Author's note: Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers for the feedback! I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: See the last chapter

Chapter Two: Coming Home

"I told you," Ichigo answered, "I will always protect you. And I did. Aizen and the espada are all dead."

More tears filled her eyes as she tightened her embrace on Ichigo. "Oh, Kurosaki-kun... thank you."

"No need to thank me, " he said, "No need."

"Uh... I hate to break up this reunion, I really do," said Renji, stepping towards the two, "But... could you please help her?" Carefully, he laid the small, shivering body of Rukia in front of Orihime.

"Oh! Sure thing, Abarai-kun," she replied. Before breaking the embrace completely, she gave Ichigo a brief look. Ichigo nodded, and she knelt down over her wounded friend. "Souten Kisshun: I reject," she chanted, as Shun'o and Ayame began their work on her wounded friend.

"I... I tried to heal her as best I could, but... I'm not that good at kido, so I don't know if it did much," Renji muttered, his gaze moving towards his feet.

Ichigo put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry. Inoue never fails when she does this." With that, he smiled at the girl, who developed a small blush from his remark.

Slowly, Rukia began to open her eyes. She felt the pain ebbing away from her wounds and looked up to see the face of the friend they'd set out to save smiling down at her. "Hey... Inoue-san... good to see you," she said quietly.

Orihime nodded. "Thank you, Kuchiki-san."

"Don't mention it, okay?"

After that, Orihime proceeded to heal Chad, Uryu, and Renji in turn The process of healing everyone took a great deal out of her, and she collapsed into Ichigo's arms. "It's alright," he said, picking her up, "You don't need to strain yourself anymore."

He began carrying her towards the door, when Rukia said, "Wait. There's one last thing we need to take care of."

Renji's eyes widened in realization. "Right. The Hougyoku."

"Do you know where it is, Inoue-san?" asked Rukia.

Orihime removed the small orb from her pocket. Softly, she said, "I... can destroy it. I'm... the only one who can."

"Inoue, it's okay," Ichigo urged, "You've used a lot of your energy, it can wait until later."

"No," she refused, placing the sphere in the center of her palm. "It's okay. I don't want to leave this hell with a piece of it." "Souten kisshun works by rejecting fate's damage to the object in the shield," she thought, "so I just have to believe that the Hougyoku is itself damage to the area around it. I can do it. I need to do it!" "Souten kisshun," she cried, mustering up the last of her energy, "I reject!" Not a split second after she'd said this, the orb disappeared without a trace.

"As though it had never been there," Thought Uryu, intrigued.

"That... that was," began Ichigo, "That was amazing, Inoue!"

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun," she replied, clutching his shinigami robes as she drifted off to sleep, allowing him to carry her away.

------------------------

"Should we just let them go like that?"

"Not like we can do much. Aizen-sama's been defeated and the Hougyoku is destroyed."

"True enough. I guess this is goodbye then... Gin."

"See ya around, Tousen."

----------------------

They arrived a short time later through the Garganta Urahara had set up in his shop's basement. The merchant, Ururu, Jinta, and Tessai were all waiting for their return.

"Well, well, if it isn't the conquering heroes, back so soon!" exclaimed Urahara gleefully.

"Medical team, ready to operate," said Ururu softly, but Ichigo shook his head.

"It's okay, guys. Inoue healed us all with her powers... all we'd like to do is just get home," Ichigo said, the sleeping Orhime still in his arms. Urahara nodded in acknowledgment and allowed them to leave his shop. "Oh, and Urahara-san," Ichigo began, "Thank you." Smiling, Kisuke nodded once more.

After they'd each said their goodbyes, Ichigo turned to Rukia and said, "I'm going to take her home. You should get back to our place and tell my family we're okay." With that, Ichigo set off for Orihime's house.

As Ichigo walked, he couldn't help but look down at his sleeping friend's face. "She looks so peaceful, you would never guess she'd been trapped with a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs less than a day ago," he thought. His heart swelled with an unfamiliar feeling as he gazed at her. It felt good; light, joyful, bouncy, even. Ichigo pondered the feeling briefly before realizing he'd reached Orihime's apartment.

"Ah... this is it," he muttered, and jumped to her window as gently as he could, careful as not to disturb the woman in his arms. He swiftly, yet softly, removed both their pairs of shoes and set her down upon the bed, covering her with a blanket. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her bed, when all of the exhaustion of the last few days finally hit him.

He sighed, gathering himself for a moment. "Hey, wait a minute," he thought, "I won. I really won!" His victory felt good, but he was brought out of this self-congratulation by a small moan by the occupant of the bed.

"Kuro...saki-kun?" Orihime asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey, Inoue," Ichigo replied with a grin. "You're home."

She propped herself up on her elbows and said, "Home... I'm home." That too was the time where every experience of the last few days hit her mind. Ichigo saw the tears before they formed and in one swift motion, embraced her once more.

"Shh... it's okay, you're safe," he said as tears gushed from her eyes. He stroked her hair, as he remembered his mother used to do when he would get upset.

"I... I was so scared!" she sobbed, "I thought I would never get to see you again, Kurosaki-kun!"

"I was afraid of that too, Inoue," he replied. Eventually, she calmed down, and Ichigo laid her to rest on her bed once more. As he rose up to leave, he felt a hand tug at his shinigami uniform.

Turning, he saw Orihime's large, pleading eyes, all but saying the request she did say. "... Stay with me?"

Ichigo smiled. "Of course," he said, and sat back down next to her, holding her hand until she fell asleep.

---------------------------

Ichigo woke up the next day, never more grateful that the day of the week was saturday. He was still exhausted from the battle with Aizen and was content to just lay in bed all day long. However, life in his household didn't permit such pleasures.

"Ichigooooooo!" cried his father, narrowly missing crushing his son's head into the bed frame.

"I swear to God, dad, if you don't leave me alone today, I'll-"

"Relax, son! I'm just here to welcome you home from your trip! But I'm not alone..."

"Not alone?" repeated Ichigo. "Oh no..."

"Nii-saaaaan!" cried his sisters, leaping on his chest and giving him hugs.

"Ichi-nii, we really worried about you!" said Yuzu. "Luckily, Rukia-chan was kind enough to let us know you're okay!"

"Mphrm," said Ichigo, muffled.

"What was that?" asked Karin.

"I said, I'm still really tired from my trip and would really just love it if you guys let me sleep! Now, I promise you I'll hang out later, but for now, I'd like you all to get the hell out!" he roared, and his three family members when shooting out of the room. As soon as the door slammed shut, however, it opened again, revealing an amused Rukia.

"That wasn't very nice," she said, stepping into the room.

"Just exactly what I need," Ichigo groaned.

"Now I know that your tiredness can't be the only reason you flipped out at them. What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Ichigo replied stubbornly.

"Oh, come now. Tell Rukia what's wrong," she persisted, her grin growing.

Ichigo didn't know what made him do it, but he relented. "Alright, you want to know so badly? Here goes. I think..." he gulped, fearing the words that were about to come out of his mouth. "I think I love Inoue."

A stunned silence filled the air before Rukia said, "Ichigo, that's great!"

"... what? What are you talking about? That's not good, that's terrible!"

"Don't be stupid! You and Inoue will be very happy together!"

"Are you kidding?" Ichigo asked, "She could never love me."

Rukia stared at Ichigo, contemplating the possibility that he really was, in fact, that dumb. "You're... you're not serious, are you? Have you even met her? She's mad about you, you idiot!"

Ichigo was stunned by these words. "Wh... what? That's not true, it can't be!"

"Ichigo, just listen. She's obviously- oh, damn it." She was cut off by the sudden blaring of the shinigami license.

"Huh... can you take this one, Rukia?" asked Ichigo. "I'm... still a little sore from the battle with, you know, the greatest menace to soul society and in fact all souls ever."

"Yeah, yeah," she replied, waving Ichigo off. "I get it. I'll be back soon." Touching the license to her body, her soul flew out and went to attack whatever hollow was causing trouble.

Ichigo exhaled peacefully. This would buy him a few more moments of relaxation... just to rest his eyes. A yawn escaped his lips before he slipped away.

---------------------

Ichigo awoke on the side of a building in his shinigami uniform. Wait. The side of a building? That could mean only one thing.

"How's it going... your majesty?"

Ichigo turned to see his hollow grinning at him. "What's this... why am I here?"

"Don't worry, Ichigo," said Zangetsu, emerging behind Ichigo. "It's alright."

"Says you," remarked the Hollow. "I swear, the last few days the weather here has been more chaotic than a tornado."

"So what?"

"The weather here changes with your emotions, your majesty the dumbass!" The hollow looked toward Zangetsu. "I swear, I'm just so tempted to stab him!"

"No need for that," said Zangetsu. He pointed directly to the left of Ichigo. "She's very beautiful, isn't she?"

Ichigo looked toward where Zangetsu had pointed. At his left there was a giant billboard displaying Orihime's smiling face. "Woah," Ichigo said initially, then gathered his thoughts. "So maybe I have her on my mind once in a while. I'm infatuated with her, I know. What's your point?"

"Oh, once in a while doesn't begin to cover it," the Hollow said, exasperated. "Take a look around!"

Ichigo did, only to find that his entire interior world was covered in pictures of the woman he loved. No two pictures were the same. Each displayed Orihime with a different expression.

"Pretty crazy, isn't it?" the Hollow asked, satisfied with Ichigo's expression of amazement at his own obsession.

"Ichigo," said Zangetsu, "What we want to do is help you-"

"He wants to help you!" yelled the Hollow, "I just want these damned pictures out of my way!"

"Anyway," continued Zangetsu, "This isn't healthy for you. You need to find a resolution to this, and unfortunately, I can't help you and neither can your... 'friend' over there."

Ichigo nodded in understanding. Zangetsu wouldn't try to hurt him. "Alright... I guess I'll t-" But he never got to finish, as his world disappeared in a white flash.

-------------

"Ichigo?"

He was back in his room, with Rukia standing over him. Briefly, he appreciated the irony that someone as tall as Rukia was standing over him. "Yeah...?" he muttered.

"You were really out, huh? I guess you weren't kidding about being exhausted," she said. "I'll just let you rest, then... we can talk about Inoue later."

Ichigo thanked whatever lucky stars happened to be functioning in his favor and returned to sleep, thankfully not appearing in his interior world again.

----------------------------

Monday, at school, Ichigo was much happier than usual. He was able to watch Orihime from his seat in the back, smiling at the radiance she contained. He even resisted smashing Keigo's face in when the overexcited boy leapt at him, crying, "I-chi-gooooooooooooo!"

Orihime was happy too. She'd never realized what a wonderful place school (not just Ichigo and lunchtime) was until she'd been kidnapped by Ulquiorra. Tatsuki had given her a gigantic hug upon her return to the classroom. Somehow, she'd been able to ward off Chizuru's attempts at molesting Orihime while still embracing the girl. Afterwards, Tatsuki had gone over to Ichigo and uttered a small, "Thank you," before returning to talk with her best friend.

In class, the Shinigami license blinked and Ichigo had to leave, giving some random excuse to Ochi-sensei before doing so. He'd given one last look to Chad and Orihime, and then he'd blasted his soul out of his body.

Orihime sighed. She and Chad both knew that they could no longer go help Ichigo fight Hollows or Arrancar or whatever ungodly beast decided to rear its ugly head in the living world. She recalled the conversation she, Chad, and Ichigo had had on Sunday. Though really, it was more of a lecture than a conversation.

"What'd you ask us to meet you here for, Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo decided to get straight to the point. "You two... can't fight hollows with me anymore."

"What?" Chad asked. "If you're worried about our safety, Inoue-san and I are both capable of destro-"

"That's not it," Ichigo interrupted. "I don't know if you've ever heard this from anyone, but there's a reason that Ishida is the last Quincy. It's because..." he paused, "They were all wiped out by Shinigami two hundred years ago."

"Oh my God," said Orihime, covering her mouth in shock. "Why would they do such a thing?"

"Well... it's because of the difference in the way a quincy fights and the way a Shinigami fights." He pulled Zangetsu from his back. "A Zanpakutou cuts a hollow and destroys its mask, allowing the soul of the person to go to Soul Society. But when a Quincy arrow, Chad's arms, or Tsubaki destroy a Hollow, the soul remains here. This creates an imbalance which would... destroy the entire universe. Now, the reason the Shinigami killed the Quincies is because they'd pleaded with the Quncies to stop earlier, but because of the Quncies' stubbornness... they were forced to do away with them. But that's not the point." He sheathed Zangetsu, the cloth wrapping around its massive blade. "I don't want that to happen to either of you, okay?"

Both Orihime and Chad had understood and agreed to stay away from Hollows. Still, neither of them liked it, and though Chad was as frustrated as Orihime, she really longed to be with Ichigo as much as possible, and Hollow hunting was one way in which she could be with him quite often.

----------------

"Ah... Inoue-san! Good to see you, what can I do for you?" Urahara asked gleefully, bowing to her.

"I... I want you to turn me into a Shinigami," she said confidently.

----------------------------

That's chapter two done! Sorry if it took longer than you expected. Please, review, review, and review! Your reviews keep me aliiiiive!

Next time: A trial of love