A/N: Here is chapter 10! Thank you to all the reviewers, favoriters, and alerters!

I.

Ichigo watched from the wings as the show went to its final commercial break. The final five quickly scurried from the stage for their last outfit change. 'Now or never.' He thought to himself as he followed after Orihime.

Orihime quickly changed into her final outfit, a plain white dress that tied around her neck and came down to her knees. She took her hair out of the ponytail and allowed her wavy auburn tresses to cascade down her back. She changed into black heels and walked out of the dressing room. The beauty queen was distractedly putting on her pearl earrings and not paying attention to her surroundings, which explained why she bumped into Ichigo, who was waiting for her directly outside the dressing room.

"Ooof." Ichigo reflexively gripped her arm to keep her from falling. She looked up. "Hey, Kurosaki-kun."

He sighed at the formality he had become accustomed to with her since they broke up. "Inoue- no…that doesn't feel right. Orihime, we need to talk."

She did not want to get her hopes up, but the fact that she was Orihime again instead of Inoue had to count for something. "Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"We can't talk here. Come on." He grabbed her hand and led her to an empty storage closet, the same storage closet where he had dumped her a few days earlier she realized with a heavy heart. She tried to clear her mind of the bad memories as he fumbled with the light switch.

Once the lights were on, he turned to face Orihime. For a few moments, they stared at each other in awkward silence before Ichigo cleared his throat and nervously kneaded the back of his neck before speaking. "I know you have to be on stage in a minute so I'll make this quick." He hesitated momentarily before reaching out to hold both her hands with his. He was relieved when she made no move to pull away. "I…I want to work this out…I mean…. I want us to work." He absentmindedly started rubbing her hand with his thumb. "I didn't want to say anything earlier today because I didn't want to upset you during the pageant, but now that's it basically over I have to say this."

The scowling carrot top took a shuddering breath before continuing "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. I really care about you and I shouldn't have broken up with you. Obviously, I don't know what will happen after the pageant, all I know is… I want to try to be together."

"Ichigo-kun…. I don't know what to say." She confessed.

"You don't have to say anything right now. I know that after everything that's happened, you'll need some time to think. But I want you to take this." He reluctantly released her hands in order to search through his tuxedo pockets. He pulled out a plain black cell phone. He placed it in her hands. "It's prepaid and I programmed my number into it. If you want to talk or if you need anything, I want you to call me."

Orihime regarded the phone cautiously. "My mom won't like this."

"Hide it. I won't call you so she won't hear the phone vibrating or anything. It should be fine." He checked his watch. "We're out of time."

There were so many things Orihime wanted to say, but a quick check of the screen on her new cell phone confirmed what Ichigo had just said. It was time to get to the stage. Ichigo held the door open for her and she nodded her thanks as she headed for the stage.

All the other contestants were already on stage and Orihime took her spot in line just as the judges appeared from the deliberation room. They had just taken their seats when the cameras turned back on.

"Welcome back to the first annual Miss Teen Karakura Pageant." Gin said.

"We have reached the end of our competition and one of these beautiful young women is about to be crowned Miss Teen Karakura." Rangiku explained.

"The winner of Miss Teen Karakura will have the opportunity to compete to become Miss Teen Japan next month." Gin announced.

"Have the judges made a decision?" Rangiku asked. All the judges nodded. "Can I have the envelope please?" Aizen stood from the judges' table and delivered the envelope to Rangiku.

Gin stood beside Rangiku so they could both view the results. "The 4th runner up is, Ogawa Michiru!" Everyone clapped politely as Michiru accepted her bouquet of flowers and an envelope with 20,000 yen.

"The 3rd runner up is Nagata Kotoe!" Kotoe had a hard time disguising her disappointment, but she did manage a small smile as she accepted her bouquet and 25,000 yen.

"The 2nd runner up is Ron Loly!" Loly glared at Orihime before accepting her bouquet and 35,000 yen.

"And then there were two" Gin announced ominously. Orihime and Aya joined hands as they waited for the results. "The 1st runner up is… Suzuki Aya! Which means Inoue Orihime is the first Miss Teen Karakura!"

The audience burst into applause as Orihime was handed a bouquet and 450,000 yen. Rangiku placed the extravagant glittering crown on Orihime's head and secured it with bobby pins. Orihime began her victory walk as the Japanese national anthem blared from the speakers. She smiled and waved prettily at the audience as she walked. The pretty young women noticed her mother in the audience, smiling broadly with tears in her eyes. Orihime quickly focused her eyes elsewhere. She noticed Ichigo watching her from the wings and smiled at him before turning around and heading back to the center of the stage.

Gin and Rangiku stood on either side of Orihime once she had completed her walk. "Do you have anything you want to say?" Rangiku asked while holding the microphone in front of Orihime's face.

"I just want to say thank you to everyone who supported me. I won't let you guys down. I hope to make Karakura proud." Orihime chimed.

"Thank you for watching! I'm Ichimaru Gin."

"And I'm Matsumoto Rangiku. See you next year!"

II.

Orihime stuffed her baton outfit into her duffle bag. She looked through the rack one last time to ensure she hadn't forgotten anything. Satisfied that she had everything, she shouldered the duffle bag and headed for the exit.

The pageant had ended over two hours ago and she was finally leaving the auditorium. Directly following the pageant, Orihime had to pose for local reporters and be interviewed by several local newspapers. Afterwards, Nemu had brought her lots of paper work to sign. At first, Orihime had read the paperwork diligently, but after twenty pages or so Orihime had just started signing her name at the bottom of the page.

Once she had finished the paperwork, Nemu had collected it and informed Orihime that as the new Miss Teen Karakura she had to meet with Aizen tomorrow to discuss her future. Orihime felt impending doom with the knowledge that she would have to face Aizen in the near future, but she managed to simply nod and thank Nemu for informing her.

Since all her official pageant business was done, Orihime felt relieved that she could be herself again. She washed all the make-up off her face, changed into a comfortable blue sweat suit, and finally allowed the fake smile she had been donning all day to fall from her face. Her cheeks actually ached from smiling so much. Finally, Orihime had packed up her things and she was finally ready to go home.

Well, almost ready. The beauty queen knew she had to do one more thing before she could leave.

III.

"Ichigo-kun! I'm so glad you're still here! I've been looking for you for a while and I was starting to think you'd already gone home. Or been kidnapped by the little blue men….. or worse!"

Ichigo stared at the beauty queen with a blank expression, fairly used to her eccentric nature by now. She shook herself out of her pondering and got back on topic.

"I know my mom is around here somewhere and I'm not supposed to be talking to you, but I needed to see you."

'So, this is it? I guess she thought on it and realized she can do much better than me. She probably wants to say goodbye and then I'll never see her again. At least I tried.' Ichigo was pulled out of his depressing thoughts by the sound of her melodious voice.

"Ichigo-kun, I want to be with you. I know it is going to be hard. We'll have to deal with my mom, and Miss Teen Japan, and…"

She was cut off when Ichigo suddenly pressed his lips to her. She quickly started responding to his kisses. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he in turn wrapped an arm around her waist while one of his hands tangled itself in her hair.

'Wow, I've missed this.' Ichigo thought just before deepening the kiss. Although it had only been a few days since he kissed her last, it felt like an eternity.

After a few moments, he managed to pull himself away from her. He smiled at her as her eyes slowly fluttered open. She was so beautiful. Especially without all the make-up. He gave her another quick kiss. "We'll make this work. It's going to be tough but we'll make it work." He whispered before engaging her in another kiss.

"Orihime! Orihime, where are you?" The teens sprung apart at the sound of Ayako's voice.

Ichigo released Orihime from his hold after one last quick kiss and quickly disappeared into the shadows. Orihime's mom angrily rounded the corner. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you! We have things to do before we meet with Aizen tomorrow. Come on." Her mother gripped her arm and led her toward the car.

IV.

"Hello Inoue-san, Fujita-san, please take a seat." Aizen gestured to the two plush seats in front of his desk. Ayako happily sat and glared at her daughter as Orihime hesitated to take her seat. Finally both women were seated and Aizen smiled charmingly.

"You both look beautiful this morning." Aizen complimented. Orihime wore a pair of black jeans and a plain yellow blouse paired with her worn black sneakers, hair pulled back into a ponytail. Ayako had put much more effort into impressing Aizen and was wearing a flattering little black dress with red heels. Her auburn hair was twisted into an elaborate French braid.

"Thank you so much Aizen-san. You look very handsome as well. And you can call us by our first names. We're all friends here." Ayako said giddily.

Aizen was wearing his trademark Armani business suit and his hair was slicked back as usual. "Alright, Ayako." Ayako blushed involuntarily as Aizen said her name. "As much as I would love to exchange pleasantries all day with two beautiful women, we do have some business to attend to. But first, congratulations are in order. Orihime, from the moment we first met, I had no doubt that you would be Miss Teen Karakura. You're beautiful, intelligent, and undeniably sweet. I know you will represent the pageant well."

Orihime knew she should be flattered by Aizen's praise, but it just made her feel sleazy. When her mother kicked her under the desk, she forced out a small "Thank you."

"Would you ladies like anything to drink?" Without waiting for an answer, Aizen pressed a button on his intercom. "Momo? Can you bring in three coffees please?"

"Of course Aizen-sama." An innocent voice replied. Moments later a young woman walked into the office carrying three coffees. She couldn't have been older than 17. She placed the coffees on the desk.

Aizen smiled at her. "Thank you Hinamori."

Hinamori positively glowed at Aizen's praise. She cast a lovesick gaze at Aizen before leaving the room. Orihime felt sick.

Aizen and Ayako both took sips of coffee. "Orihime, as Miss Teen Karakura it is your responsibility to make appearances at Karakura events. Things like visiting sick children in the hospital, new business openings, etc. I know you will be busy training for Miss Teen Japan, but you're going to have to find a way to balance both."

Orihime nodded. "I understand."

"Good. You're allowed to accept paid appearances, but for every paid appearance you have to do an unpaid appearance." Aizen explained.

"When does she get paid?" Of course, Orihime's mom immediately cut to the chase.

"You'll have to work that out with whoever is organizing the appearance. Moving on, you have three paid offers for tomorrow to choose from. A restaurant opening in downtown Karakura, a car wash to benefit Karakura high school, or an appearance on the TV show Good Morning Karakura." Aizen said.

"Good Morning Karakura." Orihime's mom chose without consulting her daughter.

"Actually, I think I would like to do the car wash." Orihime said meekly.

"What is the matter with you? Good Morning Karakura is obviously going to pay the most money and get you the most exposure." Her mother stated.

'What should I tell her? I obviously can't let her know that I want to do the car wash so I can see Ichigo and my friends.'

"Mom, what would I say on the TV show? I haven't done anything yet. It will look bad when they ask me what events I have done around Karakura and I can't say anything. I should go on TV later." Orihime stated.

Her mother looked like she wanted to continue to argue, but she was interrupted by Aizen. "That makes a lot of sense Orihime. Car wash it is. You need to be at Karakura high school at 8:30 tomorrow morning."

V.

The ride home from Aizen's office had been very awkward. Her mother wasn't speaking to her, but Orihime didn't care. She was proud of herself for defying her mother. This was her life and she could make her own choices.

Open reaching the apartment Orihime's mother had forced Orihime to spend the whole day brushing up on local and international news so she would be prepared for the interview competition at Miss Teen Japan. After a full day of watching the news and reading the newspaper, Orihime's mother finally decided to let her daughter go to sleep.

Orihime closed the door to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She double- checked that the door was locked before she pulled out her cell phone. After a few moments of inspecting the phone's features, Orhime finally found her contact list. Ichigo's number was the only number listed. She pressed the green phone button and heard the phone ringing on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Ichigo-kun?" She whispered.

Although she couldn't see him, she could tell he was smiling. "Hey Orihime."

"I miss you." She whispered.

"I miss you too. Is there a reason you're whispering? I can barely hear you over the running water."

"My mom is here. I don't want her to find the phone because I know she'll take it."

"Oh, gotcha. So what's up?"

"I'm making an appearance at your school tomorrow. And I want to see you… and all my friends."

"I'm looking forward to seeing you. What are you doing after the appearance?"

"My mom has jury duty so I should be free. What did you have in mind Ichigo-kun?"

"Well, Mayuri finally paid me so I want to take you out."

"Where?"

"It's a surprise."

A/N: There is chapter ten. Please review!