(I was working on my other updates when what two guest reviewers wrote warranted a response. So this update instead of the ones I should have been working on. To the Guest on Sep 3; {Happy Birthedy, Hime!}, about the Japanese words and lack of translations. You must mean the ones spoken by Isshin. But I did translate it, courtesy of Ichigo. If you were confused, I do sincerely apologize. It was never my intention to ruin an enjoyable IchiHime story, I do hope it was an enjoyable read. Thanks for pointing it out, I will try to keep my [日本語] to a minimum. :) [Japanese])
(To the Guest on 2 Sep, ~每当我找不到存在的意义, 每当我迷失在黑夜里, 夜空中最亮的星。。。~ 是。 我爱死这首歌。交个朋友? 你在这里有户口吗? 也许我们在同个国家。我们可以吃个包, 喝杯 basil seeds 的饮料。如果可以, 请联络。好期待。谢了。)
(Since the abovementioned sentences are in no way relevant to the story, I won't be doing a translation. But if you are really interested, just let me know and I will explain it.)
(Many thanks to the rest of the reviewers and everyone who has deemed this story worthwhile to favorite and followed. THANKS.)
(幽霊)
Kurosaki Ichigo just stood there as the former naked girl but still extremely beautiful girl bowed respectfully at his father and him.
He just stared, enchanted at the luminous auburn hair shimmering around her small shoulders with the graceful movement.
He heard his father gave out a loud overdramatically sigh before he felt the hand on the back of his head forcefully pushing him down forward to return the bow.
"Oh! How could I have raised a son so lacking in the basic etiquette! How could he survive in this polite society of ours? My only son, I fear for your lack of social graces! I blame myself! I have failed you, Masaki!" Kurosaki Isshin lamented wretchedly.
"Get your hand off me and stop being such an idiot!" Ichigo smacked his father's hand off him.
The girl looked up to see the father and son glaring at each other.
"It is fine, Kurosaki-sensei. I will help Kurosaki-kun in whatever ways is needed to make sure he survives due to his inadequate knowledge of decorum." She smiles helpfully.
Ichigo felt his face heating up. "Oi!" If it was someone else, he would have taken it as an insult to purposely riled him up. But the angelic beautiful face in front of him showed nothing but sincere genuine desire to help.
Speech was beyond him.
How could he turn down someone like her?
And so, he did what he has been doing with this beautiful girl.
He stared.
She blushed.
Isshin smirked, amusingly.
"Thank you, my... " He felt his son deathly glare at him. "Orihime-chan. You don't mind if I call you that, do you?" He smiled fatherly at her.
Inoue Orihime smiled shyly back at him and shook her head.
"I can happily go and join your mother in peace. Now that you have found yourself a beautiful and caring wife, my virgin son." He noted with glee the same redness appearing on the young ones' embarrassed faces.
"Don't talk nonsense! You are not dying and you are embarrassing her!" Ichigo sputtered at his only parent.
"Why? Don't you want this beautiful angelic girl to be your wife? Don't you... like her?" Isshin asked in all seriousness.
Ichigo really hated his father for putting him on the spot.
He nervously spotted the princess peeking at him from underneath her long eyelashes.
"O-Of course, I-I like her, b-but... Argh!" He glared in frustration at his father.
The sudden smile on her face did not go unnoticed by the father and son.
"We need to know more about her." Ichigo changed the subject to one of equal importance.
He was relieved to see his father agreeing with the nod of his head.
"My thoughtless son is right for once. Orihime-chan, besides your name and the brown person, do you remember anything else?"
"What brown person? She mentioned a brown-haired and brown-eyed man wearing glasses. Nothing about a brown person."
Isshin shrugged his shoulders. "Same difference. Now do you want to find out more about your future wife." He teased his son.
Ichigo tried to glare at his father but he was sure it was not that intimidating with the blush on his face.
He stole a glance at the girl in his school shirt.
She looked really cute with her face all flushed.
His stomach was doing the weird stuff again.
Time to change the subject again.
"How did she come to be in your office?"
Isshin grinned. "Oh, didn't I tell you? Orihime-chan walked through the wall."
"WHAT?!"
Ichigo shouted in shock and then it hit him.
"NAKED?!"
"Actually, no. She was wearing that."
Ichigo was ready to hurt his father for not letting the poor girl continue to wear what was protecting her dignity when he saw what his father was indicating to him.
He saw nothing.
"Are you kidding me, old man? There's nothing on the chair."
Isshin looked to be really surprise at the lack of fabric on the chair.
"Interesting."
"Don't say that! Why did you let her take it off in the first place?"
"Ichigo, are you insinuating that I have some sort of ulterior motive on such an innocent creature as Orihime-chan? For your information, it was her idea. And to put your jealous mind at ease, I saw nothing, right, Orihime-chan?"
Orihime looked beseechly at Ichigo. "It is true, Kurosaki-kun. I do not know why, but I felt the outfit I was wearing was..." Here, Orihime paused and pondered as to what the outfit was doing to her. "It might sound ridiculous to you, but I thought it was suffocating me." She continued in a whisper.
Ichigo's anger at his father evaporated with the timid whisper.
He sighed.
"It's alright..." He stopped himself from what was coming out of his mouth.
How should he address her?
He stared at the girl who was wearing his school shirt and with whom he has had his first kiss with.
Would it be deem too forward for him to call her by her suitably given name?
She really does look like a princess.
He cannot help himself with someone like her.
He stared.
And she blushed.
Till his father has to remind him of what they should be doing by embarrassing them.
"Ichigo, if you have time to moon over our pretty guest, you should have the time to do a little something for me."
"First thing first. I want some answers."
"Fire ahead, my boy."
Ichigo glanced at the princess.
She smiled sweetly at him.
He really should do something about his stomach.
"When you said that she walked through the wall, are you saying, she's a..."
"She's a what?" Isshin asked his son slyly.
"That's what I want to know. She can't be what I am thinking because she so warm."
'And soft. So very soft.' His traitorous mind reminded him.
"Is she now?" Isshin took a critical look at the auburn-hair beauty. "My... Orihime-chan, do you mind letting me hug you to test a theory?" Isshin grinned and opened up his arms.
The trusting girl gave a shy nod and started to walk towards the older man.
A rough hand jerked out to grab her tiny wrist and Isshin's hand was smacked down by his son.
Ichigo glared at his father.
"She's warm." He repeated the sentence to his father in a low tone.
"I guess I have to take your word for it, my possessive son. Any other questions? I need you to run an errand for me."
"Why can't she speak till after we... " He gave a little cough. "Kissed." He said in almost an inaudible tone.
"What did you say? After you hissed?"
"No! You idiot! After we kissed!" He wanted to hit his father so badly. "Why did she mean by me giving a part of myself to her?"
"Oh that. I did not know if it will work, but it all ended up happily, didn't it?"
"You still haven't answered me, you long-winded old fool! What did I give her?"
Isshin stared bugged-eyed at his son. He shook his head in disappointment.
"Youth. It is really wasted on the young."
"And you are a senile old goat."
"You gave her your energy, life force, kon, qi, reishi... "
"I got it. Stop with the examples. That's why she was afraid of hurting me. I guess I just have a few years shaved off." He glanced at the sad looking princess.
He was amazed her tiny wrist was still captured in his big hand. He squeezed her wrist gently.
"It's alright. What's a few years anyway? I don't have any regrets for doing it and I will willingly do it again and again. So you better not cry, understand?" He gave her a mock stern look.
Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by Isshin's loud whining.
"My son! You are all grown up. I am the one who is going to cry."
"Act your age, you poor excuse for a doctor!"
Isshin wiped the non-existence tears from his face and look at the young couple solemnly.
"You are correct, my 'life already shorten' son. No time to waste. Any more question?"
Ichigo noticed the panick-stricken pale face of Orihime.
"It's nothing. He was just joking about the life shortening. Don't mind him. He's an idiot in a white coat. Okay?" He gave a little comforting smile. He guessed he was getting better with his smiles for she smiled shyly back at him and nodded.
Isshin grinned and patted Ichigo on the back.
"Good boy. Now since there are no more questions, I need you you to go Urahara's."
"Why should I have to go to the shady storekeeper's shop? He gives me the creeps." Ichigo grumbled.
"You will be doing it for Orihime-chan. Unless you do not want to." Isshin teased his son. He saw him looking at the blushing girl before his own face was tinted with the lightest shade of pink.
"What do I have to do?" Ichigo mumbled.
"It's very simple. You are going to burn offerings to Orihime-chan."
(ゆうれい)
