When Ishida arrived at his apartment, the first thing that took his notice was that Both his and the guest slippers were not there. Seeing as he rarely had guests, the guest slippers had been merely for show. And yet, here he was, slipper-less. What he should have noticed first was the smell, which he noticed second after a gruelling decision to not go out and buy Orihime her own slippers. Something was burning. And something else smelled like jam on deli meat being fried. At that moment he was so very happy he hadn't eaten the wierd parts of his lunch. Though he pondered how Ichigo was doing, and wondered if perhaps giving the other part of his bento to the formerly substitute shinigami was going to do more damage than good.
"O-orihime?" He called, hoping she hadn't left something on the stove.
"Oh, Ishida-san is home, Orihime-chan!" Tatsuki called from the living room where she was reading the few books that Ishida owned with some boredom. As he entered, he looked at her strangely.
"Arisawa-san... ... I didn't realize that you knit," He said, looking between the girl and the book.
"Ah... I don't. Why?" Tatsuki answered, smiling a little too happily.
"It's just... that's a pattern book for knitting hats." Before either party could continue with the odd conversation, Ishida felt himself nearly making contact with the floor as something very heavy slammed into him from the side. He caught his footing at the last minute, and turned to see what had hit him. For a second, he was dazed the the bright colour shining in his face.
"Ishida-kun! Welcome home! I'm feeling a lot better now. Tatsuki thought I could maybe feel better if I distracted myself while cooking dinner and it worked!" Inoue said, still holding his arm in a very embarrassing place. He could... feel them. Ishida turned red and wondered if he might faint. He rejected the idea, of course, in the name of his masculinity. Of course, once he saw the look on Tatsuki's face he wondered if he would be off the hook if he fainted. "Uryuu, there's no need to be so embarrassed about me making you dinner!"
"Ah... yes. Well, what are you making, Inoue-san?" Ishida said, relieved that Inoue had let his arm go to run back towards the kitchen. She stuck her head out after a moment. Oh yes, something was definitely being fried on the stove that probably wasn't supposed to be fried. Ever.
"Ah, I'm making an american stirfry, flavoured onigiri and tori no kara-age. Won't it be great? A wonderful home cooked meal with an appetizer!" She said before disappearing into the kitchen again. Ishida was sure he saw his life go by. American stirfry? Rice balls? Chicken nuggets? And what was worse... there, in the corner of the kitchen just where he could see before his vision was cut off by the walls- there was a chocolate syrup container in the garbage. What did she put it on?! Oh, he hoped to god it wasn't on the tori no kara-age. It's not like he'd ever tried it, but somehow he just knew that chocolate syrup on breaded chicken was... so very disgusting. While becoming very pale, he looked over at Tatsuki sitting with his knitting patterns. She was smiling.
"Yes, I paid for all of the ingredients. My mom is always worried that Orihime-chan isn't eating enough," Tatsuki said, confirming all of Ishida's worst fears. His mind was forced back to the threatening notes he'd received. One had said something like not worrying about heaven's punishment when earth's punishment was so much closer. Then, a crude drawing of a fist. He was beginning to get the message. After all, Tatsuki was Orihime's best friend... she would always be close by that way.
"Ah, the appetizer is done!" Inoue called, stopping his inner monologue. She placed a small plate on the table, and Ishida was afraid to look. And there it was. The leftovers of the cinnamon flavoured snap peas and a few flower shaped carrots thrown in for colour with artistic dribbles of mayonnaise. Ishida took a deep breath and approached the table. He slowly reached out to grab one of the carrots, hoping the cinnamon flavour hadn't had enough time to soak yet. As he was removing it from the plate, it hit a bit of the mayonnaise and he made coolest face he could. Because the dining table was in just the right place that the three walled kitchen was completely visible. She was sure to be watching. He silently reminded himself of the pains she'd gone through to make such a complicated meal and that it would make her feel better after the headache she had earlier. Slowly, very slowly, he took a small bite. It looks like he had been right! Inoue hadn't had the time to let the carrots soak in the flavour of the cinnamon and so mayonnaise and carrot didn't taste too terrible. After all, neither of them had a strong flavour.
"Arisawa-san, are you not eating?" He asked, trying to turn the situation around.
"Ah... Tatsuki-chan's portions are packed up to go home. Her mom called earlier and said she needed to finish some homework she didn't do during the last tournament," Inoue answered, bringing out the onigiri. It took Ishida a moment in his shock that Tatsuki had trapped him by intellect alone to notice the oddness
of the rice balls. It was after Tatsuki had been given her portions and left that he finished his little flower shaped carrot slice that he looked at them. He was actually quite fond of onigiri, his grandfather tended to make them. He told Uryuu that the shaping of the onigiri helped you keep your dexterity. Of course, at the time, Ishida had been quite small and not very good at shaping them. Out of nostalgia, he unconsicously picked one up and it was half way to his mouth when he noticed.
"Inoue-san... "
"Hai?"
The onigiri was pink. In the shape of a teddy bear's face. And it did NOT smell like anything pink that was meant to be in a rice ball. It smelled like... stomach medicine.
(A/N)
Hiyo! It seems my muse was kicking me in the head this week. I actually have chapter nine done too. I have only half of chapter ten though, I'm still writing that one. Funnily enough, Kitahoshi had to do research this week! I had to look up japanese foods and recipes. I admit, I cheaped out with the american stirfry but meh. I am SO sorry about those who read the last chapter before I had a chance to fix it (which was most of you). I was a little rusty with wordpad, but everything is fine now.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach, Ishida, Inoue, Tatsuki, the flower shaped carrot slices or the now empty bottle of chocolate syrup. I mean, I do have one but not the one in this story. Mine looks like a cute little elephant!
dn-bleachnaruto: Haha... well, I couldn't do that again. Actually, a writer friend of mine made me my favourite spaghetti because it's the first thing I've written for two years. It was really good.
A Tear Behind Every Smile: Yes, horror indeed! I've already written about her horror but I'm going to give you guys a chance to review first.
Ishida: Isn't that a bit cruel? You made them wait two years and now you're blackmailing them for reviews?
Kitahsoshi: But... but... that's not how I meant it! I just wanted to be able to have something written down here too...
Inoue: You're always so suspicious, Ishida-kun! My onii-san always said that people who are overly suspicious have no friends!
Ishida: Are you... going to say something embarrassing now?
Inoue: See? Too suspicious! I came out here when I heard you picking on Kitahoshi-chan and you have the guts to suspect me, too! I'll I'm just going to go get finished changing if that's what it's going to be like!
Ishida: Fine! ... ... wait a second...
Kitahoshi: You do realize she was in her undergarments, right? You were even looking at her when you talked to her.
Ishida: thunk
Lady Ashari: I'm sooo glad you're still here! I don't know what I would have done if I had no one to edit my work. What do you think the liklihood of getting someone to make fanart for me is?
Ishasuki Mitochi: Yes! I trained hard in the mountains, fighting bears in writing contests and washing my clothes in the cold river water!
whitehitsugaya: Well I was re-watching the beginning of Bleach the other day (my man creature hadn't seen it) and I saw the part where Inoue was talking about the rain connecting the sky and earth so I thought I'd take a stab at it.
NigaleCross: Well... I was walking, and then I tripped and fell into writing. lol.