"I think we're safe for now."

Orihime glanced to her side to see Uryu standing completely still, his eyes alert, and she could almost feel him searching the surroundings for any trace of threatening spiritual pressure. After a second, she detected a minute widening of his eyes, a new rigidity to his spine, and he reached across her collarbone, settling a hand on her shoulder furthest away from him, and pushed her gently but firmly against the wall just in time to avoid being spotted by a group of three sword-wielding men who ran right past the entrance to the alley they had sought refuge in.

A couple of seconds after the sound of their footsteps had faded, Uryu spoke. "Now we're safe. Those men were the last in the area."

"Oops," said Orihime, giving a nervous giggle. "Good thing you're here. I'd probably have just killed myself!"

"It was nothing," he responded, finally removing his arm from its protective position across Orihime's upper-torso and pushing his glasses further up his nose, shielding his face from her vision. "Well, seeing as we're alone for now, how do you feel about the idea of some lunch?"

Orihime's stomach rumbled.

"That'll be a 'yes', then," quipped Uryu, quirking an eyebrow.

Orihime grinned. "I've been waiting for you to suggest lunch since we finished breakfast this morning," she admitted.

Uryu gave a small smile, before taking off his cape and spreading it on the dusty floor. "Please, sit," he said, as he began to rummage in a small bag for some food. Orihime gaped at him.

"But your cape will get all dirty!"

Uryu shrugged, sitting down opposite the cape and setting a small sandwich bag on the floor in front of him. "It's dirty already now I've put it on the floor. Not sitting on it would render the dirtying of it to have been in vain."

Orihime pondered this logic for a bit, before deciding that Uryu's reasoning was sound, even though it was unnecessary because really her trousers were black and the dirt would have been much easier to get out of them than his cape, but eventually she made the decision to humour him and sit down facing him.

Reaching a hand inside the sandwich bag, Orihime took out a small handful of dried fruit and nuts, popping an almond inside her mouth. "You're always so well-prepared," she said, examining the assortment of food in her hand. "Oh! Raisins... I'm sorry, I don't like raisins."

"That's not a problem," Uryu said, quickly, plucking the raisins out of her hand and holding out his to her. "Here, I'll swap you them for these cranberries. Do you like cranberries?"

Orihime nodded happily, and he picked out the small, shrivelled red berries from his hand and placed them in hers.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Orihime. "Hey, did you find your spare Quincy cape?"

Uryu frowned at her, swallowing his strip of dried mango. "You're sitting on it. I lost my main one to that cleaner, remember?"

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant!" exclaimed Orihime. "I meant that dream you had last night."

Orihime watched curiously as Uryu's posture went rigid and his eyes widened. "Can you feel a Soul Reaper nearby?" she asked.

Uryu took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. "No. I-I just... why are you asking me about the dream I had last night?"

"Because you were sleep-talking," said Orihime, as she cheerfully chewed a piece of sweet dried pineapple.

Uryu blanched, replaced his glasses and stared at her, a panicked expression on his face. "What did I say?" he asked, urgently.

Orihime swallowed the pineapple. "Oh, my name," she responded airily.

"Your name," Uryu parroted, suddenly looking away from her, his gaze boring a hole in the sandwich bag.

"Yep! Three times," confirmed Orihime. "Oh, you said something else, too."

She almost giggled as he involuntarily twitched.

"You also said 'I l...'"

Uryu turned his head and stared out of the alley towards the main road. "Is there a reason why you cut yourself off mid-word?"

Orihime nodded, before reaching into the sandwich bag and taking another fistful of food. "Yep! I stopped there because that's all you said. I thought you might have been telling me that you lost something. What were you dreaming about?"

She watched his expression carefully as the lines on his forehead between his eyebrows smoothed themselves out and his jaw unclenched. "I don't recall," he eventually said, cautiously, accepting her proffered raisins and placing half-a-dozen macadamias in her palm in their place.

"Oh, okay," said Orihime. "You looked really worried there for a second!"

"It was nothing," Uryu quickly countered, adopting a smile that Orihime was certain was forced. "Hey, you were sleep-talking yourself the other day. Something about talking trees and snapping corpses? I'd love to hear what that was about."

Orihime wracked her brains for a second, distracted by the sudden redirection of the conversation's focus towards herself. "Nope!" she chirped. "I never remember my dreams! Looks like we have that in common!"

Uryu averted his gaze, chewing a cashew slowly. "I guess so."

"It must be a pre-requisite that a friend of Ichigo's has to have a strange mind," Orihime reflected, remembering how frustrated Uryu had been by the button on his 'unfinished' spare cape, and his rant about the superiority of poppers.

Orihime giggled as Uryu choked on his cashew, and thumped him on the back until his coughing fit subsided. "Using ordinary logic to analyse Ichigo is indeed usually an exercise in futility," he eventually concurred, when he was able to breathe again. "Now, have we had enough to eat for the moment, or would you like to make another attempt on my life?"

"I think I'm okay for the moment," she replied, getting to her feet and smacking the dust from Uryu's mantle as he packed up the bag. "I always did prefer regular snacking to big meals. Hey, look!" she teased, holding out his cape to him. "I found your spare Quincy cape after all! Yeah, that must have been what your dream was about."

Uryu took the cape from Orihime's hands and have her a look she couldn't quite interpret. An half-smile, relaxed eyes, head tilted very slightly sideways. Orihime had never seen an expression like that before; it was simultaneously wary and gentle, and it somehow gave the impression that he was trying to make a decision and yet had already made it. Strange.

"Something along those lines, I daresay," he finally said.

Orihime smiled.

Author's notes: This chapter is dedicated to InuyashaPrincess14 for planting the idea in my head. YAY EVEN MORE UNEXPECTED FIC EXTENSION! :D

Yeah, it's officially the first over here in the UK as of an hour ago, so it seems to be becoming a thing that I update stuff on my birthday. Happy Lowri Day! Have some fanfiction as my present to the internets. :D