Hi everyone! Funny thing happened tonight or should I say this morning. I just couldn't fall asleep because I felt like an ungrateful person who doesn't care about other people's kindness. I really don't want to see myself as one. So the guilt of not updating soon really struck my heart and sleep fled to who knows where. I just had to update or I can't go to sleep so here it is. I hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Clannad (a true masterpiece).


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Far away, far away, the sea of rice plants waver

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Life in Kurosaki Ichigo's apartment was not at all what she thought it would be like. He wasn't being cruel to her. That made Orihime happy but also worried because her 'master' was always cruel to her before. As she sat pondering about various thoughts, she heard the apartment door open.

He came home.

Before Orihime could make her way to the living room to greet him, he called.

"Orihime…Oi! Where are you?" No trace of coldness in his voice.

"I am here, M-Master." She answered meekly.

Ichigo shook his head and loudly sighed. It's about time he put an end to her calling him master.

"Orihime, when did I ever tell you to call me master?" he asked, forcefully made his voice rough.

"U-Umm…that time-" she blushed heavily remembering how close he was that time.

"I never said you had to call me master. Don't call me that." He said flatly, eyes closed.

"H-hai. But what should I call you? Kurosaki-sama?" Orihime questioned, a finger on her chin.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"K-Kurosaki-san?"

"No."

"Kurosaki-kun?"

Sigh. "For now. And here." He pushed a package to her. Orihime didn't even notice it until now.

She daintily opened it.

A wooden picture frame.

"I noticed your brother's picture frame was old, so…" he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Orihime could hardly believe it. When had he seen that? And that sheer thoughtfulness behind this action surprised her. He didn't have to do something like this for her. But he did. His actions over the past two weeks repeatedly surprised her and brought hope to her that he might not have hated her. But she forcefully ignored that thought.

But does someone do things like this for someone they hate?

"Yeah, I know it's very simple-" His eyes never turned that big before.

Orihime hugged him. Not tightly. But it was still a hug. Did she not hate him for all the misery he had caused her ever since she was six years old? But at that moment, he couldn't think of a rational reason for her actions, nor his. Because he unconsciously wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug.

Orihime knew he would probably yell at her for hugging him or not accept her hug. After all, he hated her. But neither of those predictions came true. He returned the hug. Not only that, when she tried to let go of him a few moments later, he didn't let go. He only held her tighter, chocolate brown eyes closed.

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Raising the rice, raising the rice, we aimed for the memory

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She had never been this close to anyone before, let alone the boy-no. Now a man that she loved even though she was not supposed to love him, had no reason to love him. She closed her eyes. First thing that came to her mind was a seven year old boy holding hands with a six year old girl, walking through a beautiful rose garden.

Before any incident. Before any hate.

Ichigo definitely lost the part of his brain that does reasoning. If not, why was he hugging her till now? She tried to break apart once but he only held her tighter. He didn't know why. But he couldn't think. Her smaller, soft body was crushed against the hard plains of his. How can anyone be this soft? Before he knew it, the hug wasn't innocent anymore. He was very aware of the body that he crushed into him. But what intoxicated him was her scent.

She smelled of something heavenly and pure, like the clean scent of lavender and something that uniquely belonged to her. Ichigo buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled the heavenly smell.

But then Orihime stiffened. She never expected Ichigo to do that. What was he doing? It confused her to no end. But she couldn't deny how good it felt to be in his arms.

Noticing her stiffened, it broke Ichigo's trance.

What the hell am I doing?

He abruptly let go of the girl and quickly took two steps back. Their eyes met for a second and he left before he did something foolish, leaving the confused girl standing there.

They never spoke of that moment again.

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Do we remember the sad things that have happened before today or have we forgotten them

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Peace didn't last for long. One morning, before either Ichigo or Orihime awakened, a very well-known trespasser was present before Ichgo's apartment door. When no one opened the door after he claimed he knocked twice, the intruder let himself in the apartment, using his own set of keys and then walked straight to Ichigo's room.

Then he gave his own son a kick in the face at six am in the morning as wakeup call.

"GOOOOOOD MOOOOOOORNINGGGG, SON!"

The owner of the Kurosaki Group and CO. was indeed a very odd man.

Having been used to this treatment for years in his childhood and early teen, the said son was awakened before the foot could make contact with his stomach and avoided the kick with a vast amount of practice.

"Old man, you have two seconds to get the fuck out of my apartment." The orange head spoke in a very calm voice, but one could see his vein popping and eye twitching, he looked just about ready to burst, silently promising a lot of pain for the old man.

But the old man didn't seem to hear it, even if he did he simply chose to ignore it and was now pulling the comforter off of his son.

"Hmm…where is Orihime-chan? I was sure she would be sleeping in this room. You have gotten started on all those grandchildren you promised, I presu-"

Two seconds passed.

The lady behind the front desk will have hell to pay.

For the next minute or so, only fake wailing could be heard throughout the apartment.

"I didn't promise anything and I didn't tell you about this because I knew you would pull this! Now get OUT!" The angry son and fake-wailing-father fought in their usual mannerism to the front door. The son ready to throw the father out and go back to his peaceful slumber.

But the damage was done.

Orihime woke up from all this commotion and was now looking at the two odd Kurosakis.

She instantly recognized the man even with sleep-filled eyes. But then her eyes widened as realization sunk in, her heart beating fanatically.

'Oh no! What had Kurosaki-sama thought when he found out that I was living with Kurosaki-kun under the same roof? Had he thought I was a bad girl? Oh no! How will I explain this to him? Kami-sama! Please help me!'

Both Ichigo and Isshin seemed to understand what was going on in the poor girl's mind and stopped fighting.

"ORIHIME-CHAN~"

He started to run toward Orihime with his arms extended, probably was aiming to give her a hug if he was not stopped by Ichigo's punch.

"K-Kurosaki-sama!" The girl quickly went over to the fallen body of the older man to make sure he was alright.

"He is fine, Orihime. That's what he gets for waking us up so early in the damn morning." The orange head grumbled, shoving a hand through his unruly hair.

"ANGEL, I SAY! ANGEL FROM THE HEAVENS! I HAVE BEEN SAVED!" The fallen Kurosaki jolted up, wailing at joy.

A vein was about to burst in his hot-tempered son's temple.

"Old man, if you don't want any more injuries, get to the point or get the fuck out." He hissed venomously.

"I know, son. I know you are just trying to get more alone time-" He wasn't able to progress any further.

And now he was sporting a large bruise on his face. He still grinned like a madman and that's how Ichigo's officially-the-most-annoying-morning started.

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Even in this tiny hand, there could someday be strength surpassing our own

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An hour later,

"Old man, now you know everything. So get out. Now. You have office in an hour." Ichigo was literally pulling his father to the apartment door. Ichigo was honest about the whole thing except for some details his father didn't need to know about like how Orihime seemed to repeatedly get in trouble with perverts. At this point, Ichigo was just tired of dealing with his old man and he only came for an hour.

But this was one of the most memorable mornings of Orihime's life.

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From the day I cried beneath the ripe grapes, I started to walk

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"Oi! Orihime, are you ready yet?" Ichigo stood in front of her room, with his school uniform on, his face twisted into a scowl, looking more pissed off than usual. Now, one might wonder why he was wearing a school uniform during his summer vacation and the answer to that question would explain the pissed off scowl.

Couple days earlier-

"Kurosaki-kun, I-I have to go to school this Wednesday. A-Ano~ I was wondering if that was ok…um…" Orihime spoke quietly to her now-employer-used-to-be-best-friend, clutching an envelope addressed to her from her school.

"What? Why do you have to go to school during summer?" Ichigo was surprised.

"Well, we are going to be seniors next year and that's why we have to do extra stuff during the school year. So Sensei just wanted to plan early." Orihime explained, rephrasing the letter.

"Huh. Always knew she was mental." Ichigo had enough chalk thrown at him to confirm that. "Well, you can go. Oh, right. I will drive you there and then pick you up when you are done." He said.

"A-Ano, you also have the same envelope addressed to you…" Orihime said hesitantly.

She wasn't surprised when she heard some very colorful words directed at Ochi-Sensei.

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Even if my hand is small, even if we're separated, we'll walk this road

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"I am almost ready, Kurosaki-kun! Just a minute." Orihime hopped out of her room, trying to pull one of her socks up.

Ichigo stared at the weird girl. She was just odd.

But then it happened.

Ichigo was awarded with an excellent view of her underwear. He swiftly looked away. But the image was burned in his memory. He took a deep breath and ran his hand over his face.

'Fuck! This isn't the first time I saw a girl's panty. Hell, I didn't even have that reaction the first time. Shit.' He tried to find a reason.

'But that girl wasn't her.' His mind was now going against him.

"Kurosaki-kun!" When he came back to the physical world after trying to imagine, at the same time trying to ignore the image of the auburn haired in her red panty with lace at the edges, he found the said girl waving her hands vigorously in front of his face.

"What?" He hoped his voice sounded normal.

"G-Gomen. You were spacing out. I am done." She looked nervous again under the scrutiny of his gaze.

"Let's go." He didn't know how else to respond.

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And on the day that will someday come, we'll store away our best memories

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Dun dun dun~ You have once again made it to the end! Congratz for being able to put up with my horrible English, grammar, the usual.

Oh! I am not sick anymore! Thank you all for being so caring!

Honestly, you guys are just too awesome! Always supporting this lame-o here with such nice comments! You guys are such nice people!

Thanks everyone who reviewed, followed and favored this story! You guys are amazing! I love you!

Special thanks to~

Diana Cruz, Soaring Demoness, BittersweetSonata, Magdalena88, cherry mist, littlemadcat, naleah, KHLostEmpress, Misha, Jubee-chan, ethereal, Anonymous and Sele de la Luna. (I sincerely apologize if I left anyone out. Gomennasai~)

*Hugs for 10 minutes each while blabbering about how nice all of you are and how much I love you guys!*

Thanks again everyone! I hope I will be able to post the next chapter soon.

*Boinks on the head with a rolled piece of paper* 'Stop being lazy, you lazy person!'

Yup. I am truly a lame person. Can't even come up with a proper insult for myself. Sigh.

Anyways, I think I annoyed you guys enough.

So bye for now!

Good Night...wait no. It's actually good morning.

-RainingLight~