A/N: I have a really good excuse for not updating in so long. Well my laptop spoilt and it took forever to get it fixed. I want to thank everyone who left a review. Saint Sita you should know your fic 'Hope is scary' made me cry. I love it. And moving on to the story.. oh right disclaimer: This fanfiction is fiction i do not own the hunky shinigami, plot etc etc.

Chapter 12

Orihime's POV

Sensei was angry with Ichigo and I, she was glaring at both of us, especially at me. We came at the end of the second period and apparently Kurosaki-kun had stormed out of her class without a word. I'd never done such a thing and I'd never shown up late to class so I wasn't sure why she was specifically angry at me. When the bell rang she walked out and for a second I was relieved that she didn't yell at us but then she came back in and said,

"Kurosaki Ichigo, Inoue Orihime, I want to see both of you during recess"

My face paled and I was freaking out. Oh no I was in trouble, what If i get suspended? I turned to Ichigo but he looked bored, when our eyes met he smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'don't worry about it' I gave him an incredulous look and turned to face the board. I couldn't concentrate on anything except the ticking clock. I'm not even sure why I'm so terrified of getting in trouble probably because I never, ever thought I would ever actually get in any sort of trouble. With all my fretting, time flew and the recess bell rang. While everyone chattered happily I whimpered miserably.

"Don't worry about it" Ichigo whispered in my ear. I turned to face him and all my worries spilled out of my mouth.

"How do I not worry? She hates me a-and what if she-" We were interrupted by Keigo-san, Mizuiro-san and even Ishida-kun.

"So where did you guys go off to?"

"Are you two a couple now?"

"Ichiiiigo! I knew you had a thing for her!"

"How far have you two gone?"

That last one was surprisingly from Chizuru-chan who looked furious, I had no idea why.

"You guys are so noisy, shut up" Ichigo said, his scowl perfectly in place.

"We have to get going! We can't leave Narumi-sensei waiting!" I quickly get up and sidestep them to run out of the classroom. Thankfully Kurosaki-kun was right behind me. It would be disastrous if we came late so I was jogging to the staff room whenever I look back I see Kurosaki-kun walking casually behind me.

"Hurry up slowpoke!" I yelled down the hallway at him, I was already at the door.

"You're overreacting! There's no need to rush!" he yelled back, his hands were in his pockets as if he was going out for a stroll!

"Get over here! Now!" I yelled frowning at him. When I blinked he was standing right beside me, grinning. I felt a bit silly because I really was overreacting but he was grinning so impishly I got the feeling he was messing with me on purpose.

"Thank you" I said, clearing my throat. I raised my hand up to knock but before I could Ichigo just slammed the door open, very loudly. Every teacher in the room turned to look at us. I think I shrunk in size but I didn't even have time to let my frantic heart recover because Kurosaki-kun walked right in and then looked back at me, "Hurry up" he whispered smiling mischievously, I feel like I'm being introduced to a new side of Ichigo and I don't know why I like it so much.

I followed in after him and we both walked to Narumi-sensei's table at the end of the room. She was glaring at us and crossing her arms.

"Good you're here" she said staring at both of us.

"Yeah so can you hurry this-" Ichigo started saying till I jumped in and cut him off.

"We're very sorry for coming late sensei, it won't happen again"

She narrowed her eyes at Kurosaki-kun and then turned to me,

"I'm especially disappointed in you, Orihime-chan."

"I-in me?"

"You were such a good student; I'd hate to see you fall into… the wrong uhmm crowd"

She said this and then gave Kurosaki-kun a disapproving glare, "I can overlook your tardiness since this is a first time but Ichigo-kun, I'm afraid you will have to be punished" she was looking at Kurosaki-kun with a smirk on her face. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to wipe the smug look off her face.

"Narumi-sensei we were both late to class because we were out together, I think we ought to be punished together"

She looked at me surprised, "Orihime-chan, I thought you were smarter than that. You shouldn't hang around with-"

"Who I was with shouldn't really matter, right sensei?"

She was downright outraged and to make matters worse I decided it was appropriate to hold Ichigo's hand right then and there. Her eyes fell to our held hands and then she sighed and shook her head.

"Very well then, you're both going to be in detention today. Meet Hitoshi-sensei after school"

She waved us off and we both walked away. I was still fuming at the way she spoke about Kurosaki-kun. After we had walked out of the staff room, I turned to Kurosaki-kun and he was smiling down at me, his eyes were clouded with an emotion I couldn't really identify, he gently brushed my hair to the side and gently tucked the strand behind my ear.

"w-what? Why are you looking at me like that?" I felt self-conscious when he looked at me like that.

"Nothing it's just- you're amazing do you know that?"

I blushed a hundred shades and turned away from his intense stare, he laughed loudly and we walked back to class. Luckily recess was over so we didn't have to answer the questions everyone was asking about us but we'd have to eventually. What do I tell them? I wondered, maybe Kurosaki-kun isn't comfortable telling people about us.

When the bell rang for the end of school I started packing up my bag when I heard Keigo interrogating Kurosaki-kun.

"So? Are you guys a thing?"

"What?"

"I mean did you and Orihime-san become an official item? Are you guys in the loop together? Like for real?"

"You're making no fucking sense" Ichigo said clearly confused.

"What Keigo is trying to ask is, are you and Inoue-san dating?" Ishida-kun said adjusting his glasses as he reached Kurosaki-kun's desk. I expected Ichigo to deny it or to tell them to mind their own business but my heart leapt up when he confirmed their suspicions.

"Yeah she's my girlfriend" he said without pause. I smiled and tried to make it less obvious that I was eavesdropping but then Tatsuki-chan came up to me and I smiled at her cheerfully.

"I'm so happy for you" she said ruffling my hair like she always does.

"Thanks Tatsuki-chan that means a lot" I said, my eyes got teary and it took effort to hold back the tears.

"Sheesh it's not like you're getting married or anything! Chill out Orihime!" she said laughing at me.

I wanted to walk home with Tatsuki-chan but I remembered I had to stay back for detention, the plus side was that I was going to be with Kurosaki-kun, just the thought made me smile as I waved goodbye to Tatsuki-chan who was going home.

I found Kurosaki-kun leaning against a wall in the hallway watching me as I walked towards him. His eyes didn't leave mine for a second and I got nervous that I'd trip and look stupid. Before I could start pondering the art of 'not tripping', Kurosaki-kun took two steps and reached me. He smiled and took my hand and led me down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"We're supposed to stay in class six for the detention" he said looking back at me.

"That's all we have to do?"

"Yeah, what did you think we'd do?" he chuckled lightly.

"I always thought detention would be scary and painful" I laughed, relieved that I was worrying for nothing. It turns out all we had to do was sit down quietly in the empty classroom. Since we could sit wherever we wanted I took the seat right beside Ichigo, I smiled when he pulled his chair closer to me.

"Ok all you guys have to do is shut up" the teacher in charge said to us, he then fell asleep and Kurosaki-kun turned to face me.

"I never thought I'd see the day you would be rude to a teacher" he said scratching his head while looking at me.

"Rude to a teacher? When was I- oh…her, I'm sorry but she deserved it! She was just being really mean to you!"

"Aww you're like my hero" he said touching his chest as if he was touched. I giggled and poked his arm, but he was still fanning himself like a maiden in distress.

"But seriously, she shouldn't have talked about you like that, it really bothered me" Ichigo looked at me but I was looking down at my lap, I wanted him to know I really didn't care what anyone thought about us together, I just wanted him.

"So I'll be your macho hero whenever anyone talks trash about you" I added in. He burst out laughing and pulled me towards him

"Come here you-" but Ichigo forgot to keep his voice low and he woke up the teacher, whose eyes were red. He seemed like a nice teacher before but he suddenly became scary when Ichigo woke him.

"ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS BE QUIET!" he yelled at us, even Ichigo looked scared. After that there was silence, and then sensei coughed and said, "Well now you two go meet the janitor tell him I sent you and he'll tell you what to do"

We walk-ran out of there without saying a thing and we didn't slow down till we were on another floor from him.

"Oh my gosh! he is so scary!" I whispered as if he could hear us.

"I know! Shit! He freaked me out!" Ichigo laughed loudly, his laughter boomed through the empty hallway and bounced off the walls. It sounded so lovely I wanted to hear it again.

The janitor was a short balding man who didn't even wait for Kurosaki-kun and I to say anything.

"Hitoshi-sensei sent you?" when we nodded he waved us to follow him. He led us outside to the school gardens.

"Here. you guys have to pull out the weeds"

"Isn't that the gardener's job?"

"We don't have a gardener"

"We have a gardening club" I said.

"Yeah but no matter how we try to sell it, no one's joining the club, so that leaves you two to take care of this. Meet me inside when you're done." He handed us two rakes.

"Oh and try not to take too long" he added before leaving us.

"Well we'd better get to work then" I said. I was actually excited, I loved gardening.

"You do that half and I'll do this half, don't try to take any of mine" I told him pointing at his section of the garden and then mine. He just shrugged and moved to where I'd pointed.

When I started to pull the rake across the soil, it was a lot harder than I expected. I had to scrape the soil using all the strength in my arms but the soil was hard and had a lot of pebbles. I wondered how anything would grow here. The weeds were resilient and in just two minutes my arms were aching as if they'd fall off. Panting I turned to look at Kurosaki-kun's progress, and my jaw dropped. He was almost done- no wait he just finished.

"Need any help?" he said wiping sweat from his brow.

"Uhmm no, I'm almost done" Of course I wasn't. I just started; I haven't even cleared a quarter.

"Ok then I'll just finish up my half" he said, I was a bit confused because he had finished his half already but he kept raking through, slowly finishing my part too I hid my smile and continued what I was doing. We were done in less than twenty minutes, we were both sweating even though I barely did anything. Kurosaki-kun had unbuttoned his school shirt showing his white vest underneath, I was trying to ogle him discreetly.

"Let's go tell that guy we're done" he said. He put his arm over my shoulder and we walked back inside, I tried not to look too flustered that I could see his bare chest and that I was so close to it.

The janitor was very surprised to hear that we'd finished, he came outside to look for himself. He looked at both of us and then smiled for the first time, "You two did very well" he said rubbing his hands together which was actually disturbing.

"Thank you" I said moving slightly closer to Kurosaki-kun.

"But you're not done yet" the Janitor said with a sly smile.

"What the hell? We just-"

"Come along you guys you're supposed to be here till 4:00 so there's more work to be done." He was already walking into the hallway. Ichigo's jaw flexed and he curled his fist into a ball, it was obvious the guy was just using us now but I didn't want Kurosaki-kun to get in any more trouble, this guy wasn't worth it. I tried to calm him down by rubbing his arm gently and thankfully he sighed and held my hand.

We followed the janitor inside and he gave us mops and told us we were supposed to mop the hallway.

"Isn't that your fucking job?" Ichigo irritated, asked him, he pushed the mops back into the janitors hands.

"Well now it yours" he pushed them into Ichigo's hands and walked away.

I jumped in because it looked like Ichigo was thinking about throwing the mops at him like a spear, "Uhmm Kurosaki-kun here, let's start over here" I grabbed one of the mops and pulled him away. It wouldn't take long to finish even with Ichigo's grumbling. He kept stopping to complain, "I think we should pour sand all over the hallway" or "We could just make him lick the floor, that would make it shine"

"It's not that bad Kurosaki-kun! Think about it like a game" I giggled softly.

"How does this count as a game?"

"Anything can be fun if you let it, just loosen up"

He grunted and kept mopping with that adorable pout still in place; I snuck up behind him and hugged him, he was just so cute. I wrapped my arms around his waist and nuzzled my face into the back of his neck, I had meant to make him laugh but Ichigo's back stiffened and he sucked in a quick breath. I quickly released my hold on him and laughed nervously, I went back to my spot and kept mopping avoiding Ichigo's eyes at all cost. Leave it to me to turn this awkward.

We walked back to the Janitor. I was nervously fiddling with my fingers.

"You guys done? Damn you work fast!" he said grinning widely.

"Yeah well" Ichigo shrugged and tossed him the mop.

"But it's not 4:00 yet"

"So? We're done!"

"Come on follow me, there's one last thing"

"What now!?" I burst out.

Both Ichigo and the Janitor turned to look at me, I blushed "Oh fine let's go" I turned away to hide my embarrassment and the Janitor led us upstairs. Ichigo didn't say anything and we just followed the janitor in silence. Suddenly his hand shot out of his pocket and he pulled me into a dark room, he was so fast I didn't even have time to see him open and then close the door.

"What are you-"

"Sshhh" he said in my ear, it was pitch black so I didn't know where we were but the room was as small as a closet. Ichigo's body was pressed tightly to my front; I could feel his breath fanning over my face. I swallowed down the lump that had formed in my throat.

When the sound of the janitor's footstep had faded Ichigo spoke again, "Sorry about that but uhmm- we don't have to do what that guy says anymore"

It actually took effort for me to remember how to talk and when I did reply my voice came as a nervous whisper "Yeah he was just using you"

"Me?" he chuckled and my whole body vibrated.

"Yeah you did everything he asked perfectly" I said, it was still dark in here so I couldn't see his face but I could tell he was smirking.

"Yeah you were horrible" he laughed and I joined him, he moved slightly closer and his arm pulled me towards him, my heart started racing but then his other arm reached past me towards something on the wall, a switch. The little closet flooded with light and I saw Kurosaki-kun smiling down at me. Now that I could see I was very aware of how close his face was to mine, he turned towards the door and opened it a little; he was peeking outside probably to make sure the coast was clear. Our bodies were pressed so close my face was directly in front of his neck. I could smell him and feel him and I felt the urge to tilt my head forward and kiss him.

"We'll sneak out-" he was saying but then I kissed his neck, it was just a peck, just a brush of my lips but Ichigo's head snapped towards me. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. I started thinking of a reasonable excuse for why I practically slobbered his neck but my mind was working ridiculously slowly though. Ichigo was still looking at me in surprise and my excuses weren't coming up so I just decided to look at anywhere else but Ichigo's questioning gaze.

After a full minute I couldn't take the awkward tension, "Sorry about- uhmm that" I said still not meeting his eyes. I wasn't looking at him.

"It-it's just that uhmm you have a-uhmm cute neck…"

There was a suffocating silence after that and I held my breath still not looking at him. But then he threw his head back and laughed, as beautiful as his laughter was it didn't exactly put my nerves at ease. I pouted and turned away from him. I was embarrassed enough without him laughing at me. He stopped laughing when I turned away.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" he still looked highly amused though. I folded my arms and turned away from him again.

"Inoue really I wasn't laughing at you." He put his hands on my shoulder and of course my stupid predictable heart skipped a beat. I wasn't really angry of course but I was enjoying Ichigo's attention.

"and besides you have a cute neck too"

"I do?" there were butterflies fluttering in my stomach the size of elephants.

"Yeah" he said then he bent down and kissed my neck. We looked at each other after that for almost an eternity; our faces were so close to each other I could feel his breath on my lips. I unconsciously licked my lips and Ichigo's eyes fell to my lips, his hand brushed my cheek and I leaned closer. The next thing I felt were Ichigo's lips crashing against mine. Ichigo's mouth tasted better than I'd imagined. There's a faint hint of mint on his tongue that is brushing against my lower lip. Without even hesitating I open my mouth and his tongue slides into mine. My entire body feels like it's been ignited. I have never felt like this before, I have no idea what I'm doing but I don't want to stop for a second. Ichigo's hand cupping my face lowers to my hips. Unsure of what to do with my hands, I put them on Ichigo's shoulders and try to pull his body even closer to mine. The little closet feels so hot but I don't care I feel absolutely incredible.

But then a gruff voice right outside the closet interrupts the perfect moment, "Where the hell did those damn kids run off to?" We jumped part from each other and froze. It was the Janitor he must have finally noticed we weren't following him. My cheeks were flushed and I was panting, I glanced at Ichigo and it made me happy to see he looked just as flustered as I did. We didn't say anything till the Janitor's footsteps faded down the hallway.

"I-I think uhhm we should…" Ichigo said his voice trailing off. I found my voice and replied although I wasn't sure if I was capable of making a comprehensible sentence.

"Uhmm yeah we should"

"We should uhmm-leave" he added scratching his head and opening the door for me.

"yeah"

The second we stepped out of the closet the janitor rounded the corner of the hallway and of course he spotted us. He pointed and dramatically yelled "Aha!" he narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he reached us.

"Where were you two?"

"Following you" Ichigo said in a very innocent voice.

"That's a lie boy! Don't play games with me!" he yelled.

"Well it doesn't matter because it's 4:15"

The janitor's face fell and he pursed his lips in annoyance. I jumped in before either of them could say anything,

"Well we'll be going home now, thank you for everything!" I said in an overly cheerful voice. I grabbed Ichigo's hand and pulled him down the hallway. We walked into the classroom where our bags were and sensei was still in there. He was sleeping but he jerked awake when we walked in.

"Right, you're leaving then? Good, good" he waved at us as we left with our bags.

As we walked out of the school there was a distance between us, and we both weren't saying anything.
When we reached the school gate neither of us said anything. I wanted to bring up the kiss but instead I piped up in a fake cheerful tone, "Well I'll see you tomorrow!" I waved before I turned away from him, walking fast in the direction of my home. But then Ichigo's voice stopped me.

"Inoue"

I spun around to face him and he walked up to me, his cheeks looked slightly flushed. When he reached me he held my face and leaned down to kiss me, a short quick brush compared to what we did in the closet but it made me smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow" he said smirking slightly.

Ichigo's POV

I watched Inoue's retreating back until she was completely out of sight. My heart was still racing and I felt breathless, I couldn't believe I kissed her, really kissed her. It was better than all my perverted dreams. I almost groaned just remembering the feeling of her soft lips pressed against mine.

As I walked towards my house it actually took effort to keep the goofy grin off my face but I let myself smile like an idiot. I just kissed the most beautiful girl in this world and in soul society, oh and she's also my girlfriend! I laughed loudly and covered my face to hide the redness painting my face. I felt so giddy and perfectly content at the same time, it's the best feeling in the world.

I passed my house because I still needed to burn up all the nervous energy burning up inside me. Walking around, everything looked more beautiful. I waved at a little girl playing with a balloon. She waved back but her mother pulled her away from me with a distrusting glare. I didn't care I waved at her too. I was still smiling but I couldn't stop and I'd given up trying to stop.

"Oh fuck please stop before anyone we know sees you"

Not even my hollow could put off my good mood; I smiled wider, 'Even you can't piss me off right now'

"Stop being such a-"

'I'm not listening to you'

"You don't have to act like-"

'I don't care what you think'

"AARGHH! Fine! Fuck! Fine! Pick flowers! Skip around for all I care but I'll kill your ass one of these days and you won't be smiling then!"

I laughed because his threats were just hilarious. I kept walking looking for more people to creep out with my smile but then my smile melted right of my face. I finally found the one person who could ruin my good mood and he was walking towards me with his head drooping down like a kicked puppy.

If I turn away now I could get away, he hasn't noticed me yet but I remember promising Inoue that I'd apologize. Besides a microscopic part of me feels bad for the way I acted. I cleared my throat bracing myself for a torturous encounter.

"Andou!"

He looked up at the sound of my voice calling him out. Instead of smiling like he usually would he sighed and scratched his head. I walked towards him and in a few steps I reached him. I ignored the fact that his eyes looked slightly red and puffy.

"Hey"

"What do you want? I'm really not in the mood to be laughed at right now"

"I'm not here to laugh at you"

He narrowed his eyes at me for a second then his shoulders relaxed. "So, what do you want then?"

"Listen about this morning-"

"Oh God please spare me. I don't want your pity" he spat at me. It was so unlike someone like Andou to have so much bitterness in his voice; it took me back for a second.

"I'm not fucking here to pity you. So shut up and let me finish"

He shrugged his shoulders and I went on speaking, trying my best not to hit him.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted this morning"

"And?"

"That's all. What the fuck do want a speech?"

He laughed and we continued walking together.

"I guess I should apologize too. I shouldn't have followed you guys in the mall and all that stuff I said, so yeah I'm sorry" I nodded and for a while there was silence as we walked.

"It's just I don't get it, why not me? Why you? No offense"

"Ouch. First of all, fuck you. Second of all, I don't get it either"

And that's true, for some unknown reason Inoue Orihime loved me. Me. And even though there may be countless others more worthy of her love I'd always try to be worthy in her eyes. Nothing else mattered to me.

"But she chose me. And I'm not letting her go."

We stopped walking and stared at each other for a long moment. He nodded and smiled a little. When he spoke again his voice was shaky.

"Well then I'll try to wish you guys the best…" he started walking away. I'm sure he turned away so that I wouldn't see him cry so I let him walk away and walked towards my own house.

A/N: There you have it. Leave a review and let me know what you guys think. Till next time. Bye!