A/N: Has anyone else ever seen that show 'Toddlers and Tiaras' about beauty pageants on TLC? I'm sure they purposefully pick the craziest stage moms but still, it is pretty disgusting. But it also served as the inspiration for this fic. This is my first multi chapter story in a while so I guess we'll see how it goes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters.

********************************************************************************************************************

When Ichigo had first met Orihime, they had both been 8 years old. Even though their meeting seemed pretty insignificant at the time, the fact that he remembered her immediately as soon as she walked onto the auditorium stage indicated that maybe she'd made more of an impression on him than he had thought.

He unconsciously found himself straightening up from his slouched position in his seat as he started to watch the pageant rehearsal with much more interest than he had been just 30 seconds prior.

"Look at the rack on that one!" Ichigo didn't need to look at Keigo, who was sitting on his right, to see which one he was referring to. Keigo sighed dreamily as he leaned forward to rest his chin in his hand. "I think I'm in love." Ichigo resisted his urge to punch Keigo in the face.

Chad, sitting to Ichigo's left, rose an eyebrow at Keigo's statement. "I thought you liked Rukia."

"I do. But you have to keep your options open. I can't be tied down to Rukia when so many girls want me."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "So what you mean is you basically have to hit on every girl you see on the off chance that one might actually like you." Ichigo retorted.

Large comical tears rolled down Keigo's face as he pointed an accusing finger at Ichigo. "Why are you always trying to hurt me? Aren't we friends? First, you start hanging out with Chad, Ishida, Rukia, and Renji more than me and now you are insulting me? You're the worst friend ever!"

Keigo kept talking, but Ichigo ignored the rest of his rant and returned his attention to Orihime. She was standing in a line with the rest of the contestants as the rehearsal dragged on. The pageant director, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, was giving the girls instructions on how the show opening would go as his daughter Nemu stood silently beside him with a clipboard. Ichigo couldn't help but let his eyes roam over her. He wasn't worried about her catching him staring because he and his friends were sitting in the back of the auditorium and the lights weren't on. Even dressed in casual clothes, ripped jeans and a white tank top, he found himself totally enamored with her. Even as an 8 year old boy who thought girls had cooties, he had known that she was pretty, but now at 16, she was stunningly beautiful. Her long dark orange hair was silky and he really wished he could comb his fingers through it to see if it was as soft as it looked. She had curves in all the right places and she seemed to have perfect bone structure. She had definently changed a lot from the 8 year old girl he had known, but the one feature that jumped out at him, the feature that had allowed him to recognize her in the first place, were her grey eyes. She had the same expression in her eyes she had had when they first met. Trapped.

*********************flashback************************

"Why do I have to be here?" Ichigo sulked as he dragged his feet from the parking lot to the hotel where the Little Miss Karakura pageant would be held.

Masaki laughed and shifted Yuzu so she could hold her with one arm and offered her right hand to Ichigo. He gladly accepted the offered hand and fell into step with the rest of the family. "Don't you want to support your little sister Ichigo? Besides, it could be a lot of fun. Keigo will be here. His big sister is competing in the pageant too." Masaki said.

Isshin, who carried Karin piggy back style, smirked at Ichigo. "What are you complaining about son? I bet there will be plenty of cute girls your age here. You could find yourself a little girlfriend!"

Ichigo pretended to gag. "Gross. Girls have cooties."

"No we don't!" Karin retorted angrily just as the family reached the entrance to the hotel.

The hotel lobby was full of little girls in glitzy dresses. Some had full on make-up, spray tans, and big hair, while others had opted for a more natural look. Despite how grown up some of the girls looked; it was obvious that they were still children from the way they all ran throughout the lobby playing hide and go seek and tag. Ichigo was surprised to see that some of the girls had coaches and professional hair and make-up. It made him somewhat uneasy.

Apparently, Isshin felt the same way since he observed the room silently before turning toward Masaki. "What is all this?"

"I don't know Isshin. I've never been to a pageant before. Yuzu's friend Ririn does pageants and Yuzu wanted to try one."

Just then, Ririn and her mom spotted the Kurosakis and waved at them before coming over. Ririn's mom hugged Masaki. "You guys made it! Did you have any problems finding it?" Ririn's mom asked.

Masaki shook her head. "No, it was pretty easy to find." She glanced around before returning her attention to Ririn's mom. "I'm a little concerned though. I just wanted this to be something fun for Yuzu but it looks like this whole thing is pretty serious."

Ririn's mom waved off Masaki's concerns. "Some of these moms do take it too seriously but don't worry about it. Most of us are normal and we just want the kids to have fun. I don't let Ririn tan or put on make-up. She's only 4!" Masaki let out a sigh of relief. "Come on, I'll show you where to register." Masaki, Yuzu, Ririn, and Ririn's mom all left to register and Ichigo was left with his dad and little sister.

Ichigo quickly spotted Keigo since he was one of only a handful of boys in the room. He told his father where he was going and Isshin waved him off. "Hey Keigo!" Keigo, who had been sitting Indian style on the floor with his head in his hands looking bored out of his mind, glanced up when he heard his voice being called.

Keigo's face broke into a huge grin. "Hey Ichigo." Ichigo took a seat next to Keigo.

"So....what do you do for fun at these things?" Ichigo asked after a few moments of silence which both boys used to people watch.

Keigo looked at Ichigo incredulously before asking, "Who told you these things are fun?"

Ichigo sighed before continuing his people watching. He noticed that all the kids and parents seemed to mingle except for an auburn haired girl in the corner of the room. At first, he assumed the woman with her was her coach since there appeared to be no bond between the girl and the woman. But on closer inspection, he realized the woman must be her mom because of the resemblance between them. They both had the same auburn colored hair and their eyes were the same ashy gray color. But while the woman's eyes were cold and calculating, the daughter had a deep sadness in her eyes. She looked scared and trapped.

Ichigo continued to watch them as the girl practiced her baton routine. Unfortunately, the girl seemed to be pretty clumsy and continuously dropped the baton. Her mother glared at her. "Damn it Orihime! Can't you do anything right?! Do you know how expensive all this pageant stuff is? Are you even trying?"

Orihime's eyes welled up with tears. "I am trying." She stated weakly.

Her mother scoffed. "You're pathetic. Start again from the beginning."

The girl nodded weakly before starting over and completing the routine perfectly.

Keigo followed Ichigo's line of vision to the auburn haired girl. "That's Inoue Orihime. I've seen her at a bunch of different pageants. She usually wins." Keigo informed Ichigo.

"She looks really unhappy." Ichigo stated.

Before Keigo could say anything else, a woman walked in and announced the pageant was starting. Ichigo stood up and then offered a hand to Keigo to help pull him up. They followed the crowd into a conference room that had been transformed into The Little Miss Karakura pageant. It was all pretty cheesy looking. Huge cut outs of palm trees adorned the stage and beach balls were strewn randomly throughout the room. Ichigo spotted his dad and Karin and he and Keigo joined them in the audience. He assumed his mom was with Yuzu back stage.

Eventually, the pageant got started and Ichigo was disappointed to see the competitors were split by age groups. He glanced at the clock behind him. How long was this going to take? Eventually, it was time for the 3 to 5 age group. "And now" the announcer declared, "we have Kurosaki Yuzu. She is 4 years old, her favorite food is sushi, and when she grows up she wants to be a doctor." Yuzu walked onto the stage and smiled as she modeled her glittery blue dress that Masaki had bought just for the occasion.

Isshin clapped loudly with tears rolling down his face. "My little baby, all grown up!" Ichigo and Karin ignored him and nonchalantly tried to distance themselves from him so people wouldn't know they were related.

Next, it was 6 to 8 year olds. Ichigo watched with little interest until the announcer said. "And next we have Inoue Orihime. She is 8 years old. Her favorite food is….." the announcer paused before saying "red bean paste with vanilla ice cream and when she grows up, she wants to be an astronaut teacher who owns a donut shop." Some members of the audience laughed at her nonsensical aspirations. Orihime walked onto the stage with a well practiced fake smile and did the standard pageant walk before smiling once more at the judges and hopping off the stage.

Keigo's sister competed in the 9-11 year division before the announcer announced intermission so the girls could change into talent outfits. After intermission, the mood was much less tense and people started walking around in the audience during the show and after their turn many of the competitors would join their family in the audience.

Keigo and Ichigo were playing Go Fish in the aisle by the time it was Yuzu's turn to perform. She sang a very off tune rendition of itsy bitsy spider. Everyone clapped politely and Isshin gave her a standing ovation. "Encore!" He demanded before being pulled back into his seat by Karin, who was surprisingly strong for a four year old.

By the time it was Orihime's turn to perform, Ichigo had beaten Keigo at 6 games of Go Fish and had resigned himself to going back to watching the pageant. The Japanese national anthem blared from the speakers as Orihime stepped onto the stage. Her shoulder length hair was pulled into a ponytail and she wore a red leotard. She did some cartwheels and tumbles while she caught the baton. The audience seemed to be pretty impressed and clapped every time she made a catch. Finally, she reached the grand finale and threw the baton in the air before doing two back hand springs. It seemed that her timing was a little off because she managed to grab the end of the baton but she didn't have a good enough grip on it and it clattered to the stage. She quickly picked and up and bowed to the judges and flashed a smile into the audience. Everyone clapped and she smiled some more. Ichigo was pretty sure he was the only one who noticed that her eyes were darting nervously towards her mother and her smile was completely fake. He glanced at her mother and saw the glare she was giving Orihime. Orihime's smile faltered a little as her eyes met her mother's. She gave one last bow before skipping off the stage. The next girl went on stage and while everyone was focused on her Ichigo saw Orihime's mom grab her roughly by the arm and drag her out of the room.

Ichigo stood from his seat. "Where are you going?" Masaki asked as she adjusted a sleeping Yuzu on her lap.

"Bathroom." Ichigo answered.

Masaki nodded and Ichigo hurried out the double doors. Although he had anticipated the scene that greeted him when he opened the doors, he was still a little shaken. Orihime's mom still had a tight grip on Orihime's arm and was shaking her roughly as she verbally berated her for her performance. As they heard the double doors open, two pairs of gray eyes turned to look at him. One pair in gratitude and the other in anger.

Orihime's mom immediately released Orihime's arm. "What are you doing out here?" She asked.

"Looking for the bathroom." Ichigo replied.

"It's that way." Orihime's mom pointed down the hall.

Ichigo nodded. "I know."

When he still hadn't moved a couple of seconds later, Orihime's mom seemed to give up and roughly pushed past him as she re-entered the conference room. Ichigo turned to glare at her retreating back before turning back to Orihime.

"You okay?" He asked.

She smiled, a real smile, before replying. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"No problem. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo by the way."

"I'm Inoue Orihime."

"You were really good Inoue." He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"The whole baton thing I mean." He clarified.

"Thank you Kurosaki-kun." She tried to fight back the blush she knew was forming on her face. "You're Yuzu-chan's brother right?"

He nodded. "You know Yuzu?"

"I met her back stage. She is very sweet. She talks about you a lot."

"Really?" He asked, somewhat surprised.

She nodded. "You seem like a good big brother. You remind me of my brother Sora. He always protects me from…" She cut herself off but he knew what she was going to say.

"Where is he?" He asked.

"In college. He has class today. But he went to the local university instead of Tokyo University so he could keep an eye on me. He is very sweet. Like you."

This time, Ichigo had to fight his blush. He gestured to the conference room. "We should probably get back."

Yuzu ended up winning 4th runner up in her age group and Mizuho, Keigo's sister, placed second in her age group. Orihime ended up taking the big title of Little Miss Karakura. But even as she hugged the pageant directors and accepted her crown and flowers with a big smile, the sadness never left her eyes.

Over the year, Yuzu went to a couple more pageants. She usually didn't place, but she didn't seem to care and she was having a lot of fun. Sometimes, Keigo would be at the pageant with Mizuho, but even if he wasn't there, Ichigo could always count on Orihime being there. It turned out that her mother entered her in every pageant within 100 miles of Karakura. Over the year they became friends, despite the disapproval from Orihime's mom.

The friendship abruptly ended when Maskai died in a terrible car crash. The truck driver had been drunk. Five people had died in the pile up. After that, there weren't any more pageants.

******************end flashback********************

He was snapped out of his reminiscences by a particularly loud sob courtesy of Keigo. "I feel like our friendship is dying."

"Shut up Keigo." Ichigo stared at Orihime. While it seemed like all the other girls were listening intently to Mayuri, she seemed to be day dreaming.

"Alright. Are you girls ready for a run through? Lights!" Mayuri exclaimed loudly. The light above Ichigo and his friends switched on and gray eyes met brown eyes. Her eyes widened in recognition and he smirked. He was suddenly glad he had allowed his dad to talk him into helping out with the pageant.

********************************************************************

There is the end of chapter 1! Please review!