Pfft, sorry this is such a late update. I kinda sorta got out of writing for the last month or so and only have attempted to keep writing just the last few days. Most of this was written a few weeks ago, but the ending, where it gets really bad lol, is what I just finished now. So pardon the weird chapter! I'm planning on getting things moving along and questions answered soon here. :) Epic things will commense! But first, I must eat breakfast! I'm starving, lol.


Inoue Orihime was a girl with many faces. More often than not, she was happy, bouncing around with a grin. Seeing someone so enthusiastic over life sometimes made Ichigo a bit tired, seeing as he was a person who just went with the flow of everything. While he just accepted life for what it was, she embraced it fully, and her activeness in it all was hard to keep up with at times.

But then there were the few times he would catch her with a different expression. There was the very rare face of sadness, one he'd only seen once, which was in her bathroom after he'd bandaged her head, but the truly notable one was where she thought she was alone.

A particular instance was when they both stayed after for class duty after school. Some papers needed to be brought down to the teacher's office, and instead of sending her or both of them down, he offered to take them himself. When he returned, Orihime had placed herself at the front desk, her head rested in her small hands. Her expression admittedly made his heart do a flip, seeing it was one in deep thought. Even now he couldn't explain it at all, but the expression held serenity and happiness at the same time. In actuality, as much as he was scared to admit it, it reminded him of his mother. Regardless, she had only done it a few times, but it was by far the most interesting one he'd ever seen from her.

So things continued to move along for both of them, conversation and menial hellos with the weeks, and Ichigo continued to watch her. After a while, he could pinpoint little habits and quirks she had, beyond the obvious. Such as how she stuck out her tongue while she worked at her homework or how her eyes never drifted off to the side in boredom in any conversation she was in.

Interesting... It was an overused word, but it was one that fit her perfectly.


Persistence was a strong suit of her aunt. Not so much in her own life, but when persuading others. Rangiku could keep questioning Orihime for hours until she got an answer she liked. Such was involved in the case when the auburn-haired teen finally recovered from her head injury. Rangiku went on about paying the darling boy back for his good deeds or something and deftly ordered the teen to bring him a token of gratitude. At first she suggested giving him a kiss or something just as thrilling, seeing as apparently "no one would be stupid enough to reject a kiss from a cute girl like you". After much discussing and some disappointment from her aunt, Orihime decided to bake cookies for him, with supervision from Rangiku, of course, as to not add any "special ingredients".

So even though she didn't know if he still lived in the same spot or not, she still walked around town, getting a better feel for Karakura. It had been quite a while since she was here, and luckily for her, not too much had changed. Orihime was disappointed, however, to find her favorite bakery to be gone. They always made the best zucchini muffins!

Orihime couldn't keep the smile away from her face as she saw the sign in front of his house, "Kurosaki Clinic". She was glad she didn't get lost on the way there, seeing she wasn't really sure how she'd fare getting home.

She couldn't tell if her smile was a nervous one or an excited one. She'd never seen Ichigo out of school since she got here, so this would be the first. But would he be upset with her because it was as if she stalked him to find his house? He and his family could call the police on her for being a stalker and watching a crippled boy to see where he lived!

But Orihime couldn't hold back as she knocked, instinctively doing it while she rambled on in her head. Even her expression dropped upon finding out she had gone and done that while in such a distant state. Yelping to herself, the girl had to steady herself and not send the cookies flying while she tried to calm her racing heart.

A girl with black hair was the one to greet her, standing just a good few inches shorter than she was. She looked familiar to Orihime, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Stunning, dark gray eyes stared into light ones as the child cocked an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" She asked in a huffy tone, almost as if she was clearly disturbed by her Orihime's presence.

"I-I, um... Is Kurosaki-kun here?" Orihime inquired, immediately regretting referring to him that way. The entire household was full of Kurosakis! "I-Ichigo-kun, I mean." But secretly, she got a little thrill from calling him by his first name.

The girl looked unbelieving at her until she crossed her arm and spoke sternly, "Come on in, I'll get him for you." Orihime just nodded subtly and stepped through the entrance and into the foyer. The girl kept going through the house and she could eventually hear yelling. "Ichi-nii! You have a visitor!"

The teen was stuck on whether to giggle or to be dumbfounded at the following yelling that could only come from Kurosaki-kun. He was yelling about not yelling in the house, which was definitely quite contradictory, but even with all the anger, she could still tell he was doing it out of familial love. It wasn't too long after when he rolled his way into the foyer as well, stopping a few inches from a slight drop-off. His eyes were wide in surprise as he gaped at her.

"Inoue...?" He questioned, raising his brows as well. "What are you doing here?" Orihime suddenly flushed and wondered if coming here was a bad idea. However, if she went back now, Rangiku would surely punish her for not going forward with all this.

"O-Oh, I just wanted to give you something as-" He held up his hand to stop her before, glaring back behind him. There was nothing there, she noted silently, but he still looked angry.

"Just a second, let's get outside before-"

"ICHIGOOOOOOOOOOO!" An obnoxiously loud voice burst out of nowhere, startling them both. Orihime just about fell to the ground at the sudden yell, but she regained her composure before actually doing so.

A man with jet black hair and a doctor's coat jumped into the hallway and promptly elbowed Ichigo in the back of his head, almost sending him flying out of his wheelchair. But once the man had slowed down his fervent jumping around, Orihime suddenly recognized him from her old memories, and even let out a small, "Ah!" at the new revelation. This man was Kurosaki-kun's father!

"Dad, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Ichigo roared, deftly locking the wheels of his chair so he wouldn't roll around otherwise. "Can't you see I'm talking to someone?"

"I did, and that's why I came barreling in!" He replied exuberantly, putting his hands on his hips. His sharp eyes darted to Orihime's, making her jump a bit again. "Nice to meet you..." He couldn't quite finish his statement seeing he didn't know her name.

"I-Inoue Orihime," she chirped nervously, gripping her bag with the cookies tightly while extending out the other. "It's nice to meet you, sir." Orihime was inwardly glad she hadn't said, 'Nice to meet you again'. That could've been a mess to get out of.

"Ah, no sir in this household! Call me Isshin!" His father smiled as he spoke, reaching out to grab her hand and shake it firmly. Ichigo could be heard sighing as they shook hands, ignoring more of his dad's ramblings until he suddenly stopped, his voice growing serious. "Wait a second..." Orihime immediately froze, finding it suddenly hard to breathe.

"H-Hai?" Was all she managed to squeak out.

"You look... familiar..." He said grimly, now assessing her form with his eyes. "Have we met before?"

Ichigo, who was previously disinterested with their conversation, suddenly perked up and started listening. His question was all too familiar, but he couldn't recall why at the moment. He paused, taking a quick glance at the girl next to him. Recalling bits and pieces from his memory, he remembered that Tatsuki had asked him the same thing.

"Isn't she familiar to you at all?"

Frowning, Ichigo then remembered how she had called him an idiot shortly after that. That definitely was not common. Sure, maybe at first it was awkward around her, but things felt fine now. Then again, she was definitely a pretty person and she was from Tokyo. No doubt Tatsuki and his dad were more than likely mixing her up with some celebrity over there.

"O-Oh no, we haven't, I don't think... Perhaps you're mistaking me for someone else?" Orihime replied shyly, bowing her head down. Isshin kept quiet on the subject, just like the girl from earlier, his eyes disbelieving.

"Probably," he scoffed to himself, releasing her hand. "But Ichigo, you never told me you snagged a hot girlfriend~ I never thought you'd be able to get laid with that wheelchair of yours!" Both teens turned a bright red before the boy himself unlocked his wheels and immediately rammed his father in the shins with the said wheelchair.

"F-Fuck off, old man! She's just a classmate from school!" He roared, successfully making contact with his dad's legs. Orihime winced at the direct attack, imaging just how much it would hurt, but something began to nag at her. Just classmates? Didn't he just say they were friends a few weeks ago? Or maybe she was imagining things then... That was very possible too.

"Which is always a codename for doing the dirt- OW!" Isshin tried to speak again, but Ichigo cut him off with another ramming.

"Go to the kitchen and leave us alone!" Ichigo seethed, pointing hard towards the other direction. Isshin couldn't help but let out a snicker as he left, absolutely loving teasing his son about anything and everything. Suddenly the silence seemed so deafening as the two teens were now kept in quiet with his father gone. "... That asshole..." He grumbled to himself. "Sorry, Inoue..."

Waving her hands to herself, Orihime tried to shake it off with a smile. "O-Oh no, it's quite alright! He seemed funny with his mood swings!"

"You think they're funny?" He blanched, eyes growing wide. She just nodded again. Groaning, Ichigo brought his hand to his face in defeat. "Anyways, what did you come here for again?"

Fear and embarrassment struck her heart again, previously dissipating with her amusement of the two family members bickering. "I, um... W-well, y-you were very helpful a few weeks ago with my head, a-and-" She stopped, growing flustered and even more nervous. She felt like she was messing her words up! "I-I really appreciated it, a-and..."

Unable to actually finish, not that she knew what to say anyways, Orihime just began to dig around her bag, almost dropping it entirely. Eventually, she regained the cookies and soon thrusted the gift to him. "H-Here!" She squeaked, hiding her red face by keeping it faced downwards. She didn't see his movement, but she could feel the slight shaking of his hand as he received it from her.

"... You... for me?"

She could only nod her head slowly while doing her best to keep her hands by her sides, rather than on her face trying to hide the embarrassment. He seemed to open her carefully wrapped package extra slowly, as if to torture her, but in reality, he was opening it just a bit slower than normal, if anything. His eyes were full of curiosity and confusion as he eventually finished with the wrapping and opened up the box to find the cookies she had made for him. He looked back up at Orihime, his eyes still wide as his mouth hung open awkwardly.

"... You made these?" Ichigo asked quietly, his eyes never leaving hers. Orihime felt her face turn even hotter as he stared at her so intently. Goodness, it even felt like he could stare right into her soul!

"Y-Yes..." She squeaked, suddenly folding her hands together. "I-I wanted to repay for your help..." Glancing back down at the cookies, then back to her, he made Orihime want to fidget in embarrassment. She had never made cookies before for a boy, and the way he was handling the situation made her want to go back home and hide under her covers.

But then he grinned. Not just a small, playful one, but a rather large, genuine smile. It was something that she'd never seen from him before, not even when she used to live here. Needless to say, such an unfamiliar expression made her feel like she was turning red all the way to her toes. But her inward flailing stopped for a moment as he took one of the cookies out and looked at it amazed.

"O-Oh, you don't need to eat them if you don't want to!" She suddenly cried, making the poor boy jump. Orihime didn't know why she suddenly yelled out, but perhaps it was because she didn't want him to eat one just because she was here.

"You brought these over here just for me, Inoue. I'm not just going to throw them away," Ichigo told her before shoving the cookie in his mouth, quick enough as to keep her from crying out to stop again. But he didn't have the reaction to the treat as she thought he would. Not that she expected him to cry out how delicious her cookies were and that she should bake him more, but the suddenly bitter look on his face made her stomach flip.

"...Salt..." Was the only thing he said, making her freeze instantly.

"Eh?"

"... You put in salt instead of sugar."

"E-EHHH?" Orihime cried out bringing her hands to her face. "O-Oh no, I must've gotten the containers mixed up! I'm so sorry, Kurosaki-kun!" She quickly apologized, feeling immensely bad for mixing them up. "I-I'll just take them back and-"

"No, its fine," he told her, trying not to grimace too much while eating the cookie.

"But Kurosaki-kun-"

"I said its fine," he cut her off again, folding up the box and closing it tight. "It's the thought that counts, right?" Orihime wanted to protest again, but the look on his face said otherwise. Although it still held bits of slight disgust from the cookie, he smirked now with sincere eyes. He must've understood she tried her hardest, but just made a simple mistake. Again, the look on his face made her blush, so she nodded with a smile to attempt to hide it.

"R-Right!" She chirped, clapping her hands together. "Um, I could try to make cookies again for you, if you'd like. I'll try my hardest to put sugar in this time too!" Orihime offered, really hoping he wouldn't mind and say yes. She figured she must've been one lucky girl, because he nodded back just the same.

"I'd like that, Inoue," he smirked, his thumb carelessly running over the box as he spoke. "So..." Ichigo suddenly seemed to grow a bit flustered himself, as he used his free hand to reach the back of his neck and scratch at it oddly. His eyes seemed to avert to the floor as well while his cheeks grew slightly pinker. Perhaps he was feeling warm or something, she noted as she cocked her head to the side in confusion. "I'll see you tomorrow?" A warm fuzzy feeling bloomed inside her at the thought of talking to him more during school, and she gave him a blinding smile.

"Yep!" Orihime held her bag close as she shifted her feet so they faced the door she originally came into. "Ja ne, Kurosaki-kun!" Although she didn't want to appear that she wanted to get out quick, she left pretty quickly, leaving Ichigo alone in the foyer of his house. Glancing back down at the box in his lap, he couldn't help but feel happiness at her kind gesture. Although when he helped her with her head a while back, he hadn't given it a second thought only because he knew how to wrap up that kind of stuff. Apparently it had meant a lot more to her than he thought, because she even went as far as to make cookies of gratitude.

The cookies... He had never received sweets before, not even on Valentine's day, so it made his face burn when he thought about it. But she was just a kind person returning the favor; there was no reason to get so flustered over it.

But as he pulled out another one, not to eat because of the unfortunately crude taste, but rather just to look at it, he couldn't help but smile again.

"Heh..." He chuckled to himself, looking at the cookie in gratitude. "Thanks, Inoue..."

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R & R~