Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ The String ❯ Stupid Questions ( Chapter 8 )

A/N: Hey peeps! Ok, I'm really sorry I haven't updated this thing in such a long time. I'm sure you must be wondering where I've been and if I'm even still alive or not. Well, the truth is I've recently been attacked by a vicious case of Writer's Block, celebrated my 1-year `anniversary' with my boyfriend, and hacked off about ten inches to a foot of my hair. Yep, my pretty long hair that was nearly to my elbows is now hanging peacefully at my chin. It's a pretty drastic change, but I needed it and I think all the extra weight on my head was keeping me from thinking clearly lol. Ok, since you obviously don't care I'll just get on with the story, shall I?

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Disclaimer: Man, why do we have to do these things in every chapter? Isn't it obvious we don't own the stuff?

(Lucy: You may not, but I do.)

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Chapter Nine: Stupid Questions

 

 

`Damn fog… Stupid fog… Man, I hate fog. Fog sucks. It's all humid and weird, and you can't see… and the frizz… and then it's all annoying… Grr. …fog…'

 

These were the thoughts of Uryu Ishida as he made his way to school early Tuesday morning. He had never liked the fog much and, honestly, he felt it was just a nuisance. Usually, on a day like this, he would have taken the bus instead of walking just to avoid the mist, but to his misfortune he currently had no money, and so to his distaste he found himself going to school by foot.

 

Upon making his arrival a few minutes later he suddenly, once again, had that horrible clenching feeling in his stomach he'd endured Saturday night. At first he couldn't conjure up a sensible reason as to why. Then it hit him. `Oh, Kami-sama. Why'd I decide to do that today? Well, I guess I could back out… but I can't… If I do, it'll never happen. I already chickened out yesterday. What is up with me lately? C'mon! It's just words! I can talk can't I??? No. Not really. I never was very good at that… That's what comes of being shy I g-'

 

~!BANG!~

 

Suddenly there was the abrupt feeling of unexpected pain and the undeniable sounds of laughter. Just barely on his feet Uryu looked up and saw directly in front of him a pole in the middle of a double doorway. Could this get any worse? Maybe this wasn't going to be such a good day after all. Immediately noticing what he'd just done and who had seen him do it, he knew he had to be some weird shade of pink and began to run. `Damn it! This sucks! Why does it feel like this kinda stuff always happens to me?' He wasn't quite sure where he was running to until he found himself a few feet away from Rukia's locker.

 

Rukia looked around at the sound of quickly approaching footsteps. “Uryu?” She didn't need to ask. She knew his rietsu(sp?) well enough to know this was definitely her friend. “What's wrong?” He looked flushed, angry, upset, tired, frizzy and on the verge of tears even though he would probably never let himself really cry. He sighed, walked a few steps over to the wall of lockers and sat down to lean against them. “Uryu, are you ok?”

 

He gave a little halfhearted chuckle and said, “Yeah I just ran into a pole…”

“Oh, where thinking too hard again?”

“What?”

“Well, Orihime runs into stuff a lot when she's thinking and I thought maybe you might have been thinking too hard and not looking where you were going.”

“Yeah, I guess I was. Hey, at least I made it to the door and I didn't end up crashing into the wall like a complete weirdo.”

“You're not a complete weirdo.”

Uryu hated it when people said stuff like that. He was socially awkward anyway. He didn't need people giving him weird compliments and stuff. He never knew the right way to respond to things anyway. He just settled for what his mind could come up with, which, come to think of it, was probably a bad idea as it came out as a strange, “Uh, thanks…?” Great, he really couldn't talk. This was stupid.

 

“Are you worried about Orihime?”

Well that was sudden. How was he supposed to reply to that?!? “What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you worried she won't like you?”

“I, um, uh-”

“Listen, don't worry about it. She thinks you're really sweet and likes the fact that you're polite. You have a good memory and you're really smart. She thinks you're cool in your own little nerdy way. I don't know how much she really likes you, but I know for sure she doesn't dislike you. I would even go so far as to say she doesn't just think of you as nothing but a friend anymore, but that's just me. I hope that helps.” She got up and went back to her unclosed locker. “Oh, and we never had this talk, ok?”

 

At first he didn't know what to say, then he saw her face a knew he didn't have to say anything. He stopped gaping and looked up at her thankfully with a slight feeling of hope and for some reason A LOT more confusion. Standing, he put his right hand in his pocket and swung bag over his left shoulder and walked off a little more confidently to find homeroom.

 

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“Uryu!”

Uryu let out an `Oof'-ing noise as he felt himself being tackled by somebody who was evidently waiting for his arrival and anticipating his entrance. He couldn't help but fall to the ground under this person's weight. Geez, who was this???

 

“Hey! Get off him! Geez! Are you trying to kill him or something? You're such a freak! Do we need to call the asylum for you?” All this was said as the person saying it attempted to yank Keigo off Uryu. Pretty soon Uryu could see Tatsuki standing over him holding her hand out. He took it gladly. “Thanks” he said a little awkwardly. In truth he was actually very thankful of her and thought her way of handling Keigo was kind of amusing.

 

Looking around he saw Keigo in a very odd position against the wall. As if he had been picked up and tossed there. That couldn't be natural. A few steps later he was at his seat with the others standing around talking to each other in a small confused group. He noticed Orihime wasn't there and then remembered why. She was doing something in the library for one of her other classes and would probably be back late for class. He'd already forgotten what it was she was doing and to be honest he didn't really care to ask. Looking back at his small group of friends he saw that occasionally one person would join and one would walk off to do something only to come back again in a few seconds. This continued until class started just like every day. Right as the bell rang, Rukia walked by his desk to sit down and dropped a small piece of paper on his desk.

 

Unfolding it he read, `Are you gonna ask her out?'

 

Well at least he could say what he really meant in a note. He wrote, `I was thinking about it. I just don't know how to do it or when…' then glanced up at the teacher to make sure she was still writing on the board and tossed his reply onto Rukia's desk. A second later the same paper landed in front of him. Again he unfolded it.

 

This time the message read, `Well you should do it after school for sure. Um maybe start off slow, like `do you wanna coffee' or something first. Don't just go all `be my girlfriend!' right off. You might kill her lol. No, I think you should just not go to fast with her. Unless you wanna totally surprise her. I mean if you want her to have a heart attack and start crying or something weird then go ahead and do it all at once.'

 

He scribbled his reply, tossed the paper back to her desk and watched her read then scribble and toss back. This went on for about five more minutes until Ichigo got interested and motioned to Rukia to toss him the note. Much to Uryu's dislike, she did. That's when things got interesting. Not only was Ichigo's handwriting so different from the small neat style of his own and Rukia's, but the conversation started doing things Uryu wasn't so sure he approved of. (A/N: Here I'll just put the persons initial in front so it doesn't get comfoozing)

 

[I] `No way. There is no way you're going to ask out Orihime.'

 

[U] `Why?'

 

[R] `Yeah, why can't he ask her out?'

 

[I] `Because… because… um… just cuz! That's weird!'

 

[U] `Why? Because I'm not `cool' right? Because I'm not popular?'

 

[R] `I'm stayin' outta this one…'

 

[I] `0.0 since when do you have nothing to say Rukia? Listen all I'm sayin is it'd be weird if you started going out with Orihime.'

 

After that Ichigo decided to stay out of it and left Uryu and Rukia to pass notes all hour in peace.

 

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Today for some reason, the group had decided to eat together at lunch. The boys hung around their lockers a little longer than the girls did and as a result had to go track them down when they were done goofing off. Uryu thought the girls were probably playing a joke on Ichigo or something. Ichigo being the least likely to listen to reason and the one with the personality of a leader. Ishida thought they had to be in the courtyard somewhere and headed there without a word to Ichigo as he led Keigo and Mizuiro aimlessly around for ten minutes. Uryu was right of course and found them in the small courtyard underneath some trees.

 

“Where is everybody?” Orihime asked.

 

“Oh, Ichigo insists on being right so he's leading them aimlessly around the school. Normally I'd follow, but I'm not about to miss lunch.”

 

A few of the girls thought this was kinda funny and giggled a bit.

 

Tatsuki was pretty sure what Uryu had said wasn't really all that funny and just sat there waiting for the few who giggled to calm down. “So what's up, Ishida-kun? I haven't seen you around lately.”

 

Uryu knew he and the others seemed to disappear from time to time and it was no doubt people would start to wonder where they were going. “Oh, you know, just school stuff. Nothin's really goin' on” he said.

 

Tatsuki sighed and said in a kind of bored tone, “Yeah, same here I guess.”

 

Uryu looked at her and saw the fiery martial arts girl inside and then suddenly remembered what she'd done to Keigo. “It was kinda funny the way you beat up Keigo this morning though.” He couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he said so.

 

Tatsuki laughed as she remembered what she'd said, “Oh thanks. I didn't mean for him to crash into the wall like that, but he deserved it anyway. He's such a weirdo and he needs to learn how to be normal.”

 

“You said it! That guy freaks me out!” This was from a girl sitting a few feet away whom Uryu did not know.

 

“Yeah, me too. He's such a creep!” This was from another girl whom Uryu only knew by sight.

 

Tatsuki looked over to Orihime and said, “Hey, Orihime, you haven't said anything yet. You're being unusually quiet.”

 

Ishida looked at her and saw her blush slightly. He knew it was true. She was never this quiet. It was weird for her not to talk. It looked like she had customized her lunch, but not yet taken a bite. Since when did Orihime not want to eat? He looked down at his own lunch to avoid eye contact with her and saw his own half-eaten sandwich, an open bottle of water and a few chip crumbs. He looked back up at her and saw what looked like a sickening concoction squeezed between two pieces of bread and a small water bottle filled with Kool-Aid.

 

He wondered what she could be thinking about and asked, “What's wrong Inoue-san?” He waited patiently for an answer and then heard a mumble. Unfortunately, the most sensitive of ears could not have caught that whisper.

 

“What?” Tatsuki asked. Apparently she didn't hear what she said either.

 

“Oh nothing. I'll tell you later.” Orihime answered. “I'm just not very hungry today that's all. I had kind of a big breakfast.”

 

Uryu thought that maybe this wasn't the truth. Orihime had a big breakfast every day from the sounds of it. He'd probably find out from somebody what was going on later. One of her friends would probably tell him if it was actually important.

 

The rest of lunch went pretty much the same way with Orihime talking very little and taking a few bites of her weird sandwich every few minutes. Eventually Ichigo, Keigo and Mizuiro did arrive, their lunches already half eaten. Apparently they got too hungry to go on and were just about to faint from heat exhaustion so they gave up and just started eating from their sacks as they walked around. Uryu figured Keigo was the one that started up this melodrama and Mizuiro, being equally famished, went along with him, ultimately causing Ichigo to cave in. Uryu couldn't help but imagine a train of starving boys walking around aimlessly stuffing sandwiches in their mouths as they looked for people to eat with. The scene playing through his mind was just too much to bear and Uryu couldn't help but have a private laughing fit in his head.

 

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Lockers are troublesome things. They get stuck and won't open or they get broken and won't close or you don't remember the combination and you're locked out.

 

`Damn it you stupid locker. Why do you hate me? All I want is my backpack! C'mon! I already did my combination three times and now you're stuck?!?!?! Grr. This sucks.' Uryu was not very happy with his locker right now. He was actually a bit annoyed at it. `Grr! Just open already!' ~Bang, clunk~ Uryu kicked his locker as hard as he knew how. Maybe that would un-jam it. Sure enough, this time it opened. In the bottom, one of his text books was laying open so the pages were being smashed against the bottom under the rest of the book's weight. That would explain the clunking noise. Now then, what did he have for homework?

 

About two minutes later the bell rang and Uryu was zipping up his bag. He managed to make his way through the hallway without being dead at the other end and walked out the door into the sunlight. Now he just had to find Orihime. He would rather do what he was about to do here, at school, with the school atmosphere still in the air rather than somewhere else. Yeah, it wasn't the best time and place, but it was the most comfortable.

 

Now where would she be? Then he knew. He headed around the school and went in a door on the other side, then climbed up the stairs to the art class where a few students had decided to stay after school to work on projects and such. He walked into the room and headed straight for Orihime. At her desk he bent over and said quietly, “Hey. Uh, will you come with me for a second?” Orihime looked up at him and saw his blue eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

 

“Uh, sure…” She didn't know why she was following him or what he wanted but she let him lead her out anyway. After walking with him for a ways the slowed down and stopped in the middle of the hallway infront of a row of lockers. He turned to her and smiled slightly then dropped his head to look at the floor. After a second he picked his head up and looked at her with his sapphire blue eyes.

 

She looked away for a second until she heard his voice. “Hey, Inoue-chan?” She looked at him expectantly, waiting for the rest. “Would you- …Would you-” Here he seemed unable to go on and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose the way he always did when in distress. He took a deep breath and said quickly, “Would you go out with me?”

 

Orihime smiled and said with a blush, “M-hm” while nodding to make sure he got the meaning of her reply. He smiled and reached for her hands. “Thank you” he said. Pretty soon Orihime found herself kissing him again. This was different than it had been at the party. It felt like they were really and truly alone this time. This time it also meant something different than it did last time. This was uncnfused and sure. When they broke apart it wasn't abrupt and unwanted. It was nice, and satisfying.

 

“Well I think I better go.” Uryu said. “I meant to be home by 3:30 and now that I missed the bus I'll have to walk.” He checked his watch. “See, it's already 3:15. Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you-” Orihime smiled and kissed him, “It's ok”. He blushed and adjusted his glasses yet again.

 

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“Hey, Orihime, who was that guy just now? I think he's in my science class.”

 

Orihime looked up at her classmate, Sakurako, who was a year older than her and said, “Oh, his name's Uryu Ishida.”

 

A look of confirmed recognition claimed her face and she said, “Yeah, he is. I think he's kinda cute… Anyway what'd he want?”

 

Orihime, still in a tiny bit of a daze, replied, “To be my boyfriend”.

 

“Lucky. Is he sweet?”

 

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Uryu strolled in the door, walked up the stairs to his room and tossed his shoes and backpack in the corner. Despite the way the morning had gone, he'd actually had a good day.

 

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A/N: Hey! Well I'm not sure what I think of this chapter. I think I'm still recovering from my writer's block, which sucks because that means that anything you write is probably crap. So I apologize that this chapter and the last is probably crap but I'll try to bear it with you. Trust me, my crappy writing scares me just as much as you and probably more lol. Anyways, I'll see ya later! (= ]