Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in anyway but am inspired by the work created by Tite Kubo

Author's Note: I'm playing around with the timeline here because I'd like Orihime to at least be nineteen so if my span of time doesn't make sense my apologies.

Suddenly There Was You

By bleachfanficfanatic

Chapter 4

In ten minutes Shuuhei and Orihime stopped their forward movement to stand before a large, beautiful waterfall cascading down a cliff face into a deep pool of sapphire blue. Just that site alone took her breath away; the height of the cliff, the roar of the water and the cool spray felt from the splashing.

Her companion looked at her face, pleased to see she was already in awe. Both had yet to notice he'd not let go of her hand.

"Shuuhei," she breathed, breaking the spell only slightly, "this is amazing! I had no idea anything like this existed here." He smiled at her pleasure, glad his decision to bring her here was turning out this well and they'd only just arrived.

"Come on, you haven't seen anything yet," he smirked tugging on her hand. She followed him leaving her digits incased in his. They made their way to a small building to the side of the pool and Orihime realized it was a restaurant. Outside sat eight tables with two chairs each facing the cliff and they took a seat. Before long a young woman came out with menus, bowing low before she handed them over.

The sun was still shining fairly bright in the sky thanks to it being the beginning of summer and Orihime enjoyed the warm glow over her skin. As it began to sink lower she noticed colors appear on a wall of rock above the restaurant. Slowly the colors grew more saturated until a beautiful rainbow was splayed across the pure white stone. She gasped in surprise and joy clenching Shuuhei's hand in her excitement. He grinned again finding himself very glad she was enjoying herself so much.

The colors bounced and danced, shifted and changed as the sun sank lower and lower into the sky bringing the rainbow mural with it. The "show" lasted about five minutes and Shuuhei couldn't help patting himself on the back. They'd arrived at the perfect time to get the full effect of this phenomenon.

It was when the last remnants of color had faded and the afterglow of the early evening settled around them that Orihime moved her gaze from the wall to Shuuhei's face. He doubted he'd seen a smile so big in his long life and her radiance made him almost blush. This was pure, unadulterated joy; something he realized he'd rarely seen, especially in the last couple of years.

"Shuuhei, thank you so much for bringing me here, that was amazing," she exclaimed in almost a sing song voice.

He chuckled as he gave her hand a squeeze before releasing it to peruse the menu. Orihime was surprised at how much she missed the contact but didn't say anything. She'd never expected something this…romantic on a first date but she wasn't complaining. Unexpected images of her first date with Ichigo flashed through her mind and she winced, looking down to the menu in her hands to try to stop from crying. Thankfully Shuuhei was still reading his so he hadn't seen her face change. "Why am I thinking about him? I need to stop this!" she thought, split between sadness and irritation.

"Do you know what you would like to eat?" The question snapped her out of her thoughts and she realized she'd been staring at the menu without really reading it. She shook her head, hoping he would interpret the serious look on her face as concentration and not ask her what was wrong. She didn't want to ruin their first date by talking about former loves.

"Not yet, everything sounds so good," she fibbed, trusting that it was most likely true without her having to have really seen what was available.

"Everything here is good so you really can't go wrong," he replied kindly.

After more review of the menu and asking the opinion of their server they settled on a shared sushi platter and salad since the evening was so warm. Soon their meal was before them and they were momentarily silent while enjoying the first few bites.

Shuuhei considered the woman across from him, having moved his chair so it was easier to have a conversation and give her space.

He smiled as memory of his chance encounter with Renji that afternoon took hold of his thoughts.

"You asked who out?" the red headed lieutenant asked surprised.

"Orihime; what, did you lose your ability to hear last night?"

"Shut up, I'm just surprised that's all. I mean, I had no idea you were even interested in her!"

Shuuhei paused in the consumption of his meal. The two men had run into each other on their way to lunch and decided to eat together. Pushing past his initial embarrassment, Shuuhei asked Renji's opinion on where to take her since he knew her so well.

"It's a recent development," he murmured before taking another bite.

Renji narrowed his eyes, "Shuuhei, don't be dickin' around with her." His tone was serious and laced with protective bravado.

The captain wasn't surprised at this reaction from the man in front of him. In the last twenty four hours it had become obvious Renji viewed Orihime as a sister figure.

"Don't worry Renji, I'm not looking for an easy score or anything like that. I'm…intrigued by her. Plus, Rangiku gave the go ahead if I was interested and I am so I'm trying to get to know her."

Renji's eyes had widened at the mention of the Tenth's lieutenant, "Wait a minute; Rangiku knew you wanted to ask her out?"

Shuuhei recounted his morning conversation with their mutual friend which seemed to quell some of Renji's initial irritation with the situation. It wasn't that he didn't like Shuuhei and he knew he was a good guy overall, but when it came to Orihime he sometimes surprised himself with how protective he became.

"So, are you going to help me figure out where to take her or not?" Shuuhei asked after a further moment of silence.

"Sure, you're taking her to dinner, yeah?"

"Yeah, but I have no idea what she likes," Shuuhei responded running his hand through his hair.

Renji chuckled and the captain looked at him curiously.

"Her taste in food is odd so it really doesn't matter where you take her. She'll probably surprise you with her choices in condiments."

"So what? People ask for sauces and stuff on the side all the time."

"Yeah, but chocolate sauce to dip wasabi fries in?" Renji countered with a grin.

Shuuhei felt his stomach lurch and pushed the rest of his meal away causing his lunch companion to laugh out loud.

"Anyway, I think you should take her to Rainbow Bridge," he recommended taking another bite of his food.

"Rainbow Bridge? Really? The guy who doesn't want me to "dick around with her" is recommending I take her to one of the more intimate spots in Soul Society?"

Renji frowned but maintained his position, "Look, it's about making her happy and trust me, she'll love the rainbow wall so make sure to get there before sunset. What time are you picking her up again?"

He told him and Renji continued, "That's perfect for this time of year. Yeah, you should take her there."

Coming out of his thoughts he noticed Orihime was still quiet but looked contemplative as she stared at the pieces of sushi on her plate. Smiling he asked, "Thinking it could use an extra something? Chocolate or raspberry sauce maybe?"

Her surprised eyes shot to his and her blush almost made him regret teasing her with his insider knowledge…almost. Shuuhei figured this type of reaction was normal for the healer when anyone actually paid attention to her so he decided to just get used to it. If he felt bad every time he made her blush he'd live in a perpetual state of semi-remorse. It was further amusement he realized he'd already planned, assuming she wanted to, on spending more time with her before their first date had even ended.

But this time he took pity on her, "Sorry Orihime, Renji gave me a heads up to your…unique tastes. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'd like you to enjoy the meal, so if you want something we can ask the waitress for whatever it is you'd like to add, though how much we'll actually have in Soul Society is debatable."

Even as her blush deepened she was smiling, tilting her head down slightly before looking up to meet his eyes. In that moment she looked both alluring and innocent making Shuuhei wonder how she was single. He'd heard rumor of her affections for Kurosaki but had never taken true interest in the gossip. Funny, he considered, since he edited the Seireitei News Magazine and its gossip column.

Shyly she replied, "You're not wrong Shuuhei, but this is fine. It's really good, actually. Thank you for bringing me here, it's…beautiful and peaceful."

"I'm glad you like it."

After a slight pause Orihime broke the ice asking him a question related to his captaincy.

"Unless you don't want to talk about it, I mean, you work all day every day and with training I'm sure you're exhausted. Not that you aren't strong! You are, I mean, you look like you are…um…we can just sit quietly if you'd like," she ended, cursing her inability to speak clearly when she was nervous.

By now Shuuhei was laughing, he couldn't help it, she was just so cute when she was flustered. "Wait, cute? Did I just call her cute?" Well, he'd already called her beautiful and lovely to her face so why not cute internally?

"It's fine Orihime, I'm glad you're even interested," he replied through his chuckles.

They spent the rest of their time talking, he answering her questions about his job and various things that had happened in Soul Society since her last visit and she answering his questions about her life in the world of the living.

When she talked of her friends he noticed one name was absent: Kurosaki Ichigo. No matter his lack of understanding as to the exact nature of their relationship he was pretty sure they weren't together. After all, she was here with him on what was very obviously a date but he found it odd she didn't mention him once. Wasn't he one of her closest friends, her dear nakama that meant so much to her?

He heard about Ishida-kun, who it seemed had made the dress she was wearing, and his diligence in pursuing a medical degree, following in his father's footsteps despite his initial rejection to do so. She rambled on about Tatsuki's various karate accomplishments and how she was in the process of getting her business degree so she could open and run her own dojo. Chad was mentioned off handedly as having begun training to be a professional fighter, unsurprising to everyone really. Even Kojima Mizuiro and Asano Keigo made appearances in her vocal meanderings; but no Kurosaki.

He was tempted to ask her both because it was odd she was very deftly avoiding his name and because he genuinely wanted to know how the savior of three worlds was doing these days. But as she ended a story about her last day at the bakery and something about yeast exploding he saw a haunted look in her eyes. It was almost as if she were silently pleading, "I know you notice I'm not talking about him, please don't ask about him. Please…don't ask."

So Shuuhei didn't ask. He laughed as she recounted the extreme difficulty of getting yeasty dough out of her hair and the way the manager had laughed as he said it was the worst mistake she'd made and of course it would be on her last day so he couldn't fire her.

By the time they'd finished dessert, a simple plate of lemon cookies paired with raspberry flavored water, it was dark and the breeze had picked up. Because they were near the water the air had a slight chill to it causing Orihime to make use of the white sweater she'd brought. Shuuhei paid the bill and stood asking, "So, are you ready to make our way back to the manor?"

"Yes, I'm sure the girls will be waiting for me," she answered before thinking about it. Her hands flew to her mouth in embarrassment at the implication they would want to know how the evening went.

Shuuhei merely laughed as he reached for her hands, saying jovially, "I'm not naïve, I just hope I gave you something good to talk about." He was so charming, so sweet, she couldn't believe it.

When Orihime had seen Shuuhei from a distance, especially during their "invasion" of Soul Society, she'd thought him serious and aloof not to mention frightening with his chain wielded zanpakuto. But here he was shattering all her preconceived notions. He laughed at her jokes, teased her good-naturedly but also complimented her and brought her to a completely unexpected, lovely place for an intimate dinner with engaging conversation. It seemed the captain of the Ninth division was a myriad of surprises.

She'd been silent during her consideration of this man, her hands held loosely in his, when suddenly she realized she'd been staring at him without saying a word for at least a minute if not longer. Shuuhei, however, either didn't notice or didn't mind.

Taking a deep breath he broke them out of their eye lock, "Ok then, let's get you home."

They reached the manor a short time later, both slightly disappointed the evening was already coming to a close.

"Until next time," he murmured and kissed her cheek. Orihime flushed but smiled sweetly as he pulled back. A moment later she felt a rush of air as he flash-stepped away. Sighing she fell against the door, somewhat overwhelmed by the whole experience.

She stood there for a moment, enjoying the opportunity to savor the memory of the evening before she felt the door open and two women pulled her to her room in order to get all the juicy details.

Author's Note: I really hope this wasn't too cheesy. I just picture Shuuhei, given the chance, as a romantic and thus would be not opposed to Renji's idea. Now dear readers, I have a question for you all. I originally rated this story "T" but I'm feeling a hankering to write some ShuuHime lovin' so I'll ask if I should change the rating to "M" to allow for a way in the future lemon. I'm not going to throw them right into bed but really, they can't resist each other forever right? Give me your opinion, should I change the rating? Also, let me know your thoughts on the chapter. Thank you for the faves, follows and reviews thus far. I hope the story continues to garner attention and enjoyment from you all!