Author's Note: Another Bleach drabble from me…fufuffuf. This one's Ishida x Inoue – yes, let's give our favorite Quincy archer some love! Ahem, anyways, this was suppose to be a light/fluffy drabble, but I found it got a bit serious in the end. And yes, I've never written Ishida before so sorry if he seems a bit off.

The two linesof dialogue near the end were taken from the manga, there in italics.

Spoilers: The end of this drabble contains the slightest, tiniest spoiler for chapter 90 of the manga, but if your up-to-date with the anime (episode 25) then you should be fine… not much is given away in this that you wouldn't expect not to happen considering their present circumstances in the anime.

Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, we would be seeing a lot more of Hitsugaya and Renji ((huggles them both)) Come to me my pretties! Fufufufu… (evil Orochimaru chuckle - inspired by evil Sasuke)

Burst

A Drabble written by Elusia

-l-

Sometimes, Ishida Uryuu felt like his heart would burst.

Yes, he felt it yesterday and the day before. He felt it almost every single waking moment. He should have been used to it by now, but every time he looked at her - no, that was not right - every time he was near her, simply near her, his heart would feel like bursting into a thousand tiny fragments.

And every so often, it actually did.

Inoue Orihime.

He did not know exactly when he began to feel for her. Or even why for that matter. It was something so uncommon, so unnatural to him. But he just did. It was pure and simple, an annoying and unadorned feeling that in all its bareness, would not leave him alone.

He had hoped that it was not love.

But then at school, silently, sitting alone at his desk, he would look at her though his gleaming glasses. She would always be with her friends, laughing, smiling, eating some kind of weird homemade bento that usually - somehow, beyond even his knowledge - consisted of cheese and butter.

And he would smile. Annoyingly, he would smile.

She bothered him in art class too. Always he would notice on how on her face there lingered a childlike focus and tenacity. How she would bite her bottom lip as she drew, quickly, heavily, almost furiously. And how at the end of each lesson, proud and beaming, she would show the class her finished work of art, filled with the most ridiculous and peculiar robots and knights. Of course, she would break into a smile unhindered - or perhaps oblivious - to the raised eyebrows and questioning glances.

But oddly, even as most of his own art worked remained unfinished as hazy sketches due to certain distractions, his heart would always swell.

Even after school during handicraft club, when she would ask him to fix up one of her mistakes - usually a wonky stitch or a knotted tread - he would willingly accept, finding himself unable to look away as he sewed, eyes annoyingly straying towards her fidgeting form. She would thank him afterwards of course, and he would tell her, quietly, politely, that she was welcome.

He found that during those moments, those moments when she would burst into a smile and thank him, he felt like his whole existence would be consumed and lost within that damn feeling.

Because with either joy or pain - he was unsure since the sensation was totally unlike anything he had ever felt - his heart would burst.

And then he would begin to doubt himself. Was he really hoping it was not love?

But the answer was always too obvious. He ignored it. Locked it up somewhere in his soul.

Yet with that, even when he comprehended the absurdity of his own logic, he had convinced himself that he had to follow her to Soul Society, that he simply had to protect her.

Naturally, he felt a little silly when he was rescued by Sado. Twice.

But at least now he was with her, clutching her form against his, pulling her away to narrowly dodge the swing of the Death God's blade. He knew he would protect her, no matter what, against everything and anything. He had to.

"Th… Thank you, Ishida… I'm fine now…"

He did not look at her, nor did he release her, he fixed his eyes on the Death God before them. He would protect her.

"Yeah… I can tell."

Because he knew, if she was alive, if simply, she was near him, his heart would always mend.

-l-

1) Inoue's favourite foods are actually cheese and butter O.o; And she's actually good at sewing, but for the purposes of this drabble I reduced her skills a bit lol.

2) Ishida was saved by Chad (who he refers to as Sado - Chad's real name) twice. First when his cloak got caught in that weird thingy in the tunnel to soul society, and second, when the Reiko exploded and Chad swapped places with Ishida so he wouldn't have to be alone when he landed in soul society… it's hard to explain. But yes… makes me wonder if there's anything going on there with them two… fufufu ((yaoi fangirl mode))

Anyhow, review please! I love feedback((grins))