Love Me Bitterly, Loathe Me Sweetly

Love Me Bitterly, Loathe Me Sweetly – Chapter 1

Bleach fanfic hosted at FFnet: www.fanfiction.net/s/6515546&#…;

[Currently under revision. Will be updated soon.]


Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. All main characters are 18 years or older.

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It was an unseasonably warm late fall day at Karakura High School. The sunny courtyard was filled with students eating lunch. At one of the metal tables sat three girls, talking and gesturing with animation. The first girl, with short, spiky black hair and a lean, boyish frame, was frowning at the second, who had waist-length auburn hair and a curvaceous figure and was smiling shyly. The third girl, with red hair and red glasses, looked on skeptically. As they talked, a scowling orange-haired youth strode past their table without a backwards glance.

Tatsuki watched as Orihime's eyes turned to follow the young man, her sandwich forgotten in her lap. She suddenly reached across the table and punched her friend in the face.

"Hey!" Orihime said, rubbing her chin and turning to glare at Tatsuki. "What'd you do that for?"

Tatsuki frowned at her. "Don't tell me you still have that crush on Ichigo Kurosaki," she said. "That delinquent isn't worth your time."

"He's not a delinquent," protested Orihime, still looking after the young man as she rubbed her face. "Besides, I thought he was your friend."

"He is my friend. I'm just angry at him for being so clueless about you."

"Didn't he get suspended for fighting a couple of weeks ago?" asked Chizuru with a smug smile. "I haven't seen any girls get suspended for fighting in this school."

"That's just because you've gotten away with it," grumbled Tatsuki.

"You too!" Chizuru leered at the black-haired girl.

Orihime was not paying attention to her friends' bickering. "Isn't he cute, though?" she sighed.

Chizuru frowned. "How can you say that with all these luscious girls around? For example—"

Before she could continue, she was stopped by another punch in the face from Tatsuki. "You pervert! Just because you like girls is no reason for Orihime to!"

"Hey!" said Chizuru. "I was coming in on your side, trying to help Hime get over her stupid crush." She glared at Tatsuki.

"No, I was thinking Orihime could find another guy to like. Someone with a better reputation than Kurosaki." Tatsuki stopped to scan the lunchtime crowd. "Someone like…" She spotted a brown-haired youth in glasses emerge from the crowd, trailed by a slender, silver-haired boy and a dark-skinned young man with his hair tied back in cornrows. "Like Sousuke Aizen… senior class president, straight-A student, member of the chess club. Now there's an upstanding citizen for you." She grinned at Orihime. "And he's awfully cute too."

Orihime and Chizuru scrutinized Aizen as he walked across the courtyard. "Mmm," said Chizuru. "If he were a girl he'd be worth chasing." She got a gleam in her eye. "Can't you imagine him in a dress, with long hair…? Dreamy!"

Orihime sighed. "I don't know. He is good-looking, but… there's just something missing there. Not like Kurosaki-kun."

~tbc