AUTHOR'S NOTE

Yes, I love Ichihime and Renruki—they're my OTPs. But for some reason, I've always had a soft spot for Renhime. This fic is kinda confusing, so I provided some context below.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

Context: There is a fight with the Arrancars. Ichigo and Renji are severely wounded, Ichigo moreso. Rukia and Orihime follow them to Kisuke's Shop, where Orihime heals all their external wounds. Ichigo's reiatsu is very depleted and Rukia takes him into another room in order to replenish it. While she is in the other room with Ichigo, this encounter happens between Renji and Orihime.

"Don't be stupid," Renji muttered as he peered over Orihime's head, his hands restraining her unwillingly form. She struggled under his grasp and gave a weak cry, her breath coming fast in worried gasps.

"I—I have to—I have to see if Ichigo's all right!" she cried, her delicate hands stubbornly trying to pry off Renji's strong arms, but he held on tight.

The main room in Urahara's Shop was eerily empty, with the former 12th Division Captain, Tessai, Ururu, Jinta, and even Yoruichi long absent as they too tried desperately to fight off the Arrancars that had taken to terrorizing Karakura Town.

Renji's fight had ended prematurely when he'd received a scathing wound to his right arm that left the appendage barely hanging onto his tattooed body by its wiry sinews. He'd been shuffled into the shop shortly after, but Ichigo had suffered worst of all; his reiryoku had been depleted to the point where it was practically no more. Although Orihime had done her hardest to heal his physical injuries with her Shun Shun Rikka powers, his spiritual injuries were a different matter.

Rukia, who'd followed them the moment she'd seen Ichigo fall, had taken to donating her own reiryoku to save Ichigo in a solitary room, begging them to leave her alone to keep her concentration. Renji had peeked; he knew that when Rukia cried like that for someone or touched someone that tenderly, her relationship with them was far past friendship and it had flicked the switch on his stormy temper.

Orihime had left the room too quickly to see, and instead took to seeing to Renji's injuries. But even as she knit his arm back together using her Sōten Kisshun powers, Renji could see that her eyes always wandered dejectedly to the room where Rukia and Ichigo resided.

The moment Renji could flex his arm without a shred of pain, Orihime had leaped towards the telling room and Renji was glad his arms were back to their full strength; otherwise, there would have been no way to restrain her.

He gave an exasperated sigh. Orihime was like a delicate flower, one tiny misstep and she'd crumple. He'd have to be careful how he worded things. "He'll be fine," he tried, but that didn't stop Orihime's struggling. Renji rolled his eyes and finally let her go. "Fine," he conceded, trying a different tactic, "go in there, mess up Rukia's concentration. She'll definitely be able to save him that way."

Orihime, who from the moment he'd let her go had run towards the door, turned back to face Renji with a gaze so sad, he felt his own glare soften a bit. The single look made him understand. This wasn't just some piddling human who just didn't like to listen to orders, this was an already broken girl suffering from the most selfless and saddest forms of heartbreak. He felt his breath hitch; how had he not noticed that before?

She was hopelessly in love with Ichigo the same way he was with Rukia.

"I—I don't want him to die and have his reiryoku be depleted," Orihime whispered sorrowfully as her eyes turned misty. "I want Ichigo to live. I want him to see another shining sun, to witness the bright blue sky, to feel the warm rain dance on his cheek. I want him to smile at all the beauty in world, I want to see his unguarded grin break through any signs of a brewing storm." Her voice dropped so low to the point where Renji had to strain to hear it. "I—I want to save him."

An uncalled for wave of compassion washed over Renji. She'd already done all she could to save Ichigo, but to her, to everyone, it still wasn't enough. She had mourned about not being able to save Ichigo, but it ran much deeper than that.

He understood. Oh, he understood so much. "Sometimes," Renji began, turning his gaze to the window so he wouldn't have to look into her woeful brown eyes. "When you want to save someone that much,—when you love someone that much—you have to sit back and let them find their own happiness, even if it doesn't coincide with your own."

Renji gulped; he'd never said anything like that out loud before, and it felt so vulnerable out in the open. "You want to save him? You want him to be happy?" Renji felt a crack echo in his voice. He sighed. "Then let Rukia heal his wounds. Let her be his second sword so that he'll never need a shield." The words spewed out of his mouth like foul water, and cut wounds so deep in his heart that he didn't know if he could bear it. Who was he really talking to?

The silence in the room was almost tangible, thick and suffocating. Orihime's frail voice let in a fresh breath of air, and it was laced with breaths of awe and knowing. "You loved Rukia, didn't you." It wasn't a question.

"Always." The words tasted bitter on his tongue.

Orihime's hollow laugh was mingled with a sob. "So I guess you really know, then, don't you? How I feel, I mean," she clarified. She turned to him and he was afraid of what he'd see in her eyes. Renji was relieved to see that there was nothing but an acceptance, albeit a doleful one.

He closed his eyes. "I guess I do." Renji opened them again after a moment and shook his head. "I guess I do."