One More Chance Chapter 5: Bad Night, a bleach fanfic

Author's Notes: This chapter was co-authored by Rain and Thunder

Bad Night

Since the day Ichigo learnt Gin was now in his world, his body would not relax. It did not take Ichigo long to inform his father Gin was there as his teacher now. Of course with Ichigo's temper as of late, not much got past his father. All one had to do was listen to Ichigo rant and they could figure out what his problem was. Isshin was immediately concerned at the idea the former Squad 3 Captain was there. With his powers back, Isshin began to keep tabs on Orihime, just to be sure Gin wouldn't do anything stupid.

It hadn't been easy for Orihime either, not with the strong looks Ichigo kept shooting her way. She hadn't been able to look him in the eye since that day, though she still joked around the same as normal as though nothing had happened at all.

Ichigo wasn't the only who was worried for Orihime. Tatsuki was concerned as well. She was quick to learn Gin was living with Orihime for the time being and wanted to find out why. On their next day off school, Tatsuki decided to take Orihime out and just have some 'girl' time with her and to also find out what was really going on.

"What are you getting dressed up for?" Gin noted as Orihime scurried around, brushing her hair and getting her shoes. "A date maybe?"

"No, nothing like that." Orihime answered simply. "Tatsuki invited me out for the day. She said it had been awhile since we had actually hung out together."

"You might want to-" Gin was cut short as Orihime crashed into the floor in a heap. "Watch it, I just mopped earlier and it's a little wet."

"Owie." Orihime rubbed her sore rear, as Gin sighed helping her to her feet.

"See, you're just gonna wind up hurting yourself again." Gin grinned. "Though you are pretty clumsy to begin with."

"Aww…. I'm not that bad Gin." Orihime whined, allowing the man to help her to her feet.

He chuckled at the sound of her voice. He did find her cute when she would pout and whine like that. "I know you're not. I was just kidding with you."

Orihime frowned before finding her balance, pulling away from him. "You really enjoy doing that, don't you?"

"Always got to keep others on their toes," he stated. "Any idea when I should expect you back?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, but I'm sure I'll be back by supper. I hope you don't mind."

"Why would I mind?" he asked. "I'm not your keeper. I'm just your houseguest until I earn enough money to get my own place, which I do hope is soon. The glares from your friends can be little disturbing."

"What will you do while I'm gone?" she asked suddenly.

He thought for a moment. "Well I do have your latest projects to mark on your latest Math assignment. That will probably take me a good part of the day to do."

With Gin living with Orihime, he did not like staying at the school once the day was over. He would always pick up his work and take it home with him so he had something to do while Orihime did what she normally did.

Soon Orihime's doorbell rang. Orihime had a feeling it was Tatsuki and ran to the bathroom to quickly brush her teeth. Leaving Gin in the room, he went to the door and answered it.

"Good day, Tatuski," Gin greeted.

"Oh… hi Mr…"

"Oh no, no, no," he started, interrupting her, putting a hand up. "Please, just Gin while off school grounds. I'm not much into the formalities."

Tatsuki nodded and stepped inside but remained by the door so she didn't have to remove her shoes. "I do have a question for you." She saw him give a grin. By now she figured he did that for the fun of it. "I was wondering. Is it true what they say that you're once a Soul Reaper?"

He nodded. "Oh yes. I was Captain of Squad 3. Had been for 50 years."

Tatsuki gawked at him, surprised by this. "But you don't look that old."

He lightly laughed. "That's because in the Soul Society, people age differently. One of the Captains in the 13 Court Guard Squads is over 5000 years old and he's the oldest Soul Reaper."

"Five thousand!" she nearly choked. "What does he look like?"

"Someone equivalent to around mid 80s or so."

Tatsuki wasn't sure what to say to that. She just couldn't wrap her head around the idea Souls aged a hell of a lot slower than humans.

"Hey Tatsuki!" Orihime called as she came into the living room again. She went to the door to put on her shoes and grab her coat."

Gin grinned once again at the two. "You two have fun now."

Once out in the cool air the two set off at a brisk walk towards McDonald's, it was an easy going place where many of Japan's teens would often go for a quick bite to eat. Once seated with their food there was an uncomfortable silence as Tatsuki tried to think best how to breech the sensitive subject.

"So ah… It's been a week now right?"

Orihime glanced up from the burger she had been about to bite into. There was a small pile of cheeseburgers sitting between them and two fountain drinks. "A week?" She asked, and then remembered. "Oh, yes Gin has been here a week. It's actually funny in a way cause it feels like a lot longer."

"I wish you had told me Orihime. I wouldn't have told anyone, I mean yes I think the guy is major bad news and everything, but you could have confided in me at least." Tatsuki fiddled with her fingers, not meeting Orihime's eyes.

"Tatsuki I…I wanted to tell you but I wasn't sure I could talk to anyone about this. Sorry." Orihime glanced down, placing her burger on the table. "But I'm actually glad you are so concerned. Gin's actually a really nice guy and he likes my food."

Tatsuki was so glad at that moment she wasn't taking a drink, for if she had she would surely had spit it out all over Orihime. "Are you serious!?" she squeaked, eyes bugging out of her head. "He actually likes your food!? Is he mental or something?"

"Aww Tatsuki, my food isn't that bad." She whined, making the other girl chuckle. "Really."

"Orihime!" a very familiar voice called out. "Imagine meeting you here, it must be destiny."

Tatsuki groaned as her eyes turned to the annoying lesbian classmate. "Hello, Chizuru."

Before Chizuru could do her usual grab of Orihime she felt her foot slide out from under her as it connected with something wet and squishy on the floor, a spilled ketchup packet. She immediately hit the floor hard causing Orihime to run to her in panic.

"Chizuru, are you ok?" Orihime knelt be her side checking her over, and then gasped. "Tatsuki…she isn't breathing." She bent her face close to the other girl as Tatsuki pushed her out of the way and whacked the lesbian in the stomach, making her gasp in pain.

"Don't think I don't know what you're pulling."

Chizuru sat up gasping. "What was that about?"

"I saw you pursing your lips you faker. You were gonna kiss Orihime," Tatsuki growled.

Orihime gasped, surprised. She then turned her head away, hiding a blush. Why did she always fall for Chizuru's little tricks? If not for Tatsuki just now, she would have had her first kiss with another girl. Orihime had her sights on having her first kiss done with a boy, preferably with Ichigo, who rejected her. With that in mind, she began to wonder if Ichigo rejected her because of the mood he had been. What if he only said that and didn't mean it? Perhaps she one day try and tell him her feelings again.

"Are you alright miss?" one of the restaurant employees asked, coming up to the three girls.

"Oh, she's just fine," Tatsuki grumbled. "She's just trying to take advantage of my friend, like she often does."

The male employee looked between Tatsuki and the girl with the glasses. He gave them both a confused look before giving a shrug, walking off. He could clearly see all three girls were fine and it did look like they all knew each other.

Chizuru carefully got to her feet taking a seat beside Tatsuki. "Why do you have our teacher staying with you?" she asked Orihime, suddenly. After learning about Gin being now their teacher, she soon heard he was staying with Orihime.

Orihime blinked. "You mean Gin? Well where else was he to go? He was homeless."

"Yeah… but…" Chizuru tried. She was confused Orihime was allowing a man who apparently helped a very evil man try and destroy Karakura Town.

"I just had to help him," Orihime defended. "He was so cold. Once they took his powers away, they sent him here and left him in the snow. I couldn't say no."

Tatsuki shook her head. "Sometimes I'm not sure if I like how you love to help people or not. You are always wanting to give a helping hand, even to your former enemies."

"But Tatsuki," Orihime replied. "Gin has been so good to me. He's been sleeping on the couch, cooking dinner and even cleaned my cluttered closet and fixed the bear Sora gave me before he died."

Tatsuki blinked. "He did that!?"

"Wait… a bear? He fixed a teddy bear?" Chizuru blinked.

Orihime turned to her and then back to Tatsuki. "Yeah. You see when everything began to change, my brother visited me, but he wasn't the same."

"Yeah, I remember," Tatsuki remarked. "Your bear your brother gave you ended up being ripped."

"Yeah," Orihime lowered her head. "I felt really bad what happened to him so I put the bear away. I wanted Uryu to fix the bear but never could get the courage to take the bear to school. Gin found the bear and the other day fixed it for me. He spent hours doing it, even hurt his fingers in the process."

Tatsuki scratched her head. "And this is the same guy who tricked his people and betrayed them? Are we sure we're talking about the same guy? I clearly recall him being with that Aizen creep though he did kinda save our lives just before Ichigo arrived."

"Yeah," Chizuru agreed. "I remember he stabbed that long haired freak. Weird how he did it though."

"Oh you mean he used his Shikai," Orhime blurted.

Both girls looked at her, giving her a blank look.

Orihime then gave a nervous. "Sorry, guess you don't really know what I mean. Each Soul Reaper can make their sword do something when calling a word or phrase and in Gin's case with his, he could make his expand."

"Oh." Chizuru still didn't understand.

For another two more hours the three girls talked about what Orihime knew of the Soul Reapers before the three departed. At first Chizuru was going to offer to walk Orihime home but Tatsuki was quick to squash the teen's dreams of that by saying she would.

After Orihime called it a night, Gin stayed up for another hour before he decided to call it a night. He curled himself up on the couch once again like he had done for the past week and tried to go to sleep. For two hours the man tried to get to sleep but it felt extremely cold in the room. Before he went to bed, he looked at what the weather was going to be for over night and found it was going to be extremely cold outside. The temperatures were dropping to be below 40 degrees.

Finally tired of being too cold, Gin sat up and looked at how many blankets he had on himself already. He was amazed to see he had nearly like seven blankets and he was still cold.

"Oh no, this just won't do," he said to himself. "I need to find more warmth." He then remembered back last week after he had spent the first night there about Orihime making a comment about sleeping in her bed, but he was quick to reply he would manage. Well he no longer could manage the chill.

"I wonder…" he began but then was cut off short by a scream. Immediately his head was quick to snap in the direction of the sound. "That came from Orihime's room."

Pulling the blankets off him, he rushed towards Orihime's room. Putting his head against the door, he listened a few moments only to hear small whimpers. Confused, he lightly tapped on her door. "Orihime?"

No sound came from within the room other than more whimpers. He again tapped on her door, calling her name and again got the same response. Becoming concerned, he finally slid the door opened and entered her room. There in her darkened room, he could immediately feel more warmth. But that wasn't his concern for the moment. It was the body he could see from the futon and she was clenching the edge of the futon, whimpering in her sleep.

He cautiously made his way to the futon and knelt down so one knee was on the bed. "Orihime?" he called quietly, nudging her a little.

"No…" she moaned in her sleep. "Get away…"

He blinked, finally recognizing what was happening. She was having a disturbing dream and from the sounds of things it was swiftly turning into a nightmare. But what would she be dreaming about?

With a little more force on her shoulder, he once again called out to her. "Orihime. It's just a dream." There was no smile on his face and his eyes were opened. He was extremely worried about her.

She abruptly turned in her sleep again moaning out words. Her face was scrunched in fear. "Help me… Gin. Help!" she suddenly cried.

He instantly blinked in surprise. Placing a hand on her forehead, he did the first thing he could think of considering he was now in a complete state of shock of her calling out to him. With his hand on her head, his fingers combed her hair.

"Orihime, please. You're just having a bad dream. I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere."

Almost as if she could hear him, she began to calm down but it was only short lived when suddenly she sat up really quick. If it weren't for Gin being as quick as he was, her head would have collided with his. But he was able to back up, not getting hit.

"AAAAH!" she squealed.

"It's ok!" he rushed out.

Orihime's heart was beating really fast. The dream she just had felt so real and horrifying. Her eyes darted around wondering where she was for the moment. Within seconds her memory returned, allowing her to know she wasn't in Heuco Mundo, trapped. She was at home, safe with… with Gin.

She swiftly turned to the man at her side. "Gin…"

"Yes, I'm here," he replied, concerned. His hand reached out to touch her back. "I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Tears came to her eyes as she unexpectedly jumped. "Oh Gin!" she cried out as she wrapped her arms around his neck, crying against his shoulder. "It was so horrible!"

Unlike the first time she did it, this time he wasn't so shocked by her embrace. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against him. "It's ok," he breathed against her hair. "Nothing bad has happened."

"It felt so real," she cried out. "I was being chased….and…" she couldn't get the words out. The dream was so horrifying she couldn't say what her mind was still replaying.

"You're safe now," he tried to reassure her. "No one is chasing you." He couldn't understand why she would have a dream of whatever it was she had but he had some ideas and none of them were good. He could remember when they were in Heuco Mundo, a few of the Arrancars wanted to 'visit' Orihime but he made sure when Ulquiorra wasn't around no one bothered her.

She continued to cry. "We were back in Heuco Mundo…"

He pulled her back a bit, bringing his arms up to grasp the sides of her face. "Orihime, I want you to listen to me."

She gave a slight gasp to the movement but only sniffled, showing she was listening.

"Nothing bad happened to you in Heuco Mundo. I wouldn't allow it. You were perfectly safe there. And you're perfectly safe here too. I will not allow anything bad happen to you for as long as I'm with you."

She stared into his blue orbs; seeing he was speaking the truth about protecting her and that she was safe at home. "I'm sorry," she sniffed.

He blinked. "Why are you sorry? You have nothing to apologize for. It's not your fault you had a bad dream."

"Yeah but," she protested, wondering why he was still holding her face. "I woke you up because of my dream."

He shook his head. "You didn't wake me up. I was already awake. I was a bit too cold out there."

"Oh…"

Realizing he was still holding her face, his hands slowly let go and rested at his sides. "Speaking of which. I have all your extra blankets and I'm still cold out there."

Her heart was slowly returning to normal as she pulled away from Gin, giving herself some space. The dream she just had was beginning to fade. His warm embrace was very soothing.

"Well I'm not sure what more I can do," she stated.

He took a look around. "Well you could let me sleep in here. It is much warmer in here than out there."

She squeaked, shocked by his suggestion. "I can't let you sleep in here! You're my teacher now!"

His grin returned, eyes returning to the slits. "Technically, I'm not your teacher. And it's only for as long as Miss Ochi is away. Besides you and I both know I'm not from this world. Also, you just had a terrible dream. I've heard it can be quite comforting to have someone stay with you after having such a dream."

"But…" she tried.

Gin stood and walked over to the door to her room. His mind was already made up. He was not going to leave the warm bedroom. He slid the door closed, trapping the heat in the room and made his way back over to the futon.

"Orihime, I don't think you want me to get sick do you?" He decided to use the excuse on her.

She blushed. "No. If you get sick, then someone else would have to take your job and you then you won't have any money."

His grin widened. "Exactly my point. I just started my job. I can't get sick now and have to abandoned it. You just said yourself. I need the money."

She wanted to try and protest again but couldn't when she watched him drop his knees to the futon as if he was getting ready to crawl under her blankets.

"Gin! Wait!" she cried out. "I don't think this is right."

He tilted his head. "Why not? We are both fully clothed after all. And it's not illegal for two people to share a bed when it's extremely cold out. You just said yourself you don't want me to get sick. And with that bad dream, I want to make sure you stay safe."

"But you're an adult!" she tried to make reason.

"And your point is?" he asked. "Orihime, it's too cold out there for me to sleep and it's getting late and I don't wish for you to have another dream."

She knew arguing was useless. He was going to crawl into her bed. He was already pulling back the blankets and nearly was fully crawled in. Slightly scared, she slid to the furthest side of the futon. She released a very quiet 'but' just as he pulled the blankets over himself and he turned to look at her.

"I'm not going to bite or anything. I'm very concerned about you." He was truly concerned about her. And hearing her scream when he was in the living room really did have him worried. "Damn my feet are cold."

She blinked, surprised by his abrupt announcement. His legs shifted a little 'accidentally' bumping into her ankles. Immediately she felt the chill from his feet. Releasing a small eep, she scooted her feet more to the other side of the futon.

"Your feet are cold!" she blurted.

He looked to her. "I just said that." He then did something, he had learnt from Rangiku years ago. He then gave her a puppy dog look, eyes opened. "Please, Orihime. Don't make me go back there in that cold room."

Seeing the puppy look, she felt her heart break in two, feeling bad for Gin. He was right. It was colder in the living room. Now she wished she had more money to afford the heat better. She lowered her head. "Alright," she finally whispered.

He grinned, swiftly jumping to his feet and rushed out into the other room only to return a few moments later with the blankets and pillow he was using. She gasped as he returned with the armload of bedding. He looked at her puzzled expression.

"Well we can't share the same pillow. So I need to use my own and the blankets, well it's in case either one of us gets cold through the night. The temperature is going to drop very low tonight."

She watched stunned as he then took the extra blankets and set them in a corner but then grabbed one of them and threw it onto the bed, neatly over top of the blankets already on it. He then crawled back into the bed, grabbing his pillow in the process. He pushed Orihime's pillow over towards her and then curled up in the blankets, hoping to have a nice warm sleep for a change.

A little nervous, Orihime finally pulled herself away from the edge to slowly curl down in the blankets. Once in the blankets, she then stiffened when she felt the bed shift.

"Good night, Orihime," he called to her.

"Good night, Gin," she replied back, hoping her voice didn't squeak.

For several minutes she laid there, stiff as a board, not wanting to move. But as she stared at the ceiling, the darkness began to lure her eyes back to sleep. She soon fell into slumber; not realizing Gin was watching her the whole time.

"I will protect you," he whispered before turning and falling asleep himself.

As the night wore on, the temperature was quick to plummet, sending Orihime's apartment to be cooler than normal at night. Unfortunately for Orihime, she woke shivering. Looking to her alarm clock, she saw it was glowing almost two am. There was still a long way til morning. Shivering again, she turned over to see Gin's relaxed face sleeping beside her.

She released a small quiet gasp. Never before had she seen his face so relaxed. He actually looked quite handsome that way. No longer was there his constant mocking grin or his eyes forcefully narrowed into slits. He was just perfectly peaceful.

With a mind of its own, Orihime's hand lifted up to pose over top of his face. It was like she was wondering if he was really real. Just before her fingers touched the side of his check, his blue eyes were quick to open, startling her. She snapped her hand back as if she had just been burned.

"Sorry," she breathed.

He blinked a few times. "Is something the matter?" he asked tiredly.

"Cold…" she whispered.

Thinking for a moment, he wondered if it was possible for him to suggest it but he didn't want Orihime to stay cold. Deciding the risks could just buzz off somewhere he lifted his arm. "If you lean against me, I can keep you warm."

She blushed at his suggestion but remembered from one of her classes from before that body heat was good to keep warm. Heart racing a little, she scooted over and curled into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. Immediately she could feel the warmth coming off him, instantly sending her body wanting to go back to sleep.

Just before she woke, her dreams were beginning to send her down that bad dream again and she didn't want a repeat performance. Looking into his face, she saw he was looking at her.

"Thank you," she breathed, putting her hands up against his chest and tried to get her body to relax so she could go back to sleep.

He gave her a smile. "You're welcome." His eyes then slid closed intending to go back to sleep. It had been a long time since he shared a bed with someone let alone have the person curled up against him.

Gin was no virgin when it came to intimate contacts, but it had been sometime since the last time he bedded a woman. He had been with Rangiku a few times in their past but had always remained friends. Besides her, there were only a few other women he had been with. He could easily tell Orihime was nothing like Rangiku when it came to any sort sexual contact. The young 16-year-old teen was a virgin and he could clearly see that.

A little pang of jealously suddenly slammed into his heart before he had a chance to fall back to sleep. He remembered her words from the other day of her telling Ichigo she had feelings for him and they were not returned. Someday the girl would find someone to love and he felt a strong pull of protection of wanting to protect her from creeps who may want to use her. But the jealously was also due to the fact he was beginning to feel the need to not want to share her with others.

Opening his eyes once again, he looked at her peaceful face and silently swore to himself he would protect her from creeps and try and show her somehow someway that Ichigo was not the type for her. He had too much anger and she didn't need someone with that emotion. She needed someone who could care for her and love her the way she deserved it. Closing his eyes once again, he forced his body to relax and fall asleep.

Revised July 25, 2016