Title: Hanabi-taikai

Author: Evil Day

Series: BLEACH

Pairing: IchigoxUryuu

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Takes place just after Soul Society arc, before the Bounto arc. The Obon festival is upon Karakura Town, and Onose River is THE place to be for the fireworks, and of course, the floating of paper lanterns on the last day.

Spoiler for everything up to the end of Soul Society arc and the beginning of the Bounto arc.

Part 2

So much hate for the ones we love

Tell me we both matter, don't we?

It doesn't hurt me.

Do you want to know that it doesn't hurt me?

If I only could, I'd be running up that hill…

Ichigo looked in front of himself, at all of the people who he'd come to love as family, and at the family he'd always known. Everyone was seated on the grass in the evening twilight, crowded together to separate themselves from the other groups and families that had flocked to the banks of Onose River to watch the fireworks display in honor of Obon.

Ichigo had seated himself just a few feet or so above his family on the sloping hill they sat on, and he watched them all distantly, thinking to himself quietly. Wrapping his hands around his knees, he rested his chin on his forearms and sighed, wishing himself into a better mood.

It hadn't been Uryuu he'd seen earlier, and he couldn't understand why he was so upset over the fact. He was still so angry with him, although he wasn't exactly sure as to why.

Ichigo's face turned over into a proper frown, and he leaned over a bit to pick at a worn out spot on his shoes. Something wasn't right. He wanted to have seen Uryuu in the street, and when he realized that it really wasn't him, and that he really wasn't going to come that night…it upset Ichigo much more than it ought to.

He turned his attention to his father and sisters, huddled up together on the grass. Next to them sat Orihime, with Tatsuki glued to her side. Chado, Keigo, and Mizuiro made another group next to the two girls, and noticing Chado's position, Ichigo decided to scoot himself a little to the side. He still wanted to at least see the fireworks.

"…Ichigo?" Kon peeked his stuffed head out from behind Orihime and looked back and forth across the grass to be sure no one was looking. He crept out and ran over to Ichigo, crawling up his leg and perching on his knee.

"Hey, Kon…what's the matter? Tired of the girls already?"

"Of course not!" Kon turned to look at Ichigo with an angry, plush face. "They made me come over here."

Ichigo sat back on his hands, eyebrows furrowed. "What for?"

Kon did his best to shrug with what he had for shoulders. "They said you were brooding again, and you needed company."

"They?"

Kon pointed. "The girls! I wanna go back!"

Exhaling heavily, Ichigo lifted one arm and knocked Kon from his perch. A cute, plastic squeak punctuated the moment of impact. "Go back and tell them I'm fine. I just…I just want to be alone right now."

Kon, having been given his freedom, didn't bother to scold Ichigo from knocking him over, and he dashed back to Orihime and disappeared behind her once again.

"It's starting!" Tatsuki pointed up to the sky. "Everyone, shhhh!"

No matter how many times he went to see the display, the initial pop of the first firework shot up into the sky always made Ichigo jump. It felt like the crack resounded within his chest, penetrating his very soul. Shivering slightly at the thought, he fell back purposefully and let his head rest on the cold, closely clipped grass beneath him. It was easier to see the fireworks this way.

The sight of them, one exploding after another, brought a sense of stillness to Ichigo's mind. Staring straight up at the sky, there was no one in his line of vision and he felt as though he were the only one enjoying the spectacle. It was as if each starry burst was meant just for him. Time abandoned its constant post and let Ichigo be, and he was grateful for it. It always seemed like he was falling behind, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how many different things he succeeded at. There was never enough time to just…be Ichigo.

Ichigo smiled up at the sky, the scattering of vibrant pinks and lush greens fading into one another as the drifted slowly to the ground, just barely caught by the wind as they died suddenly. The sky had become black with night, and the next firework snapped loudly in the air and then blasted into view, shooting streams of purest white glitter in all directions. As fast as the firework had expanded, it fell from the sky, and left in its place were what Ichigo thought might have been a trick of the eye. The place where they had burned so brightly left trails in the sky, or his eyes. He couldn't tell which it was.

Ichigo took a deep breath, and held the air in his chest. No one needed his help. There was nothing to worry about. No one was in harm's way, and there was nothing to fear. Releasing his breath slowly through his nose, he let the tension in his muscles follow suit. Carefully, reluctantly, they responded, and the tension drained from his shoulders and trickled down his back and then finally seeped into the steady earth beneath him.

Ichigo thought that perhaps he wasn't as firmly planted on the ground as he had thought. It was a silly idea, but he felt as though he were floating. Just to be sure, he twitched a finger on his left hand and it responded instantly, just a few inches away from his ear.

Never in his life had he felt so clean, so free of doubt and anger. He felt like a firework himself, and while the tentative breeze left soft fingerprints in his hair, he wondered what it might be like to exist so simply. To be a burst of energy and movement and pure, unadulterated beauty, dead and gone in an instant. How easy it would be.

His right arm jumped as if shaken by an unseen force, and Ichigo was pulled suddenly from his reverie by a phantom touch and a swift sensation that begged him to turn and look. His head slid easily over the grass, but as his eyes focused in the dark he sat upright and stared, blinking erratically.

A single standing figure in a sea of seated crowds watched the display above, never moving in the slightest. Ichigo didn't have to think twice about who it might be.

"…Uryuu…" His voice didn't carry far enough, and Ichigo never intended it to. It was a whisper, a confirmation for himself. He never believed that Uryuu would come.

But it was clear the he had not come to join Ichigo and his companions. He stood a small distance away, perhaps 15 or 20 feet from Ichigo himself. He was just close enough so that he would hear Ichigo if he spoke aloud, but not near enough for Ichigo to see his face clearly in the night. But knowing Uryuu, Ichigo understood that he knew exactly where he and his family sat. He just wasn't going to join them, for whatever reason.

Ichigo wanted to be angry, but he wasn't. Not in the least. Not understanding why, he watched Uryuu as the Quincy kept his eyes to the sky, taking in the fireworks for himself. The wind tugged on his hair, and tiny locks of it drifted back and forth across his face, but he made no move to try and contain them. His glasses snatched the color from the sky and reflected them in the lenses, hiding his eyes from Ichigo's view.

A heavy crack louder than most brought Ichigo's attention back to the fireworks as a bright blue flower of fire opened itself across the sky. The moment was brief, however, and his eyes inched back over to Uryuu, still silent and steady. The deep sapphire glow lit up his clothes and his skin, giving him a fleeting aura unlike any he'd ever seen.

It never occurred to Ichigo that he might be staring. He'd already lost himself in the ethereal moment, and Uryuu appearance only seemed to solidify it.

And Ichigo noticed something that he had failed to before.

It was attention. Or at least, something very much like it.

He wanted Uryuu's attention.

He didn't need attention, though, did he? Ichigo bit his bottom lip, eyes never straying from the Quincy. He didn't need to look up to the sky any longer. Every shade and shimmer that hung in the air was reflected all over the other boy, and each time a new hue illuminated him Ichigo's pulse felt just a bit colder than it had been before.

No, of course he didn't. In fact, the problem was that Ichigo had far more attention that he would have liked.

Orihime's lingering gaze.

Chado's silent respect.

Keigo's frantic need for approval.

Rukia's shaky resolve.

Urahara's…creepy stare.

His families' desire to include him in their lives.

Everyone needed a piece of Ichigo, even if it was a small piece, but by the time he'd been passed around to everyone's satisfaction, there was nothing left for himself.

Everyone, that was…except for Uryuu. Uryuu needed no one. And that bothered Ichigo more than anything else.

He knew he'd made a mistake the day before, when he asked Uryuu to join him and his group. Ichigo had said things he wouldn't even have bothered to say to anyone else. No one else made him so angry.

But it was infuriating. Uryuu didn't care. He didn't care if Ichigo came over to his house. He didn't care if Ichigo left. He didn't care if Ichigo talked to him nicely, or of he screamed at him. And Ichigo did scream at him, because he didn't know what else to do besides get angry. And even then, it didn't work. Uryuu still didn't care.

And it hurt.

The last of the lavender that radiated off of Uryuu disappeared, and suddenly the field in front of the river came alive as people began to stand up and stretch, chattering wildly to one another in excitement.

Within a few moments, Ichigo lost sight of Uryuu, and never recovered it. He was gone.

"Oh, wow!" Orihime turned back to Ichigo and smiled brightly. "Wasn't that great?"

Ichigo stood up, wearing a brave face. "Yeah…I'm ready to go home."

"So are we." Karin walked past Ichigo, with Yuzu rushing to keep up with her.

Hands shoved into his pockets, Ichigo said his goodbyes and kept them brief before following his family home. The thought crossed his mind to look for Uryuu, but even so, there was no point. Ichigo had lost the part of himself that was still angry about the day before, and had he found Uryuu, he wouldn't have known what to say to him.

End part 2.

Maybe a little shorter than the last time, but it feels right to end it here. R&R?