What Happens Now

An: Sorry for the wait, my Grandfather had a stroke and writing was the last thing on my mind. This chapter is for suzaanoelofse01, flornoir, TheWolf87, hallowdark94, JimmyLane, Merry Beaker Fractale, Guest (nypsy), JK Robertson, and MissKikki537! Thank you once again for reviewing the last chapter and hope you enjoy.

Ichigo's POV

The car ride home was quiet. No one wanted to break the silence, so I sat in the back of the car while Orihime sat in the front with Dad. She didn't even protest sitting up front. What was going on with my girlfriend?

Pulling into our dark and quiet neighborhood, Dad finally broke the silence, "When we get home I would like to take you to the clinic and look you over. Okay, Orihime-chan?" It wasn't a question, it was a statement that he tried to phrase nicely into a question. Most likely to give her a feeling of power. I almost missed her barely audible "yes" before things went completely silent again.

Once we made it home we went straight to the clinic. Dad cleaned off her hand that still had blood on it from breaking his nose before he started checking for any injuries. She had minor bruising on her wrists which pissed me off. I hated she was hurt in any way.

"Did you get hurt anywhere else?"

I was confused when she didn't answer me but turned her back to us, that was before she lifted her shirt. There was a clear discoloration on her lower back, a line going all the way across her back. It would bruise by tomorrow.

I clenched my fists seeing her hurt. How did I miss how dangerous it was for her to be alone?

Wait, was this the first time something like this has happened? I was about to ask when my father spoke to me.

"Ichigo, please get Orihime-chan's things in your room and get ready for bed."

"What? No. I'm not going anywhere." I growled out. Did he really think I would leave her going through this?

"Now."

His command sent chills down my spine. I could feel the captain in him as he ordered me to leave. I looked at Orihime to see if she made any move to stop me, but she didn't. She didn't even look up; my heart was breaking, and I didn't know what to do. How do you help someone when you can't physically fight the problem? I was out of my league here.

Giving up, I made my way back to the car to do what was asked of me.

Maybe she'd talk to me tonight.

Isshin's POV

Once Ichigo left I gave Orihime my full attention. I felt like a failure. This young woman brought my son back from the dead, she has been by his and the rest of the group every day, keeping everyone safe and able to fight another day.

When her brother died I felt so bad for her. We made sure she had somewhere to stay and had a family to care for her, but I didn't look past that. I knew she lived alone and I never did anything to check on her.

Things could have been so much worse for her if she didn't know what to do…

"Orihime-chan, I'm sorry." I hung my head in shame. My hands sat in my lap, I was at a complete loss for what to do or say. A small hand laid on mine causing me to look up.

"You did nothing wrong." Even her trying to comfort me sounded off. It was as if the words were there because she knew it's what she would normally say but something was going on in that head of her's.

"Can we take the pictures now? I'd like to get some rest if that's okay."

All I could do was nod before I grabbed the camera and took some photos of each mark from all angles to keep for evidence for the police. I made a mental note to get more of her back tomorrow as more shows up but other wise I let her go up to bed.

I went to the kitchen to grab a drink, it had been a long time since I needed hard alcohol. I knew I wouldn't be sleeping any time soon. As I sat at the table, I rubbed my temps hoping it'd take some of the headache away. I had a feeling this would be a challenge, getting her to open up. With my men in soul society, I knew how to handle things, we'd talk about the battle, we'd talk about what we saw or experienced and move on. We knew there would be death and violence, so everyone was mentally ready.

"Oh Misaki, I wish you were here. You'd know how to handle this."

Ichigo's POV

There were twelve steps from my closet door to my wall on the other side of the room.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve and turn.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve and turn. Repeat.

I lost track of how many times I walked that path before my door finally opened. Orihime came in and shut the door. Her face was hidden by her long hair.

"Hey." She whispered.

"Hey. Um, your things are in my closet, I made some room, so you could unpack."

How do I talk to her now? What do I say? I wondered.

She's normally so bubbly, so talkative but now she's the opposite.

"Thank you. I'm just going to change, and then could we go to bed? I'm tired."

I wanted to tell her no, we need to talk. I knew I couldn't tell her no but I sure as hell wish I could. I wanted her to let me know what I could do to make this better, how do I get my girlfriend back?

"Yeah, sure." Even my voice sounded defeated.

I watched her go out the door towards the bathroom to change. With how she was acting I wasn't sure she'd want to share a bed with me as we did before. That creep wanted to touch her. Hell, he did! Even if it was only her arms. I was starting to get pissed again.

This never should have happened. She shouldn't be alone. I decided to speak to my family when Orihime was at work, so I could find out if she could live here from now on. The idea of her being alone in that apartment again was too much. If they said no, then I'd just move in with her. She wasn't going to be alone anymore.

She came back a few moments later with new pajamas on. I couldn't blame her for wanting to change.

"Could I sleep by the wall?" Her voice was so sad.

I wanted to hold her forever and keep her from being hurt again. I knew she wanted to be held and feel safe. I felt like crap for feeling happy she wanted me to keep her safe. How could I feel happy at a time like this?

"Of course, Hime." I got up, so she could crawl in before I climbed back in under the blankets. I saw Kon come up and face the wall, completely supportive and shockingly not perverted at all.

Orihime took his silent offer, holding him to her while I held her in my arms as well. It was a long night, none of us slept but we all acted as if we were.

The following week consisted of Orihime acting happy, but it was never genuine. I texted everyone to come meet us at my Dad's clinic, so we could get her to talk. Dad told me he'd handle it, but he wasn't getting anywhere so maybe it was time to make her talk. The books I skimmed through all said females need to talk about their problems and she wasn't.

The police called her this afternoon to let her know she could go back home, they were done with her apartment, so she said she was leaving after school tomorrow to move back home. It was now or never, thankfully, Chad, Uryu, and Tatsuki along with my Dad were all sitting with me waiting for her to show up.

"Kurasaki-san?" Orihime called out as she opened the front door to the clinic. She thought she was here to help my Dad with some office work.

"Over here, Orihime-chan" Dad called out.

When she entered the office she froze.

Sitting there behind the desk across from her was my father, he was wearing his typical doctor coat over his casual clothes. His desk was cleaned off, he told me earlier he didn't want me to freak out and make a mess, (I had to roll my eyes at that idea).

We moved some things around so all our chair could fit. Our friends on my Dad's left while I was sitting next to my dad with Orihime's empty chair next to mine. I quickly stood and pulled her to the chair as I closed the door behind her.

"Um, what's going on in here?" Her innocent question rang out cutting through the tension.

"Orihime-chan, all of us are concerned… You haven't been yourself this week and we wanted to talk about what happened. We want you to know we all love you and you can count on us." I had to admit, my Dad really knew what he was doing with this.

"I'm fine-" She started waving her hands in front of her but I wasn't having it.

"Hime stop. I get it was scary, but you handled it and he's locked up now."

"What Kurosaki is trying to say, is we're worried. Can we help in any way? Is there anyone you'd be willing to talk to?" Uryu spoke while shooting me a glare as he pushed his glasses up.

"You don't need to be worried, I'm just thinking over things is all. I'm okay, really!" Her fake cheer was getting on my last nerve.

"I'm going to be canceling my trip after graduation, I was thinking we could move in together." Tatsuki offered to the group. I knew that would be a huge sacrifice and to be honest I was a little jealous she'd get to live with Orihime.

"You can stay here till then," I added to her offer.

"No." Orihime's voice was solid, but she was watching her clenched hands on her navy skirt.

"What?" I've never seen Tatsuki so shocked before. Well besides finding out about soul society but who could blame her?

"I said no, thank you for your offer but go. I want you to live your life to the fullest, all of you."

She was starting to shake, and it was worrying me. I've never seen her so closed off, this was so out of character for her. What did I have to do to get my Orihime back?

"Hime, we're just trying to help. I spoke to my family while you were at work a couple of days ago and we want you to move in." I spoke up hoping she'd listen to me and be happy to move in. I reached out to grab her hands in mine thinking she'd accept but to my surprise, she pulled away and stood up.

"I really appreciate all of you coming here to show me how lucky I am to have so many friends who care for me, but I think it's best I go home now."

I panicked when she stood to leave and pulled her hand back, so she was facing me. She couldn't go, not like this. Not tonight.

"Orihime, don't you want to stay with us? You'd be safer here." I just couldn't understand it. Why did she want to leave now?

"You'd never understand." She whispered

"What do you mean? What wouldn't I understand?"

"Ichigo, please let me go."

"Son" My Father's tone had a warning to it, but I ignored it.

"No! She needs to talk to us, this isn't like you Orihime. What's going on?" I didn't realize I was shouting. I was so worried about the woman who stole my heart. I watched her look up at me and I could see it in her beautiful eyes. I pushed too far.

"You have a family, you have a home, you don't worry about where your next meal will be, you don't have to worry if you'll have a roof over your head next month because your aunt decides to stop supporting you. You don't understand what it's like to have to argue with an OBGYN to get an IUD because you must make sure the next time you get kidnapped you're safe. I can't take the pill or get a shot because there's no telling how long I could be held hostage. While I can reject any STIs they give me I would never be able to do that to a baby, no matter what the circumstances. I was lucky they weren't interested in me sexually, but it won't always be that way (She started crying while she spoke at this point). I know what it's like to have men lust after you." She took a shaky breath here before continuing.

"You don't know what it's like to wonder why your own parents hate you! Watching my brother die was the worst day of my life and I've been alone ever since. You are all amazing, but you aren't there! You aren't with me and to be honest? I'm the most grown up out of all of us. I'm happy and hate violence, I can see why people think I'm stupid because I chose to live this way but I'm not. I take care of myself and make sure I enjoy every moment of life I was given due to Sora's sacrifice of taking me with him."

She turned to leave again but I just didn't learn. I pulled her back once again to plead my case one last time, completely forgetting about our audience.

"Then stay with me! It solves your problems. Let us help you!"

She gasped at that before responding. Looking at her red eyes and puffy face my heart broke.

"No. Let me go." Her hard voice had me instantly pull away. I felt like I was just burned. I stood there as she walked out the door, never looking back.

"That's enough Ichigo." Dad's cold voice scolded me.

"Dad! You're okay with this?" I was beyond pissed. When I turned to look at everyone else I saw the hurt in their eyes.

"No, I'm not but we just hurt her. We doubted her and you asking her in this moment to move in might have hurt her the most."

"How so?"

How could I have hurt her? Didn't she want to move in? I thought she loved me…

Even I wouldn't do that. You fucked up King.

"The way you said it comes off as you are asking her just to help her out, not because you love her." Chad's deep voice rang out.

"What?" But the only response I received was the man was a simple nod of his head.

Reality hit hard. I sat back in the chair I was in before. All I could think was whether I ruined things between us. I may have just realized how much I love her but the idea of losing everything we worked so hard for killed me. For the first time since my Mom died, I felt like crying.

I had no idea how long I sat there thinking but when I looked up only my Dad was in the room.

"How long?" I quietly asked, unable to meet his eyes. I needed to know how long I was thinking, how much time had I wasted while she was on her own.

"About 40 minutes. Ichigo, go get her, stay there for a few days if she'll have you. Don't let her go." He stood from his desk to grab some paperwork out of the black filing cabinet we just moved behind his desk and started documenting something, acting like I wasn't even there.

Jumping up I ran out the door and to the house. Once I reached the kitchen, Yuzu handed me my backpack filled to the point the zipper looked stressed. I didn't even get a chance to ask her what it was for when she gave me a knowing look.

My guess was Dad told Yuzu to pack me a bag, so I could go after her. I rushed to the front door to grab my coat and put my shoes on when Karin's voice came from behind me.

"You love her, right?"

"Yes." I didn't even need to think before I answered.

"Good. Make sure she knows that."

I could only nod as I rushed out of the house and toward Orihime's apartment. I didn't care if I had to sit outside all night. I wasn't going to leave until we talked. She wasn't a burden to me, she wasn't just a close friend I felt responsible for. She was the woman I loved and never wanted to part with. She has seen me at my worst, she gave up everything to keep me and the others safe knowing there was a chance we'd think she betrayed us.

She waited so long for me to realize what was going on in my own head. I wouldn't let her go without a fight and even then, I couldn't think about that right now though. What I needed was to think about what to say when I got to her home. I have a relationship to save.