Author's Note: A bunch of you suggested an Uryuu/Orihme pairing with one of Orihime's famous (infamous?) recipes. I thought maybe I'd send her a little help...lol! Enjoy! -Lex
Chapter Three: The Waiting Game (OrihimeXUryuu)
Three-thirty in the afternoon in Karakura Park.
"He's not coming."
"He'll be here, he promised," she said, watching out over the park, feeling for his Reiatsu. "You don't have to wait, though, Uryuu."
"It's alright," he answered. "I'll wait with you, Orhime."
****************************
Five-thirty in the afternoon in Karakura Park
"It's starting to get dark, Orihime."
"Yeah, I know," she said, brightly. "I'm sure he just got distracted. He'll come. I'm sure of it."
"Okay," replied Uryuu. "I'll go get us something to drink."
"Oh, that's so sweet of you, Uryuu. Thanks."
******************************
Seven-thirty in the evening in Karakura Park
A loud growl from Orihime's stomach. "Oh, excuse me!" she giggled, with a little hiccup.
"It's alright," said Uryuu, trying hard not to laugh.
"You must be hungry, Ishida-kun," she said, looking at him with sad eyes.
"I'm fine, really," he said, uncomfortably. "Damn Kurosaki."
"Oh, okay," she replied, turning back and resuming her vigil.
******************************
Nine-thirty in the evening in Karakura Park
"Ohirime," began Uryuu, "he was supposed to be here at two o'clock. He's not coming."
"Yeah," she said, deflated. "I guess you're right."
"We really should go."
Stomach growls all around this time. She laughed, but her face still looked sad.
"We should probably get some dinner," he said, awkwardly.
"Yeah," she said, a faraway look on her face. Then, "Why don't I cook us up something, Ishida-kun?"
He hoped the look on his face wasn't too pained at this thought. "I, ah, well…" he began, at a loss for words, not wanting to hurt her feelings.
"Great!" she said, emphatically, standing up and turning to leave the park before he could protest. He followed behind apprehensively.
"I can just swallow quickly, not put the food on my tongue," he thought as he walked.
"Now, let's see," she began, putting her index finger to her mouth in contemplation. "I have some red bean paste, marshmallow fluff, anchovies, soy sauce, potatoes, dried mushrooms, bean sprouts, tofu, fish sauce…"
Uryuu stayed a few feet behind her as she continued to rattle off the contents of her pantry, convinced that his face must surely be a sickly shade of green by now.
"Swallow quickly," he thought fervently, steeling himself.
"…oh, and there's that special spice powder Urahara gave me that he made up himself," she finished, with a flourish.
A half-hour later, he was sitting on her floor, watching her chop up ingredients and stir them about in a pan on the stove. The smell of garlic mingled with the sweetness of the red bean paste and marshmallow fluff, and he had to stand up and walk over to the window to breathe in some fresh air.
"Swallow quickly," he repeated to himself, like a mantra.
Bits of tofu, potato and salty fish were unceremoniously dumped into the pan. He stayed by the window, which he had fully opened when he thought she wasn't looking.
"Ah, Orihime," he began, his resolve weakening, "I…"
"Almost done," she said, cheerily, interrupting him, oblivious to his growing dread. "Just one more ingredient." She lifted up a small, red wooden box to show him. "Urahara-san gave me this the other day. He says it's good for what ails you and it adds spice to your life."
She reached out and handed him the box. He opened the top apprehensively, preparing himself mentally for what he was convinced would be the worst thing he had ever smelled. Instead, he was more than pleasantly surprised.
"Mmm," he murmured, inhaling the aroma. "What is this?"
"I have no idea. Spices, I guess," she said, giggling.
It smelled unlike anything he had ever smelled before. Or, maybe not like anything, but more like something. He couldn't put his finger on it. He closed his eyes and inhaled more deeply.
He saw blue waves breaking gently off a white sandy shore and heard musical laughter.
"What the hell?" he wondered, blinking and coming back to his senses. "I must be tired."
He handed her back the box, carefully replacing the lid so as not to spill its contents. "It smells really good," he said, smiling at her.
"Yeah," she said, "I thought so, too. Only I can't figure out what it smells like. At first I thought it smelled like fresh-mown grass, but then I wondered if it didn't smell like cotton, right out of the laundry, all fresh and clean. But then I thought maybe it smelled like…," she broke off, looking slightly confused.
"Well, it doesn't really matter, does it?" she continued, opening the box and taking several pinches of the powder and stirring it into the seething gray concoction that was cooking on the stove. "I mean, it's good for us, right?"
Uryuu blinked. She always succeeded in confusing him when he tried to follow her babbling.
"Just smile and nod," he told himself as his brain grew fuzzy.
He helped her put the dishes on the table, having found a white tablecloth neatly folded on the shelf nearby. A large bowl of steaming rice sat in the middle of the dishes, along with a pot of hot tea. He was grateful that there was something he knew he could, or would eat on the table. He could always wash down the gray goo with tea and rice.
She giggled and inhaled deeply from the pot as she pulled it off the stove, gently setting it down on the table between the plates. It didn't smell half bad, he thought with some relief. He could always cover up the dishwater color with the rice.
"Swallow quickly," he reminded himself, as he smiled at her patiently.
"I hope you like it, Ishida-kun," Orihime said cheerfully, as she took her seat facing him.
"I'm sure I will," he lied, still smiling. "Rice?"
"Thank you," she said, as he ladled some out onto her plate and then onto his own.
"That was nice of you to wait so long with me at the park, you know," she said, spooning gray goo onto both of their plates.
He looked at her to avoid looking at the food. Her cheeks were slightly flushed from the heat of the stove and her long auburn hair looked slightly windblown. Still looking at her, he plunged his chopsticks willy-nilly into the pile of food on his plate and brought a small taste to his lips.
It was delicious.
He looked down in disbelief. The gray goo had oozed over the rice. It looked a little bit like the mud left after a snowstorm in the city, when the snow has melted, but the sidewalks are still wet.
"Wow," he said, "that's incredible."
He saw a woman running on the beach, her reddish hair flying behind her, outlined by the sun. He could smell the surf, hear her laughing. He smiled, too, and dipped his bare feet into the water. It was cool and refreshing.
"Yeah," she said, licking her lips distractedly. "It tastes so…I don't know…so…"
She could smell the flowers, dipped in the first dew of morning, and linen, crisp and clean. Sunshine warmed her shoulders, and she giggled as his hands reached to massage them…
Orihime blinked, hard.
"Are you alright, Orihime?" asked Uryuu, a look of concern on his face.
"I…uh…," she stammered. "I…I'm fine."
"You don't look fine," he said, watching her cautiously. He looked into her eyes, searching for something, although he had no idea what he was looking for. He never noticed how beautiful her eyes were, or how her nose turned up slightly when she spoke.
"I'm fine, really," she said, regaining her composure. "It's just that…you look different that you usually do." She blushed.
"Different?" he asked, thinking the same thing about her. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure," she said. "It's kind of like when Kurosaki-kun is around. I look at him and I feel all tingly…" She blushed scarlet this time as she realized what she was saying.
"What the hell was in that stuff?" thought Uryuu, the intellectual in him struggling for clarity. He found none. All he wanted to do was…
"Kiss her?" The thought was absurd. He knew how she felt about Ichigo. She had waited hours for him, again. Still, the thought was there, and he felt his face moving towards hers, across the table.
"But I can't," he thought, the more disciplined, cerebral side of him momentarily gaining the upper hand. "I…"
She kissed him.
He saw the beach again, the woman running on the sand. The woman turned around and smiled at him. He knew her face. Orhime. She gestured to him, willing him to follow her.
He kissed her back.
For a moment, neither of them breathed. It was like a revelation. And all the while, the scent of the red bean paste, marshmallow fluff, anchovies, soy sauce, potatoes, dried mushrooms, bean sprouts, tofu, fish sauce, garlic and unknown spices wafted up from the table into their nostrils, making them both quite dizzy.
"More?" she said, dreamily, after a few minutes.
"More…," he murmured, unsure if she meant 'more food' or 'more kissing'.
"More," she said, scooping up a spoonful of goo and putting it on his tongue. He swallowed, slowly, not taking his eyes off of her. Instinctively, he did the same for her, and they sat there, in silence, feeding each other spoonfuls of the gray goo until the pan was nearly empty.
He pushed the table gently away, so they sat now, with nothing in between them.
"Orihime," he began, sure his cheeks were bright red, "I…"
"Yeah," she said, "I know what you mean…"
He moved closer to her and pulled her against him, running his hands through her hair. She sighed, all thoughts of a certain orange-haired substitute shinigami gone from her mind. He kissed her, tasting the goo on her tongue, inhaling the spices and the scent of her.
"Thanks for cooking," he said, breathily, releasing her lips for just a moment. "It was delicious."
"You are delicious," he thought, with a grin.
She was thinking the same thing.
********************************
Several miles away, in a small shop that rarely saw a customer of the human variety, Urahara smiled from underneath the rim of his green and white striped hat. Yoruichi sauntered into the room with feline grace, wrapping her arms around his chest from behind, biting the lobe of his ear.
"What are you doing up so late?" she purred, kissing him on his neck. "Working?"
"No," he said, with a grin. "I was just tying up a few loose ends."