Disclaimer: I do not own any of Bleach; they belong to Tite Kubo. This is just an AU fanfic.

"I don't know what to do with this calculus problem. It's so hard." Momo pouted, erasing and rewriting her answers again and again. Ichigo saw this and decided to help her, grabbing his pencil and his math notebook.

"Is it okay if I could help you there?" Momo blushed when she heard Ichigo's voice, hearing the creaking sound of the chair moving closer to hers. "It's okay with me."

Ichigo did not mind her hesitating and just helped her, pointing out what she did wrong and telling her what to do to be able to get the problems and solve it.

Momo was surprised to how smart he was, as she heard rumors from other students that despite his orange hair and how he gets into fights daily he is still one of the top 10 students of the school and possibly, the prefecture.

When he was finished in tutoring her, Momo gasped that all of her answers that were once incorrect were correct.

"You saved me there, Ichigo-san. Thanks a lot." Momo thanked, sighing and closing her notebook.

"It's alright. If ever you have problems just ask me what you need to know. The subjects are pretty easy to me." Ichigo said, not trying to be boastful, he was just being helpful to his friend.

Ichigo scooted his chair back and read his chemistry book out of boredom. Momo felt her chest beating like a hummingbird's wing whenever Ichigo was close to her.

She didn't get why, and he was just a good friend of hers; the only boy who is his friend. He was nice, hardworking, serious in pursuing his goals, protective of those important, wild but not mean; she admired everything of his personality. And that orange hair was so dazzling, that blended well with the orange afternoon sky. Those tea-colored eyes shone whenever light hit it.

Because of that, it could be possible that she LIKES him?

NO! She shook her head in denial, scratching her head in confusion. Ichigo and the others were looking at her weird actions, and Momo saw this.

"Hahaha." Momo laughed for them to ignore her, her voice cracking from the awkward feeling. Even if she liked Ichigo, she was afraid to get into a relationship with him; thinking about what happened with her parents it left a deep hole in her heart that she was afraid of falling in love.

"Hey, Hinamori. You're friends with that Ichigo?" A girl shorter than Momo asked, elbowing her on the arm.

She turned and saw Rukia, the rumored 'bunny girl' who always has a bunny plushie with her that she calls Chappy and always draws stuff that includes bunnies.

"Yeah, we just became friends since the first day of school. Well we're not that close friends but we get along just fine." Momo answered, closing her locker. "Wow, for two months you're friends with him. So it is true." Momo was a little confused to what the bunny girl meant. "Excuse me?"

Rukia sighed. "So you didn't know. Well actually before, Ichigo had a girlfriend and they had been going out for a year and half, then the girl cheated on him and dumped him for another guy. Since then Ichigo was very distant towards us girls and rarely talks to them, actually he never tries befriending any girl. You were the first to get close to him. And there is more. When he was a kid, he lost his mom to some psycho killer and because of that he only talked to a few people, but then became none after Inoue. You are lucky to be able to approach him."

Brown eyes went wide like saucers, and realized now why Ichigo never talked to other girls but her.

But why was she the only one who he talked to? Was it because he trusted her? Was it because she was the only one who was nice enough to approach him? Or was it because he likes her?

"Hinamori, you looked spaced out." Rukia's voice brought her back to reality, and Momo shook her head to clear her mind.

"Sorry, I have to get going." She excused, closing her bag and walking away, leaving Rukia a little confused to her sudden change of emotion.

Now she knew why he was one who never talks to girls. It was because of an unfaithful girl who betrayed him and left him, and the traumatic death of his mother. She entered her classroom to talk to him, and Ichigo wasn't there.

She got curious, as he wasn't one who'd miss his classes. "Hey, Ishida-san. Where is Ichigo-san?" Momo asked, poking a raven-haired male wearing rectangular glasses.

"Oh, he is out training basketball. He is one of the sport stars of this school, so when needed he is excused. Don't worry, he is smart enough." Uryuu answered, and Momo bowed as a thank you.

She quickly walked outside, going to the gym. Opening the large doors, she saw Ichigo practicing alone.

He was making sure that his shots were precise, being able to shoot three-point shots perfectly without missing one. When he practiced five-hundred shots, he moved to doing bank shots.

Momo gazed at nothing but Ichigo, his lower arms shown. They were bare, muscular, covered in sweat, and the tan color was perfect. She could also look at his legs, they were very long and muscular as well. Ichigo stopped shooting after seeing her. "Hi, Hinamori-san. What are you doing here?" Momo stepped inside while closing the gym doors.

"I was just walking by since it's still break time, and I got curious so I went here and I saw you." Momo answered him, grabbing a ball that was rolling towards her feet. She tried shooting it towards the basket though it missed and Ichigo caught the ball.

"To be honest, I am horrible in sports. I cannot score a goal or hit a baseball, I can't even shoot that ball down the basket, and I am a slow runner."

Ichigo made an almost absent smile and tossed the ball to her.

"If you want I can teach you how to score a basket." Momo blushed light pink as she nodded, walking closer to Ichigo.

The strawberry carried her to the spot which he believed is the best for her to shoot, then saw how she was holding the ball. "You're holding the ball too tight."

"I am?"

"Yeah. Loosen it a little. One hand is for holding, the other is for supporting it while throwing it."

"Is that so? Thanks for the advice."

"Now shoot."

"Shoot?"

"Try jumping then shooting. Use your wrists when you'll throw the ball."

Momo was nervous though decided to put her all into this shot.

"This is for Ichigo-san." She whispered as she jumped, loosened her hold of the ball, moved her wrists and let the ball fly towards the basket.

It went in! And she was never able to get it in before. She smiled with great happiness, and blushed a lot more when a hand tousled her long black hair. "Good job." Momo was so flustered and kept on training with him until when the bell rang. She liked this moment with Ichigo.