After a day at school (Inoue private)

OOC: xD its all right

IC:Ichigo realized that there was something he did not get, he should never really have asked that question he knew that now, but it was too late, rather than ponder about that he finally realized something, she had not left for a camping trip for a few weeks, she had left to las noches... that could only mean that this was a lot more serious than that, to orihime he was much more than a friend, but for him Orihime had always been a good friend and he thought that nothing would ever have changed that not even death...

However if it was as he suspected then it was something much more powerful than that, the fact that Orihime had not responded to his question was the first real thing that made him suspect it, but he was too ashamed to ask again or let Orihime know that perhaps he understood now, but it was also only an unconfirmed suspicion, so that meant that he could not be sure, even the sligtest of hesitation made him wary that he might be wrong and Inoue could simply decide that he was some sort of imbicil or worse... It made him think how long Orihime had had these feelings for him, if she had them that is? it could have been years for all he knew, im so stupid... Ichigo decided to stick with his first plan and say nothing more, he took a seat at the table h-hai he nodded to the drink she offered, the meal was enjoyed in quietness and it had not been as exiting as he had hoped... Ichigo finished his meal first, truly it was delicious he decided to break the silence before it would get too uncomfy Your a great cook Inoue... he said trying to cherish the moment as much as he could... but something just did not feel all right.

OOC: xD OH NO not the tears! lol and i know i looked for that sig hard and long altrough i did not know what i wanted

PS: sorry for my grammar but this comp has taken no english lessons it seems

IC: Ichigo was about to take a sip of the cold water when he noticed that Orihime`s plate was still full of food, hardly touched, what? he thought she was hungry at the very least he thought she was going to at least taste it. If it had not been the fact that she made the meal herself Ichigo would have thought that it was rather rude, but she was still a growing woman, and probably needed all the food she could get. If ichigo recalled it right then he remebered Tatsuki saying something about all the weird food she ate, eventually ended up in her chest or as Kon called valley of gods or whatever, but ichigo was not going to go futher on that subject it was not one of his ordeals after all...

Rather evryone seemed to recognice her because of her weird hair color or her overly big chest size, altrough Orihime had not suffered as much because of her hair color like Ichigo had it sorta reminded each other being orange and all... Ichigo`s mind darted back to present time as his eyes widened slightly, she was crying? the first questions that came into his mind was why? why was she crying? it was he who should have been crying here... or at least so he thought, but he did not feel like crying, obviously after his mother had died he became lousy at crying, he had done that a lot in the past when he fought against tatsuki during the karate lessons and whatnot, but his mother had always brightened his mood no matter how bad he had been crying...

To tell the truth Orihime reminded a lot of his mother, so sweet and caring, so beatiful but now all that was changing... if she had feelings for him and these tears certainly seemed like it, the question remained where these tears of sadness or happiness?
Inoue... he said in a calm yet slightly suprised tone... what was she sorry about? he should have been the one sorry here... he was such an amateur at these things. Ichigo stood up and took a few steps next to Orihime he leant down slightly to her eye level tilting his head in the process, at first he was unsure what to say, but then he decided that words probably would not be needed... he streched his arm at her and flicked his finger against her cheek trying to dry up a few tears, her cheeks where suprisingly soft and warm probably due to the tears and her constant blushing...

Inoue... would you care to take a nap? ill take care of things here before i go he was not sure how inoue would respond, but he figured it was probably best not to ask questions, he would certainly have to think about these matters before he would answer Inoue... honestly he had no clue how to respond is she would have asked, while she was probably the beatifulest woman in the school (at least that`s what the rumor goes with the guys) he thought that Orihime perhaps was too good for him, because they where quite different...

Orihime watched through teary eyes as Ichigo started to walk towards her, she felt like such a fool. Here she was crying in front of Ichigo over something he no doubt did not understand. She couldn’t help but think he was so cute as he crouched down to her level and tilted his head, sort of reminiscent of a puppy. This made her start to feel like smiling a little as she looked into Ichigo’s eyes, there was something about them that always made her want to smile. Ichigo was that person that could make her feel like everything was o.k and that who could make her day better just by being around. As Ichigo wiped a few of her tears from her cheek she was amazed at just how gentle his touch was, he held such strength and power and yet he his touch was so gentle. He was always so kind to her, looking out for her and protecting her from harm. And here she was creating a scene and most likely hassling him, she had to stop it. She had to hide her tears of worry and toughen up, as Ichigo asked her if she wanted to take a nap Orihime suddenly snapped out of her mood. It would not doubt seem like a rather sudden change and perhaps to those that saw it it would seem fake, but she couldn’t let Ichigo worry about her and she definitely couldn’t let him clean up for her!

“oh no, no you don’t have to do that. I’m fine really, I will clean up. You can relax” Orihime smiled at Ichigo for a few moments before grabbing the plate in front of her, turning her head back to face Ichigo she gave him yet another reassuring smile before standing from her chair and grabbing Ichigo’s empty plate. The sight of an empty bowl made her happy, she was glad that Ichigo had enjoyed the meal. “I’m glad you liked the meal” Yes to Ichigo it might have seemed she was merely pretending to be o.k, pretending that she had not started crying. But there was more to it than that, she was doing so in order so the Ichigo would not worry about her. She was always like that, she would make herself suffer and hide her emotions so as not to bother others. Just like she had hidden her feelings towards him for so many years, she didn’t want to bother Ichigo with them and that was just what she thought she had done.

Ichigo figured that is how Orihime would have reacted before she did so, her tears had dried out as if they had never flooded out to begin with, he suspected now that she was only hiding those tears why was she hurt? was it because of him? Ichigo felt like he was having a knot in his stomach he was not 100% sure why but it certainly did not make him feel any better yet he hided any of that, this is when his stubborn nature started to kick in, when Orihime said that she could do it herself this made Ichigo go a bit on the edge just slightly n-no please inoue... i want to do this there was nothing else he could do anymore, his powers where... ichigo gritted his teeth and grabbed the same plate as inoue was holding onto, he calmed down a bit again and pleaded instead, he could no longer fight hollows and save people, in fact he could not help anyone or so he felt, he knew now how helpless Inoue must have felt during the times before she had even gotten her powers and after that.

Ichigo felt so helpless it annoyed him altrough he did not show it, the least he could have done was to help inoue with the dishes and stuff, sadly Ichigo did not look where he was going and the plate shot into the ceiling when he stumbled upon a carpet a loud crash could be heard as the plate`s fell on ichigo`s back and broke into thousands of pieces causing brusings on his back and the glass that shattered cut into his skin peeling out some blood, it caused him pain, ichigo narrowed his eyes open slightly he was lying down on the floor, however it was softer than he could have anticipated, ichigo stared at Inoue right into the eyes, huh at first he though he was dreaming then he realized that he was practically lying ontop of Inoue but not withouth pain, pain that he tried to hide the best he could, when he tried to stand up his back echoed in pain, he was blushing midly moment`s before but the pain neutralized those feelings for a moment as Ichigo rolled on the side of the floor a bit aside from Orihime S-sorry Inoue all i ever can do now is to cause trouble to those around me, im so usesless, ichigo thought gripping his fist as he caught a deep breath, his school uniform turned red on his back due to the blood that sipped out, altrough he hided it the best he could from Inoue, well at least i could protect her this time from the glass ichigo though while looking at the now blushing Orihime Inoue are you all right? he looked a bit worried sweating slightly as he attempted to smile a bit brighter trying to do his best not to worry her too much... he forced himself up on his feet with a bit of effort and offered Inoue to pull her up as well, but she was on her feet already...

Ichigo thought that perhaps she had noticed of his wound, it would have been stupid not to let Orihime take a look at it, normally that would not have been a problem but now he was nothing more than a burden to everyone, that in itself was not the problem but the fact that he had perhaps touched Orihime the mere thought made him blush again slightly, but he also felt a certain amount of disrespect, from touching her earlier Im sorry Inoue, i did not mean to... Ichigo bit his tongue, was this something she had wanted? no its not that perhaps shes just got a crush on me it would be stupid to assume anything else, Ichigo kept breathing faster as he leant against a wall. Inoue... he panted as the wound stinged a bit you already cooked, i just want to help, im... im not too much of a burden am i? Ichigo`s eyes where covered by his hair now as he started to slide down the wall to the floor leaving a trail of blood behind him, then everything went black.

OOC: a bit clichee i know x.x

((OOC: no problem, sorry this is a crap post i was brain dead xD))

Orihime had only just finished saying that she was glad Ichigo had enjoyed the meal before she felt the plate being pulled from her, she was shocked as he took the plate and insisted that he do it instead. Stepping to move towards the kitchen he tripped on something, unable to react in time Orihime was taken down to the ground with him as he fell. Having her eyes closed she fell backwards to the hard ground meant that Orihime was unable to see the plate that had been thrown up into the air coming back down towards them. Her breath was knocked from her body as she hit the ground below and Ichigo’s weight landed on top of her, it wasn’t that Ichigo was overly heavy but being wedged between the ground and even a small amount of weight moving with force could knock the wind from people.

The sound of the plate breaking jolted Orihime’s open, to say she was even more shocked when they were opened would have been a giant understatement. Staring into Ichigo’s eyes Orihime felt her heart begin to pound against her chest once more and her cheeks begin to flush again, she saw the flash of pain that took over his face momentarily before his own eyes widened as he realised what had happened. She thought the pain was the same the had suffered upon hitting the ground, she had no idea that the plate had broken upon Ichigo’s back. But it seemed she was wrong as she watched Ichigo’s face tense in pain once more as he tried to stand, had he hurt himself somehow during the fall? Ichigo rolled to the side in order to get off of her, struggling to regain the breath that had been knocked from her Orihime laid still and remained on her back. She turned her still blushing face to him as he apologised to her, she was confused as to what he was apologising for. She knew that it wasn’t his intention to trip and land on her so what else would he have been sorry for?

As he asked her if she was alright Orihime could see the pain on his face, sometimes he was no different that she was. She would hide pain from others and worry about them more than herself, something he was doing now for her. “I’m o.k” She was about to ask him if he was alright but as he stood from the ground Orihime’s eyes focused on the crimson marks left on the flooring. Rushing to her feet Orihime was standing before Ichigo himself, her face full of worry she spotted the broken plate on the floor. Ichigo had taken the hit from the plate for her, once again he had protected her. Orihime’s heart ached as she looked to him, he was in pain…he was hurt once again protecting her. Orihime started to approach Ichigo as he leant back against the wall, she could tell that something was seriously wrong. The way he was speaking had her confused, what was he sorry for? He had not done anything wrong, if anyone here should be apologising she thought it was her.

As he started to slide down the wall and Orihime could see the blood from his black smearing onto the white surface as he did so her heart broke and she rushed towards him as fast as she could. Sliding to her knees Orihime caught him just before he hit the ground, holding him up Orihime’s tears started to flow once more. Falling to her knees she cradled Ichigo’s head into her shoulder, his wounds were not that bad and she knew that. But it did not stop her from feeling as if her heart would break, but it was by far the words he spoke that made her tears flow. The fact he thought that he was being a burden, the fact that he thought he had bothered her made her cry. “Don’t be silly Ichigo, You could never be a burden to me”

Orihime leant her back against the wall and laid Ichigo’s head on her lap turning him over so that she could start treating the wounds that covered his back. As her shield covered his back and she watched the wounds start to fade away Orihime started to worry as he didn’t wake up straight away, there was no more for her to heal that she could sense. Gently rolling him so he was on his back again Orihime decided to wait and see if he would wake up, if it took too long she would seek help. Unfortunately as Orihime sat there on the floor with her back against the wall she dozed off with Ichigo’s head still resting on her lap.

OOC: no prob i was brain dead too a couple of days ago xD

IC: Ichigo had been sorry for being such a douce, if not for his little mishap this would never had occured, Ichigo thought while right before his eyes forced shut and everything went dark. The wound in itself was not that bad but had started to bleed suprisingly fast and quite a lot, it had also made Orihime`s clothes plain red from the blood, he felt really heavy and had hard to move even a finger, most likeley because he was no longer awake, but he could still hear and feel he was certain that Orihime had taken her in hopefully not too close though, he slowly started dreaming but Ichigo was not so sure if it was really a dream, he started to hear voices again.

The weird thing was that it did not sound like Orihime, not like Orihime at all, he remeber that sound though altrough it sounded blurry, was it Zangetsu, it must have been a dream, he kept hearing those voices for quite a while longer until he started to wake up, when Ichigo opened his eyes he looked suprised to see Orihime quietly sleeping, leaving his head on her lap, Ichigo blushed slightly, he then noticed something, the pain it was gone, he slowly pulled his arm where his wound was and was slightly suprised not to find any wounds at all. Ichigo realized that Orihime must have healed him, this made his smile soften up a bit, but her kitchen was a mess still he did not desire to wake her up but did not want to leave her lying there on the floor either, Ichigo would have moved her but was relucant to touch her any futher so he decided to wake her up instead, moments before Ichigo checked outside and it was dark outside, pitch black, Ichigo started to wonder how long he had been asleep again... Ichigo placed his arm on her shoulder gently, when she started to talk in her sleep something that involved himself, Ichigo doubted that she would even wake up if he moved her.

So Ichigo, pulled her up on his arms and took her to her bed where he covered her by the sheets up to her neck, Ichigo moved as quietly as he could to clean up whatever mess he had caused, nameley the glass and any remaining food that was left behind, he also cleaned up the blood on the wall, and went back to Orihime when he was done cleaning, he smiled once more when he saw her lying there drooling slightly while talking in her sleep, a thought entered his mind when he glanced at Orihime, the night when she left to las noches, had she been staring at him like he did now? He had not removed her bloody clothes he was not going to touch them, that should have been common sense to anyone so he let them be for now. He was hesitant about thinking like that he was also hesitant when a thought crossed his mind, he could have kissed her at least on the forehead but he would not even attempt it altrough he found himself leaning over her a bit.... Ichigo found himself smiling with a silly smile on his face, she really was adorable when she`s sleeping? As Ichigo started to move out of her room, he was really not paying attention and stepped on a plushie that was lying on the floor, which caused him to lose his balance and fall... crap he thought, a loud noise came when he hit the ground altrough he used his arms to soften the fall, he was certain she would wake up now.

oh well at least she got some sleep Ichigo thought, while he was lying there on the ground mentally cursing for himself, Ichigo was starting to think that Orihime was infecting him with clumsyness or something or then it was just the house... Ichigo sat up and awaited if Orihime really did wake up or if he managed to be quiet enough...

Was she crying in her sleep, Ichigo`s eyes widened slighly when she called his name over and over again was he going somewhere in her dream? it must have been a nightmare, no it can`t be, this made Ichigo certain that it was more than just a simple crush she had for him, in fact he was sure she was, Ichigo gulped, he never had anticipated or felt so nervous in his entire life, he glanced briefly at the floor... she has been keeping these feelings for herself all this time, havent she?

Ichigo could not blame her, he would probably have done the same in her situation, he sighed he then heard Inoue wake up and he smile softly at her So you finally woke up huh? altrough it was late Ichigo was unsure if he wanted to go back to an empty house, wait no no i can`t stay here god knows where that would lead, besides i would never dare to ask... such a foolish thing to ask, inoue probably would feel... insecure, no probably the other way around but i cant ask anything like that we might be close but seriously i doubt that close.

Ichigo shook the thought away and stared at Inoue now as she picked up the plushie that he had stepped on, oh he remeberd even bying that one it seemed fine still, it must have been precious for her, Ichigo had won the little plushie on a amusement park shooting lottery, it seemed to fit Inoue`s style so he had decided to give it to her with her birthday and all, if he had known that she had these feelings for him he would probably have skipped it, not because he wanted to be rude but because he thought that any thing she would clung onto would just painfully remind of him if he ever passed away or if he did not know how to respond to her affection...

At the moment Ichigo did not want to think about it even though with Inoue around he seemed to return to the same topic over and over again, as Inoue put away the plushie Ichigo noticed Inoue offer her hand, he hesitated for a short moment but took it none the less Thanks. Im fine really he tried to look neutral about the entire matter and sighed as he stood up to his full lenght I should probably go now... its getting really late he smiled.

You better change your clothes or someone might think that you are a cold blooded murderer or something Ichigo joked slight then his face turned a bit more serious as he glanced at Inoue for a moment longer, not saying anything.

The hesitation wasn’t large but it was there and it was far longer then Orihime would have liked, she was oblivious to the fact that she had been speaking in her sleep and frankly if she had known she would have died of embarrassment. She scanned his eyes and face as he spoke, she wanted to be sure that he really was feeling o.k. She had healed him but it didn’t mean she did not worry for him despite that, Orihime had always had an uncanny ability to know Ichigo’s true feelings despite what he showed on the outside. She never knew why she had such a connection to him but it came in handy often, she was able to sense his spiritual pressure when others were not, she was even able to feel his pain as if it were own…to some that last one might have sounded like a bad thing but she thought of it in the way that she would know if he was in danger or hurt and be able to help him and to her that meant a lot.

Seeing that he meant what he said at least in regards to his physical injuries Orihime relaxed a bit, but she could not shake the feeling she had and that was that there was definitely something wrong. As Ichigo mentioned the time Orihime suddenly became aware of that same fact, it was indeed very late and the only natural light came from the moon and stars. She didn’t want him to walk home in the dark all alone, she would walk with him but then she would have to walk home alone in the dark…it just wouldn’t work out. Looking down at her shirt as Ichigo joked about her looking like a murdered she chuckled slightly and made a crazy expression as she pretended to wield a knife, she wanted to see him smile again…she wanted to see the smile that could illuminate even the darkest of rooms. As she finished her little imitation of a horror movie murderer an awkward silence once again took over, deciding just to blurt it out Orihime broke that silence. “Maybe you should stay here for the night…..I mean it’s really late and you shouldn’t be walking home when it’s this late” Her motives were innocent and pure and she just hoped that he saw them that way too, she really just wanted him to be safe.

Ichigo could not help but to chuckle slightly himself at Inoue`s crazy expression, for a moment all his worries where washed away he could actually smile almost like he had smiled when his mother showed up, Inoue always had been able to brighten his mood, Ichigo felt a connection to her somehow stronger than to anyone else, but off course Ichigo had not taken note of this, when he fought against Ulquiorra and when he had died, what pushed him forward was hearing her words despite him being in that situation he arised from the ashes to fight.

Ichigo refused to laugh however he did not want to embarass her after all, her words suprised him, his eyes widened slightly I-Inoue... he stared at her slightly suprised still, if it was not for the fact that his house stood empty Ichigo would not even have accepted her offer, however she was alone, and so was he, a small smile crept along his face softening up more as he thought about it, it was Inoue who had requested him to stay, Ichigo had never stayed at Inoue`s before for the whole night, frankly put Ichigo had hardly slept at any friends place at all.

If he knew Inoue right then, her intensions would have been as pure as new snow on a winter night, this made Ichigo feel at ease he nodded unable to really comprehend what really had happened. But he did not care he was really quite tired. Then something hit Ichigo there was only one bed, Ichigo sweatdropped at the thought he was NOT going to sleep in Inoue`s bed was he? even if Inoue could say that she would sleep somewhere else he would object. on a second thought i don`t want to be a bur... well she did say he would never be a burden to her right? forget what i said... ehehe, you only have one bed right Inoue? Ichigo put his best efforts to not think about anything perverted, it would have just been his luck if Inoue would have intercepted him the wrong way, he wondered if she had other options in mind? he srached his head wondering what Inoue would say.

It was clear by now that Orihime was very anxious to hear his answer and once it came sort of anyway, Ichigo had expecting a major blush if she would have gotten what he meant, and she did but seemed to have been able to hold back the majority of her blush, Ichigo thought she must have thought that she had had enough blushing for one day or something along those lines but it really did not matter he knew now how she felt, worse yet he did not know how he felt about it.

He listened to her reasoning and frankly put Ichigo had nothing against going back home it was just the fact that there was no one home except maybe Kon, but he was not good company anyway, besides it was or had been friday which meant that they had no school tomorrow, Ichigo was just about to object about the matter when Orihime said she could sleep on the floor and he could take the bed, it was two things that made him not want to take that offer, first he would never go along with it and let Inoue sleep on the hard and cold floor and for him to take comfort in her warm soft bed, second thing was her bed in itself, Orihime herself had been sleeping there, he could not possibly sleep in the same bed that she had slept in not long ago, it just did not feel right, not because he would have felt uncomfy in it but for reasons that where hard for him to explain even for himself... It had her smell more so than any other thing in her apartment, but before Ichigo got the chance she announced that they could both sleep in the lounge room, she exlaimed it so would be just like camping outdoors and yet not, Ichigo thought about it, still it made him blush withouth meaning to his pupils stared away from Inoue I-i guess that`s all right... and all.... but what will i w-wear? Ichigo stared briefly at Inoue before his blush deepened a bit more and he was forced to look away again instead he tried to think about something else but the picture of him sleeping half naked in the same room as Inoue seemed to return in less than ten seconds.

It was not like Ichigo had any perverted in mind was there? right? no there could not have been I mean i would never do anything to Inoue, she was simply too pure and good for him...
he bit his lip slightly as he tried to calm himself down, its only one nights sleep right? so no biggie i can do this like a gentleman, no need to make any excuses no need to decline a woman`s offer a good friends at that... Ichigo stared at Inoue briefly awaiting her responce...

OOC: xD im so good at coming up stuff that you need to sleep over, all right inoue time for plan B xDD

((OOC: oh? well we will see about that mwahahahahhaahha :p))

Orihime waited patiently for the reply, she could tell that many things were running through Ichigo’s mind as silence took over for a few moments. She figured he was thinking about whether he should leave Kon home alone, after all if he thought that something happened to Ichigo then he would probably get into all kinds of chaos in his panicked state. What Orihime hadn’t been expecting was what Ichigo raised, “Oh…hmmm” On the outside Orihime had managed to maintain a pretty calm and collected appearance despite the fact that in her mind she was running around blushing like a school girl while flailing her arms wildly. OMG OMG OMG OMG I didn’t think of that! Suddenly the image of Ichigo in his boxers flashed into her mind, she herself was far too busy trying not to blush about that very image and trying to cleanse her own mind to notice that Ichigo was having the same trouble. Suddenly a thought came to mind, snapping from her daydream she looked to Ichigo once more. She had a faint blush on her cheeks despite her best efforts to contain herself and she spoke in a somewhat timid and shy manner. “Well….what do you normally wear?” Orihime tried to stop the thoughts from racing through her mind as she pondered on the possible answers she could receive. An image of Ichigo in matching pyjama’s crossed through her mind, why on earth he was wearing ones that had such a cute kitty pattern on them she didn’t know. Then an image of Ichigo in his boxers returned once more, forcefully shaking that one from her mind the only other way she knew that people slept was….NAKED!!!! Mentally freaking out and feeling as if she would faint Orihime didn’t know how she would react if that was his answer. Of course she didn’t see anything wrong with people sleeping naked in the privacy of their own beds or what not but she just didn’t know how she would cope with knowing that Ichigo did so.

No, she was sure that he wouldn’t sleep naked, after all he shared his room with Rukia. If he could share a room with Rukia and sleep then she doubted he would have been naked doing so, and if he wore boxers with Rukia there then she didn’t see any reason that he couldn’t wear boxers with her in the same room. Unless…..he felt more comfortable with Rukia….Snapping from her thoughts Orihime looked back to Ichigo as she awaited his reply.

Ichigo raised an eye brown as he noticed her expression and the way she spoke. He sighed knowing that he should have really headed home after all, Ichigo held in a yawn as well man was he not tired? He streched his hands while he listened to her answer, Ichigo had calmed down a whole lot and held back a lot of the blushing so not to arouse suspicion, He tried to look unfaced by her question as if talking about everyday things. umm... i usually wear a pyjamas, but... im not sure perhaps i should go home after all... he mentally thought what Inoue wore usually when she was sleeping the entire thought had not hit him before the mere thought made him seriously rethink what he had just said a couple of times, he forced the thought out of his mind and looked back at Inoue, waiting for a responce...

OOC: sorry for the short post but i could not come up with anything more to write.

((OOC: Sorry for my short post x.x I have no muse lately what so ever >.> and sorry for the delay.))

Orihime didn’t want to pressure Ichigo to stay if he didn’t want to but she couldn’t shake the bad feeling that she had when she thought of him walking alone this late at night, not to mention it didn’t seem to be very nice weather out. She decided she would offer him a solution to the problem they were facing one last time before she would simply accept that he didn’t want to stay, if there was nothing stopping him from staying then she would know that it was simply his wish to go home and not something made due to not being able to. “Well if you need pyjamas then you can wear a pair of Sora’s, you look about the same size…but if you really want to go home then I understand.” Part of her started to worry that Ichigo was far more comfortable with Rukia then he was with her. She would push it to the back of her mind for now. She knew that it was not time to start thinking and mulling over such stupid things right now, she also knew that if she started to think of those kinds of things she might not be able to hide the mood she would put herself in.

OOC: i hear ya, been brain dead for a while gomen

IC: Ichigo stared at Inoue for a moment as he listened to her gomen Inoue maybe another time, but thanks for everything the dinner was really delicious he gave a gentle smile as he went to pick up the jacket, he wrapped the jacket tight around him before he looked back at Inoue, he could not look straight at her face with a good peace of mind, that he would just have neglected her offer, why was he scared of something? Ichigo shrugged the thought and picked up his school bag up along his left shoulder holding it tightly up with his left arm on the handle that was wrapped around his shoulder.

She was still saving his brothers clothes huh? well she was just like his dad in that aspect. Ichigo opened the door and waved to Inoue withouth looking back at her, Ichigo closed the door behind him acting all care free, but when he came out he leaned against the door looking down on the ground Im such an idiot... he said to himself briefly before he left out on the streets, within 30 seconds after Ichigo had left did Inoue feel a creeping precence, a bad omen. Only moments later she heard a hollow shriek in the distance yet fairly close to her location... A powerful wind blew outside making Ichigo srudder and wrap the jacket around him tighter when suddenly a telephone line was cut about 25 feet behind him shooting up sparks around the line, at first Ichigo thought the cause had been the wind and moment`s later the whole block went dark, Ichigo was not scared of the dark, but he had a feeling that he was being watched...

(OOC: sorry for the delay x.x ive been doing site advertising and trying to salvage the event and well lots of things IRL D: and it turned out kind of long but im sure you dont mind that xD))

She wasn‘t sure why but Orihime was almost gutted to have heard the offer she made refused, hiding the distance that her heart sank and that her mood followed with it Orihime smiled her usual smile to Ichigo and tried to reassure him that everything was fine. “Don’t mention it, I know how lonely it can get eating by yourself in a big empty house. If you ever need company you can come over anytime” Part of Orihime was glad that Ichigo didn’t look back at her as he waved and left the apartment closing the door behind him, if he had he would no doubt have been able to notice that her smile was not at all a sincere happy one. As the door clicked close behind Ichigo Orihime closed her eyes and sighed, returning to the kitchen to wash her hands and get rid of the traces of blood upon them that had come from her clothes. As she turned off the water in the kitchen sink and reached for a tea towel she paused. She could feel something, it made her skin crawl and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up on edge. Rubbing her arm with her opposite hand Orihime could feel that her skin had goosebumps, and knot in her stomach started to form right before she heard an all too familiar sound break through the silence of the night air.

Gasping as her eyes widened and her heart started to beat fast as she realised to what it belonged to, but it wasn’t the fear of the hollow that made her gasp. It was the fact that Ichigo had just left and he would be walking home in the same direction that she felt the presence in, heck even if he had been going the other direction she would have worried for his safety. In her panicked rush to get to Ichigo and ensure his safety Orihime rushed to the door of her apartment and fumbled with the door knob trying to open it with wet hands, as her frustration grew over the moments she was wasting she kicked the door creating an audible thud. Calming down slightly after releasing some fear and frustration upon the poor rather innocent door of her apartment she got some rational thinking back for but a moment and wiped her hands on her clothes to dry them before trying again.

As the door opened and the cold night air blew across her now slightly damp shirt Orihime darted outside and peered out into the night from her railing, when she couldn’t see Ichigo anywhere panic started to kick in once more. Forgetting to get any shoes or grab a jacket or jumper, let alone make sure she had keys to the apartment again Orihime started to dash down the stairs. Luckily for the teen that now had nothing on her mind but finding Ichigo the wind closed the door to her apartment behind her and she didn’t notice it in her pre-occupied mind but the sound of her keys could just be heard from her pocket as she ran down the street. Making her way down the street in record time Orihime was running on adrenaline as her bare feet pounded the cold concrete side walk and the cold wind blew through her hair and over her skin, it could have started snowing and she wouldn’t have noticed for she was far to occupied with her current thought….find Ichigo.

She knew he couldn’t have gotten far in the short amount of time that had passed, unless he had decided to run home. Shaking her head to get rid of the thought Orihime continued to run as if her life depended on it, for the truth was someone else’s life that she deemed far more important did just that. As she stood on something rather sharp Orihime hopped along for a few metres refusing to stop her pursuit before putting her foot back to the ground and ignoring the pain, she still hadn’t realised she was bare foot and not even that incident had snapped her brain from it’s preoccupied state. As she turned a corner Orihime paused at the sight before her, watching as the hollow tore a power line down Orihime spotted Ichigo walking down the street about 300metres ahead of her. She had to distract the hollow that had it’s eyes set firmly on him and she had to do it quickly, flaring her spiritual pressure so as to get the creature’s attention Orihime ran towards it yelling to Ichigo as she did so. “ICHIGO!!! RUN!! GET OUT OF HERE!!!” Stopping her running advance as the hollow turned it’s gaze to her and growled Orihime had just enough time to raise her shield before a cero shot from it’s mouth. Orihime had hoped that Ichigo wouldn’t find out that she had been training against hollows and learnt new techniques this way, but the need to protect him outweighed the want not to have him angry at her for being reckless. Ichigo would have seen Santen Keshun before but the next part of it was going to be entirely new to the teen, as the cero hit the shield erected in front of Orihime it would be absorbed as the shield turned a light blue in colour. With a flick of her hand the cero would fired from the shield straight back at the hollow that fired it in the first place, the hollow rather surprised and taken off guard by this sudden counter attack leapt up onto a power pole causing large gashes of wood to be scratched off of it by its claws.

Taking the opportunity to run towards Ichigo once more now that the street was momentarily clear Orihime started waving to him and yelling once more. “Ichigo there’s a hollow, run!!”

Ichigo had plenty of time to return home so he took it slow for now, the wind made his progress slow anyway and since it was blowing from where he was heading it was pointless to try and find cover or match the wind by rushing things. He was not in a hurry anywhere that is until he heard running footsteps some distance away from him and Orihime yelling at him to run! Ichigo stopped to stare at her briefly it seemed like she was in a rush somewhere since she wore still the same clothes that she had worn inside not even any shoes taking the whole situation the wrong way Ichigo commented back looking rather confused at her Geez Inoue i know your worried and all but you don`t have to escort me back home, i can take care of myself... rather... he was going to tell inoue to get some more clothes on or she would catch a cold or worse but was interrupted by Inoue`s next words. Meantime the hollow had taken its time to retaliate and plan things trough... As it was ready to activate its special ability.

Before Inoue yelled at him his speech stopped as Inoue activated Santen keshun Ichigo`s eyes widened at this, but it soon became relevant that it was different, even so when something exploded and the powerpole was acting all weird and stuff as if someone crawled up on it. The hollow made a long leap trough the air before Ichigo had any chance to react to what he had seen, the hollow appeared almost frog like with its long legs that allowed it to jump long distances, the frog like hollow landed right behind Ichigo and opened its mouth to shoot out at least a dozen bubbles from its mouth with varying sizes, the first bubble caught Ichigo after he had started running a short distance from the hollow, the bubble easily caught up to him and swallowed him whole Uuuahh!! as soon as it did catch him the bubble turned black, because of the powerful wind Ichigo started to travel trough the air towards Inoue at a pace that was slower than those bubbles that where empty yet fast enough to reach her before the hollow could catch up to her, there where several bubbles resting on the hollows back probably other victims he had caught and started to devour both humans and spirits alike.

The hollow gave yet another loud scream, and shot out more bubbles this time aiming at Inoue, due to her spiritual pressure which was far greater than Ichigo`s but the hollow seemed to be a greedy one so it seemed to gather a lot of victims in one night, when it was done blowing the additional bubbles at Inoue and to keep her busy the frog like hollow sent out its long tongue and wrapped it around the bubble that Ichigo was in, pulling towards it placing it among the other victims, as soon as Ichigo was grounded on the creatures back it started to suck out Ichigo`s reitsu...

Inside the bubble Ichigo was struggling to break it open, but it was so hard, probably made out of pure reitsu, it was only now that he could see the bubble, but everything was dark so there was really nothing to see... Ichigo cursed and yelled ontop of his lungs but as soon as the hollow started to suck his reitsu did he pass out of exaustion...

OOC: its funny i came up with the hollows ability during a Fashion show, cool huh inspiration for everyone xD

Edit: no i don`t mind that at all =P

Ichigo knew things where bad but there was nothing for him to do, he could not fight hollows like this, as he once more breathed fresh air with the top of his lungs he was on the brink of being councious, he could hear Inoue and he knew they where still not safe, Ichigo who was hardly even councious forced himself to stand and jumped off the hollow withouth a word altrough the landing was not perfect, in fact it seemed like more of a crash but Ichigo was not really up for it, either way he was not even sure where he had Inoue if she was helping him stand up and escape or if she was already fighting the hollow... he was worried off course but he could hardly even speak in his current state let alone stand up and walk away.

He lied there for a while unable to move an inch, he stared off at the hollow which was now hesitating to attack Inoue, probably thinking about escaping while it could the woman seemed to be more trouble than she was worth eating, as an last ditched effort to escape the hollow released the bubbles from its back as a distraction towards Orihime but instead of escaping it attacked with its front claws and a gaping mouth wide open redying a cero that would annhilate both Inoue and the souls caught im between probably thinking that the woman could not attack it knowing that she might end up hurting or even killing a few inicent souls...

Ichigo used his last strength to crawl up against a wall and take a seat next to it he mumbles for himself Inoue... he gritted his teeth knowing that there was nothing he could do to help Inoue in her fight, he would just get in the way and that was the last thing he wanted to do... he felt so useless.

Feeling her heart lift as Ichigo moved and staggered to his feet Orihime couldn’t hold back her smile, but before she knew it he had leapt from the back of the hollow without a word to her. Cringing at the rather hard landing on the ground that Ichigo made Orihime yelled out to him as she ran down her step like Santen Kesshun panels, truth have it she wasn’t scared of using that way anymore as she didn’t even think twice of doing so. “Ichigo are you alright?!” Once again no answer came from Ichigo’s lips, but she had no time to run to his side and check if he truly was alright. Watching as the hollow released the bubbles it had stored on it’s back and sent them flying towards her Orihime didn’t know what to do, what if those bubbles still held souls? Focusing as hard as she could on them in order to try and sense if they indeed still had life within them Orihime felt her heart sink when she could not locate any.

Orihime could see that the hollow was about to fire another cero towards her, it obviously thought that if it fired a stronger one than it did before that her shield would break or at least not send it back at it….or perhaps it was just stupid and didn’t think twice before firing the large cero towards her. Standing her ground Orihime raised her shield just before the cero struck her, it was indeed a powerful attack and struck her shield with force. Being tired from using her powers so much Orihime’s body lost it’s footing against the force and she was knocked off of her feet and landed on her butt rather hardly upon the ground, but she had kept her shield raised and that was the key point. Watching as the cero was sent back towards the hollow Orihime crossed her finger and prayed that it would at least hurt the stupid thing. Looking over to see Ichigo clearly not alright leaning against a wall Orihime began rushing to stagger to her feet she had decided she wanted to finish this fight right now, with determination in both her voice and eyes she yelled out what she hoped would finish the creature for good. “Koten Zanshun” As the hollow roared in pain from the attack by it’s own cero it was too busy to notice the tiny Tsubaki piercing the air as he travelled towards its head….finding herself hoping once more Orihime swayed on her feet, never had she used her abilities so rapidly.

The hollow was sucsessfully hit by Orihime´s offensive attack and as Koten Zanshun pierced the hollows mask as well as its head it died off by reducing into nothing less than spirit particles. Ichigo had been panting quite badly earlier, but seeing inoue beat the hollow made him smile shortly before falling asleep... the smile remained on his face however another hollow crawled out from a garganta attracted by Inoue`s flaring spiritual pressure there was no doubt that there would be more of them showing up shortly, just as it raised its head and let out another loud growl did something unexpected happen as an arrow came from no where, and sliced the hollows head in two the hollow died by dying from the inside out reducing itself to nothing less than spirit particles.

He pulled up his glasses after he had released his arrow from the bow in his hand, the powerful wind making his clothes and hair dance, he stood about a mile away from Inoue`s location, holding up a determinated face, Ishida had sensed them for a while but had been occupied on his own he sent a few more arrows at their direction killing off another two hollows, take care of him Inoue, remeber you are never alone, a small smile crept on his face shortly before he continued his hollow hunt.

((OOC: sorry about this crap post i am really busy irl atm with babysitting a puppy during the day and internet problems xD so i rushed this one badly))

Watching as the hollow faded away Orihime felt a wave of relief wash over her, panting due to the strain on her body that using her powers had caused her she closed her eyes for a moment to calm down. It was safe now...or was it? As another hollow came bursting onto the scene Orihime stepped between it and Ichigo insitinctively, she wasn't sure if she could beat another one by herself with her lacking offensive powers but she would sure as hell try. Her eyes widened as an arrow pierced the hollow and defeated it, looking around for the source of said arrow Orihime couldn't see anyone anywhere. As two more hollows appeared Orihime watched as they two were defeated from afar, those arrows ....she knew whom they belonged even without seeing them. Uryuu, smiling and waving into the air at seemingly nothing Orihime knew he would be able to see her even if she couldn't see him. "Thank-you Uryuu"

Returning her attention back to Ichigo as she decided that she had to get them both out of the area Orihime panicked at the site of what seemed an unconcious body, running over to him as fast as her now sore and battered bare feet would carry her she dropped to her knees by his body and put her hands on his chest. Sighing with complete and utter relief as she felt his chest rise and fall with his breathing Orihime smiled, it was then she noticed the smile plastered upon Ichigo's own face. He was happy? Shaking her head as she started to think of why on earth he would have been smiling she dismissed the line of thinking. She couldn't use her healing powers on him here either, if she did it would run the risk of attracting yet more hollows to this location. While Uryuu was out hunting them it was still too large of a risk to take at the current time, hooking Ichigo's arm around her neck and onto the top of her shoulder Orihime held it there while wrapping her other arm around Ichigo and holding him up.

It was awkward to try and hold someone up that it larger then you but Orihime was strong willed if nothing else, the pace was slow as she carried Ichigo back towards her apartment. Pushing through the aches and pains she had and the exhaustion she too suffered Orihime slowly managed to make her way down the street, as she looked over to the resting Ichigo's face she couldn't help but blush. She could feel his heart beating and his warmth was driving back the cold winds that blew upon her, it was then that she finally realised she had forgotten to bring her jacket and as she looked down at the ground to hide her blush she realised she had forgotten her shoes too.....