"Awww, Orihime! You like him!" Rukia wrapped her arms around Orihime.
"E-eh? N-no I don't," Orihime retorted. "I just want to help Kurosaki-kun make some friends, that's all."
Rukia giggled and then released her, "That's even cuter. I think you guys would make a cute couple though."
"Rukia-chaaaaannn," Orihime whined.
"Well, it would be nice to see that guy around with some people," Tatsuki mumbled.
Rukia nodded, "Our little Orihime is taking this chance to prove herself to Kurosaki!"
Orihime sweatdropped, and turned her attention to Tatsuki instead, "Ne, Tatsuki-chan, what are you thinking about?"
"I was thinking about inviting him to Rangiku-san's party this weekend."
"E-eh?"
"Oh yeah! I remember her asking us to join," Rukia mentioned. "And she did say to invite all of our friends."
"What do you think Orihime?" Tatsuki asked.
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Ichigo walked down the hallway with a scowl on his face. Today just wasn't the day anyone should mess with him. His uniform was almost soaking wet from the rain and his homework was probably ruined as well since he used his bag as an umbrella.
He hated the rain so much.
It's not just because you get wet when you don't carry an umbrella, it's because it was the same weather when his mom died. He remembered everything; her lying in that hospital bed, smiling as if everything was okay when it wasn't. After she said her last words, it just started pouring, and it poured for days.
Ichigo sighed to himself. Now wasn't the time to think about such things. He needed to redo his homework all thanks to the stupid—
"Good morning Kurosaki-kun!" a cheerful voice greeted.
Oh great. Everything was already bad as it is and now he would have to deal with...her.
Ichigo slowly turned around to face the girl that had a smile on her face, "Morning."
Orihime's smile turned bigger but then she noticed his uniform, "Oh, Kurosaki-kun, your uniform is wet!"
Tell me something I don't know, Ichigo thought. "Yeah…I didn't know it was going to rain today, and I don't like carrying an umbrella around so…"
"I see…well," Orihime started looking through her bag and pulled out a blue umbrella, "You can use my umbrella; it's small so you don't have to carry it all the time."
Ichigo didn't know if he should take it or not. Geez, what was with this girl? Didn't she get the idea that he didn't want anything to do with her already? He doesn't need some stupid umbrella anyways.
But he disobeyed his thoughts and took the umbrella instead, "Uh, thanks…I'll return it to you."
Orihime put her hands in front of her and shook them, "No, it's alright, I have a spare one in my locker so you can keep it."
Keep it? Come to think of it, no one actually gave him anything. Sure, he got presents and stuff for his birthday, but this…this was the first time he actually received something from someone other than his family.
"Thanks…again," Ichigo mumbled.
Orihime smiled, "It's no big deal, ahe…"
Riiiiinnnngggg!
"Ah, we should get to class," said Orihime.
Ichigo nodded and followed her as she walked down the hallway to their homeroom. He'll have to find some time to work on his homework later. At least algebra wasn't the first subject, gotta thank the Kami for that, otherwise he'll be dead meat and will probably have to stay an extra hour after classes are over.
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"So, you guys are trying to get close with that Kurosaki, eh?" Renji asked.
"Well, it's just Orihime, but I don't mind being friends with that guy if Orihime ends up being successful," said Rukia as she took a sip of her orange juice.
"I see," Renji hugged the petite raven haired girl from behind. "But if he ever tries to get to you, just tell me and I'll beat his ass, okay?"
Rukia rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Like I'll ever fall for that guy. He's all Orihime's."
"Inoue actually likes the guy?" Renji raised an eyebrow.
"She didn't say that she did, but it's SO obvious," Rukia told him and started to giggle.
The two were standing against the tall fence that surrounded the school's rooftop. This was always the place where Orihime and her friends would always eat lunch together and also the perfect place to take a nap—according to Renji and Sado.
"Oh, you guys are here already?" Tatsuki asked as she walked towards the couple who were just about to lip lock each other.
Renji's face was a little flushed and looked away trying to find something else to concentrate on. Rukia smiled as if nothing happened, "Yeah, our teacher wasn't around so we skipped our fourth period. Where's Orihime?"
"She's downstairs buying her lunch, I insisted on waiting for her but she told me to go up already," said Tatsuki who was now chowing down on her lunch.
"Well that's kind of weird for her to tell you to go on without her," Rukia scratched her chin and thought about the possibilities of Orihime wanting to be the last one to arrive. Maybe she wanted to buy something that she didn't want to share?
No, Orihime wasn't like that.
Maybe she wanted to buy something so weird and didn't want Tatsuki to make a comment about it?
No, that doesn't really make sense.
Just then, Orihime arrived. "Heeeeellllooooo~," the auburn haired beauty cheered.
Tatsuki and Rukia exchanged glances. Renji was the first one to speak, "Why are you so happy?"
Orihime pouted, "Ehhh, Abarai-kun, that's kind of a weird question!"
Renji's eyebrow twitched, "What's so weird about that?"
"Aren't I always happy?"
"Not this happy," Tatsuki said as she took the last bite of her sandwich. "Something oh-so-amazing must have happened to you."
Orihime's face turned red, "H-how can you guys be so sure about that?"
"We're your friends, Orihime," said Rukia. "And besides, you're so easy to read."
"Ehhhh~"
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Ichigo placed his notebook and pencil in his bag. He was glad that he managed to redo his homework during one of his subjects since they weren't really learning anything important for English class. Subject-Verb agreement, he knew that stuff since last year. Fourth period was over and he was now walking the hallway on his way to the cafeteria. It was lunch time and for once, he was hungry and he was dying to eat anything even if it was the not-so-edible looking cafeteria food.
Minding his own business, a few jerks who think they run the school decided to crowd up around him.
Not getting into fights this year were Ms. Hiroshima's wishes, but how the hell was he supposed to prevent fights when people would just suddenly decide to pick on him?
Oh great…thought Ichigo.
"You're Kurosaki Ichigo, right?" a guy with a blonde mohawk asked.
Ichigo sighed.
"Hey! Don't act like that around Masahiro!" the girl that was right behind the so-called Masahiro. What was this girl doing? She seemed to look like she had a crush on him or something.
"Yeah, I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, but sorry to burst your bubble uh, Masahiro," said Ichigo. "But I'm not in the mood to fight anyone right now."
Just before Ichigo could leave, one of Masahiro's friends, gang member or whatever decided to stand in front of him. He was a tall, round guy, his hair was pink but it was starting to fade out, showing his original dark colored hair.
"You shouldn't talk to Masahiro like that ya punk," a skinny looking guy said who was standing behind Ichigo.
Again, Ichigo let out a sigh. When will these people learn? He was trying to be nice here, for Kami's sake! What the hell did these people want anyways?
"Look, I don't know what you guys want with me but—"
Masahiro grabbed Ichigo's uniform collar and shoved him against the wall. "So I heard you're the perfect guy to pick a fight on," said Masahiro. "All those guys you beat up ever since your freshman year told me that you were unbeatable."
"Are you deaf? I said I wasn't in the mood for a fight," Ichigo mumbled.
The girl behind Masahiro gasped, "He has such a bad attitude Hiro-kun! You should beat him up already!"
Ichigo looked around and started to feel uneasy knowing that this scene was starting to create an even bigger crowd. He didn't want this to happen. Why was it happening anyways? As long as he can remember, he hasn't done anything wrong as of today. He hasn't picked on anyone, he was just being quite, trying to avoid as much people as he possibly could but…
As much as he wanted to punch this guy right across the face and tell him to leave him alone, he didn't do anything. And doing nothing to Masahiro just made him even more upset.
"What the fuck Kurosaki! Where's your game huh? I thought you fought for fun, just like I do!" Masahiro yelled.
The crowd was getting bigger.
"Like I said, I'm not in the mood for a fight," Ichigo said again and looked at Masahiro solemnly. This guy's annoying.
Masahiro grit his teeth and was about to give a punch to Ichigo but something came up.
"Um, ano…please don't mess with Kurosaki-kun. He doesn't like to harm people just for fun."
Masahiro and his gang looked at the girl who spoke.
It was Orihime.
Ichigo stared. What the hell was this girl trying to do? Get herself killed?
The girl who was with Masahiro's group was the one to speak, "What the fuck do you want you melon monster?! Can't you see we're busy—"
Just then, Masahiro released his grip on Ichigo, and started to walk away, "Let's go, we're just wasting our time."
The girl gave Masahiro an irritated look, "But Hiro-kun—"
"Reina," said Masahiro in a harsh tone. The girl—Reina—scoffed and followed Masahiro and his gang. As soon as they disappeared from Ichigo's sight, the crowd that was forming earlier seemed to disappear.
Finally. Ichigo thought.
"Ne, Kurosaki-kun, are you okay?" asked Orihime who walked closer to him.
Ichigo gave a slight nod and fixed his collar, "What were you doing anyways?"
"Ehhh…well, I was on my way to the rooftop to eat lunch but then I saw this crowd and then I realized it was you," Orihime explained. "And you seemed to looked troubled by the way you were scowling at the ugly looking guy who was trying to provoke you into having a fight with him so…"
So you were trying to save me? Ichigo didn't like the thought of having to be saved by some girl he barely knew. He knew how to handle things like that and surely he could've gotten out of it himself if she hadn't showed up to help him. The thought of being saved by someone made him feel weak, and Ichigo hated that. But for some reason, he was surprised himself that he didn't get mad at her, like some part deep inside of him felt happy that she came to help him.
This feeling was something Ichigo never felt before, he might have—but that was probably when he was still a child.
"I see…thanks, Inoue," Ichigo told her.
Orihime felt heat crawling up to her cheeks, she was glad that Ichigo was okay and she felt even better by the fact that he thanked her, "Y-you're welcome, Kurosaki-kun."
Say something, idiot. Awkwardness was starting to develop, and Ichigo didn't know what else to say.
"So, I'll see you later, Kurosaki-kun!" said Orihime as she started to head the other direction.
T-t-the party! Tell her you're going to go! "Uh, I-Inoue!" Ichigo called out.
Orihime paused and turned around, "Y-yes?"
"The…uh, the party, you were telling me about," Ichigo started out. "I haven't told you my decision yet."
"Eh?" Orihime slightly tilted her head.
"I guess…I'll be going…to your party," Ichigo mumbled.
The confused expression that Orihime had earlier turned into an excited look as Ichigo told her that he will be attending the party. This was a huge step for Ichigo—he's never been to any parties that had a bunch of people that were the same age as him.
"R-really?" a surprised Orihime asked. "You're really gonna go?"
Ichigo wanted to back out as soon as she asked if he was gonna go. But then again, he thought about his deal with his family. He would only go for their sake…and at least try to make some friends as his family wishes. To answer Orihime's question, he gave her a slight nod.
"That's great! I'll go tell the others!" Orihime exclaimed and before Ichigo could react, she was already on her way to where her friends were.
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"So he'll be going to the party?" asked Tatsuki. Orihime nodded cheerfully.
"Then that's some party I'll be looking forward to," Renji commented.
"Be nice to him, Renji," Rukia warned. "If you hurt Orihime's boyfriend in any way I'll—"
"He's not my boyfriend!" Orihime interjected.
Rukia playfully rolled her eyes, "Oh please, you want him to be."
"Rukia-chaaaaannn!" Orihime whined.
"Alright," Tatsuki stood up from her sitting position. "Now that we have Kurosaki attending, what do you guys think we should do for the party?"
"Well, we gotta keep him entertained, that's for sure," said Rukia.
"How does he get entertained anyways? I've never even seen that guy smile or laugh," Renji mentioned.
"Talking to him will keep him entertained, just don't hover," Orihime told them.
"Okay, okay, why not just do what we normally do when we have parties? Talk, dance, eat and what not," Tatsuki suggested.
The three nodded in agreement. Everyone seemed to be fine about the fact that Ichigo would be there but to Orihime, she felt a little nervous. The reason was unexplainable, but it felt like she really needed to do a good job on this party so that she could make Ichigo realize that it's not bad to have friends; to help him realize that he just needs to be around the right people so that he doesn't have to have a hard time trying to fit in.
This was a mission that Orihime needed to work on, and this was just the beginning.
Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait for an update. I was just waiting for some inspiration to kick in, and thank you for all the follows and favorites while I was gone. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and please stay tuned for the next one! xx
