Thank you to all that reviewed! Some of you have PM's disabled so just know that I did try to PM you and say thank you and that I truly appreciate it. I try to respond to all reviewers.
Please note that I did research PTSD and I have found that regressions are frequent. People simply do not wake up one day and find themselves all better and happy and their normal selves. Please keep that in mind on this journey.
Warnings: possible gore (I don't know how ya'll rate that so just keep in mind that flashbacks/dreams/fighting may lead to talk of blood) I won't describe any rape/sex stuff but I will be descriptive in injuries so that everyone gets to partake in characters' pain, both physical and mental.
Chapter 7
Ichigo wondered who his past life must have been. He had to have been someone terrible, someone so evil that they deserved to rot in hell and ruin the life of their reincarnation.
Maybe I was Hitler?
Or maybe you're just a pansy too afraid to take the Princess and claim her as ours.
Shut up, pervert, nobody's claiming anything on Inoue…especially YOU.
This is all YOUR fault, Kingy, YOU didn't take care of her. Maybe if you let me out, I'd have this whole thing solved in a few minutes.
You're not coming out…ever. Especially if Inoue's around.
Afraid she'll like me better, Kingy?
What is your obsession with her anyway? You're worse than Keigo!
I'm just a representation of YOUR instincts, Kingy. What you want, I want, who you desire, I desire, who you hate…
I get it, I get it. But I don't desire Inoue. She's my nakama, nothing more, nothing less.
Sure, Kingy, whatever you say.
I'm going to-
"Kurosaki, if you would like to find Inoue and keep her alive, I suggest you hurry up."
"Oi, shut up, Quincy."
Ishida's glare was obvious but slightly obscured by a light's reflection off his glasses, which had been pushed up to the top of his nose by a lone middle finger.
"Well some of us would like to aid Inoue."
Tell Four Eyes to back off or the last of the Quincys will be shish kabobed on Zangestu.
You shut up.
"Yeah, because you've done such a great job while I was gone."
"Ichigo." Said substitute shinigami turned to his normally-silent friend. "We should see if Urahara can help us."
And so the three went to the suspicious shopkeeper who liked hats and fans, after convincing Tatsuki she should stay home in case Orihime tried to make contact with her.
"Why hello Kurosaki-san, what can I do for you on this bright, sunshiney-"
"Can it, we need your help, and we need it now."
"Oh, so serious, what ever could I do for you-"
"Kisuke, Inoue's in trouble."
Kisuke's face, though still hidden from view by the shade of his hat, took on a serious air.
"Follow me."
The three boys explained the situation, mostly by Ishida and Ichigo talking over and arguing with each other, and Chad finally stepping in and making a few clarifying points.
It was as Urahara had feared. Of course he hadn't been clueless to Ichigo's missing spiritual pressure, or the inconsistency in Orihime's. He had feared Ichigo's extended stay in Soul Society had not been normal business.
Of course, when was anything concerning Ichigo Kurosaki ever normal business?
However, he now feared that he had underestimated the situation, and had put Orihime Inoue in far more danger than he had expected. He hadn't meant for it to get this far. He had been mistaken. And that mistake may cost a young girl her life.
No, I won't let it get that far, I can't let it.
He should have sent Yoruichi to investigate sooner, for she was still lurking in the shadows of Soul Society, trying to gather information, but they must have been more elusive than he had thought.
After following the shopkeeper to a backroom, and waiting for him to click away at his keyboard, the exiled shinigami straitened in his chair.
"What did you find Urahara-san?" asked Ishida, not wasting a moment.
"It's peculiar, Orihime did not make many phone calls…ever," the three spiritually-aware teenagers simultaneously dropped their shoulders in a silent, unified declaration of defeat, " until a few days ago. From her telephone records, she made some calls to a number originating in the United States. The same household then booked a ticket for a one-way trip to an airport in Connecticut, USA. They then emailed your high school and requested Orihime's school records be transferred to a highschool in America. It seems Miss Inoue has left the country."
To say the trio was shocked would be an understatement.
Fire swept across her throat, leaving behind a searing agony and metallic liquid that flowed freely down her stark white gown. Some of the iron-tasting, dark liquid bubbled and gurgled up into her mouth, painting her lips their gory color.
Before she could register what was happening, an all-consuming pain erupted in her stomach, the zanpakuto was large and-familiar. It was huge and had a muscular, tanned hand that Orihime could identify anywhere.
Her mind finally registered what was happening…Ichigo Kurosaki, her love of five lifetimes, was killing her.
Her gray eyes, burning with tears, raised in confusion and shock to meet a furious chocolate glare.
"This is for all the pain that you have caused me. All the battles I fought for you. All the tears my sisters cried because I wasn't there for them."
Orihime tried to speak, to plead, with him-she was sorry, so so sorry, but she had left, she had tried to make up for it-
But then Ichigo Kurosaki was no longer there, and neither was the zanpakuto that had been embedded in her stomach.
Blood just ran freely from her wound now, and as she looked to see where he had gone-she was met with the gaze of her best friend.
"I hope you are suffering, Orihime, I hope you feel what I felt when you just left me. How could you just leave me? After all those years. I thought we were FRIENDS! I PROTECTED you! YOU! I fought for you! I stood by YOU! Now you're finally getting what you deserve…"
NO! Tatsuki, please, no! You don't understand! But all that came out of Orihime's mouth was blood and sickening gurgles. Her brain was getting fuzzy from the loss of blood, and her heart was pounding, trying desperately to sustain her life, and aching over the angry things her nakama had said.
No, no, no, no, NO! I left. I left. They should have moved on. I just wanted to get better, Stronger. Why? WHY? Why?
"Look at us when you die." There standing in front of her was everyone she had known in Karakura. At the forefront, and the one who had spoken was the last of the Quincy clan-Ishida-san. And standing next to him, with his wood-brown locks pushed back to free his angry glare at her was Chad. And Isshin Kurosaki, who had been nothing but nice to her and had even fought to save her brother's life even sent his furious glare in her direction.
Orihime felt absolutely hopeless. Her eyes were drooping as the last of her life drifted away…
…and in a colorful, cheerful room, a young girl with auburn hair screamed in her sleep, thrashing and cutting herself on a broken vase she had knocked off a nearby bedside table.
It's short, but it's an update right?
No, rest your hearts/minds, Orihime's not dead. I could never do that. HSe was having a nightmare and hit a vase and it cut her hand.
Things will be clarified in the next chapter. And the trio gets prepared to go to America, or so they think.
Let me know what you think, either by review or PM.
And thank you for reading!
