Title: Band-Aid
Characters: Ishida x Orihime
Word count: 913
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mentions SS arc
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite-sensei owns Bleach. Got it?
Summary: There's only one thing that can unnerve the Quincy…
Band-Aid
Ishida Uryuu grabbed the nearest stuffed animal off the desk next to him. He focused his reiatsu to his hands and the plushie was lost in a whirl of ribbons and thread. Aside from fighting Hollows, there was no challenge the Quincy enjoyed more than sewing. He loved the intoxicating and oddly manly rush that came from holding a needle. He was a machine. He was in the zone. There was nothing that could break his concentration!
"Hey Ishida-kun!"
Ishida let out a small yelp as needle met thumb. Placing the half-finished sewing on the desk, he glanced down at the small drop of blood pooling on his finger. He blinked.
"I-Inoue-san!" he said, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks. He had hoped that she hadn't seen his…momentary lapse in concentration, but it was too late; she was already skipping over, and to make matters worse, she appeared highly amused.
"Did I scare you?" she giggled, looking quite intimidating as she was standing while Ishida was sitting. From that angle, Orihime's impressive bust was about his eye level. He gulped.
"—Ah…"
She smiled at him.
Recovering slightly, Ishida pushed his glasses up his nose and casually tried to hide his injured hand under the desk. Orihime's eyes followed and widened when she saw the blood.
"Oh! You didn't hurt yourself when you jumped, did you? I didn't mean to scare you that much! I'm so sorry! I should have known you were holding something as dangerous as a needle, but I was so excited to see you, Ishida-kun, that I couldn't just walk right by without saying hello to you…" she babbled frantically.
Ishida stared. "It's alright, Inoue-san. This is nothing compared to what I've experienced before," he said in his usual indifferent tone. He unconsciously winced as he recalled his battles with Abarai Renji and Kurotsuchi Mayuri.
"But it looks like it's hurting you! If you want, I could heal you," Orihime suggested, noticing the fleeting expression of pain on Ishida's face.
"It's nothing. I'm fine," he said, standing up to gather his sewing. The last thing he wanted was six creepy fairy-things floating around his head, especially since he was not quite fully recovered from the initial shock.
"No, I want to heal Ishida-kun," she persisted. She grabbed his injured hand.
"Inoue-sa-"
Orihime giggled as she pulled him to where he was facing her. She took his sewing off the desk and tucked it under her arm. "Now close your eyes!"
He sighed, but shut his eyes anyway. At least this way, I won't have to see those things of hers in my face, he thought.
"Okay, you can open them now!" she said a few seconds later.
Ishida slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see two tiny annoying grins hovering an inch from his nose. He saw Orihime's smiling face, but no fairies. He adjusted his glasses.
"Look at your hand!" she exclaimed, holding it up so he could see, "It's pretty!"
Ishida looked down and had to straighten his glasses again to make sure he was seeing correctly. "Pretty" wasn't the exact word he would have used to describe the glittery pink and orange Band-Aid wrapped sloppily around his thumb, but Orihime looked so proud of herself. A slight smile teased his lips.
"Thank you, Inoue-san," he said, with more honesty than he expected.
Dropping his hand, Orihime put on a mock indifferent face. "It's nothing," she said in her version of an emotionless voice. She paused to take in Ishida's reaction to her impression.
"Inoue-san…" he muttered with a hint of annoyance. He turned back towards his desk, froze, and turned back to smile at her, more warmly this time.
She beamed back at him, blushing, and then realized that she was still holding his sewing under her arm. Ishida noticed this as well. "I must get back to my sewing now," he said awkwardly.
"But you might hurt yourself again and what if I'm not there to save you?" Orihime protested. She indicated the Band-Aid, which had come unwrapped and was looking quite pathetic, despite its flashy colors.
"I will be fine," he answered. He tried to rewrap the Band-Aid but had no luck. Getting slightly irritated, he tossed it to the side.
"Let me fix it!" squealed Orihime, jumping forward. Before Ishida could say or do anything in response, she had already pulled another Band-Aid out of her purse (blue and pink this time) and started wrapping it around his wound. He felt himself relax a little as he watched her attack his finger. He had to admit that he preferred the new color scheme.
"There we go!" she said proudly when she finished.
"Thank you once again," the Quincy replied. He wiggled his thumb. The Band-Aid was a bit more secure this time. "Now I really must return to my sewing," he said, gesturing at the stuffed animal in Orihime's hand with his bandaged thumb.
"I still need to kiss it to make sure Ishida-kun gets better!" she exclaimed, setting down the plushie and reaching for his hand.
His face flushed pink. "Wait! Ino-"
Orihime placed a small kiss on the tip of his thumb. "Bye-bye Ishida-kun!" she called bouncing happily out of the room.
"—Ah" was the only thing he could choke out in response.
For the second time that afternoon, the Quincy archer, who could remain calm while engaging in life-or-death combat with shinigami captains, completely lost his nerve
Chibi-Kagura
