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Left Behind But Not Forgotten	By : Polymer Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 5127 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Tite Kubo and Shonen Jump own Bleach, I don't. I make no money from the writing of this fanfiction story.

Chapter List
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In silence they had parted ways after Ryuuken recieved an urgent bleeping from his pager. Apologetically they'd parted company with the promise that they'd get back in touch with one another again. Annoyed at being left behind in the dust while her friends fought, she’d demanded that he teach her to use her powers.
Ryuuken obliged, enjoying the challenge of a fierce student. Of course she wasn’t a Quincy, but his training methods could strengthen her fledgeling powers sufficiently enough to fight in Karakura Raizer. A perfect distraction against the oncoming Arrancar threatening Karakura town. He had made all the costumes himself. Who would have thought Keigo, Chizuru and Tatsuki could fight so well alongside Don Kanonji, Jinta, Kon, and Ururu. Everyone had their own role in the war about to transpire.
Then the business with fighting off Arrancar had happened where Tatsuki used her powers to their fullest extent. Throughout the whole affair Tatsuki kept contact with him. Urahara's store provided the garments and the training ground but Tatsuki had an inside edge already by this point.
***
She next remembered coming to inside Urahara's shop crisscrossed with bandages laying on a futon. The head of a man with glasses bobbed into view as she groaned. Silver hair framed one set of glasses while the other belonged to a massive man with dreadlocks sporting a store apron.
“She's coming around,” said the man's deep voice.
“Thank you for your assistance Tessai-san,” said Ryuuken's voice. Tatsuki glanced up at him first, then wildly around at the others.
“My teammates...”
“Asano san, and the others are fine. Resting comfortably,” said Tessai. “That's what we hope you'll do as well.
“Everyone is safe and well considering the circumstances,” Ryuuken said as he reached down to squeeze Tatsuki's hand. “you all fought quite well from what I've been told. Though you were all cruel to make us worry so much.”
“I didn't see you coming out to join the party, Doc,” Tatsuki teased him. Ryuuken smiled the slightest bit.
“I was otherwise occupied speaking to another colleague,” said Ryuuken with a chuckle.
Slowly Tatsuki sat up with the assistance of Ryuuken's arm behind her back and groaned. Next to her she saw Chizuro laying quietly dozing, her glasses removed and placed to one side. On a futon at her left Keigo blinked and murmured in a fitful sleep.
“You're the first to wake. But that doesn't mean you should get up and move until I deem it safe,” Ryuuken said.
“Bullcrap,” she mumbled struggling to stand. This caused her to grip tightly onto his sleeve despite his efforts to convince her otherwise.
“Tatsuki-kun?” groaned Keigo as he blinked. He sat upright boldly, then winced as the pain shot through him.
“Keigo you idiot we made it,” Tatsuki laughed as she turned her head to him. He gave her a smile.
“Ishida-hakasa-san?” Keigo said with a slight chuckle. “Come to check on us?”
Dr. Ishida immediately moved over towards him, removing the stethoscope from around his neck as he crouched by Keigo. “Correct. Now stop being foolish and lay still. You don't want your injuries to reopen do you?”
“No sir,” Keigo said, settling down.
“Say, any sign of that loudmouthed jerk Ichigo?” Tatsuki asked as she glanced up at Tessai. “And I don't mean the guy who's pretending to be him either.”
“I had wondered about that,” mumbled Keigo, coughing for Dr. Ishida who pressed a cool metal biconcave disk to his chest. The ends of stethescope were imbedded in the Quincy doctor's ears. He shoved the end of a digital thermometer into Keigo's mouth effectively shutting him up.
“We'll let you know as soon as we've heard anything,” Tessai reassured her. “For now just rest... and relax.”
Before Tatsuki could protest he turned over to check on Chizuru who also groaned coming around. Mumbling Tatsuki lay back and closed her eyes, feeling with the limits of her sense to try and see if she could discern any trace of Orihime's presence. For a moment she was sure she could, only to let it slip away.
“Stupid pain in the ass, I'm fine,” Tatsuki mumbled, throwing off her sheets. She hissed only in slight pain trying to get up.
“And where do you think you're going?” Ryuuken asked, his hands grasping her arms to hold her as she stumbled.
“I need some fresh air. I'm not an invalid and as long as I can walk...” she argued.
“Foolish girl, you aren't indestructible,” Ryuuken sighed rolling his eyes. “But if you insist...”
“Am I interrupting something?” broke in a voice that caused both Tatsuki and Ryuuken to grimace. Still holding her up Ryuuken glared at the proprietor of the shop grinning at them under the shadow of his striped hat while holding up his fan.
“You must have heard from Ichigo or you must know something!” Tatsuki demanded, glaring at him.
“Actually he's still fighting to save your friend along with your other classmates who went. I'm sure that they'll be heading here as soon as they can,” said Urahara gently.
“I want to be around so I can kick Ichigo's ass for rushing off like that,” Tatsuki mumbled, slowly getting more steady on her feet. Looking up at Ryuuken she said, “Can we get out of here please?”
“If you insist,” Ryuuken said with a laborious sigh, pressing his glasses up with his finger. However the look in his eyes suggested that he knew and understood her reasons. She reached down to grab the change of clothes left there neatly folded at the foot of her bed. Tessai showed her a place she could change while Ryuuken waited.
“Doc?” asked Keigo glancing at him. “You haven't heard from Ichigo either?”
“I'm afraid I have not,” said Ryuuken coldly. “Though I have my own words I'll say to him regarding dragging my son into his insanity.”
“But they went to rescue Orihime!” Keigo protested. “How is THAT bad?”
“I am not saying it was incorrect to go to the aid of a young woman and friend, but...” Ryuuken mumbled folding his arms across his chest. “The means were foolhardy!”
“But she was still alive. You have this thing about helping the living so what else could they do?” asked Keigo.
“Humph,” Ryuuken mumbled, not wishing to further answer his point but at least acknowledge that Keigo's reasoning was valid.
“If he'd asked for your help would it have made you go with him?” asked Keigo quietly.
“That point is academic young man. I suggest you focus on becoming well and not waste energy debating what could have been. What is done is done,” he sighed, waiting for Tatsuki to finish getting ready to leave.

***

Across town, Orihime hugged herself shivering as she sat on the sofa. The white clad figure moving about in her apartment had not completely changed his clothes but insisted on fixing her some tea. She tried to get up but a pair of blue eyes looked at her chidingly behind glasses.
“Inoue san, sit down. I don’t want you going into shock. Now I recommend you drink some of this tea and take deep breaths,” Uryuu murmured as he moved over to her.
Orihime now struggled with the complex series of emotional prisons woven by Ulquiorra. If it was a rebound he would survive the emotional rejection. Still he would stand as a friend or lover to help Orihime through this process. It hardly seemed fair a first kiss would be given to another, yet none of them could have figured the path of events lately.
Three power couples had shifted to new relationships in the space of a year. Rukia and Ichigo were now unofficially blundering into one another’s lives. Tatsuki and he were officially broken up when he’d failed to cleanly say goodbye. Instead he’d just rushed off leaving her a heartfelt note.
“Ishida kun I’m fine for heaven's sake. I'm not pregnant or anything,” insisted Orihime waving her hands wildly before her.
Uryuu immediately broke into a fierce blush stammering, “I didn’t imply that! I simply meant...”
“Ishida kun, relax,” Orihime said worriedly as she reached up and caught hold of his hands. One of them was bandaged still although she’d restored it with her powers of rejection. Gently she squeezed them feeling him shaking through them.
“Well I suppose it doesn't help that I brought you back when both of us are in such a state,” Uryuu mumbled as he glanced down at his torn uniform.
“Why don't you take a shower and change while I wash your clothes?” she asked.
Immediately Uryuu's face turned bright red again. He pulled at his collar with one finger as he mumbled, “Well you should go first. I mean ladies first and all.”
“I wouldn't dream of it. I think I can find you a change of clothes while you get a bath, and then while I freshen up you fix your uniform,” Orihime suggested, taking his hand and led him into the bathroom where he could bathe.
Luckily Sora had some old clothes buried in the back of a closet. Selecting some items she held them up and figured would fit Uryuu decently enough. Sure they’d be a bit large, but better than nothing. Though she wished she had no change of clothes because then he couldn’t hide behind them. Along with some clean dry towels she put them on the seat of the toilet for him. Even though she’d been gone for a while in Hueco Mundo her apartment was still in one piece as if waiting for her. She wondered if her life would be similarly retrievable.

***

Since she had wanted to leave Urahara's store, Ryuuken had no objections. She had been almost crushed by Aizen's spirit pressure, and hat had worried Ryuuken sick. Even though he would not admit it aloud. More cigarette smoke stung Tatsuki’s nose but she was more used to it by now. Then both of them climbed out of the car once he’d parked it in the private garage. Instead of holding hands she walked with her arm tucked in the corner of his.

Besides, there were other men living in that building in the company of their neatly dressed wives or some with younger women beside them. Another ride in silence in an elevator lined with gold brass and walnut paneling. Brown and brass instead of the cool antiseptic blue of the hospital.
Five minutes later they reached the hallway and stood in front of the door of Ryuuken's private apartment, where Uryuu had lived for a time until he moved out on his own for high school. Not out of necessity for location, but out of necessity for sanity. His resentment for his father was such that they rarely spoke. Surrounded by luxury short of opulence she murmured, “You redecorated.”
“I've lived here long enough it becomes tiresome not to change,” he said.
She had been here before, but not under these circumstances. In comparison to the visits before this time seemed nerve-wracking as if they were scrutinized for doing something they should not. However, the age of consent was in their favor in this matter. Ryuuken unlocked the door and opened it for her to step inside as he had done in times past. Sometimes he had coaxed Ishida to bring Tatsuki over for tea in a strained but polite setting.
Once she stepped over the threshold, she scanned the familiar sitting room. Ryuuken's hands settled on her shoulders gently. The door slammed shut behind them. Tatsuki turned and reached around him to lock it behind them. She shrugged out of her coat one minute, and then felt him tugging it off her arms to hang up.
For another full minute, they looked at each other awkwardly. Tatsuki could not shove her hands in her skirt pockets because there was none so she folded them across her chest. Ryuuken kept one hand shoved in his pocket the other pushing up his glasses. “Well, here we are,” Tatsuki said.
Ryuuken cleared his throat. “Indeed.”
She stepped forwards closing the gap between them. Tentatively Tatsuki raised both hands to his jacket. With a quick jerk on the lapels, she pulled him down towards her, covered his lips with hers, and kissed him. Ryuuken did not stop her, opening his mouth to allow her access. Tobacco moved over her tongue with a bitter tang almost sufficient to end the kiss. Only the presence of strong mint overtaking it and the movement of his tongue against hers kept her engaged. Not to mention the firm expert press of his lips and his hands folding around her body.
Tatsuki relaxed into the embrace, pressing her breasts to his jacketed chest. She stood up on her toes slightly to reach him more comfortably. His hands rubbed up and down her spine and her neck soothingly with expert fingers. Breath hissing through their noses they tightened their grasp on one another. One of her legs slid up the outer edge of his thigh once a wave of heat shot over her body. At the same time, Dr. Ishida grunted in surprise from the pressure of her fingers pinching his bottom through his trousers. Breaking the kiss he glanced down at her.
“Young lady?”
“What?” Tatsuki asked, glaring up at him. “Someone had to do it.”
The Quincy's face remained impassive but his hand sliding down the back of her thigh caused Tatsuki to gasp. Especially when he seized her other leg and pulled both around his hips. Effortlessly as he had done before he boosted her up in his arms so their faces were level. “Now...”
“Showoff,” Tatsuki commented, leaning in for another kiss. She wasn't surprised to feel the motion of her mentor carrying her further into the apartment. Tatsuki broke the kiss for air to look him in the face. Dr. Ishida's eyes gleamed intently at her, challenging her.
“Are you certain about this?” he asked.
“Would you still be able to carry through if I wasn't?” she asked. “Considering I could apply my knee into a very sensitive place?”
Through a doorway at the side of the hallway, he carried her, chuckling slightly behind closed lips. She felt feel of a soft bed under her back. Western style with a mattress that yielded to their combined weight. Tatsuki glanced up at him looming over her, then grabbed his tie and yanked him down for another kiss.

***

At last when Uryuu opened the door he wore the clothes Orihime set aside. They hung slightly baggy on his frame not filling the same role as her caregiver and older brother but someone of a different nature. Orihime cast him a winning grin before darting into the bathroom. Sighing, Uryuu sat down to stitch up his torn tattered Quincy outfit.
Still his head spun dizzily with the series of revelations taxing an already overtired and battle weary mind. In the space of a mere two days he’d had his hand sliced off, the woman he secretly loved almost killed by a longtime rival and friend. Not to mention the long string of issues he faced confronting a disapproving father. Holding up the needle before his eyes he easily threaded it.
“As if he’d have any room to say anything considering he’s been putting Arisawa through training from hell behind my back,” Uryuu mumbled. Torn cloth was neatly stitched together in a matter of seconds. Too bad his own tattered life wasn’t so easily mended. Biting the end of the thread with his teeth he then worked the end back into the seam so no loose threads hung out.
Orihime emerged wearing a long fluffy pink robe decorated with ducks and purple stars. Just the sort of thing he’d imagine someone would wear as a carry over from teen hood. He’d actually helped her craft the thing in the home handicrafts club wondering just what she would look like in it. Their hands had briefly brushed together in a nervous flurry along with hasty measurements. Then Uryuu remembered blushing up a storm unable to form words properly. It was easier to turn his back and mumble that it was nothing.
Far easier to let her be a close friend and moon over Kurosaki while he stewed in irritation. Watching her best friend push her towards happiness and be there to commiserate with Tatsuki. Only to have her seize him in a first kiss both awkward and sweet. In the heat of the moment they’d decided to tie their own fortunes together. Study dates progressed into a relationship during which secrets were shared. Then she met Ryuuken and things took a turn for the strange.
“Days of our afterlives,” mumbled Uryuu, biting off another thread.
“What was that?” Orihime asked, standing near him.
Swallowing hard, Uryuu set his uniform to the side folding it up. He patted the chair next to him indicating she should sit down. Quietly she strode over and smoothed her robe under her as she took a seat.
It was now or never, he thought to himself before he blurted out, “Inoue san, there’s something I have to confess to you. I’ve not been entirely honest.”
Orihime and he were on the verge of falling into what could be a frightening drop into love or insanity. Even Renji had discovered long held feelings for another one he’d loved but denied. Blinking at him she murmured, “Honest about what, Ishida kun?”
“Honest about the nature of my relationship with Arisawa san,” he answered.
“I know that you and Tatsuki are together but…” she trailed off.
“I… have a feeling Tatsuki’s desires… are elsewhere. I know that you care for Kurosaki but I have to admit my feelings to you before I go mad,” Uryuu murmured.
Shifting relationships changing patterns like the sand dunes on Hueco Mundo. Not fully aware of all the couplings in Soul Society he could guess even though he claimed not to care. Rangiku chasing around that young man Hisagi, while Kira confessed affections for him as well. Byakuya and Renji pursuing a strange courtship dancing around regulations. Ikkaku jumping into the fray to defend a tortured and overly polite Nemu from her insane father. Keigo and Mahana dating tentatively alongside Chad who was enamored by Karin, Ichigo’s younger sister.
Seeing him trembling so much she blurted out, “Kurosaki kun loves Rukia chan.”
“I’m in love with…” Uryuu blurted out before he heard what she had said. An awkward silence predominated during which Ishida’s hands tightened around hers.
“You… what?” Uryuu whispered, voice very low.
“Kurosaki kun loves Rukia chan. Since I don’t want to make them upset, I broke up with him,” Orihime confessed.
“But… why… you…” Ishida stammered.
“The same reason I think that you… that you say Tatsuki isn’t really in love with you even though you thought you were with her,” Orihime said shyly, glancing up into his dark blue eyes.
“Th… then you’re ahead of me,” mumbled Ishida. “I have to figure out a way how to confess to Tatsuki san that I cannot continue a relationship with her under false pretenses.”
“Tatsuki wants me to be happy,” mumbled Orihime quietly. “I think… she knew better than all of us the real truth.”
“Which is?”
“That… I’m really in love with you, Ishida kun,” Orihime murmured. “And that you… are in love

with me.”
“You… she… how…” Uryuu babbled, turning bright red as he tried to release her hands.
Yet Orihime leapt towards him flinging her arms around him tightly. Gently caressing her chin he tipped her face up and angled his head to claim her lips in a kiss. This was far from the tentative pecks they’d sneaked during a handicrafts club dare. Or the nervous embraces shared in Soul society. Before their return and Ishida’s retreat from the bulk of her life. When she had publically confessed her worry for Ichigo’s welfare, and Ichigo had asked her for a date.
Everyone expected that Ichigo and Orihime would be together. So Uryuu had asked Tatsuki on a date that same day to her surprise and shock. Both girls confessed that something wasn’t quite right about their relationship as if things were not as perfect as they wished. Tatsuki had taken to learning to fight through someone else, while Uryuu had vanished. Then they hardly spoke to one another in public before Orihime had vanished.
“We’ve both been very silly haven’t we, Ishida kun,” she murmured, burying her face in his chest.
“Indeed. Hurting people we care about confessing our love. I feel like a terrible person,” he mumbled.
“If you’re a terrible person I’m even worse,” Orihime murmured.
“Arisawa san needs to know,” mumbled the Quincy, his heart pounding. “But you say she already knew of my feelings?”
“She would want me to be happy. But she’ll be upset with both of us for what happened,” she realized, striding over to pick up the phone in the kitchen and dial a number. “I really should call her and let her know I'm safe.”
“Indeed. Excuse me a moment, there's someone I must call as well,” Uryuu coughed, excusing himself as he fished his cell phone out of his uniform pocket.

***
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Left Behind But Not Forgotten