Why hello thar! Surprised that I'm writing something other than Naruto? Yeah, me too. To be honest, I'm not even a real fan of Bleach, but my best friend is. She talks about it all the time, so it's pretty much impossible to not know about it. Plus, it's really easy to come up with ideas for stories and pictures from it. Also, I love IshidaOrihime cuteness, mostly 'cause I love Orihime. I wrote for it for the sole purpose of giving Kai, and of course you a good laugh.
I got inspiration for this obviously on Easter. I have some pretty odd rituals for eating my chocolate, and I thought some of them would be something Orihime would do, since I am so frighteningly like her. Same hair colour, same hair length, nearly the same height by about one inch, the weirdness, an overly-protective best friend. Hell, I'm even third in the class. The only thing I'm missing is the eyes, which I'm actually fairly close to. Hers are greyish and mine are greyish green. I'm also missing the large breasts, which I might have by the time I'm her age. I dunno, my sister does. Creepy, eh? (Oh, also the fact that I'm Canadian and she's Japanese, in case you didn't pick that up.)
Look out for me as Orihime, and my Rukia at Anime North 07! (And someone please bring me a cute Ishida! PLEASE!)
The couplings are as follows: Ishihime and some IchiRuki.
That's all... enjoy!
Ishida the Easter Bunny
Jennifer M.
"Welcome! How may I help you?"
The boy ignored the annoyingly perky voice of the greeter and walked past her into the store. It wasn't a particularly large shop, but he had heard from everyone that it was the best place to buy what he was looking for. The walls were covered with shelves and posters, almost all of which in glaringly bright pastel colours and advertised rabbits, eggs, and baby birds. Most shelves held chocolates and candies. Some had tacky little decorations that would be admired for about fifteen minutes, then tossed in a box to be admired for another fifteen minutes next year. He looked on them in slight disgust, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Now, why was he here again?
Flashback
It was the last day before the weekend. Ishida set his things down on his desk, preparing for the day. His classmates were having their daily pre-class socializing time. Most were talking about the upcoming holiday. He rolled his eyes and looked out the window, perfectly content to just watch the signs of spring in the yard.
A familiar giggle took his attention from the outside. His gaze wandered over to the source of the noise, a red-headed(1) girl, talking animatedly with some other girls that he had never bothered to learn the names of. He continued staring at Orihime's back until one of the girls said something to her that he didn't catch, and she turned her head to look at him. He panicked and hurriedly pushed his glasses up, grabbing something from his case, trying to look emerssed in it. Unfortunately his hand had found a city map, and pulled it out upside down. Nonetheless, he tried to act like he had meant to do that, watching the girl out of the corner of his eye. She blinked a few times, then turned around, telling her now giggling friends to be nice. Ishida sighed and prayed that something would suddenly happen to take the heat off him.
His prayers were answered in the form of the classroom door suddenly open to revealing a flustered-looking Rukia, clutching something in her small hands. She was followed by Ichigo, who seemed to be avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. The short girl opened her hands a little, enough that Ishida could clearly see a tiny beanbag rabbit, small enough that she could completely close her hands around it. She held onto it all day in one or both or her palms as if it were a lifeline, literally glowing at all the bunny-related things this holiday brought. Later, Ishida asked Ichigo about it, but the spiky-haired teen looked away and quickly changed the subject.
After school he saw them together again, the tall boy was patting her on the shoulder as a means to comfort her, as she looked close to tears. She was tightly gripping what appeared to be a chocolate rabbit. The dark-haired boy caught a little of what the other was saying.
"It's okay, Rukia. You don't have to eat it if you don't want to."
Almost immediately after Ichigo had said that, Ishida felt a presence come toward him. He looked over, seeing the girl he had been shamelessly staring at earlier. Thinking quickly, the boy put his hand on the small of her back, gently pushing her away from the scene, not wanting to get caught in another of her 'Ichigo doesn't love me' speeches. Orihime was surprised at the action, but allowed it. Figuring it would be rude to turn away after that, he stayed next to her, hoping she was okay with him walking home with her. Before she could question why he did it, he started another subject.
"So, are you doing Easter?" He asked, trying to sound enthusiastic – well as enthusiastic as he could be.
"Mmm-hmm!" She answered, grinning broadly, which he found surprisingly cute, not that he'd ever say that to her. Suddenly she started to pout." But I have to be alone this year. Only a few people I know celebrate Easter, and Tatsuki is going to the coast with her family on the weekend. Oh well, I'm having a party with some friends tomorrow "
"Friends? Anyone, I know?" Ishida questioned further, trying to hold up a conversation with her. To his confusion she burst into a fit of giggles.
"No, silly! Not real people friends!" She laughed like that should be the most obvious thing in the world. " Just stuffed animals and Sora(2). We'll have a tea party or something." Uh-oh, she was starting to show sings of insanity. "But I have to go and buy candy for myself. Big brother used to put on bunny ears and hide chocolate for me. Then for the last couple years, Tatsuki did it. Not while I was sleeping, though. She came over around noon and I closed my eyes while she hid them. She even wore the ears! Isn't that funny?" He gave a small forced laugh to keep her happy, actually thinking it sounded ridiculous.
"Yeah, sounds like... fun..." He said halfheartedly. Orihime didn't seem to notice, and continued.
"It was, but it's not going to be any fun if I have to do it myself... oh well. I'll still get to eat chocolate, which is tasty." Ishida had to admit he was amazed that she just got herself candy at Easter like a normal person. Then again, she probably did something weird to it after she got it. Though he couldn't really understand the amusement behind it, he felt bad that she couldn't have the fun she deserved. Then an idea came to him.
"Hey, Orihime. How about I come and bring you some candy. I don't have any plans tomorrow." He suggested weakly. He could perfectly see her face light up as he said these words.
"You mean, you'd be my Easter bunny?!" She squealed, large, sparkling eyes looked into his.
"Er... yes." He cringed at how undignified and suggestive it sounded. However, he wanted to make her happy, and it was true that he did have nothing to the next day. Plus, it would be a good excuse to have some time with the girl, which he always tried to do. She squealed again.
"Ooooh! Thank you so much! Be there at one, okay?" With that, she bounced away giddily in the
direction of her home. He smiled as he watched her go. 'I'll suffer through an hour of humiliation if it'll make her happy' Ishida thought to himself. Then he turned and also made his way home.
End Flashback
So, that was how he found himself here the next day, purchasing sweets for the girl. Funny, the things people would do for each other, especially when they had a cru-
"Excuse me." Ishida said firmly to an assistant (a/n: woah... he just interrupted the narrator!) " I'm looking to buy some Easter candies for a friend, but I'm not particularly fond of these things. What would you recommend?" He really did want to screw up and get the wrong thing, since that would ruin her day. The short female assistant gave him an are-you-stupid look.
"Uh... well obviously get them some chocolate eggs. Then... I don't know... those marshmallow chicks are really popular. Is your friend a boy or a girl?" She didn't appear to really care, she was probably just doing this to get a holiday bonus, or something.
"A girl" He answered shortly.
"Oh, then you should definitely get her something cute like a chocolate bunny or something. There's also carrot and egg truffles, but those are people with fairly different tastes, but I-"
"I'll definitely have some of that." He said quickly, mostly to himself.
"Right. That's about it, I'll let you shop now. Oh, also, if you buy three different kinds of Easter candy or more, you can have another of equal or lesser value." The woman recited. He nodded, and looked to the shelves. This one was covered almost entirely with chocolate eggs. There were so many different brands, how was he supposed to find the right one? He was going to screw this up, he just knew it.
"Miss I -" The assistant had mysteriously disappeared. He blinked twice, then turned back to his egg problem. Oh well, they were all the same anyways, right? He grabbed two medium sized purple bags near him, and tossed them into the blue basket he had hung off one arm. Then he seeked out the marshmallow chicks, oh yeah, she'd love these, two tall thin chocolate bunnies, and a box of egg carrot truffles. For the extra he sprung for some gummie bunnies. He secretly had a fondness for them, but they weren't for him, they were of Orihime.
Then he went through another aisle to get to the cashiers. This one held little egg hunt baskets. He couldn't resist picking a small one with little pink bows, knowing full well it would be rather stupid-looking for him to buy it, but the thought of the red-head skipping around with the frilly little basket made him do it. He also bought some green plastic grass to put in it, since, in his mind, the unnatural colours looked stupid.
After that he was finished and paid for his gifts. Money wasn't a real issue. Grasping the plastic bag the things were packed in, the left the store. Pushing his glasses up one more time, he turned a corner and headed in the direction of Orihime's house.
Orihime's eyes slowly opened, and look in the sight of her room. Sighing softly she rolled onto her other side and read the time on her clock.
12:40
She stared at the clock for a full minute before she realized Ishida would be there in twenty minutes. She jumped up and grabbed the clock. What happened, she was sure she set the clock for nine! Or maybe she dreamed that... but that wasn't the important part. Now she barely had any time to get ready. She couldn't take a shower and run the risk of him coming in while she was still washing, that would be embarrassing and mean. Out of pure habit, she quickly made her bed, then dashed out of her room.
Since taking a shower wasn't an option, she just cleaned her face to wake herself up, then brushed out her hair. Deciding the best way to hide her unwashed hair would be to put it up, she quickly pulled it into a ponytail, then folded it over and but a large blue clip in it to hold it in place. Then she slid on her flower pins. Orihime then remembered she was still wearing her pyjamas, and realized she couldn't take them off without messing her hair up, so she gave up and kept them on.
Looking back at the clock she saw she had a little less than fifteen minutes left. With the time she saved not getting dressed, she could still set everything up. Going to a closet for linens, she pulled out all the pillows she had and brought them over to the living room. She pushed the low table over to her late brother's shrine. Orihime then put one pillow next to the memorial for herself, and another opposite her for the Quincy. She placed the rest of the pillows in three piles going around the table from one person to the other. The girl grabbed the pink bear from the top of a cupboard, and another bear from her bed, and balanced them on the piles, so they could look over the table.
She went back to her bedroom and pulled a box of Easter things, She brought it into the living room and set it on the floor. Out of the box, she picked out a white stuffed rabbit in a purple dress, and set it on the third pile. Orihime then started pulling out random decorations and putting them wherever she felt like in the room. With all that done, she set about making tea, nothing strange because she knew Ishida wouldn't like that. She was almost done when there was a knock at the door.
"Coming!" Orihime called as she jogged over, hands immediately flying to her hair to make sure nothing had fallen out. She didn't know why she did it, since she knew he didn't care. For some reason she just suddenly felt self-conscious.
Ishida was busily looking at his surroundings. Even though had been here before, it seemed necessary. Somehow this felt to him like a date, but he knew she wouldn't think of it that way. When the door opened and the girl he was thinking about came into view, he almost blushed. She was still in her pyjamas, which were a little too long for her arms and legs. Her hair was pulled back in a messy - yet stylish in his mind – bun. Her face was slightly flushed from getting ready so fast, and being close to the steaming hot tea. Though adorable or precious were words that he would never use, he couldn't come up with anything else that could describe her. He fought the urge to pull her into his arms. He hoped he didn't look like he felt, as he pushed up his glasses.
"Ah, good afternoon, Ishida. Please, come in!" She greeted brightly, waving him in.
"I have your things." He said holding up the plastics bag and accepting her invitation to come in.
"Yay! Put them down over there, we'll have some tea first, okay?" She pointed to him where he should sit, and went back into the kitchen. He kicked off his shoes and entered the living room. He looked at the table and felt more like he was at a birthday party or an anti-social four-year-old, than giving some candy to a fifteen-year-old, which basically equaled out to the same thing anyway. He took a seat on a dark blue pillow, and felt very foolish sitting with three dolls.
He drummed his fingers on the table top and silently pleaded that Orihime would come back soon, to make him feel a little less stupid. Soon enough, the red-head entered the room, carrying a tray with not two, but six cups of tea balancing on it. She set one down in front of the picture of her brother, one at her place, on in front of each of the stuffed animals, and finally the last in front of him. He nodded his head in thanks, picking up the cup and taking a sip, surprised to find it was perfectly normal.
"Cheers, big brother!" The girl chimed, hitting her cup lightly off the one on the table. "Cheers, Ishida!" He reluctantly repeated the action with her. They passed about ten minutes drinking their tea, Orihime occasionally taking a sip from one of the stuffed animals' or Sora's cup, then pretend they drank it. Sometimes one of them brought up conversation, but it didn't get very far. Eventually they finished, and she cleared away their cups. While she was gone he pulled the table back to – he assumed was – it's original position, and put away the pillows.
"Okay, how about that egg hunt!" Orihime cheered. Ishida nodded and started to pull things out of the bag, but she screamed and covered her eyes. Worried, he hurriedly stuffed the things back in the bag and ran over to her. "Ah, sorry. I just don't want to see what I'm getting yet. Here" She walked to the doorway and held her hands over her eyes again. "There now you can hide them."
"You're peeking." He teased.
"Am not!" She whined, closing her hands tightly over her face to prove it to him.
"I don't trust you." Of course he was joking, but he just wanted her to have fun, " Go into another room so you can't see or hear. If you don't I won't give you your candy." She pouted, but obeyed.
"Fine... but wait you're not wearing the ears!"
"Oh no-" he began
"You can't do it without the ears!" She protested, putting a worn set of white bunny ears, one ear standing straight up, the other flopped over forward. "And don't take them off" She warned, as if reading his mind.
He sighed, but did not remove them. As soon as her form disappeared from view, he began hiding the eggs. He put them anywhere he could think of. In high places, in low places. On chairs and tables. Some he put in obvious places, like in the corner, some in places you could see them slightly, and some where she would have to go looking for them. Most hiding spots had three or four eggs in them. He decided not to put any on her brother's shrine, since that would be disrespectful. He also but the marshmallow chicks in a glass cabinet, the truffles under a table, the chocolate bunnies on the floor beside a shelf, and the gummies behind a picture frame. It took him a good twenty minutes to finish, but he wanted the best for her.
While the Quincy was hiding eggs, Orihime had gone to her room. She decided this would be an ideal time to put some clothes on. She threw on a simple white tank top over her bra of the same colour, and a knee-length deep emerald green skirt. She then re-did her hair in the same style, this time with a green clip. When she was finished she leaned against the door, thinking 'Wow, I never thought he would be so fun with things like that. He's going to be a really good father some day. Wait a minute, what am I thinking?!'
"Orihime I'm finished." Came a muffled voice on the other side of the door.
"Ah! Okay." She answered breathlessly, opening the door and walking out. He walked alongside her into the living room. Once inside, she stopped a moment to take it all in. She felt something being pressed into her hand. Looking down she saw a small Easter basket with identical pink bows on either side, filled halfway with fake green grass. "I don't... remember this."
"That's because I also bought that for you." He said, pushing up his glasses for what seemed like (and probably was) the hundredth time that day and blushing a little. Suddenly it looked like someone had switched Orihime into overdrive as she dashed into the living room at top speed.
"I found some! Some more over here! And there! And Here, too! Up here! In this drawer! Wow I never would have thought of putting some there" She called random notes excitedly as she dumped eggs in her basket. Ishida watched her in amusement. This was adorable, there was nothing else it could be. "I found some more! Wow, there's lots here! And -what's this?" She asked, holding up the chocolate rabbits.
"Oh, I got you more than just eggs" He smirked as her face lit up.
"Oooh! I can't wait to see what else you got!" Orhime continued to bounce around the room, "Hey! Egg and carrot truffles, these look yumm-" She sat up to look at him and hit her head off the table. "Owww...I'm okay."
In record time she had found almost everything. She came up to him, holding out her over-stuffed basket."Is that all, Ishida?"
"Hmm... I think there's still a few more eggs..." He answered, as if talking to a child. He glanced up at the last eggs, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Really? Where?!" Orihime began frantically searching again, before looking over to him and following his line of vision right to the top of a tall cupboard. She ran over to it, and desperately tried to reach the last few candies, but found her was too short. She began jumping up and down, unknowingly giving the Quincy a nice view of her breasts bouncing with her movement.
"Here, let me help." He said in a low voice, walking up behind her. His body pressed flush against her back. She squeaked and stopped bouncing. She tilted her head to look at him, as he stretched out his arm and grabbed the last of the eggs. Orihime felt herself blush deeply, but didn't really mind except for the akwardness of it all. All too soon he had got them and dropped them in her waitingbasket. Ishida moved back, but she remained rooted to the spot.
"Ahem. I think that's all." She felt her limbs regain feeling and turned around. Walking to the centre of the room, she plopped down on the floor and motioned for him to come too. He sat down gracefully across from her. Orihime picked up her basket and turned it upside down, dumping it's contents on the once clean floor. Then she stopped, and started staring at them, a deep look of concentration on her face."Uh... what's the matter?"
"I don't know what to eat first. Hmm... this is difficult" She frowned 'does it really matter that much?' he wondered.
"Well, how about you eat a few of the eggs, since there are a lot of them, then move onto one of the other
things." He suggested, picking up a few out the chocolate candies and dropping them back to the floor for emphasis. She grinned.
"That's a great idea! You're so smart!" She grabbed a handful of chocolate eggs, then stopped again. What was it this time? "I want them melted. That's when they're best" Ishida took note of this for later, then held out his hand.
"I'll put them in the microwave for you, if you want." Orihime pushed back his hand.
"Oh no, I have my own way." She grinned. He gave her an odd look, briefly wondering what her method was. Then she did something totally unexpected – she stuffed them down her shirt!
"Orihime!" He yelped, jumping away, and covering his eyes.
"Oh... did you want some? This is really the best way to do it, since it's nice and warm so the eggs melt fast, and I don't have to get up. The chocolate usually stays in it's wrapper, unless I keep it there to long. So I have to be careful or it'll stain. Hahaha!" Ishida stared at her in disbelief, then wiped his nose with a tissue from his pocket, now bloody from her discription. "Hmm... I guess I should decide what to eat next, while they're melting."
"How about the marshmallow chicks. Someone told the they're quite good." Ishida held them out to her.
"Sounds good!" She said as if finished. An akward silence fell over the pair, they looked nervously from left to right. With the occasional clearing of a throat. "You know what, " he looked up expectantly " The melting could take a while, I'll just have one now." Ishida nodded in agreement. Orihime enthusiastically took the box from him and picked one up, bringing it to her mouth. Then she stopped again. Her eyes went glassy and she started to whimper. He jumped.
"What's wrong?" She sniffled quietly.
"I- I don't think I can eat these..."
"Why? You don't like them" He didn't think she had ever had them before. Oh no, he had screwed up. She shook her head, and he let out a sigh of relief "So why not then?"
"They're looking at me." She cried, showing him the chicks' faces with the little candy eyes. "I can't eat one of their brothers right in front of them! That would be cruel!" 'She does know she's talking about a bit of marshmallow, right?' He searched for a way out of the problem.
"How about you eat one quickly so it doesn't... feel any...pain, and I'll hide the others' faces so they can't see you, does that sound okay?" The girl whimpered again, but nodded. Ishida tore one away from the rest, handing it to her. Then he covered the others with his hands, feeling a little ridiculous, but if that was what it took. She stuffed the entire thing in her mouth at once, chewing quickly, then swallowing hard, all the time looking like she was about to cry.
"I'm sorry." She whispered to the sugar bird. Her mood suddenly changed, and her head snapped up. " I think the eggs are done." She laughed melodiously at her own joke. Orihime reached back into her shirt, and pulled out about five squishy-looking chocolates. "Do you want one?" The Quincy shook his head vigorously. She peeled the wrapper from the candy, licking the access chocolate from the wrapper and eating the chocolate. She did the same with the next few, savouring the sweet taste. Ishida couldn't remember a time when had pushed his glasses up so much.
She then went onto the chocolate bunny, unwrapping it and biting it's head off without hesitation. 'So why is it she can't eat a barely recognizable candy chicken, but has no qualms dicapitating a clearly detailed chocolate rabbit?' He wondered.
She spent the next half hour trying out the different candies, and taking drinks from a glass of milk Ishida had produced seemingly from nowhere. She tried a little of everything, but seemed to shy away from the gummie candies.
"You're not eating the candy bunnies." He stated to her. She laughed nervously.
"Um...well... no offence or anything, but I don't like those very much... eheheh... you can help yourself, though." She shifted a little on the floor.
"Oh, that's okay. I kind of like these." He picked up the bag, pulled out a blue rabbit head, and bit into it.
She smiled, she had been feeling a little uncomfortable being the only one eating before, but now it was okay.
Another silence fell over them, but this one was pleasant and companionable. Orihime took this time to think about the events of that day. First she had felt flustered and self-conscious when he first came, which she never had before. Then she was thinking about him with kids, an image she usually saved just for Ichigo. And when he came up behind her, she got all shy and fluttery. Even though he had done things like that before, she never reacted that way. What was happening to her? Suddenly she felt bad for him. She had asked him to do this for her. She had made him spend his money on candy for her. She had forced him to wear the bunny ears, which she knew he hated.
"Oh, Ishida, I'm sorry!" She cried, launching herself on him. "I made you do all this bothersome stuff for me, and I didn't even bother to think about what you wanted. I'm so selfish!" He was surprised to say the least at the sudden hug, but patted her back to comfort her.
"You're not selfish. I did this because I wanted to. I know if I had said no to you, that you wouldn't have pressed the subject. You deserve to be happy, even if it's just by little things. Whatever makes you happy, I don't mind." He finished. She stared at him for a moment, before squeezing him even tighter.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're such a good friend!" He frowned a little at just being a 'friend' but accepted it, and hugged her back. Just then a loud crashing noise resounded through the house. The two looked up, but did not disentangle themselves.
"Hey, Orihime! You're door was open so we let ourselves in! Sorry about your plant!" A distinctively male voice called. Two people walked into the living room. "R- Well, well, what do we have here?" Ichigo said slyly, eyeing the couple. Then the short girl walked behind him "Oh yeah, Rukia wanted" Said girl elbowed the orange-haired boy in the stomach " Rukia and I wanted come around and see if-"
"Oh no! What have you done to that poor bunny?!" The dark haired girl ran across the room to where the other orange and black haired couple, snatching up one of the chocolate bunnies with many bites out of it, and a roll of bandages from her coat pocket. Quickly mummifying the confection, and tossing it in a cardboard box labeled 'Chappy Hospital'. "Thank you!" She cried then rushed back out of the room. Everyone looked after her for a moment.
"So, 'Bugs' " Ichigo began, " What was going on in here?" Ishida jumped up, pulling the adorable bunny ears off.
"Look, it isn't what you think!"
"Oh, I bet it's exactly what I think. We should see what everyone else thinks." He held up Rukia's cell phone, a clear picture of them hugging on the screen. 'That's a camera phone? Who knew?' Orihime thought. She knew Ichigo was just kidding around to make the Quincy angry. He wasn't that mean, especially not to girls. However Ishida didn't think of that. Ichigo coolly slipped out of the room, while the other boy chased after him. She could still here their shouts from her living room as they ran out of the house.
"Give that to me, Kurosaki!"
"Hey, watch it! If you break this you'll have Rukia on your ass!"
"Funny, I thought that was your job."
"What did you just say to me?!"
Orihime sighed in defeat. " Well that's about as happy as Easter's gunna get here. Hey, at least I got my bunny."
So, did you like it? It was mostly humor, but I managed to throw in some fluff. I had extreme inspiration, so this took me the better of five hours. Usually it takes months (Well not that long actually writing, but that's how much time passes between when I start and when I finish.)
Yeah, I'm not sure if people who celebrate Easter in Japan do it differently than North American's. I can't imagine why if they do. But if they do, let's just say that Orihime likes Western Easter, okay?
1. I call Orihime red-haired, and Ichigo orange-haired. I'm not sure why, apart from the fact that Orihime's hair is closer to red than Ichigo's. Maybe it's just because she's a girl, and I, as a girl, prefer to have my hair referred to as 'red' rather than 'orange'.
2. I'm not sure if this is how you spell it, if that's even his name. I tried to do some research to find out, but nothing was very helpful. If I spelt it wrong I am sorry.
Haha, the part with Ichigo telling Rukia she didn't have to eat the bunny is like the total opposite of a comic a drew, where he forces her to eat Chappy-shaped candy.
In case anyone didn't figure this out, Ichigo was calling Ishida "Bugs" in reference to Bugs Bunny, Geddit?
Please review. When no one reviews I feel unloved, and am not inspired to write. If you want to see more fanfics from me, you should review. I love everyone who reviews, and if I could, I'd give you all money.
One last note: This is most likely the only Bleach fanfic you'll ever see me do. It was written mostly on impulse, and unless I get unbearably inspired again, this will be the last one.
Love for all,
Cwinmbrtia