The Way to His Heart

by Kysra

Part 0 - Distractions

He sits on the floor in the dark with a blanched sheet of too-fancy parchment amidst a growing community of similarly crumpled sheets strewn out across the room. His usually bright hair, muted and grayed by the streaming moonlight, is standing on end with irritation as his frowning eyes try to see the words that have yet to be written.

This is not an unfamiliar problem. He has never boasted emotional articulation as a natural strength; but once the task was given, he had believed if he approached it as he approached battle, everything would fall into place. The fact that he is still sitting here with nothing to show for his efforts only encourages disappointment and temper; and he suddenly wishes either Rukia or Tasuki were here to knock some sense into him. (Or Renji, so that he could kick some ass.)

Ichigo sighs into the silence then groans as he unfolds his body to stretching. He can almost hear them in his head, busting his balls with words like stupid, dense, and oblivious. But he isn't stupid or dense as his friends state with near-constancy; and it would be inaccurate to call him oblivious as well. No, he thinks, how could I have possibly known what was happening all these years? For one, he had been a teenager and teenagers were inherently stupid. For another, everyone - including himself - knows he isn't the type for in-depth self-introspection.

Besides, as far as he is concerned, it shouldn't be a surprise that he has taken so long to figure it all out. His life thus far has been filled with one distraction after another: ghosts, bullies, his insane family, his equally insane friends and - later - shinigami duties, hollows, and all the crap that seemed to fall into his lap as a result.

But . . . his eyes find the unoffending sheet laid out before him again, if he sat here and thought really, really hard, trying to remember every single moment and detail when she had won his attention (whether through effort, incident, or sheer concern on his part - she is still an incurable klutz after all), the way to his heart had boiled down to one thing: her smile.

Author's Note: I've wanted to do an IchiHime forever but it was only recently when this idea came to me. I wanted a fic where Ichigo didn't need anyone to clue him in on Orihime's feelings or his own and it suddenly hit me to do an introspective piece where he's already there but looking back. That being said, I apologize for the lack of length in this chapter but it's only to serve as an introduction. The rest of the chapters will be much longer.

Also, this fic would not be possible if it were not for Emaniahilel, my ficcing soulmate (and co-brain), who wrote a little Teen Titan's fic called It Only Takes a Moment and inspired a next gen TT fic by me called Brush Strokes. This fic will be a sort of amalgamation of the two, featuring Ichigo's POV throughout as he sort of analyzes all the moments that culminated in his love for Orihime.