Tis the end...

10. Two Weeks Later

Almost two weeks had passed since she had fallen on Ichigo and since then, he seemed to be acting oddly around her. When he would talk to her, he seemed more nervous around her. He had, on more than one occasion, threatened Chizuru when she had tried to err… 'hug' her. He seemed to get extra irritable if Ishida would talk to her. All in all, Ichigo was acting very strangely.

Sometimes she would even catch him staring at her. Sometimes he would quickly turn his head but a rare few times, he would let their eyes meet. Then he would give her a small smile that she would return bashfully before he would turn back towards the blackboard. She wondered at his change of behavior.

She glanced down at the crumpled note in her hand as she made her way down the hallway.

Meet me at the staircase after classes. Ichigo.

She wondered what he wanted to talk to her about. And why at that staircase? He had already apologized to her, so really what else was there to say?

Ichigo was already waiting for her. He sat on the last step of the staircase, his eyes studying the floor. He looked up at the sound of her footsteps, watching her as she approached him slowly. As she took the last few steps, he stood up before her.

He was standing close to her. She could make out the faint scent of his cologne from where she was standing. The look in his dark eyes made her stomach twist in nervous knots as she gave him a smile, "You wanted to see me Kurosaki-kun?"

He stared down at the object of his fantasies as she stood before him. Her hands clasped behind her back, her bright eyes looking up at him as she waited for him to speak. He could only nod, not trusting his voice at that moment as he looked at her. He couldn't believe what he was about to do…

"Inoue…I'm sorry."

She tilted her head slightly to the side, her lips twisting into a confused pout as she asked, "About what?"

"This."

He took one step forward, cupped her face with his hands and pressed his lips against hers in a gentle kiss. She was softer than he had imagined.

He pulled back slowly, his hands still framing her face as he looked at her. Her stormy eyes were wide open, a slight dusting of pink covered her cheeks and her lips were parted slightly in shock. He never found her more attractive than he did at that moment.

But her continuing silence was making him edgy and increasing his nervousness by the second. He was just about ready to start yelling at his Hollow for even suggesting such a ludicrous idea when Inoue hesitantly spoke.

"Kurosaki-kun…"

"Yeah?"

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders slowly as she pressed closer against him, her next words a whisper against his lips, "You're forgiven."

Lost in each other, neither of the two noticed that they were being watched from afar.

"Well that took Ichigo long enough." The potted plant commented.

"It's not like he's the brightest crayon in the box when it comes to romance." Dryly remarked the nearby classroom door.

"Well that's true. Nice to see that he can take the initiative for a change." Tittered the green plant.

The classroom door shook slightly as it sighed, "Well at least now I can hand over my guardian duties to Ichigo. He can deal with Chizuru now."

"She really isn't going to be happy about this development."

An indelicate snort came from the door, "You have a serious talent for understatement Rukia."

Ichigo lowered his lips down close to Inoue's ear as he whispered, "Do you think maybe we should tell them that we can hear them?"

Inoue giggled slightly, her cheeks glowing as she replied back just as softly, "Maybe we should and then maybe find somewhere more private."

Ichigo sighed, "With friends like these? I doubt such a place exists."

The End!

Well that was fun to write! I had fun with this one...I do hope that I get some more ideas soon. I rather like writing IchiHime!