I Do Not Own Bleach.
Hi guys this is something I started writing a long time ago and decided to take up again because I thought it was cute. I am also writing the Foxy Adventure story. I just got a reprieve from my insane work schedule so that story will be updated this week also!! And I hope to finish before I have to go back.
I hope this makes some people smile :) Constructive criticism is also welcome. Though no flames please, this is all just for fun. ENJOY!
It was Halloween.
One of those dreaded times of the year when Keigo's hyperactivity and annoying nature reached inhuman proportions.
Ichigo sighed as he walked down the damp, cool streets of Karakura town.
It was dusk and the sun was slowly setting over the sleepy streets, giving off its last glorious rays of pink and orange light – almost the same color of the hair of our shinigami hero.
Ichigo walked slowly, breathing in the crisp fall air as giggling trick-or-treaters ran by him in their little costumes. He loved walks like this; alone to roam wherever his feet took him, with no one to distract him from his thoughts, from his solitude. The winds of fate had offered him a little reprieve lately also -- there had been no hollows in the last few days, no evil schemes revealed, no dear friends in mortal danger…
He breathed deeply again, letting the pristine air chase away his dark thoughts. He hated remembering the feelings he felt when he thought his friends were in danger. That's why I became stronger.
He forced himself to think, instead, of the night ahead.
He wasn't really looking forward to the Halloween party tonight, but he knew it was more trouble than it was worth to try to weasel his way out of it. Not only would he have to deal with a sobbing Keigo, but he was pretty sure Tatsuki would kick his ass too. She was suspiciously insistent on him going tonight.
He sighed again. Whatever.
Turning the corner he finally spotted his gang of friends gathered under a street lamp, all of them dressed to the nines in their eccentric costumes. A moment later Keigo's piercing screech shattered the air, announcing the end of Ichigo's peaceful night.
"ICHIGO!!!!" Keigo screamed as he ran full throttle towards an annoyed looking Ichigo.
Obviously this kid never learns his lesson...
WHAM!!
A second later Keigo was lying flat on his back after being clothes-lined by his dear death god friend. Ichigo made sure to put a little extra emphasis into the blow as punishment for the abomination that Keigo was wearing at the moment: A fluorescent orange spandex super hero outfit with a red cape.
"Yo," Ichigo called to everyone else, leaving Keigo twitching on the damp sidewalk.
The laughing group walked up to meet him and Ichigo raised his eyebrows a little surprised at how creative everyone had been with their costumes tonight.
Chad, who walked forward to help pull Keigo to his feet, was a very convincing Frankenstein -- wearing a huge tattered coat, green face paint complete with stitching across his forehead and bolts coming out of his neck.
Tatsuki, who was now chastising Keigo, was dressed as Rocky with her white workout clothes, a towel around her neck and boxing gloves.
Ishida, who was shaking his head disapprovingly at Keigo, was surprisingly dressed as very regal looking vampire with a long cape, fake teeth and princely looking clothes.
Mizuiro, who was completely ignoring Keigo, was dressed as a doctor with a white lab coat and a stethoscope around his neck.
And Ichigo.... Well Ichigo on the other hand, was wearing his one of his favorite dark red graphic T-shirt (which hugged him very well), a pair of dark jeans and a light black jacket.
"Ichigo!! What is this, what are you supposed to be?" Keigo yelled scandalized! "I thought you were going to dress up!! It's not Halloween if you don't wear a costume! This is the peak of our youth you have to wear something!!" he yelled in his loudest most dramatic voice while tugging on Ichigo's sleeve.
"I'm a shinigami." Ichigo said brushing Keigo aside, leaving his obnoxious friend with his mouth hanging open momentarily at a loss for words.
He sounds like my father with all that "peak of our youth" crap.
Looking around at his smiling friends Ichigo couldn't help but feel like something seemed a little out of place... he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then he realized.
Inoue's not here.... He thought feeling a little disappointed. His scowl grew a little deeper too. At least she would have made this event a little more bearable.
"Oh come on Ichigo that's not inventive!" Cried Keigo, who had apparently recovered from his shock. "You don't even have your robes and sword! I know no one else can see you in your shinigami form, so we could go back and make you a sword out of cardboard and maybe we can find some old drapes for a robe and..."
Keigo's words caught in his throat as he felt a sudden surge of devastatingly heavy reiatsu began to crush him. Ichigo spun around -- the lamplight shining over his sharp orange hair casting ghoulish shadows over his face that made his furrowed eyebrows look darker and more dangerous!
"I am a Shinigami, aren't I ?" Ichigo grunted in his gruffest, scariest voice.
Keigo whimpered.
"Oh, oh damn... No, no it's fine... No costume… scary… I'M SORRY!!!"
Orihime giggled.
Ichigo eyes widened at the sound of her tinkling voice and spun around to see his beautiful friend walk up to the group. His breath caught bit in his throat the moment he saw what she was wearing.
She came walking into the lamplight dressed in a lovely floor length soft-yellow ball gown with long pink gloves, a pink shawl and a little gold crown on her precious head. Some of her long silky dark-auburn hair was pulled up in the back revealing her soft, slender neck line and a little bit of cleavage. She was smiling brighter than the street lights.
"I'm a princess!" Orihime announced unnecessarily, albeit gleefully. "Sorry I'm late. I lost my shoes back there... and I really wanted to go as a vampire crocodile but Tatsuki wouldn't let me..." She pouted at the end of her rambling sentence.
Ichigo couldn't help but give a genuine chuckle. She was always so silly and she looked absolutely beautiful in that dress. He inwardly thanked Tatsuki for not letting her dress up as something as ridiculous as a vampire crocodile.
Tatsuki went over to greet her friend and fuss over Orihime's outfit. Looking over Tatsuki's shoulder Orihime quickly noticed the fact that Ichigo was looking directly at her with those intense eyes. She was putty in front of those eyes and it always left her unsettled and flustered when he looked at her at all, let alone a direct gaze that felt like it was zeroing in on her like a laser through their group of friends. She blushed a little and looked away as she continued to say hello to everyone.
Lately, Ichigo and Orihime had been… how could he put it? Ichigo thought. They had been a little more friendly than usual.
Still smiling his small, barely noticeable smile (Orihime always noticed), Ichigo looked over to his other friends -- only to catch sight of Keigo and Mizuiro drooling over Orihime's outfit. Ichigo's smile quickly became a scowl again as he let some Reiatsu slip in their direction. Both friends huddled together and dropped their gazes. "Ichigo you're no fun!!" Keigo whined.
Tatsuki and Orihime gave Ichigo a questioning glance, but he looked away trying to look as innocent as possible – which wasn't easy for someone who was so obviously guilty.
It made Orihime smile. She knew it was Ichigo's own brand of being silly and she loved every bit of it.
"Oh! By the way Kurosaki-kun, I brought something for you to wear!" Orihime said smiling brightly again as she pulled something out of a plastic bag she had been carrying.
In a flash she pulled out a large gold crown, the sides of which caught the sparkling light of the dim street lights. She smiled as she reached up on her tip-toes and placed the crown a top on Ichigo's orange locks with both hands.
Everybody drew in a collective breath. Ichigo -- who was ready to kill Keigo just seconds before and absolutely hated dressing up or participating in these kinds of things -- how would he react?
Ichigo stared down at the beaming princess in front of him. She still had her delicate hands on the crown on his head and her eyes shut in a big smile. He watched as she opened her eyes and slowly dropped her hands, her lovely hazel orbs staring directly into Ichigo's thoughtful amber ones.
He just kept standing there with his head tilted down, an unreadable expression on his face as he watched his bright beautiful friend take a step away. Orihime bit her bottom lip and blushed slightly but held his gaze bravely.
Their friends were turning blue with anticipation of his reaction…..
"Arigato." He finally said softly.
The princess beamed!
Everyone let out a sigh of relief – well everyone except Keigo.
"How come Orihime-chan can dress you up!?!?" Keigo shrieked!
Ichigo shrugged noncommittally, his face unreadable again. Meanwhile everyone was giving Keigo incredulous looks that obviously said 'Because you don't look like Orihime dummy!'
"What are you supposed to be anyway?" Keigo asked, crying real tears.
"I'm a king." Ichigo said simply while placing his hands in his pockets, scowling again and acting like it was the most natural, obvious thing in the world.
Orihime giggled and his friends looked at each other a little surprised. Ichigo really was opening up.
"But you're not even wearing a costume!"
"I SAID I'M A KING!!!!"
Keigo splayed himself on the ground again, nearly sobbing. Everyone laughed out loud and shook their heads as the two morons yelled at each other.
Orihime was giggling into a pink gloved hand. So cute!!! She thought.
When she opened her eyes again a little gasp escaped her lips. There in front of her, with a devastatingly seductive soft look in his eye, was Ichigo -- the crown proudly propped a top his head and his elbow extended out to her.
All she could do was stare and blink.
When she didn't react, Ichigo extended his elbow out again and wiggled it up and down in front of her in a cartoonish way, a stern little scowl on his face as if this were a completely normal request.
Bashful Orihime blinked a few more times before taking a tentative step forward.
The last few weeks had been exciting, thrilling, and a little confusing. Her and Ichigo had been spending a lot more time together... and doing things, like shopping or running in the park, sometimes just the two of them! But he hadn't really made any kind of romantic move toward her or anything that would indicate his feelings.
It was so frustrating! But at the same time so amazingly exciting! She was thankful for the time that she was getting to spend with her Kurosaki-kun and it filled her heart with so much joy it felt like fire rushing to her head... just like right now!
This is the first time Ichigo had extended his arm to her like this... obviously he wanted her to walk with him ... as his princress!!
Orihime swallowed the rock that was forming in her throat... and tried desperately to suppress the beet red blush threatening to overtake her face.
She took one last step towards him and placed her hand around his elbow. As soon as he had her on his arm, Ichigo took off walking. He looked down at the sidewalk as soon as she had touched him to quickly hide one of those barely there smiles and his bangs did a good job to mask any expression on his face. And off they went down the street, leaving their friends to trail behind.
Tatsuki and Uryuu shared a smug, knowing look between them. Chad was quiet as ever, Mizuiro was snapping pictures discreetly with his camera phone and Keigo was hanging his head, still sniffling and mumbling about mean friends.
Everyone had gotten used to the extra friendliness between the two redheads... and Keigo and the other boys had learned pretty quickly not to make any comments on Pain of Death!
Keigo and Mizuiro both gulped at the vivid memory of Ichigo threatening their lives if they said anything inappropriate. Not Only Kurosaki, but Tatsuki too had joined in just after Ichigo had left and swore that if Ichigo didn't get to them first she surely would! It was a double threat!
While the boys bit their tongues and walked quietly behind, Tatsuki was swelling with pride! That damn dunderhead was finally getting with the program and making Orihime happy. She was smart enough to know also that Ichigo didn't need to be rushed. She was just glad he finally just seemed to realize his own feelings. The fact that they were walking arm in arm right now was a monstrous achievement after all! A knowing smile graced her pretty tomboy face as they walked on.
Orihime was finding it a little difficult to believe that this was quite real. She was trying to focus on keeping her breathing steady to distract her from the physical contact.
Here she was walking down the street on Kurosaki-kun's arm. Him, a king, and her… his princess! Everything seemed so real when she was this close to Ichigo; so vivid, so alive, every second was like a minute, the lights were brighter, the laughter louder, his smell stronger! She wished this warm feeling spreading through her body would last forever: the anticipation, the little bit of hope that was slowly growing inside of her. She didn't want it to end, but they were quickly coming up on their destination and she knew she would have to let go of his arm.
The party was at the house of a rich classmate at the edge of town. As the the group turned the final corner to the party they could see the lights and hear the music and loud voices coming from the large, three story mansion behind the tall hedges.
Orihime swallowed another lump in her throat as she noted that Ichigo didn't seem ready to let go of her arm. That was good because she was feeling a new anxiety now. She had never been to a party like this and the size of the house and the number of people intimidated her as they walked up the gravel path.
I wonder how the night will go?