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Chapter 3

Ichigo and Nel headed back to the inn and ate their food in a lively mood after Ichigo's small but meaningful victory. After they were done eating they took showers and got ready for bed.

"But Itsygo I'm scared" Nel said pouting from her futon.

"There's nothing to be scared of. Just close your eyes and count some sheep or something." Ichigo said yawning and getting under the warmth of his own blankets.

"But what if those scary guys come back..." She continued.

"If they come back then I'll beat them again, now go to bed." He said dismissively and closed his eyes.

Minutes later Ichigo was already fast asleep since it had been a very long day for him. Unfortunately Nel was wide awake still afraid. Even though Ichigo was sleeping in the same room as her she still felt like he was too far away because his futon was on the other side of the room. Her big hazel eyes were glued on the figure of the young man sleeping away peacefully. She suddenly got a mischievous idea and giggled softly. She then got up from her futon and quietly tip toed her way to Ichigo's. She stared at his sleeping figure for a few seconds before quickly laying in the futon with him and making herself comfortable under the blankets.

The next morning Ichigo woke up feeling rather comfortable. In fact, it was the most comfortable he had been in a very long time. He slowly opened a lazy eye and realized why. His head was resting on a soft and pillowy chest providing him a way better source of warmth than his blankets ever did and his arms were wrapped tightly around a perfectly curved waist. He immediately freaked out when he noticed he was sleeping with a woman. Said woman was still cozily sleeping with one arm around his neck and a hand lost in his messy orange hair. Their bodies were intertwined in such a way that he couldn't get up without waking her up.

'What the heck did I do last night? I can't remember anything...who is this woman?' Ichigo thought frantically when he suddenly remembered about his little aqua haired companion.

"Nel!" He yelled as he hastily untangled himself from the mystery woman and looked across the other side of the room for his short companion.

"What?..." The woman next to him answered lazily rubbing her eyes.

"What do you mean what?" Ichigo said aggravated, "You're not..." He was about to finish his sentence when he noticed the resemblance between the woman sleeping next to him and his little friend.

"You-you-you-" Ichigo said pointing at said woman. She then looked down at herself and noticed the root of Ichigo's confusion.

"Yes, I'm Nel. This is my true form." She said with a sleepy smile.

"h-h-h-h-how did you turn...big?" Ichigo said with a blush when he noticed her "true form".

"I guess I must have transformed last night." She said carefree.

Ichigo suddenly remembered he was still under the covers with the now voluptuous woman and freaked out again. He rapidly got up from the bed, grabbed his clothes and headed to the small bathroom to get dressed.

"Why are you in such a rush Ichigo it's not like we have anywhere to go..." Nel said from her spot on the futon.

He didn't answer and simply continued on his way to the bathroom but now mumbling incoherently through his teeth.

He shut the door behind him loudly. He leaned his back against the door and closed his shocked eyes. Thoughts of Nel's soft and warm body started flooding through his mind. He had never been so close to a woman before and he started blushing furiously again at the fact that he had spent the whole night sleeping with her. He decided he needed a cold shower to calm his teenage hormones down and to ease his mind.

A few minutes later Ichigo stepped out of the bathroom feeling much better. He ran a hand through his messy wet hair and closed the door behind him.

"I thought you'd never come out." Nel said playfully. She was still comfortably laying on the futon.

"Shut up." He said looking away trying to avoid checking her out.

"So what do you want to do today?" She asked as she stood up from the futon. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets yet again.

"You need to find something decent to wear if you want to go anywhere outside today!" He said pointing at her revealing clothes.

"You don't like what I'm wearing?" She asked innocently and started walking towards him.

"I don't care...d-d-do what you want." He said quickly and instead went to sit by the window.

She was going to continue teasing him but he was a little too flustered and instead decided to give him some space. She went to sit by a small table and started munching on some fruits they had left over from yesterday. A few minutes after she was done with her fruit she became restless. She wasn't too keen on being stuck in the small bedroom that they were sharing either. She looked over at Ichigo who seemed to be just as bored looking out the unexciting view from the window.

"You wanna go walk around town?" She asked hoping that he had enough time to cool off.

He turned to look at her. "Sure." He said as he got up, set his katana on his back, grabbed some of the money Zangetsu had left them and they headed out the door.

For the rest of the day they walked around the small downtown area. Ichigo had to scare off a few guys that kept staring at his friend but he didn't mind. In fact, he kind of liked being protective of her. The town itself had a few interesting stores but oddly enough Nel was especially interested in the bookstore. They then walked over to what appeared to be the only decent restaurant in town…

"If you hadn't run off to the market we could have had lunch here instead of the inn yesterday." Ichigo said as he took a bite of his onigri.

"At least you're not stuck babysitting anymore right?" She said smiling. He nodded and continued eating.

"So how did you meet Zangetsu's friend? She seems kind of scary." Ichigo inquired with a scowl. Nel laughed at the fact that he thought Harribel looked scary when Zangetsu probably looked just as scary as her. Well I guess it'd be kind of hard to look anything other than scary for them given their respective careers.

"Harribel? I was traveling alone one day in my other form when some men started picking on me. She noticed and defended me. Ever since then we've stuck together. I guess you could say we have each other's backs." She said with a warm smile.

"So you travel a lot?" He asked.

"Yea I've always traveled but now it's also part of my job, but I like it because I get to meet new people and know knew places." She said.

"I guess that kind of explains why you're into books." He said.

"How about you? How did you meet Zangetsu?" She asked. He looked up with a sense of pride as he told her his story. Before they knew it the whole day had flown by. They headed back to the inn feeling more comfortable around each other.

…

"I had a very nice day with you Ichigo." Nel said as they got ready for bed.

"Thanks…I had a nice day too." Ichigo said with a sincere smile. He was actually very glad that she turned out to be a nice girl.

For the rest of the week Nel and Ichigo hung out and spent more time talking and getting to know each other. Ichigo was surprised at how much they got along. They talked about everything in life and Ichigo even surprised himself at the fact that he was able to just open up and tell her so much.

The last day before Zangetsu and Harribel arrived they went to a small forest they found to unwind. They laid on top of a hill and stargazed in the quiet of the night.

"So you're telling me you've never had a girlfriend before?" She asked rather skeptically. Ichigo was a rather handsome young man so the fact that he had never had a girlfriend was a shock to her.

"I'm always busy trying to take care of the things I need to so I never pay much attention to girls like that. Yeah I get along with the girls in my town and I think they're nice but I respect them too much to think of anything but their friendship." Ichigo said honestly as he continued looking at the endless indigo sky.

Nel simply smiled and stayed quiet. Ichigo was not only good looking but also a very good person on the inside. Without realizing it, Nel was starting to develop a crush on her newfound friend. They continued laying on the grassy hill in a comfortable silence. There was no one around and all you could hear was the chirping of the small critters around. There had to be a small river not too far away because the sound of calm running water could also be heard.

The sky was a beautiful scene as the stars twinkled on in the darkness. Nel turned to look at Ichigo. He felt her looking at him and turned to look at her as well. When their eyes met Nel couldn't take it any longer. She knew she might be pushing it with what she was about to do but she didn't care anymore. For some odd reason Ichigo was too irresistible to not act on her feelings. She propped herself up and stared intently at him. She started lowering herself down to him until their lips were so close that she could feel his breath. She then closed her eyes and pressed her lips fully on him. Ichigo closed his eyes to let the feeling sink in. Her lips were so gentle and warm. Although he wasn't expecting it, he surely welcomed the feeling. He had never felt anything like that before. There was a sudden surge of confidence within him at the fact that such a beautiful woman was giving him that type of attention. He wrapped his arms around her frame and deepened the kiss. He then flipped them over as he continued to kiss her slowly. He then started moving his hand to her waist and continued to explore the rest of her curves.

She was happily surprised because she didn't expect him to react this way. From their interactions earlier she was expecting him to tell her to get away or even push her away. His hands felt wonderful on her body as he gently explored it. She moved her hands up to the defined muscles on his arms. She then settled on caressing his neck and running her fingers through his hair.

He finally broke the kiss.

"Ichigo." She said trying to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry…I don't know what got into me." He said embarrassed and started letting go of her when she stopped him.

"It's ok. I started it. Besides….I liked it." She said with a small smile. When a smile graced his handsome face she relaxed again. They continued enjoying their affection for a few more hours before heading back to the inn.

The following day Zangetsu and Harribel showed up early in the morning. They went to have breakfast before heading their separate ways. Zangetsu and Harribel noticed something different about the relationship of their younger friends. They looked at each other and smiled and then decided to give them a few minutes to themselves.

"It was nice knowing you, Ichigo." Nel said as she started deeply into his chocolate eyes.

"Same here." He said rather awkwardly as he looked away, he was never good with words. He was going to start walking away when she suddenly gave him a big hug.

"Nel…." He said nervously. He didn't like public displays of affection, especially not when Zangetsu was not too far away.

"Let's meet again, ok?" She said sweetly. He simply nodded and continued hugging her. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him closer to her. She stretched her neck and kissed him on the lips. Surprisingly, he returned the kiss. He loved the feel of her lips on his and was sure he would miss the feeling. After a few seconds they broke the kiss and said goodbye.

…

"It looks like you and Nel were getting along well, huh?" Zangetsu said to Ichigo after saying goodbye to their pretty friends.

"Yeah she was nice." Ichigo said looking away but blushing furiously.

The two friends continued on their journey back home. This trip for Ichigo had definitely been a different type of learning experience for him.

Hi everyone!

So this chapter was a fluff chapter. It's my first time writing about Ichigo w/someone else other than Rukia so I was a bit nervous. The plot will continue to move on in the next chappy. My much needed school break started today so I will probably update within the next few days again!