She always stayed after school for Sensei. She pretended not to understand what he taught so that she could get closer to him. This is what she waited all day for.

"Okay, to find the area of the triangle, first you need to find the side lengths", he said scribbling numbers on the figure on her paper. She slightly moved her head to the side, acting as if she still didn't understand it when in fact she had known how to complete the problem all week.

"Do you know how I got these numbers?" He asked, slightly pulling on his orange hair anxiously.

"Because the two triangles are congruent?" she asked softly, her eyes meeting his gaze.

He broke out into a smile,

"Exactly, Inoue-San! So you can do the rest of these problems right?" She looked at the paper briefly and nodded,

"I think so".

He sighed softly and smiled,

"That's great! I was honestly beginning to think I was a lousy teacher". He looked away to the white board,

"I thought maybe, I wasn't as good as I thought I was". Those words made her grow cold. She only wanted to be close to him, but it was causing him so much grief.

"Kurosaki-Sensei! You explain things very well, it's just, I forget things easily!" She exclaimed, moving her hands around to make her point. He turned his head back to face her, and her hand grazed his cheek. She squeaked at the contact, her face growing red.

"S-sorry!" She apologized, gathering her things in a rush.

"There's still five minutes until the extra period bell rings, Inoue-San." He said, startled at her sudden movements.

"I know but, um, Tatsuki and I are supposed to go to the, uh, hospital today, to see her sick dog, Pedro!" Orihime lied as best as should could. She got up from her chair and was about to bow when he caught her gently by the arm.

"Don't lie to me, Inoue." He whispered.

"I know you're smart, I know you understand this. You have some of the best test scores in my class. Just tell me, is there something going on at home? Are you trying to avoid someone?"

"Ah! I'm not avoiding anyone Kurosaki-Sensei! You don't have to worry about me!" She said trying to free her arm from his grasp.

"So…. Are you staying for me then?" he asked nervously, releasing his grip on her arm.

There's no getting out of this, Orihime thought. She nodded slightly, biting down on her lip.

"Inoue, I-" he started.

"I'm sorry Kurosaki-Sensei! I promise I won't bother you anymore! It was a stupid thing for me to do," she interrupted, tears beginning to well in her eyes. She leaned forward to bow and excuse herself. A few tears slipped free and fell onto the ground.

"Inoue!" He shouted. Her head snapped up and looked at him.

"I… I don't mind you staying," he told her looking away. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

"You always…brighten up my day," He told her. He began fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

"Sensei?" she whispered, stepping forward. Was he really saying this? She heard him say something under his breath and he turned around. They were only inches apart now. He studied her face, she could feel his slight breath.

"I think I like you, Inoue" he whispered, brushing her cheek with his fingertips.

"K-Kurosaki-Sensei-" she started but the bell ringing cut her off.

::

She tapped her pencil on the smooth desktop; Kurosaki-Sensei was lecturing again. She was trying to occupy herself to keep from staring at her teacher. It had been a week since she had actually talked to him, besides the simple yes or no answers.

"Inoue!," Kurosaki-Sensei barked, his voice harsh and irritated. She finally looked up and met his eyes for the first time in what seemed like too long, stilling her pencil.

"Sorry..." She whispered, holding back tears, and turned to stare out of the window.

"As I was saying…" He began and she in turn looked out of the window, drowning him out as best she could.

Twenty minutes seemed to be longer than she remembered, but in fact it was as long as it always was. The bell rang, and the students scattered into the hallways to say their good-byes to school life and hello to the freedom of summer vacation. Orihime was the last one up. Feeling awkward, she tried to leave as quickly as she could.

I guess he picked books up, she thought, because there was a large pile of them on his desk. She sighed and picked her book up and gingerly placed on the top of the stack.

"Inoue-san," Kurosaki-Sensei whispered. He set down the eraser he was using to clean off the white board. Her heart fluttered, and her stomach twisted into knots, but the only thing she managed to say was

"Have a good summer Sensei," with a forced smile. His eyes fell, as he knew she was faking.

"Would you uh…. help me with these books? I can only carry so many to the storage room with just two arms," he smiled, hoping she would accept his invitation. She was stunned. Halfheartedly trying to convince herself she didn't want to, she agreed to help anyway.

He stacked 15 books in his hands with ease, while she only carried four, her arms trembling and burning. The storage room was directly downstairs from the room they stood in, but he tried to make small talk all the way there anyway.

"So… you have plans for the summer?," he asked, smiling over the books.

"Um, Tatsuki and I move into the residence halls in a few weeks, so that'll be fun," Orihime smiled at the thought of Tatsuki and herself finally heading off to university.

"Well that's good," He trailed off, unsure of what else to say to her.
-
The storage room was dark and dingy, books were thrown every-which way, which set Kurosaki-Sensei on edge.

"Woah…," he laughed half-heartedly,

"This is… unexpected… I hate clutter."

Orihime giggled at his reaction. She had always pictured him living in a pigsty.

"W-what?" he blushed.

"Nothing! It's just... I never pictured you as being neat and organized… that's all" She smiled, setting the books down.

They stood there in the awkward silence, shifting and with wandering eyes. Orihime could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her chest and was nervous that he could hear it too.

"Well… if that's it… then I guess I'll be going..." she sighed.

He sat his books down also, in two evenly stacked piles and scratched his head.

"You know… I could use some help cleaning this room this summer…if it's not too much to ask... and if you have the time…" he asked quietly.

"S-sure!" she said excitedly, not even taking the time to realize that she really had no time this summer. He laughed, hunching forward at her bluntness. She laughed too, but she had no idea why. It might have been the face he made when he laughed, how his features looked so… different than how they usually were. She loved it.