She hoped she wasn't too late, her cheeks and nose frosted by the cold as she entered the restaurant.

When fixing her scarf she grazed her eyes over the crowd of seated costumers, feeling her heart thump inside her chest. It had been quite some time since Ichigo had been able to visit her in Shibuya, let alone see her for dinner. The young woman ignored and quickly passed by the entrance waiters in her excitement to find him only a few seconds sooner. It was still hard for Orihime to truly believe what had been happening between them.

Ichigo gave her a warm smile when their eyes connected, rising from his chair to greet her.

Compared to Orihime, Ichigo looked relaxed and comfortable. "Hey." It was a simply greeting, but it was all that was needed to accompany a quick kiss to her cheek.

"Hey." She replied with a loving nervous smile, fiddling with her purse before he grabbed it and helped her take her seat. "I'm glad you could make it."

Ichigo's eyes were fixated on her facial features, gleaming over the fact he could still make her blush after all this time. "Of course I would show."

"Well, I know how hard it is for you," Orihime uttered thoughtfully, "So thank you."

After seeing how committed Ichigo was to making their relationship work the past few days, her worries about him leaving her again were slowly slipping away.

When handing the waiter their menu's Orihime realized Ichigo had been giving her a particularly concerned look for some time. "Is something wrong?"

Ichigo reached for her hands across the table and covered them with his warm palms, his voice patient and soft. "I came here tonight, because I have something I want to talk about with you."

Her eyes widened in response. "What is it?"

Ichigo's smile grew bigger as he tried to figure out the right words to explain, "I want to ask you something. It's about that night, that I took you to the hospital-"

It had been nearly three weeks since she had seen Keiji last, but she could remembered that night clear as day.

"Yes?"

"Orihime. I know that you just got out of that relationship," Ichigo tampered with his choice of words and cringed at the table, "And I think that things between us are going well so far but, it's just not working out with me living two hours away."

Orihime pulled her hands shyly from under his as she gave him a curious expression. "Wha-What do you mean?"

"Please hear me out," Ichigo raised his voice and tried to give her a reassuring smile. He didn't mean to scare her. "That night I applied for a job. Or rather, I applied to move my training to the hospital here in Shibuya. I haven't accepted it yet, because I want to ask you your opinion first."

Orihime gave out a huff of a laugh over how ignorant she was to assume the worst, overwhelmed by his decision. The idea had really taken her by surprise. It couldn't be possible that not only were they a couple now, she thought, but that Ichigo wanted to now move for her as well.

"You would do that?"

Ichigo shrugged proudly. "I told you that I hate the people that I worked with."

Orihime chuckled and her eyes gleamed, thinking she might tear up. "But where will you stay? You want to stay with me?"

"If that's not okay then I can find somewhere else, my own place. I know it's really-" He was interrupted by Orihime gripping his own hands this time.

"I think you should live with me."

With a steady stream of costumers all day the place was currently cleared out and it was nearly time to close.

A woman watched Maiko busing tables as the radio played, when she spotted a familiar man passing the large windows of her workplace. She watched the young waitress flip the 'Open' sign to 'Closed', obvious the girl spotted the couple passing by, with the man's hands linked with a woman she had never seen before.

"You shouldn't pout over it." The elder woman advised with no emotion as she counted cash from the register.

"No wonder he never called me," The young woman sighed and collapsed on to a stool in front of her. It was embarrassing to think that the one and only time she had given a man her number on a receipt, he was already involved with someone. She crinkled her nose as the ideal couple vanished. "It's not fair. All the good guys are taken!"

"Next time-" The older woman eyed Maiko from over her glasses, "-Just ask him yourself."

"So it's been going well so far?" Isshin spoke in a wounded tone.

Ichigo groaned, "Yes dad. For the last time everything is fine."

His co-workers at his new job were amazing compared to what he was used to. Everyone was easy to get along with and they were all capable of handling their own responsibilities. All of them appeared to have years of experience compared to himself, so he was learning more than he was used to. Not only that but he was given set schedule of shifts instead of being on call for his training, which made the move so much easier.

His father finally gave in. "Fine, but you better promise to come visit when you can! And bring that lovely lady of yours with you! Yuzu and Karin want to see you for your next birthday at least."

"Yeah, I'll let you know when we're free."

"You better take care of her son!"

Ichigo scoffed by his father's demanding tone and hung up. After the third call he was starting to get tired of repeating himself.

"Mister Kurosaki?"

It was nice to be called that rather than 'Kurosaki Junior' or some of the other ridiculous names he was used to.

Ichigo turned to see the elder woman who had been assisting him all day, remembering their first run in together that night he applied.

"You're needed on the first floor."

"Thank you."

The next morning he awoke from his sleep to see her passed out beside him. After adjusting his elbow on his pillow, Ichigo gingerly moved his fingers across her shoulder and down her arm. Ever since he had been with her the dreams that had regularly possessed him ever night had completely faded away. Ichigo actually felt rested for the first time in years as he laid there.

He loved how he could see the city from her window and the small ball of fluff sleeping on his laundry. He loved watching the odd movie with her, cuddling on the couch and eating her odd but unbelievably tasty dinners since moving in.

Looking down to her, he brushed her auburn hair aside from her face to see her eyes slowly flutter open. He loved her entirely.

"Good morning."

The woman slowly turned to face him, coiling herself up as she clung to the heat of his chest and letting out a tired sigh. "Good morning."

He chuckled over the fact her eyes could barely seem to stay open, holding her.

"Did you have a good sleep?" Orihime asked childishly, mostly muffled by his chest.

Her question made him smirk. "Best ever."

Orihime wouldn't budge over the fact that she was extremely comfortable, still half asleep. It wasn't long until she dozed off again, leaving Ichigo to get up on his own. He figured he could make coffee and she could make that weird egg-thing that he surprisingly began to like.

He passed the boxes of his things stacked in the hallway, tempted to pull out more of his things. It was sad to see that there wasn't that many boxes of his things. All of them were full of clothes, shoes, toiletry's, and movies. It made Ichigo realize that he didn't have many personal items he had really cared about other than the chair he brought of his television.

Ichigo walked toward the living room after spotting a single frame perched on Orihime's shelf. He eyed it reflecting on the past, seeing his old friends all together in one forced shot that had been taken years ago.

"I miss them."

Orihime's voice shocked him and he turned to see her wearing one of his old shirts; he swore she only wore it just to get his attention.

Ichigo glanced back at the photo, feeling Orihime wrap her arms around his waist as she peered past him, "Do you miss using your powers?"

"Nah, there's not really any need for me to use them anymore." Ichigo had talked with Orihime about their powers plenty since they had started dating and after giving it plenty of thought, he was okay with the way things were going for once. There was no way he would use them unless he needed to. Ichigo began thinking about his girlfriends own special ability's and reached around to grab her.

"You know, we could actually use your help at the hospital."

"I was actually thinking about that." Orihime smiled, looking up at him. "I would love to help out any way I can."

.
FIN
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