Inoue Orihime is unlucky. And by unlucky it means that not a day passes by without her getting unharmed in any way. As a shinigami healer of the 4th division, she should be caring for lives, but she seems to be in the hospital more often than the most veteran shinigamis. Inoue Orihime also has a crush on the 5th division captain, Kurosaki Ichigo. Now wouldn't that count as unlucky?

A/N: So, I'm thinking of something light-hearted. My story summary isn't exactly how the story is going to be, and I'm sure you clearly have no idea what this is all about. Please read to find out. I hope you will find it good.

Love's Luck

A Kurosaki Ichigo x Inoue Orihime fan fiction

Rated M

Chapter One

Strange Sightings

"Fufumfumfufuuu~~" a young woman hummed, walking gaily along the corridors of Seiretei Institute. She was in her final year of study and her grades had been quite well, especially in Kidou and the Healing Arts, but Inoue Orihime knew that was far from excellent. She hoped she could still be the shinigami she aspired to be.

"Woooah, isn't that Inoue-senpai?" a robust-looking student said, whispering to his blonde companion.

"Yes," he murmured in reply. "Isn't she a beauty?"

"Like an idol."

"But I heard she's really a ditz and a klutz."

"Who cares? A woman only needs her looks to bring us men down. She doesn't need to be bright and smooth."

Orihime pretended not to hear, but she did. This was the kind of remarks she would get whenever she had her back turned. She was the envy of many when it came to looks, but she was popular for the nickname 'Unlucky Princess.'

Unlucky Princess – this was because Orihime could not survive a day without getting into some sort of mishap. She always found her way into trouble and most of the instructors would simply stay away from her during practical exams. She had a lot of potential, but she always posed a threat to others, more importantly, to herself.

Orihime blinked the tears away, quickly proceeding to the graduating class' girls' dormitories. She wanted to see her best friends so badly. Arisawa Tatsuki and Kuchiki Rukia were her aides whenever she would hear snide comments. She hated to admit it, but she was dependent on her friends. They were the only ones she had.

Arisawa Tatsuki, unlike her, was an excellent student. Although she had a little problem in kidou, her strength in every other area earned her great praise from the teachers. She was strong-willed and had a definite sense of leadership around her. Because of this, she already had a reserved spot in the 11th division of the Gotei 13.

Kuchiki Rukia was an equally excellent student. Though she was a bit lacking in the kendo department, she was the best when it came to kidou, even better than Orihime. She was also the younger sister of the most popular captain in all of Soul Society, Kuchiki Byakuya. Not to mention that she belonged to the richest and most powerful noble clan, the Kuchiki family. It is therefore an established fact that Rukia also had a reserved position in the Gotei 13.

Which left Orihime. She was the darling of the three, but also had the least amount of spiritual energy. She was always soft-spoken and gentle. She resented fights and would not enter one even though her life depended on it. So it came as a surprise to her two friends, who already knew her since they were children, that she wanted to become a shinigami.

Tatsuki often wondered if Orihime only wanted to become a reaper because her two friends were going to the academy, which left her alone. They did not belittle Orihime's reiatsu, for she knew that she was also capable of becoming a shinigami, but it was just not in her nature to become one.

Orihime knew this and would always think that her best shot would be in the 4th division – the relief and medicinal squad of Soul Society. There was where she belonged. She wanted to heal and help out rather than to harm and kill.

BAM!

Before she knew it, books and paper were flying everywhere, momentarily blocking her vision. Something cold ran over the top half of her uniform and she caught a glimpse of nasty black ink dripping all over the once pristine white cloth. Disoriented, she pushed the thick book out of her eyes and dusted off the ink-infested scrolls. When she finally found out who the walking wall was, she gaped.

It was Kurosaki Ichigo.

Everyone knew who Kurosaki Ichigo was. Student extraordinaire, excelling in all Shinigami requisites – kidou, shunpo, hakuda and kendo. Before he even entered the academy, he already knew his zanpakutou's name, thus able to release his shikai. During their third year, he attained Bankai. Because of his strength, he had been among the selected few who fought in the prestigious and historical Winter War where three traitorous shingami captains threatened to put the entire world in chaos. Ichigo had been the one to defeat Aizen Sousuke, a feat in which no captain had achieved. He was on a level of his own.

However, instead of honoring the suggestions of the teachers to graduate earlier than the others and take the reserved 5th division's captain position, Ichigo decided to postpone this and instead concentrate on graduating along with everyone else. It seemed that the thought of accomplishing something so fast did not sit too well with him. He wanted to be treated normally, just like everyone else. Unfortunately, everyone knew he wasn't like anyone else. Being able to join the ranks of the elite shinigami in his young age was only ever achieved once, and that was by the genius captain Hitsugaya Toushirou. But Ichigo was far more powerful, and his powers were on the brink of maturity – this is what made the difference.

Orihime took one look at Ichigo's scowling face and ran. She covered her blushing face with her hands, unable to notice that her hands were also covered in ink, thus smudging her cheeks, forehead, nose and eyelids with vast amounts of black. Ichigo was always distant from the other students. He only kept the company of a handful of friends namely, Abarai Renji, Sado Yasutora, and Ishida Uryuu. These guys were almost just as popular and talented as he was, with Renji being a very skillful swordsman, attaining shikai at an early level during their stay in the academy. Chad, as many called Sado, was known for his skills in hakuda and his amazing strength. Uryuu was the smartest in their batch, acing every written and oral examination and was reserved a seat in the 12th division, the Technological and Research Bureau of Soul Society. These four people intimidated everyone. The only one outside their circle who interacted with them was Rukia, because she was best friends with Renji. Somehow, she got acquainted with Ichigo too, since they were often seen teasing each other relentlessly.

That's the only time that Orihime had seen Kurosaki Ichigo in a relaxed manner. Only once when she chanced upon the group with Rukia. She had been looking for the small woman but once she found her and saw who was with her, she slinked away.

Well, it's known to her that she had the biggest crush on Kurosaki Ichigo.

His scowl and demeanor should have repelled her, but instead, these traits attracted her. She was an unusual girl. She knew that Ichigo would never notice her. He might remember her as the Unlucky Princess, if he even knew that moniker, or as the ditzy girl in class. She wasn't really popular except for her looks, which seemed to have attracted unwanted attention.

What's up with that? Ichigo thought, frowning deeply. He was about to go and return the scrolls and books that her borrowed from the Archive of Spiritual Documents when this girl, who was clearly spacing out, bumped into him with such speed and force that Ichigo did not even see her coming. He was a bit lax in sensing spiritual presence whenever he was preoccupied, so he decided that he should work on that to avoid more accidents.

His scowl ran deeper as he noticed that the girl not only disorganized his stuff, but also managed to get every single one of them splattered with at least two drops of ink. The mess was everywhere, and she did not even bother to help him out. She just ran away with a squeak and a blush.

What's wrong with all these girls? He thought once again. The only normal ones he had been acquainted with were Kuchiki Rukia and Arisawa Tatsuki. Rukia was more of a little monster while Tatsuki was more mature and was quite civil. All the other girls seemed to have this unusual and undesired focus towards him. He wasn't that dense and concentrated on studying to not know that many girls had a crush on him, but he just found the notion silly. He had far more important things to worry about, such as his promise to his late parents to follow in their footsteps to become great shinigami.

Kurosaki Isshin and Kurosaki Masaki both perished years ago during the Great War. Both were captain-class shinigamis and were revered by many. Ichigo, their only child, was left alone. He was then brought up and raised by Urahara Kisuke, who became his mentor before he entered in the Seiretei Academy.

He hastily finished fixing up the scrolls and books. Now he had to rewrite the paper he already finished and had to pay a penalty fee to the keeper of the archives. Ise Nanako was not a woman to be messed with.

Four holy scrolls and three books splattered with ink, he thought with a groan. He needed to find that young woman so that she could pay him back for the damages.

All he could remember was the girl's long auburn hair and gray eyes. Now that he tried to recall, he briefly chastised himself for even wondering who she was. Out of the a thousand students that went to school here, how could he possibly find that person?

"What did you do this time, Orihime?" Tatsuki said, rolling her eyes in concern.

Orihime's face was blotched with black, disguising the crimson blush that painted her face. But the way her neck colored was evidence enough that she was in a state of embarrassment.

"What happened to your face?" Rukia asked as she entered their quarters. Each room in the Seiretei Academy Girls' Dormitory housed three residents. Each floor had their 'Supervisor' and the entire dorm had a 'Dorm President.' There was also the matron, a middle-aged sour-looking woman who was an unseated officer of the Gotei 13.

Orihime was lucky enough to be housed in the same room as Rukia and Tatsuki for every year of her stay in the school. If that could even be counted as luck. They all knew that Rukia's brother, Kuchiki Byakuya pulled some strings for his younger sister to be with the company of people she trusted the most, and not just with anyone else.

"I – I… ink… spilled," Orihime sputtered, still covering her face with her hands. "Bumped… into, Ku-ku-ku - !"

"Spit it out!" Rukia demanded.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said loudly with great effort.

"Ohh," Rukia and Tatsuki said in unison. They both know their friend's dilemma. She had been starry-eyed towards Ichigo from the very first time she saw him. It was silly, how much feelings Orihime had for Ichigo, and they did not even know each other properly! Rukia had tried, and failed, so many times in setting up the two. Tatsuki was against the matchmaking, but continuously supported Orihime and offered her sensible advice.

"You truly are hopeless," Rukia said, smirking wide. "If you continue to be this shy and clumsy around anyone you won't get a decent man for yourself."

"Why are we even talking about getting decent men, Rukia?" Tatsuki said, sighing. "We're here to study, not to frolic."

"Lighten up a bit, okay, Tatsuki?" Rukia said, patting the spiky-haired girl on the shoulders. "You're already assured a spot in the Gotei 13, so why worry?"

"I am not worried for myself, I'm worried about Orihime," Tatsuki retorted pointedly.

"M-me?" Orihime stammered, finally removing her hands from her face.

"Yes you," Tatsuki said. "Get your head out of the clouds and focus on what you're doing. You're still not sure if you can get in the 4th division. Shun Shun Rikka hasn't developed at all. You must get going if you don't want to be left behind. Stop this Kurosaki nonsense for once."

Orihime knew that her friend was right, but she could not help the tears flowing down her cheeks.

"See, Tatsuki?" Rukia said, going over to Orihime and hugging her. "You can be so harsh to Orihime. Give her a break."

"I'm just telling her the truth," Tatsuki said gently. "Sorry Hime, but you have to protect yourself more."

Orihime nodded and muttered an apology. This was no time to be worried about Kurosaki Ichigo. He had his entire future already mapped out for him. She, on the other hand, had no visions for tomorrow. She was a bit too idealistic for her own good, so usually her plans were out of reach. Out of reality.

"What happened to you dude?" Renji asked, noticing that Ichigo's permanent scowl was even deeper than usual.

"I had to spend 13,000 Soul Pieces to pay for the damages on the things I borrowed from the archives," the orange head grumbled, letting his body fall face first to his futon.

"Ow, that must've hurt," Renji said to himself as he heard the thud from the futon. "Why was it damaged? There wasn't a speck of dust on it when you left."

"That's exactly it," Ichigo's muffled voice came from the futon. "It was in perfect condition. Not until this girl bumped into me and sent my ink bottle flying towards my things. It was a complete mess. I even had to rewrite my papers for Rokuo-sensei."

Renji shook his head in feigned regret. "Another failed encounter with the female species eh? Why are you so unluckily lucky with women, Ichigo? You have a lot of women tailing you but you don't seem to notice. Tell me, are you gay?"

Before the redhead could even sense anything, a couple of strands of his hair fell out of its place. Ichigo's katana lay a mere inch away from his left eye.

"Woah, calm down dude," Renji said, chuckling. "Was just teasing."

"Wrong time to tease, Abarai," Ichigo growled. "Unless you propose to give me 13,000 then keep your thoughts to yourself."

"When have you been so tight on money? We all know that your parents left you with enough to spend until your next lifetime."

"Well, Kisuke has been tight with money recently. He said I should invest wisely or something," Ichigo explained, rubbing his eyes unconsciously. He almost forgot that he did not get a wink of sleep the previous night. He had been busy, and Renji's snoring kept him awake. Uryuu had also been awake, and kept on clucking his tongue that nearly made him go mad with annoyance.

"Then you should go and hunt this clumsy damsel of yours and get some money out of her," Renji suggested, lounging on the chair. "It's her fault anyway."

"I intend to find her, but as you see Renji there are a thousand students in this academy. Where the hell am I gonna find a girl with long auburn hair and gray eyes," Ichigo complained.

Renji's suggestive expression turned mischievous and pleased. "Well, you don't have to look far. I'm sure that girl is from our class."

Ichigo stared at Renji warily. "No tricks, Renji. Do you know this girl?"

"Of course!" Renji replied in exasperation. "In your absorption with your work, you don't notice the people around you! Tsk. Get a life, Ichigo."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at Renji's laid back comments. "Who?" he insisted.

"The Unlucky Princess," Renji said, his smirk growing wider. "Inoue Orihime."

Hehehe, I know that's pretty short, but that's all I have to put in the first chapter of the Academy arc. ;) Just kidding about the arc thing. The whole academy scenario would only be two chapters long, then on to their formal shinigami lives! =)

I hope y'all liked it. Please leave a review. (You must all be sick of seeing my name pop out from everywhere in this fan fiction community. I'm sorry, but as I was about to write the 6th chapter for The Front Act, this idea 'vomited' itself out of my brain. My brain is finally out of the gutter, you see, that's why it's been spouting ideas here and there. And I can't resist the urge to write whenever a new idea forms. I have to write it before I lose it.)

So there. Enough rambling Annie.