Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Knowing ❯ By The Bay ( Chapter 3 )

[ A - All Readers ]

I’m really an ichiruki fan okay? I just don’t know why I’m writing these kind of fic....wait I’ve got an idea why….

-goes to hide in a corner away from fellow ichiruki fans, and cries silently-

Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns the entire bleach universe. I’m just using his characters for my own enjoyment and, hopefully, your enjoyment too.

III. By The Bay

Orihime let go of Ichigo’s hands and run towards the shoreline as the scenic view of the ocean came into sight. She raised her hands and took a deep breath of the ocean breeze.

“Ichigo, walk faster or else you’re not going to see the sunrise!”

She joyously shouted at the top of her lungs. What more can she ask except for a day with him at the beach?

She placed a hand over her eyes and scanned the horizon, following the path of cranes in a v-formation as it flew across the sky until they were gone from her sight.

It was still early enough that a few rays of the sun were still peeping from behind the clouds. In a moment, Ichigo was soon beside her.

“We came here a little too early.” He remarked, glancing at his wristwatch.

“Oh no, Ichigo. We came at the right time”, she grabbed his arm and pointed at the rising sun, “look, the sun’s just about to rise. See?”

“Yes, I see it.”

“Isn’t it cute?”

“Cute? Yeah…”

That was Orihime, she could describe the rising of the sun as cute when it was beautiful for most people. And he didn’t like ‘most people’.

“Hey, Ichigo, stop looking at me! I told you to look at the pictures you idiot!”

He winced, feeling as if a swift punch to the jaw had just hit him.

“Ichigo”, Orihime’s voice, laced with worry, brought him back to earth, “are you okay?”

He felt disoriented, the question jumping around his mind, trying to look for its meaning.

“Ichigo?”

“D-don’t worry. I’m fine.” He smiled at her, but with a creased eyebrow, she turned back to the scene, leaning at him ever so slightly. He knew he hadn’t convinced her, but what could he do? He was afraid to hurt her.

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It was nearing noontime and it was becoming hot. The beach, which wasn’t filled that morning except by themselves and some other couple who had spent their night in the resort’s accommodations, was now brimming with people. Why did he convince himself this place wouldn’t be filled with people?

Because the resort cost a lot, that was why.

Who would have thought quite a lot of people in Japan were rich enough that they could afford this place? There were foreigners, tourists by the look of them, some were teens, but most were families with their little children enjoying the beach.

And some were ogling his wife too as if he didn’t exist and wasn’t wrapping a possessive arm around her waist. He scowled at one of the teens who was watching her and, blushing, he turned to look at someone else. But they were still too many to deal with one at a time.

His scowl becoming darker than ever, they stopped at the open-air restaurant.

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Setting down his cold drink on the able, she watched Orihime who was sitting in her chair facing the beach, sipping at her glass of lemonade once in a while.

An idea had entered his mind and he wasn’t letting go of it. He knew that Orihime enjoyed the town where they were currently living in and she also loved her work as a preschool teacher but since it was summer, maybe she would agree.

“Orihime.”

She placed her drink on her lap and looked at him inquiringly with her soft black eyes.

“Yes, Ichigo?”

“I was thinking…I like to go visit dad and my sisters back in Karakura, could we?”

She looked down at her lemonade. Seeing the bubbles float to the top, then burst. She never really wanted to go back to Karakura, ever. But his family was there, and she knew that he loved his family. It had also been a long time since she visited her brother’s grave.

There was still that little doubt left in her heart if they should go back now to Karakura.

She turned to him, smiling.

“You really like to go back there for a visit?”

He raised a hand and it found a spot on his head to scratch, ruffling his spiky hair. She felt the urge to comb it.

“Well, I really miss my idiotic Dad, and Yuzu and Karin. It’s been…let’s say, almost three years since we last visited them right? I heard Karin already had a baby, and it’s a boy. What do you think?”

She remained silent for a few more seconds…she really didn’t like to go back to Karakura. She caressed the hairpin that held her bangs. Should she..?

“I don’t know, Ichigo…”

“Well, then it’s settled, isn’t it? How about next year?”

Ichigo said with too much enthusiasm it was painstakingly obvious that he was faking it.

She felt Ichigo’s disappointment as if it was her own. She closed her eyes.

“Could we…could we discuss this back home Ichigo?”

He looked at her, her eyes were closed. Damn his stupid, tactless mouth. Orihime didn’t want to spoil this day and here he was spoiling it for her.

He sighed.

“Sure we will. Hey, Orihime, love,” he ignored the painful twist his heart made when he said that last word, “bring your lemonade with you, I’m going to show you the Kurosaki way of enjoying the beach.”

He stood up and grabbed her hand. She was then, laughingly, because she resisted every effort he made, dragged to the beach, her lemonade emptying itself drop by drop along the sand.

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Her short brown hair finally swept into a neat chignon, she busied herself into loading their things at the trunk of the car. It was then that she noticed that her little beloved monster was not in her sight.

Leaving her chore immediately, she straightened and was ready to make quick, fast steps to look for him when a tug on her skirt made her stop.

A pair of brown eyes looked at her green ones.

“Mumsie, I saw dad.”

She was incredulous. His dad?

“How did you know?”

“He had orange hair like I.”

Her eyes lingered unto the nine year-old’s crop of bright orange hair.

“Are you sure?”, doubt seeped into her own voice, and also a little bit of fear.

The kid looked down, his grip on hr skirt loosened and finally his hand dropped to rest by his sides.

“No….”

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Oh my…who are those people?

O.o

What do you think huh?!

Review….review….review….please…