your tongue the tide your lips the shore i am the jetsam overboard

goodbye courage

i christen all the ships that sailed on your little kisses' saliva trails

goodbye courage hello sadness again

little kisses come to pass then goodbye courage hello sadness

it's only hope that springs eternal and that's the reason why this dripping from my broken heart is never running dry never running dry

- Hello Sadness, Los Campesinos!

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Devil

Chapter Four

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The sun beat down on, just as brutal as it had been for hours, as I patted down a clump on sand on the last remaining bit of skin on Renji who had fallen asleep long ago. Rukia stood up from her spot next to his feet, clapping her hands together to wipe of the sand.

"We did a good job, huh, Orihime?" She said, looking down at her sleeping masterpiece. I stood up next to her to take in the full picture. Renji was lying on his back, covered entirely in sand, from his toes to his neck. A pair of sunglasses lay over his eyes and his mouth was open wide as snores escaped him. I had no idea he was such a deep sleeper.

"Yeah, he looks great!" I said, smiling at her and dusting my knees off. Ichigo walked beside us to look down at the sleeping body, a loud bark of a laugh emitting from him after a moments pause.

"Oh my god!" He cried, clutching his stomach in laughter, "What an idiot! You guys are awesome!"

Rukia and I walked off to wash ourselves in the ocean, the sand having found its way to rather uncomfortable places. The others had already began to congregate around Renji's sleeping form, laughing along with Ichigo at their friends misfortune.

We sat down in the water, letting the waves wash over us.

"That was a good idea, Rukia," I said, looking over at the girl who was splashing sea water on her arm.

"Thanks," She said, laughing, "I love playing pranks like this on him."

"It's his fault for falling asleep," I added, to which Rukia joyfully nodded in agreement.

We both sat there in silence for a moment, splashing water on ourselves, before we spoke again.

"So how's school?" I asked conversationally.

"It's been good," She replied, "It's just a hassle having to keep that monkey out of trouble."

"Is he really that much of a hassle?"

Rukia looked at me as if I was an idiot, and then we both broke out in laughter. It was like old times, as if we were back in high school, the two of us laughing like crazy over something that really wasn't even that funny.

"Orihime," Rukia said once our laughter had died down, "Can I ask you a… sort of personal question?"

"Sure. Anything." I replied.

Rukia leaned in, hesitation on her face as her eyes darted back and forth.

"It's okay if you don't want to answer this, but… what do you dream about?"

I was taken aback.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… last night, I woke up because I heard something, and there you were, writhing around in your bed and whimpering. I was about to wake you up but as soon as I got out of my bed you stopped and… well, it bothered me. Are you okay?"

I sat there, stunned. I didn't know that my dreams about Ulquiorra, the same recurring dreams in the Garden of Eden, was starting to seep into my reality. If Rukia knew about them now, then… well, I wasn't sure what to do. I wasn't even sure how to reply to her.

Maybe it was coincidence, or maybe I was just lucky, but at that moment Renji decided to wake up and scream as loud as he could as he thrashed around in his sand prison.

"Who the hell did this!" He yelled as he thrashed around, flinging sand in every direction. Rukia and I stood up to get out of his way as he sprinted down towards the water, almost flinging himself into the sea.

Rukia, despite our recent conversation, laughed heartily at her boyfriend and ran to meet him if only to calm him down.

I sighed, and turned to walk back to where the rest of the group was, finding a seat on my large, pink, beach towel. Rukia knew. Or, at least, she knew something that could eventually turn into everything, and I didn't want to bring my friends into this dark part of my life that even I was scared to enter, to accept that it was real and not a work of fiction.

I had managed to keep Ulquiorra out of my mind for the past three days that we had been hear, except for in my dreams of course, but nonetheless those dream did not bring me down for that was all they were – just dreams. I was more focused on spending time with Tatsuki and Rukia and, even though I completely failed at it – Ichigo.

Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo.

I had no idea how I had managed to avoid him for this vacation. I told myself I would talk to him, confess my feelings, if you will, but to no avail. I was afraid to approach him with an agenda, especially if that agenda included uttering my undying love and affection towards him.

Maybe I was just afraid of rejection. Yeah, that's it. Rejection.

Which reminded me that when I got back from this trip that I had a date with that… strange guy. What was his name… Greyjaw? Ugh, was a weird name.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't it, though.

I sighed, still upset, still confused, but strangely content. I narrowly escaped Rukia's interviews and it was a matter of time before she confided in, oh, I dunno, Uryu or something, and then Uryu will confront me and then when I ignore the question he'll just tell someone else and the cycle would continue.

"Why can't they just leave me alone…?"

"Why cant who leave you alone? You want me to kick someone's ass?"

Ichigo had seated himself right next to me in the sand, surprising me out of his thoughts. I was vaguely unaware that I had spoken that sentence and risked the idea of someone hearing, but strangely enough I didn't regret it. This gave me a chance to talk to the lovely red-head.

"The little blue people! Um… I'm sure I can take care of them myself!" I laughed quietly as a rare smile found it's way on Ichigo's face.

"Orihime," He said, "You're crazy, but you're cool. I liked what you and Rukia did to Renji, by the way."

"Yeah, that was Rukia's idea, though" I said, feeling my face turn red.

"Speaking of Rukia…" Ichigo trailed off, "She just told me something…"

Oh here it goes… the cycle has begun.

"She told me that a beach bonfire would be a good idea. What do you think?"

Oh good, I thought. False alarm.

"That sounds like a great idea!" I said excitedly, "We should do that!"

"Okay! Cool! I'm going to go tell everyone else!"

And Ichigo ran off to inform the rest of the gang, leaving me to continue to wallow in my thoughts.


"Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like." -Lemony Snicket


I wasn't sure if Tatsuki and Rukia had planned something, or if she was just trying to be a good friend, but she made me spend hours getting dressed for the evening bonfire. All three of us had gotten a bit of tanned glow and were very drained by the days events, but nonetheless the other two girls had found a way to gain more energy while all I wanted to do was sleep until the sun went down.

"Orihime, you have to wear this!" Rukia yelled, tossing me another one of the sundresses I had packed. Tatsuki pulled the dress out of my hands, throwing a different one into my face.

"No! That one's too bright for her new tan! She needs to wear something darker like this!"

And it went on like that for about an hour and a half until they decided on the simplest of outfits – a pair of shorts with a grey tank top and a forest green cardigan.

"Can I sleep now?" I asked once I had adorned the aforementioned clothing.

"NO!" Tatsuki and Rukia snapped. In unison, might I add. I had never been so frightened of the two of them before.

"We have to do your hair!" Rukia said, pulling me into the bathroom. "Tatsuki, you get dressed! I'll handle this!"

Another forty-five minutes and my hair was set into a long lovely braid, and although I admired it fully I was still completely and utterly exhausted. While my two friends got ready for the bonfire, I laid on the couch in the hotel and slept.

And another dream came.

This time, though, I wasn't in a forest, but instead floating amongst the clouds. I could walk on top of the pillow-like objects and not fall through them. It was magnificent as I looked down upon the cities and towns and oceans below. By far, the best moment in a dream I had ever had.

Then, I suddenly felt myself sinking through the cloud, slowly as if I was standing in quicksand. I tried to run away from the sinking clouds but I kept being lowered more and more into the watery bit of air.

Then I fell completely through, watching the earth as it opened up beneath me into a red, fiery abyss, and just as I was about to touch the large flames below, I screamed.

And was shaken awake by Rukia.

"Orihime? Are you okay! Orihime!"

"W… what?"

"You were screaming!" Tatsuki said as she appeared by Rukia's side.

"I… I was?"

"Yes!"

I sat up, rubbing my head, utterly confused.

"I'm sorry… I just had a falling dream and I guess I got so scared I screamed in real life." I said to them, noticing the worry in their eyes. Neither of them looked convinced of my safety, but nodded their heads and agreed anyways.

"Okay, Orihime. Whatever."

And they went to continue getting dressed.

It took them about fifteen minutes to get ready before we were heading out to the beach to meet the guys. It was rather easy to find them, since they were already starting on the fire and were absolutely failing at it.

"Okay… so… we have wood, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay… fuck, how do you light a match?"

"God you're dumb. Let me see."

"Shit! Is that magic or something."

"I hope you're kidding…"

"He's probably not."

"Whatever. Lighter fluid?"

"Got it."

"FUCK!"

"What did we just burn your eyebrows? Oh wait… you don't have any."

"Shut up!"

"I'll shut up when you make me, dumbass!"

"Oh, you're calling me a dumbass? NO! You're the dumbass!"

"Will both of you STOP ARGUING!" Tatsuki yelled at the top of her lungs, causing all four boys to look at her with a hint of fear in their eyes.

It was Ichigo and Renji that had been arguing, and both of their fists were raised in anger – or maybe it was because they were about to punch each other in the face. I really didn't care because we were all there, the fire was burning, and Chad was sliding a marshmallow onto a stick.

I LOVE roasting marshmallows. Really, you have no idea how much I love them. I love roasting marshmallows so much that when I was ten, I started crying once the bag of marshmallows was empty.

I jumped on Chad, yelping excited questions at him.

"Marshmallows! I want one! Where are they? Ooooo! This looks like this will be funnnn!"

I jumped onto a rock, sliding my marshmallow onto a stick and hovering it over the fires as it slowly toasted to a golden brown. I shoved the roasted treat in my mouth just as Ichigo walked over towards me.

"Can I sit on this… rock with you?"

"Mhmffh yefhsh shuur." I said between gooey bites of marshmallow.

Ichigo smiled, sitting down with a marshmallow stick in his hand. "I guess that means yes."

I loaded another marshmallow on the stick, hovering it over the flame yet again.

"So is this was we're going to be doing all night?" I asked him in an attempt to make conversation. Ichigo shrugged.

"We didn't really plan anything except this. I guess whatever happens, happens, you know?"

"Yeah," I said, pulling the marshmallow out of the flame and stuffing it into my mouth.

"You must love these things," Ichigo said. I nodded, not being able to speak with my mouth full. He laughed at what I was sure looked like a chipmunk face, with my mouth full of melted marshmallow. I smiled back at him, swallowing the treat as best I could.

"You're hilarious, Orihime."

"Thanks. You're funny, too."

We all sat there in a group for an hour or two, talking and chatting and having a blast in the light of the fire. We told scary stories and danced around the fire like Indians. It was a crazy night, and the whole time I continued thinking about how strange Rukia and Tatsuki was acting, and about how talkative Ichigo was.

It even boggled me more when Ichigo asked me if I wanted to go with him on a walk down the beach. Well, it actually excited me just at much as it made me think 'what?'.

As he and I walked off from the crowd, I saw out of the corner of my eye Tatsuki grinning madly and Rukia giggling into her palm.

The moon was almost full, shining like a light on the beach. Ichigo and I walked off until the flame from the bonfire was just a small light in the distance. At first, it was all small talk.

"I haven't talked to you in forever."

"Yeah, I know. How are you?"

"I'm good. Just floating through school. You?"

"Same here… I'm in the college play, you know."

"Really? Cool. What's the play?"

"The Crucible."

"Never heard of it."

"Oh."

"Sorry. I'm sure you're great in it, though."

"How's the drumline?"

"It's going good. It's kind of weird being the only freshman on snare line, though."

"Hey, snare line is cool. Who cares, right?"

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

And it went on like that. I took my shoes off and decided to run around in the small waves, Ichigo laughing at me as I fell over multiple times (He helped me up each time, though). It was rather… romantic. Maybe this was what Tatsuki and Rukia were planning, I thought as we decided to sit on a large piece of dry driftwood.

"I don't think I've ever told you this, " Ichigo began, looking out into the dark ocean, "But you're a really sweet person."

"Well thank you," I said, blushing. My heart was beating fast. Not the kind of fast I get around Ulquiorra, this fast was… different.

Wait. I shouldn't be thinking about that man. Not right now.

I mentally shook my head and turned my attention back to Ichigo who had continued talking.

"I didn't notice until recently how… lovely you are."

Now I felt butterflies in my stomach.

Ichigo turned to me, his bottle-brown eyes shining in the moonlight as the light beach breeze rustled his messy hair.

"To be completely honest," He said, "I think I might… well… I –"

"Love you?" I interrupted him, knowing full well what was on his mind, for that same thought had been on my mind since I had met the red-haired man.

"Yeah. Is that weird?" He asked.

I had been waiting for this moment for so long, and I was so ready to hear those words come from him, but… I was suddenly having doubts. If he had maybe told me this sooner… when we were in High School, maybe I would have said yes, but now…

Now it's as if I feel like I've already wasted too much time on him.

"Ichigo…" I said, looking up at him, unsure exactly how to put my feeling into words, "I… You're a great guy. Well… I just… want to be friends for now, I guess."

His face fell, and I felt my heart constrict.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Okay then… That's fine, I understand." Ichigo said, standing, "Do you want to walk back to the fire? It's kind of cold."

"Sure." I said, standing up to walk with him.

I replayed the conversation in my head, thinking about the reasoning behind my answer, and although I kept telling myself that it was because he told me he loved me years to late but the more I thought about it, the more I found myself thinking:

It's because I might love someone else.

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Chapter Four

End

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Yes. Ichigo marches on the college drumline. It just seems like something he would do that's more practical than like... a karate team or something.

Cause those drumline kids are beasts. I should know, I'm one of them. ;D

Anyways, nothing too fancy here. No Ulquiorra, no Grimmjow, so I'm sorry I'm not letting you in on what they're doing the whole time. Maybe later.

I'm also very VERY sorry for the late update. A month is along time, but that whole month I had terrible writers block. I wrote literally this entire chapter just now, out of spontaneity. I also wrote an entire chapter to a new Beauty and the Beast based UlquiHime Fan Fiction... but I think I'm going to wait until I'm done with Devil first.

Also, Los Campesinos! is my favorite band, so you may see them pop up every now and then. They're great live, I saw them in concert back in February. They're lead singer jumped into the crowed and almost ran me over (i was right in front of the stage). He also replied to my tweet about it. Made my day forreals.

Hope you enjoyed! Please, review. (: