Chapter 11: You're either trying to seduce me or get me sick
"Did you make sure she had enough breakfast?"
"Err yes?"
"Has she had lunch yet?"
"Uhmm no, she's taking a nap"
"She can't have a nap on an empty stomach she'll wake up cranky and-"
"Gin-san why don't you just go in and check on her yourself?" I said a bit weary with Gin's interrogation on every single thing Rangiku has been doing. He was crouched outside our room peeping into the keyhole to watch Rangiku sleeping. He didn't even shy away in embarrassment when I'd walked in on him as I came back from the library.
"You're clearly worried about her. Do I call her out here for you?" I offered with a smile but Gin's impassive expression didn't change, he just stared into the keyhole.
"Does it seem like I'm worried? Maybe I'm just curious" he says with a smirk. I almost roll my eyes at the obvious lie.
"She's been miserable these past few days! She wants to make things right. Please just go back to her?" I had stopped myself several times these past few days from interfering with Gin and Rangiku's issues but I couldn't sit by anymore.
"Go back to her huh?" Gin says putting his hands in his pockets as he stood up straightening his long legs out. "This is her punishment" he said opening his electric blue eyes he glanced at the keyhole one more time before he left. I stared at his retreating back and then at the keyhole, I sighed and entered the room, I woke Rangiku up and told her to eat some lunch.
"Is it true you and Ichigo were hooking up in the store room in the library?" Rangiku said the second I woke her up.
"What?! Where did you hear that?"
"And you didn't come out until you were both done?"
"That happened an hour ago and you were sleeping? How did you even hear that? And that's not what happened!" I said but Rangiku winked at me.
"The library store room? You're bad Orihime-chan, you sly fox." She said poking my ribs.
"I'm telling you that's not what happened!" There was a blush on my cheeks but Rangiku laughed loudly as she stood up.
"Come on, let's go eat something" she said. I was so glad to see her smiling again I didn't question her mysterious all knowing power.
Rangiku and I went out for lunch, it was rare for us to do something together, usually Gin and someone else made up our group. Rangiku's eyes wandered around the small restaurant uneasily.
"Are you looking for Gin?" I asked and she pouted as she poked at her plate of pasta.
"He hasn't come to see me once. He must be really mad" she said. I wondered to myself if I should mention that he's been spying on her and taking care of her from afar but then I decided I probably shouldn't get on Gin's bad side.
"Maybe he wants you to go after him" I said and Rangiku's eyes widen. She doesn't say anything else even while we walked back to our room. I was about to say something but she suddenly announced she had to go.
"Where are you going?!" I called after her even though I already knew. "Don't wait up! I'll be back late!" she yelled back at me as she ran. I was beyond relieved that her and Gin would hopefully make up. I didn't want to endure another interrogation from him. I walked back to the dorms alone but with a smile on my face. A smile that stayed on my face even after I'd put on my pajamas to go to bed.
I was woken the next morning by something poking my face. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter to somehow force myself back into sleep. Whatever was disturbing my sleep persisted with the poking and I groaned into my pillow.
"Rangiku, just go back to bed, it's so early" I mumbled clutching my pillow. I hear someone that is not Rangiku chuckle next to me. My eyes fly open and I stare at Ichigo in surprise, when I don't speak or move he pokes my cheek with his index finger and that's when I sit up quickly.
"Ichigo! What-what are you doing here?... Rangiku's not here" I say after a quick glance at Rangiku's empty bed. Ichigo sits next to me and shrugs.
"I'm not here to see Rangiku. I'm here to see you" he says in a smooth voice that I'm way to groggy to fully appreciate.
"Me?" I point at myself and Ichigo nods slowly. "Why? What's wrong?" I ask blinking a few times. Ichigo shrugs and stands up.
"Nothing's wrong I want to show you something. You're not still avoiding me are you?" he asks and I shake my head.
"Good, then come on. Get dressed" he says holding his hand out to me with a smile playing on the corner of his lips.
It takes me twenty minutes to get dressed. Ichigo waits outside the room while I get dressed, I can't help remembering the first time we met when I'd accidentally turned up naked in front of him and then tackled him onto my bed still naked. My cheeks heat up at the memory as I shove my feet into sandals quickly to meet Ichigo. He's standing leaning against the wall staring down at his black sneakers when I walk up to him. He looks up and smiles at me as he leads me down the hallway.
"Where are we going?" I ask Ichigo. He scowls as if deep in thought then he looks at me with a teasing smirk.
"It's a surprise" he says and my lips split into a wide smile, I love surprises especially any arranged by Ichigo.
"What kind of surprise? You should know it's not my birthday but if it's a surprise birthday party I'll play along and act surprised" I say Ichigo laughs quietly as he leads me out in the open air. It's still quite early and since it's a Saturday the campus outside is almost entirely empty. I follow Ichigo into what I recognize as Renji's car. Once we're both inside Ichigo starts the engine and drives out of the school grounds.
As he drives I keep asking him to give me clues about where we're going, he doesn't though. So I kept guessing random places and Ichigo either laughed or rolled his eyes at each random surprise I could think of. The atmosphere between us is comfortable and I high-five myself each time I make Ichigo laugh loudly. When I look outside the window I'm surprised that we've driven into a more grassy countryside area with trees on either side of the road. The scenery is enchanting, with the windows rolled down, the wind ruffles Ichigo's hair and he looks so good I almost can't tear my eyes away from his profile.
"Where are we going this looks-" my sentence is interrupted by a loud clanking sound from the engine of the car. My eyes widen when I notice some smoke seeping from the front of the car.
"Ugh fuck. Not now please" Ichigo mutters with a scowl.
"What's wrong? Is the car broken?" he grips the steering wheel tightly as the engine makes sputtering sounds.
"Noo! Damn it!" he curses as the car slows down and with one last mechanical groan the car stops altogether. Ichigo squeezes his eyes shut with his head tilted up.
"Are you praying? Cause I think we should go out and check the engine it's kind of smoking" I whisper and Ichigo looks at me with one eye. He unbuckles his seatbelt and jumps out of the car. He mumbles to himself the whole time and I can't help giggling.
"Great just great" he says a minute later after examining the engine with concentration. He nods to himself, deep in thought and scratches his chin examining the engine with a very professional look.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"I have no idea" he says with a grimace.
"What?"
"I don't know anything about fixing a car" he shrugs and I laugh.
"What do we do then? Do we call someone?"
"Yeah that's a good idea. Hold on let me-" he takes his phone out of his pocket and dials a number. I watch him scowl as he waits for the person to pick up.
"Renji. Listen I- what? No I don't have any food in my room stay out of there. Listen there's something wrong with the car" he started pacing in front of the car as he talked to Renji. I watched him quietly; somehow I didn't want the car to get fixed. This was exciting, being stranded here with Ichigo. I giggled under my breath and Ichigo glanced at me.
"I said I don't have any food- stay away from my room, seriously." He says before he hangs up and then walks back towards the car; he closed the hood and then sighed.
"I can get someone to fix it, there's a gas station not too far from here. I could-"
"Let's go together" I pitch in standing next to him.
"You wouldn't mind?"
"Of course not. This is exciting!" I laugh we slowly start walking side by side. Ichigo stuffs his hands into his jacket pocket, he's scowling of course but it's a different scowl. Something's bothering him and that's why it bothers me too. I bite my lip nervously; I want to ease his discomfort somehow.
"This is not going as planned" he says quietly staring at the road ahead as if picking a fight with it.
"No, really I'm fine with this. It's like an adventure! What could happen on this quest? Will we run into a herd of unicorns that will show us into their magical cave? Tune in to find out!" I ramble nervously. Ichigo smiles a bit.
"Well your 'date' with Grimmjow went smoothly without any possible run ins with unicorns" he says and my cheeks flush.
"It wasn't a date. I told you that already" I mumble quietly brushing my hair back that the wind tousled.
"Yeah still." He says frowning deeper, "I guess this is what I get for trying something flashy. That's so unlike me" he shakes his head. I open my mouth to protest, to tell him just spending the day with him is a treat for me.
"This was all Rukia's idea" he sighs and my feet stop moving me forward. Ichigo walks a few steps forward before he realizes I'm not following anymore. The wind has picked up and I'm grateful my face is covered by my hair.
"I think I'll wait in the car" I turn back and walk away from Ichigo. The excitement I'd felt earlier seems to have evaporated completely at the mention of Rukia. The fact that this unplanned adventure was her idea makes my throat constrict. Yup this feeling is definitely jealously.
His hands wrap around my wrist and he turns me back to him. I keep my face neutral when I look up at him. He doesn't say anything for a while and neither do I.
"I'm sorry this- this isn't going like I thought it would. I messed up right?" he says. I look down at my feet.
"Are you really doing all this because Rukia told you to?" I ask Ichigo, he frowns in confusion.
"No, that's-"
"Ichigo I- I wasn't going to say anything but-" my courage vanished just as I was finally going to ask him about whatever is between him and Rukia and I couldn't push out the words instead I laughed shakily. "Never mind, I'm going into the car it's getting really windy" I don't manage to take a single step away from him because he turns me to face him and grips my shoulders.
"Wait wait wait" he says looking at me carefully. "I asked you to come with me because I wanted to. I didn't do it because anyone told me to" he says.
"So- you and Rukia aren't like you know- fated to be together or something?" I mumble the embarrassing words I've been carrying around with me for ages. Ichigo's eyes widen, my cheeks redden and in the next second the sky dumps heavy wet drops of rain on us. Ichigo laughs and I yelp as the cold drops soak me instantly.
Ichigo holds my hand and we run towards the car, by the time we reach it we're both soaked. Ichigo unlocks the door and I jump into the backseat with Ichigo following behind me. He has a wide grin on his face when he slams the door shut.
"Why are you smiling so much?" I ask staring at him warily.
"You're cute" he says and my heart does a back flip.
"Where did that come from?" I squeeze the water from my hair and try not to faint from the way Ichigo is looking at me.
"You thought there was something between me and Rukia? Where did that idea come from?" he scooched closer to me, the raindrops drip from his hair and it somehow makes him look like he's sparkling.
"Ishida-kun said that Rukia has been with you through some rough times. She knows you better than I could ever hope to. You can talk to her about stuff you don't want to tell me. That's why-" as I said all this my fingers smooth over my wet skirt nervously. Ichigo isn't smiling anymore and he leans back on the seat. He stares out of the window with a scowl, his jaw clenches a few times.
"I think you'd like me better if you didn't know me so well" he says with a shaky breath.
"That's not true" I say moving closer to him. He eyes me over with a frown and then shrugs his jacket off his shoulders placing it on my shoulders. His jacket was just as wet as everything else but the thought behind the gesture was enough to warm me up. There's a silence between us and I don't try to break it first instead I reach for his hand and squeeze it with both of mine.
"I seriously fucking hate the rain." Ichigo says after a while, my eyes are glued to his face and the far-off look in his eyes. "my mum died on a day just like this one" I squeeze his hand but he's still frowning at the rain splattering against the window of the car.
"I've relived that day countless times in my nightmares but the outcome is always the same, and it was my fault" his voice is thick and I want to hold him tightly.
"Ichigo that's-" he shakes his head interrupting what I was about to say, he gives me a smile that doesn't thaw the sadness buried in his eyes.
"Rukia was my friend in middle school and in high school, I owe her a lot." He finishes and looks at me, I have so many more questions but I don't want to press him for them, it must be hard for him to tell anyone this. My chest tightens and I can't hold myself back anymore, I launch myself at Ichigo. My arms tightly wrap themselves around his neck. He sighs and rests his head on my crook of my neck.
"I wish I could change the weather for you, like the sun" I whisper, my fingers run into Ichigo's hair and he circles his arms around my waist, hugging me tighter to him.
"You already have, you're like my sun" he murmurs into my neck and I shiver, holding him impossibly tighter. I move my legs and straddle his laps. We're both wet and cold but this moment was burning through my veins with fiery heat. When he looks up into my eyes, the tenderness in his eyes knocks the breath out of me. No, really. I literally sneezed right then, straight into his face. Ichigo laughs and wipes his face.
"Excuse me! Oh no, I'm sorry" I'm absolutely mortified at myself, way to kill the romance Orihime.
"You're either trying to seduce me or get me sick" he says with a roguish grin. I cover my face with both hands to hide my embarrassment and Ichigo laughs louder. He hugs me to his chest and I feel the vibrations of his laughter.
"Stop laughing" I mumble into his shirt.
"But you're really going to catch a cold at this rate" he frowns as he looks down at me with concern, just like that he's moved from teasing playfulness to overprotective concern. I love it. He slowly lifts me and places me on the seat beside him so that he can lean forward towards the dashboard. He tries turning up the heat of the car and curses when it doesn't work.
"I strongly think you should take off your shirt" Ichigo says when he leans back on the seat beside me. He nods seriously but he can't hide the mischievous glint in his eyes.
"What? No way" I say despite the blush on my cheeks. Good job Orihime, girl power and all that. Be strong don't be swayed by those gorgeous brown eyes of his.
"It's wet you're going to catch a cold. I'm simply worried about you" he bats his eyes innocently and I laugh.
"Also your shirt is very see-through so I can see everything anyways" he points and my head snaps down to my white shirt and sure enough my pink bra is very visible through the wet shirt that clings to my chest like a second skin. I gasp and cover my chest quickly.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" I pull the clinging fabric and Ichigo tries and fails to stop himself from laughing.
"Sorry really, I just didn't know how to mention it, that's why I gave you the jacket" he says, the faint trace of a blush on his cheeks tells me he really was too embarrassed to point it out to me. He clears his throat and looks up at the roof of the car.
"You're cute" I'm smiling at him. He scoffs and looks away from me, the blush on his cheeks still very present.
"So what was the surprise?" I ask him, he's looking up at the roof of the car intensely. With an uncharacteristic burst of courage I take off my wet shirt. Ichigo glances at me and the look he gives me makes my cheeks heat up.
"What?" he asks absent mindedly as his eyes hungrily examine my exposed skin.
"The surprise. What was the surprise?"
"Oh that, it was supposed to be a picnic but I just realized I forgot the food. Pretty sure Renji ate it" he said his eyes tearing away from my chest to give me a smile. Behind him the sun shines through the window.
"It's stopped raining" I say and Ichigo looks out of the window behind him where the sun was fighting off the last of the grey clouds. My eyes wander back to Ichigo, to me he was brighter than the sun.
I loved him, I realized.
AN: So thank you a billion to every one of you that's reviewed! I'm so happy and so grateful! I love you lots! I'm not going to make empty promises about fast updates but i can say this... the next chapter will be up 'soon'