I ship Ichihime. Yet I find this so adorable. Why?
"You don't have to stare at them, you know."
Orihime jumped at the voice. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned to the shinigami whose voice had startled her. "Oh, Renji, it's just you. I thought you might've been a Hollow or something."
Renji huffed and sat on the short stone wall that surrounded the outdoor eating area, whipping Zabimaru over his back. "It's kinda sickening to watch, you know?"
Orihime jumped again, and waved her hands wildly, an apologetic smile etched on her lips. "No—no! I think it's—it's . . . wonderful for them to have such a close relationship."
"Close is not what I'd call it," Renji muttered, watching the pair across from them.
When Ichigo had invited Orihime to lunch at a fancy new restaurant—with an extra special outdoor eating area patio thingy!—she had been thrilled.
Maybe this was his idea of a date? She'd read the mangas—boy asks girl to a fancy restaurant, and the girl's not sure but she thinks it's a date and it totally is?
She would have been positively thrilled had Ichigo asked her on a date—it certainly had come up in her dreams many times.
In her fantasies, Ichigo would have been so chivalrous; he'd pull out her chair for her and then sit down himself, smile at her dreamily, and then ask the waiter to bring whatever was the chef's special—secretely knowing it was her favorite: curried donuts with red bean paste and ketchup. As they were brought their food, they'd chat about the most wonderful things—what to bring when attacked by aliens, how robots should plan their world takeover, and how beautiful it would be to see a real cyborg.
But no, that was not what had happened.
At all.
Apparently, Rukia had been in the area, sanctioned by her captain to clear up any wandering Hollows, and had dragged her childhood friend, Renji, along with her. Ichigo had asked her (before he'd asked Orihime!) if she had a moment, to come dine with him at the new restaurant—Chad had said that the food was impeccable. The invitation also extended to Renji, who'd been less than pleased.
What should have been a day chatting with Ichigo and eating really good food, turned out to be a day of watching Ichigo and Rukia (in her gigai) banter in what one consider to be an overly-familiar way. Rukia had gotten so into it that when a Hollow had been sensed, she'd sent Renji to go after it, saying it was easy enough for him to take on by himself.
When Renji had left, though, Orihime felt more than a little uncomfortable. When he'd still been around, she'd feel slightly less left out of the Ichigo-Rukia circle—at least Renji had the gall to be uncharacteristically quiet and glare at the pair.
She'd, on the hand, chosen to try and join in into the bantering twosome's conversations, laughing quietly at just the right moments and pretending to be interested in whatever they were saying.
In reality, her mind wandered. The more she watched Ichigo's cool façade deteriorate when he was with Rukia, and noticed his tough exterior become obsolete as Rukia teased him, the more she realized . . . she had lost him.
Or more accurately, she never had him.
She felt someone knock on the back of her head and turned to see Renji's accusing fist and mildly annoyed face.
"You're staring again," he chided.
Orihime blushed. "I—I was?"
Renji rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze to Ichigo and then Orihime before he finally landed on Rukia. His mind, though, seemed to be focusing on Ichigo still. "He really is kind of a little shit, isn't he?"
"Who? Ichigo?" she asked. She shook her head fervently. "No, no. Ichigo is very nice. He's brave and kind and smart and doesn't let anything stand in his way—"
"—But he's too dense and stupid to see that someone loves him." Renji sighed and nudged his chin towards Rukia. "And she's too preoccupied."
A blush spread across Orihime's face when he said 'someone loves him', but her interest piqued at something else he said. "Preoccupied with what?"
"With everything. The Soul Society, Karakura Town, . . . him." Renji scowled at the last bit. "She doesn't have time for people she's known all her life, like me."
"I know what you mean," she said, surprising herself. It was true. She'd known Ichigo for a long time—and what did she have to show for it? Yes, he protected her, but . . . she wasn't the only thing he protected. Yes, he was softer her with her, but few people weren't. He just complied with her personality.
At least Renji had a deep-seated friendship with Rukia to show for all the time they'd spent together.
The friendship didn't seem to do him any good, though.
Rukia only had eyes for Ichigo.
"Yeah," Renji admitted, sheathing his Zanpakutō. "I guess you would, wouldn't you?"
After a moment, he swung his legs off of the ledge he'd been sitting on and turned. He moved a few steps away before saying, "Hey, Orihime."
Orihime sat up straight to attention, looking a little uneasy. "Um, yes?"
"I know Kisuke said you're no good in battle, but you've been practicing your Shun Shun Rikka stuff, right?"
She nodded, not knowing where he was going with this. "Yes, for awhile now."
"Well, if Rukia's gonna stay all that in that gigai of hers with her boy toy and not do what we came here to do—defeat Hollows—wanna come with me and be my backup?"
He moved his hand to motion her forward, and after stealing another look at Rukia and Ichigo, she happily obliged.
Perhaps maybe Ichigo wasn't as great as she'd always believed.