Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. It belongs to Tite Kubo.
Title: Moments
Pairing: Ichihime
Inspiration: soft sighs
She was right all along. He never loved her.
Orihime had always wanted to open up a bakery of her own, and working in a bakery was one step closer to her dream. Ono's was a small cafe and bakery on the corner of Marmot and Greenwich. Orihime had been working at Ono's since freshman year and she was one of the bakers, but on Friday's shift, she'd be the barista.
.
.
.
.
The bells attached to the top of the door rang out, signaling a new customer. Orihime looked up from wiping the tables and hurried back to the main counter. She heaved a sigh as she prepared the coffee cups. The customer had made his way to the counter, and rang the little calling bell to get her attention.
"I'll be right there," Orihime called out. She moved her long ruddy brown hair away from her face and whirled around. A smile was on her face, for she was ready for her shift.
But then the smile deflated a little when she saw who the customer was.
It was Ichigo. Orihime groaned inwardly, convinced that she was cursed. He smiled softly at her, and Orihime did everything in her power to not break in front of him.
"Welcome to Ono's. What would you like to have today?" Orihime recited, trying not to sound like she was deadpanning.
"I'll have a small hazelnut cream coffee, with two chocolate ganache filled donuts." Ichigo glanced above her, and scanned the chalkboard menus.
"All right. That'll be $4.50." Orihime rang up the order. She printed the receipt and handed it to him as he gave her that money carefully so their hands would not touch. Orihime watched Ichigo take a seat in a private booth by the back while he waited.
She grabbed a small plastic cup and filled it with the house blend coffee, and then she got the hazelnut syrup and cream. She added the ingredients and put the cup in the stirrer. In the meanwhile, Orihime went to the little display case by the counter and pulled out the two donuts and set them on a little china plate. When the coffee was done, she took it and the plate to Ichigo's table.
"Here you go. One hazelnut cream and two chocolate ganache." Orihime set the meal on the table, trying to avoid catching Ichigo's eye. She spun on her heel and started to walk away.
"Hime, wait." Ichigo called out to her.
Orihime stopped dead in her tracks. "What is it?"
"We need to talk about us." He answered her. She turned around and slid into the seat facing him.
"There never was an 'us'." She informed him. She waited for his response, but he didn't have one. He just stared at her with his chocolate eyes.
"I…I guess you're right." Ichigo looked down, distracting himself by twiddling his thumbs.
"Ichigo, honestly, why do you even try with me?" Orihime sighed and stole a look at the clock. Her shift was almost over. She could finally go home and forget this ever happened.
"I just want you to give me a second go. That's all I'm asking for." Ichigo reached across the table and took her hands in his.
"If I were to give you a second go, hypothetically speaking, I don't want to be your second choice." Orihime shook her head in disbelief. He was pathetic, begging her to take him back.
"Orihime, you never were my second choice," Ichigo squeezed Orihime's hands. Orihime noticed that he didn't call her Hime like he usually did.
"But what about Rukia?" Orihime tried to see through his lies, but her heart was telling her that maybe, maybe this was true.
"It's you. It's always been you. At first, I avoided you and tried to get my mind straight by dating Rukia. I was happy, and I forgot all about you. But after a while, it just didn't work out with her. We'd constantly be fighting, and we fell out. I mulled over it, and I figured out that I loved you. You were the one I needed." Ichigo explained, trying to express his true feelings this time.
"If I was the one who you truly loved, then why did you…?" Orihime started, bringing her hands back to her lap.
"I was stupid and I made a mistake. I should have asked you to Homecoming." Ichigo ran a hand through his honey blond hair.
"Oh…" Orihime was appalled. She didn't know what to say.
"Let's start over. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." He gave her a half-smile and stuck out his hand for her to take it.
"I'm Orihime Inoue." She shook his hand, and smiled, really, truly smiled.
He could see the color coming back to her gray eyes, her rosy personality coming back to her.
He almost forgot what he had planned to also do. He dug around in his coat's pocket and pulled out a little square box that had a ribbon tied around it. It was a box of chocolates.
"I've been meaning to give this to you, but we weren't exactly on friendly terms yet." He handed her the box.
"You saw me," Orihime simply said as she accepted the gift, recalling the day when she saw him ask the raven-haired girl to Homecoming.
"Yeah, and I felt like crap afterwards. Hopefully, this is a peace offering." He grimaced a bit, trying not to upset her.
"It's all right. We're starting over now, so there's no more hard feelings." Orihime shook her head, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
"Good, good. So… can I share the donuts with you?" Ichigo asked her.
"Sure, that'd be lovely." Orihime nodded, finally giving her heart to him. It wasn't the perfect first date she'd always imagined, but sharing coffee and donuts over at Ono's on a rainy afternoon topped the candlelit dinner and romantic walk she'd dreamed about.
They sure as hell didn't expect to end up with each other, but not that it mattered. All that mattered was the present and it was right there in front of them. They'd have each other to get them through the days. And hey, maybe a box of chocolates was all that they needed.
Fin
Well... it's been one hell of a ride to get BOC done. Thanks to sakurachild for helping me when the plot monkey was purposely avoiding me! Thanks to all the lovely reviewers who have been by my side all this time and special thanks to supremekikay24 for the tip on the ending!
-A