Chapter one

Grimmjow 's dead. Ichigo allowed his Zanpakto to slip from between his fingers, and the sword fell to the ground causing a cloud of dust and sand to rise up around him. It stung his eyes and chafed at the open wounds that covered his exposed flesh, but he could not care less. The hard part was over. Ichigo fell to his knees beside his zanpakto and pressed his hands firmly into the ground. His head was spinning and his wounds were not healing fast enough. For a brief moment, he wondered if he was going to make it. He had to make it. Too many people were counting on him and one of them happened to be standing hundreds of feet above him, her hands clasped over her heart, her chin trembling as she tried to stop her tears from flowing.

Zanpakto in hand Ichigo dragged himself up off the ground and stood. He glanced over his shoulder and met her gaze. His sweet innocent orihime stared down at him her body completely stiff and motionless. He forced a smile and began to trudge towards her.

Ichigo leapt into the air and landed gracefully in front of her. He tossed a casual smile at Nell then turned back towards the golden haired beauty before him. She was too scared to move, he could tell. She had not moved a muscle but her face twitched as she tried to smile back at him but keep herself from crying. Ichigo stood in silence for a long while, waiting for Nell to stop screaming and jumping up and down. Finally she stopped and skittered away. Ichigo knew that she would be back soon and he knew that he had to say or do something otherwise Orihime just might explode.

He opened his mouth to speak but she beat him to the punch.

"I'm sorry," Orihime whispered. Ichigo stared at her for a moment, his mouth agape.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked, his voice harsher than intended.

"This is all my fault," she sobbed. Ichigo took a step forward and wrapped his arms around her thin quaking shoulders.

"This could never be your fault. You have done nothing wrong," he whispered into her hair.

"You could have been badly hurt, or…or," her voice wavered as she struggled to speak.

"But I'm okay and I'm sure the others are doing okay too. We just have to find them and get out of here." Ichigo said. Orihime looked up at him. Her cheeks were flushed and chin was still trembling, but he saw the resolve in her smoky gray eyes.

"You're right. We have to make sure no one was hurt." She pulled away from him slightly and ran her hands down the front of her white dress.

It was then that Ichigo noticed what she was wearing. That ridiculous white outfit that Aizen forced her to wear. She was beautiful as always, but that long, tight fitted white dress just reminded him of how much he had been through to find Orihime and the fact that on occasion he wondered if he would ever see her again. He wanted to tear it off her and wrap her in the flowing dark fabric of his robe.

Ichigo would never really understand what came over him at that exact moment, but he pulled her towards him and crushed his lips against hers. Orihime pressed her hands against his chest and returned the kiss with the same level of urgency and passion. Ichigo kissed her tear stained cheeks, her jaw line and down her neck as he gripped her small waist with his hands. He wanted to touch every inch of her body. He wanted to forget every bit of loneliness that he felt when she was gone. He needed to erase the pain that he felt and kiss her all over until she felt real in his arms, until he forgot that anyone had ever hurt her.

"you're mine Orihime." He whispered roughly against her lips. "And I won't let anyone take you away from me."

Ichigo jumped out of sleep and sat up in bed. He looked around his dark bedroom and frowned. He had been having that dream almost every night for the past month. No, it wasn't a dream. It was a distant memory that he had he had hoped would fade in time. But the memory of Orihime's lips was still fresh in his mind. The way her smooth skin felt against his fingers and he dragged her down onto the ground and slid between her legs, covering every inch of her skin in rough needy kisses. He didn't stop until she smelled like his sweat and blood. He refused to stop even when his battle scarred body told him that he could not give anymore.

Ichigo shuddered as he remembered the way she trembled when his callused hands slid up her inner thigh. He would have taken her right then and there, but Nell returned and his time with Orihime was over but she was his in that moment and that was all that he would ever have.

Ichigo groaned inwardly and threw himself back against his pillows. He grabbed at his spiky orange hair then reached for his cell phone. He scrolled through the numbers quickly then hit send. It rang twice before he heard a sexy yet familiar voice on the other end.

"Rangiku get your ass over here and wear something sexy," He said then hung up.