"Will this one do?"
"So cute! The ruffles here are amazing!" Rangiku Matsumoto changed into the nightgown Orihime Inoue handed her. "Mmm It has a light scent"
Orihime Inoue's face turned bright red. "It's just the fabric softener..."
"Really?" Rangiku Matsumoto suddenly leaned in and lightly sniffed her hair. "Hmm... yeah, that really isn't Orihime's own scent."
Her eyes narrowed slightly. "You smell lonely, Orihime."
"Huh?"
"You haven't seemed very energetic all day." Rangiku Matsumoto looked straight into Orihime Inoue's eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Huh?" Orihime Inoue instinctively avoided her gaze. "I... have I? I..."
"You can tell me." Rangiku Matsumoto sat down on the bed, her shapely legs sliding against each other as she crossed them. "I'll listen properly."
"Oh, come on... it's nothing..." Orihime Inoue let out a silly little laugh. "I'm fine. I always..."
"I don't want to sleep next to someone whose mind is full of things they won't say." Rangiku Matsumoto closed her eyes and tilted her head back, looking like she had no interest in hearing that answer. "If you keep acting like this, I'm kicking you out."
"..." The smile faded from Orihime Inoue's face. She pressed her lips together, then forced the corners of her mouth up a little. "I originally thought... that once we came back from Soul Society, we'd be able to go back to living like before. Going to school with Muten every day, stopping to buy groceries together after school, then I'd cook for him, and at night we'd curl up together on the sofa and watch comedy shows, then do it all again the next day, over and over..."
Rangiku Matsumoto opened her eyes and looked at the dejected Orihime Inoue in front of her.
Even though she possessed an amazing power, she was still just a high school girl.
"I thought... Muten felt the same way I did." Orihime Inoue lightly bit her lower lip. "But Muten when he's with everyone else is completely different from how he is when he's with me."
"Different?"
"When he's facing danger, he can stand up to it bravely, just like everyone else... he doesn't seem afraid." Orihime Inoue's arms tightened uneasily around herself. "But... I'm scared. I'm scared he'll get hurt, scared he'll use Hollowfication too much and turn into a Hollow like my brother, scared that one day I won't be able to keep standing beside him, and I won't be there waiting when he comes back..."
Rangiku Matsumoto's eyes widened slightly. Looking at Orihime Inoue like this gave her the strange feeling of staring into a mirror.
"I want to help him, but I'm not as capable as Rukia. I want to keep him with me, but I don't want to cause him trouble. I want to know more about him, but I don't want to hear things that would make me sad..." Orihime Inoue's voice trembled with suppressed tears. "I want everything, but I don't dare do anything."
She did not dare joke around with Muten Natsu the way Rangiku Matsumoto did. She did not dare bicker with him the way Renji Abarai did. She did not dare fool around with him the way Rukia Kuchiki did. She did not even dare brush him off casually with that cool indifference the way Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa did. And she certainly did not dare put on a stern face and act cool the way Tōshirō Hitsugaya did.
She envied the Shinigami and their relationship with Muten Natsu.
She even... resented the fact that they had known him for decades.
Compared to the Shinigami, the time she had spent with Muten Natsu was far too short.
So short that just when she thought she understood him well, Muten would suddenly show her a completely different side of himself and leave her defenseless against it.
If the you who is with the Shinigami is the real you... then what exactly were the moments we shared?
Can that self satisfied understanding I had of you still hold our relationship together?
That feeling had already appeared in Orihime Inoue's heart when Rukia Kuchiki first showed up.
But there had been no chance for it to grow. The Hollow attacks, the awakening of her powers, Rukia Kuchiki's departure, the Soul Society adventure... one thing after another came crashing down on her, leaving Orihime Inoue with no time to think about any of it.
But once things calmed down a little, as more Shinigami appeared and the life she had grown used to was shattered, the emotions she had been suppressing burst out all at once.
"You're all friends of Muten. I should have accepted you... but... I don't want you getting closer to him. I don't want to see the Muten who's with you. I don't want to watch him get farther and farther away from me..." Tears rolled down her face, and Orihime Inoue could barely control the sobbing in her voice. "Even when we're facing danger, I'm still having selfish, childish thoughts like this. I'm so useless... I hate it..."
Rangiku Matsumoto finally spoke. "When we came to the World of the Living this time, there was supposed to be a Shinigami skilled in Kaidō accompanying us."
Orihime Inoue looked at her through tearful eyes.
"But Captain Unohana said that would not be necessary." Rangiku Matsumoto met her gaze. "[As long as Orihime is there, you won't need to worry about injuries.] That's what Captain Unohana said."
"Captain Unohana..." The image of Retsu Unohana's gentle face rose in Orihime Inoue's mind. She had never imagined Captain Unohana thought that highly of her.
"If anyone else had said that, I might have doubted it. But no one gets to question Captain Unohana." Rangiku Matsumoto smiled. "And if someone did dare question her, Muten Natsu would be the first one to object. So you are absolutely not useless."
Orihime Inoue sniffled. "Thank you, Rangiku. Wuh!"
Before she could finish, Rangiku Matsumoto pulled her straight into an embrace.
Rangiku Matsumoto wrapped both arms around her and pressed Orihime Inoue tightly against her chest.
A soft, gentle trap completely swallowed Orihime Inoue's face.
"You are useful, but you're also very silly." Rangiku Matsumoto's voice was gentle. "A ridiculously adorable little idiot."
"Huh?" Orihime Inoue struggled to lift her head, staring at her blankly.
Then Rangiku Matsumoto suddenly reached out and attacked all her ticklish spots at once. "Tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle!"
Caught completely off guard, Orihime Inoue twisted around in a panic and burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Wahahahahahaha! Stop... stop it! Rangiku...san... hahahaha! Stop already... ahahahaha! It hurts! I... I hit my head..."
Orihime Inoue laughed so hard she could barely breathe. She could not even tell whether the tears on her face were more from laughing or from crying earlier.
"You really are hopeless..." Rangiku Matsumoto finally stopped and gently rubbed the spot where Orihime Inoue had bumped her head.