CHAPTER 1: DECEMBER 7TH DREAM

Today was Saturday, December 7th.

Orihime woke up at 7:00 A.M.

After she packed up everything from her text book to her bento, she quickly ran out of the apartment and leisurely strolled down to the school road.

As she was observing the surroundings around her and the blue sky above, she felt an odd sense of peace that filled the air as though the town had never been in danger of being completely erased from its existence. But Orihime knew better.

Even though they had managed to stop Aizen from creating the King's Key by using Karakura Town, they had not been able to catch or destroy him before he escaped and hid once more, this time deeper into Hueco Mundo. The other Shinigami traitors, Gin and Tousen, followed behind him, not even looking worried at this slight set back.

All the Espada that Aizen had so "lovingly" created had been killed. But as Aizen said as long as he still had Hōgyoku in his hand, he could make another army stronger than the previous one. And as long as Aizen still hadn't given up his goal to open the Royal King's dimension, Soul Society was still at war.

After Orihime was retrieved from Hueco Mundo, Soul Society erased her status as a traitor and thanked her for her great distribution in the war. Because Orihime finally had chance to prove her worth.

It was Orihime who tried to reject the existence of Hōgyoku. But she couldn't reject it completely. She could only reject it back to the state where it was sealed in the beginning. Which meant the Hōgyoku would be no use for a long time until it was awoken again. That action made Aizen couldn't use it to create the King's Key, so he had no choice but retreat.

But no one knew exactly the time when Aizen would show up again. So they told us it would be better if we were alert.

After she stopped her thought, her legs also stopped at her classroom.

She wasn't late today. Today was the first day she come back to school after she returned to Karakura Town.

She couldn't believe in herself that she had fever and body stress for a whole week after she came back to her own room. She was still fine when she was in the battle. Yet when she felt relieved in her own bedroom, her body started to wreck down.

Fortunately, Tatsuki visited her right at the time when Orihime came back and was terrified when she saw Orihime lying upside down on the bed. If it was not for Tatsuki discovering Orihime's fever, Orihime was sure that she couldn't recover it well in one week. Maybe it would become worse and she had to take a month to recover. And that was the only thing she didn't want to happen because final exam would come at the end of this month.

She wouldn't afford her scholarship to her wanted university if she failed this exam. She needed to be good grade at her 3 years in high school.

Also it would be retard if she was the only one who fell back while all her friends were going to graduate. And she made a promise with them that they will get into the same university together. The best university in Japan, Tokyo University.

The distance from the university to her apartment was farther though. Well, she didn't mind as long as she woke up on time. She had feet to run after all.

"Good morning, Hime-chan~~~~!"

It was Chizuru who greeted her first. But this time was not a grab on her boobs from behind, but a full-body hug from the front.

It seemed that Chizuru was so happy to see her after a long time. She even had tears in her eyes.

"I miss you so much." Chizuru looked at Orihime.

Her eyes were a bit swelling behind her glasses.

"Hm. You seem more beautiful than before. Let me feel you after a long ti-"

As soon as Chizuru could finish her sentence, she received a fast blow from the side by the karate national champion, Tatsuki, and flew away from Orihime.

"Urg… After a long time not seeing Orihime, our comedy duo is still strong as ever." Chizuru who was lying down in her own nosebleed gave Tatsuki a thumb up. Not sure if that nosebleed was from Tatsuki's blow or from the view of Orihime's boobs from the side.

"I told you this isn't a comedy duo. And Orihime has just recovered her health, don't stress her." Tatsuki said out loud with her irritation.

And then she turned on Orihime, "Good morning, Orihime."

"Good morning, Tatsuki-chan. And Chizuru-chan too." Orihime gave out her smile to greet Tatsuki and Chizuru.

"Yah~~! Hime-chan greeted me with her goddess smile of ever. Please let me worship you, Hime-chan~~!" Chizuru got up with the nosebleed still on her face. She was still hyper as ever.

And then Orihime noticed that Keigo was crying while Mizuiro tried to comfort him but failed and then Mizuiro totally ignored him.

Orihime asked Tatsuki what happened to Keigo. Tatsuki was surprised because it was the first time that Orihime noticed another guy besides Ichigo. Maybe it was a good thing. She would be better making more friends with other guys rather than sticking to that idiot and clueless guy who didn't get any good results back.

"He's just upset because Ichigo doesn't come today." Tatsuki replied with a bit irritation in her voice.

"Hm? Why?" Orihime was surprise when she heard Kurosaki-kun's name.

Ah. Right? She didn't see him today. She even didn't notice that he was not here today. Class would start soon in 5 minutes. Did he oversleep?

"Because yesterday I beat a hell out of him. So maybe he had to rest for his wound." As Tatsuki said, she held up her fist to show Orihime. It was bandaged.

"Eh? Why did Tatsuki-chan fight with Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime startled.

Tatsuki and Kurosaki-kun are childhood friends. They used to fight at the dojo in the past when they were children.

But as far as she knew, she never thought that Tatsuki would fight Kurosaki-kun again. Or… maybe…

Orihime looked at Tatsuki with her worried look. "Is it because of me?"

"No. It's not like that. He just pissed me off when I told him at least come to visit you once. And he just hummed and hawed and didn't give me a clear answer. I had to beat him up to get the answer. But it seems that I did too much so he skipped school today."

Orihime felt sad after hearing that.

After the battle in Hueco Mundo, Kurosaki-kun hadn't looked into her eyes once. More likely, he avoided to look at her directly even though she said what was happened in that place was not really his fault. (It was her fault actually.) But Orihime knew better even if everybody forgave him, Kurosaki-kun hadn't forgiven himself yet.

Well, actually even Orihime was on the same boat. She still hadn't forgiven herself either, for calling out Kurosaki-kun and turning him into a monster, for not standing to help Ishida-kun, for not being able to catch Ulquiorra's hand. Everything.

She had not forgotten even if she did try to forget. It was just like yesterday's dream. Her chest started to hurt at the place where her heart was when she started to remember him.

Class already started. Everyone got to his or her seat. She looked over Kurosaki-kun's blank seat and then Rukia's blank seat. She also realized that Ishida's seat and Chad's seat were also blank. She sighed.

Why did everyone skip out the school on the day she first came back school?

But maybe it was a good thing because she was not sure if they could be able to look at her normally or not. She thought she might still feel hurt if they kept looking as her like something fragile. Because she already proved herself to them that she was not easy to be broken.

If it was Ulquiorra, he would tell her that he was not here to pamper her. Oddly, every time she was with him, she felt that she had another super strength to resist whatever bad happened to her.

Orihime gazed at the palm of her hand. In fifteen years of her life, it was the first time she slapped someone on the face. And a guy regardless. And he was not even human.

She started to chuckle by herself. And then she realized her thought. While she tried not to think about him, it seemed that he just kept coming in her thought, just to make her stronger both inside and outside.

She stopped feeling sad about Kurosaki-kun and everyone.

Now she started to think about him.

No no.

She shook her head lightly. She needed to stop. She was still in class.

As she bent her head down to the desk to hide any blushing coming from her face, her eyes suddenly felt tired and her eyelids felt heavy.

Unknowingly, she sunk herself into a dark world. She felt asleep in class.


To be continued...