No it couldn't be true. She had to be here somewhere... she just had to. But where? She wasn't anywhere he could see. Maybe she ran upstairs in time to dodge it, and she was hiding from the danger with Yuzu and Karin. That had to be it. There was no way she was-

"Dead!" Grimmjow yelled with cheer. "Your girlfriend's dead, Kurosaki!"

He was lying. He had to be. Tatsuki wasn't dead. She was hear somewhere.

"Ichigo!" someone yelled. Who was that? If it wasn't Tatsuki, he didn't care. He wanted to see her, to make sure she was okay. "Ichigo!" the person yelled again. Although Ichigo didn't want to look, Grimmjow did.

"Oi, who are you?!" Grimmjow yelled.

"Who are you?" the person called back.

"I asked you first!"

"Well, I'm asking you now!"

Ichigo ignored the bicker between Grimmjow and the unknown person. He fell to his hands and knees, his eyes full of tears that were constantly streaming down his face. She couldn't be dead... She could not be dead! He didn't want her to be.

Suddenly, something struck the side of Ichigo's face, knocking him to his side. Now whoever had entered caught his attention. He looked up to see Shinji standing over him, with his fist extended. Did he just punch Ichigo in the face?

"You look pathetic, Ichigo," Shinji said, looking up and down Ichigo, observing the many wounds he had received from his battle with Grimmjow. "Come on, we have to get you out of here." He bent down, and picked Ichigo up by his shoulder, carrying him to the door. Ichigo noticed that all of the others except Hatchi was there. Shinji muttered, "Take care of them," then continued guiding Ichigo out of the house. Immediately, Ichigo could hear Grimmjow yelling, accusing Ichigo of running away, but were drowned out by the others' cries of battle.

Moving quicker than Ichigo thought possible, he and Shinji arrived back at the warehouse where they train, and found Hatchi waiting for them just inside the door. He had a mat prepared for Ichigo, and Shinji laid him there. Hatchi used healing kido on Ichigo's many wounds, and Shinji sat beside him. They didn't say anything, just waited for Ichigo to be healed. It took over an hour, maybe more than two. In groups of one or two, the other Vizards returned. The last two, Kensei and Risa, had brought Yuzu and Karin with them. Ichigo's sisters looked frightened, shook up a bit, but they were unharmed. But if they came back...

Oh, he couldn't lie to himself anymore. Tatsuki was dead, and it had been his fault. What would everyone at school think if Tatsuki didn't show up anymore? And if someone asked Ichigo? How would he react? He knew his friends wouldn't forgive him if they found out that it was his fault she died. They wouldn't even have to listen to exactly what happened, and they would hate him.

Hatchi finished the healing process, although he gave Ichigo a warning to take it easy for a while, and went to join the others, who had congregated on the other side of the warehouse. Shinji, however, didn't leave.

"Ichigo, why haven't you been coming to training this week?" he asked, apparently upset that Ichigo had been ditching.

Ichigo didn't answer, he couldn't. He would have to talk about her, and that would just bring more pain, more realization that she wouldn't be in his life anymore.

"Why aren't you answering me?! Geez, you're pathetic. I can' believe you got yourself beat up so bad by an Arrancar, especially that blue-haired one. Really, what's been going on with you?"

Ichigo refused to talk. He just looked away from Shinji's gaze. The Vizard tried several more times to get Ichigo to talk, but soon gave up as he found it a hopeless cause, and went to join the others. Once Shinji left, though, Karin and Yuzu came up to Ichigo. Just what he needed, his little sisters to see how upset he was.

"Ichigo..." Yuzu said.

"What happened to Tatsuki?" Karin asked.

Ichigo winced as he thought about it. Her scream still echoed in his ears. It was so terrified, and he had been too weak to protect her. It was his fault. He looked away from his sisters to hide his tears.

"No..." Yuzu denied. In her eyes, Tatsuki had been such a nice person, and she was sure that if she visited once or twice more they would have become great friends. This was just sad.

Wanting to get their (and his) minds off of Tatsuki, Ichigo asked, "What happened to Dad?"

"There were actually three Espada that came, and one of them already took Dad away before any of us could do anything," Karin explained. Isshin had been captured so easily? What was Aizen and them going to do with him once they returned to Las Noches? Surely, they would realize that he still knew who he was, and what his true purpose must have been all along. They would see him as a threat, and to them, all threats had to be eliminated. But how soon? Truly, this was the worst day in Ichigo's entire life, and it had been a long life.

Ichigo looked out one of the small, cracked windows of the warehouse. The sky was mostly dark, the sun already below the horizon. Only a small bit of pink-ish light grazed the low clouds in the west. It was like the sky was his life, Ichigo thought. It had once been so bright, full of joy and happiness, but everything was being taken away from him, the happiness was leaving, allowing misery, pain, and suffering to replace it. The only little happiness he had left were Yuzu and Karin, but if his strange life metaphor was true, they too would fade away. He wanted to wonder how, but then decided against it.

Thankfully, one of the Vizards brought Ichigo his gigai. Once it was completely dark outside, he returned to his artificial body, and, like everyone else in the warehouse, found a comfortable place to sleep. (The Vizards had made the uppermost floor like a bedroom, except all the beds were in one room. They weren't perfect, but they were better than the floor.)

After what seemed like hours, he fell into a sleep that was disturbed by nightmares of the moment of Tatsuki's death, the frightened scream clawing at his ears constantly.

The next day was a nightmare.

Ichigo skipped training today again, mostly because Hatchi insisted that he rest some more. At first light, he dressed, and at the appropriate time, took Yuzu and Karin to school while on his way to his. He reluctantly walked into class, his head low. Although class didn't start for another twenty minutes, most everyone was already in there. He thought he overheard someone talking about strange explosions while they were having dinner. Taking his seat, he was confronted by his usual group of friends. Keigo was in front, and he was limping oddly. Memories of last night's incident flashed through Ichigo's mind, and he smiled, but only for a brief second when he remembered who it was he had laughed with.

"Good morning, Ichigoooo!" Keigo greeted. "What is up, my man?" Although Ichigo usually never answered this redundant question, some of the others noticed that there was an uneasy silence coming from Ichigo, especially Orihime, although she didn't say anything. Keigo, on the other hand, did.

"Hey, do you know where Tatsuki is?" he asked, oblivious to how Ichigo cringed when he said her name. "I went to her place last night to see if she wanted to go to a movie, but she didn't answer when I knocked on the door." He must have not heard the laughter. "And she's usually here at about this time. Did she go on some kind of trip?"

Ichigo didn't answer him.

"So she did go on a trip! Where to, I wonder. And why didn't she take me! It's not fun without me going along. So, Ichigo, where did she go? Come on, tell me!"

"Why are you asking me all this, Keigo?!" Ichigo yelled, so loud that the entire room fell silent. "Why should I know where she is?!" Why was he getting so defensive? Maybe it was because he knew they would hate him if they found out what happened.

Keigo, still oblivious to his oh so apparent anger, replied, "Because you two are really close. Why wouldn't I ask? Everyone knows how chummy you two are, especially the past few days." And Ichigo thought they had been hiding it so well.

"Well, stop asking me!"

"Ichigo," Orihime interrupted, "did you and Tatsuki have a fight or something?"

"No, it's-" Ichigo stopped there. He didn't want to say it. He didn't want to verbally admit the depressing truth. It would be too much. He could already feel it coming now.

"It's what?" Everyone in the room seemed to have their eyes on Ichigo, all wanting to know what happened. Ichigo looked to Orihime, who had asked the question, and his face was worried, really worried. Ichigo gave up. He dropped his head in shame, and answered.

"Tatsuki's dead."

No one said anything, no one gasped, or made shocked or surprised sounds, or maybe even breathed. Tatsuki dead? It seemed so unthinkable to most everyone in the class. Ichigo knew he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it first hand.

Breaking the thick silence, Orihime asked, "How?"

"It-It was my fault," Ichigo managed to sputter. He could feel the tears in his eyes, and he knew they would be spilling over any second. "It was all my fault..." He stopped talking and just cried. Now everyone was really surprised. If something made Ichigo, big tough guy that no one wanted to mess with, cry, it had to be really bad.

"Ichigo, what happened?" Keigo was bold enough to ask. He was crazy if he thought that he was going to get an answer out of Ichigo at this point.

Ichigo couldn't take it. He just couldn't stay with everyone here, now that they knew it was Ichigo's fault. That, and he knew that all day, he would be staring at the empty seat next to him, just like everyone else. He would spend the entire day just waiting for the door to open, and Tatsuki would rush in, apologizing for being late and all that, even though he knew it would never happen. Ichigo grabbed his bag that had been sitting on his desk and ran out of the room, almost running into a girl that was just walking in. He could hear her ask the others "What happened?" Running down the steps, he turned left and started toward his house. Why there, he didn't know, he just ran where he feet were taking him. It seemed to take forever, although he felt like he was running faster than ever before.

Coming up to his house, he could see exactly how much damage his battle with Grimmjow had caused. There was a large hole in the front of the house, roughly six by eight feet. Stray planks of wood were scattered across the road in front and in the garden, and pretty much just anywhere out front. It was the closest entrance, so he leaped into the living room from the hole, stopping a few feet inside. Dropping his bag on the floor, he looked around. There were a lot of holes in the walls, and scratches on the ceiling and floor. The front door was hanging on one hinge, as were some of the cabinets in the kitchen. The dishes from last night's dinner were still in the sink, although a few plates and a glass had fallen to the floor, as had most of the clean dishes that had been put away. Even the refrigerator was one its side. The couch was torn up so bad, you couldn't even tell it was a couch anymore. The TV had been cut in half. Everything was in total disarray. Just how did the fight between the Espada and Vizards go down? Actually, Ichigo didn't want to think about. The only area of the floor that hadn't been scratched up (miraculously) was the scorched place, the place where Tatsuki had last touched. He walked in front of it, right where Ulquiorra had stood when he launched his Cero. He might as well have been in this spot; it was as much Ichigo's fault that Tatsuki had died. He was the one that introduced her to this dangerous world. It was he who told about what he was and what he had gone through. He was the one who brought her over, that night of all nights, for dinner. He was the one who didn't protect her, who wasn't strong enough to protect her. It was he who hadn't been able to defeat the Espada sooner, so that they never had a chance to hurt her. It was all his fault. He killed her. He imagined what it would have been like to launch the Cero. He could see Grimmjow out of the corner of his eye, and even farther, he saw himself, pathetic, beaten, and weak. He could see himself begging for them not to hurt her, even though he had barely said a thing. Maybe if he could have distracted Ulquiorra long enough, he wouldn't have fired until it was too late, until the Vizards had time to intervene. He saw Grimmjow and himself, but, most of all, he saw Tatsuki. She had been so close to him, he could have seen her tears before she felt them. Ichigo could imagine her face, full of terror and fear for her life. He could see the tears begin to stream down her face. Ichigo held his hand out to the imaginary Tatsuki and watched her fear grow. His hand was so close to where her face was, no more than a foot away. He couldn't help it as he muttered, "Cero," and watched her disappear behind the blast of the attack. Her scream was so much louder and clearer than he had first heard, and it was worse than it really had been.

Ichigo's knees collapsed as he fell to the floor. He found himself sitting just in front of where she had been. He wondered what it felt like, to die by Cero. Was it painful? Did it burn? Or did you feel anything at all? He hoped she didn't feel pain, by that's not what her scream had said. She sounded so painful. Once more, Ichigo broke down. His head drooped, and he watched his hot tears fall where she had sat.

"T-Tatsuki..." he sobbed. "I-I'm so so-sorry!"

As Ichigo wept, he noticed something. The area in front of him became darker, although everywhere else remained the same. He heard footsteps, and looked up. It was his class. Every one of his classmates must have followed him. How he didn't notice... How didn't he notice? Oh, what did it matter. But what would they think as they looked around his house. It was a complete and utter mess. They actually might get close to what actually happened, not like they would be completely accurate, though.

"Ichigo," Orihime began, "what happened in here?"

"Yeah, dude, it looks like you got attacked by a group of samurai," Keigo said, then added, "and one of them had a flamethrower," when he saw the scorch mark on the floor.

Ichigo stood up, not facing them, and said, "Leave," in a cold voice.

"But Ichigo, we're all really worried about you..." Orihime said. She looked around the house. She had been there once before when they were picking up Ichigo to go see a movie. It must look so different to her. "And where's your dad? I thought he ran a home business." Ichigo was almost tempted to look back to the little medical clinic his dad had run for the past seven months or so, but didn't.

"He's gone, too." He knew his dad was probably dead by now. Aizen wouldn't have been happy with his behavior, nor his intentions. Isshin was either dead, dying, or about to be killed. He knew that feeling, and it wasn't a good one.

"Oh, Ichigo," Orihime said, shocked to hear that Ichigo had lost his dad, too. She walked forward, as though to give him some comforting, but he stepped away from her. "Please, Ichigo?" she continued. "Come on, let's get back to-"

"No," he said in a firm voice. He looked at Orihime, then his friends, and the rest of the class. Addressing them all, he said, "You shouldn't have come here. None of you."

"What are talking about, dude?" Keigo interjected. "We were really worried about you, and this is the thanks we get?"

"Keigo, you moron, you don't understand!" Orihime stepped away from Ichigo when he raised his voice. "You don't know what happened! You don't know about what's happened to me before! You don't know about my past! Tatsuki knew, and that's why she's dead! Don't you get it! Just stay away from me!" Damn, he was letting out more information than he should have. He probably should have just kept his mouth shut, but something was compelling him to continue. "There are people after me, and they came here last night! They-"

"Ichigo!" called a voice from the back of the crowd. Damn. The entire class showed up, including four of the ones that saved him last night. Shinji stepped forward, with the other three close behind him. They didn't stray too far from the crowd, but he continued speaking. "You're letting too much out."

"Do you think I care anymore?!" Ichigo yelled. "They should know what happens if they get too close!"

"No, what needs to happen is you shutting your mouth and everyone else getting back to class." Then he stepped closer, and pulled Ichigo aside. Lowering his voice to where no one but Ichigo could hear, Shinji said, "Your old friends are on their way right now. They'll be here in about ten or fifteen minutes. It would be best if the others weren't around if we had to fight."

"I don't care if they come. There won't be a fight. I'll just go-"

"Ichigo, we're not going to let you give up."

"No, Shinji, I've hurt enough people now from my self-preservation. I don't want anyone else to get hurt. I am leaving, I am going to Soul Society, and I am going to die! There is nothing you can do to stop me."

Shinji grabbed Ichigo's shoulders to get his attention better, than added, "What about Yuzu and Karin, huh? What about them? How do you think they would feel if their big brother walked straight to his death? Listen, Ichigo, we are not going to let them take you away!"

"Shinji, just shut up and let go of me! You haven't lived my life, you haven't been hurt like I have, you don't know anything about me. I am going and that's final! Try all you like, but I swear, if you are going to stop me, then you'll have to kill me, which is what'll happen anyway!"

"Ichigo, you don't underst-"

"No, Shinji, you're the one who doesn't understand! They'll never stop coming for me! There's no way I can hide forever, especially from thousands of shinigami. They won't stop coming. They'll find me again and again and again, and I'll just hurt more people that way!"

"Fine, then answer my question from earlier about Yuzu and Karin. What are you going to do about them?"

Ichigo paused for a second. He looked over to the class, and all of them were staring. Some were murmuring about something. Heh, they probably overheard some of the conversation and were asking one another what it all could mean. He saw Orihime watching intently. She looked hurt.

"I'll leave them with Orihime," Ichigo answered quietly. "She's a good person, and she's probably like having someone else living in her apartment. They'll be safe. They didn't do anything wrong, so no one will come looking for them. If I stay here any longer, then I'm just putting them in greater danger."

Shinji was quiet for a while, and Ichigo began to think something else was wrong.

"Shinji, is there something you're not telling me?" Shinji's arms dropped to his side, although he still stared at Ichigo. "Is there another reason you don't want me to leave?"

"If you leave, they will find out about us, and what's happened to us, and everything. Even if you don't tell them directly, they will find ways of finding out. You should know, since you used to be a captain."

Ichigo thought of some, and had to hold back a shiver. There were just some things that he never approved of. "So you want me to stay so you guys won't get found out?"

"Exactly."

"That's stupid, greedy, and self-centered! I've already told you what'll happen if I stay!"

"Ichigo, either way, you'll be putting people in danger."

"You guys were already in danger! You just weren't at the top of the list! They'll get to you anyway!"

"Ichi-"

"No, I've had enough of this! You just have to get away from here!"

"Why?"

"You said they were coming, weren't you? If you're here when they are, well, you know the rest."

Shinji opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. He started to turn back, but added one last thing.

"Get them out of here, and soon."

Ichigo knew he was talking about the class. Shinji, followed by Kensei, Risa, and Mashiro, left the house, although the rest of the class remained in place. Ichigo didn't move for a while, but he soon realized what had to be done.

"Orihime, could you come here for a minute?"

"Uh, sure." The red-head moved swiftly to meet Ichigo. He grabbed one of her shoulders, and started talking very low.

"Orihime, I have something very important to ask you. I have to go away soon, but I can't take my sisters with me. I'm asking you this because I think you would be the best person for the job. Would you please take care of my sisters for me?"

Orihime seemed astonished that he was asking her this. After the shock wore off, she asked, "For how long?"

"Orihime, I don't think I'll come back."

"Why not?"

"Yuzu and Karin can tell you later, but not now and not here. Would you do this for me?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then, do you know where there are a bunch of old abandoned warehouses on the southwest side of town?"

"Um...Yeah!"

"Okay, later today, I want you to go there. Warehouse number twelve. That's where Yuzu and Karin should be. Don't worry about who answers, just tell them that I sent you and you're there to pick up my sisters, okay? And don't tell anyone about that place or who you see there. Never mention it. Ever. Can you do that for me?"

"You can count on me!"

"Thank you, Orihime. I really appreciate it. Really, you have no idea. Listen, if you can't remember where it is or how to get there, ask either Shinji, Kensei, Risa, or Mashiro. Shinji or Mashiro would be the better ones to ask, just saying."

"Why them?"

"You'll find out later. And again, I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem! I'd really like having them around."

"Heh, and that's why I asked you."

Orihime smiled and gave a little laugh. He let her go back to the rest of the group. Ichigo straightened up, and spoke to everyone.

"You guys need to get out of here, and now."

"Why?" Keigo called. "And what were you and Shinji talking about?"

"Keigo, just shut up and get out of here!"

"And what if I don't?"

Ichigo thought of something to say, but thought it would be too harsh. Instead, he just answered, "Just go!"

"I want to know what you guys were talking about! We heard some strange combination of words, and we wanna know what's going on!"

Ichigo sighed and stepped forward. Keigo had a triumphant look on his face. Ichigo stopped right in front of the persistent moron, and looked like he was about to say something, but instead, he drew his fist back and let it fly, landing right into Keigo's right jaw. His scream would have been hilarious, if not for the fact that it didn't look hilarious. Ichigo hadn't broken anything or made him bleed, just inflicted enough pain for him to get a clue. What, did he really think that Ichigo was going to tell him?

"Keigo, take that pain, multiply it a million times, put it all over your body, and that's still not as much as I felt last night, much much less than my entire life. So quit crying about it, get up, and GET OUT OF MY FLIPPIN' HOUSE!"

A good fraction of the class started to run back to school, some walked, although Ichigo's friends still didn't move. Were they waiting for Keigo to pull himself together, or were they not leaving at all? It was the latter, because even after Keigo had stood up, they still hadn't left.

"Why aren't you guys gone?" He counted how many there were. Keigo, Orihime, Mizuro, Chizuru, Michiru, and Chad. Six. Six lives were in danger right now. How long had it been since Shinji warned Ichigo? Five minutes, give or take. That meant at least another five to get these guys out of here.

"We've said it once, so we'll say it again, we're really worried about you, Ichigo."

"Ugh!" Ichigo groaned. "Why me?"

"Why you what?"

"Why do I have to put up with your stubbornness right now, at possibly the worst time ever? That's why?"

"Why is this the worst time?"

Do they never stop with the questions?

"I didn't want to say this in front of everyone else, but if it's the only way to get you guys to leave... I guess I have to."

"Dude, just out with it!"

"Fine, but you can't tell anybody! Not even amongst yourselves! No writing in diaries, blogs, make weird stories based around it, nothing."

"Got it!"

"I'm-"

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

No, please, no, no, no, no, no, please don't let that be-

"Hey, it's Toshiro!" Keigo exclaimed.

Crap.

A/N: Oh noez, bad timing! What's Ichigo going to do now? Things just aren't going good for him, are they? Hope y'all come back for the next chapter!

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