In Between
Standard Disclaimer Applied (may contain spoiler)
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CHAPTER 2
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He wasn't stupid. Ichigo Kurosaki wasn't stupid. Regardless how he looked and behaved, Ichigo had always been smart enough to get higher scores than most of his friends.
Ichigo might not be the smartest person to figure out other people's emotion but he could feel it, lately, there had been so many people gave him that look whenever they thought he didn't see them. Those people were looking at him and then whispering something to each other before then quickly turned around and walked away when he glared back at them.
He wasn't stupid so he knew the reason why he got that kind of annoying treatment from those people. He didn't like it but he thought it'd be to troublesome to explain to those kids, his fist would be happy to explain things to them but since he knew a certain girl would be upset if he did that, he decided that wasn't a smart thing to do.
So, he didn't care anymore. They could stare at his back and talk about him the whole day and he wouldn't do anything. Besides he had nothing to explain them. He wouldn't give it a damn, he had been used having people staring at him, thanks to his bright orange hair.
those kids, his juniors at high school, might have heard rumors about him. There were rumors about how strong he was and how horrible his attitude was. The last one was definitely a bullshit but that didn't really disturb him. There had been another rumor which actually quite disturbed him.
"Kurosaki-kun!"
Ah, talk about timing...
Ichigo sighed before he turned and smirked at the auburn haired girl who was waving her hand cheerfully and ran toward him, completely oblivious by the people around them who were practically drooling or having their jaw dropped when they saw her calling his name.
The girl didn't realize it, he decided when she flashed him that beautiful smile, that those boys from year one and two were looking at her with an obvious wanting look in their eyes.
"Good morning," she greeted him as they continued walking side by side to their classroom.
"Mornin', you look happy."
Orihime grinned, "I am!"
He nodded, almost smiling. She had this effect to everyone. He had a feeling that she would be a great cheerleader, and oh the uniform would look nice on her too... He shook his head mentally. Imagining her in cheerleader uniform wasn't a good idea, not when he had her walking next to him, smiling innocently and talked about her favorite TV show last night.
But that was still true, though... She had been cheering him up this whole time. She had been there, cheering for him during his battle...
His battle...
He smacked his head mentally. He didn't need to think about it anymore. He was a normal high school student now, he didn't need to fight anymore now. Everything had been back to normal. Yeah, he had always wanted this, hadn't he?
"Kurosaki-kun, are you listening?"
"A, ah, sorry, what was it?"
She frowned. She felt it, he was thinking about something and though he didn't say it out loud, she could guess what was it about. She sighed secretly but kept a smiling face on.
"I was asking you, about this Sunday..."
He nodded, "Ah, of course! We're going to Mister Donuts. What's about it? You've another plan?"
She shook her head quickly, "No! I mean, uh, I just want to make sure that you remembered..." she blushed at the end of her sentence, realizing that she had thought that he might forget.
Ichigo wasn't angry. He smirked and pat her head, "I remember, silly."
Orihime went redder. Not only had he touched her, he also had called her silly. Maybe it was a simple gesture but coming from him, it was almost as romantic as kissing. Oh, the other people might not understand though but she had known him for three years now, she knew that he didn't do thing like this to everybody. She couldn't help but to feel special.
"So, we meet in front of station?" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
He nodded, "Though I'd be okay to pick you at your apartment."
"Ah, no need!" she shook her head quickly, "Ten o'clock in front of the station!"
He shrugged, "Ok."
"So, here we are."
They stopped in front of her class. She flashed him with that oh so beautiful smile.
"See you later, Kurosaki-kun!"
She waved before disappeared into her classroom. He waved back before shoving back his hand into his pocket and continued walking toward his classroom.
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Lunch time was boring for Ichigo with Ishida being the student council president and Chad got sick, he had to spend lunch time with Keigo and Mizuiro. Well, Mizuiro was fine and tolerable but sometime Keigo could be really annoying. For example, he kept asking about Rukia. He didn't even know how to answer so he wondered why he kept asking him the same question. He had lost his power and Rukia had gone back to soul society, Keigo had known that much and that was all he needed to know, so Ichigo really wished he didn't ask anything more.
Like whether he missed the little shinigami or not.
Of course Ichigo missed her, and the other too. But he didn't understand why they kept making it sounded like he missed her for another reason.
"So, Ichigo, may I ask you something?"
Ichigo just finished eating his lunch, glaring at the brown haired human with a killer look but said human didn't seem to notice it.
"What?" he groaned, "If it's about Rukia again, for the thousandth times, Keigo, I don't know why she hasn't come visiting, and no, I don't miss her."
Keigo grinned, Ichigo told himself secretly that killing someone was a crime and he wasn't a murderer. Though honestly he really tempted to kill the annoying guy in front of him. They were on the school rooftop at the moment. Throwing him from here wasn't a hard thing to do, really...
"It's not about Kuchiki-chan," Keigo looked at the smaller guy next to him, "we've been wondering about this for sometime now, right Mizuiro?"
The black haired guy with baby face nodded but said nothing.
Ichigo swallowed, if that wasn't about Rukia then he had no idea what was it about.
"Ok, go on."
Keigo grinned.
"Well, what we wanna know is," Keigo said with a wicked smile, "are you dating Inoue-san?"
Ichigo sighed.
He was expecting a harder to answer question rather than this one.
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"Accchoooooo!"
The beautiful auburn haired girl rubbed her nose. She frowned, she was sure that she wasn't sick or catch a cold. Maybe someone was talking about her at the moment. She sighed. She hoped they weren't talking bad about her.
"Orihime..." Tatsuki groaned, "Next time you sneezed, cover it with your palm, okay? I don't want to catch your virus!"
Orihime giggled, "Sorry... But there is no virus, don't worry, I'm not sick!"
Tatsuki growled but said nothing.
Both of the girl was on their usual spot, eating their lunch together. For the first time in this month, the dragon and the princess had to have their lunch together without their other friends. Since they were on their last year everybody had become busy with their own business. It was hard to spend time together anymore, especially now that they were all in different classes. Though they still tried to have lunch together whenever they had chance.
"By the way, Orihime, I am so sorry, I cannot take you home today..." Tatsuki made a sorry face, "I've talked with Ishida but seems like he's also busy..."
"Oh, it's okay, Tatsuki-chan!" She smiled, "You don't have to worry about me, Kurosaki-kun said he would take me home today..."
The black haired girl raised her brows, "Really? I thought he had club activity? What is it again? Soccer?"
Orihime shook her head, still smiling, "Nn, yesterday was the last day with soccer club. He hadn't decided what club to join next so he can take me home."
Tatsuki nodded. If Ichigo said he would take her home then she had no worry. She knew that Ichigo would protect the girl no matter what.
When she learned that Ichigo had lost his power, Tatsuki was worried. She had known him for so long. She knew he was a kind of guy who love to protect people around him. Without his power, he would feel helpless. At first, she thought that losing his power would change Ichigo, well it did change him at some point but she was glad because even now whenever she looked into his eyes, she still found that spirit in him. With or without power, he would never stop protecting people around him. That was the reason why she felt somehow relax when Ichigo walked Orihime home. If he were there with her, she knew, he would never let anything harm the beautiful princess.
She couldn't phrase it into words, but Tatsuki had a feeling that Ichigo had a feeling for her best friend. Maybe it was because she reminded him of his late mother but it could be something deeper. She knew Orihime had loved him for sometime now, she knew Orihime had chances with the scowling orange but she couldn't say it directly. She didn't want to interfere too deep into their love matters. Though for some reason, she had a feeling that those two had something going on between two of them now. She couldn't figure it out though.
"Say, Orihime..."
"Hmm?" Orihime smiled sweetly to the second strongest woman in Japan.
Tatsuki sighed, "Nah, nevermind..."
Maybe she shouldn't interfere...
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"Captain! Captaaaaaaaaaaain!"
The beautiful vice-captain of tenth division entered the captain office with a bored look on her face. She frowned when she found the room was empty. The white haired captain was no where to be seen. She was bored and expected to see her captain to be teased and felt so disappointed when she couldn't find the younger boy anywhere.
The blonde girl pouted. She wanted to tease his captain to get rid of her boredom but apparently her captain had gone somewhere. She sighed and was about to leave the room to find someone else to annoy, perhaps a certain black haired guy with tattoo on his face when she saw a little note on the table. She took the paper and realized that the note was from the captain.
It was a short note but she chuckled after she read it.
Rangiku grinned after she finished reading the note her captain left her.
"Ah, so he went to see her, eh?"
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Author's Note:
so this is it for second chapter :)
by the way, i had some ichihime cosplay shoot few weeks ago. :3 my avatar now is my cosplay as Ichigo. if you're interested to see, check out my deviantart : recchinon(dot)deviantart(dot)com
