Title: It's All About Timing

Disclaimer: -checks passport- Nope, not Kubo Tite. Damn.

Authors Note: Lets make this clear. I wanted to do a major angsty one-shot as my entry but the fluff monster in my head won against the angst monster and the result is before you.

Thanks to Thail for her initial feedback! Major thanks to Setsukan and fly for critiquing/beta reading this fic. A very happy 2nd birthday to the FLOL!

"Life is all about timing…the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable becomes available, the unattainable…attainable. Have the patience, wait it out. It's all about timing." Stacy Charter

Orihime stared at the gift box in front of her. Its cheery, bright wrapping paper seemed to be mocking her as it sat innocently on her table. If the box had a voice, Orihime was sure that it would be disdainfully commenting on her indecisiveness. It would snort at her inability to form complete sentences around a certain someone and sarcastically inquire how she managed to walk without a backbone. It was a very rude gift all in all she decided firmly. Perhaps she shouldn't give this gift to Kurosaki-kun…

It was his 16th birthday tomorrow. And she had gotten him a nice gift…at least…she hoped that it was a nice gift. Tatsuki had convinced her into getting a rather nice red and black wallet chain for the boy. Orihime had been planning on getting him the large sized ant-eater stuffed toy she had spotted in one of the toy stores. As she had patiently explained, "But Tatsuki-chan, the ant-eater and Kurosaki-kun are so similar! They both are misunderstood but are actually very cute and very gentle."

Tatsuki merely dragged her into the nearest shop that sold, as she called them, 'Normal gifts for guys'. Orihime couldn't understand what was so abnormal about giving someone a stuffed animal that they could relate with but Tatsuki had known Kurosaki-kun for much longer, so Orihime trusted her choice.

Tatsuki had lectured her all the way back to her apartment - telling Orihime not to feel nervous and to just hand over the present to him. Or if she felt too nervous, she could simply place it in his bag with a small note attached. Nothing simpler than that. But Orihime had said that she wanted to hand the present over on her own. Her best friend had given her a long look before wishing her good luck.

So here she was, sitting and staring at the all together too rude gift and making up a game plan for tomorrow. She clapped her hands together and nodded firmly, "This year I will definitely give Kurosaki-kun his present!"

She decided that she would hand the gift first thing in the morning. She would wish him a happy 16th birthday, hand him the gift and walk away. That sounded easy enough. She could do that. But when she saw him leisurely making his way down the corridor towards his class, an unknown force (it must have been aliens who temporarily managed to take over her body!) made her quickly turn around and quickly move out of his line of sight. She remained frozen on the spot until the orange haired boy had walked past her.

She let out a small sigh as she sat down on her seat. She reasoned with herself that he wouldn't like getting a present from a girl while standing in a very public place like the school corridor. He wasn't very keen on strangers poking their nose into his affairs. He barely tolerated Kuchiki-san's questions and she was his friend. Perhaps a note of thanks was in order to the aliens. They had saved her from a potentially embarrassing situation! She then decided that she would approach him during lunch.

He usually went to the rooftop to have his lunch with his friends. All she had to do was leave the class quickly, arrive at the last set of stairs before him, hand him the gift and walk away. No strangers involved and it would be private as well. Yes. That sounded like a very good plan.

But as luck would have it, she was called by her sensei regarding her latest art assignment. As she was berated by sensei she consoled herself that there was still the time after school. And perhaps that was for the best as well. Kurosaki-kun had lunch with his friends and what would she have said or done if he had gone upstairs along with friends rather than by himself? She knew that Ishida-kun and Sado-kun wouldn't say anything but Asano-kun would most definitely make fun of him. And Kuchiki-san would definitely make fun of him if she ever found out. Not to mention Abarai-kun!

She had been telling herself that as she made her way back to class. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she never noticed who was heading towards her. She looked up as a familiar scent hit her nose before promptly bumping into an oncoming body and falling down to the ground. She started to apologize before a very familiar voice spoke her name. She looked up to see Ichigo leaning down slightly, taking his hand out of his pocket.

Orihime jumped up like a shot, completely ignoring his outstretched hand, as she apologized and blamed the little blue men for messing up her people radar. Ichigo merely raised a confused eyebrow at the girl before waving away the apology and asking if she was alright. She waved her hands stating that she was perfectly alright, giving him a wide smile to prove her statement. Her smile slowly slide off her face as her nerves started to get the better of her.

"Ano…Kurosak.."

"ICHIGO!"

The loud yell made her jump and him turn around with a deep frown. Ichigo quickly pulled her to the side and out of the way as Keigo barreled past them. Ichigo sighed as he watched his friend crash into the far wall. Shaking his head, Ichigo walked over to Keigo and asked, "Yo, ya still breathing?"

She had really wanted to bang her own head into a wall at that moment. She had been so close! After school she told herself firmly as Ichigo walked away with a swaying Keigo. No excuses! She would bolster her defenses against the aliens and make sure that the tap dancing elephants would stay in her stomach! This was her last chance!

Tatsuki had gotten irritated with her by this point and had a very familiar gleam in her eyes that never did bode well for Orihime. Her confidence faltered at her best friends look and she weakly started to protest that she really didn't need any help but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Orihime was planning on running out of class before Tatsuki could do whatever it was she planning but luck was not on her side. Tatsuki sauntered over to her before yelling at Ichigo to come over for a minute.

He gave Tatsuki a faintly annoyed look before walking up to her seat and stated, "Yeah?"

Orihime didn't know whether to thank her friend or to just run for the hills. Of course she wasn't sure just HOW far she would be able to run given that her legs felt like jelly but perhaps it was worth a try. Or maybe she could just slither away like snakes did. And she wouldn't even leave behind a slime trail due to her jelly legs. But what if she came across someone who actually liked jelly? She'd loose her legs then!

Before she could utter a phrase or gather her thoughts, Tatsuki nudged her forward, "Go ahead, Orihime."

Ichigo's gaze shifted from Tatsuki-chan to her and Orihime had to remind herself to breathe. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, not noticing Ichigo's gaze shifting back questioningly to Tatsuki who merely gestured for him to wait. She made the pair jump slightly when she slapped her cheeks and opened her eyes. He was in front of her and she would be able to give him his present now! She even had Tatsuki-chan by her side for support!

But as she looked up into his face, all her words and thoughts melted together into a jumble and she could feel her stomach twisting into painful knots. She wondered briefly if the butterflies in her stomach would come out of her mouth when she would start speaking. That would be quite awkward because then they'd fly straight into Kurosaki-kun's face. How embarrassing would that be!

She cleared her throat as Tatsuki nudged her from behind, pushing her a bit closer to Ichigo. She looked up at him, her brown eyes meeting his. He was looking at her, patiently waiting for her to speak. She felt her resolve crumbling under the intensity of his stare. She was sure that her face was red as she nervously shifted her gaze to two inches right of his left ear. Perhaps the problem was actually looking at him. She found it disconcerting to be looked at with such intensity.

"K-Kurosaki-kun….I…"

"Yo Ichigo! What's the hold up?!"

Tatsuki let out a noise that sounded very much like a snarl as Keigo stood at the doorway. He merely looked at the threesome with some confusion before asking, "Did I interrupt something?"

Orihime nervously twisted her fingers together as she watched her best friend stomp over to the confused Keigo and proceeded to thrash him. Ichigo ran a hand through his hair with a sigh before glancing at the auburn haired girl.

"What were you saying Inoue?"

"I…er…Today is…."

She suddenly bowed, narrowly missing hitting her head on the table in front of her as she yelled, "Happy 16th birthday Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo jumped back slightly at the intensity of the yell, Keigo stopped trying to get away from Tatsuki who in turn, loosened her hold on Keigo. Ichigo scratch the back of her neck nervously, a slight dusting of pink covering his cheeks as he muttered, "Ah yeah, thanks."

Orihime looked up to see him dragging away a bruised Keigo and Tatsuki hurriedly coming back. Her eyes all but sparkled in glee as she asked her, "Did you give him the gift?!"

Orihime blinked before her gaze dropped to the gift box that sitting on top of her desk. Orihime was certain that if a box could let out a long suffering sigh, it would do so right now. Tatsuki eyed the auburn haired girl as her jaw slowly dropped and she thought to herself, Desperate times call for desperate measures.

~Many hours later~

Tatsuki closed her cell phone with a satisfied smile playing on her lips. Perhaps she should change her middle name to Cupid.

Orihime let her head drop to the table with a loud thunk, just a few inches away from the gift. She had to stop herself from hitting her head a few more times against the table. She felt so frustrated and miserable about herself. Why couldn't she do something as simple as wishing Kurosaki-kun a happy birthday and handing over a box? Why couldn't she be more assertive like Tatsuki-chan or Kuchiki-san?

She sighed and sat up straight, rubbing her forehead with one hand as she picked up the gift with her other. She made her way into her room before kneeling in front of a chest of drawers and opened the last drawer. She stared for a moment at the small pile of brightly wrapped boxes, each with a small card attached to them stating "Happy Birthday Kurosaki-kun". She sighed to herself as she eyed the presents. So many years had passed and yet, she hadn't been able to give him even one of these gifts.

She was about to toss the box into the drawer when her doorbell rang. She jumped up yelling, "Hai! Coming!"

As she was opening the door, she realized that she was still holding onto the gift box. But she heard more than felt the box drop to the ground when she opened the door and saw Ichigo standing there. Her voice was more of a squeak as she spoke, "K-Kurosaki-kun?"

His gaze quickly glanced over her and behind her as he asked, "Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"

She blinked in surprise, "H-hurt? Me? You…you came to see if I was alright?"

Ichigo leaned down to pick up the fallen box, "Tatsuki sent me a mail saying that I should come to see you as soon as I could and that it was an emergency."

She wondered out loud, "But I'm perfectly fine so why would Tatsuki-cha….oh."

Ichigo raised a brow at her and noticed that her gaze had drifted down to the gift in his hand. He held it out towards her and waited for her to take it off his hands. Her hand shook slightly as she moved her hand underneath the wrapped box. He was quite surprised when she pushed the box towards him rather than taking it away.

His brown eyes widened in surprise and confusion as she lightly pressed the box against his chest. A random through found its way to the forefront of his mind that the only thing between his chest and her hand was the damn box. His face flushed slightly, matching the soft blush on Orihime's face as she spoke softly to her hand, "Please accept this present from me Kurosaki-kun."

He couldn't understand the sudden surge of warmth that flew through him as he gazed at the box and then at the downturned head. He also couldn't understand why he placed his hand over hers but he was glad he did because now he could see her as he thanked her.

He watched her blush turn from soft pink to dark red as his hand gently squeezed hers, "Thank you."

She shook her head, shaking away his thanks, "It was the least I could do."

"Can I open it right now?"

She nodded and removed her hand from underneath his. He questioned the disappointment that welled up in him as her warm hand slipped away from his. He carefully removed the thick ribbon, wrapping it around his hand before he lifted the top half of the box. He stared in surprise at the wallet chain as Orihime nervously explained, "I hope you like it. Tatsuki-chan helped me getting this because I had actually planned on getting you something else but then she said that you would like this more."

He raised the thick silver chain out of the box, admiring it as light glinted off the red and turquoise decorative baubles. "No, it's perfect. I had wanted one of these. Thanks Inoue."

He flashed a smile at her that had a very dangerous effect on her knees and she managed to give him a watery smile back. Although it was his birthday and she had given him a present, why did she feel that she had received the greater gift?

Now she had to get Tatsuki-chan a thank you gift.

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