Story at this point is very angst but it will lighten up, my stories always do xD and writing for Orihime has always been kind of a challenge because to me she's either very happy or very emotional lol, but I'll try my best to keep her in-character.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
Chapter 2: "Traitor"
His face was composed in an emotionless state. The sharp pain from his arm and leg kept telling his brain that they needed to be healed but he had full control, he always had total control and ordered his brain to keep the pain at a minimum, which it did.
"Kuchiki-taichou, Hanataro-kun is doing all he can for Rukia-san and she should be just fine. Her condition was quite terrible, and if she had gone any more time without being attended to, well…." She looked away from him for a second, "um..anyway I need to attend to your injuries so if you could follo…"
"Do not worry about me Isane-fukutaichou" Byakuya interrupted her as he turned on his heel and headed towards his sister's direction, "if you could, just see to it that Rukia gets better as soon as possible, it would be greatly appreciated", the noble stepped away leaving the disappointed tall woman behind him.
Isane was about to protest but knew that once the young noble had made up his mind then there was no changing it. "Yes of course Kuchiki-taichou" Isane kneeled in front of Rukia and both healers used their healing kidou to heal the petite Shinigami in front of them.
'If only I had gotten here sooner then she wouldn't have had to suffer through this, she has already suffered enough but I know she is strong, she is a Kuchiki after all'. Byakuya was pulled out of his thoughts when he sensed a familiar reiatsu heading their way and another one not to familiar and much fainter.
'Everything looks blurry' the petite Shinigami tried to hold her head to stop the headache but her limbs felt like rocks 'what is going on…is..is that Isane-fukutaichou?'
"Kuchiki-taichou, Rukia-san is awake" the tall vice captain stated with a smile as she looked up at the captain whose facial expression hadn't changed with the news.
"K..Ku..Kuchiki-t..taichou?" Rukia's voice was hoarse but looked around her and noticed the tall figure on her side "N..Nii-sama?" the girl's eyes widened as she saw her brother now with a clearer sight. "Nii-sama you're here" a smile apparent on her face as she looked up at her brother.
"Yes Rukia, it was an order from Yamamoto-soutaichou, and do not speak any further, you need to rest", he looked down at his sister
"B..but…"
"Rukia that is an order" Rukia looked like she was going to protest again but instead smiled when she knew, even though he didn't show it, she knew he was relieved to know she was okay. She nodded at his words and was about to close her eyes when she sensed two familiar reiatsu, and apparently so had Hanataro and Isane for they both looked to the direction she had sensed it.
"Abarai-kun?" Isane verbally projected her thoughts out loud and stood from her kneeled position. She immediately confirmed her doubts when she saw the spiky red hair in the distance, but mentally frowned when she couldn't recognize the other reiatsu.
"O..Orihime?" Rukia spoke with struggle; Isane looked down and saw Rukia struggling to look in that direction. At Rukia's words Isane immediately confirmed that the reiatsu definitely belonged to the bright orange haired girl for she had felt it before in Soul Society.
Meanwhile:
"Abarai-kun, umm can you please tell me where we're going?" Renji looked to the girl in his arms with the questioning gaze and smirked. "Don't worry Inoue if my senses are working okay then we should be heading to a good crowd, we should be able to sense something just up ahead", Orihime's curiosity wasn't fully met but decided not to push anymore.
"Ha-ha, I can tell you don't understand but just bear with me…" Orihime looked up at him once again with a questioning gaze when Renji's last words trailed off.
"TAICHOU…RUKIA…TAICHOU!" Renji quickened his pace and Orihime covered her ears and winced when Renji began to scream.
'Wait what? Taichou? Rukia?' It took a while for the words to sink into her mind. She looked up at Renji then moved to face in the right direction. She immediately tensed when she saw the four Shinigami.
"Tai…Taichou, I...I was right, so I'm not losing my touch, I thought I sensed your reiatsu from miles back" the out of breath lieutenant smirked and was speaking faster than usual and hardly comprehensible.
"Um..but w…what are you doing here? Why is this place different from the rest? I..I don't know if you've noticed but the lighting and ground are different..um.. ww..what happened? why is everyone here?"
Renji's breath came in short quick puffs as he put Orihime down and walked towards his captain. Byakuya looked at his vice captain with a cold expression before speaking, "Abarai, I will ignore the rude tone in which you voiced those questions but I have more important things to deal with than satisfying your curiosity". Renji inwardly scowled and looked towards Isane and Hanataro but quickly lost his scowl when he saw Rukia on the ground.
"Ru..Rukia?" he ran to her side and kneeled beside her. "Rukia? What happened here?" he looked to his captain but again refused to answer him. Isane looked at the worried expression on Renji's face and decided to answer him. "Abarai-kun, Rukia needs to rest, she will be fine", Renji face didn't leave Rukia's as he saw her open her eyes and could only lip read her way of saying 'Hi Renji'.
His face immediately dropped "SHE CAN'T SPEAK?" with a shocked face he turned from his captain to Isane. Byakuya looked at his vice-captain and inwardly frowned 'I need a new lieutenant'.
"Abarai try to refrain from acting like a fool and unnecessarily raising your tone, Rukia is fine, she just needs to rest so I asked her to spare her voice until she feels a bit better" Byakuya looked at his smiling sister and then at Renji, whose face again had gone back to normal.
"Oh..okay thank you taichou", Byakuya nodded and noticed the girl in black and white clothing standing quite far off to his right. Renji noticed his gaze and stood up.
Orihime didn't seem to notice the eyes on her; all she could focus on were all the Shinigami, all their wounds. She looked at Rukia on the ground, the tears forming and coming down quite fast, the deep cuts on Byakuya arm and leg and Hanataro's own wound on his chest. 'Kuchiki-san? She is hurt..She's hurt and it is all your fault' she kept telling herself again and again in her head 'all of them are hurt because of you…you caused this' her gaze going from Shinigami to Shinigami, from wound to wound, never once looking at their faces but only their wounds. 'Don't cry Orihime' she told herself 'don't cry..it's weakness…you have to be stronger, do what you think is right and stop what you think is wrong. Don't cry!' She quickly wiped the tears with her sleeve and looked everyone in the eyes. 'I might have caused this but I can't be weak, not at a time like this, I need to heal their wounds and if they hate me and shun me for betrayal then I have to just accept it'. Her face faltered slightly from resilient to hurt but upon noticing she quickly faced them all with a strong expression again.
Renji was about to speak but he saw her hurt expression, 'she looks scared like as if this was all her fault' he saw the tears roll down her face and realized all the things she must be thinking, his eyes following hers and noticed the wounds he had failed to notice before. From Rukia's wounds on her shoulder and abdomen, to his captain's deep cuts in his arm and leg and Hanataro's stab in the chest, 'all of them…all of them she must be thinking were her fault'. He sighed knowing he should probably do something to comfort the girl, stepping forward to do just that he stopped abruptly. All the eyes that were on her suddenly somewhat widened; the face of the young human girl had turned from frightened and worried to strong and defiant as she stepped forth.
Okay thanks for reading, Chapter 3-"The Strange Fog" is halfway written and that's where the whole plot of the story starts forming.
Review Please! (: