I do not own Bleach. Thanks to those who reviewed both of my previous fanfics. This is for you guys~ Please R&R =)
"Guys, I think that's all for today!" Shouted the football club captain. Majority of the club members celebrated upon hearing the words. It was already late in the evening and the football club is among those who always stayed late in school for training. The trainings had been tougher these days since they were expecting to face rough opponents in the next couple of weeks. The only good thing is that they haven't lost a game so far since the opponents can't score against them. The goalkeeper is the best they had so far – well, the payment is worth it.
Ichigo took off the gloves and started to head towards the locker room. Damn, these boys are tough. I had a tough time fending off their goal attempts today. If they can keep this up, they can become champion.
"Kurosaki Senpai, thank you for today. We'll be counting on you during the match." The vice captain bowed to Ichigo.
"Yeah...I'm going to take off first. That's fine right?" He's sweating quite a lot today, he feels like running to the shower.
"Yes! It's fine." The vice captain answered with a smile.
After taking his shower and dressed up, Ichigo quickly walked to his classroom. He left his textbook and he kinda needs it for his homework. Argh, how could I forget? Ichigo walked faster to his classroom out of frustration. Upon reaching his classroom, he went straight to his desk, took the textbook from his drawer and proceeded to leave. That is before something caught his eyes. Something has deflected the sun's ray into his eyes. He took a look around and noticed it's something in Orihime's drawer.
Ichigo walked closer to the desk and took a peek. Ichigo knew really well the six petals, blue coloured flowers. It's Inoue's hairpins! He took both the pins and stared at them. Inoue never went anywhere without these hairpins. Seriously, what was that girl thinking putting something like this in her drawer? Come to think of it, she doesn't wear them anymore. Why? Well whatever, I'll just bring this over to her house.
Despite thinking that, Ichigo continued to stare at the hairpins. They have names right? I remember Inoue used to call them by their names when we went to Soul Society for the first time. Will they come out if I call them? Or do they only respond to Inoue? Ichigo continued to stare. Something about the hairpins intrigued him. He had been watching them from afar all this time, this is the first time he ever touched them.
Maybe I'll try calling them. To say thank you at least, they've saved my life too many times already. Now, what were their names again? Ichigo thought hard. Ame? No, that's not right. I think there's one called Lily. Ok, let's give it a try. Do I have to draw out reiatsu or something? Ichigo took a breath and stared hard at the hairpins.
"Lily, I summon thee!"
Twenty seconds passed and nothing happened. That's not it. What about others? What are their names? How did Inoue call them out again? I don't think she called them by their names anymore. She called them based on their techniques right? What were the techniques again? Man, this is hard!
Ichigo took a seat and put the hairpins on the desk. They are called Shun Shun Rikka and are flower-based. There's one called Lily so, the other must have been named based on flower. There's one sounded like ame or something. What flower's name sounded like ame? Man, I'm giving a lot of effort into this. Ichigo sighed.
Flower, ame...Oh, Ayame! Now which one is Ayame, which one is Lily? They always came out in a group. Who is Ayame's partner? Ichigo tried to recall when Orihime was healing Jidanbou. I think she called their names that one time. That was a long time ago and my memory sucks. Ichigo dug deeper into his memory. Shun Shun Rikka...Shun Shun...Shun'O? That's a flower right? Okay!
"Shun'O, Ayame!" Ichigo stared intently at the hairpins. He tried to use his reiatsu but he figured that could be worse since he's bad at controlling it anyway. He definitely doesn't want to break the precious hairpins.
After a couple of seconds, the hairpins started to shine and out came two little creatures in front of Ichigo. One of them was smiling brightly while the other bowed to him.
"You called Kurosaki-kun?" said the smiling one.
"I did it! I called you guys out!" Ichigo smiled; all of those thinking are worth it.
"Well, not really. We came out because we saw you really tried your best to call us out. Only Orihime can call us out actually. Hehehe..."
Ichigo felt deflated. His shoulders slumped when he heard that.
"So, what do you want? Where's Orihime?" The small thing continued, brushing off his line before.
"I think she left you guys behind without realizing it. I'll return you guys to her later. I wanna talk to you about something. What's your name? Shun'O or Ayame?"
"I'm Shun'O, this is Ayame." Shun'o pointed towards his companion. Ichigo nodded while Ayame bowed again to him.
"Can you call out the others? I don't know their names."
"Sure thing...Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily, Tsubaki!" The hairpins turned into small creatures one by one.
Each one of them greeted Ichigo and Ichigo can't help feeling like each of them represents one part of Orihime from the way they behave. The last one to come out didn't look happy and friendly like the others though. He looked around and then stared at Ichigo.
" Kurosaki, where's the woman? Did she forget about us? That woman is so stupid, I can't stand her." Tsubaki said while folding his arms.
Ichigo watched the little man with confusion. That's not right; Inoue will never act like that. Who does this guy thinks he is? Saying such thing to Inoue? Ichigo suddenly felt the urge to crush the little thing.
"Do you realize what you are saying? Inoue is your owner right? How could you say such thing about her?"
"What? You're one to talk, you don't even realize-"
"Tsubaki, shut up!" Shun'O decided to cut his friend's words. Tsubaki stared at Shun'O but kept his mouth shut.
"Kurosaki-kun, just ignore that little brat ok? Now, what do you wanna talk about?" Shun'O turned and focused on Ichigo.
"Nothing really, I just wanna thank you guys for helping me all this time. I've thanked Inoue million times already but felt like I should thank you guys too."
Shun'O smiled upon hearing Ichigo's honest words. This boy may not look like it but he's kind. No wonder Orihime is head over heels over him.
"Well, you're most welcomed. Let me introduce you to the others then. This is Lily, Hinagiku, and Baigon. They are the shield whereas Ayame and I are the healer. The arrogant one over there is Tsubaki. He's the offensive flower." Ichigo listened quietly and nodding to each one of them except Tsubaki of course.
"So, he attacked alone?" That small thing? Ichigo couldn't believe this.
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you underestimating my power Kurosaki?" Tsubaki came flying closely to Ichigo eyes and kicked his nose.
"Oii! What was that for? You little piece of-" Ichigo tried to grab Tsubaki but he couldn't. Tsubaki was really fast. He flied away laughing.
"Guys, could you stop this? Tsubaki, show some respect towards Kurosaki-san!" Shout Hinagiku.
"Why should I? He can't even catch me. Hahaha..." Tsubaki continue to tease Ichigo. The other flowers had become so familiar with him that they decided to just watch. Ichigo was practically running around the classroom to catch the little guy. The classroom was filled with Tsubaki's laughter, Ichigo's cursing and the voice of other flowers telling Tsubaki to stop until-
"Aahh!"
Everyone became silent, shocked with the scream. They looked around and saw Orihime at the door. She looked surprised and terrified at the same time with her finger pointing towards Ichigo.
"Oh Inoue, you're here..." Ichigo stopped chasing Tsubaki and smiled a little at Orihime.
"Kurosaki-kun, what are you doing? How did they-"
"Oi woman! You dare left us here huh?" Tsubaki suddenly came flying towards Orihime and pulled her ear.
"Oi Tsubaki, don't do that to her." Ichigo tried to stop Tsubaki and was helped by the other flowers.
"Let me do it! This woman pissed me off!" Tsubaki struggled to break free from his companions' grip. Ichigo stood in front of Orihime to prevent him from doing something to Orihime again.
"Inoue, sent them back into the hairpins." Ichigo told Orihime.
"Oh, okay..." With one little flick of hand, all of the flowers were being drawn back into the hairpins.
"See you again, Kurosaki-kun." Said Shun'O.
"This is not over Kurosaki!" Shout Tsubaki from the other end.
The classroom went silent with only Ichigo and Orihime left standing watching the hairpins. After a while, Ichigo turned to Orihime and said,
"Sorry Inoue, I call them out without your permission. I saw the hairpins in your drawer and I thought to-"
"You called them out? You can do that, Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime cut Ichigo's line.
"Err...not really." Ichigo scratched his hair, not knowing how to explain.
Upon hearing his words, Orihime just smiled and walked towards the desk and took her hairpins. She smiled at them before putting them in her pocket. She then looked at Ichigo and smiled at him too.
"They're a noisy bunch huh?" Ichigo return the smile.
"It's Tsubaki-kun. He's the loudest one but it's weird when he's not around." Orihime answered, remembering the time Yammy destroyed Tsubaki.
It was quiet for a moment and Ichigo watched Orihime in silent. I think I remembered back then when one of the flowers got destroyed. So, it was Tsubaki huh?
"Come on Inoue, I'll walk you home." Ichigo picked up his bag and headed towards the door. Making sure Orihime is following him.
"Kurosaki-kun, why do you call them out?" Orihime asked after walking beside Ichigo for a while.
"I wanted to thank them." Ichigo answered simply. Orihime stared at him and smiled.
"If you don't mind, can I meet them again some other time?" Ichigo turned to look at Orihime and waited for an answer.
"Of course you can, Kurosaki-kun." Orihime answered him in a sing song voice, with a smile still on her face.
Meanwhile, inside the hairpins:
"Man, Kurosaki pissed me off. Acting all high and mighty. I don't know why the woman loves him." Said Tsubaki.
"But don't you think they look cute together?" suggest Hinagiku.
"Yeah...I really like it when he protected her just now." Lily said with a dreamy voice.
"I think he doesn't even realize that he always seem to do that." Baigon offered his thought.
"Orihime should just confess to him. Right, guys?" Shun'O is obviously shipping them, with a smile in his voice.
"Yes...I think so too." Answered Ayame.
"What the hell is wrong with all of you?" Tsubaki snapped. Pissed that nobody agrees with him.
AN: In the anime, Shun'O's voice is a female voice but I read somewhere that Shun'O is actually a male. Oh, and Shun'O is the one wearing red with blonde hair. He's sort of the leader. =)