Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters.
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Orihime leaped to her feet and clapped enthusiastically as Chizuru finished her rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It was the 4th day of pageant rehearsals and today they were doing a dress rehearsal of the talent portion. Chizuru smiled at her before leaping off the piano, bouncing over to Orihime and enveloping her in a bear hug. "Thank you Hime! I can always count on you for support!" Suddenly, Chizuru's hands started to lower down Orihime's back. "You know Hime…you could come over to my house later and I could play the piece I wrote about you…."
Orihime felt her face heating up as she tried to think of a way to politely reject Chizuru's invitation. And all the while, Chizuru's hands were getting closer to their destination. "I think you are making Inoue-san uncomfortable Chizuru."
Both girls turned to see Chad addressing them as he rolled the heavy piano off the stage and back into storage. Chizuru's grip on Orihime loosened enough that Orihime managed to slip from her arms as Chizuru regarded Chad with a glare. "What is your problem? Can't you see that Orihime and I are in love?"
Whatever response Chad might have had was cut off by Mayuri. "So after Chizuru does her talent, Loly will be next, then Orihime, then Aya, and then Menoly will finish off the talent competition." Nemu diligently took notes of the order as her father talked. Mayuri suddenly stopped his pacing and pointed at Loly. "You ready?"
Loly, who had just appeared from the dressing room, adjusted her glittery black top hat and nodded. "Good. Go change Inoue-san. You're next."
Orihime nodded and flashed Chad a grateful look before she hurried backstage. Orihime could hear the sounds of Loly tap dancing to a 1920s ragtime hit fading the closer she got to the dressing rooms, but she could still faintly hear the tune. As she closed the dressing room door behind her, she realized the lock was broken. She assumed this would be one more thing Ichigo and his friends would have to fix. It was a little bit ridiculous how much work Mayuri actually expected them to do. He had them installing lights, mirrors, and other such jobs that should probably be left for professionals. But the boys were actually doing a pretty decent job and surely they were a lot cheaper than hiring professionals.
Orihime briefly searched for something to barricade the door with before deciding she was being overly paranoid. 'No one is going to be back her anyway.' She assured herself. She went to the locker she shared with Michiru and pulled out her baton outfit.
Instead of the simple red leotard she had worn as a child, her mother had bought her a new outfit that showed a lot more skin. Probably another of her mother's desperate attempts to get bonus points from the judges. The baton outfit was a two piece. The top looked like a long sleeved sports bra, but it was much fancier than the average sports bra. It was sequined with diagonal red and white rhinestones. The bottom of the outfit consisted of sparkly black short shorts. Although the outfit was very elastic and made it easy to do her acrobatics, she always felt very uncomfortable stepping onto a stage in front of hundreds of people baring so much skin.
Orihime made an attempt to pull the shorts down to cover more skin, but it did little good. She reached into the locker once again to pull out a sequined white scrunchie to tie her hair into a high ponytail. Orihime glanced down at her unpolished toes and mentally noted she would need a pedicure before the pageant.
"I like your hair up like that." Orihime's batons dropped and clattered on the wood floor as she spun around in shock.
"Aizen-sama!" He started to approach her and she immediately backed up until she felt her back hit the lockers. Normally, she would have been worried about offending Aizen with her obvious apprehension and mistrust but the fact that he had been watching her change made her ignore how she would have normally acted. "How long have you been standing there?" He ignored her question and continued to approach. She reasoned he couldn't have seen much since her back was turned to him but that thought did little to calm her.
"No need to be afraid Inoue Orihime. I don't bite."
"What do you want?" She had wanted to sound strong, but she knew it came off more as frightened.
Aizen stopped once he was standing directly in front of her. "I have a business proposition for you."
Orihime arched an eyebrow. "Why would I want to do business with some pervert who watches underage girls change?" Even she was slightly surprised that she was speaking to him in such a blatantly disrespectful manner. She briefly wondered what this would mean for the pageant but pushed that thought away quickly. She didn't really care. But she would have to deal with her mom.
Aizen looked surprised for a second, but quickly covered it up with an arrogant smirk. "I didn't even know you were in here. I assumed it was unoccupied since the door wasn't locked."
"The lock is broken." She felt compelled to explain. "But that doesn't explain why you stood there after realizing I was changing instead of leaving."
"You don't know how long I was standing there. Maybe I had just come in when you were putting your hair up."
"But did you?"
"Would you believe me if I told you I had?"
He had a good point. She wouldn't believe him and she had no way to know how long he had been there. She decided in this situation, she would have to give him the benefit of the doubt. But she would definitely be wearier around him in the future.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?"
Aizen smiled. "Well, I was just walking around backstage looking for one of the workers Mayuri hired because I want the sign outside replaced and then I stumble in here and find you." He flashed another smile at her which she forced herself to return in order to be polite. "And looking at you in that outfit made me realize how perfect you are." Orihime shifted uncomfortably. "Besides owning pageants, I also own a modeling agency."
He suddenly reached into his suitcase and pulled out a binder. On the cover, in plain Times New Roman font was 'Aizen Modeling Agency'. He stepped to her side and started rifling through the pages. Orihime noticed some shots that could be considered artistic, some commercial, but also some that seemed really provocative. Especially since a lot of the girls in the book looked to be around her age, some a couple years younger. Eventually, he flipped a page and was met with a blank sheet without a picture. He flipped the binder closed.
"Inoue Orihime, I want you to be the face of the Aizen Modeling Agency. We would travel the world. I can open doors for you. I can give you things no one else can. Things you can't even imagine." He had moved closer to her during the conversation and now his face was inches in front of her own.
The thought of going anywhere with Aizen completely repulsed Orihime. After today, she wasn't even sure if she could force herself to finish the pageant knowing he would often be here. "Thank you for the offer Aizen-sama, but I'm not really interested in modeling."
Distantly, she heard Loly's music stop and scattered applause. "Well, I have to go." Orihime said enthusiastically, probably a little too enthusiastically. She quickly grabbed her batons and all but ran out of the room. Aizen smiled at her retreating back. Once she had left the room, he leaned against a locker. "I hope you don't think this is over Inoue Orihime." After all, no one ever said no to Aizen Sōsuke.
Once she was out of the room and away from Aizen, the auburn haired girl breathed a big sigh of relief. She could feel the tension leaving her body as she walked toward the stage. Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand and she was pulled into a toned chest.
Her first instinct was to fight off her attacker, and she landed a couple of blows against his chest before he grabbed her hands to stop her assault. "Orihime! It's me!"
She looked up and found herself staring into Ichigo's scowling face. She smiled sheepishly. "Hey." She greeted softly.
His scowl gradually dissolved. "Hey." His eyes roamed over her outfit and his scowl returned. She almost felt compelled to explain she hadn't picked the outfit but then he started speaking. "Before you attacked me I wanted to ask you something."
She blushed. "I'm sorry for attacking you. But you shouldn't sneak up on people. Did I hurt you?"
He scoffed. "You couldn't hurt me if you tried."
She pulled her hands away from his and angrily put her hands on her hips. "For your information, my brother taught me karate and my skills are equivalent to a black belt's."
He smirked. "Really? That's unexpected." Before she could retort, he cut her off. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to a concert with me and some friends in the park today."
She briefly wondered what pageant related duties she had today, but her mother was definitely encouraging her relationship with Ichigo so she was pretty sure she could go to the concert. After all, her mom hadn't been mad when she went to the mall with Ichigo yesterday, or when they caught a movie the day before. "Sounds like fun."
She gave him a quick peck before hurrying off to the stage. Mayuri glared at her when she finally showed up. "What happened? Fell into the toilet?"
"I'm sorry. I couldn't find my batons, turns out they were in my bag." She lied.
"Whatever. We're on a tight schedule. Just start already."
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Ichigo stopped his motorcycle in the driveway of what Orihime assumed was his house. She reluctantly loosened her grip on his waist and took off Ichigo's spare helmet. She absently ran both hands through her hair in case she had helmet hair before hopping off Ichigo's green Kawsaki sport bike. Ichigo placed his helmet on the handlebar before reaching for Orihime's helmet and doing the same.
Ichigo hesitated for a moment before reaching for her hand. He walked her to the front door but stopped before opening the door and turned to her with a deadly serious expression. "I have to tell you something."
When he didn't continue, she prompted him. "What?"
"My father is insane." He said solemnly. She just stared at him with a blank expression in her gray eyes. "He will probably say a lot of inappropriate things. He is a complete embarrassment and I want to apologize in advance."
Orihime offered him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Ichigo-kun. Everyone thinks their parents are embarrassing. I'm sure he is not as bad as you think he is."
"You'll see. Just remember I told you. Stay behind me." He pushed her behind him but didn't let go of her hand.
He slowly opened the door as if anticipating something. "I'm home!" He shouted.
"Welcome home Ichigoooooo!" Isshin yelled as he came in with a flying kick. Amazingly, Ichigo blocked the kick with one hand and pushed his father off, resulting in Isshin falling to the floor in a crumpled heap. But instead of looking upset, Isshin beamed at Ichigo. "You blocked Daddy's special flying kick! Finally, you are becoming a man! The only thing that could possibly make me happier would be you bringing home a girl and finally proving you're not gay!"
Ichigo's vein pulsed. "I've had girlfriends! I don't introduce them to you because you'd scare them off!"
Isshin looked unconvinced. "Whatever helps you sleep at night son." He suddenly noticed Orihime for the first time. He immediately gave her a huge grin and pulled her forward until she was standing beside Ichigo. "Well hello there! My name is Kurosaki Isshin. It is a pleasure to meet you." He bowed deeply and placed a kiss to Orihime's hand.
She fought back a blush and smiled at Isshin. "Nice to meet you Kurosaki-san. I'm Inoue Orihime."
Isshin looked her over approvingly before turning to Ichigo. "You have my blessing."
Ichigo knew nothing good could come out of asking but his curiosity got the best of him. "Blessing for what?"
"To get married of course! I want lots of red headed grandbabies!"
This time, Orihime couldn't fight back her blush and she found herself avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. Her red sneakers suddenly became very interesting. Her head shot up when she heard Ichigo's fist connect with Isshin's face. "You idiot! I'm 16 for God's sake! We've only been dating for three days! What is wrong with you?"
Orihime let go of Ichigo's hand and knelt by Isshin's crumbled form. "Ichigo-kun! I think you really hurt him!" She placed a gentle hand to the bump that was forming on Isshin's forehead.
"Don't worry about him. Ichi-nii has hit him way harder than that and he is always fine." Orihime looked up at the new voice and saw a girl who looked around 12. She vaguely remembered Yuzu from the pageants but she was pretty sure this wasn't her. For one thing, this girl didn't look like the type of girl who would ever be in a pageant. "I'm Karin." The tomboy introduced herself.
"I'm Inoue Orihime."
Karin grinned at Ichigo. "I'm pretty impressed Ichi-nii. I would have thought she was way out of your league."
Ichigo glowered at Karin. "Thanks for the support." He said sarcastically.
They all turned at Isshin's loud groan. He struggled to a sitting position. "What was that for?" He asked Ichigo as he rubbed his forehead.
"For embarrassing me, that's why! Why would we even be considering marriage this soon? You said it just to be a jerk!"
"I knew Masaki was the one I was going to marry after the first date." He smiled at the poster of Masaki on the wall. "Besides, she is obviously very important to you if you brought her home to meet your family!" Isshin explained triumphantly.
"I didn't bring her here to meet you! I wanted to eat before the concert and I'm broke. We can't go out and eat with no money so my only choice was to come home for dinner."
"So we're having a guest for dinner?" Yuzu yelled from the kitchen. Without waiting for a reply, she continued. "Okay, I'll set another place at the table. Dinner will be ready in about 15 minutes!"
"Come on Orihime, we can wait in my ro-" He stopped at the sly looks his dad and younger sister were giving him. "Never mind, we'll wait in the living room." Orihime stood from her kneeling position near Isshin and followed Ichigo into the living room.
He plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV. He noticed Orihime was still standing. "Come here." She sat beside him and he casually swung an arm over her shoulder as he flipped through the channels. He finally settled on a channel showing music videos.
Suddenly Yuzu appeared from the kitchen. She took her apron off and left it on the coffee table in front of the TV before she offered her hand to Orihime. "Hi! I'm Yuzu."
Orihime smiled. "We've actually met before. You probably don't remember. You were really little. I'm Inoue Orihime." She shook Yuzu's smaller hand.
"Sorry. I don't remember." Yuzu confessed. She looked suspiciously at the arm Ichigo had around Orihime's shoulder. "Are you Ichi-nii's girlfriend?"
Orihime wasn't really sure what to say. They hadn't really talked about what they were. She had wanted to bring it up numerous times, but she didn't have enough relationship experience to determine whether it was too early to define their relationship and she hadn't wanted to ruin what they had. Luckily, Ichigo saved her from having to answer. "Why do you care Yuzu?" He asked.
Yuzu puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "I'm just curious! So is she or isn't she?" Ichigo ignored her and turned his attention back to the TV. Yuzu sighed and took a seat on the couch next to Ichigo. They watched the music videos in silence and soon they were joined by Karin.
After a few minutes, Karin broke the silence. "Wow Ichi-nii. Is this your idea of a date? Inoue must be bored out of her mind!" Karin criticized.
"Oh no Karin-chan! I'm not bored! Besides, I would much rather spend time with Ichigo-kun than do pageant stuff."
Ichigo removed his arm from around Orihime. "So hanging out with me is the lesser of two evils?" He asked bitterly.
Orihime's eyes widened in shock. Was he really going to do this in front of his sisters? She wanted to make a good first impression on them. "You are twisting my words." She said weakly. She flashed him a look that clearly said 'drop it'.
He didn't relent. "Then what were you trying to say?" His tone was cold.
"I was trying to say I enjoy spending time with you." When his expression didn't soften she took to staring at her hands.
Yuzu looked between her brother and Orihime before standing up. "Karin, will you help me in the kitchen?"
Karin leaned further back into the couch and rested her eyes on Ichigo and Orihime. "Honestly, I'd rather watch this." Yuzu ignored Karin's reply and dragged her twin to the kitchen.
Orihime watched the twins go before turning back to Ichigo. "Do you really think I'm using you? Do you think I'm that kind of person?"
"You don't seem like that kind of person, but with all this pageant experience you obviously know how to appear as people want you to be. So how am I supposed to know who you really are?" They engaged in a battle of will for a few seconds as both teens refused to break eye contact.
Orihime looked away first since she could feel tears welling up in her eyes and she didn't want him to see her cry. She shut her eyes tightly and turned her face away from him. "If you don't trust me then maybe we are both wasting our time in this relationship, or whatever this is." She stood from the couch and grabbed her purse from the coffee table. "Can you take me home Kurosaki-kun? I don't feel well."
He winced at being demoted from Ichigo-kun to Kurosaki-kun. How had everything unraveled so quickly? Why couldn't he just keep his big mouth shut? She started to walk toward the door but he grabbed her hand. She refused to turn around and look at him. "I'm sorry. I do trust you." She allowed him to pull her back onto the couch. He took both of her hands in his and waited until she made eye contact with him before speaking again. "Can we just pretend I didn't say anything? Please?" She just stared at him.
Ichigo quickly glanced around to make sure his family was nowhere in sight. When he didn't spot any of them, he leaned forward and tenderly kissed Orihime. He could tell she was fighting her urge to respond, but he just pressed harder and soon she started eagerly responding to his kisses. He broke away from her and rested his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry." He repeated.
"It's okay. I don't blame you for being suspicious. But I'm really nothing like my mom. I'm with you because I like you, no ulterior motives." She promised. He smiled and caressed her cheek. This time, she leaned forward and kissed him. After a few minutes, they were interrupted by Yuzu's loud shout that dinner was ready.
Isshin gave Ichigo a sly look when he noticed the teens' kiss swollen lips as they entered the dining room, but thankfully he didn't say anything. Dinner went by smoothly. No one even commented on Orihime adding wasabi to her mashed potatoes. All the Kurosakis seemed to like Orihime, especially Isshin. Ichigo couldn't help but watch suspiciously, but it didn't seem like Orihime was putting any extra effort into impressing his father so he let it go.
"Anybody up for dessert? We have ice cream mochi." Orihime was about to tell Yuzu that she was full when everyone was startled by loud honking from outside.
Ichigo stood. "That must be Ishida." He walked to the window. "One second!" He yelled at his friends before sprinting up the stairs. He came back down seconds later with two jackets. "Here Orihime." He handed her a jacket. "The concert is outside and it doesn't start till 7 so it might be cold. This is my soccer letter man jacket from middle school so it might almost be small enough for you." She felt a strange sense of pride as she slipped on the jacket with 'Kurosaki #15' emblazoned on the back. Even though it was old, it was still too big on her. The jacket almost covered her denim shorts and the sleeves covered her tiny hands. He rolled up the sleeves for her before he slipped on a black hooded sweatshirt.
He grabbed her hand. "I'll be back late Dad!" He shouted as they headed for the front door.
"Have fun!" Isshin yelled as Ichigo and Orihime disappeared out the front door.
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The concert was actually supposed to be this chapter but this was already longer than all my other chapters so concert will actually be next chapter. Thank you to all the reviewers! I love reviews and they motivate me to write so keep the reviews coming! I'll try to update soon.