Title: Burst Bubble (530)

Genre: Family/Mild Romance

Characters: Ichigo and Orihime

Summary: Orihime's "world" comes crashing down and she

Notes: I had a request to elaborate on the theory proposed in "Different Set of Twins". This isn't a sequel though. I may write a few more one-shots with this scenario.

Rating: K+

Burst Bubble

Orihime found herself walking along the sidewalk outside of a shop. The summer weather beat down and she found her mind caught off guard by a sudden flutter of iridescent bubbles floating in front of her. She watched as the bobbed up and down in front of her face and finally she reached out one finger to touch the bubble, only to have it pop. She turned her head to see that one of the shop owners had placed a bubble machine in the open door way in an attempt to attract customers.

"I remember blowing bubbles with Sora. It was a lot of fun, like how making the snow bunnies was fun." She found her mind drifting off, trying to remember what amounted to a more happy time, when she was with her dear older brother. Something had bothered her since the incident with the Fullbringers, something she had a problem putting her finger on. Orihime found herself walking again, only to turn heel and walk into the shop in hopes that she could get the item she wanted.

Here eyes looked around until they fell upon the package of bubble mixture and plastic wand. She scooped it up and went up to the register to pay for the item. The price was reasonable and she headed to the park, where she saw crepes being sold and she went and bought one with the oddiest flavor before going over to a park bench and sitting down, munching on the treat. "Wouldn't it be romantic to sit with Ichigo eating crepes and blowing bubbles."

The girl found herself swallowing suddenly, causing her to cough and have to hit her throat with her fist. Something bothered her, something she couldn't place her finger on. "Let's see... it bothered me ever since we met the Fullbringers. They said one of them, one of the ones I can't remember, messed with my memories. But what does that have to do with why I am so frustrated when I think about my own brother. Sora was a great brother."

Fingering her phone, Orhime ran her fingers lightly over the keys as she debated whether or not she should make the call. Finally she pressed the numbers and the phone rang a couple of times. "Uryu-kun?"

"What is it Orihime?"

"Do you remember the incident with the Fullbringers? What am I saying?" A smile spread across her face. "Of course you would remember. Do you remember though what memories of mine were tampered with?"

"I believe they were the ones of your older brother."

"How so?"

"He replaced your older brother in your memories with himself."

"So I was calling this person brother?"

"No... you actually were not. You called him by his first name. Why do you ask?"

"I'm not sure. I'll let you go." She closed her eyes and looked up at the sky as she held onto her crepe. Her mind thought about what Uryu had told her. "If he replaced my brother in my memories wouldn't I be calling him brother as I always called him brother in my memories. Or did he change that in the memory as well? Or did I come to not call him brother later on because I realized we weren't related to each other."

"Ah! I can't think straight!" Orihime found herself piling into the crepe and downing it with a few quick gulps. "But what if I didn't call him brother because I didn't always call Sora brother." The female placed a hand on her cheek. "That would mean he wasn't my real brother." She then shook her head. "If he wasn't my real brother, then who were my real parents? He said they were trying to kill me."

She was about to bite into the treat again, only to find herself pausing again. "But Sora never said that they tried to kill me. He never mentioned them at all, so where did I get the idea that they were trying to kill me from? Actually... where did I get the idea that my father was a drunk and my mother a prostitute from? If she was a prostitute, then my real dad might not be my father? So is Sora my half-brother?"

Orihime finished of the crepe and licked her fingers clean. She then reached into her bag and pulled out the bubbles and began to blow them. She watched as they danced around and she watched them until they popped before blowing another string of bubbles. She blew the bubbles again, only to find herself zoning out. "But what if what I was told about my parents isn't true and Sora isn't my brother. What is the truth then?"

"I guess that's why I've been bothered lately." Orihime nodded her head. "Yes. I don't know who I really am. Sora is the one who raised me, and he was the person I called brother, but would a brother so freely say their sister was like a daughter to them? I don't think so. And why would he go after Ichigo if we weren't related."

Orihime clapped her hands to her cheek. "So Sora was romantically attracted to me and was jealous because I had feelings for Ichigo." Her eyes closed, but then opened back up. "No, that can't be right. I just thought Ichigo was really cool back then, I didn't start crushing on him until after he rescued me. So why would he be jealous of Ichigo? I mean, it isn't as if Ichigo was family!"

The female clapped her hand into the palm of her hand. "Yes! That's right! I can't marry Ichigo if we're related. I mean, if we are forth rung or higher we could, but not if we were siblings. And there is no way that we could be siblings. Ichigo's mom and dad aren't the type to give up a child unless there was a good reason to. I've heard nothing but good thing about his mother and his father is such a lovable goofball."

She then went back to blowing the bubbles. "Plus... our birthday's are different. So we can't possibly be siblings."

The bubbles floated around before landing on a familiar orange shade of hair. Orihime blinked a couple of times as Ichigo stared at her in surprise. He had been avoiding her since the war between the Vandreich for some strange reason. "Maybe he has some kind of romantic feelings for me and that is why he is avoiding me. He may be worried that I won't reciprocate his feelings. This would be a good time to confess."

Orihime stood up, knocking her bottle of bubbles onto the floor. "Umm, Kurosaki."

Ichigo let out a sigh and picked up the bottle for her. "What is it?"

"I wanted to... umm." She then bowed towards him just as he was coming up, their foreheads crashing. He rubbed his forehead and frowned at her. "I like you."

"O.K."

"That wasn't the reaction I was expecting." Orihime took a deep breath. "I like you and want to date you."

The orange haired teen let out a deep breath of air. "I'm sorry Orihime. I can't reciprocate your feelings. "

"I..." The female blinked a couple of times. "Are you getting together with Rukia?"

"Rukia? Good grief... Uncle Shunsui's dropped hints that I can marry her. I'm not thinking about that right now because we're having to fix some family affairs. I know I've avoided you the last couple of days, but would you like to eat dinner with Yuzu, Karin, dad and me?"

"Ichigo... isn't it a bit odd to ask me to your house after telling me that you can't reciprocate my feelings?"

"Orihime... I told you that right now I'm busy straightening out family affairs. I'm inviting you over because we're family."

"Ahh... we're first cousins? You know we can still have a relationship."

"Orihime..." Ichigo looked at her. "How do I put this?"

"Ahh!" Orihime clapped a hand over her mouth. "We're half siblings? My mother was a prostitute supposedly."

"Yeah... our dad would cheat on our mother." Ichigo watched as she blinked a couple of times. "Apparently our great aunt wasn't happy that our mom didn't marry her son... our mom's cousin. That would be Uryu's dad believe it or not."

"So I could marry Uryu? It's not the same though."

"Umm.. no, it isn't."

"And whose Uncle Shunsui?"

"He's dad's mother's brother..." Ichigo closed his mouth. "Actually, why are you asking who he is? You should know who he is as he is the current head captain of the Gotei Thirteen."

"Wow! Your father is from Soul Society?"

"Our father is from Soul Society. To be exact he was the head of the Shiba clan and is the older brother to Kukaku and Ganju and his twin brother was Shiba Kaien. He was the fukutaicho before Rukia."

"Our dad was?"

"No... Uncle Kaien. Dad was the captain of the tenth division before Toshiro."

"So Toshiro-kun is family too!"

"Kind of... umm..." Ichigo scratched his head. "Toshiro's good friends with Karin and I am not sure which direction their relationship is going."

Orihime nodded her head. "We have a big family."

"Yes..." The orange haired teen looked at her. "Shouldn't you be more bothered by this."

"Uhh... I think my mind is still processing it? Do you want to blow bubbles with me?"

"I need to let Yuzu know if you're coming to dinner or not."

"I'll come."

"That's great."

"Umm.. we don't share the same birthday..."

"It's your adoption day. See you at dinner."

"Sure..." Orihime sat down. She thought of blowing bubbles with the rest of the bubbles, only to find out that the container was completely empty.