Never what it seems

A/N: Yo! I hope it makes it easier to read now.

Special Thanks to: everyone up until now

Ch. 1 I dream of orange

"Kurosaki." A black haired boy standing in the middle of the hallway uttered.

"Ishida." An orange haired boy said.

"So…why'd you call me out here?" Kurosaki asked.

"Ah, that is…" Ishida started.

"That is what, Ishida? You're usually one to get straight to the point." Kurosaki said with an amused smile.

"Will you accept this from me?" Ishida asked holding out a small box in front of him.

"I mean um, it's Valentines Day and all so I thought…" "Ishida, there's no need to explain." Kurosaki said, gently pulling the present away from Ishida.

"I didn't get you a present, but I think I can make up for it." He said closing the gap between him and Ishida.

"Kurosaki…" Ishida bolted awake. "Why, why can't I ever be as bold as I am in my dreams?"

"Morning, Ishida-kun!" Came the bright, cheerful voice of Orihime Inoue.

"Good morning, Inoue-san." I replied.

"You okay, Ishida-kun? You look kind of depressed." Inoue pointed out.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just a bit tired."

I haven't been able to forget about that dream from last night. What am I going to do when I see Kurosaki? Okay, I need to think of an escape pl- my thoughts were cut of when Orihime cheerfully saluted the object of my affection.

"Oh! Kurosaki-kun! Morning!"

"Un? Morning Inoue, Ishida." He said nodding at us.

"Ishida are you okay?" I was currently hitting my head on my desk. I raised my head slowly and glared at Ichigo.

"I'm fine." I spat out. "Are you sure?" Ichigo asked. I stopped hitting my head for about 3 seconds. "I'm sure." I replied and went back to hitting his head.

Ichigo shrugged. "If you say so." I sighed. What should I do?

At lunch time, I was hoping I could finally get away from everyone. Sadly, fate was crueler than I had originally thought. Ichigo had dragged me outside to eat with him, Keigo, Mizuiro, and Chad.

How thoughtful of Kurosaki. Although why can't he understand that I wanted to be alone when I said 'leave me alone'? We sat in silence eating our lunches for a while. Keigo attempted to break the silence with a

"You know I saw a really funny show last night" method. When that didn't work he decided to use a new method.

"So, Ishida, do you like anyone? I notice you're with Orihime a lot, you lucky dog!"

"We're in the crafts club. She usually just asks me what our club plans to do because I'm the captain, is all." I replied. There is no way I'm going to tell them who I like!

Mizuiro, who had been pretty quiet wasn't about to just let the first conversation in fifteen minutes drop.

"You never said if you liked her or not, Ishida." he said. I thought carefully, how should I phrase it?

"I like her, but just as friends, nothing else. Besides, Tatsuki would probably kill me if I ever did." I replied.

"She probably would, wouldn't she?" Ichigo said.

Keigo chimed in. "I can see that happening. But that's only if she knew."

Chad nodded, his first contribution to the conversation at hand.

"If you don't like her, than who do you like?" Mizuiro asked.

"I currently don't like anyone more than a friend." I answered.

"Are you sure?" Mizuiro pressed.

"Most people deny it when asked."

"I'm entirely sure." Keigo and Mizuiro decided to try someone else.

"What about you Ichigo?" My ears perked up. Wait a second... even if Ichigo wasn't straight he probably wouldn't just say so.

"I don't really like anyone right now either." he answered. See? Well now there was the possibility he wasn't straight.

"Seriously? Both Rukia and Orihime seem to like you a lot." Mizuiro said.

"Most people think you and Rukia are an item." Keigo added. "What?! Why would anyone think that?" Ichigo asked.

"Well...you're almost always together, and she's always dragging you off somewhere." Mizuiro answered. I suspected that Mizuiro had something to do with the rumors.

The conversation went on like that for a while until the bell rung. I was gathering my things when Kurosaki (who had been sitting next to me so I wouldn't run away) tapped me on the shoulder. "Ishida...I..." He was hesitating. I was puzzled. Was this really the same bold Ichigo Kurosaki I had come to know and love? "Ah. Never mind." He said walking away. What was that all about?

Thanks for reading, and please review! Oh, and in Bleach they never mentioned if Ishida was near-sighted or far-sighted...so I just used whatever worked. I hope to see you again~