Chapter 1

Warnings: Ichi-perverted thoughts, some 'accidental flashing' and Ichi-mental abuse. OCC

8888

No matter how hard he tried not to look at her, Ichigo kept having his big wary eyes falling on Orihime that was just as nervous as he was. It had been happening nearly all morning. As soon as his shy classmate had sat down in her seat beside the window, he had continued to shoot her involuntary sideways glances. From how she kept shifting awkwardly in her seat with a reddened face, she was fully aware of his unwanted attention.

Everytime she so much as moved, his eyes would catch her in the act and would stare.

A snort rung out from beside him and already knowing who that snort belonged to, his wide stunned eyes narrowed in a glare towards Rukia who was doing a poor job in hiding her laughter; judging by her blushy strained face. The girl looked almost painfully constipated for keeping her laughter down.

"I can hear your snickering, Rukia," he gritted lowly through his teeth, one of his brows twitching when she gave him an amused look in response.

"If you keep staring at her like that, you'll turn her to stone...!" he stiffened as another loud snort escaped through her tightly pressed lips.

Why did she figure it out? Of all freaking people in this school, Rukia is the last person that should know about this! She hasn't stopped laughing at me since class started!

"For your information I'm not a pervert," he felt the need to inform his friend of that at least.

"Oh yeah? You could have fooled me! And I didn't call you that! You've just admitted that you are one!" unable to hold it any longer, he flinched as Rukia gave out a rather loud bark of laughter that interrupted their teacher's drone-like lesson.

"Kuchiki! Pay attention!"

As if a bucket of ice water had been thrown on her, Rukia straightened in her seat and had a perfectly placed mask of calmness that made Ichigo inwardly seethe. That was one of her habits that always bugged him. How many times had she smacked or punched him angrily only to become solemn and business-like a split second later? The girl seriously had to have a switch somewhere to be able to change moods like that. He didn't know what she could be up to next just because of that 'trait', if he could call that a trait at all.

Nervous at the thought that Orihime may have found out at least bits and pieces of their conversation due to how loud Rukia had gotten, he dared to sneak another look at her and felt his heart skip at beat when he realized that she was actually staring back at him.

Oh, crap...!, There was no anger in her face. What he saw in her expression was some regret and sadness that he hadn't expected to see. The rose-tinge on her cheeks had dulled and her usually bright eyes had dimmed. He had never seen her look so melancholic before.

She's ashamed., Feeling guilty because he hadn't made it any easier for her with his obvious gawking, he forced a slight apologetic smile that did worse damage than he had anticipated.

Her eyes flared as if just getting caught at doing something she wasn't supposed to and she did an awkward action that he knew wasn't in her. It was probably done unconsciously but he understood why she did it when he was staring at her.

One of her small hands reached up for the buttons of her school blazer and squeezed while hunching her shoulders forward, as her eyes quickly looked away. It was like she was trying to conceal her chest. The way her back bent, nearly hiding her full breasts from his view...

That was a swift kick in the gut for him to see, because it just made it clear that she was uncomfortable around him. Perhaps she thought he was some degenerate and wanted to protect the very thing his face had been pressed against the night before.

Damn it! How can I tell her that it's no big deal when I can't stop freaking her out?

Practically hating himself for making her anxious, he clenched his jaw and tore his eyes from her to stare straight ahead. He knew what he had to do. Apologizing to Rukia for bursting in on her had been a lot easier than he'd thought, but now with Orihime, a person to whom he had apologized plenty of times in the past without a problem, saying a simple 'sorry' just didn't seem like enough.

He had known the girl for years already and everyone that knew her, was aware that the girl was sometimes too naive and clean-minded. He still remembered when sexual education had started in middle-school. Even back then she had been fidgety at the things mentioned in that particular class, especially when Tatsuki had teased her about making babies with a guy she'd had a crush on at the time.

I'll apologize, put this behind me and won't ever, not in a million years, let her know what I did all night thinking about..., Just recalling the embarassing late night 'chore' he had undertaken the night before after fleeing her apartment still made his face sting. Of all people... Doing that after seeing Orihime? The girl would get so disgusted by him that even as kind hearted as she was, there would be no way she'd forgive him for being so sick.

Yes! Apologize and act natural! No harm will come out of this! I saw her naked! It's not the end of the world, right? Yoruichi never had a problem strutting around naked...

Still twitching at even imagining Orihime's apalled expression at her finding out what he'd been thinking the exact moment he left her, he continued to think up good ways to push the incident aside to make it easier to forget.

So far... He was failing.

8888

I really hate the guys in this school! Why do they always do this shit to Orihime-chan?, Tatsuki stood outside of the girl's showering room with a scowl on her face while waiting for Orihime to finish washing off the remnants of one of the adoring 'attacks' from some of her male fans.

At least three times a week, some idiot would take a dare from his buddies to get Orihime's school blouse wet. It had been happening for far too long and what made it a bigger pain in the ass for her, was that Orihime was oblivious to the reason why the perverted morons did that to her instead of other girls. The sick bastards knew that what they did to her was wrong and still did it, even if Tatsuki always ended up with her hands dirty due o defending Orihime's honor.

Two days earlier, a guy from another school had visited someone in their school... Even him, that had only seen Orihime that day, managed to 'accidently' throw his whole bottle of water on her chest. Today, it was a freshman that had spilled grape soda on her...

I keep telling her that the next time someone does this to her, she should punch them! I taught her how to defend herself and she just lets them do it to her!

She had to face the facts. Orihime was not malicious enough to avenge herself in those situations. Most of them time, she blamed herself because of her natural clumsyness, but if was about time for her to realize that all of those conveniently spilled drinks were happening too often. Tatsuki had already told her why the guys continued it...

At least this little asshole did it right before gym class so Orihime-chan won't have to make any excuses... Sensei is starting to complain about her getting late to class because of this.

Crossing her arms and leaning her back against the closed door of the shower room, she stood her guard. The last thing she needed, or should she say, the last straw, would be that one of those degenerates took to trying to sneak peeks at her friend while bathing. She could have gone inside, but she wasn't taking any chances of that happening. Nearly three fourths of the school's male population was composed of hormonal dumbasses and Orihime was too damned nice to call them out on it and set them straight.

It was either that, or Orihime didn't understand how her looks affected the 'dense teenaged boy breed'. Tatsuki, as well as a few other people, was fully aware of how her friend viewed herself. Orihime, despite her appearance, never played the part of a femme fatale. In fact, Orihime was probably one of those rare complex girls that looked beautiful on the outside, while on the inside she was filled with doubts and blindness towards her looks. She never used any of it to her advantage or looked down on other people because of their defects. What her friend had was a childish naivety that made nearly everyone in their group want to overprotect her.

Tatsuki for one, was trying to break that cycle by being blunt without hurting her feelings. Unfortunately, all of her hardwork only earned some confusion and even giggles from her nervously stunned friend whenever she stated things as directly as possible.

Then there's that crush she has on Ichigo... How long have I told her that its about time to confess to him? He won't know unless she says something since he's too much of an idiot to see all of the hints she drops. Ichigo needs to have things shoved in his face in order to see them...

Oh, if only she knew that Ichigo had something shoved in his face the night before...

"What the hell are you doing here, Ichigo?" she muttered the question without looking at him, because she had sensed him coming down the hallway.

"How did you-?" his question halted when she gave him a wry look that spoke volumes. Ichigo still didn't realize that his presence was very hard to miss. In some occasions she couldn't sense an ounce of his reiatsu, while in others it was a miracle that the walls of their school didn't cave in under the pressure of his untapped spirit energy.

If he wants to sneak up on people, he's going to have to learn how to hide that better than he is now.

"Nevermind how I know, just tell me what you want," not in the mood for vagueness, especially after she had gone through the chore of punching a starry eyed freshman for his 'grape soda surprise' fifteen minutes earlier, she narrowed her eyes on her childhood friend. Ichigo, normally, wouldn't be caught dead in that section of their school. He usually was already outside doing warm-ups for gym.

"Ah...," he began, scratching the back of his head as one of her brows arched in suspicion when what looked like an embarassed blush tainted his cheeks. Out of everyone she knew, Ichigo was the worst 'blusher' she'd ever laid eyes on. No one could become as red as he did. She used to tease him because of it saying that he did indeed look like an 'Ichigo' whenever he was embarassed. However, it was so rare to see him so brilliantly colorful... Being slightly flushed in anger was normal for him, but red as if the skin on his face was boiling...? No. That was definitely not normal.

"What. Do. You. Want?" she ground out through her teeth, not liking how he was acting. It was obvious that he was there for something.

"I asked some guys were Inoue was and they told me she was here," it was evident that just saying he was there looking for their friend was difficult for him.

"Well then you'll have to wait until she's outside with the rest of the class."

That was meant as a dismissal. She knew that she had practically told him off and he still stood there with his scorching cheeks and his hands awkwardly shoved in his gym short's pockets.

"Why are you still here?" she asked edgily. From the looks of it, Ichigo appeared as if he were frozen on the spot waiting for a firing squad.

"I...," he opened and closed his mouth, for some reason his unblinking eyes glued to the closed metal door behind her.

What the fuck has gotten into him? And what's with that dumb dopey look on his face?

Annoyed with his strange attitude, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

"You have ten seconds to get the fuck out of my face and go outside to play some baseball-"

"Actually we're playing basketball today...," he trailed off stupidly when she opened her eyes to give him a furious glower.

"I don't care if you guys are playing street hockey or some other dumb game, just get the hell out of here and stop looking at the door like you want to run in there!"

"But I really have to talk to-"

"When she's naked you're not!"

As if her words were a detonator of some kind, he immediately clamped his mouth closed and quickly spun around to walk away.

"What the fuck is his problem all of the sudden?" she asked herself, watching him as he speedily left her to peacefully keep guarding Orihime's bathing. Everything in Ichigo's body language had screamed anxiety. The tense shoulders with a slight tremble, the evasive eyes, the twitchiness in his features...

I'm going to have to ask Orihime-chan about this. Ichigo wouldn't be acting like this over nothing.

8888

Orihime felt as if something had changed between her and Ichigo and whatever that something was did nothing but harm. He had barely looked at her during half of their classes, though in the morning she had felt his eyes on her more than once. The few times she had tried to talk to him during lunch, he had either ignored her or flinched as if someone had shouted at him.

He's disgusted by me. I know he is!, That thought was what mellowed her usually happy demeanor during most of the day. Everyone had noticed her backwards change, especially Tatsuki, but due to wanting to preserve some of Ichigo's dignity, she'd kept quiet about the accident at her house.

It had been an accident, but that didn't keep her from blaming herself for it. If only she hadn't tried to poke her head out... If only she had some rubber flooring in her bathtub to keep from slipping... If only she had gotten some goggles...

She could have prevented it from happening if she had taken all the necessary precautions. Besides that, what had happened the night before may have destroyed all of her chances with Ichigo, if she had ever had any. She knew that her body wasn't exactly awe-inspiring. Maybe that was why he was revolted by her in the first place. Having a part of her body, mostly the part she tried to draw the less attention to, pressed naked to Ichigo's face would make any guy not want to look at her ever again. Some of her female classmates always spoke about how revolting her chest was and that it was vulgar; like the size of her chest stereotyped her into a category she was nothing like.

Did Ichigo think the same way they did? She hoped not! He was one of few guys that treated her nicely, other than Sado and Ishida. Well all guys treated her politely, at least until Tatsuki started telling her that some of them may have 'hidden motives' for being so nice towards her.

Sometimes, even if she meant well with 'informing' her, Tatsuki could make her very paranoid.

After their final class had ended, she thought that the best thing to do was to go the nearest store to buy a rubber mat for her bathroom, a newer sturdier shower rod and some water goggles. She didn't want a repeat of her newest clumsy catastrophe. What had happened was still spinning in her head mostly because the boy she was secretly in love with had not only witnessed it, but had become a very active part of it.

Even if she had been blinded by her shampoo, she had seen Ichigo's obvious sickened expression when he had pushed her off him...

How can I tell him about my feelings if he doesn't... like me that way?, The thought of Ichigo even finding her attractive made blood rush to her cheeks. She knew it was too much to ask him for...

So far the only thing that could save her from further humiliation at this point was to never tell him. His attitude towards her said that he didn't think of her in an amorous way.

To him she'll always be another one of his friends.

After coming to that revelation, breathing at all seemed to hurt her chest. It was like her heart was empty.

Remember! Rubber mat, shower rod, goggles! And there's a horror movie marathon! Yup! Can't miss that!, She wanted to fill her head with other things things in order to make it sting less.

Sadly, the pain still remained as she slowly walked across the school's courtyard on her way to the gates that led outside. She wasn't going to forget him that easily.

"Inoue! Wait up!" the sound of that voice immediately stopped her snail-like pace, and the hollowness she'd had forming her chest seemed to have instantly disappeared.

Kurosaki-kun is talking to me again?, Too shocked to turn around to greet him, she stayed still and waited for him to catch up to her. Hearing his running feet nearing her, she shivered because of how suddenly full her once aching chest felt. Whenever she was around him she felt that way. Light, safe and nearly hopeless. She never knew what to say to him whenever he spoke to her. It was like she was robbed of all coherent words when he merely looked at her.

What am I going to say to him?, Nervous at having him talking to her when she was unprepared she wrung her hands, her eyes looking down at the ground. She'll think of something, depending on what he wanted to talk about...

Her eyes widened.

Don't tell me he wants to talk about...!

"Good thing you're still here! I was looking everywhere for you!" she jumped at hearing his breathless voice speaking right in front of her.

"Oh," she mentally kicked herself for not thinking of a better response. She felt even more awkward around him. Nearly her whole body stung with shame because he was probably standing there feeling more self-confidence than she was at that moment. Now, she was feeling so exposed.

"I... I wanted to talk to you about last night...," a very slight crack entered his tone.

Confused by that awkward sound, she frowned and looked up and gasped in shock.

Ichigo was so crimson he looked sick.

"Are you okay, Kurosaki-kun?" forgetting her embarassment because it was quickly replaced with concern, she rapidly pulled her nervously wringing hands behind her back so he wouldn't see how anxious she truly was.

"Yeah!" his voice squeaked so strangely that her brows shot up as he coughed loudly behind his hand to clear his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," after coughing a couple of more times, his voice was definitely back to normal, though the vivid blush to his face and neck was still deeply worrying her.

What if I hit him a little too hard?, She bit her lower lip worriedly. She had heard of some people showing symtoms to hard blows hours after they'd happened, so if she had truly hurt Ichigo, like with a concussion, or split blood vessel, then he was probably in dire need of a hospital.

"I think you need to get your skull scanned!" she blurted out without really thinking. She didn't want Ichigo to be in pain because of one of her 'accidents'.

"Get my skull scanned?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah! I hit you so hard that I might have hurt your head-"

"Wait! What?" she quickly bit the inside of her cheek because she knew that she had just made a fool out of herself. Ichigo looked even annoyed with her suggestion.

"Sorry," she mumbled looking down at the ground, wishing she could take her outburst back.

A long silence passed between them and that silence only increased her anxiety. The hands she hid behind her were starting to get clammy.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Inoue... I'm the only one that has to say sorry," somehow hearing the normalcy in his voice gave her enough confidence to look at him again.

"You want to apologize to me?" she asked a bit surprised, "But it was my fault that I fell on you like that! If I had been more careful-!"

"Don't, Inoue," he was starting to look annoyed with her again as he ran his hand through his spiky bright locks. She always liked his hair. It was far lighter than hers and matched his eyes...

Blushing at realizing that she was getting numbed by his presence like she always did, she just gave a nod to his words even if it meant she was accepting his misplaced apology. She knew deep down that it was her fault no matter what he said about it.

"Don't blame yourself. I can tell you are."

"I'm not blaming myself!" she said a bit too quickly without looking at him.

"Yes you are. I shouldn't have gone into your bathroom like that. In fact, I shouldn't have even gone into your apartment in the first place, but when I thought you were hurt...," he expelled an agitated breath. She didn't know if he was actually mad at himself rather than her for everything. "I just had to make sure you were alright."

That's the Kurosaki-kun I know.

"Its... its okay," she finally said meeting his eyes, feeling a bit better at having him clear things up.

His face is still so red though! Is he telling me the truth?, She narrowed her eyes as she studied him while he stared back at her dumbfounded.

"You didn't hurt me, Inoue," the corner of his lips twitched.

"I still think you need to get scanned."

A chuckle left him as he shook his head at her stubborness.

That brief sound warmed her. It was so rare to hear him laugh about anything and even though she was pretty embarassed, she was happy about at least wringing a smile out of him, however short-lived it was.

"Still friends?" that tentatively asked question brought her back like a crash landing.

It took her a while to answer, because she knew that it was his way of cleaning the slate of what had happened. It should have made her happy, but 'friends'? The word friend coming from him almost stung her, though she loved being someone he considered as a friend. It was better than nothing...

"Yes. Still friends," she gave him a bright smile, though her heart, like always, was silently breaking.

8888

That went well... I think., Ichigo thought to himself as he saw Orihime walking away. Apologizing to her had come naturally to him and though he meant it because scaring her didn't bode well with him, he felt as if he'd lied to her. Why would he feel that way?

He was truly sorry for invading her privacy and making her go through such a shameful situation. Any girl would be scared of a guy she had accidently landed on while naked. He shouldn't have ever seen her naked at all. Orihime wasn't the kind of girl a guy should take advantage of. She was too sweet to be trampled on in that manner. That was what had made him feel so dirty during most of the day whenever she was around him. In a way, he had been taking advantage of her, though she hadn't known it.

How it annoyed him that she blamed herself for it.

Why would she think I'm need a get my skull...?, Now that had confused him. Everyone had been giving him strange looks throughout the day and he still didn't know why. Did he look like he was sick? Even Rukia had laid off him which was strange to him.

Maybe I should go get checked just in case..., Thinking that, he still didn't remove his eyes from her shapely retreating figure. While he had been talking to her, he hadn't been able to keep himself from studying her closely and if he didn't know any better, that had definitely added on to her already present nervousness.

He knew what she looked like. He wasn't that stupid. It was just that he couldn't keep himself from doing it more carefully this time. For all he knew, he had done it just to read her better...

That's a load of bullshit., He winced at the voice of his conscious telling him that flatly.

He had been studying her for a different reason. He used to think that her hair was orange like his at a simple glance and now he knew it was actually ginger colored, shades darker than his own. The shape of her large eyes gave her a soft innocent appearance that suited her... She also had gently rounded features with smooth creamy skin...

Perfect... This is fucking perfect! I apologize for going inside her house uninvited and ogling her and now I'm memorizing her face? What is it with me? Do I like mind-fucking myself?

Irritated at how he botched his own plan on putting it all behind him, he made a move to turn around to go back inside to retrieve his backpack that had been left behind in his haste to catch up with Orihime when a deceptive evil wind decided to breeze through the courtyard.

His eyes nearly bled when the back of Orihime's short school skirt rose up in almost slow motion showing him the last thing he needed to see...

Her perfectly rounded rear.

DAMN IT!, His jaw dropped as the girl hurriedly clamped down the back of her skirt and sped up her pace to leave the school, apparently too embarassed to linger any longer. He didn't know Orihime could walk so fast! She probably thought he was long gone already, but he was still there standing like an idiot with his face as pale as a ghost's and his jaw nearly unhinged in gaping.

I'm being punished for something, aren't I?, His haunted saucer-like eyes followed her as she power-walked her way out of the school, her unusual colored hair practically flying behind her.

Swallowing dryly at what his perverted eyes had inadvertedly caught sight of, he forced himself to turn around. He didn't bother trying to block out that image from his mind this time because it would be pointless. He had tried before and it hadn't worked.

At least she doesn't wear bunny panties..., He grimaced the moment he stepped back into the school.

No. Her panties had actually been quite demure with a white background and no garish cartoonish furry animals decorating them...

She seems to like strawberries a lot.

Still flinching at thinking that because her underwear did indeed have something that looked like bright red strawberries in their design, he inwardly whimpered at the very uncomfortable stiff walk he would have to take back to his now empty classroom.

8888

A/N: WHY DO I ENJOY TORTURING ICHIGO SO MUCH? I'm addicted to embarassing him in stories. It isn't the first time I've made him go through very strange stuff that makes him freak out. And yes, count on this fic continuing, because I really liked the cute/sexy concept. And man, Orihime sure loves them strawberries! Happy late X-mas to you all! And Orihime's chest issue I typed in here is an issue I myself had in real life (I'm a 34 C and other females have always treated me like crap for it saying that I had to be a 'whore' because of it or that my clothes, even if they were oversized t-shirts, were 'flaunting' them. Some people are just jealous idiots! Now that I'm older, I realize that only envy makes people talk such trash)

nypsy: I try to remain neutral, but I do tend to like all Orihime-centrics, no matter who she's paired with (though I prefer Ulqui/Hime above all. I have thing for having her with Hollows). And you're right. I've always thought that the only push Ichigo needs is a very hard wake-up call regarding her. We all know she's shy and he's oblivious. If he were to be made aware of her very directly (like having her falling on him naked. LOL), then he'd finally see her and get his butt in gear. =) Summer Eclair: Thanks! himelove22: Yeah. Ichigo getting embarassed is always funny to me. (I'm a sadistic person) FaNdOm BiTcHsLaP: Skelle, baby, get EASIER pennames! And of course Hime was going to get the best reaction out of poor Ichi! Get ready to see him go through more shameful moments! I might go overboard because I'm a pervert and like seeing Ichigo so... uncomfortable. Hehehehe... TTYL SomeoneWhoLikesBleach: I hope that doesn't mean that you aren't going to follow it! I want to continue torturing Ichi and I want you to giggle at him! Okay, I'm calm now. LMAO (Personally, I think Ichigo needs to get slapped around until he sees Ori's love for him *evil scheming look*) Aiasaka: Thanks! And Ichi will be in way over his head, but he'll get things right eventually. I INTEND on it. *still wearing evil look* Ghost2119: Glad you liked it! I used to only stick to Ichi/Ruki until I started 'expanding'. Now I like soooo many pairings it isn't funny. CharNinjaLOL: Awesomeness! Child of the Ashes: Yes. Ichigo stressing out and in pain is like a drug to me. I'm weird. Don't listen to me! Glad you've enjoyed it. StarkFlake000: I am! It's been awhile since I've written comedy/romance (I'm a 'dark writer' type), so this is a welcome breather. Hope you continue liking this! Angelina Cat: I think Ichigo wanting to die because of his 'idle eyes' was the best part. I giggled while writing that part. And about 'Rejection'. *shudders in delight* Its an excerpt from a longer Hichi/Hime fic of mine called 'Reflection' (way too 'spicy' for this site). My guiltiest pleasure! So happy to see another fan of it! TheCatWithTheHat: LOL I had thought of that when I wrote the first chapter. Poor Orihime doesn't have a clue about why Ichigo is so weird around her. She doesn't know her effect on the opposite sex because she's innocent and thinks only good of people (even if they're mean to her). Prepare yourself for plenty of lulz!