Getting on the ball here!
Sep. 21st, 2010 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenofchalicesTitle: Til Death Do Us Part: Chapter Four - In Debt
Series: Bleach
Rating: R
Warnings: het (IchiHime), ANGST, dysfunctional relationships, adult themes
Spoilers: This is set ten years after the series, so spoilers up to current chapters
Disclaimer: These characters belong to a lot of Japanese people, namely people like Tite Kubo and Shonen Jump. You'll notice how none of those are me. The LiveJournal format that you'll probably be reading this in (if you're one of my friends) is rough draft and is subject to revision. Consider this a 'sneak peek'. If something sits the wrong way with you, let me know. This will probably (never) be updated weekly, until I eventually drop it like every other project ever. Not responsible for epileptic seizures or allergic reactions. May contain eye-and-brain-bleeding levels of radioactive ANGST and/or peanut products. Please sit a reasonable distance from your computer screen.
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The next few days passed slowly and painfully for Ichigo. The somewhat peaceful existence he'd carved out for himself among Fifth Division was being turned upside down, and the culprit was none other than Orihime herself.
It wasn't that she meant to be disruptive, or that she was causing trouble. On the contrary, she was quite pleasant in everything she did. And that only served to drive Ichigo further mad.
He'd had to personally see to getting her a few yukata to wear that were less flashy than what Rangiku had picked out for her. The act of figuring out her size with the shop girl alone was enough to almost make Ichigo's blood flow backward. But he'd managed to do it, earning a grateful smile from Orihime herself for his efforts. At least now she could walk around without looking like some kind of socialite, or worse, a loaded noble's wife.
Worse than that, though, he'd had to go into debt to get her those plain yukata. The irony didn't escape him; he'd gone broke buying the most extravagant clothing Seireitei had to offer, but then had to borrow money for plain clothes. The worst part, though, was who he'd had to borrow the money from.
"Since when do you need money, Ichigo?" Rukia had asked the morning he'd visited her, "I thought you always saved your salary?" Ichigo rubbed the short hair at the back of his neck awkwardly.
"I do," he confirmed grumpily, "But a certain someone decided to spend every kan I had when she got ahold of my card." Rukia looked at him curiously.
"You let Matsumoto have your card?" she asked skeptically, "Were you drunk again?" Ichigo flushed brightly.
"No!" he protested, "She stopped Momo while she was on an errand for me!" Rukia raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"To buy women's clothing?" At this, Ichigo realized he'd been stalling. What for? Was it the weird way Orihime had kept asking him about Rukia? Or maybe he just didn't want to deal with the ribbing Rukia would surely give him.
"Inoue needed clothes," he muttered, his cheeks pinking up, "And Rangiku bought her the most expensive things she could find, so now I'm broke." Rukia's face lit up.
"Orihime is here?" she asked, clearly eager to see her old friend, "Why didn't you say so? Wait... Inoue? Did she divorce Ishida?" Ichigo sighed. Leave it to Rukia to miss the obvious.
"She's dead, Rukia," he said flatly, "I thought you saw her whenever you went to the human world? Wouldn't you know if she'd gotten divorced?" Rukia simply looked puzzled.
"I haven't seen her since she got married, Ichigo," she said, shaking her head, "Every time I tried to meet with her, she was busy. Eventually, I guess we just fell out of touch." This surprised Ichigo, although he tried not to let it show.
"Anyway, she wants to be called Inoue now, and it's easier for me to remember anyway," Ichigo pressed forward to hide his embarrassment, "But she's here now, and she needs clothes that don't look like she's going to a state function. Can I please borrow a couple thousand kan? You know I'm good for it."
"May I come over and see her?" Ichigo snorted.
"You're a Vice Captain," he shrugged, "You can go wherever you want. But yes, you can come see her. I think she'd like that." He folded his arms over his chest, clearly uncomfortable. What did Rukia think he was - Orihime's jailer? She distracted him from his indigence by fishing out her card.
"What do you say?" she asked expectantly.
Ichigo's eyes narrowed at her as he ground out a "please" between gritted teeth.
"Please...?" Oh, for the love of all that was holy. She was really pushing it now.
"Please, Kuchiki-fukutaichou," he grumbled darkly, snatching the card away from her. Rukia smirked triumphantly at him.
"Alright," she finally agreed, "I'll be over to see her shortly. Don't worry about paying me back - consider it a present for Orihime."
As if that hadn't been mortifying enough, the shopping was even worse. Being a Captain had its disadvantages, namely that everyone in Seireitei knew his face and name. Naturally, the shop girl was curious who the clothes were for, and if the long looks he got were any indication, so was everyone else around him. He cut off any weird speculation by loudly informing her that the clothes were for his sister.
Still, he was fairly sure he saw one of the Bulletin's photographers out of the corner of his eye when he was leaving the shop. He would have to have a word with Hisagi about that next time he turned his column in for the newspaper.
All of that wasn't even touching on the process of trying to figure out Orihime's proper size in front of the shop girl. The less said about that embarrassment, the better.
When he returned from shopping, he was greeted by the sounds of cheery girl talk coming from the general direction of his offices, where he assumed Rukia and Orihime were catching up with each other. After his little shopping trip, he wanted no part of whatever humiliation Rukia might have had planned for him, and wisely steered clear until she was ready to go. On her way out, he returned her card.
"Is that all you got?" she asked upon examining his purchases against his wishes, "They're rather plain, although I suppose the craftsmanship isn't bad." Ichigo just sighed.
"She'll look fine in them," he said, nearing his wit's end, "That's the important part. She doesn't need to look like a movie star." Of course, he thought Orihime would look good in a potato sack, but he prudently left that thought unspoken.
Orihime herself was thrilled with the new clothes (after a short scolding for spending yet more money on her, of course). Ichigo knew her well enough to know that she didn't even remotely share Rangiku's taste in clothing and that her own tastes ran more towards the practical and plain than the extravagant. Still, he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy seeing her dressed up.
The clothes aside, there were other ways her presence was disruptive. She insisted upon earning her keep, her idea of which tended to unintentionally insert her into nearly everything Ichigo did. She decided to help with the laundry, which resulted in her walking in on him half-dressed one morning. She helped the cooks with breakfast, which was actually blessedly normal and oddly free from any strange ingredients. She tidied his office, which resulted in a scolding from Momo for letting it get dirty in the first place. She had even taken his complaint about Momo's use of the coffeemaker to heart and started making him coffee in the mornings. Everywhere he looked, she was there, busying herself.
Worse still, his division had taken notice of her. He was well aware that there were more than a few whispers about what Orihime was doing in their barracks; several of his troops even remembered her as one of the ryoka from a decade ago that had invaded Soul Society with him. He knew they'd already drawn their own conclusions as to why she was there, and he was sure he didn't want to hear any of them.
Even so, there was no animosity towards her from any of his division. Or if there had been, they were being very careful to keep it out of Ichigo's presence. To the contrary, everyone seemed to love her. Perhaps a bit too much, in Ichigo's opinion, as he'd already caught too many of his men openly staring at her breasts or her backside when she wasn't paying attention. Those men had mysteriously wound up with latrine duty for the following week, with no small bit of devilish glee on Ichigo's part.
To try and discourage some of the ogling, Ichigo had finally snapped and told a few of them that she was married. In hindsight, it really hadn't had quite the effect he'd hoped for. Instead of giving Orihime some space, it doubled the questions about her; specifically, Ichigo's division wanted to know what their captain's relationship with this married woman was.
Ichigo was simply forcibly reminded of being in high school again. Some of the men in his division were worse gossips than teenaged girls.
Either way, Ichigo hadn't had a moment's peace since she died.
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Orihime hadn't allowed herself a moment's rest since she died. Upon arriving in Fifth Division, she had been determined to repay Ichigo's kindness for keeping her and spending his money on her. The last thing she wanted was to be a burden on anyone anymore, so she'd immediately gone into overdrive trying to straighten his offices.
Even though the Gotei 13 was a military organization, the barracks seemed too cluttered and disorganized for her tastes. Not only that, but they were too drab and sparsely decorated, too. After six years of not being able to dictate how her living space looked, Orihime had immediately seized the opportunity to decorate her new room with any little thing she could scavenge. It had quickly been splashed with color from cut flowers she'd gathered growing wild on the division's grounds, pieces of the kimono Rangiku had bought with her, a high-quality lacquered fan she had been pressed to buy, ribbons, particularly pretty rocks, and a couple stuffed animals Momo had brought her.
This influence quickly spread beyond her room and into the barracks at large. Ichigo's office was the first casualty; it was cleaned from top to bottom, decorated with candy dishes in various places, and made to smell of citrus and pine. Next came the mess hall, which suddenly found itself furnished with fresh centerpieces and napkins folded into the shapes of little bunnies. Then she went further out onto the grounds, and started cultivating a little flower garden of her own. Slowly but surely, Orihime was making herself at home.
The Fifth Division troops were fairly happy with the changes. According to them, their captain was usually a sullen, grumpy man with a foul mouth and an even fouler temper. They were mostly loyal to him anyway, as he did go to bat for them and try to make their jobs as easy as possible. But they all had a healthy respect for his temper nonetheless.
To them, the sudden change in their captain's demeanor, as well as the change in the general atmosphere of the division, was confusing but welcome. A majority of them remembered Aizen's stint as their captain and his affable nature fondly; the other Captains had never let his betrayal become public knowledge, nor the circumstances of his death, so to the rank and file his memory was left untarnished. And it was quite easy for them to tell that Ichigo's heart wasn't really in his work. So to see him slowly lightening up and even occasionally smiling was a bit of a shock to the division, to say the least.
The cause of his unconscious change in demeanor was also readily apparent. In the week since she'd arrived, the division had slowly taken notice of Orihime until she'd found herself in the unwitting role of something of a minor celebrity. To her, it just seemed as if they hardly ever got guests and were just grateful for something out of the ordinary. She didn't understand why all their attention agitated Ichigo so.
"I see morale has certainly improved around here," Rukia commented over coffee when she visited Orihime for the first time at the end of the week. Orihime smiled shyly behind her coffee cup.
"Is it really that different?" she asked sheepishly. The smaller, black-haired woman nodded as she peered out of the Captain's office at the activity outside, her round, violet eyes surveying the suddenly cheerful nature of the division.
"They must like you," she commented with a smile, "Or at least they like that you've been distracting Ichigo." Orihime's eyebrows pursed at this comment.
"Do they not like him?" she asked, suddenly concerned. On top of everything else he'd been through, she didn't want to hear that his division didn't get along with him. Rukia simply chuckled.
"It's not that," she said warmly, "It's just that he's gruff and harsh sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. They're all quite fond of each other, in an odd way." Orihime cocked her head to the side, trying to understand their relationship.
"Like a love/hate relationship?" she asked. Rukia smiled.
"Something like that."
In the course of the conversation, Orihime came to find out that Rukia had been promoted to Vice Captain of the Thirteenth Division since she'd last seen her. She loved her job immensely, and was quite proud to be wearing the same arm band that her mentor, Shiba Kaien, had also worn. As she listened, Orihime realized that the atmosphere in Thirteenth Division sounded different than the one in Fifth, largely owing to the kindly personality of their captain. It seemed like a division where everyone strove to be friends with one another.
This also had the undesired effect of making Orihime feel quite silly for thinking Rukia had been interested in Ichigo before she got here. According to Rukia, the red-headed captain was so stand-offish and ill-tempered that even his good looks did little to convince the women of Seireitei to give him a second glance. Of course he still had a few fans - all of the Captains did - but his attitude did little to endear him to those around him.
This naturally led to the subject of their long separation, which Orihime was even less eager to delve into. Even though she waved it off breezily by saying she had simply been too busy helping Uryuu with his schoolwork for med school to see anybody, the truth was that she hadn't wanted Rukia, or any of her other friends, to see her unhappy. She was much more content to talk to them over the phone, where her cheerful front was easier to maintain. And eventually, they just stopped calling all together.
The urge to push Rukia away had been the strongest, though. The last time she'd seen her had been at her wedding. She remembered thinking her face would crack with the strain of having to smile that much. It wasn't that she hated Rukia or anything like that. No, she simply felt her heart crack every time she looked at her and thought how happy she and Ichigo must have been together in Soul Society.
What she had failed to notice then, and their conversation now had made subtly clear, was the presence in Rukia's life of a certain other red-headed man. Orihime had always simply assumed that Renji had shown up to her wedding for Uryuu's sake, but now she realized that wasn't necessarily true. He'd likely actually gone to escort Rukia.
She came to realize that the two childhood friends spent most of their free time together now. Being her older brother's Vice Captain gave Renji a good excuse to hang around their family's estate, and Rukia being a Vice Captain gave her a good excuse to talk to him under the guise of professional interest.
Even stranger was that Orihime realized the two weren't actually even officially dating. Oh, there was definitely interest there - she could tell by the slight blush Rukia had whenever she spoke of him and the tiniest bit of hesitation she gave to some of her words. But neither of them seemed to have made any kind of move yet. She vaguely wondered why.
As nice as it was to reconnect with Rukia, eventually she had to go. Orihime was somewhat grateful for her departure; she still felt incredibly guilty for misjudging her for all those years, and was far too ashamed to admit to it. The visit had been fun, but tiring. She sighed with a blush, also grateful that Rukia had managed to waylay Ichigo on the way in the door to give her a free moment to collect herself.
As soon as she emerged from his office, she was confronted with the man himself, red-faced and silent and holding an arm full of bags and boxes. They looked slightly disheveled, as though someone had been rummaging through them, but Orihime didn't pay much mind to that.
"What are those?" she asked curiously. Ichigo looked off to the side, unable to meet her eyes.
"Err," he stammered, "More... more clothes." Orihime's eyebrows pursed.
"Kurosaki-kun!" she scolded him, "Didn't you already spend all of your money on clothes for me? It's too much! You should take them back!" Ichigo looked taken aback for a moment before fixing her with a determined expression.
"You need something to wear that doesn't make you look like you fell off of a runway," he said firmly, "Besides, you're going to ruin those fancy clothes if you keep cleaning in them." Orihime felt her cheeks pink up at his admonition.
"But... But where did you get the money?" she asked hesitantly, still unsure if she should accept his generosity. Ichigo refused to meet her eyes again.
"Rukia... said it was a present from her," he mumbled, "And I picked them out." Orihime's concerned expression melted into one of humble gratitude. After she had turned her back on Rukia's friendship all those years ago, she had never turned her back on her after all. Her smile wavered as a few tears found their way through.
"Th-Thank you, Kurosaki-kun," she sniffled, smiling broadly through her tears, "I'm grateful. To you, and to Rukia-chan." Ichigo simply froze at her tears, clearly confused as to what to do.
"O-Oi, don't cry!" he said, suppressing the urge to flail his arms, "Here, try these on to make sure I got the right size." Orihime blinked to clear her eyes, surveying the packages. She shyly opened the one on top and peered inside.
"Oh," she breathed, "These are so much better! Thank you, Kurosaki-kun!" She repressed the urge to hug him; the fancy kimonos Rangiku had bought her were certainly pretty, but they were also elaborate and fairly uncomfortable.
Ichigo slowly cracked a small smile in return. There was a warmth in this smile that Orihime recognized from when they were alive. It made her heart skip a beat.
He loaded her arms down with the packages and grinned as they made her wobble to accommodate them. Orihime looked shyly at him from over top of them.
"Do you want to see me in them?" she asked, looking up at him through thick lashes. There was a little bit of blush speckling his nose as his confident expression faltered.
"Err, you only need to try on the one you want to wear now," he said uncertainly, "They're all the same size." Orihime smiled regardless.
"Okay, Kurosaki-kun," she said happily, "I'll be right back."
Before Orihime could step toward her room, though, she was interrupted by Momo's rapid approach.
"Oh, Orihime-san!" she chirped, waving a hell butterfly perched firmly on her finger before her, "I'm glad I caught you!" Ichigo raised his eyebrow suspiciously.
"Momo, is that...?"
"It's a notification for the Shinigami Women's Association meeting this week," Momo said cheerfully. Orihime looked puzzled; they had meetings for female shinigami?
"They have a women's club here?" she asked, eager curiosity showing on her face. There had been a neighborhood women's association back in the human world, but meetings always left Orihime feeling a bit awkward and out of place. Maybe this one would be different? She'd always wanted to be part of a club and feel like she belonged.
Momo's expression lit up as she turned to Orihime. Both of them neatly ignored Ichigo's nauseous expression.
"Yes!" Momo happily offered, "Ise-san runs them, even though she's the Vice President of the club! Yachiru-chan is the President, so we always have lots of fun!" Ichigo couldn't hold back any more.
"Inoue, you don't really want to go," he said too quickly. Orihime favored him with a disappointed look. Uryuu hadn't liked her visiting the neighborhood women's association, either.
"Why not?" she asked innocently.
Ichigo felt slightly sea sick, and it showed in his expression. The last thing he wanted was for that Ise Nanao to start giving Orihime weird ideas. Her captain seemed to enjoy her stern attitude and her nagging; Ichigo simply wondered if the older man was insane or some kind of weird fetishist.
To be perfectly clear, though, Ichigo and Nanao were friends, as far as those sorts of things went. They usually got along well enough professionally. But they had clashed just as often personally. She would often blame him if he was in the vicinity whenever she caught her captain doing something she didn't approve of. If Ichigo took Shunsui drinking with him the one night of the month he went, he'd always get an angry hell butterfly the next day, loudly informing him that the Eighth Division captain had been grounded and wasn't supposed to have gone out or had passed out on his paperwork the following morning or had decided the office wastebasket was a urinal. And heaven forbid he tag along if Shunsui invited him; that somehow made the lectures worse.
Worse yet, she'd taught Momo a thing or two, as well. The younger woman was far from being the harsh taskmaster that Nanao was, but she wasn't above nagging him just like her. As the two were friends, it also wasn't uncommon for Momo to invite her over, where she could then personally disrupt Ichigo's day.
To say he didn't want or need Orihime picking up any of her habits was a bit of an understatement. Not only were they as different as night and day already, but Ichigo was quite taken with Orihime's personality as it was. He didn't want that to change.
"That's... That Ise..." He stammered, trying not to offend Momo, and trying not to sound bitter or mean in front of Orihime. Momo simply rolled her eyes and dismissed the butterfly.
"He doesn't get along with Ise-san, Orihime-chan," she said flatly, "He's probably afraid she'll teach you how to put him to work." Ichigo sputtered in indignation. Orihime simply looked politely curious.
"I already work!" he protested, "And I get along with her fine, as long as she's not nagging me!" Momo looked unmoved.
"She nags you for a reason, Captain," she pointed out bluntly. Ichigo felt like he was on the verge of a tantrum when Orihime spoke up.
"I'd still like to go," Orihime said softly with a smile, defusing the argument, "If you don't mind, Kurosaki-kun. It sounds like fun."
Ichigo sighed in defeat. Well, that was it. He’d lost. As he’d told Rukia earlier, he didn’t decide where she could go and who she could see. So as much as he disliked it, she was going to go to the Shinigami Women’s Association meeting.
Series: Bleach
Rating: R
Warnings: het (IchiHime), ANGST, dysfunctional relationships, adult themes
Spoilers: This is set ten years after the series, so spoilers up to current chapters
Disclaimer: These characters belong to a lot of Japanese people, namely people like Tite Kubo and Shonen Jump. You'll notice how none of those are me. The LiveJournal format that you'll probably be reading this in (if you're one of my friends) is rough draft and is subject to revision. Consider this a 'sneak peek'. If something sits the wrong way with you, let me know. This will probably (never) be updated weekly, until I eventually drop it like every other project ever. Not responsible for epileptic seizures or allergic reactions. May contain eye-and-brain-bleeding levels of radioactive ANGST and/or peanut products. Please sit a reasonable distance from your computer screen.
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The next few days passed slowly and painfully for Ichigo. The somewhat peaceful existence he'd carved out for himself among Fifth Division was being turned upside down, and the culprit was none other than Orihime herself.
It wasn't that she meant to be disruptive, or that she was causing trouble. On the contrary, she was quite pleasant in everything she did. And that only served to drive Ichigo further mad.
He'd had to personally see to getting her a few yukata to wear that were less flashy than what Rangiku had picked out for her. The act of figuring out her size with the shop girl alone was enough to almost make Ichigo's blood flow backward. But he'd managed to do it, earning a grateful smile from Orihime herself for his efforts. At least now she could walk around without looking like some kind of socialite, or worse, a loaded noble's wife.
Worse than that, though, he'd had to go into debt to get her those plain yukata. The irony didn't escape him; he'd gone broke buying the most extravagant clothing Seireitei had to offer, but then had to borrow money for plain clothes. The worst part, though, was who he'd had to borrow the money from.
"Since when do you need money, Ichigo?" Rukia had asked the morning he'd visited her, "I thought you always saved your salary?" Ichigo rubbed the short hair at the back of his neck awkwardly.
"I do," he confirmed grumpily, "But a certain someone decided to spend every kan I had when she got ahold of my card." Rukia looked at him curiously.
"You let Matsumoto have your card?" she asked skeptically, "Were you drunk again?" Ichigo flushed brightly.
"No!" he protested, "She stopped Momo while she was on an errand for me!" Rukia raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"To buy women's clothing?" At this, Ichigo realized he'd been stalling. What for? Was it the weird way Orihime had kept asking him about Rukia? Or maybe he just didn't want to deal with the ribbing Rukia would surely give him.
"Inoue needed clothes," he muttered, his cheeks pinking up, "And Rangiku bought her the most expensive things she could find, so now I'm broke." Rukia's face lit up.
"Orihime is here?" she asked, clearly eager to see her old friend, "Why didn't you say so? Wait... Inoue? Did she divorce Ishida?" Ichigo sighed. Leave it to Rukia to miss the obvious.
"She's dead, Rukia," he said flatly, "I thought you saw her whenever you went to the human world? Wouldn't you know if she'd gotten divorced?" Rukia simply looked puzzled.
"I haven't seen her since she got married, Ichigo," she said, shaking her head, "Every time I tried to meet with her, she was busy. Eventually, I guess we just fell out of touch." This surprised Ichigo, although he tried not to let it show.
"Anyway, she wants to be called Inoue now, and it's easier for me to remember anyway," Ichigo pressed forward to hide his embarrassment, "But she's here now, and she needs clothes that don't look like she's going to a state function. Can I please borrow a couple thousand kan? You know I'm good for it."
"May I come over and see her?" Ichigo snorted.
"You're a Vice Captain," he shrugged, "You can go wherever you want. But yes, you can come see her. I think she'd like that." He folded his arms over his chest, clearly uncomfortable. What did Rukia think he was - Orihime's jailer? She distracted him from his indigence by fishing out her card.
"What do you say?" she asked expectantly.
Ichigo's eyes narrowed at her as he ground out a "please" between gritted teeth.
"Please...?" Oh, for the love of all that was holy. She was really pushing it now.
"Please, Kuchiki-fukutaichou," he grumbled darkly, snatching the card away from her. Rukia smirked triumphantly at him.
"Alright," she finally agreed, "I'll be over to see her shortly. Don't worry about paying me back - consider it a present for Orihime."
As if that hadn't been mortifying enough, the shopping was even worse. Being a Captain had its disadvantages, namely that everyone in Seireitei knew his face and name. Naturally, the shop girl was curious who the clothes were for, and if the long looks he got were any indication, so was everyone else around him. He cut off any weird speculation by loudly informing her that the clothes were for his sister.
Still, he was fairly sure he saw one of the Bulletin's photographers out of the corner of his eye when he was leaving the shop. He would have to have a word with Hisagi about that next time he turned his column in for the newspaper.
All of that wasn't even touching on the process of trying to figure out Orihime's proper size in front of the shop girl. The less said about that embarrassment, the better.
When he returned from shopping, he was greeted by the sounds of cheery girl talk coming from the general direction of his offices, where he assumed Rukia and Orihime were catching up with each other. After his little shopping trip, he wanted no part of whatever humiliation Rukia might have had planned for him, and wisely steered clear until she was ready to go. On her way out, he returned her card.
"Is that all you got?" she asked upon examining his purchases against his wishes, "They're rather plain, although I suppose the craftsmanship isn't bad." Ichigo just sighed.
"She'll look fine in them," he said, nearing his wit's end, "That's the important part. She doesn't need to look like a movie star." Of course, he thought Orihime would look good in a potato sack, but he prudently left that thought unspoken.
Orihime herself was thrilled with the new clothes (after a short scolding for spending yet more money on her, of course). Ichigo knew her well enough to know that she didn't even remotely share Rangiku's taste in clothing and that her own tastes ran more towards the practical and plain than the extravagant. Still, he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy seeing her dressed up.
The clothes aside, there were other ways her presence was disruptive. She insisted upon earning her keep, her idea of which tended to unintentionally insert her into nearly everything Ichigo did. She decided to help with the laundry, which resulted in her walking in on him half-dressed one morning. She helped the cooks with breakfast, which was actually blessedly normal and oddly free from any strange ingredients. She tidied his office, which resulted in a scolding from Momo for letting it get dirty in the first place. She had even taken his complaint about Momo's use of the coffeemaker to heart and started making him coffee in the mornings. Everywhere he looked, she was there, busying herself.
Worse still, his division had taken notice of her. He was well aware that there were more than a few whispers about what Orihime was doing in their barracks; several of his troops even remembered her as one of the ryoka from a decade ago that had invaded Soul Society with him. He knew they'd already drawn their own conclusions as to why she was there, and he was sure he didn't want to hear any of them.
Even so, there was no animosity towards her from any of his division. Or if there had been, they were being very careful to keep it out of Ichigo's presence. To the contrary, everyone seemed to love her. Perhaps a bit too much, in Ichigo's opinion, as he'd already caught too many of his men openly staring at her breasts or her backside when she wasn't paying attention. Those men had mysteriously wound up with latrine duty for the following week, with no small bit of devilish glee on Ichigo's part.
To try and discourage some of the ogling, Ichigo had finally snapped and told a few of them that she was married. In hindsight, it really hadn't had quite the effect he'd hoped for. Instead of giving Orihime some space, it doubled the questions about her; specifically, Ichigo's division wanted to know what their captain's relationship with this married woman was.
Ichigo was simply forcibly reminded of being in high school again. Some of the men in his division were worse gossips than teenaged girls.
Either way, Ichigo hadn't had a moment's peace since she died.
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Orihime hadn't allowed herself a moment's rest since she died. Upon arriving in Fifth Division, she had been determined to repay Ichigo's kindness for keeping her and spending his money on her. The last thing she wanted was to be a burden on anyone anymore, so she'd immediately gone into overdrive trying to straighten his offices.
Even though the Gotei 13 was a military organization, the barracks seemed too cluttered and disorganized for her tastes. Not only that, but they were too drab and sparsely decorated, too. After six years of not being able to dictate how her living space looked, Orihime had immediately seized the opportunity to decorate her new room with any little thing she could scavenge. It had quickly been splashed with color from cut flowers she'd gathered growing wild on the division's grounds, pieces of the kimono Rangiku had bought with her, a high-quality lacquered fan she had been pressed to buy, ribbons, particularly pretty rocks, and a couple stuffed animals Momo had brought her.
This influence quickly spread beyond her room and into the barracks at large. Ichigo's office was the first casualty; it was cleaned from top to bottom, decorated with candy dishes in various places, and made to smell of citrus and pine. Next came the mess hall, which suddenly found itself furnished with fresh centerpieces and napkins folded into the shapes of little bunnies. Then she went further out onto the grounds, and started cultivating a little flower garden of her own. Slowly but surely, Orihime was making herself at home.
The Fifth Division troops were fairly happy with the changes. According to them, their captain was usually a sullen, grumpy man with a foul mouth and an even fouler temper. They were mostly loyal to him anyway, as he did go to bat for them and try to make their jobs as easy as possible. But they all had a healthy respect for his temper nonetheless.
To them, the sudden change in their captain's demeanor, as well as the change in the general atmosphere of the division, was confusing but welcome. A majority of them remembered Aizen's stint as their captain and his affable nature fondly; the other Captains had never let his betrayal become public knowledge, nor the circumstances of his death, so to the rank and file his memory was left untarnished. And it was quite easy for them to tell that Ichigo's heart wasn't really in his work. So to see him slowly lightening up and even occasionally smiling was a bit of a shock to the division, to say the least.
The cause of his unconscious change in demeanor was also readily apparent. In the week since she'd arrived, the division had slowly taken notice of Orihime until she'd found herself in the unwitting role of something of a minor celebrity. To her, it just seemed as if they hardly ever got guests and were just grateful for something out of the ordinary. She didn't understand why all their attention agitated Ichigo so.
"I see morale has certainly improved around here," Rukia commented over coffee when she visited Orihime for the first time at the end of the week. Orihime smiled shyly behind her coffee cup.
"Is it really that different?" she asked sheepishly. The smaller, black-haired woman nodded as she peered out of the Captain's office at the activity outside, her round, violet eyes surveying the suddenly cheerful nature of the division.
"They must like you," she commented with a smile, "Or at least they like that you've been distracting Ichigo." Orihime's eyebrows pursed at this comment.
"Do they not like him?" she asked, suddenly concerned. On top of everything else he'd been through, she didn't want to hear that his division didn't get along with him. Rukia simply chuckled.
"It's not that," she said warmly, "It's just that he's gruff and harsh sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. They're all quite fond of each other, in an odd way." Orihime cocked her head to the side, trying to understand their relationship.
"Like a love/hate relationship?" she asked. Rukia smiled.
"Something like that."
In the course of the conversation, Orihime came to find out that Rukia had been promoted to Vice Captain of the Thirteenth Division since she'd last seen her. She loved her job immensely, and was quite proud to be wearing the same arm band that her mentor, Shiba Kaien, had also worn. As she listened, Orihime realized that the atmosphere in Thirteenth Division sounded different than the one in Fifth, largely owing to the kindly personality of their captain. It seemed like a division where everyone strove to be friends with one another.
This also had the undesired effect of making Orihime feel quite silly for thinking Rukia had been interested in Ichigo before she got here. According to Rukia, the red-headed captain was so stand-offish and ill-tempered that even his good looks did little to convince the women of Seireitei to give him a second glance. Of course he still had a few fans - all of the Captains did - but his attitude did little to endear him to those around him.
This naturally led to the subject of their long separation, which Orihime was even less eager to delve into. Even though she waved it off breezily by saying she had simply been too busy helping Uryuu with his schoolwork for med school to see anybody, the truth was that she hadn't wanted Rukia, or any of her other friends, to see her unhappy. She was much more content to talk to them over the phone, where her cheerful front was easier to maintain. And eventually, they just stopped calling all together.
The urge to push Rukia away had been the strongest, though. The last time she'd seen her had been at her wedding. She remembered thinking her face would crack with the strain of having to smile that much. It wasn't that she hated Rukia or anything like that. No, she simply felt her heart crack every time she looked at her and thought how happy she and Ichigo must have been together in Soul Society.
What she had failed to notice then, and their conversation now had made subtly clear, was the presence in Rukia's life of a certain other red-headed man. Orihime had always simply assumed that Renji had shown up to her wedding for Uryuu's sake, but now she realized that wasn't necessarily true. He'd likely actually gone to escort Rukia.
She came to realize that the two childhood friends spent most of their free time together now. Being her older brother's Vice Captain gave Renji a good excuse to hang around their family's estate, and Rukia being a Vice Captain gave her a good excuse to talk to him under the guise of professional interest.
Even stranger was that Orihime realized the two weren't actually even officially dating. Oh, there was definitely interest there - she could tell by the slight blush Rukia had whenever she spoke of him and the tiniest bit of hesitation she gave to some of her words. But neither of them seemed to have made any kind of move yet. She vaguely wondered why.
As nice as it was to reconnect with Rukia, eventually she had to go. Orihime was somewhat grateful for her departure; she still felt incredibly guilty for misjudging her for all those years, and was far too ashamed to admit to it. The visit had been fun, but tiring. She sighed with a blush, also grateful that Rukia had managed to waylay Ichigo on the way in the door to give her a free moment to collect herself.
As soon as she emerged from his office, she was confronted with the man himself, red-faced and silent and holding an arm full of bags and boxes. They looked slightly disheveled, as though someone had been rummaging through them, but Orihime didn't pay much mind to that.
"What are those?" she asked curiously. Ichigo looked off to the side, unable to meet her eyes.
"Err," he stammered, "More... more clothes." Orihime's eyebrows pursed.
"Kurosaki-kun!" she scolded him, "Didn't you already spend all of your money on clothes for me? It's too much! You should take them back!" Ichigo looked taken aback for a moment before fixing her with a determined expression.
"You need something to wear that doesn't make you look like you fell off of a runway," he said firmly, "Besides, you're going to ruin those fancy clothes if you keep cleaning in them." Orihime felt her cheeks pink up at his admonition.
"But... But where did you get the money?" she asked hesitantly, still unsure if she should accept his generosity. Ichigo refused to meet her eyes again.
"Rukia... said it was a present from her," he mumbled, "And I picked them out." Orihime's concerned expression melted into one of humble gratitude. After she had turned her back on Rukia's friendship all those years ago, she had never turned her back on her after all. Her smile wavered as a few tears found their way through.
"Th-Thank you, Kurosaki-kun," she sniffled, smiling broadly through her tears, "I'm grateful. To you, and to Rukia-chan." Ichigo simply froze at her tears, clearly confused as to what to do.
"O-Oi, don't cry!" he said, suppressing the urge to flail his arms, "Here, try these on to make sure I got the right size." Orihime blinked to clear her eyes, surveying the packages. She shyly opened the one on top and peered inside.
"Oh," she breathed, "These are so much better! Thank you, Kurosaki-kun!" She repressed the urge to hug him; the fancy kimonos Rangiku had bought her were certainly pretty, but they were also elaborate and fairly uncomfortable.
Ichigo slowly cracked a small smile in return. There was a warmth in this smile that Orihime recognized from when they were alive. It made her heart skip a beat.
He loaded her arms down with the packages and grinned as they made her wobble to accommodate them. Orihime looked shyly at him from over top of them.
"Do you want to see me in them?" she asked, looking up at him through thick lashes. There was a little bit of blush speckling his nose as his confident expression faltered.
"Err, you only need to try on the one you want to wear now," he said uncertainly, "They're all the same size." Orihime smiled regardless.
"Okay, Kurosaki-kun," she said happily, "I'll be right back."
Before Orihime could step toward her room, though, she was interrupted by Momo's rapid approach.
"Oh, Orihime-san!" she chirped, waving a hell butterfly perched firmly on her finger before her, "I'm glad I caught you!" Ichigo raised his eyebrow suspiciously.
"Momo, is that...?"
"It's a notification for the Shinigami Women's Association meeting this week," Momo said cheerfully. Orihime looked puzzled; they had meetings for female shinigami?
"They have a women's club here?" she asked, eager curiosity showing on her face. There had been a neighborhood women's association back in the human world, but meetings always left Orihime feeling a bit awkward and out of place. Maybe this one would be different? She'd always wanted to be part of a club and feel like she belonged.
Momo's expression lit up as she turned to Orihime. Both of them neatly ignored Ichigo's nauseous expression.
"Yes!" Momo happily offered, "Ise-san runs them, even though she's the Vice President of the club! Yachiru-chan is the President, so we always have lots of fun!" Ichigo couldn't hold back any more.
"Inoue, you don't really want to go," he said too quickly. Orihime favored him with a disappointed look. Uryuu hadn't liked her visiting the neighborhood women's association, either.
"Why not?" she asked innocently.
Ichigo felt slightly sea sick, and it showed in his expression. The last thing he wanted was for that Ise Nanao to start giving Orihime weird ideas. Her captain seemed to enjoy her stern attitude and her nagging; Ichigo simply wondered if the older man was insane or some kind of weird fetishist.
To be perfectly clear, though, Ichigo and Nanao were friends, as far as those sorts of things went. They usually got along well enough professionally. But they had clashed just as often personally. She would often blame him if he was in the vicinity whenever she caught her captain doing something she didn't approve of. If Ichigo took Shunsui drinking with him the one night of the month he went, he'd always get an angry hell butterfly the next day, loudly informing him that the Eighth Division captain had been grounded and wasn't supposed to have gone out or had passed out on his paperwork the following morning or had decided the office wastebasket was a urinal. And heaven forbid he tag along if Shunsui invited him; that somehow made the lectures worse.
Worse yet, she'd taught Momo a thing or two, as well. The younger woman was far from being the harsh taskmaster that Nanao was, but she wasn't above nagging him just like her. As the two were friends, it also wasn't uncommon for Momo to invite her over, where she could then personally disrupt Ichigo's day.
To say he didn't want or need Orihime picking up any of her habits was a bit of an understatement. Not only were they as different as night and day already, but Ichigo was quite taken with Orihime's personality as it was. He didn't want that to change.
"That's... That Ise..." He stammered, trying not to offend Momo, and trying not to sound bitter or mean in front of Orihime. Momo simply rolled her eyes and dismissed the butterfly.
"He doesn't get along with Ise-san, Orihime-chan," she said flatly, "He's probably afraid she'll teach you how to put him to work." Ichigo sputtered in indignation. Orihime simply looked politely curious.
"I already work!" he protested, "And I get along with her fine, as long as she's not nagging me!" Momo looked unmoved.
"She nags you for a reason, Captain," she pointed out bluntly. Ichigo felt like he was on the verge of a tantrum when Orihime spoke up.
"I'd still like to go," Orihime said softly with a smile, defusing the argument, "If you don't mind, Kurosaki-kun. It sounds like fun."
Ichigo sighed in defeat. Well, that was it. He’d lost. As he’d told Rukia earlier, he didn’t decide where she could go and who she could see. So as much as he disliked it, she was going to go to the Shinigami Women’s Association meeting.
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Date: 2010-09-21 11:53 pm (UTC)Ah, now this is the Ichigo i sorely miss: dorky. :D
i think it's adorable and YAY RUKIHIME ♥♥
thank you for the update! :D
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Date: 2010-09-22 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-22 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-22 02:25 pm (UTC)I can't wait to mess with the SWA. They're one of my favorites. XD
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Date: 2010-09-23 04:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-23 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 08:16 pm (UTC)