Girl Talk

Chiaki sighed as she waited in front of Orihime's house, checking her watch to make sure she hadn't gotten the time incorrect. To her knowledge, she was supposed to meet up with Tatsuki and Orihime, but she hadn't seen any indication of Tatsuki yet. She had thought that she might have just been early, but- nope! It seemed like Tatsuki was just a little late.

[It is what it is though. If anything, it means I can talk to Orihime 100% earnestly. Tatsuki is nice, but she's always super… suspicious.]

Indeed, Tatsuki saw herself as Orihime's main protector since her brother had died, and even though Tatsuki had known her (or, at least, had known Kurosaki Chiaki) for a long while, she was relatively touchy about how people dealt with Orihime. Even Ichigo would get chewed out by her if a situation came up where she believed they had done Orihime wrong.

Of course, Chiaki was worried about a bit more than that: she'd already seen that her mere presence could destabilize the story without any action of her own causing it, and in particular, she was worried about how Tatsuki might change her actions due to that factor. After all, in the original story, of the people in Karakura Town, it was Tatsuki who was the most adamant about finding out about the true nature of Soul Society and discovering Ichigo's secrets. There was the possibility that if she noticed any discrepancy at all in Chiaki, she might try and force her to reveal her secret. But, she also couldn't afford to avoid her either. If someone that she had known her whole lfie suddenly became closed off, that would be even more suspicious. So, Chiaki opted to simply lay low for now.

"Oh, Chiaki! It's so nice to see you!"

Chiaki was broken out of her rumination by the sudden appearance of Orihime herself, apparently having noticed her outside from the confines of her house. Chiaki couldn't help but crack a smile at her optimistic and bubbly attitude as Orihime went to embrace her. Chiaki wasn't very good at this sort of interaction and just patted her gingerly on the back, but Orihime didn't seem to mind it. In fact, she practically leapt out of her hands in excitement as she began leading Chiaki by hand into the room, startling Chiaki and leaving her feeling a little off-balance.

"Woah, woah, woah, what's the rush?"

"We can't stay outside too long, or else the sushi I made will get cold!"

[Isn't sushi supposed to be cold?!]

Despite her internal objections, Chiaki followed Orihime to a cozy room within her house. She had known Orihime's living situation wasn't exactly ideal, but she couldn't help but feel a very small twinge of sympathy. Orihime was oblivious to all this as she quickly went to check the kitchen, peeking her head in before letting out a squeal of delight. Grabbing a pair of oven mitts, Orihime removed… "something" from the oven, taking out a tray before moving its contents to a plate and bringing it over to Chiaki, beaming from head to toe all the while.

"I made baked fruit sushi! They're the perfect temperature and they came out just right! Why don't you try one Chiaki?"

Chiaki didn't know what to say. Baked fruit sushi? These weird food combinations… still, the way Orihime was looking at her with those puppy dog eyes, she couldn't refuse. Bracing herself for the worst, Chiaki hesitantly took one from the plate, popping it into her mouth. Surprisingly, it was pretty good, all things considered. The flavor was a little hard to describe, but it was something like warm mochi candy. After thinking about it for a moment, Chiaki gave a thumbs up.

"That's good stuff! How'd you get the idea?"

Orihime smiled and clasped her hands together in happiness, clearly glad to see that Chiaki enjoyed them, before tapping her chin thoughtfully and considering Chiaki's question for a moment.

"Wellll… I was thinking about how Americans put those avocado fruits in sushi before bringing them here. So I thought, why not put other fruits in sushi too? And then they'd be like a pastry, so what if you baked them and put sugar? Then they'd…"

Orihime quickly became lost in her train of thought surrounding the food she'd made, so Chiaki decided now was a good time to let Orihime get it out of her system while she chewed on some more of the sushi. Eating food made by Orihime was always a bit like Russian Roulette, since, every so often, her experiments wouldn't work out. Chiaki decided it was best to savor the successes while she could.

After about a minute, Orihime began to slow down, and Chiaki decided it was a good time to take the initiative and try and change the subject. Clearing her throat to get Orihime's attention, she crossed her arms and nodded approvingly.

"Looks like you're doing really well for yourself! You look happy, you've got time for your hobbies, and good food to boot. I should have learned by now that you can take care of yourself!"

Orihime beamed brightly at the praise, rubbing her head sheepishly and smiling.

"Thanks, it really means a lot to hear you say that. I've just been doing my best to keep my grades up, and since I've been doing so well, my aunt sent me some extra money. I decided to celebrate by baking everyone some sweets. It seems Tatsuki is a bit late though… I hope she's ok…"

Chiaki chuckled, before giving Orihime a comforting pat on the head.

"I'm sure Tatsuki will be here soon. She's probably just caught up on something, you know how she is. She might even be beating up a delinquent as we speak."

Orihime giggled a bit at this image, and as if on cue, a knock appeared on the door. Eyes widening a bit in surprise and excitement. she practically skipped on over to the door, before letting Tatsuki in, the lithe high schooler looking a little embarrassed at her tardiness.

"Sorry I'm late, I was really busy and I ended up having to deal with a mess in the karate dojo. Got that fixed up as fast as I could and I ran over.

"That's ok! Want some fruit sushi?"

Orihime led her over to the sushi plate, and Tatsuki simply picked one up and popped it into her mouth, giving Orihime a thumbs up, much to her delight. Chewing and swallowing quickly, Tatsuki sat down next to Chiaki, a sly grin on her face.

"I hope you two weren't talking about me while I was gone, especially not you Chiaki. Whatever you said, you don't have a leg to stand on."

"All good things, don't worry. You're reading too deeply into it Tat."

Chiaki waved aside Tatsuki's accusations, causing the karateka to sigh, feigning an exasperated expression. Of course, Tatsuki was only being humorous, and she very quickly recollected herself, popping another piece of sushi into her mouth as she thought for a moment: Chiaki could tell that while she was at least not serious about her accusations, which put her at ease, if only a little bit.

"So, Chiaki, how's Ichigo doing? He's been acting a little weird lately, a little unfocused. Any idea about that?"

[Damn it Tatsuki! I was just trying to give you the benefit of the doubt!]

Chiaki scrambled to figure out what sort of explanation would best appease Tatsuki, her mind working through the panic to try and come up with something feasible, before deciding on something that was "true" to make it sound as real as possible.

"Oh, Ichigo? Well, remember that new transfer student, Rukia? She's been asking Ichigo to help out with her schoolwork, and Ichigo being Ichigo, he's been helping her out. If you ask me, I think he's mostly doing it to get teachers off his back, show that he's invested in the class and stuff."

"Oh yeah! I met Rukia earlier today, she's super nice! But you know, she's a little too formal for my liking. I wonder where she's from that she talks in such an old-fashioned way."

Orihime's face scrunched up in deep thought, and Tatsuki seemed to take the opportunity to lean closer to Chiaki, whispering to her so that Orihime wouldn't hear.

"They're not dating, right?"

Chiaki shook her head, trying to keep her response as quiet as possible, and Tatsuki nodded, a grateful and relieved look washing over her face.

"Ok, good. I was worried for a second, cause, you know, if Ichigo started dating a new girl… that would definitely break her heart."

"Hmm? What are you two talking about?"

Tatsuki almost jumped at the sound of Orihime's voice, causing Chiaki to laugh loudly.

"Oh don't worry. We were just saying she might be a ghost of some kind! Have you ever read Tomie?"

"What?! A ghost?"

Orihime seemed to explode with questions, overwhelming the slightly confused Tatsuki, who quickly flashed her a look of thanks for the save, before trying to keep up with her friend's rate of conversation. Chiaki however, was focused on something else. Something seemed to move at the corner of her eye, and while the other two were busy talking, Chiaki turned to take a closer look. At the other side of a room, a strange black patch seemed to be forming, something that the other two couldn't see. Then, slowly, skeletal hands appeared to grip the floor, pulling the creature through it slowly… and out of the rift appeared the skull-like hollow mask of Orihime's brother.