Author's Note: Hello everyone! During the Christmas holidays, I was totally immersing myself with countless of IchiRuki fan fictions which inspired me to write this story. Thank you for clicking on it! Hope you would enjoy reading my story and uhhh, please do review, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Oh, and I'm sorry to any IchiHime fans out there, this is NOT an IchiHime story. If you are an IchiHime fan, stop reading RIGHT NOW. I don't like IchiHime. I don't think I even like Orihime. Sorry people.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Bleach characters, not that you don't already know.

And here is a really short first chapter.

Tatsuki was annoyed. Irritated. Vexed. She stares helplessly at the crying Inoue sitting next to her on her bed. "Argh, she's crying again. Damn you, Ichigo!" She thought as she clenched her fists and felt her eyebrows twitched a little. It has been 3 months since Tatsuki made Inoue come clean about her feelings for Ichigo, and now, she almost regrets it.

For the past 3 months, Inoue has been crying almost every week, sometimes twice a week. And it was always, always about Ichigo. At first, Tatsuki felt sorry for Inoue. "This isn't the way love supposed to be. It was supposed to be happy, with sunshines and rainbows. Not this!" But soon, she became just plain angry with Ichigo. "Why is he so dense? Isn't it obvious enough? How the hell does he still manage to make Inoue cry when he hasn't even done anything to her?"

"I… I am just… not good enough… for him… him. He's… so… so perfect. And I'm just… well… just me. I can… never… ever be com… compatible with him." Inoue said between sobs. Tatsuki sighed, Inoue was thinking too much again. "I should… probably… go and live somewhere else or something… Then maybe… maybe I won't feel this much pain… Haha."

Tatsuki became furious; she stood up suddenly and yelled, "NO ORIHIME! YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO CRY!"

"Wh-what? Tat-Tatsuki-chan?" Inoue stammered in shocked.

"Listen Orihime, I have been listening to you cry for weeks now, and… and I find it stupid!"

"Okay…" Inoue replied, hurt.

"I find it stupid because you shouldn't be crying. At least, not now! You're crying because you don't feel that you can be with Ichigo, but the truth is you haven't even tried yet! Why don't you just tell Ichigo how you feel? What if he likes you back?"

Orihime gave a sad chuckle, "I couldn't. You've seen how he is with Rukia, they're so… so close. And if you've seen them… seen them out of school, they're even closer." She said while thinking about the times she saw Ichigo and Rukia fighting hollows together with such perfect coordination. "He's so nice to her. I just don't stand a chance. At all."

"Inoue; Ichigo, as far as I know him, is nice to everyone." The spikey-haired girl sighed, "If you didn't tell him, you'll never know. So what if he rejects you? Then at least you would know his answer and you can bring yourself to move on, instead of crying every week like what you're doing now."

Inoue just kept quiet, as she stared hard at the floor.

"Stop being weak, Inoue! Don't make the same mistake as me…"

"Tatsuki-chan?"

"I accepted fate without questioning. I knew you guys were involved in some kind of… "activities". I tried to ask, and then I just stopped asking. But what I get in return is you… and the others coming back injured, hurt, almost losing your lives. " Tears almost forming in the girl's eyes. "So, Inoue, be strong. Even if the answer you get is not what you wanted, at least you knew."

Inoue walks home from Tatsuki's house, she thought hard about what Tatsuki had said to her. Memories of the many times he saved her flashed through her mind. "Well, maybe he does care for me in a special way." She smiles.

"Hey, Kurosaki-kun! Kuchiki-san!" Inoue called as she ran towards Ichigo and Rukia on the way to school; both of them turned around. Rukia greeted her with a warm smile while Ichigo just answered with a "Yo" and his signature scowl. She can't help but think how over the years she have grown to love those eyes with their eyebrows knitted together. Ichigo always had a frown on his face, people who didn't know him well would think that he's angry all the time; but Inoue knows better and has seen him smile a couple of times.

They continued on to school, Rukia chatting away with Inoue while Ichigo just seems bored walking behind them. Inoue would occasionally look over her shoulder to steal glances at the man walking behind her, and she couldn't help but blush a little. "Today is the day." She smiled.

When they arrived in school, she allowed Rukia to walk in to the classroom first before telling Ichigo that she wants to talk. In private. She then walked away from the classroom towards the stairs; Ichigo knew that was the cue to follow her. He looked over to Rukia, who had already found her way to her seat, and gave a look, "I'll be right back." Rukia nodded.

"So… Inoue, what did you want to say to me?" He said, leaning against the wall while she stood back facing him, holding on to the railings of the stairs.

"Kurosaki-kun, I… I… Will you go on a date with me?"

Author's Note: I've always liked Tatsuki, and I really feel for her when she's always "left out" in all the action only to find her friends all in great agony. So this chapter goes to Tatsuki. So there isn't a lot of IchiRuki in this chapter, but oh well. Don't forget to review! Thanks!