“ Maya? Hey Maya…”
Maya opened her eyes and sat up. She couldn’t stop thinking about last night…that feeling that she had when Ichigo was there with her. She sighed and looked to the side to see Orihime smiling at her. She blinked and smiled back.
“ Hey Orihime…what’s up?”
“ Oh nothing really…Oh here!”
Orihime handed her a small piece of paper that was addressed to her. It was folded up into a note. Who could it possibly be from? She blinked while taking the note. She stared at it in an odd way for a moment, then looked back at Orihime.
“ Who is this from?”
“ Oh…Ichigo told me to give it to you. He said that it was very important…”
Maya blinked again as Orihime turned around to go back to her lesson. Maya opened the note and read it slowly. She paused some and a small smirk came across her face as she scanned over the note once more so that she was sure that what she read was what was really on the paper.
The bell rang for lunch. Ichigo walked out of his classroom, followed by Keigo, Mizzuro, Chad and surprisingly Uyru. Ichigo was talking with the bunch when he looked up to notice that Maya was standing at one of the large windows just staring out into the blue sky watching the clouds roll by. He paused and thought for a moment before turning to the others.
“ I’ll catch up with you in a minute. I gotta take care of something…”
He didn’t wait for an answer, or a rant from Keigo. He simply left them to go to Maya as they just stared at him before heading to the roof tops. Ichigo walked up to Maya in a nonchalant kind of way and just stood there by her. No words were spoken for a moment, and then he turned to her to look at her.
“ So I take it you got my message?”
“ Mhmm.”
Ichigo blinked, a little surprised that she didn’t say anything else but that. He looked at her again before looking back out the window.
“ So?”
“ So you really want me to teach you how to play my flute?”
“ Yeah…I figured if I could change back Hollows into normal spirits…then exercising them would be so hard…I mean they’d go peacefully and wouldn’t try to kill us or anything.”
Maya laughed then and sighed. Ichigo just stared at her oddly. What on earth was so funny? He meant every word that he had put in his letter and that he had said to him right now. So why the heck was she laughing at him for?
“ What?”
“ It’s not going to be easy…”
“ I know that…”
“ And you’re willing to be patient?”
“ Yeah…Of-”
“ Even with me?”
Ichigo blushed softly, for Maya had turned and looked at him for a moment, with a shy look in her eyes, yet she was more than serious…and Ichigo could tell. She was willing to teach him how to play a tamer interment…even if it took months…he knew that she would do it. Maya could tell that Ichigo was willing to work hard to learn what all she could teach him. Even if it took a long period of time…If Ichigo wanted to change the Hollows back into regular souls…then she would do whatever to help him. They both just looked at each other for a moment, not uttering a word. Ichigo smiled…Maya smiled as well.
“ Well then…I guess I’m willing to teach you…”
“ Really?”
“ Really…let’s say we start today…sometime after school…my place.”
Ichigo paused at the last thing that she said. He blinked, but nodded for a moment as Maya started to walk off to go get lunch. Ichigo too walked off to meet his friends on the roof…but couldn’t help but think about what Maya had said. They would be alone…at first it wasn’t such a big deal to him, but being alone with Maya? Who knew what things could lead up too…?
This thought ran through his mind all-day and even now as he stood in front of Maya’s front door. He paused before knocking, praying that nothing would happen….it wasn’t so much he was worried about Maya…he was worried that he might be led to do something that was very unusual. Maya opened the front door, greeting Ichigo with a friendly smile as he entered inside.
“ Wait just one moment…”
Maya left him alone and ran upstairs to get her flute. As she was gone Ichigo wandered about a bit. He poked into some things a little, and other things he left alone. As he wandered Ichigo caught sight of a little area that seemed to look like a memorial. He looked at it for a moment, then causally walked up to it and got a closer look. He saw a beautiful woman holding a little girl in her arms. On the other side of the woman was a tall man. Both of them were smiling as they held their baby girl. Ichigo’s eyes grew soft, not hearing footsteps slowly approaching him.
“ Ichigo?”
“ These are your parents aren’t they?”
Maya went quiet and nodded her head, not giving him a word…only movement. Ichigo stood up and turned to Maya. He smiled some walking to her side and looking down at her as she looked up at him.
“ So where do we begin?”
It had already been at least 4 hours since Ichigo had arrived to Maya’s house. Ichigo sat on the couch in the living room. His head tilt back, resting a little. His mind was scattered everywhere. This was going to be harder than he thought. He opened his eyes when he heard Maya back from the kitchen with a tray that had two cups of tea on it. She set it down gently in front of him and sat next to him.
“ Are you ok? Do you have a headache?”
Ichigo shook his head as he sat up again, reaching for a cup of tea as Maya took a sip of hers. He sighed heavily. He didn’t want to seem like he was wasting Maya’s time, but it was much harder than he had thought it to be. He took a sip of his tea and set the cup back down on the table.
“ No…I’m fine…”
“ Ok then let me teach you one more thing…”
Maya held the flute up towards her lips. Ichigo was looking at her, now focused; though he had wished his break could have been a little bit longer.
“ This note will chain a Hollow down as soon as you hit the first three notes…”
Maya moved her fingers to show how and where the notes were. Ichigo was looking at her, but he wasn’t all there. There was something about her…something that drove him crazy. The past few weeks, since Maya’s arrival, Ichigo felt something stirring inside him…something he never knew existed. He trying harder than ever to focus on what Maya was saying, but as she spoke gently he couldn’t help but stare at her lips. Soft and gentle…with nothing but kind words. Ichigo felt his heart thumping lightly against his chest. This had started ever since he first saw her weeks ago…but this time it seemed to be uncontrollable. He couldn’t hear her words any longer…for he was no longer there…
“ Do you understand?”
“ Huh?”
“ Do you understand? What I just taught you?”
“ Oh…yeah.”
“ Here then, show me.”
Maya handed him the flute. Ichigo took the flute in his hand and put it towards his lips. He paused for a moment, placing his fingers on the right keys…but was not able to play any notes. He just sat there, looking down.
“ Play something you dummy! Play something now before she gets any closer!”
“ Ichigo…do you need some help?”
Ichigo didn’t say anything. Maya smiled some gently placing her hand on his own hand that was on the flute. Ichigo didn’t look at her for a minute…then he realized that Maya was closer to him now than she was before.
This could cause something to stir.
“ Oh no she’s too close! Don’t you dare! Don’t even think about”
“ Here…it’s easy…It’s just one…”
“ You’re going to mess everything up…”
“Two…”
“Maya…please forgive me…”
Maya was about to say three…but stopped in mid sentence. She blinked for a moment, feeling something holding her hand, and something soft on her lips. She was in some sort of a daze at that moment. What was this feeling so suddenly? Her whole body was numb to the gentle soft touch…she wondered who was making her feel this way…
Then it hit her. It was Ichigo…Ichigo was making her feel this way. Ichigo was the one with the gentle touch…and the soft, warm lips. It was him…It was about 20 seconds after that, that Ichigo realized what he was doing and immediately distant himself from her. He jumped off the couch quickly and just stared at her. Maya looked up at him, not uttering a word. Shock and embarrassment covered his whole entire face as well as the crimson red hue. He blinked just looking down at her, seeing a soft pink hue forming across her own face. He turned his head away from her.
“ I…I’m so sorry…”
Ichigo then turned and walked right out the door. Maya quickly got up to her feet and followed him out the door. She watched him leave in such a rush…he just couldn’t stand to be with her then…at that moment, he knew he had messed everything up…now she would probably think that he was trying to take advantage of her…how stupid he was. Maya watched after him as he began to become more and more distant. Apart of her didn’t want him to leave…but she couldn’t bring herself to call back for him…
