Disclaimer: nope not myn.

Orihime ran through the desolate barren lands a strange mixture of hurt, fear and determination bubbling inside of her. She knew what she had to do and was about 80% certain she could actually do it. Tears streamed down her face, but they were only from the wind...or so she tried to tell herself.

I have to do this, she thought in a wave of renewed passion...

'Shit!' Ichigo exclaimed angrily as he dropped to his knees. 'How and why exactly did she get away from you?'

'She ran with us at the start, but then she suddenly stopped, mumbling something about how she couldn't do this no more, before turning back and running to where you were,' Renji summarized quickly.

'What and you didn't run after her?' Ichigo asked glaring at Renji, before snapping his neck in the direction he had just come from, squinting in the distance as if he would be able to make out a familiar wave of red hair. Why hadn't he seen her on his way here?

'We tried!' Renji half shouted.

'She put up her barrier long enough to get away...it only just disappeared seconds before you got here,' Rukia mumbled. Ichigo's eyebrows shot up in momentary surprise. Had she always been able to put up a barrier and leave it in place while she moved away? The thought was short lived though as Ichigo's mind focused on what he had come here to do in the first place.

To become a protector- the damsel in distress thing is becoming so overdone...

'I'm getting her back,' he growled a renewed spark of fire in his eyes.

'You're badly wounded Kurosaki, you wouldn't be able to-'

'Shut up Ishida!' he barked before adding in a softer tone, 'I have to. All of you go find Unahana-taicho and the others, seeing as you're all pretty banged up too,' he let a small grin cross his face.

To feel like my coming here wasn't a complete waste of effort...

Without waiting for a reply he turned his back on them and ran. He'd always been one for action rather than talk. Though for the life of him Ichigo couldn't figure out what it was that Inoue wanted back in her prison of Las Noches. He felt a lump rise in his throat at the thought of her surrounded by all those bastard Espada and Aizen that traitor.

To not feel so worthless...

Ichigo may have been dense about a lot of things but he would be lying straight through his teeth if he said he didn't know just how badly it tore Inoue up that she wasn't that much of a help-or at least that's how she saw it. He could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice, every time she apologized to him unnecessarily. Just because she doesn't actively fight doesn't mean she's weak. She faced Aizen and his bastard minions all on her own, even though she isn't a fighter and even if she was, it would have been reckless. He didn't know what it was about her that made him overly anxious and want to protect her at all costs, even if it meant his own life.

Perhaps it was her innocence. Her sunny and ever happy, warm personality that felt so out of place in the cold, dead confines of Hueco Mundo. Or maybe it was something else, something Ichigo couldn't quite place his finger on. Whatever it was, it made his heart race uncontrollably at the thought of losing her. Without her-without her- Ichigo swallowed forcefully. He wouldn't – no couldn't think of a possibility where she was gone. But it lingered in the corner of his mind, teasing him cruelly.

To not have Kurosaki-kun and the others always risk their lives for me...

Orihime breathed heavily, but refused to stop moving. Aizen had showed it to her once- the Hougyoko. She moved through the deserted palace quickly, retracing a route she had only ever taken once. If this is all I'm able to do ,then please, let me at least do it properly, she begged. She turned a final left only to find herself in a small, but spacious room, in the centre of which the Hougyoko sat on a pillar. She could feel the immense reiatsu emanating from it in waves. Her knees buckled under the pressure. Stubbornly, she forced herself up again.

'I have to do this,' she whispered to herself. She gathered all her determination, all her reasons for this – trying to truly mean and believe that she would be able to do this. That she was strong enough. Slowly she raised her arms in front of her and closed her eyes.

'Sōten Kisshun, I reject.'

To not have Kurosaki-kun look at me pityingly again...

Ichigo may not have been good at sensing reiatsu but even he could feel the sudden, sharp rise in Inoue's. 'Shit, please don't let some bastard be attacking her,' he growled, speeding up. He was almost there.

'You know Gin,' Aizen drawled, a sick twisted smile on his face, 'this is working out better than I thought it would.'

In retrospect, Orihime would realize that getting to the Hougyoko was too easy. But in the heat of war, you're desperate. You grab on to any hope you can...you don't see the consequences of it. Not then.

A:n/ so what dyu think?

I'm surprising myself that i'm updating this fast...i really need to start studying lol.

Btw if anyone's confused about the underlined lines-they're orihime's thoughts/motives that she has for trying to destroy the Hougyoko

I really hope you like it so far – i've got a little twist planned. Thanks for taking the time to read this chap!

Plz r&r !

Missy xx