“Damnit!”

Ichigo had yet again messed up on something important......a poem for a special someone that he couldn't stop thinking about. Sighing he crumpled the mess up and tossed it behind his back towards his already overflowing trash bin. Little did he know that the crumpled paper hit a certain dwarf shinigami squarely between the eyes.

“Hey! Watch it or I'll.....” Rukia had fallen silent when she saw the title of the page peeking out from the between the crumpled areas. She leaned over and picked up the paper to get a closer look and see if she had read it right. Sure enough it read “I Bleed For You”.

“Watch it or you'll what?” Ichigo snapped as he turned around to look at the dwarf. His cheeks started to blush as he saw Rukia reading his most private writing. “Hey! That's private!” he yelled as he stormed over to her and snatched to poem out of her hands.

“I-Ichigo....that was...”

“Crap? I know...”

“No! It was beautiful!”

“...Really?”

“Yes -sniffle- it was.”

Ichigo looked down at Rukia's face and saw that she was about to cry. “I didn't expect this reaction...” he said while he was rubbing his temples. “I don't want her to cry and think it's sad.” As soon as those word escaped his mouth he blushed deeper and turned away from Rukia so that she wouldn't see.

“Who?”

“Orihime...”

Little did Ichigo know that Orihime was passing under his open window at that exact moment and was startled to hear him call her by her first name.

“Yes Kurosaki-kun?” she called up to his window/

“HUH?!?” he said looking out the window. “Oh...hey Inoue.”

“I heard you say my name so I thought I'd answer.” she was blushing slightly.

“Oh well thats because... uhh...” he was fumbling to find an answer when Rukia popped her head out of his window and gave a solid explanation.

“It's because he sensed your spiritual pressure near by...”

“Yeah...that” he sweatdropped and rubbed the back of his neck.

Then an unexpected gush of wind whipped through his room and his now slightly smoothed out poem was carried out of the window and landed at Orihime's feet. Much to Ichigo's horror she bent over and picked it up and started to read his private feelings towards her.

“Fuuuuu......” Ichigo's blush was so deep that it was radiating a heat wave, but he wasn't the only one. Orihime was reading the poem with her mouth slightly open and if Ichigo was standing beside her he would have heard her breathing falter slightly.

Ichigo's mind went blank and his body seemed to move on it's ownas he ran from the room and into the bathroom slaming the door closed and locking it.

“How the hell did that happen?!?!?” For the first time in his life Ichigo was a nervous and embarrassed wreck. “What should I do? I mean I realized that I loved Orihime after rescuing her from Hueco Mundo, but didn't want her to know from just reading that poem...”

In truth Ichigo's poem was going to be one of her birthday gifts he was going to give her... the other was going to be a kiss. Little did he know that Rukia was listening in on him through the door...

“Why don't you just tell her how you feel?” she asked through the door.

“GYAHHHH!!! DID I JUST SAY ALL OF THAT OUT LOUD?!?!?!” he was now panicking at full tilt.

“Yupp you sure did”

“Uhh....heh heh.... where did Orihime go?” Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck.

-DING DONG-

“Kurosaki-kun???” Orihime was at the front door.

~Nevermind~ thought Ichigo. He opened the bathroom door and practically ran downstairs. He composed himself except for a slight blush that had overtaken his cheeks. He slowly opened the door to see a tear stricken Orihime.

“Inoue are you ok?” Ichigo asked full of concern.

“Y-yes Kurosaki-kun” she half smiled and sniffled. In truth she was torn apart on the inside because she thought that it was for another girl. No matter how much she wanted to she couldn't tell him directly that she loved him with all of her heart, and now she was breaking down.

Ichigo just stood in the doorway for a moment before asking her if she would like to come inside. She nodded and he stood to one side and she walked into his living room.

“Are you sure you are ok Inoue?”

“Yes Kurosaki-kun” she said quietly. She couldn't just explode all of her feelings onto him.

“You do know that you don't have to call me that right? You can just call me Ichigo”

“Ok Kuro... I mean Ichigo” she said with a slight blush. “but only if you call me Orihime.”

“Deal.”

When she looked up at him he was smiling...but it wasn't one of his fake smiles. It was one of his rare genuine smiles that she hadn't seen since they were little.

~ He's acting different towards me now...I wonder why~ thought Orihime. She was starting to think that it had to do with the poem but she wasn't sure. ~Oh I know!!! I'll just ask him.~

“Ichigo?” she asked quietly

“Yeah Orihime?”

“Who was this poem for?” she knew if it was for another girl she would be heart would be broken completely, but she had hope still just in case...

~Oh s*** she dropped the bomb on me already!~ thought Ichigo.

“Well you see...” he began nervously “ It as supposed to be one of your birthday gifts.” he was rubbing the back of his neck now to fight his nervousness.

~I hope she likes it~ thought Orihime sadly. ~Wait........did he just say it was supposed to be one of MY birthday gifts?!?!~ She now was starting to cry happily.

“Orihime! Whats wrong?!” asked Ichigo ~Oh great now I've made her cry because it sucked~

“Nothing...im just so happy” she said with a smile and tears running down her cheeks.

“Happy? So you did like it then?” he asked uncertainly.

“No....”

“Oh...” his face fell.

“I loved it.”

~She loved it? But how? It's not even finished yet!!~ Ichigo thought quickly.

“But it's not even finished yet!”

“I don't care... you made it for me and that's all that matters.” she said with a smile.

“Ok then”

They stood there for a minute looking into each others eyes before Ichigo moved forward and hugged her close and she melted into his chest.

“You do know that your poem was only one part of your gift right?” he asked with a smile.

“What do you mean Ichigo?”
“I mean that this goes with it..”

“No you dont have t.....”

When Orihime started to protest he pressed his lips to hers and was immediately shocked to find her trying to find an entrance with her tongue...to which he colmplied and did the same.

After several minutes of passionate kissing they broke apart to catch their breath. Orihime looked into his chocolate brown eyes and he looked into to her grey eyes and they both said the same exact three words at the same time.

“I love you.”

Little did they know that they were being spied on by Rukia.

~Well its about damn time~