The Dinner that changed Everything

"Ishida-kun! Wait for me!" Inoue Orihime was running through the corridor against Ishida Uryuu.

"Huh?" Ishida turned around and stopped on the stop. "Oh, Inoue-san. How are you?"

"I am good, thanks Ishida-kun. How are you?"

"Well, everything's fine, Inoue-san. What did you want me? You were calling my name."

Orihime smiled and giggled a little. "Oh, I was just curious on knowing how all is going. You were so quiet and looked like you were lost in thoughts, so I thought that maybe something bothers you."

"No, no need to worry about me. Well, I am always quiet on the lessons, right?" Ishida smiled against Orihime that now blushed.

"W…well, that's true, Ishida-kun. But I just thought that you looked very… lonely I could say. Are you sure that something isn't bothering you?"

Ishida looked at Orihime for a while. In her eyes he could see something that looked like caring, tenderness and something that looked like a little sting of… worry? But what was she worried about?

"Ishida-kun?"

Ishida's thoughts got interrupted by Orihime's voice. She looked at him with a little worrying face and Ishida laughed little.

"Oh, sorry Inoue-san, I was in other thoughts. No, it's okay. Nothing's bothering me; you don't need to be worried about me, Inoue-san." Ishida smiled and began to walk away when he felt a hand on his arm.

He turned around and saw Orihime, looking down at the ground while she held her hand around his arm in a steady grab.

"Ishida-kun, why are you always doing like this? You never speak to anyone; just sit there for yourself in the classroom. Why don't you at least speak to me and tell me when something's wrong? I can see on you that something isn't as it shall be." Orihime looked up at Ishida with small tears in the corners of her eyes.

Without thinking Ishida bent forward and stroked them away. "Inoue-san, I like to be alone and you know it. I am sorry if I don't speak that much to you like you want me to do, but I want to be alone most of the time. I am that kind of person, please don't cry, Inoue-san."

Orihime looked at Ishida's hand that stroked the corner of her eye and felt how her whole body just wanted to hug this man and never let him go.

But she was too scared to do it.

"Alright, Ishida-kun… I believe you…" Orihime whispered and turned around. She quickly ran back the way she had come from and not even once she looked back at Ishida Uryuu.

Ishida looked when Orihime ran away from him. He still had his hand stretched out in the same pose it had been when he had stroked away Orihime's tears.

"Inoue-san…?"

Ishida was confused, why did Orihime run away? Was it something he had said or done? And what had she meant with "Why don't you at least speak to me and tell me when something's wrong?"

"I am sorry; Inoue-san, but I can't tell you. Not yet anyway", Ishida said to himself and laid down his hand, turned around and walked away.

"Why, why won't he tell me? Ishida-kun… why can't you see that I care for you? I don't want you to be hurt…"

Orihime lay in her bed, crying. She had run all the way from school to home as fast she had been able to and had tried not to cry, but it had been hard. She felt so lonely and little disappointment that Ishida hadn't told her what disturbed his peace. Didn't he trust her?

"Man, if I only could figure out what's going on…" Orihime sighed and turned around so she lay on her back instead of the stomach.

"I must do something, I just can't let Ishida-kun walk around and be worried for what it now is he's worried about."

Orihime decided there and then: she would search up Ishida and make him tell what was wrong.
Cost what it would cost.

She got up, changed to more comfortable clothes and walked out to the sunshine. The birds were singing in the trees and no clouds were disturbing the blue sky. It was a perfect day.

Orihime felt much better now when she had decided for what she would do, and the weather didn't made her mood worse, the other way around.

"If only Ishida-kun would be here for me then everything would be totally perfect." She smiled for herself and laughed happy while she danced a little. This happy she hadn't been for a long time.

Soon enough she reached her destination: Ishida Uryuu's house. It was very quiet, the house lay in shadows and no birds were singing here. And Ishida was nowhere to be found.

Orihime stopped and looked up against the house. Her heart beat fast and she felt how she begun to sweat. This was it, now the time was in.

She walked to the front door and knocked on it gently.
No one opened.
She tried again, and this time she thought she could hear footsteps that came towards her. The door opened and there he stood, Ishida Uryuu, the man she loved.

"Inoue-san?" Ishida sounded surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Ishida-kun. I… I wanted to talk with you and apologize for my behaviour earlier." Orihime felt how her cheeks got warm and she quickly looked down so Ishida wouldn't see that she blushed.

"Inoue-san, you don't need to apologize for anything. It shall be me that shall apologize for treating you the way I did. I am terrible sorry if I said anything wrong or hurt you. Please come in so can we talk face to face."

Orihime nodded and walked in to Ishida's house for the first time. What she didn't know there and then was that it wouldn't be the last time.

The first thing she saw when she stepped in was that the whole house was fully dark, except for one room to the right. In there she saw a small little light and she was just going to ask Ishida why it only was lights in just that room when she felt a hand on her shoulder and then Ishida's voice that told her to follow him.

"Ishida-kun, what is it?" Orihime asked while Ishida took her against the lighted up room.

"You will soon see", Ishida said and smiled gently against Orihime.

When they came in to the room Orihime panted and looked with big eyes on the room. There it stood two small candles on a table. On the table it stood two glasses and plates. Next to the table it stood another little smaller table with a lot of different food and drinks.

Ishida had prepared this, no doubt about it.

"Ishida-kun, what's…?" Orihime asked but Ishida just shook his head and laid his finger on her lips.

"Don't say anything, just sit down and I will explain soon."

Ishida took Orihime's hand and walked with her to the table where he gently sat her down on one of the chairs. He smiled all the time and Orihime could see that he was really happy.

'Why is he doing this for me? Is it just because he wants to apologize or is it something else, like…?' Orihime thought and felt how she blushed once again.

"So, Inoue-san, please take some food. You look hungry." Ishida smiled and pointed towards the food.

"Umm… Ishida-kun, I am not sure if I can…" Orihime mumbled. "I mean, why are you doing this to me?"

Ishida looked at Orihime for a long moment that felt like hours before he said: "Because I have something to tell you, Inoue-san. But please, eat a little before I tell you."

Orihime did as Ishida told her, she took some food from the table next to her even that she felt like she wouldn't eat so much.

"Something to drink?" Ishida came with a bottle of something that looked like whine, but Orihime wasn't sure.

"Oh, thanks Ishida-kun." Orihime smiled and lifted up here glass.

Ishida poured down a little in her glass before he took some himself.

They ate under silence. Orihime had a little hard time to eat but she at least tried because she didn't want to make Ishida sad.

After ten-fifteen minutes of silence Ishida finally looked up at Orihime and smiled gently against her. Orihime looked back at Ishida and smiled too.

"Inoue-san, I have something to tell you. You told me earlier this day that it looked like something bothered me. That was true what you said, but I couldn't tell you because it has about you to do. I have think a lot of you the last days, about your smile and how you always make everyone smile and laugh just by smiling or laughing yourself."

Orihime stirred at Ishida. What did he say? Was she the reason about his quietness and the reason why he had looked like something bothered him?

"Calm down, Inoue-san", Ishida said when he saw Orihime's chocked expression. He took her hand gently and contained.

"I think that I have fallen in love with you, Inoue-san. You always put a smile to my lips and make me laugh even if I don't want to. When I see your smile my heart begins to pound really hard and I got warm inside. I did this dinner to make it easier for me to tell you the truth about my feelings towards you, and I really hope that you don't mind it."

"Ishida-kun… Of course I didn't, the other way around. It was really romantic of you to do so against me and you are very brave that told me about your feelings towards me. But I haven't been really honest against you either; I also have fallen in love with you, Ishida-kun." Orihime smiled and took Ishida's other hand that lay on the table.

"Really, Inoue-san?" Ishida's face got first surprised but then it turned to a smile of real happiness.

Orihime nodded and smiled. "Have I ever lain towards you, Ishida-kun?"

Ishida didn't answer. Instead he stood up, walked to the other side of the table where Orihime sat and looked her deep into the eyes before he stroked her cheek gently.

"Inoue-san, may I kiss you?"

Orihime couldn't do anything else then nod and close her eyes when Ishida's lips met her own. Carefully at first, like if they didn't know how they should do. But soon Ishida laid his hands on Orihime's back and neck and kissed her deeper.

When the kiss broke Orihime looked in to Ishida's dark blue eyes and the only thing she saw in them was the same thing she felt towards him.

Love.

Sandra Magnusson 2009-11-14

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