My Love My Life (Ichigo Kurosaki)

Part 9

"Sora fight the hollow" Jasmine said holding onto to Ichigo to steady herself, Sora started to yell in pain, and the mask was fading in and out, "he's doing it, he's fighting the hollow" Rukia said shocked, "Oirhime is mine!" he yelled and went to grab her again, Ichigo pushed Jasmine behind him and blocked Sora from getting near them, "Orihime doesn't belong to anyone" Ichigo said pushing him back making Sora fly out the building, Ichigo went after him but Sora shot some burning acid out of his mouth and onto Ichigo making fall to the ground, Jasmine saw the hollow going towards him, and she didn't think and jumped down, she ran towards Ichigo and pushed him out the way, "Jasmine!" he yelled for her as the hollow closed in, but he stopped when Orihime threw her self at him, Sora's hollow teeth pierced her shoulder as she held him, "Orihime?" Jasmine said concerned as she saw the blood, "Orihime, why did you do that" Sora said to her, "Sora, I had to save them, because this is all my fault, because I begged you not to leave me alone, that's why you weren't able to find peace" Orihime said as tears fell down her cheek, "since you died, I've always had the sense that you were watching over me, even yesterday when that car was about to hit me and Jasmine, you pulled us out the way didn't you?" she said, and Jasmine looked down at her leg, no wonder they both had a mark, "I thought that if I showed you, how happy my life is, that you wouldn't have to worry about me anymore, you could pass on, I never dreamed it would make you sad and lonely, I would never do that to do," Orihime said, but she fainted and fell to the ground, "Orihime!" Sora yelled, he started to scream and his mask was disappearing, "come on Sora" Jasmine said to herself, not realizing that Ichigo herd her, suddenly the mask was gone, and Sora was his old self, but not for long. 

"Orihime" he said as he saw her laying on the ground, "Rukia, the chain of fate is still connected to her chest, go treat her" Jasmine said keeping her eyes on Orihime, "yes Jasmine" Rukia said and went over to her, "that hair pin she wears, it was a present from you wasn't it Sora, she told me that once" Ichigo said, and it made Jasmine look towards him as he spoke, "it's why she wears it every single day" Ichigo finished, and Sora looked heartbroken. Jasmine looked up to Sora, and he was looking back, and Jasmine knew what he had to do, so she nodded at him to let him know it will be ok. Sora went to Ichigo's zanpakuto and picked it up by the handle, "what are you doing?" Ichigo asked him, "I only have a short time before the hollow takes over again" Sora said pointing the blade to himself, "no wait don't do that" Ichigo said going to stop him, "Ichigo" Jasmine said stepping in front and putting a hand on his chest, "it's alright, he's making the right decision, once you become a hollow you can never go back to who you were again, passing on is the best thing for him" Jasmine explained to him, "but Jasmine" Ichigo said looking into her eyes, "it's ok, you will learn that exorcising a hollow is not the same thing as killing it, your cleansing its soul and allowing it to enter the Soul Society, that's why Soul Reapers like Rukia exist in the first place" Jasmine explained, "to help all souls find their way" Rukia finished, Jasmine turned to her and gave her a weak smile. 

Sora was about to use the zanpakuto but Orihime woke up, "wait, I have to tell you something, this hair pin, remember the argument we had about it the day you gave it to me, I said I didn't like it because it didn't look grown up enough for me, I know I hurt your feelings, and you left without saying anything else, and that was the last time I saw you alive, so now I wanna say to you what i should have said the day you left for work that day" she said, and she slowly sat up and looked into her brothers eyes, "my brother, have a good day" she said as tears streamed down her cheek, "thank you, Orihime" Sora said and drove the zanpakuto through his chest, and his Soul was sent to the Soul Society. Jasmine looked back to Orihime, and saw that she had burst into tears, she felt heartbroken for her, so she walked over and knelt down to her, she then brought Orihime into her arms and let her cry into her. "Shhh, it's ok Orihime" Jasmine said trying to calm her down, Rukia watched Jasmine, and she knew her old self was coming back, she then looked at Ichigo, who was looking at Jasmine with care in his eyes.

It was the next day, and Ichigo, Rukia and Jasmine were on the roof, listening to Orihime tell a wacky story about what happened last night, truth is Rukia replaced her memory with a different one, ordered by Jasmine of course. "Did you use the same thing on my family that night" Ichigo asked Rukia, "yes I did" Rukia said proud of her self, Jasmine looked at Ichigo and saw he was looking out into the distance, and she could sense something was wrong, "what's the matter Ichigo?" she asked, "I'm still not ready to commit to this or anything, I'm not so noble to promise to risk my like for a stranger just like that," he said, the turned towards Jasmine, "on the other hand though, I can never stand around and watch while someone is being hurt" he said thinking back to when Jasmine was being crushed to death by Sora's tail, "so I'll help you and Rukia, at least I will for now, with this work of Rukia's as a Soul Reaper" Ichigo said giving Jasmine a smile, "good, I'm glad to hear" Jasmine said giving him a warm smile, "it's nice to see you smiling for once" Ichigo said, "well, meeting all of you" she said looking at Ichigo, then at Orihime and her friends, "it really makes you feel at home for once" Jasmine said as she continued watching Orihime tell them a crazy story. Rukia felt happy that Jasmine was coming back, but she still feared if this would ever last. 

Jasmine decided to visit the lake again after school, but as she left the school grounds, Ichigo was watching her leave, and he wondered where she was going. Jasmine arrived at the lake and sat in her usual spot, with her knees to her chest, thinking about Kaien. As she stared out to the lake she was playing with the ring on her finger, "your here again" she turned and saw Ichigo standing above her, "are you stalking me?" she said giggling, "I thought you might need some company, so I brought you this" he said giving her a drinking carton, "thanks" she said taking it. "I'm glad you were there yesterday, I mean I wish you didn't get hurt, but you helped Orihime, thank you" he said to her, "it's the least I could do, she gave me a home" Jasmine said shrugging her shoulders, "that's right, and ever since then you've changed" Ichigo said, and Jasmine was confused, "what do you mean?" she said, "come on you must have noticed yourself, when we first met you, you wanted nothing to do with us, you even wanted to sleep in a tree rather than live with Orihime, but yesterday, you did what you could to protect her, even getting your self hurt, and to even go as far as to push me out the way when Sora came for me" Ichigo explained, "I just wanted to help" Jasmine said to him, "Just because I wanted nothing to do with any of you it doesn't mean that I would leave someone helpless, I've always been someone to help others, I'd never want anyone to get hurt" Jasmine rambled on and she realized what she was saying, "and that is the real you isn't it, kind and loving towards others, no matter what" Ichigo said and Jasmine didn't know what to say, "I guess I just lost it, when my husband died, he always told me that the reason he loves me, was how loving I was towards others, how kind I was, and when he died, I felt like all my feelings went with him," Jasmine said looking down at her ring, "you remind me so much of him," Jasmine said, "in what way?" Ichigo asked, "I wasn't the only one protecting everyone yesterday, it's what he would have done too" Jasmine said staring into his eyes, and Ichigo didn't realize he was doing the same to her, "he was lucky to have you Jasmine" Ichigo said blushing as he looked away, "thank you Ichigo, for everything" she said putting a hand on his, he smiled at her and nodded. Jasmine didn't know what was happening, but she was starting to like having friends again, especially Ichigo.