~Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo~

Dear readers, thank you for reading this story and my others! For all those who commented, reviewed, followed, and favorited, this chapters for you guys! I'll try to update once every week, school is beginning to get hectic and finals make me sad. Enjoy the chapter!

Nypsy: Thank you so much for keeping up with this story and always giving me feedback, I'm so thankful for it! Your advice motivates me and helps me right each chapter and gave me many new ideas for the strory. I promise from here on out there will be much more IchiHime :)

Temarixx: Yeah, Byakyuyas really OOC, but I'll try to incorporate his serious demeanor in later chapters. You'll find out more about the relationship between Byakuya and Hime's mother in a few chapters :) Thank you for your review!

Hylla: Thank you for your reviews!

previous chapter...

We sat there in a calm silence staring into the water. It was nice. Eventually we went back to where Rukia and Renji were and on the walk there Ichigo told me some stuff about himself. Once we got there we were introduced to a wide smiling Renji and Rukia holding hands.

"I'm gone for a few minutes and you guys made out behind a bush didn't you?" Ichigo said making the new couple turn bright red, with a smirk on his face he began to laugh.

I really liked his laugh.

Chp 6

Sleepless Nights

It had been a week since Rukia and Renji had started dating.

Rukia liked Renji.

Renji liked Rukia.

Byakuya didn't like Renji.

Byakuya said Rukia isn't aloud to date until she turned 16, three years from her current age.

While Ichigo and I were stuck in the middle. And that's how we ended up in bed together, waking up the next morning in each other's arms.

The day before…

"Oh, Orihime it's so wonderful to be in love," Rukia said with stars in her eyes hugging the chappy rabbit Renji won for her at the amusement park last night.

"Rukia, are you going to keep this a secret from your dad forever?" I saw she visibly tensed, "I mean, don't you think he'd understand? You are his daughter and you've known Renji forever! Don't you think you should at least try to convince him?"

"Orihime, you don't understand… My dad he's really a buzz kill. Party pooper, kill joy, the list goes on. He's very strict and his prides his best friend. If I said anything to go against his judgment I would be hurting his pride and he won't be happy." She said sighing, finally calming down and lying back on her bed. "And then I wont ever be able to see Renji…"

I could see where the conversation was going, so I chose to change the subject, "Hey come on, let's go outside! The suns out, the birds are chirping! It's so beautiful…" I said dreamily looking out the open window at the bird flapping its wings on the tree.

"Hey, what about you Ori-hi-me?" Rukia said each syllable slowly, very slowly, too slowly, all while smirking at me.

"What do you mean?" I ask confused, weren't we just talking about the weather?

"You got anyone special?" She said leaning into me.

"Special?" I repeat.

"Yeah special, a crush? And not the orange colored drink." Rukia said with a large grin.

"I don-," Oh she meant… "Rukia! No!" I said blushing mad, waving my arms in front of me then covering my face.

"Are you sure?" Her grin just got larger and I thought it was impossible…

"Yeah, w-were just friends," why did I sound disappointed?

She stared at me sympathetically, "That's what I thought to. But then you pushed me to do the unthinkable and now I'm happy. I think it's my turn to help."

"b-but I don't even know my feelings..." I said looking down. This was all so embarrassing! My cheeks were still warm.

"Well that's easy! Does that orange crayon make you happy?" She said looking at me, I nodded.

"Does he make you smile and laugh? Does he make your heart flutter and butterflies swarm through your stomach? Does he make your cheeks turn a bright pink? Does he make you miss him when he's not next to you? Does he make your heart rate increase every time you talk to him? Does he make you feel things you wouldn't if his presence wasn't there? Well, does he?" She asked seriously.

"Y-Yeah, yeah he does." I responded looking her in the eye.

"Well then Orihime, you have feeling for that orange haired idiot." Rukia said seriously with a glint of mockery underlying her tone. "And I am going to help you make it official."

"Ru-," before I could persuade her to not do anything, Ayame came knocking at the door.

"Breakfast is ready girls!"

"Coming Ayame!" Rukia answered. "End of conversation, its official. Let's go eat breakfast now, I'm hungry."

Around two pm, Renji had called. He said something about coming over with Ichigo. That's what Rukia told me.

Wanting to look at least decent, I wore a pair of jeans and a white blouse. Much better looking than a sweatshirt and green pajama pants. Byakuya was on a business trip with Mom and they weren't expected to come until tomorrow night. Hearing the door bell Rukia said she'd get it. As I looked back I saw a happy Rukia and Renji holding hands, followed by a serious and scowling Ichigo.

"Hi you guys!" I exclaimed waving.

"Yo," said Renji and he and Rukia went up the stairs.

"Hey Orihime," said a somewhat still scowling Ichigo.

"You seem happy Ichigo," I say smiling.

"My goat chin dad pisses me off." He says approaching and sitting next to me on the couch.

"Ichigo, that's not very nice." I said pouting.

"Well that's cause you haven't met him, and trust me you don't want to." Said a serious Ichigo.

"Awe, come on he can't be that bad."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." The orange haired boy said scowling at the TV.

After watching comedy reruns for a few hours, I couldn't breathe. They were just so funny; I was literally dying and falling off the couch.

"Orihime, it's not that funny..." Ichigo said sounding worried.

"y-y-yeah it i-is," stuttering I said breaking into laughter again. I could watch each episode ten times and laugh just as hard each time. Finally calming down, Ichigo and I made eye contact; I had to fight off a blush.

"You look funny when you laugh," he said seriously.

"I-I do not," I said pouting; I wasn't able to prevent the blush from consuming my face. Oh how I wanted to disappear into thin air.

Hearing his laughter, his joyous, melodious laughter, I fix my gaze on him, and oh how I regretted it. He was smiling at me, his face was soft while the seriousness and scowl gone. It was a warm smile, my heart rate picked up, skipping every third beat, I could hear it attempt to escape from the confinement of my chest. My hands began to get sweaty and I felt like I lost my voice. His chocolate brown eyes were like a powerful indestructible magnet, I couldn't look away. I tried, oh how I tried, I tried so hard, but I couldn't budge. My cheeks felt warm and I knew by now my whole face was probably brighter than my hair. He had stopped laughing a while ago and now we were both sitting on the couch, staring at each other. I don't know when we had gotten so close, but if I were to lean in just a little I would feel his warm breath on my face.

Grey eyes clashed with brown once more, and for a second I saw a glimpse of something flash across his beautiful orbs. Rukia was right, I like him. This feeling, I only get it when he's around me, when I'm next to him, when I think of him. It felt like we had been staring at each other for over century, but he began to move. Disappointed, thinking he was going to back away and look the opposite direction thinking this was awkward, I was beyond shocked when I saw he was leaning towards my direction. M-my direction. My first k-kiss. Oh god, what if I mess up? He's probably kissed so many girls, I'm completely embarrassing myself. As his lips were about to make contact with mine, feeling his warm breath on my lips, his spicy aroma filling my nostrils and covering me with his scent, I was actually very much looking forward to this. Nervous, yes very much, but exited! This might mean he has feelings for me, making up my mind; I was about to lean forward and meet him the rest of the way. As I adjusted myself to move forward and lifted my hands to the collar on his white polo, instinct and years of watching romance movies, we were about to share our first kiss.

That is until Rukia and Renji ran into the room ruining the moment. Rapidly spreading away from each other before they saw anything, I scooted to the other end of the couch while he did the same. Our faces bright red, hands sweaty, and thundering heartbeats, we didn't make eye contact, it was too embarrassing.

"Well and what happened here?" Asked Rukia smirking.

"n-nothing," we stutter out at the same time. Making eye contact we quickly look away, ignoring each others gazes.

"Mhmm, well anyways Orihime. It's seven and Renji got us concert tickets. I'll most likely be back around two am, were going with his parents so yes it supervised." Rukia said bobbing her head up and down, "and don't worry dad will never find out. He's not even here." Giving me a hug, hand in hand with her boyfriend, they walked out of the house.

Looking at Ichigo, he sighed and began to rub his neck.

"I-I'm sorry," I whispered looking down, I felt like this was my fault.

"Hey, no this is no ones fault," he tried to reassure me. It didn't work.

"And if you apologize… that means you made a mistake, w-was that a mistake?" He was being completely serious and sounded hurt; I could here it in the tone of his voice.

Automatically lifting my head up, I denied his previous comment. "No," I said with all seriousness. Meeting his gaze all my courage seemed to vanish and I felt like a baby deer trapped in the eyes of a lion. I was frozen again and all with his gaze. It surprises me how much control he has over my body.

As soon as Ayame walked in, I finally was mobilized once more. She said that dinner was ready, and when she asked where Rukia and Renji were, I had to cover for her. Nobody can know, those were Rukia's words.

"Renji had left a few hours ago, Rukia said she was tired and has a busy schedule tomorrow so she fell asleep early skipping dinner. She said she wasn't hungry and had a heavy lunch." I was a horrible liar and felt bad, but Rukia's social life depended on this, I could not let her down! Ayame nodded and smiled, excusing herself.

"Ichigo will you stay for dinner?" I asked turning to him, secretly praying he would say yes. Yeah because I liked him, but I also didn't want to eat dinner alone.

"Sure, and Orihime?" He said.

"Yes Ichigo?" I said turning to him.

"You're a terrible liar." He smirked while I pouted. "Am not," I denied, even though I knew it was the completely true.

Finishing dinner, a few of the maids came and quickly began picking up the dishes. Ichigo said that he told his parents he was spending the night at Renji's but never knew about his plans of taking Rukia out. He said that doesn't change his current plans so he was just going to sleep in Renji's room. Apparently Renji's house keys are under the red plant vase to the left of his door. As we walked upstairs to Rukia's room so Ichigo could get his jacket and backpack, we continued our normal conversation and laughter. It wasn't awkward or anything, even after everything that almost happened. I was disappointed we didn't kiss but still happy we were friends. Reaching the door, I closed it and waited for him to get his stuff.

Once he had everything he turned to me.

"Hey, Orihime? Can we talk?" Ichigo asked.

I was hoping we could ignore this topic, "Yeah Ichigo."

What ever he was going to say was interrupted by Ayame's voice from the other side of the door.

"Rukia, Orihime, your parents are here early from there trip!" she yelled through the door.

The color drained out of my face while Ichigo cursed. Oh, this was bad. Very, very bad. Running to Rukia's dresser that had my phone on it I sent her a quick text.

Dnt come home, Mom nd Byakuya here early frm trp. Stay Renji's place til tomorrow. Ichigo and I will cover 4 u. night

Hearing loud footsteps and chatter come up the stairs I began to panic. As Ichigo threw all his stuff into Rukia's closet to hide evidence of his existence in the room, I had a plan and Ichigo would help me. I quickly began to change into my extra pajamas I kept in Rukia's room when we'd have sleepovers, which was practically every night. Ichigo's back was turned around while he was sporting a blush, he could slightly see Orihime through the mirror on the dresser, calling himself a pervert and internally cursing he looked away. He would give her privacy. As Orihime finished in half a second she ran and jumped into the bed pulling the covers, quickly followed by Ichigo, she threw the covers over him and a pillow over his head. For a boy he was pretty tall so his toes were sticking off the bed, he had to pull his knees up.

There heart beats were pounding and not because they were so close, no that realization had not hit them yet. The adrenaline was slowly beginning to where off, all that could be heard was there irregular breathing. As the door knob began to shake open, Ichigo held his breath. Orihime poked him and whipered, "It's okay, breathe," the lights were off but he could see the outline of her face under the covers. As the door opened, light from the hall poured into the dark room. It was most likely Byakuya followed by mother; they stood there for a few minutes then slowly closed the door. Ichigo and I let a breath out.

"That was so close," I whispered, finally noticing how close we were, I could feel his breath on my forehead. I began to blush, his scent and body heat soaring around me. It sent chills down my body and I couldn't help but shiver.

Noticing he began to rub his arms up and down mine, "You cold?"

"N-No," I say looking at him. It was dark, but his brown eyes could easily be seen like stars in the sky.

"We better get some sleep, is it okay of I stay in this room? I don't think it'll be very smart if I attempt to leave, I don't exactly want Byakuya skinning me anytime soon." His comment made me laugh. Nodding, I began to cuddle with him, like I would with Rukia. I felt warm, safe, and protected, the same feelings I used to get with Sora… with Rukia. But this was different, I also felt something else.

Why do I feel like this around only him?

He tightened his arms around me, engulfing me with him. We were in that position until morning. It was one of the best sleepless nights I've ever had.

Thank you for reading this chapter! If you have any comments or advice, feel free to review!

until next time,

loverofliterature_111