Hi guys! I am very sorry that I have reloaded this story. I was so excited to publish this that made me forget to at least give my comment or whatever at the start or end of the story. Please bear with me. This is my first ever published story. I have a lot in mind so expect more from eheheheheh. XD
Thanks for the first comment but still, I have to re-post it, tsk! Moreover, I don't want to be sued by Tite Kubo for using the character and story XD
Thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own Bleach.
Orihime had been so anxious since yesterday. She had decided to confess her feelings to a certain orange-haired, scowling guy. It already piled up in her chest and ready to burst anytime. And she wanted to make sure that before she gets a nervous breakdown for keeping it so long, he should know about her feelings, deeper feelings for him. Tatsuki had been pressuring her since they came back from Hueco Mundo. After the war and everything has calmed down, she told her martial artist best friend what had happened: from the Ulquiorra's threat, kidnapping her, until the time she was saved and retrieved from the arrancars and saving the whole Karakura Town from Aizen. She always excuses herself to Tatsuki that there should be the right time to confess, once everything had calmed down.
Flashback:
"Everything's alright now, the town is peaceful, wounds were healed, and so... this should be the right time, ne, Orihime?" the short-haired martial artist said.
"Right! Right, Tatsuki-chan! It's good that everything is back to normal!" the aubum-haired said.
"..."
"Eh?"
"Don't 'eh, eh' me, Orihime!" glaring to her friend. "You should confess to Ichigo! This has been stale for a long time now and that bastard should know! And you also should know what you are to him!" she continued.
"But... but... Tatsuki-chan! I... I don't think... this is the right time..." Orihime explained as her eyes became watery again because of either scared of the after effect of the confession or to her friend's outburst, or maybe both.
"Oi, this is the right time! Tell him! Or I swear to God I'll be the one who'll tell him! And I can't promise you that I wouldn't ripe that idiot's balls off!" she threatened.
"No, no! I'll confess! I'll do it... it's just that... I don't know what to do if he doesn't... f-feel the same. I'm scared that our friendship will be ruined and then he'll no longer talk to me... or worse, he'll… he'll hate me," she said as a tear started to fall in her cheek.
"If he doesn't feel the same, then deal with it! At least he knows and you're not keeping that to yourself! But I really feel that the feeling is mutual... It's just that, that bastard is a little clueless. It's not bad to be proactive, ne? Just give him a little push...," Tatsuki said to encourage her best friend.
"You think so? You think he l-loves me too? Or at least, likes me?" hopeful gray eyes looking at Tatsuki's while crimson color appeared on her cheeks. "But I don't know what to do if he rejects me... Oh! I know! I'll just pray that the floor opens up then swallow me whole, right? Hahahaha!"
Tatsuki couldn't believe that her friend can still smile after those incidents. The only thing that she could do to help her friend cope up with those nightmares was to at least encourage her to confess her feelings to Ichigo. Yeah, that a**hole hadn't confess yet after having hole in his chest, twice, just for saving her. Now, being Orihime's best friend, she was somehow involved in this mess.
"Damn!" she hissed. "Just think of something that you can do or say if he didn't say anything! Of course, aside from praying a hole in the floor to swallow you up! Anything! Just don't hurt yourself, okay?"
"Yes ma'am!" the princess enthusiastically said with her hand saluting at her forehead.
End of Flashback
Her palms were now all sweaty, her lower lip was trembling and her knees were shaking. She didn't know if she could keep standing up by herself if she removed her left hand which holding the rooftop fence. She had been waiting for Ichigo for 10 agonizing minutes. She left a note in his desk asking him to go to the rooftop during their lunch break. She already asked Tatsuki to tell others not to eat in the rooftop as she about to meet him there.
"Did I scare him? Is he late or did I just come here to early? Ow! I wished the blue little men come here to keep me occupied! I'm about to pee and my stomach is somehow crazy! I'm so nervous!" she prayed.
"Oi Inoue! What's up? Is everything all right? Hope you didn't wait that long," the love of her life said as he approached her.
"Wah! Don't startle me like that K-Kurosaki-kun. Oh no! I'm sorry! I'm not really that surprise to see you here since I asked you to come here and, and... I was just not paying attention and thinking of the aliens and the robots while those blue little men-"
"Hey! You're mumbling, and..." he cut her clumsy explanation, "do you have fever? Your face is so red? Are you okay? Do you want me to accompany you to the clinic?"
"Oh no, no! I'm okay, Kurosaki-kun!"
"Have you eaten your lunch? I didn't see you with Tatsuki and the other girls in your usual table during lunch. Did you immediately come up here without taking your lunch? You should've eaten first," worry ran across his handsome face as he stared at her crimson face.
"Well, I... I don't want Kurosaki-kun to wait for me since I... I was the once who invited you here. My lunch can wait and there's nothing special in my bento, it is the same onigiri with red bean paste and also the wasabi flavor that I put to add a little spice on it. And... and... I... I," Orihime stopped as she looked at the boy in front of her, staring deep within her.
She became nervous again, which actually did not leave her for once. She's now more nervous than ever as his brow deepen thinking that she made him more annoyed and irritated. The pressure was building up, making her chest tight and her breath stopped. She thought Tatsuki would kill her if she didn't finish this. She also thought her fellow big-breasted friend Rangiku-chan, she'll be irritated for sure.
"..."
"I like you, Kurosaki-kun! Very much! I actually love you for a while now!" Orihime confessed in impulse, her head bowed to avoid eye contact.
"Huh?"
"..."
"..."
She got anxious when she did not receive any respond from him. She did not want to raise her head and look at his face, scared what she might see there. She kept her head low, looking at her sweaty and trembling hands. She felt a sting of tear in her eyes. She wanted to pass out then wake up like nothing happen. But everything is real. She could feel his stare, she could feel her stomach as it ached, she could feel that she had been rubbing her shoes and did not know since when she started doing it.
She shut her eyes close. She forced her tears not to drop. She forced her knees not to obviously shake and keep her up until this is finished. She inhaled roughly. His silence meant only one thing...
"It's okay Kurosaki-kun if...if you don't feel the same. I... I understand and, and I'm sorry that I wasted your time coming up here instead of enjoying yourself with... with Sado-kun and others. Sorry to bother you! It's just that I want to feel relieved. And, and it is a good thing that... that Tatsuki-chan told me to think of something that I can do or say, if... if ever our feelings are not mutual, I mean, I mean, if you don't feel the same about me..."
She looked over the fence at the corner of her eyes. She thought that she'll make a scene in the school ground if she asked Tsubaki to slash it then jump over for embarrassing herself in front of Ichigo. This ran across her mind that it would be the best alternative thing to do if this did not go as she wanted. But Tatsuki said not to hurt herself, so praying for the floor to swallow her up was not also a good idea. Now, she didn't know what to do. She just stood there, head low, put her clasped hands in her chest as she felt like she no longer breathing. She forced her eyes to shut, wishing for the tears not to fall. She knew that it will make Ichigo worry or feel guilty. And she didn't want that. She didn't want to annoy him, to burden him, to worry him, to feel guilty and sorry for her. If she couldn't jump from the rooftop or to instantly vanish in front of him, she should say something, anything...
"I just want to, to tell you this. I'm not asking you to return the feelings especially if you don't feel the same. I just... I just want to at least let it out and let you know. It tightens my heart more if I'll just keep it. Please don't hate me. You can just forget what I said and go on with our lives as... as nakama. And... It's just that, that... Please don't hate me, Kurosaki-kun!"
She didn't know what exactly was happening in her surrounding. She could still feel his presence and she could still see his shoes in front of her, indicating that he's still there, listening. She didn't exactly know his reaction because she couldn't see his face and she didn't want to see it, afraid of the rejection. But she knew that she had prepared something to say or do in case he rejected her.
"You said Tatsuki told you to say or do something in case I don't return your feelings, right?" he said while he stepped closer to her.
"Y-yeah..."
"Then what will you say... or do if I tell you that I don't feel the same?"
"... I'll accept it. I'm very much okay with it. I will not force you to love me in return. I will ask you to forget this day. I will do my best not to... to bother or waste your time anymore. Like, like this did not happen. I'm okay with it...really," she honestly replied though her heart felt as it was squeezed. Her chest tightened because of the pain of feeling not to be loved in return. She thought that she had to endure it, that she had prepared for it. But questioned herself why it hurt so bad that she could no longer stop the sorrowful tears to flow from her eyes.
"Then what will you say... or do if I tell you that I also love you?"
"Hehehehe! The truth is I'm planning to summon Tsubaki-kun to slash this fence and then I'll jump and vanish forever or... or I'll call Sado-kun to punch the floor so it will swallow me whole while the blue little men drag me awa-"
"Hey! Hey! I'm serious! What will happen if I say that I feel the same way about you? That the feeling is mutual?" he asked staring at her.
She snapped her head up. Her big gray eyes glistered with tears staring back at his intense chocolate orbs. She couldn't handle the intensity of his stare. Orihime lowered her head again, looking at her hands that pulling down the hem of her sweater nervously.
"I might hug you tight. I might, I might... kiss you," she shyly responded while shutting her eyes and felt ashamed from the boldness of her mind.
"Then do it! Hug me… and kiss me," he said with a little smile in his lips.
"Whaaa-!" she yelped as she raised her head to look at his face. "I... I... You don't feel the same and you, you will hate me if I do that. It is better to be just your n-nakama forever than, than hate me, and... and-"
"Tch!" as he chuckled and scratched his messy orange hair. Scarlet color started to show in his face.
"Eh? I'm very sorry! Are you okay Kurosa- hmmmpf!" words that was about to escape in her lips was stopped by another lips, Ichigo's lips.
Her eyes were saucer-wide as she inhaled her breath back to her throat because something was blocking her mouth. And that something tasted so sweet. She couldn't move her face as two big calloused hands were cupping it. It was no big deal for her because she has no plan of moving her face from those gentle hands. She didn't mind at all especially now that he was moving his lips unto her. He was nibbling her lower lip which gave her a lot of delicious electric shocks. It took Orihime few nibbling unto her lips from Ichigo before she realized that he was indeed kissing her. She closed her eyes assuming that it would taste more delicious. She unconsciously laid her trembling hands to his chest, not to push him away, but to feel his heart if it was beating as fast as her heart. After feeling it, she snaked her arms into his shoulders then around his neck to support her shaking knees. She then felt his arms encircling her thin waist to keep her up and to deepen the kiss they're sharing.
Ichigo hissed when he felt Orihime pulled her lips away from him. He found her lips very addictive, too soft and very delicious.
"T-this is way, way better that jumping from here to the ground!" she said dreamingly while her gray eyes were half-hidden under her eyelids and an adorable smile appeared in her now swollen lips.
"Indeed, Hime-chan," he responded with the smirk still plastered unto his face.
"Eh?" her confused eyes were now open staring back at him.
"Can I call you that? It felt good in my mouth, ne, Hime-chan?" he teased while lovingly looking at his red-faced princess.
"Of course, Kurosaki-kun," she said blushing.
"That is Ichigo for you now, Hime-chan," he said, loving how his endearment to her felt right in his lips and tongue.
"R-Right, I-Ichigo-kun," she bowed her head again to hide her crimson face from him.
He used his finger to lift her bowed head. He wanted to be drowned in those big gray eyes that he loved. Well, he actually loved everything about her. He could see something in those orbs, uncertainty, he thought.
He was about to taste her lips again when the bell rang indicating that the lunch break was over. He cursed under his breath for interrupting him to kiss his Hime again. He gave her a quick peck in the lips and nose before grabbing her hand.
"Come on Hime-chan, we don't want to be late on our next subject and I don't want Tatsuki to kick my ass if I didn't return you on time," he said as he pulled her towards the door. He stopped before grabbing the door knob then stare back at her with those brown eyes she fell in love with. "And yeah, I feel the same way about you, I love you," as he squeezed her cold hand.
Those words made her smile bigger and brighter. He no longer saw the uncertainty. It was full of love and joy which he knew that those were from him and for him only. He had everything now. She lovingly stared at him after hearing those words.
"I love you more, Ichi-kun...," she said as she squeezed his hands. 'Yeah, this is way, way better that jumping to the ground or be eaten by the floor,' she thought as they ran their way to their classroom.
END
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