There was a rumor spreading around in the Karakura High. Unsurprisingly, the people in the rumor were the famous school idol Orihime Inoue. Surprisingly, the other party in the rumor was the infamous punk Ichigo Kurosaki. Together, both of ginger head was a weird combination. Maybe that was the reason why the rumor was so interesting.

It was unknown how or who started it first but the news had been heard around the school—if not around Karakura—that Orihime Inoue has been going out with Ichigo Kurosaki. It was shocking because first, they had always thought that there must be something going on between the beautiful girl and a certain black haired student council president, and second, because it was Ichigo Kurosaki they were talking about here. A punk who had been rumored to beat the leader of Yamanishi High when he was still in junior high school. There were also rumor about him being arested by police once or twice—though nobody confirmed it. In other word, both of the were two people from two different worlds. The idea of they were seeing each other was just hard to believe.

"If it is so hard to believe then don't even start the rumor."

Ichigo was really annoyed when his friends pestering him about the same thing again this afternoon during lunch. It wasn't like they hadn't tried to confirm it with him before, it was just they weren't satisfied with his answer.

"There were eyewitness saying they saw you together with Inoue," His friend who had been busy with his cellphone this whole time looked up from his phone, "you were having date with her at the Donut King."

Ichigo knew it. There must be people from their school saw them that time. He knew from the start that it wasn't a good idea to talk in such place but he didn't know how he couldn't say no to the girl when she told him she wanted to eat donut as they talked. Now he didn't know what excuse he should tell his friends. He didn't want to explain everything but he wanted this guys to stop asking.

"Well, we did go there but it wasn't a date. It was nothing like that," Ichigo was frustrated, he ran his fingers through his ginger hair, "we talked, and it was nothing like what you guys think..."

"Well," his other friend frowned, "what's it about?"

Ichigo hesitated for a moment, "i-it's private."

"Oh c'mon! Aren't we best friend?"

"Shut up Keigo!"

His other friend with tan skin dan dark hair said something which gained his full attention, "so, the rumor of Inoue cheating on Ishida is not right?"

Ichigo looked at Chad with a scowled, Chad was his best friend, it was unusual for him to be interested in such topic, "well, that isn't true. She isn't cheating anyone, well, she isn't even dating Ishida."

"How do you know about it?" Keigo pointed his finger at Ichigo accusingly.

"Why should I tell you?" barked Ichigo.

"Oh c'mon Ichigo, we want to knooooowwwww..."

Ichigo cursed as he stood up and left his friends. This had become a routine for him. 'Running away' when his friends started to ask too much about the rumor.

Well, like usual, he thought, I just need to act like usual.

.

"So, what do you want to talk about, ummm..."

"Kurosaki." Ichigo growled as he looked around, making sure that there were no student from their high school around, "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki," he grunted, "at least try to remember it."

Orihime blinked, she nodded, "Okay then, Kurosaki-kun, I remember your name, I am just distracted by the donuts... So what's it about?"

He eyed the girl in front of him took her first bite of the donut. It was her idea to come to the Donut King near the station, he was afraid that there would be their school mates hanging out around there but luckily, so far he had seen nobody from their school. It should be safe, shouldn't it?

"I will be straight to the point," Ichigo started, "I am sorry but I heard about your confession..."

"Wh—"her mouth was full of donuts, she looked like a hamster.

"Well," that wasn't cute, dammit, Ichigo tried to tell himself, "I didn't mean to, but I overheard your conversation with Uryu Ishida."

Orihime nodded, she swallowed her donut and laughed nervously, "ah, that time... ahaha, uh.. yeah, I guess... I am sorry?"

Ichigo frowned, he didn't get it, "why are you apologizing?"

Orihime smiled shyly as she scratched her cheek with her index finger, avoiding his eyes, "well, you've to see that, it must be something you didn't want to see... or hear. Or anything to do with," she giggled nervously, "I am sorry, okay, Kurosaki-kun?"

He didn't think it was right for her to apologize for something like that. If anything it was Uryu who needed to apologize for being a heartless bastard who broke someone's heart without even batting an eyelash.

"Whatever," Ichigo grunted, "I just want you to know that i wouldn't tell anyone about it so you don't have to worry about it."

"Oh," Orihime blinked few times, so Tatsuki was right, Ichigo was a kind guy. People must have misunderstood him, "thank you, I will be grateful if you do that..."

Ichigo nodded. He massaged the back of his neck with one hand. One thing had been settled at least now they needed to get onto the real deal.

"And about the rumor," he sighed, "to be honest, it is annoying," he cut her in before she could apologize again, "but this was not the first time. I am used to it. I just think that maybe it is annoying for you to be rumored with me, but what I want to tell you is, if we ignored it and act like usual, it would be gone in two weeks top."

Orihime laughed, "I am not annoyed!"

Her laughter surprisingly sounded really nice to him and he had to slap his head mentally when he almost reached out to wipe the strawberry jam at the corner of her lips.

"In fact, I am glad that you were not annoyed with the rumor, Kurosaki-kun," Orihime smiled gently, "For now, maybe it is best if we ignored it like what you said, but if anything happened to you, just tell me, I would protect you."

He almost laughed.

That was too cute.

.

Of course the rumor reached her. Tatsuki had been once again showering her with oh so many questions but so far, the karateka believed in everything she said to her. Well it wasn't like Orihime had been lying about how she knew the carrot top boy, it was just that she left some detail purposedly. She still didn't want Tatsuki knew about the second time she got rejected by Uryuu.

"Okay if you say so," Tatsuki and Orihime were laying on the floor in Orihime's room, they hadn't been spending time together like this lately since both had started their partime job, "I still think that you're hiding something but if you didn't want to tell me, it is Okay... It is not like I forbide you to hang out with Ichigo, anyway, like I have told you before, he is not a bad guy..."

Orihime laughed nervously, she decided to ignore her first comment though, "I know, Kurosaki-kun is nice to me, he bought me donuts the other day..."

"And what were you two doing again?"

The auburn haired school girl sighed, "we talked. Actually, we talked about the rumor... He was kind of disturbed by the rumor and he asked me if we should do something about it. I think, there was nothing we could do, I mean, I don't even know why people spreading such rumor about us... So the best we could do is just to wait until people forget about it."

"They wouldn't forget if you two kept on going on dates together."

"That wasn't a date!"

"Whatever, sitting together eating donut after school and he walked you to the station... It looks like an afterschool date, you know..." Orihime face turned red as she covered her face with her pillow, "I mean, I trust you if you said you were just talking but c'mon let's be real, that's not how it looks from other people's eyes."

"The station was just there! He didn't really walked me to the station," Orihime knew it was useless to explain it to her friend because it wouldn't change the fact that it had become a rumor, "now I feel bad to Kurosaki-kun... he did tell me that he didn't like all of the attention he got from this rumor..."

The dark haired girl snorted, she reached for a magazine and started to open the first page, "as if he hadn't get used to it."

Orihime didn't say anything. Tatsuki might say so, but she still worried about Ichigo. Also about the other guy. She knew that this rumor hadn't been only affecting her and Ichigo but also Uryu. Before this people had misunderstood her relationship with Uryu and now it had become worse that people accusing her to be cheating on him. If Uryu hated her before this, he must be hate her even more now.

She really wanted to apologize but she learned her lesson. She didn't want to make it worse. Uryu wouldn't be happy if she, once again, asked him to talked privately. He made it sure before that he hated her and talking to him right now might just like adding salt on the wound. She didn't like it but she had no choice but to ignore the rumor and move on.

Just like what Ichigo said, they just need to act like usual.

.

Orihime wondered when the gossip would stop. It had been a week and the gossip hadn't stopped, if anything, it became worse. People started to add this and that and new rumor started about how Orihime chose Ichigo because Uryu was boring... in bed. Just thinking about it made the girl's cheeks turned red. How could people talk about that? She hadn't even gotten her first kiss. Besides she didn't think that Uryu was boring. In bed. Or anywhere.

Ever since Uryu left the club in her hand, she had barely seen him anywhere. It seemed like he had been really busy or maybe he simply avoided her. Well she wouldn't blame him if he did that. She had brought nothing but trouble for him. If only she didn't confess to him, maybe this whole thing wouldn't happen. Maybe they would be able to talk like usual.

But if I hadn't confess, I wouldn't know about his feeling. I would never know that he hates me...

It was not easy to learn the truth but Orihime preferred it this way. Now that she knew that she was hated, she wouldn't have to expect anything. She wouldn't even show her face in front of him anymore since she knew it would just bother him, a lot, to see her around.

The only thing that bothered her was the rumor. She didn't want him, if possible, to hate her any more than he already had.

Orihime was walking down the school corridor when she heard someone called her name. She knew that voice but she couldn't believe her ears. For a moment, it was like her heart stopped beating.

"Inoue-san, do you have a moment?"

When Orihime turned around, she saw him, Uryu Ishida, standing casually, one hand deep in his pocket as the other pushed up his glasses.

"I-Ishida-kun?" Orihime laughed nervously, she wasn't sure how to talk to him but since she knew he hated her face, she avoided looking at him, "D-do you need something?"

"Do you have a moment? I need to talk to you."

For a reason, Orihime had a hunch what it was about and she didn't feel like she wanted to talk about it but instead she smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, then, follow me, we will not talk here."

.