Here's the next update. Yay for NobleAngel015 for the 100th review!
Thanks again to gmsephiroth for the great beta. You rock!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach
Tak was not a moron.
Before Orihime Inoue had come to reside at Hueco Mundo, Tak was in training to become the head of the medical facility. However, because of Orihime's talents and strong powers, Tak was forced to give up her position to Orihime. At first, she detested the spunky, bubbly girl. When she arrived at the healing complex, Orihime used to always find an excuse to berate anyone who was rude, she demanded cooperation, and joked around with the assistants. How could a girl like that become the head of the medical department?
It was two years ago that Tak had realized that she actually thought of the woman as a friend. After getting to know Orihime for so long, Tak was not stupid enough to know that Orihime would not try to escape eventually.
Standing in the vacant office of Orihime Inoue, listening to the shuffling outside, she knew she had two choices. She could let Orihime run off with the prisoner, or she could inform Aizen.
Orihime or Aizen.
Gritting her teeth, she swore and left the office.
Orihime dragged the half-conscious form of Hitsugaya Toushirou down the hall. He clung to her shoulder, memorizing the route they were traveling in case they needed to find an escape route. From what he saw, however, Orihime knew where she was going. Pulling him into the gate room, she gasped.
"Hey!" one of the Arancar yelled, "What are you doing with the prisoner?!"
The guards were back. She felt Hitsugaya's grip tighten on her, he was in no condition to even stand let alone fight them. Before the Arancar guards reached them, she raised her hand to her forehead, ready to call on Tsubaki and the others if need be. As she opened her mouth to utter the incantations, a white blur shot past her and the figure raised it's hand and stuck an arm through the chest of one of the guards. Pulling back her arm, she tripped the second guard, and promptly broke his neck.
Orihime gaped at Tak, "Why?"
"Orihime-sama." Tak smiled at her, "You were the first person to not treat all Arancars like they are barbaric animals. For that I will always consider you my best friend." she glanced at Hitsugaya, "If any of you Shinigami bastards mistreat Orihime-sama, I'll make sure to heal every one of our troops and destroy your pathetic world."
Shirou chuckled, "I'll keep that in mind."
"Now go." Tak stepped aside, "I can heal them and erase their memories. I'll just tell them that the prisoner escaped, and that Orihime-sama went after wounded that were unable to return-"
Orihime hugged her, "Thank you."
With those words, Tak watched as the two figures disappeared into the gate.
No. Thank you, Orihime-sama.
Renji glanced around the forest, he frowned. They were pretty close to the Seireitei, there was not much time left before they reached one of the gates. Turning to see all the refugees behind him, he was glad that everyone was alright. All little ragged and tired, but alive and well.
Damn, he would be glad to be back home.
Turning to give a few orders to his men, he heard a scream. His eyes grew wide as he suddenly realized what was going on. They were surrounded by Arancar, he could sense their reiatsu everywhere. Had they been hiding? He had been so exhausted for spending most of yesterday trying to hide everyone else's energy signals that his spirit energy was lower then normal.
"Renji!" Rukia was running towards him, "The Arancar-"
"We need to hurry!" he yelled, "Run!"
Shinji sat on the floor of the conference room, a cup of tea sitting on the low table in front of him. Ichigo leaned on the doorway to the room, and waited for Yamato to arrive. It had been decided that the head of the Gotei 13 himself would come and chat with Hirako.
Ichigo was restless. Renji and Rukia were in danger, along with many other innocent people. He gritted his teeth, Hirako would be fine.
Ukitake was standing at the end of the hall as Ichigo went to leave. Giving him an uneasy look, Ukitake stepped aside, "I'll take care of the meeting."
Nodding slowly, and leaping off the edge of the porch, and transformed into his bankai form. In a flash of light, he disappeared from sight. Racing over the walls of Seireitei at light speed, he dove into the trees, praying that he would be able to make it in time.
"Renji-"
"We're probably not going to make it out of here alive." he drew his sword part-way to check Zabimaru, closing it quickly, "Damn, if we were only able to hold out for a little while-"
Rukia listened to him ramble on and curse. They were pulling people into a trench that was carved into the field by and extinct river, something that was left over from ancient times. There was no doubt in her mind that they had a high possibility of not making it back to the Soul Society.
They were going to die. She had to tell him the truth or risk regretting it for the rest of her life.
Rukia grabbed his collar, turning him towards her, she kissed him. Slowly pulling her lips away, Rukia smiled at him.
"I love you, Renji."
His mouth dropped open, and then he frowned.
"On second thought...we're making it out of here alive." he said, "Don't think you can say things like that and think you can just die on me, Rukia."
"I know."
"You don't say something like that unless you mean it."
A smile spread across her face,
"I know."
Renji gazed back at her, and then smiled,
"I love you too."
They watched the Arancar coming towards them, and they got ready to race over the hill. Just as they were about to move, a black streak shot past them and slammed into the enemy forces. Ichigo landed in front of them.
"Ichigo!" Renji yelled, "Where the hell have you been?"
Ichigo smirked, and he ran towards the army, "Get the people out of here! I'll handle this!"
He gripped the sword tightly in his hand, trying to ward off three Arancar at once. Even he would have great difficulty trying to take on all of them at once. Renji and Rukia were already working on another part of the battle while the other Shinigami soldiers guided the people back to the Soul Society.
There was a crack in the sky.
"Shit." he cursed, they were calling for reinforcements. Without high level shunpo, they would not get back-up from the city for the next twenty minutes at the least. As he plunged the sword through his enemy, racing around the field to avoid random attacks from other opponents, he began to feel and strange, yet familiar energy. It was coming through the gate, and he glanced towards it to try and figure out what it was.
It felt human.
Ichigo yelped as an energy blast hit him, throwing him into the ground. Rukia gasped, as she watched a couple of Arancar race towards him.
"Ichigo!"
He raised his arms to protect himself from the oncoming attack as the crack in the dimension fully opened.
"Koten Zanshun, I repel thee!"
He was surrounded with a flash of light.
"The existence of you and your Vizard allies are sealed in confidential records." Yamato spoke, "That incident from long ago taught us not to trust your kind."
Shinji smirked, "It was not our fault, Yamato-san, and I did not come here to argue about the past."
"That past that you do not want to talk about destroyed a big chunk of our city."
"That's also the past where a squadron of your Shinigami subordinates almost beat Hiyori until she was half dead." there was a silence in the room, and Hirako sighed, "My associates and I are willing to put aside the past for a greater good. I have more efficient ways of gathering information on Aizen then the Seireitei does."
"How so?"
Shinji smirked, "I'm afraid I can't tell you, trade secret and all that."
Yamato frowned, "Very well."
"We can also get through the gates of Hueco Mundo without being detected. Our Hollow DNA allows us to be read as Arancar if we mask our reiatsu the right way. It would be easy to get a force into the gates, but we don't possess the numbers that you do." Shinji continued, "We could infiltrate the gates and make way for your forces to get in."
Yamato seemed to think a moment. Ukitake, who was sitting in one corner of the room stood up, "It would give us a very large advantage over them, sir."
"I'm aware of that." the first-captain replied, turning slowly back to the Vaizard leader, "You make a good point."
"Of course I do." Shinji chuckled, "I would not bother coming all this way and waste everyone's time if it wasn't a legitimate request. My people are in as much danger as yours are, and I put the entire city of Karakura in danger every moment I am not there. Kurosaki would agree on those terms as well."
Giving the old man a smile, Shinji took a sip of the tea in front of him.
"Hirako Shinji." Yamato picked up his tea, "You have yourself a deal."
"Ah, now that is something I can drink too."
They drank to it.
"Koten Zanshun, I repel thee!"
The pale energy beam shot out of the gate and slammed into the Arancar that was attacking Ichigo. As the energy faded, they turned to see a figure stepping out of the gate. Whoever it was, their reiatsu was massive. Not necessarily more powerful, but massive.
Then he saw her.
No way.
Orihime pulled Hitsugaya back up onto her shoulder as Tsubaki returned to her hairpins. The three Shinigami stared at her in horror as she stepped onto the sands of the Seireitei. Looking at all of them, she gave a small smile.
"Hitsugaya-san needs medical attention right away." she said, "I healed the more major wounds, but I didn't have enough energy to heal the rest."
There was no fanfare, or any horns blasting music away to announce her return. She did not laugh, greet them all, or make any sort of reply. It was like she was greeting him on the way back from the grocery store, and they saw each other every day. Ichigo could barely move, watching her stand in front of the porthole to Hueco Mundo, holding a young man onto her shoulder.
Hitsugaya Toushirou.
"Hitsugaya-taicho!" Rukia raced towards the two people that had just stepped through the barrier.
Renji hoisted Toushirou up onto his back. He still did not say a thing, unable to think of anything that he could say to Inoue. Rukia opened her mouth to say something, and then shut it. Orihime glanced past them, catching Ichigo's glance.
He had a look on his face that she had never seen before. It seemed like a mix of alarm, shock, and sorrow. He took a step towards her, and she pulled her thoughts back together. What the hell was she thinking? Coming back had been a mistake, she had to get back before anyone caught her.
She had to leave. Now.
"Please excuse me. I need to return before the gate closes." she said, bowing quickly, "See ya."
"Inoue!" Rukia called after her as Orihime turned away from them, "Wait!"
Just as Renji reached forward to trying and catch her, a black streak shot past them. Ichigo appeared in front of Orihime.
"Kurosaki-kun." she stared at him. He had not changed much in the five years she had been away. Maybe he was a little taller, a little thinner, and more powerful then in the past. Looking quickly at the porthole, she only had seconds until it closed. Trying to get past him, "I have to get back. I just came to return Hitsugaya-kun."
What the hell was wrong with her? She came back and now she was leaving again?
"No."
She looked up into his eyes, he was dead serious. Struggling slightly to try and pull back, she found that he had a strong hold on her arms before she could notice.
"Kurosaki-kun, let go." the gate was beginning to close, "The gate-"
"I'm not letting you go back."
She gasped, this was bad. Orihime knew that Ichigo was stubborn, and she should have expected something like this.
"Let me go!"
"No!"
Violently thrashing in his arms, she managed to tear herself away.
It was too late.
The gate closed before she could reach it. The moment it disappeared, she shivered. Aizen would be furious, he would come and find her and kill everyone in his path. Her hands were trembling as she covered her mouth. There would be nothing to save her friends and family from the wrath of Aizen Sousuke.
Including Kurosaki Ichigo.
"No." she whispered, her knees beginning to collapse under her. Days of overtaxing her energy, not sleeping or eating were catching up to her. "No...what have I done..."
Ichigo raced forward, catching her in his arms as she sunk to her knees. She was trembling, but from lack of energy or from fright, neither of them could tell. It was not until she pressed her face into his chest that she realized who was really holding her.
"Kurosaki-kun..."
"It's okay." he told her, "I've got you."
Hinamori raced down the hallway, heading towards the medical building. Giving orders on the way, she was put in charge of the refugees. Her officers would follow every one of her orders to the letter, but that was not what was on her mind.
They had found Shirou-kun.
Navigating her way through the crowd, the wounded were still being brought in by medical personal. Kiyone was waiting at the top of the stairs for her, and lead her down the hallway.
"How is he?" Hinamori asked.
"He's in bad shape. Almost all of his reiatsu is gone, there's barely enough to keep his heart beating." she said, "Unohana-taicho has sent him on life support, but he is awake."
The doors to the room burst open, and Momo gasped.
He was covered with dirt-covered, blood soaked bandages that the team were trying to remove from him. One of his hands rest on the outside of the hospital bed, and blood slowly dripped from his fingers. Pulling it back to rest on the edge, Unohana returned to shouting orders to her team.
The moment Hinamori entered the room, his eyes opened.
"Hina..."
"Shirou!"
She ran forward, and stood at his side, gripping his bloody hand in between her own. He was so pale and weak, it was hard to think that this was the same person who was one of the most powerful Shinigami in the Soul Society.
"Aizen..." Toushirou gave her a weak smile under the clear oxygen mask on his face, "...I didn't kill him."
"Huh?"
"I could have." he whispered to her, "I had opportunities...to...try..."
Tears spilled over her eyes as she rest her forehead onto his hand, "You stupid..."
"No more talking!" Unohana ordered, "Hinamori-taicho, please wait in the hall."
"But-"
Kiyone pulled her out before she could finish her protesting. Standing in the hallway, Kiyone returned to Hitsugaya's room. Turning back to her original task, she tugged on Unohana's sleeve.
"Taicho." she murmured, "We have a development."
Momo sunk into a chair, and burst into tears.
Please...Shirou-kun...don't kill Aizen-taicho...
Aizen...I didn't kill him...I could have...
She was the one being stupid.
Ichigo sat in the hallway. Shinji was still in the meeting with Yamato, and having to report back to his superiors, Renji had left Rukia with Ichigo in the hallway. Truth be told, Rukia considered Inoue one of her best friends, she could not bring herself to leave Inoue alone.
When the door opened, Unohana let out a sigh. Ichigo stood up, "How is she?"
"Physically, she is exhausted, overtaxed, and it has been difficult for her to adjust to this environment apart from that of Hueco Mundo." she said, "Mentally..." there was a sad look in her eyes, "I...don't know what I can tell you. I must report to the administration right away and try to figure out what to do. For now, she will have to remain here. There will a guard posted outside of her room."
"Is that necessary?" he frowned.
"We can not take any risks, Kurosaki-san. Whether she was a former ally or not, we must be cautious."
"Can I see her?"
Unohana nodded, and Ichigo disappeared into the room, shutting the door behind him. Rukia glanced up at the medical captain, "Unohana-taicho, what is it? Did you read her memories?"
"I did." Unohana nodded, "Poor girl, I can't begin to imagine what she's gone through."
"What do you mean?"
"Orihime Inoue did not defect to Aizen Sousuke's side." the elder woman said sadly, "He threatened to kill everyone she knew if she did not go. The administration will take this into account when deciding what to do with her."
"What happens if they rule against her?"
Unohana was silent a moment, "She will be executed."
There will probably be one more update, and then a week break. Anime Detour is on March 23rd, and I have too many things I need to get ready for. But I will be back right after that. Good luck to everyone taking mid-terms, keep safe for those on spring break, and have fun if you are planning on going to Detour! I know it'll be awesome.
Arigato
Lilith