[Yeah, what she says after the shield disappears only solidifies what he's going to do and say. Of course it has his stomach tightening in nervousness, as he reaches out to take one of her hands, but... they've kissed before. They've talked a bit about how they feel about each other... it's not a big freaking secret or surprise anymore. So... this should be fine, right? That's what he tells himself, to keep his nerve, anyway.

Ichigo uses his grip on her hand to tug her in towards him. When Orihime is close enough, he drops her hand so that he can wind his arms around around her center, pulling her the rest of the way to embrace her firmly. Naturally, he's already turned five different shades of red from the moment he took her hand to this point, but when he speaks lowly near her ear, it's even. Sure.]

Mostly whole, you mean. [Flat joke aside, he goes on without missing a beat.] It was hard, I almost couldn't do it, but... you're right. I can't say I feel good, exactly, but this makes it worth it.

[Seeing the relief that he was alive on her face when she'd first run up to him, as opposed to seeing even more tears because of the shock of losing him again... yeah. It was worth it, no matter how much it sucked to walk away from that.]