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Because of the length of the story, I decided to split it in two chapters. Enjoy!
Title for this chapter was inspired by this great quirky song by Emilie Simon, called "Flowers". Really good, I love the lyrics. And the video is so much fun. Everyone should definitively check it out.
I want to buy you flowers / It's such a shame you're a boy / Cuz when you are not a girl / Nobody buys you flowers.
It's all about flowers when it comes to Orihime. I think it's fitting. Don't you?
Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything but the main plot, and that's not much to be proud of. I'm such a geek.
2: Flowers
Ichigo would've liked to be dead at the moment. He had spent all night tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, feeling hot and stuffy. Nevertheless, he had awoken this morning wrapped in extra blankets, sweating and shivering non-stop. His father had to examine him. As expected, he had a fever, most likely caused by the soaking he'd gotten the previous day in the rain. Plus, he still had a very upset stomach, which had not allowed him to eat anything since breakfast yesterday (although the lack of food in his stomach did not prevent him from throwing up several times), he was still sneezing, his nose was completely blocked, and he seemed to be getting a dry cough (caused by having to breath through his mouth). Isshin, of course, had forbidden him to get out of bed, which Ichigo appreciated, considering his body ached worse than ever, even compared to the beatings and exhaustion he had endured in Soul Society.
He was actually surprised at how quickly this cold had landed him in bed, feeling weak and achy, while it seemed to have taken Orihime much longer to feel as bad as that. In fact, he had never felt so terrible in his life. He was never a sickly person; in fact, he barely ever got so much as a stomachache. Could all of this really have been caused by having kissed Orihime?
"Breakfast, onii-chan."
"What is that?"
"Chicken broth."
"Great."
He eyed the bowl of murky brown liquid steaming as Yuzu placed it on his nightstand, and wrinkled his nose. Even the smell, the look of it, everything, made him queasy. But his stomach kept making growling noises, given that he was as hungry as hell; but the prospect of eating was the least appealing.
"Daddy says that you should feel better if you take all your medicines and get good rest and try to eat," Yuzu said. She and Karin were saying goodbye to him and checking up on him, as they were ready to go to school. Rukia walked in a moment later, dressed in the school uniform.
"Whatever it takes to help me stop feeling so much like shit," Ichigo said.
"Language, onii-chan."
Ichigo ignored Yuzu, and noticed Karin was giving him an odd look. "What?" he asked.
Karin just shook her head and smirked. "Oh, I was just thinking," she began, "well, we had a very sick guest last week, and during her stay, we were all equally exposed to her cold or flu or whatever it was."
"Uh-huh," Ichigo mumbled, suspecting where she was headed.
"I'm just surprised that, even then, you somehow caught her cold, but no one else did. I mean, it makes you wonder..." she trailed off, grinning knowingly.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "What are you insinuating?"
"Nothing, nothing," Karin said, but in a sing-song voice. She was still smirking.
"Onii-chan did spend more time with Orihime-chan than the rest of us did," Yuzu interjected. "They had to do homework together."
"That's true," Ichigo agreed.
"Right. Okay," Karin responded.
"Karin, stop teasing Ichigo."
"Yeah, don't be a smart-ass, Karin. It doesn't suit you."
"Well, I've said this before, but just so you remember, you should learn to let go of big brother, Yuzu. Cuz, you know, he's getting interested in… other things."
Ichigo would've liked to kick Karin right there. "Karin, for crying out loud, get over yourself."
Karin chuckled mischievously and headed for the door. "Come on, Yuzu. We'll be late. Bye, Ichi-nii."
"Onii-chan, get better, okay?" Yuzu said, following Karin. Ichigo huffed as his sisters left, shaking his head in disbelief. For being his baby sister, Karin had some nerve acting like that toward him. She was becoming too clever for her own good.
"What's with that look?" he asked when he noticed Rukia was still standing there, with a smile upon her face.
"I just think it's funny how the twins care so much for you they sometimes actually seem older than you," she responded.
"Well, Yuzu does seem more motherly. It's always been like that ever since mom died."
"But Karin can really read you like a book."
"No, she can't. I'm not a freaking book," Ichigo snapped.
"Well, she seems more connected with you. And it seems to me she's more perceptive of your feelings and thoughts than you realize," Rukia commented.
"She hasn't perceived anything. You don't even know what you're talking about."
Rukia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Denial," she muttered and motioned to leave.
"Hey, come back here and say what you really want to say," Ichigo called after here.
"Ok, now it's your turn to get over yourself," Rukia replied, turning sharply and pointing an accusing finger at Ichigo.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "Rukia, you're making no sense."
"Oh, am I?" Rukia said in a mysterious tone of voice that actually sounded more comical than mysterious. "Get well soon, Kurosaki-kun," she added with a smirk.
Ichigo took a deep breath. Everyone around him was either going insane or they already were.
Rukia had not been expecting this sort of reaction from Orihime; the girl looked absolutely shocked. Tatsuki had asked Rukia how come Ichigo hadn't shown up. Rukia hadn't even meant for Orihime to hear. But the bubbly red-head, although very flaky and naïve most of the time, could be very perceptive when she wanted to. It seemed that she was at her most receptive when it was something that concerned Ichigo. Rukia felt bad; Ichigo probably hadn't wanted Orihime to know. But Rukia couldn't take it back now, and probably Orihime would've found out anyway.
"Sorry, no," Rukia explained. "He was really sick last night, and this morning he just woke up even worse. His dad told him to stay home."
"I didn't even know he was sick," Orihime said, still shocked. Rukia nodded.
"Yeah, he's pretty bad… like you were."
"Then better stay home. I don't want him to bring any viruses to school," Tatsuki said, half-jokingly.
"So you're going to be bringing him the schoolwork, then?" Orihime asked. She sounded a bit disappointed.
"Uh, I guess," Rukia replied with a shrug.
"I guess everyone should be more careful. If there's really a virus going around, I don't want to catch it. You should be careful, Kuchiki-san, considering you live with him. You could easily catch something," Tatsuki advised her.
Rukia giggled and bowed her head briefly. "Arisawa-san is very considerate. I'll keep that in mind, thank you."
Just then, the bell rang to announce that students should go to their respective classrooms. As they headed toward 1-3, Orihime pulled Tatsuki to one side of the hallway, lagging behind the rest of their classmates.
"It's my fault he's sick," she mumbled to her friend, once they were out of earshot.
"Orihime, don't say that," Tatsuki replied. "He lives in a clinic. He could've caught the cold from anyone."
Orihime seemed to want to say something else, but she didn't. From the expression on her friend's face, and her reddening ears, Tatsuki had to wonder if those silly rumors going around might just be true. But Orihime would've mentioned something already.
It was such an unlikely scenario, anyway. Tatsuki knew her friend liked Ichigo a lot, and lately Ichigo had become friendlier toward her. But whoever could imagine Ichigo would actually go as far as kissing her, out of the blue?
"I should go visit him."
Tatsuki looked at Orihime. "Maybe you shouldn't. You just recovered from the cold, and he's got it now. You could catch it again," she said.
"Tatsuki-chan, it's the least I can do. He was so considerate with me when I was sick. I haven't thanked him properly," Orihime answered determinedly.
"Okay, that's understandable," Tatsuki nodded.
Orihime suddenly clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, I know! I'll bake him cookies!"
"You—what?"
"It'll make him feel better," the red-head added. "Sweets can always make you feel better."
Tatsuki cringed. The idea of Orihime trying to cook anything to make anyone feel better was not very plausible. And Ichigo was already not doing well when his stomach was concerned, so maybe it wasn't a very good idea.
"Do you think he'd like chocolate fudge?" Orihime asked.
"Chocolate fudge?" Tatsuki asked hesitantly. Oh, well, that didn't sound so bad. "Well, I guess he should. I mean, who doesn't like chocolate?"
"Ah, I have the perfect recipe. My brother found it once."
"Alright then, that's not such a bad idea," Tatsuki said. "But, just in case, I think I should come with you and make sure you get the proper ingredients. Cuz, you know, when you cook, the way you add random stuff, your food sometimes turns out…" (Gross? Freaky? Disgusting?) "… a bit too creative."
Orihime blinked a couple of times, wondering what her friend meant, but then disregarded that with a smile. "Thank you, Tatsuki-chan. If we buy plenty of the ingredients, we can make lots and lots of cookies for us to stuff our faces later today."
"That sounds like fun," Tatsuki did her best to smile. Hopefully things would turn out alright.
"Okay. We'll go after school, then," Orihime said cheerfully, and she linked arms with Tatsuki and led her into the classroom.
"Stupid freezing rain," he mumbled.
After the twins and Rukia left for school, Isshin came upstairs, and thankfully remembered his son was in a terrible state so that he wouldn't stand a kung-fu style wake up call. So he just checked his temperature, which was quite high, gave him some acetaminophen and recommended a cool shower. After another hour of sleep, Ichigo managed to get out of bed long enough to shower, change into fresh pajama pants and a plain white T-shirt, then had to snuggle back in bed, because he felt lightheaded and couldn't manage to walk around without bumping into things. So the rest of the day, and until the girls were back, he did nothing but sleep.
Grumbling, he tossed yet another manga aside and reached for a book. He was bored mindless, but at least it was doing something. It was an attempt to keep his mind off… other things.
Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about Inoue, wondering whether she would remember him kissing her or not. He felt embarrassed, but not the same kind of embarrassed as when Kon used his body and kissed her and Tatsuki, during last school term. That had been different. He had been a different person. She was different now, too.
The issue was that, if Keigo had actually started a rumor about it, then it must have been because Ichigo gave some sort of sign that the taunting affected him at some level. And there were only two possible reasons why it would bother him: it was either completely false, or it was true. Either way, Keigo wouldn't miss a chance to tease his friend about being romantically linked with one of the best-looking girls at school. And either way, it was still embarrassing for Ichigo.
God, he hated gossip.
He slammed the book down onto his lap and sighed long and loud.
"Why are you in such a bad mood? I thought you said you were starting to feel better," Rukia asked, annoyed by his constant groaning and grumbling. She was sitting cross-legged on his desk chair, reading some of his manga (and some other, which Ichigo supposed she had stolen from his sisters' room).
"If you consider 'better' the fact that my temperature has lowered from 40 to 39.5 °C, and that I haven't had to throw up in the last, oh, 45 minutes. Yeah, that's real progress," he said, his voice rather hoarse.
"Don't get cynical with me. It's not like it's my fault," Rukia replied.
"Sorry. I'm just going crazy lying here doing nothing. I can barely keep my eyes open, and whether I'm conscious or completely knocked out, I still feel awful."
Rukia gave her a sympathetic look for the umpteenth time since yesterday. "Do you want me to leave so you can sleep?"
Ichigo shook his head stubbornly. "No, I don't want to sleep anymore. Now can we please have a normal conversation so that I can stay awake?"
"Well, you can barely keep your eyes open," Rukia pointed out. "I think you should get some more sleep, considering you're high on antihistaminic, and you sound funny talking anyway. And I also think I should have better things to do than watch you fighting to stay awake, and doing very poorly at it."
He was about to reply, but he felt an itch in his throat, so he began to cough. Rukia handed him the glass of water on his nightstand, and he took a few sips.
"I seriously wish I was dead right now," he said.
"Ha! That's an ironic thing to say," Rukia said with a chuckle. "You're a substitute shinigami. For you, it's like death is so close… and yet so far."
If looks could kill, Rukia would've died… all over again… or whatever. "You've got a dark sense of humor, you know, for a dead person." He thought for a moment. "Are you actually trying to be funny?"
"No, I was pointing out the irony. I don't even try to be funny. And I must say, the same thing seems to go for you."
Ichigo would've liked to kick her, but he had no energy. Instead he gave a hoarse laugh, which only triggered more coughing. He closed his eyes and laid back onto the pillows, sighing tiredly. The truth was, he wasn't really in the mood to talk either. He wasn't in the mood for anything, really. He just wanted to feel fine, so that he could do whatever he wanted. But he couldn't, and that really pissed him off.
Most people enjoyed the lying-around-doing-nothing-but-sleep part of being sick. Right now, he felt more like tackling a Hollow than lying around relaxingly. But he knew that, in order to get better so he could later get up and go back to tackling Hollows, he needed to lie around relaxingly for a few days. And that mere thought made it all the less relaxing. He wasn't the type of person who could sit back calmly and wait for things to happen around him. He hated being still.
And all the stillness brought even more thoughts about things he didn't really want to think about. If he let his mind wander, he would think back to the kiss. In his sleep, his dreams would be plagued with it; he would see himself from a distance, kissing Orihime, over and over again. And he tried to get himself to stop, to avoid all the complications that came with it, but as much as he called out warnings, his other self wouldn't listen and just go ahead and do it anyway. It actually looked strange from a distance. He noticed he would have a funny look on his face when he was leaning down to kiss the sleepy red-head. It looked like a twisted version of Sleeping Beauty. But it was hard to look away.
The one fact that was the most mortifying to him was the fact that he didn't know what pushed him into it. Ichigo had no excuses for having done it. He still couldn't figure out how he felt after that. It was a big mistake. If there was a chance that she did remember after all, she probably thought he was a creep or something.
But in spite of all that, in spite of the embarrassment and the mortification and the doubts, one thought still bugged him.
He had liked it.
In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he wished he could somehow do it again (apart from the occasions in which he dreamed he wanted to stop himself).
That's why he was scared over whether Orihime could remember or not. If she did, then the odds of things becoming awkward between them were high. And it bugged him a lot. He wouldn't want to ruin their friendship.
Not that he would admit it ever, perhaps, but he liked her. He didn't feel the same way toward her as he did with other girls. Tatsuki was his childhood best friend, and even if they still got well along, she was just another girl. As for Rukia, she and Ichigo were so much alike that they barely got along, but they were true friends because of everything they had gone through together. But Orihime… it was different. He wanted to protect her, she was constantly at his side, wanting to help, to support him, always trusting him. Maybe, because of the way the way they had been thrown together, she meant more to him than he had yet realized. Maybe he was coming to regard her as more than just a friend; he had come to see her as more than just another girl in his class.
Maybe that was the reason he kissed her. But this was the first time he had considered all that, considered how he felt toward her, and it drove him half-mad to try to figure out what exactly he felt. More so since he didn't know if she might feel the same way.
It was all too confusing, though. He got a headache every time he went into these bouts of pondering over it.
He must have fallen asleep, at least for a few minutes, because when he opened his eyes, Rukia was gone.
Tatsuki seemed fine with it: she had seen Orihime cook before, and the girl truly knew how to make a mess. Although she would've liked to spend time with her friend, and thought it best to supervise her in any case (considering the hazards of using an oven, and how clumsy Orihime could be). But something told her not to disturb her friend at a moment like this. It was her own thing to bake cookies for her crush; Tatsuki definitively shouldn't intervene. Orihime still promised that she would make enough cookie dough so that Tatsuki could come over later in the evening, and they could bake more cookies for themselves.
On her way home, Tatsuki thought amusedly about the dream Orihime had been telling her about, a dream she'd had during her bout of fever at the Kurosaki clinic, and which sounded like a bizarre version of Sleeping Beauty. There had been little people, who tied her down to her bed, and then she was in a field, and in the midst of the field there was a castle, and she went inside, but instead of pricking her finger with the needle thing of a spinning wheel, she somehow slipped on a banana peel, thus upsetting a nearby table that had a bottle of pills, and two antihistaminic pills fell into her mouth, knocking her into a deep sleep. Tatsuki had started laughing at this point, but Orihime had unabashedly gone on to explain that, next thing she knew, she was on a bed inside the castle, unable to wake up; and Tatsuki, Rukia and another little girl (did she say her name was Yachiru?) were fairies who watched over her, and Chizuru was the evil witch who turned into a fire-breathing dragon (here Tatsuki let out the loudest snort of laughter, causing the people in the market to stare at her oddly); and Ichigo, of course, was the prince charming, who came to save Orihime and wake her out of her sleeping spell with a kiss. Except that, for some reason, it wouldn't work, so Ichigo had to kiss her again and again and again, causing Chizuru to chase him away, trying to burn him. When Orihime was done telling her story, Tatsuki was nearly in tears and her stomach ached from laughing so much; it had never occurred to her to picture Ichigo as a fairy tale prince, though picturing Chizuru as an evil witch/dragon was not so strange.
Tatsuki shook her head and chuckled. Whatever could've brought on this seemingly normal fantasy, when Orihime was usually so odd, she didn't know; but those weird rumors going around school, mixed up with Ichigo's sudden sickness, and the fact that he had blushed in embarrassment when Keigo had teased him about perhaps having made out with Orihime, it all made Tatsuki wonder where the inspiration for such a dream really came from. And then, of course, she had to smirk.
"Matsumoto, would you stop it? You don't even know what you're saying!" Hitsugaya said, finally losing his nerve.
"Who cares? You just make up the lyrics as you go along," Matsumoto chirped, as she continued to dance (another thing she was not very good at).
"Hi, Toshirou-kun! Hi, Rangiku-san!" Orihime said cheerfully, waving at them. Finally taking notice of her arrival, Hitsugaya stood up and gave a polite bow, while Matsumoto "danced" over to her and took her hands and tried to get her to dance too.
"Good afternoon, Inoue-san, and for the last time, it's Hitsugaya-taichou," the silver-haired boy said, crossing his arms in an exasperated manner. "Could you please turn the music off so that Matsumoto will shut up? I can't figure out your record player, and she won't tell me how she managed to make it work."
"Awwww!" Matsumoto pouted disappointedly as Orihime complied with Hitsugaya and switched her CD player off. Hitsugaya gave her a grateful look.
"Guess what? I'm baking cookies. I have a great recipe for chocolate fudge cookies with chips that my brother used to prepare all the time," Orihime announced.
"Cookies! Yum!" hollered Matsumoto like a little girl. Hitsugaya frowned at his vice-captain.
"How come you're baking chocky-whatever cookies?"
Matsumoto patter her captain on the head. "He doesn't even know what chocolate is. It's tragic, I tell you. Sometimes you've got to wonder if he's a real boy."
"Unlike you, I don't feel the urge to constantly stuff my face with human food just because I'm in the living world."
"Are you insinuating that I'm a glutton?"
"No, of course not. That would be an understatement."
Matsumoto's face suddenly scrunched up with unbelievable anger, and she seemed ready to literally chew her captain's head off, so Orihime decided to cut in, lest Hitsugaya would have to find out the true effects of daring to call a woman 'glutton'.
"If you guys don't mind, I could use some help. I do want these cookies to be just perfect."
"Of course we'll help," Matsumoto replied cheerfully.
"You only want to help because you're hoping you'll get to lick the spoon or something," Hitsugaya responded, looking knowingly at the woman.
"First of all, you can stop with the glutton references," Matsumoto replied, towering over the white-haired shinigami, who didn't look fazed at all. "That is not why I want to help. And second, why would I want to lick the spoon so badly, when we're having cookies after we're done?"
"Actually, this first batch of cookies is not for us," Orihime interrupted.
Matsumoto raised an eyebrow. "Oh? For who, then?"
"For Kurosaki-kun."
Hitsugaya and Matsumoto actually looked at each other for a split second, then back at her, tight-lipped and with oddly blank expressions. Orihime didn't know what it was about, the wordless exchange that went between them, but whatever it was, she just pretended to not have noticed. Though it made her feel excluded.
"Um, I don't know if you guys know, but he's really sick, so I was planning to visit him today, bring him cookies as kind of a 'get well' gift. But it's mostly a thank you gift for having been so nice to me while I was sick."
Hitsugaya only nodded in understanding, but Matsumoto went all glassy-eyed and broke into a huge smile.
"Aww, Orihime! That is so sweet! You want to make him a little present to thank him for taking care of you." She hugged Orihime. "Of course I'll help you!"
Hitsugaya stared with wide eyes as the two women started chattering happily while arranging the ingredients utensils they would need. He reluctantly took a seat, basically just to watch. He didn't think it was a very good idea to leave these two alone while they were handling electric appliances and an oven. Seeing as he was the sanest person present at the moment, he thought it best to supervise and make sure they wouldn't burn down the flat.
But first, he thought it best to make a certain phone call.
So instead he was forced to lie in bed endlessly, looking up at the ceiling drowsily, sleeping long antihistaminic-induced naps, and breathing through his mouth.
God, this sucked.
He grabbed the nasal spray and sprayed twice into each nostril, waited for a bit, and then blew his nose with a tissue. There, he could breathe again at last.
"Rukia? Are you anywhere near?" he called out. He could talk normal again, too, although he still sounded a bit funny.
After a few seconds, it seemed that Rukia wouldn't reply. Still, he thought he caught a faint sound coming from the closet. But why would Rukia be in the closet? She didn't crash there anymore. Before he could will himself out of bed to check what the heck was making that noise, there was a knock on the door.
"Onii-chan, you have a visitor."
Yuzu poked her head into the room with a smile and looked at him. "Are you decent?" she asked quietly. Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Of course he wasn't decent. He looked as best as he could manage, considering the circumstances.
"Who is it, Yuzu?"
He had expected Keigo, coming to annoy him, Mizuiro, Chad, even Ishida. Heck, he even would've been okay with the Gotei 13 visiting him again. But no.
"Good evening, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said as Yuzu led her inside. Ichigo's eyes nearly popped out of his head. At this very moment, when he was in such a poor state, looking and feeling like he had just been in battle, Orihime was the last person he actually wanted to encounter.
"Ah, good evening… Inoue," he said, hoping he didn't sound nervous. He pulled the covers higher up his torso, in a futile attempt to hide his wrinkled pajamas, and his miserable state.
"Look, onii-chan! Look at this! She brought you a present! Isn't it sweet?" Yuzu exclaimed happily as she went over to her big brother, carrying a white box in her hands. She handed it to him, and then leaned in to whisper.
"Don't worry. Daddy's in the clinic with a patient. He hasn't found out she's here. Karin will make sure he doesn't come near."
"Oh, o… okay," Ichigo replied softly, his mouth dry.
"I'll leave you two alone," Yuzu said, smiling so big that Ichigo feared she would sprain a facial muscle. She closed the door when she left, and Ichigo gulped.
There was a moment of awkward silence. He heard it once a gain; a scuffling sound coming from somewhere in his closet. But Orihime didn't seem to hear it.
"So, how are you feeling?" she said after a pause, and approached the bed slowly, hands pressed together on her lap.
"Good, thank you. Well, not really 'good', but better," he said, clearing his throat. Man, was his throat sore.
"I'm glad. I was really worried about you when Kuchiki-san told us you weren't coming to school today. I mean, everyone was. It sounded like you were really doing badly," she said as she sat down on the edge of his bed, near his knees.
Ichigo was listening to her, but at the same time some other thousand random thoughts were running through his mind; he hadn't been expecting any visitors, much less Inoue Orihime. Ichigo suddenly felt very self-conscious about the way he looked, disheveled and sleepy. Did he have bed-head? Well, his hair was always all over the place. Was his breath okay? Thank God he hadn't been so lazy so as to not shower. Still, his nose was red and raw, his eyes were most likely bloodshot and with dark circles underneath, and he still sounded funny. At least when Orihime had been hanging around his house, looking and sounding pretty much the same, it had been rather cute. In his case, he doubted anyone would think it was mildly attractive.
He had never felt so out of shape and disgruntled, not even on the occasions when he lay on the dirty pavement, with multiple stab injuries, his shihakushö a mess, the kimono bloodied and torn, after an encounter with a hollow.
"How are you feeling, Inoue? You seem fully recovered now," he asked.
"I am, thank you! I'm perfect," she replied with a huge smile. "And it's all thanks to you."
"Me? I doubt it. I… didn't do anything."
"Are you kidding? If it hadn't been for you, I don't think I would've recovered so quickly. I would probably still be lying in my bed, feeling awful. If you hadn't visited me at home, and called your dad, then he wouldn't have suggested that I come to stay here. And then I wouldn't have gotten any medication, or eaten Yuzu-chan's super-healing miso soup, or gotten any schoolwork done with you and Kuchiki-san, and I would've been very bored and very lonely."
Ichigo's default frown softened slightly, and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Orihime beamed at him. She was not used to making him smile.
"I wanted to see you today, to see how you were doing with this nasty cold," she continued. "Also, I hadn't thanked you properly. Yesterday, I don't know why, I was kind of embarrassed."
"Embarrassed? Why?" he asked.
"Because… I don't know, I guess… I guess I still felt a bit like I had imposed too much on you and your family."
"Don't be silly, you were not imposing anything."
"You're always so kind and thoughtful, Kurosaki-kun."
Ichigo made a sound like a scoff. "Hardly. You're the one visiting me, even knowing you might catch this cold again, and you even brought me a gift."
"It's only a small gesture," she said, waving it off modestly.
"It doesn't matter. It's still very thoughtful," he murmured.
"It's half-'thank you', half-'get well soon' present," Orihime chirped.
Ichigo examined the box. It was a plain white fancy square box, like the ones bakeries use for special cakes and pastries. It was tied with a simple dark purple ribbon, and a purple morning glory blossom was tied to the little bow at the center. He couldn't help but blush.
"You don't have to open it right now, if you don't want to. Maybe later, or whenever you feel like it, really," Orihime said, sounding a bit nervous.
"No, it's okay. I'll open it now."
He carefully undid the bow and pulled the flower off, leaving it on his lap. He took the lid off and stared in surprise. At the realization that it was food, he felt his stomach flip. He was very hungry, but the thought of eating something Orihime made was a bit preoccupying. The cookies looked quite normal, thought, and really delicious. But one could never be too sure.
"Rangiku-san and Toshirou-kun helped me," Orihime said happily.
Ichigo felt even more uncertain now. "They look really good," he simply answered.
"I hope you like them. This is a special recipe. My brother used it all the time when we made cookies. Even if he can't make them anymore, I always use this recipe, and they taste almost the same," Orihime explained. "In any case, chocolate fudge cookies always bring me a sort of comfort, because they remind me of my brother. Which is why I bake these cookies whenever I'm feeling down; they always make me feel better."
Ichigo gave her a sympathetic look. It was difficult to think of Orihime as the sort of person who still would sometimes feel sad or even depressed; she was always so cheerful and happy. Still, he had seen her cry a few times, and he knew she was hard on herself when there was something she could not accomplish, when she wanted to help but didn't know how. It still surprised him to learn she would ever feel lonely or sad, but it was only logical; after everything she had gone through in life, especially losing the only family she'd ever had, she was entitled to feel down sometimes. In fact, now that he thought about it, it was even more surprising to see how she could be so happy most of the time.
And Ichigo was the opposite. He was hardly ever joyful. He was used to it. It was his normal state of mind. But sometimes it was exhausting. Although he doubted he could ever maintain such high spirits as Orihime, all the time. He then realized how they were so different, and yet they shared so much.
He looked at the cookies again. Might as well give it a try, he thought. He forced a smile and picked one of the cookies, then offered one to Orihime, who smiled back and grabbed one as well. Braving the idea of her customary cooking, and his disgruntled stomach, he took a bite. The soft baked dough practically melted in his mouth as he chewed, and from the very first taste of rich chocolate, he couldn't help but smile.
He tried to say some words of praise, or anything at all, but all that came out was a low, pleasured "mmmmmm..."
She just continued to grin as she bit down on her own cookie. "I'm glad you like them."
Ichigo didn't know if it might have been true, the whole thing about the chocolate cookies bringing comfort; maybe they did. Or maybe it was just seeing her grin like that. But he was very glad she came to see him; he did actually feel better. He put the lid back on the box and placed it on his nightstand.
"I had fun last week, by the way."
Ichigo looked at Orihime curiously. "You had fun while you were sick? How is that even possible? Being sick is no picnic. Or at least not from my point of view."
"I know it's not," Orihime said with a laugh. "But I could've had a worse time."
She seemed to scoot closer to him, their hips kind of grazing together through the fabric of the bed sheets and blanket. "I know you're really feeling bad. Kuchiki-san told us, and I got very worried. Mostly because knowing you, you definitively wouldn't enjoy lying around doing mostly nothing."
She seemed hesitant for a moment, but then she reached for his hand and held it in her own. Ichigo tried not to reflect his surprise on his face.
"You're such a caring person, you often go through a lot of trouble and sacrifice a lot to help others, especially the ones you care about," she continued naturally. "I think that sometimes, being like that is not very good. Because you still get tired. It's wonderful that you are strong and caring of other, but it's also important to take care of yourself. And, Kurosaki-kun, you don't ever seem to take care of yourself. Ever."
He was shocked at the impact of her words. She spoke not in a harsh, scolding tone or anything. In fact, he couldn't remember ever having seen Orihime angry or anything similar. Still, he had never heard her speak as firmly as now.
"Toshirou-kun mentioned you were upset because they told you it was best to get rest and not chase Hollows," she continued. Ichigo was going to respond, but she continued before he could. "Kurosaki-kun, promise me you'll listen to them."
She gazed at him. It amazed him how he could be so brave as to stand in front of a Menos Grande or an Arrancar and not quiver the slightest bit. But Orihime holding his hand gently could make him tingly and weak all over, and cause his mouth to go dry.
He had kissed her. Did she remember that he had kissed her? Did he want her to remember?
Say something. Anything. Just spit it out, dammit.
But he couldn't will himself to. He felt too strange. It was all too damn weird.
What exactly was so weird? The prospect of liking a classmate? And not just any classmate, but Inoue Orihime, sweet, kind, caring, attractive, always by his side, baked him cookies, nearly got killed to help him out?
"What's wrong?" he asked. For a split second, he caught a pained look on her face.
"I just… I'm really sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"It seems that I'm always getting you in trouble," she said sadly. "You always protect me when I'm in danger, and you end up in worse trouble yourself."
Ichigo didn't know what to say. He didn't like Orihime to think like that. After all, he had made a promise to her, as he constantly reminded her, that he would protect her, no matter what. Whether it was mortal danger or a mere sickness, he felt inclined to keep her safe. That was just the way he thought it should be.
She looked down at her lap, wringing her hands on the fabric of her flowered skirt, like she usually did when she felt nervous or inadequate. Ichigo suddenly wished very hard he could read her thoughts, know her feelings. He wouldn't be so concerned if he only knew.
"I just know that you're sick because of me," she said; "you spent so much time with me that you caught the virus. And I'm sorry for that."
Ichigo shook his head. "Don't say that, Inoue. It's not your fault. These things happen."
"But if you hadn't kissed me, maybe you wouldn't have gotten sick at all, because—" she stopped, noticing Ichigo was giving her a surprised look. "What?"
"Um… nothing," he mumbled, shaking his head. "It's just… um, I didn't think you remembered…"
Orihime blinked in confusion. "What?"
Blushing a very bright shade of pink, Ichigo seemed to sink lower into the mattress. "You know… the kiss…" he said, his voice lowering.
Orihime grinned, the kind of apologetic grin she displayed whenever she had done a blurb or said something silly. She scratched the back of her neck and laughed somewhat forcibly. Ichigo noticed the pink coloring appearing gradually on her cheeks until she looked completely flushed.
"Um, I couldn't remember at first," she said. "I guess I must've been really sleepy then. But then Chizuru asked me if it was true."
Ichigo only blushed brighter. "Oh, yeah… the rumors."
"She said she would beat you up if it was true," Orihime added. "I don't know why she would say that."
"O… kay…" Ichigo sweat-dropped. Of course she wouldn't.
Orihime seemed to think for a moment, a faint smile on her lips as she looked at her hands absent-mindedly. "So I told her it wasn't true," she said very softly.
Ichigo didn't reply. He just cocked his head slightly to one side, trying to catch her eye. He couldn't know what she was really thinking if she avoided his eyes.
"But I do remember now," she whispered, and Ichigo swallowed hard. When she lifted her gaze, they looked at each other for what felt like the longest time. Something passed between them during that instant, something maybe they wouldn't quite understand right there and then, but it was real, and it was all that mattered.
"I should probably go."
Orihime stood up suddenly, and Ichigo's face fell. She paused, however, as if debating something with herself. He was about to speak, when she blushed furiously again, like she had just made up her mind. Then she leaned down toward him, gently grazing his cheek with her hand, and kissed him very softly on the forehead.
"Get well, Ich— um… Kurosaki-kun."
Turning on her heel quickly, Orihime walked to the door and left.
Ichigo didn't move, only stared at the closed door, stunned and dizzy by what had just happened. His face was completely flushed now, and his stomach did a somersault, most likely caused by the many butterflies he felt fluttering inside.
He could really use some rest now, considering how his heart had started racing out of control. He would've liked to kick himself (or have someone kick him), for being such an idiot; he just sat there, said nothing, and watched her leave. Oh yes, he needed someone to knock him around a bit for being so utterly stupid.
Leaning back into the pillows, he fluffed them down to lie down. How was he supposed to sleep now? Pulling the blankets up to his chest, he noticed the morning glory blossom was still on his lap. He gently picked it up and placed it on the nightstand, next to the box of cookies. Turning onto his left side, he stared at the flower for a long time.
I'm such a wanker, he grumbled to himself before his eyes closed and he dozed off.
"Shut up."
"He's so pathetic; I'd like it very much to whoop his ass."
"Shut up, you moron! Do you want to get us caught?"
"Daft prick."
"Renji, quit it!"
"Ow!"
Rukia hissed as quietly as possible as she elbowed Renji for being so freaking noisy, when they were supposed to be hiding. It was not like Ichigo's closet was a good hiding place if they were trying to spy, but in the spur of the moment, it was the only place they found. When Ichigo fell asleep while talking to Rukia, she got an interesting call from Hitsugaya. Taking advantage of the dozing Ichigo, Rukia called Renji, and they snuck into the aforementioned closet. Rukia knew it wasn't right to spy or eavesdrop or anything, but she just couldn't miss this. If only Renji could not be so annoying, stay still and keep silent, they wouldn't have been nearly caught a couple of times.
"Now we're going to have to wait for him to fall asleep again?" Renji asked, whining a bit like a little kid. It only made Rukia elbow him again.
"We can't just burst out of the closet now, can we? He'd kill us."
"Newsflash, Rukia: we're already dead."
"You know what I mean."
"You just don't want anything to happen to your gigai."
"It's a nice gigai, okay? I like it. I don't want to ruin it."
"But you don't mind kicking and elbowing mine, right?"
"You deserve it."
Renji pouted, which looked rather funny considering he was a full-grown guy with tattoos all over his body and weird red hair. Rukia rolled her eyes.
"You're being mean, you know? I'd very much like to get away from you," he said, and motioned to get out.
"Sit down, stay still and shut up," Rukia replied, shoving him away from the door. Renji looked offended and he threw up his arms.
"But I'm dying to tell someone about this!"
"You can't go out and tell people about this, you wanker! Are you crazy?"
"But I thought the reason we came in here was to see anything that might happen."
"But that doesn't imply divulging it afterwards, now does it?"
"You have the concept of gossip completely wrong," Renji pointed out with a grin. Rukia shook her head, annoyed.
"I didn't come here to get gossip. I came because if I don't have eyewitness evidence to back me up, then there would be no point in having known all along that it would eventually come to this."
She crossed her arms and looked proud of herself, and Renji narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You're being weird, Rukia. Like, 'schoolgirl' weird. I think you've been reading too much shoujo." He shook his head. "Why are you so into this?"
"Because it's romantic," Rukia replied, and she couldn't help but smile as she slid the door open a crack and peered out at an already sleeping Ichigo.
"Try 'creepy'," Renji hissed in her ear as he leaned over and peered over her head at the same scene. "You're being creepy for sneaking around, and now so am I, because you dragged me into it."
Rukia ignored him. She continued to watch Ichigo sleep, and her eyes fell on the purple flower on the nightstand. She chuckled. If Ichigo ever found out that she and Renji had seen the effect Orihime had on him, she feared they would get the full blast of his ire. But then again, maybe not; something seemed different about Ichigo. And Rukia had the feeling she knew what had caused that change, even though he probably wouldn't admit it. At least not yet.
"Why are men so dense?" she asked in a low voice, shaking her head disapprovingly.
"Excuse me?"
Rukia turned and gave Renji a long, glowering look. She raised an eyebrow, clearly conveying a message to him, but he just looked back at her with the same expression, as if he didn't get it at all. She sighed impatiently and looked away.
"You heard me."
Renji, obviously not getting the hint, just sat against the back of the closet and scoffed. He was silent only for a few seconds.
"At least I can tease him about it, can't I?"
Rukia sweat-dropped. "Remind me yet again why the hell I brought you along."
Okay, this was lamer than the previous story. But it was inspired. One time I was sick last year, before the holidays, my boyfriend took time out of his super busy schedule (really busy during the holidays), to visit me; and he brought me… a Kon plushie. That's where my Kon came from. You cannot fathom how funny that was unless you'd been there to see it; can you picture a red-headed young man (my boyfriend isn't Japanese, he's a red-headed brit named Harry, yeah, like the prince) with a Kon in his arms? You could say I've got my very own Ichigo (except his hair is red instead of, well, bleach).
Orihime reminds me a lot of Améliè, which is a conclusion I made recently when I watched the movie for the umpteenth time in my life; Orihime lives alone, she's a daydreamer, a romantic, she loves to help, but she can barely help herself, and she's too shy to do something about her love life, so she just seems to wait for things to happen to her. It's alsoonly appropriate (in my own bizarre opinion) that Kubotite defined her theme song to be a French song, considering she seems so French. (Don't ask, it's too long to explain.)
And Ichigo reminds me constantly of how dense guys can be. But there's still hope for him. There's still hope for all guys, if they agree to stop being such idiots.
I'm working on other stories right now. Maybe I'll post something new soon.
Please review. And thank you for reading!
-Nariko the Seer a.k.a Deathberry15
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