Reflection

Chapter 6

“There is that nasty ass Ichigo…,” Tatsuki muttered under her breath to the ginger-haired girl walking beside her.

Orihime paled. She had told Tatsuki nearly everything including making her promise not go off on Ichigo, but the girl was still fuming over it. They were on their way to school together. Her friend had requested it or should she say demanded it? From how the girl kept looking around as they walked, she had obviously picked her up from her apartment to ‘protect’ her from the ‘pervert strawberry’.

I told her it wasn’t Kurosaki-kun’s fault!

Ichigo had just stepped onto the sidewalk they were on a couple of feet ahead of them. What puzzled her at the moment was not only the odd slow way he was walking, but that he was alone. Ever since he had asked Rukia to be his girlfriend they had been inseparable; going to class with joined hands, to the clinic, to friendly get-togethers… Everything.

I hope that they haven’t broken up! Weeks earlier she would have been elated at the news, but now after the Hollow’s attack she wanted her friends to keep their relationship more than anything. If they terminated their relationship, it would only mean that she was the cause of it.

“Please, Tatsuki-chan, don’t tell him that you know…”, she begged quietly, looking at the ground that occasionally had a black spot of old gum. Sometimes people could be so sick!

“Screw that! I know that I promised that I wasn’t going to rip his dick off and jam it up his ass, but I will give him a piece of my mind!”

“Wha-?” Before her frightened eyes, Tatsuki ran up to the orange-haired teen who had his back turned to them.

Oh, no!

Tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention, her friend didn’t give poor Ichigo the time to dodge the punch in the face combined with a kick between his legs. Orihime gaped as he fell down on his knees, yelling out profanity, grabbing his privates with one hand and his bleeding nose with the other.

“FUCK! WHAT THE HELL TATSUKI?!” he bellowed nasally, glaring up at the fuming tomboy that stood over him, with both hands clenched into fists, probably prepared to give another blow.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘WHAT THE HELL’, YOU DIRTY FUCKER?! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT KEEPING YOUR DICK WHERE IT SHOULD BE, ASS!” finishing her shout with a powerful kick on Ichigo’s side, she then spun around to Orihime that had a hand over her gaping mouth and was staring at her in shock. For some odd reason Tatsuki looked relieved after doing that to Ichigo who fell limply to the ground, moaning weakly in pain.

“TATSUKI-CHAN! YOU SWORE THAT YOU WEREN’T GOING TO DO ANYTHING TO HIM!” Orihime’s enraged scream startled the girl that jumped and Ichigo who stared up from the ground with his jaw dropping so low he could have sprained its hinges.

“Orihime-chan?” Tatsuki frowned in confusion, which was understandable. Orihime barely ever showed a temper. To hear her yell so angrily was a first for her.

I can’t believe she betrayed me!

So mad that her body was convulsing, her red face was burning uncomfortably, and her breathing was harsh, she glared at her friend before rushing over to the grounded Ichigo. Falling down on her knees, she put her hands on his shoulders to try to help him up into a sitting position.

“I’m so sorry, Kurosaki-kun! I didn’t want to lie to Tatsuki-chan! I don’t like to lie and I’m really bad at doing it anyway! Plus, I know that it’s not your fault that the white Ichigo took over and did those things to me! I told her that and she,” she shot another fulminating glare at the dumbstruck girl over her shoulder, “didn’t understand that! Please forgive me, Kurosaki-kun! I don’t want lose your friendship and I really want you and Kuchiki-san to be happy together! I really do!”

She would have continued chattering away if Ichigo hadn’t coughed out a dry laugh.

“You worry too much sometimes, Inoue…”, he mustered up a half-smile once his eyes met hers. “ I’m… not mad at you. What Tatsuki did is little compared to what I really deserve.”

“DAMN RIGHT!”

“TATSUKI-CHAN STOP!” Orihime shouted at the girl that said that comment, silencing her immediately.

Looking back at Ichigo to see the extent of the damage Tatsuki had inflicted on him, her brows raised in surprise. He had more bruises that she had thought. Studying his face, she noticed that one of his eyes was nearly swollen shut, a reddish purple lump was on his cheekbone, and looking further down, she even saw that his neck was horribly bruised as if someone had lifted him up by it using tremendous strength.

“Kurosaki-kun… who did this to you?” she whispered softly.

He snorted, managing to sit up on the balls of his feet. His expression was sardonic and so chilling that Orihime almost felt like she was staring at the evil side of him.

“I confronted the bastard and he toyed with me. Treated me like a punching bag, destroying almost everything he got his hands on by using me as a cannon ball.”

“You-you fought him?!” she didn’t know much about Vizards. Well, all she understood was that her friend had a Hollow inside of him and he used a mask to tap into his power, but other than that she was clueless. How could Ichigo fight himself? It confused her.

Well that Hollow is the exact opposite of him, so I guess he’s like a different soul or something…

Biting her lip, she waited for him to answer.

“Yeah”, Ichigo began after taking a deep breath to speak. Tatsuki’s kick to the ribs must have hurt because a pained expression crossed his face when he had inhaled. “I went to my inner world and confronted him for what he did.”

“Did he-did he say anything about…?” Orihime’s blush extended to her hairline. She really hoped that the Hollow hadn’t said any embarrassing details.

Amber eyes studied her for a second before his expression softened into a faint smile.

“No. He didn’t say anything, Inoue. He just wanted to fight.”

“Oh, okay.” That was good to hear, though a part of her told her that Ichigo was lying to not hurt her feelings.

“This is such bullshit”, Tatsuki said lowly a couple of feet behind them.

Not wanting to fight anymore, Orihime ignored the comment.

***

She didn’t find out until third period that Kuchiki-san had gone to the Soul Society to do a weekly report for her tai-chou. It was a relief to know that it was just official business that had called her away and not her finding out about Ichigo’s Hollow. According to Ichigo, who hadn’t told her directly but to Sado-kun, this happened always on Fridays. She would leave for an entire day and then returned to her town of vigil in the morning.

Tatsuki, though still wearing an angry aura that frightened away all of the classmates except Asano that was stupid enough to annoy her in such a state, didn’t bring up the fight of that morning. Orihime guessed that it was because of her yelling at her. Rarely did she raise her voice in anger and it made her feel guilty that her friend had been victim to it. After that incident, the girl was more subdued and talked without looking at her as if disappointed or sad. She wasn’t sure which, but she made a mental note to talk to her later to apologize.

I couldn’t just let her keep hurting Kurosaki-kun.

She had been careful in not looking at the windows or acknowledging the odd mysterious snickering sounds that sent chills down her spine and made the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise. Feigning happiness was becoming a habit, in spite of feeling a hot gaze on her every move. Oddly enough, though Kurosaki-kun’s reiatsu hadn’t changed, she could only feel that uncomfortable heat when he was looking at her. It was as if something filled with intent was staring right through his warm amber eyes.

Lunch was uneventful, pretty much the whole day had been uneventful. Though to make things dismal for her, as soon as class had restarted Tatsuki had been called over to the Dojo. Apparently there was another championship that she needed to practice for, meaning that Orihime wouldn’t see her for the rest of the school day. It saddened her to not see her friend for a while but she was happy that she was opening doors to her own future as a martial artist. Nothing else truly interested Tatsuki, so fighting was her main aim as a career.

That meant that Orihime was alone. She didn’t feel particular closeness to the other kids, seeing that Rukia was over at the Soul Society and Ichigo was keeping his distance. He still smiled at her in his own way and gave her quick glances, but he was still literally avoiding her like the plague.

Hurt by what that Hollow had done to more than one friendship, she shuddered for the hundredth time that day, and prepared for the next class that happened to be a ‘Friday Movie’. Some students particularly liked it, like her, but others got bored since it was merely educational footage that the teachers thought would be a treat to a roomful of teens.

They usually took that particular class in the classroom next door due to the television and perfectly aligned seats.

Lifting up her small backpack and placing it over her shoulder to then pull out the hair that had gotten pinned by the strap, she followed her fellow students that mumbled amongst themselves how much they didn’t like watching a monkey grooming its babies or a lion viciously snarling while in heat. She ignored everything, her mind going empty as she automatically followed them to the darkened room next door.

Everyone filed into the room as Ochi-sensei walked further ahead of them and smilingly signaled the rows of seats with a folder in her hand.

Orihime instinctively walked to the back row. She always took the back in the movie room; perhaps it was because Tatsuki always preferred sitting there. At least in there, they could choose their own seats unlike the classroom in which they were seated in alphabetical order.

Settling the backpack besides her feet and resting her back on a hard plastic chair one seat away from the end of the row, she folded her hands neatly on her lap and waited patiently for all of the other students to take their seats so the movie could start. She wasn’t even staring at the screen of the large, albeit old TV set against the wall of the large room or paying much attention to who sat where. All there was in her mind was that comfortable blankness she had come to know and love. It was nice and numbing, because as soon as she focused her eyes on reality, she would remember how twisted her life had begun after just one night of falling into the hands of lusty Hollow.

Sensing someone sitting down beside her on that corner plastic chair, she just shifted her shoulder absentmindedly to not accidently brush the other student that for some reason was a little too close to her. She could even feel whoever it was breathing, which was what broke her out of that empty trance.

Curious, but not angry at the intrusion, she gave a sideways glance at the person beside her only to tense and shiver as a warm hand fell on her bare thigh barely hidden by the small flared grey school skirt. Brilliant feverish gold eyes smiled back at her frightened wide-eyed stare.

“Long time, no see, lil’ hime,” he said lowly just as the movie started.

***