Lost Without You Chapter 5: Lost 5, a bleach fanfic

Lost Without You

A/N: Well here it is the big show down! Will Ishida tell everyone why he gave up his powers? I just felt a bit like being an announcer but that's pretty much the beginning of this little tid bit in a nut shell. Next chapter begins the action. I'm sorry for all the boring information chapters this should be the last one for at least awhile. There could end up being more.

A spot of editing done: 9/7/15

Warning: Everything you know about the Bount is changed, Ishida is not amazingly powerful anymore. Oc cannon fodder.

Disclaimer: The recognizable characters from Bleach are not mine. However the Bounts are mine while the concept is not. (You know minus everything I changed) Thus be on the look out for Ocs.

Closing the door quietly behind him Ichigo stood in front of it looking out the window wistfully. Beside him he could feel Chad and Orihime studying them both, as the most temperamental of the group they would give him distance. Ishida was looking at them, he could feel it but he wasn't ready to let the subject drop like the Quincy wanted. "Why didn't you tell us about your powers?" He did his best to keep his voice neutral and controlled as the only one who had the nerve to confront Ishida he felt the need to get answers for all of them.

"I..." Ishida looked down at his feet trying to ignore the three sets of eyes on him as he stood awkwardly hovering over the futon he had used earlier. Orihime and Chad were standing off to Ichigo's left just beside the door where they had stayed after entering behind the Quincy. It was extremely hard not to feel put on trial. There had been many reasons he hadn't told them but now having to stare into their hurt faces all of them seemed to flounder and shrink.

"I'm sure you had a good reason." Orihime smiled softly in support doing her best not to flinch at the scowl on Ichigo's face. She was inwardly glad it wasn't directed at her.

"I..." Ishida tried again but looked away towards the window before he could finish, his thoughts drifting back to the mangled souls. His pride had driven him to keep the secret. However the reason he had done it was more important to him.

"If you can't tell us that much at least tell us why you gave up your power!" Ichigo growled crossing his arms over his chest finally looking at Ishida. He was surprised at the image that met him. He usually saw the other male as tough, icy, and determined. Right now however bathed in moonlight from the open window he looked so frail, small, and pale. How skinny he was reminded him of Karin and Yuzu, and without his glasses causing a glare in the light his blue eyes looked so young. "I mean you must have had a good reason for that right?" He added softer allowing his body to relax just a little bit more it wouldn't do any good to get aggressive or upset it would just cause the other male to close off more.

"I did." Ishida could hear his own voice break as he continued. "It's hard to talk about it really..." He paused digging into his pocket he couldn't believe he was going to do this. "This... That Captain Kurotsuchi..." He found himself without words as he slowly drew the picture out of his pocket. It was Chad that grabbed it his long arms closing the distance between them easily. "He gave me this when...And I wanted to..." He winced slightly seeing the picture in the moonlight as Chad shared it with the other two their faces contorted in understanding, he didn't need to tell them what they were. What else would have affected him more than the Quincy? "He told me about what he did to them..." He continued not noticing the slight crack in his voice as he went on. He had to tell them. "In the end I defeated him but his daughter saved him. I didn't want to burden anyone... And when we came back I didn't think it would..." He paused looking out the window again staring at the moon that looked much closer than normal. "I didn't think it would become an issue so soon."

Orihime was in tears while Chad and Ichigo eyed the picture slowly before Ichigo stashed it in his own pocket. This picture was a horrible thing for Ishida to carry around with him and he would make sure that didn't happen much longer. Everything was still as Ishida finished his story it was hard to swallow. They had wanted answers but now that they had them they weren't sure they wanted to know anymore.

The first to move was Orihime who moved up to Ishida wrapping her arms around him tentatively in a comforting hug. She wasn't surprised when he stiffened, obviously unused to physical closeness of any kind. When he finally relaxed enough to just accept the hug, albeit awkwardly she pulled back to smile up at him. There were no words any of them could say that would make this better and they all knew it.

With a shake of his head Ichigo tried to push away the pain he felt in his heart for his friend. He was still upset with Ishida for not telling him. He thought he could be trusted with this and it just pointed out to him how much closer he needed to get to the other male. He also pushed the jealously of Orihime out of his mind, she was just trying to comfort him in the way girls were best at. Though the ability to comfort was enviable enough. "Let's just get some sleep we've all had a very stressful day and taken in a lot of information." He sighed again watching Orihime pull back smiling at Ishida who blushed and nodded at her. Making sure everyone was settled in to bed he sat at the window watching over them just a bit longer, his eyes lingering on Ishida who looked so frail in the moonlight. He knew he would do anything to protect them and this made him want to get stronger still.

A few hours later Ichigo woke with a start looking around the room. It wasn't Ishida screaming this time but everyone else had woken up too. They were sitting in their beds looking around wondering what had woken them. Then he heard it the unmistakable scream of a hollow. He waited a breath to feel a shinigami going after it but instead he felt the now familiar spirit pressure of a Bount. He couldn't help but flinch as the Hollow's scream turned desperate and was gone the power of the Bount growing in the distance. He looked at the others and they nodded preparing for their first fight with the Bount on their own terms.

A/N: Well that's all for now. Please review! With the following if you don't mind as I would like constructive feedback!