For the holiday. Please stop scrolling at the ellipses until you finish. :)


Ichigo sat in the movie theater with his arm around Orihime. She couldn't believe that he had agreed to go with her to the movie. Of course, it had mostly been Tatsuki who had said to go to a scary movie and then told Ichigo to look after her. He was resistant to Tatsuki of course, but his protective nature gave in and he agreed.

But now... in the dark of theater, Orihime couldn't help but be excited and scared. She hoped he couldn't see her bright blushing in the light coming from the screen. Suddenly she felt something creeping along her back, which caused her to jump. Her hair bounced everywhere, as Tatsuki had insisted on taking her hairpins, claiming that Ichigo wouldn't be able to resist her with her hair down.

"Eek!" she exclaimed. Several voices hushed at her, assuming she was merely responding late to the movie. She sat back down and looked at Ichigo, and suddenly realized that the creeping thing she had felt on her back was his arm.

His... arm!!! She felt her face grow hot, and almost started to wonder if she could cook sweet red bean paste on it. In an attempt to see if the arm was there on purpose, she leaned a little toward him, feeling brave.

She quickly found herself being squeezed, and realized Ichigo had done the impossible. She looked toward him and realized he was looking at her too. Could it be, she thought, is he actually noticing me?

After a few minutes, the movie started getting a little more disturbing than she had anticipated, so she turned to Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-kun," she said softly, "I don't like this movie, can we go?"

Ichigo turned to her, "sure, and... call me Ichigo."

She blushed furiously as he followed her out of the theater.

They didn't speak for a few minutes as after they left the theater and started making their way down the road back to her apartment. She was surprised when Ichigo started to hum. The tune sounded familiar but she couldn't place it.

As they continued down the street she thought she started to hear scrapes and groans coming from dark corners, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

"Ku...," she started. "Ichigo, do you hear that?"

"Nah," he said, "it's nothing Ino... err... can I call you Orihime?"

"Hai!" she said quickly, turning to hide the tremendous blush on her face.

Suddenly Ichigo stopped, staring straight ahead.

"What is it, Ichigo-kun?" she whispered. When she followed his gaze, her heart caught in her throat and chills zoomed up and down her spine.

In the dark, there was the figure of a man standing, slunched far forward. He was walking slowly and one leg dragged slightly. There seemed to be something wrong with his face.

"Ichigo," Orihime shuddered, "I'm scared!"

"Don't worry," Ichigo said bravely. He reached for his substitute shinigami badge, and realized he had left it at home. He didn't have Kon either. "Come on, let's get out of here."

He made a turn down another street in an attempt to escape the strange sight. They ran for a minute before they slowed down.

"Is it safe now?" Orihime asked.

"Yeah," Ichigo sighed, "probably just some plus trying to mess with us. Come on, Orihime!"

He reached out and grabbed her hand and turned to walk. She was thankful that he hadn't waited and watched her, or he would have seen the brilliant shade of fuschia her face turned. He called me by my given name, and he's... she gulped, holding my hand!! She almost squealed with excitement, but managed to stop herself.

She did not manage to stop, however, when Ichigo did. And ran into his back.

"Oh, sorry, Ku... Ichigo!" she exclaimed.

But he didn't reply. She peeked around him and saw what he was looking at. More strange people, slouching and moving slowly toward them.

"Let's go back," Ichigo said. But when they turned, they realized they had been surrounded. "Stay behind me, Orihime."

She clung to his back as the creepy people shuffled forward. She shuddered and felt cold when she could see their faces. They were hideous. Their gray skin was falling off, or had stitches and wounds all over. She could even smell them, they smelled like decomposing earth. Their eyes were white, and some were even missing an eye. Some were missing limbs. These weren't plusses at all, they were the undead.

"Stay here, Orihime!" Ichigo shouted. He rushed toward the creatures as they began to bunch and tried shoving them to make a path to escape.

Unfortunately, the strength of Kurosaki Ichigo failed. They grabbed at him and pulled him into their group. The rest of the creatures crowded in around him reaching and pulling.

"Ichigo!!" Orihime shrieked. She took a step toward them to see what had happened. Suddenly, Ichigo burst from the group. But something was terribly wrong. His face had turned a wrinkled gray color and his eyes were sunk into his head. They had turned him into one of them!

Before she could react, though, the strangest thing happened - she could hear Ichigo humming again, the same tune he'd been humming before. The other creatures behind him grunted and groaned in an attempt to copy him. And then, they started dancing. They did all kinds of moves Orihime was certain she'd seen before - kicks, spins, snaps, claps, head bobs, and shuffles. One of the moves she watched Ichigo perform made her blush - a hip thrust.

They seemed to finish their strange dance, and started shuffling slowly toward her. She turned and ran. When she looked back, she realized that they were no longer shuffling, but running along to catch her - they were determined to capture their prey. She saw an old house off the road and decided to run in and try to make a stand to lock them out.

She ran in and close the door behind her. She pulled a large dresser in front of the door and ran further into the house. In a room without a window, she saw a couch and jumped on it and hid her face.

Suddenly, she could hear the undead creatures scraping and pulling and pushing at the windows. She looked up and saw their shadows in the next room. She jumped and screamed when she heard a loud crashing sound, and saw Ichigo bursting in through the wall in the room.

"Oh no..." she cried to herself. She realized that the other creatures had managed to get into the house as well.

"Please, no..." she pleaded with her hands up. But they kept getting closer. And closer... And CLOSER....


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"AHAHAHAHA that tickles!!! PLEASE, NO!!! STOP!!! No, Kurosaki-kun, zombie-san, STOP!!" Orihime squealed and giggled, her eyes closed and her hands up in self-defense of imaginary foes.

Tatsuki just smiled as her friend continued to day dream in her apartment. Sometimes halloween at Orihime's was totally worth it, despite all the sweet red bean paste candies and treats.


Hope you enjoyed. Have a happy and safe Halloween.