Author's Notes: I'm not too confident in this chapter, I tried to make the romance as real as possible and it may not have turned out too well.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Bleach
Uryuu got up off the couch and walked over to the door.
He heard a crack of thunder and looked out the window… When did it start raining?
He felt a sense of vertigo as he neared the door.
"Whoa" he said as he braced himself on the wall.
'I guess I lost more blood than I thought.'
He opened the door but nothing could have prepared him for what was on the other side.
As soon as the door was open enough, a soaking wet sobbing girl with orange hair buried her face in his bare chest.
"I-Inoue-san…" Uryuu stuttered unable to think.
What was he supposed to do? The girl he loved was sobbing into his chest and he didn't even know what she was crying about.
A hundred thoughts raced through head at once. 'What is she doing here? My arm hurts. She's cold. Why is she crying? Does she realize that I don't have a shirt on? Why did she come to me?
"Inoue-san what's wrong?"
She let out an explanation that was almost completely intelligible through his chest and her sobs. However he made out one word that explained everything: Kurosaki.
She had talked to Ichigo even though he had warned her not to. He hated Ichigo for hurting her like this even though he knew Ichigo didn't mean to hurt her.
Uryuu wrapped his left arm around Orihime's back and shifted his right arm at his side so she wouldn't see the blood. She had enough going on right now.
After what seemed like forever (not that he was complaining) Orihime finally calmed down and managed to stop crying.
Her calm didn't last long however as she started to shiver violently. Uryuu knew why. She was soaking wet.
After a moment Uryuu said, "You need some dry clothes."
He led her to the restroom, careful not let her see his arm or the small puddle of blood that had accumulated on the floor where they had just been standing, and walked into his room. He came back with a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt. He gave them to Orihime and gave her towel.
She took both and looked Uryuu straight in the eyes.
Despite being pink and swollen from all crying, Uryuu couldn't help but think that they were they were still the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
"Thank you." She whispered.
"You're welcome… Inoue-san."
He quickly walked down the hall as she closed the door. He felt dizzy. He looked at his arm it was still bleeding.
Uryuu quickly wiped up the blood on the floor, re-sterilized the needle, and began stitching his arm. It hurt like hell, but if he didn't get the bleeding to stop soon he would be in serious trouble.
He was half way done stitching when she came out. He didn't want her to see him in pain. It may sound weird but that was the way he was; it was his pain he'd bear it alone.
He heard her footsteps as she walked into his small living room.
'Oh well, can't hide it forever I guess.' He thought as he finished another painful stitch.
"Ishida-kun" Her gasped when she saw his half stitched arm. "What happened? Are all right? Here let me help you."
She raised her hands to her temples.
"No thanks… it's not that bad." Uryuu said as he finished another stitch. "Besides I'm almost done."
She lowered her hands and sat on the couch next to him.
It only took Uryuu a couple more minutes to finish the stitches.
"See, good as new." Uryuu said showing Orihime his arm and putting his shirt on.
She gave a half-hearted smile. He had to think of way to cheer her up, but how? Maybe she didn't want to be cheered up. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to. If that was the case then he was failing miserably.
"Do you want some water?" He asked not knowing what else to say.
She nodded.
He quickly cleaned up his sewing tools, ran to the kitchen and brought her back a glass of water.
"So… what happened Inoue-san?"
She was slow to answer.
"I told Kurosaki-kun how I felt about him." She said softly. "I-I should have listened to you Ishida-kun but…"
Her voice trailed off and he could tell she was about to start crying again.
He placed his hand on her shoulder "Its all right Inoue-"
He was interrupted by a loud crack thunder followed by a flash of lighting.
Orihime jumped and scooted a little bit closer to Uryuu.
"Are you afraid of thunderstorms Inoue-san?" He asked
She nodded.
This didn't surprise him, most people don't like thunderstorms. Uryuu, on the other hand, loved thunderstorms; if Orihime weren't here he'd probably be watching this one from his window right now.
"Ishida-kun?"
"Yes Inoue-san?"
"Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked.
'Because I love you!!' He thought.
"Because you're my friend Inoue-san. And friends take care of each other."
She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. Uryuu felt his heart start pumping faster.
Uryuu yawned, it was late, he had been training with Urahara, he had lost a decent amount of blood, and he was ready to get some rest. He was so glad there was no school tomorrow.
Apparently Orihime felt the same way. She was yawning a few seconds latter.
"Inoue-san, you can stay here tonight if you want to."
She looked up at him. "Are you sure Ishida-kun?"
"Unless you want to walk home in the storm." He got up. "Come on you can have the bed, I'll take the couch."
He led her to his room. The exhausted Quincy quickly grabbed a pillow and blanket for himself under his left arm and headed out of the room.
"Ishida-kun." Orihime said softly.
"Yes Inoue-san." Uryuu said turning to face her.
She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you for being here for me."
"I'll always be here for you Inoue-san."
Uryuu was really surprised he'd just said that aloud. He was even more surprised at Orihime's reaction.
He felt his face flush as she kissed him on the cheek.
'That must have been the right thing to say.' He thought happily.
She released him from the hug and stepped away her own face blushing.
"Goodnight Ishida-kun."
"Goodnight Inoue-san." He said as he shut the door.
Uryuu walked to the living room and made the couch, his cheek still tingling where her lips had touched.
He laid down and, despite being both mentally and physically exhausted, could not fall asleep.
There you go. Love it? Hate it? Please leave some reviews and suggestions and expect things to pick up a bit in the next chapter.