She closed the door to the little pastry shop, locking it up for the night. Pocketing her keys, she started down the street towards home when a voice calling out caught her attention;
"Miss Inoue, good evening."
Turning towards the somewhat familiar voice, Orihime smiled. "Mr. Ishida! Good evening!"
Ryuuken walked up to her side, noting the bags she carried. "It's getting fairly dark; where are you going so late at night?"
"Oh, I'm just going home."
He nodded. "Would you like me to walk you home?"
She shook her head; "Oh, no, thank you."
Ryuuken didn't stop walking beside her, though, stating, "I insist."
"Well, okay then." Reaching into one of her bags, she held out a donut to him, beaming. "Would you like one?"
He shook his head politely; "No, thank you."
"You sure?" When he nodded, she took a bite from the pasty, joy clear across her face. "It's so good!"
"Do you typically carry large quantities of baked goods, Miss Inoue?"
"Oh!" Orihime put the half eaten donut back into it bag, of which the contents were quite full. "Well, we throw away a lot of the donuts and bread at the end of each day and I just couldn't let all that good food go to waste! So I take a little bit home each night."
Ryuuken noticed it was definitely more than "a little bit", but he decided not to say anything. "Do you usually walk home alone at night?"
Orihime nodded; "Yeah, sometimes I close down the shop, so I'm the only one left once it's time to go home."
He pursed his lips at that information. "It can be dangerous for a young girl such as yourself to walk home alone so late at night."
"Oh, I'm fine."
"Aren't you worried about any troublemakers or Hollows?"
"I can take care of myself," she insisted; "Besides, no one really bothers me on the way home."
Ryuuken nodded.
They continued much of their walk together in silence, Orihime pausing a few times to take a bite of her donut before continuing on. Their walk was peaceful, a soft night breeze ruffling their hair.
When they stopped at their destination, Orihime pulled out her keys, fumbling to get the right one and dropping them in the process.
Ryuuken bent down to pick them up, attempting to sift through all the various key covers to get the right key. "Which one is your house key, Miss Inoue?"
"Oh, thank you!" She readjusted the bags of pastries in her arms; "It's the one with the cute little manju bear!"
He nodded, singling out the key with a bear faced cake. He put the key in the door, turning the lock for her.
"Oh, you don't have to! I can do it on my own."
"Nonsense. You've got your arms full at the moment; it's the least I could do." Ryuuken opened the door for her, handing her back her key ring after she set her bags down.
"Thank you so much for helping me, Mr. Ishida," she said, beaming.
"It's not a problem at all; you're very welcome. Have a good night, Miss Inoue."
"Have a good night!"
She closed the door, leaving him to walk home alone in the dark of the night.