Even Now

Even Now - Chapter 14 "Kisses"

Chapter 14 —Orihime—

"Kisses"

My first kiss was when I was four years old. No, it wasn't with Ichigo. My first kiss had been my older brother, Sora. I didn't exactly remember how it was like. I always knew that my brother loved me so much. He'd kiss me every night before I slept. I vaguely remember the kisses but I knew those kisses were different. Those kisses were brotherly kisses, no lust or passion. just a pure platonic love from a brother to his sister. He'd stopped kissing me when I was six years I asked why he stopped kissing me he'd said, "That's not my job anymore,it's your prince's job..." He'd rubbed my head and laughed, later i knew he said that because he'd known about my crush for Ichigo. My brother'd never been really friendly to Ichigo but I knew he liked Ichigo. His last words to Ichigo... I never knew what had he said but I knew he made Ichigo promise something to him.

My real first kiss was when I was twelve years old. This time I did it with Ichigo. It was his first kiss too, he told me that later. That was a simple kiss, just a light peck on my lips and happened for less than two seconds. It wasn't much different than the way Sora'd kissed me. But somehow I felt this weird feeling I never felt before when Sora kissed me. He kissed me in front of everyone, we were playing bride and groom that day and when Tatsuki told him to kiss the bride I never expected him to really kiss me. the other kids were teasing us for two weeks and only stopped when he throw a table at them with a really red face. That day I couldn't sleep at all. I stay away whole night, touching my lips thinking, 'So this is how a prince's kiss feel like...'

We hadn't kissed anymore after that day until the day he finally officially asked me out few years later. We kissed many times since then but I finally got my first real kiss when I was seventeen, and when he kissed me like that I wondered why he'd never kissed me like that before. I felt something weird when he kissed me like that. I liked it. I knew he liked it too. But amongst all of those kisses I'd never expected this one.

When I slowly opened my eyes the first thing I saw was a pair of familiar brown eyes. He was so close to me that I could feel his warm breath on my face. I knew I wasn't dreaming. Somehow I just knew it.

It was real.

He kissed me.

I blinked my eyes rapidly to clear my thought.I didn't understand this. Why would Ichigo kissed me? Didn't he love Rukia? I didn't understand. I looked into his brown eyes, trying to find some answer. Why did he look like he was ready to cry? Why was he here?

Wait...

What had happened to me?

I frowned. Too many questions in my head.

He really kissed me.

I couldn't think anything right when suddenly he pulled my body into a tight hug. I tried to think but I failed. His manly scent made it hard for me to think. I could hear he whispered my name. His lips were too close to my ears, his hot breath made it even harder for me to remember my name. Maybe he was crying but I didn't understand.

Ah, I remembered it now.

I fainted.

I remembered that I'd fainted in the onsen. Somehow I could hear someone called my name before I lost my consciousness, who was that? Rukia? It must be her who brought me back to this room, but where was she now? I needed to thank her for that. I wondered, why was Ichigo here? Why was he... crying? Was he really crying? I mean, it wasn't the first time for him to see me fainted. Besides, why would he cry for someone like me? He supposed to hate me... I was the reason why he couldn't be with the one he loved right now...