Morning, Sunshine!
GoldDragon08: I don't own Bleach. Nuff said.
"Good morning Ichigo!" Keigo Asano yelled down the hall as he sped to the orange haired boy he considered his friend.
KRACK!
"Morning, Keigo!" Ichigo said back, scowling at the beautiful day.
Keigo groaned from the floor, where he lay. Ichigo entered the class. Classmates were chatting amongst themselves. Ichigo scowled at them all. Chad Yasutora waved to Ichigo from where he was standing near the back window, and Ichigo nodded back. Uryu Ishida pushed his glasses up his nose and pretended not to notice Ichigo as he walked passed his desk.
"Hey, Kurosaki-kun!" The Auburn haired school-girl Orihime Inoue sang to Ichigo as she stood with Chad.
"Hey there Inoue!" Ichigo smiled at her. "How was your weekend?"
"It was so fun, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime began. "First, me and Tatsuki went over some of the moves from karate to help Tatsuki get better. She hit me on my head accidently. It hurt for a while but it stopped when we had ice-cream. I love ice-cream! Especially lemon Ice Cream! YAY!"
Orihime kept talking, and Ichigo could not help himself but smile at his friend. Then it occurred to him. They knew each other for a few years now, so maybe this would be the right time...Ichigo just liked the way Orihime's voice sounded. He liked the way her body was shaped. He liked her upbeat personality. He liked her. He really liked her! Before he got a chance to talk about it, the teacher came into class as Tatsuki Arisawa ran in, almost late. Tatsuki was one of Ichigo's oldest friends.
"Alright, everyone." The teacher said. "Time to get settled. Now for today's lesson."
Rukia had gone back to Soul Society after the Winter War. She would visit occasionally, but her duties were at times quite intense. Ichigo understood while his friend and mentor had chosen to stay in Soul Society and respected her decision. In the meantime, he had used the powers he had lost and regained from Rukia and the other Soul Reapers to save Karakura Town. Right at that instant, he considered it about time for him to have a serious talk with a certain young woman. Class was over for the day. He managed to stay at school for the whole day without one Hollow making a disturbance. Ichigo packed up his books into his bag, and looked to Orihime, who was laughing at Tatsuki kicking Chizuru for trying something peculiar on Orihime. Ichigo smiled. He liked the way she looked so innocent and cute.
"Hey Inoue." Ichigo called to her from across the room. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure Kurosaki-kun." Orihime said. "What would you like to talk about? Oh, do you need help on the math from this morning? I'm sure Tatsuki could help you out since she's better at math than I am. I'm just terrible at math."
"No Inoue." Ichigo scowled, making it seem as if he was angry, but he really wasn't. "I would like to ask you-"
Suddenly, Ichigo's Soul Reaper Substitute badge began blinking. A Hollow was nearby!
"Sorry Inoue, duty calls." Ichigo sighed at the annoyance.
He continued scowling as he quickly made his way down the hall and outside. He pushed the badge to his chest and it separated his Soul Reaper body from his physical body. Orihime went by the window and looked at Ichigo as he made his way to where the Hollow was.
"Please be safe, Ichigo." Orihime whispered as she watched him use shunpo off into the distance to take care of the threat.
Stupid Hollow. Ichigo fumed. I had the perfect opportunity to talk to Orihime, but I guess it can't be helped.
Ichigo sighed as he made his way to his home. The clear sky shone orange with the sun's rays. He walked passed a field where a few children were playing soccor. A couple of women laughed as they pushed their strollers, happy that their babies were sound asleep. The sounds of nature were also evident as birds chirped, dogs barked, and crickets chirped. The air was warm; it was just perfect. Ichigo sighed. He had saved this town. He had made this day possible with the help of his friends including Orihime. This was his time for peace and happiness, after so many years of loneliness, anger, and constant fighting. He needed this. There was no one else he would want to share this peace with than someone who like him had been previously unhappy due to trajedy and harrassment: Orihime Inoue was definately the one that he could most identify with of all the women in his life.
Orihime hummed a gentle tune while she cleaned her dishes after dinner. She sighed, thinking about events that happened earlier that day.
What did Ichigo want to talk about? She thought. It had to be about the math, since he would never want to talk about anything else, would he? Would he want to talk about my powers and how much better I've gotten?
Suddenly, the telephone rang, making her jump, nearly dropping the plate she was cleaning. She turned off the faucet, quickly dried her hands, and answered the phone.
"Hello?" She said carefully.
"Hey, Inoue?" Ichigo said from the other side of the telephone line.
"Oh Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime blushed and giggled. "I'm so glad you called! I was just thinking about you! Don't worry; it wasn't anything that had to do with my imagination running wild. I wasn't thinking about you fighting evil demon robots, I swear, I just thought about the thing you wanted to talk to me about. Is that alright?"
"I wouldn't mind if you were thinking about me jumping into the river for heaven's sake." Ichigo said; Orihime could just picture his scowl on his face. "The reason I'm calling is for what I wanted to talk to you about earlier today. I was wondering if you wanted to go out somewhere this Friday. There's a carnival coming to town, and I wanted to know if you would go with me?"
"I'm going with Tatsuki." Orihime said, worriedly. "But you could come too if you want..."
"Never mind about that Inoue-san." Ichigo said; Orihime could picture his scowl deepening. "Would you like to have some ice cream right now?"
"Right now?" Orihime asked excitedly, her heart starting to pound in her chest. "Sure, I'd love some."
Orihime hung up the phone. Ichigo would be here in fifteen minutes! She had to get ready. Oh what am I going to wear? Orihime thought, forgetting the dishes in the sink as she rushed to her closet. How should I do my hair? I hope no spaghetti gets into my hair. Maybe I should wear something that reminds Ichigo of Buttered Toast. Orihime continued worrying as she got ready, putting on what she hoped would flatter her and surprise Ichigo.
Ichigo shook his head, removing any nervousness or fear that he had. This was Orihime Inoue, the one girl who knew a lot about him, more than most people, even Tatsuki. He stared at the door of her partment for a few moments, trying to gather himself. Finally, he knocked on her door, and pulled at his shirt, making sure he was proper. Orihime opened the door. She wore a cream coloured summer dress, and she held onto a yellow hat with a black ribbon. She wore red slip-on shoes. Her skin seemed to glow radiantly. Her hair was kind of wavy, and her lips glistened in the sunlight. Ichigo swallowed.
Ichigo wore a simple plaid t-shirt, with one button unbuttoned at the top. All of the other buttons were buttoned up. He wore a black dress pants with a chain that led to his wallet in his pocket. He also wore his usual sneakers. His hair was as messy and spiky as usual. Orihime gladly ruffled up his hair some more, and giggled. Ichigo scowled, pretending to be mad, and made an attempt at fixing his hair.
"Okay let's go." Ichigo said a bit too seriously, and began turning around.
"Lighten up Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said. "You're so tense!"
Orihime placed her hands on Ichigo's back, near his neck, and began massaging him. Ichigo's face went beet red, as he turned around slowly. Orihime smiled at him, as she pulled her arms away slowly. My God! Ichigo thought. She's gorgeous!
Ichigo smiled back at her and hugged her without restraint, without nerves. Orihime was utterly surprised, but she hugged him back. As they pulled away, they were both smiling. They both enjoyed how each other felt.
They walked on the side walk into town. Ichigo sweated, and dabbed at his forehead with a handkerchief his father had given him on his way out.
Flashback
"Make sure you treat her like the queen she is!" Isshin Kurosaki had said to Ichigo. "I can't believe my boy's finally asked out the goddess of his dreams! They grow up so fast!"
"No, shut up!" Ichigo slammed his fist into his father's face. "I'll take your handkerchief for whatever weird reason you have, but that's it, nothing else!"
Now thinking about it, his father had known Ichigo would have been nervous on his very first date with Orihime Inoue. Ichigo scowled at this.
"We're here!" Orihime sang with her lovely voice. "Let's have ice-cream!"
They entered the store and bought their ice cream. Ichigo bought chocolate for himself and sour lemon with tofu and fish bits for Orihime. Suddenly there was a loud crash from behind them.
"Inoue-san and Ichigo?" Keigo Asano yelled in disbelief. "You two are going out? How could you leave me single Ichigo! We're supposed to look out for each other, and find twins to go out with! How can you do this to me? How can you leave me for the beautiful Orihime Inoue?"
"Shut it." Ichigo said, contemplating hurting Asano. "You have no right telling me who I can and cannot go out with just because you don't want to be the only person who's single. Mizuiro has all those older girls, why don't you hit on any of them?"
"There's too old!" Keigo complained, tears streaming down his face. "They're nothing like Inoue-san."
"Back off!" Ichigo said harshly, scowling thoroughly. "She'll go out with whoever she chooses. If it's not you then it can't be helped. It's me right now so if I were you I would definitely let it go, and walk away!"
"It's okay Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said, and smiled. "Sorry Asano-kun, I'm with Kurosaki right now. You're welcome to join us if you want!"
"You're too nice Inoue." Ichigo's face softened as he looked at Orihime.
"You haven't seen the last of me!" Keigo crossed his arms on his chest and laughed. "I'm going to get you soon."
"That does it!" Ichigo lunged for Keigo. Keigo started to run, but Ichigo kicked him on his rear so hard he went sailing through the air.
"Why Ichigo!" Keigo cried as he sailed away and disappeared in the distance as a flash or star.
"I'm glad that's over." Ichigo said.
"You're too harsh Ichigo!" Orihime furrowed her eye brows and scolded Ichigo. "You have to treat your friends better."
"Yeah I know." Ichigo confessed, looking into the distance as he licked his ice cream. Suddenly his Soul Reaper badge began blinking. "Sorry Inoue!"
Ichigo separated his body from his soul. He was going to go when Orihime came beside him.
"I'll go too Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said. Together they ran towards the Hollow and defeated it
The sun had set when Ichigo got Orihime back to her apartment. They walked silently, taking in the cool breeze as it passed over them. They paused at Orihime's door. Orihime played with her keys.
"So Inoue." Ichigo said, nervousness making him scowl more. "How would you like to be my girlfried?"
Orihime closed her eyes, and opened her mouth slightly. She inched forward on her tip toes. Her hands rubbed Ichigo's chest and his eyes widened.
Darn it! Darn it! Darn it! Ichigo thought. Sweat started forming on his forehead. Slowly and surely, he bent down, claiming her lips with his. It was moist and soft. Ichigo could taste the lemony sweetness of her lips. She wrapped her arms around his body and deepened the kiss. Ichigo also hugged her close to his body. They were on cloud nine! The kiss felt so good and so right! They broke the kiss and looked into each other's eyes. Orihime looked into Ichigo's chocolate brown eyes, while he looked into her cookie dough grey eyes. Orihime was blushing slightly, and she let out a breath she did not know she was holding. Ichigo too, breathed out slowly. Suddenly, Keigo Asano tumbled out of the sky, and landed right next to them. They were oblivious to him, as they only held onto each other, not speaking a word, going in for another kiss.
"That's so sweet!" Keigo said from the floor where he lay, sniffling sadly as a bit of loneliness went through his heart.
Orihime broke out of Ichigo's grasp, and whispered something as she went into her apartment, closing the door slowly. Ichigo smiled as he turned around.
"Hey Keigo!" Ichigo bent down and helped his friend up. "I heard that Tatsuki's free, so don't feel discouraged. You can ask her out if you want."
"You mean it?" Keigo asked with sparkles in his eyes.
"It's worth a shot." Ichigo replied, smiling in a rare moment as he walked his friend home.
"What did Orihime whisper to you?" Keigo asked inquisitively.
"She said yes to a question I asked."
Kisuke Urahara lay on his side, with his head propped up on his left hand. His elbow was on the mat, while his hand was on the side of his face, propping him up to look at whoever came into his shop. The door opened, and he heard a squeak as something came into his shop. It walked down the aisle to where Urahara lay.
"So what do you have for me today, Kon?" Urahara asked the plush toy who came in with a video camera.
"Nothing much." Kon said. "There was no squishy-squishy, yummy, yummy going on with Ichigo and Inoue-san.
"So he finally got the nerve to ask her out." Urahara said, smiling wickedly. He took the camera from Kon and looked at the footage of Ichigo and Orihime kissing romantically. "At least it's something."
"All we have to do now is wait." Kon said evilly. "Mwa ha, ha, ha, ha! Strike a pose!"
Kon pretended to fly like Superman, in a pose.
GoldDragon08:The End! I really like this story, but want to leave it alone. If anyone wants to continue it, be my guest, you don't even have to ask! Yeah, Buttertoast, Lemons, Ice Cream, Chocolate, Cookie Dough? Anyone else sensing how hungry I am?
