This week's was "Rain" and I chose Nagi's prompt again with: "Orihime is in the middle of a cross-country road trip and her car swerves off the road (because of the rain) and knocked unconscious. She wakes up to find herself looking straight at Ichigo." I'm thinking I might be skipping over the last prompt for now, only because I can't think of a darn thing to do with any of them... But with any luck, I'll write up a LYD chapter soon and then another prompt for here... Maybe.
From college, back to Karakura; the plan was to drive there with minimal pit stops, regardless of weather conditions or road construction. Orihime had done the math and it was indeed cheaper to drive back home rather than fly or go by train. With what she was bringing back with her anyway, it would've proved to be immensely difficult to switch from train to train.
She hadn't driven such long distances before, so the healer was just a bit nervous about how all this would go down. Would it go smoothly and perfect? Or would she run into Hanshin Tigers and be forced to pull over and abandon her car so they could all get into it like one of those clown cars and travel to their next game?
With her slender fingers gripping the steering wheel, Orihime forced herself to take a deep breath. Things were going great now, why would things change?
Boom.
The small bout of thunder caused Orihime to jump in her seat and swerve slightly to the right of the road, barely skimming onto the shoulder. It was just so sunny a moment ago, why was it looking so menacing right now? Looking out her rear-view mirror, the auburn-haired student assessed that if she kept up with her current pace, she might be able to outrace the storm. She couldn't afford to pull over and wait for it to pass. It was already getting somewhat dark, and she was getting close to being back in Karakura.
But small raindrops could be heard on her windshield as she continued to truck along. Frowning slightly, she already noted she was going around 65 miles per hour on the freeway and really didn't want to go any faster than that. It seemed like the storm wanted to keep up with her, or even catch up, so Orihime was starting to revaluate the current situation. Pull over and be safe, but not be able to get back to Karakura until tomorrow? Or keep on driving before it got dark, with the slight risk she could get into an accident. The latter seemed like the best idea, seeing as she'd get there much quicker if she kept on going.
The rain didn't take long to get heavier and fall down at a rapid pace. The gusts of wind didn't help either, which only made Orihime wish there was a faster setting than 'fast' for her windshield wipers. She didn't want to joke around about the situation, but it was really raining cats and dogs out there.
Just then, Orihime hit a big pile of water and began to hydroplane, causing her swerve off to her right again, off the shoulder and into the ravine. Things just started to play out so slowly during the whole ordeal, seeing patches of mud and grass fly up from blow her wheels, her car slipping and sliding from the rain. Her car ended up turning around and gliding backwards instead due to the rain and sogginess of everything. Even though everything played out in slow-motion, Orihime still couldn't stop herself from lurching forward and hitting her head against the steering wheel.
That's when everything turned black.
When Orihime thought she'd wake up, she thought she'd be in a very bright place or at least in her car, dark and in the rain. Needless to say, she thought she was completely dreaming when her eyes fluttered open to find warm, chocolate brown eyes staring right back at her. Brown eyes and bright, all-too familiar orange hair.
"... Kurosaki-kun?" She croaked, her oddly sore hands gripping unfamiliar fabric beneath her. Her eyes kept half-lidded due to fatigue, but she still did her best to keep them open. Ichigo gave her a small, but very reassuring smile as he finished placing a cool washcloth on her forehead.
"Hey Inoue..." He breathed, flattening down the cloth just slightly to keep it there. "Glad to see you're awake." The funny thing was his tone was exactly that – genuinely happy she was awake. Scrunching her face into an awkward smile, she tried to force herself into a sitting position.
"W-Where am I?" Orihime stuttered lightly, feeling her body, but mainly her head, ache all over. His warm, large hands caught her shoulders and quickly, but gently pushed her back down onto the slightly reclined bed.
"At our clinic," he answered, making sure she was lying back down again before readjusting her wet rag. "Stay still, Inoue. You'll be hurting worse if you force yourself." She just tried to nod subtly before letting her eyes flutter closed again. She was very much awake, but it felt as if her eyelids were being dragged down by small weights.
She couldn't entirely recall what had happened. The last thing she remembered was her hands gripping the steering wheel as she hit a large puddle of water, but the rest after that was a blur. "What happened?" Her voice was quiet as she asked the innocent question. She heard him sigh, almost as if in distress, before feeling him pull up the blanket further onto her form.
"You tell me..." His voice was just as hushed while he looked over at her with kind, but concerned eyes. "My dad got a call about a car accident just outside of town and sent me to go check it out. It must've been fate or something, because I couldn't believe my eyes to see you."
Merely humming in understanding, Orihime let of a soft sigh at the generosity of Ichigo's and how it was truly some greater power that had him find her on the side of the road.
"I'll let you be," Ichigo cut in, letting Orihime hear only him rising from his chair. "You should rest for a while." Orihime managed to open her eyes just a bit to catch him slowly, but surely making his way towards the door.
"W-Will you be here when I wake up?" She asked quietly, her cheeks already burning from such a bold question. He seemed to take no mind to it and gave her another smile while nodding.
"Of course..." His voice was sincere as he spoke. "Just call me when you need me."
And with that, he left Orihime in the room alone. She couldn't help but pull the blanket over her red face, continually blushing from his kind words. Maybe it wasn't the best way they could've met up, but at least he was the first person he saw.
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.
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