(THANKS to those who reviewed.

KazumaKaname : Sorry, this will be the last chapter. Did not want to drag on and on.

Magdalena88 : So the motives are known now.

pythagore29 : No, you are not dumb. Everything is clearer in this chapter.

Guest : Of course it was not Hime. Ichigo will never said those things about her.)

Kurosaki Ichigo needed to get his priorities straighten.

What was wrong with the scene in front of him?

Inoue, hurt and bleeding or she in the arms of Ishida?

Why was he more affected by her being supported by Ishida than how serious her injuries were?

Her eyes widen when she noticed him.

"Kurosaki-kun." 'Right.'

"Ichigo-kun." 'Rats.'

"Ichigo-kun can run very fast.' His date panted out as she bent over to catch her breath.

'Ichigo-kun.' He could sense the surprise over the use of his name by, 'what's her name?' Ichigo has forgotten his date's name.

"Asahina-san." Orihime greeted Ichigo's date.

'That's right, Asahina. And?' Ichigo drew a blank at her given name.

"Oh, Inoue." She sneered.

Then she spotted Ishida. "Konbanwa, Ishida-kun." She greeted Ishida with a flirtatious smile.

Renji couldn't resist. Circling the girl, "Wow, Ichigo, this is your type of woman?" Renji taunted sarcastically.

Ichigo could not defend himself even if he wanted to.

"So Ishida-kun, are you on a date with Inoue?"

"No, Asahina-san, Ishida-kun and I just happened to meet after my shift at the bakery ended." Orihime made up an excuse excluding hollow slaying.

"Oh you have to work, don't your parents give you enough allowance?" 'She' was lucky 'she' can't see the female shinigami because if looks can kill 'she' would be laying in a pool of her own blood.

A seldom seemed forlorn expression flickers on Orihime's face before she suppressed it.

"I live alone." Orihime answered in a soft sad voice and Ichigo felt like giving her a comforting hug. And that's saying much because Kurosaki Ichigo does not do hugs.

"So the rumors are true, our school idol has been abandoned by her parents." 'She' rubbed it in.

Renji has to restraint Rukia from 'kidoing' 'her'.

'Hmm, Inoue is an 'idol' at our school. That I can believe.' He verified the claim to look at Orihime unbashfully.

Sensing Ichigo's gaze on her, Orihime could feel her cheeks becoming heated.

She glanced at Ichigo and then quickly turned away when she encountered smouldering inquisitive chocolate brown eyes.

'She is turning very red, is she feeling fine?' Ichigo was worried.

"Inoue, are you okay? You are very red in the face."

The blush deepens and he was hit on the back of his head.

"She's blushing, you idiot!" Rukia retracted her fist as she hoped to keep the poor girl's face from blossoming even more.

"And you got hurt while working, are you going to sue the bakery? Do you have enough money to see to your injuries now?" 'She' was 'concerned'.

Orihime did not know how to response. Was 'she' mocking her or is 'she' really concern about her financial welfare.

But not her friends.

Ishida decided to speak up before there was any more jeering.

"I am bringing her to see my father." Ishida was ready to steer Orihime away when 'she' started to ask Ishida about his father.

"Wow, Uryuu-kun's father is a doctor like Ichigo-kun." Admiring eyes were set on Ishida.

'Uryuu-kun?'

Ichigo is usually a 'fight first, talk tomorrow' kind of guy but desperate time call for desperate measure.

"You are wrong, unlike my father, Uryuu-kun's father owns a hospital whereas my father's just a home clinic." Ichigo could see his date has shifted her target to Ishida.

"The general hospital." 'She' glazed at Ishida with starry eyes.

Ishida did not like how this conversation was evolving.

Payback's a bitch.

"Yes, since my father's clinic is nearer, why don't I bring Inoue to have my father examine her and Uryuu-kun can escort you home." Ichigo suggested and grinned or rather smirked.

"I don't want to interrupt your date, Kurosaki." Ishida did not want to spend time with Ichigo's date.

"That's alright, we don't mind, do we?" Ichigo looked to his date for confirmation.

"Of course not." 'She' pulled Ishida from Inoue.

Without a farewell to her date, 'she' went off with her 'Uryuu-kun'.

The look Ishida gave them was one of utterly contempt for Ichigo and resignation as 'she' started to gush on about his father.

Giving his cousin a last wave of triumphant, he turned to the girl he was concerned about.

"I am sorry, Kurosaki-kun."

"Why are you apologizing to this irresponsible idiot for, Inoue." Rukia was furious. Ichigo should be the one taking care of the hollows but he was dallying around with a snooty bimbo.

"I made Kurosaki-kun not see Asahina-san home." Orihime sorrowful explained. But then she remembered, "Kurosaki-kun, we made up everything about me having to get my injuries attended to by a doctor. We all know I am going to heal myself."

"If you run, you can still catch up with Ishida-kun and Asahina-san." Orihime decided to help Ichigo along by pushing him.

"Yeah, Ichigo, why don't you chase after her? Maybe as a reward she will give you a goodnight kiss." Renji made a kissy face with sound effects as a bonus.

"Shut up! You big red clown!" "I haven't the time for your circus act."

Ichigo turned to grab Orihime's arms.

Dismissing the reddening of her cheeks, Ichigo ordered Orihime to heal herself and to explain why she has gotten herself hurt.

"It is fine, Kurosaki-kun. I will heal myself once I reach home." Orihime was grateful she was able to not stutter as Ichigo was standing really close to her and showing so much concern for her.

"Inoue." The scowl.

"B-but," Tried as she might, she was starting to stammer.

"Do it now." With his other friends, he could hit them to get his point across but with Orihime, even raising his voice seemed a tab too rough.

She looked liked she was going to resist but then her healing shield appeared.

She did not look too happy with the puffed up tinted cheeks and annoyed pout.

"Inoue, can you tell us how did you get hurt?" Rukia was curious too as to how Orihime was hurt by a seemingly minor hollow.

Orihime actually appeared embarrassed.

She shook her head. "Ishida-kun exterminated it before any real damage was done." She really did not want to go into details of how her injuries came about.

Rukia and Renji were gamed to rag at Ichigo.

"So Ishida was your savior."

"Your protector."

"A knight in white saving the damsel in distress."

"A princess."

"Are you falling in love with your gallant hero, eh, Inoue?"

"And where were you? Oh yeah, out on a date with a social escort."

"You did pay for her services, right?"

"No way you can get someone as sluttish and materialistic as her to go out with you."

The last three insults were directed at Ichigo.

"Abarai-kun, Kuchiki-san, that is not nice, Asahina-san is a classmate of ours." Orihime interrupted the verbal to and fro acted out by the two shinigami.

Ichigo ignored the jibes and focused on the one thing that was bothering him.

"Inoue, just tell us already, why were you bleeding?" He did not want to force her but he needed to know as to if he was almost too late in saving his princess.

'His princess?' No time for that. He fixed Orihime with a determined glint in his eyes.

Cheeks blossoming again at a alarming rate, Orihime cast a shy glance at Ichigo before looking away in a hurry due to the intensity of his stare.

"I-I..." She managed to stammer out before her fairies decided to own up.

"It was our fault." The power known as Shun'รต confessed.

"What did you not do, you were supposed to keep her out of harm's way!" Ichigo was almost shouting in frustration.

"No, it was not their fault. It was my own clumsiness." Orihime tried to defend her fairies.

"That's right. Who are you to start accusing anyone of not doing our duties." Tsubaki decided to join in the fray.

"You are supposed to be her power, the ones she can rely on." Disguising his worry, Ichigo decided to play the blame game.

"Liked how she couldn't depend on you." Tsubaki shot back in Ichigo's face.

"Tsubaki-kun, that is enough." Orihime reprimanded her offensive technique.

He gave her a scathing look before going back to her hair-clips.

"If you promise not to laugh, I will tell you now."

Renji and Rukia looked at each other and then at Orihime, both of them nodding their assent.

Ichigo just scowled.

Orihime sighed, took a deep breath and began.

"It is not that my power could not protect me but they did not want to." She put up a hand to silence Ichigo as she knew he was going to say something.

"The hollow was shooting out what seemed like blobs of slimy mucus." She saw Rukia shuddering. "Greenish sticky disgusting stuff." Orihime herself shivered at the flashback.

"My shield did not want to come in contact with it and they did not want Tsubaki-kun to attack it because then he would be contaminated with the gooey mess."

"So how did you get hurt?" Ichigo was running out of patience.

"I was running to avoid getting the gluey mucus on me. I tripped a few times and hit myself while trying to dodge it." That was why she did not want to tell tel.

Orihime hid her face behind her hands out of embarrassment and peeked through her fingers.

Renji was trying to hold back his laughter.

Rukia was dumbfounded.

Ichigo's scowl got deeper and he asked in a voice barely concealing the anger.

"That's what you were doing, running till the hollow kill you."

"No, I knew that help was a-coming." She cheerfully answered.

"You knew." Stay calm. Relax.

"It is true. First Ishida-kun, then Abarai-kun and Kuchiki-san." She counted with her fingers.

She shyly smiled at Ichigo. "Kurosaki-kun made it as well, even though he was on date."

How do you still mad at someone who blessed you with that expression.

"See, good as new." Orihime pumped her fists when her healing shield went back to her hair-clips.

"Are you sure you are feeling fine now? Not feeling faint or anything?"

"Yes, Kuchiki-san, I am feeling right as rain."

"You..." Rukia pointed at Ichigo. "Walk her home."

"T-that w-will n-not be necessary, Kuchiki-san." A flustered Orihime was turning red again.

Ignoring Orihime's weakly veiled protesting, she demanded. "Can we trust you to protect Inoue?"

Ichigo appeared to be seriously contemplating about something.

"What do you think?"

"Let's go, Inoue." He fixed her a 'I won't accept a no' glare.

Orihime bowed her farewell.

Ichigo just waved with his back to them.

Orihime walked behind Ichigo with a thundering 'beating like a drum' heart.

'Kurosaki-kun seemed to be in deep thought. Maybe he is thinking about his date with Asahina-san.' Orihime guessed sadly.

"Inoue."

Startled out of her assumptions, Orihime blushed and stammered.

"Y-yes, K-Kurosaki-kun." 'Why is he staring at me with that expression?'

Unknown to her, Ichigo was going through all kind of emotions regarding her smiles, blushes, stammering, encouragement, cheerful greetings and the shy glances.

Recalling the preaching about girls' signals and their crushes. He almost grinned in relief.

Instead as usual, he smirked and asked.

"Inoue, are you free this Friday night?"

"Huh?"

...

...

...

Realization.

"HUH?!"

(New Story? The Real Date with an Idol?)

(Thanks for reading.)