A/N: Pre-cannon, this takes place just after Orihime's hair is cut off (shown in ep. 13) so her brother is still alive.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, I am not making any profit out of this.

The Cute Girl

Inoue Orihime sighed as she walked the empty street towards school. This would be the first day after the holidays and that meant a new year of bullying from the other girls. Her only hope was to arrive as early as possible so she could pick the table right in front of the teacher. Nobody would be bothering her there; no one ever wanted to sit on that spot. That way there would be no girl to laugh at her short hair.

'What's up with your hair?' The girls were standing all around her.

'Sorry?' she had asked confused.

Their leader, Rin, cornered Orihime against the wall, a scissor in her hand. 'Your long hair annoys me, let's get rid of it.'

The rest of the group came closer as well. Orihime really started getting scared. She had never really liked these popular girls. They were always mean to her. Frantically, she searched the schoolyard for a teacher who could help her.

'Orihime-chan is sooo cute!' one of the girls had said, an evil grin on her face, 'It ticks me off.'

'Shut it Hiroko, Orihime is not cute. We are gonna make her cute.'

'W-what do you mean? I don't know…'

It was all her own fault in the first place; maybe she really shouldn't have been 'showing off' with it, like the other girls said. But she hadn't even been aware the other girls envied her hair so much.

'No! Please, my brother likes my long hair! …Stop!'

Her brother afterwards asked her why she had cut her hair. She had lied and told him she liked it that way, but he had found out the truth. First he had scolded her for lying, when she started crying, his face softened and he hugged her.

'They are just jealous Orihime. Don't worry about it; I still like it this way.'

Finally, Orihime reached the school gates. The yard and the building were still dark and quiet. Her footsteps echoed back to her as she walked over the tiles, then through the hallways. A few teachers looked up from their desks as she passed their classrooms. When she arrived at her own classroom she was relieved to so no coats hanging on the racks yet. She hung up her own and entered the room. She froze…

There, exactly on the spot she had wanted to sit down, a boy was sitting. He didn't look up so she didn't recognise him; she could only see a pair of glasses shining back from behind a few short strands of black hair. Would she dare approach him? Maybe, if she asked nicely, he would move, and she would still be able to sit there.
'Why don't you just go and sit next to him? You would still be close to the teacher.' a voice in her head said strictly.
Never! She could never just go sit next to a strange boy. What if he found her annoying? Or what if he teased her even worse than the girls?

Suddenly, the boy looked up to her. He caught her staring pensively towards him and she blushed violently. All he did was raise an eyebrow, then he went back to reading the book he had lying in front of him. Orihime kept staring at him as he finished his page and flipped it. She noticed a small cross on a cord around his wrist and wondered what he wore it for.

'Can I help you? Does your stuffed animal need repairing or something?'

Orihime looked back up to his face, he looked back with a questioning face.

'Wha-? My stuffed… I mean… S-sorry??' Orihime was now totally confused. The boy was about to say something again but then a group of girls came in.

'Ooooh Orihime-chan! You look so cute now! Do you already have a boyfriend? No need to thank us hun!' Rin shouted in her ear, while puling her hair hard. Blushing violently Orihime went quickly to sit in the back of the class. That way, they could not suggest the new boy was her boyfriend. She didn't want them to tease him as well. Luckily, the other girls went to sit at their normal spot next to the window. Orihime sighed and unpacked her bag. When she looked up, the new boy had turned his head to her and was frowning. He did not look away when their eyes met and they kept staring at each other for several seconds. Then Orihime started to get uncomfortable and lowered her gaze.

She didn't look up as people started settling behind the tables around her and only raised her hand when the teacher called of her name. Right after her the name Ishida Uryuu was called, she didn't know the name so she guessed that was the new boy. When the teacher's lecture started she started scribbling immediately.

When the break started Orihime stayed in the classroom. Their teacher looked at her curiously but didn't say anything and started reading a newspaper behind his desk. It was near the end of the break when she had the feeling of being watched again. For some reason she expected it to be the new boy, but when she raised her eyes, she saw a girl standing in the middle of the classroom. She smiled at Orihime and went to sit a few tables in front of her.

The rest of the day was long and boring. When the bell rang, Orihime slowly packed her stuff and stood up. If the rest of the year would be exactly like this, she didn't know if she would survive. She stared down sombrely at her table and sighed once again.

'What are you spacing out for?' a voice sounded as somebody gently grabbed her wrist.

Orihime tensed and looked up. The girl that had smiled at her earlier that afternoon was standing next to her. She had short black hair and friendly eyes, making Orihime relax again. 'Here, let's go home together.' the girl said, smiling.

Orihime only hesitated for a second, 'Okay.' she answered, smiling back.

A/N: I don't know why I wrote this down, boredom I guess. Hope you didn't think it was too useless .
Anyhow; please review? puppy-dog eyes

I've had some trouble with this story as its link seemed to have lead to Ishida's birthday. Then there was a problem with re-uploading the document. I hope everything is okay now. If not, please notify me, thanks