Yay! I finally got it done:D

I wish everyone a good Thanksgiving, or Turkey Day, or whatever you call it. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Ichigo sat on the train alone, staring out of the window and watching the trees whisk by. He had just spent hours on a plane before catching a train to the monastary on Hokkaido. It had been a while since he had been to this part of Japan. Although he did not exactly like the reason he had to take the trip, it was nice to have a break.

He had three days to convince Ishida to come back. Considering everything that had gone down years ago, Ichigo did not really have a lot of faith in that sentiment. But Yuzu had been right, it did not matter what their individual problems were. Aizen meant to destroy everything, and that was everyone's problem.

Getting off the train, an elderly man was waiting for him at the station. Ichigo promptly placed his hands together and bowed to the monk.

"Thank you for allowing me to come on such short notice, Seishi-dono." Ichigo said.

"It is really no problem, Kurosaki-san." he said, "Shall we proceede to the temple? I'm sure that you are exhausted from your trip."

Ichigo nodded, but did not press the matter. He was tired, so tired that he felt like he could sleep for a week. It really did not help that 24 hours earlier he was fighting a Menos Grande and hundreds of other Hollows in Karakura.

The countryside was beautiful. Ichigo followed Seishi up the steps towards the temple, taking in every detail of the nature around them. There was a dense forrest surrounding the place, and easily a quarter of a mile of path and steps that led up to the hill. When they reached the top, Ichigo bowed respectively to the other monks that came to greet him.

Turning back to look and the view of the landscape behind him, he sighed before following Seishi and the others into the monastary.

Orihime weaved her way through the crowds, shouting orders to her medical help. Ayame sat on her shoulder,

"Please, Orihime-sama..." she begged, "Please stop. You're spirit energy-"

"I have patients." Orihime turned to the next table, speaking a few orders to Tak who was following her closely with supplies. After deciding that the next patient did not require immediate attention, she moved to the next one.

The healing room had filled to the brim with wounded Hollows and Arancars from the battles that had started to spring up between the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. Ichimaru Gin had just departed not to long ago with his fleet. Before he left, Orihime had managed to catch him to ask him the question that had been bothering her.

"What will you do if you end up having to fight Rangiku-san?"

Gin stopped, and looked at her. He gave her the same, odd smile that he always had.

"I serve Aizen-sama." he said, "I know who I must work for."

Orihime frowned, "Would you be able to kill her if you had too?"

He did not say anything then, only turned around without looking back.

Orihime did not mention anything at the time, but suspected that was the last time that Gin intended to step onto Hueco Mundo.

He planned on dying.

Stopping over the next patient, she folded her hands, "Shun'ou, Ayame, I reject..."

Grimmjaw stood off to the side, Ulquiorra was taking charge of most of the functions, which he was not complaining about. It was common knowledge that Grimmjaw served Aizen, but no one else. He was known to be more independent then the other Espada.

"You are a worker of Aizen-sama, Grimmjaw. You should do more then stand in the corner and collect dust."

"Mind your own business." he snapped at Tszuria. He never really talked to the female Espada. Frankly, it was because he did not like her. She gave him an uneasy feeling, like she would easily turn on anyone if it served to her own advantage. Not that he had never done something like that, he just did not like the fact that she might try to turn on him.

"You're always so testy." she murmured to him, "Could it be that you've developed a little crush on our Pet?"

"Fuck off. I'm not in the mood for your mind games."

She chuckled, "Aizen-sama said we couldn't kill her. He never said we had to respect her-"

Grimmjaw turned and grabbed her collar, "If you touch her and I'll kill you." letting go of her, he turned towards the hallway.

"She doesn't belong here, Grimmjaw." she said, "You're an Espada. An Arancar! You're her mortal enemy, we all are. Do not forget that she is also yours."

"I have forgotten nothing." he said.

"Eventually her people will come back for her!" she shouted, "Aizen-sama will kill them all. Do not get over attached."

"Screw you." he said, turning away from her and disappearing down the hallway.

Ishida sat on the porch, staring at the sky. It was part of his routine after all his duties to lay and think to himself. Some people may think he was trying to sulk in his own worries, but he prefered to think of it as "remembering" past mistakes.

Mistakes. Who the hell was his fooling? The mistake that he made was that he did not regret doing what he did. That was what had chased him away from everything. Regret would have made everything so much easier and so much more simple. Ishida would have been able to deal with guilt, it was a feeling he was used to.

There was a shufftle, and someone flopped on the wood floor. Ishida's senses had not dulled in any form. He knew it was Ichigo Kurosaki.

"I told you to leave me alone."

"I told you that you're a stubborn dumbass." Ichigo said, taking a bite out of the apple in his hand, "You want me to say it again? You're a dumbass, Ishida."

Uryuu glared at his orange-haired friend out of the corner of his eyes. Turning on his side, he stared at the flower in the garden in front of the building.

"You need to come back."

"No."

"I didn't ask." Ichigo said, "You HAVE to come back. Now."

"No."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I said so."

Ichigo muttered a curse, "Why not?"

Ishida was quiet, there was no way he was going to tell Kurosaki what was wrong. Ichigo was not nessecarily the most understanding man on the planet, and Ishida doubted Ichigo would know what to say.

"Because you wouldn't understand."

"Well, maybe if you told me, I would be able to decide that."

"Kurosaki-"

"I deal with 30, high-school kids, 6 days out of the week, Ishida. Don't give me that emo, 'you don't know me' crap. I already get it enough."

Sitting up, Ishida leaned against the railing. Ichigo raised an eyebrow, tossing the apple core in the trash bin right that was right inside the open door.

"People are dying, Ishida." he said, "Yesterday, there was a Menos."

Menos.

Ishida gasped, "What-"

"Don't worry, we were able to get rid of it." Ichigo said, "But it was difficult."

There was an uneasy pause of silence between them.

"Kurosaki-"

"Innocent people, Ishida." he said, "I don't have time to sit here and play twenty questions with you. Chad had to go back to Mexico for a while. The Vizards have got their own beef and want to have a meeting with the Seireitei that I have to mediate. Inoue is-" he stopped, looking away, "-not here."

Ishida did not miss the note of despair in Ichigo's voice for the absenence of Orihime. Ever since he met her, Ishida had always thought of Inoue as a friend of his, and one of the most competant persons out of their little group. Even though she always appeared spacey and unobservant, Orihime always knew more then she let on.

It had not passed by Ishida that Orihime had also been very much in love with Ichigo Kurosaki. With that saying, he also did not miss the idea that Kurosaki had feelings for Orihime that went well past friendship.

But as much as he hated it, Kurosaki was right. A Menos Grande would have been easier to beat had he lent his Quincy powers. Innocent people were dying, and he was not helping anyone by sulking.

It was so simple, that it just depressed him more.

"Look, Ishida-" Ichigo said, "-we all have our demons. Whatever it is, it'll make you feel better if you talk about it."

Hell, Ichigo thought, I sound like a damn school counseler.

"Not this." Ishida shook his head, "This is something I will not get over."

"What? What won't you get over?"

Letting out a big sigh, he came out with it.

"I fell in love with a woman."

Ichigo stared at him, and made a face, "That's ALL? You holed yourself up in this place for two years for that?"

"And I slept with her."

Letting out a frustrated noise, Ichigo clapped his hands together, "Well hell, Ishida! That's your biggest transgression in life? You slept with a woman that you're in love with? I'll tell you this, dude, that if that's what your punishing yourself for then there's no hope for the rest of humanity."

"You're not listening, damn it!" Ishida roared, "It was Nemu Kurotsuchi!"

WOAH.

Ichigo's eyebrows instantly went up. That was not the answer he was expecting to get.

Ishida...and the daughter of the person who murdered all the Quincy? As much as Ishida always seemed in control of himself, Ichigo was well aware that Ishida was more sensitive then he appeared. It was probably a mind job on him knowing that he slept with the woman that was supposed to be his mortal enemy. Even though Nemu had not been responsible for what Mayuri did, she was still his daughter and vice-captain.

"Don't look at me that way." Ishida said, "It's not like I really had a choice in the matter. You think I like this? You think I wanted to fall for her, sleep with her, and then run away like some coward? I have never run from anything in my life."

They stared at the sun setting in the horizon, and Ichigo flicked a bug off his pantleg.

"Look, Ishida..." Ichigo sighed, "I don't have any advice to give you, or fluffy words, or anything like that. All I can say is that you need to come back and help me fight this fight. We're nearing the end soon, and this is not just a battle between the Shinigami and some unseen enemy...this is Aizen and he means to destroy us all."

"I know."

"So, are you coming back, or what?"

Ishida thought a moment, then stood, and he rubbed the side of his head.

"Ishida-"

"Okay." the dark-haired man said, "Yes, I'll go back."

Walking threw the open door that Ichigo sat next to, Ishida headed into his room and opened the dresser. In the top, there was a small, wooden box hidden under the socks. Opening it, there was a small braclet with a snow-flake looking charm on the end. Closing it in his hand, he pressed it to his forehead.

She shook her head, tears ran down her cheeks. Normally she was so unexpressive that the sudden burst of emotion shocked him.

"You think this is all about you? What about me? I took a risk too, and I do not regret it. Do you regret it? Is that the problem? You actually let yourself have something for once, and now you regret it? Regret us?"

"I don't regret it. That's the problem."

"Let go, Ginrei Kojaku." he murmured, slipping the braclet on, "I think it's time we showed Aizen what we can do."

Orihime stood in the hallway.

Hour and hours of healing, treating...listening to moaning and screaming.

These were the Hollows that attacked her friends and family, and now she was healing them. Healing them so they could be sent right back out to hurt everyone she loved. She prayed to herself every day that Kurosaki-kun would never come for her, she would never be able to face him like this.

Pulling the white handkerchief off her head that held her hair out of her eyes, Orihime felt her legs trembling under her. She barely had enough energy to stand.

Standing...

Before she knew it, she pitched foreward. Someone caught her and swept her up into the air.

"Wha-"

"Silence, woman."

Catching the piercing gaze of his light-blue eyes, she had reached a point where she did not care anymore. She did not care that her head rest on his shoulder as he carried her into her room. Orihime just did not care anymore.

Grimmjaw disappeared a moment and came back with a glass, "Drink."

"What-"

"Now."

It was not an order. When she did not move fast enough, he sucked down some of it himself, tipped her head back, and closed his mouth over hers. A sugery taste filled her mind and sunk into the back of her throat.

"You idiot." he said, "For someone who supposed to be the medic and has all this power worthy of a god, you know shit about how to take care of it or yourself. Drink all of this." Grimmjaw shoved the glass into her hand, apparently satisfied that he did not have to force it down her throat anymore.

She sipped it. Sugar in water. The sugar would re-energize her system. Because she had overexhausted her spirit powers, she needed the sugar to help bring her enegy back from the point of shutting down.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, dazed, "Why are you always being so nice to me? I thought you hated me."

"I do hate you."

"Funny way of showing it."

"You're a damn hypocrite." he said, snatched the glass from her, "Now sleep or I will personally beat you unconcious."

"Hitting a woman, Gimmjaw? That's low." she said as her head hit the pillow. It suddenly dawned on her that he had, again, kissed her. It was as if he was taking every oppurtunity he could to touch her. Puzzling as it was, it was even more distrubing that she had seemed to get used to it.

Giving her one last look, he turned and left her room. It was not too long after that she fell asleep.

He stood outside her door, staring at the floor.

She doesn't belong here.

No, she doesn't.

It was a decision he had made up long ago. One that he had hidden deep in the back of his soul with the other fact that he was preventing himself from facing. The fact that he was in love with her. That fact was enough to get him to betray everything he was, and too risk his own life. If he died for it...then he deserved what he got.

Grimmjaw glanced at her closed door once more, brushing his fingers over the door, he then turned and walked away.

I wish everyone good holidays. What am I going to be spending my break next week doing? My mother and sister thought it would be funny to volunteer me for making dinner. Can I cook? Hell no. I'm just going to stand around buttering pans, cleaning dishes, and pealing potatos like I always do. It's not the most elaborate job, but someone has to do it. Thank goodness I'm good at cleaning.

I'm also starting my cosplays this week that will be for Detour. I hope I get them done in time :I Yay for sewing. I hope my machine decides to cooperate with me. That would be really nice because I sort of need it to sew. Heh.

I hope you liked the chapter. The next update will be up as soon as I can finish it. Keep safe for Thanksgiving next week!

Arigato

Lilith