Chapter 1:

"Ichigo-kun?" Orihime leaned over into Ichigo. Her face was only a couple inches away from Ichigo's. Her eyes reflected worry and sorrow and she reached her hand forward and touched his cheek lightly, as if trying to find where he really was.

Ichigo blinked.

"Huh?" He said. His eyes returned from the dreamy state they had been in a few seconds ago. He noticed how close Orihime was and backed up a little. Orihime noticed and leaned back as well, taking her hand back and wrapping it in her other arm. She looked down, her eyes showed pain and loneliness. Ichigo noticed, but he didn't know what to say. He looked down as well, trying to think of a way to lighten the air.

"Ichigo-kun...where are you?" Orihime asked. She hadn't planned on asking at all. But the pain had gotten too strong. She couldn't bear another moment of watching Ichigo be anywhere but with her.

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"You're not here Ichigo-kun. All the time you're somewhere else. You're in your own world." Orihime looked down. "You seem happier over there than with me." She uttered the words. The words came down on Ichigo like daggers. They were forcing him to face it. The events that he relived every day to keep the aching hole in his chest under control. The story he used so he could maintain the mask that kept everyone else from worrying about him.

'You're so stupid.' He told himself. He had tried dating Orihime because she often seemed clueless and he thought she might not notice. But she had, it turned out that she wasn't so clueless after all.

"And when you look at me, you don't see me. You see someone else. I know there's someone else." Orihime said. The words stabbed Ichigo's heart where the hole was, making the hold even wider. But his mask seemed to get thinner. Yes, there was someone else. But no, Ichigo had never intended on letting her get in the way of him moving on. He could tell that he hadn't succeeded or gotten close. She still haunted him everywhere he went. Her face was everywhere, her voice was everywhere. He could still even feel the brush of her hair against his shoulder and the touch of her lips against his. And to think that he had tried to forget all of this.

"...Tell me Ichigo-kun. Where do you go all the time?" Orihime leaned in again. This time, Ichigo didn't lean away. "What can you not let go?"

"...It's a really long story. It might take forever to finish." Ichigo said uneasily. He was desperate to get them away from the story. What had happened to him in highschool.

"Ichigo-kun, I can wait." Orihime said again.

Ichigo sighed. He knew he wasn't going to convince Orihime out of this. The hole in his chest started to ache again. The mask he had taken so long to build, started to melt away, revealing the pain he had felt all the years without her around. All the regret, sorrow, pain, and selfishness that had been hidden was starting to reappear. Orihime could see it surfacing. She held his hand and squeezed it to let him know that she was there for him.

"We...we first met when I...when we were both 8." Ichigo started.

I was helping my dad out around at our hospital since Karin and Yuzu were still a little too young and Mom wasn't around. I was doing the small jobs like taking out the trash and sweeping the floors when she came. Now that I think about it, she had come from a rich family that went to those big expensive hosptials, so it was a coincidence that we had ever crossed paths at all.

She came with another boy who was standing next to her, looking a little portective. Her childhood friend Abarai Renji. I concluded and went on to finish my job.

"Kurosaki-sensei! Rukia's hurt!" He hollored, completely ignoring the other patients that had been waiting way before him and the baby that started to cry. (Sensei is used for doctors too.)

She had a small towel covering a spot a little above her left eye. She held it down on the injury and waited in a seat in the corner quietly while Renji got help. She was looking around with her right eye when she spotted me. She got off the seat and walked up to me while I put away my broom.

"...Aren't you in Renji's class?" She asked cocking her head to the side in a girly way that I still can't belive she could do.

"Yeah." I replied.

"So you're Kurosaki-kun." She said nodding.

"He talks about me?"

"He said that you were an orange strawberry that knows no manners." She said and giggled. "At least the orange strawberry part is true."

"Shut up." I said annoyed. I turned around about to leave.

"I guess the no manner part is true too." She added.

I turned around. "You called me a name, I have every right to be rude to you."

"You have a point." Rukia said. "I guess you're right."

"Hey, Rukia!" Renji called. He pointed to my Dad who had just won another trophy.

'He probably thinks he scored.' I thought. I knew this because every time a guy with some nice looking clothes had come in, he had been extra nice and had treated them first. Of course he was well-liked so people forgave him and still came to our place. He had always called the rich people who came, trophies, and I knew that Rukia was probably going to be another one of his trophies as well.

Renji followed Rukia into the Dad's office, or that's what he called it anyway. They came out a few minutes later. Rukia had a bandage above her eye that was covered by a couple locks of hair as black as the night sky. She looked over at me and smiled as she walked over. Renji followed her.

"Yo Ichigo!" Renji said waving a hand.

"Yo." I said without much expression. "So, Renji. What did you tell her about me?" I said pointing at Rukia.

"Oh not much." Renji said laughing. "You see she...!" He stopped and grabbed onto his foot. "Ow!" He shouted.

"Let's go Renji! Bye bye Ichigo-kun!" Rukia waved as she dragged Reni with her out the door.

I didn't see her after that. Renji mentioned her occasionaly but that was about it.

I didn't see her again until I was 11. I had just started middle school. I was walking home after school when I ran into her.

"Kya!" She fell back and I caught her before she fell. "Huh...?" She looked at my face and blushed. I stared at her, or stared down at her. She had either gotten shorter or I had gotten taller. Whichever it was, it didn't really matter.

"Hey, what do you know? It's Rukia of all people." I said sarcasticaly.

"What's that suppoused to mean?" There was anger in her voice as she pushed my hands off her.

"Means I didn't excpect to see you."

"You defininetly don't know your manners." She snarled as she brushed some dirt off her private school uniform.

"At least I'm not a short in height and temper." I replied. "And you should be thankful to me for saving you from falling."

"Don't call me short! You're just too goddamn tall!" Rukia shouted.

"Oh, for a rich kid in a private school you have a foul mouth."

"Shut up!"

"Well if you're around Renji I guess I can't blame you."

"Renji isn't as bad as you are." She turned around and tried to stomp away.

"Hey, no one is bad as Renji. Not even me." I retroted.

"There are a million stars in the sky, Ichigo. It wouldn't be surprising if one of them happend to be the one." Rukia said with a mischevious smile on her face before she rounded the corner and was gone.

"?" I stared at the corner where she had dissapeared for a long time.

"So long actually." Ichigo said chuckling. "That my Dad actually beat me really bad when I got home." He said. He had noticed that it had gotten easier as he talked more, so he decided not to stop and keep on going. The hole in his chest filled just a little bit, but it was still there. His expression relaxed a little. Orihime noticed as well, and her expression relaxed.

She looked out the window of Ichigo's room where they were sitting. The stars twinkled against the pitch black sky.

'Rukia-san was right. It wouldn't have been surprising at all.' Orihime thought.

First Ichiruki story!

Second Bleach story!

Inspriations: Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard and I'd do Anything by Simple Plan

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, Ichigo, Rukia, or anything other than the plot.

Please review people! I want to know if this story would be likeable. I thought it up after listening to Ocean Avenue and then I'd do Anything on shuffle in my ipod. (The miracles of the ipod.)

I'm going to have a ton of fun with this story. :)