As the New Year rolled around, Orihime made a vow to be a better person. With more kindness, random acts of generosity, and the idea to be more honest with her feelings, she made a promise to herself to become the best person she could be. Whether or not that included new laser powers or x-ray vision had yet to be determined.
At Tatsuki’s place for a friendly gathering of people to ring in the New Year, the healer stood by the window and watched the fluffy white snow fall. Occasionally taking a drink of her punch, she felt a wave of relief wash over her as she mentally replayed her resolutions in her head over and over again, like a mantra.
This will be the year, she told herself. After what seemed to be long years of somewhat lessened self-esteem and self-worth, Orihime came to tell herself things won’t change unless she changed them herself. If she wanted to be a better person than she already was, she was going to have to just do it, not wait for a good opportunity to redeem herself.
This particularly applied to her fellow redheaded friend and longtime crush. For so long, she’d wanted to protect him on her own terms; to protect and not be the protected. For the most part, Ichigo took that roll quicker than she could say ‘I like sweet potatoes with butter’. One potential solution to that problem was to be just a second quicker than him and blast in with Tsubaki and the rest of her Shun Shun Rikka. It was a start, but she knew she’d need to give it more thought.
Another thing Orihime had been giving more thought was the possibility of confessing her deepest, darkest feelings for said boy. Perhaps they weren’t so dark at all, but she liked to think they were quite mysterious sometimes, especially when Ichigo didn’t quite catch on for the most part. Ever since she had gone from measly crush to full-blown love for Ichigo, the idea of confessing had been an embarrassing one, but one that needed to be considered nonetheless. It was only in recent months that she had seriously considered confessing to Ichigo. While before the question was ‘yes or no’, the new inquiry was ‘when and where’.
Even tonight, as she gazed out the window, butterfly-like monsters invaded the pit of her stomach and her heart raced as if she had just run a marathon, but the idea of being resolute towards her goals seemed to calmed her down a bit. Orihime thought she had gotten off easy this far into the night, enjoying talking to Ichigo once in a while (whom was also invited to Tatsuki’s party). It was just as it got closer to midnight she felt herself shake at the bold thought of giving him a New Year’s kiss at the stroke of midnight. But surely that would be a big thing to even consider, right?
Er... Not the story, but Nagi's "snag"chipsforjusticeMarch 2 2011, 01:26:17 UTC
At approximately ten minutes to midnight, Ichigo came to Orihime’s side with two party poppers; one for himself and one for her. If she wasn’t mistaken, he looked a little flush at this point, but all the enjoyment could’ve been getting to his head too.
“You excited for a new year, Inoue?” Ichigo asked, fiddling with his popper. Nervously, Orihime nodded her head and beamed at him.
“Of course! It’s a great opportunity to get the courage to be a better person,” she commented back. The way he messed around with the party favor in his hands made her smile at his apparent cuteness.
Cracking an odd smile, he brought a hand to the back of his hand and tenderly rubbed at his neck, an action he always did subconsciously as a sign of nervousness. “You don’t need to be a better person,” he replied, blowing out a quick breath. “You’re already too good for any of us.”
Orihime raised her eyebrows and her eyebrows read confusion at what context he meant that last part in. She shook her head free of the thought that he referred to dating or the like; the idea was just too silly to consider seriously, at least for Ichigo.
“O-Oh,” she found herself stuttering. “Thank you... But there’s always something we can do to better ourselves, isn’t it?” A glance at the clock told her three minutes had passed, and it was only seven until midnight. “We may not be perfect, but we can at least try to appear to be in our own eyes.”
A small, stifled laugh escaped Ichigo’s lips. “That’s quite philosophical, Inoue.” His laughter made her face burn a bright red and a nervous giggle spilled from her lips. She knew she should thank him or something of the sorts, but her embarrassment flooded into her senses and she couldn’t configure the right words to reply with.
Another two minutes passed and either of them refused to move away from that spot by the window. Orihime knew she had her resolutions set straight, but she didn’t know of Ichigo’s.
“Ah, Kurosaki-kun, what’s your new year’s resolution?” Craning his head, the shinigami looked a little surprised at the question. He hadn’t been expecting her to ask the inquiry and he hadn’t given his resolutions as much thought as she probably did.
“I’m not sure...” Ichigo shrugged, feeling a little sheepish at his lack of response. “Though I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to actually pass my classes in order to graduate.” Even as a substitute shinigami over the city, he was continually called out to deal with hollows. But just because the hollow count had been less as of late didn’t mean his grades weren’t suffering from the times he was gone.
Giving him a crooked smile, Orihime watched their friends congregate towards the clock, which now showed only two minutes until midnight. “What about you?” he asked in return.
It was odd how she’d repeated her resolutions in her head many a times, but as soon as Ichigo asked about them, she totally blanked. “Um... Something about being stronger, I think.”
“You think?”
“Ah, yes...” Flushing, she felt silly for answering in such a manner. “And...” A minute left until midnight.
Oddly enough, Ichigo seemed to get closer, but Orihime couldn’t tell if that was because she was getting quieter or if was getting closer because he had just wanted to. Either way, the feel of his body heat radiating onto her skin made her a little light-headed.
“Thirty seconds!” Keigo screeched from the other side of the room, taking steps backwards, stumbling slightly with excitement. “I’m finally going to get my kiss!”
Swallowing thickly, Orihime’s mind wandered back to the question of ‘when and where’. What if the answer to that was ‘here and now’? She and Ichigo were in public, which was the only con in a whole sea of positives, but they were together and talking. The mood was right and so far he didn’t seem to want to push her away or anything.
“Kurosaki-kun?” she asked, using all the strength she could muster to look at him straight in the eyes. Those chocolate brown irises never looked so startling to her. “I... I...”
Twenty seconds.
“You?”
Ten seconds.
“T-There’s been something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time, Kurosaki-kun,” she started out, her friends growing louder as they started the countdown from ten.
Nine.
“And I would understand if you don’t feel the same... But I would hope we could still stay friends anyway.” As baffled as he looked, he was genuinely listening with concern.
Eight.
“You know I’ll always be your friend, Inoue.”
Seven.
“I... Kurosaki-kun, I like you!”
Six.
Their friends were loud as they both stood in silence. Ichigo wore a blank expression, which only made Orihime’s heart sink in uneasiness.
Five.
“What was that about a bike?” he blanched, confused.
Four.
Orihime mustered up all the courage she had to try and repeat those oh-so embarrassing words again.
Three.
“I like you!”
Two.
This time, Ichigo stood still in utter shock and a faint blush began to grow over his cheeks.
One.
Within a second, Ichigo’s expression changed from startled to a more determined one and he grabbed Orihime’s shoulders. Both dropped their celebratory poppers, and just as he was about to pull her closer, which sent her heart into cardiac arrest, the group cheered at the final stroke of midnight. As quick as she was pulled in, she was pulled apart by another person’s arms, enthusiastic as they were.
“Happy New Year, Inoue-san!” Keigo exclaimed, planting a big, wet kiss on the poor healer’s lips. From Ichigo’s arms to Keigo’s, Orihime received her first kiss ever on the night where great, new things happened. Kissing Keigo was definitely new, but compared to Ichigo, she begged to differ about the ‘great’ concept. Keigo was a friend, not her object of affection, unfortunately for him.
He sprinted off, full of joy and delight to have gotten a kiss from his true love, and Ichigo and Orihime stood dumbfounded by the window, and even Tatsuki had gotten a last glance of the kiss-stealer. But as soon as he ran off, he saw his two friends together and decided against pummeling Keigo, at least until later.
Pressing her fingertips to her lips, her eyes started to prickle with some unshed tears. Maybe she had gotten her expectations up too high, but she’d never thought Ichigo would first confuse her words with a bike then later be kissed by the boy not of her dreams.
Orihime felt hands on her shoulders again and she looked up to him warily. “Kurosaki-kun...” she murmured.
Smiling faintly, he pulled her a little closer. “I’d say that probably didn’t count...” he spoke his thoughts, sure that she was thinking along the same lines. “What do you think?”
Nodding, a small, relieved grin spread on her features. “Probably not.” It was then when Ichigo pressed his lips, albeit sloppily, against hers in an incredibly inexperienced kiss. It didn’t last too long, but when he pulled apart, he looked as if his face would explode from the heat. Clearly he was just as embarrassed as she was. He could talk the suave talk, but when it came to action, it was obvious how amateur he was to all this.
“Does that count?” he asked, his words all tumbling out so fast she almost didn’t catch it. Taking a deep breath and nodding, a large smile seemed to grow on her face.
D: You stole it!nagicakesMarch 2 2011, 04:16:56 UTC
Even though you totally stole this from me, you did a better job than I would have been able to. XD I really enjoyed the twist at the end, although I'm not sure how I'd handle being kissed by Keigo. Good job, bb!
At Tatsuki’s place for a friendly gathering of people to ring in the New Year, the healer stood by the window and watched the fluffy white snow fall. Occasionally taking a drink of her punch, she felt a wave of relief wash over her as she mentally replayed her resolutions in her head over and over again, like a mantra.
This will be the year, she told herself. After what seemed to be long years of somewhat lessened self-esteem and self-worth, Orihime came to tell herself things won’t change unless she changed them herself. If she wanted to be a better person than she already was, she was going to have to just do it, not wait for a good opportunity to redeem herself.
This particularly applied to her fellow redheaded friend and longtime crush. For so long, she’d wanted to protect him on her own terms; to protect and not be the protected. For the most part, Ichigo took that roll quicker than she could say ‘I like sweet potatoes with butter’. One potential solution to that problem was to be just a second quicker than him and blast in with Tsubaki and the rest of her Shun Shun Rikka. It was a start, but she knew she’d need to give it more thought.
Another thing Orihime had been giving more thought was the possibility of confessing her deepest, darkest feelings for said boy. Perhaps they weren’t so dark at all, but she liked to think they were quite mysterious sometimes, especially when Ichigo didn’t quite catch on for the most part. Ever since she had gone from measly crush to full-blown love for Ichigo, the idea of confessing had been an embarrassing one, but one that needed to be considered nonetheless. It was only in recent months that she had seriously considered confessing to Ichigo. While before the question was ‘yes or no’, the new inquiry was ‘when and where’.
Even tonight, as she gazed out the window, butterfly-like monsters invaded the pit of her stomach and her heart raced as if she had just run a marathon, but the idea of being resolute towards her goals seemed to calmed her down a bit. Orihime thought she had gotten off easy this far into the night, enjoying talking to Ichigo once in a while (whom was also invited to Tatsuki’s party). It was just as it got closer to midnight she felt herself shake at the bold thought of giving him a New Year’s kiss at the stroke of midnight. But surely that would be a big thing to even consider, right?
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At approximately ten minutes to midnight, Ichigo came to Orihime’s side with two party poppers; one for himself and one for her. If she wasn’t mistaken, he looked a little flush at this point, but all the enjoyment could’ve been getting to his head too.
“You excited for a new year, Inoue?” Ichigo asked, fiddling with his popper. Nervously, Orihime nodded her head and beamed at him.
“Of course! It’s a great opportunity to get the courage to be a better person,” she commented back. The way he messed around with the party favor in his hands made her smile at his apparent cuteness.
Cracking an odd smile, he brought a hand to the back of his hand and tenderly rubbed at his neck, an action he always did subconsciously as a sign of nervousness. “You don’t need to be a better person,” he replied, blowing out a quick breath. “You’re already too good for any of us.”
Orihime raised her eyebrows and her eyebrows read confusion at what context he meant that last part in. She shook her head free of the thought that he referred to dating or the like; the idea was just too silly to consider seriously, at least for Ichigo.
“O-Oh,” she found herself stuttering. “Thank you... But there’s always something we can do to better ourselves, isn’t it?” A glance at the clock told her three minutes had passed, and it was only seven until midnight. “We may not be perfect, but we can at least try to appear to be in our own eyes.”
A small, stifled laugh escaped Ichigo’s lips. “That’s quite philosophical, Inoue.” His laughter made her face burn a bright red and a nervous giggle spilled from her lips. She knew she should thank him or something of the sorts, but her embarrassment flooded into her senses and she couldn’t configure the right words to reply with.
Another two minutes passed and either of them refused to move away from that spot by the window. Orihime knew she had her resolutions set straight, but she didn’t know of Ichigo’s.
“Ah, Kurosaki-kun, what’s your new year’s resolution?” Craning his head, the shinigami looked a little surprised at the question. He hadn’t been expecting her to ask the inquiry and he hadn’t given his resolutions as much thought as she probably did.
“I’m not sure...” Ichigo shrugged, feeling a little sheepish at his lack of response. “Though I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to actually pass my classes in order to graduate.” Even as a substitute shinigami over the city, he was continually called out to deal with hollows. But just because the hollow count had been less as of late didn’t mean his grades weren’t suffering from the times he was gone.
Giving him a crooked smile, Orihime watched their friends congregate towards the clock, which now showed only two minutes until midnight. “What about you?” he asked in return.
It was odd how she’d repeated her resolutions in her head many a times, but as soon as Ichigo asked about them, she totally blanked. “Um... Something about being stronger, I think.”
“You think?”
“Ah, yes...” Flushing, she felt silly for answering in such a manner. “And...” A minute left until midnight.
Oddly enough, Ichigo seemed to get closer, but Orihime couldn’t tell if that was because she was getting quieter or if was getting closer because he had just wanted to. Either way, the feel of his body heat radiating onto her skin made her a little light-headed.
“Thirty seconds!” Keigo screeched from the other side of the room, taking steps backwards, stumbling slightly with excitement. “I’m finally going to get my kiss!”
Swallowing thickly, Orihime’s mind wandered back to the question of ‘when and where’. What if the answer to that was ‘here and now’? She and Ichigo were in public, which was the only con in a whole sea of positives, but they were together and talking. The mood was right and so far he didn’t seem to want to push her away or anything.
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Twenty seconds.
“You?”
Ten seconds.
“T-There’s been something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time, Kurosaki-kun,” she started out, her friends growing louder as they started the countdown from ten.
Nine.
“And I would understand if you don’t feel the same... But I would hope we could still stay friends anyway.” As baffled as he looked, he was genuinely listening with concern.
Eight.
“You know I’ll always be your friend, Inoue.”
Seven.
“I... Kurosaki-kun, I like you!”
Six.
Their friends were loud as they both stood in silence. Ichigo wore a blank expression, which only made Orihime’s heart sink in uneasiness.
Five.
“What was that about a bike?” he blanched, confused.
Four.
Orihime mustered up all the courage she had to try and repeat those oh-so embarrassing words again.
Three.
“I like you!”
Two.
This time, Ichigo stood still in utter shock and a faint blush began to grow over his cheeks.
One.
Within a second, Ichigo’s expression changed from startled to a more determined one and he grabbed Orihime’s shoulders. Both dropped their celebratory poppers, and just as he was about to pull her closer, which sent her heart into cardiac arrest, the group cheered at the final stroke of midnight. As quick as she was pulled in, she was pulled apart by another person’s arms, enthusiastic as they were.
“Happy New Year, Inoue-san!” Keigo exclaimed, planting a big, wet kiss on the poor healer’s lips. From Ichigo’s arms to Keigo’s, Orihime received her first kiss ever on the night where great, new things happened. Kissing Keigo was definitely new, but compared to Ichigo, she begged to differ about the ‘great’ concept. Keigo was a friend, not her object of affection, unfortunately for him.
He sprinted off, full of joy and delight to have gotten a kiss from his true love, and Ichigo and Orihime stood dumbfounded by the window, and even Tatsuki had gotten a last glance of the kiss-stealer. But as soon as he ran off, he saw his two friends together and decided against pummeling Keigo, at least until later.
Pressing her fingertips to her lips, her eyes started to prickle with some unshed tears. Maybe she had gotten her expectations up too high, but she’d never thought Ichigo would first confuse her words with a bike then later be kissed by the boy not of her dreams.
Orihime felt hands on her shoulders again and she looked up to him warily. “Kurosaki-kun...” she murmured.
Smiling faintly, he pulled her a little closer. “I’d say that probably didn’t count...” he spoke his thoughts, sure that she was thinking along the same lines. “What do you think?”
Nodding, a small, relieved grin spread on her features. “Probably not.” It was then when Ichigo pressed his lips, albeit sloppily, against hers in an incredibly inexperienced kiss. It didn’t last too long, but when he pulled apart, he looked as if his face would explode from the heat. Clearly he was just as embarrassed as she was. He could talk the suave talk, but when it came to action, it was obvious how amateur he was to all this.
“Does that count?” he asked, his words all tumbling out so fast she almost didn’t catch it. Taking a deep breath and nodding, a large smile seemed to grow on her face.
“That definitely counted.”
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