A/N: I have nothing against IchiRuki, in fact I like both pairings. But this story idea fit IchiHime better. Review please!!
There was a party going on at Orihime's house that day. She had decided that they all needed a break, so she threw a party for no reason. There were tons of people cluttering her small house, but she loved the feeling of this closeness between all of them. Even Byakuya seemed to be enjoying himself. Orihime was humming as she started cooking.
"Can I help you Orihime-chan?" Rangiku inquired, walking into the kitchen.
"No, it's fine," Orihime smiled warmly.
Rangiku leaned up against the counter casually and adjusted her pink scarf.
"Are you going to tell him today?" she asked.
"Tell who what?" Orihime replied, clearly flustered.
"Tell Ichigo that you love him!" Rangiku reminded her impatiently.
"No," Orihime answered. "I think he's more into Rukia anyway. I always see them together, and they seem to have some sort of secret. I guess Kurosaki-kun is happier with her."
Rangiku didn't know what to do with this girl. She did know that Renji and Rukia had been in love for years right? She just didn't get it. Rangiku decided to do what she thought was the best thing in this situation: go back to the party and drink some more.
"Okay, I'm going to go out and party!" Rangiku called as she left. "Come soon Orihime-chan!"
"Yeah," she answered, going back to cooking.
Meanwhile, Ichigo and Rukia had snuck into another room.
"Hurry up and tell me already!" Rukia demanded. "Why did you call me in here? I would really rather be outside at the party. I bet Renji's going to notice I'm gone. Sometimes you can be very annoying and inconsiderate, Ichigo."
"I wanted to show you something," Ichigo replied. "Do you want to see or not?"
"Since I'm already here I might as well," Rukia rolled her eyes.
He looked around to make sure nobody else was there and took a small box out of his pocket.
"What do you think?" he queried, opening it to reveal a sparkling gold ring with a diamond set in the middle. "Is the diamond too small? Do you think she'll be mad at me and think it's cheap? Do you think she'll like it? Is it the right–"
"Stop rambling!" Rukia ordered.
She bent forward to examine the ring more closely.
"So what do you think?" Ichigo asked earnestly. "Is it good enough?"
Orihime approached the door to check if anyone was inside, because dinner was done. She saw Rukia and Ichigo inside, Ichigo holding out a ring, and Rukia about to say something. Orihime could only watch what would happen next.
"Yes it's perfect," Rukia breathed.
Ichigo sighed with relief. For once he had actually done something right. He hoped Inoue would like it too.
Orihime stood at the door, trembling. That was it. She had lost her Kurosaki-kun forever. She wondered how their relationship would work out, with the whole alive and dead thing. But she couldn't wish ill for Kurosaki-kun. She hoped they would be content together.
"Dinner's ready!" she told them, looking down so they wouldn't see the tears on her face.
"Ah, we're coming Inoue," Ichigo grinned.
After she left, Rukia smiled.
"It's great that you're doing this," she said, genuinely happy for them. "She's been in love with you forever!"
"I just noticed actually," Ichigo admitted. "When they took Inoue to Hueco Mundo, I guess I realized just how much I missed her and you know, how I can't live without her and you know…"
"Don't get all sappy on me," Rukia quirked an eyebrow comically. "That's definitely not the Kurosaki Ichigo I know."
"Shut up," he made a face at her. "I think today I should be allowed to."
They left to go sit down at the table.
They found themselves seated across from each other, Renji and Byakuya on either side of Rukia and Matsumoto and Orihime on either side of Ichigo. Rukia whispered what had happened in Renji's ear, and he winked at Ichigo. Ichigo nodded back to him, but Byakuya could tell something was amiss.
"Is there anything I should know about?" he asked Rukia.
"No Nii-sama," she answered. "You'll see, I think you'll like it!"
All the food was served, and everyone was going to start eating, but Orihime interrupted.
"Guys, I think Ichigo has something he wants to say to everyone," she announced, tears filling her eyes again.
Ichigo was wondering how she knew what was going to happen. Had someone let it slip? He glared at Rukia, but Rukia shrugged. She didn't know how Inoue got to know either.
Ichigo stood up and made his way over to Inoue at the head of the table.
"Inoue," he smiled, getting down on one knee and opening the tiny ring box. "I love you. Will you marry me?"
Orihime was thoroughly confused now. Was this a joke? Or was Kurosaki-kun going to have two wives? If he had such weird ways of thinking, Orihime wasn't sure if she wanted to marry him anyway. It finally clicked when she realized what they had been doing in that room. He had just been showing the ring to Rukia. That would make a whole lot of sense, because people usually show a lot more emotion when they accept a marriage proposal. Orihime then realized that there were murmurs all around her.
"Orihime-chan, is something wrong?" Rangiku was asking worriedly.
"Maybe she went into shock," Unohana suggested.
"YES!" Orihime blurted out suddenly. "Yes, yes, yes! I love you too Kurosaki-kun!"
She threw her arms around him excitedly and he looked quite enthusiastic as well. He gently wrapped his arms around her too. When she pulled away, he slipped the ring on her finger.
"Can we start eating now?" Rangiku questioned Orihime. "I'm going to need a lot of food to digest all that alcohol!"
Everyone began eating, but Ichigo and Orihime were much too energized for that. He could only put his hand on top of hers and look at her. She wasn't much better, she just dreamily stared back at him.
"Why did you take so long to answer?" Renji asked, interrupting their moment and piling more food onto his plate.
"Um, actually, I thought Kurosaki-kun had already proposed to her," Orihime admitted, too embarrassed to say Rukia's name.
Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other in disgust.
"Never!" they snapped at the same time.
"You proposed to Rukia, Ichigo?!" Renji was shocked. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Orihime just watched in amusement as Ichigo ran away from the angry redhead, trying to explain himself. That was her future husband all right, and she was proud of it. The silly grin slid off of her face when she heard Byakuya talking.
"Rukia, I can't believe you thought I'd like that!" he rolled his eyes.