A/N: Again I want to thank everyone who reviewed and gave their opinions on previous chapters, I love you guys. Disclaimer:[insert here]

Chapter 10

Orihime's POV

I think really hard if any part of today might have been a dream, if my imagination somehow painted the whole thing, dancing with Ichigo. His arms felt heavenly around me. I start humming the song we danced to as I roll around in bed, I close my eyes and picture dancing with him again. His hands on my back, I feel the spot on my back tingling in response, and the way his hands held mine. I bring my hand to my lips as if there's any trace of him left. I start rolling till I roll of the bed, giggling like a lunatic. We're going on a date tomorrow! What if we dance again? Or what if he likes me?

That's a beautiful thought, what if Kurosaki-kun likes me? Would we spend more and more time together? Would we kiss… and stuff? Just the thought of kissing and touching Kurosaki-kun sends my heart into frenzy; the whole room suddenly feels too hot. "Calm down, clam down, I'm getting way ahead of myself" I say while fanning myself. But now that touching Kurosaki-kun has crept into my mind I can't stop thinking about it. His body is so perfect I would probably melt at his hands. I start banging my head on the bed post repeatedly, to get the image out of my head. Hmm my bed is surprisingly strong, If we ever do it, I want him right here on my bed.

"Bad Inoue! Bad! Stop picturing him naked!" I say out loud shaking my head rapidly, as if that would help. Honestly I can be such a pervert sometimes! If Kurosaki-kun ever read my mind he would be totally disgusted. Why do I always picture such crude things when Kurosaki-kun is involved? Uggh I need a cup of tea, I get out of bed and walk into the kitchen. After making a cup of mint tea, I curl up on the couch and think about tomorrow, I get lost thinking about what to wear, where are we going to go? How do you dress for a first date? I have no Idea what Kurosaki-kun has in mind. After finishing my tea I curl up on the couch and fall asleep only because I want tomorrow to come faster.

As my eyes slid shut and I was blanketed by darkness, I saw a light in the dark. This already felt like a dream but I move towards the light. I see that it's the light coming from a room. I pushed the slightly ajar door open further and moved inside the room. It's my bedroom, except Kurosaki-kun is asleep on my bed. He isn't just asleep on my bed; he's asleep topless on my bed. I walk towards him and he jerks awake.

"Orihime? You're back?" he says rubbing his eyes sleepily. I don't know what to reply so I just nod my head, he smiles and holds his arms out open for me. I walk carefully and when I'm about an inch away from him he pulls me to his chest ad rolls me with him on the bed. A gasp escapes my lips and I'm totally speechless, I'm pressed against Kurosaki-kun's bare chest.

"So dinner? Or a bath first?" he whispers in my ear. His warm breath sets my heart racing.

"I don't know" my voice comes out squeaky.

"Well then, I vote, bath first!" says Ichigo lifting me up. He carries me and takes me into my small bathroom. Is he- going to take a bath with me? Before I can start fretting, Kurosaki-kun stands right in front of me till our bodies were almost touching but not quite. He reaches forward and cups my face with both of his hands, tenderly encouraging me to lift my eyes until they meet his.

"How was your day?" he asked looking into my eyes.

"It's perfect now" I say turning my head into his hands and kissing the palm of his hand. He drops his hands from my face and presses his forehead against mine. Without looking away from me, his finger slides over the buttons of my blouse. I swallow and bite my lip a bit nervously as he unbuttons each button of my shirt. When all buttons were undone he kissed me while pushing the shirt of my shoulders. He deepened the kiss and pressed his bare chest against mine the only thing separating our upper halves was my white lace bra. His hands slowly trailed from my shoulders to my waist, a gasp escaped my lips when he popped the button of my jeans open.
"Ohhh", I gasped when he gently pulled my jeans together with my panties down my legs, crouching down slowly in front of me. At this point, I'm panting in anticipation and so nervous I might run away. I lift my feet and kick of my jeans from around my ankles. I'm sure I must be blushing red but Ichigo looks up at me and the look on his face leaves me speechless, pure adoration is painted all over his face.
Keeping his eyes on mine he slowly stands up, and kisses me again, faster this time with more urgency. My heart is racing because I am very aware that I'm only wearing a bra. Ichigo pulls away and leads me into the bathtub that is already full. Lifting me off my feet, he slowly lowers me into the tub.

The second the water touches my skin, I jolt awake. Gasping I look around panicking, I'm soaked. The water is cold. I'm on my couch."What's going on? What-what?"

"You have a lot of explaining to do" said Tatsuki holding an empty jug.

I wipe my wet face and look at her incredulously.

"Sorry about the water, you weren't waking up, what were you dreaming about?"

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Now excuse me while I clean up!" I march of into my bedroom to change out of my soaked pajamas and take a hot shower while I'm at it. When I come back out, Tatsuki has made us some breakfast.

"Again sorry about the-"

"It's okay, I was just uhmm deeply asleep" I say clearing my throat as I take a seat beside her, I don't want to blush in front of Tatsuki because she'd instantly know I was dreaming about Kurosaki-kun. I pick up a piece of toast and bite into it.

"Okay first what's this I hear that Andou is going to confess his 'love' to you and that you probably love him too? What about Ichigo? Why would you lead Andou on like that?" she says looking at me sternly.

My jaw drops and a piece of toast rolls out of my mouth. Tatsuki just blinks and waits for me to answer her questions. My thoughts all jumble up as they tend to do whenever I start panicking.

"W-what?"

"Andou told me all this, tell me he's lying so that I can strangle him"

"Wait Tatsuki-chan, there's a slight misunderstanding and I need to clear up some parts of that story. First I didn't tell him all that, it was Akari-san but she did it unknowingly, she didn't know about uhmm my feelings for Kurosaki-kun."

Tatsuki sighed and scratched her head, "Uggh I knew I shouldn't have ignored his crush on you"

"What? You knew about it?"

"It's kind of obvious Inoue, Andou wears his heart on his sleeve, I told him so many times that it's not going to work but he's always thought there's a chance. Now that you and Ichigo are finally getting together maybe he'll stop"

"What do you mean Ichigo and I are-"

"Oh please Orihime, I'm not blind you know, I saw you two at the party yesterday. You guys couldn't keep your eyes of each other! I was so happy and yet so completely grossed out"

"So we…looked like a couple?" I couldn't help grinning.

"What hasn't he asked you out yet? Even after seeing you in that dress? I'm going to kill him! Why is he dragging his feet!?"

"Well… he yesterday he asked me to go on a date with him today" I say fiddling with my thumbs.

"Finally! So where are you guys going?"

"I don't… know"

"Okay, uhmm when is he picking you up?"

"I-don't know?"

She looked at me strangely, "So why were you still sleeping at noon?"

"What time is it?"

"Well it's almost 1:00"

I jumped up and ran into my bedroom, "Oh my god! Oh my god! I don't even know when he's coming, I should have asked! I should have asked him! What is wrong with me! What do I do? what do I wear?" I start running in circles until Tatsuki comes in.

She pats me on the head, calming me slightly. "Relax; just let me help you pick something out ok? Breathe in and out ok?"
Doing as she says, I sit on the edge of my bed trying to calm down

"You're going to help me find something to wear?"

"Yeah, well I'll try" she opened my closet and shrugged.

"Here" she tossed me a white flowery blouse, which I liked "Put it on, I'll find a pair of jeans"
Turning around I put on the white blouse, but then the doorbell rang. "He's here! He's here! Pass me a pair of jeans! Jeans Tatsuki-chan! I must have Jeans! "

"Jeez! Calm down! Take these, I'll get the door." She threw me a pair of jeans and left the room. After putting it on, I hastily run my fingers through my hair and put on my pin on the collar of my blouse. I ran into the living room but instead of Ichigo I saw Tatsuki pulling Andou out of the front door.

"I came here to talk to Orihime!"

"And I said you have to talk to me first!"

They were already out the hallway so their voices died down. I suddenly felt so selfish, Andou-kun has been trying to lay his heart out to me but I've been so fixated on Kurosaki-kun I didn't even think about Andou's feelings. I'll talk to him properly and clear up this mess I promise myself. I really wish things weren't so complicated.
I sit down fidget with the edge of my top. Now that I've calmed down, my mind starts formulating new things to worry about. What do you do on a date? How am I supposed to act? My palms start sweating and I start pacing. I march into my bed room and actually comb my hair but as I brush through the ginger waves of my hair my eyes fix on my dresser. I open the drawer and I pick up the friend zone book. Flipping it to the page I need, I start reading.

Step 3: Spend as much time with him as possible. This does not mean become needy, find opportunities to hang out. Get to know each other more and talk. When you've secured a proper connection to him/her then you both come to rely on the others' presence a little.
Wait, we were at a party together yesterday and now we're going on a date today. I think that's enough to check this step. Yay step 3 is done! I read on to the next step.

Step 4: Stop being ruled by your fear. Have the courage to get out of the dreaded zone. One common reason why girls are stuck in a friend zone is that guys have no idea that their girl friends are romantically interested with them. Try flirting a little or touch him/her from time to time, something like casually touching his/her arm casually. This may be difficult for shy people, but if you play it cool, almost as though it's accidental, it can work. But always pay attention to how he/she responds. Moderation is the best solution for everything.

I stop to think about this one. The flirting part simply terrifies me, I'm sure if I tried flirting I would look ridiculous. Casually touch him? That's…That's just…why does this step sound so exciting? Before my perverted imagination can get away with me, I hear the doorbell, shoving the book back in its place I run out of my bedroom to the front door for the second time today. Holding the doorknob I slow down my breathing, this time I know its Ichigo and when I open the door he's right there leaning against the door frame looking at me. He's wearing jeans and a simple t-shirt with a jacket.

"Hey. You ready?" he asks me smiling. I beam back at him and nod. He takes my hand and I follow him out of the door. I may have other things to worry about like the talk I'm going to have with Andou-kun later or just where my relationship with Kurosaki-kun is heading to but right now but during this date, I intend to have a good time, to enjoy spending time with Kurosaki-kun because that's the most exciting part about all this. We're spending more time together.

"So where are we going?" I ask him.

He scratches his head and says, "I thought we could watch a movie, if that's all right with you"

"I'd love that" I say smiling. About twenty minutes later Kurosaki-kun and I arrive at our destination. It's a huge mall, a little away from the town. We walk into the huge mall, it's way nicer than the one I go to and almost twice the size. I haven't been here before so I'm grateful that Kurosaki-kun is leading the way. He isn't holding my hand anymore but he's walking really close to me.

"So what are we watching?" I ask him when we reach the counter to buy our tickets.

"I don't know, seen anything you like?" I look sideways at him. He looks really nice from the side. His hands are in his pockets as he looks at all the movie posters, I'm mesmerized by the strong lines of his jaws and his messy hair. I turn away before he notices me staring at him, I probably have heart eyes. "That looks good" I randomly point at a movie poster, it's a movie called Annabelle.

"That's a thriller, is that fine with you?" Ichigo asks me looking concerned. I laugh bravely and lead the way to the ticket counter. "How could I be scared of a movie? I've seen hollows, shinigamis' and espadas. I think I can get through a movie" I tell Kurosaki-kun. Honestly he's just too cute, scared of a movie.

Ichigo's POV

I take my seat beside Inoue as I pass her the snacks, a pack of gummy bears and fizzy apple juice, I haven't said much since I picked her up only because I'm so fucking nervous. If I say one stupid thing I might mess everything up, she looks absolutely flawless like she always does. The best part is that she's smiling; as long as she's smiling it means I'm doing something right.

I decided to take her to the movies because it was the safest bet, I can't possibly screw up sitting beside her. Or can I?
She turned her attention to me and asked, "Do you know what the movie is about?" she asked smiling sweetly in a way that made me doubt if this movie was the right choice.

"Uhmm I think it's about an evil possessed doll that wants to kill people" Inoue's face pales "But I might be wrong though, I haven't watched it or anything. W-we can pick something else to watch"

"What? No Pfft that's fine, we're already in our seats and look its already starting" she turns her attention to the screen bravely as if I didn't notice how shaky her voice was. But I just turn to the screen and watch.

I keep glancing at Inoue to check on her, she seems fine although I can't see her features clearly in the dark. 5 minutes into the movie I turn my attention back to Inoue and I see she hasn't moved. I reach out to hold her hand in a way of comforting her and that's when I see that she's gripping the arm rest of her seat tightly, like her life depended on it. Her eyes are wide and her breathing sounds strangled. When my hand touched hers she jumped and screamed a bit too loudly. The people around us are looking in our direction but I don't care. I just grab Inoue's hand and pull her down the aisle towards the exit. Shit, I knew I would mess this up.

A scary movie on a first date? Great idea.

Out in the hallway, I turn to face her. Her face is still pale although there's a light blush on her cheeks now. Her hands are shaking too. "W-we were almost at t-the best p-part" she says twirling her hair with her fingers.

"I'm sorry about that-uhmm let's just watch something else"

She tries and fails to hide the relief on her face at my suggestion. "O-Ok If you insist" she smiles at me playfully, "it was probably too scary for you huh?" she pats my arm jokingly. Her smile is back so I haven't entirely messed up.

"Yeah it was so terrifying! Good thing you were there." I said rolling my eyes.

"Yep! I'll be there to hold your hand when A-A-Annabelle makes you cry" I couldn't help laughing at the way she shivered just saying the stupid dolls name.

We walk back to the ticket counter and this time Inoue excitedly picks a sci-fi movie called 'Guardians of the Galaxy' that looks harmless and Inoue claims it 'looks awesome'. But the next showing is almost an hour away.

"Let's just buy the tickets and walk around the mall together?" she smiles at me.

After buying the tickets I pocket them and Inoue and I are wandering through the mall. She doesn't seem too interested by all the countless clothing stores we pass instead she gets interested by colorful shops selling random interesting stuff. We walk so close I can feel the heat radiating from her, our arms almost brushing but not quite. There's a flashing display that directs shoppers downstairs to the ice rink.

'Come to the iSkate ice rink on the first floor and skate with Snowball-san the snowball!'

There's a cartoon of what I guess is snowball. I wait for Inoue to notice it because I want to see her reaction. As if on cue, her eyes fall on the sign and her entire face lights up. She turns to me and I mirror the wide grin on her face with my own. Her happiness lights me up inside and I can't help reaching out for her hand.

"Will you go skating with me?" I ask as I intertwine our fingers. She nods excitedly and pulls me forward.

"Yay! Let's go!"

On the first floor I see that there are a lot of people around the rink, lots of couples. I wonder if Inoue and I look like that, like a couple or if it just looks like I kidnapped her or something. The ice rink is wide and takes up a lot of space. Beyond the ice there's some fake snow and trees on the edge of the rink to make it look more natural and less indoor.

I go up to the counter and rent two skates for us. The clerk looks so bored he actually rolls his eyes at me. He points to the shelf behind and asks for our sizes. After we tell him he hands us a pair of skates and we move to the seats beside the rink.

"Here, let me help you lace up" I offer as I kneel in front of Inoue and help her tie the laces of her skates. She doesn't object but she bites her lower lip and extends her leg forward. She looks a bit embarrassed, I stand up and hold my hand out to her and she takes it. I could get used to this whole hand holding thing I think to myself as we move onto the ice.

There's an employee dressed as the snowball mascot handing out flowers to random people. As Inoue and I are about to go further into the rink the snowball mascot blocks our way. In an annoyingly cheery voice he says, "A flower for the lady!" he hands Inoue a flower and bows grandly. She giggles and takes the flower with a smile. As we move away I hear him say, "And nothing for her baboon escort"

I spin around in surprise but the mascot guffaws ridiculously and waves and blows kisses at me. Inoue looks back at me confused and I shake it off pretending I didn't hear anything.

"This is nice" she says as we glide on the ice.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, you know after the whole Annabelle fiasco"

"Yeah, you screaming and all that" she nods and pulls her tongue out at me. I pull her closer with our joined hands, to avoid running into another couple just barely moving on the ice.

"Do you think we're going too fast?" she asks me. Actually we are, people are looking at us with terrified faces, and we've already circled the entire rink twice. Although the rink is wide it's not that wide.

"Nah this is good, besides you're an awesome skater"

"I learnt from my brother" for a second her face turns sad but she smiles and looks at me. I didn't know what to say after that so I cleared my throat, "well he taught you well"
"Yeah, I bet I could beat you at this" she says, the lightness back in her voice. She moves ahead of me, speeding ahead and zigzagging in between the other skaters. My stomach clenches in worry. "Not so fast!" I yell after her. From the back her hair is whipping behind her and she looks every bit as stunning which really just makes me worry more.

I'm about to go after her but snowball the mascot bumps into me. It's obviously not an accident but he waves and moves away before I can start saying 'what the hell'

Instead of doing something violent like smashing Snowball's head on the ice till his stuffing comes out I go after Inoue. Try as I might she stayed ahead of me but I was slowed down because Snowball kept blocking my way, first with balloons and then a train of children, seriously. Inoue turned back occasionally, turning back to stick her tongue out at me. I put my best into going faster but surprisingly she stayed ahead of me. We must look crazy to everyone else here, the couples are slowly gliding with their arms around each other then there's us speeding around and around the rink like maniacs.

"Slow down Inoue! You win!" I yell.

She turns back and laughs triumphantly. Her hair is tousled and she's panting slightly. God she looks so sexy right now. She's smirking as she reaches for my hands.
"Oh Kurosaki-kun it's okay, you just couldn't beat me. You just lost to a little girl." She patted my hands and shook her head, trying to look serious but she couldn't hide her smile.

"What little girl? You were like a demon back there!"

She throws her head back and laughs, a sound so beautiful it still rings in my ears even after she stops laughing.

"Our movie is soon starting, so let's get going just wait up let me go to the bathroom" We both skate to the edge of the ice rink, we take of the skates and I collect both to return it to the counter. Inoue has gone the opposite side towards the bathrooms. Just as I'm about to return the skates someone throws something at the back of my head.

I turn and see it's a flower, the ones Snowball was handing out and of course there's Snowball with his back turned pretending it wasn't him. I think whether I can beat him up before Inoue gets back but before I can decide he turns to me, arms at his hips. Although he was wearing a mask I could swear he was frowning at me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"ME?" he says in that cheerful voice, and then he groans and takes off the mask. It's Andou. I don't know why I'm not very surprised it's him but I am surprised at the look on his face. His face is pink like he's been crying in that mask or something.

"What are you doing here, Ichigo?"

"Well I'm-"

"I mean what are you doing here with her? On a date with the girl I'm absolutely in love with?" he clutches his Snowball head tightly to his chest. My throat dries up when he said that, of course I've been wary of Andou this whole time but hearing him say his feelings for Inoue still struck a nerve.

"Were you ever really my friend? Dude I made up a song for you! And then you stab me in the back like this?" His voice is becoming louder, and his face gets pinker.

"Oh spare me are you going to cry?" I'm ready to yell at him to just leave us alone and that he looks pathetic.

"Do you even like her?"

Of course I do. I love her.

"Have you confessed to her like I have?" he continues without waiting for me to voice my thoughts.

My anger flares out, I haven't told Inoue how I feel yet. I've just been stalking her in the background without being out front. Shit, Andou has more of a right to be on a date with her than I do.

"No, we're just friends…hanging out" I say, because to Inoue that's probably what we are, we can't be anything more if I keep beating about the bush. Andou looks over my shoulder and I turn to see Inoue standing there.

She heard me.

She looks heart broken.

She turns away and walks away from me.

For a second I'm glued to the spot, like my feet had become part of the concrete.

"Go after her asshole!"

I drop the skates and push through the crowd to reach her. Even if I lose sight of her, I still sense her riatsu, I push people to get to her but I only got flashes of her in between the crowd. Somehow I know I have to set everything straight, it may be too soon, but I'm not too good at overthinking stuff. I see her running to the elevator waiting area and she goes into one. I run to the lift before it closes up and barely make it in time. There's an old granny in the lift with us, Inoue and I are both panting a bit.

"So nice to see young people with so much energy" the old lady smiles at us, she's standing between me and Inoue. I ignore her and turn my attention to Inoue.

"Inoue about what you heard I-"

"It's okay Kurosaki-kun I-I understand" her smile looks forced.

"No wait listen I-"

"I just misunderstood that's all, I thought we were-"

"Inoue I didn't mean-"

"But you asked me! Right? How did I misundersta-?" her voice broke at the end and so did my heart. The old lady is staring at both of us, but I don't care about that. I have to tell her, I decide.

"You didn't misunderstand, except what you just heard five minutes ago, you misunderstood that but I didn't mean any of that but I meant what I said w-when I asked you out. I-I meant it because I…well I-"

"Don't drag it out boy, just tell her" said the old lady.

"The grandma is right, just say it already." says my hollow interrupting my jumbled thoughts.

"Inoue I-"

"I was really happy when you asked me on a date; I thought we would be more than just friends" she interrupted me again.

"That's what I want, that's why I asked you out, that's why I can't stop thinking about you, because I-I'm kind of in love with you" I release a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and just waited.

There was pin drop silence in the lift except for the old lady sobbing dramatically in between us. Inoue's eyes were wide but then before she could say anything the elevator doors opened and people rushed inside. I couldn't even see Inoue's face to guess what her reaction was because there was a tall guy blocking her from my view. I was so nervous, my whole body felt tingly. But then someone nudged my arm and I see it's the old lady.

"Young love is just beautiful, isn't it?" she gives me a toothless grin.

"I wouldn't know" I say trying to pull up a smile.

"You'll see" she pats my arm and hobbles to the front of the lift so that she can get off. When the lift opens, everyone pours out of it and for a second I don't see Inoue. She must have come out too; my heart shrivels up in my chest till it seems it will stop beating all together, maybe I shouldn't have opened my stupid mouth.

"I kind of love you too Kurosaki-kun"

Inoue says smiling right beside me. And just like that my heart swells with so much happiness, I start laughing, just laughing for no reason other than the most beautiful girl in the world loves me back. She laughs too and jumps into my outstretched hands.

It feels so good to have her in my arms, I spin her around and she laughs louder. We would have stayed that way in each other's arms but we were interrupted by the sound of applause. The old lady was still standing in front of the lift clapping with a wide smile on her wrinkled face and tears in her eyes.

"Oh young love! You youngsters with your burning passion! Go! Love each other with all your hearts!" she said raising her arms dramatically. We walk out of the lift with my arm around Inoue's shoulder. She's turning back and waving at the little old lady who is still dabbing at her eyes.

I look down at her and our eyes meet; she blushes and buries her head into my chest. I laugh because she's so damn cute.

"Come on, we have a movie to catch" I say to her.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Why was Andou-kun dressed as snowball-san?"

A/N: So there it is, thank you for reading and till next time! What did you guys think of le confession? Ichigo isn't really the type to pull out fancy words and all that so I didn't want to go all OOC. PS. I had to resubmit this chapter, editing problems and stuff.