A/N: Hello again! I'm sure you're all eager to see what happens next, so I won't keep you! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: No miracles have occurred and, therefore, I still do not own Bleach. Shigeo and his cohorts, however, are totally mine.

Soul Mates

Chapter 7: Priorities

"Leave him be," Head Captain Yamamoto declared as the three gathered Lieutenants stared, wide-eyed, at Ichigo.

Ichigo Kurosaki was sitting against the far wall, zanpakutou across his lap and eyes closed.

Five minutes ago the group had been having a necessary conversation about their latest fight, and in fact Ichigo had been talking when, suddenly, he'd cut himself off and his spiritual pressure had darkened. He'd grunted an "Excuse me," to them before promptly turning and moving to the wall. He hadn't said another word as he'd settled into his current position.

Lieutenant Sasakibe collected himself immediately and turned, nodding sharply in acknowledgment of the order.

Rukia and Renji turned as well, though slowly, and shifted their attention back to their commander.

"It is my understanding that he has other things on his mind at the moment," Yamamoto elaborated calmly. "So we'll let him do what he needs to while we have the time to afford such a luxury."

Bowing formally, Renji and Rukia chorused, "Yes, sir!"

Ichigo materialized in his inner world several feet away from his hollow and Orihime. Zangetsu was farther back, a short distance behind them, watching stoically.

He took a moment to gather himself, noting that his hollow was standing a few paces away from Orihime and scowling darkly, though the glare seemed to only manifest when he shifted his eyes to Ichigo.

Orihime, however, was wholly oblivious to Ichigo's arrival. Her head was bowed, her long hair having fallen forward enough to shield her face from everyone's view, but her shoulders were shaking slightly and she was white-knuckling her own dress.

Ichigo barely noticed that the clouds over head even seemed to be – albeit slowly – darkening, as if responding to her mood, before he started forward. He wasn't surprised to know she was upset, or to know that she was trying to hide it. But he hated seeing it.

As he walked, Ichigo spared a pointed glare for his hollow, expecting the fiend to give him trouble over her tears. She was, after all, the one subject they largely agreed on. But instead his hollow merely nodded and flash-stepped to Zangetsu, giving them space. And Ichigo returned his full attention to Orihime as he neared her.

When he was standing in front of her, his feet planted on the glass window pane that she had obviously been using to watch everything through, Ichigo stopped walking and carefully knelt down. This close, he could finally hear her soft, muffled sobs.

"Orihime," he said gently, keeping his voice quiet as he carefully reached out for one of her clenched fists. He covered her slightly-shaking appendage even as her head snapped up and she sucked in a sharp, startled breath.

Suddenly she was staring (blearily) into Ichigo's warm, concerned brown eyes, and Orihime didn't know what to do. She hadn't expected him to know that she was crying or upset, as he didn't seem to hear what was happening in this world unless they were actually talking to him.

But that only meant that either Hollow (she still didn't like calling him that) or Zangetsu had brought her unhappy state to his attention.

She swallowed heavily, trying to push back the painful lump in her throat even as she tried to blink away her remaining tears. When had she started crying so blatantly, anyway? "I-Ichigo…?" she choked.

He gave her still-clenched fist a light squeeze as his expression softened. "Hey. Wanna tell me what's got you so upset?"

Orihime's tongue was briefly stuck to the roof of her mouth when she realized that he was holding her hand, and she found herself staring at his hand over hers for a long minute. His hand was warm and strong – comforting. But his touch was gentle and concerned. It was such a contrast, and yet she knew she shouldn't have expected anything less.

Dragging in a deep, slightly ragged, breath, Orihime finally lifted her eyes back to his. She knew she had to answer his question as honestly as she could without answering it entirely. But, fortunately, she'd talked herself into similar situations before.

"It's just…" she began, pausing for a beat when she realized her voice was still something less than stable. She swallowed and tried again, offering him her best apologetic smile.

"I started thinking," she finally confessed. "And, the truth is, I'm scared that…that maybe it's already too late to get me back to myself, you know? What if…I really did die and, somehow, instead of passing on to Soul Society like I was supposed to, I ended up here? It doesn't make any sense, I know, but really neither does this and…. I guess I just got too wrapped up in all the bad possibilities."

Ichigo listened carefully to her explanation, patiently waiting until she had said everything she intended to. He was sure she'd gone into more detail in her head, but he didn't need to know every single thought that had cropped up to know why she was upset. It was nothing he was surprised to hear and, truthfully, she seemed to be upset by exactly the same things he was refusing to think about.

When she was done, and had subsequently dropped his gaze again as a stray tear slipped free, Ichigo gave her hand another squeeze and said, "It's completely understandable that you'd worry about all that, Orihime. But listen to me: I won't let that happen, okay? Whatever's going on, we'll find a way to fix it."

Orihime pulled her lip between her teeth as she let her eyes return to his. She could see his determination shining back at her, and she wanted desperately to believe in it, but she really was afraid.

She was afraid of more than just having to live with her heartbreak so intimately. She was afraid of losing everyone else that she loved, too. Her life wasn't perfect, and she never expected it would be, but she liked it. She certainly wasn't perfect, so why should everything around her be any different? She was genuinely happy more often than not, and, in her mind, that was all anyone needed.

"What if it's already too late?" Orihime breathed, unable to stop herself as another tear rolled free.

Ichigo's hand tightened over hers, though his grip stopped short of bruising, and he said, "It's not."

"But you don't know that for sure," Orihime argued softly.

Clearly arguing that he simply wouldn't let it be too late wasn't working, so Ichigo opted to switch tactics. Holding her gaze firmly, he said, "Then I'll go back to Karakura Town right now, and if I have to I'll lock Urahara in a room until he figures out how to get you back into your own body."

It was an easy offer to make. As much as he wanted to stay and help Soul Society with their latest problem, he wasn't worried that they couldn't take care of themselves. He would head straight to the senkaimon that very minute if Orihime asked him to.

She was his priority, not them.

Orihime took another deep breath, and this time it was notably steadier. She was tempted to take him up on his offer, it was true. But her own argument was working against her now. If it really was too late, as she'd admitted to fearing, then what would it matter if they rushed back now or didn't get back for another week? It wouldn't.

However, if it wasn't too late, and they rushed back anyway, she would feel incredibly guilty. Especially if something happened in Soul Society while Ichigo was occupied with her.

Her breath escaped her in a sigh and Orihime slowly shook her head. "No," she said quietly. She relaxed her uncovered hand and lifted it until she had placed it carefully over his, and she offered him another watery smile as she added, "Thank you, but no. What I said before still stands. I don't want to lose my life, but I refuse to keep it at anyone else's expense."

It was Ichigo's turn to sigh, though his lips twitched in a faint grin, and he said, "You really do think too damned much like me sometimes, you know that?"

Her lips lifted again and this time a slightly-teary giggle slipped free. "I told you not to forget it, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," Ichigo assured her with a light nod. Giving her hand a final squeeze, he pulled his free and leaned back, suddenly feeling as though he was invading her personal space.

"Well, if you're sure, then we'll stick to the plan," he declared after a beat as he rocked to his feet fluidly.

Orihime nodded and reached up to wipe off the remnants of her tears. "I'm sure. But I'm sorry to drag you all the way in here like that."

Ichigo scowled down at her. "Don't apologize. I'm just sorry there isn't more I can do right now."

Popping to her feet with a sweet smile, Orihime replied, "You're already doing plenty! Besides, I…I'm the one inconveniencing you, you know. You shouldn't have to go out of your way for me – especially not like this."

"Tch," Ichigo scoffed, crossing his arms in his sleeves to keep from reaching out for her again. He'd gone over two weeks of missing her so strongly that it hurt (which hadn't made sense, really), and now to have her so close was downright cruel. Because her being this close didn't make her any more attainable – and he knew that was at least partially his own fault. Orihime was off-limits; she had to be.

But that didn't mean he couldn't try to assuage her needless guilt.

"You're not 'inconveniencing' me, Orihime. It's like I said before: this isn't your fault," he reminded her firmly.

Orihime offered him a small, hesitant smile. "I'll try to remember that."

He grinned again, but before he could open his mouth to reply he was caught off-guard by a sudden, sharp throbbing pain in his head.

Ichigo startled out of his meditation, finding himself awkwardly slumped against the wall that had been behind him before he'd detoured into his inner world. Zangetsu was lying on the floor, just out of reach, and Rukia was standing directly in his path, fists on her hips and a frown on her face.

"There you are," she declared pointedly. "We've been trying to snap you out of it for nearly ten minutes!"

Quickly composing himself (and suddenly understanding the throbbing pain in his head), Ichigo pushed to his feet and snapped, "Did it ever occur to you that I was busy? In case you've already forgotten, Orihime's soul is inside of me!"

"No, I haven't forgotten," Rukia assured him, crossing her arms now as she held his gaze. "But I figure if you're fine, and your spiritual pressure's stable, then nothing new has happened to her since the last time you gave us an update."

"Ichigo," Orihime called carefully, concern evident in her voice. "Are you…alright?"

"Yeah," he assured her quickly, still glowering at the petite woman in front of him. "Rukia just enjoys using my head as her own personal punching bag."

Aloud, he said, "Dammit, Rukia, you had better have yanked me back out here for a good reason."

Rolling her eyes exasperatedly, Rukia replied, "Of course I did, you idiot. I thought you'd want to know that the three intruders who got away have been spotted heading towards the East Gate."

Ichigo stared at her for a beat as her words sank in. Part of him was understanding – and grateful now – of her intrusion. But part of him was still frustrated. He didn't like that finding three random intruders was taking precedence over Orihime's safety.

Nearly-soundless laughter trailed just slightly ahead of her words as Orihime said, "The sooner you find them the sooner I can 'take precedence' again."

Trying not to be embarrassed, and valiantly ignoring his hollow's echoing laughter, Ichigo replied, "Point taken." He moved forward, then, and lifted Zangetsu from the ground.

"So you're coming with me, then?" Rukia asked pointedly.

Instead of answering her question, Ichigo arched a brow as he realized what was different about the large room and asked, "Where's Renji?"

Heaving a sigh, Rukia replied, "He left without us; said he didn't want to wait for you to finish your…conversation."

Ichigo turned enough to face her once Zangetsu was secured over his back. He wanted to ask what the obvious edit was for, but he thought better of it. If the comment had come from Renji, he probably didn't want to know.

"If you could," the Head Captain called before either Soul Reaper could start for the door, "try to leave one of them alive. I would like an explanation for their behavior."

Rukia inclined her head politely. "Of course, Head Captain. We'll be going now."

Ichigo said nothing, merely nodding sharply at the older man before following Rukia quickly from the room.

The truth was he still wasn't Yamamoto's biggest fan, despite the fact that everything had worked out in the end and he had even been offered something that almost sounded like an apology from Ukitake.

But that was in the past now, and like it or not he knew that no further apologies or 'justifications' were going to be offered. He needed to let it go; and he was trying. But every now and then (like today, it seemed) he just couldn't look at the man without feeling a flicker of that old, indignant anger.

Fortunately, most of the time it was only that – a flicker.

Of course, now wasn't a good time to dwell on that, either, so Ichigo distracted himself by asking, "Hey, do we know yet what they were after earlier?"

"No," Rukia replied without looking back toward him. "We haven't yet received the official report from Captain Kurotsuchi, and he certainly won't tell until he has to."

Grunting in agreement, Ichigo said, "With our luck we won't find out until after the fighting."

Smirking now, Rukia said, "That's what I figure." An increased burst of spiritual pressure ahead of them drew their attention, and Rukia declared, "Renji must have caught up with them!"

They increased their speed appropriately, not wanting to leave their comrade alone in the battle. But he wasn't too much farther ahead of them, and they had only to flash-step around three more large buildings to find Renji's fight.

Renji was locked in combat with a tall, lean man. And though the man was obviously fairly handy with a sword, and just as obviously not a Soul Reaper, Ichigo barely had to spare a glance at him to know he wasn't one of the intruders he'd crossed paths with earlier.

"Renji!" Rukia hollered, one hand landing on her zanpakutou's hilt as she prepared to help him.

"Keep going!" Renji called through gritted teeth as he pushed the other man back a couple of feet. "The three you're looking for aren't far from here, but they're moving quickly! And be careful – apparently they've got friends watching their backs!"

Ichigo paused, his concern for his friend overpowering his need to hunt down the remaining intruders. "Renji," he started as he watched the struggle before him.

Swinging Zabimaru wide in order to force his opponent back, Renji said, "I've got this – just go!"

With a sharp nod, Ichigo grunted, "Right!" and turned to continue in the direction Renji had indicated.

Rukia hesitated a second longer before turning and following him, one hand still wrapped around Sode No Shirayuki's sheath.

Neither spoke as they ran. They could both sense the poorly-suppressed spiritual pressures ahead now that Renji's fight was behind them, and they knew he'd been right. The enemy was close.

They were up and over another building with two well-placed flash-steps, and then they had eyes on the intruders that they were looking for.

"Looks like it's just us," Rukia declared when she realized that, indeed, no one else seemed to have caught up with them.

"That's fine with me," Ichigo assured her as he reached up and wrapped his hand around Zangetsu's hilt. He was more than ready to end their threat.

He didn't bother saying another word before leaping off of the roof, toward their enemies. From his angle it was easy to cut them off as he spun around and released a low-level getsuga in their direction.

As he'd hoped, it got their attention and forced them to come to a quick stop.

Ichigo landed in front of the three remaining intruders, noting unsurprisingly that Rukia was taking up position behind them. His gaze flicked between the two men before settling on the woman.

"You again," she growled before he'd even opened his mouth.

"Yeah," Ichigo said with a smirk, "me again."

"What did you do with Shigeo?" the slightly-smaller man demanded.

Ichigo looked back over at him, noting that his shoulder was bandaged now, and shrugged deliberately. "He got his ass kicked, and now he's taking a nice vacation in some tiny little underground cell."

"You Soul Reapers always think you can do whatever you like," the woman said disdainfully.

Arching a pointed brow, Ichigo replied, "Says the woman who attacked every squad and then tried to steal from one of them."

Her eyes shined with renewed anger and she declared, "That item belongs to me!"

"Not the way I heard it," Ichigo returned.

Behind her, the larger man glanced pointedly toward Rukia as he shifted his weight. He was obviously sizing them up.

"I say we take this one hostage," the man Ichigo had wounded earlier suddenly suggested, gesturing toward Ichigo as he spoke. "We offer to trade him for Shigeo and the box. With his power, there's no way the old goat could refuse!"

The woman cut a glance to her comrade and a slow smirk curved her lips. "Yes," she said at length. She turned slightly sideways in order to look back at Rukia and added, "And we'll make an example of the woman – to show what will happen if they don't heed our demands."

"You want to make an example of me?" Rukia asked, verging on incredulous. "Don't tell me you think I'll sit still for that."

"You won't need to," the woman assured her smugly.

"That's a pretty crappy plan," Ichigo called, redirecting their attention back toward him. "I'd make a terrible hostage."

"And why is that?" the woman asked as her gaze returned to him.

Smirk broadening slightly, Ichigo replied, "Well, for starters, the only way you're getting me as a hostage is to kill me. And I'm pretty sure that'd defeat the purpose."

The larger man finally spoke up, cracking his knuckles threateningly as he said, "I'm gonna enjoy taking that ego of yours down a few notches, Substitute."

"Hyouta," the woman said as she looked over to the wounded man, "subdue the female, but keep her alive until we've secured her friend here."

"Understood," Hyouta assured her with a sharp nod. He wasted no time, then, in turning around and running at Rukia.

Simultaneously, the larger, unnamed man started toward Ichigo.

He wasn't holding any sort of weapon, though his body was still largely covered by his dark cloak. His hands and forearms were covered by what looked like leather gloves, and small, silver spikes protruded from the ends of his knuckles on both hands. His feet were covered by thick black boots that sounded heavy as they pounded against the ground. And an expectant, confident smirk cut across his face as he prepared to take his first swing at Ichigo.

But Ichigo had no intention of holding still long enough to take a direct hit from his opponent's spiked gloves. So he waited until the larger man was committed to his attack, and then he ducked and spun, easily avoiding the swinging fist and moving again out of range.

"Are you really coming at me without a weapon?" Ichigo asked in mild amazement.

The man took a half-step backwards and lifted one fist. "These are the only weapons I need," he declared.

Ichigo sighed. He had dared to hope that he could get a decent fight out of this guy, but it wasn't looking like he was going to get his way. Aloud, he said, "Fine, then. But don't expect me to hold back."

"I wouldn't dream of it," the man assured him. He paused, fists still clenched, and said, "Your name's Ichigo Kurosaki, right? Well, I'm Arashi Harada. And this one's for my friend." As soon as he finished speaking, Arashi surged forward again, one fist pulled back in preparation for his next swing.

Ichigo blocked the swing with the flat side of his sword, barely skidding back even a foot. "I gotta say, Arashi, so far I'm not impressed," Ichigo taunted.

"Yeah?" Arashi replied, undaunted by the comment. "Let's see what you think of this, then," he added as he pulled back. He quickly shifted his weight and threw his other arm forward, angled to curve over the top of the sword and land squarely on Ichigo's jaw.

Not a stranger to close-combat, Ichigo adjusted his sword and swung out, forcing Arashi to abandon his attack if he didn't want to be sliced nearly in half.

As he'd predicted, Arashi cursed and jumped backwards, landing in a crouch just out of Zangetsu's reach.

"Nice reflexes," Arashi praised. "But they won't save you." He took a deep breath and pushed with both his hands and his feet off of the ground, coming to his feet in a full sprint. The force of his take-off chipped the ground he'd been crouched over.

Ichigo realized that Arashi had gathered a significant portion of his spiritual pressure in his fists even as the other man leapt into the air. His momentum took him practically over Ichigo, and he was coming down quickly, fists forward.

Maybe this wouldn't be such an easy strategy to read if I didn't spar so often with Chad, Ichigo reflected curiously as he watched his opponent descend. But the truth was that Arashi didn't seem to be providing much of a threat at all. Still, he reminded himself, this needs to end.

He briefly considered borrowing one of Orihime's shields again, but decided against it. It would be best to save those techniques for when they were actually necessary. So he took a single step backwards, adjusted Zangetsu, and swung the large blade upwards as he called, "Getsuga Tenshou!"

The attack collided head-on with Arashi and sent him flying backwards. He slammed solidly into the top half of the wall behind him, grunting from the impact before falling to the ground below.

"Give up yet?" Ichigo asked as he slung Zangetsu across his shoulders.

"Arashi is no longer your opponent," the woman declared as she moved into Ichigo's line of sight. Her pace was casual, her arms hanging at her sides, and her posture bespoke confidence and power.

Ichigo arched one brow curiously. "You think you can do better?"

She came to a stop, her back to her comrade, and her eyes were challenging as she said, "Why don't you find out."

Ichigo removed Zangetsu from his shoulders as he studied her. She certainly held herself like a woman used to victory, but he couldn't assume that she was capable solely because of that. However, he couldn't afford to assume that she wasn't, either. And, in the end, it didn't matter.

What mattered was simple. She was the one keeping him from focusing on taking care of Orihime.

To Be Continued…

A/N: We're getting closer and closer to the big fight! Can you tell? LOL I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Oh, and, no, don't worry – this isn't even the half-way point of the story I don't think. (So, yes, this is gonna be a longer one). But maybe while you're waiting for chapter eight I can convince you to leave me another review?