Sanctuary

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, so please no suing involved. I’m just a fan who loved the show so much and incidentally found a little bit of an opening and ripped it open.

Some would call her immensely stupid for loving him the way she did, and to some extent she was fine with that. After all she prided herself on being able to understand him that much more than anyone else in their circle of friends… Still after all this time he doesn’t know how deep her feelings for him run. Why would he? She was only a silly girl who had gotten him into much trouble in past battles. Always protecting her, protecting her safety… the one time she had risen above all obstacles in her abilities had been that period of time she’d spent with Aizen, and even then… that all came as a blur as it happened much too fast with the exception of her desire to be with him….and the joy she felt when he came for her…
“Kurosaki-kun…” She whispered his name putting down her sweet bean paste. With a soft sigh she began to wish she had a tad bit more courage… Ichigo… he has been distracted these days… or rather since Rukia resurfaced once more. Maybe her worst fear was coming true and Ichigo had grown to fall for Rukia…
“Inoue-san?” She blinked finding a pair of spectacled eyes lay on her with eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Are you okay?” And the female jumped immediately she waved her hands in a panic looking at him as the sun illuminated his dark hair.
“I’m fine! Really!!! “ She picked up her paste and began to slowly consume her food. The Quincy merely looked at her in silence as she continued to eat. It could almost be completely odd that the two were having lunch on a park bench… typically the whole group would be together but it tends to be a tad awkward with Sado especially if Tatsuki ever came around and the air became even thicker. Little does Sado know that Ishida and Inoue had been making their way back from the craft store, as the male was making a shirt for Inoue at the girl’s request, and came across an odd couple in an odd corner of the park that typically couldn’t be seen by most pedestrians… well needless to say it still shocks her to this day to find the pair are still not an official couple much less barely acknowledging one another in the day light. All the same Orihime, and Uryuu kept one another company almost all the time. Maybe it had something to do with Ichigo running off with Rukia to come up with some sort of game plan as to what they plan on doing about the Hollow problem. Rukia…
“Ishida-kun, have you ever been in love?” Inoue asked rather suddenly seeing the male stop chewing his food long enough to turn his head and gaze at her.
“What would make you ask such a question?” Ishida’s fingers moved to adjust his glasses.
“Just wanted to ask if love only makes us girls crazy and super giddy. If we’re the only ones who get blind sided.”
“Well to answer your question, no I can’t say I’ve truly loved someone. But I won’t lie and say it makes just girls crazy and blind sided to everything else.” Ishida then proceeded to lift his chopsticks to eat once more.
“You’ve never been in love Ishida-Kun?” Inoue looked at him almost horrified. “But it’s the stuff that teenagers do! How could you have made it almost all through high school without having to fall in love once?!? All the high school based dramas everyone falls in love!!!”
“There was someone I could have fallen for.” Ishida admitted almost quietly as continued eating sliding his gaze to look at the busty female from the corner of his eye. “But she… She was obviously in love with someone else, so rather than pursue those feelings I let them die peacefully… Inoue-San…?” He then had to turn and face her and she looked like she had just watched a kitten die right before her eyes.
“That’s so sad!!!” Her huge eyes turned to them all misty.
“Its not that important… really….” Ishida finally felt completely awkward with the tears that looked like they’d never fall, and they never did as in a flash Inoue’s eyes cleared up and she had a look of determination on her face.
“We’ve not graduated yet!!!” She held up a fist. “There’s still some time left before its too late! We’ll find you a girl of your dreams in no time!”
“Um… excuse me.” A soft voice Interrupted the two. Two pairs of eyes turned to the intruder who flushed at once under the attention. “Excuse me… But I’m new here and I’m looking for this place…” She held out a paper with an address scribbled onto it, but the pair seemed to be in awe looking at the girl. She looked awfully out of place with her black hair in shiny ringlets and pale yellow dress looking like something to be worn on a porcelain doll with all it frills and ribbon and lace. Looking at her further allowed one to take in the white tights that covered her legs with pristine white shoes to match. Never mind “something to be worn on a porcelain doll” she looked like a living doll, cute in her own ways. Cute in a child sort of way, even down to the red haired blue eyed doll in her grasp that wore a dress similar to her own. “Excuse me?” She uttered again a little louder this time. Ishida felt his skin prickle with embarrassment of gawking, even worst when it was Inoue who had snapped out of it first.
“I know this street but…Do you know a short way, Ishida–kun?” Inoue handed the paper over to the spectacled male who adjusted his glasses once more before nodding.
“Yes, you take this street here all the way till you see a mail box…” He stood and proceeded to give directions and the girl watched his face nodding as she attempted to absorb the information.
“Thank you!!” She bowed a bit to the two and bid them good day and rushed off with a little pink suitcase in tow and only then were they able to spot a yellow parasol that matched her attire hanging on the back.
“Now, Ishida-kun…” Inoue tapped her finger to her chin. “What kind of girl would be good for you…” Ishida then crumpled up his paper bag of lunch and stood.
“We should get going…”
*~*~*~
“I’ve seen that look before Kisuke.”
“You’re back already, Yoruichi?” Urahara turned away from a book his eyes had been skimming over more so than actually reading.
“Yes, even Soul Society is having trouble following the movements of the hollows. It seems they’re appearing much too frequently in Hueco Mundo and being dispersed into the human world almost as quickly and not even being limited to Karakura… to be more to the point its like the whole world revolves around Karakura. Possibly because of the activity that has been going on thanks to Ichigo’s company the hollows frequent the area…” She paused. “It’s as if they’re being drawn here by some source or other.”
“So what do you think this source is?” Urahara glanced at the cat eyed goddess before him.
“Ichigo? The increase of spirit energy in people drawing them out more? Right, now there are too many factors in this. Much too many and its not just me who thinks so.” She rubbed her head sliding the ponytail to and fro for a bit.
“I see….” Urahara’s fan made its way up to his face to conceal part of his face as a look of concentration crossed his features…