Aiko HanaKai, sesshomaruslittlesister, brendabond, Haddrell, and Lover of Stories 24: thanks for reviewing! I know I took a while to get this chapter out, and I'm sorry, but I had huge writer's block. It's gone, so the running will be smooth from here on out. Not sure how I did with this chapter, though, so go ahead and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: Bleach isn't mine. If it were, IshiHime would definitely be canon. ShunNao too - they're adorable!

Enjoy!


Three: The Rose

"Inoue-san! What are you doing?" Uryu's head snapped back as he nervously scanned the buildings surrounding them for a shinigami lying in wait. He hurriedly disengaged himself from Orihime and internally cursed himself for missing the feel of her pressed against him. She was colder to the touch than betrayal, but she fit perfectly to him, as if she had been made to be with him. He shook the treacherous thoughts away.

She was never yours to hold. Simply because she can no longer be with him doesn't mean she can be with you.

Orihime blinked up at him, her gray-blue eyes pooling with confusion. "What do you mean? I found you—"

"You can't be out in the open. The soul reapers are looking for you. They want to take you back to Soul Society with them."

The girl's ghost reached out and grasped his cold hands in her own. Uryu jumped, blushing furiously, but Orihime was blind to his embarrassment. "But I can't go yet!" she protested. "I haven't…I just realized what I'm missing!"

"Then hide!" Uryu said urgently.

Too late. Orihime made a sound that got tangled somewhere between shriek and gasp, falling back against him as two black-clad spirits snapped into existence before them. Rukia's gaze immediately went to Orihime's spirit. Her indigo eyes blazed with relief and joy.

"Inoue-chan!"

The startled fear went out of Orihime as if it had never been. "Kuchiki-chan!"
The two souls rushed forward and enveloped each other in a fierce embrace. Renji exchanged a smile with Uryu before the lightheartedness fell from his tattooed face, and he gave the Quincy a meaningful look. "Ishida, you know what we have to do."

Orihime drew away from Rukia at last and glanced worriedly between Renji and Uryu. "Oh," she murmured, "no, no. Not yet, Kuchiki-chan. I'm not ready yet."

Rukia's smile wobbled into an uncertain frown. "Inoue-chan, you have to pass on to Soul Society. If you don't…"

"I know." Orihime fingered her soul chain nervously. Uryu noticed with a start that it was much shorter than it had been before; five days ago it had been long enough to almost reach her feet. Now it stopped short of her hips.

"Then you know that the longer you wait, the harder it will be for you to stay human," Rukia said heavily. "Your time amongst the living has already been abnormally long, but I'm afraid that won't remain the same. I know it's hard, but if you leave now, you won't have to worry about turning into a Hollow."

"I'll be fine," Orihime said firmly. She looked at Uryu for some reason, her fingers still toying with the chain hanging from her chest. He stared back, not knowing how to react, only understanding that heat was starting to push its way into his cheeks and her gaze made him want to selfishly tell her how much he loved her, no matter how much she loved Ichigo.

Rukia and Renji shared a look.

"Ishida-kun will keep me human," Orihime said softly. "As long as I'm with him, I'll be okay. I just…there's something I have to do. Then I'll be ready."

Rukia gave the other girl's soul chain a wary look. "You don't have much time left."

"I know, and it's been getting shorter faster the more time I spend here. Just please give me a little bit of time."

The shinigami exchanged looks again.

"I can tell my captain," Renji suggested. "He'll report it back to the Captain-Commander and have him call the rest of the soul reapers off."

Rukia nodded and turned back to Orihime's expectant, hopeful face. "At the rate your soul chain is disappearing, we can give you only two days. Starting tomorrow."

Orihime bounced on her heels and surrounded the other soul in another of her all-encompassing hugs. "Thank you, thank you!"

Rukia only smiled and patted Orihime's back. "It's good to see you're alright, Inoue-chan."

The two shinigami left shortly after, leaving Orihime and Uryu in peace once more. Orihime bounded up to Uryu and took his hand. He didn't jump this time, even if he did blush a little; maybe there was hope for him yet.

"Come on, Ishida-kun," Orihime said, tugging on his hand. "Can you take us to Tatsuki-chan? She's part of what I have to do."

Uryu nodded, grasped Orihime's cold hand as tightly as he could without crushing her fingers, and in an instant of light and rushing sound they dropped off his groceries at home and arrived at the doorstep of Tatsuki's house.

Orihime took a nervous step forward and came to an abrupt halt. She stood there, the muted sunlight filtering through her transparent form, and folded her hands in front of her. Unfolded them. Fold. Unfold.

"Inoue-san?" Uryu surprised himself by trying to put his hand on her shivering shoulder. His fingers sank right through her and he retracted them instantly when the girl whirled around in surprise.

Her eyes were wide and glimmering with nervousness. "Ishida-kun, what am I supposed to do? I…she's my best friend. She's like my sister. And I'm…I'm dead. What if I'm just going to hurt her by coming here?"

Uryu felt his insides squirm. He wasn't good with offering advice, not even to the ghost of the girl he loved. "You said that Arisawa-san is part of what you're missing."

Orihime nodded solemnly, her eyes cast down to the ground beneath her bare, transparent feet. "I never said goodbye," she murmured. "I avoided her so much those weeks after Hueco Mundo. I…I died without talking to her about….about anything."

She looked up at him, and her eyes turned to glinting crystals as they filled with tears. "What…what kind of friend am I?"

Uryu looked her in the eye. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, countless, wonderful things, as abundant and shining as the stars above his raven-haired head. But it would be unfair of him, to impose his feelings upon her. Especially since he was the reason she was dead. If she knew the truth of her murder, that it was he who should be standing there, translucent, preparing to say goodbye to the person closest to him…she would hate him. He was sure of it. Not even Orihime's kind, endlessly forgiving heart could find the mercy to absolve him of his guilt.

"You are…much braver than I will ever be," he said quietly. "And a much better friend. It doesn't matter that you ran from something that frightened you, Inoue-san. I have done that so many times that it's become almost instinct. But you're here. And I'm sure Arisawa-san would feel even worse if you didn't come to say goodbye."

She stared at him for such a long time that he began to fear he had given away his feelings for her. Finally, just when he thought he might crumple under her wide-eyed gaze, Orihime blinked and gave him a smile soft as he imagined her skin was.

"Thank you," she murmured, took a deep breath, and rang Tatsuki's doorbell.

The seconds it took Tatsuki to abandon whatever she had been tending to echoed in Uryu's chest, stretching out into what felt like minutes, hours, days. Orihime went stiff at the sound of a lock turning, and before Uryu could distance himself, she grasped his hand in hers and squeezed tightly.

"Yeah—?" Tatsuki appeared in the doorway and stopped. Just stopped. Her short, thick hair lay in disarray around her tired-eyed face, and her T-shirt and jeans looked rumpled, as if she'd slept in them for nights in a row. Uryu wondered if she was a female reflection of himself. He could see his own exhausted purposelessness in her drooping brown eyes.

"Hello, Tatsuki-chan," Orihime whispered. Her death grip on Uryu's fingers grew painful.

"God," whispered Tatsuki, and sagged, boneless, against her doorframe. "Orihime."

Orihime released a thick, broken sob and clutched her best friend in her arms. Tatsuki remained still and shocked, unmoving even as Orihime's tears soaked her shirt, until she met Uryu's eye. She stared at him, seeming to realize that since he was real, Orihime was real as well. Then the boundaries fell and she was clinging to her friend as though to her very last breath, her strong shoulders shaking.

"I'm sorry," Orihime gasped, pulling away at last. "I'm so sorry, Tatsuki-chan! I was just so scared to tell you about anything. I didn't want you to get involved. And then…I…"

"I went to your funeral," Tatsuki said hoarsely. "Everyone said it was a car accident. But I knew they weren't telling the truth. I knew they were hiding something from me. I just didn't know what."

The brown-eyed girl's breathing calmed down somewhat, but she pulled Orihime back to her, burying her face in her friend's shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she gulped. "I thought you'd gone and moved on without me and I would have to wait until I died to see you."

"I'm sorry," Orihime cried, and it was the only thing that she seemed to think of, whispering and wailing her apologies into her friend's shoulder as if she could make up for a hundred unacknowledged grievances. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

All Uryu could do was wait. He waited until the sobs and hiccupping passed in their maelstrom of grief, and he waited until Orihime had the strength to release her best friend and look at him once more.

"I don't have much time left here," she said, her voice still thick with tears. "I don't know when I'll be able to come back."

He nodded, even though his stomach felt like it was twisting itself into tighter and tighter knots. It's not fair. She should be able to spend as much time as she wants to say goodbye. Why must she rush this? Can't you give us a little more time?

Uryu didn't know who he was speaking to. Anyone who would listen. Everyone who would listen.

"What do you mean?" Tatsuki asked. "Orihime?"

"I'm not allowed to stay in one place for very long," Orihime said apologetically. "I don't know why. I can't control where I'm going, either, or how soon. Sometimes I can feel when I'm going to leave. And now…"

She hesitated, biting her lip. "Tatsuki-chan…let's go to the park."

Uryu trailed after the two girls, one living and one dead, as they trekked over cement and grass until they reached the park not far from Tatsuki's house. They talked as they went, using thin voices trembling with nostalgia, voices that were reedy and exhausted with only the barest thread of strength keeping them from slipping back into the sable sobs of sorrow. Orihime explained about Hueco Mundo, Aizen and Soul Society, and Tatsuki listened patiently, too relieved to be in her friend's presence to bother with doubt.

The two girls perched on two empty swings and kicked their legs, diving back into the safety of their fonder memories. The park with its playground and sprawling open ground was empty that cloudy, gray day, and any passerby who witness Tatsuki's mouth moving thought she was speaking to Uryu.

What are we doing here? The Quincy wondered.

Orihime caught his confused stare and said, "Tatsuki-chan and I used to play here all the time when we were little. It was the only place we could play and not have to worry about bullies finding us."

"Yeah," said Tatsuki with a dry smile. "You should have seen us, Ishida. We were pretty tough, huh, Orihime?"

"Me?" Orihime widened her storm cloud-eyes. "Not me, Tatsuki-chan! You were always the strong one."

The orange-haired girl hesitated and lowered her eyes, solemnity drifting back over her like a shade of mist. "I'm the weak one who avoided her best friend."

Tatsuki stilled on the swing set. "Hey," she said, tapping Orihime on her arm. "Don't say that. You are strong. You know, most people would be freaking out over being dead. You? You're worrying about other people instead of yourself. That's just what you've always done, isn't it—you're just a good, strong person that way. So don't say you're weak. Because I don't hang around weaklings. Got it?"

Orihime's smile trembled. "I'm going to miss you, Tatsuki-chan."

"Yeah," Tatsuki said gently, "I'm gonna miss you too."

Uryu looked away. He'd never seen a friendship so pure or unbreakable, and witnessing the separation of two friends who had been through everything together made him feel like an intruder.

Orihime forced a light little laugh and rubbed her head. "Eh. If only we'd been able to do more exciting things together, huh?"

"Like what?" Tatsuki asked, raising an eyebrow. "Running off to battle those Hollow things?"

"No." Orihime grinned. "Like skydiving."

Tatsuki groaned and shook her head. "I still can't believe you really wanted to do that."

"But it looks like so much fun!"

"Yeah, if you want spit all over your face every time you open your mouth. Seriously, I can't understand why people like being that high above ground. Me, I like my feet planted right where I can see them."

"Would you have gone with me if I asked you to, though?" Orihime asked. Tatsuki gave her a serious look.

"Do you even have to ask? I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Why don't we see, then?"

Both girls whirled around in surprise. Uryu himself was startled by his outburst and fiddled with his glasses to stall.

"What'd you mean, Ishida?" Tatsuki asked with a challenging widening of her eyes.

"My Quincy powers allow me to harvest reiatsu and shape it into any form I want," Uryu explained. "I may not be able to help you skydive properly, but we can get close."

Orihime's eyes lit up with hopeful promise, but Tatsuki's darkened with the promise of something much less good-natured. Uryu pretended not to notice.

"Could you, Ishida-kun?" Orihime leapt to her feet and bounced excitedly. "Would you?"

"Hai, Inoue-san," he said with a bow of his head. "Though…not here. This is too exposed."

"Then how about a rooftop?" Orihime asked, pointing to the top of an apartment complex across the street.

Tatsuki got to her feet with a grumble.

"Nervous, Arisawa-san?" Uryu asked. He could barely restrain the wry smirk that tugged playfully at his lips when she gave him a deadly glare.

"Why would I be nervous?"

"Good," he said, took her hand in his and Orihime's in his other, did a quick check to make sure no one was looking, and transported them to the apartment complex's roof.

Tatsuki made a strange sound in her throat and wobbled for a second before shaking her head, much like a wet dog after a shower. "What was that?" she grunted, putting a hand to her head.

"Hirenkyaku." Uryu scanned the street for bystanders, but he needn't have worried; it was far too early on a Sunday for people to be wandering around under a cloudy sky. "I use it to transport us to different places."

"Like flash step," Orihime added helpfully. Tatsuki stared blankly at her friend's ghost for a second before shaking her head again.

"You know, I'm just gonna stop questioning it. What do we do, Ishida?"

Instead of replying, Uryu concentrated on gathering spirit particles and shaping them into the same board of light he'd formed while he, Chad and Ichigo had made their way to Hueco Mundo. Tatsuki stared at the board and rubbed her eyes.

"I'm never gonna get used to this," she muttered under her breath.

Uryu smiled and stepped onto the board. It shifted under his weight and bobbed for a second before hovering an inch above the flat rooftop. "It's perfectly safe, Arisawa-san," he said, seeing Tatsuki's wary expression. The black-haired girl shot him a dark look and slowly stepped up onto the board.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, settling close behind him. "If you say so, Ishida."

Orihime stepped behind Tatsuki without hesitation and wrapped her arms around her friend. "Um, Tatsuki-chan," she said nervously, "you might want to hold on."

"Wha—ack!"

Uryu restrained a laugh as he ordered the board to lift and sail off the rooftop. Tatsuki flung her arms around his middle and clung as if trying to crush him with sheer force…which, now that he thought about it, she probably could.

The spiky-haired girl jabbed Uryu in his ribs. "Just don't drop us, Ishida!" she hissed.

Uryu smirked at her. "Wouldn't dream of it, Arisawa-san."

Up, up, and up the board went, until it was so high that even if Uryu hadn't manipulated the spirit particles around them to act as a cloaking mechanism, most humans wouldn't have been able to see them clearly.

"Uh," said Tatsuki, "you're…you're not just gonna drop us, are you?"

A smirk was the only warning she had. The board plunged beneath their feet a second later, sending them plummeting far below. Even with his feet still firmly on the spirit-board, Uryu's heart and stomach leapt into his throat. Tatsuki was holding on so tightly he imagined he could feel his ribs snapping one by one. Wind rushed in his ears. Orihime shifted between laughing and screaming until it almost sounded like she was doing both at once.

"Orihime, he's gonna kill us!" Tatsuki screamed in Uryu's ear.

"But I'm already dead!" Orihime crowed.

Uryu snatched back his control over the board and smoothed out their fall until they were gliding along as if it was something they did every day. The Quincy glanced back and smirked again at the sight: Tatsuki's strangely lackluster hair had its usual spikiness back, and Orihime's burnt-orange locks were scattered chaotically around her wildly grinning face.

"Again, Tatsuki-chan, again!" she giggled, jiggling her arms around her friend's middle. Tatsuki gave her an incredulous stare over her shoulder.

"Are you insane? I'm not going to do that ag—"

"Ishida-kun, one more time!" Orihime prompted him. Internally, Uryu groaned; he'd had quite enough of feeling like his stomach and lungs were switching places, but Orihime had died for him. This was the least he could do.

The board soared high into the air. Tatsuki squeezed Uryu until he thought he might faint.

"Arisawa-san, you don't have to hold so tightly," he reprimanded her, bringing the board to a sudden halt. "I manipulated the board so you can't fall off even if you let go."

"No!" Tatsuki said stubbornly. "I don't trust this thing. I'll let go when I have my feet back on the ground."

Orihime chortled at their bickering and leaned forward, nearly pushing Uryu off balance. "Go on, Ishida-kun! Let's do it again!"

They dropped. Uryu angled the board at an incline instead of a straight free fall, making Orihime shriek with delight. Down, down, down, Orihime's contagious laughter in his ears and his hair whipping around his face…

And suddenly the board was lighter.

"Ishida!" Tatsuki shouted, suddenly squeezing tighter. "Orihime's gone!"

Uryu came to a screeching halt, nearly flinging both of them off the board. He turned around as Tatsuki loosened her grip on his middle. His stomach plummeted at the sight of the empty space behind her.

"Did she fall?" he asked desperately.

Tatsuki shook her head. She stared at the space over her shoulder blades, deep in thought. "She was laughing," she said calmly. "Then she stopped, and I heard her say…goodbye. I could feel her disappearing even though she was still holding onto me. Like she fell up."

The girl looked up and met his eyes, her gaze serious and knowing. "That's it, isn't it? That's all the time I get with her."

Uryu felt inexplicably sorry for her. "She might come back," he said, trying to think of things that might comfort her. "She comes and goes. Maybe she'll be able to control it this time."

Tatsuki laughed bitterly and shook her head. "No, that's it. I know that's it. And it's okay. Really. I got to say goodbye. Too many people…they don't get that chance."

She pulled back from him, once more reminding him of how powerful her gaze could be. "It wasn't a car accident, was it?"

Uryu closed his eyes. "No."
"Did you kill the bastard?"

"…Yes."

"Good."

They hovered high above the world, silent. Finally, Tatsuki stirred and nodded against him. "Take me home?"

He dropped her off on the same empty doorstep, standing awkwardly on the sidewalk while she unlocked her door and swung it open. She paused in the doorway, one hand on her doorframe, and turned around, but not to him. Her thoughtful face was turned up to the sky, where the first hints of breeching sunlight were beginning to show.

"Ishida," Tatsuki said, spearing him with her gaze. "You swear Soul Society's real? That I might get to see her again?"

Uryu looked her in the eye and nodded. "It's real."

Tatsuki breathed out. She looked tired, but there was a hint of contentedness in her eyes too. Uryu turned to leave when she called out to him again.

"Ishida."

He looked back over his shoulder. Tatsuki stood there, studying him for what felt like a millennium, and gave him a sad half-smile.

"If she does come back, it won't be for me."

Uryu stared at her, uncomprehending. Tatsuki rolled her eyes at his thickness and waved at hand at him, saying, "Oh, never mind. Just get out more. You look like you live in a cave."

She closed the door before he could come up with a snappy response.

Uryu went back home and finally ate the breakfast he'd been neglecting all morning. He wandered around his tiny apartment for a while, finished that shirt he'd been busy sewing, and did some ancient homework, just because he might have to turn it in if his life ever went back to normal. His father was probably having a heart attack over his grades by now.

The day brightened gradually as it went on, and he opened his window shades a little to let some light in, but not even the warmth of sunlight could lift his mood. He felt…strange. Empty and thin, as if he no longer had any drive. Schoolwork was trivial. Homework and cramming over tests all seemed so insignificant in light of the battle in Hueco Mundo. Uryu had nearly lost his life several times. And now Orihime had lost hers.

Was he depressed? If he was, then he deserved it. Having Orihime around him pulled on the most exhilarating and torturous emotions he had ever felt. Dead, it was as if all her cares in her life past were gone. Hueco Mundo seemed banished from her soul, its cold, lifeless sands no longer haunting her every day. Uryu would love her even if she was still tortured by the memory of her captivity, but he knew that her enthusiasm and love of life were the reasons he'd fallen for her in the first place. Their return brought back his love for her full force.

Yet, at the same time, her presence was torture. She had already come back to him once, returning to him, of all people. Was it hard on her, to force whatever was making her leave to obey her so that she could see him? Would she still visit him if she knew that her death should have been his? That she might still be alive if it wasn't for him?

Guilt. Now he knew the feeling better than every scar on his archer hand.

A rose by any other name would be just as beautiful, a quote drifted into his head, but its thorns would sting just as painfully.

It described his love and guilt perfectly.

The sun was just beginning to sink beneath the horizon when Uryu picked himself up and went to his forest training spot by the waterfall. He had buried himself in the teachings of the Quincy after his grandfather had died. The rhythmic motions of pull back, release, pull back, release eased his roiling mind and settled him into a calm state of forgetfulness.

A freezing hand on his shoulder startled him just as he was aiming another spirit arrow at the waterfall. Uryu jumped, sending the arrow sailing high into the sky, and whirled around with his bow armed.

Orihime smiled and held her hands up above her head. "I surrender!"

Uryu blinked uncomprehendingly at her for a moment. "Inoue-san," he breathed, feeling a broad smile starting to stretch across his lips. "You're back! Where did you go?"

"New Zealand," Orihime said promptly. "I'd forgotten—Sora always said he'd take me there one day. I guess I had to go so our wish wouldn't stay unfulfilled."

Her soul chain jingled as she moved toward him, and Uryu noticed that it was a link or two shorter than earlier. Orihime followed his gaze.

"It's slowing down," she said. "Maybe we have more time?"

Or maybe it was a single reprieve and would not continue. Uryu banished the bleak thoughts and smiled at the girl's ghost, putting away his Quincy bow as he did.

"I was practicing," he explained. "I haven't just practiced using my Quincy powers since before I left for Hueco Mundo."

Orihime twisted her fingers together and looked away. "You were so brave," she murmured. "You and Chad and Kurosaki-kun. I should never have left with Ulquiorra. I should have gone to someone for help."

"There was nothing you could do. Hueco Mundo was Aizen's fault, and no one else's."

"Yes, but…they gave me one night to say goodbye. I keep thinking I should have gone for help instead of doing as they wanted me to. Maybe if I had, things would have turned out differently."

Uryu knew who she'd chosen to say goodbye to without having to ask. She looked so downtrodden, beaten and glum in the fading light that he reached out his hand and reformed the spirit board. Orihime's eyes widened.

"Ishida-kun…?"

He stepped onboard and reached out his hand silently. Orihime looked from his face to his hand for several seconds. Then she smiled and accepted his help, but instead of stepping behind him as he expected, she lifted up and positioned herself in front of him.

"Not more skydiving?" she asked, settling back into his chest. Uryu hoped to whatever power might be listening that she hadn't felt his heart skip a beat.

"No," he said hoarsely, winding his arms around her middle as they lifted off the ground. Orihime leaned into him and gripped his hands over her stomach when they passed the treetops. Her nervousness disappeared the instant she saw the sunset.

"Ishida-kun, look," she breathed, the wind tousling her hair against his cheeks. "It's…it's so pretty! I've never seen it from this high before."

Still they lifted higher, until the trees and city buildings were tiny as pushpins below them, and the wind cut through their clothes and skin. The fading light stretched out across the sky in rivers of pink, orange and violet, coloring their separate world with life.

Orihime let out a breathy laugh and rested her head on his collarbone.

"Do you think that if we go high enough, we might still see the sun, even when it's set?"

Uryu smiled. It felt like all his guilt and grief, all the emotions heavy enough to drag him to his knees, had been left behind far beneath them. He and Orihime were a single patch of life above all the rest, protected, secluded, sheltered.

It couldn't last, but for the moment, it was all he needed.


A/N: Go ahead and let me know what you think! The second it takes for you to review will guarantee a faster update. :)

-Kimsa