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Her senses picked up immediately as her eyes opened that she wasn't at home. Her body tensed, removing the comforter, she sat up against the headboard of the bed, letting her eyes travel over the room. Seeing a familiar family picture, she took a breath of relief. Her shoulders sagged a little as Orihime recollected the events of the day before to where she had landed herself now. Tears started to form in her eyes, she dreaded to even unlock her phone and check the news.

What should I do? I've probably ruined Kurosaki-san's career.

As her mind disparaged her in a negative path, her tears of frustration, grief and shame marred her face. She bit her lip to choke a sob, pulled her knees to her chest and silently let go.

I'm truly pitiful. Stop crying. Stop crying…stop.

The bedroom door creaked open, she was feeling embarrassed to be caught like this by Kurosaki-san, she wiped her tears tracks hurriedly with her palms.

"I'm so...sorry…Kurosaki-san… I'm so…"

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Ichigo did not expect to find his manager bawling her eyes out. He carefully approached her.

"Hey, Inoue, it's all right. I need you to take deep breaths, okay?"

She sniffed, nodding her head.

"I'm going to get you water and get the tea started. There's a bathroom beside the cupboard there, you can freshen up if you want and meet me in the kitchen in a few minutes."

"Okay" she finally looked up at him, eyes still glassy. "Thank you, Kurosaki-san."

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From an early age, Ichigo was taught how to handle crying girls or women. Courtesy of his mother. He had to deal with his sensitive sister who'd cry whenever he'd go back home. Fan signs and fan meetings – bumping into a fan on the street, airport, outside his agency. It became almost habitual to see women around him cry. Inoue, though, she has always been so professional to the boot around him, it took him by surprise to see her cry.

Shaking his head, he put on a pot of water to boil for the tea. From the corner of his eyes, he saw her meekly sitting on the chair, fidgeting.

On the table, she saw Ichigo's laptop, his car keys, wallet and her bag. Taking out her mobile from the bag, she winced a little discovering the missed calls and voice mails left. Her notifications were still blowing up. She tapped on her messages option to text Tatsuki about her whereabouts. Tatsuki had left her 43 messages. She didn't even dare to look how many messages Grimmjow must have left. He was the most excited one about the Aizen deal, after all.

Oh phooey! Tatsuki-chan must have been really worried.

Scrolling down, she saw all the screenshots of articles Tatsuki had sent her.

"ICHIGO KUROSAKI relationship status: TAKEN?"

"Who is the mystery lady beneath the jacket?"

"SCANDAL! SCANDAL! SCANDAL! Finally, the ever-so-clean Kurosaki…" the headlines blurred as tears clouded her eyes. Her lips, trembling she felt a new wave of guilt wash over her.

Kurosaki-san is going to hate me… he'll be grilled by the press in the coming days because of me. My clumsiness has landed us here… oh no! the sponsorships, advertisements, all the money we could lose… I should really take Aizen's offer and try to salvage th…

Her heartbeats quickened when she felt the pad of his thumbs wiping her tears off her cheek. Her skin flushed beneath his touch. She let her eyes seek his blazing ones.

"It's not your fault." he stated. "don't even - for a second - think I'm blaming you."

"Kurosaki-san…"

"We'll figure this out, okay?"

"no… you don't understand…"

"I understand enough to give this scandal a few days and go under."

"That's not it, Kurosaki-san… I-I…" her lips trembled more, she shook her head, face down, defeated.

"I have to accept the Aizen deal…" her voice was low when she said but Ichigo heard every word. His jaw clenched, brows drawn into a scowl. "No." he said, gritting through his teeth.

He crouched down on his knees, in front of her chair. Lifting up Orihime's chin, he looked at her squarely and argued "You will do no such thing before we go and talk to Urahara."

She nodded, her cheeks hot beneath his fingers.

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The building was heavily guarded from the outside. They could see the camera crew with reporters waiting outside the main entrance, a bunch of their fans peacefully settling near the gates with supportive posters.

When the twosome entered Kisuke's office, Urahara's mouth was drawn into a scowl, his bucket hat covering his eyes – attentively listening to the blonde in front of him. Clearing his throat, Ichigo interrupted, "Urahara-san…"

Kisuke's lip twitched. 'Urahara-san?!' Adjusting his hat to look at him, he signaled them to sit down. "Morning, you two. Eventful night, huh?" He could practically feel the temperature of the room drop down at the glare Ichigo sent his way. Beside him, Orihime was trembling.

He sighed. Introductions had to be made after all. "Orihime-chan, Ichigo." He motioned his hand to the beautiful blonde across him. "This is Matsumoto Rangiku. Scandal Specialist. She is here for of course the damage control. I've given the day off to everyone. Not even the band will disturb us for a few days. We'll go over the strategies to tackle this and give an official statement to the press in a few hours."

Orihime politely greeted in a half bow, fidgeting in her place. "I am really sorry, Urahara-sama… I'm always causing trouble for you. I should have been more meticulous like you'd warned me to be… all of this is my fault. Sorry for the trouble Matsumoto-san."

Ichigo's eyebrow raised questioningly. 'always causing trouble? Should have been careful…?' As curious as he was to understand what his Manager was on about. He knew it wasn't his place to interfere.

Kisuke grinned cheekily at Orihime. "Ara, ara~! Our cute mascot of the company isn't allowed to make sad faces! It's not your mistake, Orihime-chan. Don't worry." Turning to Rangiku, he shook his head, "Told you, didn't I? This one here will be drowning in guilt."

Rangiku laughed airily. "Right. Not to worry, you've got Industry's best at your service Inoue-chan! Let's get to work." She began typing in her tablet and said. "Right now, Ichigo Kurosaki is trending at number 1 on all news sites, Asia-wide." Her lips twisted in a smile, eyes glinting. "There's two ways we can go from here. One, we can keep it silent for few days – it builds the mystery around the scandal. Meanwhile, a lot of brands and productions will be reaching out to make a deal soon and cash in on the popularity. This is a win-win situation but a sly move. Nothing new in the industry of course. Entire Nation witnessed the Bambietta Basterbine scandal after all. It's rumoured she made millions before leaving the country."

Her eyes danced across the room to gauge the reactions before continuing. "Second way, is of course to clear your name with the truth. The girl beneath the coat was Manager of the band who'd fainted. But it puts Inoue-chan in the spotlight. She'll be scrutinised by the media. Followed by the paparazzi and after the air clears, her relation with Kurosaki-san will be observed closely. It's one thing to work for celebrities but being linked has consequences that's quite overwhelming for a normal working woman."

Orihime had been stunned to silence. Her eyes huge. Of course, the second way was the right way to go…morally… but to be in public eye or even be recognised outside of whom she was usually subjected to? That itself seemed scary. Matsumoto-san was right, it was one thing to watch from the side lines. To protect the band, be insignificant to the public. But after admitting to the truth, her name would be out there, on the world wide web. She wouldn't be just a Manager… she'd be Inoue Orihime.

Oh boy, she needed a drink.

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a/n. happy new year, guise!

This chapter turned out to be..hm.. unexpected. not quite what i had in my head.

just one more part left of talk-to-me series(?). - it might not be as long as some of you want it. but it seemed a perfect way to end this chapter. :p

thank you for the lovely reviews and messages. \(^3^)/

and as always Thank you for reading! :)