Hey, hey, hey! Here's another chapter! Yay! I won't be able to post another one until the end of this week so, I'm sorry about that. Actually. I may post another one later on today, but don't hold your breaths. Unless you can hold you breaths for an insubstainal amounts of time, then take a huge gulp of air!

Okay, so warning: This chapter contains scense of sextual nature, so if you're sqeamish, or if reading this makes you downright uncomfortable, then I would skip over that part. Otherwise, Enjoy!

He looked at her, hair blowing in the wind softly. He could smell the strawberry shampoo wafting off her hair in smooth waves. She turns to face him, a soft smile light up her features, her hair blows across her face.

He swallows thickly as he moves closer to her, his eyes never leaving hers. She bites her delicious looking lips and stared up into his eyes. They're so close, he could feel the heat radiating off her. His heart is racing, his emotions are swirling. He doesn't know what to say, he's never been all that good with words. He always felt that it was better if his actions spoke for him.

Grabbing her, he pulls her soft body tightly against his and began to devour her soft, plump lips. She gasps, slightly startled, but she melts into him as his hands began to roughly roam her body. A heat grows in his loins almost instantly. He moans as her hands travel from his chest to his neck to his hair. He presses her closer him, pulling her hair for better access to her mouth.

She moans, it starts a reaction in him. He pulls her hair a bit more releasing her lips, moving on down to her neck, kissing, biting and sucking the skin raw. She moans a bit louder, her nails scraping against his neck causing him to moan in return.

Her legs collapse beneath her, causing them both to fall into the soft, plush grass. She giggles breathlessly, he growls into her neck, effectively quenching her laughter. She stares up into his desired hazed eyes with her own match set. He captures her lips once more, drinking her in; she opens her mouth a bit wider, easing his access. He feels himself become hard and fully aroused. Apparently she could feel it too, she gasps her eyes widen a bit in surprise and lust.

She runs her hands down his back to the edge of his shirt, lifting it up, and her soft skin against his rough skin. Her nails gently scrape along his back. Holding him closer to her, she wraps her legs around him and adjusts, so that she's straddling him.

He looks up at her, a fine sheen of sweat coats her skin, lust coats her eyes, and her lips are red and swollen, matching the markings on her neck. She reaches for his shirt, lifting up over his head. She goes down, kissing his neck, leaving little bit marks of her own on his neck, her hands pulling his hair.

There are so many different sensations that are going through his mind right now. Her kisses, hot upon his neck, the pressure of her body, straddling him, the erection that is growing harder by the minute, trying to rip free of the confinement of his pants, the soft grass against his back, and the cool, fall breeze on his heated skin. He was ready to burst in any given moment. Her hands began to travel southward, her fingers brushed the edge of his underwear. Oh God, this was amazing. Unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He needed to feel more of her.

He grabs her shirt and lifts it up over her head. Her flesh was creamy and soft and surprisingly firm. Her bountiful mounds were encased in a soft pink lace. He kissed them, he breath hitched, and her thighs tightened around him. She began to whimper, grinding against his arousal. He nearly went blind with pleasure. This was taking far too long for him.

His hands wrapped around her and pulled her down, maneuvering so that she was beneath him and he was straddling her. His hands wen to her skirt, tugging it down along with her underwear. She moans loudly, her nails digging into his arms. She was panting hard as he pulled her underwear down past her thighs, her knees, and her calves off her body. She shivers violently from his lack of warmth.

He is only able to stare at her glorious, almost completely naked aroused body. He, himself, has never been more aroused in his entire life. He reaches for her bra, and frees her breast of their confinement. She is panting and whining, craving his touch. She brings her legs together, tightly, trying to relieve the pressure that's built in loins. Her hands, absently grabs at the grass on either side of her.

He watches this with great lust and desire. Absently, he goes through the methods of taking off his pants. Soon, he is free and is back on top of the creamy, buttery skin princess. He kisses her deeply, his hands running through her hair, pulling it, with gentle force. He releases her, looking into her eyes for permission. They've made it this far, it almost seems silly.

She nods vehemently; he moves to her knees and parts them, opening her up, revealing her sex. She groans out, a deep guttural sound, it sounded almost alien coming from her. He braces himself by holding on to her as he enters. She whimpers loudly, arching her back, biting her lip to the point where blood is drawn. She's so wet that he slides in easily, but tight enough that there's a bit of resistance. He has to brace himself as well so that he doesn't orgasm the instant that he enters her. After a few moments of stillness, he began to move.

Her nails bite into his skin, drawing blood. He moves slowly at first, and then builds up speed. Thrusting harder and faster as their orgasm builds. She holds incredible warmth that is intoxicating. She moans his name, over and over. The sounds and smells of their desire fill the air, his vision becomes spotty, he thrusts deeper and deeper, going further into her. She is sopping wet, her juices pour out of her as he moves faster and faster.

His hands make their way down to her calves and trails up to her thighs. He lifts them up until her knees are touching her shoulder; he's given better access and moves with more vigor and aggression. Primal, animalistic sounds escape him. He begins to lose control, and becomes rougher and more persistent. All pretenses are gone, as if they were ever there to begin with. She starts to scream, clawing, scratching and biting at him. He becomes light headed as pressure begins to build immensely. Decliously. He releases her legs, leans down, and wraps an arm around her fiery hot, slick torso, lifting her up to a sitting position and thrust upward, going deeper than he'd ever had before. The intense pleasure was too much for him to handle. Her breaths hitches as she whimpers his name into his ear, he couldn't stand it any longer.

"ORHIME!" he shouts as he reaches his climax, with a mind shattering numbness.

He jolts awake, falling out of his, tangled in his blankets.

He looks around confused, breathing hard, covered in sweat.

Wait…was that all…just a dream…but it felt so real….he runs his hands through his spiky orange locks. He lets out a deep sigh, slightly embarrassed about his wet dream. Speaking of wet…

He looks down and notices that he had, indeed, orgasm in his sleep. He buries his hands in his face, even more embarrassed. Really? He was pitiful. He gets up and turns on his light. It was only 5 in the morning. He decided to take a shower. A cold one.

!

Ichigo eats breakfast, refusing to acknowledge the dream that he had. Karin was strangely quiet, not meeting his eyes, Yuzu hums happily to herself. Their father is nowhere to be seen. Ichigo would ask about where he is, but he doesn't care and likes the fact that, for once, he doesn't have to be attacked in the morning. Besides, he has a lot on his mind.

Like soft skin, muscles shuddering under his touch, soft pitched moans of pleasure-

"…GOOOOOOOO!" Ichigo is knocked out of his seat and onto the floor. His jaw aches in incredible pain. His father has kicked him in the face. He didn't see it coming. He was too caught up in that damnable dream to hear his father "sneak" attack.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM OLD MAN!?" He yells out to his father, still cradling his sore jaw.

"Ha ha, it looks like your old man still got it," he says proudly, his fists on his hips.

"YOU ONLY GOT ME BECAUSE I WAS DEEP IN THOUGHT!" Ichigo yelled, refusing to acknowledge to being bested by his father.

His father took on a devious look. "Oh, could it be that you were deeply in thought about that spicy dream that you had last night?" Ichigos' face turns scarlet and his heart thumps wildly. He shoots a glance towards his sisters before jumping off the ground and running out of the dining room, grabbing his father in the process.

"How the hell did you know about that!?" he whispers furiously. His father laughs amused.

"Son, it's natural to have a dream like that, especially one as sexually active as you are." Ichigo swore that his face was going to burn off. He grounded his teeth and closed his eyes. He truly didn't want to have this conversation right now.

"Was I…was I loud last night?" he asked hesitantly. This conversation was going to kill him, he was sure.

"Well son, the only thing I can say was that, this Orihime chick must be one hell of a woman," Ichigo groaned, his embarrassment knowing no limit. If his dad had heard that must've meant that Karin had heard, since her room is closer which is why she was avoiding him.

He truly wanted to die. He needed to get out of the house that instant. He turned to leave but his father stopped him.

"Hey Ichigo, I saw some papers on your desk about medical school. Are you thinking of perusing that career?" he was being serious and interested. Inside Ichigo warred with embarrassment and desire to leave, and with the curiosity of asking his dad about the field that he was thinking of pursuing. The latter won.

"Yeah, I was thinking about it. I was wondering all what it took to…you know, become a doctor."

"Well, I'm glad that you have an idea about what you wanted to pursue. To be honest, I just thought that you were just going to cost along aimlessly, with no real direction or purpose," Ichigo scowls.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he scoffs. He made good grades in school; he was filing out applications for schools and everything. He'd obviously had some sense of direction.

"What I meant was that, although you do great in school, it was like you were doing it because you felt that you needed to, not that you had any real interest in doing anything with your education. I'm glad to see you show a little interest in something," he ruffles his hair, Ichigo swipes at his hand. He looks down, slightly embarrassed and a bit nervous.

"So…are you proud?" he couldn't believe how lame he was being. But it was just him and his father, so his rep was safe. He felt himself being pulled into a bear hug.

"Son, even if you only had aspirations to be a store clerk, I would still be proud of you! But the fact that you want to follow your old man's line of work? I have to say that I'm extremely flattered!" Ichigo detangles himself from his father, still blushing furiously.

"Well…okay then," he bolts from the living, out the front door, walking with determined speed and focus. When he was far enough from his house, he slowed down. Sighing, he runs his hands through his hair.

His father was proud huh?

!

Okay, so Orihime wasn't feeling too well. Yesterday totally threw her a curve ball. It seemed as though her past was coming to disrupt her future. First that picture, then Ulquiorra, and Aizen. Now Grimmjow? What was he even doing here? She tried to ask him yesterday, to get to the bottom of it, but he was being weird and cryptic. This was abnormal for him, who usually wears his emotions on his face and gets straight to the point;

"Grimmjow…what brings you to Karakura?" she asked nervously biting her lip.

"It doesn't matter why I'm here, only that I get a good fight out of the process," he said, looking around. Ulquiorra was at her back, being impassively quiet, his silent eyes watching Grimmjows' every move.

"But still, you've come a long way, there must be some reason as to why you've come here," she persisted.

"Geez, get off my balls. I was given a job opportunity that I couldn't pass up. That's all. I wouldn't have even come to this dammed school if that place I'm moving into didn't require that I be a student. So Ulquiorra, how's it hanging man?" he asked, a sting of hostility threaded his voice.

"I'm fine," he deadpanned. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow never really got along that entire well. Whenever Grimmjow would want to fight, it would be Ulquiorra who would stop him. Grimmjow would like to think that he's stronger than Ulquiorra, but Orihime has seen, first hand, that that isn't true. Grimmjow smiles manically.

"Guess what, I've gotten stronger since you've left. I'm pretty sure that you aren't able to defeat me now. Not that you ever had," Ulquiorra looks at him with a bored expression and turns to leave.

"Orihime, I'm going to get a drink." He leaves an angry Grimmjow and a confused Orihime behind. She sighs inwardly, and turns back to Grimmjow who is currently seething.

"Grimmjow, I-"but before she could finish her sentence, Ichigo comes from, seemingly, nowhere.

"Hey Orihime, is everything alright?" her heart races, she thinks about what happened at Tatsukis' party and how upset Rukia is and how most of the school seemed to turn on her.

"Oh hi Ichigo. Grimmjow, this is Ichigo, Ichigo, this is Grimmjow from one of my old schools in America," she introduces them, unable to meet Ichigos' eye. Grimmjow size him up and down, a feral grin splitting his face in two.

"Oh man, I can sense the fighting spirit of this one! How about it Bozo, you want to test your strength?" Ichigos' scowl deepens and his muscles tenses. Orihime sees this and swallows; she didn't want them to fight.

"Oh Grimmjow, you and that sense of humor of yours," she said lightly. But her words were lost between Ichigos' glare and Grimmjows' smile and the tensing muscles between the two of them.

"Who are you calling Bozo? You look like a clown that was hit with an electric chair!"

"Oh Ichigo, that's right, we're on the Welcoming Committee together, we should go after school today to get things for his basket! Before all the little green men comes and take all of the good stuff…I actually already have some things so we won't even need to be there long…" he words fell on deaf ears. The two boys just stood there sizing each other up.

"I'm going to pummel all of the juice out of this strawberry!" Grimmjow hollered. Um…phrasing? Ichigo looked confused for a moment, not sure how to take that. Grimmjow thought for a moment and then backtracked.

"I'm going to beat the shit out of you," he corrected. Ichigo tensed back up, now that they were back in familiar territory. But before any real fighting could commence, a giant shadow loomed above them. It was Coach Kenpachi Zaraki. His wild hair stood out in symmetrical points with bells on them, his scared face held a feral grin that was a lot similar to Grimmjows', a dark leather eye patch covered his face, and a pink haired midget stood on his shoulder.

"I'm afraid beating the shit of Kurosaki is my job, but if you would like, I could schedule you in as well," he said, his deep low voice reverberating through them all. Ichigo looked as if he was going to die, Grimmjow took a look at Ichigo and his smile faltered as he stared back up into the Coaches crazed eyes. Orihime shivered slightly, but the coach didn't have any interest in her.

"Kurosaki, I've have been waiting for you to show up in gym for almost three months, how you've managed to make the attendance sheet and avoid me at the same time is a mystery. But now that I've finally found you, I assure you, you won't escape," all three of them unconsciously swallowed thickly.

Ichigo bolted. Grimmjow followed. Coach Zaraki pursued. Orihime let out a deep breath and looked up to the sky. At that exact moment, someone "accidently" dropped their lunch. She was able to move away just in time before any of it landed on her. It was just rice. She was thankful that it wasn't yogurt.

Orihime sighed as the relived yesterday, getting ready for school. Hopefully she could get some answers out of Grimmjow today, but she knows that it isn't really likely that she would. Grimmjow doesn't do anything that he doesn't want to. And if he didn't want to talk to her, then he wasn't going to. Besides, she had a lot of other things on her mind. Like Aizen. He called last night. She didn't answer her phone. She didn't have to. He knew that just a simple call to her would let her know that he was thinking about her.

She didn't like it when he thought of her.

Because of the call, she barely got any sleep at all that night, so she was not really mentally prepared to deal with what she was certain to be a terrible day. Besides the fact that she and Ichigo would have to give Grimmjow a tour of the school (they were actually supposed to do it yesterday, but after lunch she couldn't find Ichigo or Grimmjow) and then she would have to go into town to finish buying things for Grimmjows' welcome basket. But knowing him, if it didn't have weed, booze or a decent fighting partner, he wouldn't care too much for it.

She yawns; she's impossibly tired, and gathers her long burnt orange tresses into a bun. From experience, she noted that this was a perfect hair style for having food thrown at you. It doesn't have particles all stuck in there and stuff like that, and it's easier to clean.

Satisfied with the way she looks, albeit the light bags under her eyes, she is ready for school. It's a bit early for Ulquiorra to come and get and so she decides to go outside and wait for him.

She is surprised to see Ichigo standing outside her door prepared to knock. Her eyes widen considerably as her heart jumps into her throat. For a moment, she considers that she is dreaming but quickly shakes the thought. No dream could smell as delicious and spicy as he could.

He looked nervous, his face a scarlet red, his eyes were shifty and avoiding hers. He began mumbling under his breath. She took a nervous breath, unsure of what to do. That awkwardness between them and Rukia left her in a compromising position.

"Oh! Hi Ichigo…you're here pretty early…" she did a little lame wave thing. She wasn't sure what to do with herself. She bit her lip nervously, he turn an even deeper shade of red. What was up with him?

"Oh, um…good morning…Orihime…how's it going?" this was beyond awkward. Ichigo wasn't acting himself, she wanted to be suspicious, but she was much too flustered.

"Did you want to come in?" she pointed to the door. He shook his head, running his long slender fingers through his orange hair.

"Um… I…I was going to walk you to school….for…the…Welcoming Committee! Yeah, we need to discuss the Welcoming Committee because we didn't do anything for that kid yesterday," he finished lamely. Her eyes widen with realization.

"Oh yes! Grimmjow! We need to show him around school and everything! Oh, yeah, are you busy after school today?" she asked. He had a strange, unreadable look in his eyes, but he quickly shook it off.

"No, I'm free. What's up?"

"Well, we need to go shopping for the finishing touches for Grimmjows' basket. And then we need to finish making it. Oh you have to see what I did with it so far! It's beautiful!" She grabbed his wrist, ignoring the tinges of heat and electric shock that she felt at the contact, and pulled him inside her apartment with ease. They made it to her living room where she pointed to a highly decorated basket. It donned blue and white ribbons, a tiny blue and with tiger with a black shirt, various goodies and teas, pencils, decorative erasers, cookies and other things of the like.

"Wow, Orihime, this is amazing! When did you have time to do this?"

"I'm a part of the handy crafts club at school. Uryu helped a lot with the design of the basket. If not for him it would look like terrible!" she exclaimed happily, rubbing the back of her head.

"I feel like a total dork, I didn't help with anything."

"Oh that's okay Ichigo; you're going with me to town to help finish it. And Uryu did most of the work, so it's not like I did it all by myself," she said with a smile. He looked her in the eyes; a deep feeling flittered across them. Orihime swallowed thickly, a hot feeling filled up her chest; her heart began to thump painfully. She recognized this as another intimate moment.

He stepped closer to her, she could smell him very well, the cologne that he was wearing. It invaded her senses, making her head swarm; she could feel heat pool in her stomach.

He reached out and touched her hair.

"Your hair is different," he stated, brushing his fingertips against her bang. Immediately her hand flew up to her bun.

"Um…yeah. I thought that I would try something new…" she trailed off as his hands fell from her hair and to her cheek. His touch lingered, creating a wildfire of heat spreading through her body starting from his touch. If she could lean into it...NO!

She jerked away from his touch, thoughts of Rukia on her mind. Her tears, her hateful, hurt words. She couldn't do this, not to her friend.

She looked away, but not before seeing the hurt expression on Ichigos' face. She gave a slight tremor, but she quickly got over it.

"Um…well, Ulquiorra should be here any moment now," she said, changing the subject. Ichigo tensed, his mood growing dark.

"What do you mean by that?" the tightness in his voice was unmistakable. She looks to him, her eyes wide and curious.

"Ulquiorra moved into my apartments last week. We've been walking to school together ever since. He usually comes around this time- "

"What are up with you two?" he asks randomly. She is flabbergasted by this abrupt question. The only thing she could think of was, why would he care?

"Um, we know each other from America. We were…friends you could say," she trails off, thinking of their night together, when she lost her "purity" as Aizen would put it.

"Is that how you know that kid? You know, the one with the weird hair, whatshisname," Ichigo squints his eyes in concentration. Orihime giggled at his ability to never remember anyone's name. He gave a smile, barely noticeable smile.

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez," she supplied to him, nodding. "Yes, he is actually the reason why I know Ulquiorra. We used to hang out after school and do things…" she trailed off, an embarrassed blush tinting her cheeks. She didn't want Ichigo to know of her horrid past, not now not ever. There was a light knock on the door.

"Oh, that must be Ulquiorra," she turns from Ichigo, glad for the diversion and bounds on towards the door and open it with great enthusiasm. "Good Morning Ulquiorra, did you have a good night's rest?" Ulquiorra notices the change in her appearance and comments on it.

Meanwhile, Ichigo just stares at the gentle beauty, his thoughts racing. He was sure that she was hiding something from him. He couldn't believe that he picked up on it, but he'd had. There was something about Orihime that he wasn't privy to, but somehow that bastard Ulquiorra was, and couldn't stop a tight, insanely jealous, feeling from creeping into his heart.

!

The day at school passed by mostly uneventful for Orihime. She was glad for it. Except for the silent treatment that most of the school seemed to be giving her, she was still glad for her other friends who didn't ignore her or treat her coldly. But she couldn't help but feel a tad bit lonely; because Rangiku and Momo were exerting all of their extra energy trying to console Rukia who shot her death glares every chance she got.

She was left to eat lunch alone because Ulquiorra had to go to the Principle Urahara with Grimmjow for something to do with the fact that they're both new and both from the same place and something or another. Ulquiorra didn't give her much detail. So she ate by herself in relative peace.

A tall dark shadow cast itself over her. She looked up to see a boy with a popular haircut and a sneer, surrounded by the three girls that shoved her the day prior and a different boy whit a shaved her and piecing in his nose. Fear encased itself in her heart. Something bad was about to happen. She could feel it.

Slowly, she placed her chopsticks down in her lunch box and stood. Tatsuki taught her to never be in a vulnerable position when she felt she was going to be attacked.

She looked around and noticed that there was no one around. Well, she did go to a secluded part of the school to each lunch. She was sick of the dirty stares and whispers that were surrounding her. She sighed deeply and looked them in the eyes.

"Guys, please, I don't want any trouble. Whatever you heard about me, I can assure you it's not worth your harassment. So please, just leave me alone-"

"Shut your dirty mouth you goddamn whore!" one of the girls spat.

"We heard of what you did with Rukia's boyfriend,"

"Yeah, how could you be so disgusting?"

"Wasn't she supposed to be your friend?"

"Yeah, what type of person would do that to their friend?"

"I guess that Rangiku should watch out for her boyfriend,"

"STOP IT!" she screamed. God! She was sick and tired of everyone always assuming things about her. "I don't care what you think about me. God, I'm so tired of what everyone thinks about me, I just don't care anymore." She took a deep shuddering breath. "Go ahead, say whatever you like about me, post whatever you like about me. But I'm not going to stand here and take it, so if you don't mind," holding back tears, she turns to walk away. But before she could get past a couple steps, someone grips on to the back of her uniform jacket.

Quickly, she turns around to do a spin kick, landing it squarely in the boy who grabbed her, arm. He cried out in pain. She tries to run, but as fortune would have it, she trips over her own lunch box.

Nice, real smooth Orihime. She berates herself, as she grunts, getting up. Great, now she has grass stains on her uniform, which she would have to take to the cleaners.

A heavy pressure is on her back, and then there's another. She squirms furiously, trying to shake them. A deep fear settles within her bones. This position is eerily familiar to her.

"You stupid cur, you think we give a rat's ass that you don't want to listen to what we have to say?"

"You crazy bitch! How dare you kick me?"

"Let's see you be so hot without all that pretty hair," one of the girls snickers. Orihime went cold. This happened to her before. They're going to cut off all her hair.

She fights furiously, squirming with great strength. But she couldn't help it. They were too strong. Why were they this strong? A scream bubbles up out of her. One of the boys takes her head and slams it down. A sharp intense pain radiated through her skull. Light dances behind her eyes. She moans in pain, trying to scream again. Tears choke her, she finding it difficult to gather enough air to scream again due to the fact that they are sitting on her.

They girls produce a pair of scissors and show them to her, laughing manically.

"Hey, this is just like the story of Rapunzel," one of the girls laughs.

"Yeah except that this princess is a slut, and she's not as pretty," they laugh. She struggles; wondering where had all her strength gone to. She closes her eyes, fight relentlessly.

The pressure is off her back. All the air rushes into her lungs at once. She hears the boys' painful wail. She hears the girls cowering. She coughs violently. Pain radiates throughout her entire body. Strong hot arms wrap around her and lift her up, carrying her away. She can hear Ichigos' voice in the background snarling at the girls.

"…but you can't hit us! We're girls!" one of them says.

"Unfortunately for you, my fist is unisex," he growls. Orihime is carried out of hearing distance to hear more. She's just incredibly thankful that, this time, her hair was spared.

!

Ichigo and Chad sat on the roof of the school, eating their lunch in companionable silence. Ichigo was lost in his thoughts when he saw Chad go stiff, his eyes, which were normally hidden beneath his hair, widen in surprise.

"Yo, Chad, what's wrong?" Ichigo asks. But the gentle giant gets up, with unnatural speed, and rushes to the edge of the roof and looks over. Before Ichigo could say anything, he jumps off the roof. Ichigo rushes to spot where his friend just stood and looked over, shouting his name. There was a smaller building beneath were Chad has landed, so he wasn't hurt. But he jumps off that building as well.

Not knowing what to do, Ichigo follows him, jumping off the buildings as well and running after Chad. He stops when he hears her cries for help, and their taunts and laughter. He dashes ahead of Chad and runs to the empty clearing where the bums usually go to smoke, to find it surprisingly empty except of the two soon to be dead, pieces of shit sitting on a struggling Orihime, and three girls, who were crouched down with a pair of scissors and a thick lock of Orihime's hair in their hand.

Ichigo vision is tainted red with rage and fury. He goes over to one of the guys and before they even notices that he's there, he kicks him with all of the fury and might that he possess. They guy flies over to a tree standing a few yards away. His heads lolls forward, his shoulders slumps downward. He's out of the count.

The other guy looks up at Ichigo, recognition lights his eyes before Ichigo uppercuts him. The boy's head snaps upwards with such force that he flies up off Orihime. He cries out, cradling his jaw. His cry sounds wet and gargled, as if he was choking on his own blood. Ichigo didn't care. He stalked after the boy, snatching him up by his collar, reeling his arm back, punched the bastard in his face repeatedly, and smearing his blood with his fist until he was down for the count. He threw the simpering bastard on the ground and turned towards the girls who were apart of his Orihime's' torture.

"YOU!" he points to them snarling. He stalks over to them, they cower together in fear.

"H-hey! Go away Kurosaki, you can't h-hit us!" one of the screams.

"Y-yeah that's right!" the other one agreed.

"I don't give a fuck what you bitches say!" he snarls.

"B-but you can't hit us, we're girls!" one of them cries.

"Unfortunately for you, my fist is unisex," he snarls in return. He picks up the nearest girl, and reels his fist back, ready to unleash his fury on her. She hides her face behind her hands. He throws her back down on the ground.

"Touch her again, and I won't be as merciful," he says darkly, leaving them to sniveling crying mess.

He goes looking for where Chad has taken Orihime. He finds them finally. She holding on to Chad tightly, sobbing huge alligator tears into his shirt, her knuckles white, from gripping his shirt tightly. He gently pats her back in a soothing fashion, unsure how to treat her.

"…Orihime…" Ichigo speaks softly. All the rage and fury has left his body when he sees her sad, crying form. He walks over and gathers her into his arms and she cries harder. Her warm tears soak the front of his shirt. She clutches his shirt tightly. He feels his heart shudders as her tears soak him. He holds her tighter. He looks to Chad, who nods slightly, and Ichigo takes the crying girl away from that spot. Away from school. Away from her troubles.

He makes a solemn promise, as he walks away with the broken hearted beauty.

I'll protect you Orihime. I'll protect you no matter what.