Life was good for the moment.
Moonlight punctured the transparent curtain, fluttering across the young woman's curvy body. The man in her room merely cursed. How could he...What possesed him to creep into her apartment in the middle of the night?
She told him that he could come over whenever he pleased. Of course, she had assumed daylight hours, not the dead of the night.
With practiced precision, Kurosaki Ichigo tiptoed to her bedside. It's not like he didn't know that she was there; he just needed to see her.
She stirred, he stiffened. Orihime laughed lightly, tossing her head to the side as auburn hair sprawled across the fluffy pillows. He was dead silent, never moving, his own breath hitched in his throat. It seemed as though she was mocking him, even in her sleep. He knew better than that, though..
Tenderly, Ichigo pushed a stray lock of hair from her face, watching her lips twitch upwards. These were the moments that he longed for.
The fated instance where time slowed, where he could gaze upon his lover without blood scattering his vision, or a throbbing pain within his body. The fleeting seconds where his blessings were heard, not his battle cry.
"Damn, Inoue.." Ichigo pressed his lips against her forehead, "I love you so fucking much. Nothing will ever change that."
And, even in the deep unconsciousness, she responded, pink lips opening for words, "..I know.."