Warning: there are some spoilers in here if you only watch the anime, if you keep up with the manga up until now you should be fine. Also there are two swear words in this chapter.

Special thanks to Zangetsu50, nintendogirl50, Black Sun Upon An Icy Sky, Goku's Daughter, GhibliGirl91, forever-will-love2112, orangexviolet, DeviantHollow23, DemeterChild, Maui Girl 808, Rukia's Reflection, and everyone else who has reviewed, favorite and story alerted this fic! It has been a lot of fun to write and wouldn't have turned out this far without your help!

Ichigo sat outside in the park with Nel playing on the swing set happily. He promised to bring her here as long as they didn't have to play another game again. She happily agreed as long as Rukia could come with them. So they were spending the day at the park. However, after the hollow pager went off, Rukia told Ichigo to watch Nel while she took care of the hollow.

Ichigo relaxed under the shade of a tree with his eyes closed. If Nel needed anything, he knew she wouldn't hesitate to scream it at him. It was nice to finally relax without any distractions of having to fight hollows, school, or the games. He paused for a second when he heard footsteps coming up beside him and figured Rukia had returned. When he peeked his eye open he was surprised to find Orihime standing there with her hands behind her back and looking shy.

"Hey Orihime, how are you?" Ichigo asked not caring how the girl knew where to find him. She always seemed to show up everywhere he went.

The small smile on Orihime's face only widened when he acknowledged her and she began shifting with her feet and looked down. She had practiced all night in front of a mirror, his picture, to the wall, and to a strawberry expressing her feelings openly with him. She knew if she wanted them to go anywhere she would have to come out and reveal it.

"I actually came to talk to you Kurosaki-kun; it is kind of important and has been on my mind for a while." Orihime revealed as she knelt down on her knees and sat down beside him. He sat up curiously, thinking something was wrong.

Nel's enjoyment on the swing came to a halt as soon as she saw Orihime enter the scene. The girl didn't get the hint, she was not wanted, but when she saw her kneel down next to Ichigo and say something about 'on her mind' she knew instantly what the crazy bitch was planning to do. She couldn't allow her to reveal her feelings to Ichigo, especially with Rukia not there!

Orihime bit her lip, now was as good of time as any. "Kurosaki-kun…I…um," she hesitated and when she saw Nel out of the corner of her eye, running towards her, she knew she would have to say it fast before she could never get this chance again. She saw the little girl diving through the air to stop her. "I LOVE YOU!" She yelled as Nel tackled her to the ground.

Orihime could feel Nel's little fingers digging into her shirt and the angry yell was indication the little girl was ticked. She had been working on getting Ichigo and Rukia together for days and now it was all ruined because of this bimbo she was sitting on top of! Nel glared at Orihime before she got off and resisted the temptation of biting her head off.

"You, what?" Ichigo stared at Orihime in shock and both girls saw a slight blush across his face. Unknown to all of them, Rukia had returned just as Orihime confessed her feelings. She hid behind a tree nearby and watched for Ichigo's next reaction.

"I like you a lot, Kurosaki-kun. I have had these feelings for a while and just never gotten the courage to express them until now." Orihime replied while blushing, she had finally done it, she told the man she loved her feelings.

For Ichigo's part, he looked uncomfortable and was scratching the back of his head. The confession had surprised him "Um," Ichigo started knowing he would have to say something eventually. He figured he might as well get it out and be done with it. He just hoped the other girl wouldn't be too hurt. "I like you too, Orihime." He revealed and Nel felt like she was about to cry. He just said the words that she had been dreading to hear. That idiot was supposed to be with Rukia, not Orihime!

"But I like you as a friend." Ichigo said crushing the girl's hopes and surprised Nel. Truthfully, he had never seen Orihime like that, she felt more like a sister than anything else and there was another reason as well. "And I don't want to lose you as a friend. Besides, I'm kind of dating someone at the moment already." He stated and both girls' mouths dropped open in shock.

"I thought we said we were going to keep it quiet," Rukia said from behind Ichigo who didn't know she had returned. She walked up beside him and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to bring her closer.

"Well, we would have to reveal it eventually." Ichigo muttered, still leaving the other two girls in shock.

"But, when, why, HOW? You two don't act like a couple, you argue and are mean to each other." Orihime stated as she began pointing at the two, still finding it hard to believe the two had been dating the whole time.

"Just because we are dating doesn't mean it changes who we are. I wouldn't want him to change who he is and I know he wouldn't want me to change either." Rukia stated as she looked up at Ichigo and could tell he agreed. Neither of them were the cuddling type or to get mushy over each other, it just wasn't them. They respected one another and that was where their relationship grew.

Nel didn't know whether she wanted to jump of joy or scream and attack them both. She had spent all week trying to get them together and they were already dating! All those games were for nothing!

"Oh, um. I think I got to go, I left the stove on!" Orihime gave her best smile as she backed away from the two and began running back towards her house.

"You could have said it nicer." Rukia smacked Ichigo lightly. Though she was happy the other girl would stop flirting with her boyfriend now, she still felt bad she had to find out this way.

"How else am I supposed to say it?" Ichigo argued and glared down at her. Nel watched the two begin their banter once again and just stared at them. Looking at them, one would never know they were a couple but Nel also knew now that it was how their relationship worked. They could make rude comments towards each other and not feel insulted and if anything were to happen to the other, they would go through hell and back to make sure the other was safe. She smiled softly as she watched the two; she knew they loved each other.

Inside Ichigo's inner world

Every swear word in the world was being sworn as Shirosaki ran for his life. He didn't know how this disease started but it now plagued Sode no Shirayuki and Zangetsu who decided to play freeze tag with him, only the ice witch was really using real ice!

"Damn girl, damn King, damn Zangetsu!" Shiro cursed as he slid to a stop before he entered the giant circle of ice and would have gotten trapped. He knew it was that little arrancar's fault for this entire mess. She was the one that started everyone playing games and now it had spread to inside Ichigo's mind. Of course it also didn't help when Zangetsu told Sode no Shirayuki what he said about Orihime dating Ichigo and her not being allowed back in. Just the woman's stare alone made him feel colder.

"Here Shiro." He heard the woman call and cursed as he moved around the blockage of ice and kept running. Today he might just find out if the buildings in Ichigo's mind went on forever or not.

10th Division

Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya was coming back from visiting Momo Hinamori in the fifth division and decided the night was still young and he could finish some last reports that were due on Tuesday. He knew his lazy lieutenant would never get to them and didn't want them to turn up late again. He had a reputation to uphold and didn't want the 'kid' jokes to start up again.

He slid the door to his office open and chatting and laughter filled the room. He looked dumbstruck to see his lieutenant Rangiku sitting at the table with Renji, Izuru, Yumichika, Ikkaku, Shūhei, Shunsui and Iba. What worried him the most was the amount of bottles that were already empty.

"I never disobeyed my captain." Iba said and watched as Rangiku, Shūhei, Renji, and Shunsui all took a drink.

"What is going on here?" Captain Hitsugaya demanded as he slid the door shut behind him. The others slightly turned to look at him and all waved to him.

"We decided to play a game of 'I've Never'; do you want to play Captain?" Rangiku asked Hitsugaya who looked flustered before he heard whispering how he was too young to drink.

"I have paperwork to do, go play your game somewhere else." He huffed as he sat down at his desk which had five more empty sake bottles. Just how long have they been drinking, he wondered.

"But we can't, I don't think some of us can walk." Rangiku defended her group who all nodded drunkenly. Hitsugaya shook his head at the idiots. If they were that drunk they should stop playing before they'd pass out.

"I never feel accepted by my captain!" Renji yelled before he broke into tears, most of it due to the sake. Rangiku patted him on the back and watched as Izuru, Shūhei and Shunsui drank.

"Why are you drinking? You are the captain," Ikkaku asked the captain sitting across from him who only grinned while still holding the sake bottle to his lips.

"I'm not playing, I just came to watch." Shunsui smirked and took another swig from the bottle. Hitsugaya shook his head. He swore he was the only sane person in all of Soul Society.

Kurosaki Residence

Nel was downstairs helping Yuzu get dinner ready while Ichigo and Rukia were upstairs in his room. The whole way home they kept receiving death glares from Nel and didn't understand why. "Did you call Orihime?" Rukia asked Ichigo who was lying on his bed reading a manga he had gotten from Lisa. He didn't put down the book or answer her.

"Hey!" Ichigo growled as she took it from his hands. She placed it on the desk and watched as he sat up. "I said I was going to give her a day or two before calling her." Ichigo responded and noticed she was about to protest. "She is not as fragile as you think and probably went to Tatsuki's. Now give me the book back, you little-" He started to say when she kissed him. His eyes widened slightly but he didn't say anything. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her deeper as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"So this shuts you up too." She smiled slyly as he rolled his eyes at her and kissed her again.

Bonus Scene: Orihime's Apartment

"This is so much fun, isn't it?" Orihime asked sweetly as she looked down at the letters she had received for scrabble. Her partner remained in silence and only a muffle of noise was heard but she ignored it. It was nothing important and he would eventually give up.

"Oh, look what I was able to form." She clapped her hands as she was able to put together 'I Love You' and stared up at him. "You love me, don't you? Of course you do, you are so much better than Kurosaki-kun." Orihime sighed as he began to move around and struggle again.

The sound of the doorbell ringing stopped their game. "I'll get that, you just think of some words to spell out, okay?" Orihime said as she patted the top of his head and went to answer the door. As soon as the girl was gone the window to her room opened and a figure stepped through.

"Ya know, I should really take a picture of this." Grimmjow grinned at the tied-up Ulquiorra who had been brought back to life because Orihime wanted a boyfriend. The fourth espada narrowed his eyes at the taller arrancar before he knelt down and began untying him and took the duct tape off his mouth.

"Who is at the door?" Ulquiorra asked as Grimmjow began cutting away at the ropes.

"Yammy, he is pretending to be a Jehovah Witness so we should have a good ten to fifteen minutes before the bitch comes back." Grimmjow said as he continued on releasing Ulquiorra.

"How did Yammy survive? Out of all the espada, he was the most idiotic." Ulquiorra stated not believing his ears that the tenth espada survived while the others had been killed like they were nothing.

"Well, in the manga it is only up to 388 right now and he is going against Kenpachi and Kuchiki so it could change. He is also calling himself the zero espada and the strongest while the rest of us were trash." He replied and finally cut the last bit of rope off.

"Let's leave him to the girl." Ulquiorra said now that he was finally free and the two espada got out of the tiny apartment before the being worse than Aizen returned.

A/N: and there, everyone has their happy ending (except Shirosaki and the espada who have an enemy they have to face) thank you everyone that has read, reviewed, favorite, and story alerted this story, I hope you all enjoyed it.