When the two set out for school two days later, Ishida was too blissfully occupied by the feel of her small and warm hand in his to think about the fact that she had once again taken his gloves. He'd even finished the mittens he was knitting for her and had presented them to her the evening before. She'd been a little confused as to why there was a string connecting the two mittens until he'd explained how she wouldn't lose them that way. She'd been so touched by the gesture, that he had thought for sure she would wear them. But instead, she'd been taking his gloves as usual. He'd caught her toying with the mittens just that morning, and so it had been a little strange that she'd forget to take them. But he noticed that she never lost his gloves. Only her own. The late October wind was cold, but not cold enough for Ishida to care. After a particularly chilling breeze, he shivered. She noticed, with some lament looking down at the navy blue gloves she'd taken. But before she had time to fret, he'd slipped his one hand into his pocket and the other hand she had been holding ever so skillfully into the mitten with her hand. Inoue blushed at the intimacy of the gesture, but saw with a bit of surprise that he was looking forward. She knew he was blushing as well, but he seemed to be hiding it well. Inoue smiled brightly, and followed his example.
Orihime was glad that he didn't seem to think that she was turning into a kleptomaniac. As she met up with Tatsuki and she felt his hand leave hers alone in the glove, she felt a pang of loneliness but fought it back. He nodded at her, and continued on his way to the school while she met up with Tatsuki. It wasn't until Tatsuki and Orihime were inside changing into their indoor shoes and hanging up their coats that Tatsuki noticed the extent of her taking things. It had gone quite far by now, and Tatsuki was beginning to worry.
"Orihime... you..." She began, unsure about how to word what she wanted to say. Orihime looked down, a little shamed. Tatsuki would notice. She was sure Chizuru would notice as well. And whoever else looked at her clothes with some detail was going to start asking questions.
"I... It's a good luck charm," She said, meeting Tatsuki's eyes reluctantly. Tatsuki looked over her once more, making a checklist. She was wearing his watch, dangling on her wrist. She was wearing his gloves again, her gaze moved up to her shirt. Orihime was wearing Ishida's tie from the boy's uniform instead of the red bow provided for the girls. Her socks were a neutral grey, which was a colour she never wore. Inoue was fond of white socks, and sometimes socks with loud patterns but never grey. Tatsuki sighed, and wondered how many other people were going to notice.
"Orihime... if there's anything bothering you... you know you can talk to me," Tatsuki said, smiling. She didn't want to worry the red haired girl so early in the morning. Besides, Tatsuki already knew what she was doing before Orihime knew it herself. Anyone who knew about Orihime and a bit of psychology could see she was obviously wearing a protective barrier. When she was with him, she didn't need them but during school hours she couldn't exactly stick to his side- though she had tried glue. But it seemed that when someone said that two people were glued together they did not mean using the actual adhesive material. In the end she'd just ruined one of her school uniform shirts giving her the excuse if he should ever ask to borrow something else that was his. She wondered how he'd managed to not notice his shirts were stretched. She'd stopped wearing it after trying to survive in it for five seconds the morning before before realizing he'd notice if she taped her chest down. She cursed him at that moment for being so thin and had schemed to put more fried fatty foods into his bentos if she could manage it.
Ishida managed to make it until lunch before he'd start to count the days left again in his head. Five days. That was lots of time, he thought to himself. Today he would for sure succeed in having lunch with Orihime despite the opposition of Tatsuki, Chizuru and surprisingly Ichigo. He'd become rather mopey, and was insistent on knowing every single detail of Inoue's every action. Which was becoming ridiculous. He was tired of trying to rationalize the way she managed to wave at Kurosaki when she entered the classroom in the mornings with the orange haired teenager. Still, he was pleasantly surprised when the lunch bell rang and Inoue had dragged them out of the class room with both lunches in one arm. She had them sitting on the empty roof in their coats before anyone could react- even himself. He wanted to laugh, but her grave expression seemed to tell him it was not the right time.
"Orihime," He said, sitting down beside her. He brushed a stray hair out of her eyes shamelessly, noting that she'd somehow locked the door to the roof with spirit power alone. "Tell me what's wrong." She looked at him in surprise. Maybe he had noticed the clothes. She set the lunch boxes down and pulled her coat tighter around her as if trying to hide it. She sighed, giving in.
"I feel happy. And also safe when we eat lunch alone together," She explained, before begrudgingly handing him one mitten. He wasn't sure what to do with it, but she was already wearing the other one and appeared to be making no plans to return it to him. He used his bare hand to start eating the lunch. She'd made an effort after the last cooking accident to take note of what didn't make him ill and what did. He noted that his lunch today had a lot of meat in it. He looked at her thoughtfully, noting she had also packed him some pastries for dessert. Though she made strange foods, Inoue always packed a balanced meal. He wondered what it was she had been thinking about when packing him this lunch. He looked over at her lunch and decided she seemed to be dieting as well. Without much thought, he dropped three chicken nuggets onto her rice with his chopsticks before starting to eat his own tiny rice portion. She looked at him, surprised.
"You're going to need the protein if you insist on keeping the door closed for the entire lunch period," He said, continuing to eat. She smiled at him unexpectedly, touched by his concern. He sat dazed on the receiving end of it, heat filling his face. The moment was broken when Ichigo finally broke through the door and spirit force, pushing Orihime back and making her nearly lose her lunch. Being as quick as usual, Ishida caught her and her lunch without disturbing his own lunch. Kurosaki stomped toward them with his own bento and sat in front of them. He'd sealed the door again, Ishida thought bemused. Inoue however moved into his side until he could feel her body heat through their clothes and coats, looking wearily at Kurosaki.
"I thought I could join you while you reminisce," Kurosaki said, with more tactic than he'd shown in his entire life. He had said it to Ishida, mainly. Ichigo insisted that he be around Inoue at lunch in the thought that maybe she would remember him if he hung around long enough.
"There isn't really all that much to think about," Orihime said defensively. Ishida was sure if she could have crawled inside him she would have at that moment as she couldn't seem to get close enough. Ishida set down his bento, already knowing where this was headed. Orihime was unusually mean to Ichigo lately. Not in any intentional ways of course, but she was brushing him off, even avoiding him.
"Well, there was Ishida's Bankai, it must have been impressive," Ichigo pushed. They seemed to be acting like children now, pushing and pushing until one of them would get hurt. Which was strange. Had he really been so caught up in his own happiness that he hadn't noticed something changing? It couldn't be. No. He looked at Ichigo with an intense gaze. Ichigo ignored him, continuing to look at Orihime. It had all taken place in five seconds, but looking back Ishida was sure it felt like longer in memory because he chose to prolong his obliviousness before it was shattered.
"Don't be silly, Ishida doesn't have a Bankai, you were the one who-" Inoue's highly strung response cut out as quickly as it had started. She hadn't finished the thought. But she didn't need to. Because suddenly Ichigo had pulled her to her feet, and was doing some juvenile movment that had the two of them spinning in circles. And Ishida sat stunned, staring at the spot where she'd just been. He was cold without her snuggled so close to his side. He wondered why it had happened so soon? Five days... He was supposed to have five days. Where had they gone? Three people on a roof top. One pulling along an old friend with joy. Another being pulled, pale and stricken with the terror of having been found out in a lie. And the third, frozen. Frozen and bleeding inside.
(A/N)
Disclaimer: I do not own them. Never did. Got it? Good. Because if I did own them... Bleach wouldn't be kid friendly anymore. There would be lots of whipped cream and yuri and... alright, you get the picture.
Lady Ashari: I guess you do have like a front row seat to the action, huh? I might or might not attempt a new chapter tonight. I'm really sore at the moment from swimming a little too much so I'm wondering if I can stay awake long enough to write it out. That and you know I feed on reviews. They give me the energy to keep going. I can always count on you though Ashari. Lots of love, cone to my ice cream!
TheJoker'sAce: Ha! Take this! A new chapter in one day. Bet you didn't see that coming, huh? Me a sir? But... but I have boobs! It's true! They're right- oh, you are a sneaky one.
Sheepsama13: Well, yeah. She slowly melts through him. Orihime is magical like that. I know she melts through my heart every time. I keep wanting to write a purely fluffy fanfic where Ishida and Inoue have already hooked up but it would turn into a plotless drabble. I know you all crave the conflict of them coming together.
Have you reviewed this chapter yet? No? Go do it! Kita needs to know people still care. Feed the author, she needs love and lots of it. Even just a review that only says "lots of love" would do it. It would take five seconds.