to him, by this time his normal scowl was back in place.

Ichigo just shrugged it off with a scowl and began to move toward the school. "Was just a little distracted that all." He said as the two girl moved to catch up to him. Orihime stayed silent just looking at him concerned but Ichigo never looked back so he wouldn't have noticed. "How have things been Ichigo?" Orihime asked trying to see if she could maybe cheer him up.

"Huh? Oh fine I guess, just mostly bored and my stupid boss is annoying me again." He said looking back toward her with his normal look, Orihime was far from stupid even if she acted it she had a feeling his power loss was starting to effect him but she wouldn't dare say.

A little while later they were sitting in home room waiting for class to start. "ICCCCCCHHHHHHIIIGGGOOO!" Ichigo simply put his arm out and let Keigo close line himself. "Why…." Keigo coughed from the ground over dramatically while the others only sighed at him.

"You should know better by now Keigo…." Mizurio said to him while texting on his phone. "HOW CAN YOU BE SO COLD!" Keigo yelled back. "Would you two knock it off your giving me a headache." Ichigo said with a sigh, no more than a few seconds later the teacher came in announcing for class to start.

The rest of the day passed without any real incident. Ichigo was on his way toward the gate exit when he noticed Orihime looking around at the exit. "Hey what's wrong Orihime?" He asked with actually concern in his voice, she looked back to Ichigo with a little bit of a surprised look. "Ichigo sorry I was…looking around for Tatsuki she told me to wait here for her." She felt HORRIBLE for lying but she just had no real way to say what it really was, that she felt a hollow.

"Tatsuki has karate everyday jeez what's wrong with her telling you to wait for her come on I'll walk you home its better then you standing here." Ichigo said as he began to move past her. "Its allright Ichigo you don't have to walk me home! Ha ha I must have forgot she had practice stupid me I can walk home on my own its ok." She said frantically but in her normal frantic way.

"I don't mind its not out of my way Orihime." Ichigo said stopping looking at her, the look it was got her that look he gave when he was talking with her his scowl gone just a general expression with no irritation, which for Ichigo ment A LOT his normal was a scowl and everything bothered him.

"Ok" She said as she fell into step next to him as they began to walk toward her house in silence, she was used to how quite he could be but her heart always did little flips when she was this close to him. A faint blush was evident on her face as she was trying to distract herself from thinking about how close they were walking. "Something wrong?" He asked, she looked up at him with a little bit of surprise, the normal scowl was gone and it almost looked as if he was concerned. Stupid Orihime you made him worry about! Quick quick think of something! "Oh its nothing I was just thinking about weather to use red bean paste or wasabi on my dinner rolls tonight! That's all!" She went into her normal small tirade about why and Ichigo only shuddered at the thought of the food.

"Well here we are." Ichigo said stopping in front of her apartment. To be honest with himself Ichigo had been confused on how to act around the Auburn hailed healer lately, his feelings toward her was that of any of his friends….so he thought, but he was so much more protective of her even tho he could protect her like he used to, he wasn't afraid for her, he knew she was strong he always believed she was stronger than him, she was able to stand by and WATCH fights then help after….he never could do that but he didn't understand his feelings and they were confusing him.

"Thank you so much Ichigo! I'll be all right from here!" She said with a bright smile, that was it that smile every time melted his scowl, he just flashed one of those rare smiles toward her again and rose his hand to wave to her as he turned away heading for his house. "See you later." As he was walking away Orihime's eyes widened with terror.

"Can this be?! Can this be my lucky day?! I was just following the tasty spiritual pressure of that female but this boy….ITS ICHIGO KUROSAKI WITH NO SPIRITUAL PREASSURE! If I eat him….I'll be considered the KING!" The hollow ignored Orihime and lunged toward Ichigo.

Tsubaki! Please! Before the hollow knew it the small black fairy pieced through its mark killing it and returning before the wind could blow. The wind caught Ichigo's attention as he turned around to look at Orihime who was still smiling. "Strange wind today huh Ichigo it caught me by surprise to." She said, he only nodded and turned away heading home.

Once Orihime got inside she fell to her knees shaking, it was the first time she had sent Tsubaki out with such power and speed that it almost scared her. What was really scaring her was the hollows words. 'I'll be considered the KING!' she sat there thinking and worrying not about herself but about Ichigo. "It was a random accident Orihime he was after you calm down" She told herself out loud and made herself believe it for now