Title: Perfect Moments
Disclaimer: I'm running out of snarky comments to use, so insert one yourself here.
Rating: PG ( K+ ) – for serious, semi-depressing moments and a special surprise at the end.
Spoilers: If you haven't seen any of the IshiHime-specific moments from the SS Arc, then I'm sorry for ruining the surprise (sorta).
Summary: OneShot. If you wait too long for the perfect moment, you'll only miss it. IshiHime.
I see flashbacks in your future...
"Inoue-san! Run!" the air hissed and churned with spiritual pressure as if scalded. "HURRY!"
"No...I won't! I want to fight!"
The ground was shaking, rumbling in complaint under the strain of warring energies. The hard pavement beneath their feet cracked and split with deafening sound vibrations.
"You! Take her with you when you leave!"
"What – ? No!"
"Take her with you or I'll shoot you!"
When she had imagined being swept off her feet as a girl, she had never thought that meant being dragged away from the one who had done it. But, then again, if this boy was anything, he was unconventional to the end.
"Who gave you permission to run away...?"
CRACK!
"Who gave you permission to go after them?"
"Put me down! I need to save – "
RRRUUUMMM...
—
"ISHIDA-KUN!" Orihime was jolted awake, tangled in her sheets with long strands of honeyed hair clinging to the sweat seeping from her skin. Her heavy chest heaved almost as if she had taken physical part in her old memories. "Uryuu...kun...," the spiritually inclined woman gasped, flinging herself to the opposite side of her mattress in desperate fear.
Gone.
"Uryuu-kun!" she squealed, her panic rising to the surface of her composure as frustrated tears. The buxom healer patted down the futon, tore her soaked coverings limb-from-limb, even got up to check underneath, but he was gone.
Uryuu was gone.
If Orihime had been any other girl who had woken from a nightmare in the middle of a summer night to find her cherished lover missing, she might have given in to the crying fit that threatened to overwhelm her. If she couldn't find Uryuu, if her nightmare was really true, then she could save that for later after she'd overturned every single futon, pillow, and comforter in this world and next.Meanwhile, she needed to get started on that...
Stumbling to her feet, the fairy-wielding Hollow slayer flung open her partially open bedroom door and began a new level to her search. Apartment first, the rest of the world and alternate dimensions later.
Just as Orihime began clawing the wall for the hallway light switch, a cool breeze breathed against her moist skin. Turning to identify the source, she found it easily.
Someone had left the front door open.
"Uryuu-kun!" she called, the artificial light forgotten as she groped for the doorknob instead. Before she could even touch it, the door swung inside to meet her, forcing her a couple steps back and out of its way. A dark silhouette stood in place of the door, stark against the natural moonlight behind its slight but sturdy form.
"Orihime-san?" a soft voice tinged in concern replied. "Are you alright? What happened?"
Without answering, the fearful girl tackled the shadow in her doorway with utter relief flooding her heart, soul, and mind. Now that her savior was back to protect her from herself, she let all of her tears flow freely. "You weren't there! I woke up and you were gone!"
"I'm so sorry, Orihime-san...did you have another nightmare?" a gentle hand stroked her sopping hair back. Orihime squeezed her lover tighter.
"You...you sent me away to fight Mayuri..."
"It was just a dream, Orihime-san," even though he knew this was what she wanted to hear, he felt horrible for lying to her. He couldn't rewrite the past, no matter how much regret he suffered because of it. "Please, don't cry."
"U-Uryuu-kun...D-don't leave me..."
Ishida Uryuu, the guilt creeping slowly into his system, pulled his love against his body to ease her aching fears. She burrowed into his arms and reveled in how solid he was.
"I won't, I promise...," the Quincy agreed, bare back exposed to the nocturnal light outdoors. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. I just went outside for some air."
Orihime lifted her ashen eyes, swollen and red from crying, and peered deep into his sincere gaze, which was, for once, not shielded behind his severe spectacles. "It's alright...I guess I overreacted a little," she forced a giggle for his sake.
Gratefully accepting her laughter as an alleviation to his guilt, Uryuu smiled in response and leaned down to reward her with an affectionate peck on the lips. "That's fine," he chuckled, holding their lips in full contact as he spoke.
The magical girl broke their mouths apart and tucked her head beneath his chin, the place she most loved to be when being comforted.
"Come outside with me," Uryuu spoke suddenly. Orihime, unused to him being so outspoken, lifted her face away from his collarbone to look at him.
"Outside?"
"Yes. It feels so nice...I think it's going to rain in a few hours."
The breeze that had whispered her dearest's location to her was back, damp and cool like an underground passage. Orihime had the feeling that Uryuu was right once again.
"It's a shame," he sighed.
Orihime furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why? I thought you said it felt nice."
"It does feel nice," he agreed, untangling his body from hers to lead her outside unhindered. He pulled her gently by the hand, walking backwards to maintain their eye contact, until his backside brushed against the stairway railing. "But tomorrow is Tanabata. Orihime won't meet her prince."
His Orihime giggled and followed faithfully. "I don't think that will be a problem," she assured him, comfortably situating herself with her back against his chest and his arm draped around her shoulders.
"I hope not," was all he said before the conversation lulled to an agreeable silence.
The full moonlight filtered through a thick blanket of clouds, peeking shyly over the fluffy congealment of water and dust particles at the loving scene below. The wind encouraged the entwined lovers to sway back and forth on the raised platform outside of their shared home. Both had their eyes closed, absorbing the moment that neither wanted to end.
"Orihime-san..."
Another long moment passed before the well-endowed slayer realized that her beloved had spoken. Had his voice been any softer, it would have completely blended with the wind playing with her hair. "Hm...?"
"Do you remember...," this time, Uryuu paused himself. Orihime waited intently for him to continue. "...our trip to Soul Society? When I fought Kurotsuchi?"
She didn't want to. "Yes. What about it?"
"He...he told me how my grandfather had really died. As an experiment that was thrown away when it became too mangled to recognize any longer."
Orihime's heart seized in her chest; in the three years she had called herself Ishida Uryuu's "official girlfriend," she had never heard him speak of this. "Uryuu..."
Uryuu didn't look at her as he continued. "I blamed him – Kurotsuchi – at first, and then...," the breaks in his words were becoming more numerous and closer together as what he was saying became more and more difficult to relive. "Then...I remembered that it had all been my fault."
"No! Uryuu, it wasn't – "
Uryuu wrapped his arms fully around her shoulders and squeezed, burying his face in her neck. She fell silent at his unexpressed bidding. "I watched the Hollows rip him to shreds. I told myself that I was waiting for the right moment, that I would sneak up behind them, but in the end I couldn't move. Not even as the Shinigami arrived to take even his body away from me, to deliver him to that...that," his hold on Orihime tightened to the point that her breathing became labored "heinous Kurotsuchi."
The buxom princess was literally aching to turn around and comfort her ailing dragon, to protect him from himself as he protected her from others, but his full-body grasp and need to keep going prevented her.
"I missed my chance...I waited for the perfect moment when my courage would return to me and I could die by my grandfathers side, but there wasn't one."
"I...," Orihime dared to speak up for the first time in many minutes. "I'm glad you didn't. If you had then...then we wouldn't have this moment. Here and now."
The reminiscing Quincy nuzzled the crown of her head, admitting, "True enough. Still, I'll always regret waiting for that moment that didn't happen. Which is why," one of his arms dropped from around his girlfriends shoulders. When he brought it back up before her, his palm was opened up flat and supporting a squared velvet box. "When I found out that it was going to rain tomorrow, I decided that waiting for a 'perfect' moment to give you this was pointless."
Inside, she soon discovered, a promise waited for her in the shape of a silvery-gold band. The modest stone at the top was aquamarine – which he insisted he would replace with a diamond as soon as he could afford to, hindered as he was by his tailor's salary – inexpensive and absolutely perfect.
As she pounced on her new fiancé, Orihime decided that he had been wrong about not having a perfect moment to propose. The proposal was what created the perfect moment.
Authors Note: This plot was ever-so-slightly more melodramatic than the plots I usually lean toward, but I'm fairly proud of it. Everyone needs to get out of their box once in awhile, right? I don't know if it makes a whole lot of sense, really, but it felt good to write it so...eh. I'll let you judge for yourself if this was worth posting at all.
Anyway, leave it to Ishida to turn something happy into something depressing, right? If there are any guys (or girls who don't like to follow gender stereotypes) reading this, take another route for your proposal. I think this could only potentially work for Ishida.
Btw, I'm totally proud of myself for posting TWO stories in one day, even if they both suck. I don't mind the last part, tho (much). n.n
—
.:ObscureAnimeWriter:.
– Every nerd has his day. With Inoue Orihime, Ishida Uryuu will have an entire afterlife.