Welcome Back (Ichigo Kurosaki X Orihime Inoue)Au

✿Reunion...✿

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Orihime gracefully shuffled around her bakery, making sure the cakes and pastries were properly arranged in the showcases. She was dressed in a floral print yellow skirt and a dark purple short sleeved blouse that revealed a bit of her collarbones . Her turquoise hair pins glimmered as the rays of the sun touched them through the windows. She lovingly caressed her strawberry printed apron and sighed. She remembered that she would have a lunch date with Rukia later in this very bakery. Her dark haired friend said she had something to tell her and she loved cakes so much that she couldn't think of any other place to meet up.

Orihime's burnt orange hair had been styled in a low ponytail. It became so long over the years that it reached below her waist. She'd kept it so long because a particular orange haired man said he'd liked her hair once. She missed him. Tatsuki and Riruka had begged her countless times to got out and see other men but she just couldn't. Each time she went on a date, her mind wondered,

Was Ichigo eating?.....

Is he resting well?.....

Is he okay?.....

I hope he's happy......

She just couldn't help it. And the worst part was that each of her dates kept glancing at her chest instead of listening to a word she said. Some of them thought her active imagination was too wild and most just wanted to take her to bed. It was infuriating and at the same time depressing. Sure she had a nice body and very generously sized breasts that matches her wide hips but still... It was frustrating when men drooled over her like she was a piece of meat.

Ichigo had been there to protect her from harassers and drunks but he'd never so much as looked at her with eyes brimming with desire. Sometimes she thought that he saw her as his sister or something. Those thoughts were the worst. There was even a time she'd thought he liked Rukia back in highschool just because they bickered endlessly like cat and mouse. The one person she wanted to look at her and she meant "look" at her had always been cordial and polite. Never in any way giving away anything.

She used a wet rag to clean the counter where the cash register rested and thought,

I've been handling the bakery alone for a while.... Do I need an extra pair of hands?....

Maybe.....

I'll start posting fliers before the weekend....

Her thoughts were interrupted by the dinging of the door bell.

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"Inoue's Treats!.... What can I ge---" she froze once she met the familiar brown eyes of her visitor. She thought she was dreaming. Maybe she'd thought about Ichigo so much that her mind projected an afterimage of him. Maybe aliens were trying to mess with her or she was getting high because of the excessive sugar she'd taken once.

"Hey....'Hime...." Ichigo smiled warmly at her. The constant scowl between his eyebrows were nowhere to be found and he seemed brighter in her presence. She couldn't believe he was here.

Ichigo ....

"Is.... Is that really you?.... Ichigo?" She gazed into his brown eyes with her big lighter brown ones. He looked.... Different but in a good way. His spikey orange hair had grown a little longer around the sides and the back. His fringes had grown too. He seemed roughish yet peaceful at the same time. He had changed into a white t-shirt under a black unbuttoned shirt and his signature ripped jeans and high topped boots. She noticed he had gotten a few piercings on his ears. Infact he looked hot.

He'd grown out of the scowling teenager she'd known during her highschool days to a man. A very tall, well built man who was currently smiling at her like she was the most important thing in her bakery full of all sorts of treats.

"Yeah...S'me alright....Been a while hasn't it?...." He scratched the back of his neck and shoved his other hand into the pocket of his jeans. He wanted so much to touch her and hold her hand but he wasn't sure if she would feel uncomfortable. Fortunately, she answered that question for him and rushed into his arms to give him a warm and tight hug. He stiffened due to his surprise but immediately relaxed when he perceived her scent. Strawberries. That was so Orihime , he thought. His hands held unto her back while he fought the urge to hold her by her waist.

He'd missed this. He missed her warmth. The way her eyes sparkled whenever she saw something that interested her. She had a heart of gold and she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid his eyes on.

"Ah?..... You guys are hitting it off while I'm not here?....." They immediately pulled apart from each other once they heard Rukia's voice.

"Rukia?!" Both Ichigo and Orihime chorused. "Hey! Don't pretend like you forgot about our lunch date, Orihime!" The short dark haired woman scolded. Her midnight black hair reached her mid back and her big dark blue eyes twinkled as she teased them.

"Oho?... Are you guys on a----"

"Shut it, Rukia!!!" Ichigo hissed with red cheeks. "I see you're back.... Mr. Grumpy pants...." She huffed and took a seat at one of the few tables in the bakery. Rukia was quite short but her height didn't matter when it came to disciplining the children she taught at the school her brother, Byakuya owned. She'd always teased and annoyed Ichigo since highschool and it usually took Orihime's insistence to stop their horrid bickering. Rukia was dressed in a light blue sundress and white ballet flats.

"I'll be right with you, Rukia.... I just need to take this off.... Um... Ichigo, since you're here.... We could all sit together?...." She carefully asked. She didn't know if he was tired. Actually, he was but he'd never say no to Orihime. He couldn't.

"Sure...." If it meant sitting at the table with Rukia so he could spend more time with Orihime, he'd do it. The only issue was that he hoped they didn't fight and mess up the bakery. He didn't want to get Orihime mad.

After a few minutes, Orihime joined them at the round wooden brown table. The chairs were wooden as well with a soft pink material on the seating area and the backrests. The bakery wasn't huge but it was nice and warm. A few pictures hung on the walls. Pictures of food (mainly Orihime's crazy inventions) , a few landscapes and one particular one caught his eye. It was an old picture of them back in highschool. He, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Uryu, Chad, Tatsuki, Mizuiro and Keigo. They had come a long way and he was glad to be home again.

He tenderly gazed at Orihime who happily chatted with Rukia.

She was his home.

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