Chapter 8 - Confessions

In the previous chapter...

"Ichigo, are you okay?" I asked. He shook his head and looked at me,

"Oh, what? Yeah, fine."

"Good good, c'mon, time for dinner," I danced down the stairs towards the kitchen. I hadn't heard Ichigo mutter 'You'd be the perfect girlfriend...'

--

I put down my bowl and sighed in satisfaction,

"Wow, thanks, Yuzu-chan! That was even better than breakfast!" she lightly blushed and smiled,

"Thank you, Kishiko-chan!" I looked at Isshin,

"So, Mr. Kurosaki, do you get many patients here?" he was messily slurping up his noodles, along with Ichigo, who hadn't even touched his chopsticks. Like Father like Son, I suppose. He put down his bowl and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand,

"We're not totally regular like that Ishida. We're only a family clinic after all, but we do get the occasional bad patient," as soon as he'd finished, he picked up his bowl and began downing the remains of what was in the bowl. Ichigo finished up his bowl and placed it on the table, too. He ate like a pig, and yet he was so skinny. It made me wonder sometimes. I guessed it was all that Shinigami stuff he did. Yuzu stood up and collected all our bowls and began to wash up. She turned round,

"Ichi-nii, it's your turn to help with the washing up today!" he looked at me,

"Go ahead, I need to do homework, anyway," he nodded and went to help Yuzu, while I said my thanks and went up to Ichigo's room, since the girls' room was cramped now they had an extra person in there. I decided to change in my pyjamas first, though, since I hadn't had a proper look at them. My smile turned to shock when I noticed that the pyjamas were dotted with strawberries.

"Holy crap," I muttured, but put them on all the same. I found my English, Maths, and Japanese books and went next door into Ichigo's room. I set them down on the desk, moving some random Weekly Shonen Jump comics to the side, fairly surprised that he read those sort of things. I opened my Japanese book and sighed, flipping through it. I took a pen from the pot sitting on the desk and began to write up the homework. A Japanese essay, an English essay AND the hardest Maths homework ever. Great.

~*~*~

I'd finished my Japanese homework, and Ichigo still hadn't come up. I folded my arms on the table and rested my head on them, fighting the sleep. Eventually, I gave in, and drifted off.

~*~*~

I was half asleep, and dreaming. But strangely... it felt so real...

~*~*~(Ichigo's POV)~*~*~

I sat on my bed, leaning against the window. Kishiko had fallen asleep by the time I got up, snoring softly. I looked at the clock. 11:02PM. I sighed and leaned my head back. Yuzu and Karin had decided to leave Kishiko there, since she looked so peaceful. And it was true, she did. I'd gone into somewhat shock and worry when I'd noticed that Kishiko's pyjamas were decorated with strawberries, but I'd ignored it. I'd noticed that she'd only done her Japanese homework, so, along with mine, I'd managed to complete hers, too. A sudden fairly loud knock on the window startled me, and Kishiko stirred. I panicked, but she continued snoring. I turned around to see Renji in his Shinigami form. I opened the window and he hopped through, settling on the window ledge.

"You idiot, Kishiko's sleeping. You could have woken her," I whispered harshly. Renji held up his hands in defense,

"Hey, sorry, I didn't know, did I? What's she doin' in your room, anyway?"

"She was doin' homework then she fell asleep, so we left her. She looked really tired."

"Ahhh, playing the ol' trick so you can look at her, eh?"

"W-what? I wasn't looking at her!"

"Oh, c'mon, I was outside that window for 10 minutes, and you were too busy looking at her sleeping to even notice my spiritual pressure."

"Shut up, you know I'm not very good at sensing it!"

"Oh sure, I know your bad, but you're not that bad!" our whispered argument came to a halt when Kishiko stirred again. We were silent for a few seconds before she started again. We sighed in relief. We both looked at her, still gently snoring. I sighed,

"I don't know why," I muttered "but I think I'm in love with her." Renji looked at me,

"Huh? You've only known her for nearly two days," he mumbled. I sighed,

"Only fully. But she's in my homeroom. I've been looking at her recently. There just seemed to be something about her. That's the only reason that I managed to save her that day, from the hollow, because I'd been watching her. I had a feeling about her, she had immense spiritual pressure. It's just her personality. She always seemed so closed off at school, but now I've known her, I know she's just the same and you. She wants to protect the people she loves. But she couldn't do that, but nobody loved her. You know, her dad was killed by a hollow," Renji gasped,

"He was?"

"Yeah. Her mom left her shortly after, all alone. She had nobody there for her. I know she had to work like hell to keep her house. I remember one week, in the morning I'd seen her serving in the local store, behind the counter before school, then in the afternoon I'd seen her in that local Chinese restauraunt, as a waitress. Then that evening she was back in the store, stacking shelves. She had nothing. I wanted to give her something." Renji shook his head,

"Ichigo, that isn't love. That's pity."

"No. I guess at first it was, but not anymore. Even in these first couple of days I've known her, she just seems... perfect. She's struggled so much, I respect her so much for that. She's strong, funny... cute. Renj, I think I am in love with her."

~*~*~(Kishiko's POV)~*~*~

It was the strangest dream ever. I couldn't see anything, but I heard the voices of Renji and Ichigo, and Ichigo had said something about me.

"I think I am in love with her."

It didn't take me long to figure out that the dream wasn't a dream. It was real.

TBC.

--

A lot shorter than the last two :3 A tad OOCness, sorry x]

Yayay for Ichigo smuttnessssss. *Major fangirl moment*

Yay yay yay yay yay yay [: Things be getting juicy soon? LOL.

ANYWAY, please R&R! I'm not a very good writer, but I like what I do [:

In the next chapter...

"So, what was it you wanted to talk to us about, Kishiko-chan?" Yuzu asked. I stopped eating and placed my chopsticks down,

"Yes, well it seems that I've been given an apartment a few blocks down, so I can move from here,"

...

As I walked away, I looked over my shoulder, as a tear fell down my cheek,

"I don't want to go..."