"Orihime..."
"Muten..."
After a brief silence, the two of them spoke almost at the same time.
Then they both stopped again.
Orihime Inoue twisted her hands together behind her back. "You go first..."
"I..." Muten Natsu rubbed his ear, his gaze brushing over the long socks covering Orihime Inoue's scar. "Those socks look nice."
Orihime Inoue let out a soft laugh, and some of the tension in her chest eased. "Using socks to change the subject again... Huh?" She blinked, suddenly thinking of something. "Muten."
"What is it?"
"Are you really using socks to change the subject, or are you using changing the subject as an excuse to openly stare at my legs?"
Muten Natsu: "...What were you about to say?"
"...Rangiku-san kicked me out." Orihime Inoue sat down on the edge of Muten Natsu's bed, her soft, rounded backside sinking into the blankets.
"I told her to sleep in my room, and she refused. Then she kicked you out instead." Muten Natsu sighed. "You sleep here. I'll take the couch."
He got out of bed, but the moment he took a step, someone grabbed his wrist.
Orihime Inoue had done it almost on instinct. By the time she realized it, it was already too late.
She was just about to let go when Rangiku Matsumoto's words echoed in her ears.
["If you do not want to let go, then hold on tight."]
So the hand that had just started to loosen tightened again.
"Orihime?" Muten Natsu turned back, puzzled.
"Muten... I..." Orihime Inoue's voice was quiet. "I'm a little scared..."
Muten Natsu froze for a moment. Only when he noticed the red rims around her eyes did he remember that Orihime Inoue was different from a Shinigami. She was just an ordinary high school student.
What she learned was regular schoolwork, not the combat arts taught at the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts.
Three years ago, she had still been helpless in the face of bullying from her upperclassman. Now she had to face an overwhelmingly powerful Arrancar.
Orihime Inoue had always seemed so strong that Muten Natsu had overlooked how fragile she could be.
"Lie down," Muten Natsu said, sitting on the floor with his back against the bed. "I'll stay here and keep watch over you."
That was not exactly what Orihime Inoue meant, but somehow this felt nice too.
She let go of his wrist and slipped under the covers.
The soft blanket, carrying Muten Natsu's scent, wrapped around her body and filled her with a sense of comfort.
Orihime Inoue relaxed and narrowed her eyes. She wriggled a little under the covers, then felt as if something was missing. Tentatively, she reached out her hand. "Muten... I want to hold hands."
"Okay." Muten Natsu took her soft little hand in his.
Muten Natsu's hand was so big... and his palm was warm.
It felt like there was something she wanted to tell him.
Forget it.
This was already enough.
"Orihime..." Muten Natsu looked at her lovely face. "I'm sorry."
"Hm?" Orihime Inoue blinked, then quickly understood what he meant. "It's okay... really. Rangiku-san was trying to help me, and I also wanted..."
"I mean... everything up to now." Muten Natsu was not talking about Rangiku Matsumoto kicking her out of the room. "If it were not for me, you would not have gotten dragged into all this danger. You would not have to be this afraid."
"Muten, when you helped me, were you trying to drag me into danger?"
"Of course not."
"Then if you had not helped me, would all this danger have disappeared?"
"...I don't know."
"I do." Orihime Inoue's fingers tightened slightly around his hand. "It would not have disappeared. I might have been killed by a Hollow, and my soul might have been eaten."
"But at least... you would not be this scared."
"This is exactly what I'm scared of." Orihime Inoue looked straight into his dark eyes. "I'm scared you'll blame everything on yourself, and because of that, you'll turn into someone I don't know. You'll drift farther and farther away from me, and in the end... disappear from my side."
She had finally said it.
Orihime Inoue could barely bring herself to meet Muten Natsu's eyes.
How would he react?
Would he think she was troublesome...?
Would this make him feel burdened...?
Would he...
A sudden damp touch landed on the tip of her little finger.
Orihime Inoue looked up, a lovely blush spreading across her face.
"Back in the Soul Society, you said my little finger belonged to you." Muten Natsu gently kissed the tip of the little finger on Orihime Inoue's left hand. "I do not know how to heal, but since I kissed it, now it belongs to me."
"I'm a very stingy person. Anything that belongs to me... I will never let go of it." Muten Natsu met Orihime Inoue's gaze. "So no matter what happens in the future, I'll come back."
Orihime Inoue let go of his hand and lifted her little finger. "It's a promise?"
Muten Natsu hooked his little finger around her pale, slender one and nodded seriously. "Yeah. It's a promise."
A smile as warm as sunlight bloomed across her face, and the unease that had weighed on Orihime Inoue's heart finally disappeared completely.
Crisis, danger, whatever it was.
Compared to Muten Natsu's promise, none of it mattered.
"Ah..." Orihime Inoue suddenly thought of something. "Should we change it?"
"Change what?"
"I feel like if we used our toes instead, you'd be even more determined to come back."
Muten Natsu rubbed her hair. "...Be good and go to sleep."
Now that the knot in Orihime Inoue's heart had been untied and he no longer had to worry about her being afraid, Muten Natsu was ready to go sleep on the couch.
"We just made that promise..." Orihime Inoue said pitifully. "How can you turn right around and leave?"
"Didn't we already settle it?"
Orihime Inoue puffed out her cheeks and wriggled under the blanket before turning her back to him. "So you were just saying nice things."
Muten Natsu sat back down. "Then I'll wait until you fall asleep before I go."
"But..." Orihime Inoue hesitated. "I can't fall asleep with you watching me from the side."
"Then I'll close my eyes."
"That's not what I mean. Just thinking about me lying here comfortably in bed while you sit on the floor makes it impossible for me to fall asleep peacefully." As she spoke, Orihime Inoue shifted closer to the wall, leaving a large open space on the bed.
More than enough for Muten Natsu to lie down.
Muten Natsu thought back to the time he had slept in Retsu Unohana's room.
If Retsu Unohana had not lain down too, he probably would have had trouble falling asleep.
Orihime Inoue had a point.
So he climbed onto the bed and lay down beside her.
Thump, thump, thump...
Orihime Inoue could feel heat rising to her face, her heart pounding so hard it felt ready to leap out of her chest.
He had really lain down.
Right beside her.
This was bad. Now it felt even harder to fall asleep.