Man, I wish I could marry all of you. I can't believe I got 23 reviews for last chapter alone.

You guys are incredible. Seriously.

Disclaimer: My owning Bleach is about as likely as George W Bush's head being the right size for his body.

Odd tidbit: the title for this chapter, Lilacs, apparently means 'Do You Still Love Me?'

"Tatsuki."

After finishing one more jab to the dummy's fleshy padding, a rather sweaty Tatsuki turned to face the shinigami behind her. "Ichigo?"

The orange-haired substitute scowled severely at her, brown eyes flashing agitatedly.

"What the hell are you doing here? I have never seen you down here before. Or this early in the morning, for that matter."

"Why did you do that?" He ignored her question rudely, arms crossed severely over his chest. Tatsuki blinked.

"Do what?

"Tell Inoue to move in with you." His tone was brisk, and still rude.

"Oh." She turned back to the dummy, letting out a combo of blistering attacks. "Why wouldn't I? I mean, her staying with you was only temporary, right? Why are you so irritated? I thought you'd be glad: one less female in the house.

Well yes, but I actually happen to like this female, was what his mouth desperately wanted to say. He squashed down the urge. "True as that may be, Inoue is also finally settled. 'Sides, I know how your mom feels about pets, and I am not holding Livia at my house for Inoue."

"Who?"

"Her mutt."

"Oh right." Tatsuki paused once more in her attacking the punching bag and turned back to face Ichigo, mimicking his aggressive stance. "I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind if Livia was an outside dog. That still doesn't quite explain why you bothered me. Anybody sane knows not to interrupt my morning training." She cracked her knuckles for emphasis, which Ichigo ignored.

And we both know I'm rather sane, he thought sarcastically to himself, scowl deepening. What with the voice in my head and the alter personality and all.

What was that, princess? His inner Hollow snarked from the back of Ichigo's mind. As usual, he ignored the voice.

"Do you think its wise to uproot Inoue so soon after she's gotten used to living with me? I mean, we were going to train Livia to ta-" His mouth slammed shut at that suddenly and Tatsuki eyed him knowingly.

"Train Livia to what?" She prompted.

"Nothing." He denied vehemently, a mulish look crossing his tanned features. She shrugged.

"Fine. And why do you care? You never much cared where she lived before. Why start now?" She asked, smirking.

He couldn't very well tell her that it was because he had grown used to Inoue's presence. That he liked seeing her first thing in the morning when the first words out of her mouth were "I didn't kill that banana," and almost incoherent. That he liked seeing her doze off during homework, or walking around in the skimpy shirt and those socks as much as he denied it. That the image of her fast asleep on the couch with Livia tucked under her chin and looking small in the shirt of his that he had never gotten back made his insides churn pleasantly. Or listening to her cheerful rambles in the morning and after school made his day seem a little bit brighter.

Instead, he let out, "Yuzu and Karin like her." It was a lame excuse; he knew it and judging by her smirk, so did Tatsuki.

"Uh huh." The words rang with skepticism, and he mentally cursed his screwed-up mental processes.

"Okay, fine." He surrendered, deciding that it was too early in the morning. "I like having her around, okay?"

The admission hung heavy in the air.

"Good." Before she whirled back around on the dummy, Ichigo caught a distinct flash of satisfaction in her deep blue eyes and something heavy settled in his stomach. Shit. "Orihime can keep living with you, you loser."

It was by sheer strength of will that the word 'Really?' did not leave his lips. He did, however, blink in surprise.

"On one condition." She drawled, voice positively quivering with victory and smugness. The something heavy in his stomach grew, making the once cool room feel much too hot and made it hard for him to breath.

"What is it?" He managed. He knew from personal experience that Tatsuki's conditions had a tendency to be bloody.

"You have to start calling 'Inoue' by her first name."

Ichigo blinked. Compared to some of her past condition, this one was relatively mild. Then it sunk in fully. "You want me to what?!"

"Start calling Orihime by her first name, you dunce."

"But-"

"Do it, or I'll come over after school to get her stuff."

"But shouldn't In-Orihime," he amended quickly after seeing her menacing glare, "decide if I should call her by her first name?"

Tatsuki snorted. "Oh please. Orihime is way too nice. However, I know for a fact that if you called her by her first name even once, it would make her ridiculously happy."

He wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

"Okay, fine. I'll call In-Orihime by her first name, and in return, she can stay?"

"Yup! Now get the hell out before I turn you into my punching bag."

At her words, Ichigo bolted out of the room.

Ichigo sat at his desk, head resting on his desk with a steady pounding occurring between his temples. The headache had occurred after a steady pounding of his skull against a wall while he chanted "Why, Why, Why" under his breath like a mantra.

"ICHI-GOOO!"

He inaudibly groaned at Keigo's overly excited voice, tilting his head to glare menacingly at the exuberant man with one narrowed brown eye. "What." It wasn't a question.

Keigo revealed something with a flourish, and he had to blink. "It's the latest Bad Shield movie!"

Ichigo just blinked. "So?"

The man before him deflated slightly. "Aren't you excited?"

Depends. Does excited mean very tired and more than a little irritated and confused? Then yes, I am very "excited." Ichigo's voice was ridiculously sarcastic, even in his own head.

"Not really." At those two blunt words, Keigo completely deflated and slunk back to Mizurio, who greeted him with the ever present 'Asano-san."

Glad to be rid of the nuisance, Ichigo tilted his head back down and closed his eyes once more.

His trying to regain sleep was interrupted once more. Though this time, the interrupting was infinitely more pleasurable.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

He cracked an eye to see Orihime rushing towards him in her normal clumsy way, taking out three desks and two classmates in her rush to get over to him. The government would be lucky to have her as a secret weapon. "Yes?"

"It turns out that I can't go stay with Tatsuki-chan! She told her mom about Livia-chan, and her mother didn't want to have a dog in the house! So I can continue staying with you!" She panted out, looking flushed and exhilarated. He shot a brief, vaguely amused look at Tatsuki, who was entering the room, as he lifted his head with a yawn. "That is, if you don't mind me staying." She added on after a moment shyly, flushing pink.

"I'm glad to have you, I…Orihime," he assured awkwardly, trying out her name. It rolled off his tongue nicely, he decided. A lot more than 'Inoue.' He could get used to this.

"I'm so gla-" Then abruptly, his usage of her first name sunk in and her blush deepened to an almost maroon.

At this same time, the Afghan war was ended on peaceful terms, the genocide in Darfur was abruptly ended with most sincere apologies, and the Emperor of China bent over the nearest lady and kissed her stupid.

Oh, and global warming was successfully reversed.

Behind the two blushing pair, Tatsuki smirked victoriously, silent over Chizuru and Keigo's ridiculous blustering and sobbing. Ishida had lifted his suddenly wide eyes up from his book, Chad looked the same as ever, and Rukia entered the classroom only to discover that something in it had drastically altered.

"Did somebody die?" She was heard asking a student in the back loudly.

As the day dragged on, Ichigo discovered that the world was not going to end if he called Orihime by her first name. What would happen is that she would become incredibly flustered and flush all sorts of red. And while he could admit that a flushed, rumpled Orihime would be more than enough to end the world, it hadn't happened yet.

And, secretly, he liked the flustered Orihime.

And despite Chizuru's many threats against him, Tatsuki was always there to cheerfully bash her face in, and leave them to their own devices. Which mainly consisting of Orihime trying to figure out how they would train Livia to tap dance and him listening with rapt attention.

Tatsuki observed from across the room, having casually seated herself down on Ishida's desk like it was own. Strangely enough, the normally stiff Ishida hadn't said a word, though Chad had caught a few lingering glances on Tatsuki's firm thighs. The gentle giant lifted an eyebrow, amused. "Anybody want to take bets?" She remarked calmly.

"On what?" Ishida asked, perplexed.

"How long it takes those two to get together." She jerked a thumb at Ichigo and Orihime.

"No thank you." Ishida refused without any of his normal bite.

Chad considered. "One week."

Ishida did a double-take. Had Chad just bet on his best friend's love life? Apparently so. "I'll match that." he volunteered reluctantly.

"I'll say five days, tops. Losers have to…scream naked through the school." Ishida visibly blanched, while Chad just blinked.

"What do they have to scream?"

Tatsuki pondered. "They have to scream, "I don't believe in Buddha and I'm going to rule the world!"

"That's the best you can come up with?" Ishida scoffed, scornful. Her eyes narrowed challengingly at him.

"You think you could do better, pretty boy?" She countered.

"Yes, I do believe I can." He agreed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Do you know Takahashi Aido?"

"Of course I do." Takahashi Aido was the biggest jock in school, and a complete asshole to boot. It was also well-known that he wanted Orihime to be his girlfriend. "What about him?"

"Loser has to run naked through the school, screaming "I want to have Takahashi Aido's babies."" Ishida supplied with a barely-there smirk. Tatsuki blinked, turning to look at Sado.

"That's actually really good," she commented dazedly. She hadn't thought that stick-in-the-mud Ishida could have done so well. Sado agreed with a quiet murmur. Recovering herself, she hopped off of the desk and stretched. Before walking off, she added on smoothly, "And I'm looking forward to seeing you streak, Ishida. It will be a sight to behold." With that and a quiet chuckle, she departed.

Sado turned to the Quincy, only to see his usually pale cheeks stained bright red and his eyes rather wide as he followed the Arisawa until she left the room. A slight smile curved the Mexican's lips.

Romance was most definitely in the air at Karakura High.

As Ichigo had predicted, Isshin's reaction to the news that I-Orihime was going to continue staying them was over the top, exuberant, and his tears would forever stain the carpet.

It started with him beginning to weep grotesquely big, fat tears, before flinging himself onto the worried, yet utterly bewildered girl in a brisk, though smothering hug before taking a look at his scowling son and ended with him throwing himself onto the picture of his wife, bawling like a baby before sniffling out that Orihime would now be considered a Kurosaki.

At this point, Ichigo escorted Orihime up the stairs with Livia on their heels, even if they didn't have to start on homework for a while yet. Upstairs was the safest place to be when his father was in one of his moods.

As soon as they entered Ichigo's room, Rukia popped out of his closet. "Took ya long enough." She drawled.

"Dad." He grunted as an answer and she nodded, completely understanding. "And what are you doing in my closet? You do realize you have a bed, don't you?"

"Nostalgia's sake."

Orihime blinked, utterly confused. "Nostalgia? Did you live in his closet before?" She asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Rukia nodded. "The first time I was here. I slept in Ichigo's closet."

"Oh, um, okay," she replied confusedly, gray eyes saying that she desperately wanted to ask why but didn't want to come off as rude.

"I was staying here without his family knowing," Rukia supplied thoughtfully with a slight smile.

"Oh!" Orihime brightened with a smile. "That sounds rather…" She searched for a word.

"Rude?" Ichigo butted in with a grunt from behind her. She merely smiled at his back.

"Awkward." She supplied instead, her tone sincere.

Rukia grinned. "I was fine with it, but this idiot was noticeably less so."

Ichigo merely grunted noncommittally, not wanting a repeat of yesterday morning. While he listened with half an ear to Rukia and Orihime's conversation, he proceeded to try and wrestle one of his shoes from Livia, who fought back with every fiber of her small body, her long whip-like tail thrashing ecstatically from side to side. "Let it go, you stupid mutt." He muttered under his breath, almost baring his teeth in frustration.

"Kurosaki-kun, do you need help?" Orihime's voice asked, while some of her silky hair spilled over her shoulder and brushed the side of his neck. He merely glanced at her, looking faintly exasperated. She smiled slightly, before fixing her mischievous dog with a stern look.

It looked odd on a girl who was almost always smiling.

"Livia, drop it." The command was firm, with no room for arguing, and the puppy immediately released his slimy, gnawed on shoe before darting under his bed in search of Kon. Ichigo had to blink at the firmness of Orihime's voice. He hadn't known such a thing was possible. "There you are, Kurosaki-kun!" She told him cheerfully, brushing past him to pick up his shoe and hand it to him. He grimaced slightly at the slimy shoe, but took it from her.

"Thanks," he told her gruffly. She beamed at him cheerfully, a fine dusting of pink settling on her cheeks.

The moment was broken by Kon's shrill scream as he bolted from under Ichigo's bed and across the room before running into Ichigo's closed door and falling over. Livia was immediately upon him with a shrill, excited yap.

A corner of Ichigo's lips twitched "I may have to switch to a religion of your dog, Orihime."

"Son of a bitch."

Ichigo let out a vivid oath as he swung Zangetsu down onto the skull mask of a fishy Hollow, parting it with ease. Before the Konso had even finished, he was whirling around to block the talons of another Hollow. It took him only seconds to dispatch of this one, and he was finally allowed a brief break as he sagged tiredly against Zangetsu.

"What is with all of these stupid freaking Hollows?" He grumbled to himself under his breath, wiping at his sweaty forehead. All he wanted to do was get home and do his homework before eating dinner and talking with Orihime, but all of these Hollows kept him from doing that.

"Kurosaki-kun?" That oh-so-familiar, sweet voice broke into his dark thoughts and brown eyes darted over to see the girl who he had been thinking about standing on the sidewalk. Gray eyes watched him, immediately flitting over his body to check and catalogue any possible injuries. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just busy. What're you doing out here?" He asked, slinging Zangetsu back over his back, fully blinded. She smiled cheerfully and held up some bags that he hadn't previously noted.

"Yuzu-chan was missing some things for dinner, so I offered to buy them for her." She explained brightly, walking over towards him. "Are you on your way home, now?"

Ichigo briefly tested the air for any signs of Hollows. "Uh, yeah, I guess. Let me just get back in my body."

"Okay," she agreed immediately with another smile.

It didn't take long for Ichigo to get back into his own body and meet Orihime, who had taken to studying the stars. He also realized that she had pulled her hair back into a low ponytail, which was something he hadn't seen before. Even during phys ed when other girls pulled their hair back, she had kept her hair down.

It made her look older to him.

"Are you looking for something?" He asked out of curiosity, noticing the look of rapt attention on her face. Orihime jumped, rapidly snapping out of it as she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Not really. But ever since I found out where my name came from, I've always thought it would be nice to be able to locate my star in the sky." She confessed shyly.

"Have you ever had any luck?" He asked, curious.

"Onii-chan helped me find it once, but I haven't been able to since." She answered with a soft smile. "But I can find Orion the hunter with no problem!" She brightened after a moment.

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow, amused. "Really? Where is he?"

"Right there!" She pointed, waiting until Ichigo's brown eyes looked up towards the map of the stars, before tracing the constellation out deftly. He resisted the urge to smile at her cheerfulness.

"Do you like astronomy, Orihime?" He asked her curiously.

"Oh, yes!" She beamed, hurrying to match his longer stride as they walked home. "That's partially why I'd like to become an astronaut, though as Kuchiki-san pointed out to me, it would probably get very lonely up there."

He had to fight back a smile at the dejected tone in her voice. "Well, I've heard that astronauts actually don't spend that much time up in space. It's mostly down here."

"Really?"

"Really." He confirmed.

She grinned a little wider at that. During this conversation, they approached the Kurosaki household, and Ichigo politely held the door open.

Just before she was fully in the door, Ichigo touched her arm briefly. "Hey, Orihime?" She turned to him curiously. "Your star is right there." He pointed to the correct star with an unseen soft smile.

Ichigo crept silently down the hallway in search of a midnight snack. He was by now used to staying up way past everyone else to finish his homework, due to all of the Hollow-slaying he had to do. And Rukia was also busy, he knew from the bruise on his other shin, with the Hollows.

He forced himself not to go check on the slumbering brunette on the couch, instead walking on by it to the kitchen.

Which, he discovered, already had an occupant.

Orihime was sitting on the counter with a bowl of ice cream in her lap, wearing only skimpy little shorts and his shirt with her hair loose and over her shoulder, while for once her hairpins weren't present in the auburn strands. The spoon full of ice cream paused on its way to her mouth, as she stared in surprise at Ichigo. "Kurosaki-kun? What're you doing up?" She asked curiously in a hushed tone.

He almost smiled. "I could ask you the same thing."

She lifted the spoon full of ice cream before she plopped it daintily into her mouth. "Midnight snack." She swallowed the cold treat.

"Same here."

She blinked, suddenly noticing that he had yet to change into his sleeping clothes. "Kurosaki-kun, have you gone to sleep yet?" She asked worriedly, eyebrows furrowing.

"Nope. Still doing homework," he answered, voice sounding muffled as he began to dig through the fridge in search of something to eat.

"Do you want help?"

"Nah. I'm almost done."

"Well, alright." Her tone was reluctant and she dug into her ice cream sundae with gusto.

"Have you seen the chocolate syrup?" He asked a moment later, having decided that an ice cream sundae sounded rather good. Orihime flashed a guilty look down at the empty chocolate syrup by her.

"Well, I actually used up the last bit of it," she answered reluctantly, biting her lip. Ichigo was amused, judging by his lifted eyebrow as he poked his head over the edge of the refrigerator door. Her cheeks were pink, and she was focusing quite intently on the bowl in her hands. "But if you want, I can give you some of mine!" She offered after a moment, smiling. "I mean, there really wasn't a lot left to begin with, but I'd be willing to give you mine!"

"That's not necessary, Orihime." He assured him, earning a pout.

"Are you sure? I feel bad now. I wasn't really expecting anyone else, otherwise I would have left you some."

"Really. It's fine. I think we have some caramel. That'll be fine." He went to the pantry and pulled out the caramel syrup before pulling it open.

"Oh. Well, in that case, could you please pass me the bottle once you've finished using it?" She asked shyly, earning a brief nod from Ichigo as he finished thoroughly dousing his ice cream in the sticky light brown syrup before passing it to the Rikka-user. She smiled thankfully at him before pouring it into her own bowl.

He watched her pour, noting distantly that her sundae for once actually looked normal. Then his attention was abruptly arrested by the drop of caramel that she traced off of the bottle nozzle with her finger, before sticking her finger into her mouth gleefully. Feeling lobotomized, he couldn't help but stare as she sucked on the digit idly, making sure she got all of the caramel off her finger.

He swallowed thickly, and suddenly became hyperaware of just how close they were. Orihime was sitting on the counter next to the silverware drawer, and he had had to cross the kitchen to the silverware drawer in order to get a spoon. He paused with his hand still in the drawer, finding his body difficult to move at the moment.

Come on, kingy. All you have to do is 'accidentally' move your hand two inches to the right, and you can feel the skin on her thigh… His hollow's slimy voice broke into his thoughts, as Ichigo could practically see the disgusting grin on his face as he attempted to coax his King into fondling his nakama.

And the worse thing is that he was seriously tempted to do so.

"Kurosaki-kun? Are you okay?" She asked, breaking into his mental debating. He blinked, turning his head to look at her, and finally realizing just how beautiful this girl was. Her big gray eyes were framed by thick, long black lashes, and were currently filled with worry for him. Her cheeks were stained bright red from their closeness, though she was still studying him.

Then his gaze fell to her lips against his will. They were pink and plump and moist from her constant licking of them, and slightly parted as she breathed quickly. He moved closer, by now no longer in control of his own actions. "Kurosaki-ku-" She was suddenly cut off by the sensation of his lips pressing softly, but firmly against her own.

She immediately stiffened, eyes widening against the unexpected feeling, but as she felt his lips gliding over her own hesitantly, she instantly melted, eyes sliding shut.

Distantly he realized that he was later going to regret kissing Orihime, right now, logic was the furthest thing from his mind as he felt Orihime begin to tentatively respond, opening her lips to him, allowing him to delve into the hot, wet cavern of her mouth. He stepped closer, stepping between her legs as his long fingers inadvertently dug softly into her auburn tresses. He nipped on her lower lip as a test, and she gasped, her mouth opening wider. After putting down her ice cream, her cold hand made their way up his arms to rest uncertainly on his shoulder, which were scorching underneath his shirt.

As their tongues dueled for dominance, which he won easily, he leaned closer, feeling her soft bosom press against his hard chest as she positively melted under his careful ministrations.

She tasted sweet, an odd mix of the chocolate and caramel sundae and something else, maybe mango? He swallowed her soft whimper, feeling her fingers thrum nervously against his shoulder, and with an effort he pulled away from Orihime, watching as her dazed smoky gray eyes opened slowly, finding him after a moment. Her fingers fell into her lap, while she swallowed tightly meeting his darkened, passion-filled chocolate brown eyes.

He wasn't sorry. "I should go," he mumbled under his breath, turning and going before the image of a flushed Orihime with kiss-bruised lips and surprised, darkened gray eyes was seared into his memory.

His ice cream lay forgotten on the counter as he practically fled upstairs, leaving Orihime to fight back tears, biting her lips fiercely.

Heh heh. I thought my Beta-chan was going to kill me for the way I ended it. But I couldn't help it; it was too priceless.

And I'm surprised that not one person thought that Orihime moving in with Tatsuki was just a ploy by Tatsuki. I had thought it was rather obvious.

But oh well. I hope you guys like this chapter!

Thanks again to all of my reviewers, and those who favorited or put this on their alerts! It means so much to me!

Dare I ask for you to review again? -bambi eyes-

-Vampyre Heartbreak