I'm sorry this took so long! My poor Beta-chan got overwhelmed, and it took her a while to get to this. But she beta'd it, and did an amazing job, so please love her.

Thank you everyone for your kind reviews! It made my heart swell. Though unfortunately, the reason for him leaving will be a bit farther off, because I'm just that mean. lol.

Please enjoy!

"So all you wanted for breakfast was a piece of peanut butter toast and a slice of watermelon?" Tatsuki asked in amazement as the two approached their high school. Orihime nodded, pulling a face.

"Yup. And the smell of red bean paste is now making me sick. I wanted to put it on my breakfast earlier but the sight of it make nauseous. And I've had the oddest craving for chocolate with marshmallows and strawberry syrup." Orihime looked bewildered at the very thought. Tatsuki had to bite down on the inside of her cheeks until she tasted blood to keep from laughing.

"Good mooorning, Orihime!" The auburn-haired girl gasped as Chizuru popped up behind her as soon as she hit the school grounds. The flamboyant lesbian wrapped her arms around the buxom woman's waist, hands immediately going for the girl's breasts greedily.

"Oi, get off of her, would ya?" An irate, definitely masculine voice snapped from behind them. Orihime automatically stiffened at the voice, eyes widening. After a long moment, she turned around slowly.

"Konnichiwa, Kurosaki-kun," she greeted nervously, flushing vividly, twiddling her thumbs in front of her. Ichigo's dark brown eyes observed her silently, noting the slight bags under her eyes and how she didn't seem to want to be anywhere near him with her large grey eyes averted. "Long time no see."

"Ohayo…Orihime," he greeted reluctantly, immediately noticing the way that she had returned to her old mannerisms, as if that night had never happened. She smiled, almost wistfully, at him before turning to the scowling Arisawa who was staring at Ichigo like he was Aizen reincarnated. Chizuru immediately began to rant about his first name basis with her, which everybody ignored.

"I need to go to the library. I'll meet up with you at the classroom, okay?" She asked, earning a brisk nod and a small smile. "Bye, Chizuru-chan, Tatsuki." She removed Chizuru's arms from around her waist and dodged around Ichigo, walking towards the library.

On the way, Ishida walked out of the building from the Crafts Club, and greeted her with a polite, "Good morning, Inoue-san."

"Oh, morning, Ishida-kun!" She greeted him, making a valiant effort to maintain her normal perky behavior as she smiled brightly up at him. From behind her, brown eyes narrowed dangerously.

Five minutes to the bell, Orihime stepped lightly into the classroom. She had a bulging book bag at her side with her long, dusky orange hair pulled back from her face in a messy bun, pinned at the nape of her neck with a large decorative bobby pin.

She sat down at her seat by the windows, glancing at Tatsuki out of the corner of her eyes slyly. Ochi-sensei then entered the classroom and began the day after a breezy greeting.

The hat itched.

Glancing out the window of the bus, Orihime fidgeted underneath the floppy-brimmed hat that covered her orange hair. Chizuru had given her the hat earlier as a belated birthday present and it itched like crazy.

The Parenthood place was too far away to walk, and neither of them had a car, so she and Tatsuki were currently sitting in the back of the bus. Despite the fact that the place was only a few minutes away by bus, it seemed longer due to the anxiety that was causing to flutter in her stomach.

"How much longer?" She whispered to Tatsuki anxiously.

Tatsuki was staring violently at a man who'd been openly gawking at Orihime's bare, crossed legs for several minutes, cracking her knuckles at him threateningly. "We're here, actually. Pull the cord."

A low ding was heard as Orihime obediently did so. Shortly after, the bus pulled to a slow stop and she got off first. Tatsuki paused by the gawker and muttered venomously, "She's taken, asswipe. Look elsewhere."

She left the guy and stepped off to join the waiting Orihime. Together they walked into the place, despite Orihime's attempt to turn around and walk away a few feet away from the door. "You'll be fine," Tatsuki had assured her, patting her head absently as they entered the building. Orihime signed in, and within minutes, had been called. "Thank goodness it wasn't busy," Tatsuki remarked ruefully as they passed through the swinging doors.

"Congratulations, Inoue-san. It seems that you're right about seven weeks along," The doctor informed her needlessly some time later. "According to these tests, everything seems to be fine. Your baby seems to be in good health, and here are some pre-natal vitamins to make sure it stays that way. I also have some papers with advice on diets and such, along with information on what you should expect over the coming months. I also wrote down a rough time that you should get your next check-up." He handed over a small folders stuffed with papers, along with a small bottle of vitamins.

Orihime hopped off of the table with a relieved little smile, fixing her skirt around her knees before accepting the bottle and the folder. "Arigato, Nagato-sensei," she thanked politely, earning a kind smile, as she joined Tatsuki, who had been forced to wait in the hallway during the exam. "Can we get something to eat? I'm starving." She asked innocently.

"Sure," Tatsuki agreed with a small laugh. "What do yo=u want? Red bean paste and bread?" She asked thoughtlessly, watching as Orihime's face turned green in record time. "Ah, never mind." The Arisawa stated hurriedly.

"How about fruit or maybe some sushi?" Orihime offered instead, still looking rather nauseous.

"Sure. If memory serves, there's a sushi place that's cheap right up ahead. How's that?"

"Okay!" Orihime agreed cheerfully, picking up her pace slightly. She found the place with little problem, and held the door open for Tatsuki before following her in.

Within minutes, they were walking out, each with their own four pack of sushi. Orihime was devouring her's ravenously while Tatsuki was eating at a more sedate pace. "Where to next? I'm not really in the mood to go home yet." The raven-haired girl asked.

"Mmm, the bookstore? Or maybe the arcade? I don't really mind." Orihime answered, voice muffled around a bite of fish.

"The arcade works for me," Tatsuki agreed, immediately leading to the left for a shortcut to said arcade. "And it's not that far from here too, which is a bonus."

"That's why I thought of it," Orihime told her, smiling cheekily.

"That's my girl."

They arrived at the arcade with little accident, other than Orihime getting sick halfway there and emptying her stomach contents into the nearest trash bin. She was still looking rather green, despite her many assurances that she was fine.

After getting enough quarters to feed a small country, Tatsuki handed half over to Orihime. "What do you want to pla-" She started to say, cut off when her best friend promptly darted off in the direction of a game, quickly lost in the large crowd. Sighing, Tatsuki spotted an old-fashioned fighting game and headed over, immediately elbowing and punching her way up the line.

The game Orihime had her eye on was a flying one to where you actually climbed into the adjacent booth and pulled the curtains closed around you for some privacy. It was a personal favorite of her despite the shaking movements that always accompanied it. Hopefully, it wouldn't make her get sick again.

"Hey, hey Kurosaki! Long time no see!"

"Kurosaki! You'll have to beat my high score soon enough!"

"Nice shiner, Ichigo! Who beat your ass!?"

The various bellows greeted the orange-haired teen as he entered the overly-crowded arcade. He lifted a hand in vague acknowledgment as he headed through the arcade in search of a game that wasn't really that crowded.

"Oh yeah, bitches! Come back when you've got skills!"

The loud jeer caught Ichigo's attention and he looked around for the source. When he saw very familiar, spiky back hair belonging to a short girl with her fist pumped into the air, he promptly lost interest. It didn't surprise him at all to see Tatsuki at this particular arcade. Video games were a passion of her, and this arcade had been their favorite haunt when they were younger.

Though if Tatsuki was here, he was willing to bet money that he didn't have on the fact that Orihime would be somewhere in there well. Both of the girls had been even more joined at the hip than normal and it seemed that like every time he saw Orihime, he saw Tatsuki, who was pissed off at him for a reason he didn't know. She absolutely refused to grant him any access to Orihime, actually swinging her deadly fists at him a few times when he attempted to shove by her.

And if he could find Orihime, then he could also figure out just what the hell had happened earlier that day with him, even if he already had a good idea.

He started for the games that one would least expect her out.

He had checked out four or five of the games to no avail when he snatches of a conversation between two sleazy looking guys.

"Dude, have you seen the chick over at the airplane game yet?"

"Yeah, man, just did. A total looker. Great legs. Like to have those wrapped around me."

"Not to mention that rack." The shorter one let out a low whistle as he mimed massaging imaginary, overly large breasts.

"Her hair tweaked though, man. Never seen a shade of hair like that before. It's probably a dye job gone wrong or sumthin'."

"Prolly right, though I'd love to see if the curtains match the drapes, if ya know what I mean." The gangly, short one said cockily. His friend, a dark-haired taller guy, merely laughed, nodding in agreement.

Ichigo gritted his teeth against his hollow's demands for their blood, as he was very much tempted to give in and rip them apart. With the mental image of Orihime firmly in his mind, the Kurosaki forced himself to turn around and walked in the direction of the game that was located in the back, his brown eyes flashing amber with silent fury.

Sure enough, when he reached the airplane game, he saw Orihime's familiar dusky orange hair in the crack of the drawn-together curtains. As he approached, he began to hear delighted giggles coming from the game, typically whenever it tilted to the side or shook.

Once he was at the game, he waited one moment before knocking once on the plastic with his knuckles and sliding in. Orihime's plane on the screen promptly crashed into the ground and burned as she flinched away from where his arms brushed her accidentally. She slid over as far as on the bench as she could, putting space between them. "Kurosaki-kun, um, konbanwa." She greeted him nervously.

Well, at least this time she met his gaze, albeit waveringly.

"Orihime, what's wrong with you?" he asked bluntly. Her cheeks streaked pink at the usage of her first name.

"Kurosaki-kun-"

"I understand that that night was a mistake, Orihime. If I could make it go away, I would. If I used you or hurt you or deceived you in any way, I'm sorry. It was a one-night stand and I'm sorry for the stupid mistake." He cut her off brusquely, his tone gruff. During this, his eyes had averted downward and he didn't see the tears brimming on the sides of her eyes before they began to slide silently down her cheeks.

"I…I'm sorry you feel that way, Kurosaki-kun," she responded in a quiet, choked voice, the tears falling faster. Ichigo look=ed up, witnessing her face streaked with tears and guilt crashed down on him like a freight train.

"No-Wait, Orihime-" He attempted to recover, reaching towards her. She shied away and proceeded to leave blindly, before his long fingers wrapped around her wrist, stopping her successfully. "Listen to me-"

"No!" She cried, tears falling faster. "You may consider it a mistake, Kurosaki-kun, but I don't! I was there too, you know! And I was sober, when you weren't, so if I had wanted to stop you, I could have…" Her voice became quieter and quieter until she was silent. In his shock, his grasp slipped and she seized the opportunity to bolt from the game booth.

Dammit.

"Tatsuki!"

The Arisawa immediately turned at the barely-audible call, seeing a distraught-looking Orihime rushing towards her as fast as she could, shoving people aside to reach her. Tears were brimming on the corners of her gray eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked promptly, cracking her knuckles. Orihime shook her head.

"Can-Can we just go?" She pleaded brokenly. "Please?"

"Of course. Let's go, I'm ready now. Bye guys. I'll finish kicking your asses some other day so keep practicing." Tatsuki waved at her opponents briefly, before leading the crying Orihime out of the arcade, shoving her way through the crowd to get out.

Mwuhaha. A lot of jumping around, I know. I'm sorry. I didn't even realize how much there was until I went through and put in the lines. .

This chapter is insanely short. Way shorter than I'd originally been planning on. Gack! It's annoying. .

Review, please?

- Vampyre Heartbreak