Okay I'm completely depressed by where my other stories are so here's something happy and lighthearted because, well, I need it right now.

Now for those who read "Shuffle", you know the archery scene I'm talking about. Well that was one way it was going to go. But the other way I wrote it was one of my favorites and it didn't work with Shuffle. "Escape Me" was actually created around the scene. I like this version better and it goes very well with Uryuu's slightly more confident personality.

So enjoy!


"Come on Tatsuki, you can do this."

Muttering to herself, Tatsuki rounded the corner of the building. Still dressed in her karate uniform, she had thrown a jacket over it and headed strait over there. She still wasn't sure why she felt the need to go and talk to Uryuu, only that for some strange reason she knew she had to do it. Rounding the corner of the building, however, she felt her confidence falter at the sight of the archery team. There shouldn't have been anything unusual about it. She had passed them before of course but this time she was actually there to see one of their members. They each had some kind of strange gloves on to protect their hands and each held their bows as they took shots at the targets lined up a bit down the way.

It was just weird to see that Uryuu's bow didn't glow.

He was obviously a cut above what the others were. Every arrow he sent buried itself in the bullseye. It wasn't hard to know why. Uryuu was used to fighting physical targets, targets that moved and wanted to kill him. A target was probably nothing to him, after all it was stationary and didn't want to eat him for dinner. Angrily Tatsuki tried to walk forward and found she couldn't move. She could stand there all night making excuses about why she didn't want to walk over there and talk to him. Honestly she knew she should have just left it alone. She should turn around and walk away, no-one needed to be any wiser. He knew way too much about her now anyway, she had practically thrown him out of her house. What business did she possibly have going over and talking to him?

As she stood there struggling with what she was going to do, Tatsuki realized that she'd become her own worst nightmare. Standing there, torturing herself over a guy, what the hell had she become? Even if that guy was Uryuu Ishida. Uryuu who, it turned out, was way easier to talk to than she'd thought--even if she could only seem to talk to him when he was wearing a mask. He looked so cool and confident, standing there firing arrows into the target. Slowly he lowered his bow, placing it down carefully before bringing his left hand forward. Tatsuki remembered how odd it was to feel the completely smooth hand as opposed to his other more calloused one. He didn't remove his glove but she saw him move his fingers, wincing at the sensation before he quickly bent down and picked up the bow, turning back to the target.

Forcing herself to walk forward, she saw a few of the boys leaving. Practice was finished. It figured that Uryuu would stay behind to continue to work. Grateful for the privacy their absence was going to give her, Tatsuki slowed her pace until they were almost gone. He continued to stand there and shoot, though Tatsuki knew he head her coming. She guessed he thought that she was just going to run away again and the thought kind of made her feel sick. Tatsuki Arisawa did not run, especially not from boys who were kind of cute when their glasses were slightly astray. Marching forward, she stopped when she was directly behind him, just out of range of his elbow. He nocked another arrow, drawing the bow back and releasing it in a smooth and practiced motion.

"Hey," Tatsuki said.

Uryuu felt his eyes widen as he held himself still. Thanks to his training he'd seen someone coming towards them but he hadn't been sure that it was her until she'd gotten closer. He hadn't dared to look, expecting her to be gone by the time he turned around. But she was not. Carefully he set down his bow and turned around to face her fully. She was standing there still dressed in her karate uniform with her hands shoved deep into the pockets of the jacket she'd thrown over it. She looked nervous but she wasn't running away from him--which was an immediate improvement over their previous meetings. He waited for a moment, just to be certain she was not going to run for the hills. When she did not he forced himself to speak.

"Arisawa," he greeted her.

"God, Uryuu, we talked about this!" Tatsuki cried, the nervousness vanishing from her face, "you said you'd call me Tatsuki!"

"I--" Uryuu felt heat come to his cheeks, "I forgot."

"Its fine," she said after a minute, "my last name's just--" she shrugged, "I don't know. Annoying. My parents are the Arisawa's, I'm Tatsuki."

"I understand," Uryuu said. She looked over at him, "my surname also carries weight I am not comfortable in bearing."

"Oh yeah, your dad," she scratched the back of her neck, "I forgot about that."

"Most people do not," he said.

Tatsuki nodded, shifting slightly again before she finally jammed her hand into her pocket, pulling something out.

"Here," she said, holding out her hand.

Sitting in her palm was a small dark green unmarked tin. Uryuu reached out with a gloved hand and took the thing from her open palm. She said nothing as he wordlessly opened it to expose some kind of dark green salve that smelled very strongly of herbs. He looked at her curiously before looking back at the stuff. Tatsuki shifted her weight uncomfortably as her cheeks flushed rather spectacularly with embarrassment. Still, when she spoke she didn't mutter or duck her head like some other girls would have.

"Its numbing salve," she said after a second, "my grandmother makes it. I use it when I've got a sprain or something," she continued, "you sad your hand was bothering you. Trust me, whatever my grandma puts in there is strong enough to counteract Orihime's magic."

Uryuu looked back at the stuff and then up at her, surprised that she'd remembered him mentioning the discomfort about his hand. She didn't fully understand the mechanics of Orihime's powers--not that any of them really did--but she'd realized that numbing the pain might be the best way to work with the residual healing of the appendage. She couldn't stop the healing anymore than he could, but if the numbing stuff made her numb enough for her to fight with an injury then he was sure it would be good enough to let him use his hand without the pain he couldn't quite get used to.

"Thank you," Uryuu said looking up at her.

"Don't mention it," she said, "you were nice enough to bring my bag over and Orihime's healing is probably gonna keep going so maybe that'll help."

"I think it might," he said.

Tatsuki nodded. Her eyes moved from his face to past his shoulder where the targets were. The arrows were buried all in the center of the target, the bullseye barely visible thanks to the arrows buried inside of it. He was a very good shot, better than she had even thought at a passing glance. The arrows were buried exactly in the target, they were evenly spaced. That took more than just talent, that took something special. She looked over at Uryuu who was watching her, before looking back at the arrows. Tatsuki didn't know what compelled her to stay there, she had been quite sure that standing next to him was the last thing she wanted in the world. Finally she looked at him and spoke.

"So, what are you?" she asked. He frowned and she quickly elaborated, "I mean, your dressed in white and you're not swinging some really huge sword around--so yu're not whatever Ichigo and Rukia are. So what are you?"

"I am a Quincy," he said, "we are archers, not swordsmen."

"Yeah," Tatsuki said with a grin, "I can see that."

Uryuu pushed his glasses up on his nose, heat creeping up the back of his neck. He didn't quite know what to make of her presence there. Obviously she had come because--well, he wasn't sure why she had come. But she was there and she was actually talking to him. Not yelling, not backing away like a scared animal, just talking like they had that night. Talking like they used to do before they had all left and she had decided she'd rather beat Ichgio into a pulp instead of hanging out with the group. All he could think was that it was nice to talk to her like this. Even without the security that the masks had provided them with. Tatsuki sighed finally and looked at him, putting her hands on her hips.

"So, we gonna stand her and talk or are you gonna teach me to shoot one of these things?"

"You want to learn how to shoot a bow?" he asked.

"Well the way I figure, we've gotta have something to tell the people still at school when they ask what we were doing out here," she said picking up the bow, "so shoot."

Uryuu could have pointed out that she once again needed an excuse to tell people but decided against it. They were enjoying each other's company, she wasn't running and he could think of far worse things to do than teach Tatsuki how to shoot a bow. He glanced over his shoulder to see that they still had a fair amount of light left. Walking over to her, he held his hand for her to put the bow in. She did after a moment, her hand brushing against his. He could feel nothing but the barest pressure through the leather of his gloves. She kept her hands outside her pockets, watching him intently as he held the bow in his hand, trying to figure out how he was supposed to teach her. It had been a very long time since he'd taught anyone how to shoot.

"This," Uryuu said, "is a recurve bow. I find it easier to shoot because it is similar to my first Quincy bow."

"Yeah, that thing you were firing the other day was round," he looked over at her, "well it didn't look like a bow," Tatsuki elaborated almost defensively.

"No," Uryuu said after a moment's consideration, "I suppose it does not. It does allow me to fire more shots."

"How many?"

"1,200 consecutively."

"Holy crap that's a lot of arrows," she said, "I thought you were a good shot."

"I am," he said.

"Yeah? Well why do you need to fire so many shots?"

"There are usually many enemies," he replied, realizing belatedly that she was teasing him, "for this, however, we will only be firing one arrow at a time."

Tatsuki laughed and Uryuu felt his own lips curve into a smile. Tatsuki looked at the target that was riddled with arrows, all in the bullseye before she stepped closer to him. Uryuu pushed his glasses up with one finger before he held the bow out to her. Tatsuki reached out and picked the weapon up once more, her hands wrapping around the cool metal. She held the bow in the flat of her palm, seemingly testing the weight.

"Have you worked with weapons before?" Uryuu asked.

"Not really," she said, "I'm more of a fight-with-your-hands kind of girl."

"Understandable," he said, "it is how you have become accustom to fighting--"

"Hey! If I wanted to learn to fight with weapons I could!" Tatsuki objected hotly.

Uryuu looked at her, slightly surprised at her defensiveness. He was under the impression that Tatsuki was a girl not used to hearing 'no' very often--and did not like to hear it at all. If he could respect nothing else about her, he could respect that. He did not like to hear that word either. His father had said he could not be a Quincy, the Shinigami had said he could not fight--the 12th Division Captain had said he could not leave without being in a glass test tube. And each time he'd defied them. He had suffered the consequences of his decisions, no matter how sever they might be, but he'd always known his choices were the right ones. Still, however right his choices were, the fact was that he was still defiant--and still didn't like to hear the word 'no'.

"I meant nothing by it," Uryuu said, fighting the urge to raise his hands defensively and settling instead for pushing his glasses up on his nose, "shall I teach you?"

Tatsuki nodded as Uryuu picked an arrow and came behind her. The shiver that went through her had little to do with the breeze that blew by them just then. She looked down to see the way his feet were and quickly mimicked the stance, trying not to find oddity in the white uniform pants she wore. She knew wasn't going to change just to meet him but even so it seemed weird. He stood far enough away that she couldn't feel him but she was aware of him none the less. Tatsuki's tongue darted out nervously, wetting her lips in an action she hadn't done since she was much younger. Instantly she realized he probably thought she was nervous and regardless of how nervous she was, she was embarrassed all the same.

"First we need to prep the arrow," he said.

Uryuu moved closer to her. it was strange how in the quiet, in the still, he was far more nervous than all the times he had spent with Inoue combined. There wasn't anything to distract him from the girl who stood in front of him holding the bow. He told himself he had nothing to be nervous about and instead focused on reaching donw and wrapping his hand around the bow, placing his grip just below hers. With his other hand he bent forward to position the arrow. But in order to reach it, he had to lean forward enough so that his chest pressed into her back. He felt her stiffen instinctively, her one foot moving slightly into her own version of a fighting stance. A part of him acknowledged that she could easily kick his ass.

The rest of him was completely distracted by the girl who was, more or less, in his arms once more.

For her part, Tatsuki barely dared to breathe. A part of her wanted to react on instinct slam her elbow into his side and get out of his grip. But the larger part of her felt his chest against her spine and found it very hard to think. She could feel the rhythm of his heart. When he exhaled, she felt his breath on the skin of her neck, exposed by her jacket. She had put so much distance between them--the time he saved her aside--that she'd forgotten how, well, nice it was to be in his arms. Of course the last time she'd been in his embrace it had been almost chaste, the kind of dancing they ddi was not meant to be sexual. Neither was this embrace but Tatsuki felt warmth pool in her stomach none the less.

"You--" Uryuu began, his voice strangled before he cleared his throat and began again, "first you need to position the arrow," he said.

Tatsuki looked down as his black gloved hand moved the arrow into place on the weapon. Regardless if he could fire 1,200 shots consecutively or not, he was very good at firing them one at a time. His movements were slow and perfectly controlled as he positioned the arrow against the string. Tatsuki watched as he did that, his fingers holding the end of it along with the bowstring. Glancing out of the corner of her eye she saw that his eyes were on her. Belatedly she realized that she was going to have to hold the arrow to fire the bow.

"Right, sorry," she said rolling her eyes at her own foolishness, "okay," she held the arrow with the string, "what now?"

"Now you raise the bow," he said, "while pulling back on the string," he narrated, "like this," he said. Tatsuki tensed and Uryuu smiled, "its just like dancing. Follow me."

"I thought you said you wouldn't mention that," Tatsuki said through gritted teeth.

"That was your idea," Uryuu said.

"You agreed to it," she shot back.

"Fair enough," he said, "regardless. Follow me."

Tatsuki sighed but nodded, forcing herself to relax as Uryuu guided her arms up and back. The movements were strange to her but she trusted his ability. He held her arms there for a moment, slowly easing the weight of the movements onto her. Tatsuki was surprised at how hard it was to keep the bow taut but she forced herself to keep holding it, unwilling to look weak in front of him.

"Now we release," he said.

Tatsuki nodded as he opened his hand and she did the same. The arrow whistled through the air to plunge just to the right of the bulls-eye. Tatsuki let her arm drop as she looked at the lone arrow sticking out from the rest in the target. Uryuu said nothing about the shot that swung wide. In fact, he didn't make any movement away from her either.

"Okay I'm trying again," she said stepping forward and picking up an arrow.

"Very well," Uryuu said. as she stepped back to where he was standing, her back pressing to his chest once more.

"So," she began, "who taught you to shoot?" she asked, trying to keep the wobble out of her voice.

"My grandfather," he said, "then my father assisted me with my training later on."

Tatsuki nodded, fixing the arrow like he'd shown her. Uryuu watched, slightly impressed at how she copied him. When the arrow was fixed to her satisfaction, Tatsuki made to stand up but Uryuu placed a hand on her shoulder, preventing her. Tatsuki looked over her shoulder at him, raising an eyebrow in a silent question.

"Your stance," he said. Tatsuki looked down, arranging her feet like he had them, "alright now you can draw your bow."

Tatsuki nodded, straitening up and drawing the bow back. Her muscles strained as she held the bow like he'd shown her, waiting for him to tell her when she was supposed to release the thing.

"Am I doing this right?" Tatsuki demanded.

"Hold on," he said, "may I?"

"Uryuu," she began, her voice threatening.

Uryuu smiled at the impatience in her tone before he reached out, placing one hand on her waist and aligning her arm with the line of his shoulder, bringing the bow into alignment. He moved his other hand out, gently grasping the arm that held the bow taut, adjusting until that too was in position. He felt her tense slightly as he touched her, though his touch was chaste, before she relaxed once more and allowed him to adjust her. When she was in alignment, her arms as they should be and her back against his chest, he made no move to remove his hands from her waist and arm.

"Now you may--" he began but she let the arrow fly.

It whistled through the air and slammed into the bulls-eye. Not dead center but certainly closer than the arrow they'd shot together. Uryuu was surprised at how much closer she'd managed to get to the center. Tatsuki grinned, pleased that she'd managed to hit the bulls-eye.

"Not bad, right?" Tatsuki said raising her eyebrows and looking at him over her shoulder

"Much better," Uryuu agreed, his lips curving into a smile.

Despite the fact that the arrow and flew, neither moved from the other's embrace. Though her arms were by her side, Uryuu's hands were still on her waist and on her upper arm, his grip not tight but firm. Tatsuki felt her cheeks heat up as she stood with her back pressed to his chest. Before his heat had been steady but now it was fast, racing just as she felt her own. Tatsuki took a deep breath in a failed attempt to calm herself but all that did was press her more firmly against his back. If she moved away, Tatsuki knew he wouldn't stop her. He was too much of a gentlemen to do that. She knew she should move away. Knew it and yet she was helpless to actually do it.

"Uryuu--" she began, her voice soft.

Uryuu too could feel her heart racing as her back pressed tightly against his chest. When she inhaled deeply and her body pressed even closer to his the feelings that raced through him were almost crippling in their intensity. There wasn't anything gentlemanly about the way his fingers pressed into the fabric covering her waist, nor in the way his hand encircled her upper arm. He had held women before but they had been soft, delicate even. Even with Inoue's immense power, there had always been a softness to her. There was nothing soft about the woman who stood in his arms. Not in the way she confronted anything and anyone she needed too--not in the muscle he felt under his hands. The woman who stood in front of him was a fighter, as much of a fighter as anyone he'd ever met.

"Yes, Tatsuki?" he tried to keep his voice steady, louder than her whisper but he did not succeed in either of those endeavors.

"I--" she tried to say something again, only to fall silent as her face moved fractionally towards his.

That was all it took for Uryuu to lean forward and gently press his lips to hers.

The bow hit the ground with a soft sound as Tatsuki twisted in his grip, not breaking the kiss as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Uryuu's hands wrapped around her waist as he pulled her even closer, her lips eagerly parting his as his tongue entered her mouth. It wasn't hesitant or delicate or any of the things Tatsuki had thought a first kiss should be. It was raw and passionate and real. Her head spun as his arms wrapped even tighter about her waist, her knees fighting to continue to support her. One thing was certain, for all his manners, Uryuu Ishida didn't kiss like a gentlemen. It wasn't like he fought, with controlled and calm movements. No, this was something infinitely more fierce and uncontrolled. There was no calmness, no control in the motions. And there was certainly no sense in it.

When Tatsuki did finally pull back it was with great reluctance. But the cold air that rushed across her overly hot face was like a wake up call. Her mind finally caught up to the actions of her body. She was kissing Uryuu Ishida in the middle of an archery field in full view of the school after she'd gone there to apologize, nothing more. Now he stood across from her, looking just as shocked at what they had done as she did. Her first instinct was to run, just get out of there as fast as she could. But she was tired of running and she didn't think that she'd be able to deal with the shame of running away and apologizing all over again.

"I didn't mean to do that," Tatsuki blurted out, feeling strangely vulnerable.

"I--" he began, "I apolo--" he started again and then stopped.

He could have apologized--a part of him felt as though he should have apologized for what he'd just done. But he did not feel sorry. Not for the flush on her cheeks or the swell of her lips or even the new wrinkles in her jacket. Certainly not for the heat he felt inside him nor the coldness on his front now that she was not pressed so tightly against him it was hard to tell where she ended and he began. But she wasn't running away again. It was obvious she was embarrassed, obvious that she wanted to run away but she wasn't doing it. Both were fighting against what they wanted to do.

"Give me a moment," he said instead, turning to the bow. Tatsuki didn't move as he methodically packed up his bow, leaving the gloves he wore on as he closed the case and turned to her. She watched his every movement, hawk like, "now I am ready."

"Ready for what?" she asked cautiously.

"Ready to walk you home," he said as though it was obvious.

"You want to walk me home?" she asked, "huh? What do you--" she shook her head, "seriously?"

"Yes," he said.

"Alright," Tatsuki said after a moment's consideration, "fine, you can walk me home on one condition."

"And what would that be?" he asked.

"You'll have to walk me home and find out," she said with a grin.

Uryuu nodded as the two of them turned and walked away from the field towards Tatsuki's house.

What's she gonna make him do?

Find out next time!

Happy Holidays!