I own nothing.
"Inoue-san, do you ever cut your hair?"
It's generally agreed that this particular question ranks high among the questions a boy is never, ever to ask a girl under any circumstances, but no one ever bothered to tell Ishida the rules and he hasn't had enough experience with girls to figure it out on his own.
For now, he's lucky the one he's asking the horribly tactless question to is one of the most patient and sweet-natured girls this side of the whole Universe, and that there's very little capable of irritating Inoue Orihime.
Orihime shakes her head and a cloud of red hair catches the light and shimmers. She tucks her bangs behind her ear, staring back at him with a perplexed look on her face. "No, not really. I just trim it to get rid of the split ends."
Truth be told, before now Ishida's never noticed, but now he can see that Orihime's hair is significantly longer than it was the day they met, swinging at her hips. Still makes that same swishing sound every time she moves, but it is much longer.
"Why do you ask? Does it—"
"It looks fine," Ishida remarks a little too quickly. Orihime smiles gently and he ducks his head, trying (and failing) to hide how red his face is.
Why do these things keep slipping out?
Orihime taps his arm. "I'll see you in class." He nods absently and she walks off down the hall.
He's always seen her as something straight out of one of those old fairy tales (But always so much more real). Now, with all that hair…
Well, the connection's too obvious for words.
