The brown hair girl whose cheery disposition outshined even the sun, bounded down the pathway to school. Caressed by the wind, her tresses flowed wildly behind her. She was just so happy. She was finally home.

Just yesterday Inoue Orihime was still in Hueco Mundo, held captive by the notorious Aizen whose evil plan was brought to a stop by none other than Ichigo and company. None one saw her blush as she remembered how Ichigo took her hand and led her out of Hueco Mundo himself. She found herself stopping to calm her quickened heart beat as she replayed the scene that happened outside her home just last night.


The others had already gone home and Ichigo had taken it upon himself to escort her home.

"Sure you'll be alright, Inoue?" He wore his usual frown, though now it was softened by concern.

"Yes Kurosaki-kun. Thank You for accompanying me back home…" She smiled up at him. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"You know, you don't have to go tomorrow. I mean, after everything you have been through you should rest and…"

"But I want to get back to class as soon as possible!" exclaimed Orihime.

'Does she like to study that much?' Ichigo thought, his one eyebrow arched upwards.

"It's just that…It's been so long…I just…missed everybody…"

Ichigo couldn't help but smile. Orihime felt her face go red; his smile was just so warm. It reminded her each time why exactly she had fallen in love with him.

"Alright, then…I'll see you tomorrow."Ichigo turned and started facing where Inoue recognized was the direction of the Kurosaki Clinic to flash step his way back.

"Um…Kurosaki-kun…" she mumbled, stopping the orange head from taking off.

"Hm?" he turned his head to look back at her.

Taking a step forward so she now stood in front of him, she tiptoed slightly to brush her soft petal-like lips on the skin of his cheek. It only lasted for a split second. She quickly looked down right after, feeling his eyes on her. What had she just done?

"Thank you for rescuing me…"

Hastily, she entered her apartment, not daring to even take a glance at her crush to see his reaction. Had she turned to look back five minutes later, she would have seen the boy still standing there. Stunned, he was currently redder than any strawberry in the world.


As she ended her flashback, she wondered silently what reaction he had after she had shut the door behind her. Deciding not to think too much about it, she continued down the path. Just as her mind was starting to contemplate the gentleness of Ichigo's hand that day, she saw a familiar black head bobbing not too far in front of her….

"Tatsuki!" Orihime ran and launched herself at her best friend.

"Hime!" The two girls shared a brief hug before separating. It suddenly occurred to Orihime that she had not thought up a reason for her long absence and she was a terrible liar.

"Uh Tatsuki….I uh… "

"You don't have to say anything. A certain orange-headed idiot already did…"

"EH! Kurosaki-kun did?" she reddened.

Tatsuki ruffled her brown hair. Even after her long absence, Orihime was still Orihime, the girl who would blush as the slightest mention of her crush's name.

"What he didn't tell me was the juicy details between you two…" Tatsuki waggled her eyebrows at her with a mischievous grin and an even more mischievous voice, causing the girl to blush even redder. "I could hear it in his voice over the phone last night, something happened didn't it?"

"Nothing happened, Tatsuki. Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san, Sado-kun, Ishida-kun and Renji-kun came and saved me. That's all…"

"…and afterwards?"

Orihime froze suddenly and dropped her books. She quickly bent over to pick them up.

"Alright, now I know something definitely happened. Are ya gonna tell me or am I gonna have to worm it out of you" Tatsuki grinned.

"It nothing really…just a small thing I did. It's not something Kurosaki-kun would ponder over about…" The hazel haired girl replied. 'It must have been something else that affected kurosaki-kun. Oh no, what if he was irked by what I did…oh no…'

"Hm…why don't we just ask him…there he is!" She pointed ahead of them. "Hey Ichigo!" Tatsuki called out.

'EH!?'

To be continued...


Note.

This is my first ever fan fiction! Hope its ok... I haven't a solid storyline yet, but I'm working on it! Hope you like. If I made any grammatical error, please tell me as it is a good opportunity for me to improve my english. My exams are coming fafter all... -

If you don't really like this pairing, please don't flame. We all have our preferences and I have nothing against Ichigo/Rukia.

Comments are Appreciated, Flames are depreciated. Thank you.

HyperHimawari