Follow Me

Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki was oblivious to the fact that his long time friend, Orihime Inoue, was in love with him. In fact, most things when it came to the opposite sex evaded him. There wasn't much hope for her, and yet with the simple words, her heart sored, "Follow me."

People chattered around her and the girl with auburn hair puffed up her cheeks and exhaled the breath she had been holding in. There just wasn't anything she could do to get away from the little blue men that seemed intent on ruining her day. Not only had she woken up late but her breakfast had burned, and she had missed the second to last step from walking down from her apartment. She even had the red, ugly cut to prove it on her right knee. To make matters worse she had gotten a hole in her stocking from it. So not only was there blood but the evidence of her attack from the blue men was clearly visible.

'This day can't get any worse. There is no way it could.' She thought dreadfully, her chin resting on the palm of her right hand as she leaned heavily on her desk. Would she ever get away from her clumsiness or was she doomed to be bound by it?

"You fell down again?"

The voice caused her to jump and nearly fall out of her chair. With her heart pounding wildly in her chest she looked up at the face that went with the voice that had spoken so suddenly. Uryu Ishida stood to the side of her desk, a look of concern on his pale face.

"I...no...well...I mean, yes." she looked down in shame, "The little blue men ruined my morning routine and after that-everything kind of fell apart."

Uryu smiled down at her, his own thoughts going to her state. If only she would open her eyes and realize how much he cared for her. But, inwardly he sighed when Ichigo stepped into the classroom, his school back slung over one shoulder as he talked with Keigo who was complaining about something rather. 'No, your heart belongs to him, and only him. And yet...will he ever return your feelings?' Uryu thought blandly, wishing beyond hope that Orihime would return his feelings for her.

He glanced back at her and saw the way her eyes lit up when Ichigo entered the room. It was always like that for her. All she needed was for him to be close in order to be happy. At least right now with things having calmed down after the Aizen fight she didn't have to worry about the conflicting feelings she had towards her friend, Rukia.

Uryu smiled as she turned away from Ichigo, her cheeks flushed and began to finger the stocking that went to her upper thigh. 'She's worried about what he'll think when he sees the state of her attire. He'll say something of course, because she's his friend and he worries about his friends.'

As if on cue Ichigo turned towards the two of them and strode over. He narrowed his eyes at Uryu, "Standing around and talking when you should be sowing, that's very unlike you."

"Shut up Ichigo." Uryu hissed back, not at all in the mood for Ichigo's attitude.

Ichigo gazed down at Orihime and shook his head. Once again she was hurt, "Orihime, what happened?"

For the second time that day she jumped in her seat and nearly tipped out of it. Ichigo reached out and steadied her before she could however.

"I-I-I..."

He waited patiently for her to explain the reason for her state but it quickly became clear that she wouldn't get it out before class started. With a shake of his head he released her shoulder from his hold, "You need to be careful Orihime."

"Y-yes." she squeaked, her cheeks aflame with embarrassment. 'I can't believe I have to be reminded by him again to be careful. This is horrible. Now he won't want to be close to me, all I do is cause him trouble.' It was her fault that he had lost his powers after all. If she had never gone with the Arrancars then it was possible Aizen wouldn't have made his move and ultimately Ichigo could still have his Soul Reaper powers.

When he went behind her to take his seat she lowered her head. What could she do now to make things better? Who was she kidding? There was nothing that could be done to help things now. Her grey eyes closed and she took a deep breath, willing that the blue men that had attacked her this morning would not ruin the rest of her day. Nor would she allow the depression that was creeping in on her swallow her whole. Not when she didn't have Rangiku to help her out of that.

The morning passed slowly and soon lunch was among them. Orihime went with her friends and sat with them, she tried to act normal but everyone could see that she wasn't feeling herself. Tatsuki asked her a few times what was wrong but she didn't respond.

Orihime knew she wouldn't be able to explain the reasons for why she was acting the way she was. No one would be able to understand, not really.

She saw Ichigo from the corner of her eye and quickly got to her feet. Her mind began to swirl with thoughts as she looked around desperately for a place to hide. Her body froze when she felt his eyes on her. 'No...don't look at me, don't look at me. Please...'

Spinning around on her heels she rushed towards the entrance of the school. If she moved fast enough it was possible that she could get away.

Ichigo Kurosaki watched as his friend scurried away from him as if he was something evil. He rubbed the back of his head and tried to not get irritated. What was going on with her today? He hadn't meant to be harsh with her...it was just when he saw the hole in her stocking...and saw the blood...it made his own blood boil. Once again he hadn't been there to help her when she needed him. It was a cruel reminder that he no longer had the strength to do what he needed to protect her and the others around him. Deciding to not pursue her Ichigo went back towards the roof where his friends were eating. He would let her have the space she needed, and when she was ready, he'd be there.

Orihime stood with her back against the wall, her chest rising and falling drastically. When she thought Ichigo was going to follow her he hadn't. And that hurt her, but she wouldn't show it because she knew he never meant to do things like that on purpose. She knew in her heart that even though she loved him with everything she had it was likely he'd never return her feelings. Never.

Once class got started again Orihime tried to stop herself from looking at Ichigo. She succeeded and she contributed it to the little blue men begin gone for the day. When the teacher dismissed the class she got to her feet and began to pack her school bag with the supplies she had on her desk. Tatsuki had come over and told her that she would have to walk home alone because she had work. Orihime smiled at her and wished her luck before she watched her friend rush out of the classroom. With farewells from Uryu and Chad she turned her attention back to her task.

When he spoke she dropped her pencil case, she had assumed he'd walked out with Keigo and the others. "Orihime...I'm not sure what's going on but I'm worried."

She closed her eyes and calmly picked up her case and put it in her brown bag. With a final tug on the zipper she got it closed.

"There's nothing for you to be worried about."

Ichigo raised his eyebrow and she began to walk out of the classroom. He followed after her and at the lockers he went to his own to get his outside shoes. When his were on he looked over at her and saw that she was just finishing getting her own on.

Together they walked outside and that's when he spoke again. By now the grounds were vacant of students except for a couple of teachers that were hurrying towards the exit. "I'll take you home."

"No, I'll be alright."

How quickly her answer came worried him further. Something was wrong and he didn't like it. If something was up and she was in danger...there wasn't going to be anything he could do about it, and that made him angry. If she was taken again he'd be unable to help her.

The sun began to set and he slung his bag over his right shoulder. Before he knew what he was saying the words tumbled out of his mouth. "Follow me."

Orihime's head snapped up, "What?"

He glanced over his left shoulder at her, his head tilting to the side as he wore his classical scowl. "I'm taking you home, so follow me."

Her heart fluttered at his words and a huge grin overtook her. Ichigo was caught off guard by it since she hadn't smiled the entire day.

"Okay!" she replied happily, almost too happy.

Ichigo looked forward and began to walk towards the gate of the school grounds. Orihime quickly trotted after him, the smile still on her face and his words still ringing in her ears. "Follow me." She'd follow him anywhere-didn't he know that? Well, if he didn't...he would now.

Authors Note: Woah, the first upload of this chapter did something really weird so I had to redo it. Crazy, anyway. I hope you enjoyed this one-shot! The cover image I chose for it is the picture I took inspiration from. On my profile i will add more explanation to why I did this. I'll say a little on here as well. I take a lot of inspiration from pictures I find online and I have been wanting to write brief one-shots like this one to go with them. They are short but to the point which is nice. Please tell me what you think and review!