Maths had never been Orihime's favourite subject... that is to say, instead of listening to the teacher, she was actually daydreaming while staring at a certain orange-haired boy.

     It was quite convenient that she had her long hair back now, because this meant she could subtly take sneak peeks while hiding behind the thick curtain her hair created.

     See, Ichigo was a lot more interesting than maths. For one thing, he happened to be wearing only the white short-sleeved shirt of the school uniform with no jacket, as it was hot outside. This very considerate clothing choice meant that from Orihime's angle, she could see his broad shoulders and back muscles contract whenever he switched position. Sometimes he'd be sitting straight, so she could see every detail of those serious muscles, sometimes he'd be slouching a bit, and sometimes he'd be lying straight down on the desk. Maybe Ichigo wasn't a big fan of Maths, either.

     Whatever... the point was, she had the best seats in the house. And as she focused on every single little detail of him, a blush crept to her cheeks as she realised...

She had slept in the same bed as that boy.

     Her face got steadily redder and redder as she remembered feeling his muscular arms holding her to him, feeling as though she was definitely a very important part of his life. He had hugged her hard to his chest the entire night...

She had never felt so loved or protected before.

     Finally, she had found someone who understood her entire situation. Someone she could relate with. Someone who could protect her. Now there was one question left to be answered.

Did he feel the same way?

The bell rang, and all the students got up to go home. Orihime's daydreaming meant she hadn't packed away any of her work, so in a hurry she jumped to fit everything into her already untidy bag, resulting in her making it especially messy. She noticed Ichigo's spiritual pressure pass her, and his scent tickled her nose.

She loved that scent.

     She remembered how when she had slept next to him, she could smell him so easily... he smelt really really good, too. His spiritual pressure had a very attractive, bold smell, but his skin, his body, his clothing, his bed, his room... they smelt even better to her.

It was a clean smell for one thing. That was always attractive... Orihime had to admit, the normal male scent wasn't always the best... body odour and sweat didn't really cut it for her. But Ichigo smelt really good.

     There was that one time he had protected her from a Hollow, and he had thrown out his arm protectively in front of her, and he had been sweating; understandably, as that was more than just normal exercise. But she had remembered his scent being strong enough to make her forget what a dangerous position they were in. She could smell his exertion and effort, and it didn't repel her at all.

It drew her in closer.

She wanted to a be a part of that desperation, that need to protect all he cared about. In fact, she wanted to protect him too.

It was then that she made a little promise inside her head, directly at the little fairies that governed her hair slides, that she would use them for mainly Ichigo's protection, and that she would not let any harm come to him. They all agreed, minus Tsubaki, who was sceptical at the best of times. But she felt them all come together with her as a team, her little power that many underestimated, ready to take on the world if it got in the way of the man she was so deeply in love with. She was going to support him through everything and anything.

...

"Are you okay?"

She looked up, realising that she was the only one left in the class by this point, standing by her desk. Ichigo was by the door, looking back at her. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Ichigo? Oh! Yes, I'm fine!", she stuttered, slinging her bag over her shoulder, and heading for the door. He didn't start walking again, and her cheeks heated up as she realised that in order to overtake him, she'd have to get real close.

"Orihime? I wanted to ask you something...", Ichigo said just as she got to where he was standing.

"Hm?", she squeaked, trying not to show how embarrassed she was. Could this be it? What could he want to ask?

'Do you have feelings for me? 'Cos I kinda do for you.'

'Your hair is so long and pretty. Can I touch it?'

'Can you teach me to cook bean paste cakes as well as you?'

Maybe she was going a bit far.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I was wondering if you could help me with the homework we got? See, I've always been okay at Maths, but lately there's been a lot of Hollow patrols I've been making and I've kinda fallen behind..."

"Uh... I'm not the best at Maths... how come you didn't ask Uryu?"
Was she seriously passing up a potential visit to Ichigo's house?? What was she doing?!

"I don't want him to think he's better than me at something", Ichigo shook his head in determination.

"Well uh... sure! I'd love to be of help!", she said quickly, desperate not to make the same mistake.

They walked out of class together, heading for the exit of the school. Could this maybe mean he was going to walk her to his house?

"You haven't told anyone, have you?", Ichigo asked as they walked down the hallway.

"About when we slept together?", she replied, her cheeks reddening.

"You did... what?", came a very familiar voice. They both turned to see Rukia, sitting on the windowsill behind them.

...

Uh oh.