He fucked up.

Ichigo always knew that from the start, this wouldn't end up pretty. Especially when he didn't find the courage to tell her the truth. Something started with a lie would end up horribly, he believed that and he regretted that. He couldn't get rid of her face that day from his mind. How she looked at him as she told him she knew about the bet. Damn it. He had hurt her.

He had never intended to hurt her feeling. Not at all. He just wanted to protect her but he guessed he chose a wrong way to do that. What could he have done though… he couldn't just let the boys win the bet and date her. So far, he was lucky that there had been no guy made a move on her—what a miracle—thanks to her naivety and Tatsuki killer glance but Orihime is very attractive, this wouldn't go on forever. One day there would be some guy with enough gut would finally make a move on her and she might accept him and agree to go out with that guy. Ichigo didn't want that to happen and this bet is his only chance—though temporary—to stay by her side and to protect her.

Did she hate him now?

Ichigo groaned as he buried his face into the pillow. Just imagine she hated him didn't sit well with him. He didn't want her to hate him. He wanted her to realize that he lo—cared about her. That he regretted for being a jackass who joined a stupid bet just to be with her.

Did he still have any chance to proof himself?

He had never been a good talker. Ichigo is a man of action—though this time he didn't even know how to act. He was not confident that when he face her next time, she would understand what he means.

Ichigo shifted his head and glanced at his desk. A pen and some papers scattered on the wooden surface. More torn and crumpled papers were on the floor and in the basket, a proof that writing a letter was not an option. He just couldn't find the right word.

He sighed as he closed his eyes. Oh no, life was so much easier before the stupid bet. Sure he had no chance to talk to the princess before but at least it hadn't been this awkward. The way she avoided him was too much. He hated himself for ruin everything.

"Shit," he cursed.

Tomorrow he would definitely talk to her.

.

The school festival felt gloomy for both Ichigo and Orihime. Ichigo had tried to talk to her several times after they broke up but she always found a way to get away from him. It was frustrating because he had made his mind if it had to end this way he wanted to at least tell her about his real feeling. It might be not making any difference regarding their situation right now but at least she needed to know that for him she was more than a bet.

Ichigo's class opened a fortune-telling stand in the school festival. It was decided at the last minute and to be honest it was a complete fraud. They just were to lazy to prepare a café or haunted house, a fortune-telling stand was easy to set up and they only needed to dressed one of the unlucky fellow classmate in a fortune teller outfit to listen to their customer story. They just needed to gave the customer a lip service and sell them some charm maybe, to make them feeling better—a fraud indeed.

Ichigo helped with the decoration. He didn't mind working hard on decorating as long as they let him away from the actual event. He planned to talk to Orihime and make everything right again.

"Hey, Ichigo, where are you going?"

Ichigo turned to see Keigo is getting ready with the fortune teller outfit, he got the first shift to be the fortune teller. It seemed like he enjoyed it a bit too much—that idiot.

"I have something to do," Ichigo's eyes scanned the classroom once again just to make sure—yup she is not here—before he left the classroom, trying to find his beloved ex girlfriend.

.

Ichigo was walking in the corridor when suddenly she bumped into someone. He had never been so careless before, but his mind was so full of something else that he didn't realize when someone bumped into him. He sighed and was about to leave that person before the his eyes met a pairs of beautiful orbs. That was the girl in his mind who bumped into him, Orihime Inoue.

Apparently Orihime was also surprised to see him there. His eyes fell on her reddened nose. Maybe it was from when he bumped into his hard chest. He was about to ask if she were okay but it happened so fast, before he could say anything the girl had turned around and ran away from him.

The carrot head cursed as he started to after the girl but damn the girl was fast. The school was full of student and visitor that day since during the school autumn festival, the students were allowed to invited their family and friends from outside school to enjoy the festival. It was hard for Ichigo to catch up with Orihime with so many people blocking his way. It didn't take two minutes for Ichigo to lost her in the crowd.

Ichigo panted, he was so frustrated. Why wouldn't she listen to him? He just wanted to apologize and maybe confess his feeling to her. Whys she made everything difficult for him.

He kicked a trash can angrily, surprising and scaring some innocent passerby. He groaned and cursed before he knelt down to pick all of the trash on the floor and fix the trash can. Seve though he was so angry, he shouldn't liter.

"You're such a good boy, kicked the can then pick up the trash back."

Ichigo didn't have to turn around to know who it was. He just growled as his childhood friend folded her arms as she watched him. Clearly she had no intention to help him at all.

Ichigo just finished dusted his pants when suddenly he had something in his mind. He looked at the girl in front of him and gave her his most serious look.

"Tatsuki, please help me…"

He hated to beg especially not to Tatsuki but if this was what he needed to do to make her cooperated with her, he would do it.

.

I met Tatsuki in the rooftop of our school. I knew she would find me easily. This place is one of my favorite places in out school. I forced a smile when my best friend approached me and then sat down next to me. I waited for her to ask the question but she didn't say anything and just rested her back on the concrete floor, using her hands as pillow and looked at the autumn sky.

I knew Tatsuki knows something happened between Kurosaki-kun and me, but I wondered why she didn't asked me anything. I hugged my legs and looked at the sky. What should I say now?

"Our class is really popular," Tatsuki said lazily, still looking at the sky, "the fortune telling I mean… so many people coming. I guess Asada did a great job."

I laughed, "did he? But you told me fortune telling is not real."

"It is not real," Tatsuki agreed, "But your feeling is real. When you talk to the fortune teller and tell them your problem, deep inside you already knew the answer. You just need to get it out."

I looked at my best friend, "to get it out?"

Tatsuki nodded, "You cannot move on if you keep something in your chest you know."

I didn't say anything but I thought about it. I talked to Tatsuki about almost everything so basically I had nothing I had been keeping in right?

Right?

Besides to talk about my feeling with someone else but Tatsuki was a little weird. Asada-kun was not a bad person but he can be noisy some times. What if the whole school knew about my feeling?

Why shouldn't they know?

A small voice in my head asked me a question. Well, I wondered. The reason why I wanted to keep my feeling a secret was because I didn't want to bother Ichigo. He had been so kind to me and my feeling might disturb him.

But Tatsuki was right.

My feeling for Ichigo has grown so much that I couldn't handle it anymore. The feeling filled my chest and sometimes it was hard even to breathe. Was it selfish to admit that I love him?

Before I realized it I had been in front of my class' fortunetelling booth. Wait a minute since when had I join the queue? Well I guess it happened again. I overthought something as walking and ended up somewhere I didn't expect myself to be. I blinked few times and contemplating whether or not I entered the booth. Someone behind me asked if I would enter or not, I apologized to the girl for holding the line and quickly—without thinking—entered the booth.

As soon as I walked it, I could smell jasmine. I wonder who chose the fragrance but it smelt really good. When I looked around I also had to admit that whoever did the decoration had done really well. The room was semi-permanently built and decorated with some middle-east themed decoration. The booth was almost dark except for an Arabian lamp which somehow gave a mysterious feeling.

Asada-kun who was in charge to be the fortune teller used his hand gesture to tell me to sit down in front of him. In the briefing time, he was told not to say anything necessary and I honestly surprised that he could do it very well since normally he was almost never stop talking.

I gulped as I sat down. It helped that Asada-kun is wearing a dark robe with hoodie which covered his face. The fact that he almost made no noise and no movement helped as well. Okay, so I could just think of him as a stone.

Another hand gesture from him telling me to start talking.

I exhaled.

"So ummm… Fortuneteller-san, I have something to confess."

Asada-kun wait for me to continue without saying anything and I was grateful to that because I wasn't really sure about this. But I have to let it out. I clenched my hand and made my mind. Well, maybe if I tried to make it as vague as possible, Asada-kun wouldn't know who it was about. Sure there had been rumor flying around the school about me and Kurosaki-kun but ….

"Ummm… you know I like someone."

I could see Asada-kun startled but he didn't say anything. Suddenly I decided to tell the truth. Well, this maybe confusing for Asada-kun and maybe it would reach Kurosaki-kun's ear but it couldn't be helped.

"But right now I don't want to see his face." I continued, "I am afraid if I met him and talk to him, he might say the word I don't want to hear… That's why today I ran away from him." I giggled awkwardly, "I feel bad but I don't want to hear him apologize. I... don't want to hear about the bet from his mouth. I am scared. I am afraid that I would get my heart broken more than this…"

"You got it wrong, Inoue…"

That wasn't Asada-kun's voice.

I gasped as Asada-kun pulled back his hoodie to reveal a familiar handsome face. That was not Asada-kun. It was…

.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo swallowed and tried to smile, "Inoue, there is something I need to tell you…"

"Why are you…?" it seemed like she didn't hear what he was trying to say, "why not Asada-kun? What are you…" then realization hit her hard like a ton of brick, she felt her throat dry and she was shaking when she started talking, "Tatsuki-chan told me to come here… don't tell me you two planned this?"

"Well, yeah I asked Tatsuki for help, but…" he couldn't finish his word because the girl had left the booth, "wait a minute, Inoue, wait!"

For the second time today Orihime ran away. Ichigo however wouldn't let her go for the second time. When he ran out of the booth, Keigo yelled at him for the costume. Grunted, Ichigo took 2 seconds to took off the hoodie—practically ripped it off—and threw it to Keigo. He would apologize later to his friend but right now there was something much more important he needed to do.

It was not that hard, for Ichigo to catch up with Orihime this time. He was so determined not to let her go ever again. She was running to the school back yard when he caught her wrist to stop her.

"Let me go!"

Ichigo deadpanned, "only if you promise to not run away and listen to me."

Orihime bit her lower lip. She didn't want to make a promise she couldn't keep.

"Please?"

Orihime sighed. She couldn't win with the way he said that magic word and look at her. She was scared but finally she nodded.

"Fine, I promise. Just let me go…"

Ichigo smiled gently as he let her wrist go, "Thank you…"

Orihime looked away and Ichigo's smile faltered. He sighed. He needed to do something to win her back. Anything.

"I apologize," Ichigo started awkwardly, "the stupid bet is… unreasonably stupid, I know but… I… I am sorry I have hurt you…"

The girl glanced at him for a bit before shook her head and smiled sadly as she looked down to cover her face with her bang so he couldn't see her current expression, "I actually feel bad for you Kurosaki-kun, you have to be my boyfriend because you lost the bet."

He opened his mouth to say something but she beat him to it.

"Actually I was kind of excited when I knew about the bet," she admitted with a faint blush on her pretty face, "I think this maybe my chance to have a boyfriend, because it seemed I am not so popular…." It sound so wrong and absurd that Ichigo lost his word and didn't say anything as she continued, "it was scary at first because I never really talk with the boys, but you are so nice to me… and funny too…" another absurd comment from Orihime, Ichigo would never have considered himself funny, "it was short but I am happy to be your girlfriend."

Ichigo felt as if his heart was up in his throat. He couldn't see his face right now but he knew it must be redder than a tomato. Good thing Orihime was looking at her shoes at the time, clearly avoiding any eye contact.

"I am so asshamed with myself," Orihime closed her eyes to block the tears, "Because I use this chance to be your girlfriend…. For you maybe dating me is a punishment from losing a bet but for me… I lo…"

Orihime could never finish her word because Ichigo had pulled her toward him and kiss her lips forcefully. It was surprising Orihime but after few seconds she gave into the kiss. Their first kiss was awkward and last for fifteen seconds or so, but that was enough to make both of them forgot how to talk when Ichigo pulled away from her.

She looked at him as she touched her lips. His face was bright red and Origime swore she could hear his heart beating so fast. So she wasn't the only one who feel this way….

"Don't beat me to say it…" Ichigo said as he touched her cheek gently. His hand was oddly cold and it felt so good on her hot cheeks, "let me say it first…. Inoue, I like you."

Her eyes widened at his word but she said nothing.

"I have like you since the beginning. I am so sorry that I let you had a wrong idea about my intention when I asked you out. It might be wrong for me to join the bet, I am a jerk I know… but my feeling for you is real…."

Orihime bit her lower lip shyly, "so… we didn't have to break up?"

Ichigo grinned as he pulled her into a tight hug, "I want you to become my girlfriend, a real one this time."

"I will!" she giggled, it felt so good to be in his arms like this, "I love you, kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo chuckled, "I love you too…"

.

"You're a great matchmaker."

Tatsuki smirked at a dark haired man who knelt next to her behind the bushes. They were sure that the two love birds would not see or hear them now that they'd been busy kissing each other like there's no tomorrow. Tatsuki used her finger to sign the boy to follow her. It was the right time to leave the lovers alone. They deserved some privacy after everything.

"Of course, everything just went exactly like what I have planned."

Uryuu Ishida pushed his glasses up as he sighed, "you would go this far for them, I bet those two means a lot for you."

Tatsuki chuckled, she patted the boy's shoulder and grinned, they walked back to their classroom, "Orihime needed someone who would protect her. I cant be always with her you know, besides, she is so beautiful, yet she is an airhead… she thought those guys dislike her when they keep looking at her she thought it was because she looks weird. When someone even stole her pencil or notebook she thought she was being bullied… Ichigo is my childhood friend, I know they would suit each other. What I did is jus a little push…."

Uryuu nodded, "So you made a bet with the boys, pretend to tell Ichigo about the bet when the actual bet was between you and those boys…" he rubbed his chin, there was still something missing, "You told the boys to make a bet for Orihime, you told Ichigo that the boys would make a bet so he would stay longer after school with the boys and join the bet…."

Tatsuki turned to nodded her head, "yup, exactly."

"But there is something wrong…" Uryu furrowed his brows, "it was a bet, but how do you know Ichigo would lose the bet? I mean Ichigo's score usually higher than Grimmjow and Renji…" suddenly a realization hit him, "don't tell me?"

The karate girl grinned ear to ear, "You just realized it? Ichigo had liked Orihime for so long. He just wouldn't make any move. So when I told her about the bet, it is interesting to see him panic for the first time."

Uryu still looked at the girl with a disbelieving look. So that's why she was so sure that she would win the bet with the boys? That Ichigo would fall in love with Orihime before the school festival? Because he had been in love with her since the beginning?

Uryu sighed, what a cunning woman…

"Say Uryu did you see Ichigo's score last test?"

Now he thought about it. There was no way Ichigo Kurosaki score 0 in Japanese test. He might look like a punk but Japanese is one of his strongest subjects in school.

"He gave the teacher a blank answer sheet…" that was not a question from him.

Tatsuki nodded. They had arrived in front of their classroom, the fortune telling stand hadn't been taken apart completely but there had been no student already in their classroom the student must have been in the school yard enjoying the bonfire. Tatsuki paused for a moment before turned to the dumbfounded boy and smiled.

"Now don't you think that's romantic?"

Uryu sighed as he shook his head, more to himself than to deny the girl, "so he had that side of him, huh, that punk."

Tatsuki laughed. She walked to the window and watched the students had started the bonfire. She could hear the music already, "now now… Orihime had found her prince, and since it is Ichigo I can feel save leaving Orihime in his care. And I win the bet…" she showed the money to him and grinned, "let's go on date, I will treat you something nice."

Uryu couldn't help but to smile, "an after school date, huh?" he put his hand on her waist as they left the classroom they were not that late yet to enjoy the bonfire.

Tatsuki laugh, "Yeah, after school date."

And everyone lived happily ever after.

.

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Fin.

Author's note:

Finally I finished this. You think I give up this story huh? Huh? Well to be honest I actually did not! I always plan to finish my story no matter how many years it takes.

To be honest, I am busy with comic and doujin right now. I might make an Ichihime doujin soon. If you want to read you can follow my tumbrl "recchinon" you can ask question or send request there.

For now, thank you for reading this story!

Love you all.

Recchinon.