Dessa's note: It is finally posted! Omg it's finally posted! Enjoy.

Chapter 5

It had been the first words she had uttered in days, her voice was throaty and dry from disuse. Ichigo was swept by an unbelievable relief from hearing the sound of her voice, the vibrations of the sounds even the intonation of sadness, but he was thrown into a treacherous ditch of despair by the meaning of her words.

'No!' uttered Ichigo in stubborn denial, Orihime remained crying on his shoulder not able to confirm his denial. 'You can't be leaving! You just got here!'

'But I have to.'

'Why? Why do you have to leave?'

'Onii-chan… Onii-chan says it's not safe for me to- to stay here.' Croaked Orihime, her voice moisturised by her tears. Ichigo stayed quiet, comprehending her words, her brother was probably right, but Ichigo still tried to find a loop hole at which to argue at.

'I can protect you.'

Orihime smiled through her tears. 'Thank you Ichigo-kun, but-'

'Please stay, Orihime' interrupted Ichigo, drawing away from her and looking directly into her tear glazed eyes.

'I-I can't Ichigo-kun, I have to go with Onii-chan.' Orihime cast her eyes down, looking solemnly at the ground, missing Ichigo's miserable face. There was a strong, tense silence for several minutes until it was broken by Orihime's small voice.

'I'll never forget you.' This seemed to snap Ichigo out of the depressive trance he had fallen into from her first words. Now he was tumbling in panic. 'And maybe I can write letters to you?'

Ichigo felt gripped by an unmistakable feeling of dread, he had to do something! Something that could make her stay. Unfortunately his brain wasn't creating a plausible plan that could override Orihime's tall brother's decision. Instead he would have to do something that made sure Orihime was tied to him, something that would make her come back and something that would make him go to her.

'Marry me.' The words were out of his mouth before the blush reached his face.

Orihime's eyes widened to impossible proportions and spluttered incoherently. 'Wha-w-w-what?'

'Marry me.' Said he with the same level of firm conviction but a heavier blush. His eyes showed no hint of hesitation, only a strong resolve.

'Bu-but we're too young to get ma-married.' Reasoned Orihime, the shock of his proposal finally numbing her.

Ichigo thought for a moment, trying to work around the logic of her statement, 'We can have a pretend-wedding then do the proper one when we grow up.'

Orihime looked hesitant, fiddling with her fingers while her eyes resumed their staring at the grassy ground, 'I-I don't know Ichigo…'

Ichigo's resolve was now replaced with misery, 'Do… Do you not want to?'

Orihime's head moved immediately to face him. 'No, of course I want to…' she blushed heavily when she comprehended what she had just said. To hide her burning cheeks she again stared at the ground. 'Bu-But don't people marry when they l-l-love each other?'

If she had gained the courage to turn her face up and look at Ichigo while she had spoken, she would have been shown a look of utter disgust, as though she had just said something related to manure.

Despite Ichigo's moment of grotesque dislike he managed to reply back to her. 'Yeah, but I want to marry you so I can take care of you.' Orihime's blush darkened. 'I already told you I'll protect you, if we get married then I can protect you all the time.' Orihime managed to look at him directly now; gracing him with a small smile and the sight of crooked missing teeth. 'S-s-so will you umm… will you marry me?'

Orihime's smile grew while she nodded her head bashfully, 'O-okay.' Ichigo's resulting smile managed to throw the sorrow that had grown since she heard her brother's fateful words out of her heart. 'But how are we going to do it? I'm only staying here for three days more.'

'Don't worry, we'll figure something out.' He huffed and sat carefully on the meadow ground, taking care with his broken leg and exhausted by his emotions. Orihime took his example and sat down next to him, drawing her knees up and staring quietly ahead of herself.

'Ichigo-kun.'

'Yeah?'

'On the wedding day… can I wear a white dress?'

'Yeah sure.'

'Can I have some flowers too?'

'Okay, but not daffodils, something else.'

'Okay.'

They sat in silence for a little while longer. Ichigo thinking hard, while Orihime sat serenely, the fatigue that sometimes accompanies relief after long periods of distress caught up on her like a running steam engine and she was compelled to rest her head on Ichigo's tempting shoulder. When she woke up she was in her own bedroom and wondered if everything she heard was a dream.

...

Her brother entered her bedroom shortly after she woke up, he grinned down at her with evident happiness, pleased that she was finally awake.

'It's good to have you back sleepy head' he lightly knocked her forehead with his knuckles playfully. She smiled in reply.

'What time is it?' she was confused by the strong afternoon sunlight, surely it should have been morning?

'So Ichigo-kun was right after all. It's great to hear your voice again.' And he smiled in relief, kissing her forehead.

'Eh? Ichigo-kun was here?'

'Of course, he brought you home while you were still asleep even with his broken leg. Said he didn't want to wake you.' Her brother frowned slightly in disapproval.

'Then it wasn't all just a dream?'

'What wasn't all just a dream?'

'Ichigo-kun asking me to marry him!' Needless to say, her brother was shocked into speechlessness. 'I'm so happy it's not a dream! We'll get married and live happily ever after!' Orihime clasped her hands together and brought them under her chin, swaying in bliss with a dreamy smile plastered on her face. 'We'll get married and live in a cottage and have 16 children!'

'N-n-now wait one moment!' said Sora urgently, finally roused from his knocked out state. He was completely disinclined to the idea of his baby sister be taken away from him and disliked the hastiness at which this immaturity had taken. 'Orihime, you're too young to get married, it's against the law.'

'I know I'm too young Onii-chan, that's why we're going to have a pretend one first then get proper married when we grow up.'

Sora frowned ever so slightly, 'Orihime, how do you know you'll even want to in the future?'

For the first time, Orihime's smile slipped off her face to be replaced by one of distressed confusion. 'B-but, Ichigo-kun is my friend, he said he wants to protect me.'

'Orihime, listen to me very carefully. You can't just marry anyone you want to. It's not something to take lightly, it is a responsibility between two people who care very much about each other and for each other. Sometimes even if you like someone very very much you can't always be with them.'

'Why Onii-chan?'

Sora sighed and stroked Orihime's hair 'because of other responsibilities.' Orihime looked puzzled while she tried to interpret her brother's behaviour, Sora took pity on her and resumed the life lesson he thought he wouldn't have to had give her till much much much further in the future. 'And other things, like if he's working enough to provide for a wife, if he's a good man, his attitudes towards children, what his morals are and so on… The point is Orihime, you have to be very serious when choosing who to marry, even if you like him very much, he might not be the right person, he might make you good or make you bad. So in the future when you do get married, be very careful when choosing. Okay?'

After speaking his final words, Sora turned to give a deep scrutinising look at his younger sister, as expected Orihime looked decidedly confused, as though the conversation had reached a maturity level far beyond her years, which incidentally, it had. 'O-okay,' she said slowly... still trying to grasp all that had been said to her. 'But... but... can I pretend marry Ichigo-kun?'

Her brother smiled, 'Orihime, you can pretend to do anything you like!' This seemed to be sufficient permission and Orihime graced her brother with the tightest hug she could muster.

'Thank you so much Onii-Chan!' she gave him kiss on his cheek and ran to get out of the house.

'Where are you going?' called Sora after his bouncing sister who was rapidly climbing down the stairs.

'I'm going to see Ichigo-kun to tell him the good news!' Sora, far from being worried, just grinned, not worried that the youthful exuberance of his sister's supposed love affair wouldn't fade once they left Karakura.

Orihime made it to next door within thirty seconds, but was only faced with disappointment when informed by Ichigo-kun's father that her friend was not at home and to try again tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile Ichigo himself had wasted no time in consulting his friends of his plan, much to his surprise, his friends were shocked.

'We're getting married and that's that!' declared Ichigo, ignoring the stunned looks on his friend's faces. Ichigo fidgeted slightly with the ensuing silence, 'And you're going to help me do it!' still there was only astonishment in the air, slowly but surely the brows on his face grew unbelievably close until he broke, 'GAAH! Say something!'

Finally the tenuous tension had cracked and the first one to be roused into concrete alarm was Mizuiro 'Are you CRAZY?' yet again, Ichigo was taken aback. 'You can't get married! You're too young for that!'

'H-hey hey calm down, it's only for pretend, then we'll do it properly when we grow up.'

'And how do you know you won't change your mind then?' was Suzuki's softly spoken question.

Ichigo looked confused 'Change my mind?' he frowned deeply, in concentration. 'Why would I?' Suzuki frowned.

'Well, Orihime's not the only fish in the sea.' replied he.

'Orihime's not a fish! And anyway, I'm not changing my mind, I'm marrying her now and in the future whatever you lot say!'

'Are you CRAZY?' echoed Keigo, 'Remember the "Never Get Married" pack? That was you're idea! How can you break your own rule?'

'I made that rule, so I can do whatever I want with it.' Stated Ichigo arrogantly.

'No you can't! You have to pay the consequences like everyone else!' said Yamada with passion.

Ichigo started to look worried. 'No I don't! I have the power to break the rule because I made it!'

'You're forgetting that you didn't make it, we all agreed on it, and only because you forced us to!' replied Yamada.

Ichigo hesitated, 'Just because we all swore an oath doesn't mean that I don't have the power to break it!'

'It does too! And that means you have to face the consequences!' interjected Keigo dramatically.

Ichigo itched the back of his neck in hesitation, still trying to find an angle at which to argue at.

'Either you face the consequences, or not marry Orihime.' Said Yamada with finality.

'Yeah, what'll it be Ichigo?' prodded Keigo. Ichigo meanwhile was thinking hard… Not marry Orihime? Was it even an option? If he couldn't marry her, then how was he supposed to find her in the future when she would grow up? How would he be able to protect her? But if he did marry her, then he would have to face the consequences, which he knew for a fact, wouldn't be pretty.

'Or are you not man enough?' challenged Suzuki, snapping Ichigo out of his indecision by the slight to his manhood.

'Of course I'll do it! I'm man enough to do anything!' said Ichigo angrily. The declaration had cause varied responses in his supposed friends, Mizuiro looked impressed, Suzuki looked shocked, but Yamada and Keigo were looking excited and gave each other evil grins, 'Deal!' they replied in unison while Mizuiro and Suzuki remained lost for words.

The next morning, Orihime hastily made her way to her next door neighbour's house, she was greeted by a very energetic Isshin-san, who gave her a vibrating hand shake and welcomed her most fervently into his house. She then made her way to Ichigo who was busy plotting something on a large sheet of paper. She quietly sat next to him, he was so engrossed in his drawings that he hadn't even noticed her presence beside him.

'Whatcha doing Ichigo-kun?' her sudden question caught him off guard, and he startlingly closed all evidence of any graphic imagery he had been drawing. Upon seeing his mad scramble to hide what he was drawing, Orihime's curious escalated, 'What are you drawing?' she pressed.

Ichigo spared her a glance, originally he was absolutely resolute to conceal any trace of his papers. But Orihime's gentle but avid look of eager curiosity broke his resolve line a fallen tonne of bricks. He sighed, 'It's my plans.'

'Plans for what?'

'The consequences.' Replied Ichigo darkly.

'Consequences? What consequences?' Ichigo sighed again and then proceeded to explain to Orihime the pact he had made in his moment of fevered detest of the female species.

'But- but that means you have to break the pact!' uttered Orihime in a broken voice, utterly devastated.

'Yeah, can't be helped.'

'But but because of me... you have to pay the consequences now!'

'Yeah... it's got to be done' Ichigo shrugged his shoulders as he said it, trying to hide his fear.

'So-so is that why you were drawing?'

'They're my plans of action.' Said Ichigo resignedly, unrolling the papers out for Orihime to see. They were filled with scribbles, crossed out spelling mistakes and an unreadable maze of flow charts in what looked like the poor construction of a house.

'Whose house is this?'

Ichigo swallowed, 'Yours'

Orihime's eyes widened, 'M-my house?' Ichigo nodded, 'Ichigo-kun.. what are the consequences?'

Ichigo thought back to the words his friends said as they declared the formidable consequences, it was to be the ultimate test of courage, skill and most importantly... manliness.

'To put Ketchup in your brother's shoes.' Orihime's eyes grew beyond the boundaries of possible width.

'Wha-what?'

'They were going to make me jump from the tree house but they realised I couldn't because of my leg...' said Ichigo in a rush, trying to extricate forgiveness from Orihime without actually asking for it.

'You-you can't do it Ichigo-kun! You'll get in so much trouble! And then Onii-chan will be angry and he won't let me marry you in the future.'

'Don't worry, I'll ask him now so I don't have to do it again in the future.'

'What if he changes his mind in the future?'

'He won't, real men don't change their mind!' Orihime looked anxiously sceptical, but accepted nonetheless.

Ichigo then wasted no time in transporting himself to next door, Orihime by his side. On the start of his short journey he was full of bravado, but with every careful step he took, his nervousness mounted. When he was outside Orihime's brother's study Ichigo was downright sweating.

'O-Orihime... I-I'm a bit err... nervous.'

'Why are you nervous? Are you scared of Onii Chan?'

'Of course not!' declared Ichigo, his courage returning with his offended pride until it crashed with his resolution when he pushed the door open and came face to knee with Orihime's very tall brother.

'Ah Ichigo-kun, what are you doing here in? The living room is the other way.' Asked a confused Sora-san.

'Err- well.. umm, I actually came.. to err,' he glanced at Orihime who smiled back at him in encouragement. 'I came to umm, to talk to you.. Sir.'

Orihime's brother sighed and closed his eyes, it almost looked like he wanted to palm his face in irritation. However, he managed to look nonchalant and motioned for the two children to enter the room.

'So.. what did you want to talk to me about then?' asked Orihime's brother resignedly.

'Err well.. errmmm...' Ichigo started kneading the back of his neck, and started fidgeting on the spot. He was not the only one who was uncomfortable, Orihime's brother was fighting impatience on a hyperbolic level and wished for this conversation to be over as quickly as possible. Eventually, after much fidgeting, patient smiles from Orihime and a visibly annoyed Sora, Ichigo had blurted out 'I want to marry Orihime...' then realising his mistake he pressed on hastily, 'With your permission of course... err Sir.'

'And when exactly do you intend to marry my little sister?

'Wh-when... when I grow up.'

'Then come back to me when you grow up with a job, a house and enough money to sustain a family. Then I'll think about it.' To Sora's surprise, Ichigo cracked a wide grin, promised him to bring back even more qualifications for marrying his sister when he grew up and thanked him greatly. Shortly afterwards he exited the room with Orihime by his side. Sora relaxed in his chair and tilted his head up staring at the ceiling, he smiled slightly reminiscing on long since buried memories.

'This is great Orihime!'

'But Ichigo-kun, Onii-chan said he'd think about it..'

'Don't worry, I'm going to be awesome when I grow up, he'll definitely say yes!'

'Oh... but..'

'Listen, I promise to do everything he said, okay? Then he can't say no.'

'A-alright..'

While the two children made their way out of the house, Ichigo surreptitiously tipped ketchup from a small bottle concealed in his jeans pocket into largest pair of shoes he could find.

Later that day Ichigo was pushing Orihime while she sat on the large tyre that had been tied by a very sturdy rope to an equally sturdy tree branch.

'Orihime.'

'Yes Ichigo-kun.'

'You're leaving the day after tomorrow right?'

'Yeah..' replied Orihime sadly.

'Then meet me here tomorrow. And bring the most precious possession with you.' Orihime frowned.

'What's a possession?'

'It's a thing that belongs to you.'

'Oh okay. But why do you want me to bring my most precious possession?'

'We will exchange them instead of rings.'

'Exchange?'

'It's a swap, so I give you my most precious thing and you give me yours, so we remember that we're going to be married to each other in the future.'

'Oh okay! So tomorrow we're pretend marrying?'

'Yeah.' Replied Ichigo, a slight smile on his face.

The next day, the highest point of the meadow had been decorated with a make shift altar made from long tree branches and a few summer flowers. Following this altar were around four chairs, all plastic and foldable. The groom wore his favourite Power ranger's T-shirt and usual jeans, it was obvious he had tried and failed to erase the mud patches on it. Mizuiro, who was voted the wisest as he had initially disagreed with the "Never get Married" pact, had been voted most qualified to act as registry and had taken the duty of drafting up a marriage contract complete with spelling mistakes. Mizuiro now stood proudly at the makeshift altar, the contract spread out in front of him with crinkles and grass stains as if it had been written on the ground.

Keigo and Yamada were ambitiously climbing the tyre-made-into swing and were competing against each other as to who could reach the tree's massive tree trunk first. Suzuki on the other hand stood solemnly by Ichigo's side, looking grave as if forced to attend a traumatic funeral.

'Ichigo, are you sure about this?'

'For the hundredth thousandth millionth time Suzuki! I've made up my mind and that's that.'

'I think you're making a big decision really really early Ichigo.'

'I don't care, I'm going to make it happen, I've decided and that's all that matters.'

'What if she changes her mind in the future? What if someone else wants to take her away and marry her?'

'Then I'll change her mind back,' replied back Ichigo without lacking any ounce of confidence, he failed to notice his friend glare slightly at him or the flared nostrils and deep breathing. Nevertheless, Suzuki remained silent for the rest of the proceedings. The bride came shortly afterwards, there was no drum roll, no grand music, not even a sound, yet she skipped happily down the aisle between the sparsely placed empty chairs. She wore the same dungaree Ichigo had first met her in and a piece of torn curtain dumped unceremoniously on the crown of her head, her periwinkle blue hairclips keeping it haphazardly in place.

She met Ichigo at the top of the altar who then fixed her home-made veil for her and smiled while he noticed the few summer flowers she held in her hand.

'Ready?' he asked.

'Yup!' declared Orihime, as though nothing else was more certain in the world.

'Very well.' Started Mizuiro in a rather posh voice. 'Let's begin.' He waved his hands to the empty chairs 'Dearly beloved', he gestured to the two boys climbing the rope that tied the heavy tyre to the tree branch, 'We are gathered here to today to join girl and boy in sacred matrimony'

Ichigo leaned forward, 'Psst Mizuiro,' Mizuiro glared back the his friend with the very unsacred interruption.

'What?' he strained to say through clenched teeth as though trying not to appear to talk yet still glaring down at Ichigo.

'It's sacred pretend matrimony remember!'

'What's matrimony?' peeped in Orihime.

'It means marriage.' Replied Ichigo.

'We are gathered here today!' began Mizuiro again in a louder more authoritative voice, 'To bring girl and boy in sacred pretend matrimony.' He glanced at the young couple, so far so good. 'It brings me great happiness to bind two kids together on this sunny day. We should all remember that matrimony is a special event because it keeps two people together forever and it lets you keep a dog without asking your Mum and Dad for permission. So, without further ado lets skips to the vows.' The couple shuffled their feet and lightly blushed. 'Do you Ichigo a.k.a Strawberry a.k.a Orange head..' from the thick tree branch Keigo and Yamada sniggered loudly, Ichigo scowled at Mizuiro, 'Promise to one day in the future take Orihime a.k.a "The Girl" and marry her?'

'Yeah.' Replied Ichigo shortly, looking at the ground and trying to rein in his blush.

'Then give her your most precious possession to seal the promise,' Ichigo slowly drew out his favourite original Gundam figurine and with shaking hands he handed it to Orihime, Orihime smiled and received it gratefully. 'And do you, Orihime a.k.a "The Girl", promise to one day in the future take Ichigo a.k...'

'I think she knows who I am!'

'Be quiet Ichigo, this is part of it.' Mizuiro sighed and continued, '.. take ichigo a.k.a Strawberry a.k.a Orange head and marry him?'

'Always!' replied Orihime enthusiastically.

'Then give him your most precious possession to seal the promise.' With equally shaky hands as her friend had, Orihime pulled out a handkerchief from her dungaree pocket, she unfolded the small cloth and there peacefully lay a long lock of auburn hair. The last lock that her tormentors failed to cut off.

'I asked the hairdresser if I could keep it.' She said quietly to Ichigo, her friend looked deeply into her eyes, it was unlike any other expression he had shown her, one she could not place a name on.

'With this I pronounce you promised to one day be man and wife.' The remaining boys clapped unenthusiastically, but only at Mizuiro's silent command, Suzuki's applause were particularly hard. Mizuiro then addressed himself to Ichigo, 'You may now Kiss the bride.' Ichigo's face went from profoundly moved to blushingly disgusted within a heartbeat.

'Never!' exclaimed Ichigo, paying no mind to Orihime's startled face. 'I'll never kiss a girl! Never ever ever!' Even Suzuki was taken aback.

'Sorry Ichigo, but rules are rules, this is how things are done.'

'You can't make me!'

'Can I kiss the groom?' enquired Orihime innocently.

'I guess so, it's the same thing right?' replied Mizuiro, Ichigo looked panicked as though he didn't know quite what to do.

'N-no... I don't... wanna!' But Orihime had already leaned up slightly on her toes and had quickly pecked her groom's cheek with a chaste kiss.

Even as they all signed the crumpled grass stained contract to prove that the pretend wedding had actually occurred, Ichigo was still silently blushing profusely.

They had one day left together, and like all other times when one desired time to slow down it automatically sped up. Before the young couple knew it Orihime was standing outside of her emptied house with Ichigo walking her to the car with the full boot and her brother sitting patiently in the driver's seat.

'I hope you get to write lots of stories when you grow up Orihime.'

'I hope so too, it would be fantastic, would you read them all?'

'I'd read all of them, even the really crazy ones.' Orihime giggled slightly, her short hair flowing easily in the light august wind. They stayed quiet for a little while, neither knowing what to say now that they had reached the car.

'I'll never forget you Ichigo-kun.' Ichigo had a shadow of the same panicked expression he wore when first hearing she would leave.

'I'll find you one day, even if you don't come back to Karakura.' Promised Ichigo.

Orihime smiled faintly, 'Can I write to you?'

'Yeah yeah definitely, we can be pen pals.'

'Pen pals?

'They're friends who write to each other.' This seemed to delight Orihime.

'Then we'll still be friends?'

'Of course we'll still be friends, just because we're apart doesn't mean we can't be friends.'

'That's… that's good then.' and Orihime gave him a smile that represented all her happiness yet strangely held a portion of sadness. Unfortunately, Orihime's tall brother called for his sister to step into the car; knowing the two children could stay standing forever... neither wanting to part.

'Well, Goodbye Ichigo-kun.'

'Yeah, Goodbye.' Neither moved.

'We'll see each other again one day.' Stated Orihime.

'Definitely!'

Orihime smiled again but this time she made a tiny move to step away, 'Goodbye Ichigo-kun.' And before Ichigo could utter another word she had stepped into the seat beside her brother, buckled herself into the seat and waved at him while the car revved and gained acceleration, finally moving down the street and out of sight. It was a very long time until the boy moved again, and it was only to go into his house, up to his room and start writing his first ever letter.

THE END

Dessa's Note: yup, it's the end of this little story, but I have a sequal and another sequal after that all planned out. I just need to get it written, I promised 100% to actually write it and get it out to you all. Thank you all who have supported this short story, thank you very very much to those of you who reviewed me including Nypsy, Sulla, Hyou no joo, Alice Hattercandy, it0takes0skills0to0be0me, BaS23, Orange Supernova, MellowDeez and Killerqueen04. You all supply the motivation I so desperately needed.