Chapter One: Not Negotiation.

"Whats this? Only two escorts?"

A male voice echoed from the long tunnel Orihime and two Shinigami were now running down in order to get to the living world.

"I see, even the Soul Society is surprisingly inept."

The voice spoke again, Orihime stopped running and searched the tunnel with her eyes to find its source, but to no avail.

"It seems they're unaware of the fact that you're the most vulnerable when your traveling."

Then she saw it. To her utter horror, not too far down from where she had just been running past, the air had split open like an eye, to reveal a black swirling abyss.

" The fact that you only have two escorts is a bit anti-climactic... But having those annoying walls fixed in place suits me just fine… Since rushing a conversation isn't really in my nature." the tall figure spoke very politely, it surprised her even more, if that was possible.

She couldn't think, no she couldn't even breathe, for a moment she felt like she was seeing things. That there was no way this could be happening. She felt her heart beat speed up, and her breath come out in a small gasp.

The Shinigami to her right broke the silence.

"Who the hell are you!? Are you an Arrancar!?" the oblivious Shinigami yelled.

Orihime saw the young man pull one of his hands out from its pocket, almost… lazily. It hit her then. He was going to attack.

"Wait! you have something to say right!?" she yelled desperately.

Please don't attac-

SPLASH!

Something wet and sticky hit Orihime's face, the young girl looked, eyes wide with fear. The guard that had yelled, who was standing right next to her, had a large gash in his shoulder that dragged all the way down to his waist.

"That's right, Woman. I have something to say to you." the Arrancar spoke smoothly, his hand still extended lazily in the air a little off to the side. She could see small sparks of red fly off from his hand. His voice was cold. It gave Orihime the overwhelming feeling that she could not refuse, that she was caught. She began to take in the mans appearance, finally out of the haze of panic. She regretted looking at him.

Her captor was extremely handsome, if only he wasn't wearing that emotionless look. He had pale white skin that almost matched the clothes that covered him. His eyes were a stunning green, with animal-like black slits as pupils. He had a line of green streaming from his eyes, as if he was crying constantly. On the left side of his black-haired head was a complex helmet made of bone, part of the helmet extended out into one slender horn. He was relaxed, hands in his pockets, as if he was discussing the weather with her. Orihime contemplated if Arrancar even cared about the weather. Stopping herself from drifting into an endless daydream, she focused on the injured Shinigami that now laid a few feet away from her.

Orihime immediately recited the words required to summon her powers. "Souten Kishun! I reject!" with that, two lights flashed from her hairpin, and quickly formed an orange transparent shield, that slowly began to heal the injured guard. Orihime quickly turned to the unharmed, terribly confused, Shinigami.

"Please run! I'll be fine, get out of here please!"

Before she could even blink, the man she was yelling to was sliced directly in half. Orihime felt slightly sick at the sight, but reacted soon after.

"Ayame!" she yelled, waving her arm, controlling the orange shield so that it would stretch over to cover the other injured Shinigami. She heard a small scoff and turned, forcing a determined look on to her frightened face.

"Oh? You can heal them even if they're that badly injured? That's a valuable power." The Arrancar said, completely not bothered by the pissed off look she was trying to give him.

Orihime didn't know what to say, she felt… Trapped.

"Come with me, Woman."

"Wha-"

"-Do not speak." he interrupted quickly. "You will say 'yes'. Anything else and I will kill…" his voice died down for a moment, she wondered if he was thinking up people he could kill to make her do what he said. "… Not you, I'll kill your friends." he finally said.

The strawberry blonde was speechless. They were in danger? How? When?

"Do not ask any questions. Do not say anything. You have no rights. What you hold in your hand is the rope to the guillotine above your friends necks, Nothing more." he spoke, his voice was flowing as if he had this all practiced, which she doubted. "Understand, Woman? This is not negotiation. Its an order."

There was a pause, just long enough for Orihime to realize she wasn't breathing.

"Aizen-sama desires that power of yours. I am under orders to bring you back unharmed. I will only say it once more."

He paused again.

"Come with me, Woman."

Orihime added in the final letter to her long note, addressing Matsumoto Rangiku and Hitsugaya Toshiro. Of course, Orihime had thought, if she left them alone in her apartment, it would surely become trashed in no time. Orihime looked up in thought, fiddling with a silver bracelet she now wore on her left wrist. Her thoughts then wandered back to the Arrancar she encountered earlier. His voice still echoed in her memory.

"I'm giving you this." the Arrancar said, arm extended out to her, holding a silver bracelet with a small chain that connected the ends. He held it oddly, as if it was very fragile. Orihime took it, being careful not to touch the Arrancar hand as she did, though he seemed like he could care less if their hands touched or not.

"While you have it on you will be surrounded by a special spiritual membrane and only we Arrancar will be able to sense your presence. You will also gain the ability to pass through solid objects. Put it on and do not take it off." he spoke, once again his voice flowing as if he practiced what he was saying for a week before coming to get her.

"You have 12 hours, during that time you are permitted to say goodbye to one person and one person alone." that sentence hit her the hardest.

"I get to say goodbye?" she thought. Immediately Orihime was overwhelmed with emotion.

Goodbye.

No return.

Gone.

Forever.

Goodbye…

Goodbye.

One person.

For a moment, just one moment, Inoue Orihime didn't know who she would choose. But, once again, it was only a moment. It didn't last long.

Orihime looked up when she heard footsteps, just in time to watch the young Arrancar walk away towards an opening in the air, just like he had came in from. He was still looking at her though, his green eyes piercing into her own. The rip in the air closed, causing the Arrancar to disappear. Inoue held back the urge to shudder. She truly felt like he had just read her.

She stood up and leaned over her short desk, turning off the small lamp she had turned on in order to write the note.

"Now… I'll get going." she said with a sad smile. Remembering what the Arrancar said, she simply walked through the wall of her room, till she was outside. Looking both ways because of habit, she walked towards…HIS house.

Yes. Orihime had chosen her one person. It was only when she materialized through his window and looked down at his unconscious, beaten form, that she felt the emotion flow through her. She gave out a weak laugh.

"I'm really here." she gave a smile to no one in particular, scratching behind her right ear nervously.

She took a deep breath, having an overwhelming need to convey these emotions that were swarming her. She had to let them out.

"You know, there's a lot of people I want to say goodbye to…" she began, looking off to the side. Ichigo's unconscious form was just a little too much for her to look at.

"Like Tatsuki-chan and Sado-kun and Ishida-kun and Kuchiki-san…"

Orihime paused for a moment, just in time to hear a small sigh from the other side of Ichigo's bed. She was startled at first, but then peeked over, standing on her toes to see Ichigo's two younger sisters, Yuzu and Karin. Both were asleep on the floor.

"I see... Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan... ate dinner in here today. Of course, Kurosaki-kun hasn't been around for a while so they got lonely... and wanted to eat dinner together with him in his room…" she established, whispering.

"Kurosaki…kuns…room…"

Orihime felt her face grow hot around her cheeks, she took another look around Ichigo's room, curious.

"Come to think of it, this is the first time I've been in his room." she closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. She touched Ichigo's right hand lightly.

"It even…smells…like Kurosaki-kun…" Orihime felt herself get drawn closer to Ichigo's face, he hair fell over her shoulder and began to pool near the base of Ichigo's neck, but she didn't stop, she kept getting closer. All the while stroking his right injured hand gently, then faster, and faster. She was just a breath away from touching her lips to his when her vision began to blur, tears falling onto Ichigo's face. She lifted her head up quickly.

"I can't" she croaked, finding it hard to control her sobs. She was smiling though, laughing at herself mentally for even thinking of doing such a thing. "I just can't." she began rubbing her eyes in an attempt to regain her vision.

"I'm so bad… This is the end and I try to do something like that…" she looked down at Ichigo once more.

"Kurosaki-kun, I had…so much I wanted to do…I wanted to become a school teacher… and an astronaut…and open a cake shop…and go to Mister Donut and say 'Give me everything…!" and go to Baskin Robbins and say 'Give me everything…!" she paused for a moment, then her face brightened up drastically. "If only I had 5 lives! Then I could be from 5 different towns and stuff myself full on 5 different types of food and have 5 different jobs…" her voice drifted back into its earlier state, sadness, forced cheerfulness.

"And I could…Fall in love with the same person 5 times." at that point, Orihime was truly smiling down at Ichigo, finally at peace with what she was about to do. She was going to leave. Then he would be safe.

"…Thank you, Kurosaki-kun…"

"Goodbye."