Disc: I don't own BLEACH and LONG VACATION
Note: this fanfic is inspired from a J-Dorama, Long Vacation starred by Kimura Takuya of SMAP. Enjoy!
Thought/Past
Present.
dedicated for my awesome BETA, Nypsy. Thanks for Beta-ing this story!
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-Love Story-
8
She was not his girlfriend.
She had mistaken Nell as his girlfriend.
He had explained but maybe that was not good enough, well he had never been good at explaining some things. Besides, why should he clarify this? It wasn't like he liked her or anything, right?
Right?
It had been a week since that day by the way, since she had accidentally answered the phone call and now everyone in his workplace knew that he lived with a woman. He had to lie that she was his cousin from his mother's side who'd come from the village and would live with him until she found a better place and a job. Thank God that everybody bought that excuse. He was glad that they had a similar hair color.
It was not that hard to assure Nell that the girl who had answered her call was actually his cousin. The green haired woman could be as naïve as a kid on some points, such that somehow, she resembled Orihime a little bit. Now that he didn't have to worry about gossip around his workplace, there was something else that bothered him.
He didn't understand...
"Give me a reason—what are you guys doing here?"
The girl with auburn hair looked confused, "We are having a nabe[*] party…" suddenly she looked self-conscious and became panicked. "Ah...we shouldn't have done it in your living room? We can move to my room if you…"
"It's okay" cut in the pianist. He didn't mean to scare the woman. Actually, that question was for the five other people in the room who didn't even bother to put their chopsticks down as Ichigo asked the question. "Your room is too small for all these people." He deepened his scowl. He watched as those people continued their activity, completely ignoring him.
Ichigo sighed. He didn't know since when and how, but Orihime had become friends with his friends. Maybe it had been since a week ago when his friends forced him to introduce them to his 'cousin' who lived with him. In no time, it was beyond his expectations—Orihime had become friends with Nell, Chad, Keigo, Mizuiro, and even Ishida. Even this evening, these people came to his apartment with nabe ingredients with them, telling him that they had been invited by Orihime for dinner. He couldn't blame her, he knew how friendly the older girl was. He just didn't know since when she had become mail friends [*] with his friends. By the way Keigo called her ("Orihime-chaaaan…") it seemed like they had become pretty close. He wasn't jealous of course.
No.
Even when Ishida cleaned the soybean sauce that smeared under her chin. Or when she laughed at something Mizuiro said…
He wasn't jealous.
"You don't eat?"
Ichigo looked at the green haired girl. The girl smiled at him and offered a bowl to him. He just realized then that he hadn't eaten anything. He muttered a small thank you as he accepted the bowl. He looked at the auburn haired girl out of the corner of his eye, and wondered if she realized that he hadn't eaten anything at all. He felt a little annoyed when he saw the girl was laughing at Keigo's antics. She didn't look at him at all.
Shit.
I am not jealous.
-o-
Orihime knew that Nell had a crush on Ichigo. Well that was obvious. She wondered if Ichigo knew about it but he pretended not to know or he didn't know about it at all. It was weird since everybody, even her who had known Nell less than a month, could see that. From the way Ichigo acted and treated the green haired musician, she believed that he didn't know about her feelings. She liked Nell and somehow she wanted to help her to get closer to Ichigo.
Ichigo had been really nice to her, he let her live in his house for free. He didn't get angry with her even though she had broken the rules he made by answering his phone. Ichigo was a really nice person and he was also kind of good looking—though he was scowling too much, but she didn't mind—if only she was a few years younger…
No.
Orihime couldn't fall for Ichigo, he had been so nice to her. If she had feelings for him, it would be awkward for them. Besides, Nell was a perfect match for Ichigo. She was nice, beautiful and she was young. Orihime had never played matchmaker before, but somehow she wanted to try it this time. She knew that Ichigo and Nell would make a good couple.
That was why today, she invited these people to have a nabe party at Ichigo's place. This was something she learned from Rangiku-san. A party would never fail to make two people get closer. She had always been trusting of Rangiku-san. She knew it would work. Now, she was secretly watching Nell offering a bowl of nabe to Ichigo. She was glad that Nell offered the bowl to the strawberry head since he hadn't touched anything at all. She was afraid that he would be starving, but she waited because she wanted to give the chance to Nell.
When he accepted the bowl and muttered a thank you, Orihime quickly turned to Keigo. She didn't want him to catch her watching him like that. She smiled at something Keigo said to her but her mind was not there. She wondered if being a matchmaker for the two was a good idea or not.
-o-
She told everybody not to worry about the dishes, she would do that later. Nell had offered to help her but Orihime declined her politely. She told the younger girl that she had extra energy to do that since she had nothing to do the whole day.
Orihime walked them to the front door and told them to come again next time. Keigo was more than happy to tell her that he could come visit her every day. Of course, Ichigo declined the offer with the reason that he didn't want to see the idiot around his house that often.
As they left the apartment building, Keigo wouldn't stop complaining about how lucky Ichigo was that he could live under the same roof with such a beautiful woman like Orihime. For Keigo, life was unfair. All that Ichigo could do was scowl—and play piano—he didn't deserve the goddess.
"Silly Keigo-kun." Nell shook her head, "They are cousins."
"But—but they don't look like each other, are they really cousins?" Mizuiro said, as his hands were busy typing a mail for one of his girlfriends.
"Cousins don't have to look like each other" Nell told him matter of factly.
Ishida smirked. He and the half Mexican guy knew very well that Orihime was not Ichigo's cousin. She was not even his relative. It would be interesting to see their reaction if only they knew that the woman who lived in Ichigo's house with him was actually just some random girl he barely even knew. Oh yes, that would be entertaining—to see their faces…
"But you could marry your cousin." The tall tanned boy surprised them all by his calm tone, he was not usually interested in a topic like this. "If Ichigo wanted to marry his cousin, the law would accept that."
"B-but, they don't love each other!" Keigo said, with Nell nodding beside him.
"How do you know?" said Mizuiro. Somehow, he managed to follow the conversation though his hands were busy tapping on his mobile's keypad. "Orihime-chan is a beautiful girl, if only I didn't have a fetish for older women, I would go for her. Besides, in my eyes they both looked like newlyweds. Didn't you see when she walked us to the door and he followed her from behind?"
Keigo opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. Nell also looked like wanted to say something but she couldn't.
Ishida pushed his glasses with one hand to cover his smirk. The reactions on Nell's and Keigo's faces were really entertaining. To spice up the situation, Ishida decided to add some more information.
"By the way, do you know that Orihime-san is five years older than Kurosaki?"
Mizuiro dropped his phone.
-o-
"You don't have to help me, Kurosaki-kun…"
Once the guests had gone home, she called him with that name again. He sighed, he liked it better when she called him Ichigo but he didn't know how to tell her that it was okay to call him by his first name. He decided then to let her call him in whichever way suited her.
"It's okay." Ichigo grunted as he dried the bowl she had just washed. "You should have let them help you."
Orihime smiled, "We can't let the guests do that."
"They're not guests!"
"They're your friends."
"They're…"
"Besides," Orihime cut him off before he could continue, "If you're willing to help, just like now, it becomes our chance to catch up with each other." She looked at him and smiled, "It's a good chance to have a little chat about what has happened today." She added with a cute grin "This way we could be a little closer."
Don't blush.
Don't blush.
She isn't cute.
She isn't…
Oh yes she is.
"To...to be closer?"
Orihime coughed, her face was reddened to her ears, she didn't mean it that way. "I mean, now that we are 'cousins'…" she giggled, "…we need to know more about each other right? You wouldn't want us to give different answers when someone asks us about something, right?"
He nodded absentmindedly. He wasn't focusing on what she was trying to say. He was thinking about her previous words. To be closer…
Not that he didn't want it.
-o-
[*]Nabe: Vegetable stew/hot pot
Mail friends: Japanese term for when you talk to someone only via mobile mail and become friends without actually hanging out together.
Author's note:
I am trying my best to update all of my fics this week. I have many ideas for new fics but I reminded myself to focus on my current stories first. Actually, I'm kind of tired of writing and after I've finished Even Now, Love Story and My Girl, I planned to rest. Maybe only do some oneshots... Just a plan though.
.Recchinon