Hearts of Glass, Steel, Fire and Ice: Part 19

Suddenly, a memory flashed brightly in Orihime's thoughts and she said the first word that came to mind.

"Rangiku."

Though Orihime's voice was slightly hoarse and barely above a whisper, Gin had definitely heard her clearly since his eyes immediately went blank with shock. Just as Orihime was beginning to feel confident enough to say something else, the harsh look returned.

"Where did you hear that name?" Gin nearly growled and yet Orihime thought she heard a slight tremor in the tone.

Swallowing to clear her throat, but feeling a bit more at ease, Orihime replied calmly, "I met Rangiku not long ago."

"You did?"

"Yes," said Orihime, "Your name sounded familiar just now, but I couldn't remember where from. Then, I remembered Rangiku telling me a story about a childhood friend of hers. One who had died. A boy named Gin."

Looking Gin with a searching expression, Orihime asked, "Are you Gin?"

He didn't answer. Gin's face was completely unreadable, but Orihime could sense that his brain was racing with ideas. What those thoughts might be, Orihime couldn't be sure, but slowly a small flame of hope started to flicker.

Her heart as well as the rest of her body jumped when her heard Aizen ask evenly, "Is there a problem, Gin?"

While Orihime couldn't be sure, in the dim light she thought she saw Gin's mouth tighten. Whether in irritation, resolution or something else, she had no idea. However, just as quickly, Gin's face resumed its former menacing expression and his voice took on its sing-song tone…but again, Orihime was struck with the idea that this time Gin was simply playing a part.

"I'm sorry, Sir. This girl reminded me of someone else and it startled me."

"Oh," replied Aizen with slight interest, "and who might that be?"

Waving a hand dismissively, Gin answered, "Just some annoying girl I grew up with. She would drive me crazy with her senseless prattling and overbearing questions. There were plenty of times I wanted to tell her to leave me alone, but…"

"But?" asked Aizen.

"Well…she matured," involuntarily, Orihime shuddered at the way in which Gin emphasized the word, "much more quickly than the other girls. When she hung around with me, all the other guys turned green with envy while the girls looked on furiously."

Aizen chuckled before he asked calmly, "So…does that mean you wish to keep this girl alive? As a substitute for the other girl?"

When Gin didn't answer right away, Orihime's eyes widened in slight panic wondering what he would say next. His hair covered his eyes and his head was turned in Aizen's direction, so the best she could do was hope he wouldn't…"

Straightening up suddenly and turning completely in Aizen's direction, Gin threw his arms wide and said, "Nah, don't think so. She's probably more trouble to keep alive, so I'll just be a second."

Faster than Orihime could inhale, her eyes widened and her mouth opened helplessly as she saw the flash of steel arc in her direction…then she heard a growl from behind her and a blur of scarlet fur leaping over her to collide with Gin. Inhaling sharply, Orihime sat frozen as she watched Norainu fight against Gin. At first she was afraid that either Gin or Norainu would fight to kill…but watching them closely, Orihime didn't sense any deadly intent from either one. They were fighting for show, but she wondered if that would be enough.

"Ahh, that's disappointing," Orihime jumped when she heard Aizen sigh. While she had been distracted, Aizen had come to stand on her right side and she looked up at him apprehensively.

Rubbing his temple and then smoothing back his hair, Aizen said in a tone that was probably supposed to be remorseful, "I really didn't want to be the one to do this," his eyes met hers as he finished simply, "but as you can see, I don't really have a choice at this point."

She didn't have time to think let alone scream.

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Completely absorbed in his fight, Ichigo almost missed it. His peripheral vision caught sight of a flash of color and without thinking, he allowed his gaze to follow it. It was just the trigger he needed.

The memories hit him like a ton of bricks and he drew in a sharp breath as they all seemed to come flooding to the forefront of his mind. His mind seemed to explode with colored images, but one shoved its way in front of them all. The one of his mother flying through the air in just the same way as…

"No! Orihime no!"

Howling in frustration and desperation, Ichigo fought madly to break away from Ulquiorra and do something…anything, but the other seemed to sense Ichigo's intentions and fought just as fiercely to keep him away.

With every clash of the swords and inch that Orihime flew, Ichigo's heart began to crack under the strain. He couldn't live through the grief of losing someone he cared about. Not again.

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Norainu's focus had been divided between 'fighting' with Gin and watching Rukia fight the huge man. She was holding her own just fine, but that didn't lessen his worry any. Every time a huge fist came swinging in her direction, Norainu's heart and mind were in conflict. He wanted to believe that she would be fine, but all his instincts were driving him crazy by demanding that he run over and sink his teeth deep into the guy's throat. To run over and save her.

He had just clamped his teeth on Gin's sword when he heard Ichigo's scream and turned his gaze to see what was wrong. This time, his heart stopped when he saw Orihime's limp form about to collide into a tree.

Knowing that it would be useless, regardless, Norainu released Gin's sword and ran as fast as he could to try and save her. However, with each step, Norainu's heart became heavier. He had failed to protect someone important to him. Again.

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Aizen's blow had been powerful and it had knocked the wind out of Orihime so that when she went flying, she had been struggling to breathe. She heard Ichigo's cry and her eyes flew instantly in his direction. In that brief moment, Orihime saw Ichigo fighting furiously and Norainu trying to run towards her.

Just as she was about to call out to them, she hit something solid and her world went dark.