Hola! this is much shorter than I wanted it to be, but I am still cleaning up after a birthday weekend celebration.

Please keep reading, reviewing and enjoying

I hope everyone is having a good week

-Zer0

"I won't do it," Orihime stated as she clenched her fists at her side.

"What do you mean," Ichigo asked.

"I'm not going to kill anyone. No way," Orihime said. She glanced up at Urahara. "Is there any other way around this?"

"I'm afraid not. For the spirit of a dead incubus to pass on, they have to accept death. He must believe that you no longer love him and that he has no other reason to be here. You are the only one that can save yourself." Urahara said regretfully.

"Maybe I don't want to be saved. What if this is what I want," Orihime challenged.

"You want to leave this world and exist in the darkness of his. I don't think that's true," Ichigo said.

"There is nothing here for me anymore. I have felt so alone and no one noticed until their lives were affected by it. I don't expect anyone to care about me or love me…" Orihime's voice broke as tear flooded her eyes. "But I did think that my friends would be there for me."

"We are here for you," Ichigo murmured.

"No you're not. Everyone else moved on after Hueco Mundo. I never did. I know that it was my fault. I still do. There is nothing that you can say to change my mind. I won't do it."

"Do what?" everyone looked up and saw Yoruichi standing in the door way with her arms crossed over her chest. She fixed Orihime with her golden gaze and sighed. "What exactly did I just walk into?" she asked.

Rangiku filled her in on all of the pertinent details rather quickly. Yoruichi pushed her plum colored hair out of her eyes and shook her head.

"I could almost laugh. This is the most absurd thing that I have heard in a while." Yoruichi chuckled lightly until her eyes fell on Uryuu tied to the chair with a rag stuffed in his mouth. Her mouth fell open for a second, but she quickly regained her composure.

"It's not funny," Ichigo said from between clenched teeth. Yoruichi ignored him and strode into the room. She rested a gentle hand on Orihime's shoulders and smiled.

"Do you want to talk?" Yoruichi asked. Orihime nodded as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Wait for me upstairs. I will be up there in a second," Yoruichi said in a calm tone. Orihime stood and left the small room. When Yoruichi heard her footsteps on the stairs, she slammed the door shut then wheeled around to face everyone in the room.

"What the hell is wrong with all of you?" Yoruichi shouted.

"Hey calm down. What's the problem?" Renji asked.

"You dragged this poor girl down here to parade all of her mistakes around in front of her. Don't you think that she may feel hurt or betrayed by all of you?" Yoruichi slapped her forehead with the heel of her hand and let out an exasperated groan.

"What were we supposed to do? Go behind her back and sort this out? That would have been just as bad," Toshiro stated.

"The only way that would have been worse is if she has lost all faith in you guys and your ability to protect her. Orihime has protected all of you at some time or another. You could have at least given her the respect that she deserves and not remind her of her past transgressions."

"That was not the purpose of this meeting," Urahara stated.

"Shut up. If you did not want my opinion than you shouldn't have woken me up," Yoruichi grumbled.

"I thought that you would be able to talk to her. She really respects you and besides, you are the only woman that I can think of that has not slept with Ichigo," Urahara said. Yoruichi turned her eyes first to Rangiku and a half smile creased her face.

"You and Kurosaki. That's laughable."

Yoruichi then turned to Rukia.

"Well I guess no one in the room is that surprised about the two of you hooking up. I'm not."

Renji's face turned just as red as his hair, but Yoruichi did not notice, she was already walking towards the door.

"I'm going to try my best to talk her down. I hope it works." Yoruichi disappeared out the door and went up the stairs.

Everyone let out a collective sigh as Yoruichi disappeared up the stairs.

"Can't say that I didn't expect that," Urahara commented.

"Indeed," Byakuya agreed.

"It's not like she was wrong though. All of us aside from Toshiro and Urahara have let her down and taken advantage of her good nature. Everything that has happened over the last couple of weeks is our fault. We deserve this," Rukia said.

"I know. We kinda screwed her over," Ichigo mumbled. "But I don't want to think about that now. The only thing I care about is being here for her now."

"That's easy for you to say. You're the one that screwed her over the hardest. So naturally you would want to forget everything that you have ever done to hurt her," Byakuya stated.

"What the hell does any of this have to do with you? You just came along and got in her pants!" Ichigo shouted.

"It was not like that and I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Maybe you do."

Byakuya took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"I feel a certain measure of affection for Orihime. I enjoyed the time that I spent with her," he said quietly.

"Wait a minute, you have a thing for Orihime?" Renji chuckled.

"My feelings are of no concern to you," Byakuya replied curtly.

"Well whatever you are feeling... How can you be sure that it's real?" Toshiro asked.

I don't know if it's real, and I don't care. I may not wear my heart on my sleeve, but I know what happiness feels like." Byakuya murmured with a distant look in his eyes. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence.

Ichigo stood and walked out of the room. Rukia glanced at Renji. He refused to meet her gaze. She stood and ran out the door after the orange haired shinigami.

"Ichigo," she said softly. He turned around to look at her.

"Yeah."

"I think we need to talk."

"Probably." The two walked towards the stairs and sat down.

"I want to apologize to you Rukia. I feel like all of this is my fault," Ichigo started.

"Please don't do that. This was not your fault."

"Yes it is. Maybe if I had given Orihime a definitive answer, we would not be in this situation. I don't like feeling as if I have lost control of everything around me. Somewhere in the midst of this, I knew that I was spiraling out of control and I couldn't stop myself. Your relationship with Renji is over and Orihime and I aren't even friends at this point. I could have stopped this."

"You don't know that."

"I do." Ichigo turned away from her.

"Well, I can't say what is going to happen between you and Orihime, but I can't help but wonder where this leaves us," Rukia said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked dubiously.

"I think you know. Long before we even went to Hueco Mundo, you and I-,"

Ichigo raised one hand to cut her off.

"I remember that night, but let's not do this right now, I can't."

Rukia nodded and looked away.

"You are going to have to face this eventually," she said, her voice sounding just as cold and stoic as her brother's.

"I know that." Ichigo pressed his lips to her forehead and pulled her into a stiff hug. "I do care about you Rukia, believe me I do, but you have no idea what you are feeling. This isn't love."

He let her go and watched as she walked away with her head hung low.