My Life is a big "What If"
AU What if they lived a so called "normal" life? With a twist… hahaha… Did you ever think of what might have happened after years passed? A story of serendipity… The love between a girl who has never believed in love and a guy who once made her see its magic... Only to prove that years and obstacles are not enough to separate true love and that no matter how far apart you may be, you will always find each other… Ichiruki :D
Disclaimer: I don't own bleach :P ( I wish I did XD)
Chapter 10: Is this your chocolate?
"Okay kids just settle down." She said with gleaming eyes as she tried to calm down the kids running around.
"Ouch, stop hitting me!" said one of the little kids.
"Well, give me your cookie" a little boy said pulling the hair of a little girl.
"OUCH! Teacher!" the little girl cried in pain.
"Sshh… it's okay Suzy…" she patted the little girl at the back.
"Tom, say sorry to Suzy." She said looking at the boy and the boy looked down and apologized.
"If you wanted the cookie you should have asked politely." She told the boy.
"But I did! And she still won't give me any!" The boy pouted and the little girl stuck her tongue out.
"Suzy, you shouldn't do that, that's not nice." She covered the girl's mouth with her hand and turned the girl to face her.
"You should always learn how to share." She continued.
"Yes teacher." The little girl said handing a piece of cookie to the boy which he gladly took. Then the girl took another cookie and gave it to the woman. "Here, this is for you teacher." The woman took it with a warm smile and thanked the little kid.
"I want a cookie too!" One of the other kids shouted upon seeing the small pack of cookies held by the little girl. The other kids heard and they began to swarm around Suzy.
"Kids, just don't—"the woman stopped when she heard the swarm of kids gasp. Well, the cookies fell on the ground and little Suzy started to cry and like Bluetooth the rest of the kids started crying too.
"Oh, oh no. D-don't cry kids, it's just cookies." She said picking up the fallen cookies but the children didn't seem to hear her as they cried they're eyes out.
"My poor cookies are ruined!" Suzy cried louder than the others.
Suddenly, the door opened and came entering was a girl with an average height, brown eyes, short and black hair with some spike on the edges. She was carrying red varsity bag.
"Oh, it's so noisy here, what's all this commotion about?"
"Ah! Tatsuki! You're here!" The orange haired woman turned to her friend who just entered.
"Yup, why are all these kids crying, Orihime?" Tatsuki asked. Orihime held out her hand to show the pieces of cookies. Tatsuki rolled her eyes and put down her varsity bag. She started to unzip the bag.
"Okay you little munchkins, who wants to know what's in my bag?" She said and quickly the kids started to swarm around her like bees yelling "I do! I do! Me! Me!"
She pulled out a pack of sweets and the children yelled together in happiness "Hurray!" Tatsuki gave them each and Orihime helped. After everyone had their sweets they were all grinning widely.
"See? Problem solved." Tatsuki turned to Orihime and she gave her an appreciative smile.
"Thanks, a lot." She said and watched the kids play peacefully.
"What would you do without me? I mean, you do know that kids today have only five seconds attention span. Do you think you can handle working here at the day care?" Tatsuki asked her scowling.
"Well, I love kids… they seemed so carefree… so innocent… I mean did you see how they cried over a little cookie?" Orihime giggled at the thought.
"Yeah." Tatsuki replied with a smirk. There was silence between the two and only the laughter of the children in the room was heard.
"So… what did you get him?" Tatsuki asked Orihime. Orihime blushed a light pink.
"I um… invited him over for dinner…" the bubbly girl whispered looking down.
"Y-you what?" She shouted. It made the children look at them and after five seconds well they resumed to what they were doing.
Thank you five second attention span.
"You invited him for dinner? At your place?" Tatsuki asked again.
"Yup, I thought that since it's our first anniversary then he'd be shy to ask me." Orihime said blushing even more.
More like, he forgot. Tatsuki thought but didn't say it.
"Well, I guess you're right. So are you planning on ordering out?" Tatsuki asked trying to hide a worried tone.
"Order out?" Orihime giggled at the comment. "Why would we order out if I can just cook for us both?" she said and Tatsuki grimaced at her answer.
That's what she was afraid of.
"I'll prepare my specialty…" Orihime began to say the weirdest combination of ingredients in her special recipe. Orihime clapped her hands together and said, "It's going to be a great night, I just know it" and Tatsuki just sighed.
"So… what did you get her?" Ishida asked ichigo leaning on his desk with his arms supporting his weight and raising his eyebrow.
"For what?" Ichigo scowled.
"For today."
Ichigo thought for a moment then looked at Ishida with a confused expression.
"You don't know what day it is, do you?" Ishida asked standing straight and adjusting his glasses higher with his middle finger. Ichigo shook his head slowly still scowling.
"Well, today happens to be you and Orihime's anniversary." Ishida said coldly.
"Oh… that's right…" the carrot-top was still contemplating his friend's words.
Anniversary.
"Wow, it's been really a year?" Ichigo asked not looking at Ishida.
"Unfortunately… I can't believe you can't even remember your own anniversary." Ishida said adjusting his glasses again.
"Don't you mean YOU remembered it because YOU wished that it was YOUR anniversary not mine!"
"S-shut up! You're lucky I even reminded you, you should be thankful."
Ichigo just sighed, "Geez… you really need to get a real hobby."
"For your information, I do have a hobby."
"If knitting is what you call a real hobby, then I'd rather do nothing all day."
"Knitting is not just a hobby, it's an art."
"See, and you wonder why you don't get dates. That's so gay."
"If being not gay means being a jerk and forgetting your girlfriend's anniversary then I'd rather be gay."
"So you admit it?"
"NO!"
Ichigo started to chuckle which made a vein pop out of Ishida's forehead.
"Anyway, what should I get her?" Ichigo said trying to contemplate.
"Why don't you get her something to make her realize how much of an ass her boyfriend is?"
"What? You mean like a bat or something? Although, I doubt that if I hit her with that, she'll come running to you. She'll probably go to your dad who owns a hospital or my dad who runs a clinic and then come back to me."
"You're too confident with yourself." Ishida said even though he knew that half of what carrot top said was true especially the part of Orihime coming back to Ichigo and not running to him. Suddenly, Ichigo got up and organized his things, mostly papers.
"Wait, where do you think you're going?" Ishida asked Ichigo who wasn't paying any attention to him.
"Kurosaki, if you're planning to skip work again—"
"So? You said it yourself; I need to get her something so I'm going besides maybe that's why she invited me at her place tonight to celebrate that anniversary." He started to walk away.
"Wait, Ichigo! What if Yamamoto—"
"You can handle it, Uryuu!" He yelled as he slowly exited the office.
"Damn it, Kurosaki." Ishida whispered and sighed as he looked at the paperwork left on Ichigo's desk.
It's been a year since we started dating and I haven't even slept with her. Wow, what a new record. Ichigo thought to himself.
He walked as he eyed the stores in the streets while he contemplated even more, his hands at the back of his head.
What do I get her? Chocolates? Flowers? Stuffed toy—
Stuffed toy?
"Chappy!" she was grinning widely as she held the stuffed bunny tighter.
"Thanks a lot Ichigo." She looked at him with a soft smile. Her violet eyes looking straight at his brown ones.
Yup. It wasn't that hard to think of a gift for her. Anything with that dreaded bunny is enough to make her grin like a three year old but…
Orihime…
She's…
Different…
She's…
Not her…
He sighed and paused in front of a flower shop.
Flowers? I don't think it'll make her grin like a three year old though, but it would make her smile right?
"Look, this meeting has already been moved from last week to this week. Shouldn't it be enough for you to convince your parents to attend?" The skinny man said.
"Well, mom's busy so she can't come." The boy replied scratching the back of his head and the man sighed.
"Ken'ichi, I already explained the importance of this meeting right?"
"Yes."
"Did you tell that to your parents?"
The boy nodded. Ken'ichi's adviser sighed once again.
"Fine, I'll let it go again this time but next time I won't let it down this easily, your parents are the only one I haven't met yet, you know that Ken'ichi? I want to get to know you" The man said patting the boy's shoulder and Ken'ichi just nodded. He walked on the halls seeing some kids with their mother and father. He can't help but sigh. Time passed as the people slowly decreased to a very few and to almost none at all.
Well, Aunt Momo went out of town with that freak Toshiro, my babysitter had to take care of her mother who didn't just have a cold but a high fever, and mom needs to work which leaves Aunt Rangiku to pick me up. He sighed again at the thought as he approached the gates of the school, his hands behind his head but he stopped when he heard someone calling him.
"Oi! Kuchiki!"
"Kuchiki!"
Ken'ichi turned and saw a big kid standing and eyeing him like he's trash. The huge fat boy seemed to have a skinny minion who looks just as stupid as his boss.
"What do you want?" Ken'ichi said raising an eyebrow.
"Heard your parents didn't come, too bad." The fat boy said.
"So? What's it to you?" he started to scowl. The fat boy grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up. Ken'ichi was now standing on his toes.
"I don't like the way you look at me. Kid." The fat boy said but Ken'ichi didn't budge but he kept his scowl.
"Heh, heard his mom was a slut and got pregnant early. Maybe she's embarrassed of you that's why she didn't show up." The skinny minion said laughing.
"And maybe his dad got tired of his bitchy mom and left." The fat boy started to laugh. Ken'ichi wasn't still moving an inch.
"Aww… what are you gonna do now? Call mommy? I doubt she'll even come." The skinny minion strikes again and the fat boy replied "Yeah, must be hard being a son of a slu—" but before the boy could even finish his statement Ken'ichi kicked him in the stomach. Hard. The fat boy let go of Ken'ichi and fell down as he flinched in pain. But then Ken'ichi didn't see the punch coming from the skinny minion. He may be skinny but he knows how to punch. Ken'ichi was taken aback a step by the punch. One side of Ken'ichi's lips was bleeding. He took a deep breath and punched back the skinny kid and the kid fell down unconscious. Then, the fat boy's hand grabbed Ken'ichi's foot.
"Stupid brat!" the fat boy said still flinching in pain, then Ken'ichi kicked his hand away.
"Don't you ever talk about my mother that way, or I will kill you." He said venom clear in his tone.
"Hey kid, what do you think you're doing?" A fat man approached them.
"Dad…" The fat boy said still in pain.
"Do you know what you just did kid?" The fat man grabbed Ken'ichi by his shirt and lifted him up in the air. The boy struggled to break free.
"So? Aren't you gonna say sorry to my son, boy?" He said.
"Why should I? He deserved it." Ken'ichi said glaring at the man.
"I don't like the way you look at me. Kid." The man said. Yup, like father like son. The fat man rolled his hand to a fist to punch Ken'ichi but Ken'ichi just closed his eyes tight as he waited for the painful punch to arrive.
"Hey, you asshole. What do you think you're doing to that kid?"
Ken'ichi's eyes opened after hearing the familiar voice and he looked at the orange haired man approaching them.
"I'm disciplining this kid, what does it look like?" The fat man said.
"Is he your kid?"
"No, but his parents doesn't seem to know how to discipline their child."
"But that doesn't give you the right to hurt the kid." Ichigo was now standing in front of the man. "And as far as I heard from what this kid said, your child was the one who started it all by insulting this boy's mother. Now, wouldn't that make you an ass for a parent?" Ichigo scoffed.
"Why you son of a—" The fat man threw Ken'ichi to the side. Ichigo dropped the bouquet of roses he was holding and grabbed the arm of the man that was going to punch him. He kneed the guy in the stomach and the man cringed in pain but before he could even fall, Ichigo punched him in the face again. Then, the big fat man fell flat on the ground. Ichigo fixed his suit and approached Ken'ichi who was sitting and watching him fight with wide eyes. Ichigo held out his hand to the raven haired boy.
"Hey, you okay?" Ichigo asked.
"Ah." The boy said in reply looking away and standing up on his own without taking the hand of ichigo. Ichigo noticed the boy's bleeding lips.
"Hey, you got hit." Turning the boy's face gently to face him. "You should thank me you know, if I didn't come, you would have been beaten up into a pulp."
"Shouldn't you be worried about your flowers instead of me? I mean that fat man over there definitely ironed it for you." Ken'ichi said pointing at the fat man laying flat on the floor.
Realizing what the kid said Ichigo immediately ran to the person lying down.
"Shit!" was all that he said as he picked up the ruined bouquet of flowers.
"Damn it, look at what you did to my flowers? Do you know how long I had to wait for that old woman in the flower shop to finish arranging this?" Ichigo scowled as he talked to the unconscious man. He threw the flowers on top of the man."There! Use that at your funeral!" He said angrily.
"Hey mister, do you know a way to hide this?" Ken'ichi approached Ichigo and pointed at his bleeding and bruised lip. "You see my mom would freak if she sees it." Ichigo just nodded.
The two went inside a convenience store where they bought a Band-Aid for Ken'ichi's wound. Ichigo walked around the store hoping to find an improvised gift for Orihime and he saw that there was a sale for a certain box of chocolate. The box was shaped like a heart and it was tied by red ribbons.
I guess this should be fine because knowing Orihime she'll be happy with whatever I get her. With that thought in mind, he bought the chocolates.
The two sat on the bench in front of the convenience store which was beside the Ice cream store and Ken'ichi put the Band-aid on his wound.
"Hey, mister, where's your car?" Ken'ichi asked looking around
"It's still back at the office parking lot."
"Oh…"
"So… are you waiting for that dark blond haired girl from before?" Ichigo asked the little boy sitting beside him.
"Nope. I'm waiting for my Aunt Rangiku."
"Oh, then why not just wait for your Aunt to treat your wounds?"
"Well, she'll probably just use her magic." Ken'ichi said scratching the back of his head.
"Magic?" Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed.
"I mean she'll just go, 'pain, pain, fly away'." Ken'ichi said trying to imitate Rangiku.
Ichigo chuckled a little and Ken'ichi noticed the box that the carrot top was holding.
"What's that?" He pointed at the box.
"This? It's chocolate." Ichigo handed him the box and Ken'ichi examined it.
"You shouldn't give this on a date." Ken'ichi said which surprised the hell out of Ichigo.
"W-what do you mean?" Ichigo asked.
"Well, you bought this as the substitute for your ruined bouquet right? But I'm telling you, Mister, don't give it to a person that you're on a date with."
Ichigo scowled, "How old are you?"
"Seven." Ken'ichi stated plainly.
"Okay, what could a seven year old possibly know about dating?"
"Well, my mom used to date… a lot." Ken'ichi simply said and continued, "Her dates would go to our house and my aunt is the one who sets up the meetings."
"What's that got anything to do with this chocolate." Ichigo asked curiously as he eyed the boy holding the chocolate.
"Well, I remember seeing one of those men carrying one of these and my mom threw it at the man's face."
Ichigo gulped but think about the other possibilities, one was maybe the guy said something stupid, or maybe it was a different chocolate and the cover being the same was just a coincidence. Besides, he asked the old woman in the cashier if the chocolates were any good and she nodded. So there is nothing to worry about.
"Well, maybe it's a different chocolate." Ichigo said.
"Maybe."
"Anyway, why would your mom bring her dates at home? Where's your dad?" Ichigo asked the little kid as he took back the chocolate. The little boy took a deep breath.
"Well, I don't have a father."
"Is he still alive?"
"I don't know, all my mom said was that, dad was a jerk for leaving her. He may be dead for all she cared."
Ichigo had the 'WTF' look.
"So, you're probably mad at your dad too?" Ichigo looked at the boy to read his face.
"Yes and no."
"What do you mean?"
"Well I'm mad at him for hurting mom and no because I don't know the reason why he left so if he gave me a valid reason for leaving us then I guess I'll forgive him." The boy stated. It really amazed Ichigo how the kid answered something so maturely. They we're both looking back at the school gates which you could clearly see from sitting on the bench. Then they saw a woman with strawberry blond hair, a curvaceous figure and large chest approach the school gates. Ken'ichi stood up from his seat.
"Well, that's my aunt. I'll go now, see you later mister." Ken'ichi waved at Ichigo and he just waved back and nodded. He watched Ken'ichi approached his aunt and he could have sworn that he heard the woman say 'pain, pain, fly away' and a groaning Ken'ichi. He watched until they walked away completely. Ichigo then stood up and looked at his wrist watch that said 6:00pm.
It's almost time.
He came to her apartment just in time for their "dinner".
"Oh! Hey, you're right on time." Orihime beamed as she opened the door.
"Hey, happy anniversary." He said leaning down and pecking her on the cheek. She lightly blushed and looked down to hide it. The two both walkedt inside the apartment. Orihime's apartment wasn't that big. It was actually small and simple. For her, it was just right. There was a table and Ichigo took his seat. The table had a white table cloth and there was a candle in the middle as a centerpiece. The candle was lit up and it was held by an elegant pink glass candle holder. There were two wine glasses on top of the table and an opened wine bottle. Ichigo began to pour the wine on each glass while Orihime came to the kitchen to get the 'special' food she prepared herself.
She brought out two plates, each containing their dinner, and she put it down on the table. She started to eat hers and Ichigo was about to take a spoonful of the concoction so as not to disrespect the person who made it. She was watching him and she spoke.
"Oh, don't worry Ichigo, you'll like it. It's my specialty. It's made up of celery, peanut butter, olives, mayo…" she continued to spill the other ingredients of the said dish as she smiled and clapped her hands together. Ichigo felt like he lost his appetite and remembered the present he bought her. He brought it out and handed it to her.
"Oh I almost forgot, here…" he said as he gave her the chocolates.
"… and peanut butter, oh, wait I already said that, and—huh?" She paused when she saw Ichigo handing her the box of chocolates. She looked at the chocolates then at Ichigo's scowling face that was looking back at her. She slowly took the present. The box wasn't that big, it was about six inches or so.
"Um… thank you." She said smiling at Ichigo then she examined the heart shaped box. The scowling man on the other hand was watching her reaction carefully. She gasped after looking at the figure.
"Ichigo this is… Oh Ichigo!" She stood up from her seat and hugged Ichigo. She sat on his lap and held him tighter. Surprised at her reaction Ichigo just lightly put his arms around her.
"I-I can't believe you got me—thank you!" She pecked his lips for a second then hugged him again. Poor Ichigo, he was confused of what's going on so he tried to ask in an inconspicuous way so as to hide the fact that he didn't understand why his girlfriend was acting like that.
"You know what this is?" He asked her and she giggled at his question and rests her head on his shoulder.
"Of course I do, it's a magic chocolate that keeps you in the mood to you know…" She said her smile was obvious in her tone.
Mood for what? What do I know? Ichigo asked himself.
"… make love." She whispered on his ears and his eyes grew wide like plates in shock.
WHAT? WASN'T IT SUPPOSED TO BE JUST CHOCOLATES? He told himself.
"Well, I remember seeing one of those men carrying one of these and my mom threw it at the man's face."
Shit. So that's why the kid's mother did that.
She looked at his far out expression. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked worriedly.
"N-no, I'm fine." He replied trying to relax himself.
She smiled sweetly. "This is a really wonderful gift. Thank you." She kissed his neck.
Don't tell me the record's going to break tonight. Oh crap.
He took in a deep breath and sighed. The sound of his sigh made the woman look at him with a questioning look. "What's wrong?" She asked looking straight to his eyes.
"Hey… well, I just think that we're doing things a little quickly, I know I gave you the chocolates and all but don't you think it'll be better if we took things a little slowly?" He said brushing some of her hair behind her ear. She sighed and closed her eyes.
"You didn't mean to give me the chocolates, did you?" She asked then opened her eyes I again.
"I—um… It's not that. I just—"
She sighed again, "You didn't even know what they were did you?" She asked looking down.
"I—um… I'm sorry." He replied looking down as well. There was silence for a few seconds before Orihime spoke again.
"Well, I still appreciate the gift." She smiled and caressed his cheeks with her hand, "But what I don't understand is that, we've been dating for a year and… and—." She sighed again.
"Orihime, I just want you to understand that I don't want to take that one thing away from you because I want you to save that for the person that you will marry." Ichigo said looking at her then her face turned into a combination of worry and sadness.
"W-wait what I meant was—" Ichigo started.
"um… I think you should go." She whispered standing up from her seat on his lap.
"I-I'm Sorr—"
"You should go now, Ichigo." She whispered again not looking at him. They slowly walked to the front door of Orihime's apartment and she opened it. Ichigo got out and looked at her down expression.
"I'm really so—"
"Good night." She said closing the door. She locked it and leaned her back against it slowly sliding down to curl her body into a ball. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she held the box of chocolates close to her and hugged it tighter. On the other side of the door Ichigo put his palm on top of the door.
"I should have listened to the little brat and just got her a cookbook." He whispered then he walked away.
A/N: OH MY GOODNESS! This is definitely the longest chapter that I have written so as to celebrate me reaching a two digit chapter! HURRAY for me and the people who read and review this story. BTW, I guess you guys figured out that I made up the chocolate thing and I really don't know if it exists since a lot of people make crazy things everyday it might just be possible right? Wow, poor Orihime, well, I guess sometimes we just have to experience rejection right? *winks* and I'm actually feeling bad because I think she's going to experience it again and again in this story if you people continue your reviews and inspire me to keep on writing :bd. Again, sorry for the grammar errors and stuff because since it's the first time I've written something this long, it made my head spin to check the errors since I beta my own work. Oh! And I'm REALLY, REALLY HAPPY THANKS TO THE REVIEWS, it helps me make my day as I read it again and again. I love reading your reviews especially if they are your opinions or praises about the story so please keep on reading and reviewing if you want this story to continue. God bless everyone! ILY guys! :D
Oh! For these people:
KuroKuchiki: Aww… really? You think I write well? OMG! I'm really happy that you liked my work! I'll continue to do my best! Thanks!
Rukes: I know right? I just love those kinds of moments… It makes me want to have a kid in the house like a little brother or sister or something because I'm the youngest :P Thanks for reviewing.
Rose Zaki: I do hope you read and review more! Thank you!
Kuchiki Eris: Thanks for reading my story, well, I'm an ichiruki fan too as you can see. Oh well, I hope you keep on reading and reviewing as well.
Kayy-chan: Well, if you want to find out how they'll meet then you just have to keep on reading and reviewing of course. Thanks so much for your time.