Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Sorry this has taken so long. It's been a crazy 6 months. Long story short, I moved twice and went through 3 jobs lol.

And here is Part 2 of this lovely two-shot. I know you'll love it ;)

As the group of friends walked through the decorative oak double doors they were immediately jostled by the hundreds of kids that were already packed inside the foyer of the mansion. The party guests were all dressed as a myriad of characters – from Egyptian kings and queens, to astronauts, cowboys and scantily clad Indian girls, angels and demons.

Orihime had dropped Ichigo's arm and was now walking behind him as the wide-eyed friends made their way inside the crowded room.

Directly in front of them the large foyer led to and regal looking staircase that swept up to the second floor. There were several couples already up there making out on the stairs. Orihime didn't even have time to blush at the obscene PDA as Ichigo tried to push their way forward through the rowdy crowd.

To the left, in the lovely wooden den, a zombie was doing karaoke in front of a laughing crowd. To the right, the kitchen was packing with kids getting alcohol from kegs. The red cups were everywhere. Orihime blanched – she had never been to this kind of party.

Ichigo, meanwhile, was becoming more and more pissed. Who the hell's idea was this anyway? This is absolutely not our scene! Why the hell are we here? Ichigo fumed in his mind.

Orihime was starting to get really nervous, especially because of the looks she was getting. Some gruff looking boys were giving her the once over with glints of dirty thoughts in their eyes. Fortunately, they looked at Ichigo next to her, make some mean faces, and went back to their own business. Without thinking she put her hand back on the back of Ichigo's arm and squeezed.

Ichigo looked down and saw princess Orihime looking around nervously. Tch. He make a metal note to slaughter anyone who bothered his very innocent, very pretty friend.

But, while Ichigo and Orihime were feeling particularly uncomfortable, the rest of their group of friends was looking pretty pumped!

As they rounded the corner into the kitchen Keigo exploded in excitement. With little warning he rushed past everyone and took off to annoy some cool looking kids collected around the spiked punch bowl. Mizuru followed slowly behind waving to every other person as he went.

What a damn popular kid. And Keigo doesn't need alcohol… Ichigo thought with a certain feeling of foreboding. That kid was annoying enough as it was, he had no absolutely no interest in finding out what he was like with limited inhibitions. Ichigo shuddered at the thought!

Looking around the ginger headed shinigami began to realize that a lot of these kids must be from different schools, because he couldn't recognize any of them.

Who are these people? – He thought, scowling even more deeply.

The red headed pair and their remaining pals were just getting ready to walk through the kitchen and find a quieter spot to hang out when – in an uncharacteristic move that left both teens beyond surprised – Tatsuki grabbed Chad by the sleeve and disappeared into the crowd!

"We see some middle school friends over there!" Arisawa yelled behind her, "Take care of her or I kill you lunkhead!" And they were gone, disappearing into the huge mass of crazy Halloween characters, leaving both red heads with their mouths hanging wide open.

Oh this is bad. Ichigo thought. Now, Orihime was 100% his responsibility!

Speaking of whom, our glowing princess was looking a bit pale. Why did Tatsuki run off like that?

Orihime would much rather have more friends around her instead of less, especially since this was an entirely new situation with rowdy kids bumping into them from all sides.

And now she was becoming more and more aware of the feeling of Ichigo next to her; the two of them leaning against a wall in the kitchen trying to get away from the main crowd of kids around the keg. The jostling of people going through the kitchen forcing them to stand closer together than they normally would!

She also realized that her hand was still tucked under Kurosaki-kun's arm, her fingers lightly grasping his forearm. She blushed a bit and looked down at the floor. But despite her embarrassment… she couldn't bring herself to take her hand away… just yet…

Ichigo was also getting a little hot under the collar as he became overly aware of her delicate hand on his arm and the closeness of their bodies, but he didn't let anything show on his face.

…Focus on something else, focus on something else, focus on something else… He repeated to himself.

Unfortunately the only other things he could think about involved doing bodily harm to certain people…

Though it felt much longer, only a few minutes had passed before the pair started feeling a little more relaxed next to each other. Orihime finally lifted her head and started looking around at all the strange faces in the room.

"Do you see anyone you recognize Kurosaki-kun?" She asked timidly.

"No one worth talking to." He said nonchalantly.

Then looked down at her, and immediately realized it was a bad idea. He was captivated by the look in her big hazel eyes and for some reason all he could notice was how beautiful she looked with that little crown on…

"Guess we're on our own now." She whispered as she looked up and met his gaze – a feat which took remarkable bravery.

Orihime was barely able to finish her sentence. The unexpectedly intense yet soft look coming from her Kurosaki-kun was unraveling her.

What was this look? Why was he not saying anything else? She vaguely noticed as her mind got fuzzier that his crown seemed to be tipping forward, and the heat of all the bodies around them seemed to be pushing them towards each other; it almost seemed like they were drawing closer and closer together, almost as if…

"HEH HEHM!"

Both teens jumped.

They had been so entirely absorbed in the idea of being left alone with each other - that they completely and totally failed to realize that Ishida-kun was actually still standing right there, on the other side of Ichigo.

"Oh." Ichigo grunted, placing a scowl back on his face. "What are you doing here?"

The Quincy was turning a spectacular shade of red, which was impressive considering his white face paint for the vampire outfit. Orihime couldn't tell if it was because he was really angry or really embarrassed.

"I've been here the whole time! I don't see any old friends or the like so there's no reason to abandon Inoue-san with a delinquent like you!" The quincy spat out as he adjusted his glasses in an attempt to hide his red face.

Now Ichigo was pissed. He huffed and crossed his arms, but instead of a comeback he chose to look away back into the crowd of stupid kids.

Why is that freakin' four eyes acting so weird? Then again why am I annoyed that he's here? Shouldn't I be happy we aren't completely alone… Normally I would have cursed him to hell but… was I about to do something wrong to… ~~~

Ichigo tried to stop thinking by letting the loud music that was playing fill his mind instead. He was feeling a little guilty and confused and he didn't like the feeling.

In reality, Ishida had looked over just in time to see the looks in his friends' eyes as their faces were drifting closer and closer. Honestly, he wasn't sure how he was feeling about it either, but he knew he sure as hell didn't like it!

As soon as Ishida had butted in Orihime had pulled her hand away from Ichigo and was now fidgeting with the front of her dress and looking down at her painted toes.

What had that been all about? She bit her lip. She had never seen that look in his eyes before. It made her feel like her stomach was plummeting down a roller coaster.

After a little while she blamed it on the crazy atmosphere and all the people bumping into them around, and put a timid smile back on her face.

"Why don't we all get something to drink? It's kind of hot in here."

Ichigo scowled and sighed. "Fine let's just get something to drink and head outside. It's friggin' packed in here."

Ichigo spotted some mostly abandoned bottles of coke on a back corner table, but it was definitely too crowded for all three of them to go.

"Watch her, " Ichigo growly rather violently to Ishida. "I'll be right back."

"Stupid hot headed Shinigami, thinks he can talk to me however he pleases. What do I care if you defeated one person or the other, stupid shinigami." Ishida mumbled to himself.

It made Orihime want to giggle but she managed to hold it back. Poor Ishida just didn't get as much attention as he deserves sometimes… she laughed to herself.

"Don't worry Inoue-san, I'm better suited to protect yo…"

But before he could finish his ironic statement, our vampiric Ishida was kidnapped! Several pairs of hands reached out, covered his mouth, grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him away into the massive crowd.

Orihime was powerless to stop it and now she was completely alone!

It didn't take more than a few seconds for the first drunken moron to pounce.

Wham! A kid dress as a zombie slammed his hand over her shoulder, pinning her against a wall! He was reeking of booze, obviously wasted, and was looming over her with his face way too close for comfort.

"Hey babe," he slurred. "You wanna be my date tonight?"

Orihime hands flew up to mouth to cover up the smell of alcohol and rotten breath.

But before he could try anything else, her thoughtless attacker looked up quizzically, almost as if he has picked up the slight feeling of imminent danger. Oh it was someone's killing intent alright!

BAM! Whooosh! Clatter!

To the naked eye it looked like a blur of red.

Ichigo hit the guy upside the head and tossed him back across the kitchen before seamlessly pulling Orihime around the corner and into the next room - his crown flew off in the process, falling noisily to the floor and disappearing beneath people's feet.

"Are you ok?"

Ichigo was met with big surprised hazel eyes. He was holding Orihime by the shoulders against the wall looking at her with that oh-so-familiar look of concern, and all she could muster was a tiny nod in reply.

"Let's go outside."

She followed him to the back of the house which was also packed. A wide sliding glass door led to an outside pool and terrace area where there was a dance floor and kids dancing up a storm.

Ichigo grabbed them some cokes from an outside table and began looking for their missing friends.

"Where's that cape wearing, four eyed bastard? I'm going to kill him!"

"Don't Kurosaki-kun, I don't think it was his fault." Orihime explained how Ishida had had been grabbed by people she couldn't see and dragged away just like that. Ichigo made an annoyed sound. That's no excuse. He thought.

Orihime was still feeling a little shaken by the whole ordeal with the zombie but calming down a bit as she walked beside Ichigo outside, where there was a little more air to breath.

That's when some really arrogant looking, pretty-boy football captain type guy (dressed like prince charming), decided to butt into their conversation.

"Hey there Princess." He said while swaggering up and blocking their path. He was taller than Ichigo and looked like he was older than 18. "Why not dump the punk and have some fun with me?"

The young death god decided to oblige this guy's obvious death wish.

Ichigo promptly grabbed the jock by his cape (God he hated capes!) and tossed the ass into the fucking pool.

"Are you blind? She's with me, got it fucktard!"

Ichigo walked back a little embarrassed at his outburst – everyone was looking at him now, while the soggy prince charming splashed around cursing.

Orihime was shocked! She couldn't agree with the dirty language but having him claim her like that…

"Uh, that is you should probably just stick with me." He said while scratching his nose awkwardly.

She could tell he was getting pretty upset. Is all I ever do cause him trouble?

"I'm sorry about this Kurosaki-kun."

He stopped walking and stared at her intensely. "Don't apologize for something that is not your fault. This has nothing to do with you. It's just drunk assholes who don't know how to act around a beautiful girl."

Shit!

Ichigo coughed to hide his embarrassment. I went and said too much.

He kept talking to cover his tracks.

"Whoever's idea this was, is going to get killed by me don't you worry." He said, his voice rising in pitch, "I'll mangle them for sure, pound em! Anyway let's find a table, is that a table? Let's go."

Orihime had gone positively catatonic.

She felt a little like she was hit by a freight train and just nodded her head and followed Ichigo to a little white iron table that had opened up at the edge of the gardens.

She had never heard him ramble nervously like that…

And he had called her… "beautiful" Beautiful?

Thank god for the chair because she was feeling faint, her mind was completely blanking.

Ichigo continued to ramble in an uncharacteristically high voice, while avoiding Orihime's eye. He wouldn't have been able to catch her eye anyway because she was stiff like a statue with huge eyes glued to the hands grasping her cup of coke.

If it weren't for all the noise around them they might have heard the sniggering coming from the trees behind them.

Ishida, Tatsuki, Chad, Mizuiro and Keigo were all hiding behind some fake palm trees spying on their adorable red headed friends.

Tatsuki was smiling ear to ear while Keigo and Mizuiro were giggling over her shoulders.

Chad and Ishida, on the other hand, were leaning against a fence further back, standing solemnly and saying nothing. Both had their arms crossed and looks on their faces that obviously said they thought this was the stupidest idea in the world.

"This is childish." Ishida grumbled.

"This is the most amazing things I've ever seen!" Mizuiro squealed.

"Is he rambling? Listen to how high his voice is! This is amazing!" Keigo whispered while doing his best to hold in his laughter. His eyes were watering with repressed glee!

"What a bunch of morons. How long is it going to take that meathead to realize he likes her?" Tatsuki moaned.

"This is too hilarious!"

"This is stupid."

"I want to upload these cell phone videos to Youtube asap."

"I want to see Ichigo make more of a fool of himself."

"Is that so?" Growled a completely different voice.

All four friends slowly turned to see their doom looming over their shoulders. While they had been looking at each other and gossiping away, Ichigo had snuck up behind the little conspirators after hearing whispering in the trees. Their prey had become the hunter and they… were going to die.

WAHHH! BAM, SMASH, WHOMP!

Ichigo promptly kicked all their asses, releasing some of the stress that had been building up all night! Even Ishida who wanted no part in the scheme (not that it would have mattered) got his ass handed to him. The only one to escape was Chad. The two shared a knowing nod that obviously told Ichigo that Chad was innocent.

The only thing that could be heard from the pile of their bodies as Ichigo stomped away was a feeble voice mumbling, "Totally worth it."

Ichigo was so angry he didn't know what to do with himself. He stormed back to table, grabbed a still comatose Orihime, and walked out of the party.

It wasn't until they were almost half way home that Orihime seemed to snap out of her trance-like state.

"Kurosaki-kun, where are we going?"

"I'm walking you home." He said bluntly

"What about the others?"

"They'll live…" he mumbled.

"What?"

"They're coming behind us."

"Oh."

Orihime realized that he had been dragging her, well leading her, holding her hand.

Now that she seemed to have come back to reality he let go of her hand. He put his hands in his pockets and stared up at the sky, mostly to hide the huge blush on his face.

He slowed his pace and she walked by his side in silence.

The great thing about Orihime was that after everything they had been through together, just walking beside her like this on a cool fall night was really comfortable. The clear air was relaxing his mind, and he was already forgetting some of his aggravation.

This is what he had wanted from the beginning: A peaceful night walking with good company through the quiet streets of Karakura Town. It was already a little later so most of the trick-or-treaters were tucked in their beds. The moonlight shined its gentle blue light on the damp pavement, filling in the spaces between the orange street lamps.

Orihime was getting the warm fuzzies. This was the best feeling, walking with her Kurosaki-kun by her side while stealing little peaks at the tall serious boy.

She took in everything: his hair, his eyes, his lean build, and that look on his face that told her he was calming down. It filled her with tranquility also; not to mention pride. After everything that they had been through together and everything he suffered to rescue her and defeat Aizen… she was just glad to be here at his side, even if maybe she wasn't completely worthy.

They were walking calmly and yet Ichigo's heart was still going a bit wild, and it was starting to annoy him. He saw Orihime stealing glances at him from the corner of his eyes and he wished he could do the same thing back.

What had been with him tonight? Why was he acting so out of character? Why was it becoming harder and harder… to stop his body from doing certain things?

He knew that his interactions as of late with Orihime had been… uncharacteristically friendly. And he found himself looking forward to her company more and more… and what idiot wouldn't realize what a beauty she was. But she was also an important friend who had, literally, been to hell and back with him. He knew he didn't want to disrespect her or risk their friendship… but what was it that he really wanted?

Before they knew it, they had arrived at Orihime's apartment and stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"Where's your crown?" Orihime asked, suddenly realizing that it was gone.

"Oh, I'm sorry I must have lost it after I kicked that punk's ass."

She smiles a sweet smile.

"Thank you for being by my side Kurosaki-kun."

He could sense she meant more by that statement. He smiled a genuine smile right back at her.

"No problem."

"At least you still have yours." He said softly as his hand instinctively went to touch the little crown on her head – then rested in her hair.

What am I doing, what am I doing, what am I doing?

Orihime looked up with those doe like eyes all wide and surprised as he stroked her hair, and something just clicked in his mind. He wanted her. Aw fuck it, I'm in love with her.

Ichigo allowed his body to carry him where his instincts had subconsciously been leading him for all this time.

The grip on the side of her face firmed and she saw a look she had never quite seen in those intense amber eyes before, there was that same softness reserved just or her but something else also.

Time seemed to stop as he tipped her face up towards him. The air left Orihime's lungs and she couldn't help but keep her eyes open as Ichigo bent down and place a gentle kiss on her lips.

That gentle touch was electricity. Every sense was a thousand time sharper, and a moment later she closed her eyes and relished the feel of his surprisingly soft lips on her lips. His smell was all around her, his breath on her face, his lips now moving experimentally over hers.

Ichigo felt a weight he didn't know he was carrying lift off his shoulders, everything else was completely forgotten and all he could think was how smooth and wonderful her lips felt on his.

All too soon Ichigo had pulled away. He relished in the flustered, flushed look he had left on Orihime's face.

"Stay by my side… ok?"

Dazed in a world of happiness, all Orihime could do was nod.

"Gnight Orihime."

Orihime felt like she was in a dream. She watched as Ichigo smiled, put his hands in his pockets and walked off into the night.

Ichigo was feeling a brand new power in chest he had never quite felt before. He smiled again as he tilted his head up to the night sky. He was looking forward to the much more enjoyable adventure ahead.