Ichigo scratched his nose with his pen and stared at the blank sheet of paper on his desk, willing his hand to actually write something useful rather than aimlessly twiddling the pen.

Vaguely aware that Miss Ochi was droning on at the front of the class in her typical bored fashion and that he should really be listening, what with all of the unauthorised time he had taken off school recently to go to different worlds to rescue various people and fight hollows, he couldn't quite bring himself to focus on his inattentive teacher for long enough to take in more than a sentence at a time. Sighing noiselessly, Ichigo brought his left elbow up to the desk and rested his chin on the ball of his palm, his fingers drumming a lazy rhythm against his cheekbone as he swivelled his head slightly to glance at the clock on the wall.

Stifling a groan as he realised the lesson was barely half over, Ichigo suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck pricking up, as though he were being watched.

Ah, he thought. That'll be Orihime.

Ichigo turned his head slightly in the direction of his friend, and sure enough a curtain of her long, honey-brown hair fell forward over her shoulder to obscure her face as though she had quickly turned her head in order to avoid being caught staring.

Oh, yes, Ichigo knew all about Orihime's feelings for him. He had known ever since Ulquiorra had kidnapped her on Aizen's orders, and he had woken up the next day sensing Orihime's reiatsu on his newly and impossibly-healed hand.

Smiling softly as he noticed her ear turning slightly pink, Ichigo reflected on his friend. Orihime was pretty, he had to admit that, and he cared for her greatly, but in much the same way he cared for Yuzu or Karin. She was similarly childish, similarly innocent (to Yuzu, at least) and similarly vulnerable; the way Ichigo saw it, not having the heart to use her Shun Shun Rikka to their full potential by ruthlessly cutting down all enemies in her way meant that she was more in need of protection than, say, Rukia or Chad.

And this was precisely why he didn't outright turn Orihime down; it was better to leave her feelings unsaid than to break her heart, and much to Ichigo's relief it didn't look like she'd be vocalising them anytime soon. Ichigo knew full well that if some despicable excuse for a boy had broken Yuzu or Karin's heart he would never have forgiven them.

At least Orihime didn't have to deal with the object of her affections wanting somebody else...

Ichigo shifted his elbow on his desk and turned his head slightly more to the left, catching sight of Uryu Ishida out of the corner of his eye. Resisting the urge to laugh at the cruel irony of the situation, Ichigo noted that Uryu's eyes, partially obscured by his glasses, appeared to be focused on the back of Orihime's head, and the dark-haired Quincy's expression was intense, as though forcing his gaze off Orihime would cause the world itself to end.

Ichigo recognised that expression. It was the same way Orihime looked at him, when she thought he wasn't aware.

But he was.

Ichigo slowly closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying and failing to focus on Miss Ochi's monotonous droning. As he hastily pushed away the intrusive thought telling him that the car-crash of a situation was entirely his fault for not openly acknowledging Orihime's feelings, despite the fact that he was doing it for her own happiness, he conceded that eventually something would have to give.

For the meantime, however, it was safest to leave the status-quo undisturbed and hope that things would work themselves out in the end.

Author's notes: Anybody who has ever read anything else I have written will be aware that I tend to prefer writing oblivious!Ichigo. I just thought I'd do a short alternative character interpretation, because although I do not romantically ship Ichigo and Orihime I really do love their friendship and I think that if he does turn out to not actually be completely clueless, my interpretation is that this sort of rationale is entirely feasible for him. And then I briefly included Uryu because he and Ichigo are basically best friends, so the same sort of thing applies. :)

OH I should also point out that although it's hardly a secret that I ship IshiHime, this fanfic is to be taken at face-value. It is about a trope which is defined by a lack of endgame, hence no endgame here. If you must have closure, imagine whatever you like happens afterwards, whether that is Ichigo changing his mind and going for Orihime after all, Orihime changing her mind and going for Uryu, or the three of them dying in the Thousand-Year Blood War before anything gets resolved. I just thought I'd mention this to avoid misinterpretations. I really hate ship wars. :)