Prompt from Nagi: Surrounded by death for all of his life, Ichigo feels as though he can't get close to anyone because he fears that he's cursed (or something). Then he meets Orihime, who shows him it's okay to get close to someone. AU-ish.

Why do I even bother? No one ever survives.

The all-too familiar thought floats into his head, nagging and questioning as to why he's still reaching out for hope. Eighteen years and counting, Kurosaki Ichigo has been alone, no one ever there to comfort him or tell him it'll be alright. Even now, as he sits in practically empty park in a city called Karakura, he watches the children run around with parents following in pursuit and his heart clenches in agony.

What had he ever done to deserve such a fate? He didn't think he was a bad person. The way he and his family lived together was all in sync, despite the occasional fits of fighting him and his father would have. But Ichigo knew that was how his dad showed his love.

It all started seven years ago when Ichigo's mother died on the side of a river after trying to protect him from an oncoming car. It was raining hard and as her blood mixed with the water pouring down on them, he lost the most important person to him at the time.

Two years later, his sisters Yuzu and Karin died from their bus starting on fire. They were so young and innocent, and with an intoxicated driver of the school bus (his inability to drive unbeknownst to school officials that day) they ran a red light and struck another car. The accident killed the other driver and the fire in the bus killed five children, two of which had been his sisters.

Ichigo fell into a depression soon thereafter, a young teen feeling completely inadequate and useless when it came to protecting those he loved. He felt that everything was his entire fault, and no matter what his father would say.

A girl at school showed an interest in Ichigo in the 10th grade, and while he had never had a relationship before and was hesitant to start one anyway, Ichigo was scared to get close to her. It took a lot of time for him to befriend her then enter a world of high school romance. Walking to school with her and spending time at her place to do homework; everything they did seemed wonderful and it started to bring Ichigo out of his shell. After feeling like he'd never be happy again, this girl was showing him all the good, positive things in life.

It was approximately four months after they started dating when she threw herself off a building.

Ichigo felt guilt for it all, especially considering they had been so happy the day prior. She never mentioned anything was wrong nor made any body language to indicate a tormented life. Sinking back into agony, he blamed himself for her death. It was his father and himself for what seemed to be a good stretch of time. He figured the numbness from all the deaths made time seem longer.

The week before Ichigo's graduation, his father was called into the nearest hospital's emergency room to help with the victims of a close-by shooting. He was courageous and determined to save all the lives in the ER, and he did with great success. There was just one causality that day, and it was himself.

One of the fugitives that participated in the shooting, who had been in the ER due to a severe head wound, took his hidden gun to his father and shot him point-blank. As a family survivor, Ichigo received a medal in honor of his father's bravery and ability to rescue all those victims.

But it didn't matter to Ichigo. It wasn't like a medal could sit in a seat and watch him graduate from high school.

Left alone, Ichigo hadn't met anyone else and any verbal contact with people was minimal. All the people he had gotten close to had died, and he couldn't help but feel like it was his entire fault.

"Pardon me, sir, but can I sit here as well?" A soft spoken voice inquires to him, causing him to break from his thoughts. Those dark, moody, anguishing thoughts were replaced with the smiling face of a beautiful woman, her hair auburn in color and eyes in a hue that resembled honey.

Clearing his throat, Ichigo shifts over and nods stiffly, returning his gaze to the playing children. Sometimes it helped to watch the happy kids, numbing his pain and instead making him crack a smile once in a while at the sight of pure innocence.

"I'm Inoue Orihime," she introduces herself, sticking out her hand while wearing that grin. It was so odd to see someone smile so much, and it was even odder to see someone introduce themselves to him. Normally he made a point to appear unapproachable.

Uncomfortable with people, due to his restraint for so long, he awkwardly stuck his hand out and grasped hers. It was much smaller than his and softer too, it was honestly startling.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," he mumbles back, his own voice sounding distant and unfamiliar to him. Orihime pulls her hand back to her lap and her cheeks are dusted with a light pink hue.

"That's a wonderful name, Kurosaki-san," she comments, brushed her hair behind her ear. Ichigo shrugs and watches the kids, feeling bits and pieces of that despair starting to creep into his thoughts. "The kids are fun to watch, aren't they?"

Nodding again, he can't help but agree. Many a times Ichigo wishes he could return to a simpler time, a period where no one dropped like flies around him.

"Why are you here?" he finds himself blurting out before he can hold back the words. On one hand, he fears she'll be offended by his harsh tone, but he also does better alone rather than with others.

Humming, Orihime turns her head towards the sky. She inhales the summer air deeply and smiles again. "You looked lonely."

Frozen, Ichigo wonders if he was too obvious, and if he was, was there a way to change it as to be left alone? He shook his head in the negative. "I'm not lonely. I'm just fine." He couldn't help the slight change in pitch as he voiced the word 'lonely'.

Standing up suddenly, Orihime turns to him, unfazed by his downhearted utterance of words. She held out her hand for him to take, and Ichigo could only stare at it dumbfounded. "I know the kids are fun to watch, but would you like to join me for lunch, Kurosaki-san?"

As much as his brain screamed at him to not get into this whole mess again, his heart and body found themselves taking her hand and standing on his feet. It's just a stranger, he tells himself, noting that there'd be no way he'd allow himself to melt around this woman. A weird one at that. She was odd to him, but it was still something that pulled him in.

As she turned to leave with Ichigo in tow, he let his usually tensed expression and scowl faded away. As strange as this woman seemed, there was a nagging feeling she'd be the one person to melt his frozen, anguished heart.

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