Alright; here it is folks! The final chapter to AWIP. Sorry this took so long; but I really tried to make this the best chapter. I'm not sure if I succeeded or not, but I had a damn fun time writing it. :D

I'd originally wanted this to be long, but its only twelve pages. So...I'm sorry. XD

I hope you enjoy this chapter, at the very least. ^^

Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to my wife, Copper. She is utterly amazing, and I'm positive that this story would have never been finished if not her veiled threats. I love ya, wifey!

Oh, and the meaning of this chapter's title (Sunflowers) is "Adoration."

"Where would you like this, o newest daughter?"

At the enthusiastic cry, Orihime started and turned. At the doorway to her newest apartment, Isshin was there with a box in his arms and a teeth-baring grin on. "Um, in the bedroom is fine." She told him with a vibrant smile, ignoring the title that Isshin had seemed rather fond of since the news of her moving out had finally been announced.

It seemed like forever since she had told them that she had been approved for the apartment, when really it was only a matter of days. And despite her protests, they had all offered to help her move in. Yuzu and Karin had gone out and bought her a few housewarming presents, while Isshin and Ichigo had both decided to help her move her few minuscule possessions.

And by 'help,' it turns out that they meant, 'you sit by and let us do all of the work.'

And Ichigo refused to take no for an answer, his father head nodding frantically behind him in agreement. Instead, she had been relegated to directing where the few items she possessed were delivered to.

It seemed hardly fair to her, but Ichigo's stubbornness matched Tatsuki's at times.

"Yo, Orihime," Ichigo's familiar grunt now called her attention back to the current and she blinked once before smiling radiantly at him.

"Yes?"

"That's the last of it," he jerked his thumb over at the last bag of clothes he had brought over and placed by the door.

"Oh, thank you Ichigo-kun!" She beamed, hurrying over to him. For a moment, she moved as if to hug him but paused when she realized that a sniggering Isshin was still in the room.

Giving no sign that he'd seen her movement, Ichigo turned to his father. "Get lost, old man."

Isshin stopped the snickering to stare wide-eyed, dramatically, at his eldest offspring. "My boy, how can you be so cruel to your father!" He cried, bordering on hysteria as he cued the arm flailing and dramatic poses.

"With ease," Ichigo gritted out, "now get out." he lashed out with a kick that sent his father flying out the door and down to the story below theirs. Various screams announced his arrival, followed by a very loud, "Ichi-nii, you idiot!"

"Crap," he sighed, frown deepening. "I gotta go. Later, Orihime." He patted her head absently before walking towards the door.

"Oh, goodbye, Ichigo-kun. Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" She asked, cheeks pink as she hurried to escort him to the door.

"Orihime, it's three houses up, I think we'll be fine," Ichigo told her with an almost smile before he began to walk down to the stairs.

"Oh, okay," she smiled up at him. "See you Saturday?"

He nodded. "Of course. I'll pick you up at seven."

Expelling a loud sigh, Orihime collapsed onto her butt as she looked around her almost bare apartment. Having just finished organizing her few possessions into the proper rooms (she hadn't had a chance to go out and purchase new shelves), she suddenly realized how much empty space the apartment had.

It wasn't a particularly large apartment, with only one bedroom and a small bathroom, but it seemed so empty, even with Livia eagerly sniffing around loudly in the kitchen, presumably looking for the bag of food Isshin had insisted on buying for the energetic puppy.

It seemed that Livia and Isshin had bonded during Orihime's time away.

The thought of the enthusiastic man made the auburn-haired healer smile. She had never known her actual parents, her earliest memory being that of her brother, but she wished she had a father like Isshin. Despite his over exuberance and tendency to wonder about his son's sexuality (though that had stopped after he had found out about their relationship), it was clear from the get-go that he cared a lot about his family and she admired that about the older man.

Sighing, the girl clambered to her feet and stretched. "Perhaps takeout…?" She mused, trying to figure out what she wanted for dinner. "What do you think, Livia-chan?" She asked the puppy at her feet. Staring up at her with keen brown eyes, the little grey dog barked before turning to walk to the door. Sitting down, Livia turned to face her owner expectantly. "Walk first?" Orihime suggested with a smile, turning to dig through the drawer for the leash.

Just then, a knock came to the door and she glanced up before looking down at her dog, who now appeared almost…smug. The knock came again, and she hurriedly closed the drawer. "Oh, um, coming!" She called as she hurried over. Twisting the knob, she opened it to reveal Ichigo, Karin, Yuzu, and Isshin, the small blonde holding a big pot of food, with Ichigo held plates and Karin had silverware. Isshin on the other hand was standing there with his hands on his hips and a big smile.

"Hello, newest daughter! May we join you for dinner?" Isshin boomed happily. Stunned silent, she merely stared at them for a few moments.

"Yuzu and the old man were worried about you," Ichigo grunted, looking sullen despite a slight softness to the corners of his eyes.

"Oh please Ichi-nii," Karin scoffed, rolling her eyes. "He was just as worried as they were. He was over there wondering if you had enough blankets or food. It was annoying the crap out of us," she turned to Orihime as she explained, looking smugly amused.

"Oh, I don't mind! Please come in!" Orihime stepped aside to usher them in, biting her lip to keep from smiling at the slight blush over Ichigo's tanned, angular cheeks.

"I know you like your tempura with peanut butter and chocolate and I didn't know if you had any here, so I grabbed some for you," Ichigo murmured as he passed by, showing her the small bottles he had stashed in his jacket pocket. Her eyes widened and her cheeks brightened as she gave him a warm smile, mentally swearing to hug him sometime before he left, whether Isshin saw or not.

By Monday, word had gotten out that Kurosaki Ichigo and Inoue Orihime were dating.

After discovering this, Ichigo loudly and vehemently swore to kill whoever it was who told the entire school. Naturally, his first intention was to target Keigo, or as he put it 'that fucking blabbermouth,' but the brunette had denied giving the secret away over and over again, though Ichigo seemed to miss the discreet, guilty look Keigo had flashed Mizuro when the orange-haired shinigami had his back turned.

However, the two subjects of the newest, hottest subject at school were both greeted in different ways. Ichigo, on one hand, was greeted with various versions of "Congrats for tapping that," or "You prick, you know the rules. Nobody's allowed to have her." The former caused him to get in more fistfights in one day than he had in several days before that. The latter caused his scowl to get darker.

On the other hand, nobody could get mad at Orihime. She was greeted with "that's your type?" and "Congrats for getting the most stupid man in the world in love with you," (though that was from Tatsuki-chan), and lastly, many, many, many tears from her (not-so) secret admirers.

However, all tears and complaints stopped when they saw the two sitting beside each other during lunch and offering bits of food to each other, and were replaced with "Aww, how cute!"

"N-Ne, Ichigo-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are Tatsuki-chan, Ishida-kun and Sado-kun all running naked through the school? And what does Aido-san have to do with it?"

"…HOLY SHIT, DON'T LOOK."

"I can flyyyy!"

"Aaah! Chizuru-chan! Get down!"

Almost fifteen feet above the frantic auburn-haired girl was waving at the still-delirious lesbian, who now seemed convinced that she could fly with the ability of her mind only.

"I caaan't!" Chizuru cried, distressed. "The penguin told me this is the only way I can make my very important date!"

"But you'll hurt yourself!" Orihime cried back, waving her hands in the air desperately.

"But the penguin!"

"Huh. Maybe she finally went off the deep end," Tatsuki commented calmly as she approached the nervous healer.

"She was already off the deep end. You just made sure she'd never climb back up," Ichigo shot back bluntly as he appeared from around the corner.

"What's that, Mr. Penguin? I need to fly now?"

"Ack! Chizuru-chan! Don't jump!" Orihime whirled back around, hands flapping nervously once more.

"Think she'll do it?" Tatsuki asked, turning to Ichigo.

"She thinks she's a rabbit who needs to get to the North Pole to meet with a penguin to give confetti to the children. Yeah, she'll do it," Ichigo answered flatly.

"Tatsuki-chan, climb up there and get her down!" Orihime spun back to face the raven-haired streaker pleadingly, hands twisting together in nervousness.

"I'm not going up there! You know I hate heights," Tatsuki declared, stubbornly crossing her arms.

"Ichigo-kun?"

Ichigo studied her. "Why don't you climb?"

"Ah, well, I'm not allowed," Orihime looked vaguely sheepish as she scuffed her foot into the ground.

"You're not allowed to climb trees? Who decided this?" Ichigo repeated, vaguely curious.

Orihime slanted a glance over at Tatsuki, who now cocked an eyebrow.

"I did, after she accidentally took a flying leap off the second story and took out half the kendo team," the karate master told him. "The captain was never quite right after that," she added on thoughtfully after a moment.

"You took out half the kendo team?" Ichigo turned to his girlfriend now, eyebrows raised.

"And crashed her forehead into the captain's," Tatsuki butted in with a smirk, snickering.

"It was an accident," Orihime flustered, cheeks pink in embarrassment. "I didn't mean to fall off of the roof, and I didn't realize they were there."

"Were you hurt at all?"

"I twisted my ankle," she offered up, cheeks darkening. Ichigo stared at her for a few moments, silent, before shaking his head.

"Only you, Orihime. Only you."

A loud, threatening crack above returned their attention to the problem at him. Orihime looked up at the orange-haired shinigami with pleading gray eyes, hands clasped in front of her.

He sighed, taking off his jacket and shoes. "The things I do for you."

"Thank you for not punching Chizuru, Ichigo-kun."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Yeah, orangey. I really thought you would after she slapped you when you attempted to remove her from the branches."

"She didn't slap me. She hit me in the face with the side of her head. On purpose. What did she call that again?"

"Ear-slapping, Ichigo-kun."

"Right."

"Though I wonder what your going to do about that bruise on the side of your face. I guess you could say someone hit you with a trash can lid."

"Does it really look that bad?"

"O-Of course not, Ichigo-kun!"

"…"

"Well, kind of. It just… looks like you got hit by…a truck!"

"…Great."

"Hime-nee, look!"

Yuzu pointed at a tree made up with lights to resemble a fire, brown eyes wide. No less enthusiastic, Orihime oohed as the two leaned forward, expression enraptured.

Ichigo stared at the healer with a cocked eyebrow. "She does remember just being here, right?"

"Ichi-nii, shut up," Karin drawled from beside her older brother. "She's having fun."

"Ichigo-kun, come look!" Orihime bounded over and took his hand, tugging him forward.

"Orihime, I did just see this," Ichigo pointed out as he stumbled along behind her. She paused, the corners of her lips turning down slightly.

"Oh…okay. Gomen!" She told him with an almost wistful smile. Mentally cursing his loud mouth, Ichigo opened his mouth to apologize before Isshin swept in like a hurricane and carried Orihime off in his arms with a loud laugh. The auburn-haired healer squeaked, face turning crimson in embarrassment even as she started to laugh.

Slinging her over his shoulder, Isshin bounded forward, jarring Orihime with each step even as she laughed breathlessly.

"Oi, old man!" Ichigo yelled angrily, watching Orihime's face turn all shades of red. "You'll give her a concussion!"

"Eh?" Isshin whirled around dramatically, earning another squeal from the flushed, dizzy girl. Her light auburn hair flew around in a circle before coming to hover in front of her bright red face.

Faced with his dad's innocently oblivious face, and the shapely derriere and feet of his girlfriend, Ichigo let out an annoyed sigh, smacked his ignorant father across the face, and rescued Orihime all in one fell swoop. Suffering from yet another rush of vertigo, Orihime swayed where she stood and without thinking put her hand on Ichigo's chest to steady herself.

However, after a split second, she immediately realized where her hands were and jumped back with a loud squeak, face rapidly turning purple in embarrassment.

Concerned, and trying to ignore the lingering warmth on his chest, Ichigo grasped Orihime by the shoulder. "Breathe," he commanded, eyebrows scrunched in worry. Practically vibrating with embarrassment at the fact that Ichigo-kun was holding her and touching her, she shakily did as he bid, her face slowly returning to a normal color.

"Ah, I'm all better, see Ichigo-kun?" She gestured a little too enthusiastically and wound up smacking Ichigo in the bruise on the side of his face, causing him to reel backwards. Apparently finding this all too amusing, Karin burst into laughter, clutching her ribs desperately.

"Karin-chan, its not funny!" Yuzu attempted to rebuke his sister, though the giggles that snuck out ruined her serious tone. The motherly blonde attempted to keep her serious face on but watching her big, bad brother hold the side of his face and move to avoid Orihime, who was flapping her arms now more than ever in worry, was just too funny, and she started to laugh as well.

And somehow, the glare Ichigo shot them seemed noticeably less intimidating when he had only one working eye and he was trying to avoid his tiny, petite girlfriend.

Lots of giggling ensued as Orihime and Yuzu tumbled into the hay dizzily.

The other two other members of the Kurosaki family stood off towards the side in identical stances: arms crossed, scowl on, legs planted firmly apart. However, on the taller of the two, the position was ruined somewhat by the almost comical bruise on his face.

Blowing the hay out of her mouth loudly, Orihime blinked at the lack of a Kurosaki. "Neh, Ichigo-kun, where's Kurosaki-san?"

"Hell if I know," he grunted, though his tone wasn't as harsh as it normally was. "The old man just wandered off somewhere. If I'm lucky, he fell in a ditch."

"That's not a nice thing to say about the man who gave you life!" Isshin bellowed as he appeared out of nowhere and tackled his son into the hay with one of his biological daughters and one of his adopted daughters, who both started giggling.

"Get off of me!" Ichigo snarled, kicking his father in the ribs. "And you did not give me life! That was mom, thank you!"

"But she would not have been able to give you life if I had not made l-"

Ichigo's foot slammed into his father's mouth. "Shut the hell up, old man!"

Orihime squeaked at the show of violence as Isshin flew back several feet. Scrambling out of the hay pile (that had been inadvertently caused when Ichigo had shoved his dad into a tower of hay bales that seemed to almost explode upon impact), she rushed over to the doctor. "Kurosaki-san, are you alright?" She cried nervously, fingers twitching in worry.

"Just...fine, newest daughter..."Isshin replied dazedly, lifting a hand in vague acknowledgment. "But...call me 'Daddy!'" He launched himself at the baffled Orihime in an exuberant attempt to hug her, though Ichigo quickly intervened and karate chopped him to the back of the neck.

"C'mon, Orihime," Ichigo offered his girlfriend a hand up. "You don't have to worry about him." Still looking bewildered, the auburn-haired healer accepted his hand and he pulled her to her feet with ease. Tugging her away from the dazed doctor, he quickly was joined by Yuzu and the still snickering Karin. "We're leaving," Ichigo told them firmly. "Feel free to stay if you want, but I'm not coming back here to drag that back home." At this, he jerked a thumb at the already-recovered Isshin who was now posturing to show how nothing Ichigo could do could ever harm him.

"I'll come too," Karin yawned, amusement over. "I've got a soccer match early tomorrow, anyways." Yuzu, not wanting to be left alone, quickly agreed. With a low grunt, Ichigo moved off, with Inoue right beside him, close enough for their arms to brush "accidentally."

"Wait...so what did the hippo do again?"

Ichigo stared at his girlfriend in confusion from where she sat beside him during lunch. She was attempting to explain to him her dream the night before.

It wasn't going so well.

"The hippo crossed the river in search of the purple penguin. While he didn't find the purple penguin, he found the yellow penguin," she explained once more patiently, smiling even Ichigo's face crumpled further into confusion.

"Right. And what's so bad about the yellow penguin?"

"There's nothing wrong with the yellow penguin. It's the pink penguin he has to watch out for," she answered logically.

"Okay. What's so bad about the pink penguin?"

"It's the penguin who ate the lion," she rationalized.

Ichigo opened his mouth to reply, but after a moment, closed it once more. With a resigned sigh, he patted the cheerful healer on the head, a move that was quickly becoming habit. "You know what, Orihime? How about your dreams stay just yours, alright?"

"So what kind of kisser is he?"

Utterly taken by surprise by the question, Orihime nearly choked on the water she was drinking. "I'm sorry?"

Licking the spoon free of the ice cream, Rukia blinked, nonchalant. "I asked how good of a kisser is Ichigo."

Mortified into silence, Orihime turned the brightest red possible and dug into her own bowl of ice cream with gusto. Rukia, finally back from the impromptu mission Urahara had sent her to do, had visited the healer in her new apartment, and the two were splitting the last half of Orihime's carton of ice cream.

Rukia smirked. "That good, huh?"

With a mortified squeak, Orihime gave the smallest nod possible before ducking her head to allow her long hair to cover her face. Unphased by the embarrassment of the nearly mute girl, Rukia barked out a laugh, eyebrow raised. "I'm surprised. The boy's so shy around girls, I never would've pegged him for being a good kisser," she informed said boy's girlfriend with a smirk. "Maybe he practiced on his pillow. I've heard human boys do that sometimes," She added on thoughtfully after a moment.

At the unbidden image of Ichigo kissing his pillow, Orihime nearly fainted from the force of her blush. Apparently having the same image in her mind, Rukia chortled to herself.

After several moments, Orihime was finally coherent with her face returned to a semi-normal color. "So how are you and Renji-kun doing, Rukia-chan?" She asked shyly, gray eyes wide with curiosity.

Now this time it was Rukia who nearly choked. "I beg your pardon?"

Oblivious as ever, Orihime elaborated. "When I told you that Renji-kun had feelings for you, you seemed very surprised."

The normally collected Kuchiki had her cheeks pink. "I...We..."

Looking confused, Orihime leaned forward earnestly.

"...He's going to ask Onii-sama if he can court me officially," she mumbled finally, looking pleased with her cheeks tinted a vicious pink.

Looking happy, Orihime clapped her hands, ice cream forgotten. "Congratulations, Rukia-chan!" Rukia looked even more flustered as she hurriedly scooped more ice cream into her mouth to avoid having to respond.

"Man, its hard to believe that Kurosaki actually got Inoue-chan to date him."

"I know, right? You think he threatened her into doing it?"

"It would explain everything..."

"Maybe we should confront him; to see if he'd release her."

"Yeah, but let's get someone to do it with us; Kurosaki scares the shit out of me. Did you hear that he once killed a man with only a shoe and a bottle of nail polish?"

"Wow, really?"

"OH GIVE ME A BREAK!"

"Ar-Arisawa-san-"

"That is complete bullshit and was spread around by a guy who'd had his ass beat by Ichigo! And if I find out that you break them up, then I shall personally come down here and break your face!"

"Arisawa-san, was it really necessary to knock them out? I'm vaguely sure your threat would have sufficed."

"Aw, can it, Ishida. Are you ready to go? We'll miss the movie."

"Hai, I am."

Orihime was heavy.

It didn't seem likely, due to the fact that even with her curves, she always seemed small and delicate, but it didn't change the fact that she was surprisingly heavy.

Ichigo discovered this when they were watching a movie in his home, and she fell asleep on him.

And nothing he could do could snap her out of it.

And he was slowly but steadily losing blood flow to his arm,

Maybe all of the weird things she ate made her heavier, Ichigo mused to him, even as he attempted to shift her to a more comfortable position to no avail.

With a quiet, breathy snort, Orihime's vice grip on his arm tightened as her face buried into his shoulder contentedly. Utterly surprised, Ichigo relaxed instinctively. His nose became flooded with the subtle scent of her shampoo; Watermelon. A wry grin appeared. He somehow wasn't surprised. Watermelon was a very Orihime scent.

Looking down at her, he observed the slightly open, smiling mouth, and the deep, even breathing. Her eyebrows were unfurrowed and relaxed. Her long, dark lashes were striking against her soft cheeks. Ichigo could feel the overwhelmingly soft strands of her long hair on his arms.

Feeling his chest warm, Ichigo managed to find a more comfortable position. Okay, he decided. I'll wake her in five minutes.

They both woke up to the chuckles of Karin and Isshin poking Ichigo with a stick experimentally, bright morning sunlight streaming through the windows.

"Where is it?"

Orihime cried, digging under her bed frantically. She had to leave for school, and her right shoe seemed to be forever missing. And on top of that, she was getting all dusty, and her hair, which she had attempted to look pretty for Ichigo, was getting all messy.

A shrill puppy yelp had to turning. Livia was standing a foot behind her, Orihime's missing shoe at her feet. Panting, Livia wagged her tail, begging to play. "Livia, give that here," Orihime coaxed, holding out a hand.

With an excited yelp, Livia grabbed the shoe and bolted from the living room. The one-shoed Orihime hobbled after her on her uneven heels as fast as she could. A quick yelp had her kicking off her one shoe and crashing loudly into the living room in a hurry.

After she had regained her bearings, she looked up to see Ichigo standing there with a dejected Livia in one hand and her soggy, chewed-on shoe in the other. He arched an eyebrow at her messy appearance. "Missing something?" He offered her the shoe, before noticing her socked feet. "Or two somethings?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ichigo-kun!" She cried, reaching for her soggy shoe and mindlessly thrusting it on to her foot before darting back for the one she had kicked off.

A loud crash from the hallway had him wincing.

Looking even more disoriented, Orihime stumbled into the living room, running frantic hands over her hair. "I'm ready to go, Ichigo-kun!" She chirped, grabbing a jacket and her books.

He looked vaguely amused. "Um, Orihime?"

She paused. "Yes?"

"You might want to put your shoes on the right feet first."

"Matsumoto, what exactly are you doing? Have you finished your paperwork yet?"

The buxom blonde gave no indication that she had heard the irate voice of her silver-haired taichou.

"Matsumoto!" Toshiro's voice sharpened, from razor sharp to scalpel sharp.

"Taichou, shush!" Rangiku turned to look at him finally, the slightly hazy look on her face indicating how intoxicated she was. "You'll give me away."

"Give you away from what?" He asked, squinting down at the couple that his fukutaichou had been studying. After a moment, he recognized the bright orange hair as that to belonging to Kurosaki Ichigo, and the more muted shade of auburn belonging to that of Inoue Orihime. "What are Kurosaki and Inoue-san doing on the couch?"

"They're cuddling," she answered matter-of-factly, taking a swig of her sake.

"Give me that!" Toshiro snatched the alcohol from her, stowing it away safely in a hidden pocket. "And why precisely are they cuddling?" Somehow, he never imagined Kurosaki as being the type to cuddle. It seemed vaguely wrong.

"Because I got them together," she replied, pouting at her missing alcohol.

He instantly grew wary. Rangiku's plans hardly ever started or turned out well. "And how exactly did you get them together?"

She blinked at him. "I set fire to Orihime-chan's apartment." She paused. "Well, her former apartment," she amended after a moment.

Toshiro found himself gaping at her like a fool for precisely five seconds before he regained his composure. "You lit fire to Inoue-san's apartment?"

She frowned at him. "When you put it like that, it sounds like a bad thing!"

He refused to allow his jaw to drop once more. "It is a bad thing, Matsumoto." He gritted out. "And why did you set her apartment on fire?"

"Well, it was clear that they needed help, and what's better than suddenly being homeless?" She explained rationally.

"There are many better things you could've done," he snapped. "Has she at least found a new place to live?"

"I think so."

"You think so?"

"Well, I haven't necessarily been here to double-check, but I didn't see her walk home with him."

"How long have you been here?" He asked suddenly, suspiciously.

"Ummm..."

Toshiro sighed, wondering if there was a way for his hair to turn lighter due to stress. "We're going back to the Soul Society."

"Hai," she sulked.

"And your doing extra paperwork for a month."

"Taichooouuu!"

Well, there it is. The ending to my favorite story (that I've written) ever. I'm sad to see it go; but I'm relieved.

I hope you guys have enjoyed it as much as I have.

I would really like to start thanking individual persons, but, there are just so many; from the people who have reviewed every chapters (or just about), to the people who have messaged me asking if I was going to continue this, to the people I don't talk to anymore but they still leave reviews: you guys are completely amazing. Completely, and utterly amazing. Your reviews seriously helped me in my various Writer's Blocks.

Okay, enough of the sappiness. XD

I'm personally a little iffy on this chapter, I think I might have made it go on a bit too long; so if you have an opinion, feel free to nail me with it. ^^

Thanks again everyone, and I hope to see your reviews on other stories!

And now for a shameless plug for my next story; because I'm just that pathetic and I know a large amount of my reviews don't have me on Alert. XD

Title: My Guardian Angel

Rating: T

Pairing: Kurosaki Ichigo/Inoue Orihime

Genre: Romance/Humor

Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo never thought he had a guardian angel. And he certainly never thought that she wouldn't be able to walk across a flat surface.