And here's another update. Thank you so much to those who have reviewed and faved this story. It means sooo very much to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much (if not more so) than the others. Enjoy!!! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Bleach. If I did, Neliel would be healing Grimmjow with her special saliva. lol

"ICHI-GO!!!" A shrill yell banged on Ichigo's eardrums. He rolled his eyes, knowing what going to come next. Keigo pushed rudely through the sea of students to tackle hug Ichigo..

And was met with a fist to the face.

"Hi, Keigo," Ichigo said with another roll of his eyes. Keigo plummeted to the floor, holding his nose while writhing in pain.

"Why'd you do that, Ichigo? I was only trying to hug my very best friend in the whole wide world..!" He said between moans of agony.

"I keep telling you not to do that, Asano-san," Mizuiro said, shaking his head.

"Quit calling me that!!" Keigo shouted, only to writhe in more pain.

Ichigo couldn't help but smile. As annoying as he was, it was nice to be in the familiarity of school again. Thankfully, his only sign of injury was a bandage to cover a cut on his head. Walking away from the still complaining Keigo, he focused on finding Orihime.

He had a plan on what to say, he'd bring her to the roof, talk to her, tell her how he feels, and maybe they'll take it from there. He actually felt his heart skip a beat at the thought. His steps quickened. He wanted to see her NOW.

Practically getting tunnel vision, he almost collided with Tatsuki. Thankfully, her quick steps back stopped her from getting a sore backside.

"Watch your ass, Ichigo. Geez you trying to put me through a wall?" Tatsuki sneered. Ichigo gave an apologetic look and ran his hand through his spiky orange hair.

"Sorry, Tatsuki. Didn't mean to hurt you.." Tatsuki noticed that he wasn't even looking at her; he seemed distracted by something. "Something on your mind? You looking for someone?" And to her surprise, a slight shade of red covered his cheeks.

"Yeah. Have you seen Orihime? I need to talk to her." Tatsuki was about to reply when she saw an unwelcome sight behind Ichigo.

"Yes, where is Orihime? I need to feel-I mean talk to her too." A voice behind Ichigo purred. Ichigo side-stepped away from Chizuru, not in the mood for her foolishness today, and judging from the growing vein throbbing in Tatsuki's head, neither was she.

"Where is my dear Hime? I have some things I need to talk with her. Intimately of course." Light flashed across her glasses. Obviously she was in a prowling mood. And Tatsuki wasn't having it.

"She's right over there, Ichigo." Tatsuki pointed behind her. For reasons he couldn't explain, his breath caught in his throat.

And there she was. The sunlght seeming to take a glow around her. Her hands were clasped together in front of her, her gray eyes staring out the window into space. She seemed to be far away in thought. Beautiful, Ichigo could only think.

"Thank you Tatsuki." Ichigo gave a grateful smile before walking away.

"And as for you, Ms. Nympho, you're not getting within 5 miles of Orihime, let's go." Tatsuki grabbed Chizuru's hair violently, ignoring her squeals of pain as she dragged her away.

As Ichigo got closer to Orihime, his steps seemed to slow. His mouth began to get dry and his heartbeat quickened. Isn't this something. Aizen didn't scare me worth shit and yet she has me feeling like a kid. The absurdity of it almost made him chuckle. Standing at least two feet from her, he gathered his nerves and..

"Hi, Orhime." She whipped her neck to his voice, her auburn hair slightly fanning around her. Ichigo immediately found himself lost in her eyes. What is going on..? He gave a slight gulp.

Orihime's eyes widened, then lowered, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Hi..Kurosaki-kun." Her heart lodged in her throat. "It's good to see you well once more."

"Thank you." Ichigo cleared his throat. Wringing his hands together, he tried to gather his words before he sounded like a babbling brook of idiocy.

"Can I..talk to you..alone?" Orihime's heart went from her throat to her feet as her face heated up. She looked up and saw a surprising vulnerability in Ichigo's brown eyes. How she had missed them..

"Sure," was all she could say. And they walked side-by-side, trying not to touch, but the overflow of students forced them to bump shoulders, sending currents of electricity racing through them.

Oh dear God, what does he want to talk about. And alone?! I hope I don't ramble. I hope I don't--Oh God is he staring..? She looked slightly Ichgo's way to see that he was looking the exact same way at her. As soon as their eyes met, they diverted the other direction.

This is going to be harder than I thought, Ichigo thought.

On the roof, Ichigo became more and more afraid to say what he needed to. He began to sweat, Just say it, Ichigo! He silently lashed at himself.

"So..umm..how are you feeling, Inoue?" As soon as the words came out of his mouth he wanted to unleash Bankai upon himself. Idiot! You could've said that in public!!

Orihime's brows slightly furrowed, but quickly came apart. "Umm..I'm fine, Kurosaki-Kun." She gave a small smile in his direction. "Is..is there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Oh, you have no idea. Ichigo stopped wringing his hands, It was now or never. "Orihime, I--"

The schoolbell interrupted Ichigo from saying anything. "Well, there's the bell, Kurosaki-kun. Gotta run!" Orihime said, rushing past him, silently grateful that the bell had rung.

Ichigo caught her wrist. "Orihime, wait. Please.." Orihime's heart went from her feet to her brain. He's touching me.

"Y-yes?" She barely could squeak out, turning to look at him.

"I..I know what you said yesterday. You said you--"

"Kurosaki-kun..I have to go." Orihime lowered her head and broke off his grip, racing away from him as her face went red as tomatoes. He heard me. Oh my God, he heard me.

Ichigo watched her leave and looked towards the sky. For some unexplained reason, he felt his heart ache.

A/N: Now of course you didn't think I would have them fall for each other THAT easily did you? lol I like this chapter because I want Ichigo to still not know what he feels, but he's slowly coming to terms with his own feelings. Update will be coming soon!! :)