Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot
Summary: Ichigo's lips move tentatively against her own, soft and hesitant as they part to cover her with mellow kisses. [Ichihime]
Pairing: Kurosaki Ichigo x Orihime Inoue (Ichihime)
Genre and Rating: Romance ; K+
Word Count: 577
A/N: You have no idea the amount of pain I went through writing this forsaken 500 word drabble. It was meant to be for day 22 of the Ichihime month (first kiss) but f*ck it all Momo out.
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Tacit
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This is where it ends, Orihime thinks.
Right here, under the sweet pressure of his lips over hers and a firm hand nestling on the small of her back, is where he draws the line to a place she can never go back to —whoever she was before this moment in time, she can never ever become again— not after this.
She doesn't know how it started (she doesn't really care, at that), but her cheek is blazing against the gentle palm cupping her face, butter-like knees struggling to keep her standing. Ichigo's lips move tentatively against her own, soft and hesitant as they part to cover her with mellow kisses. Orihime can't really tell if he's holding back or just not that interested; He makes her feel so much by doing so little, it's enough to make her heart stop, filling her with a numbness that spreads from her ribcage to the end of her fingertips… she might be at the very edge of a heart attack, for all she knows.
He pulls away slightly, brown eyes peering open to study her reaction. She's flushed to her ears and positively awestruck, a quivering hand tightly clutched to her mouth, right where his lips just anchored.
The tears swelling in her eyes are, however, not what he was hoping for.
Did it hurt? Was it too straightforward? Did he overstep!?
"I-I'm sorry, Inoue!" Ichigo is fast to apologize, stumbling over his words as panic sets in. He feels like utter shit and he would never forgive himself if she was to hate him because of this. "I wasn't thinking… I… I should have asked—"
Orihime forgets how to breathe for a couple of seconds. He's got it wrong. He's got it all wrong and she can't bring herself to utter a single word of reassurance to ease his worry.
"Ku-Kurosaki-kun…" The girl manages to stammer behind trembling fingers, her voice so muffled and small it's barely a whisper, "What… d-did you mean by that?"
"Ah…" Ichigo can't bear to hold her gaze, bright shimmering honey staring right through his walls. Restless fingers run over his hair as he tries to keep anxiety at bay, unsuccessfully. "That was, um..."
He doesn't know what to say, what is there to put in words that she couldn't possibly know. He's not the kind to talk about romance, but he's pretty sure half of Karakura's population should know it by now —it's his worst kept secret that he's utterly, irremediably in love with her.
Yet for some miraculous reason, it seems like she'd miss that little piece of information.
"I'm really sorry!" Says Ichigo, cheeks scorching ablaze and eyes looking at everywhere but her face, "For making you feel uncomfortable!"
Orihime's face goes through twenty shades of scarlet as she flounders in alarm, "Y-You didn't, really!" are her words of reassurance, spoken in a mess of blushing cheeks and flailing hands, "It was actually… very n…nice—"
Oh,
Okay.
Ichigo feels like the world's weight has been lifted off his shoulders. His toes curl, suppressing the urge to sprint off into a silly dance. He has to cough twice because he really doesn't want to burst out laughing like a complete idiot in front of her.
"Well, then…" He leans over, half-lidded eyes and handsome smile. Orihime swears her lifespan has been cut short by at least fifty years. "Can I borrow another kiss? I promise I'll give it back."