A/N: This story is over a year old and after so many revisions and changes, I still have not completed this story haha. Maybe by late 2013 this story will-hopefully-be completed (: Another thing that I wanted to say is "THANK YOU!" Maybe you can tell, but writing has never really been my thing. But I've been trying to get better at it, for myself, which is good I think. Writing has kinda been my way of "daydreaming" and being a bit more creative and take a break from real life. Any who, please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, if I do anytime soon I'll make sure to give you guys the memo hehe~

::Chapter Four/Year Two::

Even though it was their second year of college, Ichigo still refused to think that Inoue would just leave Karakura like that.

There were just too many unanswered questions and important things he wanted to say to the healer.

Obviously he was not seeing the whole picture. But he will, in due time, he would make sure of it.

This whole situation was irritating him, Inoue not being in Karakura was just plain wrong.

He would not be content until she was back.

Sure, even then Orihime would probably not want to talk to him, but it is most definitely better if he could make sure that she was okay.

And he would figure out something, because he refused to live a life without Inoue.

Because she was a precious friend.

That's it.

(Right?)

Whatever, all that was important right now was that he was going to bring her back home.

But first he was going to have to talk with his other friends.

::

Ishida was sipping his black coffee, never keeping his eyes off his textbook. Guaranteed he didn't have any upcoming exams this week, but that didn't prevent him from studying to keep the information fresh in his head. He had been doing this for hours straight in the cubicle in the university's library and hadn't taken a break since. As expected the library was calm and peaceful, which was why he preferred to study by himself. He could go on his own pace and that itself was a plus considering his faster ability to absorb information compared to his peers.

As for Ichigo and Sado, the two weren't even aspiring for the same career and yet they studied together. Sado aspiring to become an engineer would take turns from quizzing Ichigo and studying his own material. This method was ridiculous to the Quincy, thus the reason why he studied alone.

Both Ishida and Ichigo were pursuing to become doctors, yet they only had a few classes together. It didn't matter however, as the two had grown a bit distant after Inoue's departure. They never had really talked much when they were in their high school years, apart from topics relevant to hollows and their other duties, and things hadn't changed since. Also, their hollow responsibilities had decreased dramatically when a new soul reaper representative arrived in Karakura. And as for Sado, he never talked much anyways and things between the two remained constant.

Keigo and Mizuiro were other people he had not kept in touch with, which he could care less about.

That only left Tatsuki, whom he had surprising kept in touch with post high school graduation. But it was Tatsuki rather who tried to keep the friendship with him as well as the other boys. Although Tatsuki was not living in Karakura anymore, she often visit from dorming in a college in a nearby town. Ishida didn't push away nor pull Tatsuki, due to the fact that he felt bad for the girl. It wasn't pity but he somewhat understood her motives. Orihime had left Tatsuki, and though the raven haired girl was strong, it had hurt her.

Tatsuki may have seemed the same, but from Ishida's point of view, she was getting tired. He was no fool, he knew that the two girls had an extremely strong relationship but with no form of communications from Orihime, Tatsuki was no doubt expected to be frustrated at some points. All he hoped was that nothing too severe would happen to the girls' friendship.

"Ishida, I thought you would be there." Ichigo said placing a strong hand on the desk.

"Hm, and I never thought that I would see you here."

Ichigo didn't retort anything back but instead replied, "Do you know anything about Inoue?" Ichigo didn't have time to beat around the bushes, nor did he want to.

The Quincy adjusted his glasses to the top of the bridge of his nose, stalling a bit, "And why exactly do you want to know?" Looking at Ichigo, his eyes were like stabbing daggers but he saw something else there that looked like fear and determination together. He continued, "But not that it's any of your business, I knew before you."

The vague comment triggered Ichigo, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"That she was going to leave."

:::

"Okay class is dismissed. Make sure that you pick up your tests from me in the front."

Orihime packed up all her belongings in her bag, and stretched out her arms a bit. The class was four hours long, beginning in the morning, and she still had another class in half an hour. Thank goodness she invested some money to buy herself a recorder, it made it much easier for note taking and to study when it came down to tests. She ran a hand through her silky tresses, she had cut a one or two inches a few weeks ago, just because it was getting long and was getting a bit harder to manage. Inoue remembered how the haircutter scolded her for not cutting it sooner, because of something about how it was important to trim the hair to keep it fresh. As much as the haircut lady was right, Inoue slightly wished she didn't cut it. She missed the little bit of hair that was cut off, despite it only being a few inches, but apparently many others had complimented her on her hair. It didn't matter to her really, and she was sure to keep it still long in her brother's memory.

"Hey Inoue." she turned her head to her left, it was her classmate Mathews, he was a transfer student this year but he already seemed to get the hang of everything and had a group of friends. He was from America like many students in the college were surprisingly.

"Hi Mathews," she smiled at him, she didn't talk to him all that much but he seemed friendly so she kept the conversation going, "You're going to get your test right? Did you think you did okay?"

Mathews smirked and raked a hand through his black hair, "I sure hope I did, I studied so hard for that test! But considering how hard the professor makes the test, I most likely did average." he chuckled and then smiled, "How about you?"

"Ah~hopefully I did well, there was a couple of questions that I really didn't know and just guessed on!"

"Ha, I'm sure you did fine. I heard that you're pretty smart."

Orihime blushed, "Heh, not really Mathews. I bet that your millions times smarter than I am." Inoue tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she felt like she was in high school again blushing. Since college, Inoue was more studious and hadn't talk to most boys unless it was school related. Much more, the only time she felt flushed like this was with, well, Ichigo. She had never even talked this much with Mathews anyways, and yet she felt comfortable with him, like he was a friend. It sounded strange but it was true.

"Yo Mathews!" another boy called out.

Both the auburn haired healer and Mathews turned their head to the boy walking towards them.

It was Justin, Mathews friend, another smart and friendly student in Inoue's class.

"Oh hi Inoue." the brown haired boy greeted. He adjusted his glasses before continuing, "Did you guys get your tests back yet?"

Mathews answered for him and Orihime, "Nope not yet."

Orihime walked slightly ahead of the two boys, not wanting to intrude on the two friends' conversation. Once she finally reached the front of the class room she went towards her professor to receive her test.

"Oi, Inoue." the professor held out the healer's test upside down, instantly making Inoue worry that she failed the exam.

She gave a weak smile before taking the test and turning it up, her jaw nearly dropped, a ninety!

The professor smiled at his student, "Nice work Inoue, keep up the good work!"

"Thank you!" Inoue beamed, leaving the classroom with a smile. A ninety was the highest grade she had gotten so far in the class, not that the eighty marks she had gotten weren't as good as well. But still, she was glad that she had finally improved higher. She wanted to pass the class with at least an A- instead of the B she had so far. Maybe she would be able to achieve her goal after all.

Goals, she made plenty of them when she decided to leave Karakura.

Orihime shook her head, she would not think about Karakura. The banished the thought from her mind.

She didn't want to feel all upset after receiving a good test grade, so instead she went to buy herself coffee from a store nearby.

::::

Orihime was next in line "One black coffee with cream and sugar, please."

"Anything else?" the male behind the counter inquired.

"No thank you."

A few minutes later she received her coffee. Oddly enough, Orihime wasn't much of a big fan of coffee. When she was younger, her brother would often remind her not to have too much of the drink and even told her that it would stunt her growth. She was never sure if he was serious about that tidbit or not, but nevertheless she tired her best to not rely on coffee to give her a boost of energy.

The girl's phone rang; it was Tatsuki, making the girl inwardly groan. It wasn't that she no longer liked her long time friend; it was just that she was torn between keeping her promise to herself about not keeping in contact with anyone in Karakura and the urge of confiding with her best friend. There were many times when she had wanted to call Tatsuki about moving to a completely new place and how she was nervous at first, or about how she got a new apartment that she could afford because of the job she got, and even about how she passed a tough exam. It wasn't only that, she wanted to hear about how her friend was doing to! As she recalled Tatsuki had mentioned how she was going to college as a business major as a back up plan if her life long dream of owning a dojo somehow failed. Orihime was curious as to how Sado, Ishida and the rest were enjoying their college years as well. She hadn't kept in touch with anyone so far, so maybe, just this one time she can call back Tatsuki- you know just to let her know that she was alive, Inoue justified herself.

Redialing the number, Orihime braced herself.

ring...ring...ring...ring The line picked up

"Hello?" the familiar voice brought a gush of happiness to the healer, "Orihime is that you?"

"Hi Tatsuki!" she smiled as if she was face to face with her best friend, "Hey, you are not mad at me right? I know it's been a long while since we last talked, and I know you've been trying to contact me numerous times but-" she was cut off.

"Orihime, its okay, I'm just so happy that you called back. I would've torn my hair off if you didn't call me for seven years." Tatsuki laughed another thing that Inoue had missed, "So should I really be happy that you called me, or should I be worried because you called me about something bad?"

"Oh no, no! It's nothing like that, I promise Tatsuki. It just that I missed talking to you."

"What about that whole not talking to anyone in Karakura thing? Did you call anyone else yet?"

"Of course not, Tatsuki! I would definitely call you first anyways. But I don't really have any intentions of calling anyone else, so I guess you are the exception!"

"Well..." Tatsuki dragged out, 'To tell you the truth, technically I'm not from Karakura anymore."

"Huh?" the orange head was dumbfounded, "I don't get it, what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that I'm dorming in a college, not in Karakura, but really close to it!" Tatsuki was happy to finally talk to her friend about the changes and the new things about her life.

And the two talk for a long time, or at least until Inoue had to go to class again.

:::::

"What the fuck? How could you have known that Inoue was leaving?" Ichigo balled his fists, "She told you first?" As much as Ichigo hated to say it, why would Orihime tell Ishida about her plans? She loved him, not that idiot four eyed Quincy! Ichigo tightened his fists, correction, Inoue used to love him. Tch whatever, that still could not have been true, if it was anyone Inoue would've told it would be Tatsuki. That shocked face Tatsuki had when Inoue made the announcement was fake. He should've known that at least! Ichigo made a mental note to himself that he would have to talk to Tatsuki as well the next time he saw her.

"No, I didn't not say that Kurosaki." he paused, "its bit of a story, so try to listen the first time, I don't like to repeat myself. As you know, Inoue-san is in the club as I, and as you probably had not noticed, she had been dozing off more often in our senior year of high school. And although I value her privacy I was concerned about her."

"Get to the point! What the hell are you saying?"

"Enough," Ishida said sternly, "I saw Inoue doing something with her notebook for the majority of the club meeting one day and she looked worried that day. So when she left the room to go to the restroom or something, I peered over as to what she was writing. Apparently she was writing a letter to Tatsuki, so I figured I had nothing to worry about. However I still skimmed through the letter anyways. And I assume that you can guess the rest anyways."

"What else?" Ichigo could tell that Ishida was hiding something.

"Why should I tell you, you won't do anything anyways?"

"Shut the hell up! All I want to know is what are you not telling me? I can tell that there's something more you bastard!"

His face was straight, "Inoue loves you."

Ichigo could almost feel the slight blush that dared to appear, but did not as he felt rage instead. As much as he wanted to correct the statement, he knew that wasn't the thing Ishida was hiding.

"Don't lie to me Ishida. Why can't you tell the truth?" Ichigo shook his head, "What is it? What else did you find out about Inoue?"

"I'm not lying Kurosaki. Inoue does love you. She even wrote you a letter before she told the rest of us. There was another letter that she was writing; I didn't time to put it back before Inoue came so I kept it. I didn't read the whole thing even to today because I felt bad disrespecting her privacy. But I guess since it was directed to you, you can have the letter."

Much to Ichigo's surprise, Ishida had the letter with him along with his books. Taking his belongings with him, Ishida left the letter on the desk and left without a word.

::::::

It was a secret, Orihime had written a letter to Ichigo as well to the one she written for Tatsuki.

She had thought losing the letter was a sign that she should not sent the letter to Ichigo Kurosaki.

That's why she didn't rewrite the letter, because it seemed like it wasn't meant to be.

Too Bad, Too Bad.

Maybe things would've been different.

A/N: So how did you like it? Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Suddenly it seems like the story as much more drama to it! And as I said before let me thank all those who expressed their interest in this story :)

Reviewers-These are the people that keep me writing by letting me know their thoughts about this story and how to improve. There may be multiple mentions of users, depending how many times you reviewed this story Also users in quotations are the anonymous reviewers:

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Hopefully I didn't misspell your names and whoa, I never noticed how many anonymous reviewers I had haha~with very funny names. But thanks to you all (52 to be exact~) :)

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Thank you so much for all the support & I hope you continue~ and who knows maybe I might update in a few weeks? But if you guys don't mind, could you also vote on a poll on my profile? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

By the way is anyone else excited to watch the Olympics? I never watched it before, but hey there's always a first time for everything right?

Until next time,

iloveyoualot