Touched

Disclaimer: Creator Tite Kubo owns the manga and anime Bleach and its characters. No offense or infringement is intended.

A/N: Pulled together another chapter for your reading pleasure. I apologize for the tardiness of this chapter- it was supposed to be out weeks ago, however my laptop met with an unfortunate accident and had to be sent out for a new screen and was gone for 18 days. Yes, that's 18 DAYS without a computer, email or the internet! It was torture, truly. Got him back yesterday and celebrated by wrapping up this chapter! Then of course an admin error kept me from publishing for a few days (folks who've recently hit up the profile might have seen that one). But we're here and we're all good now! ^_^

Thanks to those (few) of you who reviewed- lots of 'favorites' and 'alerts' but not much feedback for some reason. I'll admit it's nice to get feedback, whether positive or negative, to know how the story is being received. However I don't believe in holding a story hostage for reviews- I think it cheapens the material and creates bad blood between author and audience. So I'm gonna press on in hopes that folks are still along for the ride.

Parts of this chapter (along with some of those preceding) will refer all the way back to events in 'Afterthought' so hopefully you guys still remember that story ;)

Chapter 3: Reflections

2am, Shiba Inn…

Ichigo couldn't sleep.

The bed roll was comfortable and the room was quiet- his 'roommates,' Uryu and Mizuiro, had drifted off in silent slumber in their own beds hours ago.

Lying in the darkness, Ichigo's keen vision still allowed him to sharpen his eyes, bringing the texture of the inn's freshly-painted ceiling into and out of focus. It was a meditation exercise he'd taught himself to use when sleep was hampered by a runaway brain. Except tonight it wasn't working. Despite every effort, he just couldn't stop the night's events from replaying in his head.

The mid-air battle with the Arrancar had been tough- and that was the problem. After battling Gotei 13 Captains and the highest ranking of Aizen's Espada, the substitute Shinigami was vexed by how much trouble a single member of the fraccion had given him.

'Hell, maybe there's something wrong with my power…' Yet his own speed and strength had seemed the same. Other than an aggressive and varied technique, his opponent hadn't offered any new or surprising tricks to throw him off. In the end the monster hadn't even really injured him.

'Was it my hollow?' Ichigo had initially tried to fight this battle without his darker side but in hindsight wasn't really sure why. Perhaps because he knew he shouldn't have needed it. And perhaps deep down he always worried that next time he wouldn't be able to control it. So why risk it on such a simple adversary? And why risk it with Tatsuki so close?

'Was it Tatsuki?'

His mind seemed to be stubbornly returning to her tonight. Perhaps her presence had made the difference, distracted him, pulled his attention away from the things that should have won him the fight much sooner. Except that he'd fought opponents with hostages before without any problem. So why would she matter?

And then it flashed in his vision- the sight of her dangling, lifeless body in that beast's unforgiving clutches. She'd looked dead… again… and nothing after that moment could erase that image from his mind.

Tatsuki. All of a sudden Tatsuki, back in the thick of it, just like old times…

…yeah, right! After leaving her and the boys in the school's hallway visibly frustrated but nevertheless safe, the last thing Ichigo expected to find when confronting some random Hueco Mundo flunky was the snarky little tomboy strangled and unconscious in the midst of an attempted abduction! It was the sort of wild, worse-case-scenario he'd been trying to avoid ever since first becoming a Soul Reaper.

Even as he noticed friend after friend slowly falling into the mix, he'd thought he'd done a halfway decent job of keeping her out of everything. Of all of his closest friends, he realized he'd pushed her away the farthest. Only now- seeing Tatsuki at her most vulnerable- did he realize why.

Tatsuki was different- different in ways that defied direct explanation. She was more than just a classmate or a sparring partner. She was more than just a friend- he'd known her for most of his life, they'd been best friends since they were kids. He knew her better than anybody else; up until his whole Substitute Soul Reaper debacle he figured she could have said the same thing about him. Tats was more like family. She might as well have been his own flesh and blood, like the twins except with less whining and more hormones and ass-kicking.

Her involvement somehow made the whole thing personal. Once he'd recognized her, everything had seemed to instantly spiral out of control- because suddenly it had been Tatsuki dangling unconscious. Tatsuki in a horrifying freefall. Tatsuki watching him with frightened, sorrowful eyes as she helplessly plummeted... Just her presence had changed everything, and his opponent seemed to have somehow sensed it. The monster had toyed with her to get a rise out of his Shinigami opponent, and it had worked more than he'd realized.

Deep down, Ichigo knew it had affected his hollow, too. He hadn't needed his mask- the transformation had been instantaneous and unlike any time before. He'd felt it come on- felt it course through his body like a crashing wave of raw power- and had welcomed the bloodlust. His hollow wanted to make that Arrancar suffer for hurting her, for putting his disgusting hands on her. His inner darkness had relished slicing the monster in half. He'd felt the part of him that would have preferred to kill it with his bare hands, to rip it apart if he'd had the time to relish the death. He hadn't had the time- he knew it was his hollow that had allowed him to reach Tatsuki before she'd hit the ground.

More untapped power. The shear will to save her had unleashed a new part of his dark half. Power over his hollow and power over his guilty conscience. After weeks of misdirecting and avoidance, just a few moments beneath Tatsuki's vulnerable, accusatory glare had been enough to crack him. He just couldn't lie to her anymore, not when she'd figured out so much on her own. And that had been before she'd kissed him…

He fought to keep the corners of his mouth from stretching up to his cheekbones at the memory…

She smirked up at him until her gaze grew hazy, landing somewhere in the vicinity of his mouth. He didn't dare move as an odd wave of prickly sensations washed over him, catching his breath. He watched silently as Tatsuki's features grew pensive, as though she was puzzling something out in her mind. Finally, he heard her mutter something like 'Ah, hell…' right before she reached a hand up, ploughed fingers through the hair at his nape and tugged his head down until her lips caught his.

At first tentative in her contact, Ichigo was nevertheless instantly overwhelmed by the cool softness of Tatsuki's mouth as she kissed him. However, never one to do anything halfway, the young woman wasted no time in exerting a delicious pressure and movement against Ichigo's lips that had him swaying on his feet a little. His eyelids drifted closed as he instinctively tightened his grip on her. The closer contact coaxed a husky little moan from the back of Tatsuki's throat that vibrated against his tongue and shot straight to the pit of his stomach. He could feel their energy mingling, making his entire body tingle as though it were awash in electric sparks. It was one of the oddest and most exhilarating sensations he'd ever experienced.

Unsure of how much time had passed, eventually Ichigo felt Tatsuki's hand trail down his neck as she slowly pulled away from him. His mouth was still chasing hers when his eyes finally drifted open, only to take in the sight of Tatsuki's half-lidded orbs, a sated little smile dancing where his lips had just been…

Ichigo mentally berated himself. There it was again, the true source of his insomnia tonight. No matter how hard he tried to redirect his thoughts his brain stubbornly clung to the memory of Tatsuki kissing him, the scene on an infinite loop as it played over and over in his head.

He still wasn't really sure why she'd done it. She'd said it was a 'thank you'. 'Well it sure as hell hadn't felt like a 'thank you'!' Tatsuki's 'thank yous' usually consisted of an affectionate punch to the head; the energy he'd sensed from her had felt far more intense than simple appreciation.

He never would have imagined that her lips would be so soft or that her natural aggression could be channeled into something as unbelievably hot as a lip lock. That thought had him amending his earlier musing: Tatsuki was not like family, not when she kissed him like that. He tried to think back to any signs or hints of that kind of interest from her but came up with little more than endless hours of their familiar bickering and banter- usually mocking, occasionally flirtatious and always painful for him in the end. Regardless of who started what, he was the one who always ended up getting hit- it was as if he walked around school with a bull's eye on his back that read 'Tatsuki's personal punching bag.'

Funny how it never bothered him. It had been like that between them for as long as he could remember: light-hearted barbs would be exchanged, Tatsuki would invariably punch him and he would cuss at her as she shot him one of her sly, conspiratorial smirks. Then they'd pick right up where they left off.

He wasn't exactly innocent in their exchanges- he'd punched Tatsuki in retaliation more times than he could count, usually on the arm but every once in a while, if he was really feeling adventurous, he'd give her a smack on the back of the head. Those instances had always proved entertaining- he loved the way her eyes widened with incredulity, as though she couldn't believe he'd dared to do it. He always paid for it in the end as her retribution would invariably get more physical… Funny how he never minded that either.

As Ichigo laid there in the darkness, things were starting to make more sense (at least along that middle-of-the-night sort of logic). Tatsuki was far from a regular girl- she didn't wear lip gloss or barrettes, she wore wrist bands and trainers. Instead of shopping and boys, her hobbies fell into the realms of martial arts and video games. He remembered something his mom had mentioned long ago about little boys pulling pigtails on the playground. Maybe his and Tatsuki's punches had meant more…

'Do I like Tatsuki?' He chuckled to himself. Of course he liked her- she was probably the coolest girl he knew. He'd had crushes on her when he was younger. He liked her sense of humor, her wit and sarcasm. He liked her fighting spirit and her sense of justice and loyalty. He liked hanging out with her, even if it was just the two of them. She'd been there for him, after his mom. She'd backed him up in fights and always held her own. She called him on his bullshit.

He was the one who'd let her down. After Rukia and his Shinigami powers had entered his life, he'd shut Tatsuki out. The more complicated and dangerous things had gotten, the more he'd pushed her away. After Orihime was taken he knew her rescue was a suicide mission. Somehow he thought Tatsuki was better off hating him; to his great despair, after she'd punched his head through a window, he figured she did.

By some miracle he and the gang had survived their adventures and they'd returned safe and sound. He'd meant to straighten things out with Tatsuki; he just hadn't really known how to do it. Plus there had been Rukia telling him it was a bad idea. But he couldn't really take it much longer- he missed her. All those weeks of avoidance and sideways glances, he could see the pain in her eyes every time he turned away from her. He'd wanted to tell her so badly, had wanted to spill his guts and damn the consequences just so he could stop those looks, so they could be cool again.

Her ignorance was supposed to protect her, but that had royally backfired. He really should have known she'd find out- the girl was nothing if not resourceful. And he probably should have predicted the spirit energy in her; everyone else in his life had gotten a dose so why not his best friend? In the end none of it seemed to matter anyway- she'd been saved and her abductor had been destroyed…

…and she didn't hate him after all. She'd stared up at him in wonder through dust-covered eyelashes. She'd screamed her head (and shoe) off at him on a rooftop but they'd both come out the better for it. She'd blushed up at him from the cradle of his arms. And she'd kissed him- really kissed him. Tatsuki had kissed him with such passion that something purely male and possessive felt like it had roared to life inside of him. It wasn't until her lips were on his that he realized it was exactly what he wanted from her without really knowing it.

Did he like Tatsuki? He smirked to himself as he realized that the answer in his heart was a resounding yes. He liked his best friend. He liked her snarky attitude and her carefully concealed vulnerability. And he wanted to kiss her again…

His heart suddenly sank in his chest. 'Does Tatsuki like me?' he wondered as sleep finally skirted his consciousness. She'd kissed him, but what did it mean? Did she feel the same way about him or had he read too much into it? Ichigo groaned to himself as he realized that agonizing over feelings for a girl might have been the most 'normal' teenage behavior he'd exhibited since meeting his first hollow. Hormones mixed with Shinigami powers made for exhausting musings. He closed his eyes, knowing sleep was finally settling in. As for Tatsuki… well, he realized he'd just figured out his next mission.

The next morning, Shiba Inn…

Ichigo sat bleary-eyed at the inn's kitchen table, absently watching Ganju make Western-style omelets on the large stovetop. The sleep he'd finally gotten last night was good; he'd just wished he'd had more of it.

In the light of the morning it became obvious that their party which arrived last night were the only current 'guests' of the inn. Ichigo found himself sitting between Ishida and Renji- one delicately sipping his hot tea while the other voraciously shoveled clumps of egg into his mouth. The sound of Renji's chopsticks scraping the plate had the substitute Shinigami glancing over at the redhead as he tilted his head back for the last mouthful, then plopped the dish on the table with a satisfied sigh.

Sensing Ichigo's eyes on him, the lieutenant stared over at him before glancing down at the untouched plate in front of the teen. "Hey, Ichigo, you gonna eat that?"

"Yeah, I am," Ichigo replied, though he didn't make a move towards his food.

"Don't worry, lieutenant, there's plenty to go around," Ganju said, shaking his pan vigorously over the burner. "You can have this one- do you eat mushrooms and tofu?"

Ichigo cut in, "Renji eats anything you put in front of him."

Chad and Hanataro, both seated opposite them, silently chuckled as they helped themselves to the bowl of sliced fruit on the table. As he cooked Ganju inquired, "So where is everybody else? I could'a sworn there was more of ya last night."

Ishida replied, "Asano and Kojima were both difficult to wake this morning; after the excitement they had last evening we decided to let them sleep in. Our female companions must still be getting ready."

Hanataro offered sheepishly, "Sorry I arrived so late last night, guys. By the time I got here Ganju said there wasn't anything for me to do."

Ichigo replied, "It's alright, Hanataro. Our friend Tatsuki was the only one still injured but Orihime said she wanted to take care of her…" After a moment he cleared his throat, then asked as casually as possible, "So… where are the girls anyway?"

"Right here," Rukia answered as the three ladies sauntered into the kitchen. Pleasant greetings were exchanged as the girls found seats around the table, Tatsuki and Orihime settling in on the other side of Chad while Rukia took the seat next to Ichigo. Orihime kept yawning loudly amidst her cheerful 'good morning's; Ichigo noticed that Tatsuki looked surprisingly pleasant for first thing in the morning. She was wearing a pair of black pants she'd gotten from somewhere; they were so long she'd had to cuff the bottoms. To his secret delight, she was still wearing his hoodie from last night- it practically swallowed her and she looked as though she was trying to hide inside of it, with the sleeves pulled all the way up to her knuckles. Still, he managed to get a glimpse of her neck; he couldn't see any of the marks she'd gotten from her abduction. She looked rested and was even sort of smiling- it was as if the events of the previous night had never happened.

…Except she must have caught him staring because she shot him an odd, curious look. Having been spotted all Ichigo could offer was a shrug and a crooked half-smile. Tatsuki only frowned at him, rolling her eyes before pointedly looking away. A cup of tea was placed in front of her and she wrapped her hands around it, warming them.

Chad spoke quietly to her, "You look well this morning, Arisawa. Are you feeling okay?"

Slightly surprised by his inquiry, she gave him a reassuring nod, "A lot better today. Thanks for asking, Sado."

He nodded back, "I'm glad everyone is okay. If you are hungry Ganju is making omelets."

Hearing that Orihime squealed with glee, "Oh I love omelets! Ganju, can I have one with daikon and raisins?"

Discrete faces of revulsion were made around the table as Ganju stared at the girl for a moment, Renji's omelet close to burning in the pan. Finally judging her to be serious the gruff man shrugged, "That'll be a first for me. I'll see what we've got, Orihime." Then he looked to Tatsuki, "And what about you, little lady? What can I get you for breakfast?"

Ichigo was surprised that Tatsuki didn't take offense at the 'little lady' comment as that sort of thing usually riled her. After thinking for only a moment, she replied, "I'll have what 'Hime's having; sounds interesting."

"Oh Tatsuki, I think you'll really like it- it's my favorite kind! I like to pour maple syrup on top of mine!" Orihime gushed.

Ishida raised an inquisitive eyebrow as he gave Tatsuki a meaningful look, "Arisawa, that's an… unusual selection. Are you sure you're feeling alright this morning?"

She peered at him innocently over the rim of her cup as she sipped, then looked around at the others. Carefully setting her cup down she shrugged one shoulder noncommittally while replying, "I feel fine. Pretty good, actually."

Orihime chirped excitedly, "Tatsuki's great! Now she just needs to get her strength back by eating a delicious and nutritious meal!"

Tatsuki chuckled with her friend as Ichigo eyed them both suspiciously, "I think those two might be spending too much time together…"

Ten minutes later Ganju was dishing out two conspicuous looking omelets for the girls. True to her word Orihime poured maple syrup all over her plate and then offered the bottle to her friend. The others watched with curiosity as Tatsuki accepted it, eyed the bottle for a moment, and then drizzled some on one side of her omelet, too. Orihime dug right in but no one seemed to breathe as Tatsuki took her first hesitant bite… and smiled in approval. "It's good, 'Hime. Strange, but good."

Orihime nodded her agreement around a mouthful of gooey omelet as the others cringed inwardly. Ichigo muttered, "Definitely too much time together…"

Fifteen minutes after that Orihime was popping the last bite into her mouth leaving behind a very empty plate. Tatsuki had put a respectable dent in hers as well, however it was quite obvious that the further she'd gotten into the dish the longer it was taking her to chew and swallow, as if she'd slowly but surely lost the taste for it. Finally hitting her limit, she discretely nudged the plate away from herself and returned to nursing her tea. Ichigo could almost imagine that she looked a shade greener.

Having polished off his second omelet, Renji inquired, "So are we going to Seireitei today or what?"

Everyone seemed curious as to the answer but Rukia shook her head in the negative, "It seems the Council couldn't convene to meet with Yoruichi until tomorrow, so we'll just be passing the time here at the inn until then. Hopefully Shihoin-san will get us all safe passage. Renji, you and I are supposed to stay here with everyone until we have official permission to return; apparently, we left the human world without authorization." At the last remark she made a resigned huff.

The lieutenant raised a tattooed eyebrow, "Oh yeah? Shit. Well, next time I'll be sure and schedule our random Arrancar attacks when it's more convenient to the Gotei 13."

The entire table erupted into laughter except for one, who seemed just a little too uncomfortable for jokes. Chad noticed; he leaned over and quietly asked, "You okay, Tatsuki? Suddenly you look like you don't feel so well."

She braved a half-hearted smile up at him, "Um, fine. Just… um… full, I guess. I'm good."

Chad nodded, whispering, "Probably something you ate…"

In Hueco Mundo…

Deep in Aizen's castle, several Fraccion sat in front of vast illuminated monitors, their long spindly fingers plugged directly into transparent digitized pads resembling keyboards. Created to be humanoid computers and compilers, the beings seemed to lack any discernable social mannerisms or behaviors. The scleras of their eyes were all blindingly white, appearing sightless though in actuality seeing far more. The being in the front, serving as the chief technician, seemed to work at a significantly faster pace than the others. He alone seemed to register the arrival of their creator- or at least the clone of him- the late Szayel Aporro Granz.

The analytical Espada addressed his chief technician as if chatting with a fond acquaintance, "Any news on the movements of our little guinea pigs?"

Without pausing in his current tasks the chief technician replied flatly, "Doctor Granz, as of 22:17 last night the subjects are no longer detectable."

Feigning surprise, the scientist raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? Can that be? Are you saying you lost track of them due to a Shinigami's shielding techniques?"

There was only the slightest of pauses before the tech answered, "Negative, Doctor. The calculations would still allow for detection of trace amounts of reiatsu from the subjects. The signatures have vanished from the living world. An error must have occurred with the data."

But the pink haired scientist only chuckled in response, "No. There's nothing wrong with the data…" and he tapped the rims of his bony spectacles thoughtfully. "Well, it seems Urahara Kisuke works even more expeditiously than I would have anticipated."

The head Fraccion stated blankly, "Please advise on alternate parameters for the search."

"Quite to the point aren't you, my pet?" Granz teased playfully. "I've got some parameters that will blow your tiny little digitized mind."

A/N: Ok that's numbah 3! 4 is being put together and should be out pretty soon. We'll get to see Tatsuki's thoughts on all this and get a bit more info on what's going on with her, because let's face it- this is her story ^_^ Please review!

Thanks, Mira