April 20th. Ichigo and Orihime.
Prompt: Because.
When Ukitake Taichou offered him the position of Captain in Soul Society and asked him to stay and protect Soul Society, he didn't have to think about it. He said no.
Soul Society was special to him. It was once his Father's home. It was Renji and Rukia's home. And Toshiro and Byakuya and Ganju and all of the Captain's and shinigami's he had become well-acquainted with and come to know as well as the back of his hand now.
He was grateful.
He was grateful to Rukia for bringing Soul Society to him and changing his world and giving him the means to protect the people he loved. He was grateful for all the friendships that had strengthened since his journey had begun with her. He would miss her and Renji and the rest of them. They had become too much a part of his life for him not too. But he would not change his mind.
He would wear his Shinigami badge with pride. And he would come to Soul Society's aid in the blink of an eye, but he could not live there.
He could not accept the position of Captain and he could not make Soul Society his permanent home.
Because that would mean leaving Karakara.
Even if he could still see his family and friends in Karakura while living in Soul Society, it would not be enough to satisfy him.
Because he was alive.
And as much Human as he was Shinigami or Quincy or Hollow and he was damn proud of it.
Because Karakura was his home.
Because Karakura was where his family lived.
Because Karakura was where his embarrassing father liked to embarrass himself over mom on a daily basis and annoy the heck out of his two of a kind kid sisters that he cherished beyond life itself.
Because Karakura was where he was a regular kid with extraordinary abilities, and went to school with a bunch of crazy, dorky, loyal friends that were too much a part of his life to simply leave behind.
Because Karakura was where he, Chad, Ishida and Inoue made a pact. A pact to protect it together. And he was damned if he was going to break his promise to them and leave them to do it on their own.
Because he would miss them like crazy and it would be really lame if he left them before he even died properly the way regular humans did before their souls slipped into Soul Society by the grace of some Shinigami.
Because Karakura was where he wanted to be as regular as it was possible for him to be, to finish school and graduate and chase the skies and a worthwhile future like the rest of his boring, human friends.
Because when he thought that he would break, he didn't. Because she was there.
A brightbright girl with soft amber-gold lights in the swish of her provocative, waist-length hair, who made it impossible for him to hold on to his frowns and the sad angst of his past.
Because the curve of her lips shot evergreen smiles at him that made him want to curl his toes and hum uncharacteristically.
Because the warm brandy of her prettypretty eyes which almost always shone merrily up at him made him swallow nervously and bite the inside of his cheeks.
Because the happy, melodic chirp of her voice softened his insides and made him want to croak awkwardly back at her just because.
Because her giggly, unself-conscious silliness kicked his self-consciousness to the curb and made him feel all goofy and googley-eyed on the inside and just like that, he gave himself a break to just be a dork and bask in her equally dorky sunshine.
Because when she cried those, big sloppy ugly tears, even the blotchy red of her sniffling nose and sticky wet cheeks became terribly cute and made him stare at her with all the softness of a besotted fool of a grizzly bear.
She was a soft, overwhelming force that was sweetly, fiercely grabbing hold of his heart and squeezing and filling it with an all-encompassing love that was so compassionate and devastating he was afraid his veins would burst from the aching, choking, wonderful pressure of it and his jaws would hurt from the unexpected biggest, massive, ear-splitting, dorkiest grinning he was prone to in her presence.
She unwound him.
And relaxed and poked and laughed and unknotted all the unwanted tension in his grumpy bones.
Her impartial compassion was an all- consuming aphrodisiac.
She made it all okay.
Because at the end of his journey, he knew she was going to be there.
Smiling widely at him with her heart-stopping sunshine grin, hitting him squarely in the gloomy pits of his heart and splashing irresistible mad happiness through every unhappy, frowning corner of him.
Because She was his final Because. Period.