Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I am making no money from this. Tite Kubo owns all, I'm just playing with them for a while. I also do not own any of the quotes I use at the start of each chapter. They were all found on the internet, and if they have an author I say who it is.

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I love you guys! And sorry to those of you who were waiting for more story, but I've pretty much told the story I set out to tell. Which was getting Ichigo to open up about his mother, working things out with his Hollow, and getting him to propose. Getting to write all the other stuff with the other characters was just a huge bonus.

So now…. Time jump! Only this and the epilogue to go. Some angst here, sort of, depending on how you look at it. After all, this story is about loving until your last breath.


Until the Last Breath

By Lady Callista

Chapter 10: Death

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Why should death always have the last word?"

-a Magic: the Gathering card

OoOoOoOoOoO

OoO Nearly 20 years later OoO

"Are you sure you'll be alright on your own, Orihime-chan?" Isshin asked as he tucked the grocery list she had written out into his front pocket.

"Of course." Orihime smiled as she glanced over at the crackling fireplace, and the blanket and book she had tossed unto the couch in front of it.

"Cause I could wait till Ichigo and the kids get back from skiing." Isshin offered even as he pulled on his coat.

"It's fine." Orihime replied. "Knowing them they'll be out for at least an hour or two yet, and dinner will be really late if you wait till then to get the groceries."

"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can." Isshin said as he headed out the door.

Orihime called out a goodbye as she took her cup of hot chocolate and settled down by the fire with her book. She was tired from skiing all day with her family yesterday, and had opted to stay behind for the afternoon. Plus, as much as she was used to the chaos that seemed to follow in the wake of both Ichigo and their twin children, it was nice to have a little time to relax and do whatever she wanted.

Which at the moment consisted of doing nothing but sitting by the fire with her hot chocolate, reading the newest book in a romance series Rangiku had introduced her to the year before.

She hadn't been lost in the book for long when she heard a strange rumbling sound coming from further up the mountain.

Concerned, she moved to the window as the sound started to get louder, and she gasped as she watched a huge wall of tumbling snow coming down the mountain, straight towards her. She barely had time to call out before it hit, "Santen Kesshun."

She fell back from the window, rolling under the table and using her shield to hold it up above her as the house started to collapse under the weight of the snow.

Temporarily safe under her shield, Orihime desperately cast her reiatsu out far and wide, trying to find her family.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"So then," Rangiku laughed as she tossed back another shot of sake, "He actually leaned in, and he whispered that I shouldn't worry, because my husband would never have to know."

Rukia snorted, almost dropping the bottle she was refilling everyone's glasses from. "I can't believe you've been happily married for almost 20 years and still get propositioned on a regular basis."

"And who do you want propositioning you other than me?" Renji asked with a grin as he tossed an arm around his wife's shoulders.

"Oh, who cares?" Shunsui cut in. "I wanna know how the guy ended up being carried into the yonbantai so beaten up I hear they thought he was dead at first."

"Well, as he said the last part, he moved in and tried to grab my ass." Rangiku laughed at the memory.

"So you used him as your punching bag." Shuuhei smirked at the thought and reached over to click his glass to hers. Memories of her truly riled up when guys who were flirting with her went too far flicked through his mind, and even decades after they had happened he found they were still among the most amusing and entertaining moments of his life.

But Rangiku surprised them all by shaking her head.

"You didn't beat him to a pulp for that?" Yoruichi gasped as she grabbed for Rangiku's arm. "What did you do?"

Rangiku smirked, and let out a wicked-sounding chuckle. "I simply informed him that my husband was standing less than a meter behind him."

The table dissolved in a fit of laugher, which cut off abruptly as a huge explosion of reiatsu exploded from one of the much lower districts. Everyone was on their feet in a second.

"What the hell was that?" Ikkaku shouted as the eleven taicho-class Shinigami flew out into the streets, trying to hone in on the location the reiatsu had come from.

"Where did it come from?" Kisuke shouted even as he sent his reiatsu out in search of an answer. Most of the people in the area crumpled under the pressure, but this was no time for niceties. It wouldn't harm them permanently.

There was another stronger explosion then, and it seemed slightly closer as well.

"Over there!" Izuru pointed, Wabisuke already in his hand. "No, wait…"

Another explosion went off, on a diagonal from the first two, and closer yet.

"Where is it?" Nanao yelled as the Shinigami took to the rooftops, spreading out and drawing zanpakuto.

"It's…" Momo trailed off as a black, white, and pink blur flew by them.

"That way!" Yachiru's voice trailed through the night, her maybe ten-year-old looking body still fitting perfectly on Kenpachi's strong back.

"Why would the taicho…" Ikkaku did a double-take even as Yumichika suddenly put a hand to his own forehead and sighed deeply.

"Can't you feel it?" Kisuke called out. "That reiatsu seem familiar to anyone else?"

"It feels like…" Rukia trailed off in shock.

"But it can't be!" Renji exclaimed

"Oh, don't stand there with your foreheads wrinkled in thought. It's very unbeautiful." Yumichika sniffed. "Who but Kurosaki Ichigo could make such an annoying and ugly racket?"

Various eyes met in shock for a moment, then all eleven pairs of eyes flashed to the east as another explosion of reiatsu went off. It was close enough now that they could begin to hear the shouts.

And above all of the panicked ones was a deep, very familiar one. "ORIHIME!"

Just as they were about to shunpo in the direction of the disturbance, a messenger from the soutaicho flashed into existence in their mist. He turned to Kyoraku Shunsui, as he was the ranking member of the group by virtue of his age and experience. "Kyoraku-taicho, Kurosaki Ichigo died a few minutes ago!"

Shunsui simply cocked an eyebrow and said dryly, yet with a slight bite of sarcasm, "No kidding."

Then he shunpoed off in the direction of the reiatsu, the other Shinigami vanishing in his wake only a second later.

OoOoOoO

"I'm so glad you're back from that mission." Hitsugaya Toshiro said softly as he and his wife lay curled together on the couch. "I missed holding you at night."

Karin smiled, tilting her head up from where it rested on his chest to kiss him softly on the jaw. "I missed you too."

He had just tilted his head down to kiss her properly when a huge wave of reiatsu crashed into them. They were on their feet in an instant, and standing on top of their home in the next one.

This time they saw the huge explosion of reiatsu, way to the east of them and off in the Rukongai, but lighting up the sky around it vividly.

"ICHI-NII!" Karin screamed at once.

"But him and Orihime weren't planning on visiting until next week!" Toshiro replied even as the two of them starting shunpoing in the direction of the reiatsu, their joined hands allowing them to move as one and still talk as the did so.

"From the feel of his reiatsu I don't think he's on a friendly visit!" Karin yelled, then suddenly pulled Toshiro to a stop. "And I don't feel Orihime-nee… wait!"

She suddenly pulled him off in a new direction, moving on an angle that would cross back less then a kilometer from their house in the elite housing area of Seireitei.

"Karin, where are we going?" Toshiro kept up with her, trusting she had a reason for what she was doing.

"Their house! The one they keep up here, I mean." Karin replied without missing a beat. "I know Ichigo's out there somewhere, but everyone can sense him. They'll find him and bring him to Seireitei. But if he's here, there's a good chance Orihime-nee is too. And no one would feel her over that!" Her head spun towards the east again as another wave of reiatsu rolled towards them just as they landed on top of their destination.

Toshiro stopped briefly on the roof to stare out towards the east, while Karin flashed right into the house through an open second-story window.

Toshiro was just about to join her when a messenger from the soutaicho flashed into existence and went to one knee before him. "Hitsugaya-taicho, we've… we've just received word that Kurosaki Ichigo and Orihime have died."

The corner of Toshiro's eye twitched as Karin appeared beside him, setting a slightly disoriented Orihime on her feet carefully, making sure she had her balance on the slightly steep roof.

He gazed down on the messenger with a slight twinkle in his emerald eyes. "You don't say?"

OoOoOoO

Kuchiki Byakuya was just putting his baby son into his cradle when he felt the first explosion.

He flashed up to the roof of his mansion after taking a moment to lay a protective kido around the crib.

His attention immediately turned towards the east, and he sighed deeply as he registered a reiatsu so overpowering it could only be one person. And from the feel of it, he was actually dead.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." Byakuya said softly. "And I was hoping for a quiet night."

When the soutaicho's messenger appeared before him, Byakuya didn't even lower his pride to give a response as he took a shunpo and was gone.

OoOoOoOoO

It took all 12 of the Shinigami who had tracked Ichigo down and at least half again as many kido to restrain him. Yachiru had, of course, gotten Kenpachi lost, which was a relief to everyone.

"Oi, Ichigo, what the hell happened?" Renji was the first one to get out a coherent question.

"I died, idiot." Ichigo shot back. "Now let me go! I've got to get back to Earth and save Orihime!"

"She's still alive?" Momo gasped as she started undoing one kido after another as quickly as she could.

"I don't know!" Ichigo's voice was fully of agony, and he hardly noticed when Byakuya and Izuru began removing kido from him as well. "But she could be! We were at a cabin in the mountains. There was an avalanche. I have to find her…"

"That still doesn't explain why you're dead." Rukia shot at him as the group took off for Seireitei and the nearest Senkaimon. "Why didn't you fly away, dumbass? You could have carried both your own body and Orihime."

"I was too busy carrying my kids out." Ichigo spat back as with his speed he pulled ahead of most of the others. Only Shunsui, Yoruichi, and Byakuya were keeping up with him.

"The twins…" Yoruichi gasped.

"They're fine." Ichigo replied. "I got them out, they're safe. The three of us were out skiing, and Orihime was with my dad in the cabin. I'm sure he got her out, but…"

"So you let your own body die in order to save your children." Shunsui said as the four of them flashed onto the ground in front of the east gate into Seireitei, and Byakuya called up to the guard, ordering that it be opened at once.

Ichigo didn't bother to reply as the gate slowly began to rise, and as soon as it was high enough he started to run through, only to pull up short as two figures flashed into place directly in his path.

The rest of the Shinigami that had found Ichigo had just caught up to them, and all of them stared as Ichigo stopped in front of Hitsugaya Toshiro and Karin.

"Long time no see, Ichi-nii." Karin smirked as she and Toshiro each took a step to the side, and Orihime ran out from behind them and straight into Ichigo's arms. "We found something you lost."

"You weren't supposed to die." Ichigo said softly into Orihime's hair as he clutched her tightly against his chest.

Orihime huffed. "Neither were you." She pulled back enough to look him in the eyes. "Otou-san said the kids are safe."

Ichigo nodded. "I got them away, but I had to let my own body die to do it. I was heading back for you guys, but the longer I went on once my body died, the weaker I felt. I was almost to the cabin when I collapsed, and then next thing I knew I woke up somewhere up in Rukongai."

"Without your body alive, your soul couldn't remain on Earth." Kisuke said as he came up behind them. "Your reiatsu is too attuned with Soul Society. You more or less subconsciously performed a konso on yourself."

"How did you get here, Orihime-chan?" Rukia moved up next to them as well.

"Isshin drove down to the town at the base of the mountains about fifteen minutes before it hit." Orihime said softly. "I felt the tremors, and I saw the avalanche coming, but there wasn't much I could do. I used my shield, but the cabin got crushed around me, and buried in the snow."

"Hime…" Ichigo whispered.

"It's okay." Orihime said softly. "I didn't really get hurt, and I felt you save the kids. I felt you coming back for me as well, and Isshin was coming too. But your reiatsu kept getting stranger, and weaker. When I felt you vanish… Your dad showed up a few seconds later, and started to try and move stuff to get to me. He confirmed that the kids were okay, but when I asked about you… I asked him if he could open a Senkaimon, and when he said yes, I asked him to take care of the kids, and I let my shield go away."

Ichigo glared at her for an instant, then just folded her back into his arms. "Idiot." He said affectionately.

"Like you wouldn't have done the same." Orihime said softly. "At least I didn't get lost once I got here."

Ichigo blushed slightly as the Shinigami around him all began laughing, and the group moved through the gate and into Seireitei.

OoOoOoO Three days later OoOoOoO

"Are you almost ready to go, Yuzu-chan?" Isshin called up the stairs as he rushed around the living room, trying to find his car keys.

"Looking for these, o-jii?"

Isshin's keys came sailing across the room, smacking him dead in the center of his forehead as he spun to face the familiar voice.

"Ichigo." He breathed, taking in the two shihakusho-clad figures that stood in the middle of the room. "Orihime-chan."

Yuzu came running down the stairs, throwing herself into her brother's arms with a shout of joy.

They had sent Isshin and Yuzu, as well as their children, jigoku-cho within an hour of entering Soul Society, but between all the things going on up there, and all the planning those still on Earth were doing, this was the first time they had actually made it back down to Earth in the three days since they died.

"Sorry I couldn't die laughing, otou-san." Ichigo said simply. "But I think mom would be okay with me dying to save my kids. She would kinda be a hypocrite otherwise."

Isshin chuckled, remembering a conversation that seemed to have taken place several lifetimes ago. "You should be more sorry because you didn't let your old man die first. That's two of my children now!" His voice was mostly joking, but there was a slight sadness in his eyes. "Three, really." His eyes softened more as he glanced at Orihime, who was firmly tucked under Ichigo's strong arm.

She smiled softly. "I love you too, otou-san. Don't think of us as dead, just think of us as having moved away. We can always visit each other."

Isshin cast wary eyes on Yuzu. Neither she nor Ichigo's children were allowed to travel to Soul Society.

"Yuzu was granted permission less than an hour ago." Ichigo said with a soft smile, reaching out to ruffle his sister's hair like he used to when she was little. "We're still working on the kids, but I'm pretty sure Yama-jii will cave in soon. Don't say anything to them just yet though."

Yuzu and her father both nodded, then she happened to glance at the clock on the wall and spoke softly, "We should get going, otou-san. We don't want to be late picking up the twins."

"They wanted to spend the night before the funeral at your…well…. At home." Isshin said softly.

Orihime smiled. "We know, we spoke to them already. And we'll be at the funeral."

"You two sure about that?"

Ichigo grinned. "Come on, o-jii, how many people get to go to their own funerals? Besides, there's kinda gonna be, well, a surprise there."

"You're going to stick mod-souls in your bodies and scare the crap out of people?" Isshin grinned as the four of them headed for the door.

"Not exactly."

TBC….

AN2: Only the Epilogue to go… Please take a sec to review.