WMS: Welcome to my one-shot~ I'd be lying if I said this was my first story, but if you're in the Bleach section you probably don't recognize me anyways, so here I am off to a brand new start! Wish me luck!

Disclaimer: I own neither Bleach nor Sailor Moon. Also, there is IchiHime, so proceed with caution!

-o-o-o-

Sailor Shinigami

Ichigo frowned as he walked down the street with Orihime on his way home from school. It was certainly odd to be able to do it- after all that had happened with Aizen, he hadn't expected a sense of normalcy to ever appear in his life again. It was not this uncomfortable normalcy that was causing Ichigo to frown, however- it was Orihime's intense look of concentration. It was unsettling. Orihime did not frown, she did not stare intensely at things while deep in thought. Either something had changed in Orihime, or this was not Orihime.

He was about to say something to her, when she suddenly spoke up. "You know, Kurosaki-kun, I've been thinking..." He tried not to roll his eyes- what else did she think others would think of her? "...I've looked at all of the things that have happened, you know, to you, to me... to us... and..." A blush came up on her face as she struggled with what to say next.

He tried not to think of any hidden meanings in those words, he honestly did. He wanted to let her finish what she was saying before he jumped to any conclusions, but his heart jumped anyways. She's not trying to say what I think she is, is she? "...and?"

Orihime finally managed to spit out the embarrassing words. "...doesn't it remind you of Sailor Moon?"

Those were not the words that Ichigo had thought she was going to say. "...say what now?"

"You know, Sailor Moon, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon!" Once she had gotten started, her embarrassment lifted. Apparently it was just awkward to begin the conversation. "For instance, she's this normal human being who transforms into a warrior from another world in order to fight bad guys! Sounds a bit like you, right?"

Ichigo, at the moment, was not minding the comparison. "Lots of manga characters are like that. Why did you pick out Sailor Moon?" He did not know how much he would regret pursuing this line of thought in time.

"Well, your zanpakuto's name is Zangetsu, right? So you're both warriors of the moon!" He had to at least give her credit for that, though Zangetsu wasn't exactly 'in the name of the moon' as he was 'in the name of slicing the moon in half'. "And, you have a little talking cat that helps you transform so you can fight the bad guys, right?" Now, that was an odd similarity, he had to admit, but that still wasn't exactly a lot to go on. It's not like you could really compare Kon to that black cat he had always seen in promotional images of Sailor Moon.

Wait- talking black cat? His mental image was of Yoruichi in a Sailor Senshi outfit, causing him to blush briefly as he shook the image out of his mind. "Well, I guess I can sort of see your point, Inoue, but..."

He could only wish that was the end of it- it wasn't. "And, your classmates begin getting powers because you're around, right? But, one of them actually already had powers, and was defeating bad guys before you were! And, you have a dark-clothed protector who gets you out of tight spots from time to time, but eventually the bad guys get a hold of them, and you have to save them from the enemy base!" Ichigo wished he knew where Orihime had picked up her vocabulary. He also wondered just how long the girl had been thinking about this 'Sailor Moon' stuff- maybe she had cracked a bit under the constant moon of Hueco Mundo? "And, there's this masked person who helps you out, but looks like a bad guy, but turns out to have been a good guy from the beginning and just looks like a bad guy!"

Was that supposed to be a mention of Shinji and his Vizard? "At least my masked guy doesn't throw roses around-" He mentally flinched at the memory of the Vizard named Rose. "-or go around hitting on school girls-" He suddenly remembered Yadomaru Lisa, the Vizard who dressed as a schoolgirl. "-or try to look like some master thief or superhero or something." Shinji, Mashiro. Well, crap. "...are you done trampling on my pride as a man now, or do you have a girl's school uniform for me to put on?"

She giggled at the mental image, but shook her head. "No, I'm done. But, I have to wonder... if you're Sailor Moon, who am I?"

By this point, they were walking by the riverside, and Ichigo stopped as he looked down at the water flowing. He was reminded for a moment- just a moment- of his mother and Grand Fisher, and something that his mother had once said to him. "...you think too much. I'm not a Sailor Senshi, I'm a Substitute Shinigami!" He mentally scowled at the double S again, but continued. "You're not one, either. You're Inoue, the girl that I went through hell to get back, so don't go comparing yourself to anyone else!"

Orihime, distracted as she was, was able to translate Ichigo's words. She had always been able to know what he meant when he said things- there were no secrets between him and her, unlike between Sailor Moon and her friends. You're unique and irreplaceable in my life, so don't start thinking that you aren't, or I'll smack you one! She smiled as she looked at the river as well, seeing a little black cat. She imagined for a moment that it had a crescent moon on its forehead, before dismissing the fantasy for once in her life. The real fantasy... is getting to be here with Kurosaki-kun. She gave an awkward laugh as she looked up at him. "You're right, what was I thinking? Come on, let's get home before dark forces from another world come to harvest the energy within our souls!"

He growled as she started running away, a big smile plastered on her face, and he gave chase, not caring how silly he might look chasing a schoolgirl who was enjoying the chase far more than he was. "You did that on purpose! Get back here! Don't make me use this!" He held up his Substitue Shinigami badge, for emphasis on what he meant. She spared a glance, her smile not fading.

"You know, Sailor Moon uses something like that to transform, too!"

"Why you-!"

She giggled again as she continued running. I was wrong... this is even better than a fantasy, because... I get to share it with him.

-o-o-o-

WMS: Thanks for reading this story, everyone~ I hope you enjoyed! Sorry if Orihime sounded OoC, but I needed someone to convey the comparison, and she seemed the most likely to do it. Plus, she's almost at the top of her class in grades, so it's not unbelievable that she would actually know how to talk like that. Leave a review if you liked it~ :3