On Dancing

Orihime loved the idea of dancing - it was something akin to laughing and smiling with the entire body, and for that it was thoroughly enjoyable. But with laughter, dancing alone is hardly even half the fun of dancing with somebody, she realized. And so, she went on a quest.

Tatsuki indulged her, like always, and let Orihime flail around her, but hardly budged from her position. Instead, she patted Orihime on the head afterward, and congratulated her on feeling so happy. Orihime grinned, but she was hoping that Tatsuki-chan would actually dance. Tatsuki shook her head, and suggested that she'd rather be singing instead. So they sang a ditty together. It was pretty good.

Chizuru was worse, even though she loved it when Orihime invited her to do something, instead of dancing she kept trying to grope Orihime. Unfortunately, before Orihime could properly introduce the idea that Chizuru should be dancing, Chizuru's face had a surprising encounter with Tatsuki's knee. Orihime sighed.

Ishida refused on the grounds that dancing in school was idiotic, and that it should be done in a ballroom with all the fancy gowns and tuxedos and stuff. She tried to convince him to take a few steps at least, but when he started extolling the virtues of long, pleated skirts providing the maximum swish, Orihime found herself bored and felt like sulking. Finding a dancing partner sure is hard, and her project was looking like it could fail.

Sado-kun was very reluctant, and she spent half a minute pinwheeling her arms until he admitted that he had no idea how. "Bohahahaha!" Orihime posed, and Sado-kun struck the same pose on instinct. Orihime wondered out loud that maybe dancing was a matter of putting on a series of poses, and he agreed to try out some. After several poses, Orihime posited that she and Sado-kun would be totally awesome as a cheering squad, with the cool, long uniforms and head bands and manly shouting and stuff. It wasn't much, but Orihime felt better and she buzzed with more motivation.

Ichigo froze in shock when Orihime pulled him into a dance, and for a moment, Orihime remembered that he was really touchy about looking cool. But then, something flits across his eyes, he breaks into a grin and he spins her, around and around, for a couple of times and he laughs. For several minutes after it was over, Orihime's head stays dizzy and her heart pounding loudly in her ears.

Rukia was puzzled when Orihime grabbed her hands, inquiring if it was a custom among living people these days. Orihime replied, no, but it shouldn't be a problem if you felt like it. Rukia asks her to demonstrate, so Orihime takes the lead. Step, step, cross, spin, hold and then she takes Rukia for a dip - Kuchiki-san's eyes light up in a sparkle and tells her that it's amazing. Then, suddenly, the two of them lost their balance, a shriek, a flail, then they collapsed in a fit of giggles. All in all, Orihime thought, that was the perfect way to end.