Summary: Autumn last year I was rejected. My boyfriend fell in love with another girl. The man who rejected me is still my boyfriend even now, and the girl he loves is still my best friend. And even now they still love each other. AU.

Note:

Past/Thought

Present

-. This is an AU, so as expected from most AU, yes the character would be OOC. So don't bother to review about the OOCness-

edited: 4/27/10

Thanks for my LOVELY BETA: MiloMaxwell

and reviewers :)

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Disclaimer: Standard applied

BETA'D

Written for all of you

Chapter 8 —Ichigo—

"Love"

It was stupid.

Renji had lost his mind, yeah it must be it. If not, he would not dare to bring that… that guy with him! I should have known since he showed me that smug grin when I asked him who he would bring along with him. I already had a feeling that his friend would be some kind of punk.

This one was even worse than any other punk.

Damn that baboon in human skin.

I clenched my fists.

No need to say, our walk to the inn was awkward. Hime walked really close to me, almost like she was trying to hide behind my body. She might have pretended like she was okay by smiling and talking about random things, but the way her hand clenched on my sleeve told me different. She pretended to be okay. I scowled deeper. Why did she always do that?

"I'm okay!"

"No, you're not. Let me check your temperature…"

"No!" she stepped back quickly avoiding my palm.

I growled, "Hime…"

"I'm fine!" She insisted, she placed her hands to cover her forehead so I could not touch it, "I'll be okay, don't worry so much!"

She could be really funny sometimes.

She did not want me to be worry about her. Of course I would worry about her. After all, I was her boyfriend. I swallowed at the thought. Boyfriend, eh? A year ago, if she did not insist to stay with me, would I still be her boyfriend? If we really broke up that day, would she be okay? Would I still worry about her? Would she have another boyfriend by now?

I sighed.

I felt it.

He looked at me.

No, he looked at her who walked beside me.

That damned Ulquiorra.

I looked at the man. He looked back at me but say nothing. This man… How dare he show his face again in front of us after what had he done to my Hime? Hime might have forgiven him, she was just that naïve, but I would never forgive him.

"Ok, here we are!" Renji announced as we arrived in front of a traditional inn.

The inn looked nice and it was not that far from the train station. I had to admit that Renji had done his best to find the place for us to stay; after all, he was the one who insisted that we had to go to the Onsen this year.

When we walked into the building, a middle aged woman had been already there to welcome us. The woman in kimono was the Okami [*], she bowed gracefully to welcome us. I bowed back rather stiffly; I was never really good with this kind of formality.

"Welcome to Ran Inn…"

"Uh, we already book two rooms…" I looked at Renji but he just nodded, "For two nights…"

The Okami nodded, again so gracefully, "We already prepared the room for you, let me show you the room…" She looked at our bags, "Oh, and you can just leave your belongings there, our staffs will bring them to your rooms…"

I nodded.

The Inn was really good. Actually I didn't expect anything like this. I looked at Renji, wondering if he was lying about the price. He just gave me a toothy grin like telling me not to worry that he had everything under control.

We booked two rooms, one room for the girls and one room for the boys. Once again I was surprised when I saw the room where I would spend the nights. Damn, this must be expensive.

When the Okami left the room with the girls to show them their room, Renji did his monkey dance to express his happiness.

"OH YEAAAAAH! ONSEN, BABE~ O-N-S-E-N!"

I rolled my eyes.

Ulquiorra walked to the closet and open it. He took a yukata[2] and a towel from the closet and left the room before I could say anything to him.

I frowned.

I have to spend three days and two nights with this guy?

We would kill each other in the first night for sure.

I sighed.

Renji was like a hyper monkey. He dashed to check the closet, the one where Ulquiorra had gotten his yukata just now. He took the two other yukatas and showed them to me.

"Look! They prepare the Yukata for us!"

I sat on the prepared futon[3] on the floor.

"Why did you take him with us?"

Renji tried to act innocence, "Who?"

"Ulquiorra Schiffer."

"Oh, well…" Renji gave a wry smile, "Why not? He is our friend…"

"He was." I hissed, he would not understand, "Do you forget what he has done to Orihime?!"

Renji rolled his eyes, "It was a mistake, Ichigo, hey… Orihime-chan has forgiven him, hasn't she? Why would it matter for you?"

"What if he tried to do something bad to her again?" I felt like I started to lose my temper, calm down, Ichigo, calm down… I tried to control myself.

"That's why I asked you, why would it matter for you?"

This guy, he tried my patience.

I gritted my teeth, "Why wouldn't it matter for me?! She is my girlfriend, for God sake!"

"Do you love her?"

I blinked my eyes.

Renji leaned to the wall next to the closet. He looked at me with a serious look. He crossed his arms,

"If you don't love her, it wouldn't be such a big matter…"

"Why, you…"

"Because he loves her." He cut me, "You don't have to worry, Ichi. Ulquiorra loves Orihime; he would not hurt her, again. Once is enough…"

I could not believe what I heard.

I mean, I knew as well that that emo guy had something for Hime, but Renji just said it bluntly.

He told me that I did not have to worry.

…because he loved her.

What the fuck?

Now I had more reason to worry.

I groaned when I saw the red head walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to take a bath… We're in Onsen now, we better enjoy it…" He waved his hand without even turning around to look at me.

I knew he planned it.

That monkey.

I cursed.

I had to refresh my mind before it exploded.

***

"Oi… Ichigo!"

I turned around and saw a girl with spiky hair walked toward me, she grinned widely. It was in the main corridor, I was just about to walk out of the inn building.

"Where are you going?" she asked, she punched my arm playfully, "Why don't you try the Onsen? It's great!"

I saw her hair was slightly wet, she must had just taken a bath, "Nah… later. I just wanna walk around here to get some fresh air."

She nodded, "Sounds nice, mind if I join you?"

I just shrugged and the tomboy took that as an approval.

"Let's go then."

It was a nice summer night. The air was fresh and the sky was clear with sparkling stars on it. I could not help myself but to smile, I bet Hime would love this. She loved stars. Well, actually she loves many things, but I just knew she would love the night sky here.

"Where're Hime and Rukia?"

The karate champion rubbed her nose, "They're still in the Onsen..." Suddenly she smirked, "Why? You missed her already?"

I sighed, "Stupid."

Tatsuki laughed, "You're the stupid one! Don't be shy; she is your girlfriend, silly! It's okay to miss her."

I just rolled my eyes.

We continued to walk following the mountain path. I reminded myself not to walk too far. Tatsuki walked beside me. Tatsuki was one of my childhood friends. She lived not too far from me and we used to play together when we were younger, but after high school we were not that close anymore. She was Hime's best friend that was why sometimes we would talk, but honestly, this was the first time after a really long time we had a chance to talk.

"It had been a long time, ne, Ichigo."

It was like she could read my mind.

I nodded, "Sure does."

"You've changed."

It was dark; I could not see her face so I did not know her expression when she said that.

"Really?" Not sure what to say, I rubbed the back of my head, it was getting awkward.

"You still remember that day? When we were ten, a kid picked on Hime because she didn't have any parents." She did not wait for me to answer that to continue, "You kicked that kid in the butt. Really hard." She laughed at the memories, "Do you remember that day?"

I nodded.

I remembered that, vaguely.

"Do you remember what you said back then?"

Again she did not wait for me to answer that.

"You said, 'Orihime may not have any parents'…" the tomboy said in a really bad impersonation of childish me, "'But she had me! I will marry her and she will have a family with me!' you said that."

Tatsuki laughed.

I did say that.

I actually had forgotten that until she said that to me.

Damn, that was embarrassing.

Tatsuki stopped.

I stopped to and turned to look at her.

"Tatsuki?"

"Do you still feel that way?"

"Huh?"

She looked at me.

She did not repeat her question, knowing that I heard that one.

Do I still feel that way?

She must have recognized the confuse look on my face. She sighed.

"You know, Ichigo, you confuse love and sympathy with each other." She turned around to the direction where the Inn was, "There are many kinds of feeling Ichigo… You can idolize someone, you can pity someone… but they are different than love…"

I could not say anything.

I was confused.

I, Ichigo Kurosaki, knew nothing about feelings. I had to admit that.

"You are confused."

She read my mind again.

"And that hurts Hime."

I did hurt her.

"I don't know…"

Tatsuki stopped but she did not turn around.

I looked at her back.

"I felt like, I was not good enough for her."

She did not say anything.

She listened.

"I am a monster."

I didn't know what I was talking about; the words were just jumping out of my mouth.

"I could hurt her. I don't want to hurt her… She is… Fragile…"

I sighed.

"That's why… That's why I think, it's better if I love someone stronger… So I would not break her. It would be better if I loved someone stronger…"

Like Rukia.

"…So, I told myself, I did not love her. I did not want her."

Tatsuki stood still. I thanked her for not turning around. I did not want her to see my face now.

"I…"

"Does it work?"

"Eh?"

"Your theory, the damn stupid theory, does it work?"

I shook my head though I knew she could not see it.

"No."

I heard her sigh.

"Stupid."

"I know."

She finally turned around and faced me. Her hands were on her hips, "You know Ichigo; there were times when you have to stop thinking and just follow your feelings."

I looked at her.

She gave me a smirk.

"Do you worry when she looks pale?"

I nodded.

"Do you find it is almost impossible to deny her wish?"

I nodded.

"Do you feel uneasy and comfortable at the same time when she snuggles to you?"

I turned a bit red, but I nodded. She saw this and smiled wryly.

"Do you forget about other things when you're with her?"

I remembered the night after the kiss with Rukia.

I nodded.

"Does it hurt to see her tears?"

I nodded.

"There are some other things but let's skip it since I knew the answer already." She widened her smile; "Now last question, do you feel like you're ready to kill someone just because they look at her in such an improper way?"

I nodded.

It did not have to be improper. I felt like killing any man who laid their eyes on her.

"Well," she clasped her hands with a really wide satisfy smile on her face, "I think we know the answer already."

------------------chapter 8—Ichigo— "Loves": end-------------------

Okami : a traditional inn mistress

Yukata : a traditional clothe, look like kimono but lighter and usually for summer

Futon: a traditional mattress to sleep

Author's note:

Well, sorry that I updated it too fast :P I just drank a big cup tea just now and I could not sleep. I don't know what to do and so I decided update this fic.. Even after writing this 8 pages chapter down I am not sleepy yet. I wonder what to do…

…maybe write more chapters.

XO

Recchinon.