A/N: It's been so long! Well, I had writer's block. You see, I have all the content for this story already planned in my head, but I don't have how I want to write it finalized which is why I don't update as often as I would like. What's even more frustrating is that I started writing the second chapter of Goodbye Lonely Days only to get, wait for it, writer's block! Oh, the irony! And so I started another one-shot to get my creative juices flowing, and it worked!
I know I promised a whirlwind for this chapter. Well, whirlwinds start out slow and then gradually build until it becomes visible and destructive, which is my excuse for this chapter because this is a two-parter! I debated for a while if I should try to just finish the second part and add it to this half, but that would take me even longer, and I think I've made you all wait long enough. Anyways, keep reading, enjoying, and reviewing! And thank you all for the lovely reviews and love for What They Don't Know.
It's…uncomfortable. I didn't think it would be, it really shouldn't be, but all through the weekend, it's uncomfortable. No matter what I do, from hanging with the guys to helping the old man at the clinic to acting as a goalie for Karin and her friends, I can't seem to rid myself of the unpleasantness that seems reluctant to leave me alone, and I…I can't seem to stop missing her.
It's not like this is the first time she and I have been apart. We have been worlds apart at times, so why is this affecting me so much? I mean, in the past, with an impending battle to focus on, I really never used to think about my family or friends. I could be separated from them for an infinite amount of time and never taken the time to miss them because I was solely thinking of fighting. I just thought of training to get stronger because if I wasn't strong enough, I would lose, and if I lost, I would have failed all the people who counted on me, and if I failed, the people who I sought to protect wouldn't be there for me to miss.
But now, there is no training to complete, no lives to save, no enemies to defeat. There are no distractions. Nothing. And I miss her. Her more than Tatsuki, which is weird in itself because I should miss them both the same, but I don't. What's more weird is that I usually don't even see Inoue on the weekend unless she comes by to drop off bread from her work or we hangout as a group, but this time apart feels different. And maybe it's because she's not in Karakura, or maybe it's because she's so far away. Whatever it is, I feel a bit insane with all the uneasiness that's eating me up inside.
The only thing that makes me feel a little better, the only thing that makes everything bearable is her updates. Through the weekend, she sends me messages about what she and Tatsuki are doing, and this relieves some part of me, but it's the phone calls at the end of the day that really puts me at ease. Hearing her voice, knowing that she's okay and happy, it's enough to momentarily release the tension in my body. Although as soon as she hangs up, the tension returns just as strongly.
So when it's Monday morning, I wake up earlier than normal, and I send Mizuiro a text, saying that he can go to school without me. Then, once I'm ready, I race to school and wait at the entrance. Waiting and waiting for…
"Ah! Morning, Kurosaki-kun! What are you doing out here?"
In the second that I see her, the strain I've felt in the last three days disappears.
"Nothing. I just wanted some fresh air." I couldn't admit out loud that I was waiting for her.
She accepts my lie with that wide smile of hers, and she leaves Tatsuki's side to run up to me, and although she stops in front of me, her reiatsu hits me head-on, and it wraps around me, and it's comforting. I am finally comforted and comfortable.
"Hey, Ichigo! Are you waiting out here for us? That's new," Tatsuki comments with a smirk.
I roll my eyes. "In your dreams."
"As if I would dream about you." She retorts, and we glare at each other until Inoue breaks out in laughter, and Tatsuki and I look at her with curiosity.
"It's so good to be home!" She grins at us as she latches on to Tatsuki's arm. And then she does something she hasn't done before: she hooks her other free arm around mine, and she starts pulling Tatsuki and I toward the school. It's only her grip on me that keeps me falling over because this is new. Her initiating contact with me is new and surprising, but what is more surprising is that it is welcomed. I don't feel the need to pull my arm away or create distance between her and me. In fact, I can feel myself leaning just a little more into her grasp, and it's not because I'm pervert. Though my arm is pressed against her chest, the real reason why I inch closer to her is because she is warm, and I have missed her warmth. And I think I can safely or maybe presumptuously assume that by the abrupt contact that she missed me too
As she pulls us, she talks about how she thinks she might start learning how to drive so she can visit Tatsuki faster and more frequently. Tatsuki disagrees immediately, saying that that might not be the best idea considering how Inoue tends to zone out. Inoue pouts and looks up at me, asking what I think, and I take one look at her, taking in how her eyes are shining with happiness and how her cheeks are pink before glancing away. I quickly mumble that I agree with Tatsuki, and she gasps in mock hurt, and she squeezes my arm to her a little more, and I can feel my own cheeks pinken.
And then, all too soon, she lets me go so I can go to my locker to change my shoes, and she tells me that she'll see me after school as she tugs Tatsuki to her own locker, but before they disappear behind a row, I see Inoue cup her hand around her mouth and whisper in Tatsuki's ear. What she whispers, I have no clue, but what I do know is that I wasn't ready for Inoue to let go. I wasn't ready to part from her.
The admission doesn't shock me. I have resigned myself to the fact that I may have grown overprotective of Inoue, and in doing so, the want to be by her side to better protect her has grown. More than that, I have resigned myself to the fact that these are excuses, and I'm fine with them if the excuses I make for myself allow me to be next to her.
Besides, excuses were easier to deal with than the elusive truth that seems to evade me each time I tried to move past the conclusions that I like spending time with her and that I miss her when she's gone and that my mood is better when she's around.
Speaking of my mood, it seems that I've been more in a foul one than I originally thought because I keep hearing comments from Keigo and Mizuiro during lunch. Even Ishida mentions something along the lines of how he's glad that whatever stick I had up my ass is gone because my wild spiritual pressure was starting to get annoying. Apparently my lack of self-control caused for more hollows to have gathered. I counter that at least the stick was my excuse for being annoying so what's his, and that had made him blush in anger and for me to grin at my wit.
Yes, today is really an improvement compared to the weekend, and it keeps getting better as school ends, and she skips to my side.
She doesn't repeat her action from earlier, and it's easy to recognize that I'm a little disappointed, but it's easy to dismiss it because of her closeness. It's easy to pretend that I never felt it in the first place. It's all too easy to get sucked up in the conversation we have, in the warmth that she exudes, in the smiles she gives me. Too easy to lose myself in the world that her joy creates.
And this easiness continues until Thursday afternoon when it ends abruptly. She tells me that I have the day off from walking her, and she makes it sound like it's a chore, like it's bothersome for me. I couldn't keep the frown from forming when I tell her that I don't mind, but she brushes it off with a good-natured grin. Before I can insist, Tatsuki announces that she will be walking Inoue to work and to her apartment for the next two days. I look at Inoue in question because she hadn't mentioned Friday, but she's not meeting my eyes. I can't even protest; they are already walking away from me.
My mood drastically becomes shit because it sounds awfully like she is avoiding me, and the suspicion that she might be grows as she makes her presence scarce, which means that there are no new texts, no calls, no random drop-by to tell me good morning on Friday, nothing. I get to the point of maximum frustration that on Friday night, I look up on my computer to try to find some kind of explanation at her recent avoidance, and no matter how I word it, the suggestions I get are all about romance in some kind of way. None of it makes sense because it doesn't pertain to what Inoue is doing, and I shut my laptop in annoyance. Of course, my dad barges into my room at that exact moment I snap the lid down, and he takes one look at my now closed laptop, and he gets this sleazy smirk on his face, and he backs up out of my room, closing my door and yelling, loudly, that he's proud of me and that I shouldn't be ashamed because it's only natural for boys my age to be curious of the feminine form or the masculine form because, hey, he's not judging and that I should enjoy and express my youth in that kind of physical way.
I swear I could kill him except I'm too embarrassed to leave my room.
So instead of hunting him down, I lie in my bed, thinking in an endless circle about why she is avoiding me, thinking about my own actions because it had to be my fault, and thinking of what I could do to fix whatever problem she and I have. But that's the thing with circles: you just go around and around until you're dizzy, until you reach the conclusion that there is no conclusion, and I'm so thoroughly convinced that she won't make it to Karin's game despite her assurance that she wouldn't miss it, and I'm tired of thinking, so I fall asleep in a terrible mood.
It's my expectation that when I wake, I will still be upset and confused. However, I am woken up with the feeling of calmness and peacefulness. It's so familiar, so reassuring that I'm almost soothed back to sleep. But then I remember what can cause this feeling, who can cause this feeling.
My eyes lazily open to see Inoue's Soten Kisshun over my body. I move my head to the right, and I spot Inoue leaning against my window, looking outside.
"Inoue?"
She jerks like I surprised her, and she turns around to face me, and I'm blaming the sleepiness on the next thoughts I have about her.
She's beautiful. More beautiful than she has ever been, and I don't know if it's because of the white sweater-like dress she's wearing, or if it's because her hair is up in a soft-bun with her bangs framing her face, or if it's because of the blush that lightens her features, or if it's just the combination of everything, but she is almost painfully gorgeous.
I sit up, now fully awake and alert because thoughts like those tend to have that kind of effect, and her shield breaks, and her spirits return to her hair pins.
"What-what are you doing here, Inoue?" I scowl at my stutter.
"I, well, I'm sorry for the intrusion, Kurosaki-kun! But, umm, Kurosaki-san told me that you might have hurt your wrists last night, and he asked if I could come up and heal them for you."
My face is on fire at her words. "That-that son-of-a-bi—" I cut myself off, remembering that she's in front of me. "Did-did he say anything else?" I ask her hesitantly. If that bastard told her anything perverted, if he spouted out what he thought I was doing last night, I would kill him! And then proceed to die of humiliation.
She shakes her head, and I breathe out a breath of relief. At least the old man had some tact.
"Was there something he should have told me?"
"No! I mean, not really." I have to tell myself to calm down. Silence breaks out. "I thought…you might not show up today."
Her head tilts in confusion, which causes her collarbone to be even more exposed. "I wouldn't miss Karin-chan's match for anything!" She states with a smile. She then looks down and starts pulling at her dress which falls just above mid-thigh, just slightly above her thigh-high, white stockings. I force my eyes up, and I catch her expression which almost makes me avert my eyes because she's biting her bottom lip, and her cheeks are flushing red, and her eyelashes are lowered as she looks at me. "Plus, I have…I have something to tell you."
My eyebrows scrunch up. Her words…they sound familiar. When have I heard them before?
I'm going to tell you something, Kurosaki-kun. Not now but soon. And I hope, no matter what, that we will still be friends.
She's going to tell me today. She's going to tell me who she likes. Tell me who has her heart. Tell me who the person is, the person who is going to ruin what Inoue and I have.
It's hard to breathe.
"But! But I'll tell you later! After all, we have a game to get to!"
She scurries out of my room, and my eyes trail down to see the visible skin that her short dress and stockings fail to cover.
Now it's hard to breathe for another reason altogether.
I shake my head. Now is not the time for looking! Now is the time to panic. I know she said soon, but it's too soon! I'm not ready for this to end. Though, honestly, would I have ever been ready to willingly let her go?
Of course not.
But I can't stop her. Ready or not, she's going to tell me today. So that means today will be…will be the last day I have her to myself.
I rush in getting dressed. If today is really the end, then I wouldn't waste a second. Wouldn't waste one second I had with her.
I literally fly down to stairs, anxious to get to her side, but when I hear her voice from the kitchen, I pause to eavesdrop.
In a hushed voice, I hear Inoue say, "Really! I'm going to do it today!"
"With the way you look right now, I can guarantee that he won't be saying no," Karin declares.
Inoue laughs. "Oh, that's very sweet, Karin-chan, but he doesn't really notice looks."
That might be the only redeeming quality the guy she likes has.
"Then why did you dress-up today?" Yuzu inquires sweetly.
"That was Tatsuki-chan's idea. She said that if I was going to confess, I might as well go all out!"
"Well, I think you look very pretty!" Yuzu states.
Pretty? I almost scoff. The word did not even come close to describing how she looked.
"Thank you, but…umm, don't you think it's a little short? Tatsuki-chan picked it out for me."
"I think it's fine," Karin says. "What do you think, Ichi-nii?
I jump, and I wonder how she knew I was hiding and eavesdropping, but it's not really important. As long as she didn't tell Inoue that I was listening to the better part of their conversation, it would be fine.
"I do think it's a little short," I answer, and she blushes again, and I am reminded of when Chad had asked me what I thought of Inoue's outfit before we ascended to the Soul King's Palace. Yoruichi-san had scolded me about what I had said to Inoue. "But you look good," I correct myself.
The white of her dress really brings out the red in her cheeks. "Oh, thank you, Kurosaki-kun."
"Why are you thanking my good-for-nothing son, Orihime-chan?"
The sight of him reminds me of what he did this morning, and before I know it, I punch him in the gut.
"So mean~" he whines as he rubs his stomach. "Just for that, you got to stay with me and help me in the clinic." I start to tell him no. "All kidding aside, I do need your help. For some reason, there have been more accidents than usual."
"Do you need me to stay, too, Kurosaki-san?" Inoue offers.
He waves her off. "You go have fun at the game. We'll catch up when we can."
She looks reluctant to go, and I'm reluctant to let her go, but Yuzu grabs her hand to lead her out of the house. Inoue barely has time to wave at me before the door closes.
I follow dad, and I help him as quick as I can. I want to get back to her because I only had so much time with her. I'm on borrowed time, and I need to see her.
But as the seconds tick by, I start to feel more unnerved. I glance over to dad to see him focusing on dressing a wound. If he feels the same way I do, he doesn't show it, but I feel it enough for the both of us. My skin is starting to prickle, and my heart is starting to race. My breath is picking up, and I don't know why.
Until I do. In a flash, I sense an influx of hollows all over town. I can't tell how many there are, but by how still dad becomes, it's more than I can imagine.
Finding Inoue's reiatsu is not difficult to do. It stands out despite the spiritual energy of the hollows that surrounds her.
I turn to leave, but the sound of a woman's scream stops me in my tracks. She's holding a boy in her arms.
"Please help my son! One second he was just standing there and then he was flung to the ground! I think he needs stiches!"
Another patient enters the clinic, but this time it's a man holding his arm. I can see from here that it's broken. And more people keep entering, and I know I have to stay, to help, but I can't.
"Go." Dad doesn't even look at me as he leaves to help the boy who is bleeding from his forehead.
"But," I try to say.
"Go!" He orders, and I am out of the house.
I would have been useless to him anyways. Every part of me is focused on getting to the soccer field, and I'm running as fast as I can, but it's not fast enough. I pat my pockets as I run, searching for my badge that I know I don't have. It's been confiscated for the month. I just had one more week to go until I gained access to my powers again. One week, but I can't wait that long. But there is nothing I can do about that. All I can do is push myself faster and just hope that I'm not too late.
But I am. The field comes into sight, and I see so many hollows, too many of them trying to attack the kids who aren't aware of the true danger they are in. But she's trying her best to defeat them. Her fighting spirit is flying in the air, cutting through the weaker hollows, and her shield is moving from person to person, blocking any attacks that she can, and for when her shield needs to stay in place to stop repeating attacks, she physically grabs some kids out of harm's way.
But they are overpowering her just by sheer number, and she can't protect everyone. She's already healing the ones who she couldn't save, and she's trying, desperately, but it's not enough. There are just too many.
I'm almost there. Just half a field away from her when it really becomes all too much for her. When there is not enough time for her to attack or block the hollow who is heading straight for Yuzu who can't see the monster's claw up and ready to strike, who can't hear Karin yelling for her to move. And Inoue does the only thing she can do: she jumps in front of her.