Ishida Uryuu strolled down the pavement, his eyes fixed intently on the tiles. It was the Monday after the spring-break and school was beginning again. Ishida wasn't sad about it; it had been a boring break. It had been raining all week leaving him with nothing to do but reading and studying. Even now the skies were grey and the streets were empty. Or… almost empty.
'Oof!' Ishida huffed as he bumped into something big and bouncy. He fell back on his butt and his glasses flew off, landing a few feet away.
'Oh! I'm terribly sorry!' said the bouncy thing, Ishida could not make out anything but it being a man. He felt himself being lifted and put to his feet. 'Really sorry, but I have to hurry. Once again my apologies!' The man sped off and before Ishida could say anything he heard a loud crack. The man had stepped on his glasses without noticing and hurried away.
'Great…' Ishida sighed, he felt the street for the remains of his glasses and squinting held it before his eyes. As far as he could distinguish it was completely smashed. 'Just great.' he repeated. For a while he pondered what to do. He was nearly at school and figured he could still write and read without his glasses, after all, he was nearsighted. The only problem was actually getting to class.
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'Hey isn't that Ishida-san?' Tatsuki exclaimed, looking wide-eyed at something behind Orihime. The other girl turned around to see said boy stumbling through the gate. He looked around wildly and Orihime saw he was not wearing his usual glasses. Obviously this wasn't voluntarily for as he came closer she saw their remnants clutched in his hand. As the two girls stared at him he staggered past, only barely managing to avoid a group of by speeding students. He managed to find the door and disappeared inside the building.
'Shouldn't we help him?' Orihime asked her friend, who nodded. The two of them ran after Ishida only to stop a few moments later in their tracks because they nearly bumped into Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia, the latter looking at them wonderingly.
'Oh hey Kurosaki-san, Kuchiki-san.' Orihime chirped. She smiled broadly at the two of them.
'Hey Inoue…' Ichigo replied vaguely. Rukia greeted them more heartily; obviously she was not as far away with her head as Ichigo, who seemed to brood over something as usual.
Orihime frowned at this, concerned as she always was about everyone, then she turned to Rukia. 'How are you today? Did you manage to finish today's assignment? I myself have only just completed it this morning but I think I didn't do bad…' Tatsuki rolled her eyes as her friend rambled away and tried to start a conversation with Ichigo. Receiving only curt answers she shrugged and wandered away to a group of friends.
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Meanwhile Ishida was completely lost. He was sure he would have found the classroom had he not made the mistake to turn at the wrong corner, instantly losing all sense of direction. Wandering aimlessly around for a few more minutes he was now quite certain he was completely on the wrong side of the school by the light filtering through the windows.
'Whoever thought up to make this building so large should be hanged.' he muttered darkly to himself.
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Orihime and Tatsuki entered the class together and sat down, chatting 'till the teacher hushed them. Orihime raised her hand as her name was called off but was then roused as the teacher called Ishida's name in vain.
'Oh my gosh, I forgot all about Ishida-kun!' she cried out, she jumped up and ran for the door. Everyone stared after her as the exited the classroom.
Orihime ran through the hallways, searching for Ishida. She was quite sure he must have gotten lost. Why else wouldn't he be at class? 'And he doesn't wear his glasses.' she thought worriedly. The long, white corridors of the schools were quite deserted and she proceeded through a lot of them pretty quickly, still she did not find him. She came to a different part of the building, where the lower classes were. A group of latecomers yelled after her as she almost ran them over but Orihime didn't pay them any attention. She continued her round through the school.
Finally, she slowed down. She was quite sure she had looked everywhere and Ishida was nowhere to be seen. 'Maybe he went home after all.' she pondered, just as she heard loud laughing from a classroom up ahead. She saw a familiar figure staggering out of it backwards as he mumbled his apologies.
'Ishida-kun!'
Upon hearing his name he turned around to see something red approaching him. Before he knew what was going on he felt a soft hand wrap around his and he was trudged along down de corridor.
'You silly!' Orihime giggled, 'You went in the wrong classroom, ours is over here.' They arrived at the right door and she turned towards him, noticing his usually pale cheeks had turned a violent shade of red. 'Are you alright?' she asked worriedly.
'Err.. of course I am alright Inoue-san. Y-you can let go now.' he uttered.
'Owh!' She smiled at his silliness and let go of his hand. He immediately brought his now free hand up to push up his glasses… had they been actually on his nose. Meanwhile Orihime knocked on the door and pushed it open. She grabbed his hand again and led him carefully to his table. Ishida could feel the stares directed at them and his blush deepened. He pulled his hand back as soon as they reached his spot and sat down quickly, thanking Orihime curtly. The girl welcomed him cheerily and, blissfully unaware of the commotion she had caused, went back to her own seat.
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Ishida tried to concentrate on his notes but found his thoughts repeatedly returning to the stares he had received as Orihime dragged him into the classroom like an invalid. He wasn't someone to care much for his reputation, after all, it wasn't splendid to start with anyway but there were lines. He also remembered the girl's warm, soft hand but carefully steered his thoughts away from that.
During the break he remained seated at his table, lest he got lost again. He kept his head low, pretending to be reading but felt the hot stares in his neck and heard some giggling now and then. When the lessons recommenced he was in an exceedingly bad mood and at the end of the day he hadn't taken much notes at all, nor learned anything. 'I should have just returned home this morning.'
'Ishida-kun!' Once again he was startled by Orihime calling out to him. He looked up to see her smile at him as she bent over his table. 'Will you be alright going home all by yourself?'
'Yes Inoue-san, I will be fine.'
The girl looked thoughtful. 'Are you sure?'
'R-really Inoue-san you don't have to worry about me.' He found himself stuttering again and tried to regain his composure. He was not quite sure what it was that was putting him off like that.
'Now that you say that you can be absolutely positive of my worrying about you!' Orihime laughed. 'Come on, I'll walk you home.' Ignoring his protests she dragged him along once more and chattered about a million things on the way to his house. When they finally arrived there she finally released him and they spoke their goodbyes to each other. Trembling from such an assault on his mind and on his ears Ishida struggled with the keys.
'What a day…' he sighed as he closed the door behind him.
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The red-headed girl hummed as she walked down the street. She was glad to have been able to help Ishida. 'He is such a kind boy.' she smiled to herself.
A/N: I suddenly came up with this idea and I hope you like it. I was too lazy to figure out where in the story-line this is set but it is somewhere when the characters didn't know each other that well, probably just before they went to Soul Society.