Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Seriously, my mom buys it, I just use it.

Chapter 2: Umbrellas

Inoue Orihime walked out of the arts and crafts store carrying a small plastic bag with an emblem of a sunflower on it. It was late at night, but luckily this particular store was open 24/7. She had first heard about it from Ishida who was walking beside her at the moment. He felt it was his responsibility to escort her if she must venture out shopping in the middle of the night.

"Do you think those clerks really work 24 hours a day? Maybe they're actually zombies made from a special kind of thread that the head seamstress/sorceress constructed so she could take control of Karakura town by infecting people through her pins and spools of evil spells!" In her excitement she had thrown her arms up into the air, letting all of the contents of the bag fall to the ground.

"Don't let them escape Ishida-kun! It's our duty to stop these tiny colorful zombie minions!" and she dove down to capture the escapees. Ishida gave a sigh and pushed his glasses further up his nose before gladly helping Orihime, 'gather the minions'. Orihime giggled as he helped her. She watched him retrieve the contents of her bag with his, 'even though I'm bent over looking like a klutz I'm actually very poised and serious-face.'

Ishida looked up at Orihime. "What are you giggling about?" He questioned her while still reaching for the fallen items, and suddenly found his fingers grasping her hand instead of what he thought was a spool of yarn. Orihime watched his face turn a couple shades of red and giggled again. She loved his blush. He was the type of guy who made sure everyone knew he was to be taken seriously, but little things like complimenting her or grazing her skin were enough to make his face match Renji's hair.

"I was just thinking that I love the faces you make Ishida-kun." She smiled as his, 'I wish I didn't blush so much around Inoue-face' blushed red again. His hand was still on top of hers and she stroked her thumb across his skin to show that she didn't mind it there. She even leaned in a little towards his face. Ishida was horribly shy, and if she didn't show some initiative he would probably sit there blushing around her forever. So she took Tatsuki's advice and started towards her prey.

"AAAAGGGHHHHH!!" Orihime and Ishida both jumped up.

"Some woman's being attacked!" Ishida yelled and started running towards the scream.

"Acutally," Orihime started, while running herself, "I think that's Kurosa-"

"OWW! YOU BITCH!" the yell rang out again.

"Don't even act like you didn't know this was coming! Be a man!" yelled another voice, this time it was actually a woman's voice. A woman's very angry voice.

"It's Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki!" yelled Ishida as they were nearing the commotion. He slowed down in hesitation. "Maybe we shouldn't get involved…"

"Too late for that now!" Orihime said, as they found their two friends in a small clearing of grass close to the sidewalk they were on.

"What did you do Kurosaki?" Ishida asked while pushing his glasses.

"That's all your gonna do?! Push up your fucking glasses and look down on me?!? I'm fucking bleeding here!!" Ichigo yelled from the ground. He was lying on his back with a black eye and some cuts here and there. He'd certainly lived through worse.

"Shut up you!" Rukia commanded standing over Ichigo with one foot pressed onto his stomach. She pushed down causing him to exhale loudly. "Or I'll make you sure you get this kind of treatment indefinitely!"

Orihime caught onto the inflection Rukia used when she said indefinitely. "What are you talking about Kuchiki-san? Will you be able to stay here awhile to do that?"

"Hey! Oof!" Ichigo protested until Rukia pressed her foot into him again.

"Actually I will be staying here Inoue." Rukia stopped glaring at Ichigo long enough to smile at the two friends in front of her. "I got word recently that I'll be a permanent shinigami representative for Karakura." Orihime gasped with delight. She ran towards her friend and hugged her.

"This is great Kuchiki-san! You'll be staying here with us and you'll get to attend our senior year of high school!" Orihime gasped again even louder. Ishida pushed up his glasses worried Orihime's lungs would give out. But she continued.

"Oh Kuchiki-san! You'll get to go to prom with us! And we can all rent a big car! A flying car! And we'll attach rock-"

"In…oue…!" a weak voice from her feet spoke out. Orihime looked down.

"Oh, sorry Kurosaki-kun! I didn't mean to have both of us standing on your stomach. I was just so excited about Kuchiki-san staying here." When he didn't respond, Orihime felt Ishida tug gently on her arm.

"I'm pretty sure he wants you to stop standing on him now…"

"Oh yeah!" Orihime quickly stepped off, with Rukia stepping off behind her. Orihime watched Rukia bite her lip guiltily as she poked Ichigo in the head a few times, making sure they hadn't actually killed him. 'Kuchiki-san cares about Kurosaki-kun so much!' She smiled at the thought.

She remembered that she used to be jealous of how much Rukia meant to Ichigo. Jealous that she could never make him smile the way Rukia could. She had been head over heels for him. It took a life-changing event to make her realize that her love would never be returned and that everything would be better off that way. She only harbored the deepest feelings of kinship for Ichigo and Rukia now. She could smile at their happiness even when it took the form of hitting and screaming. She clearly remembered the day her heart was set free and she could move on from Kurosaki Ichigo. Orihime looked over at Ishida making his, 'ha ha, Kurosaki got beat up again-face'. She smiled herself and then remembered that fateful day.

Flashback

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime shouted. He was here. He had actually come to save her. He had come all the way to Hueco Mundo to rescue her.

"But…Kuchiki-san…?" She asked. Ichigo's look of determination wavered a bit and Orihime could see his eyes glaze over with fear and…regret. She knew how much Ichigo and Rukia cared about each other. Probably with more clarity than they did themselves. In fact she was filled with hope when she realized Ichigo was here and trying to rescue her along with the rest of her nakama. But she lost all hope he'd come to her at all when she felt Rukia's reiatsu nearly disappear. But there he was. Standing right in front of her looking beaten up, but nowhere near defeated. It was that look of determination to protect the people he…loved…that was the look that made her heart melt. Even when, as it often wasn't, directed towards her. But right there it was.

He turned away when Orihime mentioned Rukia. As if in the distance he could see Rukia fighting for her life and fighting to help save Orihime as well.

"I trust Rukia to take care of herself." He smirked but his eyes still held worry. "Besides, she'd kill me herself if I ran off to help her when she didn't need it. Our whole goal is to save you Inoue."

There it was. He trusted Rukia. He trusted her enough to let her go. Orihime felt a bit like crying inside. Ichigo would die to protect any one of his friends, it was one of the reasons she loved him. But she would never be the person he trusted enough to let go and fight for themselves. It was very much like a mad scientist making an army of robots bent on the annihilation of the world. He could make millions, but he would only let in one special robot into his heart and share his top-secret plan to become a famous ballerina and tour-

Orihime was jerked out of her thoughts when Ichigo abruptly lifted her off the ground by her waist and hoisted her over his shoulder running.

"Kurosaki-kun!!" she cried out shocked and a bit self-conscious. She was grateful that in the position they were in, Ichigo couldn't see her rather large blush.

"Sorry, there's a lot of rubble here and I just figured it would be easier to carry you rather than-" he jerked to a stop and Orihime would have flown off of his shoulder except for the fact that his grip around her had tightened. It tightened almost painfully.

"Kurosaki…-kun." That's when she felt it. With a wave of utter sadness rolling through her body, she realized that there was no trace of Rukia's reiatsu.

"Rukia." Ichigo barely whispered her name. Orihime feared it would break him to speak any louder, and in an instant he surged to life like she had never seen before and they were speeding through the horrible dark world towards the area they last felt Rukia. They stopped abruptly again, but this time Orihime did fly off Ichigo's strong shoulder. She cried out when she hit the ground and looked to Ichigo to see what was wrong. His normally strong and viral body looked limp and lifeless. He seemed completely devoid of color, even his normally bright orange hair looked…dead. His eyes. Those beautiful, caring, deep, and thoughtful eyes…Orihime shuddered, she felt sick. She followed his gaze and saw what would take all the life out of Kurosaki Ichigo.

Rukia was a lifeless heap.

Orihime ran towards Rukia and put her abilities to work as best she could. She refused to look at Ichigo. If she saw his face…she wouldn't be able to save their friend. She focused all her power and vision on Rukia's form. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ichigo put a hand gently on Rukia's face. At that moment Rukia coughed and opened her eyes looking at Ichigo. Orihime felt tears sliding down her face. She still couldn't sense Rukia's reiatsu, even being this close. She sensed Rukia had used the last of her strength to say goodbye to Ichigo. No. Rukia would not die on her watch. She closed off all of her senses, her sight, her hearing, her fear…even her love for the man who would never love her back and she focused all of her being into saving Rukia. If Rukia and Ichigo did exchange words or…even a goodbye kiss, Orihime would not have known. She was using a determination Ichigo would have been humbled by to save her nakama Rukia.

And then it was gone.

Her senses slammed back into her and her healing work ceased. Tears fell freely from her opening eyes. And her lips trembled with horrible certainty.

Kuchiki Rukia was dead.

Unconsciously Orihime looked up to Ichigo. She knew it would break her own heart to see his broken, but what she saw instead was something she wasn't expecting. Ichigo was glowing…no he was blinding! His growing reiatsu made Orihime shrink back and she started to look for cover.

"Kurosaki-kun!!!" She yelled as loud as her voice could, but the light emitting from Ichigo seemed to obliterate all sound. All of Heuco Mundo would be bathed in his light and the power was overwhelming. Her eyes slipped closed and her body slumped to the ground under the pressure of his power.

She didn't know how much time had passed, she guessed only minutes, but woke up to find the light that had burst from Ichigo condensed somehow. He was in his bankai, and his normally black Zangetsu was pure white now and glowing.

"It's as white as Kuchiki-san's zanpakuto." She whispered to herself. She could see her surroundings now and gasped when she realized they weren't alone. Standing next to the body that Rukia had died fighting against was none other than Aizen! Orihime was frozen to the ground in pure shock and could only look on as Ichigo and Aizen squared off one on one. She didn't even jerk when Aizen spoke in his deceptively smooth voice.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." His eyes bore straight into the other man, who was still, having not moved an inch, looking down next to the body of Rukia. "When I said you were interesting for a human, I never thought it would get this entertaining." He sounded smooth and in control as always. Never letting others in on what he was truly calculating in his head, but Orihime knew Aizen, the Aizen Sosuke was scared. He was scared of Ichigo. Despite the powers Aizen had, everyone in Hueco Mundo would know that Ichigo was simply untouchable now. But not for long. Orihime could see in Aizen's hand the hogyoku. 'He was going to use it here and now?! It couldn't be ready could it?'

Aizen drew closer to the body of his dead espada, and held out the hogyoku.

"Seems Aaroniero did me a large disservice by getting rid of that girl over there."

At those words Ichigo looked up at the man speaking. 'His eyes…I thought they were horrible before…'

"No matter though. Aaroniero's power will be quite useful to me, and with the hogyoku, I won't let that power go to waste. I won't waste my time with trash like-"

Orihime blinked. Aizen was bleeding. She saw blood start to trickle on his forehead, then down, down. A long gash appeared seeping down from the top of his head, over his eye, then slash through his lips, which all of a sudden burst open bleeding. Aizen and Orihime darted their eyes toward Ichigo. It seemed as if he hadn't moved at all, he was looking down the same, except now he was standing. 'Did he move? Is he that fast?'

"I'll show you my power Kurosaki Ichigo!" Aizen yelled as furious as he was flabbergasted. He had underestimated Ichigo, he thought he had more time. Orihime watched, still frozen in the horror of everything that had happened, as Aizen reached out with the hogyuko and surged his power into it. They hogyuko seemed to roar with life and connect Aizen to the dead espada Aizen called Aaroniero on the ground. Power was erupting from the whole area. Aaroniero's body, the hogyuko, and Aizen, began to make what seemed to be points of a triangle. Orihime knew that the unbelievable amount of power Aizen was converging into himself would be enough to beat Ichigo.

"I'm not going to kill you human!" Aizen had seemed to gain some of his confidence back but the smoothness was gone from his tone. His voice was controlled anger laced malicious intent.

"When I'm God I'm going to make sure you're there to watch that bitch die over and over again!!" The points of the triangle converged to a black light that seemed to suck everything inside of it, and it was aiming straight for Ichigo. Orihime found her words for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

"Kurosaki-kun! Do some-" And he did, before she could finish her plea for him to act, Ichigo roared with all the emotions he had hid behind his once chocolate brown eyes. He used the power his grief had pulled forward from his very soul. Ichigo ferociously swung his zanpakuto towards Aizen in an arc, and though Orihime could not see if he had made any contact at all, Aizen's light seemed to disappear as a point from the triangle. Now Ichigo was the third point as he stabbed Zangetsu down into the hogyoku that was still connecting with the espada, and Ichigo yelled out,

"GETSUGA TENSHOU!!!"

Orihime fell back again and closed her eyes from the pressure she felt all around her that she could only describe as pure, unadulterated agony. When she felt the pressure slip away she tentatively opened her eyes and looked to where Ichigo was last. For the second time, when she looked up at Ichigo, she didn't see what she expected. There was no pain, fear, anger or even that scowl on his face. 'I should be really worried now…' Ichigo was calm. His brown eyes were back, and when Orihime read them, she could see his usual determination and…'clarity?'

Orihime watched Ichigo calmly walk towards Rukia. The remains of Aizen, the fallen espada and even the hogyuko were gone. Everything in that space had been obliterated.

"Except, wait…" Orihime mumbled out loud. Looking closely at Ichigo's zanpakuto, she could see the blade return to its normal shade of black and running along the tip was something that looked like a shattered crystal.

"Is that…Wait! Kurosaki-kun! What are you doing?" Orihime watched surprised and a bit worried for Ichigo as he picked up Rukia's body and held her close to him while pulling his arm carrying his zanpakuto back. 'Is he going to…stab her?'

With a look of certainty and resolve Ichigo ran his zanpakuto through Rukia's body.

Orihime hadn't been there on the night Ichigo had first become a shinigami, but she had heard from Rukia what the method was for the transference of powers. She imagined this mirrored what happened that fateful night Ichigo's world was changed.

Orihime held her breath. Normally she would have thought Ichigo had just gone a little insane, but the look on his face, and shift in spiritual pressure told her otherwise. She cried out in relief when she felt a most welcome and familiar reiatsu return to her senses. No longer pinned down by the tension in the atmosphere or the fear in her heart, Orihime ran to an utterly blissful and normal looking Ichigo and a rather shocked and confused Rukia who was sitting up with full strength.

"What the hell?!" Rukia yelled, looking decidedly outraged with confusion. But her yells and even her glares went totally unnoticed by the two people who tackled her in a giant and probably painful bear hug sandwich.

"Don't you ever die again Kuchiki-san!" Orihime cried out pressing Rukia's head into her large and soft chest.

"What she said…I'll kick your ass if you do." Ichigo murmured as he pressed the other half of Rukia into his hard and sweaty chest.

"Well you'll get that chance… if you don't… let me breathe!" A barely audible Rukia yelled.

Ichigo and Orihime gave out a collective, "Oh." And let Rukia collapse onto her back again to gain her ability to breathe. Orihime watched Ichigo look into Rukia's eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time in her life, but this time she smiled. 'Kuchiki-san makes Kurosaki-kun's rain stop when all I could ever do was hold an umbrella. He doesn't need me to hold an umbrella at all…he's happy now…and so am I.'

"That's it! Someone call for an ambulance!" Ishida was nearly yelling.

"Should I call Urahara maybe or a human doctor?" Rukia asked with her cell phone in front of her and her eyes showing concern.

"You should call me the fucking doctor." Ichigo groaned still lying on the ground. A quick kick to the gut from Ishida and Rukia had Ichigo panting for oxygen again.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! She's been out of it for almost an hour and you're worried about some black eye?!?!" Ishida roared.

"Who's been out of what? Can I help with my powers?" Orihime asked, rather worriedly now. She'd never seen Ishida get so worked up before.

"Inoue!" the collective group cried out in surprise at hearing her add to the conversation.

"…Yes?" she glanced nervously around at 5 worried eyes, and one so swollen she couldn't tell if it was worried or maybe it was a plum. Ishida grabbed her shoulders firmly, as if she'd float away from the ground they were standing on.

"Inoue you've been standing there completely immobile for almost an hour! Are you okay?"

"Oh. Hehehe, I guess I spaced out there for a second. Tatsuki says that when I space out I'm probably actually in some sort of time por-" Before she could finish explaining about her time travel abilities, the trio seemed to drop in exasperation around her. Rukia was the first to recover.

"Well it was…nice…seeing you guys tonight." She said, darting an unnerved glance towards Orihime. She stooped down and started dragging Ichigo by the arm towards their house. "Let's go Strawberry, we'll just tell your dad you tripped while taking a jog."

Ichigo struggled to get out of Rukia's grip. "What?! A jog? I tripped? You think my family thinks I'm that kind of idiot!" He stopped struggling and refused to meet Rukia's eyes. "Shut up and just keep dragging." He muttered.

"Bye Kuchiki-san! Kurosaki-kun! See you at school tomorrow!" Orihime shouted happily and waved to her friends. "You know Ishida-kun," she turned towards the boy still looking worn out from her earlier supposed near death experience. "I think every bruise Kurosaki-kun gets from Kuchiki-san is really like a love note! Marking the special dates and activities that they went through together! What do you think?"

"Eh…come on Inoue," he said while taking her hand into his to pull her along. "Let's just get you home before you accidentally give me a nervous break down." Orihime walked happily with Ishida, still holding his hand. She looked down at their hands and intertwined their fingers lightly. She looked up into his face and saw a bright red blush spread over that he tried to hide with a cough. She could feel herself blush a bit as well, but only smiled more. 'I'm happy I don't need to carry around an umbrella for Ishida-kun.'

AN: Hooray I have plot now! Thank you so so so SO much to all the people who reviewed. Keep em coming pretty please! I really wonder what people think of the story now that there's more depth. I'm trying to balance out the drama, comedy, and romance. Okay basically everything. I just wonder what everyone thinks. Thanks a lot for reading, so please review! I like constructive criticism or if you wanna just tell me I'm awesome, whatever floats your boat.