Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Chapter 7: Restaurant


Creak

"Heeeeeeek!" As soon as Hiyori noticed someone's presence at the door, she ascended the stairs hurriedly and entered her room, shutting the door tightly. Her feet were rooted to the ground for awhile; she warily rested her hands on the knob and dropped her head in deep thought about the incident. She strongly moved her head sideways as if such act would erase the moment when she kissed...

Bald head...

"Argghhhh!" Writhing in mental torment, Hiyori clutched her head and frowned. 'That baldy told me he loved me? Dipshit, is he for real?' The wrinkles around her eyes deepened more when her mind conjured up the image of the man whom Hiyori didn't want to see as of now.

"Kek..." Hiyori whirled around at the familiar voice. To her surprise, Shinji was sitting on her bed as if he had already entered the room before Hiyori arrived. She could fee a shiver trickling down her spine and a sweat forming in the hairline.

Hiyori barked angrily, "Why you here, baldy?"

Shinji shrugged, his palms facing up as he bent his arm inward. "This is our home, stupid."

She flinched when Shinji got up to his feet, stretched his arm, and walked to Hiyori closer. The distance between them shortened quickly in just a second as Hiyori remained tensed. She had to admit that she still was not 100% comfortable with the baldy, whatsoever. This was the fact that would not change, unfortunately.

Shinji slowly stooped low and whispered softly in her ear, "Wanna go out to a local restaurant? I will treat ya."

She stared at him wide-eyed; it was a surprise that Shinji was taking her out to a nice restaurant despite the fact that he was unemployed.

She raised her eyebrow in suspicion, "Whatcha want, baldy? Spit it out before I kick ya ass!"

"Nothin, stupid. I just want to take ya to a place where yer haven't been for so long."

"I've been out these days, baldy," she retorted with a frown.

"Really? Then how come I see ya everyday in this house?" he looked at her curiously, hands on his hips and his lips curled up in expectation for her answer.

"It's only been only a few months, baldy!" Hiyori had to raise her head higher to look him in the eye, thanks to their height difference. The red glow crawled up from her neck to all the way up her cheek.

"A few months means a lot to humans, stupid. Let's go out, I'll treat ya."


The restaurant was actually known for cheap and delicious food served by cute waiters and waitresses, attracting numerous customers especially on weekends. When Shinji and Hiyori entered, it was full of various people talking to lovers, families, and friends and eating in refined manner. The interior was not to be overlooked; red carpets and crimson walls gave her a strange feeling of warmth.

The counter woman came up to them and welcomed, "Welcome, how may I help you?"

"Two people, please." At Shinji's request, she brought two menu and ushered them to an unoccupied table, which was close to the transparent window. When they sat, they browsed menu for awhile.

"What ya want to eat?" Shinji asked her.

"Dunno, baldy. I'm not really hungry cuz I ate one already like an hour ago." She replied nonchalantly, not too excited.

"Then I'm gonna decide yer meal."

"Don't care."

This made Shinji feel somewhat uneasy; his main goal was to impress her, however, her indifferent reaction slightly disappointed him.

Then, a waitress in short, black skirt came to them with a pen and a memo in her hand. "Hello, how are you?"

Shinji flashed his usual smile that Hiyori could see when he saw a cute girl. "How ya, missy."

"Would you like to order?"

"Yea, missy. A meatball spaghetti and a caesar chicken salad, please."

"Do you want to add cheese on the spaghetti?"

Hiyori could merely watch Shinji talking excitedly with the eyesore and frowned in frustration; strangely, she did not want to see Shinji flirting with a cute waitress in the public. If there were no people in the restaurant, then she would've kicked him straight in the face and left. Public eye was restraining her from doing so.

When the waitress walked away, Hiyori leered at him and complained, "Yer always flirting with cute girls! I've seen it so many times, ya player!"

He chuckled, "Hahahaha, ya think I'm flirtin? Oh, just a second ago, ya mean?"

"Yea."

"That's why yer stupid, Hiyori. Ther is a reason, ya know why?"

She shook her head in response.

"That's because she approached me in a flirty way. Ya know, these waiters make money by flirting with these customers. If ther still like a stone, no one's gonna give a shit about tips. As customer, ya gotta show some courtesy by actin nice. Furthermore, I wasn't even doing somethin like...groping her butt or somethin. I was just smilin at her, is that flirting to ya?"

She remained silent for a moment, for she knew she went overboard.

A few minutes passed; Hiyori shifted in her seat uneasily while Shinji was looking out through the window. Shinji propped his arm on his chin and spoke teasingly, "No matter how long the time passed, ya no change. Yer still short. Half of my height."

He could see her lip curling down at the corner and her eyes blazing with a minor degree of disgust. Hiyori averted his gaze as she scratched her head absently. "Yer still the same."

"Yer not." His tone suddenly became grave. Her eyes shot up to meet his piercing, brown eyes; she realized something was indeed bothering him.

"What's bothering ya," Hiyori asked nonchalantly.

"Yer attitude, ya don't know?" Shinji pushed his face forward to her. Tilting her head, she scowled when she failed to understand Shinji's vague words. She asked again, this time, more seriously, "I don't get it. What's wrong with my attitude?"

A short, awkward pause followed, leaving the two staring at each other curiously. Shinji at last spoke softly, "Yer avoiding me. Even after our..."

"S...shut up." Hiyori quickly cut him off before he could speak of that word.

"Ya see? This is what I don't like. Be natural." For the first time, he dropped his gaze from her to the empty table, which was patiently waiting for the ordered food.

Just then, the waitress came in with a huge plate where the bowls were securely placed. After distributing the dishes, she bowed and left the two in the uncomfortable silence again. Hiyori grabbed her fork and thrust the lettuce into her mouth.

Likewise, Shinji held the fork and twirled it in the middle of the spaghetti noodles of red sauce. After just one try, he knew the unknown cook put extreme care in his food. He smiled at the great customer service.

"I...I don't think I...got changed...dipshit," Hiyori finally mumbled out a few words as she chewed the food molecules in her mouth.

Shinji chuckled, "Finish your food first."

Hiyori managed to swallow it and continued speaking, "If ya think I changed, I would not been here. Don't say I didn't change, dipshit. Cuz I ain't gonna. Not at least when I'm with ya, baldy."

Although Shinji seemed to be busy eating his meatball spaghetti, he was wary of her every word, which seeped into his mind and comforted him. Before he could speak, a piece of lettuce entered his mouth involuntarily. Looking up, he could see Hiyori holding a fork in front of his lip.

He smiled when he safely retrieved the lettuce with his mouth. In return, she smiled back with two words. "I like..."

He furrowed his eyebrow in slight anger when he couldn't hear the word you at the end. He asked, suppressing the urge to grab her hand, leave the restaurant, and kiss her lightly. "Ya like...?"

A spoon bounced off from his forehead with considerable force. Gently rubbing the sore area, which was reddened from the smack, he looked at Hiyori piercingly as if he was planning a revenge. He, however, couldn't come up with one, for he saw a warm smile spreading across her face.

"Ya always suck, dipshit!" She giggled uncontrollably, pointing at the red mark on his forehead. Shinji chuckled before resuming his food consumption.

When Hiyori finished eating her salad, she merely watched Shinji, who comforted her when she was agitated, scared, frightened, or stressed. Even though she didn't verbally express her feelings, she knew she was blessed to have him right next to her and use him to her benefit for the beating purpose.

'I shouldn't keep avoiding him...not anymore...' She thought, her eyes glued to the empty dish laying before her.

Having a supportive friend aside, she couldn't be happier than this. No, he might not be a friend anymore.

Her new lover, perhaps.