A/N: Hi! I'm just writing this for the fun of it! So I hope everyone enjoys it!
Disclaimer: All Bleach characters and property belong to Tite Kubo and Viz Media. Dog Days Are Over belongs to "Florence + The Machine" and Universal Island Records.
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Happiness hit her like a train on a track…Coming towards her, stock-still, no turning back…The dog days are over, the dog days are done. Can you hear the horses? 'Cause here they come.
Orihime closed her eyes and leaned back. The water around her floated up to her shoulders, covering her body with warmth. It was nice to be in the bath again; Rangiku had come visiting and had stayed a week, and the woman had a bad habit of coming in the bathroom at the worst times. Plus, Orihime had gotten a fever after she left, and had been in bed for a few days.
She checked her watch. Tatsuki was due here to drop off her homework in half an hour. Orihime figured she could relax and then do her washing and still have time to get out and ready. She sighed...
...
...
...
RING.
Dang it, she'd fallen asleep. "Coming!" Orihime called, pulling the plug in the bottom of the bath and stepping out. She wrung out her hair and wrapped herself up in a towel, opening the bathroom door while the bath gurgled behind her. The water goes counter-clockwise here, she mused, twisting open the door. I heard it goes clockwise in America! I wonder -?
Her eyes widened. Standing in front of her, instead of Tatsuki's soft curves, loose red bow tie, and wide black eyes, was a wide, rocky chest. A slice of skin showed where the collar gaped open. Orihime's wondering gaze followed the slice upward, where it was met with spiky orange hair and warm brown eyes.
"Hi, Orihime," Ichigo said.
"K-Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime gasped. She clutched the towel tighter around her chest. Ichigo's eyes flickered downward toward the movement and then his eyes flashed back up to hers. His hand tightened around the doorframe. "W-what are you doing here?"
He held out some books that were tucked under his other arm. "Tatsuki got sick. So she asked me to bring this to you." He hesitated. "Um... I can come back later, if you want..."
She forced a smile. "No! No, it's fine, Kurosaki-kun. Come in."
He eyed her feet. Water was running down her legs and pooling around her toes. "Are you sure?"
She smiled even bigger, tilting her head. "Ab-so-lutely," she said. "Come in."
When he didn't move, she looked at him. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked. His face was bright red and his eyes were squeezed closed. The hand on the doorframe was clenched around it so hard that the wood looked like it was about to break.
"Your towel..." he squeezed out between clenched teeth.
Orihime looked down. Her towel had slipped down, revealing far more cleavage than she would ever reveal in public. "Oh!" she gasped, and hitched it up to cover herself. "I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun!" she apologized, turning red herself. She stepped back. "You can open your eyes now."
Tentatively, Ichigo's eyes opened. His face still flamed red. "How about you go get changed," he choked. He sounded like he was in pain.
"Are you okay?" Orihime said, peering at his face.
"Yes...just, please, put some clothes on," he gurgled. "I'll make some tea."
"Okay," said Orihime, and all but fled the room.
She giggled in her room as she dropped her towel to the floor and pulled out some clothes. Ichigo Kurosaki was in her house! She choked back a little scream. Ichigo Kurosaki was making tea in her kitchen! She pulled on her sweatpants. "Ichigo's here!" she whispered to herself, pulling her shirt on over her head. She gave a little twirl with her arms above her head and crashed into her bedside table. Merrily pushing herself up, she skipped out to the kitchen to find the kettle on the stove and Ichigo with his head in the sink.
"Kurosaki-kun?"
Ichigo pulled his head out of the sink, water dripping off of his spiky hair. "Oh, hi, Orihime," he said, his cheeks turning red.
"I have a bathtub if you want to take a bath," Orihime said. "I was just in there, but -"
Ichigo's eyed bulged, and he turned and plunged his head back into the sink. Orihime waited, scratching the back of her neck until Ichigo came up, gasping.
"Or you could just go outside," she said, gesturing out of the window. Rain was pouring down. "I mean, it's easier than putting your head in the sink, you know?"
Ichigo blushed even redder. He grabbed her dishtowel and dried his face off with it. "I'm sorry, Orihime," he said sheepishly. "Want some tea?"
"Sure thing," Orihime said cheerfully. Ichigo grabbed the teakettle and some teabags, sliding into a chair across from Orihime. He grinned and plunked the teabag into the water, flipping a teabag to Orihime. She reached out to catch it, but it glanced off of her fingertips and fell to the ground. She bent down to retrieve it, and when she came back, Ichigo had moved his chair around the table and had the books spread out on it.
"Ready to learn?" he asked her.
I don't know if I can...you're sitting so close! Orihime's brain told him. But her mouth said, "Sure thing, Kurosaki-kun."
Ichigo frowned. "My name is Ichigo, Orihime," he told her.
"But I can't call you that!" she said. "It's so formal!"
"We're friends, Inoue-san," he said, noticing the furrow that appeared between her eyebrows at the term. "See? If you call me Ichigo, I promise...you can stay my Hime."
Orihime's heart stopped, and her eyes widened. Her mouth trembled. Ichigo laughed.
"Here." He grabbed her hand, and with a blue pen, wrote IK WAS HERE. She stared at her tingling palm. "See? The "I" comes first."
Wordless, she nodded.
"Okay! Do you want to study now?" he asked her cheerfully.
"Alright...Ichigo," she said breathlessly.
"Now you're getting it. Okay, first up is math." He glanced at Orihime. "Are you paying attention?"
"Oh! Of course!"
But after half an hour, it was clear that she wasn't. Most of the page she was supposed to be solving equations on was covered with doodles. Ichigo finally laid down his pencil and rubbed his forehead.
"You want to take a break?" he asked her patiently.
Orihime, who had been in the middle of drawing, jumped. "Sure!" she said, covering her drawing with her hand. "Let's go for a walk, okay?"
"Sure thing," Ichigo said, grabbing his Shinigami badge. He clipped it to his belt. "Let's go to the park, get fresh air...and when we come back, maybe you'll be more focused." He smiled.
"Okay," she said. She was having a hard time breathing. Do I have asthma? she wondered. Oh no! But maybe...maybe I'll collapse? And Ichigo will save me, and then he'll- She cut herself off before she could go any farther. Don't be stupid. That'll never happen.
She blinked. Ichigo's hand was waving in front of her face. "Gathered enough wool?" he asked her.
She looked confused. "Huh?"
"Never mind." Ichigo jammed on his shoes. "Let's go!"
A few minutes later they were at the park. The air was wet and sweet, and the grass was sparkling. Orihime giggled, jumping on the puddles, while Ichigo looked on with a small smile on his face. They came to a bench and sat on it, not minding the damp wood.
"Ichigo," Orihime said quietly, turning to him, "I-"
HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!
Ichigo grinned apologetically at Orihime. "Come on. Let's kill this sucker." He pressed his badge to his chest, the human falling back while the Shinigami leapt forward. Orihime pressed her hands to her hairpins and summoned her friends.
It didn't take long to find the Hollow. It was huge. Storming across the park, knocking things over, roaring: yep, that was it.
"SHINIGAMI," it roared, catching sight of Ichigo. He pulled out Zangetsu defiantly. Behind him, Orihime readied Tsubaki. "WHO ARE YOU?"
"I never tell great big ugly Hollows like you," Ichigo shouted back.
"Who are YOU calling ugly, you great big carrot top?" the Hollow shouted back at Ichigo.
"You! You with the pig nose and the big ass mask!" retorted Ichigo.
"PIG NOSE?" shouted the Hollow. "You'll pay for that, Shinigami!"
The Hollow swiped at Ichigo, who shunpo'ed out of the way. He reappeared at the Hollow's head. Roaring, he took a swipe, aiming for the head of the Hollow-
-who ducked.
What?
The head ducked, but the claw kept moving. Before she could react, it tore through Orihime's shirt, straight into her chest.
"ORIHIME!"
No. No!
"ORIHIME!" Ichigo called again, desperately. "Getsuga Tenshō!" he yelled. A band of reishi sliced through the air toward the hollow, who sidestepped it gleefully.
"I'll be seeing you, Shinigami," it cackled, and pulled aside the sky, stepping through.
Ichigo shunpo'ed to Orihime's side. Blood was cascading from her chest, running into the rainwater on the sidewalk. Her eyes fluttered.
"Orihime -"
"Ichigo," she murmured. "It's too late."
"But the Sôten Kishun-"
"It's too late," Orihime repeated. "The fairies are gone now. I just wanted to say..."
"No," Ichigo said. Frantic, he laid his hands on her chest, trying to stop the blood. Why couldn't he open the Senkai-mon? Maybe Unohana...
"...I love you, Ichigo."
Her eyes closed. Ichigo, still frantic, pushed his fingers over her heart.
There was no pulse.
No-
He put his hand on her wrist. Nothing.
No!
NO!
He grabbed her head and kissed her mouth, hard. He kissed her again and again, his desperation choking him, blinding him. But Orihime's warm, sweet breath didn't breathe back on him. Her chest was still.
For the first time in six years, Ichigo Kurosaki cried. He sobbed. His tears landed like liquid diamond on her already cooling cheek. And it was quite a few minutes before he thought about the people who would be sure to gather.
He stood, wiping his eyes. Stepping back into his body, he picked up hers. The blood on her shirt was still wet, staining his uniform. But he didn't care.
Spotting something shining on the ground, he bent down to see. It was her hairpins.
"Sôten Kishun," he whispered. But the pins just gleamed dully back at him. Either it only responded to Orihime, or she was right and the fairies had died along with her.
With the hairpins in his hand, and Orihime in his arms, he turned his head to the sky.
"ORIHIME!"
Okay, so that's the first chapter. R&R if you liked it!
-TheCatWithTheHat