Mwuhaha. Copper-sama actually sent this to me a few days ago (because she's awesome like that) but I decided to wait a few more days before posting this.
I rather enjoy putting Ichigo and Hime into awkward situations. It's a lot of fun.
And no, Ichigo doesn't squeal. He almost did, but managed to hold it in at the last moment. XD
"Wait, so how do you do this again?" Ichigo asked some time later, utterly confused.
Orihime almost started giggling at the adorable, confused look on his face. Apparently, math was not Ichigo's forte, as she had explained the same formula to him several times over.
She leaned over the table to see what he had done so far. Her long, loose hair slid over her slightly hunched shoulder and she pushed it back before using the same hand to point at a particular part of his problem.
"See, this is where you did wrong," she told him patiently, before beginning to explain how it worked once more.
Unbeknownst to the two, the door cracked opened and Isshin peeked in, giggling maniacally to himself as he lifted a hand with an object clutched tightly in his hand.
He closed one eye and looked through the little peephole in the object with the other.
Click.
The picture was too priceless not to take, and he closed the door quietly before flicking back into the memory to look at his most recent capturing.
Bingo, blackmail.
In the picture, Ichigo's scowl seemed to have lessened somewhat in Orihime's presence and the look in his eyes was almost soft as he stared at the bowed Orihime's head as she explained to him the workings of the problem; and as an added bonus, there was a slight lift in the Inoue's skirt, tempting the eye.
Despite his nature, the elder Kurosaki decided to leave his son alone for once as he crept down the stairs quietly. Besides, he had to make copies and stash them before telling Ichigo what he'd done.
A loud scream of "Hollow! Hollow! Hollow!" startled Orihime viciously as she immediately reared back and lost her balance while Ichigo didn't even blink, merely asking her if she was alright.
She confirmed that she was fine, except for a sore derriere (even if she didn't tell him that). "I'll finish up here. Go," she shooed him, stumbling to her feet clumsily as she picked up the papers that had scattered when she had fallen back. She couldn't look at Ichigo, as she knew that her face had been bright red since she first felt Ichigo's warm breath on the back of her neck.
"I'll leave my notes out if you get back after I go to bed," she told him, voice slightly muffled as she got down onto the floor to reach under the bed to try and grasp a stray paper that had snuck under.
She wriggled slightly in an effort to get further under, making Ichigo immediately turned towards his deputy badge as he realized that he liked the image of Orihime wriggling a bit too much.
"Okay," he told her as he knew she wouldn't be able to see him nod with herself stuffed halfway under his table.
Ichigo grasped his badge and his material body immediately went limp as Ichigo, in full Shinigami garb, leapt out his open window.
Orihime couldn't help but smile as she heard the comical thump Ichigo's inert body made as it flopped onto the bed, causing springs to squeak. She finally grasped the stray paper and wriggled her way out from under the table before exhaling sharply and tucking her hair behind her ear.
She placed the paper back on the table and sat down to continue her work. Livia was fast asleep away from her, having successfully ripped at Kon's seams until they split. Orihime had already offered to sew him back up later.
Every muscle screaming, a bloodied Ichigo crept back through his window, landing lightly on his bed and having to avoid his body, which looked like it had been tucked in. Orihime had indeed left her notes behind for him to use, along with a few extra chocolate bars on top of them. It was just like her to remember that he was always ravenous after doing hollow duty. It must have been her who put his body in bed, probably to seem as if he was sleeping.
With seconds, he was back in his body and sitting down in front of his unfinished homework. Orihime had organized his once-scattered homework by subject and into neat stacks. She had also used small slips of paper in his textbooks to let him know what pages were for what questions.
She had left a note under the chocolate bars for him. Picking it up, he read:
Hey there, Kurosaki-kun!
I finished my studying for the night around eleven and I was going to wait up for you but by midnight, I had to go to bed. You know what they say about the little green men, right?
Anyways, I left my notes out for you. I hope they're some help. If not, feel free to wake me up and I'll be glad to help.
I figured you would be both tired and hungry when you got back, so I also left you some chocolate from my secret stash. There's also a dinner plate with some leftover food on it, covered in plastic wrap. I even made sure that there was wasabi sauce and honey in there as well, if you want it!
Good luck!
-Inoue
Despite himself, he was smirking in amusement at the letter written in Orihime's standard, loopy handwriting.
Ichigo put the letter back down and picked up a candy bar before unwrapping it and devouring it ravenously. He'd go back for the plate of leftovers later on, though he'd stay far away from the wasabi and honey.
Close to an hour later, Ichigo crept down the stairs, taking care to avoid the squeaky step.
Heading into the kitchen, he slowly opened the fridge and removed the covered plate before wrapping part of it to peer inside. There were two sticks of dango, a small side of sashimi, along with some tempura and gyouza and finally a few smaller flaked salmon onigiri. He rewrapped the plate hastily before closing the door of the fridge.
Ichigo padded out of the kitchen quietly, freezing in his tracks when a sudden, short snore came from the couch. He twisted to look at the source of the sound, though he couldn't see the obviously unconscious girl.
As he watched, a small, finely-boned hand flopped into the moonlight, becoming bathed in silvery light. Orihime snorted once more as she rolled over onto her stomach.
Ichigo shifted his position for a better vantage point.
Orihime's face was slack with a bit of drool smudged on her face and glistened dully in the reflected moonlight. The moonlight rebounded off of the floor and bleached Orihime's chestnut hair, some of which had fallen into her face.
In the silence of the house, he could easily hear the soft snores escaping the buxom beauty's open mouth. She had kicked off all of her blankets and due to all of her shifting around; her shirt had ridden up, showing off a few inches of the pale, unmarked skin of her stomach. Livia, her puppy, was fast asleep on the pillow, looking comfortably sprawled out with her back right paw draped between Orihime's peacefully closed eyes.
The strangely intimate image had him feeling flustered for some reason and he headed back upstairs hastily, not bothering to avoid the squeaky step, which groaned loudly in protest under his weight.
The only response was another snore.
"Good mooooorning, Hime-chan!"
Orihime's eyes flew open at the yelling greeting, almost immediately feeling the soft weight situated on her breasts. Upon seeing a lion plushie face inches away from her own, she reacted instinctively and slammed the palms of her hands against the face, sending Kon flying across the room. "Yaaah!"
Kon smacked hard against the wall with a loud squeak before slumping limply to the ground.
Livia, immediately upon seeing her new favorite toy, bounded off of the couch and darted off towards Kon, who, upon seeing the puppy, immediately sprinted away screaming.
Ichigo appeared from the hall way, side-stepping to avoid the pair, Livia yapping away happily. His hair looked damp and more tousled than normal, his uniform on with the shirt half unbuttoned, and a toothbrush hanging from his mouth. Prominent bags hung under his tired brown eyes. "I think I should thank your dog one of these days," he commented out loud as a greeting, looking thoughtful.
The sexily tousled Ichigo had her blushing all sorts of reds. "You looked tired," Orihime noted, examining his wan face worriedly. "How long were you up?" she continued, seeing the total lack of Isshin and Yuzu and Karin.
"Not sure. It was late, though. Thanks for the dinner plate," Ichigo answered around his toothbrush. Her nose crinkled at the white foam that flecked his mouth as he spoke. "My family left a few minutes ago," he continued, noting her curious glances around the house. "Which is why this idiot is out," the shinigami substitute jerked a thumb at the hallway that Kon's screams were coming from as he headed back into the bathroom.
"Don't forget to button your shirt!" she called down to him, feeling surprisingly bold despite her crimson cheeks.
Ichigo just lifted a hand in acknowledgement.
Orihime rolled off of the couch and caught herself loudly. Dusting off her pajama bottoms, she headed to the laundry room to get her uniform. She only had one uniform currently, due to her fire, so she had to wash it everyday.
Ichigo left the bathroom just then, looking noticeably more put-together despite the bags under his eyes and she slipped in then, locking it firmly behind her before stripping to take her shower.
"Kurosaki-kun!"
Ichigo turned at his formal surname, only to see an excited Orihime rushing back towards him with a newspaper clutched in her arms. She barreled towards him before skidding to a stop, narrowly avoiding colliding with him. "Look!" the healer jabbed at a particular article enthusiastically.
After moving her finger to the side gently, he read: "Trail of Lights Open, Thousands Expected."
"The Trail of Lights, huh? I'd forgotten about that." he skimmed the article briefly.
Orihime nodded happily, accepting the paper from him and tucking it under her arm as she fell into stride beside him. She had stopped by a gas station to buy a newspaper so she could look for and potentially call about any available places, and despite her protests, he'd opted to wait for her.
"I used to go there with my brother every year!" Orihime told him cheerfully. "Though I haven't gone in the last few years. I tried going the winter after the accident, but I got too emotional and had to go home," she admitted in a more lackadaisical tone before brightening once more. "Maybe I'll try again this year! I think Sora-nii would want me to enjoy it and I've always loved the lights," she sighed almost dreamily.
"Is it really that good?" Ichigo asked, squinting his eyes as sunlight peeked from behind the clouds briefly and directly into his eyes.
Orihime nodded eagerly.
"Oh yes! They string the lights up into the trees and some of them are designed in a certain way. I remember that the last time I went with my brother, they had designed a tree to look like fire and it was amazing! And they always had this one light exhibit that consisted of two rain clouds on either side of a light stream that looked like a river with a rainbow in the middle and it was always my favorite of them all. And then at the end of the trail, there's this really tall tree made of spiraling lights and you can spin and spin until you get sick!" Orihime grew animated as she told him about the various exhibits, waving and gesticulating wildly. At one point she even threw up her arms when she was described the tree and then spun in circles until Ichigo grasped her arms to stop her from running into a light pole. "Haven't you ever gone, Kurosaki-kun?" the young healer paused to look at him curiously.
Ichigo shook his head. "Not that I can remember."
She gasped, eyes widening. "You have to go! It's so much fun!" Orihime paused briefly. "And it's free," she added on thoughtfully after a moment before brightening. "I know! You can come with me when I go! You and your family! It'll be my way of thanking all of you for your help," Orihime nodded decisively to herself. "I'll pay for everything. The rail is apparently going there, so we can save ourselves the extra walking and I still have my pass and that's four. Yes, this is do-able!" she began plotting under her breath as they arrived at the Kurosaki household and they slipped off their shoes.
"Hey, don't I get a say?" Ichigo asked her. She turned to look at him as she slid open the door and smiled up at him serenely.
"Nope!" she answered cheerfully. "You have too many troubles for a teenager. You need to learn to have fun." the cheery girl explained, stepping inside after he had and closed the door behind her, smiling up at him fondly.
"If my memory serves, you have more troubles than the normal teenager as well," Ichigo pointed out as they wandered their way into the kitchen.
She merely laughed. "Of course I do. But I, unlike you, know how to have fun."
Ichigo lifted an eyebrow, deciding not to answer as her laughter was reduced to giggling.
"Your father hasn't attempted to attack you yet." Orihime nodded suddenly, sounding surprised. It was vaguely depressing as to how she hadn't even been there three full days, and already was used to his father's warped mental processes.
"Ichigo? Hime-chan? Is that you?" Isshin poked his head out of the adjacent room, a dorky grin present on his face. Ichigo automatically tensed at the sudden reappearance of his father, fully expecting an attempted blow to the head. "Guess who's baa-aaack-" He ushered them into the kitchen, pointing blithely at the girl sitting demurely at the table with Yuzu and Karin with Livia perched eagerly under the table in search of scraps.
"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime exclaimed in mild surprise, hurrying forward to greet the petite Shinigami. "When did you get back?"
Rukia blinked in confusion. "Inoue? What're you doing here?"
Orihime smiled sheepishly. "My apartment burned down a few days ago and Kurosaki-kun and his family were kind enough to allow me to stay here," she explained cheerfully.
"Burned down?" Rukia repeated dimly. "As in to the ground?"
Orihime merely bobbed her head, still looking sheepish.
"Did you leave the burner on?"
"No! Why does everyone think that?" Orihime cried out, laughing. "It was one of my elder neighbors. I think her curtains caught on fire."
The expression on the tiny Shinigami's face was disbelieving, but she didn't say anything.
"Hime-chan, what were you two talking about on your way in? I heard you from here." Isshin turned to the petite beauty, pouring himself another cup of coffee.
"Eh?" Orihime turned to him, blinking rapidly in confusion before his question registered. "Oh! The trail of lights! It's opening tonight and I thought it'd be nice for me to treat you and your family to it soon. But since Kuchiki-san is here, we don't have to go. It was just an idea."
"I think it'd be awesome to go," Karin butted in with her normal rude manner. "Rukia-san is more than welcome to not have to come."
Barely managing to hide her confusion, Rukia let out a soft smile. "No, no. I would love to go with you if you don't mind."
"Of course you are welcome!" Orihime exclaimed excitedly.
"Are you coming, Onii-chan?" Yuzu asked sweetly.
Ichigo opened his mouth to answer but Orihime beat him to the punch. "Kurosaki-kun's coming."
"She didn't leave me much of a choice," Ichigo leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
Slightly abashed, Orihime smiled softly at him, before looking away as Yuzu asked her a question.
Sipping idly at her drink, Rukia's violet eyes noticed the way that Ichigo's brown eyes remained on the back of Inoue's head a moment longer before looking away quickly and a fine raven eyebrow arched slightly in mute amusement.
After ironing out the details (in which Orihime insisted that she would pay for everything, but finally conceded to allow the girls to buy their own souvenirs), Ichigo, Rukia, and Orihime headed up the stairs to "work on homework."
Ichigo glanced down the other side of his door and up and down the hallway before closing and locking his door and turning to the Kuchiki. "What're you really doing here?"
Rukia dropped her saccharine sweet voice. "The Society's worried about the sudden rise of Hollows in this location. You must have noticed," the petite shinigami explained, sitting on the bed and crossing her arms.
Orihime, who had taken a seat beside Ichigo's low table, turned to Ichigo, gray eyes wide. "Kurosaki-kun, has there really been an increase in Hollows?" Orihime immediately began scanning the orange-haired man for any possible injuries, though she had already used her Soten Kishun on him earlier that day.
"It's fine, Inoue," he assured her hurriedly, thought she hardly looked reassured. "They're mostly small-fry anyways. Barely on my radar."
She still looked troubled, but she nodded hesitantly.
Ichigo turned back to Rukia, who looked vaguely amused. "What?" he demanded rudely.
"Nothing," she answered innocently. "Like I was saying, the numbers of Hollows is alarming now and the Society is worried that it'll be too much for you and Kurumadani to handle so they sent me."
"They sent you when there Ishida-kun, Sado-kun, myself, not to mention Urahara-san, Yoruichi-san, and Tessai-san?" Orihime confirmed in confusion. Rukia turned to her, as did a surprised Ichigo. Under the intense scrutiny, she became rather flustered, her cheeks turning a light pink. "I-I'm just saying that it seems that there's another reason as to why you're actually here," she explained sheepishly.
Rukia sighed. "You're right. The real reason I'm here is because they want a report on Ichigo," she answered bluntly.
"Report?" Ichigo and Orihime echoed.
"Yes. You have to remember that after Inoue was taken to Hueco Mundo, you defected from the Soul Society when they refused to send help so you could go after her yourself. They want me to analyze you to make sure something similar won't happen again," Rukia explained.
"Well, I'm not exactly planning on getting kidnapped again," Orihime pointed out quietly.
Ichigo studied her out of the corner of his eye. He knew that any mention of Hueco Mundo made her become more somber.
"Well, yes. But who really plans these things?" Rukia shrugged. "The Soul Society is full of paranoid old geezers. This is not new."
Orihime smiled weakly before turning to look at Ichigo despite herself. She hadn't known that he had left Soul Society for her. Knowing that caused a fluttery sensation in her stomach. By now, she was very familiar with the feeling and as the Kurosaki's brown eyes slid over to her gray ones, she averted her faze to the ground shyly.
They really are oblivious fools, Rukia thought wryly to herself with a small smirk.
Ichigo immediately noticed and demanded to know what had caused it. She then denied anything to do with it.
"Um, Kuchiki-san," Orihime spoke up once more, twiddling her thumbs. The two arguing Shinigami looked at her expectantly. "How long will you be staying this time around, do you know?"
"I think about two weeks, though I could potentially be called back at any moment." The violet-eyed Shinigami answered.
Orihime beamed ecstatically, before getting to her feet and excusing herself, claiming that she had homework that needed to be done.
"You can do your homework in here again if you want. I may have trouble again," Ichigo offered quickly, making his tone nonchalant.
Orihime turned to look at him with her hand on the doorknob and after a moment, accepted his offer before leaving to retrieve her book bag.
"You like her."
Ichigo turned to Rukia. "What?"
"You have a crush on Inoue." she explained. "It's obvious."
"You're mental," he snapped, irritated. "She's just a friend. A buddy. Like you or Renji."
"You mean a fuc-"
Ichigo tackled the tiny Shinigami, locking her into a headlock roughly. They were in this position when the door creaked open and Orihime appeared once more, books successfully in hand.
She stared at the pair for a long moment, her eyebrows crumpled in a look of confusion and worry. "Is everything alright?" Then she watched, still at the door, the two separate like skin contact burned. She couldn't help the small quirk to her lips at Ichigo's embarrassed expression as she sat down once more at Ichigo's low table, only because she found it utterly adorable. Livia was right behind her, eagerly sniffing around for Kon, who Ichigo knew for a fact was hiding desperately in his top dresser drawer.
Ichigo started to follow her example when a shrill scream of "Hollow! Hollow! Hollow!" pierced the air, causing Orihime to flinch violently. "You're being called," Orihime told him needlessly, righting her scattered papers.
Ichigo nodded as he touched his deputy badge briefly before leaping out the window.
Once he was out of sight, Rukia rounded on the utterly bewildered Orihime.
"What's going on between you two?" She demanded.
Orihime blinked. "Pardon?"
"There's something going on between you two."
"No there's not." The buxom beauty denied, flushing. Violet eyes narrowed.
"…You're in love with him, aren't you?" Rukia realized with a smirk. Orihime's blush darkened drastically as her gray eyes averted to the ground. "You are, aren't you?" The Kuchiki's face split into a wide smile.
The gray-eyed woman gnawed fiercely on her lower lip. "Is it that obvious?"
"The doe eyes you flash him when he's not looking help." Rukia remarked with a shrug. Orihime's eyes widened drastically. "I think it's rather sweet." she continued almost dreamily.
"I think you and Renji-kun are rather sweet too, Kuchiki-san." Orihime interjected naively. Now it was the other girl's turn to look flustered.
"What do you mean? We're just friends," Rukia protested.
Orihime merely smiled knowingly at her. "Maybe that's what you think, but I don't think so with him. I've seen how he looks at you."
"Oh? And how does he look at me?" Rukia challenged playfully.
"Well, its loving, that's for sure, but definitely not like a sibling love. It also looks wistful to me, like he wants you but know he can't have you. It seems rather heated, too. I don't know, it's hard to explain." Orihime struggled to explain, before lifting her hands in a slight shrug of surrender. "Anyways, I need to get started on homework," she said with a slight frown, opening her Japanese textbook.
Deciding to study Renji's face when he thought she wasn't looking at the next chance she got, Rukia observed the amount of homework Orihime had to do. "You have a lot of homework, Inoue."
Orihime looked up and smiled serenely. "Yes, I usually ask for more work than what's actually assigned."
"Why?"
Another serene smile. "I'm hoping to be able to go to Tokyo U one day. That's why I work so hard, as the university's super elite. Like I'm sure even secret agents would have trouble getting in!"
"What do you want to major in?" she couldn't help but ask, deciding to ignore the secret agent comment.
"I'm not sure. I've always considered becoming a teacher." Orihime wondered, half to herself as she began to write her eyes on the textbook. "Or maybe an astronaut!" she exclaimed cheerfully, pausing. "Yeah, so whenever I see one of those "I've Been There!" statues, I could something, a pin probably, into the surrounding air to simulate having gone to space!"
Rukia had to bite down on the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood to keep from giggling at Orihime's ludicrous logic. "But wouldn't you get lonely up there?"
"Oh, right," Orihime realized, her cheeriness dampening. "Well, education it is, then!" she decided with a laugh before returning to her homework. "Oh, Kuchiki-san. Was the cover-up concerning the increase in Hollows accurate in any way?"
"Actually, yes. The entire thing was true, even if it wasn't my real reason for being here," Rukia answered almost lazily, reclining back on the bed, eyeing the wary Kon as he peeked out of the dresser drawer.
Livia immediately noticed and bounded over to sit at the base of the dresser, barking excitedly. Kon immediately hid once more. Orihime didn't seem to notice, as her pencil flew over her paper.
"Why?"
"Why the increase, you mean?" Rukia clarified, not bothering to wait for an answer. "Kisuke's claiming that someone robbed his store while he was preoccupied. The idiot probably broke some cases of Hollow bait when he was running away."
Orihime looked up, her eyes widening once more. "Cases of Hollow bait?" she echoed dimly. "We're not going to have a repeat of when Ishida-kun challenged Kurosaki-kun, are we?"
"No," Rukia reassured, secretly wondering how Orihime knew about that. "That time, the hollows came immediately and the sky rift also happened quickly. But seeing as Ichigo has finer control over his reiastsu, sort of at least, I doubt that it'll happen. If I'd thought Ichigo needed help, I'd have gone with him."
Rukia saw a brief flash of something (regret, maybe?) in Orihime's eyes before it vanished quickly.
The skin between violet eyes puckered in question.
The silence was broken by Ichigo tumbling haphazardly onto his bed through the window, immediately barking out: "Who said you could sit on my bed, midget?"
Rukia merely rolled her eyes and didn't say anything, making another mental note to quiz Orihime later.
Orihime's anxious voice was heard asking the powerful Shinigami if he was injured, which he immediately assured he wasn't. He slid effortlessly back into his body before sitting opposite his longhaired classmate.
He had barely started on his homework when Yuzu knocked on the door and informed them that dinner was ready.
Dinner at the Kurosaki home was, as always, entertaining. It started with Isshin attempting to karate chop Ichigo in the neck, which his son blocked before clocking Isshin right below the eye.
Sharply, Orihime stepped around the resulting scuffle before taking her seat at the table. Rukia sat down next to her. "Karin, stop them," Yuzu turned to her twin as she placed down a plate of food. "The neighbors might call the cops again."
The raven-haired Kurosaki glanced up at Yuzu's departing back. "Yeah, I don't think so. I like my head where it is," Karin drawled dryly, picking up a salmon onigiri and nibbling on it. "Besides, leaves more for us."
"You always say that," Yuzu chided. "Orihime-nee, what do you think?" Orihime looked up and opened her mouth before the suffix that Yuzu had added on to her name sunk in and she froze, eyes widening.
"U-um, I guess as long as nobody gets seriously hurt, it's not that bad. I find it rather entertaining, to be honest," the teenager answered shyly, turning to look at the scuffling pair. She could easily see Ichigo's brilliant black eye from where she sat.
"Oi, Goat Chin, Ichi-nii. Quit fighting or we'll give your food to Livia," Karin spoke, an excited yap coming from under the table.
A very cold, wet nose suddenly pressed suddenly into the sensitive skin on the inside of Orihime's bare ankle. She yelped, jumping and fell out of chair and her back collided painfully with the ground as her legs sprawled over the seat of her chair.
Ichigo paused in his attempt to render his father's face concave to look over at the openly-stunned girl. "You okay, Inoue?"
"I think I just knocked my spine into shock, but I think so," She answered dazedly, accepting Rukia's offered hand and sitting upright once more with a slight wince.
Isshin slammed his elbow into Ichigo's face. "You dropped your guard!"
"Dammit! I was making sure she was alright!" Ichigo lashed out with his leg, knocking his father out successfully. He sat down at the table, only to see Karin slipping Livia bits of food. "Oi, whose food are you giving away?"
She glanced up. "Yours. You took too long."
"Brat," She only shrugged and took a bite of her onigiri. Yuzu roused her father and they began to eat.
"When do we want to go to the Trail of Lights?" Isshin asked some time later.
"Perhaps this weekend? Kurosaki-kun and I have a few tests coming up over the next few days that we need to study for," Orihime answered, swallowing a bite of food. "Speaking of which, Kurosaki-kun, I have some errands to run in my old neighborhood after school tomorrow so you don't have to walk me home."
"Errands?" Ichigo asked around a mouthful of kurimu shitu.
She nodded. "Yes, just a few things that I need to get done."
"I'll come with," he shrugged.
"I will, too." Rukia butted in with a slight smirk at Ichigo, who just scowled at her. "It'll be a little 'day out' for us."
Ichigo had to refrain from sighing at the misuse of 'day out,' merely taking another bite.
The healer gnawed fiercely on her lower lip. "Are you sure? It probably won't be much fun."
"The more the merrier, right?" Rukia smiled, before digging in to her own kurimu shitu.
"Right," Orihime agreed, smiling warmly at the girl who had become almost a sister to her. She plucked up a few individual gyouza before eating one. "The dinner is fantastic, Yuzu-chan," Orihime told the younger girl shyly, hesitating briefly before adding the familiarizing suffix.
"Thank you!" The young Kurosaki beamed. "Ichi-nii told me about your fondness for red bean paste so I did some experimenting earlier and the result was a kind of red bean paste cupcake. I'm not sure how it'll taste but you're welcome to them," she told the beauty cheerfully, who smiled ecstatically. "I left them in the oven to stay warm."
"Thank you Yuzu-chan!" Orihime exclaimed happily, before excusing herself to the kitchen and returning moments later with a warm red bean paste cupcake, which she nibbled on eagerly, oblivious to the blanches of the Kurosaki family (plus one).
Ichigo crept down the stairs, taking care to avoid the squeaky step as he attempted to sneak into the kitchen for something to drink. They had been at work for over two hours, and while he was almost done with his homework, Orihime still had a mountain left. After he asked, she had told him the same answer that she had Rukia.
It seemed that he was learning more about Inoue Orihime every day. Including the fact that she actually seemed to enjoy doing homework, which was something he could not understand at all. Though it did explain how she was always so high up in the grades. He had never quite gotten over the fact that after returning from Hueco Mundo and after the Winter War, she had still gotten second place, tying with Ryo for it.
"Onii-chan, could you help me fold laundry? It won't take long," Yuzu evidently saw him. "Please?" she added on softly after a moment.
Vividly remembering the grilling Kon had given him after his return from his Vizard training about abandoning his younger sisters, Ichigo found himself reluctantly agreeing and sat down next to her. The ecstatic smile she shot him made him feel even worse than Kon had. They worked quietly and efficiently until Ichigo pick up a pair of rather skimpy underwear.
"Aren't you a little young for these?" Ichigo was no longer bothered by the thought of handling his sisters' under garments, as he had been helping with laundry for longer than he could remember. Though admittedly, it had taken a bit of getting used to when they were older and no longer interested in 'childish' underwear.
Yuzu glanced up briefly at the underwear he was still holding before looking back down at the shirt she was folding disinterestedly.
"Those aren't mine. Their Orihime-nee's."
Barely containing what would have without a doubt been a rather girlish squeal, Ichigo flung away the offending piece of underwear.
Yuzu glanced up curiously, though she had to giggle at the look of horror on her onii-san's face. He glowered at her indignantly, cheeks flushing brightly.
He… he had just willingly picked up his classmate's underwear.
Laundry forgotten, he fled back upstairs, snickers in a perfect impersonation of Keigo's voice ringing in his ears.
The door to his bedroom slammed opened , causing Orihime to jump in reflex as Ichigo blew in like a hurricane.
"Kurosaki-kun, is something the matter?" Orihime asked, looking up at him with big, worried, gray eyes.
Just looking at her reminded him of what he had recently held in his hands (with all its laciness and skimpiness) and his gaze averted from her's in acute embarrassment.
It was obvious, painfully so, that he would never be able to look at Orihime the same way ever again.
Poor Ichigo. I really am too mean to him, aren't I? XD
And I added in IchiHime for everybody who asked! (Even if it was already written.)
I hope you liked it! Cookies to everyone who replied.
Oh, and to who it was who commented that it seemed that my chapters were named after flowers: you were right. I had already used stars and moons, so I figure that flowers would be cool, as Orihime's Rikka are all names of flowers. But yes, nice job noticing it.
-Vampyre Heartbrek