A/N: Chapter 4 ready to go!

Think you can handle the fluff? Well do ya punk? And by punk, I mean Ichihime shipper!

I wanted to get this fic done before I go off for a week long camp in the middle of no where and no internet access… Jesus help me! I have not gone a week without internet since… since… freshman (in college) summer vacation because my parents had yet to give in to the information age and get the internet… This shall be interesting! Maybe I will have to bring my computer anyway and see if the facility place has wireless I can steal… Kate need internet! Ugh!

Anyway, back to the task at hand.

Everyone put your hands up! It's fluff time!

The next day at school, Orihime was glowing. Yesterday had been so much fun and the hug before she left was enough to send her to cloud nine for several days to come. Her happier than normal attitude got many people wondering what happened to make the girl so extra bubbily.

Ichigo was a little different. He enjoyed the hug… he wanted to do it again… but he had kind of ruined things in his mind.

"Orihime…" He had breathily said her name while he had embraced her. He didn't even know he had said her name till he heard it himself.

She didn't seem to mind, when they finally let go and said good night, she still didn't seem to be bothered with the awkward good night he game outside her apartment door. If he had been a bit more romantic, he should have kissed her… or said something…

But alas, he was not that inept with wooing women. Orihime had been the first woman he could hug without busting into a full panic, well first woman besides his mother… but that didn't count and was so long ago.

After returning home from walking her home, his father was laying in wait to strike. His physical hits were not as annoying as his verbal ones.

He would never be able to forget that night… even if he tried.

And here they were a new day… they had to work together not only in school but with other things… what if this only made things… weird.

You sound like a girl. His mind taunted him after listening to his inner worries. Deciding that he would and could handle just about anything, he began his day like normal.

Seeing the extra attention Orihime was getting from everyone around her, Ichigo felt a little uncomfortable.

He knew he had to talk to her. The final bell rang and many students rushed to their shoe boxes and then to the exit in a flash.

Ichigo's eyes followed a certain long haired girl and quickly ducked out on the conversation Keigo was having with himself to follow.

"Inoue!" He shouted as she was about to open her shoe box and retrieve her outside school shoes.

"Kurosaki-kun!" She smiled happily. Ichigo could have sworn she had a faint blush as well… and it made him scratch his nose with increased nervousness.

"Hey… I was wondering if you…" He began as she slowly opened her shoe box. But before he could finish with his request to practice once again… maybe this time somewhere other than his place… something fluttered out and onto the ground.

Both teens stopped talking and focused on the small envelope.

Orihime bent over to pick it up and looked at it strangely.

"A love letter?" Keigo fumed as Ichigo told him what had happened yesterday after school.

"Yeah." Mizuiro said calmly. "The whole school knows about it. I am surprised you didn't hear about it until today."

Keigo was furious as the group of boys tried to eat lunch. Chad and Ishida sat quietly listening but as usual not adding to the circus that was the Ichigo lunch bunch.

"Who was it from?" Ichigo was asked for the millionth time.

"I don't know… I only say what it was and then… I went home…" He did not want to add the fact that he was too uncomfortable with the whole situation at the shoe box that he had forgotten to ask Orihime to practice with him. He had excused himself and left.

"My precious Orihime! Who did it? I need to know! Four eyes! It better not be from you!" Keigo pointed a finger at pretty much every one of his friends before crumpling down and pretty much crying.

"Well, she is popular with the boys… and the girls." Mizuiro said. "And it is nearly summer vacation and you know they say about summer vacations…"

"What? What do they say?" Keigo asked grabbing on to Mizuiro's collar and shaking the boy.

"It is the season of love after all. A time where you take your girlfriend out for at least three dates a week."

"Like you know anything about that…" Ichigo scoffed.

"However I usually take mine out every other day or so… keeps her happy." All the boys looked at their smaller classmate with awe. He was the only one of them that had any experience dating… Looking at the group, one would assume that he would be the innocent one… but you just never knew exactly what he was capable of…

"Dates, love letters, who cares." Ichigo replied trying to not sound interested in this summer dating season.

But truth be told, he was interested… and a bit scared. What if Orihime accepted this love letter. He knew she cared for him… but had he been too slow… what should he do?

Taking a good look at himself, Ichigo found that he could not think of himself ever feeling this way about another girl. No matter what he did, or where he went, she was there by his side… and he wanted her to be there forever…

School had ended and Ichigo quietly walked to Mizuiro's shoe locker to wait for his friend to arrive.

When he did, Ichigo swiftly pulled him to the side for a private chat.

"Ok… I need your help…"

"Ok?"

"How do you ask girls out?" Ichigo asked getting no response from his friend. He assumed it was shock, this was Ichigo the bad ass tough guy here asking.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me damn it… I wanta… ask a girl out."

"Well, then. Do exactly as I say and you should have no problems." Mizuiro smiled.

It was hopeless. He could never do what Mizuiro had suggested. There was no way Orihime could do anything like skating or any physical activity as a date… hell the day before yesterday had proved she was accident prone more so than usual when he was around… and the sappy flowers and poems were not really his thing… at least he knew some poems from Shakespeare, but he was not sure he wanted his secret interest in that known…

Mizuiro's ideas were good… just not applicable to him. Not yet anyway.

With a sigh, he decided to find another person to give him advice. Sadly there were not many likely candidates. Ishida was so cold that there was no way a normal girl would go out with him… vampire things maybe… but humans? Chad scared away many girls with his size and outer appearance. This was sad because Chad was the kindest guy ever. Then there was Keigo… like hell he would get anything useful out of that loser.

Rukia and Rengi would never let him hear the end of it if he asked for help… neither would any of the others from Soul Society… he was not about to give them any more fuel to harass him with… and hell would freeze over before he even would think about asking his… father.

Looking over at the girls, there really weren't many that he called friend enough to ask such an important question… except one.

"Tatski! Got a minute?"

"So, I hear that practice a few nights ago went well… although I am not sure what you guys were really practicing." Tatsuki smirked knowing all about the long hug from an ecstatic Orhime.

"You know damn well nothing happened… so are you going to help me or stand there smirking at me?"

"You are an idiot."

"Maybe… but that isn't the point…. This is useless. I am outta here."

"Then I guess the letter writer wins." Tatsuki's comment stopped him and he sighed.

"Ok, so now we will see how much of a man you are. This is what you have to do. And you have to do it exactly as I say otherwise I will be forced to leak a little known secret about you…" The evil smile on her lips scared him. God only knew what she was going to tell people. She was his only real childhood friend after all… and he knew she had several pictures that could make for rather quality blackmail.

The day of the festival was upon them. After they were finished with this event, it was summer for a whole month. No textbooks, no tests, no annoying homework to keep him up till three am after a night of Shinigami work.

Ichigo was ready for the break from school. Everyone was.

The excitement for the class's performance gathered a huge crowd in the school's gym. The stage was set and the characters were all in costume and ready to go.

All except one very pissed off princess.

"You have to do this! Now get out here you asshole and stop being a baby!" Tatsuki yelled as she pounded on the door. "Don't make me have Chad break this door down!"

"I will not come out like this!" He screamed behind the locked door.

"When we drag your ass out, I am going to kick it!" She screamed back at him.

"Tatsuki? Where is Kurosaki-kun?" Came a voice that Ichigo was dreading. Orihime had come to see what the commotion was, along with half of the class.

"Princess is being a drama queen and refusing to come out." Tatsuki said motioning to the door. "I am going to show the picture Ichigo. I'll do it!"

Ichigo felt little panic… sacrifices had to be made- a stupid baby picture or being humiliated wearing a dress. The picture was less harsh.

Added to his discomfort, at the last minute he had heard that nearly the entire Soul Society crew was pretty much coming along with his family, the Urahara group and God knows who else was going to see him in this pink and purple monstrosity.

"Go ahead! I don't care!" Ichigo told her as he grabbed the door knob and kept it from wiggling.

Soon he could hear Chad present asking what they needed him for… his time was limited. He needed to escape.

"But Kurosaki-kun… why won't you perform? We all have been working hard for this moment… you shouldn't be nervous… and well… I'd really like you to come out."

Shit! He cursed to himself. Kicking the door open, an angry looking boy in a flowing and frilly kimono exited the closet. Next time he wanted to hide, he needed a room with another exit just for these situations.

The girls squealed with delight seeing the tough guy of the class dressed from head to toe in pink and purple. The wig also pissed him off… The boys chuckled and patted him on the back. Tatsuki gave him a wink while whistling at him.

"You look great!" Orhime bubbled grabbing one of his hands. He looked over at her in a prince outfit. The clothing looked rather similar to that worn in Soul Society, except a different color.

"Ah the happy couple." Several students chorused. "Now get ready… we start in a few minutes."

It was over.

Ichigo sighed happily as the curtain closed. Pulling at the kimono he wore, he needed to be out of it ASAP.

"That was fun!" Orihime smiled walking up to his side.

"Orihime… can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure! Anything for Kurosaki-kun!" She brightened up as he took her hand.

"Want to skip the after party and go to the park or something?" He asked rather nervous. He hoped his hand was not sweating.

"Sure!" She smiled as they both ran to change and then snuck out of the school building.

"I wanted to ask you something… and you have to be honest… It's just that I am not good with this kind of thing… damn it!" He growled angry that it was taking him so long to tell her what he wanted to do.

"It is ok. Take your time." She smiled as she sat on the swing next to him.

"This really should not be hard to ask… so here goes… you know that letter you got? Well it kind of made me wonder if… if you liked anyone enough to… er… date them this summer? Because… I… want you to go out with me!" He said it all in one breath getting it out there.

A huge weight felt like it was off his chest.

"I like you Orihime… I have for some time… I wanted to tell you sooner… but then everything happened… and then you left… it was just too much… I need to know how you feel… about me."

A small giggle caught his attention. Ichigo looked up to a giggling girl on the swing.

"What?"

"Kurosaki-kun, that letter was from Tatsuki… it only looked like a love letter…"

"What? Tatsuki… she…"

Orihime stopped laughing and took his hand before he got caught up in the anger for Tatsuki messing with him.

"I have wanted you to ask me out for a long time…" She said seriously. It almost looked like she was going to cry with happiness.

"So… then… you might want to… go out?"

"I would love to go out with Kurosaki-kun."

Suddenly a surge of courage spurred him on and his lips claimed hers. The soft pillows were delicious against his own. The flutters in his stomach told him that this was a good thing. No matter the teasing, he wanted to be there with her… just like this.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

"Ichigo." He said kissing her once more.

"Ichigo-kun…" Orhime smiled as she uttered his name, enjoying it thoroughly.

"What is it Orihime?" He asked kissing her again. He could not get enough.

"The others are here." Her words froze him a few inches from her lips.

"Oh don't stop for us princess… really." Renji smirked as he got Ichigo to react exactly like he wanted to.

"I'm going to kill you!" Ichigo growled as he ran after several of the men that were yelling insults and jabs at him.

While he did that, Orihime was given congratulatory smiles and pats on the back. Tatsuki looked rather pleased at her work. But she was not done with the couple yet. Given time, the couple might just have a slightly normal relationship.

And she was surprised he had kissed her not just one time but a few in the span of a few minutes. There was hope for the boy.

"Let's get something to eat Orihime, the boys might be a while. And I think that the princess might need some time to cool down afterwards."

"Ok!" Orihime smiled brighter, looking from her new boyfriend to her best friend.

"And we can use this time to give you a few pointers about guys." Matsumoto said. "In no time you'll have him wrapped around your finger."

"He already is." Tatsuki smiled and nudged Orihime.

"Shouldn't we stop them from teasing Ichigo-kun too much?" Orihime asked looking over to the boys and then blushing as she said his name again.

"Nah, he'll be fine." The girls said as they got up and walked out of the park leaving the men to finish their squabble.

A/N: So, that is the end of the regular story, but if I get enough requests for it, I would love to add an epilogue to the fic… I have a few ideas that will guarantee maximum fluff and comedy.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks for those who have reviewed!