AN: Ugh! This took forever! I wanted to end it in a good spot so sorry if you dont like cliffhangers but I couldnt think of any other place that would seem final and not take a whole day to write. This chapter is taken from Ichigo, Orihime, and Tatsuki's POV, hope you guys enjoy.

Disclaimer: Living a renters life~

Chapter 2

Two months.

'It's been two months.' Ichigo thought as he restlessly flipped on his side to block the rays from the sun beaming down haughtily towards his face.

His weary stinging eyes seemed to emphasize lack of sleep, too bad that was less than true. In fact, he's slept more than 10 hours and couldn't beg for anything more than to sleep the rest of the day away.

'That's not true, I could beg for other things.'

As if to wipe the thought away, he slugged his hand down his tense face from a whole night of scowling. He didn't want to linger on the denied thought so that his brain could analyze it unwillingly.

He then felt the uncomfortable heat rest on his back instead when he turned, and tried to ignore his senses that heightened with his lack of movement to no avail. The distant, but distinguishable sound of birds chirping, the louder than desired sound of his analog clock ticking, and the sizzle of food cooking down stairs by his sister Yuzu; his last straw of patience was plucked when that same sister called to him.

"Nii-san, you're going to be late for school, get up so you can eat!" He could hear the panic starting to ebb into her voice. 'She must have woken up late too', he thought as he turned to look at the same clock that was giving him so much distress.

"I'll leave your food on the counter Nii-san, haiyaku… I'm going!" He could tell she was at the door by the time she yelled her departure from how distant her voice sounded.

Damn, what was he going to do? Oh yeah, read the clock.

It read 7:30, and with a groan Ichigo slowly pushed off his pillow that never felt so soft until this moment. Sitting upright for a second to gather his sleepiness –this he found, took away the dizziness he got when rising from bed too fast—, he scooted slowly off stretching slowly like a cat arising from slumber. Hearing a few bones pop and the figurative pins and needles stabbing his hand from laying on it fade away; he concluded that the stretch was good enough. Ichigo then hunched over to his desk to pick up the perfectly ironed uniform Yuzu cleaned the night before, and with much effort pulled them up and over his lean but tensed figure that was previously only wearing boxers and a wife beater.

This took about 10 minutes Ichigo saw, as he glanced over to his clock. Uncharacteristically he gave a shrug to his imminent lateness to school, which was made even more unusual since he only had 5 minutes left until the class started. Thinking, he wondered why he had become so uncaring to going to school, but before a flurry of reasons filled his mind that he didn't want to be reminded of, he turned to his nearby wall and connected it with his head.

Groaning in pain from his self-inflicted abuse, he turned to leave his room, beat down the stairs, grabbed some bacon Yuzu had left on the counter, and continued to walk leisurely to school even though he was already 3 minutes late.

When he walked into class, the day started in its now normal routine. No ditching to kill hollows. No speeding to class to make the first bell after a head bonk because it was his fault. No surprise new students showing up in his classrom...He definitely preferred it this way.

The teacher yelled at him for being late and threatened to call his father, only a simple wave and a 'Hai, Ochi-sensei' sufficed. He went to sit in his seat, and slowly tuned out his teachers lecture as he turned his head to stare tiredly out the window. He thought about why Yuzu and Dad didn't wake him up personally anymore. 'Hell I don't blame them, I've been pretty unresponsive –even to Dad's flurry of physical abuse—and they're probably just trying to give me my space.'

His bothersome thoughts started up again and he wondered if he'd be able to see a hollow if he looked hard enough.

Orihime was one of the first people at school and was happy to avoid the guys that shamelessly flirted with her when she walked past every day. Unlike public belief, she did notice the attention she got. Even though she can be ditzy, one of her strongest traits is being very observant, "how else do I get good grades" Orihime mumbled. She knew the boys that snickered and stared were talking about her, and in the past she tried to talk to them and see if they wanted to be friends or something. Needless to say it didn't end well and Tatsuki-chan had to come and 'straighten them out'.

Her memories made her worry even more about her best friend. She was avoiding walking with her like they did in the past because all Tatsuki-chan wanted to do was to berate her with questions every time they were alone or look at her sympathetically. Instead, she told her long-time friend that she had to come to school early to make up missing work that had accumulated from skipping school for the war. At the time Orihime didn't let Tatsuki respond to her pathetic reasoning and made up the excuse that her chopped beef with peanut butter was burning and hung up.

Nope, instead she walked into class and found the only other person in school who comes early, Uryuu Ishida.

Once Uryuu saw her walk in, his face flushed light pink. He quickly pushed his glasses up and hid his face in his book titled, 'Sewing, Vol 54'.

"Hello, Inoue-san."

She thought his reaction was queer but didn't say anything about it. 'Ishida-kun's been acting weird since the winter war' her mind processed but she didn't think much on it, and instead greeted him back.

"Ohayo, Ishida-kun", Orihime bowed with a gentle smile on her face and casually strolled to his desk to start up a conversation.

They've been conversing normally now before school for the past couple months, to keep from having to sit in uncomfortable silence. It was nice because she really liked Ishida-kun; he was a nice friend to talk to and seemed really understanding. If she could tell anyone about her feelings it would be him because whenever she talked about stuff with him, he looked as if he wasn't judging her or being sympathetic. To say the least, that was refreshing.

After about 10 minutes of casual talking and Uryuu finally relaxing enough to look in her eyes, people started showing up to class.

They were soon greeted by Chizuru who gave Orihime a lewd embrace but was quickly stomped in the face by Tatsuki who gave Orihime a worried look as she said hello.

"Hello, Tasuki-chan, Chizuru-chan", Orihime bowed with the best reassuring smile she could muster in front of her friend's penetrating gaze.

Suddenly the warning bell sounded announcing for everyone to get into their seats and wait for their teacher. Tatsuki sighed and walked to her desk when Orihime quickly scooted away.

As the brunette girl settled into her seat, she looked around and noticed that her orange haired crush wasn't in class yet. She began to get used to him coming to school late even though at first she was sick with worry wondering if he had dropped out. 'Of course he wouldn't drop out, he's not that love sick over Kuchiki-san', Orihime reassured herself, half-believing. 'I'm sure he cares about school just as much as I do', another unbelieving reassurance flashed through her mind.

The school bell rang signifying the start of class and Ochi-sensei walked in to start her lecture. After 7 minutes of pure torture from not knowing if Kurosaki-kun was alright, she caught herself from her constant glancing at the door to see if he'd walk in.

Two minutes later, Kurosaki-kun strolled in, barely glancing at the teacher, indifferent look on his visage, and his infamous scowl properly in place that Orihime fell in love with on their first meeting.

All throughout class, Orihime couldn't help herself but stare at her hero whom was gazing off outside the window. She continuously wished she could gather up the courage to confess her feelings to him and get it over with. She knew Tatsuki-chan was looking at her also and she also knew what expression her best friend would hold. Pity.

It made her guilty and angry, feelings she quickly suppressed as quickly as they came. She knew how pathetic she was, she didn't need Tatsuki-chan reminding her every second. After such a thought Orihime chastised herself for thinking negatively towards her friend, and made herself understand that Tatsuki-chan was just trying to be there for her and push her in the right direction.

The day dragged on the same way. Ichigo lightly glaring outside, willing a hollow to appear, Orihime gazing longingly at him and Tatsuki trying to gain her friends attention with notes and mouthed words that Orihime successfully ignored.

All Tasuki wanted was to tell Orihime that she was tired of her friend moping around because of the idiot and that if Orihime wasn't going to do something soon she was going to interfere.

She didn't want to hurt Hime but she has drug this on long enough, and it was affecting everything about her best friend's life. If anyone could see the change in Hime it would be her. She knew about the bags under Orihime's eyes that make-up failed to cover one day, her friend throwing herself at him any chance she got, her idiotic excuses to avoid her, and the obvious weight loss she was trying to hide. Something was eating at her that was worse than before, that she wouldn't even tell her best friend about.

'This isn't good for her' Tasuki reassured herself every time she had doubts on whether she should do something. It's her job as her best friend to protect her; she decided this long ago and wasn't going to break her promise to Orihime's brother just because of some first love. Orihime would just have to understand the position she was in.

Once Lunch rolled around, everyone moved to meet up on the roof as usual. But before Ichigo could walk out the door to head outside, Tasuki cut in front of him.

"I've got to talk to you Ichigo"

"If this is about me arriving to school late, I told you my mornings have become more hectic," he lied with a huff.

"I could care less about you wanting your Dad to beat your ass after getting so many calls from Ochi-sensei. I want to talk to you about Orihime."

"What about her? Is there a problem?" Looking at her expectantly, Ichigo thought about the times he saw Inoue and thought she was fine. Maybe a little bit down if he really thought about it, but that's exactly what he didn't do. He didn't think it was anything that concerned him so he didn't press it.

"Let's go back to class to talk about it, I don't want anyone overhearing." Tatsuki said as she started moving down the stairs and gestured with her hand for him to follow.

Ichigo looked at his friend with suspicion in his eyes but followed anyways. "If you're dragging me to some intervention than my ass is as good as gone." He said with a sigh.

"Oh shut up you idiot and come on, this is more serious than that." Ichigo rolled his eyes as they continued to walk until they were outside the class.

"Ok, so what's going on? This better be good, time is money as they say."

Tatsuki punched him in the gut and as he hunched over she growled, "You're such an ass Ichigo, I really don't understand why Orihime likes you!"

With that he straightened up quickly and looked at Tatsuki, surprise written all over his face. "What?"

"Oh, shit!" Tasuki pipped as she covered her mouth. The truth's out now she might as well get it over with. "Um yeah" she affirmed scratching the back of her neck. "Orihime's in love with you Ichigo…has been for a while now."

AN: Kay there you go, again sorry for it ending on a cliff hanger. And OMG those honorifics are a ****, makes me not want to right from Orihime's POV anymore lol. I also hope you didnt get bored, this chapter was kinda slow in my opinion. I wanted to give it enough description so that you can envision whats going on but I didnt want to drag it like some people do which I HATE. I try to find a medium. Anyways, thanks for reading and dont be afraid to give me feedback and leave comments, I need some assurance to keep going.

Until next time.