Adult-FanFiction.org : Bleach

Reflection	By : Mirrors1984 Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 13988 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Tite Kubo's Bleach or earn any money for this story. It's purely for entertainment.

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
Warning: OCC-ness, since it's the chapter before the last. (sorry about that, but he can't be a mean guy ALL the time, at least not to Orihime anymore.) There's also some whack humor too.

"Where the heck is she?!" Tatsuki hissed, jerking her wrist up to look at her watch for the hundreth time.

Watching her silently, Ichigo felt the same amount of impatience as her while they stood in front of their school with other students rushing all around them since the tardy bell had already rung.

For the last week Orihime had skipped without so much as an explanation. If it hadn't been for Tatsuki being the only one brave enough to call her house during those days, Ichigo would have personally gone to her apartment to break down her door, ignoring the cruel fact that Ogichi was now there.

According to their friend, Orihime was more than fine. In fact Tasuki had informed him that she had never heard her so upbeat in months and such news pleased and irked him at the same time. Just the knowledge that the foul mouthed sarcastic albino he had unwillingly harbored inside of himself was the cause of Orihime's energetic burst left a sour taste in his mouth that refused to go away.

When he had been told the news by a rather disbelieving Tatsuki, he had kept his true opinions to himself.

"I just want her to be happy," he had simply said with a strained smile that didn't reach his dull eyes while she studied him discreetly, obviously not completely believing him.

It was true. He honestly wanted her to be happy, but he would have wished for things to turn out differently for all of them.

"The hell with it! I'm picking her and that horny bastard up! She can't keep missing class like this!"

Blinking himself back to reality, his mind was a bit slow in digesting Tatsuki's spat words.

"Wait! What?!" he exclaimed once he finally understood which was unfortunately a couple of seconds after she had spoken.

Glaring at him as if he were stupid for being so late in reacting, she repeated herself slowly, "I'm going... to pick... them up."

With his heart thundering madly, he snapped, "You can't do that! Do you have any idea how psycho that guy is?!"

She looked at him boredly.

"Yes, I know how he is already because I met him yesterday," his jaw dropped at her calm factual statement, "and let me tell you... Only you could create a freak like him."

Furious over how he had ended up becoming the last one to know everything, his nostrils practically flared as his face reddened rivaling his hair.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU FREAKING TELL ME THAT?!"

She jumped and gave him a strange wide-eyed look that clearly said 'What the fuck got into you?'

"I didn't tell you because it was so recent-"

"But you could have told me as soon as you saw me!"

"Geez!" she eyed him up and down still wearing that weird expression as she tightened her hand on the backpack strap over her shoulder. "Even I have to agree with that creep about you overreacting over everything!" a shudder raked her body accompanied by a cringe at having to momentarily side with Ogichi.

"And he talked about me too?!"

"Well yeah! We talked about a lot of stuff until he got all moody and practically kicked me out! He's as talkative as she is!" from how Tatsuki was begining to raise her voice, she was clearly becoming irritated by his jumpy attitude.

I can't fucking believe this! First Inoue takes an early 'vacation' when finals are near and now Tatsuki is hanging out with that Hollow! What's next?! We'll all go camping together and roast weenie-dogs over a bonfire while telling stories?!

"You really need to relax, do you know that, Ichigo?" her tone was calmer now, more subdued. "He can be a major asshole, but he's taking good care of her even if none of us want to admit it. It took almost everything I have in me to keep from punching his lights out, but seeing how happy Orihime is with him I just..."

His face tensed at what she was trying to convey to him.

Is it wrong to not like them being together?

"Ah..."

Hearing the hesitant feminine sound behind them, they both turned around.

Rukia?!

His earlier argument with Tatsuki vanished from his mind the moment he set eyes on her. He didn't know how to react at seeing her after so many weeks. She had left so suddenly without even leaving him a note that he had nearly forgotten about her existence.

Just having her there standing so timidly had him speechless. It was like time hadn't passed for them, though he noted some subtle changes like the fact that she looked paler and more delicate.

Blushing, she silently took his scrutiny while smoothing her small hands over her school skirt.

"Um," Tatsuki began awkwardly looking from her to him. Neither of them glanced her way. "I... I think that I'm going to do what I said earlier and leave now."

"Yeah, yeah... Be careful and tell them I said 'hi'," he said dumbly not tearing his eyes away from Rukia that was starting to fidget under his somewhat vacant stare. He wasn't even sure what he was talking about at the moment.

Snorting at his respone, Tatsuki left them.

"I...," Rukia trailed off once they were alone in the now vacant school yard and then gulped, looking away from him. "I was hoping that Inoue would be here too so I could talk to the both of you."

"She's on her way here... at least that's what we all hope!" he let out a laugh that sounded too forced to his ears.

"Oh," her small hands passed over her skirt again probably out of nervousness.

Making a face over how much tension there was between them, he asked slowly, "What exactly did you want to talk to us about, Rukia?"

Her large indigo eyes seemed larger and more gemlike than he had remembered. At part of him was numbed by her presence since in spite of how disastrous their relationship had ended, she had played a very important role in his life.

However, what made him act so dumbed down towards her wasn't the love he had once thought he had for her... It was more like the shock of seeing her again...

Meeting with a dear friend that been so far away for so long.

"I want to set things straight," her voice was firm and he could tell that it had taken a lot of strength for her to come there to face the both of them.

"When I left...," her eyes looked oddly moist while her voice trembled. Taking a deep breath, she proceeded with a stronger steadier tone. "When I left, I had said many harsh things to Inoue... and though I apologized to her, I still feel that I should explain to both her and," she gulped, "you what truly made me act in that manner. I had no right whatsoever to have done what I did and I was out of place."

"Rukia," was all he could say while staring at her in mute shock.

She smiled gently as a light breeze lifted her raven hair, making it spread over her pale cheek.

"It's time for me to come clean, Ichigo. During this whole time, I've thought about everything very carefully and I now understand what happened. I just want... I don't want to lose you both as my friends."

His heart skipped a beat.

"You have never lost us, Rukia," her smile wavered as her eyes grew more moist. "Inoue has been worried sick about you and I..."

I'm a bastard for not telling you everything from the very begining.

"I know that now, Ichigo," he stared in silence as a single tear spilled from one of her eyes, but as soon as it reached the corner of her lips she wiped it away.

"That's why I came back... I don't want her to feel guilty about us anymore or to give up on..."

Nodding in agreement as her shimmering eyes looked at the pavement, he knew that she meant to say more but had decided to remain silent until Orihime arrived.

That she wanted to say that everything had been just a misfortunate mistake and for Orihime to not give up on him.

She doesn't know that Inoue has already moved on and has found what she couldn't find in me with the Hollow...

***

Silken auburn locks passed through his white long fingers as he studied their shine in the light of morning entering through the window.

Ogichi spent a lot of time doing just that. Watching his lil' hime sleeping and breathing, with her small yet shapely body curved against his in a spoon position. Even though the room was slightly cold, she kept him warm and he did the same for her. He found that he didn't mind the close proximity and in reality wordlessly demanded it whenever they went to bed.

That her body always had to touch his and serve as a reminder that she was there and strangely out of instinct perhaps she sought him in her slumber, searching for a confirmation that he was still there as well.

He rarely slept, but she didn't need to know that. He was restless and full of energy at all times. In a funny way he sometimes even surpassed her in stamina, which was quite a feat since he was sure that she was far more energetic than other humans.

After a week of being alone with her, rarely leaving the apartment, he had even forgotten what the accursed rain felt like and regardless of him barely setting foot outside of that small cramped space, he never got bored like inside Ichigo's world. In that apartment, he had color and noise... and her. And that was saying a lot since he got bored of seeing things repeatedly, but with his lil' hime everything was far more entertaining than he would have expected.

The smallest of things would amuse her and he couldn't help but be fascinated by all of the emotions that swum in her eyes whenever she saw a particularly sappy commercial or a comedic movie. She didn't hide anything, just like him. She said what was and wasn't in her mind and did it with so much expression and movement that watching her was like seeing a bundle of bubbling energy that never ceased. He was already addicted to it because everything about her was so intensely new to him.

Her taste, her smell, the way she laughed and covered her mouth bashfully. He couldn't believe that just one person had so many things that made them so multi-faceted. During those seven days he had discovered things that probably her friends didn't know...

Like how she sometimes unknowingly sucked on her thumb while sleep and giggled and smiled. How she whimpered whenever he moved in the bed and accidently took away some of his warmth. Or how puffy faced she looked in early morning with her hair all tangled and her eyelids drooping in groginess.

He had yet to understand half the shit going on around him or the concept of what emotions were supposed to be. In order to learn, he childishly questioned and argued about everything like a couple of nights ago when she had insisted on watching a very stupid movie that had him visibly gagging through it.

The movie was pure hell and when she had asked him why hadn't he liked it since he had been snorting loudly throughout the whole film, he had simply gone off telling her how idiotic the offensive thing was.

"Why should I like it?! It's stupid! The guy dies and she gets depressed and marries his best friend to be even more depressed! She stays like that until she's an old hag and nearly gets blown to shit by some fat guy in a foreign country and then some other idiot gives her a hug and tells her that he's always loved," he didn't keep the grimace out of his face at mentioning 'love', "her and that's it?! What a load of bullshit!" He still couldn't believe she had convinced him to watch such crap!

She positively gaped at him, looking almost stricken at his annoyed rant as he gestured angrily at the tv that was currently showing the credits of the eyesore she had just tortured him with.

"B-but it's a romantic tragedy...," her voice was small, tears begining to form in her eyes much to his discomfort. "She... she was depressed for so many years because the man she had loved with all her soul had died before they could begin their life together. She... didn't even have a body to bury or anything to remember him by except for the house he had built for them. It's a very sad love story."

"Love?" he curled his lip, showing his dislike for the word.

Widening her eyes, she asked meekly, turning her body to his to stare at him with liquid orbs, "You... You don't love me... Ogichi?"

For the first time in his short existence, Ogichi didn't know what to say. He had just stared at her, his body stiff and his face wearing a expression of shock and nervousness. Such a simple question had him feeling like the roof was going topple down atop his head.

'Love? She can't honestly want me to say something so dumb!'

Taking his stunned silence as a no, she did what he dreaded most.

She cried and he sat there helplessly, mentally cursing the word 'love' and the stupid movie that had brought up the subject in the first place. Seeing how she sniffled and looked at him as if her insides were being torn apart, he hurriedly searched inside his head for something to say and even wondered if he should say anything to her at all.

"Why is love so important, anyway...?" it wasn't the brightest thing to ask because her low sniffling turned into a loud sob as she looked away from him to sloppily wipe her tears.

"It-It's okay... Ogichi," he could see her trying to force a smile on her tear-streaked face while her eyes looked sadly at the tv screen. "You... you don't have to say something you don't mean..." more tears trailed down her smooth cheeks.

Grinding his teeth together at how hopeless he was at the moment, he questioned her again.

"Why is it so important, if it makes you cry so fuckin' much?! I don't see it as something worth crying over. It's downright stupid if you ask me," he tried to sound nonchalant but what his careless attitude earned him was a suprisingly ferocious glare from her.

"It's important because it's the strongest human emotion that exists! It shows that you care about somebody! That you don't like seeing them sad or in pain! You only want them to be happy even if they aren't with you anymore! You want them to always smile and feel nice and you defend them even if you could end up killed for doing it! You're always by that person's side, no matter how many people try to separate you! That's love!"

He blinked at her, his expression barely changing as his mind processed the overload of information she had just hurled at him.

'That's what love is 'sposed to be?'

Ever since he had been a actual body, strange sensations invaded it during such awkward situations and at that moment his face had become uncomfortably hot and his stomach had clenched piercingly. He then discovered that he didn't particularly enjoy those physical ailments. For everything else he did, he felt 'normal', but seeing her so angry and sad over something so simple had him hating not understanding anything outside of his King's world.

Ichigo wasn't the brightest person around and he should have known that what she was saying was true.

"I just hope... that someday you can tell her what you just told me now... and make her happy."

Clearing his throat, he scooted closer to her and was actually intimidated by how her face displayed cold anger as he neared her rigid form that had barely moved an inch after her furious declaration.

'Lil' hime was normal earlier.'

In spite of how mad at him she was, he managed to look at her directly in the eye.

"I would kill anyone that makes you cry," a flicker of emotion crossed in her moist face, but she held her frigid ground which prompted him to continue.

"I hated it when he kept me away from you and how he was always making you cry," hearing her gasp, he didn't stop because deep down, he knew that what he was going to tell her would somehow make her feel better.

"He's always made you cry and feel sorry for yourself. When he started wanting you while trying to lock me up inside of himself, I felt like shit. Then that day that you said that you would stop seeing me if it made him feel better, I wanted to tear him to shreds for having you think that way. And when Kuchiki slapped and insulted you in the gym I thought about how good it would feel to kill her and make her as suffer as much as she had made you suffer, but I held myself back because you wouldn't have wanted that."

'Which sucked because it would have been funny,' he inwardly sniggered, but was smart enough to not voice that thought out loud.

"He... He asked me about what I feel for you and I told him some of this and he said that it was love and I thought he was full of it, because he had told Kuchiki how much he had loved her and still treated her like day old crap... I know that I did a lot of shit the wrong way, but I knew... I couldn't keep myself away from you anymore. I just had to..."

Seeing that she was crying harder than before, he stopped and cursed.

'That fuckin' King doesn't know shit! He told me that I should tell her this crap and all I did was make her depressed! And on top of that I sound like one of those emo retards on tv with bad hair! I need to fuckin' stop watching that!'

Feeling nauseated about how he had opened himself up so clumsily, he growled through his teeth, turning his angry accusing eyes to the tv screen that happened to be the only light in the dark living room.

"Forget I said any of that meaningless shit!"

He was pissed at himself and wanted to break something when her whimpers grew in volume.

"Ogichi...!"

His heart thundered in his ears as he clenched his jaw, his whole body almost in pain. Ever since that first night he had taken out of her sheltered world, he had learned that every time she cried the more sensitive and intuned to her pain he became. He hated her crying. It twisted his insides just listening to her and smelling the salt of her tears in the atmosphere.

"I feel... I feel the same way about you too!"

Surprised with a bit of confusing excitement coursing his veins, he looked at him from the corner of his eyes wary of seeing how much of a depressing mess she had become. He couldn't comprehend why she was still so heartbroken after telling him that. She was still shaking in sobs while he strangely felt like smirking in pride over hearing her confession.

"Am I supposed to cry too?" was all that came from his lips as she laughed softly through her tears and quickly shook her head.

"No!" she scoffed with a faint smile, sniffing loudly, her face still wet.

Scowling, he narrowed his eyes dubiously at her,"Then why the fuck are you still crying?! I don't know whether I'm supposed to smile or not, because I sure as hell feel like doing it but that would make me look like an asshole with you all depressed!"

"I'm not depressed!" this time her laugh came out louder as she picked up the bottom of her oversized shirt to clean up the wet mess on her face.

"Then what the hell is the matter with you?!" he tried to look serious, but for some reason his lips couldn't stop twitching. Fighting the urge to smile was a pain in the ass.

"B-because I just thought about how all people love differently and what... what you've just told me," her smile widened sweetly, her eyes no longer reflecting hurt and anger like before, "is like what I feel for you... and that is what love is supposed to be," though it was dark, he could see a hint of color entering her cheeks.

Both of his brows shot up and he finally gave up on trying to hide his arrogant smirk.

So that was the real meaning of love, huh? That need to complete her at all times and not wanting to see her so dejected because it killed him. Why she had been so saddened by the shitty movie and about his blunt harshness...

It always hurt when the one you loved didn't try to understand and he now knew that.

And he also had to admit that he definitely 'loved' what came after they had stated what they felt for one another.

Like he had said earlier, the simplest of things made her happy. Sometimes she even cried of happiness or jumped and fidgetted wildly while laughing. He tried to comprehend the concept of love after that night and why it would make her react that way.

He had simply said what was in his mind, so in his point of view, what he had told her wasn't that big a deal while she, in her joy of enjoying 'simple things' has treasured it and had... cried and laughed. To her it was sacred while to him it was a natural feeling that was meant to be said.

His lil' hime was more interesting than he had first thought and he grew more enthralled by her with every passing day. But not everything in his new life was as fascinating as her.

There were plenty of things that got on his nerves... like the day after he had been declared 'free' and had been given a name.

Her nosy neighbors.

He glared at the group that crowded the stairwell just outside of Orihime's door.

"I-I don't understand," she looked at them worriedly.

"We have gone to the manager of this building and gotten enough signatures to evict you from the premises," the old woman that he had intensely begun to dislike the moment she had opened her big yap said quite smugly.

"Now, Naoki, he didn't exactly say that and there was no signing petition...," the short fat man that was clearly her poor abused husband murmured softly to her, showing apparent fear of how she would react.

"It doesn't matter! If she has any self-respect, she would leave without a formal notice!"

Unable to take that kind of shit, especially after hearing Orihime's sharp hurt gasp, he didn't hold back his tongue on insulting the horrible squat woman.

"Listen, bitch! You can't just come up here and get into our business...!" he stopped when he heard her whisper nearly inaudibly beside him.

"But this apartment was left to me by my brother after he died..."

"See?!" Naoki, ignoring Orihime's broken expression turned to look at the rallying neighbors in satisfaction. "This is the kind of hoodlum she brings into our building! We are families and elderly-"

"Why don't you just shut the fuck up?" he drawled lazily, already bored and irritated by her bullshit, making her gasp and spin around to look at him like a gaping fish out of water.

"Pardon me?!" her body shook in shock over how he had so easily disregarded the begining of her self-rightous speech.

"You... Shut. The. Fuck. Up," he felt his grin widen with every word. There was something sickeningly enjoyable in unpleasantly surprising people that annoyed him.

"Ogichi! You can't say things like that!"

"Why the fuck not?" he shrugged, showing no hint of remorse because he honestly didn't feel any. "She comes up here, insults you and brings these bunch of losers," he waved a hand casually at the rest of the neighbors that were all gaping,"that had nothing better to do with their time and on top of that her husband is about to shit himself by just being around her," his eyes flashing in sick humor he added while looking at the husband that was staring back at him just as agape as the rest of the group. "She must have never given you some by how much of a mouthy bossy bitch she is."

Some of the people behind the dumbfounded couple chuckled openly and in retaliation Naoki glared over her shoulder as if her reprimanding eyes alone could silence them.

Looking at him once more with eyes glittering in determination, she growled darkly in a lame attempt to be intimidating, "People like you don't belong here."

At that he scowled hatefully at her.

"That's it!" Orihime snapped, amazing all of them. Looking at her in surprise from the corner of his eyes, he saw that she was so angry she was trembling as she stared the woman down. "I won't put up with ANYONE saying things like that to Ogichi! He DOES belong here because I said so, got it?!"

"Inoue...?" the woman breathed in disbelief backing away a couple of inches from the doorway.

"Just because you guys don't know him doesn't give ANY of you the right to come here and treat him like this! He STAYS! And this apartment rightfully belongs to me and if you want to evict me, you'll have to do it through court, not by threatening me in my own home! Next time you come here wanting a fight, I'll call the police! He STAYS and that's final!"

"B-b-but both of you are disrupting the peace!" some neighbors nodded at the woman's nervous sputter. "All of us are law-abiding citizens and families!"

"What makes you think that Ogichi and I aren't a family?!"

Straightening her back, Naoki appeared to have gotten an idea since her earlier fear had disappeared.

"The fact that you aren't married and that he just showed up recently," how the bitch enjoyed saying that with a patronizing smile that rubbed in that she had won the argument.

At this, Orihime became silent because she knew it was true.

They weren't married and were barely just begining a relationship. To tell the truth, neither of them had talked about such things since it had been so far from their thoughts. They were currently just 'living the moment', not planning for the future though Ogichi and Orihime knew that they wanted to stay together in spite of everything.

"We are getting married, so you can cut the shit," Ogichi finally solemnly said, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the heavy emotions emanating from Orihime.

His lil' hime's eyes had widened as she looked at his face in amazement while he shifted nervously. He had just said the first thing that came to mind to shut that Naoki bitch the hell up. He had yet to grasp the full meaning of marriage. What he saw it as at the moment was something about a ring and a sheet of paper saying that they were officially together. It didn't really make any sense to him since those things didn't seem necessesary.

"And you can also cut the shit about me just showing up recently while at it! I've known her for years and just 'recently' started living with her. Just because you don't have a full background check on my ass doesn't mean that I just popped out of the fuckin' woodwork!"

"You have to be the rudest most dirty-mouthed BRAT I have ever had the bad luck of meeting!"

"And you are the most uptight ugly wrinkled cunt I've ever had the bad luck of looking at," he retorted back at her calmly which seemed to further infuriate the woman.

More people laughed as Orihime silently chastised him while he snickered, taking in Naoki's brilliantly red face and savoring it.

"Now! If you could kindly get the fuck out of the doorway so I can close it, I would appreciated it," he said not bothering to hide his pleasure at making her mad.

"Why you-!"

"Unless," his eyes gleamed in sadistic anticipation, "you want me to SMASH your face with it." Some more snickers escaped through his teeth. Honestly, he did really like the idea of slamming the door on her already flat rotund face.

The people behind her and her husband now burst out laughing loudly. The laughter rose as the woman looked at them helplessly while her own husband tried to smother his own laughter.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH ALL OF YOU?!" she yelled but they all continued to laugh at her while Orihime fidgetted nervously beside him, not fully understanding what had just happened.

"Are you done already, because I really want to close the door. Looking at your face just makes me want to shit," somehow through the riot of laughter, she heard his bored voice.

Swirling to glower at him, she spat, "THIS ISN'T OVER! I WILL GET RID OF YOU!"

"Do whatever the fuck you want as long as you leave. I'm tired of lookin' at you."

Fuming and panting heavily she grabbed her now openly guffawing husband to haul him away.

'About damned time they left.' he snarled in dislike seeing how she angrily shouldered her way through the crowd, dragging her poor husband behind her.

Still thinking about closing the door in spite of all of the people outside, a young woman's voice called out just as he gently started to pull the tense stunned Orihime back into the apartment.

"Wait!"

'What the fuck now?!' Practically pouting at how many people bothered them, he forced himself to stop the process of closing the door. How he itched just to board the fucking thing up!

A pretty dark haired woman that he vaguely recognized as the neighbor that lived across from Orihime, headed their way, her face still red from laughter.

Once she reached them, she gasped, "Thank you!"

"Huh?!" Orihime blinked at her in confusion.

"For telling her off like that! No one here has ever done it since she has such a bad temper! This is the first time I've seen someone stand up to her!"

"Oh."

Looking at him briefly showing a hint of fear at his coldly annoyed stare, the woman then leaned in towards the numbed Orihime.

"And a word of advice... The laundry rooms in these apartments are practically soundproof. NOTHING can be heard in there," smiling and giving a wink, the woman walked back into the crowd.

'FINALLY!'

Making a disgruntled face, he was relieved to pull Orihime back into the living room to heartily slam the door.

"Your neighbors are a pain in my ass!"

But he had liked the thought of the laundry room being soundproof and as soon as he heard about it, he had wanted to test it out.

No one had to tell him that he really sucked at dealing with people, but he was unwilling to admit that he was worse at it than Ichigo. In his mind, logic said that he was the opposite of him in everything and that a lot of things that would make him feel downtrodden or annoyed affected Ogichi differently.

He laughed when Ichigo would scowl or sputter in embarassment. He glared and mouthed off when things didn't go his way when otherwise his former King would have just sucked it in and put up with it.

No... He wasn't like him and that was what perhaps made Orihime so open around him, unlike she had been with Ichigo. He should have known that she always held back her natural enthudiasm in front of others, but with him she let it all out and he preffered things that way.

Unfortunately though, as much as he selfishly wanted to guard her and keep him to himself, Orihime had started talking about school.

The visit the previous day from that Arisawa girl had pushed her to stubbornly set her foot down about taking him to school with his new papers and getting him in. The idea of sitting through class again, like the times he had been forced to pretend to be Ichigo made him want to hurl.

He hated sitting still in one place, surrounded by silence and a bunch of people working in mute unison. It just reminded him of Ichigo's fucked up little world and his time with the depressing Zangetsu.

Not being alone, but feeling alone with stillness surrounding him constantly.

He had tried to reason with her about not wanting to go to that shithole, but she had gone into a full explanation that involved the topics of work, college and buying things he liked and needed for survival. During her talk, he acted as if he were listening to her when in fact she had already lost him after half an hour of into it.

I really don't want to fuckin' go there.

So he had done something that others would deem as immature. Frankly, he could give a shit if people thought his idea of a 'diversion' was childish, but he liked just being in the apartment with her. He had watched her at school when he had been inside of Ichigo and he hated seeing how other people touched and stared at her unashamedly without her notice.

Sometimes she was too innocent for her own good and in her naive mind she didn't realize that there were a lot of horny shits in that place that wanted a piece of her. He would have a hard time in dealing with that much stimulation, mostly now that he didn't feel the need to act like his stupid King.

Smirking to himself, he rested his naked back against the headboard thinking about how he had hidden the alarm clock under the bed after unplugging it from the wall. He had done it about an hour or so after she had gone to sleep.

Who's going to school now? We sure as hell ain't!

That was when the goddamned phone in the living room started to ring.

***

Thanks to a shrill repeatitive sound and a crash followed by curses and low chuckles, Orihime slowly blinked herself awake. Sitting up on her bed and rubbing her eyes, she tried not to think about the mess Ogichi was making in the living room. She had learned over the last couple of days that he was awake most of the time and was always up before her.

Moaning at having to move at all from her comfortable bed, she shifted so that her feet dangled over the floor in excruciating slowness.

What time is it?

Yawning behind one of her hands, she rose off the bed and sloppily waddled over to the open door. She was almost zombie-like, but it couldn't be helped. She had never been so physically active before Ogichi had become a permanent part of her life. With him, even someone as hyper as her had to struggle to keep up.

"Who was calling...?" she rasped sleepily as soon as she entered the living room to see Ogichi standing over a mangled white plastic mess on the floor.

He had taken the phone apart. And not only that but by the secretive little smirk on his face, he had been up to no good in other areas as well.

"No one important."

I'll have to buy a new phone..., nodding while slowly making a mental note, she dragged her feet over to the kitchen to make breakfast before going to school, leaving Ogichi gloating to himself. It was shocking how accostumed she had grown to his sudden outburst. Just the day before when Tatsuki had come over, he had just blurted out to her after an hour or so of her visiting that he wanted her to get out because he wanted to 'do things'. He had been very direct and Orihime, other than being dismayed over how he had treated her friend, had almost giggled over how straight to the point he could be.

Ogichi just didn't care what others thought about him and in that she found an odd sense of comfort.

Reaching the kitchen, her eyes absentmindedly glanced at the round clock on her wall, trying to at least have an idea how much time they had before going to school.

What she saw had her come completely awake quite abruptly.

"OH DEAR KAMI-SAMA WE'RE SO LATE!" she shrieked, fisting her hair and rushing out of the kitchen in a blur to where the now sulky Ogichi glared at her for noticing.

"So what if we're late?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! IT'S YOUR FIRST DAY!" his face stayed sulky as she grabbed one of his wrists and pulled his stiff uncooperative body to the bathroom

Shower! Getting dressed! School! Shower! Getting dressed! School!, repeating that to herself like a frantic mantra, she had to literally lead Ogichi around like a child. He knew how to shower himself, but by how he broodily protested about not going she had to do everything to get him ready, even getting him dressed in 'boring ass clothes' as he so said.

"Now we're ready!" she breathed, taking in how he looked in the school uniform while he just stared back at her moodily.

"I'm hungry," he stated flatly.

"Geez, Ogichi! You can be like such a little kid sometimes!" instead of sounding stern like she had wanted to, her exclamation came out laced with laughter.

Yes, she was getting too used to him and she loved every minute of it.

***

"Now I get no dial tone," Rukia murmured next to Ichigo, closing her cell-phone.

Stiffening at her soft words, he didn't say anything.

They had been like that for the last forty minutes standing just outside of the school's gates, waiting for Orihime and Tatsuki to arrive.

Studying Ichigo from her peripheral vision, Rukia was just as silent as him. There was that kind of quietness that nervousness and the need to say far too many things at once could bring. She knew that things weren't going to be the same again, no matter how hard they tried to rebuild their friendship, because that was all they had left.

A distant albeit broken friendship. They could never restart their relationship again. Not after what she had seen and what she had felt upon realizing that the event at the gym had been something her own actions so long ago had brought.

For what had seemed like an eternity, she had stayed in the Soul Society, anxiously trying to find a way to forgive them, but in the end she learned that the only one that needed forgiveness was herself and not them.

She had been the one at fault for dragging the two of them into something that they had never been a part of. Her emotional state and fear of being alone had pushed her to make hasty desicions that had hurt many people and she had come to the conclusion that mending things the best way she could would at least make way for a fresh start.

The desicion to come back to face them had been made at his grave. Well... it was his and that of what was left of his wife. She had asked them both for forgiveness and promised them that she would do the right thing for once and not let self-pity decide for her anymore.

If she was just going to hurt people in her own selfish and thoughtless pursuit for false happiness, it was best if she learned how to humble herself when wrong. She couldn't allow herself to make the same mistakes again.

"There they are..." Ichigo wasn't the same as she had remembered him. Not by a long shot. He had a heavy air about him that made him seem more mature and... imcomplete. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was it that made him that way. Something told her that it wasn't just what happened at the gym that had put him in that state... No, it was something far more personal that barely hovered under the surface.

Looking towards the street in the direction that she knew Inoue would be coming from with her breath held, she frowned at seeing that her and Tatsuki weren't alone.

"Who's that guy with them?"

Ichigo didn't answer and she could just sense the apprehension rolling off him at the question.

Tatsuki seemed to be arguing with the both of them as they speed-walked towards the school. Well, her and Inoue were the ones speedily covering ground, while the sullen tall man that looked more familiar the closer they came, was being tugged by an anxious Orihime.

"I swear... I've seen that guy..." she didn't know where, but something about him just felt familiar to her. Her mind didn't give her any clues as to where she had seen him before because it wasn't his looks that drew her attention.

"Where have I seen him...?"

She just knew that she had met him.

Not commenting, the heavy air coming from Ichigo appeared to have intensified.

Now that the loudly talking group were a mere couple of feet away, she finally realized what she recognized about the strange pale man.

His eyes.

It wasn't their intense bright color or their narrow shape that made them look like they were permanently smiling, but the expression in them.

Dark dancing mirth and barely contained power. Sharp animal-like eyes.

"Ichigo! Why the hell aren't you and Kuchiki in class?!," Tatsuki called out loudly as soon as she set eyes on them standing stiffly against the school fence.

"We were waiting to talk to Inoue," he said so softly, that Rukia was surprised that the other girl would have heard him at all from such a distance.

"Well you'll have to wait because she has to take the creep to the administration office," she stopped in front of them, unbeknownst to her that the other couple had stopped and kept a safe distance from the three of them. Slightly breathless, her eyes briefly glanced over Rukia that was too busy studying the odd man that Inoue seemed to be trying to shield from her view.

"Who is that?"

No one answered, but after a couple of seconds, Tatsuki turned her head and shouted to Orihime.

"You guys go on ahead!" Nodding quickly, Orihime grabbed the man's arm and turned him so they could enter the gates and go towards the school building.

"Wait!" Rukia was unwilling to give up. The nagging suspicion that the young man was someone she had met sometime in the past wouldn't let go of her.

Stiffening, Orihime stopped and glanced over her shoulder, her face drained of all color.

That guy..., Rukia's eyes widened as she saw that he too looked at her with badly contained dislike, he can't be who I think he is!

Though she had never seen him in such a form before, his face was far too similar yet different from that of Ichigo's. It had more sharp angles and expressiveness.

"Ichigo...," she whispered, feeling as if her heart were about to leap out of her chest, "please don't tell that's your inner Hollow walking around in a gigai..."

***

Author's Note: Hope people still liked it in spite of the loveyness *cringing*! (though the most of this story had been depressing because a lot of people were going through plenty of drama at trying to come to grips with what was happening. At Valmasy03 Don't you just hate shadow readers? Anyways, the more hits you get, the more the good word is being passed across to the masses. *grins* Sadly this story is closing its finish and I'm sad to see it go too... =( At rosuki Awesomeness! I'll send you an email once my net connection stops acting up (it was hard just uploading this chapter!) Dangit! LOL. And believe it or not, this fic was actually inspired by the song In Love With The Darkness by Xandria ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7yj4ODmxyc ) It's not my vid though, but it does have the lyrics and its a great song that fits it perfectly in every degree. =)

At bleachfan7 I'm strongly planning on doing a sequel that depicts a different pairing that is living through the aftermath and also possible repercussions due to the things that had happened in this fic. But first, I'll probably need to finish my Grimm/OC (because I promised to finish that too to the followers of that one and I feel like crap for not updating. It'll sadly be awhile before I can write a sequel because of this.) That doesn't take away the fact that the plot bunnies are eating my brain with ideas for a bunch of different fics including a sequel for this one because it'll have an open ending. And about the threesome... Hmmm... My mind is getting corroded by the idea everyday. Heheheh...
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