I carry her to her apartment, her head cradled in my neck. I refuse to let anyone see her in this state. If she wanted the whole world to only see her smile when she said goodbye to our closest friends, then I would do just that. I would block out everyone's wandering eyes. I would lie. Whatever she wanted; I would do.

So when I set her on her couch, I make no comment as she pulls me onto it. I don't blink an eye as she moves in a way that makes follow suit until we are lying down. I only hold her closer as her tears become louder and the shakes become more visible. I only squeeze her tighter, hoping that I could offer her something in her time of need. Hoping that I am enough for her to get better. Hoping that I am enough to keep her together, to make her happy again.

But even as seconds slips into minutes and minutes into hours, I fear that I'm not. And even when her tears quieten, and she falls asleep in my arms, there is a sinking feeling lingering in my stomach. Lingering and festering, growing bigger as her tears on my skin dry.

My phone vibrates, and I reach into my pocket. I check the name, and that feeling spreads.

I answer.

"Missed me already?"

Humor. A common deflection. A common device used to hide. To deceive.

She snorts.

"Like a heart attack."

I roll my eyes.

"Then what do you want?"

"You know."

I sigh as I look up at the ceiling. As the feeling slowly starts to consume me.

"You know," I retort back to her.

She's quiet.

"It's…" she starts to say only to falter.

I squeeze my eyes shut and grind my teeth as I hold my tongue back. As I try to hold the feeling back, but when I hear a watery sigh on the other end, I break.

"Then come back, Tatsuki. She needs you," I confess before my voice lowers, before my heart clenches. "I…I'm not enough, Tatsuki. I'm just not. I wish I were. More than anything, I wish I could be enough. But," I pause as I look down at the beautiful, broken girl in my arms. "I'm not."

"Ichigo…"

"Just…just think about it. Or convince her to go with you. She's smart. She can get in anywhere, even if it's late. She can work over there and start the semester later. She can be with you, and she'll be happy, Tatsuki. She'll be happy again…I need her to be happy, Tatsuki," I whisper.

"What about you?" she asks.

My lips twitch.

"I…I don't know. I can't get into your school with my grades. I couldn't afford to live there, either. But it doesn't matter. As long as she's with you, I'll be okay because she'll be happy."

"So you would let her go? Just like that?"

It's unclear if she's referring to me letting Orihime go to school with her or me letting Orihime go all together. But even if it's unclear, the answered remains the same.

"Yes."

"…why don't think you're enough, Ichigo?"

I laugh quietly.

"You aren't seeing what I'm seeing. She's hurting, and I can't help her," I admit pathetically. "But if it's the other way, if she had to be apart from me, and she stayed with you, it would be okay. It wouldn't be like this. She wouldn't be hurting like this." I dryly swallow. "She needs you more than she needs me, Tatsuki. She loves you more."

"Are you a fucking idiot?!"

I blink in surprise and hold the phone away from my ear until she lowers her voice.

"Don't be sprouting things you know nothing about, Ichigo. Because I can assure you that if it was the opposite, that if you left, she would not be happy. Not now or in the future. She would just exist to exist. Or worse, she would exist because she thought she had to for me," she pauses. "Don't think you aren't enough for her because to her, you are. To her, you're just about everything."

My eyebrows furrow as I glance back down at the slumbering beauty in my arms.

Why couldn't I believe her? Me, enough for this unearthly girl? It's nothing more than talk, nothing more than lip service but…I desperately wanted to find the truth in her words. I want Tatsuki's words to be true. I need her words to be true.

"Would," I hesitate for a second. "Would she have asked?"

"What?"

I gulp.

"If it were me, would she have asked me to stay?" I finish quietly.

I hear Tatsuki's breathing fill the silence before she confirms my suspicion.

"No, but you wouldn't ask her to stay if it were the opposite, would you? You two are more alike than you know. It's kind of annoying."

I smirk at her words, secretly pleased at the comparison. If I were anything like the kind-hearted girl that stole my heart, I would consider myself lucky.

Still, the thought that she wouldn't have asked me to stay by her side made the turmoil in me swirl uncomfortably.

"I don't think I ever told you this, but I've died for her, Tatsuki. But the thing is…she brought me back to life. She's the only who could have done that. In more than one way, she's brought me back to life, and I just…she's done so much for me. She's saved me, and I'm…scared that I won't be able to do the same." I squeeze Hime to me. "I'm not sure this is a battle I can win."

"Who says you have to win? Hell, who says that this is even your battle, anyways? All you can do is just be with her. Just watch on the sidelines and cheer for her. She'll get through this."

I sign as I run my fingers of my free hand through her hair.

"I've never been good at that, you know."

"Which is why you've always came to me beaten and battered."

"Battered, sure, but never beaten," I smugly correct.

"Whatever, loser."

"Takes one to know one," I counter.

I can picture her rolling her eyes, and I smirk at causing her annoyance, but it fades as I feel Orihime shift in my arms.

"Tatsuki, I'll do my best. I will. But come back when you can. Whoever she needs more, it doesn't matter because she needs you. Plain and simple. She does."

"I know. I'll be back before you guys know it."

"Good."

"Only if you admit that you need me too," she adds. I can hear the wickedness of her request.

"Hell no."

"Oh, come one, Ichigo. You, the mighty hero of worlds, were just vulnerable a few seconds ago. What's a little more?"

I blush.

"Sh-shut up!"

She snorts a laugh.

"Man, you and your toxic masculinity. How Orihime puts up with you is beyond me." She comments. Before I can insult her, she interrupts me. "But even when you don't admit it, I know. After all, you'll always be the crying, mama's boy I've know for all these years. Well, Chad's stop is almost here, and he wants to say something to you before he gets off to board his plane. Here."

I hear a bit of shuffling.

"Hey."

I can feel my forehead winkle.

"Hey, what's up?"

Silence.

"I'll be back. Before you know it, I'll be back, too. So until then, keep it safe for me."

Before I can ask what he's talking about, the phone disconnects.

I frown, wondering what he could have meant, but finding no answer, I reach to put my phone back. But since she shifted, I couldn't reach my pant pocket, so I settle for placing it into my jacket.

When I hear something hit against my phone, I reach in and pull Chad's coin.

"Oh."

Nothing more than a quiet sound escapes my lips as I hold his precious coin in my fingers.

I feel a small smile take over my face before my arm goes to cover my eyes, my hand clasping the coin tightly.

And as I feel a tear makes its way down my cheek, I realize that Tatsuki's right. I really am that little boy she met so many years ago. I've just gotten bigger, gotten stronger, gotten wiser, but still, I'm still crying. Because after all this time, I couldn't handle saying goodbye.

So with the broken girl on my chest, I let myself feel the weight of the day and hope that when she wakes, she'll find comfort in the broken boy who holds her.

And just maybe, the broken girl and the broken boy can become whole again.