She was standing right there, Ichigo thought in a daze, Sakura was standing directly in front of his being and it was taking every ounce of Ichigo's self control not to rush forward and scoop her up in his arms, take her somewhere the two of them could be alone and make her feel so good that the only thing that she would remember will be his name.

Shiro egging him on, wasnt helping.

"Yo, carrot top." Naruto called, raising a hand in greeting, a bright smile on his face.
"Its been a while since the last time I saw you."

"Likewise, you annoying blonde." Ichigo snickered, reaching a hand out to clasp Naruto's.
"Its only fair if you give me a ridiculous nickname."

"Touche."

"I see your habit of giving people ridiculous nicknames havent changed." Sakura said with a raised eyebrow, she was wearing a soft grey cotton pants with a baby pink sweater on and sandals on her feet.

Her very cute feet.

Sakura wanted to reach over and touch him, run her fingers through that wild orange mane, over his chest, feel the muscles she always dreams about directly underneath her palm. That would totally beat the fantasy, to have the real thing,

"My habit?." The object of her thoughts asked, snapping her back into reality, his eyes were glued to her when Sakura looked up, his gaze never leaving hers even as he spoke.
"May I remind you that he's the one who started it."

"What is this? The blame game?." Naruto piped up.
"Sakura-Chan that's playing favorites."

"Like hell I am." Said girl protested.
"Have you forgotten that I wanted to punch this guy the first time we met?."

"You would have shattered his bones if you had." Uryuu said appearing behind Ichigo, sunlight glinting off his glasses, making him look wicked for a brief second.
"That would have been nice."

"Shut up Uryuu." Ichigo growled, his eyes immediately settled back onto Sakura, nodding his head to the building behind him.
"Come on, we were actually just about to grab lunch." He held his hand out for Sakura, watching as she slid her small palm into his much bigger one, fingers clutching on tightly.

God, she was just cute.

"That sounds good." Naruto laughed  offering his elbow to the petite woman standing besides Renji.
"Join me?."

Smooth Naru, really smooth. Sakura thought, watching as Rukia's cheeks bloomed a lovely shade of red, she didnt hesitate to  wrap her arm around Naruto's elbow though, so that's an A+ in Sakura's book.

A squeeze to her palm had her head snapping in that direction immediately, Ichigo was looking straight ahead as he walked but Sakura cpuld somehow feel eyes on her.
"How about we hook those two up?."

"Its that obvious?." She asked with a grin.
"I mean, Naruto makes no move to hide."

Ichigo used the grip on her hand to pull her closer to him.
"Rukia thinks she's hiding it, but I can see it clear as day." He then leaned, lips touching her ear, making Sakura's heart skip multiple beats at once.
"Its also obvious that you seem more pretty than the last time I saw you." He raised back up, nose brushing against her warm ear.
"Ah, that reminds me, Why wasnt I aware that you and Rukia were talking to each other all this time?."

"....Its a secret?." She phrased it more like a question than the answer Ichigo wanted. He gave her a side eyed look, clearly showing her than he wasnt buying the nonsese she was selling.
"Ugh fine, I told her not to tell you."

"Now that's more like it." He said triumphantly.
"Though I should have figured, the midget keeps secrets from me all the time."

"I heard that, baaka!." Rukia yelled from where she was in front, twisting her head back to shoot Ichigo a glare.
"And stop calling me Midget!."

"You were supposed to." He called back nonchalantly.
"I spoke loud enough just for you to hear."

Rukia bared her teeth at him with a hiss, her head snapping back to the front, Naruto giving them a wink as Rukia started to drag them away, it looked really cute, seeing how Naruto was twice her size.

That's another thing, her blonde brother has grown taller and has gotten more handsome the last time Rukia saw him, so Sakura is sure her heart must be beating away in her chest, her ears blooming red every few seconds told Sakura that much.

"You guys are like cats and dogs." She said, amusement clear in her voice, remembering how she used to be like that with Sai and Naruto.
"You better sleep with one eye open."

Ichigo merely scoffed.

"Seems so different from when we were back in the academy." Sakura mused leaning against Naruto as they were having lunch, Ichigo was shooting her heated looks from where he sat next to Renji, case one why she didnt sit down next to him.

Sakura didnt trust him to keep his hands to himself.

But... it was a relief, a strange feeling knowing that the person she likes shares the same feelings as her. That it wasnt a mere one sided love anymore. Sakura knew she went through that more than enough.
Sasuke... was her first love, and she had let go of all those feelings before he had returned to the village, bringing with him a brand new team and a fiancee. Good for him, she says.

"We we like 12." Naruto huffed, shaking his shoulder to juggle her head on it.
"These kids are way older than we were. Besides, our school was the Nonja Academy, I dont think anyone here even knows how Chakra works."

"True."

" You guys have some interesting ways of fighting." Renji smiled.
"What's with the brute strength, can you control it?."

"You mean if I mistakenly break someone's bones when I touch them?." Sakura laughed.
"Yeah, I can control it, I am a doctor after all, I have to deal with patients on a regular basis."

"I didnt know that you were a doctor, you look so young." Uryuu asked, amazed.

Sakura beamed at him, pleased.
"Thank you, I have been training with my mom since I was 13."

"Tsunade?." Ichigo guessed, watching as she nodded her head in conformation.
"Have no doubt about that."

"You do not want to feel her fists." Naruto shuddered.
"Our mom has a killer left hook, just don't piss her off and you'll be fine."

"Tell that to all the office desk she has destroyed over the years." Sai's dry tone interrupted.
"What did they do to piss her off?."

"Well, you know when she opens her secret draw and it doesn't have- "

"Kurosaki-Kun!."

Sakura watched as Rukia and Uryuu immediately tensed at the sound, Ichigo had a complicated expression on his face, like the voice calling out his name physically pained him.

"Oh.." An Auburn haired girl came to a stop at their table, she was pretty, Sakura admits, pretty and looks a bit naive.
"I didn't know you had company. "

Uryuu cleared his throat, pushing the glasses up on his nose.
"These are my friends I was speaking about earlier." He gestured to said people.
"We were having lunch before we showed them around town.,"

Sakura and Naruto shared a look with Sai,  having already caught on to what Uryuu was doing, but why would they lie about this? Didnt this girl know about the soul society already? Otherwise she wouldnt be so.... unless...

Sakura glanced at Ichigo, who had his palms covering his eyes and nose, but from where Sakura was sitting she could see the grimace on his lips.

Unless this girl liked Ichigo.

He didnt like her more than a friend, Sakura could tell, but he was aware of her feelings and didnt have one clue what to do about it.

"Oh... I'm Inoue Orihime. Nice to meet you." She even bowed a little which was a bit overkill.

"Uzumaki Naruto, this is my sister Sakura and my brother Sai." He smiled.
"Nice to meet you as well, Inoue-San."

Naruto didnt miss the way her eyes seemed to linger on Sakura before she nodded her head at him, it seemed like this girl was trying to assess if Sakura was a threat or not.

A little too late for that assessment.

"Let's go." Ichigo said, standing up abruptly, he grabbed his bag without another word and walked off.

Rukia and Renji were soon to follow, both waving a palm to Orihime, who looked a bit stunned at Ichigo's actions. Sakura hurriedly grabbed Sai's arm as they walked behind Ichigo, what a temper that man had.

"Go." Sai said nudging her in the direction the orange head was stomping towards.
"Cool him off."

"What!?" Was her brother nuts.
"You're sending me on a suicide mission."

"Dont be so dramatic." Naruto huffed.
"Smack him on the head so he could get back on his senses."

"I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can calm him down right now." Uryuu added.

"Yeah, we go near him now and we get our heads bitten off." Renji said, wiping his eyes in a dramatic fashion.

"You guys are a bunch of traitors."
She scowled.
"I shall remember this when I get my revenge later."

"Sounds scary.." Was the dull statement from Sai, making Sakura laugh as she head in Ichigo's direction.

Okay, so another person likes Kurosaki Ichigo, strangely the fact doesnt bother her as much as she thought it would, maybe because she knew that he wanted her as well? That they had each other in mind.

He looked like the type to analyze what he was about to do before going for it. That was kind of attractive to be honest. Besides that, he was kind, even in his gruff, grumpy manner, he was kind and cared very much for his friends and his family no matter how much they get a kick out of teasing him.

Sakura poked her head around the corner of the building she saw Ichigo go. Blinking at the sight of him leaning his head against the wall, one hand ruffling his hair and he seemed to be...talking to someone?.

"Ichigo?."

His head whipped towards her in an instant and Sakura had to take a minute to register what she was seeing..

Half his face was covered in a white mask two red stripes running down the sides, and one of his eye was golden.

Ichigo wanted to punch something, anything really, Rukia and Uryuu had talked to him about this, they had sat hom down and given him the entire god forsaken explanation, then told him he was an imbecile for not noticing.

How the fuck was he to know that Inoue liked him? Did he have to develop a specific skill to read her mind to know she liked him?. Ridiculous, first of all he saw her as a friend, only a friend, Ichigo cant force himself to have romantic feelings for someone who he had no romantic interest in.

"Considering that you dont pay attention to those things, I'm not surprised. " Zangetsu deadpanned, manifesting on his left side cheek
"The only woman we have an interest in is that little minx back there with the pink hair"

"Tell that to Inoue, what does she expect me to do? Magically like her back?." He growled.
"The one we want is Sakura, not Inoue."

"What are we going to do about her then?. The last time I showed up, she freaked out... wait that's not a bad idea.," Ichigo rolled his eyes at his Zanpakuto's ridiculous imagination.

"No scaring anyone, that's not a-."

"Ichigo?."

Hearing that voice, he really didnt think as his head automatically turned to the sound of her voice, attracted to it like a moth to a lamp.
He realized a second later that Shiro was till on display and from the way Sakura's eyes widen, she was seeing everything.

Internally panicking, because fucking hell, he didnt wanted er to find out like this, Ichigo opened his mouth to at least explained, but found himself stunned into  silence as she hurried towards him, small fingers reaching up to touch Zangetsu, eyeing him with a fascinated gleam.

"...So cool. Is this part of your powers?."

She...wasnt afraid?.. she wasnt turning tail and running, Sakura was  twisting his head left to right in awe. His hand reached up to grab her wrist, well Shiro did, Ichigo was going with the flow.

"Woman, I am a part of him." Zangetsu cackled, he was trying to scare her, Ichigo realized.
"Arent you afraid?. We are not what you expected."

To both their surprises, Sakura ripped her hand away from his hold, snatching his face in both her palms to pull him down to her level.
"You gotta try better than that to scare me buddy." She grinned, thumb swiping under both his mismatched eyes.
"Name?."

Ichigo and Zangetsu both stared at her in a bit of surprise, raging arousal and the strong urge to kiss the living daylights out of this woman.

"Zangetsu, King's Zanpakuto.". He  breathed out.
"How?."

Sakura scoffed, tugging his face closer, They went willingly, like a puppet on a string, she was also giving them a clear view of her collarbones where the sweater was slipping down one shoulder.

The urge to bite was also strong.

"Should I be?." She asked in a raspy voice, head tilting one side, basically pushing Ichigo's buttons without saying anything.
"I have seen enough out of this world things, it doesn't faze me anymore. I'll have you know, there was a time I went to another dimension."
She trailed a finger along his jawline, smiling in triumph when his arm latched around her waist in a vice grip.
"Besides, Naruto has a nine tailed fox sealed inside of him, and believe me, Kurama was a handful when I first talked to him, who knew a fox so much sass. Another thing. " She leaned forward, lips brushing against his cheek.
"Your little scare tactic wont work onme, your gonna have to try really hard if you want to get rid of me...Zangetsu.."

That seemed to be the breaking point of their patience, Zangetsu faded away with a wicked cackle as Ichigo snaked a hand into that long, luscious pink hair, tugged her head back and slammed his lips on hers.

Fucking Finally.