Theme: Week 1
FIRST KISS
Here we go. Rules are here for your references. Happy writing!
Please include anything that you would prefer not/don't want to see written for your prompts (if any).
Here we go. Rules are here for your references. Happy writing!
Please include anything that you would prefer not/don't want to see written for your prompts (if any).
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Orihime strolled down the street as the soft, steady rain fell on her world. She smiled happily at the people giving her odd looks as they ran through the rain with newspapers clutched to their heads or huddled under umbrellas. Some even managed a jerky smile in return.
She paused to stare at a particularly large puddle with an odd reflection distorted on its surface. A small smile appeared on her face as she imagined the puddles were actually portals with skewed pictures of what lay beneath. She bent over a little and squinted at the puddle that rippled underneath the steady drops. If one wanted to jump into a puddle to enter another world they should be careful, though, or they might end up in a horrible place like Hueco Mundo or even worse, a world with no butter! Or -
“Inoue!”
Orihime jerked back and nearly fell into the puddle at her name being barked right next to her. She righted herself and looked up at the frowning face staring down at her and the umbrella suddenly stopping the rainfall around her.
“Ku-”
“What are you doing out here?!”
“Um...” Orihime laughed nervously and scratched at the back of her wet hair. “I was just daydreaming about this silly idea I-”
Ichigo interrupted her again with a shake of his head. “No, I mean you’re soaked!”
“Huh? Oh. Heh, well, I overslept and forgot to grab my umbrella.” She looked down and wiggled her sopping wet shoes. “And my rain boots...”
Ichigo scratched at his cheek thoughtfully, grunted, and roughly pushed the handle towards her. “Here,” he said abruptly.
In her surprise, she unthinkingly grabbed it with both hands, her eyes widening as he shrugged out of his school jacket. When he reclaimed the umbrella, the grey jacket slung over his arm, he jerked his head at her.
“Take off your jacket.” She blinked at him. “Er...please.”
“But-Ah!”
“Ah?”
“Ah!”
“Inoue, Are you-?”
“Ah-choo!”
“Aw, jeez. Would you please just take off your jacket?”
Orihime sniffed and peeled off the wet fabric. Ichigo grabbed it from her and shoved his coat under her nose. “Here.”
She blinked rapidly at it. “Kurosaki-Kun, I can’t-”
“Yeah, you can. Hurry up, huh? Don’t want you sneezing again.” He gave the jacket a little shake for emphasis.
Her mouth opened again to argue, but then thought better of it since he was being so nice. She nodded and took the offering, quickly slipping it on. She lifted her hands that his long sleeves drooped over and giggled softly, smiling up at him. “Thank you!”
Ichigo sniffed and rubbed his finger on the side of his nose. “Yup. So, come on. I’ll walk you home.” He glanced down at her surprised expression. “Er...if that’s okay. Unless you’re not going home. Uh, are you going home?” Ichigo cleared his throat, suddenly feeling nervous under the closeness of the umbrella with his friend who looked way too adorable in his jacket that fell well past her hips.
She nodded with that smile still on her face, and they started their way down the streets toward her place. Ichigo was soon able to relax again as they chatted about school and friends. Well, relax as much as he could when he could feel her warmth through his light blue t-shirt, and smell her soft scent - rain and something-or-other - that surrounded him.
His eyes studied the top of her tawny head and then her profile, her face lit up with a funny little grin as she told him about the backstories she’d made up in between the lines in their history lesson that day. He felt that warm feeling in his chest spread. That feeling he got every time he saw her smile lately. Which, granted, added up to a lot of warm feelings, but he couldn’t help it. He’d missed that smile during the war.
She’d smiled, of course. But she hadn’t...smiled. He’d learned a lot about her. Before, she’d always been the pretty girl who was always happy. Always smiled. But he saw her cry, saw her afraid, saw her face off enemies like Grimmjow, heard about her slapping the guy he’d had a hard time even scratching.
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“Oh!” she suddenly exclaimed, coming to a halt.
Ichigo nearly tripped himself, stumbling backwards to get her back under the umbrella. “What? What?” He followed her big-eyed gaze and slight smile to a couple that had stopped under the protection of a tree and were tightly embraced and ki- Ichigo’s face lit up in bright red. He mumbled under his breath about people and their public displays and glanced at Orihime who was staring at them with her hands clasped to her chest, her cheeks pink.
Suddenly, she snapped out of it and whirled back to face him. “Ah!” She slapped her hands against her cheeks. “What am I doing?!” She ran off and Ichigo rushed to keep up with her, her hands still pressed to her red cheeks. Words were coming out of her mouth, but he couldn’t quite catch them and bent lower. “...so cute though. I’ve always wanted to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Kiss in the rain,” she replied absently.
“Eh?!”
Orihime’s head snapped up and nearly collided with Ichigo’s chin. “Ah! So close! I mean, uh, well, I...”
“You’ve always wanted to k-kiss in the rain?” Ichigo, for the life of him, couldn’t figure out why he needed to be sure of what she’d said.
Her face became a tomato. “Um, well...I...yes...that is, with the person I-I like and well...I’ve always thought it was so romantic. You know, with it cold and wet everywhere except in that person’s arms and- Ah!” She shook her red face. “A-Anyway!” As his brain tried to get back on the tracks and away from thinking about Orihime daydreaming about kissing, and him somehow being that person she was in the rain with, Orihime’s eyes darted about and then she looked at him and smiled.
And his heart sank. She smiled. Didn’t smile. But smiled. Why was she giving him that smile instead of that smile? He didn’t have time to consider it much before she let out an exclamation of surprise.
“Oh goodness, we better hurry! My show is almost ready to start!” Orihime grabbed his wrist and darted off with him in tow. In seconds, they arrived in front of her apartment building and came to a near screeching halt. She whirled around and faced him, her breath coming out in little puffs. “Made it!”
Ichigo swallowed and distractedly rubbed his wrist that had burning sensations prickling his skin where her hand had been. She noticed and her mouth dropped into a small, concerned ‘o’.
“Oh, no! Did I hurt you?”
He frowned in confusion. “Hurt-? Oh!” Ichigo gave her a derisive snort, trying to ignore the blush that crept up his neck, and dropped his wrist. “‘Course not. Like you could hurt me.”
Her lips pressed shut and she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance as her brows drew together. “What do you mean? I’m a lot stronger than I look, you know.”
Mirth tugged lightly at the corner of his mouth as he looked at her irritated expression, and then it slipped back into a full scowl when his gaze fell to her lips. Thoughts and feelings rushed at him; dizzied him.
One thought stood out as his feet stepped forward and his hand let the umbrella drop to the wet ground; he didn’t want her to smile in the way that made his world feel at odds.
He watched her soft brown eyes widen as he stood over her and placed his hands on her puffy cheeks, the air slowly letting out through her pursed lips. He asked himself what the hell he thought he was doing, and then he kissed her.
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Orihime finally closed her eyes as she forgot to be shocked and became too preoccupied with the tiny fact that Kurosaki Ichigo was kissing her. In the rain. His jacket felt heavier and heavier on her shoulders as it absorbed the falling drops, but she felt light and warm and dizzy and...and ten times, a hundred times, better than she had ever experienced in her daydreams of this moment.
He pulled away and Orihime’s eyes slowly, dreamily, opened to look at his face. His cheeks were red and he looked a bit perplexed and maybe a bit-
“Good afternoon, Inoue-chan!”
The teens jumped and Orihime searched for the familiar voice as acute embarrassment started to fill her chest. She found her neighbor, finally back from his vacation, leaning out from his window, his arms crossed on the sill, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and waving at her.
“M-Morita-san!”
He grinned around the rolled paper and shook his finger playfully at her. “What’s this? What have you been up to while I’ve been gone?” He pressed his hand to his chest. “You’re breakin’ my heart, Inoue-chan!”
A loud snort sounded from the next apartment over. Her other neighbor was similarly leaning out his window. “Keep dreaming, Morita.” He looked over at the two and gave Ichigo a critical once-over. “I’ve seen this guy a couple of times, but this is a new development. You and him dating now, Inoue-san?”
“Um, Iwao-san, I...um...” Orihime shifted nervously as Ichigo tugged at his collar and cleared his throat.
“Oh, look at them. Aren’t they the cutest things?”
Orihime and Ichigo whirled around to see an older couple looking at them from underneath a large umbrella. Ichigo muttered, “More neighbors?” And she nodded.
The gentleman harumphed. “What an amateur. Did you see that? He missed.”
Ichigo flushed redder than he already was. “Oi! Who’s the one peeping on the amateurs?”
The woman swatted her companion. “Don’t be rude to the poor boy. I think that was their first kiss and we’re interrupting.”
“But he’s right. You did miss, boy,” Morita chimed in. “Ah, Orihime,” he sighed sadly. “If you’d just have waited for me I would have showed you how a real man kisses.” He clicked his tongue at the shame of it.
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Morita’s mouth dropped open. Ichigo’s mouth was half between a gape and a grin. Iwao-san chuckled and ducked back inside, shutting his window.
Morita shook his head and let out a short laugh. “All right, all right. I know when I must concede defeat. Take care of her, Kurosaki-kun~!” He shut the window with a slap before Ichigo could respond.
Ichigo turned to look back at the couple, but they were gone. He blinked. “Your neighbors are...”
“...friendly?” Orihime offered.
“...Yeah. Friendly.” He coughed and shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his feet. “Uh...”
Orihime pressed her tingling lips together and noticed the rain had slowed to a sprinkle.
“Well, I...” He pulled out a hand and shoved it through his hair, spikes popping up and rain water spraying in all directions. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She gave one sharp nod, unable to look at anything except for his shifting feet. She watched his shoes turn around, hesitate, and then walk away. Breath escaped that she’d been holding.
And then footsteps pounded back to her on pavement, bringing her gaze up. He was looking at her with the most indiscernible expression.
“Did you say I was a...a wonderful kisser?” Her eyes grew, but she nodded. “And that you didn’t want to...want to kiss anyone else but me?” Her heart dropped, her face flamed, but she nodded. “Even if I was a bad kisser?” More growing, dropping, and flaming; the nod smaller this time. Ichigo nodded in return. “Okay... Okay. Right. Good.” His tongue darted out to lick his lips, and then he whirled around, setting off again.
She watched him go this time, but then realized that he was leaving with her jacket and without his jacket and his umbrella. Before she could finish debating with herself whether she should call out to him and make the switch, he’d turned back around again and was headed towards her. For his things, she thought.
But he was muttering to himself. “...not good. No, not good at all. Damn...” And then her shoulders were being grabbed and she was being kissed again. Despite her surprise, it was much easier to respond and melt into him the second time around. She could get very used to this sort of thin-
He let her go abruptly, his face remaining close to hers. “Better,” he said, his voice husky and lower than normal. “Definitely better.” He backed away, changed his mind again, kissed her again, and then pulled away with a grin on his face. “See you tomorrow.”
Orihime gave him a dreamy smile in return. “See you tomorrow.”
The dreamy smile remained slathered on her face as she watched him leave with an actual jauntiness in his step. And vaguely wondered if perhaps she hadn’t fallen in that big puddle after all, into an alternate universe where she got kisses from Ichigo. If that was the case, she had no intention of ever leaving this new puddle world.
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Anyway, Mc-E, I'm a-gonna be pimping the fills over at ichi_hime and the FLOL bad_shield pimping thread, so if you don't mind, could you pin a title for this story? It's not mandatory of course! But it'll be easier on my poor management skills (such a messy thing it is already, haha!) if there are titles to separate them.
<3 <3 <3 for you~ *3*
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Ah! Sure thing! Let's see... "If You Like Pina Coladas..." ...because of the "getting caught in the rain" later in the lyrics...no one could every accuse me of being a good title maker |D
<33333
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