A/n: if bleach were mine there'd be no dispute about ichi/hime vs ichi/ruki cos it would blatantly be ichi/hime. :)

'Not again!' Orihime exclaimed desperately. It was so frustrating. One minute she thought she was almost there and the next thing she knew, she was at yet another dead end. It was just like with Kurosaki-kun all over again, only this time it was infinitely worse because the situation was just that much more desperate.

Kurosaki-kun. Her heart lurched uncomfortably at the thought of the spiky, orange haired boy. She shook her head, trying to clear it of the despair. He can and he will stand his own, just like I have to,' she thought determinedly, before she carried on running.

A tall, looming figure materialized not 10 metres in front of her, as it quickly came round the corner. One of the arrancar, she recognized wearily. For amoment, panic seized her turning her legs in to lead. She could see the arrancar's lips beneath its white hollow mask twist in to a wide, malicious grin.

He probably see's me as some weak, easily disposed of human. She thought to herself bitterly. Well not anymore. She started running again, straight towards the monster who at that moment, raised two fingers at her, a small mass of red energy beginning to ball there.

A cero.

Orihime's eyes blazed with a fiery resolve, rather than the fear that such an attack would normally have elicited. She was only 4 metres away now. The Arrancar chose that moment to shoot his cero at her.

'Santen Kesshun I reject,' she exclaimed and watched with satisfaction as her shield absorbed the full force of the cero, managing to remain intact and to top it off, pushing the astonished arrancar back a further 10 metres.

Orihime didn't stop running though. She took a left, constantly feeling for the spirit King's reiatsu. Still, as she ran she couldn't help but feel a bit proud of herself. She knew that she wasn't really strong (especially compared to Ichigo and the others who fought the Espada) but it was an improvement for her. She wasn't ready to use Tsubaki yet-even now, the intent to harm or kill just wouldn't have been strong enough.

Still, she thought. Step by step. I'll get there. I won't fail.

If Orihime had stayed a few minutes longer, she would have seen Yoruichi's astonished face, who having come from behind Orihime, had witnessed the whole thing. Truth be told, Yoruichi was surprised that Orihime's shield had managed to hold out against an arrancar's cero. But she didn't have time to think too much about it. This was war after all. The arrancar that Orihime had pushed back stood disgruntled in front of her.

Time to finish off the job, Yoruichi grinned.

*

Ichigo smirked. It was true that it did look pretty bad for him at the moment; he had a bleeding head wound, both of his shoulders had been hit and he was pretty sure that at least 5 of his ribs had been broken and were currently pressing down on his lungs.

Nonetheless, that cool smile on Gin's face had disappeared. The silver haired Shinigami was sweating and even had blood running down his leg from a wound on his right hip that Ichigo had inflicted.

'Not so high and mighty now, are you?' Ichigo asked, somehow managing to sound smug despite his hard panting.

'You're highly mistaken if you think this is over yet,' Gin spat, before lunging at his opponent once more.

'You're wrong,' Ichigo said as he countered the attack, only to move in to an offensive attack himself seconds later. Unlike you, I actually have something really worth fighting for, he added in his thoughts. Then with a small, knowing smile he said, 'I can't afford to take any more injury.'

*

She was so close now. The reiatsu was so strong and warm...and it had a strange sense of déjà vu about it. She brushed the feeling off and concentrated on making her legs run faster. She turned the final corner.

She had arrived.

A/n: so what dyu think?

I'm going to try and update every Friday seeing as i only have a 3 hour psychology lesson.

I hope you liked it. Please review and tell me what you think-constructive criticisms are really welcome.

Thanks for reading this chapter!

Missy xxx