Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Under Wraps ❯ One-Shot

Under Wraps

by debbiechan

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite. I’m keeping Ishida Uryuu temporarily (to break him in for Orihime, you understand).

Description: PG. This vignette presumes an A/U adventure fic that I didn’t feel like writing because I wanted to get to the "romance chapter." Here, Ishida and Orihime find themselves alone together and hiding from the Arrancar.

Warnings: Vague post-Soul Society spoilers (that the Arrancar are coming, etc. but if you don’t know what Arrancar are and don’t want to find out, you won’t necessarily be spoiled), WAFF.

Orihime had not expected that taking off someone’s wet clothes would be so difficult. Not that she had ever taken off anyone’s clothes--wet or dry--except her own.

Pulling Ishida’s pants down had her huffing with effort. His shoes and socks had slipped off easily enough, and his shirt had not been much trouble because of the handy zipper (although pulling the sleeves off had been like trying to rip sticky wrappers from caramel candy). And now there was the task of the pants.

Orihime pulled and pulled and managed to get the drenched fabric to the Quincy’s knees. She innocently cast a glance up at the (less damp) boxers Ishida-kun still wore and surmised that those looser garments would come off easily… but these pants! They were simple black jeans, but Ishida-kun must have tailored them to fit like a second skin.

The thought of skin reminded her of a frustrating experience last week with some anonymous, unripe fruit. The skin had been too hard to peel! She had bought the fruit at the market under the impression that it was a mango, but it couldn’t have been a mango because--

Oh no! It’s not proper for a girl to see a boy without his clothes on, right?

Orihime remembered that when Ishida-kun had changed clothes in Soul Society, he had used an impromptu dressing room! Her gaze swept across the unconscious figure before her. It’s not like she had any choice in the matter. Orihime knew all about hypothermia. She had seen Titanic.

She yanked the pants all the way to the ankles but then decided that getting them past the Quincy’s big bony ankles wasn’t worth the struggle, so she sat down and took off her coat. She wiped the lanky white body all over with a coat sleeve until the coat sleeve was wet, and then she laid the coat over Ishida’s torso so that the fake fur collar partially covered his open mouth.

Ishida’s breaths stirred pink hairs of fake fur.

He was breathing fine. He wasn’t drowned. He had just been knocked out, and Orihime couldn’t summon her healing powers without revealing their location to the Arrancar. Maybe she could start a little fire? A fire wouldn’t draw any attention. Fires from the battle were ablaze all over Karakura.

The winter wind howled through nearby blown-apart buildings, and the metal roof of the lean-to sheltering Orihime and Ishida fluttered but stayed put. Orihime crawled out of the shelter and started to gather scraps for a fire, but there wasn’t much that wasn’t soaked. She could feel Kurosaki-kun still battling somewhere close, battling with incredible energy.

In fact, heat from Kurosaki’s fight with Grimmjow was turning snow into rain, and when Orihime had run to Ishida’s fallen body, she had found the Quincy face-down in a shallow pool of water. She had pulled him, snorting blood and coughing, and dragged him a few yards to hide him behind the ruin of a brick wall. She had raised a large metal sheet to make the lean-to so that she and Ishida could be hidden from an enemy flying overhead. Not the smartest move, she knew. The enemy could sense reiatsu and were consuming those with the strongest, but maybe Ishida’s power had been drained to the point that he was undetectable. He wasn’t badly hurt, only exhausted. If Orihime didn’t summon her shields, she knew she was as good as invisible.

Orihime’s little campfire, started with garbage and a lighter inside the lean-to, was pitiful once it got started. It didn’t provide much heat at all. Orihime noted that her coat only covered the top part of Ishida’s body, and most of his legs were exposed and goosepimpled. There was only one thing to do.

"Ishida-kun, I’ll keep you warm!"

Orihime flung her body over the half-naked Quincy.

The suddenness of this action and a warm soft heft on his chest, of course, woke up Ishida right away.

At first he thought he was being smothered by an opponent but then there was no mistaking the ginger hair fallen against his shoulder. Or the white hands clutching his upper arms. Or … did she have her knees pressed against either of his thighs?

"Inoue-san!" His voice was alarmed but quiet; he didn’t know where they were or if an enemy was near.

"Ishida-kun," Orihime lifted her head and smiled at him as if the two were awakening from a honeymoon. "I’m trying to keep you warm. I assessed your injuries, and you seem alright. A bump here." Her fingertips touched the bridge of his nose where his glasses usually were (the glasses were long gone, probably lost in the puddle she hand found him in). "And your reiatsu is low--you were fighting so long. Don’t do anything or they will find us…" She grabbed Ishida’s left hand by the fingers and squeezed hard. "Don’t summon your bow, please?"

"Of course not. There’s nothing I can do now." Ishida wasn’t going to draw a soul-sucking enemy to Inoue, and was perfectly aware that no one but Kurosaki was able to take on the remaining Arrancar. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." She shivered against him. "Just cold." She was wearing a sweater top and scarf. "But I can’t summon my shield against the wind because they’d find us."

"Wait," said Ishida and he felt for his left jeans pocket only to touch the light damp fabric of his underwear. His eyes widened. "My clothes!"

"I took them off," Inoue said. "I know it’s not proper, but you were going to freeze to death all wet like that!"

"No, no, that’s alright." The situation was serious. The fate of the universe was at hand. A deciding battle was raging in the skies, but here was Ishida Uryuu with a lovely girl’s body wrapped around him. "I--uh, I was looking for my pocket. There’s snow gear in there. I have a plastic parka that folds right out. You can have it. Here--" Ishida raised himself against Inoue’s body and urged her away. "Just show me where my pants are…"

Inoue got off Ishida and that’s when he noticed the pink and green coat. He didn’t notice the pants around his ankles, though, and as he rose--holding the girly coat to his chest for warmth--he promptly tripped over.

Could it be that only minutes ago he had been fighting Arrancar with the unvanquished pride of a Quincy? Now here he was with his face to the ground and his backside to the air. He was only wearing damp underwear, and it was freezing.

"Ishida-kun!" Orihime jumped him again, hugging his waist with her arms and his shivering legs with her own. "Don’t freeze to death!"

Ishida was considering that even if he did, this would be the way to go.

Then the sumptuous pressure that was Inoue moved away, and his backside was freezing again. "Let me," said Inoue, tugging at the pants. "I can get them off if you point your toes a little. There!" She had his pants in her hands. "You’ve really got clothes in your pockets?"

"Yes." Ishida had arranged himself in a sitting position, still cuddling the girly coat to his neck. "A very nice water resistant parka and pants. The top should cover you fine, and I…" Ishida looked at his bare legs, "I could really use the pants."

Inoue pulled a handkerchief-sized piece of fabric from the pants pocket, and with one flap of the wrist, the handkerchief became a full-sized coat. "Eee!" Orihime squealed. "This is just like the spare mantle you brought to Soul Society! You’re amazing, Ishida-kun."

Oddly enough, it was Inoue and not Ishida who blushed after those words were spoken.

She tossed him the rainproof pants and held up the parka. "Um, should I turn around when I put this on?"

"That’s not necessary," Ishida said. His new pants were already up to his knees. "You’re not taking anything off to put that on, so it’s not immodest."

"Oh."

The parka was too big for her. She knelt next to the pitiful fire, and so did Ishida, still cuddling the girly coat.

"My silly coat doesn’t real suit you," said Orihime. She drew the unzipped parka open on her right side. "Come here. Let’s just keep each other warm, okay?"

It was really, really near freezing. This was a safety issue. Ishida didn’t know when Kurosaki’s battle would be over, when the Arrancar would be driven back to Hueco Mundo and the streets of Karakura would be safe to venture into again.

He could perform low-level kidou to raise the fire. The Arrancar would think his own reiatsu was in death throes and there would be no clue of Inoue’s desirable, eatable soul. Ishida’s casting a tiny spell to fuel a garbage fire wouldn’t draw attention--not while the Arrancar were preoccupied with bringing down Kurosaki. But on the other hand, when again would he be invited into Inoue Orihime’s arms?

"Okay," said Ishida and stepped into the coat.

Inoue wrapped her arm around him. Her head pressed against his. In the distance, the wind howled, and there was a blazing surge of spirit power--evidently, the battle between Grimmjow and Kurosaki had intensified.

"Don’t worry, Inoue-san," Ishida said. "We’ve done all we can now, and as always, it’s up to Kurosaki to fight his own fight. He’s stubborn and powerful and he always wins, remember? We just have to sit here and wait until--"

"Oh I’m not worried about Kurosaki," said Inoue. "I’m sure he’s got everything under wraps."

Ishida’s mouth fell open.

Inoue nudged her cheek against Ishida’s. Was it burning or was Ishida’s?

All both knew was that they had never felt so warm in their lives.

END

A/N: This was just a tidbit of an idea I had for a longer story. I don’t mind if someone else takes it up or writes around it; I’d kind of like to read what happens next myself. ^^