Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or anything relating to it, and have the utmost respect for all the people who created these wonderful characters.
AN: Ah, I'm finally done. Told you I would get these out quick. Thanks to the few of you who reviewed, and to everyone who read. I may at some point return to this fic and add more, but have no plans of doing so in the near future. (I need to concentrate on the two other stories I'm working on) I have two more Bleach fanfics planned for sometime soon, one IchiHime and the other HitsuKarin. Please look forward to them!
And now the last POV, and my personal favorite.
One Step Behind Him
By Lady Callista
Shun Shun Rikka
I'm happy to stand one step behind you.
Zangetsu.
I was both happy and sad when you came to rescue me.
I don't want to be the one who has to be protected. I don't want you hurt because of me. The very reason I left was so that I could protect you for once.
But I couldn't stop the joy from dancing through me when you came for me. To know you cared enough about me to do so.
I think part of me knew you would. After all, you went to Soul Society to save Rukia-san when you barely knew her. But part of me also wondered if you would come for me.
I know you don't love me like you do her. But that you cared enough to come made my heart full.
And it made it heavy.
I understand now how Rukia-san felt when we all went to rescue her. I never wanted you to shed your blood for me.
I would rather have stayed in Hueco Mundo and died, as long as I knew you were safe.
I wish I'd had the nerve to kiss you the night I said goodbye. But I couldn't. It wasn't even that I knew you didn't feel about me the way I did about you.
It's that I keep hoping that one day you will.
I don't want to remember the first time I kiss you with sadness. With tears running down my face when you don't even know I'm there.
I want the first time we kiss to be because you wanted to kiss me.
Zangetsu.
If I hadn't stood one step behind you, would I have never known the joy, or the pain, of loving you?
Glossary:
If you didn't get this one, hang your head in shame. This is Orihime thinking of Ichigo.
Shun Shun Rikka: Literally "Six Flowers of the Shielded Hibiscus." I think the dub calls it something about Six Princess-Shielding Flowers. Inuoe Orihime's power.
Zangetsu: Literally "Cutting Moon." Kurosaki Ichigo's zanpakuto.
Hueco Mundo: Spanish for "Hollow World." I watch my Bleach from Dattebayo, so I'm not sure what term the official sub/dub uses.
