Disclaimer: Bleach and all characters belong to Kubo Tite

Author's Notes: Just an Ichihime drabble for fanfic100 on Livejournal.

Finally they could return home now that the war was over.

Everyone walked along silently and departed from each other one by one until it was just Ichigo and Orihime. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but he seemed deep in thought and so she remained silent.

Finally she said, "Um... Kurosaki-kun, isn't this your stop?" They were close to his house, but he hadn't seemed to notice.

"Oh. Uh, yeah." Ichigo scratched his head absentmindedly. He wasn't ready to go home just yet and he didn't know why. He was tired, exhausted actually, but he wasn't ready. Looking around at the neighborhood, the bright streetlamps and the shadows on the sidewalk cast by the moon, he suddenly turned to his companion. "How about I walk you home first? It's still dark out..."

"Ah. Um. I guess that's ok." Orihime blushed in the darkness and looked away from him.

Together they walked down by the river towards the general direction of Orihime's apartment. They stood on the banks and looked over the town. This was where they all came to watch fireworks in the summer, where Ichigo's mother died, where so many meetings and partings had taken place. Orihime looked up into the star scattered sky. It was lighter now, dawn must be approaching. It was so different here; she had almost forgotten what the night sky looked like after being in Hueco Mundo for so long under Aizen's constantly shining sun.

She looked up at Ichigo, his face pale in the fading moonlight. Her heart was so full that she thought it might burst. Everyone had returned safely and she was so happy, but she was mostly happy because Ichigo had returned safely and she was happy that he was standing beside her right now. She opened her mouth to tell him all the things that had built up inside of her since her time in the Hollow world.

"Umm... Kurosaki-kun?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

He looked down at her inquisitively.

"Kurosaki-kun..." Those eyes... Those eyes held this soft look that was just for her and Orihime choked back a sudden surge of tears. "Kurosaki-kun," she whispered again. She was so happy that he was alive, her heart had swelled so big in her chest that it threatened to choke her. She couldn't breathe when he looked at her that way. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, glittering tears falling away under the starlight.

"Inoue?"

"I'm so happy," she said, avoiding his eyes. "I'm so happy that we all came back."

"M-me too," Ichigo replied, slightly confused by Orihime's sudden outburst of emotion.

"No that's not right. I mean it is. I really am glad we all came back... I just mean that's not how I meant to say it. I..." She trailed off. Why was it so hard to say what she felt to him? For so long she'd kept it inside, she wanted to tell him now before she lost the chance forever. What if they didn't all come back next time?

He was looking at her, a puzzled look on his face.

They stood there for a moment in awkward silence, until Ichigo pointed to the sky. "Inoue, look. The sun is rising."

Orihime turned her head to see the light pink colors of dawn stretching across the sky slowly drowning out the stars and the white moon. She was startled to feel something warm and heavy against her back, it was Ichigo. He pulled her against his chest and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"I'm happy that Kurosaki-kun came back..." She said, quietly.

"Me too," Ichigo said turning her around so he could see her face. Brushing a strand of orange hair away from her cheek, he bent his head and kissed her gently. "Me too."