Ferris Wheel
Disclaimer: If Bleach were mine then fangirls would stomp on me because I would attempt to keep Hitsugaya. Ishida, Ichimaru, Renji and all my fav. bishies for myself. ahem, yes, so Bleach is not mine.
Ishida sat quietly in his seat and contemplated the days before.
You must never associate with shinigami ever again
Yes, Father.
Anytime Ishida had seen Ichigo, Sado, or Orihime, he had discreetly slipped out the room or went to a seat as far as possible from them. He knew in order to have his power again he would have to obey his father.
You are simply doing what Quincies have done forever.
Continue to hate shinigami and hold a useless grudge for centuries?
Ishida continued to immerse himself in his thoughts even as he left the classroom when the bell rang.
Once class had gotten out, Ishida quietly walked home by himself. Well he did until he heard the soft but quick footsteps of another person.
"Ishida-kun! Ishida-kun! Wait up!"
Inoue
Ishida gave Orihime a small nod of recognition and slowed his pace for her to catch up.
"Ishida-kun walks so fast he should be in those marathons races!" As usual, Orihime's large imagination was running wild.
"Did you need something Inoue-san?" Ishida asked carefully.
Orihime's usual cheerful face left and she looked at him with concern.
"You never sit with me, Ichigo, and Sado anymore" her face became even more downhearted and Ishida thought his heart might break inside.
"I'm sorry, Ishida-kun if I-" Orihime smiled a small sad smile.
"Don't say that"
Orihime glanced at him in surprise.
"Inoue-san, you have done nothing wrong. It is not your fault"
Ishida's voice was almost hollow and seemed almost regretful.
Ishida-kun seems so sad, I should cheer him up.
Orihime suddenly smiled and quickly steered Ishida across the street and opposite of the way to his house.
Ishida blinked.
"Inoue-san? Where are we going?"
" To the fair! It only comes once a year and today is the last day! We can go on the carousel, eat cotton candy, and drive bumper cars!"
Ishida allowed Orihime to steer him towards the fair.
Ishida smiled inwardly at Inoue as he watched her wide eyes joyfully scanning everything present and reporting it to him.
"Ishida-kun! Ishida-kun! Look at the giant bear! Do you think it can speak Japanese!"
Orihime pointed wildly to a man dressed in a brown fuzzy bear suit that was handing out balloons to children.
If anyone who did not know Ishida and Orihime saw them at that moment, they would undoubtedly think that Orihime was bothering Ishida to no end judging from his cold appearance. Yet even if a person did not know them after watching for a bit, they would carefully see the way Ishida's hard obsidian eyes always softened the smallest amount and the iciness in his voice melted when anything regarded Orihime.
"I'm sure the bear can speak Japanese Inoue-san, or he might not be able to converse so easily with children"
"Of course, Ishida-kun! You know everything about this stuff!" Orihime smiled widely and Ishida's heart skipped a beat.
Orihime's attention had shifted to something else much to Ishida's inner amusement.
"wowowowow! Let's go on the Ferris Wheel!"
Orihime promptly dragged Ishida across the fair to ride on the ferris wheel.
Much to Ishida's discomfort and Orihime's joy, each seat of the ferris wheel fit only two people.
"Ah…. Inoue-san, are you sure you don't mind?"
"Of course not! If we want to make the Ferris wheel swing back and forth then two people pushing will be better than one!"
Orihime's scattered logic won over Ishida as the bar on the ferrris wheel clamped down and began moving.
The Ferris Wheel stopped just as Orihime and Ishida's seat was at the top.
"Excuse me, but is there a problem with the Ferris Wheel?" Ishida's voice hinted something dastardly for the man in charge of the Ferris Wheel if he did not give a good answer to Ishida.
"Don't worry just a small mechanical difficulty, you'll be down in a few minutes"
Ishida turned and reported this to Orihime.
"Thank you Ishida-kun! If you hadn't told me I would have thought they decided to keep us up here forever!"
They sat quietly for a few minutes then Ishida spoke.
"I am sorry Inoue-san about avoiding you"
"Don't say that!" Orihime's lip puffed out and eyebrows furrowing with fake anger, and Ishida smiled his quiet but special smile that was saved only for her because he knew she had used his own words against him.
"It's okay if you don't want to be friends with us, I know me and Sado aren't as strong as you and Ichigo….." Orihime quietly looked out at something in the horizon.
"No it's not that, I don't think I'd be able to help you anymore….. I have lost my powers as a Quincy….I am very sorry Inoue-san, I have promised to protect you but I cannot uphold my promise any longer because I am useless now," He felt ashamed for giving himself away so easily.
Ishida was surprised when Orihime put a delicate finger on his lips.
"You're not allowed to say that word remember? You've already protected me a lot Ishida-kun, and you're still very powerful even without your powers as a Quincy" Orihime smiled sweetly at him.
"Thank you Inoue-san"
Ishida quietly looked out towards the skyscrapers from the city that seemed tiny from their view on the top of the Ferris Wheel. He suddenly looked down and noticed that Orihime had taken his hand and intertwined it with her own. Once again he smiled that special smile that was saved solely for Orihime and looked at her carefully.
"Thank you Inoue"
Yes yes I know the cheesiness, the clichés and everything. It is kind of cute right?
Oops, after i reread it, I just realized that some of my timeline of events is off. Even though Orihime knows that Ishida has lost his powers as a Quincy really early and stuff after returning and mentions it BEFORE Ishida talks to his dad I've flipped it. sorry about that!