Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Jealousy ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any affiliates of Bleach.

(A/N: I cannot believe I forgot this the first time! )

 

Jealousy

Chapter 1

 

“Our envy of others devours us most of all.”

Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

 

Orihime stood above the small bed, her breathing quiet yet erratic and her hands clenched into fists beside her.

 

She looked down at the sleeping figures on the bed and felt a wicked smile creep across her face.

 

“Tsubaki…” she whispered, her eyes growing wide with a strange sensation of power. The frames not three feet below her were at peace, resting, unaware.

 

Orihime's eyes flew open and she shouted: “I reject!”

 

Orihime squealed and opened her eyes; the clock beside her futon responsible for her rude awakening. She gasped and felt her chest heave as her breath came out in pants. Shivering, she moved the blankets aside and made her way to her bathroom.

 

Orihime shut the door and looked at herself in her mirror. Her skin was pale and sweating, her bright orange hair was stuck to her forehead as if glued, and her arms were shaking.

 

“Oh my goodness.” She murmured, mopping some hair out of her face. “I look like a wretch! I have to clean up before school!”

 

Quickly, she turned on her shower and jumped inside while the water was still cool. Orihime lathered herself with soap and rinsed before jumping out and rushing into her school clothes.

 

“Oh no!” She cried, looking at her clock. “I'm late!” Replacing her strained look with her trademark expression of goofiness, Orihime sprinted out the door and began to run to school.

 

She entered the classroom just as the warning bell rang; Orihime sprinted to her seat and plopped down, gasping for breath.

 

“Orihime,” Tatsuki called, coming over to her and leaning across her desk. “I was wondering where you were, you sleep late again?”

 

“Yeah,” she answered, rubbing her head. “The dreams are getting worse.”

 

“You want to talk about `em?” Tatsuki asked, sitting on the edge of the desk.

 

Orihime bit her bottom lip and stared down at the top of her desk, she brought her hand up to trace a long and thin scar on the face. “I don't know.” She answered honestly. “They've been coming more and more but I… I…” She swallowed and shook her head, replacing her worried lip with a large smile. “It's nothing Tatsuki; so, tell me, have you seen Ichigo around?”

 

Tatsuki frowned at her friend and shook her head. She knew there was something truly bothering her, and Tatsuki's frown deepened when she realized that Orihime was too much of a private person too let her know what was going on.

 

“I haven't seen him yet,” she confessed, seeing the worry lines in Orihime's brow expand considerably. “He's probably just running late.” She conceded, trying to bring the light back into Orihime's eyes.

 

Only that was getting harder and harder to do these days. The light. Orihime hadn't been sleeping well, and as evidence were the dark rings around her eyes. Her frame was thinner, telling Tatsuki that she hadn't been eating much either. Orihime's demeanor had changed as well, she would be erratically bubbly at one time, and then change and suddenly turn and drift off into silence, her eyes staring off into the sky. A hard glint would appear in them and a wicked smile would caress her face. Only when she was called back into reality did the glint and the wicked smile disappear while her smile would reappear. The same old Orihime…

 

…Only different.

 

Tatsuki couldn't really explain it; perhaps Orihime was just tired, or hungry for that matter. Orihime would never change, she was simply Orihime: the klutzy, smart, brave girl Tatsuki had grown up with.

 

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Stop it!” Came a shout from just beyond the door, Tatsuki looked up, as did Orihime, her eyes growing brighter.

 

“Not until you apologize!” Came a second shout.

 

“For what?”

 

“You made us late!”

 

“I did not!”

 

“What do you call this?”

 

“The bell hasn't rung yet!”

 

“Well it's going to!”

 

“We're still in school!”

 

“Doesn't matter! You were the one who took forever getting rid of the Ho—of the—the—the thing!”

 

“It wasn't like I had a choice! That thing had its hand wrapped around my neck!”

 

“Like you couldn't do anything about that!”

 

“Come off it, you were the one who was just standing there!”

 

“Not my problem! You told me to stay back!”

 

“You've never listened to me before, when did you start?”

 

“Oh so it's my fault now?”

 

“Yeah it is so why don't you get your foot off my—”

 

A shrill ring interrupted the shouting twosome. With a strangled cry two bodies erupted into the classroom.

 

Rukia and Ichigo tumbled until Ichigo was lying flat on the floor and Rukia was on top of him, both of them wearing sour expressions.

 

“Everyone, take your seats,” yelled the teacher. She gave a calculating look to Rukia, who was still shoving her foot into Ichigo's face. “That means you two as well. Try not to be such a public disturbance.”

 

“Yes ma'am!” Rukia growled, with one last thunk into Ichigo's face. She leaped up as lightly as a cat and skittered to her seat.

 

“Damn you…” Ichigo muttered softly, rubbing his hand across his face. “One of these days Rukia… one of these days.”

 

The teacher began speaking as Ichigo and Rukia settled into their seats.

 

Only a few seats away from them, Orihime sat, her hands clenched in her lap.

 

Tatsuki stole a glance over at her beloved friend, only to see the hard glint had returned to her eyes. Feeling a small shiver run the length of her spine, Tatsuki looked away, feeling a small, yet ominous presence flowing from the seat beside her.