Dessa's Note: Sorry about the wait, I did mean for this to get out earlier but I was having major lack of inspiration. Anyway, on with the show :D

Dedication: this chapter is for fsj101 because it is scary how much we have in common XD

Chapter 8

Ichigo left Orihime's kitchen feeling simultaneously giddy and numb. His sudden proposal and his girlfriend's acceptance had left him knocked out of reality. He obviously did not predict the crash when it happened.

'Say what?' was the dazed answer of a thoroughly gob-smacked Hikaru, Suzuki sat at the opposite corner of the shared dorm utterly speechless.

Ichigo repeated himself, eyebrows twitching.

'Dude… what?' said Hikaru.

Ichigo repeated himself, again… in forced patience.

'This can't be.' Fretted Hikaru, pacing frantically like a worried mother.

'Well it is. Inoue and I are getting married and that's that.' Grumbled Ichigo resolutely.

Suzuki seemed to have defrosted, 'You're not serious are you?'

'Course I am.' Replied Ichigo, feeling his friend's words as hypocritical.

'This is a serious thing Ichigo, you can't do whatever you want like you thought when you were ten.'

Ichigo glared, hard. 'I don't need bull from you. You can either be happy for us or not.'

Hikaru stepped in, sensing the tension he tried to abate it, 'I don't know what happened when you were ten. But you got to realise you're 19 now, it's too young to get married.'

Like a hook, Ichigo was dragged back to his childhood when the same question was posed to him, but he refused to consider the immaturity of the situation. 'I don't care about age. Orihime wants to get married and as that is the case, then I'm fine with that.'

'Why don't you just stop for a minute and think about what this will mean? What if there are problems you're too young to see? What if it doesn't work out? Do you want to ruin her life?' growled Suzuki, his fists shaking from withheld shock.

Ichigo lost it, 'Just because you're girlfriend doesn't make any demands before she jumps into bed with you doesn't mean no one else does.' Before Ichigo realised what had happened Suzuki was directly infront of his face, close enough that the glare from his eyes actually hurt to look at and Ichigo was on the floor the next moment with a bleeding lip.

Frozen, Ichigo looked up to see Suzuki's closed fist shaking in wrath, but his face was confused, it was still of defiant anger but an element of understanding was smoking around his eyes. When Suzuki spoke it was an astonishingly calm voice, 'Do what you want.' And the next moment he was out the door with a jacket in hand.

'Well that was unexpected.' Remarked Hikaru idly.

'Ichigo kun?' prompted Orihime, yet again she got no response. Her boyfriend had been acting very stony since she had met him that morning at the train station, his face did not relax when they boarded the train to Karakura.

'Ichigo kun?' Nothing again. The lack of conversation mixed with the tense silence was slowly eroding Orihime's sanity.

'Ichigo kun please tell me what's wrong!' At Orihime's desperate plea Ichigo responded and was shocked to see her on the verge of tears.

'Eh? What happened? Why are you crying?'

'I-I'm not crying.'

She had started crying, 'You are now.'

She wiped a tear from her cheek, 'I suppose I am.'

'What's wrong?'

At this Orihime thought the situation ironic, 'I kept trying to make contact with your mind but there was no reception.'

Ichigo looked a little puzzled but when he managed to decode her language a mixed look of concern and denial raced across his eyes, 'Sorry Orihime, I've been thinking that's all.'

'Are you afraid of telling your father about us?' asked she timidly, her voice nearly breaking.

'What? Of course not!'

'Then what has been bothering you?'

Ichigo squirmed guiltily, not wanting to confess about his sharp words but not wanting Orihime to remain upset. 'I… said some things to Suzuki, and I feel a bit bad about it. But it will blow over, guys never hold grudges.'

Far from assuring her Orihime looked alarmed, 'Why? What did you say? You don't usually fight with your friends.'

Ichigo sighed and paused thoughtfully before speaking, his eyes glued to his hands. 'Suzuki had an issue when I told him we were getting married.'

Orihime's face clouded, 'Oh…'

He gave her a concerned sideways glance. 'Don't be upset about it, I don't care what they think.'

She gave him a small smile, 'I'm not upset Ichigo kun. I just hope you're friends are happy with me being with you.'

Ichigo felt like bursting 'Orihime, you are not the issue… at all! It's you they're worried about! They think I'm going to screw up your life.'

Orihime's eyes were in danger of popping out her head. 'But that's impossible Ichigo kun! I'm more happy about this engagement than I have of anything in my whole entire life!' said she earnestly yet softly and when Ichigo replied with nothing more than an intense stare she blushed profusely, realising her mouth had slipped away with her mind.

Never before had he wanted to act as a cheesy 1940s romantic film and sweep Orihime into his arms, bend low and kiss her senseless. To control himself he took to staring out the window again but he could still see Orihime's reflection in the glass, so he allowed himself that imitating luxury. Orihime was happy he had averted his gaze or she might have died from voluntary asphyxiation.

When the train pulled in at Karakura station, Ichigo helped Orihime out of the train and they took a bus to the suburban areas of the town. Orihime's eyes were glued to the windows, occasionally recognising a feat of the town from when she was younger and exclaiming her delight to Ichigo. But this did not disguise the uneasy nervousness that Orihime was harbouring inside her. The prospect of meeting the Kurosaki family unnerved her to a dangerous degree. What if they did not like her? What if they did not approve? What if they thought she was too young or silly? Ichigo was no stranger to her nervousness but chose to warn her of his family rather than assure, as he judged she had no quality that was dislikeable.

'It's good to be back here.' Said Orihime, smiling as she stepped out of the bus with one bag of luggage in her hands.

'It is actually. But if I'm honest I'd rather shield you from my father, he's a hyperactive nutcase sometimes.'

Ichigo expected Orihime to be scandalised but instead she giggled slightly, 'I remember your dad as being really funny actually.'

'He is not funny. Try not to be in the same room as him or he might start sacrificing animals to welcome you.'

Orihime giggled again, her anxiety appeased slightly. They walked a little bit until they reached a familiar street. 'Ichigo-kun! Look!' Ichigo did as commanded and his eyes fell onto a bed of daffodils, they lay peacefully in an innocent untouched corner of the front garden that belonged to the neighbouring house to the Kurosaki household. Ichigo smiled a little and Orihime ran up to the garden fence, doing everything in her power to not jump over it and run to the flow bed. 'They're so beautiful!'

Ichigo joined her side, 'yeah.' They stood side by side peacefully.

'Can you remember when we planted them Ichigo-kun?'

'Yeah, that was a good day.' Orihime turned to face him and gave him a radiant smile. He was transfixed for a moment before shaking his head like a wet dog and pulling the strings of his composure back together again. 'Come on, let's do this already.'

They walked up the relevant pathway and attempted to ring the door bell but before they could reach the button the door swung inward and Mr Kurosaki himself grabbed his son at the speed of light in a fierce hug.

Affection soon turned violent. After several death threats, a roundhouse kick, broken china and a choke hold, the couple were allowed to enter the house. Orihime was a little shaken but remembered that her boyfriend had warned her about the strange family habits.

The introduction went miraculously. Isshin praised his son at acquiring such a beautiful girlfriend and his sisters, both very different girls, welcomed her warmly. At the end of the evening Orihime relaxed in relief and predicted a comfortable weekend stay. She was only unhappy that Ichigo had not declared their engagement to his family yet. Perhaps he was also nervous and wanted a more settled environment for when he told them, but all the same, she could not help but feel worried. She settled herself on to the extra futon that was laid out for her in the girls' room and fell asleep thinking of her fiancé.

The next morning Ichigo managed to escape his family by arranging a lunch appointment with his friends who had chosen to remain at Karakura. Accompanying him was Orihime, swinging in delight as she walked by his side to the quaint restaurant that they were all meant to meet at.

As Ichigo lead her to a table with three other people Orihime was surprised to note that none of them were faces she could recognise. There were two men and a girl, she was introduced to them and learnt quickly that the large silent gentleman went by the name of Sado-kun, despite not speaking much she instantly liked him. The man of a slighter frame seemed not to get along well with Ichigo, something she was puzzled about but he was here after all, hence she assumed that they must like each other to some degree, the name she learnt to link the face with the dark hair and glasses was Ishida-kun, he seemed to know Suzuki kun and had enquired after him, to which Ichigo gave a grave reply, one that did not go unnoticed by Orihime. The last character to join Orihime's acquaintance was Arisawa-san, or Tatsuki chan as the girl insisted Orihime call her. Tatsuki chan being the only other girl at the table had the advantage of getting to know Orihime first and more intimately than the other two gentlemen under the watchful gaze of her fiancé.

'You know I was really shocked when Ichigo texted me only to say he wanted to introduce me to his girlfriend. I didn't think he could snag a good one like you,' Orihime blushed delicately, not knowing how to reply, but she needn't have worried because Tatsuki continued anyway, 'You should consider keeping an eye out for an upgrade though, you could do much better Orihime.' Her listener reddened while Ichigo frowned sternly.

Orihime thanked the girl but insisted she felt an upgrade was not necessary.

'Ichigo how did you get such a sweet girlfriend?' asked Tatsuki giving Orihime a soft platonic pat on the head.

'Don't baby her Tatsuki.'

'But she's so cute and well mannered, the complete opposite to you.' Ichigo scowled, preparing to reply with an inconsequential dismissal of the subject but then Tatsuki continued again 'She's the opposite of Senna too.'

Orihime froze, so did Ichigo, but she wasn't looking at him. 'Who…' Orihime gulped trying to swallow her stutters before they avalanched out of her mouth, 'Who is Senna?'

Tatsuki frowned then replied bluntly, 'She's Ichigo's ex girlfriend.'

Ichigo started to perspire.

'Oh…' replied Orihime, her eyes glazing over and looking at her half eaten plate of bolognaise.

Ichigo was angry and shot Tatsuki a glare, she replied back with an equally scathing glare that said 'Well you should have told her!' He glanced at Orihime in concern, she had become unnaturally quiet and her eyes were no longer bright.

'Well, it was great to see you guys. Stay in touch and we'll see you soon.' Said Ichigo quickly before laying down some money on the table and grabbing Orihime's slack arm, he then pulled her out of the restaurant ungraciously.

Orihime followed him as though hypnotised, eventually sense returned to her and Ichigo had slowed his pace of walking.

'Ichigo kun?'

He grunted in acknowledgment.

'Who is Senna?'

Ichigo halted their walking, slowly he turned around to face her. 'She… she used to be my girlfriend. It's true what Tatsuki said.'

Orihime bent her head, hiding her eyes, 'Oh. I see.'

Silence.

'We were only together for a few months, and I don't look upon that time proudly. She was quite pushy.'

Orihime gathered her composure, 'I'm sure she just wanted your attention.'

Ichigo mentally face palmed, 'She was not as nice as you would like to think.' Orihime waited for Ichigo to continue, when he did not she spoke in a miniscule tottering voice.

'Then why did you choose her?'

Ichigo eyes screwed up as though she had struck him, 'It wasn't really like I chose her, I was 15 and stupid, everyone was pairing off and I just got swept off with the tide.'

Orihime looked confused, 'But… you must have cared for her, surely?'

'Umm… not really, actually we broke up after 6 weeks.'

'Oh….' She looked torn, as though desperate to ask a question that wanted to dive off the platform of her tongue, but she tugged it back with tense ropes.

Ichigo gazed upon her, resigned. 'Go on, say what's on your mind.'

She looked startled, 'I didn't know you could read minds Ichigo-kun?'

'I don't, your mind is just splayed all over your face.' She giggled quietly, he put his hands in his pockets, feeling unsure of himself as an overwhelming desire to touch her dimples clutched him, 'Go on.'

'Well, umm… I don't really know how to word this… so I'll just say it quickly. Erm… did you….' She gulped, 'Did you and Se-' she screwed up her eyes and swallowed, 'Did you and Senna have any close contact?'

Ichigo blinked, then blinked again, then perspired, 'Contact?'

'Yes…'

'Contact as in?'

'As in um… intimacy…'

'As in… s-sex?' crap, where was the anti-stuttering app already? She nodded her head shyly, her face blushing healthily but her eyes still screwed up tight, as if about to whip off a plaster. 'We didn't have that kind of relationship.'

He was pleased to see Orihime's face literally lift and shine in a smile that banished his own embarrassment. 'I'm glad.' But then her face clouded over again.

'What? What's wrong?' Panic rose up in him, did she have a problem with him being inexperienced?

'Nothing really…'

'Orihime,' he began sternly, 'tell me what's bothering you, and before I go mad.'

At this Orihime was alarmed, 'Well… it's just that if you and Senna lasted for six weeks, I'm just worried if we won't last long either.'

Ichigo was completely floored by her admission, for a few minutes he was astonished beyond speech. 'Orihime, I… I would never leave you.'

Orihime looked hopeful, 'But how do you know that? You didn't think you and Senna would last six weeks. I'm asking for the rest of you life, are you sure you can give me that?'

For the second time Orihime discerned half a moment of something unclassifiable flit across Ichigo's eyes but he blinked and it was gone. 'Of course Orihime, that is the deal that we agreed to. And you should know Senna was frankly annoying, there was no other way to describe her. Her mouth was constantly gabbing away gossiping. It was more tiring that anything so it ended quickly.'

To his surprise, Orihime frowned, 'Ichigo-kun that is unkind.'

Now he actually did face palm, 'The point is she is the past, and you're the future and I'm not going to let you go. I'd have to be mad to.'

Orihime giggled again, and smiled at him. 'That's good.'

Dinner time, and Ichigo was trembling faintly from nerves, he had promised Orihime he would declare the marriage plans to his family this weekend, and despite her not mentioning a complaint he could tell she was worried he hadn't spoken to his family about it yet. The food tasted like sand in his mouth, but he was astounded that Orihime inhaled her food, despite looking as nervous as he was, though she was excited as opposed to terrified like him.

She smiled at him in encouragement as Yuzu laid a plate of ice-cream and home made waffles in front of him.

'Umm… I er... I have something I want to say.' Began Ichigo, feeling as though he was about to testify in a court of law.

'No' responded his father.

Ichigo's eye twitched, 'What?!' he growled.

'No.' said his father slowly, enunciating carefully as though speaking to a child.

'And why the hell not?'

'Because its waffle time!'

Ichigo rolled his eyes, in his nervousness he forget his father's obsession with desserts.

When the final course was eaten and finished with Isshin waved his hand imperially, commanding Ichigo to speak. The young man's scowl intensified and his eyes twitched in carefully composed anger. But he swept all that aside for the woman sitting next to him.

'I made an important decision with Orihime that I need to tell you about.'

'You've decided to have a baby together?' suggested his father hopefully.

Ichigo's face went red fasted than a lit firework. 'What?! What the hell? No old man!' Orihime far from acting embarrassed looked at Ichigo in worried hurt, 'Damn, not now Orihime, one day but not now.' She looked more relaxed, then seemed to remember where she was and who she sat in front of, consequently she blushed considerably. Strangely, her blush was what spurned him to spill out the truth. 'We've decided to get married.'

Silence.

More silence.

A gulp.

A bellow.

'WHAT?!' Cried three voices simultaneously. Ichigo blinked in surprise, shouts of 'you're too young' and 'are you insane' and 'why are you leaving us?' kept ringing in his ears until he managed to explain the situation with more patience than he held. He spoke of his resolution to marry Orihime, it was something they both wanted and decided upon together. His family turned quiet and after the shock wore off they gave feeble congratulations but Yuzu was fast growing in excitement at the prospect of a wedding which she had already decided to plan.

It was only until after the ladies retired to sleep for the evening that Isshin entered his son's room, surprisingly without attempting to assassinate his son in some way.

'We need to talk.' Began the father.

'There's nothing to talk about.' Began Ichigo grumpily, his patience had depleted for the day and he didn't think he could handle his father's nonsense right now.

'What you're doing is madness Ichigo.'

'Nothing mad about marriage to me.'

'Don't be stupid Ichigo. Asking to marry a girl within a few months of knowing her is entirely out of your character.'

'We met years ago dad. Time doesn't matter.'

'True, time doesn't. But marriage is not something to take lightly, how do you suppose you can handle the responsibility of caring for a wife when you have no income and still studying?'

'We don't need money.'

'Oh yes you do.' Began his father sternly, Ichigo was unsure what to do with this new serious side to his father.

'Why? It's not like we'll have much to spend for.'

'There will be rent to pay, you'll need a big enough space for the two of you, then there are overheads like food and electricity to pay for, then you'll also have to think about the ceremony itself. It's not fair to Orihime to automatically consider her to pay half of everything when it's your duty to look after her.'

Ichigo looked a bit like he had been flicked on the forehead. 'We can deal with those issues. They're normal things, I can manage that.'

Isshin raised an unconvinced eyebrow, 'Oh yeah? What about if Orihime gets pregnant?'

Ichigo spluttered and was about to growl at his stupid father but was stopped at the very serious look that his father glared back at him. 'You serious?'

'Of course I am! Sex makes babies Ichigo, and protection does not always work. That's another thing you will also have to pay for.'

'We'll be careful.'

'Fine be careful, it can still happen. What then?'

For the first time Ichigo looked genuinely lost, 'I… I dunno… this isn't something I'm thinking about right now…'

Isshin fed his fingers through his hair, much the same way his son usually did and sat by Ichigo on the bed, his next words were soft but still stern. 'You need to be ready now for marriage Ichigo, not later, you can't start prematurely. It's not fair to either of you. Marriage is so much more than just a union.'

There was silence for a while, 'What should I do?' asked Ichigo very quietly.

Isshin stared at his son sympathetically, 'Explain it to her, ask her to wait until you're both ready. I'm sure she'll understand, she's got a good head on her shoulders.'

'I… I don't think I can Dad. She's so happy about it all.'

'Come on Ichigo, be strong. You can, it's not like you've cancelled the whole thing, just delaying it till you're at a sensible situation in life.'

Ichigo thought about it silently for a long time, eventually he just nodded his head. His father clapped his back supportively.

Later that night when Ichigo was pulling out some pyjamas from his wardrobe he noticed the wooden shelf underneath his hangers which also acted as a hidden treasure chest when he was younger. Deciding to have a poke through he unlocked the contents. He grinned slightly at all the junk that poured out; old manga volumes, pieces of lego, a gundam figurine, a pack of cards he and his friends had written on, a make-shift cross bow he had made from sticks and a carefully sealed envelope.

He stared at the envelope, it was not labelled or signed. It was thick and as big as a notebook. Curious and trying to place a memory to the object he carefully opened the seal. Inside was a carefully folded piece of white tissue paper, still not remembering anything he unfolded the tissue paper and was thoroughly startled when a crashing memory landed on him at the sight of auburn colour. Inside the tissue paper lay a precisely positioned lock of long auburn hair, it was as long as Ichigo's entire arm and had lost none of its incandescent shine despite being locked away for nearly a decade. He stared at it in wonder, his hands trembling at the precious artefact, the symbol of a child's devotion and naive optimism. One thought recurred in his head… why had he done it?

Author's note: I didn't know how to end it very well. But this is where it is meant to end for now. I will try to get the next chapter up sooner rather than later :D Thank you for everyone who reviewed me last chapter; Somerlia, fsj101, OrihimeKurosakiInoue, Renee, xlilslayerx, hapezibah, zodious, dantheman23, foxfang27, melnel, Xtremefairy. Nypsy and AbaraiArekushisu :D you are all wonderful people!