Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in anyway but am inspired by the work created by Tite Kubo

Suddenly There Was You

By bleachfanficfanatic

Chapter 14

November

Before Orihime and Tatsuki knew it their first month fully established in their new home and business had flown by. They began the month of November full of thanks for two full classes, one novice taught by Orihime and one intermediary handled by Tatsuki. Each class met twice a week enabling the healer to keep her bakery job for the time being.

The remaining two apartments had been completed and in a literally surprising move Uryuu and Chad asked if they could rent them.

"Just can't leave her be, huh?" Tatsuki teased Uryuu the day he was moving in.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered, "This was optimal since I was approved for an early transfer to Tokyo University."

"Sure, it's not like you couldn't save money and live at the dorms or anything. So what's Chad's excuse?"

Smirking Uryuu looked her square in the eye, "What makes you think he moved here for Orihime-chan?" Tatsuki flushed crimson. Lacking ability to form an adequate retort she resorted to running away, making an excuse about checking something in the dojo. The Quincy merely chuckled as he resumed unpacking his suitcases.

Stumbling into the hall the petite fighter smacked right into the subject of her latest embarrassment.

"Oof!" Looking up as he looked down Tatsuki flushed a deeper shade of red before jetting off down the stairs leaving a very confused Chad standing in the hallway. Looking through the open door of Uryuu's apartment he asked, "What's with her?" The bespectacled man shrugged, "I have no idea, perhaps you should ask her?" He had a mischievous glint in his eye which made the giant grunt, "Sure you don't," before heading off after the girl.

Chad found her in the dojo looking at the class schedule but could tell she wasn't really reading it. "Tatsuki?" His voice made her jump and when she turned he saw apprehension on her face. The look momentarily stunned him being one he didn't often see on her.

"He…hey Chad, sorry about earlier," she stuttered scratching the back of her head. Every so often Chad wondered if Tatsuki wasn't actually Ichigo's long lost sister. Their similar mannerisms and explosive tendencies were certainly points of argument in favor of that theory. Pushing aside memories of his AWOL best friend Chad asked, "Are you ok?" unsure whether he should stay where he was or go to her.

"Er, yeah! I just had to…um…" she couldn't even think of a good lie to get herself out the awkward situation! It wasn't that she didn't like Chad or didn't want him to like her. Their second date had been even better than the first. But for some reason someone else making mention of romance between them made her feel like running away which was not something Arisawa Tatsuki did! She hadn't even run away when she should have during Aizen's invasion but now she was bolting from a man who potentially cared about her and she knew she was growing to care for. It all scared her.

"Look," he rumbled when he realized she wasn't going to continue, "I don't know what Uryuu said but-"she interrupted, "He was just teasing me. I…I don't know why I reacted like that."

Chad was about to reply when Orihime entered the room. "Oh hey guys!" she said cheerily, not picking up on the slight tension in the room yet, "I'm glad you're here. I got a call from Yuzu-chan. She wants the four of us to join her, Karin-chan and Kurosaki-san for Thanksgiving, are you available?"

Thankful for the distraction Tatsuki turned to her, "Of course! My family is traveling out of the country and I told them I can't go but I'd love some of Yuzu's cooking!"

"Great, Chad can you go too?" He nodded, deciding to use the interruption as opportunity to close the distance between himself and the girls.

Standing close to Tatsuki he leaned down, "Come talk to me when you're ready, ok?" She nodded and then he was gone. Orihime's eyes went wide finally picking up that something had happened but when she opened her mouth to ask Tatsuki put her hand up, "Not now." Orihime snapped her jaw shut and merely nodded.

"I'm going to go let Uryuu-kun know and see if he can come too." With those parting words Orihime dashed up the stairs. Tatsuki leaned against her desk, head swimming as she tried to figure out what the heck was wrong with her.

After Orihime confirmed Uryuu would be joining them she called Yuzu to let her know.

"Goodie!" exclaimed the brunette, "Oh! Will Hisagi-taichou be able to join us too?"

Orihime felt her heart clench at the name. She missed him so much. Swallowing the lump in her throat she managed, "Er, no, Yuzu-chan. He's in Soul Society. I…I actually don't know when he'll be back again." The girl hastily apologized but the healer assured her it was ok, she was pleased he'd garnered an invitation despite not being able to accept it.

"Is there anything we can bring?" she asked to move on from the topic.

"Nope! I've got everything covered, dinner will be at 6:30 but if you need to come earlier because of the train that's fine," she replied happily.

"Great, we'll see you in a couple weeks. Give hugs to Karin-chan and Kurosaki-san for me," Orihime instructed before they said their goodbyes. Hanging up her phone she hung her head; she wished she had some way of communicating with Shuuhei just to let him know how much she missed him. Shaking her head she went back downstairs to prepare for her class coming in that evening.

"Damn it!" hissed Shuuhei as he flew backwards landing hard against a tree the impact momentarily knocking the breath out of him.

"Hisagi!" shouted Momo but he yelled he was fine. He spit out the blood in his mouth on the dusty ground as he surveyed the battle going on in front of him. Three hollows, two large and one medium, had ambushed them during a routine scouting mission. "Ironic," he thought, "We definitely found what we were scouting for."

Clenching Kazeshini tightly he flew forward into the fray again swooping to gather up one of his subordinates who'd not been quick enough to dodge a spiked tail to the gut. He was breathing was shallow, blood still flowing out of the wounds. Pulling back again Shuuhei set him down as far away from the main fight that he could get to quickly. He heard Isane's voice shouting behind him and knew the Fourth had arrived to help treat the more critically wounded.

Knowing his people were in good hands Shuuhei focused on helping to finish this as quickly as possible. Momo was holding her own against one of the larger hollows as Ikkau made quick work of the second, having answered their request for backup.

"You ok?" he shouted to Shuuhei earning a middle finger salute that made him laugh, "You know with that attitude I don't know how you're not in the Eleventh!" The Ninth's captain rolled his eyes before moving again to help Momo.

"Come on! Let me out!" he heard Kazeshini complain. Ignoring the demand Shuuhei crashed him down on one of the limbs of the large scorpion-like hollow. A howl of pain resounded over the meadows surrounding their battle ground. The next second Shuuhei was flung backwards again from an unseen attack of the smaller hollow. As he landed, skidding across the ground he knew he was in trouble. He had a deep wound inflicted on his abdomen and blood was already flowing. Trying to catch his breath after he'd stopped moving he administered the measly amount of healing kido he knew to keep himself from completely bleeding out. Cursing through clenched teeth he worked while his friends defended him.

Despite closing the wound to the best of his ability Shuuhei felt himself becoming woozy.
"What the hell? I didn't even bleed that long!" he grunted hearing the fight raging not too far from where he lay prone on the ground eyes becoming heavy. The next thing he became aware of were hands removing his from the wound. Blinking up he saw Hanataro leaning next to him, taking over his healing.

"Just lay still Hisagi-taichou." His voice was soft but firmer than usual. Hisagi smiled despite the pain, glad to see the young third seat was finally coming into his own. Not long after he arrived it was over, the hollows destroyed and everyone who needed healing receiving it.

"You did well to keep yourself from bleeding out but we may need to re-open the wound to check for any foreign objects," Hanataro advised unrolling a blanket and laying it over Shuuhei.

"That's fine, just numb the hell out of it," murmured Hisagi before closing his eyes again, glad to know his friends and division members were safe. He felt like an idiot making such a rookie mistake but received nothing but thanks from his team. They'd all thought they were ready to face monsters only to find they weren't as prepared as they previously believed. Fighting other shinigami was one thing; facing beasts like these was another.

When they'd reached the Fourth he was given a private room despite protesting it. He didn't want special treatment he just wanted to get better to get back to work. Isane entered not too long after his arrival to discuss their plan of action in handling his wound.

"It seems lately hollows have been evolving or experimenting with new methods to inflict damage," her soft voice explained, "You most likely remember the poison incident with Yuikin-san?" How could he not remember that day? It was the day a certain copper headed beauty literally crashed into him and turned his whole world upside down. Instead of saying any of that he merely nodded.

"We think the hollow which attacked you was similar in nature to the one that attacked Yuikin-san and so are planning to request Inoue-san's presence as soon as possible," the lieutenant continued earning a wide eyed stare from her patient. Hisagi tried to sit up but the pain was too much ending up with his movement causing a grunt of pain to escape his lips. When he'd regained his ability to speak he said firmly, "Do not call Orihime."

It was Isane's turn to stare with wide eyes. "But Hisagi-taichou-"she tried receiving a sharp retort from the man in front of her, "Damn it, I said no! I trust you all to do your job. Now please, make sure the rest of my team is ok." He felt bad about snapping at her but he was in too much pain to take the time for common decency. Thankfully Isane was used to this no matter the patient, so she merely nodded and exited his room.

Sighing deeply and then deciding it best not to take deep breaths if the sharp pains were anything to go by Shuuhei covered his eyes with his arm.

"Why you aren't using this perfectly good excuse to see your girlfriend and oh, you know, make sure you don't die?" Renji's voice held confusion mixed with annoyance. He'd been standing just outside the door and heard the whole exchange.

Uncovering his eyes Hisagi met those of the man now leaning in the doorway, "I won't have the first time she's summoned here since we got together to be to heal my ass."

"You idiot," Renji admonished, "How is she going to feel if something goes wrong and you end up worse off than you are now?"

"I won't use her like that bastard did!" Hisagi said more firmly through clenched teeth. He'd just managed to keep himself from shouting.

"What are you talking about? It's not "using" her! She's proud of who she is now Shuu! Don't presume to know what she'll think!" Renji was shouting now bringing attention towards the room.

"Renji, please…I know you care about her but please, let me handle this. Plus, we can't always rely on her! It's not fair! She'll have plenty of time to heal me and others when she's in Soul Society to stay but until then I won't have her ferried back and forth to do what is not her duty yet!"

Frustrated beyond words Renji slammed his palm against the door frame as he left. Hollow wounds were resulting in more dire cases than they ever had in the past and his stupid ass friend was risking more than he needed to!

As he rounded a corner to leave the facility he ended up in front of Unohana-taichou her eyes stating clearly she'd heard the whole thing. Renji bowed low. "My apologies taichou, I'm on my way out," he said before continuing on muttering to himself, "Before I kill the foolish bastard myself."

Retsu smiled having heard the parting remark and knew despite how much he'd grown in the years of war Abarai Renji was still young in some respects. One being he had a hard time expressing his feelings without anger being the leading emotion.

Reaching Hisagi's room she entered and shut the door. Her patient had his face towards the window but turned at her arrival. Before he could speak his protests to her she raised her hand. Silence reigned for a few minutes making the bed ridden captain shift uncomfortably. Unohana Retsu had that effect on people despite her calm, gentle appearance.

Finally she spoke, "I know you do not want to hear this but Abarai-fukutaichou is correct, you cannot presume to know what Inoue-san will think were we to send for her. Plus, it isn't you asking for her, it's we who would be asking her. Additionally it is not your call to make. I am your primary care giver in this case and it was under my direction Inoue-san was to be contacted. Do you presume to know better the care you need in order to make sure you have no more significant or irreversible damages occur?"

Her voice was cold as steel as she said this last and Hisagi couldn't help flinching under the intensity of her stare. He shook his head, "My apologies Unohana-taichou, it was not my intension to insult you. I just don't think it right to expect someone, no matter who they are or what they can do, to be at the beckon call of Soul Society before their time. But if you feel there is no other option I will yield to your decision."

Regarding him Retsu had to admire his courage. He knew there was a possibility of something worse happening with his wound but rather than jump at the chance to have his romantic partner brought to him he was placing himself in danger in order to do what he felt was right by her. It was admirable, if foolish.

"Besides," he continued with a boyish grin when she hadn't spoken, "I have faith in the Fourth."

This earned a small smile from the captain. Lifting her shoulders in a sigh of resignation she consented, "We will do what we can but if something goes wrong we'll have to do an emergency trip and time will be more of the essence. I will leave you to deal with Inoue-san then as I'm sure she'll have her own choice words for you should her presence become necessary."

Hisagi chuckled but stopped quickly due to the sharp pains in his gut.

Orihime couldn't remember being this busy. Her twice a week class plus working at the bakery and occasionally assisting with random hollow attacks kept her on her toes. Tatsuki had been even busier with finishing her marketing course, working on advertisement efforts and now teaching two classes (their waiting list had gotten big enough that she didn't want to wait any longer to open another intermediary class). Thankfully she and Chad had worked through their awkwardness and he'd offered to help with one of the classes so more instruction could be given more quickly.

Uryuu was full into the throngs of university study. Though the opportunity to basically live with his friends again was a plus his dominant reason for not living at the dorms was because he didn't want to deal with the rest of "college life" also known as parties, noise and generally annoying people surrounding him. In his own apartment he had control of almost everything, save for the random invasion of said friends forcing him to "get his head of his books" and breathe every once in a while.

Despite her busy schedule Orihime would think of Shuuhei often throughout each day. It felt odd to miss someone she'd been with for such a short amount of time but Orihime had always tended to feel things deeply quick. Since moving to a new city and new jobs she'd had a number of inquiries as to her availability for dates. Some more bold of the would be suitors who saw her frequently questioned her having a boyfriend since they never saw him and knew the giant was dating the petite karate teacher while the brainy guy was very obviously like a brother to her.

"Come on Inoue-san, one date, that's all I ask," the smooth voice of Yoshie Sotatsu coaxed. He'd practically cornered her in the backroom of the bakery where they both worked. Laughing nervously but pushing him back she replied, "Sotatsu-san, I already told you. I have a boyfriend so I'm not available. I'm sure there are plenty of other girls who would love to go out with you."

"But I don't want any other girl and quite frankly I've never seen this supposed "boyfriend" you have. Besides, how good could he be for you if he never attends to you?" He was back in her personal space and she was afraid she'd have to get physical to get him to back off.

Narrowing her eyes she retorted, "My words should be enough for you, namely the word "no" regardless of whether I actually have a boyfriend or not, which I do. Now, please back up and don't ask me about this again."

She pushed her way past him but he grabbed her wrist tightly, "This isn't over Inoue-san."

Moving quickly Orihime swept her leg out catching both of his causing him to fall to the ground. The shock caused him to release her wrist allowing her to turn and face him in fighting stance.

"You forget Sotatsu-san," her voice was cool as ice, "I'm a black belt in karate. Now, you can apologize and I'll let this go or you can continue to be boorish and I'll report you to the owner."

Glaring daggers at her he offered a half-assed apology grumbling as he walked away. Orihime let go of the breath she was holding before removing her apron, hanging it up to head home and prepare for her class.

Shuuhei looked up and down the long table at the faces of all the Goeti 13 taichous and fukutaichous. Though Thanksgiving was not a holiday normally celebrated in Soul Society because she'd shared a few with the Kurosaki family over the years Rukia decided to bring the celebration to her colleagues and friends. The dinner was being hosted at the Kuchiki Manor and every one had managed to come.

The head chef had outdone himself. How he'd acquired the foods he did was beyond Hisagi's understanding though he suspected the Kuchiki's had many, many connections not only in Soul Society but also in the world of the living. Unconsciously he rubbed his stomach where his newest scar was located.

The procedure on his wound had thankfully been successful though kido could not heal as well as Orihime's powers so he'd ended up with a four inch scar. Not that he cared, he was just glad they'd been able to do what they needed to without her help.

He thought back to his conversation with Renji after the surgery was completed.

"I just don't get it man," the red head said, "You had a full green light to see Orihime. Don't you miss her? Don't you know how much she would have wanted to be there for you?"

Hisagi sighed, "I know but I told you-"however before he could continue Renji cut him off irritation evident in his tone, "Yeah, yeah, I know what you told me. But now I'm going to tell you something. I understand you wanting to protect her but Ichigo tried to keep her from so much it made her feel he didn't trust or believe in her which was worse than whatever she would have faced had he just allowed her to be there. Trust me, I know what it feels like to want to protect your woman but you can't make all the decisions for her. It will hurt Orihime more if you don't let her in."

Shuuhei had taken his words to heart though he still felt he was right in this case. He knew she would have come without hesitation no matter who had needed help. It was one of the things he admired about her most.

"Hey, you in there?" Rukia's voice called him back to the present. Grinning he replied, "Yeah, sorry, just thinking."

"Orihime must have worn off on you somewhat if you're daydreaming all the time," she countered playfully. It was nice to be able to hear her name and think about her without his heart feeling like it was being stabbed.

"Thanks for setting this up Rukia," he said, opting to keep things familiar instead of formal for once, "It's really nice to be all together and not talking about war plans or strategies."

"You're welcome; I felt it was time for us to connect on a more personal level."

"Mission accomplished," he replied raising his glass to toast hers. They smiled at each other before turning back to the table to join in the conversation and eating.

In Karakura four friends alighted from a train finding Isshin Kurosaki waiting for them. "The girls are finishing everything up," he explained after greetings were completed; hugs for the women, wrestling with the men. Knowing how much the man missed his son they allowed it; it was a holiday after all.

When they walked into the Kurosaki home scents of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, biscuits and green beans along with apple and pumpkin pies wafted about invoking mouth watering from the recently arrived guests.

"Yuzu-chan everything looks and smells so wonderful!" Orihime exclaimed. Her praise caused the young girl to smile widely, a faint blush to her cheeks. Hugs and greetings were given amongst the friends before they all took their seats.

Clinking his glass Isshin stood at the head of the table surveying the expectant faces of the young people in front of him and felt a lump grow in his throat. They'd all been through so much and yet were still here, still together…except for his own son. He swallowed once before opening his mouth, "On this day of thanksgiving I felt it only right to say at least one thing we're thankful for before devouring this wonderful meal prepared by my lovely daughter." Here he nodded to her and she smiled brightly again.

Turning his attention back to the table as a whole he continued, "I will start. I am thankful for all of you being here today. You've accomplished much in your very young lives and I, for one, am very proud of you." Taking a seat he looked to his right where Karin was seated. She huffed, slightly embarrassed but answered, "I'm thankful our team made it to the semi-finals for nationals."

The four young adults expressed congratulations at this news before looking to Tatsuki who sat next to her. Clearing her throat she offered, "Not surprisingly I'm thankful for Orihime coming to help me open the dojo which I'm also thankful to have." Her friend smiled her welcome.

Next came Chad who spoke minimally as ever, "I'm thankful Tatsuki and I started dating." The karate fighter fought her blush especially when Isshin about lost his mind they were together. Calming down her father Yuzu offered her congratulations to the new couple before turning the attention back to Uryuu seated at the opposite head of the table.

"I'm thankful for the apartments the four of us are able to keep. Being together but with spaces to call our own has been wonderful."

Orihime was next, unsurprisingly trying to keep her tears in and failing, "I'm thankful for this surrogate family. We've become so much to each other and I wouldn't be who I am today without you all."

Finally it was Yuzu's turn. Looking at her they weren't exactly surprised to see her tearing up too. However, when she opened her mouth, her words gave everyone pause, "I know this may hurt Orihime-chan but…I have to be honest. I'm…I'm thankful for Ichi-nii. I'm thankful to know he's safe even though he's far away from us right now. I'm thankful…for…everything he did to…to save us. But I'm so sorry he hurt you," she ended turning to Orihime, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Leaving her chair Orihime knelt in front of the girl and hugged her tightly saying, "Don't be sorry for being thankful for him. We all are no matter how things are now. It will get better…someday…this will get righted."

There was silence aside from Yuzu's soft crying as the older girl comforted her and Isshin found himself missing his son for more than sentimental reasons. Watching his daughter calm down under the care of Orihime the former shinigami had never wanted to properly kick his own son's ass more.

"Ahem," Uryuu cleared his throat, "Now that we've had the emotional and somber moments of the day, perhaps we can move to the enjoyment of this wonderful meal so painstakingly prepared?" The sentiment was agreed upon and soon the happy atmosphere returned as they enjoyed the incredible food.

Across the span of two worlds Shuuhei and Orihime observed the people of their respective make-shift families and though they had joy and thankfulness in their hearts for them there were small parts of melancholy whenever their thoughts touched on each other.

"Thank you for Shuu," Orihime thought as he did the same for her.