Author's notes: It's Tanabata! Have a fluffy IshiHime Tanabata story. :D I've actually been sitting on this one for a couple of months, which was HARD because I usually publish my fics the minute I've finished re-reading for errors, and I am not a patient person. But yes. This one's a bit different from most of my other stories, so please let me know what you lovely people think. :)
Uryu couldn't sleep. The night was uncomfortably warm; a stifling humidity lingered in the air despite the wide-open window above his bed. Ordinarily, Uryu would not justify such a significant safety risk, but these were exceptional circumstances and he was such a light sleeper it probably wouldn't make much difference anyway.
Not that the prospect of sleeping through a burglary would be an issue in the first place if he couldn't get to sleep.
Rolling on his side and kicking the light covers off his feet, Uryu briefly considered turning on a fan but quickly decided against it. Who would be able to sleep through that kind of racket, anyway?
Uryu nearly laughed out loud. He knew exactly who would be able to sleep through a noise like that. Hadn't he spent nearly the entirety of his shifts keeping watch in the Soul Society terrified that the enemy would attack and he wouldn't be able to rouse Orihime Inoue in time to escape? That girl could sleep through anything. Her deep sleep had disconcerted Uryu at the time, but now he just found himself envious of his mental image of the innocent girl curled up in bed, asleep, her slim arms holding that teddy of hers.
Envious that she could fall asleep so easily when he couldn't, that was. Not envious of the bear. Definitely not.
Well, maybe a little.
Uryu sat up, tucked his stringy, perspiration-slicked hair behind his ears and reached aside for the glass of water he had set on his bedside-table before going to bed. To his dismay, he discovered that the ice had melted long ago, leaving him with a glass of disgustingly warm water. Unable to bring himself to drink the vile liquid, Uryu splashed a small amount of the water on his forehead.
The water really was warm. What time was it, again?
Squinting through the darkness at the clock, he determined that the time was about half-past one. Rats. He'd practically be a zombie in the morning.
Well, there was nothing else for it.
Uryu swung his legs off the bed and began making his way over to the fan on his desk. He may not have been able to sleep with it on, but perhaps he could shut the window, leave it on for a bit and then try to get to sleep before the room warmed up again.
Switching on the light on the way past, Uryu reached the fan and switched it on, savouring the feel of the cooler air against his face. Eventually he wrenched himself away, logic telling him to shut the window before all of the insects in Karakura were attracted by the light.
After spending a minute internally debating whether to read a book, he found himself peeling off his white cotton pyjamas and dressing in light clothes, hooking his Quincy cross bracelet around his right wrist. After all, the sky was cloudless and the stars were particularly bright tonight, and it would be a shame to miss seeing them while the new moon wasn't drowning them in light pollution.
Before he could convince himself that it was probably a bad idea to exhaust himself any more, Uryu was out of his front door, his feet carrying him goodness-knew-where of their own accord.
After a few minutes of aimless wandering, he realised that he was heading for the park. Of course, a large field with the sky unobscured by trees would be the best place to watch the stars from, and it had the added advantage of giving him plenty of time to react if an hollow approached.
Or to see if somebody else already happened to be there, Uryu thought to himself upon arriving and seeing a small figure sprawled across the grass, their hand tracing shapes in the sky above their head.
Hang on, Uryu definitely recognised that long hair...
"Orihime Inoue, what on Earth are you playing at?"
The figure started, propping itself up on an elbow and waving cheerfully at the approaching Uryu. "Oh, hey Uryu! Couldn't sleep either?" Orihime asked, brightly.
"Are you an idiot?" hissed Uryu, stopping once he had reached his friend and stood over her, watching as the light breeze played with her hair. "It's not safe for you to be out on your own at two in the morning!"
Orihime pouted. "I'm not an idiot, and I'm not alone now you're here!"
"I apologise," Uryu muttered, apologetically conceding her point. "You're not an idiot, although it was foolish of you to come here alone. You had no idea I'd be turning up, after all."
Orihime grinned. Uryu couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something off about that grin. Something slightly mischievous, a tad too knowing.
It unnerved him somewhat.
"Well, why don't you join me?" Orihime asked, airily, as she patted the grass by her side.
After a second's deliberation, he obliged, all indignation for her unsafe solo wanderings disappearing as he sat down on the ground before following Orihime's lead and reclining back on the parched, brown grass. Resisting the urge to giggle in a most unmanly fashion as the dry blades tickled the back of his neck, Uryu noticed that Orihime was once again waving her slender arm in the air, drawing abstract shapes in the sky with a finger. Suddenly, it clicked.
"Are you searching for a particular constellation?"
Orihime frowned, her tongue sticking out from her delicate mouth in concentration. Uryu was inordinately grateful that she was too busy focusing on the glittering stars in the sky to pay any attention to the stupid grin he couldn't quite hold back spreading across his face.
"I'm looking for a star," said Orihime.
"Well, take your pick," teased Uryu. "You can see thousands from here."
Orihime turned her head to face Uryu, and he hastily adopted a neutral expression and prayed that she had not caught his smile. "Ha ha," she responded, playfully but delicately digging an elbow into his ribs. "I meant one in particular. Altair."
Of course. Today was the seventh of July; Tanabata. Orihime must have a prayer for her namesake and Hikoboshi. Evidently she had headed out as soon as midnight struck to be the very first to make her prayer. Had she really been looking for the last two hours? That wasn't like Orihime; surely she was too clever to waste that much time searching if she didn't know where to start?
Uryu set aside this thought. "Oh, that's easy," he said, shifting his head until it was right by Orihime's and taking her outstretched arm, gently manoeuvring it so she was pointing at a particular twinkling dot in the sky. "Altair is in the Aquila constellation, the head of the eagle."
"So he is," Orihime replied, vaguely, gazing happily up at the sky. It took all of Uryu's self-control not to reach out a hand and touch her face.
Uryu gave a small cough. "Is there any particular reason why it couldn't be Vega?"
Orihime smiled brightly, evidently happy that Uryu understood. "Oh, I think Hikoboshi's the best one to answer my particular prayer," she declared.
"I'm sure you're right," said Uryu, smiling fondly at his friend. "Besides which, Orihime is further away, but you'll only have to wait thirty-three and a half years for Hikoboshi to answer your prayer."
Orihime turned her gaze away from the sky and regarded Uryu. "Perhaps I won't even have to wait that long."
"No," he murmured, distracted by the unreadable expression in Orihime's eyes as she looked at him. It was strange; Uryu could normally read her like an open book, but at this moment he had absolutely no idea what she was thinking behind her inscrutable smile.
Suddenly, the spell was broken, and Orihime was getting to her feet. "Well, I'm done," she announced, brushing pieces of desiccated grass from her skirt and extending a slim hand towards Uryu, who was still lying on the ground.
Uryu took Orihime's proffered hand and allowed himself to be pulled up, surprised by the slender girl's strength as she dragged him to his feet.
"Well, I think I'll be going home now," said Orihime. "Thank you for showing me where Hikoboshi is, Uryu."
"It was no trouble," said Uryu. "Although if you think I'm letting you walk home alone in the dark, you're very much mistaken."
Orihime blinked. "But I live such a long way away!"
Uryu raised an eyebrow. "Even more reason why you shouldn't be walking around on your own."
"Ah, okay," Orihime conceded.
As the pair walked along the field in the direction of Sakurabashi, Uryu looked away from his companion and smiled up at the night sky. There was really no need for him to make his prayer to Vega, because he had a sneaking suspicion that Orihime already knew exactly what she needed to do.