A/N: Hi, this will be a short fic, going on for ~3-4 chapters. Ichihime. I got a request from "Puti Puripi" to do more Ichigo-Ishida fight over Orihime. I liked the idea, so I gave it a go...

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite. I'm only playing a little.

Jealousy

'Hey... Kurosaki!'

Ichigo had just exited the school grounds after an other exhausting day, his bag over his shoulder, heading home. He turned back to greet his friend, though surprised.

'What's up Ishida?'

It was not every day the quincy decided to ran after him in such a hurried manner, and he immediately supposed something to be off... Uryu caught up with him easily.

'Is something the matter?' Ichigo asked again, with a serious scowl.

'No, everything's fine... I was just wondering... can we walk together?'

Ichigo's eyebrows disappeared into his forehead. He understood Uryu's words to mean that he had something important to tell him, only he wanted to do it somewhere more private. So he nodded, and followed without argument. He was curious, and a little uneasy...

They walked in silence for a while, and just when his short temper began to reach it's limit his friend finally asked.

'Can I ask you a question, Kurosaki?'

'You just did, Moron!''

'I mean a personal question...'

'…?'

That brought him up short. A personal question? What on earth could this be about? He felt irritated now. Couldn't Ishida just get to the point already? And since when was a quincy interested in a soul reaper's personal life anyway?

Uryu stopped, facing him. He started fiddling with his glasses. This was his way of showing nerves.

'It's... it's about Inoue-san...'

'Inoue?' Ichigo's vision went red for a moment with anger. His hand reached in the direction of his substitute soul reaper badge in his bag's pocket. 'Why didn't you say at once that she was in trouble!' he screamed at the other boy with rage.

'She's not in danger! Geez! I already told you, everything's fine! You're such a hot-headed idiot! Can't I even talk to you for a minute without you wanting to pull a sword at me?'

Ichigo took a deep breath, and tried to calm down, but it was hard with all the adrenaline running through his system.

'Sorry...' he said grumpily. 'But you can't blame me for jumping into conclusions with all the trouble she gets herself into... ' He was a little embarrassed about getting all worked up like this, but somehow he found that after the whole Hueco Mundo incident he felt even more protective towards the beautiful girl than before. But he thought that was something natural, the way everybody would feel in his place...

Uryu cleared his throat.

'... so about Inoue...'

'Yes?'

The quincy took a big breath, gathering his courage, and said the next sentence rather hurriedly, as though wanting the worst to be over quickly.

'I wanted to know what were your feelings towards her?'

Ichigo blinked. Then blinked again. And again. But no matter how many times he did it the quincy's words still didn't seem to make more sense.

'Feelings?' he finally stuttered out weakly.

'Yes. Feelings. You know, emotions... even you must have them...' stated Uryu, smiling a little sarcastically. Yes, it was worth doing this after all, even if it was just for seeing Kurosaki make the face he was making right now...

Ichigo tried to think. Why on earth would Ishida ask something like that? His most likely answer was that the quincy wanted to embarrass him... Well, he wasn't going to give him that satisfaction! 'Just play it cool...' he ordered himself.

'... what about them? I mean we are friends... all of us are... You, Chad and Inoue... and Tatsuki.' Ichigo said just as much to himself as he did to Uryu. He felt his face heat up, and he scratched his neck, confused. Really, what WERE his feelings? He never thought about it before, or at least not in this direct way...

'And that's it?' Uryu's blue eyes bore into his.

'What more is there... I mean we've become pretty close friends, with everything we've been through together, haven't we?' Oh, boy... he was babbling like an idiot.

Uryu just looked at him, then he finally looked away.

'Sure... you're right. Thanks for answering my question. Now I really should be off... handicrafts club's about to start...'

'Hey, Ishida!' Ichigo cried after him, but Uryu was already running back in the direction of there school. 'What was this all about?' he wandered aloud to himself.

…...

A/N: Please review, and let me know if you want me to continue this...