My second-or-so favorite couple of Bleach.

A big thank-you to all reviewers so far! I love reading all your reviews :-)

Review if you like. No flames, please.

AI NO KANSHOKU
Ishida x Orihime

He was studying, true, but that was kind of difficult when you had the object of your affection dashing all across the house, in your pajamas, trying to please you with food and cleaning your room and doing all sorts of other girly things.

"Ishida-kun…you're so tidy! I can't find anything else to clean."

"Inoue-san, you don't have to keep doing that. I can clean my room on my own. I didn't bring you here to be my housekeeper."

"I know," she smiled at him, "but it's okay. I feel bad taking your pajamas just because my uniform got wet. But they're so warm, and comfy!" She smiled and hugged herself, figuring that since he slept in these it was the same as hugging him.

Ishida felt a reluctant smile fall on his face at the sight she made. It was always like this; that she was the only person who could make him smile. "Don't you want to study too? Exams are this week."

"You're too smart to place anything less than first, Ishida-kun, without even studying."

"Maybe, but studying at least justifies the work I put into getting good grades. Kurosaki would kill me if I best him without lifting a book."

Outside, the rain continued to fall, flooding all of the streets outside and settling in a dark, gray gloom. It was only 4:00 p.m. after school, but Ishida had turned on all his house lights. Without them, he and Orihime would have been sitting in pitch darkness; that's how dark it was for afternoon.

"You know, this is the first time I've been to your house!" Orihime commented cheerfully, as she sat down across from him at the table. Pulling out her books from her bag, she added, "It's just like how I pictured it to be."

"What? Unfeeling and overly-organized?"

"No, of course not! You know, it actually has a kind of homey feel to it, like you've lived here for a long time. Tatsuki-chan says that about my house too, even though I don't have a lot of furniture – but that's only because I never threw out anything that belonged to my brother."

"The one who...?"

"Yes. It's his things that make my house my home." She smiled at some distant memory, and Ishida wondered if it was jealousy that pricked his heart then, over her thinking fondly about another man (even should it be her brother), or if it was sadness, for his feelings often matched her own.

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't be! At least I got to see him one more time before he went to Soul Society, and besides, he's better there than living as a Hollow here."

Ishida could think of nothing to say to that, so he continued on studying. Reading through several pages of texts and taking notes intently, several minutes passed before he finally realized that Orihime was not studying like he was. Rather, she was watching him as he did, propping her arms up on the table to rest her head.

"Inoue-san…you don't want to study?"

"No, not really. It's too gloomy out. And you know, Ishida-kun…you can call me Orihime."

"But, Inoue-san…"

"What? You're my boyfriend, right?" she said defiantly, but blushing as she did so. "That gives you a good reason to call me by my first name. "Inoue-san" sounds like you just met me and we're strangers." She crawled over to his side until she was right next to him. "Please, Ishida-kun? It would make me happy."

Damn, he could never refuse her anything.

"All right…Orihime."

"Yay! Ishida-kun said it!" she cheered.

He shrugged, and resumed his note-taking with a bit of a smile on his face.

"Hey, Ishida-kun…you know, that day you confessed to me that you liked me, what made you do that?" Orihime asked, blinking at him cutely. "I've always wondered, since it took me totally by surprise and everything."

Again, Ishida shrugged. He thought for a minute before replying, "Well…if you really must know, that day Kurosaki came to me for some love advice."

"Love advice?"

"What do you think is the only reason Kurosaki and Kuchiki-san are together right now?" Ishida snorted, closing his book deftly. The light flickered once, but it was so minute, neither took much notice. "Everything's that's happened between them is all due to yours truly."

"Oh?"

"Damn Kurosaki. He's exceedingly stupid when it comes to Kuchiki-san."

"And this has to do with your confession to me because…?"

"Well, since I told him to take the initiative and tell Kuchiki-san how he felt, I thought that it was about time I listen to my own words and act upon them."

Orihime gave him a big grin. "And I'm so glad that you did, Ishida-kun!" she said, giving him a quick hug.

"If you don't mind me asking, when did you get over Kurosaki?"

"…I…I don't really know. Maybe when I realized that no matter what, he was fighting for Kuchiki-san in Soul Society, and no other. Kurosaki-kun never really looked my way in the way I wanted to…the way you do," she added with a deep blush. "So, that time after he finished fighting with Kuchiki Byakuya-san, it was really clear. My feelings, I mean."

"Hm."

A flash of thunder cracked across the sky then, illuminating the room in a flash of white light. The wind blew harder than ever, a sheet of rain pelting the roof even harder, and again the light flickered – longer this time. And, as Ishida had expected, after another three flickers or so, the lights went out.

"Oh, this is great. Now I won't be able to study at all," Ishida said, putting his pencil down while irritation laced his voice. Orihime, next to him, was silent, and when he looked at her he saw that she was looking out the window. The darkness took away none of the inexplicable excitement he saw then on her face.

"Hey, Ishida-kun, I know what we can do!" Orihime said suddenly, pulling him to his feet, causing him to nearly tip over the table in her haste. Some very brief (and very male) thoughts flew past his mind then, but his girlfriend pulled him to the door and unlocked it as quickly as she'd pulled him up.

"Eh…Inoue-san? Where are we going?" Ishida asked, curious and a bit mortified that she wanted to go out somewhere in this mock-typhoon.

"Not Inoue-san! Orihime!" she pouted. "And I want to go outside and play in the rain!"

"…play in the rain?"

"Uh-huh! It's not so often that it rains this hard. Come on! It'll be fun, I promise!" She pulled open the door, pulling Ishida with her.

Ishida didn't even have time to mention how the rain would have made her – his – pajamas transparent. But since he had a mind to perceive these things, he grabbed his school coat on the way out, the piece of clothing closest to the door.

Soon, they were out in the rain. It was wet and stinging and freezing and Ishida didn't like it at all; Orihime, however, looked like she was having the time of her life, whirling around in puddles larger than cars and embracing her arms up to the sky.

"Here, put this on," Ishida said. He came up to her to gently place his coat around her shoulders.

"Oh, thank you, but I'm not cold."

"It's not for the cold," Ishida countered, blushing pink. Orihime didn't seem to get the hint, but she took the coat anyway.

"You know, Ishida-kun, rain has a strange double meaning," she said, looking up at the sky. "It signifies purification and cleansing in so many symbolic texts, but yet, always in the dramatic or agonizing part of a story, it always begins to rain. Purity on one hand, agony on the other. Don't you think that's funny?"

He just looked at her, wondering what she was talking about.

"I normally don't like the rain. It reminds me of too many sad times," she said, turning to him as she lowered her arms, eyes gentle. "That's one side of the rain."

"…"

"Like the time Kurosaki-kun almost lost his life…the day I lost my brother…the day I learned he'd been turned into a Hollow…all these times it was raining."

"Inoue-san…?"

She didn't even change his iteration of her name then.

"But, you know, this time, I want the rain to be the opposite of bad memories and of a painful life," she smiled, lifting her face up to the sky even as rain soaked her. "I don't want it to remind me of death, or of suffering or the bad memories. This time, I want it to purify me, and I want to be with you."

Suddenly Ishida was so warm, like the fire of a meaningful existence had been lit in his chest, spreading through his blood and warming him to the tips of his fingers. It was strange, because every single part of him was drenched in water – and indeed, his glasses were blurry from all the rain droplets. But in that single instant, the warmth in his heart dominated the physical cold.

"Inoue-san…"

She smiled at him resignedly.

"I mean, Orihime."

Suddenly he wanted to make sure that she was purified…that the rain's purpose would not be the core of a legion of terrible experiences. This was the one time he had to make up for all the rest.

Ishida slowly walked over to her, taking her hand and bending to kiss it. Her hair was practically plastered to her face, the rain falling through sections in small rivers, but he pushed these off her forehead and cheeks to tuck behind her ear.

He smiled slightly. "Is this why you dragged me out in this pouring rain?"

"Pretty much," she smiled back.

"…well, I'm glad it's raining then."

The rain washes away sin. It washes away doubts and fallacies and brings with it the promise of that inconceivable rainbow, the beauty after the rain has cleaned away the deep, despairing wounds of living.

They were both absolutely drenched. But Ishida embraced her, wishing to the rain to purge all his prior transgressions as much as he wished the rain would free Orihime.

"Ishida-kun?"

"Yes, Orihime?"

"Kiss me."

He did so, and the chains fell away. They were free.

owari