Hello, lovely/handsome Reader-sama! Have you fared well?
I'm a little concerned about myself at the moment. It's a well known fact around my friends that I'm an individual who definitely values her sleep. Any given night, I hit the hay around nine. The only exceptions are if I'm out of the house and can't exactly pass out (like at the café or bookstore). At this moment, however, I'm going on about 30 hours of being awake and it worries me… I suffer from insomnia from time to time, but it's never been this extreme. I guess I'm going to have to find some way to make myself go to sleep :coughnyquilcough:
About Chapter Nine: I wasn't terribly pleased with it. I may or may not go back and re-write the thing…
Let's move forward!
--Spring-san
Disclaimer: … I'm very broke. I make no money whatsoever.
Chapter Ten- Tell Me What to Do
Bustling around her dorm room's small kitchen, Orihime attempted to mix a concoction while simultaneously reaching for several ingredients. She exhaled heavily, pausing in her manic stirring to brush her copper bangs back under the pastel pink bandana she had wrapped on her head. The counters were a mess, the petite girl noted to herself. A knocked over bag of flour was next to a pile of chopped peaches that Orihime wasn't quite pleased with.
Her roommate sat comfortably on their living room's recliner, a magazine held high up to her face. Hearing her friend's sigh, she closed the magazine and laid it on her lap, looking over the chair and raising one of her eyebrows. "You know, Orihime, that one, you don't HAVE to take any food, two, this party's way too short notice, and three, we don't have to go, right?"
Orihime only glanced at her for a moment before turning back to her work, a noticeable smile adorning her features. She grabbed an egg with her left hand and cracked it against the counter, letting its contents slide into the large bowl she was using. While resuming her stirring, a giggle managed to escape from her pink lips. "First of all, this party was hardly short notice! Asano-kun has been excited about it for a few weeks, now. I think it just--"
"Slipped our minds?" Tatsuki finished, picking her magazine back up and flipping through its pages. "Secondly?"
"Secondly," Orihime started again, "We promised we would go when it was first brought up!"
In a near snort, Tatsuki asked, "Even if that did happen, which I definitely don't remember, they won't remember! We could simply slip out of it and hang out here, right?"
"Certainly not! This is the last time we're going to see each other over break!" her friend exclaimed as she dumped an unknown spice into the batter from which, Tatsuki now assumed, a cake was supposed to appear. "Asano-kun kindly left a reminder by the door this morning. It should be sitting on the table…"
Tatsuki curiously leaned forward and picked up a white card, scoffing at a sloppily written "See you there!" and a poorly drawn cartoon of Keigo himself in the bottom right corner. What're we? In kindergarten?! she thought, tossing it back onto the table before leaning back again. "And you're baking that, because?"
"Tatsuki-chan should know that my tastes are… different compared to everyone else's! I'd feel better taking something I know I'll eat instead of having to decline whatever they have prepared." She stopped stirring and picked up a knife, starting to chop up strawberries. "Besides, I've made sure there's enough for everyone, if they want it."
"Ah…" Tatsuki simply said, immediately assuring herself that it was an unlikely possibility. "What is it?"
"A cake!"
"I figured as much. What kind?"
"Oh! Well… I've made regular cake batter." Alright, Tatsuki remarked mentally. "Added a bit of vanilla bean and almond extract, because they both offer great flavor." She actually sounds like the owner of a internationally renowned bakery. "I chopped some peaches as a topping, but I don't like the way they turned out… so I'm going to add strawberry instead." I think I'd actually eat this one! "But for kick--" Oh, no… "--I've thrown Cheyenne pepper into the batter and cream cheese icing!" Ugh… "And in between the layers of cake I'm going to spread some red bean paste!"
Involuntarily holding her newly-found, queasy stomach, Tatsuki donned a weary smile. Never mind… "Sounds good."
"You think so?" Orihime questioned, a bit of surprise in her tone.
"That cake will be very…" Tatsuki tried to find a proper word. "… It'll be very you."
"Aw, thank you, Tatsuki-chan! It's one of my newer creations! I'll have to tell you about the other ones!"
"A-ah! Just focus on your work for now!" she said quickly. "There'll be plenty of time for you to tell me about them, right?" My stomach can hardly handle that right now…
"Yes!" Orihime agreed brightly before a look of realization washed over her features. "Oh, but Tatsuki-chan's supposed to be leaving tomorrow morning for America, right?"
Tatsuki blinked. "Oh, that's right, huh!"
"Did you forget?!"
"Ha… yeah. There's been a lot going on lately."
"Oh, Tatsuki-chan'll have to rush to get everything ready tonight," she commented sadly.
Tatsuki turned in her chair once more to see a disappointed smile on Orihime's face. "That's okay, though," she said, her expression softening. "You'll tell me all about your new recipes to help pass the time while I'm packing, right?"
Orihime gazed at her friend, beaming at Tatsuki and chopping the strawberries thoughtlessly. "Yes, Tatsuki-chan! Of course! I have so many-- OUCH!" she shrieked, looking down at her hand.
Tatsuki threw her magazine aside and stood up immediately, rushing into the kitchen. Grabbing Orihime's hand, she quickly inspected her left hand to see a relatively deep cut on her left index finger. She frowned when she saw the delayed blood start to seep from the wound. Orihime blinked back her tears as Tatsuki dragged her over to the sink and began to run water over her finger.
"I told you to focus on your work. You were slicing them so carelessly!" the raven-headed girl chided tenderly, unable to conceal her obvious worry. "Hey, don't make that face."
She was referring to the clearly distraught expression that covered Orihime's countenance. Her eyes were brimming with transparent tears, cheeks flushed. "S-sorry, Tatsuki-chan…"
Tatsuki grinned softly. "For what? Don't be. Come on… let's get this cleaned up so you can finish your awesome cake, alright?"
The tomboy didn't wait for a response but cut off the sink and proceeded to pull Orihime in the direction of their restroom. Orihime nodded behind her, an equally soft smile on her face.
/0/0/
As they approached the door to Keigo and Mizuiro's dorm room, Orihime and Tatsuki could hear muffled commotion leaking through its corners. The two girls exchanged nervous glances before Orihime rapped on the door. After making their presence known, Orihime stood back, gripping on to a large gift bag filled with neatly wrapped gifts. Tatsuki, looking more than displeased, held onto the creation Orihime had made.
Finding themselves standing at the door longer than necessary, Orihime and Tatsuki looked at each other once more. Tatsuki handed the cake to Orihime and proceeded to fall into a fighting stance. She took a deep breath and kicked the door open furiously. As it swiftly swung open, Orihime peeked through the door to see Chizuru and Keigo staring at her, mouths agape. After passing the cake back to Tatsuki, she strode through the door with an all-too-delightful smile on her face.
"Sorry for scaring you, Asano-kun. Tatsuki-chan and I had already tried knocking," she said, walking into the living room area of his dorm and setting her bag down beside the table. She glanced around the room to see who all had decided to attend. Mizuiro, Keigo, and Chizuru sat comfortably around the table, playing what appeared to be a card game. While Chad acted as an onlooker in a near-by chair.
Noticing a small table covered in light snacks and punch, Orihime grabbed a glass and scooped some of the pink liquid into it. She watched Tatsuki take a seat next to Mizuiro as he handed her a few cards to join in the game, what ever it was that they were playing. She barely had time to register that another friend with orange hair was in the room as well, since she heard Tatsuki call her.
"Orihime!" she said loudly, motioning for her to come over. "You don't have to stand, you know."
"Yes! Orihime-chan should definitely come take a seat in my lap!" Chizuru interrupted, patting her lap for emphasis. "I'll take good care of you!"
Tatsuki promptly threw a pillow at her face, causing her to fall back slightly. "Shut up, you lesbian! There's plenty of room on this couch. She doesn't need or want to sit on your lap!"
"Oh, stop being so stingy! Let her decide what she wants to do!" she yelled back, removing the pillow from her face.
"Actually," Orihime chimed in, "I'm fine standing!" She walked over and stood next to the five of them with a nervous smile. The all shot her confused glances. "That's okay, right?"
"Yeah," Mizuiro answered with a small grin before he laid three cards down on the table. "I want to trade these out."
"WHAT?!" Keigo asked dramatically. "You can't do that! You've already switched out cards!"
"Last time I checked, I get to switch cards each time my turn comes around?"
"No, you don't!" Chizuru added in. "That would be cheating~!"
Tatsuki frowned. "What the hell are you two spouting? He does get to switch those out! Are your brains fried or something? The vacation getting to your head already?"
Chizuru and Keigo huffed indignantly, not quite feeling up to arguing with the karate champ. Keigo snatched the cards his friend had placed down and grudgingly handed him three new ones from the remainder of the deck. Pleased, Tatsuki nodded and the group studied their hands of cards.
After a few moments, Keigo's expression brightened and a smirk crept up his lips. "If you know what's good for you," he said confidently, "you'll throw your hand in now. I've got this in the bag!"
Chizuru grinned. "I don't think so. My hand is one of the more amazing combinations you can obtain."
"I don't know, guys. Mine's pretty decent," Mizuiro chimed.
With a mischievous smirk, Tatsuki suggested, "Perhaps we should just lay them down at the same time, hm? So that the three of you can lose?"
"Let's do it!" Keigo agreed. "One! Two! Three--!"
They all slammed their cards on the table and quickly began to examine each other's cards. Keigo's smile widened as he stood up, striking a victory pose. "I win! Woohoo!"
"No, you didn't," Mizuiro said calmly, pointing at a hand that he had overlooked.
"What?! Who does THAT belong to!?" Keigo cried indignantly, falling back into his seat.
"It's mine," a baritone voice replied.
The group turned slowly to look at Chad, who had his hand up as if to say, "here I am". Tatsuki smiled when she saw Chizuru and Keigo's mouths drop.
"When the hell did he even get dealt a hand?!" they both asked.
"Uhm…" Mizuiro started. "Before Tatsuki joined in?"
Tatsuki blinked before she started to laugh, causing the others to look at her incredulously. It didn't take long before Mizuiro joined in and Chad's half-hidden face produced a grin.
"What's so funny?" Keigo queried, dramatic tears streaming from his eyes.
"Your faces," Tatsuki answered instant. "You really should see them. In fact, hold that expression."
She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone, snapping a quick picture and holding it out for Chizuru and Keigo to see. Chizuru started to laugh instantly.
"How stupid you look!" she exclaimed.
"Oh?!" Keigo asked. "Perhaps you have failed to see your own idiotic expression?!"
"What?!"
Tatsuki chuckled for a moment before she turned her attention to her abnormally silent friend. Nudging her softly in her side and looking up at Orihime, Tatsuki asked worriedly, "Hey… you okay?"
"Huh?" she asked, snapping out of her thoughts. She smiled as brightly as she could once she noticed Tatsuki's worried expression. "Oh, I'm fine. Just spacing out." Glancing through the corner of her eyes she gazed at Ichigo. "Tatsuki-chan, I'll be back in a second, okay?" Tatsuki nodded and watched her friend take off.
Despite the lively atmosphere her classmates produced, Orihime couldn't help but notice the solemn, black cloud that surrounded a certain tangerine-headed boy. He leaned against a windowsill with crossed arms, staring blankly out onto the moonlit campus.
She approached him cautiously, tapping his shoulder and causing him to jump at the contact. Smiling nervously, she offered him the glass of punch that she had yet to drink from. He accepted it gingerly and with a smile, gazing down at his newest friend curiously as she proceeded to lean on the same windowsill next to him.
"I've been thinking, Kurosaki-kun," Orihime remarked with a small grin. "I was going to wait for you or Ishida-kun, because I have a feeling he knows, to tell me, but…"
Ichigo adjusted himself on one arm so that he could watch her find an appropriate way to say whatever she was trying to get out. "But?"
"…but I want to know why Abarai-kun and Kuchiki-san really stayed in the city."
His smile faltered as he laughed nervously. "What're you talking about, Inoue? Didn't Ishida tell you that they were going to stay in the city?"
"Of course he did," she answered quickly. "I just think it would be courteous for you to tell me the real reason, right?"
He averted his gaze from hers, finding himself staring out the window again. Orihime watched him patiently. Ichigo stood in turmoil, debating on whether or not he should just tell her.
"You know," Orihime remarked after a few minutes had passed between them, "that Kuchiki-san is my friend, as well." When he suddenly looked at her, she continued. "Although I haven't known her at all as long as you have, I still consider her to be one of my greatest friends. This matter is also troubling you, right, Kurosaki-kun? I don't… I don't want this worry fall all on your shoulders, because I also… think of you as one of my dearest friends."
She grinned brightly, looking into his overly-blinking eyes. This was not the time, he noted to himself, to notice the way the moonlight was playing against her features; Inoue was his friend, after all. Feeling his cheeks heat up, he placed a hand across the bridge of his nose as he looked out the window once more.
"I don't know why it's bothering me so much," he started. "I mean, it was a personal choice. Both of them decided that they would stay there. Who am I…? What right do I have to say that she can't stay there?"
Orihime blinked a few times. "What happened when she decided to stay?"
"Well… Ishida and I found them while we were… having a disagreement…"
/0/0/
"And then she just turned around and left. I guess I don't really have a right to decide that she didn't want to go."
After Ichigo finished his narration to the petite girl beside him, he looked at her as he waited for any kind of feedback she would offer. He felt himself gulp when he saw her usually peppy demeanor suddenly fly out of the window.
Her eyebrows knitted together and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're right, you know? Kuchiki-san made that decision on her own. Abarai-kun even made the choice to follow her. Since she's originally from there, she must have friends there. Her only remaining family is there. Do you REALLY think that you could EVER step in and throw that out the window, because you THINK she really didn't want to go? Do you truly believe that that would be the absolutely right thing to do?"
"I-Inoue, I--"
"Oh, Kurosaki-kun, I'm kidding," she interrupted him as her normal smile came back in an instant. "I'm certain that if anyone knows Kuchiki-san the best, it's not her brother-in-law or whatever friends she has there. It's you… and if you're certain that she was absolutely positively unhappy about leaving, then it must be true." She paused before she looked at him seriously. "…My only question is: What are you going to do?"
He stared at her, still trying to catch up from the sudden changes in her tones and rubbing the temples of his forehead. "What I'm going to do, huh?" She nodded. "I think… I'm going to go get her, and bring her back."
Orihime giggled as she heard his expected answer fall from his lips. "Oh, good! When do we leave?"
"As soon as--" he stopped. "We?"
"Yes?"
"So, you're going?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes," she said again, wondering where his confusion was stemming. "Like I said, I'm Kuchiki-san's friend as well. Besides, I have a gift for her and Abarai-kun, and they deserve to have a good Christmas, right?"
He grinned at her response. "I guess you're right."
"May I suggest another companion?" she asked suddenly, throwing him off guard.
"Who?!"
Pointing over her shoulder, Orihime directed Ichigo's attention to the solid Chad, who, much to the dismay of the others, was once again beating the group sitting around the table.
"Something tells me that security's going to be tight," she joked, not entirely expecting the endeavor to be terribly problematic. Ichigo nodded at the choice.
He placed one of his hands on her shoulder briefly, causing her to flush at the contact. "We'll leave tomorrow morning, alright? Meet us at the pond at seven-thirty. I don't know how long we're be gone, but we can't exactly take a lot of luggage…"
"I'll manage!" she reassured him.
He bobbed his head once more and walked towards the door, grabbing Chad's attention and motioning for him to follow. Chad placed his last winning hand down on the table, stood up, and promptly followed him out the door.
After a few moments, she approached the card game, tapping Tatsuki on the shoulder.
"Hey, Tatsuki-chan?"
"Yeah?" she blinked.
"Your helicopter flies out of here at six tomorrow morning."
"That early?!"
Orihime nodded. "We both have to wake up early in the morning, so I was think it was about time we turned in for the night."
Tatsuki's eyebrow arched. "You don't have to get up early for anything."
"Yes, I do! Not only do I have to send you off, I've decided to move my business trip up two days. I have a lot to accomplish over this vacation, after all."
"So… you want to leave?"
As Orihime nodded, Tatsuki thanked the heavens for an early escape. After being grabbed and pulled, Orihime could barely get out a "Your gifts are in the bag!" or hear the protesting screams over her classmates.
/0/0/
A rescue mission?! To save our favorite petite firecracker of a shinigami?! You knew it was coming.
I think I may write an omake for Chizuru, Keigo, and Mizuiro. We simply don't see enough of them, you know?
As usual: You get it by now. Mistakes = Sorry. Readers = Thanks so much (no, really)! I don't have the stamina to go and address every review this time, but there was a comment about not like Ichigo when he talks rough and I have to say that I totally, one hundred percent agree. I hate having to write a worked up Ichigo.
OH! And you people better be damned grateful right now. You guys got two chapters so close together and my Detective Conan and Speed Racer fics haven't gotten anything in quite a bit!
Fifteen of you just said, "Well, shut the hell up, Spring-san and go write your other fics then!"
I was kidding. I love you guys. Really, I do. :D
Chapter Eleven- The Thanks I Get
"So my dad knows we're leaving?!" the orange-headed teenager asked anxiously.
"Not… exactly?" he answered.
"What's that--?!"
"Just take the papers and go! You really are going to miss the next copter out of here, and then those papers won't be of any use."
Ichigo took another glance at the faux waiver one last time before he looked up at Urahara again. It didn't take the store owner long to figure out that there was still one last thing weighing on his mind.
"Something you'd like to ask?" he asked teasingly.
Ichigo's eye twitched as he attempted to keep his composure. "Yeah, actually…"
"Mhm?"
"I-- none of us know our way around that part of the city…" he mumbled.
"Oh, is that all?" he asked with a small chuckle. "You're in luck. A very good friend of mine is here visiting. I'm sure she wouldn't mind taki--"
"Oi, I'm back," and older woman's voice called from the back of the shop. "This place really is out in the middle of nowhere, huh? It took forever to just find some soda!"
"Well, speak of the devil!" Urahara exclaimed goofily.
The four teenagers heard her foot steps approaching and the clattering of junk that had been left on the floor. As she stuck her head out from the sliding screen, Urahara inwardly grinned when the woman's and the teenagers' faces fell into the same blank expression.
They looked at her with pure amazement. A gorgeous woman with a tawny complexion and impressively long black hair stared back at them. She blinked a couple of times before sending a wordless query at the shopkeeper.
"Guys," he said addressing the students, "this is Shihoin Yoruichi. She will be your guide during your trip."