Dessa's note: Aha! Two updates in the same month! Not bad for my record! Enjoy.

Chapter 9

The weather was warming as May began and so was the race to end of year exams. Ichigo sat at his now historic seat next to Orihime in the library, streams of sunlight bared down on the tables from the partially blinded windows. Orihime was focused on her revision, textbooks, worksheets, a thick pad of paper and a calculator were spread out in front of her, taking most of the shared table. Her eyebrows were attempting to meet each other as her eyes darted right and left while reading the complex mathematical problems. Ichigo scrutinised her carefully, he had been trying to find the right moment to express his concerns over their engagement to her, but at every chance she had delayed him by brandishing a wedding magazine enthusiastically at him.

He stared back at the book he was meant to be reading, One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest lay immobile in his big hands, stubbornly stuck on page three. He was going insane by the repetitive thoughts occluding his brain. Should he tell her now? Would she be sad? Would she cry? He couldn't handle Orihime crying.

Orihime had been a bright bumbling bundle of absolute joy since they had returned from Karakura, she spent her spare time calling venues, booking appointments and flicking through bridal magazines. Every opportunity Ichigo had to approach the guilty topic had ended in reluctant failure and he was now concluding that he should in fact remain silent about his worries. This ideology was killed swiftly when his father called two weeks after the couple left Karakura. Isshin Kurosaki was naturally angered by what he observed as cowardice on his son's part; urging him to man up and tell her.

And so Ichigo returned to his cataclysmic thoughts sitting stationary in the library. He glanced one more time towards Orihime, pulled all his guts together, took a big breath and addressed her.

'Inoue,'

She blinked and sat up; just realising then that she was sitting hunched upon her pad of paper, 'Yes Ichigo-kun?'

His name in her voice was truly powerful ammunition he discovered, but like a wet dog he shook his head and pulled his guts together again, 'I- I need to talk to you about something.'

She frowned worriedly, 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing's wrong' crap he lied to her automatically, 'I want to speak in private though.'

At this she looked more anxious, her pen tumbled out of her hand as she nodded her head and shakily stood up, but she had made not an inch's worth of progress in moving anywhere, when a very large distraction fell upon her.

'Chikako-chan?' said a startled Orihime when a tall young lady with flowing blonde hair and green tearful eyes was walking briskly towards the couple, with every step the woman's composure crumbled a little more until it was almost entirely evaporated when she reached Orihime. No words were spoken; Chikako simply enveloped her arms around Orihime and sobbed into her shoulder. Orihime instantly made efforts to calm the woman down, but nothing would prevail. Ichigo all the while looked upon this strange occurrence with controlled confusion, when the woman collapsed onto his girlfriend he conceded that a higher priority than what was going to say had taken place. Ichigo begrudgingly helped Orihime take the woman to a quiet corner of the library where they succeeded in stabilising her.

With a tissue to her nose Chikako started to apologise, 'Sorry about this Orihime, but I didn't think of anyone else to turn to, I knew they would all have said "I told you so"' she immediately burst out sobbing loudly again, lamenting on her misfortune.

Ichigo turned to his girlfriend and gave her a questioning look, 'Erm, Ichigo-kun, this is Chikako chan… Suzuki-san's girlfriend.' Ichigo would have raised his eyebrows in surprise but they fell into a scowl as Chikako began a new violent wave of sobs.

'Orihime-san' said Chikako, turning to the woman who was trying to console her, 'y-you're wr-wrong.'

'What?' questioned Orihime slowly.

'H-he…' Chikako became speechless as sobs overtook her, but then… 'He DUMPED ME!' right after the outburst the blonde girl let her head fall and hit the table in despair.

'Oh dear,' said Orihime, Ichigo had to withhold the urge to roll his eyes at the melodramatics, he was beginning to see why Suzuki never had introduced his girlfriend to their friends. 'What happened Chikako-chan?' asked Orihime sympathetically.

Chikako started to wave her arms in random directions, signifying the concocting confusion of her mind, 'I don't know Orihime-san! It was all going so well! He did everything I asked, we went everywhere together, we were with each other at every moment, we-' Chikako's voice broke for a moment 'We made pet names for each other!' her declaration twisted into a drawn out sob, then she buried her face in her tissues again. Ichigo couldn't help but roll his eyes. Orihime caught him doing this and sent him a little disapproving glance.

'Maybe he just needs his own space for a little while.' Suggested Orihime, trying to placate the distressed woman.

Chikako shook her head, 'He was very clear Orihime san, he said he didn't want to be with me anymore! He- He said that we were too… too different.'

'Maybe that was his way of saying you'll be happier with someone else.'

But Chikako would not be consoled, 'I don't understand! I gave him me! I gave him me Orihime-san! I followed my mum's advice, she told me "if you want to keep a guy, you sleep with him" so I did!' Ichigo was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, Orihime was feeling the strain too, but this itching discomfort went unnoticed by an oblivious Chikako who continued her depressed rant, 'I let him do it whenever he wanted, anytime! I never said no! We were so happy in the beginning! Why did it have to go so wrong?' Orihime patted Chikako's back in consoling patience, she and Ichigo shared a look as if to say, 'This is going to take a while.'

'Ne Chikako-chan, why did it go wrong?'

'I don't know…. He did get angry a few times.'

'Why?' asked Orihime, finding it difficult to imagine the sobre Suzuki in the midst of angst.

'I don't know, I only asked for a Louis Vuitton handbag, and an Armani dress and a new iPad and a Tiffany necklace and a Prada purse and Louboutin Shoes…' Chikako turned to look upon Orihime, who gave her a mixed look, 'It wasn't like I asked him to buy me a car! I don't need expensive gifts!' Ichigo sighed, losing his patience. 'We were good together Orihime-san!' continued Chikako, who continued to monopolise Orihime's sympathy. Sensing her fiancé's struggling temper, Orihime asked Ichigo to wait for her outside and she would join him after a few minutes. It took much more than a few minutes and much more of Ichigo's patience but eventually Orihime did stabilise Chikako long enough to enable a speedy escape. She re-emerged harmless but adorning a light blush on her face.

'You alright?' asked Ichigo.

She smiled, 'Yes, I'm fine Ichigo-kun' why did he tell her to call him by name again? He couldn't afford to melt every time she said it.

'I didn't know that was Suzuki's girlfriend.'

'Well, she is his ex-girlfriend now, she's not usually this tearful… poor thing.' Said Orihime sympathetically.

'I don't know how you stay sympathetic with her, she's so high maintenance no wonder Suzuki dumped her.'

'That is unkind Ichigo-kun,' again with the name, he really needed to build a defence to that. 'Chikako-chan liked Suzuki-kun very much. Any girl would feel as hurt as her when their boyfriend breaks up with them.' Ichigo's face darkened. 'By the way, what were you going to say to me Ichigo kun?' asked Orihime, a slight tremor in her voice. He stared at her for a while, contemplating, but he couldn't bear to see Orihime reflect a fifth the sadness that Chikako had expressed. Would she interpret his putting off the wedding as a break up? Would she think he was losing interest in her as Suzuki obviously had done with Chikako? He did intend to marry someday, he'd already promised Orihime that… twice. So did it really matter if it was now or later?

Threading his fingers through his hair, he gave up on thinking. 'It doesn't matter, let's get back to revision.'

Orihime could hardly remember a time where she had been so happy and stressed in equal measure. She presumed her fiancé was not too good at planning events because the very large majority of wedding planning fell into her hands. She supposed her excitement for the wedding also played a role, but she did think Ichigo could have done a bit more to help with the arrangements, she did have revision to do too after all, and money was short.

Considering herself a woman of equal responsibility to her fiancé, Orihime thought to mention her disapproval of the workload to Ichigo. Later, she thought she should have approached him when he was in a lighter mood, but he had been so unnervingly tense since they returned from Karakura that choosing a lighter, more appropriate moment was highly unlikely.

She had breached the subject when the two were walking down the main campus corridor towards the exit of the university so as to travel to their halls of residence.

'Ichigo-kun?'

'Hmm?' replied he without looking her way.

'Have you found a venue yet for the wedding?'

He shrugged his shoulders but his face tensed, 'Not yet.'

Orihime was unhappy with his response; it was like he didn't even care, 'Well have you been looking?'

'Yeah, but I've been busy… haven't had much time and stuff.'

Orihime made an uncharacteristic scowl, it was not award winning like her fiancé's but it displayed her disappointment. 'Ichigo-kun, if we want this wedding to happen after exams we need to prepare for it, we don't have much time as it is.'

He tensed again, but his frame exuded a hint of fear and denial. 'I said I'm looking into it.' Replied Ichigo gruffly.

Orihime was slightly affronted by his irritation with her, but she supposed it was only exam stress. 'By the way, I've invited Yuki-san, I hope you don't mind, but she is really nice when you get past her dark humour.'

She hadn't realised it, but Ichigo had halted in his tracks five steps away, she turned around with a question on her face, this intensified at Ichigo's stricken visage. 'You've invited people?'

'Of course Ichigo kun, there's only six weeks left after all. People need notice for these things. You don't mind Yuki-san being there I hope?'

Suddenly Ichigo's face contorted into barely supressed anger, 'Shit! Inoue there's no venue yet, you can't just suddenly invite people!'

Orihime was stricken too by, astonished by her fiancé's reaction, she could only interpret it as an unbalanced response. 'That's unfair Ichigo-kun. We would have a venue if you just looked for one! You can't expect people to turn up suddenly at late notice.'

Ichigo started fisting his hair in his hands, 'You know what, I can't do this right now.' And suddenly he turned his back on her and left.

Orihime stood in the middle of the corridor, looking horrified while nonchalant passers walked by her. What had just happened? She never anticipated Ichigo would storm off on her, the hurt and humiliation she was left with was starting to make itself known and before she knew it tears had dropped from her cheeks. Facing forward she retired to her room, seeking solace and peace to sort out her chaotic thoughts and questions.

Instead of walking directly to her room Orihime found herself meandering on her course and wandering around a local park, listening to children playing with apparatus and watching ducks swim in a small lake. Perhaps it was exam stress? She knew her fiancé's workload was different to hers and that he had many books to read and analyse before his exams, but she could not equate the pressure to his recent behaviour. She pondered on this until the day's light was waning. By the time she reached the door to her rooms she found a crumpled man sitting on her doorstep.

'Ichigo-kun?' He looked up and smiled when he saw her, she blushed slightly as he stood up.

'Inoue, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's been in my own my head recently.' It was like her entire afternoon of pondering was pointless because in that moment she'd forgotten the original problem.

'It doesn't matter Ichigo-kun,'

'No it does matter; you don't deserve to be treated like that… ever!'

She smiled, 'Oh Ichigo-kun, we're going to have more arguments you know. The important thing is we come out of it stronger.'

'I don't like arguing with you.'

'Me neither, but it's important.' They were silent for a few more moments where Orihime opened her door and started brewing tea. 'You will tell me when something is bothering you right Ichigo-kun?'

He remained silent for a second, 'Yes.'

'Is something bothering you Ichigo-kun?'

He scratched his neck, 'I'm a bit scared by how fast things are happening. I didn't think it would be like this.'

Orihime's relief was ecstasy, 'That's normal Ichigo-kun, I'm scared too.'

'You are?' she nodded her head as she placed a steaming cup of tea in front of Ichigo, 'you never seem it.'

'That's because I'm too busy to think on how scared I am.'

'Don't be scared, you know I'm not gonna… be unkind.' She lifted her eyes to his, he wanted to squint; her stare was too strong, too bright.

'I know, but it will be a big change for the both of us. I'm certain though that we'll get through all the rough tides together.'

Back in his own room Ichigo that night picked up his mobile phone and dialed a number.

'Hi Dad.'

'Ichigo? How are you?'

'I'm… I'm good.'

A pause, 'Have you told her?'

Another pause, 'No.'

'Ichigo! That was not what we agreed to, this is unfair to Orihime.'

'I- I've decided to keep to the engagement Dad. She's so excited about all this, I can't upset her dad. I mean Suzuki broke up with his girlfriend and she was a mess! I can't do that to Orihime, not her.'

A sigh, 'I can't say I'm not disappointed Ichigo. But I understand, we'll try and get through this as smoothly as possible.'

'Thanks old man.' Another sigh, 'I need a favour by the way.'

A transformation took place, 'A favour? From me? Ooh what could it be?' Ichigo smirked slightly, he could almost see his dad jumping on one foot.

'I need a place for the wedding, know any?'

Dessa's note: Things are a bit muddled with Ichigo yeah? Thank you to all who reviewed me for last chapter, you're impressions and thoughts were varied and interesting. Thank you Xtremefairy, foxfang27, OrihimeKurosakiInoue, melnel, hapezibah, Alice Hattercandy, ani-chan72, fsj101, nypsy, xlilslayerx, magdalena88 and dantheman23.