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.

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-Love Story-

12

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12.

Ichigo Kurosaki frowned as he staring at a sheet of paper in his hand. Next to him, a beautiful young lady smiled at him, waiting for his response. The berry guy scowled. Nell had just given the paper to him and made him read it.

"A national piano competition?"

"Yes," Nell nodded. She giggled sweetly, "I thought you might be interested in entering? After all you're really talented."

Ichigo sighed. True he loved piano but he had never entered any competition before. He didn't know if he was good enough for a competition, let alone a national competition. He appreciated Nell who let him know about it though.

"Nah..." he gave the sheet back to the girl, "I am not that good."

"No, you're really good!"

She followed him who continued walking to his office. She had just stopped him in the corridor when he finished his class.

"Listen to me, the first and runner up winner would have a chance to study abroad!"

Ichigo did want to study piano overseas but he had no money. He had two younger sisters and he had to think about their education first...

"It's going to be full scholarship."

Ichigo stopped.

He looked at the girl, "Really?"

She grinned and nodded, "Yes."

He thought for few seconds. That was not a bad idea though. After all, he had nothing to lose. He had always wanted to have a scholarship to study piano overseas, be it in Vienna or France—somewhere in Europe. He had also practiced his English in case he could study there. Now, he got a chance to make his dream came true.

Nell had known this guy for three years and had secretly had a crush on him for at least two years. From the look he had on his face now, she knew he was interested. She was happy. She wanted to make him happy and she knew he would be happy if he could achieve his dream.

"So?" She knew the answer though.

Ichigo shrugged , "I will think about it."

For Nell, although he didn't say yes—coming from Ichigo Kurosaki's mouth—that was as good as yes. She smiled and nodded, "Okay, there's still four months before the competition, you still have time to think about it, though I do think this is a golden chance to win the ticket to study overseas for you."

Ichigo smirked. Of course, though he could see the pretty blush on her cheeks, he wasn't aware of her feelings for him.

"Thanks Nell!" He grinned and continue walking to his room.

This competition was not a bad idea at all.

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"So…"

"So?"

"This is melon bread."

"I know, you've said that."

"I'm just making sure to make you remember."

"Of course I remember!"

The green eyes met the pretty gray eyes.

He rolled his eyes, "Good then." He looked away from her and walked, "Now let's move to the next tray."

Orihime stomped her feet and humph-ed. It has been twenty minutes since he started teaching her about the bread's names and prices and everything, but during those twenty minutes he had mentioned melon pan for like… six times! She knew he tried to annoy her.

"So, this is anpan…"

"Ulquiorra-kun!" cut in Orihime.

He paused and turned, "What?"

The beautiful girl was wearing an apron and kerchief on her hair to keep her fringe away from her face. She folded her arms and furrowed her brows. This was her 'serious mode: on' pose. He knew that she did it to make herself looked intimidating. He never told her that it wasn't working though because secretly, he likes that pose.

"I know you want to say something."

He kept his poker face, "Oh yeah, what?"

Orihime pouted, she remembered very well how difficult this man was to understand back then in high school. She had hard times with him but they had been together for years and dating for almost a year. Now, he couldn't fool her with his poker face. She looked into his expressionless green eyes. He was as pale as ever, she realized.

"You wanted to apologize."

"Oh yeah?"

Orihime nodded, "Just say it already, and I will—maybe—forgive you," she added while crossing her arms, "how many years do you think it has been since it happened?"

Ulquiorra turned around and walked to the kitchen. He hadn't said anything yet and she wasn't satisfied by his reaction. She followed him. She knew Aizen had told him to apologize to her anyway and she was eager to hear that. Honestly, she was not angry or upset anymore but an apology from him would be nice to hear. After all, what he had done that time was quite hurtful to her. She had been traumatized, actually.

There was no one in the kitchen. Aizen had a meeting with his ex-wife and would be back after lunch. He stopped near the table in the center of the kitchen and turned to see her. She stopped and put her hands on her hips.

"So?"

"So what, woman?"

"Aizen told you to apologize, didn't he?"

"He did."

"Then?"

She waited for few seconds. She had to admit that he was still looking as good as ever. His dark hair was a little longer now but nothing else had changed. The way he treated her hadn't changed either.

"I did not do anything wrong to you."

Orihime stomped her foot, "You kissed someone else!"

He shook his head, "Someone else kissed me."

"Okay, but it's still the same! We were dating but you're… You're…" she tried to say the word but it was difficult. She was struggling to say the word but, though he knew what she was going to say, he stood there calmly—one hand on the table—waiting for her to say the word, "You're gay!"

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"So, your family finally met her."

The trio was walking out of the building. They had one hour for lunch and they decided to go to a new ramen house nearby. Ishida heard the ramen they sold there was good.

"Yeah," Ichigo grunted, he walked in the middle between a tall Mexican and a glasses-wearing man. "I didn't plan to introduce her to them yet actually. You know my family."

"Your family is fine," Ishida smirked, "It's your dad."

Ichigo nodded, "Yeah, but thank God he didn't do something too weird to her."

"Do they get along?" asked the brown haired man.

"I didn't expect it but they do get along really well," Ichigo remembered how Yuzu squealed happily when Orihime said she should dropped by at her work place, "Yuzu likes her. She called her 'Inoue-sama'."

Ishida chuckled.

Ichigo didn't like how the glasses man seemed like he was laughing at him. He knew whatever Ishida had in his mind, he wouldn't like it.

"What is it?" he asked the black haired man.

"Nothing."

Ichigo shot him a disbelieving look.

Ishida sighed and kept walking without looking at the taller man, "Well, honestly, I was thinking," he never stopped thinking, did he?, "that if I didn't know better, I would think you were talking about your girlfriend meeting your family."

Ichigo's face went redder than his hair and when he heard Chad chuckle, he wanted to strangle Ishida. He knew the man was not stupid, he might catch some hint. He did have a little crush on Orihime but he had promised her, so he tried not to make the not-so-innocent crush into love. He never told anyone about this but for some reason, he knew that Ishida was more observant than most people.

"You're red, Kurosaki."

"Shut up, four eyes!"

"Ah,"

"What is it Chad?"

The tall man had stopped a few steps behind the other two. Ichigo and Ishida stopped too and looked at the way Chad was looking at.

"Impossible…" Ichigo couldn't believe what he saw.

Not far in front of them, he could see the ramen house where they had planned to have lunch. He had heard about how famous the new restaurant was after it appeared in a magazine but he didn't expect that so many people had the same idea to have lunch there, just like them. In front of the restaurant, there were so many people queuing.

"We have…" Ishida looked at his watch, "Forty five minutes left." He looked at Ichigo, as usual they left him to decide—no matter how many times they called him stupid, well Ishida did—they would still ask him to make the decision, "what do you think?"

Ichigo folded his arms, "Nah, can't you see the line? We wouldn't make it back to office on time."

Chad nodded, "Maybe we should find some other place to eat."

"What? Fast food?"

Ichigo didn't hate fast food but he knew Ishida, just like how he appeared, didn't really like fast food. Suddenly, an idea came into his head. He wasn't sure though whether it was a good idea or not.

"Say, do you guys like breads?"

.

"Ulquiorra Schifer?"

Rukia sighed, Tatsuki called her during her lunch break only to talk about their friend, Orihime Inoue, who had a new job and had started her job today. They had heard about her new job and both of them worried about her. After all, that guy was there.

"Yeah, what do you think about him?"

Rukia thought about the question. She was in the same high school with Tatsuki and Orihime but she hadn't been close with them back then. She knew about Ulquiorra Schifer though. When she heard that the school's idol dated the infamous emo guy, she couldn't believe her ears. She heard rumors about Ulquiorra and she thought he was a dangerous person. When she got closer with Orihime and Tatsuki in University and learned the reason they broke up, she was surprised. He knew Ulquiorra was weird but she never had any idea that the guy was actually gay.

"I don't know," Rukia answered truthfully, "you tell me."

She heard Tatsuki sigh, "Well, I don't like him."

Rukia nodded though she knew Tatsuki couldn't see her, "I understand that."

"But," the short haired girl sighed again, "I think he really loved Hime."

Rukia frowned, "He is gay."

"I know…" Tatsuki chuckled, "I just had a feeling that he really loved her, I didn't understand why though. I didn't like when she decided to date him but I was surprised when they broke up and when she told me the reason."

Rukia laughed, "Maybe he is bi."

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"Ichigo-kun!"

Ichigo smirked as he entered the bakery, his two friends followed him from behind. When she saw Ishida and Chad, Orihime smiled widely and waved her hand cheerfully. Chad nodded and Ishida smiled politely.

"Welcome!" Orihime said cheerfully, "Ishida-kun, Sado-kun!"

Ichigo walked to the counter where Orihime stood, his two friends were smart enough not to interfere. Ishida had his eyes to some homemade Pizza while Chad had decided that he would buy some cute cupcakes with colorful sugary topping.

"It looks like a nice place," Ichigo looked around the shop, the walls were painted with soft pastel colors with white decoration, "and uh, nice uniform too."

"I know right!" Orihime chuckled, "And the cakes are nice too!" She leaned to whisper to him, "The melon bread is a little smaller than the other bakeries though, but it tastes so much better!"

Ichigo nodded, "Oh, okay… I will buy some melon breads then…"

Orihime was really happy. She didn't expect Ichigo would come bringing his friends on the first day she works here. She knew that Ichigo was not her boyfriend and maybe he would never be one, but sometimes the way he treated her made her think that it would be nice if she had him as her boyfriend.

"So, where're the other employees?"

"In the kitchen," Orihime used her thumb to point the kitchen. "My mission here is to take care of the customers."

Ichigo couldn't hide his chuckle. She had a pretty weird choice of words but it was cute.

The kitchen's door was opened and a man with pale skin walked into the shop with a big tray of fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. Ichigo looked at the man, who looked at him with a poker face. He ignored the red head and walked to put the cookies on display.

"You know, Woman," the black haired man didn't call her by her name but Ichigo knew he was talking to the auburn haired woman. Ichigo decided that he disliked the way he called her, "You're supposed to take care of the customers, not to talk to some stranger who didn't buy anything."

Ichigo growled at the rude words. He wanted to protest about how that man treated the customer. Well, Ichigo himself wasn't the friendliest guy in this world, but at least if he worked in a bakery he knew he would be less rude toward the customer. Little did he know that that the man rude to him on purpose.

Author's Note:

I think I am being obvious for you who have read my other fics: I am a big fan of Ulquiorra. I have fun writting about his interaction with Hime. If it were in an alternate universe and Ichigo weren't there I would love to see Hime and Ulquiorra together. But of course it's only IF Ichigo weren't in the picture. (Sadly for Ulquiorra, Ichigo is always in the picture).

I update this chapter faster than usual but to tell you the truth, I don't really like this chapter. I hope I can make a better chapter next time. For now, I hope this is not too disappointing for you.