Never what it seems

Ch.3 No way to say

Ishida POV

"Why are you carrying all these boxes anyway?" Kurosaki asked. "For the crafts club, although everyone else is too busy studying for exams to help." I replied.

"Seriously? Why didn't you just ask me or Chad?" I stiffened and bit my lip (Kurosaki was behind me, so he didn't see that).I didn't actually want to admit I thought I could do it myself. Ichigo (thankfully) seemed not to notice and changed the subject.

"So are you guys getting ready for a competition or something?" he asked. "Yeah, it's in one month." I answered.

"Reeaally. Well what would you do if I said I wanted to cheer you on?" I stopped in my tracks. What- What was that supposed to mean?! "Well Ishida?" How was I supposed to answer that?

What should I do? Should I be sarcastic? Or should I just tell him not too? "I guess its okay then." Ichigo grinned. I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. So I just nodded and continued leading the way.

"Why are you doing this during class?" Ichigo asked. "What's with the twenty questions?" I replied. He really was asking a lot. He rolled his eyes and said "I asked first, so answer my question and I'll answer yours." "Fine. I'm doing this because I finished all my work. I didn't want to sit around being bored."

"Mm. Okay. I'm asking a lot of questions because it's so quiet. You don't talk much." He answered. I thought about this and then said, "Did it ever occur to you that the reason I don't talk much is that I don't like talking?"

Truthfully, I didn't like talking with people. Ichigo was an exception along with a few others. Seriously, with what I told him that time when we were outnumbered by those hollows and he said we should work together…I told him things I still had nightmares about, that no one else knew.

"It doesn't seem that way to me. I think you're just holding things in too much because it's what you're used to. But come on you have me and Chad and Orihime now, right? So what's the point in holding it all in?" Kurosaki said. Somehow, him saying that struck something inside me and I stopped walking.

"The same thing applies to you Kurosaki. How can you not see how much you affect us by holding things in too? They care about you more than they do me, and you're holding things in affects them because you used to be more open!" I couldn't help it. Someone needed to tell him. He'd been holding things in for too long.

"If you want me to open up, Kurosaki, you'll have to too." He had stopped walking and was looking at me in surprise; it looked like he wanted to tell someone what he was holding in. "It's a deal, Ishida." He said grinning at me. I smirked back at him.

"So which of us should spill first?" He asked. I was happy. I was nervous about telling him things no one else knew about me, but happy that he had chosen me to confide in.

"You first. Right now, you're the one who everyone is the most worried about." I answered. "Don't say that. Everyone worries about you to." Kurosaki insisted. "They all like you better." I replied.

"That's only because they haven't gotten a chance to know you! You're a really interesting person! I like the way you say and do things differently from everyone else!" To say I was surprised was the understatement of the century. Did he really just say…like?

Hope you like. R&R would be greatly appreciated.