Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Hirenkyaku of Love ❯ Hirenkyaku of Love ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Hirenkyaku of Love  
By: Pharathyse

Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns Bleach and all of its wonderful characters. I just like to play with other people’s toys! XD
Description: PG-13 for mild language and very mild sexual refrences.
Spoiler Warning:  This fanfic may contain spoilers for the Bleach manga up through chp 481.


 Uryuu Ishida looked over the rim of his glasses to watch Inoue-san gnaw on her eraser in earnest concentration. They were across town at her apartment, studying like they had been the night before every English test they had taken for the last 15 months. English was the only subject in which Orihime ever really needed help. She used to pester Kurosaki to be her English study partner all the time, but that was before…

 Inoue-san had finally given up asking Kurosaki to help her study after he lost his powers, and Ishida could hardly blame her. For a while, Kurosaki had been so miserable that it almost hurt Ishida to be in the same room with him for long periods of time. Oh, Ichigo never complained. In fact, he smiled wider at Tatsuki’s swagger and laughed louder at Keigo’s stupid antics than ever, but Ishida knew-- all Ichigo’s friends knew-- that was just Kurosaki’s way of putting on a brave face. Ichigo was always trying to protect everyone from everything, and this apparently included his own pain. So, instead of relying on his friends for support, he had suffered in silence while trying to convince himself that the act was working.

  It hadn’t.  And as much as Uryuu hated to admit it, even to himself, he had completely understood.

 Kurosaki’s internal agony ended when he regained his powers, but the habit of studying for English tests with Inoue-san remained. Ishida was secretly very glad.


 “There!” Orihime chirped with her usual unfailing cheeriness, handing Ishida a sheet of notebook paper. Karakura High School’s top student took her work and read it with a critical eye.

  “You left off the letter ‘S’ again,” Uryuu pointed out gently, returning the paper.

 Inoue frowned slightly, causing her lower lip to be pressed down into a pretty pout. Ishida stared for a long moment before tearing his gaze away from her lips and turning away. His hair fell forward to hide the momentary flush of embarrassment-slash-desire that he could feel burning on his face as he peered through a thick fringe of lashes to see if she had noticed. Fortunately, Orihime was busy correcting her mistakes while humming a bouncy tune.
 
  Ishida often wondered how Orihime could be so oblivious for someone who was so wise, albeit in a childlike sort of way. She was, without a doubt, the most guileless person he had ever met. It was this innocence, he supposed, that made her blind to the way 90% of the males over twelve in Karakura town gawked at her chest. The Quincy archer suppressed a disgusted snort. He was certainly glad that Kurosaki was a gentleman. The way Inoue-san practically threw herself at him… Ishida cut himself off from that line of thinking with a scowl.
   
   If anyone ever tried to take advantage of Inoue-san I’d…    I’d…
 
   Ishida made a noise somewhere in between a grunt and a growl.  That caught Orihime’s attention; she looked up to see Ishida glaring murder at her refrigerator. Uryuu looked sidelong at Inoue to see if she had noticed his most recent slip, confident that she wasn’t paying attention as usual, but much to his dismay, this time she actually had been.

 Dammit. Now she notices me, he swore silently.

  “Um… Ishida-kun?” Orihime ventured, confused by his expression. “Are you okay? Do you need something to drink?”
 
  “OH!! I know!” Orihime scrambled to her feet, looking pleased with herself for having solved the mystery of the growling Quincy. Surely that noise she heard was his stomach, but Ishida-kun was always so polite so he would never impose by asking for food.

  “You must be hungry! That’s why you were giving the refrigerator such a scary look!” Inoue declared as she started to step around the table. “I’ll get you something to eat…”

  “No! No thank you, Inoue-san,” Uryuu protested as he leapt to his feet, intent on preventing Orihime from trying to feed him some horrifyingly sweet concoction. “I was just thinking about something,” he said, attempting to dismiss the situation.
 
  Ishida looked down at Orihime’s face. Wide dove-gray eyes looked back up at him, full of child-like trust. Her brows were furrowed in an expression of concern.
 
  Oh, damn. Damn, damn, damn! Whatever gods are listening… please don’t let her ask me what I was thinking, Ishida prayed silently.
 
  “What were you thinking about, Ishida-kun?” Orihime asked innocently.
 
  Shit.
 
  Orihime blinked and widened her eyes expectantly, waiting for his reply.

  Totally. Guileless.
  
  Ishida sighed. How was he supposed to lie to her when she was looking at him like that? He ran the truth through his mind to see if it would sound as bad as he thought it would.

  Well, Inoue-san, I was just thinking that if any man ever tried to take advantage of you, I would happily remove his testicles with Seele Schnieder.
 
  It sounded worse. Uryuu grimaced.
 
  Maybe if I shut my eyes and pretend to adjust my glasses so I don’t have to look at her when I lie…

 Inoue took a step closer and Uryuu felt his carefully constructed façade begin to crumble. His fingers twitched as he fought frantically to keep his hands from reaching out for her of their own accord.

 “Ishida-kun?” Orihime probed softly, the hint of worry in her voice proving to be Ishida’s undoing. His body went on autopilot. He knew he was going to say and/or do something stupid in about two seconds, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

 “Orihi—“
 
 Two heads simultaneously whipped around to face the same direction as a violent surge of reiatsu rolled across Karakura town.

 “Hollow!” Ishida exclaimed, focusing on the reiatsu to determine where it was coming from. “More than one,” he added, grimly.

  Orihime nodded her agreement. “Let’s go, Ishida-kun!” she insisted, making a break for the door.  Ishida was right behind her and the two were out in the lamp-lit street moments later.

 Ishida knew Orihime could sense the unknown Shinigami that had arrived to confront the hollow. He could see it on her face. To say that the new arrival from Soul Society wasn’t doing well was an understatement, and he could tell that Orihime knew about that, as well.

 “Ishida-kun,” Inoue breathed, her face full of the compassion she felt for the struggling Shinigami, “I don’t think…”

“I know,” Ishida forestalled her with a grim nod. Wearing a frown of concentration, he extended his senses to evaluate the unknown Shinigami’s waivering reiatsu. He didn’t think that Shinigami was going to make it either, and to make matters worse, another even weaker reiatsu was headed that direction.

   Another Shinigami? Uryuu wondered. At this rate it’s going to be a slaughter. Where the hell is Kurosaki?!

 As if summoned by his very thoughts, Ichigo’s reiatsu flared to life.

“Ah! Thank goodness!” Inoue breathed, but her face didn’t show much relief.

“You’re worried about that Shinigami,” Ishida observed.

“Hai,” Orihime bobbed her head in reply, a pained look on her face. “I wish I could travel fast-- like you and Kurosaki-kun and Kuchiki-san!” she lamented, then immediately looked thoughtful.

 “Say… Ishida-kun? Can you make one of those platform thingies? You know, like you did in Hueco Mundo?”

 “Ahhh… ” Ishida sighed regretfully. “Sorry, Inoue-san. There aren’t enough free spiritrons in the World of the Living for me to construct a such a platform here.” Uryuu was truly vexed that he could not fulfill Orihime’s request. After all, she asked very little of him (and he wouldn’t have minded an excuse to offer her his hand to hold for balance, either.) His disappointment was short lived, however.

 “Well… maybe you could carry me then,” Orihime suggested, undeterred. “Kurosaki-kun said I wasn’t as heavy as I looked,” she added hastily, assuming that her weight had something to do with Ishida-kun’s face turning several different shades of red and purple in rapid succession.

 “WHAT!?!?!” Ishida blurted. “How would he--When did he—“ the Quincy fumbled for words as Orihime’s face steadily turned redder.

  “Oh, I know he was just being kind,” Orihime giggled nervously, trying to wave off the sudden embarrassment.

  Oh. She thinks that I think she’s…

 You’re an idiot, Uryuu, Ishida scolded himself. For a brief moment he couldn’t decide whose ass he wanted to kick worse: his own for embarrassing Inoue-san or Kurosaki’s, just on general principle.

 “Carrying you isn’t a problem, Inoue-san. I’m sure you’re quite light,” Uryuu reassured her, straightening to his full height and pushing his glasses up on his nose.

“Thank goodness!” Inoue exclaimed, relieved, before planting herself in front of Ishida with her arms held away from her waist and her eyes scrunched shut. Ishida blinked owlishly, trying to figure out just what it was Inoue-san was expecting with a pose like that.

“Erm, Inoue-san… What are you doing?” he asked cautiously.

 “Waiting for you to pick me up like Kurosaki-kun did,” Orihime replied, cracking open an eye to see if Ishida-kun was having second thoughts. He usually wasn’t this slow to act once a choice was made.

 “And… just how was that…exactly,” Uryuu choked out while attempting to ruthlessly squash the unbidden image of Ichigo sweeping Orihime off of her feet bridal style that was invading his mind.

  “Oh! He just balanced me on his shoulder!” Inoue informed the Quincy cheerfully, as if being thrown over a man’s shoulder barbarian style were a perfectly acceptable occurrence.

Ishida Uryuu wisely said nothing, but promptly decided that he was going to maim Kurosaki Ichigo at the first convenient opportunity.

 “I think it would be more comfortable if I carried you on my back, Inoue-san,” Ishida insisted, not thinking about the fact that Inoue was wearing a skirt. He realized his grave miscalculation once Orihime was settled on his hips with his elbows looped snuggly under her very bare thighs. He would be forever grateful that Orihime could see neither his face nor his fly from her perch.

“Moving this fast might make you uncomfortable, Inoue-san,” Uryuu warned as Orihime gripped his shoulders and leaned into his back. “If that happens let me know and I’ll let you down,” Ishida voiced his concern. He allowed himself half a second to savor the moment before gathering reishi beneath his feet and bounding into the night. Orihime’s grasp tightened, and for a moment Ishida was worried that she was frightened, but his anxiety vanished as the sound of Orihime’s voice rose above the wind in his ears.

“WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”

& nbsp;Ishida indulged in a rare smile. He should have known.
Converting /tmp/phpI3aHK5 to /dev/stdout