.theme/prompt. Literature/"Orihime is busy working on the rough draft for a romance novel, but accidentally leaves it behind when rushing home from school. Noticing the notebook on her desk, Ichigo decides to take a peek at what's inside." - Nagicakes. :)


Her first kiss with him was everything she had ever dreamed of. Slow, tender, gentle; she took and she gave, and he did just the same. With her lips meeting his, compassionate, yet deliciously forceful at the same time, she wished this moment would never end. If anything, there was only one last thing that could make this even better.

She regretfully pulled away; her cheeks dusted a pink color while her lips pouted in a nervous manner. It was now or never, and she didn't want to wait another five lifetimes to say it.

"I... I love you."

"Orihime!" A feminine voice called out, startling the healer and making her jump in her seat. Orihime's heart was already racing from her climactic scene for her novel, and her best friend, Tatsuki, scared the living daylights out of her. Needless to say, it didn't help the situation, and she about went into cardiac arrest at the sudden yell of her name.

"M-Mou, Tatsuki-chan! Don't scare me like that!" Orihime pleaded, using one hand to close the notebook in front of her and the other to rest above her breast, as to still her rapidly beating heart. The martial artist rolled her eyes from the doorway.

"You're the one that wanted to get home right away," she scoffed, pointing to the clock. "Weren't you and I going to your place to watch that new show, uh..." Tatsuki paused trying to recall what the name was. Orihime squeaked in surprise, her honey brown eyes darting to the clock. She was right! If they didn't get back to her place soon, they'd miss the beginning of the new TV show she'd wanted to watch for weeks. It was all she ever talked about as of late!

"Super Powered Toucans from Pluto!" Orihime squealed, slamming her hands down on her light brown desk and forcing herself from her seat. "We need to go, Tatsuki-chan!" She pulled out her notepads and textbooks from her desk, not bothering to throw them in her book bag. She needed to get home, not stay here and idly put things away properly. Despite dropping a few items, papers and pencils, and having to pick them up, the redheaded healer successfully darted out the door with her friend, leaving almost a completely empty classroom behind her.

Well, almost empty. Left behind were a few random students who were making their way out the door themselves, and one shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo. He had been keeping an eye on Orihime for a while now and he found it particularly odd how she hadn't pulled her nose from the red notebook she'd been scribbling in all day. What he found even odder was how she had left it on her desk to go with Tatsuki, even though she'd been adamant about keeping it on her at all times.

Forcing himself from his own seat, the berry boy packed his things, finding his eyes dragging back to her now empty desk and the notebook that sat perched on the desktop. It was just for school, he told himself, nothing more. Yet if it was just for school, why was he so damn curious about it?

Scowling to himself, Ichigo grabbed the handles of his bag and sighed, figuring he'd leave as well and go home, just like everyone else had. Funny how his feet directed him right towards her desk, leading him and making him stare hard at the notebook all over again.

This is fucking annoying, he told himself, growling. He really shouldn't be even tempted to look at other people's things, much less Orihime's. But after his awareness of her seemed to be heightened lately, his curiosity only grew.

Okay, so what was one peek going to hurt?

Tentatively sitting himself in her spot, he couldn't help but feel heat tug at his cheeks while thinking, I should not be sitting here. It was so much different in her spot, he noted. While he sat in the middle of the crowded classroom, surrounded by so many other classmates, Orihime had gotten lucky and sat next to the window, where he openly admitted was much more relaxing. Not to mention she could really do anything in this spot and more than likely get away with it.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, letting the whole thought process on her location in the classroom float away so it could be quickly replaced with that nagging curiosity over the notebook again. Letting his hands drift over the red cover for a moment, he mentally asked himself if it was really right to be digging through her stuff like this. She was the last person he'd want to upset because he didn't ask for permission, but on the other hand... He hadn't been able to talk to her all that often, all because of this darn little book, and he admittedly missed hearing her babble on about the most random things. After not being able to talk to her, he figured the least he deserved was to see just a bit of what she was so obsessed with.

Swallowing thickly and taking a mental step of courage, he opened the front cover and unknowingly held his breath. If anything, he assumed it was for school, but Ichigo was surprised to see a practically blank page, aside with one word scrawled onto the first page.

Beloved.

It was a simple word, yet for some odd reason, it only intrigued him further. Why would she write one single word, and that word of all of them, for that matter? She was a kind, gentle person, but the notion of her writing something about 'beloved' made him wonder what she was doing with this notebook.

There were many used, written on pages following that first, and even though the guilt nagged at him for even daring to look at it in the first place, Kurosaki Ichigo flipped to the next page, determined to read the rest.


Tatsuki had gone home long ago, which made it all that much easier for Orihime to tear her apartment apart. Why, may one person ask? She wasn't a person to randomly rip apart her home, but she had a reason. It was a very good reason; and it was because she couldn't find her rough draft copy of her manuscript.

She had to stop her search and rescue for a moment to flick on the nearby light. The sun was setting and the rooms were getting dark. She very well couldn't have looked for her precious notebook in the dark.

That notebook was precious for more reasons than one. To start, it was something Orihime had started on a whim – a novel; romantic one, at that. She thought she'd try writing out romance, something she'd daydreamed about before (suspiciously about a redheaded shinigami). At first, she merely put her ideas with different characters, but after a while, it became filled with her own hopes and dreams, all behind a fictional name to hide the real truth. Should one of her friends, or heaven forbid, Ichigo, stumble upon her writing, she felt she'd need to crawl into a hole and never come out due to embarrassment.

This was why she was tearing apart her apartment in desperation to find the book. She could've sworn she had grabbed it with the rest of her textbooks as she left school earlier, but now she doubted herself. And if she recalled even further, wasn't Ichigo still in the room when she left? Oh dear, what if he found it and read through it all? He was a smart person and no doubt he'd easily be able to distinguish himself with her in her writing.

A loud knock to her door sent her heart racing, faster than it was before at the idea of Ichigo finding her book. Jumping to her feet, Orihime practically ran to the door, throwing it open while forcing a smile. "H-hello!" She chirped, appearing enthusiastic at first, but once she realized who it was, her face fell.

Ichigo, with a red notebook in his right hand.

"Kurosaki-kun!" She yelped, straightening her posture at the sight of his tall form. "W-What are you doing here?" Not that she minded in the least to have him over here, at her place, but she was still a woman on a mission, and her mission just drastically changed from ripping her place apart, to making sure he hadn't read her story.

Holding up the notebook, he gave her a half-hearted, sheepish smile. "You forgot this at school," he told her, handing it over to her. It was no surprise that she had snatched it right out of his hands, a heavy blush settled on her cheeks.

"T-Thank you!" Orihime smiled, doing her best to hold back the hindering stutter. "I've been looking for this all afternoon!" She continued to ramble on as she flipped through the multitude of pages, making sure all of them were there. Sighing in relief, Orihime put on a calmer, grateful smile compared to her insistently worried one from before. "You don't know how much this me-" She had been trying to continue the conversation when out of the blue, he held her chin between his thumb and index finger, lifting her head to see him eye to eye. Ichigo's amber brown eyes smoldered darkly, staring hard into hers. Searching his eyes nervously, her tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips. "K-Kurosaki-kun?"

He pressed forward and met his lips with hers. It was both of their first kisses, unbeknownst to one another, so it was inexperienced and sloppy, but still more amazing than either one of them had ever imagined. Kissing her just a bit harder, Ichigo slanted his lips sideways slightly to kiss her just a bit deeper, experimentally. While he was thoroughly enjoying this, the reaction she had was quite different.

Orihime had dropped her notebook to the ground, forgotten as her eyes remained wide and frozen, still taking in the fact that Kurosaki Ichigo just kissed her. Of all people, he was the one to instigate the lip-lock. Him. The boy she loved and promised to love for five lifetimes over.

As he pulled away, he could only smirk while sporting his own faded shade of red. He hadn't meant to embarrass her so bad, but her facial expression was quite amusing.

"You write very well, Inoue..." He told her, turning his back and facing the stairs, waving her goodbye. "I'd like to see the ending of your story." Sauntering down the stairs, Ichigo left just as quickly as he came, leaving Orihime still in shock over what just happened. She even needed to collapse against the door, falling to the ground in astonishment. The red notebook, the one with her secret dreams and desires lay next to her, and she knew it was taunting her, egging her on to complete it. Maybe she could stand to finish it quicker than she originally hoped to.

At least she didn't need to worry about whether Ichigo read her story or not anymore.

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