A/N: Wow that was a long wait. Well I did warn ya'll.

Reviews:

Hwon: If you ask me I don't think Ichigo's all that stubborn, he just like to appear that way. Another thing, he likes being the hero, and who needs more rescuing then Orihime?

Holy: All wrong, but funny ideas.

Chapter 3: Worries

"They are all alive and accounted for. It also seems that we didn't lose any of the Shinigami that were sent. Aizen's forces on the other hand suffered massive losses as a result of their disorganized assault. We are now positive that all the arrancar have moved back into Hueco Mundo. In order to make our position clear our forces have set up a perimeter in the facility owned by Kisuke Urahara. There have been no enemy sightings for some time now, and the captains have requested permission to withdraw."

Ishida relaxed as the report was given. Yamamoto thanked and dismissed the messenger, approving the withdrawal. Ishida turned back to the captain-commander. "Just who did you send?"

"Captains Zaraki, Kyoraku, Ukitake, Hitsugaya, Kuchiki, several of their most trusted subordinates, and a full squad of front line medics from squad four led by lieutenant Kotetsu." Ishida was actually awestruck for a moment when he heard the list. Yamamoto took this as a sign that he had gained at least some trust from the arrogant young man, and decided to push the limits of what could be conversed. "Now then, I have a request for you." This got Ishida's attention turned back onto the negative, but Yamamoto persisted. "I want your opinion." There was a change in the Quincy's disposition at that. "If today's events are any indication, Orihime Inoue is of great importance to the enemy in Hueco Mundo. For that reason I wanted to ask you, one of her allies, if you believe she would be safer here, in the protective custody of soul society, or left in the material world with the rest of your allies?"

Ishida considered for only a moment. "Do you think you are as strong as Kurosaki?" Yamamoto just grunted in response. "If you think you are stronger then him, that if the combined strength of Soul society would be a better deterrent that he is alone, then bring her here, and let all of Aizen's wrath fall upon your precious Seireitei. Then again, you were the one who had ordered us to leave her behind in that hell, all to protect a few lives. Consider how far we made it, one captain level Shinigami, two seated officers, a human and a quincy. Then imagine how much farther, how much more damage we could have done against that palace had we had even the aid of just three captains. But you would have left her to rot. I wouldn't trust you not to slit her throat just to keep her away from Aizen. That is my opinion. If you have no further need for me, I have my afterlife to tend to, and I plan on spending it in rukongai, far away from you Shinigami." Ishida stood and turned, approaching the door.

Yamamoto only responded by saying "Very well then."

No one stopped him as he walked. He thought they might be avoiding him. He reached the gate and after knocking on it and yelling for a while Jidanbo opened it up so he could leave the Seireitei.

Orihime approached the group, and a hush filled the air. Tatsuki bumped into her earning a startled exclamation followed by a short laugh. Once all the tension was out of her system, she took a deep breath and exhaled. "Ummmmmmm…"She bowed down. "Thank you all so much!! Thank you, for saving me."

No one said anything for a moment. Then Ichigo broke the silence. "I don't leave my friends in the hands of the enemy. So you don't need to thank me."

Renji scoffed. "Well aren't you the noble tough guy." The two began to trade glares that crackled with electricity.

Rukia ignored the staring contest and stepped forward. "It was tough I won't lie, but I should be thanking you, you saved my life."

Orihime smiled at the Shinigami but she noticed some movement. "Sado-kun?"

Chad stopped but he didn't turn around. "I'm okay, now that everyone's ok. But I need to go talk to Urahara-san. See ya."

Rukia examined the situation. She ran over to Renji and not so discreetly punched him the gut. Before he could scream about her actions she began yelling over him. "RENJI IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR WOUND HAS OPENED AGAIN LETS GO FIND THOSE 4TH SQUAD MEDICS AND GET YOU PATCHED UP!!!" As she pushed Renji away she turned back and gave a very obvious thumbs up and wink to Orihime.

Orihime had no idea what she was getting at so she turned around but to ask Tatsuki but she was interrupted by Ichigo.

Ichigo looked around. "Wow, everyone sure left in a hurry. Oh Inoue, Tatsuki. Do you need to do anything?"

She looked up at the sky to distract herself. The sky within this area was always blue, but the large hole that had been opened in the roof allowed her to see the night sky just as she had seen it through Mizuiro's window. She snapped herself back and answered Icihigo's question. "Oh no, I don't have anything I need to I just want to get some food and then some sleep."

Tatsuki stretched her arms. "I'm fine too, I just need to get home for school tomorrow."

Ichigo scratched his head and stood up. "Alright." He looked around until he saw someone. "Hey Toshiro do you need us here anymore?"

The diminutive Shinigami captain turned and glanced at Ichigo angrily. "How many times? It's Captain Hitsugaya. As for your question, we just received word that Orihime will not be brought back to Soul Society as we had initially believed. Instead, she is being labeled "A Citizen of the Material world placed under the jurisdiction and therefore protection of Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki.""

Ichigo scratched his head. "So, you guys aren't going to help us protect her?"

Hitsugaya shook his head. "Sorry, apparently this decision was based partly on the words of Uryu Ishida."

Ichigo was getting angry. "WHAT!!! That jerk went through all the trouble of helping to save her and now he doesn't think she should be protected?"

Hitsugaya let out a drawl of breath. "He wants you to protect her. He doesn't trust us Shinigami to do a decent job of it."

Ichigo was knocked back by that comment. It did sound like something Ishida would say. "Alright whatever. Are you two going to be okay going home?"

Tatsuki smiled. "I'll be fine, I can take care of myself now." Tatsuki turned and started towards the exit.

Inoue thought for a moment. "I can get home on my own I guess. Though…What if they come for me again?"

Ichigo scratched his head. "You really think they would after all of this? Then again if they were really going to do all of this I guess they'd be willing to attack again wouldn't they. Argghhh. I guess you're sticking with me. Damn that Ishida, he could have at least asked for a few guards to help out here. So you want to go home right?"

Orihime was lost in her thoughts. She finally snapped out and heard what Ichigo had asked. "Ummmm, I think that one that took me there, Ulquiorra, I think he knows where I live. I wouldn't feel very safe there."

Ichigo scratched his head some more. "And I need to get my body back from home, soooo…"

"I guess I could stay at Kurosaki-kun's home for now, I know I'd be safe there."

"So, you managed to capture a live one, Urahara-san."

Urahara sighed. "Yes, consider it a gift, Mayuri may be able to find some way to use it's anatomy for new devices, or maybe find some shared weakness in their bodies or reiatsu."

Ukitake nodded. "Though, We might find out even more if you were the one doing the dissection."

The green clad exile stood and shook his head. "Sorry, dissections were never my favorite thing to do; that was always Mayuri's specialty. It was the one area he excelled even further then myself in, mostly because unlike me he enjoyed the process."

"But no one understands the process that transforms a hollow into an arrancar as well as you do."

"I refuse to do it, Ukitake-san."

Ukitake nodded, then turned. "Ah, Sado-san."

Chad simply nodded and made a very quiet grunt like noise. "Excuse me, I need to speak with Urahara-san."

Ukitake nodded, and picked up the unconscious arrancar before leaving.

Urahara didn't turn to face Chad, but he did acknowledge his presence. "Hello Sado-san. You are here to ask about your arms and their transformations, aren't you?"

Ichigo looked around his room. "Where the hell am I? Yoruichi said she put it in my room for safe keeping." He looked over at the closet. "No way to obvious." He opened the closet and his body flopped out and a rag doll like fashion, landing chin first and with it's arms twisted around. Ichigo wasn't happy about it. "How can be people treat you like this! I have to live in here you know!" Ichigo heard a sound behind him and was afraid that he might have woken up his family. He was relieved when he saw it was just Orihime. Then he was a bit embarrassed to realize it was Orihime.

She smiled sweetly. "Umm is anything wrong, Kurosaki-kun?"

He started propping his body up into a more decent position while trying to brush away any concerns. As soon as his body was in a position that wouldn't cause too much pain he merged with it and yawned. "Wow, being back in my body really makes me tired. Oh, well normally guests stay in my sister's room…"

"I thought Rukia slept in your closet while she stayed over here?" Orihime hoped her blush wasn't very apparent.

Ichigo stood up and looked around the room to distract himself. "Well yeah, but that was only when I didn't want my family to know she was staying here. And besides that was her idea not mine."

Orihime looked at the closet. It was small and would be cramped. "Well uhhh, do you want to wake up your family?"

Ichigo thought about it. "Well no, but…" Orihime was much taller then Rukia and would not be very comfortable in his closet. Besides that was just rude, and had Rukia not volunteered for such a home he would never have forced it on her. Still he had to think of something. "Alright how about you sleep in my bed?"

Orihime blinked. "Ummmm um um um… I'm…I'm not that kind of girl…Kurosaki-kun…"

Ichigo shook his hands and arms wildly side to side. "No I didn't mean it like that!! I'm going to sleep on the floor!!!"

Orihime blinked again. "oh…Oh yes of course Sorry about that Kurosaki-kun My mistake eheheheh!" They both calmed down and Ichigo pulled out his spare futon. He laid down on it while Orihime snuggled into Ichigo's bed. "Good Night Kurosaki-kun."

"Night."

Chad looked at his arm. He had gone straight home after his talk with Urahara. Nothing was said that he hadn't expected, but it still upset him. 'Your arms are acting in a manner similar to a hollow. Over your life time you have been exposed to small amounts of reiatsu that your body has fed on, eventually it reached a level of physical manifestation in your right arm. When you trained with Renji you weren't just working out, you were absorbing reiatsu off of his Bankai, so your powers advanced. Then you went to Hueco Mundo, the dense spirit particles in that world served to excite your powers even further, and so they advanced further. As you continue to fight, or are surrounded by large sources of spirit particles or reiatsu, you will get stronger and stronger. But I must warn you, eventually you may become addicted and develop the hunger of a hollow. Should you ever desire to devour a spirit for it's spiritual reiatsu, I suggest you take this.'

Chad reached into his pocket and pulled out the small pill. It was ovoid and half black half white. "If I take this, my powers will go away, but I won't hurt anyone. As long as I can control it, I can use this arm to protect people. So I'll keep it for now."

He appeared from a black gateway and walked along the ground silently and slowly. He looked up into the window of the house. "I see. Protecting her." Then he was aware of some other presence.

"Is there maybe something I can help you with, Arrancar?"

He glanced around with his emerald eyes to see the man who and addressed him. A shihakusho, and a white banner off of the left shoulder. "No. Ishhin Kurosaki."

Ishhin was taken back for a second. "So, you know who I am. Well I imagine you are here to play with Ichigo, but he's very tired from his recent ordeal and can't come out right now. I can entertain you …I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Arrancar Cuatro, Ulquiorra Schiffer." Ulquiorra glanced towards the sky at that moment, as he was not the one who had spoken his name. "And he would kill you in an instant old man. But he'd have a little more trouble against someone like me."

Ulquiorra's eyes were fixed on this new comer. He had no knowledge of this person. A man with blonde hair an a skinny appearance. A human with reiatsu that matched or even surpassed his own, but more strange then anything was that this reiatsu was almost the same as his. "I see. You are the same as that boy."

Shinji smiled and brought his sword over his shoulder. "What you mean Ichigo? That feather of fighter. He wouldn't last a minute against me if I was really trying. But still, he has room to grow and because of that he's a valuable asset. Sorry, but you can't kill him."

Ulquiorra blinked. "The thought never crossed my mind. I came here for the girl." Ishhin and Shinji both showed signs of confusion. "I see, so you weren't even aware of her presence. Still taking her while fending both of you off would be difficult, and she might not survive." He opened a garganta. "Aizen Sama will be displeased, but he will understand."

Shinji and Ishhin watched the arrancar disappear. After he was gone Ishhin sighed out of relief. "Fighting him would have been tough. I'm glad he decided to leave. But what did he mean by girl?"

Ishhin suddenly heard gasp. "I'll tell you what he meant. Orihime-chan how could you!"

Ishhin jumped up and looked through the window to see Orihime sleeping soundly in Ichigo's bed. "OH! My son is growing up faster then I thought!" He then realized who he was standing right next to. The leapt away from each other and locked eyes. "So, you felt the need to protect Ichigo as an investment of yours, Vizard?"

Shinji smiled. "So, you know what we are. Just as I know what you are. And yeah, Ichigo happens to be a very important part of our future. So take good care of him. We can't always interfere when that idiot gets himself into trouble." With that Shinji was gone.

Ishhin landed back on the ground. "Damn that guy is fast. And Ichigo…And Orihime…I'll need to do some parenting in the morning…"

Inside the house Orihime awoke with a gasp, having just sensed something. Whatever it was it was gone now, but there was still something lingering in the air that terrified her. Then she became aware of the other person breathing in the room, and remembered Ichigo. A thin beam of light hit her in the back of the head, telling her that the sun was rising. She got out of the bed and knelt down beside Ichigo. He was breathing very quietly, but he was breathing. "Just like before." She started to lean in but stopped when she heard a yawn.

Ichigo opened his eyes and saw Orihime right in front of him. "Uhhhhh…Inoue?"

What would have been a long and awkward silence was cut short when Ichigo's father came bursting into the room screaming at the top of his lungs. "TODAY'S THE DAY GIRLS!!! TODAY ICHIGO IS HOME!!!!!! GAHHHH!!!" Ishhin had just caught sight of Orihime bending over Ichigo, and was stopped in his tracks. Yuzu, who had been closely following her father, was similarly frozen.

Karin also walked in. "That's what you said yesterday dad…Oh, Well I guess you were right today." She then smiled and turned around to leave. "Nice job Ichigo, you bagged a real hottie."

A/N: Lets see Ichigo bluff himself out of this one.