The Common Thread: Part 7
"Let me go!"
"That's enough, Tatsuki!"
"Please, Tatsuki, you have to calm down!"
"Let me go right now or I swear I'll beat your face in!"
Ichigo wanted desperately to fire back some comment like 'I'd like to see you try', but thought better of it at the last moment and said instead, "We don't know if she has any internal injuries, Tatsuki. You could make things worse."
That got through Tatsuki's hysteria enough to calm her down and Ichigo nodded at Chad that they could let her go now.
Turning his attention to Uryu, who had positioned himself in front of Orihime's still form to keep Tatsuki from flinging herself on top of the unconscious girl, Ichigo asked, "Did someone call?"
"Mizuiro called the hospital and the police right away. Help should be here soon."
Ichigo nodded and saw his friend now talking with the driver of the car. The driver was a man in his early twenties and seemed to be quite wealthy from the style of his clothes and the expensive looking sports car that he was driving. The man also had a female companion with him, who Ichigo guessed was probably his girlfriend. If it hadn't have been for Keigo's quick reactions after Orihime was hit, the guy would likely have driven off in his fright. As it was, Keigo had run over and grabbed the guy around the collar, since the car was a convertible and the top was down, and screamed for the guy to get out of the car immediately. The man had gotten out of the car, but only to yell at Keigo to get away from the car before it got scratched and Keigo found himself lying in a hospital bed.
At that point, Tatsuki, who had been too stunned to do anything, suddenly charged at the guy and Ichigo and Chad barely reacted fast enough to stop her from beating the rich snob to a pulp.
That had all happened in the space of about three minutes.
Now that Ichigo was sure that the situation was under control, he allowed his gaze to linger on Orihime's still body. Walking over to where she lay, Ichigo knelt beside her as the full impact of what had just happened hit him. Less than five minutes ago, Orihime had been walking just ahead of him with her face and eyes full of life and now she was lying in the middle of the street with her face pressed against the asphalt. She was so still and there was nothing he could do to help her. Orihime was always the one running to heal him and everyone else when they were seriously wounded without a moment's hesitation. Now she was the one who was hurt and it made Ichigo's stomach turn in anxiety.
After what seemed like an eternity, the police finally arrived on the scene, roping off the area, taking the purse-snatcher into custody (it was a testament to Tatsuki's skills as a fighter that the man had remained unconscious throughout the entire ordeal) and started to take down the driver's testimony as well as Keigo and Mizuiro's, who had become a buffer between Keigo and the driver after he had finished calling emergency services. A short while later, the ambulance arrived with the paramedics and they immediately began checking Orihime's vital signs and to see if she had any broken bones. A gurney was brought over and the paramedics gently turned Orihime over in order to lay her on the mattress.
Ichigo's heart almost stopped when he saw Orihime's face. There was a bruise forming on her right temple and a small trickle of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. Yet despite the abrasions, Orihime's expression was one of calm serenity. If he didn't know better, Ichigo might have said she was dreaming of something pleasant. Her hair was splayed across her face and he found himself wanting to reach out and gently brush Orihime's hair back in place.
His wandering thoughts were suddenly arrested by the sound of the driver's voice rising in anger, saying, "I won't stand for this any longer! Look, I told you what happened and as you can clearly tell from my testimony and all the other testimonies, this whole mess is completely not my fault! So, let me go before I call my father and lawyers and have them sue you for detaining me for no reason! My father is the director of the Shirigari Corporation and has lots of connections, so I'm sure it wouldn't take more than one phone call before you lose your worthless job!"
Ichigo wanted to charge over there and beat the man senseless, but controlled his anger enough to call, "Hey, you! Rich, snot-nosed, brat!"
The driver turned slowly and asked, "Are you talking to me?"
Ichigo ignored the question and gestured to where the paramedics were still working on strapping Orihime to the gurney, "Accident or not, you hit this girl with your car, or your daddy's car since he probably bought it for you and pays for the insurance. Either way, you hit Orihime and you're going to take responsibility for this one way or another."
"As I've already said, she fell into the road before I had time to stop my car, so it was really her own fault."
Ichigo surged to his feet, and was about to give another retort, when Uryu grabbed his arm and yanked Ichigo around to face him saying, "It's no use trying to talk with that guy. He makes you look like a genius. Even Keigo can look smart compared to him, so just let it go because he's not worth it."
Ichigo was about to reply when he saw the paramedics begin to place Orihime in the ambulance and he walked quickly over without stopping to think twice.
"Is she going to be all right?" Ichigo asked while he again took in Orihime's expression.
The paramedic looked at Ichigo with sympathy and said, "So far as we can tell, there are no broken bones or damage to her spinal cord or anything like that. As for internal injuries and things of that nature, I can't really say. Is she your girlfriend?"
Ichigo started at the question and answered, "No. She's my good friend."
As he said those words, something about them didn't seem quite right. He couldn't put his finger on it, but just describing Orihime as a friend was inadequate.
The paramedic seemed nonplussed at this question and simply said, "All right, any one of you can ride in the ambulance with us if you want. Has someone called her family to let them know what happened?"
"She doesn't have any family."
At this response, the paramedic did look surprised and asked, "How old is she?"
Ichigo couldn't think for a moment, so Uryu, who had come up beside Ichigo, answered, "She is sixteen now and will turn seventeen on September 3."
Ichigo stared at Uryu, trying to figure out how he knew when Orihime's birthday was, as the paramedic responded, "Well, does anyone wish to travel with us to the hospital? We only have room for one and the rest of you can meet us at the hospital."
"I'll go," was out of Ichigo's mouth before he had a chance to process what he had just said and he climbed into the ambulance and sat down on a bench near Orihime's head.
The doors closed, the sirens began to wail and the ambulance started to move, slowly at first and then picking up speed. None of these things registered in Ichigo's brain as he was too lost in thought.
Now that Orihime was being taken care of by other professional healers, Ichigo allowed his mind to drift to something that had bothered him ever since he had witnessed Orihime flying into the street and being struck by that idiot's car. Directing his gaze to Orihime's tousled hair, Ichigo found what he was looking for. Still nestled just above her ears were the hairpins Sora had given Orihime which were now the manifestation of her spiritual power. Having assured himself that she had the pins, Ichigo forced himself to replay the scene of Orihime's accident in his mind trying to figure out what it was that bothered him about the incident.
Opening his eyes, it suddenly dawned on him. Orihime hadn't used her shield in order to protect herself from the oncoming car. Thinking back to the other times that he had seen Orihime use her shield technique, he became more and more convinced that even though the car had been moving a lot faster than it should have, that Orihime should have had enough time to erect her shield to protect herself from the car. From what he could remember, she hadn't.
"Why didn't you summon your shield, Orihime?" Ichigo mentally asked the unconscious girl, "Why didn't you protect yourself?"
Because she is just like you, a voice inside him answered, in that she doesn't care about her own personal safety as much as the well-being of those she cares about.
Thinking back, he could remember several examples of when she had been more concerned about protecting or healing him than with taking care of herself. Hadn't she run at Yammy when Ichigo's inner hollow had caused his body to stop moving, even though she knew that her techniques were not strong enough to hold the huge arrancar at bay for more than a few seconds? Both times when Ulquiorra had seemingly killed him, when he woke up, Orihime's face had been the first one that he saw, bending over him with concern.
Burying his face in his hands, suddenly Ichigo began to understand the reason behind Orihime's looks of trepidation and worry during those times. He had no idea whether she would ever wake up again and the thought of Orihime dying scared him more than anything had for quite some time.
Author's Note:
So, just a little explanation about what is going on here…I seem to be doing this a lot…hope you guys don't mind…Anyway, just so the breaks in between moving on to the next lifetime are clear, I am going to spend one chapter developing and explaining how things are getting along back in Karakura Town, so that the plot line back home stays interesting and (as I mentioned before) it will make moving from one lifetime to the other a little more defined rather than just knocking Orihime out and moving on. Hopefully that makes sense.
Enjoy!
