Okay lemme say something here before y' start reading. A lotta folks have requested that I make the chapters longer but see, I can't. Or more precisely, I do not wish to. I wanted to see if I could keep myself under 500 words for each chapter. I'm usually all for verbosity but there is something to be said for keeping it short. So this is me giving myself a challenge. So, i'm sorry, I can't make the chapters longer.

T' all who reviewed, yer the best!

5. Embarrassment

For a moment Ichigo thought that maybe by some means Tatsuki had figured out that he had groped Inoue's chest. He was not above admitting that he quivered internally at the thought of Tatsuki finding out. That girl would beat him black and blue for laying a wrong hand on Inoue, never mind the fact that it had an accident.

He breathed out a sigh of relief as Tatsuki walked away, giving him a suspicious glare. He looked at Inoue who was looking back at Tatsuki as though she had just lost her lifeline. Nervously he raised his hand up to his head and ruffled his hair.

"Emm…about what happened today…."

Her gaze turned towards him before dropping down to her bag as he continued nervously, "I'm really sorry about….that I…."

He couldn't say it! He couldn't say it in his mind much less from his mouth. She didn't seem to notice this as she spoke to the ground, "You don't have to apologize. It wasn't your fault."

Well at least she had no trouble in forming full sentences. He took a slight step backwards in surprise when she suddenly bowed, "I'm truly very sorry Kurosaki-kun! If I hadn't slipped on the stairs then I wouldn't have fallen on you! I was just in a hurry to get the test papers to Ochinii-sensei. And because of that I ended up slipping on the last few steps and fell right on top of you and…"

Suddenly she stopped, her face turning red as a tomato. Ichigo awkwardly spoke, "Everyone slips on the stairs Inoue. Whether they're in a hurry or not. I'm the one who should apologize because I…….I invaded your personal space."

His Hollow was laughing himself silly at his expense and let out a fresh peel of laughter at his word choice. In between its chuckles, it mockingly repeated his words before going back into a new round of sniggering. Ichigo really wanted to punch his Hollow right in the nose if only to shut up the annoying laughter that had been ringing in his head ever since the shock had given way to embarrassment. His Hollow was clearly enjoying this way too much.

Inoue's blush traveled down from her face down beneath her shirt collar and he wondered as to how far the blush traveled. He tried to focus his straying thoughts to her words rather than her body, "Ah well…that…ummm…."

Unfortunately, she really wasn't giving him much to focus on…

Onwards dear comrades to the next part! Yes, y' heard me! I posted TWO parts today!