Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
Chapter 13
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Once they returned to Orihime's house, Rangiku tried her best to get her to talk to her and explain what had happened as well as what was going through her head but the younger woman just continued to cry and mumble incoherently. Rangiku looked towards the little boy who sat on the other side of Orihime with a worried expression in his eyes, as he gripped Orihime's yukata tightly.
"R-Rangiku-san… Is it okay if I-I could be a-alone for now… I don't mean to be r-rude or anything… b-but I just need some t-time to sort out my t-thoughts…" Orihime said quietly, in between hiccups.
"Are you sure Orihime…? You can talk to me, it's okay, I'll help you through this…" Rangiku said, as she held the younger woman's chin in her hand.
"N-No… I-I'll be o-okay Rangiku-san… I just n-need time t-to myself…" she stuttered, choking on her sobs.
"Hai… I understand… But if you need anything at all please don't hesitate to call on me okay Orihime?" Rangiku replied
"H-Hai… Arigatou Rangiku-san, gomen… Also would you be able to look after Akio for me for a bit… Just until I sort my thoughts out…?" Orihime whispered, tears subsiding slowly.
"Hai, no problem." Rangiku smiled softly at her.
Orihime turned to Akio, wiping her cheeks. She smiled at the boy but it didn't do much to ease the worry in his eyes.
"B-but Orihime-chan, I want to stay with you. I'll look after you and I promise I won't let those monsters attack you again…" the little boy said pleadingly, tightening his grip on Orihime's clothes.
Orihime took a hold of his tiny hands in hers and kissed them. "It's okay Akio, it's only for a little while… I just need to sort some things out and then I'll come fetch you myself. Don't worry, Rangiku-san will take good care of you!" she said enthusiastically, trying to push her sorrow aside for now.
Akio looked at Orihime for a while and eventually agreed.
"Also Rangiku-san… Could you please let Renji-kun… and Kurosaki-kun know that I'm okay but I'm not ready to see anyone just yet… When I am, I'll come back…" Orihime said quietly, looking at the ground.
Rangiku picked up the little boy and left after bidding farewell to Orihime, giving her a bone crushing hug and promising her that everything would be okay.
As soon as they left, Orihime fell to the ground in tears once again. There was so much that came flooding back to her in that one moment. Her memories of her human life had barreled into her first and it was as if she were re-living all those moments once again. The emotions that passed through her were joyous at times but unbearable also.
She remembered parts of her child hood and her disturbing moments with her parents, leaving home with her brother and eventually starting a new life. All the good times with her onii-chan came rushing back. The smiles, the laughter, when they would play in the snow. All the fun times…
Then the horror of losing him… and the pain that came with it… Her stupid childishness for refusing to wear the hairpins he gave her and not bidding him farewell when he left for work… that being the last time she saw him…
Regret and pure heartache washed over her as she tightened into a ball on the ground and screamed her lungs out.
"Onii-chan… onii-chan… I'm sorry… so sorry…"
All her thoughts came through, the first time she met Tatsuki, Ichigo, Ishida, Sado and all her friends from school. Seeing her brother as a hollow, Ichigo saving her, getting her powers and learning to wield them, training to get stronger. The memories of meeting Rukia as well as going to soul society for the first time and making new friends, came to her in a rush.
The memories of Hueco Mundo, Las Noches, Aizen, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Loly and Melony flooded her thoughts, making her remember the time that had brought the most change in her life. A time where she grew up and shed some of the naivety she had lived with for so long…
Her tears were continuously running down her cheeks as she sniffled and took in deep breaths. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped. She rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling with a lost look in her eyes. The vision in her mind was that of the last night as a human…
She lay there quietly as it played before her, she could feel the torrent of emotions flood her, all what she felt that night. The pain and hurt of seeing the person that she had loved the most with another…
Now as she thought about it, it was stupid and reckless of her to run out on the street like that and she didn't blame either Rukia or Ichigo for her death.
But it still hurt… She loved him… Loved him longer than Rukia had known him… But she had just been his nakama… Nothing more than a friend… She, who could reject fate itself, had been rejected…
With all these thoughts and memories running through her, Orihime lay there on the cold floor, letting it all soak in, not knowing about the turmoil that was going through the heads of the ones she loved and cared for deeply.
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Renji was now in his own quarters, mulling over what had just happened.
After Rangiku left with Orihime, he was left to wallow in shock and fear.
His grip on Zabimaru tightened to the point where his palms were bleeding. He just couldn't believe it… What he had feared from the time he fell in love with her, had just come to pass.
She now had her memory back and where he was hoping he could sit with her and figure things out, she had just left. The look she had given him was what had him trembling. It was of pain, hurt and sadness… He hated seeing her like that and he wanted to rush over to her, scoop her up in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay.
Unfortunately, she wanted to be alone… and that's what hurt him the most… Was she regretting everything? Was she angry at him for not telling him? Did she hate him? No… She wouldn't… This was Orihime he was thinking about, hate wasn't one of the emotions that ran through her body… However that thought didn't give him any comfort because he knew how people change, and she had been through a lot…
He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a chain rustle. He looked to his left and watched as the orange-haired substitute dropped out of his Bankai. Looking at him suddenly made him extremely angry.
"You bastard… It's because of you this happened…" he stated softly, looking at Ichigo. "You just had to show up. You couldn't just stay the fuck away could you?" he now screamed.
"Nani? How the fuck is this my fault? You're the one to blame Renji! You should have just stayed the hell away from her!" Ichigo hollered back.
"Everything was just fine without you fucking interfering Ichigo! You don't belong here, she moved on!"
"Moved on? Moved-fucking-on? Tell me Renji, what the fuck exactly did she move on from eh? She had no memory of her past life or her feelings for me, so how the hell could she have moved on?"
"She was doing better, she was way better off not knowing and just forgetting everything. Don't you think she suffered enough?" Renji stressed.
"Well now that she has her memory back I guess we'll just have to wait for her to decide that won't we?" Ichigo replied testily.
"Why don't you just fuck off Ichigo? No one wants you here, you don't fucking belong here!" Renji screamed angrily.
Ichigo seemed to be losing it by now. His reiatsu was spiking and Renji noticed his left eye was slowly becoming black and his iris was turning gold. "I'm not leaving until I've spoken to Inoue…" He said in a deadly calm voice.
Renji wasn't deterred in the least. He slowly began walking towards him, the atmosphere around the two was highly charged as they both looked at each other with the intent to murder. Before they could initiate the battle, they both were surrounded by a gold light which wrapped around their torsos, binding their arms to their sides and leaving them immobile.
"What the fuck!" Ichigo yelled, trying to break from the bind, until he heard a new voice scream out.
"Would the two of you just stop it!"
"Rangiku-san…" Renji said quietly, looking at the strawberry blond fukataicho with wide eyes.
Ichigo noticed the look in Rangiku's eyes and stopped struggling, the change in his eyes receding, reverting to its normal state.
"All you two do is argue and bicker all the time about what you think is right, or how you feel about the whole situation! Well things have changed now and you two baka's need to sort your shit out because now that Orihime has her memory back, I will not let your stupidity and insensitiveness hurt her!" Rangiku shouted with fury in her eyes.
"The girl has been through a lot and I trust that you won't add to her suffering." She turned to look at Ichigo with contempt in her eyes. "As for you, I have no idea what you're doing back here, you had your chance Ichigo. She loved you… I watched her heart break when she confessed her love for you to me. It hurt her but she still stuck with you. She was supposed to be your nakama but you ignored her."
"Don't!" Rangiku screamed as Ichigo opened his mouth to explain. "Nobody could have been that dense… Don't lie and say that you didn't know… What's done is done, we can't change that. You just realised everything too late but I guess that now that she has her memory back it's all her decision but it's not like you could be with her if she still loved you seeing as she's not human anymore."
Rangiku sighed heavily, "Well before I left she wanted me to relay a message to you Renji...and you Ichigo. She said that she'll be okay and she just needs some time to sort everything out. She just needs to be alone for a while, that's why Akio's going to be with me."
The bindings were now gone and the two men were somewhat calm, taking in what the strawberry blond had said.
"Hai, Arigatou Rangiku-san. I'll wait for her, but I think its best if Akio stays with me if that's okay with you?" Renji said softly.
"Hai… Its fine, I know he's stayed with you before and Orihime says he's quite fond of you. He's at the office with Taicho, you can pick him up from there." She replied, she looked towards the orange-haired shinigami only to see him looking towards the ground, his orange bangs hiding his eyes.
"Well I better go… See you around…" then she left.
Renji spared Ichigo a glance and then flash stepped away in the direction of the tenth division, leaving the substitute alone.
Thinking about it now, Rangiku had been right. It was all up to Orihime now and no matter how much he would want to fight for her, he couldn't if she wouldn't want it. He didn't know what he would do if she shunned him… He could beg or try and make her see that he'd never leave her, he'd always protect her, he'd always love her but if her heart did not belong to him then he didn't think he could still be with her knowing she wished he was someone else, especially if it was Ichigo…
Akio was asleep in his room after he had wanted to know about what happened to his Orihime-chan. The little boy was really sad and overly worried about the auburn-haired princess. He promised the boy that she would be okay and she'd come back to them when she was ready.
He sighed, getting up from the couch and moving towards his bedroom. He felt so empty and lost at the thought that he couldn't be there for her in her time of pain but he'd just have to bare it and wait… Wait and pray that she came back to him…
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It was two days later since the incident and Renji was carrying out his Captains duties half-heartedly. He was literally gliding through the squad in a daze. Ignoring people, bumping into squad members, forgetting duties and important notices, he hadn't even eaten in a while, since the last time Ikkaku shoved some food down his throat.
All he could do was think about her and how much he missed her. How, although she was close by, it felt like she was worlds away. Having Ichigo around Soul Society annoyed him to the point whenever he saw a flash of orange spikes, he wanted to tear it apart.
But he knew he couldn't blame Ichigo… This was bound to happen at some point, he just didn't expect it to be so soon and to have the orange-haired idiot around when it did. He sighed heavily and walked towards his office. As he neared the door, he heard the familiar voices of Hinamori and Kira around the corner. He caught on to their conversation when he heard Orihime's name.
"…Orihime's house. He went by there this morning. I wonder what she wants to talk to him about…"
He heard Hinamori's soft voice and stiffened when he heard what Kira said next.
"She remembers now Hinamori-kun, she probably wants to talk things over with Ichigo…"
Kira's eyes widened when Renji made his presence known.
"What are you talking about Kira…?" he asked slowly, looking between both Momo and Kira.
"Eh… Renji-kun, we were just talking about how tiring paperwork can get, eh eh…" Hinamori tried to say light heartedly.
"Don't lie to me! What did you say about Orihime and Ichigo?" Renji bellowed, his anger taking over.
Both Kira and Hinamori flinched, surprised at the look Renji had in his eyes. Kira sighed and decided to tell him the truth. It was better he heard it from them than anybody else.
"A few of my squad members who were on parole around Inuzuri saw Ichigo going to Orihime's house…" before Kira could continue, Renji had punched the wall, leaving a huge hole through it.
They both flinched and backed away slightly.
"She said she wanted to be alone… She said she needed time…" He whispered, with a deathly tone. However his voice picked up, "Why the fuck is that bastard not respecting her wishes! I'm going to murder him!" And before he could leave in his rage, Kira managed to stop him.
"Wait! Wait Abarai! He didn't go on his own… Inoue… Inoue-san asked for him…" Kira said sadly.
"N-Nani…?" Renji replied in a hoarse whisper, his eyes opened wide, realization settling in.
"I'm sorry Renji-kun… We were wondering why he was going to her house but Rangiku-san had told us that when she went to check on Orihime she had requested to see Ichigo-kun, alone…" Hinamori finished desolately.
Renji couldn't believe it… It was as if all the feeling in his body had abandoned him as he sunk to the floor, his back against the damaged wall, a numbness roaming through his limbs. He could hear Kira and Hinamori calling out to him but he ignored it. Was this it? Is this how it was always going to be? Was he always going to be second best…?
He was feeling crowded and realised that many of his squad members as well as his two friends were hovered over him, looking at him worriedly. He snapped out of his thoughts and got up, towering over them. He left them all there, staring at his back as he left the squad in search of solace. He flash stepped away.
There was only one place he could go where he could sort out through the pain that was infesting his heart right now.
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Kira and Momo watched as their friend left with a broken heart. They felt hurt and saddened for him for they knew all that he had been through. They knew not to follow him. He had a lot to deal with and Renji was the type of man who dealt with it on his own.
They sighed and looked at each other before returning to their duties.
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A/N: So this is part one of the conclusion. I decided to split the chapter into two parts seeing as it was so long and I updated at once so for those who would want a break in between, you got it and those who wanted to read it all in one go, well you also got it. Lol. I know that even if you would have preferred it split, you're still gonna go ahead and read the second part straight after, that's what I do :D
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On to the next one…