Chapter Twenty-Three
Hoshiko raced to find someone to help her, she needed someone to bring Ichigo home; she couldn't be close to him or she would just make him worse. Hoshiko gritted her teeth at the thought; she hated her abilities now and wished she didn't have them. If she were normal she could comfort him, she could hold him whenever she wanted, she could make things better when he was in pain and she wouldn't have to worry about hurting him.
You mean normal like Orihime?Hoshiko slowed her steps as Izanami plagued her thoughts, normally she would ignore her, but she was right….she wasn't normal; she was an unseen danger to Ichigo, Grimmjow had no real intentions of hurting Ichigo, he only did it to get to her. If Ulquiorra hadn't of appeared, he would have killed Ichigo if it meant her fighting him. Another man testing you, shame he has to use the boy as bait. He's just an innocent bystander. But I suppose that's the cost of being with you. Tears threatened to fall as Hoshiko thought over everything, had being with Ichigo caused more harm than good? During the time she had been here, nothing but falling in love with Ichigo had gone right. And now even that was becoming a problem. Maybe Masumoto is right, you should return what's not yours. He doesn't belong with you…..no one does.Hoshiko was about to answer when,
"Hoshiko!" she turned to find Rukia running up to her, "Where's Ichigo?"
"He….I need your help, he was injured badly but I couldn't find Orihime so I took him to someone else to heal him. I'll take you to him, but I can't be close to him. My injuries would only hurt him more." Hoshiko replied, Rukia had a mortified look on her face,
"Orihime still isn't back…" Rukia stumbled
"No, I couldn't find her, I've been looking for her, but it's like she disappeared. What's wrong?" Hoshiko replied
"We were training in Soul Society and then we received a hell butterfly with news on what was happening in the world of the living. I came right away, but Orihime needed to be escorted back for her own safety."Rukia explained
"We need to get Ichigo home, then I'll find out what's going on." Rukia noticed the tear stains in her eyes, but figured she was crying because of Ichigo. Hoshiko wiped her eyes and took Rukia to the warehouse. When they were close enough, Hoshiko remained suspended above the building as Rukia shunpoed down to them. Hachigen was carrying Ichigo's sleeping body—he had bandages around his chest and stomach along with some around his hands and head. Soon Rukia took hold of Ichigo and shunpoed away. Hoshiko sighed then preceded to Urahara's shop, hopefully he had some information on what was going on with Orihime.
~Moments later~
Walking into the shop, everyone was taking turns being healed by Tessai —Ikkaku and Yumichika were already bandaged up while Masumoto was having her head and various cuts healed. Hitsugaya Taichou was missing; Hoshiko figured he was busy reporting to Soul Society after he had been healed. She looked for Renji and found him lying down on a mat. He was asleep and had bandages wrapped around his chest and stomach. Slowly she made her way over to him and kneeled down next to him. Renji was hurt saving her; she shouldn't have placed him in a position like that. Despite their differences, Hoshiko still loved Renji like a brother and hated to see him hurt.
"It's not your fault." Hoshiko heard Urahara walking towards them, he sat down next to her and examined Renji's bandages, "He'll be fine. Renji has been hurt worse than this before; you should remember some of those injuries."
"Most of them were because of me, he was always saving my ass when I was still a rookie." She groaned
"Don't be so hard on yourself, the enemy should never be underestimated, even the lower ranked Espada can be a problem if taken lightly." He stated, "How are your wounds by the way?"
"I'm fine; the small intake of Ichigo's reiatsu healed them." Hoshiko replied almost sounding ashamed of herself
"How is he?" Urahara asked
"Rukia took him home after he was healed by…." She stopped, it was enough she let Rukia see the Visoreds, she wasn't sure if she should mention them to anyone else
"It's fine; I know what he does when he's gone. Besides, he's strong his wounds will heal soon enough. At the moment I think we have bigger issues to worry about." He commented
"Orihime…." She said
"She still hasn't returned from Soul Society. No one knows where is, Hitsugaya is in communication with Soul Society and they say they can't pick her up on any reading between this world and theirs." Urahara sighed
"Where could she have gone?" Hoshiko asked, "Is she trapped between the two worlds? Rukia said she was to be escorted back here."
"I doubt the escorts could have helped her." He replied, she looked at him closely
"What are you saying?" she almost whispered
"I had my reasons for not wanting Orihime to train or more importantly be involved with the winter war. Her power is unique and has great potential; if she continues getting better at her gift, she may one day be a stronger healer than Unohana Taichou. But in the wrong hands," Urahara paused as Renji groaned in his sleep
"Are you saying….it's possible that Aizen wants her as well?" Hoshiko asked looking down at Renji
"I'm saying I think he has her." He replied, her eyes widened at the thought. If Aizen kidnapped Orihime, it would explain why no one was able to find her. But if she was with Aizen, her future was in his hands and those hands weren't friendly.
"We have to verify that and if it is true we have to get her back." She stated
"You know as well as I do, Soul Society won't make an effort to save one girl." He replied
"I wasn't talking about them," Hoshiko corrected him. Urahara looked at her and understood what she was talking about. He hoped that it wouldn't get to that point,
"That would be too dangerous; Aizen would eliminate you if he sees you as a threat."
"But he doesn't, today none of the Espadas would hurt me, Yami had a perfect opportunity to kill me but he held back and even if he wanted to, Ulquiorra wouldn't allow it. Then Grimmjow attacked Ichigo instead of me because he couldn't touch me. I think he wanted to provoke me enough so I would make the first move." She said
"Sounds like if you are to be attacked it should only be for self defense. So Grimmjow tried to bait you out," He added
"I think if anyone can get her back, I can….."
"No." both Hoshiko and Urahara were surprised when Renji's hand shot out and grabbed her arm, "You're not going anywhere….without me. Give me some time to heal…and I'll go with you." she could see he was still in pain, his voice was raspy and he fought to keep his eyes open. She rested her hand on his,
"Relax Renji, everything is fine. But you need to rest." Hoshiko smoothed
"Don't leave….me again. I can't lose you, not again. Please, wait for me." His grip loosened and fell to the side as he went back to sleep.
"He'll probably be like this for the rest of the night. He'll be fine by morning after his wounds are fully healed." Urahara said, "The best thing we can do is wait to see what Soul Society says. Hopefully Hitsugaya will be back with good news."
"In the meantime I'm going to check on Ichigo." Hoshiko stated as she rested Renji hand on his chest and stood up. She needed to think, the next move she made would be crucial so she had to think it out properly. Urahara watched as she left the shop, with a sigh he hoped she wouldn't do anything she would regret.
~A few Hours Later~
Hoshiko stood quietly on Ichigo's roof; she had been checking in on him every hour as she continued to search for Orihime. It had been a few hours since she left Urahara's shop and she was still determined to find her. Checking almost every part of town, she was beginning to dread that Urahara was right; Orihime was in the possession of Aizen. She feared what Soul Society would do or really what they wouldn't do, Orihime was an outsider and there was no way they would gather a rescue team just to get her back. But there was no question, someone had to save her. If her hunch was right, Hoshiko knew she could get in and get her out. The plan seemed simple, but there were so many problems in between that made her wonder if she should even try. This was Aizen's territory, his world that she didn't know and couldn't begin to imagine walking into more less walking out.
That's noble of you, saving the other woman. Maybe you should have done that to his fiancée. Oh wait, I forgot you took her head off. Not much to save there.Izanami's voice rang through her head,
"Why are you doing this?" Hoshiko whispered. Wind blew through her hair as she jumped from roof top to roof top, "I thought we were beyond this? I don't need you breathing down my neck, this is serious. I don't know Orihime very well, but I know I can't sit here and let a young's life be gambled away. Soul Society would never take any action to get her."
I know that, yet I'm still not sure why you care. She's just a girl, a girl that wants the same thing you do. If you get her out the picture, Ichigo is all yours.
"That's not true and besides I want to help her because…she has all the reason in the world to hate me, but every time I looked into her eyes, I couldn't find an ounce of hatred. So many people have looked at me with disapproval, despise, disgust and hatred. But she didn't and I value that."
That's sweet….but are you sure you're not looking for someone to take care of Ichigo when the deal with Soul Society goes through? I mean he'll be all alone and it would nice if someone could comfort him. Perhaps she's the perfect choice. Let's be realistic, whatever you have with Ichigo is a fairytale. He is human and deserves a human girlfriend that won't become a bad memory.
"Enough! You can either help me or shut the hell up!" Hoshiko groaned
I could….help you. If you asked nicely,
"Please, ok please help me. If there is a way to track her I need to know." Hoshiko pleaded
You're looking for her through the wrong eyes. Bring forth your true face.Hoshiko raised her hand to her face and let the fire burn away and presented her mask of Hades. Once again her vision changed; everything was tainted red, she tried to ignore the feeling and control her consciousness. Stop, allow your eyes to focus, let my eyes guide you. You have been looking for Orihime with the wrong eyes; whatever Aizen has done to her has made her invisible to humans and Shinigami. But you can see between the lines with my help. Listening to her, Hoshiko did as she said and soon everything looked different and she was able to see things her normal vision would hide. Continuing her search she discovered traces of Orihime's energy,
"She's still here. We just can't see her." Hoshiko proceeded to follow the traces and found all the places that Orihime had been to in the past few hours. She was right in front of her and she never saw her, she was probably scared and confused. Hoshiko knew she had to find her and talk to her. As the traces got stronger, she was brought back to Ichigo's house. Narrowing her eyes at Ichigo's bedroom window she caught a glance of Orihime's foot going through the window. Hoshiko shunpoed up to window and was about to enter when she heard Orihime speak,
"I decided to say goodbye to you Ichigo—I wanted to say goodbye to everyone, but Ulquiorra said I could only say bye to one person and I chose you." Hoshiko felt her shoulders drop as she continued to listen, "Your bedroom has your scent and….Hoshiko's scent as well." Orihime slowly reached for his hand and began to caress it. Hoshiko watched as she leaned over Ichigo, her breath caught as the spaced between them disappeared and Orihime was inches away from his lips. Tears formed in Orihime's eyes, she was so close. A few tears fell on Ichigo's face as Orihime quickly backed away from him.
"I can't…I'm ashamed I know you love her so much. When I think about how things are, there are so many things I wanted to do in life. I wanted to be a teacher and a baker; I wish I could have had five different lives so I could do everything. But in all those lives I would still fall in love with you five different times," Orihime paused as she wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry I couldn't be as strong as her, I know that's why you love her. She's strong and beautiful. And she understands you more than I do, she can relate to you in ways I could only dream of. I tried to become stronger and instead I may have caused more problems. I'll be gone by tomorrow morning, so I decided to leave a few things for everyone. But I didn't know what to leave you,….then I realized the only thing I could give you is my heart. I hope everything turns out right for you Ichigo, I'll do my best to stop Aizen anyway I can. Maybe after the war things will be better and….." she paused as Hoshiko waited for her to continue, "I feel so foolish, but I love you. So I guess it's okay to have foolish dreams of you loving me one day."
Hoshiko couldn't listen to anything else, her mask broke and she lost sight of Orihime. The last thing she heard was a goodbye to Ichigo. She jumped down to the ground and started walking away from Ichigo's house. She felt like crying, she felt angry, she felt jealous, she felt confused but she also felt compassion for Orihime. She knew what it felt like loving Ichigo and couldn't imagine the pain of not having him return that love.
Didn't they look like a happy couple? Must hurt to be you.
"Must hurt to be you too, you're a miserable Zanpaktou and you enjoy my sorrow." Hoshiko almost screamed
I enjoy being on the same page with you—when you take a break from fairytale land and come back to the cold reality of who you really are then we can cooperate. You're wasting his life and destroying hers. When the deal goes through with Soul Society, you'll hurt him to the point where he might hate you, because you lied and acted like you loved him.
"I do love him!" Hoshiko groaned
Then prove it, make the sacrifice you know I'm right and if you really want to help the girl, I'll help you. But we do it my way.
"Your way got me imprisoned last time," Hoshiko stated
You make that sound like a bad thing. You know I can help you, so let me.Izanami was persistent, but she was right. What would happen when the war was over? She couldn't be with Ichigo and if some had to be there for him, Orihime was the best choice. Hoshiko felt the tightness in her chest continue, but she suddenly took a defensive stance as a pressure descended from the skies. A black hole opened in front of her and Ulquiorra walked out.
"What the hell…"Hoshiko looked wide eyed at him
"I wish to talk with you." he said in a calm tone
"Talk? I thought Arrancars and Espadas weren't much for conversation? It seems every time one is around me they try to take off my head." Hoshiko replied as she held Izanami in her hand ready to release her.
"I apologize for Grimmjow and Yami's actions towards you; I assure you they will be punished for endangering your life." Ulquiorra stated, she looked at him oddly but still kept her guard
"And is why is that? Why so nice all of a sudden?" she asked but he ignored her question
"I didn't come here to answer your questions; I came here to inform you that Aizen-Sama wishes to make a deal with Soul Society." He replied
"So? I'm not a messenger, besides I'm not exactly friends with them." Hoshiko groaned
"The deal involves you," Ulquiorra commented as she narrowed her at him, "Aizen-Sama will inform Soul Society about the deal, however he felt it honorable to inform you first. Inoue Orihime is in the possession of Hueco Mundo, her safety however is in your hands. Aizen-Sama wishes to speak with you without any unnecessary interruptions."
"Speak with me about what?" she asked
"I have not been told the details. If you choose to come calmly he will release Orihime and I will personally bring her back to the real world. However,…..If you decide otherwise, her life is over as you know it. She will belong to Aizen-Sama until she is useless and I am ordered to kill her." He replied as Hoshiko's heart dropped.