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Orihime gasped. She felt her knees shacking underneath her desk at what she was feeling… or rather didn't feel anymore. "I-Ichigo…" she whispered, tears already brimming her eyes. Chad, who was sitting next to her in class, looked over at her and when he saw tears falling down her cheeks, he became worried.

"Orihime," he started, the usual, deep monotone voice was now filled with concern. "What is it? Are you alright?"

Orihime slowly turned her head to look at Chad, the tears falling more freely. "It's I-I-Ichigo. He… he's…" she openly sobbed. Everyone in the room turned to look at her in wonder. The teacher stopped his lecturing when he heard the crying coming from the back of the room.

"Is everything okay, Miss Inoue?"

Orihime stood up while wiping the tears away from her eyes. "May I be excused, please?" The teacher said yes and Orihime quickly walked out of the room and down the hallway. Chad followed, asking the teacher if he could check on his friend. The teacher, of course, agreed, a little confused about the whole ordeal.

"Orihime," chad called after her retreating form. She was walking fast, he could tell she wanted to run but didn't want to risk getting stopped by a teacher. Chad easily caught up to her with his long strides. "Orihime? Are you okay? What happened?"

Orihime didn't stop, the tears falling more freely down her face, but her eyes looked ahead wide and scared. It was unnerving for Chad to see her like this. "It's Ichigo," she finally whispered, her voice cracking, "I-I don't feel his energy anymore. It just… disappeared…" She sounded like she was on the brink of crying. Hearing her words made Chad hesitate, not quite understanding what she was saying.

"Did he lose his soul reaper powers?"

Orihime slowly turned her head to look at him. He was startled to see how frantic she actually looked. "No," her voice cracked. "I would still be able to feel him. He… he… it's entirely gone… like he… like he…" She couldn't bring herself to say it. Chad knew now what she was trying to tell him. He kept quiet, trying not to assume the worst for one of his closest friend. There had to be a reason for the situation.

When they both reached outside, they took off running. Orihime stayed behind, trailing after Chad. She didn't want him to see her cry any further.

But she had to believe Ichigo was alright. She just had too. He always found his way out of…

She suddenly gasped, stopping in her tracks to look ahead of her in horror. That spiritual pressure she was feeling was something she'd wished to never feel again. Back when Ichigo had faced Ulqiuorra, when he'd changed into a hollow because of her.

Now she was feeling the exact same spiritual pressure.

"Orihime?" Chad stopped and looked at her with worry. He too, felt the energy, knowing exactly why she stopped.

"I'm fine." She nodded to show she was. She tried with all her might to hide her feelings of dread. When he nodded in return and turned to continue running, she let the tears roam down her cheeks. She started to run too, trying to come to terms with what she was feeling. Ichigo had actually lost control once more.

No. She needed to stop. She wouldn't cry. She had cried enough in the past; even if Ichigo had changed into a hollow, he would change back like last time. Right? She just had to believe it.

She ran as fast as her feet could take her. When she rounded the corner, she couldn't help but gasp at the sight before her. Ichigo had changed into a full hollow. He was looking up straight into the air, but then looked down toward someone. She followed his gaze to see a bloodied Aria kneeling on the ground. Her heavy breathing was evident from where she was standing.

Then, Hollow Ichigo charged, its sword raised to strike Aria down. "ARIA!" Orihime screamed, running forward to help her new friend.

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Someone appeared in front of Aria, his bow raised toward his friend. "Ichigo! Snap out of it!" Uryuu let one arrow pierce the Hollow's shoulder, but it didn't stop its charge. When Hollow Ichigo was close enough, Uryuu turned around and wrapped his left arm around Aria's waste and leaped up into the air before Hollow Ichigo had a chance to cut them with its sword. Aria cringed from the sudden leap, she kept in her protest, not wanting to worry Uryuu. But the cringe did not go unnoticed by Uryuu's all-knowing gaze.

"Sorry if I hurt you."

"No. You're fine. It's – nothing," she forced out, cringing again. Uryuu landed on top of a building. He looked down at Aria as she looked on over toward Hollow Ichigo's kneeling form, his critical eye watching her take steady, yet shaky breaths of air. He knew she was in a lot of pain. He was amazed on how well she was covering it up.

Uryuu brought his attention back to Ichigo, seeing Toshiro, Rangiku, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Renji appear around him, swords drawn.

"Ichigo," Toshiro called in his demanding voice, his Bankai still released as he pointed his sword at Hollow Ichigo. "That's enough. Aria and your family is safe. Snap out of it."

Hollow Ichigo slowly stood up from his spot. His unseeing eyes looking at the soul reapers that surrounded him.

Uryuu felt Aria stiffen. He looked down at her to see her looking down at Hollow Ichigo with shacking eyes. Worry evident on her face. "What is it, Aria?" He asked.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" Aria screamed down. It startled the soul reapers, all five looking up at her in confusion. Toshiro looked back at Ichigo to see his sword raised and was engulfed in a black haze.

"MOVE!" Toshiro yelled, ordering his subordinates. "HE'S GOING TO ATTACK AT CLOSE RANGE!"

They all jumped, narrowly missing Ichigo's signature move by mere centimeters. It devastated the building around them, crumbling to the ground in rubble.

"I have to get down there," Aria grunted, trying to push against Uryuu. "That idiot won't see reason."

"And what can you do in your condition?" Uryuu tightened his grip on her good arm, refusing to let her go. "Think rationally. You can't do anything to help Ichigo now when you alone can't even stand."

"Uryuu – please…"

This made him hesitate. From what he knew of Aria, she wasn't one to beg. This seemed out of character for her, even he thought so when he himself hadn't known her for long.

His grip loosened. She pulled her arm from his grasp and took a small step forward. Uryuu's arm shot forward when he saw her teetering, but she swatted his hand away when she fixed herself.

"Aria!" Someone yelled. Aria looked over to see Orihime and Chad running toward them. Both she and Uryuu jumped down to meet the two. Aria hid her pain and wobbling well from Chad and Orihime, Uryuu noted.

"You're hurt!" Orihime exclaimed with worry. Her hands went to her head ready to call on her powers, but Aria shook her head.

"I'm okay. Go to Ichigo's family." Aria pointed toward Ichigo's house. Orihime looked over and saw Yuzu, Karin, and Ichigo's dad lying unconscious on the ground. Orihime hesitated, looking from Aria and Ichigo's family, not knowing what to do. "What the hell are you standing there for?!" Aria yelled, fury evident in her voice. "Go over there and heal them, don't stand there like an idiot!"

Orihime flinched then nodded her head. She ran over to Ichigo's family and instantly started to heal what little damage they had. "Chad, Uryuu, back me up if Ichigo almost succeeds in killing me." And with that, Aria took off without another word.

"Aria, wait!" Uryuu called for her, but she was already on her way to Ichigo who was in battle with Toshiro and his comrades. "Dammit!"

"Uryuu," Chad said, getting Uryuu's attention. "Who is that? She looks familiar."

Uryuu pushed up his glasses while closing his eyes in the process. "That would be Blake, or Aria being her real name."

"…She's a cross dresser?" Chad's monotone of a voice would have made the moment a little funny, but considering what was at stake, Uryuu couldn't bring himself to chuckle.

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Aria summoned up the last of her strength and formed the green energy around her feet to move faster. She grabbed her black sword and brought it to her side, wondering if she had to use its released form to help deal with Hollow Ichigo. No. She wouldn't use it. She wouldn't hurt Ichigo. But now more than ever, she wished she could use her white sword. It would have been perfect for this sort of situation.

Aria appeared in front on Renji, the current path Hollow Ichigo was aimed for. Hollow Ichigo stopped, his two-tone breathing increased as it assessed Aria.

"What are you doing?" Renji chastised, not understanding why she was getting in the way.

"Helping to knock some sense into Ichigo's thick skull."

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

"No I'm not." She glanced behind her to give him a knowing stare. "This is all my fault anyways. If it wasn't for me none of this would have happened."

When she looked forward, Hollow Ichigo began its charge. She brought up her Zanpakuto to defend, but suddenly felt someone wrap an arm around her mid-section. When she looked up, she saw the girl with strawberry blonde hair and large breasts looking down at her with determination.

"What are you doing?" Aria growled when Rangiku jumped into the air and Toshiro taking their place to defend off Hollow Ichigo.

"Saving you," she responded once they landed on top of a building away from the fight. "You're in no shape to fight."

"Let me go!" Aria demanded and ripped Rangiku's arm from her waste.

"And what do you plan on doing? You're just going to throw away your life?!" Rangiku raised her voice, like she was scolding a child. Aria glared in the woman's direction and scuffed, she hated being talked down to.

"You guys need to lead him far away. If not, he's going to destroy the town." Aria looked down at the hollow, her eyes scanning over his body. She felt the massive spiritual pressure Ichigo held. It amazed her how much he could put out considering his own condition. He was powerful. More powerful than her own hollow transformation. She wondered then if she'd met Ichigo before he was losing his soul reaper powers, how powerful he actually was. He would have overpowered her, that was for sure. This power now – no one could compare to, not even the captains of the soul society.

"That's what we plan on doing. Toshiro is trying to get his attention. Leave it to my captain, he knows what he's doing despite his size."

Aria gritted her teeth when she saw Hollow Ichigo slice through Toshiro's shoulder with ease, using something that wasn't flash step to get close to him. Whatever it was, it was stronger and faster than flash step.

She brought her hand up to her face, letting the energy ball in her fist in a black light. She could feel Rangiku looking at her with wonder but she ignored the pestering woman.

Other soul reapers, Renji, Yumichika, and Ikkaku flash stepped to Toshiro's side to help him. Renji grabbing hold of his current captains' arm to pull him away, but Toshiro told him he was fine. Aria opened her mouth to tell them to move, to get the hell away but it was already too late. Hollow Ichigo had his black sword charged with his black spiritual pressure, and swiped it across from him in a frenzy scream, letting the power slice through all their stomachs and send them flying through the air in a trail of blood.

"Captain!" Rangiku yelled, but stopped her running to help when she saw a flash of grey and white sail through the air toward them.

Aria had her mask on as she made her way to Ichigo. It didn't take her long to reach her destination. Before Hollow Ichigo could pursue; Aria was in front of him with her sword raised. It easily blocked her attack with ease, reeling bother of them back. When it straightened, it looked at her with a crocked head, its black eyes scanning over her mask.

It disappeared and appeared in front of her. Its hand reaching forward and grabbed her masked face. Her own hands reached out and grabbed its wrists in a failed attempt to get him to let go. Then she felt something she feared and thought she would never feel again.

Her mask began to grow on her face, taking over again as the all too familiar presence tried to take over her body. She kicked both of her legs up and into its forearm, making it let her go. She used her green spiritual pressure to create space between them. She ripped her mask off, panting when it was fully off. She grimaced when she felt the power disappear from her now frail body. The weight of her injuries now weighing heavily on her.

That was only a fluke, no way would she lose control unless it forced it out of her. Do not fear her mask or it will surely take over. She brought her hand up and pulled it down to reveal her white mask that resembled close to a rams skull. She was relieved to feel it not losing control.

"Snap out of it, Ichigo!" she yelled, hoping she could get through to him like he had when she lost control.

It cocked its head to the side then charged again, sword raised. She jumped further into the air, far away from the town below. She brought her own sword down to connect with his, but was surprised to see that it didn't continue with its swing, instead brought its left hand over and caught her sword in its grasp. She was surprised to see that he caught it so easily and without any damage to the mask on its hand, but before she could even react to his next move, she felt its sword pierce her chest, causing her own mask to disappear and replaced by blood spewing from her mouth.

It grabbed her throat and brought it close to it, the two-tone breathing increasing when they were face to face. She grabbed its arm with one hand, the other gripping the hilt of his sword over his hand to try and prevent him from digging it further into her body.

Her eyes grew wide when she saw the red, circular light forming on his forehead where his two horns almost meet. She coughed up more blood, feeling her grip loosening from weakness. She fought back the blackness forming in the corner of her eyes. She would not allow herself to die. Not like this.

The hand that gripped his arm let go and brought it up to its masked face. Three fingers curled into the hole of its right eye and pulled weakly in an attempt to break it. Slowly the blackness began to flood her eyesight, when finally her hand fell and the last thing she saw was Hollow Ichigo's mask staring her down, and a red light illuminating every feature of its menacing stare.

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The cero grew to its full size, ready to fire, but before it could release its most powerful attack to completely disintegrate the girl in his grasp and the town below him, someone came up from behind and sliced both of his horns off making the cero implode and sending the girl flying back off his sword and through the air. Part of his mask peeled off, revealing his human eye. When he glanced around he saw a black blur fly past him and appear behind the girls falling form, grasping her in its hands. The girl that he had in his grasp was bloody and unconscious, her breathing barely visible from where he was standing, (/floating). It was… Aria.

Slowly, his senses began to come back, overwhelming him in realizing what he had done. The hollow bone crumbling from his body as he stared at Aria with shaking eyes, his resolve slowly falling to pieces.

"It's about time you came to," an all too familiar voice spoke. He looked up to the soul reaper who was cradling Aria's unconscious body to see Rukia staring back at him. She looked away from him and down at Aria, her facial expression turning from her usual seriousness to one of complete worry.

"Did I do that?" Ichigo barely whispered. He didn't know why he had to voice it, he'd already known the answer to his question.

Rukia looked around quickly, ignoring Ichigo completely and spotted Orihime. "Orihime!" Rukia descended down to the startled human girl. Orihime waited for her to reach the ground before she ran forward and created a small healing barrier around Aria's body that was now lying on the ground. Ichigo followed close behind, and when Rukia lied her down on the ground, he fell to his knees to her side and looked down at her bleeding form, still shocked on what he had done.

Chad and Uryuu came running over, circling around the group as they watched Aria heal under the orb of orange light Orihime had created.

Slowly, her wounds began to close and her breathing began to regulate. Orihime sighed to herself and looked in Ichigo's direction. What she saw made her heart stop. The look he was giving Aria was one of complete and utter despair. He looked torn and defeated, something she never witnessed on Ichigo's face. She felt the need to say something.

"She's going to be fine, Ichigo," Orihime tried to reassure, but he wouldn't bring his eyes to hers. Instead, his eyes kept roaming over Aria's body, taking in all of her wounds he knew he'd inflicted. They weren't there before he'd blacked out.

"This is all my fault," he whispered, bringing his right hand up to clutch his forehead. "Dammit. Why did that have it to happen now? Why?" He continued to mumble, growing more and more quiet.

Orihime watched as he continuously put himself down, arguing with himself that it was all his fault. She looked back down at Aria, wishing she would wake up soon to tell him otherwise.

As the wounds healed, Orihime noticed the heavy scaring that was on her left side of her body. The wounds that Roy and Hollow Ichigo had inflicted were scaring over too, not healing all the way like they should be. She put in a little bit more spiritual pressure into her barrier, making it small and concentrating on the heavy scaring in the middle of her chest caused by Ichigo's sword. A spark of blue light came from her body, coming out of the barrier and piercing into Orihime's palm. She made a small hiss when it cut her palm and retracted her hands. The barrier fell as Orihime cradled her hurt hand.

"What's wrong Orihime, why'd you stop?" Ichigo asked, his voice heavy.

Orihime opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she saw Aria's eyes began to flutter open.

Ichigo leaned over when he saw the flutter of movement, watching closely as her eyes slowly opened and focused. Surrounding her was Orihime, Chad, Uryuu, and Ichigo, all looking down at her with worry. When her eyes landed on Ichigo, he stiffened, the guilt overtaking him once more.

"Aria…" he began. His voice didn't crack or waver, but everyone could still hear the hurt he was holding. "I'm sorry… I'm-"

A fist hit him square in the jaw sending him flying back and onto the pavement behind him. Aria shot up and glared over at Ichigo who was now sitting up and rubbing his jaw.

"You're a dumbass!" Aria yelled, her fists shacking at her side. "Don't you dare say you're sorry! None of this is your fault!" She shook her head and turned away from everyone, not wanting them to see how hurt she was actually feeling.

"If I never came here none of this would have happened!" She looked over toward Ichigo's house and saw Yuzu and Karin still lying on the ground, but Isshin was now awake and looking straight at her. He was giving her his sympathetic look. She clenched her teeth and looked away. She hated that look with every fiber of her being.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" She clutched her head with her hands as the weight of the days events began to weigh heavily on her. She could fell herself losing it; to cry out to the world and tell it to just leave her alone.

"Aria-"

"Shut up, Ichigo! I don't want to hear another word!" She was furious. She was furious at Roy, but she was mostly furious with herself. This was all her fault.

She didn't take another glance in his direction when she disappeared from sight, moving as fast as she could away from everyone around her. She had to think. She had to get away. She couldn't look at anyone knowing that this was all her fault. Everything was always her fault.

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The damage was extensive. All the buildings surrounding Ichigo's house was almost obliterated. The soul society did a good job erasing memories that needed to be erased, the repairs to his house would start tomorrow. Thanks to Aria, the damage wasn't bad like the surrounding area. It was still livable.

Yuzu and Karin didn't remember a thing. Everything happened when they were supposedly in school, or so they thought. There wasn't even a scratch on the two, in which Ichigo was grateful for thanks to Orihime. Aria still hadn't come home which made Ichigo worry. What if Roy had found her? What if she was hurt somewhere needing his help and he wouldn't have a single clue about it? When she'd left he went to follow her, but Rukia had stopped him from pursuing, saying she needed the time to think. That she was upset.

He understood why she was upset. She blamed herself for Roy attacking his family. He understood that, but what he didn't understand was why she left. Wouldn't she know that he would be worried? Dammit, he was beginning to think she was more idiotic than she lead on.

He sighed to himself. It wasn't the time to get angry over it, that wouldn't do him anything besides worry him more. He just had to wait for her. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, she proved that more than once.

When school arrived Aria was nowhere to be found. She did not attend one class. Everyone was worried about her, not just Ichigo. When he arrived at home, the outcome was the same. She wasn't anywhere to be seen.

The next day at school she still had not arrived. Even Uryuu was getting worried, and he agreed on leaving Aria alone to think. Someone would think she at least would have checked in by now.

"Was she at school today," his father had asked when he arrived home from school. His father was so worried that he was out of character of sorts. He hadn't once tried to kick or punch Ichigo for being late to lunch.

Ichigo shook his head. "No." Was all he said before heading upstairs to do his homework. Before stepping into his room he looked over toward Aria's. He walked over and opened the door. He wasn't surprised to see it was empty. He shook his head and closed the door, retiring into his room for the night.

Ichigo walked into class and stopped when he saw his friends looking at him expectantly. He knew why they were looking at him so he shook his head in saying he hadn't seen Aria yet. Everyone looked down in disappointment, their worry growing for their new friend. The only one who didn't know what was going on was Keigo, and he could feel the disappointment hanging heavy in the air.

They all sat down and waited for the bell to ring. When the teacher walked in and began her lecturing, Ichigo sat in his seat with his head down. He was beginning to regret not going after her. He should have chased her, tell her everything was going to be okay. That he was going to protect her.

Dammit! Where was Aria!

The teacher suddenly stopped her lecturing and turned toward the now opening door. "Ah, Mr. Diederich, it's nice for you to join us for today." Everyone in the room turned in their seats to look at the door, Ichigo being the fastest as he spun around to look at her with surprise written all over his face.

Aria had her eyes closed with one hand in her pocket and the other holding onto her book bag. Heavy bags hung deep under her eyes, Ichigo getting an instant flashback of when he'd first met her a month or so ago. She had those same bags under her eyes. He'd just now realized that over the first two weeks of knowing her, those very same bags slowly disappeared from under her eyes. Now they were back and seemed blacker than before.

"Sorry. I had things I needed to take care of," she said with annoyance. She didn't bother opening her eyes as she walked over to her seat and sat down, ignoring all the stairs she was receiving from her fellow classmates.

"Well, I hope this doesn't become routine for you, Mr. Diederich, I don't want such a talented student going down the wrong path." The teacher continued her lecture when all was said and done. Ichigo continued to stare over at Aria, not once had she looked up at him or anyone else for that matter. She kept her eyes closed and sat back lazily in her seat, her foot tapping lightly on the ground below.

When the bell rang, Ichigo hurriedly gathered his things and chased the retreating Aria down the hallway. When he was close enough he grabbed her shoulder and forced her to stop. She stiffened when she felt the contact, but didn't turn around to acknowledge him any further.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ichigo asked, not bothering to keep the anger out of his voice. She shrugged his arm off and continued down the hallway, trying her best to ignore him. Ichigo watched her for a second, a little shocked by her actions, but quickly recovered and grabbed her shoulders again, but this time twirling around and had her looking at him. The look she was giving him startled him. She had no expression, her eyes was bloodshot from not sleeping, and her eye color seemed dull, not the bright blue he was so used to seeing.

"What do you want, Ichigo?" She sounded bored, the same way she used to speak with him when they first met.

"What do you mean what do I want?" His voice was rising. He ignored all the stares he was receiving, he didn't care at the moment. "You up and leave without so much as a check in, and now when you finally decided to show your face, you ignore everyone around you? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong. Everything's perfect." She lied. Ichigo gripped her shoulder tightly, but suddenly let her go and grabbed her elbow, dragging her out of the school and through the front gates. She put up a little resistance, but ended up giving up knowing full well he wasn't going to let her go that easily.

When they were out of view from everyone he turned around sharply and did something Aria wasn't expecting.

He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tense body. Nothing else was said, he only tightened his hold when her body tensed further after realizing what he was doing.

She then knew why he was hugging her. After everything that had just happened… he forgave her.

Slowly, her muscle started to relax. Her body almost slacking into him as she leaned forward, letting herself fall victim to his hug. When her arms came up and wrapped tightly around his waist, they were finally in a mutual agreement. They forgave each other.

Then, Aria did something she hadn't done since she was twelve. Slow, hot tears ran down her cheek, soaking Ichigo's shoulder. When he felt the wetness and the slight shake of her shoulders, he brought one of his hands up and cradled her head, the other still pressed to the middle of her back. He moved his head to where he was pressing his cheek against hers, letting her tears run down his cheek as he held her close, letting her cry and having her know that no matter what, he wasn't going to leave her side. No matter what, he would always forgive her because nothing would ever be her fault.