To Protect The Princess

Ichigo could tell something was wrong… he couldn't shake that bad feeling off his shoulders as he looked out his bedroom window. He tapped his right foot on the soft carpet, pondering what could be bothering him so much. He had gotten a text from Orihime earlier asking if he wanted to grab a bite to eat, but Yuzu had already cooked, and not wanting to be rude to either of them, he told Orihime that he would go out to eat with her on another night, and stayed at home to eat with his family. Orihime wasn't too saddened about it. She knew he always kept his promises, so she was excited when he promised to take her out to eat another night. And she knew how important his family was to him, and knew Yuzu always worked hard to keep that family running. It wasn't as if they were a bad family, it's just that after Isshin's wife died, mother of the three children, Yuzu took it upon herself to take over her mother's house work, while Isshin ran his clinic. All in all, it was a well run family, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

So what was this uneasy feeling he had about him? He shook his head, pulling out his cell phone. He flipped it open, and ran through his contact list, until finding Orihime's name. He's call her house first, see if she was there. He pressed the call button, and lifted the phone to his ear. He got the answering machine, "That's odd… I thought she'd be home by now." he heard the beep tone, "Hey, Orihime, I was just calling to see if you were home. I guess you aren't, so call me back when you do. Bye." he pressed the end call button, but quickly found her cell phone number and pressed call again.

Voicemail.

Now he knew something was wrong. She always answered his calls to her cell. Always. Since the war had ended with Aizen and the soul reapers, his life as one sort of steadied. There wasn't much trouble going on with Soul Society, and anything that was didn't usually get him involved too much.

Ichigo paced about the room, wondering what he should do. He could go into his soul reaper form and look for her, but if she was in trouble, he couldn't run back and get his body. By then it could be too late. And if he just went as it is, he could be to slow to find her. Damn. He finally decided just to go as he was. He ran down the stair and headed for the front door, "Where are you headed off to this late Ichigo?" he stopped at hearing the voice of his father, who was sitting on the couch watching a medical mystery show. Ichigo grabbed his jacket.

"I think Orihime's in trouble. She won't answer my phone calls and she went out by herself tonight. I'm going out to see if I can find her. It's probably nothing though. Don't worry." Isshin nodded, and Ichigo left through the front door. Though as soon as it shut behind him, he bolted down the streets. He flipped his phone open, going through his contacts once more. He pressed the call button, waiting as the phone on the other end rung. The person finally picked up, "Chad? It's Ichigo. Is Orihime with you?" he received a no, "I think she might be in trouble. Meet me at Urahara's shop in ten minutes. I'm going to call Uryu too." he hung up the phone, soon calling his quincy friend, "Uryu? It's Ichigo. Is Orihime with you?" another no, "I think she's in trouble. She isn't answering any of my calls. Meet me at Urahara's place in ten minutes. Chad will be there too."

"are you sure? She could be taking a shower or a bath you know. She can't really answer phones while in the water Ichigo. Use your head."

"Shut up! It's been hours since she last texted or called me, and she usually does when she gets home! Now hurry up!" he hung up the phone angrily, "Damn that Uryu. He never takes anything seriously." he ran down the streets, turning each corner, until he heard some men chuckling.

"Look what we have here." Orihime's misty grey eyes widened as she gasped, turning around to see two men standing behind her.

"Looks like someone who decided to walk alone tonight." she turned on her heels, another man blocking her only way out. He slowly approached her, "What's yer name, princess?" Orihime didn't answer, "Did you not hear me? I asked you your name!" he brought his hand up and slapped her across the face, sending her to the ground. He knelt down, taking her chin between his thumb and index finger, "You have big boobs there girl. Why don't you show them to us?" he took his free hand and curled his fingers into the bottom of her pink shirt.

"Please… don't…" she whimpered, making the man grin.

"Awe, she's asking me to stop." the two other men chuckled, "What do you say boys? Why don't we have a little fun?" the two other men smirked as they advanced towards her. One took her purse.

"Let's see here…" he took out her wallet and opened it to her student ID card, "Orihime Inoue." he dug out her phone, "It looks like you missed a call. He opened her phone, "Ichigo Kurosaki. He your boyfriend bitch?" Orihime's eyes widened. He had called? Was her phone on silent? She looked away with a slight blush.

"N-no…" she softly replied, feeling herself on the verge of tears.

"Then he won't have a problem with us just having us take a little look see at your packaging." with a low chuckle, his buddies grabbed one arm each, pinning her to the cold ground. She tried to scream, but another hand came to cover her mouth. She struggled against them, earning her another slap in the face. The leader of the group took out a pocket knife, sliding the blade from it's sheath. Orihime gasped in fear, trying to scream again up hearing the blade rip through the fabric of her shirt. He then proceeded to cut each sleeve before ripping the shirt off her body, "Damn girl, this isn't padded?" he took her bra strap and snapped it against her shoulder, "I think we hit the jackpot tonight boys." Orihime felt hot tears slid down her cheeks as the man cut the straps of her bra, taking his time to discard that item of clothing with his knife, "Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful." he said upon tearing her bra off her chest. The other men chuckled.

"Get your hands off her." Orihime instantly recognized the voice. When the leader of the other two men stood, she saw Ichigo, a deadly glare in the look of his eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo took steps closer.

"I'm your worst nightmare. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," Ichigo leapt towards the man, tackling him to the ground. Punches were thrown, Ichigo easily winning over him. The two men holding Orihime let her go, rushing towards the orange-haired boy. With one last punch, their leader fell unconscious. Ichigo stood up and then went for the last two. He flung out kicks and more punches, quickly taking care of the weaker members of the man's small gang. The two ran off, leaving their leader behind, who was still unconscious. He turned to Orihime, who was looking at him with wide misty grey eyes, "Are you alright Orihime? Did they hurt you?" she shook her head.

"N-no." she looked down, the squeaked as she covered her bare chest with her arms, a heavy blush settling over her cheeks. Ichigo's eyes softened. He slowly walked towards her, taking off his jacket.

"Here." he draped it over her shoulders, "Put your arms through." she looked up at him.

"B-but I have no shirt on…" she said, embarrassment in her voice as she softly whispered to him.

"It's alright. I just care about your safety. Now, put your arms through." she blinked, a few tears sliding down her face. But she nodded, and slowly removed her arms to put them through the jacket sleeves. He reached for the bottom of the jacket and zipped it closed, "There you go." he said softly, smiling at her, "I'm glad I got here in time." he reached over and got her purse, putting the stuff that was scattered about it back into it. He handed the purse to her. He took his own out, calling Chad, "Hey, I found her. It was a false alarm. I saw her walking down the street. You can go back home. Okay, bye." he called Uryu and said the same. When he hung up, he heard sniffling. He turned to Orihime, "Orihime? Are you alright?" he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I-Ichigo!" she cried, launching herself into his arms, "I was so scared Ichigo! I thought he was… I thought-" Ichigo put his arms around her.

"Shhh. It's alright. I'm here now. They won't bother you anymore." he moved to a kneeling position, sliding an arm under her knees and the other around her back. He lifted her into his arms bridal style and started walking down the streets, until coming across her apartment complex. He carried her up the stairs and placed her back on her feet when they reached her front door. Orihime opened her purse and dug out the key, opening the door and walking inside, Ichigo following her. Orihime put her purse on the couch, going into the kitchen and filling a glass with water. She brought it back out to Ichigo.

"Do you want some water?" he nodded with a smile.

"Sure. Thank you." Ichigo took the glass from her, "Did you want to go change? I can wait for you out here." Orihime, slowly nodded.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." she said before going into her bedroom. Ichigo slowly drank his water, his nerves settling. If he had been even a few minutes later than when he arrived… He shook his head at the thought. He looked towards the hallway when he heard very faint sniffles. He slowly walked down the dark hallway, making sure he didn't make a sound, and leaned closely to Orihime's bedroom door.

"I can't believe he saw me like that." he heard her say to herself, "I can't believe that the one person who saw me like that, without a top or bra and about to be raped, was the one I am in love with…" Ichigo's brown eyes widened, the glass of water almost falling from his hand, "I was so stupid going out alone. I should have called Tatsuki… Maybe then if those guys attacked us she could have beaten them up…" he heard a whimper, "If only I was stronger… so that Ichigo wouldn't have to save me all the time… He always has to save me…" Ichigo sat the glass on the floor and silently opened the door, peeking inside. Orihime had changed, still wearing her skirt, but had changed from Ichigo's jacket to one of her night shirts. It was a light blue, that accented well with her light yellow skirt, "I'm just a burden to him… He always gets hurt because of me." Ichigo's eyes softened as he went in. Orihime didn't notice him until feeling a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders. She gasped, tensing.

"You aren't a burden to me Orihime." Orihime's eyes slightly widened as she recognized the gentle voice, "I have never considered you a burden." he whispered into her ear, nuzzling his cheek to her soft locks of burnt orange, "I save you, because you are my friend, and I care about you Orihime. And your safety. I would risk my life again to make sure you are safe." her heart was beating so fast in her chest, she was pretty sure he could feel it against his chest as it pressed to her back. He lifted a finger to draw the tear away that was sliding down her cheek., "So many tears have been shed on my account. It pains me to see you cry. Please don't cry anymore Orihime." she looked away from him, "It doesn't matter what I saw tonight. The only thing I cared about was making sure you were alright. It scared me to death when you didn't answer your phones. I kept having this feeling that something was wrong, and the second your cell sent me to voicemail I was grabbing my jacket and running out the door." she sat upright, scrambling for her chair. She grabbed the light grey jacket.

"Speaking of jacket, h-here's yours. Thank you for letting me use it." she said with a blush. Ichigo stood and went to where she was standing. He took the jacket, draping it back over the chair, taking the hand that was holding it in his. A blush returned to Orihime's cheek, "I-Ichigo?" she spoke quietly, wondering what he was doing. It was silent for a few seconds, Orihime and Ichigo just looking at each other, before Ichigo slowly leaned down, hesitant at first, grazing his lips against hers, and pressed them together. Her lips quivered under his. Was this really happening? Was Orihime Inoue actually kissing the boy, no, man, that she had been practically in in love with for these two years? Her shaking arms came to wrap around Ichigo's broad chest, while his settled around her back. Her hands slowly wove into his hair, which he kept long after it had grown out from training for his Final Getsuga Tenshou form when he battled Aizen for the last time. It was two, maybe two and a half inches longer, making him appear to be in his twenties rather than a boy of seventeen.

If this was an early heaven, Orihime certainly thought she found it. After all these years of being alone, finally, someone protected the princess, and would protect her forever.

Just a little one-shot I did for a contest on DeviantArt. I decided to put it on here too. :) Enjoy! Please review too! :)