Bleach: Ichigo X Tatsuki
Chapter 2

Tatsuki stood silently in the hallway, waiting for her friends to arrive at school. She blushed lightly, remembering the day she broke down in front of Ichigo, showing him her concern and sobbing like an infant. She remembered holding onto his shirt, feeling his strength unwavering despite holding not just himself but her as well. She held out her hand, remembering clinging to him as though her life depended on it only a few days ago.

As she stood, silently lost in thought, Orihime quickly ran up to her, a cheerful smile written across her face.

"Tatsuki!" she yelled, waving her hand at her best friend as she ran toward her, breaking the brunette from her trance.

"Oh. Hey Orihime," she said, casually, stepping away from the wall. "What's up? Did you get your homework done?"

"I sure did," the auburn haired beauty said, sticking out her tongue and smiling. "Sorry I'm so late. I have just been so busy trying to get caught up with schoolwork from all the time that I missed."

"Alright," Tatsuki said, turning her back and looking at Orihime over her shoulder. "We're gonna be late so we should probably get going."

"But where's Ichigo?" Orihime asked, her smile fading as she stared at Tatsuki before beginning to look around for him.

"I dunno," Tatsuki said, trying to act like usual and putting a frown on as she scratched the back of her head, trying not to let Orihime see how worried she was about him. "Who cares where that orange-haired dumbass is? We have to get to class."

After they entered the classroom and the bell rang, Ichigo walked into the classroom, casually walking into the back door and going to his seat. He sat down and the teacher looked quizzically at him but decided she would lecture him and question him after class and began roll call. He had his usual annoyed look on his face as the day progressed and Tatsuki could tell he was thinking about something and she could probably guess what it was, so she decided to break the tension after their first class was over.

"Hey Ichigo," she said, walking up to him as he was about to stand up. "Did you bring that manga that I let you borrow a couple weeks ago?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, annoyed, as he sat back down and rifled through his bag. As he hit something in the bag and pulled it out, he froze and Tatsuki couldn't tell what it was from behind him but she decided to continue acting like nothing was wrong.

"What? Did you lose it or something?" she asked, leaning over his shoulder, her face only inches from his.

"No," he said, the annoyance pushing aside whatever he'd been thinking about before and he replaced whatever item he'd had back into his bag before withdrawing the manga and handing it to her. "Here you go. Just as promised."

Tatsuki took the manga and stood up straight, but she couldn't help but stare at him, worry written on her tomboyish features momentarily before she walked away and allowed him to go talk to the teacher. She heard him explaining to the teacher about running into some stranger today that had been robbed and having beaten the robber up and allowing the man to get his belongings back from the guy. He apologized to her for being late and Tatsuki took that as a signal to leave before she was caught eavesdropping.

As she walked to the cafeteria, she saw Orihime running off, probably after some hollow or something. A pang of worry struck her as she watched her best friend running off to fight when she could not. As she was in the midst of these thoughts, however, she sensed someone approaching her from behind and she quickly turned and grabbed the person by the shirt and bringing her arm back, ready to punch him, out of reflex.

"What the hell, Tatsuki?!" came Ichigo's slightly strangled response as he looked down at her.

Her eyes widened and she released her hold on him.

"I'm so sorry," she said, holding her hands up at about shoulder height to show she'd relinquished her previous hostility. "It was just... reflexes... you know?"

"It's fine," he said, straightening out his shirt and brushing himself off. "Why were you just standing here?"

"I just..." Tatsuki began, unsure what to say but not wanting to tell the truth.

"Orihime will be fine," Ichigo replied, reading her mind but not looking at her again. He stared at Orihime himself, watching her running off to help whoever was battling the hollow and feeling the familiar pain in his heart as he desired to protect her, his family and all of his other friends. He felt his hand instinctively reach back and grabbing his substitute soul reaper badge and withdraw the item from his bag. He brought the badge up in his hands and stared at the pathetic little piece of wood that was, now, useless to him.

"Ichigo...?" he heard from behind him and turned his head back to see Tatsuki looking at him with concern. He quickly pocketed the badge and lifted his bag higher onto his shoulder before turning around and walking past her with a slight wave.

"I'm fine," he said as he walked off, trying to appear casual. "Anyway, we should be getting back."

Tatsuki frowned, concernedly, at Ichigo as he continued to walked on.

"Ichigo..." she thought with a sad glance down, before she followed him to the classroom silently.

*************BLEACH*********************

Shortly after class was over, Tatsuki walked over to Orihime with a slight smile.

"Hey Orihime!" she said as she shouldered her bag. "Ready to walk home?"

"Sure, Tatsuki!" the red-head answered with a big smile. She began to pack her bag with her books, mumbling something to herself about what she was going to make herself for dinner that night and Tatsuki grimaced as she heard the odd combination.

As the two began to walk out of the class, Tatsuki noticed Ichigo still sitting in his seat, staring out the window, his eyes sorrowful and his thoughts drifting to far off places. She felt his mind wandering to being a soul reaper and how he'd returned to his mundane life. As she stared at him for a moment, she felt uncertainty rise in her about whether or not to invite the strawberry to walk with them and help him get his mind off of things. She wanted to comfort him but, after so many years of distance between the two of them, she felt as though it were not her place. The uncertainty of the decision hurt her.

Suddenly, she felt her legs carrying her over to his desk and, before she could think clearly, she'd grabbed his bag and slung it over her free shoulder and turned to the door, bolting away while Ichigo sat in his chair, astonished. After his mind finally processed that she'd stolen his things, he bolted out of the classroom after her and Orihime, following them down the streets of Karakura until they all reached a four way intersection that was where they would all break away and go to their separate homes.

"You know, Ichigo," Tatsuki said with a smile as he grabbed his bag from the ground where she'd set it. "If you wanted to walk us home, you could've asked."

"Wha-?!" Ichigo said, incredulously. "You stole my stuff!"

Tatsuki stuck her tongue out and pulled one of her eyelids down as she mocked him.

"Seems like you've gotten a lot slower since the last time we raced," she said, not acknowledging what he'd said. "What do you think, Orihime?"

"Jeez, Tatsuki," she replied, gasping for breath as her long red hair fell before her. "I thought... I was going... to DIE!"

Tatsuki laughed out loud as the two panted. She missed having fun with them and, in her opinion, Ichigo's powers could stay gone and that wouldn't bother her one bit. In fact, if Orihime didn't have powers, then it would be absolutely perfect. She'd have both of them to hang out with and be happy with forever. As she thought these things, a sort of sadness swept over her but she hid it with her smile.

"No," she thought. "They're here now. Make the most of that."

"So, you guys," she said after they caught their breath and as Ichigo was about to walk away. "Why don't both of you come over to my place for dinner? We can hang out and play video games or whatever until dinner!"

Ichigo eyed the brunette suspiciously, his eyes and pupils narrowing as he began to look her over. As he did this, Orihime began to examine her friend as well, checking her head for injuries or anything, even lifting her arms and putting her lips to her forehead to check for a temperature.

"Tatsuki?" Orihime said, concerned. "You feeling alright? I mean, you never invite people to your place. You always insist that when we hang out, we go to my apartment."

"I know," Tatsuki said, brushing both of them off and putting her hands on her hips, giving them both a deep frown. "Can't I invite my friends to my place if I want to? I mean, it is MY place!"

"I mean, we haven't hung out since..." Ichigo began with a smile but it faded when he approached the end of his sentence, the sad memory overtaking the situation.

The silence grew, awkwardly, for a few minutes.

"So are you guys coming or not?" Tatsuki said, uncertain if she should bring them over anymore, after how awkward the situation had become.

"I will!" Orihime said, cheerfully, embracing her best friend and helping cheer her up a little. "What about you, Ichigo?"

Ichigo looked around, uncertainly, putting his hand behind his neck and looking away from them.

"Well..." he began, before Tatsuki, beginning to boil over, interrupted.

"Oh come on!" she shouted, angrily. "We all have the same amount of homework and I guarantee we can all get it done before tomorrow."

He looked at her, disappointed that he had no excuses; disappointed that he was even looking for excuses.

"Why am I trying so hard to avoid hanging out with them?" he thought. "I mean, all they've ever done is try to be your friend. Hell! Tatsuki was worried sick about you being in the soul society and hueco mundo and all that and this is the best you can manage for one of the people you've known the longest?"

"I guess," he said, after a few moments of deliberation. "But, dinner or no dinner, I'm leaving at eight thirty so I can get home before nine."

"Your dad gave you a nine o'clock curfew?" Tatsuki asked with a suppressed chuckle. "How lame."

"Oh shut up!" Ichigo said, groaning angrily. "I can just as easily go home and say bye here if that's how you're gonna be."

"Come on you two," Orihime said, holding up her hands and waving them to show that everyone needed to calm down. "There's no need to go and start fights."

"Oh, if he wants to go, I'll make him cry, just like when we were kids," Tatsuki said, holding up her fist at him.

"Pfft! Yeah right!" Ichigo said leaning towards her in her challenge. "You wish you could take me on anymore."

"We'll see once we get to my place," Tatsuki said, leading the two red-heads to her house.

"Finally," she thought with a smile. "About time they finished playing soul reaper!"

She felt a sad happiness flow through her, finally bringing her oldest friend and her best friend over to dinner.