An arranged marriage...

With two very unfriendly people.

Ichigo woke up to the sound of birds chirping and a slight breeze making her pink curtains sway. She stretched with a loud elongated yawn and sat up. She smacked her lips a few times and brushed her hair back with her fingers and swung her legs over her bed. She put on her white fuzzy slippers and rubbed her eyes. She picked out her outfit for today. She decided on her matching black and pink striped flair pants and blazer. She took out a pink tanktop which was the same shade as the pink stripes and put them on. She sat in front of her mirror and brushed her hair out until it was almost perfectly straight with not a hair out of place. She did her make-up, then walked into her glistening bathroom. She brushed her teeth and took her vitamins. She stared in the mirror and thought she looked pretty good today.

She walked down to the parlor and sat in one of the red velvet chairs. She took out her folder of notes and clicked her pen open. They had a heated conversation about what color roses to have lined on the isle, but the obliged to blue. She eyed her fiance and looked back at the people sitting in the other chairs.
"I'd like a word with my betrothed."
She walked into the hall and leaned against the wall with a slight slouch.
"Look, we shouldn't fight this anymore. The wedding's going to happen anyway, and we've been pretending for 4 months now, I just don't see the point. We've tried convincing those dimwits to let us marry who we want, but they just won't listen. It's not like we'll marry beneath one another either."
She did have a point. Their parents would make them marry no matter what they said or did.

Zane yawned slightly as they thrust color sample's at him and he pointed randomly, letting fate choose the color of white the plates would be. Finally the princess walked in and he watched her frown at his choices before quickly correcting them. When more were shoved at him he just smiled and pushed them away, "whatever Ichigo wants will be fine."

He had just let his eyes flutter closed when she requested 'a word with him.' 'crap,' he thought, 'what'd I do now?' He sighed quietly as he followed her out into the hallway. He smiled slightly as she relaxed her stressed pose against the wall. He frowned again when she finished speaking, "I agree, they're not going to give in easily... But I still vote for resisting... Do you have any other ideas?" He stuffed his hands into his pockets, "I don't really care; don't have my eyes on anyone. But you've made it pretty clear that you do," he shrugged, "do you really think we should just give in? Have you given up on your crush or whatever?" He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her...

Her jaw dropped immediately at what he was saying. She had no idea what he was talking about, and yet, she was angry.
"What are you talking about?! Crush? On who?"
She hissed, standing up straight now. She realized she was getting a bit crabby and tried to calm herself down by taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

"Look, I just don't see the point in pretending. We're bound to eventually fall in love if we get married."
Her eyes fluttered as she said this, unintentionally. She slid her bony back down the wall and sat on the paisley printed carpet with a deep sigh. His words flew around in her mind and she wouldn't let them go until he answered.
"Now, what crush?"

Zane's eyes widened when she went on the defensive and he took a small step back, "jeez, I don't know okay? It just seems like..." then he shrugged, "maids gossip is all I'm trying to say. If you were giving googly eyes at a boy, it's probably all over the castle. Don't blame me."

He sat down a little after her, shaking his head, "I don't know if we'll fall in love or whatever, but we'll learn to live with each other if nothing else... If you just want to go with it I'll stop resisting it as well. I don't really care either way..."

She couldn't keep calming herself down. Her rage was overwhelming and she was heating up. Then she heard his words and knew exactly what he was talking about. She curled up, trying to make it all go away.
"Are you talking about Simon?"
Her voice was now quiet and calm. She wanted to break down and start crying, but there was no point.

Ichigo sat defenseless against the wall with too many thoughts in her head.
'I'm totally over him...he was just my butler for a while...sure...we flirted, but now he's in madam Bouchet's castle and I don't see him.'
She just gripped her hair and her entire body shut down. She felt lifeless and boring.
"I don't know what to think anymore."
She squeezed out.

Zane reached out hesitantly, and patted her shoulder feeling awkward, "I don't know who I'm talking about; maybe?" He adverted his eyes in case she started crying and continued to pat her shoulder, "um..." he didn't know what to say... "I'm sorry?" He said it as a question; his mother always told him that if a woman was crying to him, just to assume he'd done something wrong and to apologize...

"If you're going to apologize, say it like you mean it. Woman tip number 1."
she whispered. She stared off into the distance then stood up. Everything suddenly went white and she passed out on the floor. She was dreaming about Simon, Zane, and the wedding. She was overly-stressed and tired. She woke up in her bed and Zane was sitting next to her.
"Mmm...what happened?"

Zane nodded to her and started to stand up with her, but then caught her as she started falling. He stood there awkwardly, half holding her, half propping her up, before finally pulling her up into his arms bridal style. He looked around the hallway and shrugged before walking up the stairs back to her room. He set her down then ran to the nurses room, bringing her quickly to Ichigo's room.

"It's just stress dear, she's fine." Was what the nurse told him before leaving. She gave him an ice pack and told him to get her if Ichigo developed a fever.

When Ichigo opened her eyes, Zane smiled in relief. "You passed out; nurse says it was stress. Are you okay?" He looked at her worriedly and replaced the ice pack on her head...

She let it all soak in for a moment, looking around and making sure she knew what was happening.
'So...I was talking to Zane, I passed out from stress, now I'm here?'
She asked herself. She smiled lightly and looked up at him with intense eyes.
"I'm fine."
She admitted. She sat up and yawned as she blinked, batting her long eyelashes as her blue irises peeked out between them. She rubbed her eyes and flopped back down on the bed. She put a pillow up to her face and screamed into it then threw it lightly at the wall with a flick of her right arm.

She rolled onto her left side and turned the lamp on "low" and licked her lips. She moaned a little bit then rolled onto her stomach, knowing he would probably shift in pigment.
"Shouldn't we be getting back to the meeting?"
She said, her face being muffle by the pillow her face was buried in. She curled up in a little ball and rested there, Zane still by her.

((picture?))

((oops D: Sorry <<;; >>;; ))

Zane sighed and leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. "Good; your dad would kill me if you got hurt when you were with me." He jumped and almost fell off the chair when Ichigo started screaming, "wha-what's the matter now??" He asked confused. "I thought you said you were fine!" He was still startled and flinched a bit when she adjusted the lighting. Zane righted himself on the chair and crossed one leg over the other, lacing the fingers to rest behind his head. He chuckled and shook his head, "you know our mothers are just going to change it to how they want anyways. Why should we even bother." He shrugged with a sigh and eyed Ichigo's still form. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, you're probably right."
She said hesitantly. She sat up and brushed a hand through her hair, then laughed at him.
"I'm fine. I swear."
She walked over to the coffee machine that she had set up a few weeks ago in her room and made some of it. She put whipped cream, chocolate and caramel on top of it and crossed her legs on the bed, sitting in front of him.
"You can go get some if you want. By the way, have you seen the house they built for us? They're really serious about this."

((It didn't show up))

Zane nodded then shook his head, "I'm getting tired; I don't want to have to stay up for interrogations about what happened to you tonight." He rolled his eyes then sighed, "yeah I've seen it; looks like a damn doll house if you ask me. There's no way I'm living somewhere with pink trimmings." He made a sour face, "and expically not so close to my parents. They may say they're stepping down because of age but they don't really want to. They would just try to run the countries through us," he shook his head, "and if I'm going to be any kind of King, I'm not going to be a puppet." He glanced up at Ichigo, "what kind of Queen are you planning to be?"

She tapped the side of the hot styrofoam and looked up at him.
"For the people, by the people, with the people. In other words, I'll be strong and make decisions that have to be made. As queen, I won't be able to make 50,000 people happy. I'll make sure my choices benefit the people of our country though, not just us."
She said, with pride in her tone of voice. She smiled at him then looked down at the cup.
"It's good to know you'll be a good king."

Zane nodded, "I know what you mean; a country without it's people is nothing." Then he blushed a little and looked to the foot of the bed embarrassed, "I... I don't know if I'll be a good king... I've never been great at leading things... But I am going to try, and thats all anyone should be able to ask from me..." he mumbled still blushing. He shifted his arms from behind his head to rest on his legs, fingers drumming silently against his pants...

Ichigo stared at his fingers as they bounced up and down in a random order. She sighed as she rubbed her eyes.
'Sure...I like him, but that doesn't mean he likes me. We could find out...'
She stopped rubbing her eyes and set her coffee on the table. She quickly leaned to him a little bit and grabbed his collar, pulling him forward, making his lips meet hers. His lips were so soft, so delicate, she didn't want it to stop.

She waited to see if he would pull away, but then pulled away herself. Her face had become slightly more pink, but she liked it. She pinched her teeth together waiting for his response to the kiss. Would he want more, or would he run away from her?

Zane's eyes caught the flicker of movement when she set her cup down and he had been turning to see what it had been when she grabbed his collar. He yelped quickly in surprise bet he didn't have much time because his lips were soon covered with Ichigo's. He stared wide eyed at the closeness of her face, but he didn't pull away; shock causing him to freeze up more then anything. Finally, after what felt like years, she pulled away and leaned back into her sitting position and taking her cup back up. Within a few seconds she looked the same as she had before the kiss. 'Did that really just happen??' He questioned silently, honestly doubting that it had. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words refused to form so he closed it lamely. After a little while more he tried again, only to fail once more. He rubbed his hot forehead and shook his head a little, wondering if he had imagined the whole thing. Finally he gave up on words and stood up.

Zane sat down next to Ichigo on the bed and put a hand on her cheek. He stared at her for just long enough for her to pull away if she wanted to, before leaning in and kissing her for what he hoped was the second time that night...

When he stood up, she bit her lip and squealed quietly. She set her hands on his cheeks and kissed him again. She set the cup down on the table and even though she didn't think it was possible, her face was turning more red, and she could feel it. Even through her whole thing with Simon, she still liked Zane and was happy she could finally express how she felt.

By now, between kisses, Ichigo was gasping for breath. Without thinking and not knowing she did it, she moved to his lap. She was happy that he felt the same way. Suddenly the world was a black hole and nothing could bother them. She moaned lightly and smiled.

Zane had been expecting quite a few different possible reactions to his kiss. The two most probable ones he had braced himself for were: 1. She would freak out, slap him and run away. Or, 2. She would be happy but embarrassed, maybe give him another kiss.

Probably the last thing he had expected was for her to squeal and kiss him back so passionately. He was still confused from the first kiss -- which he was now positive had happened -- and her reaction only confused him further. She was stealing the breath from his lungs, and every time he pulled back to get more, she was there moments later snatching it away again. He was getting dizzy and stole the moment Ichigo was distracted, by putting her cup back down, to lean back against his arm to keep himself up. Before he was settled Ichigo was there again with her frantic kisses; and climbing on top of him at the same time no less!

Zane almost lost his balance at that moment but his hand found purchase in the blankets and he was able to keep himself up long enough to pull Ichigo a little away from him, "I-Ichigo, are you feeling alright?" He asked as he looked down confused at her legs on either side of him. They were both blushing madly and Zane silently wondered if someone had slipped something into her coffee maker; because she wasn't acting like herself at all. He also wouldn't put it past any of their parents to go through such desperate lengths to get them together with the wedding date drawing so near; they had tried stupider things....

She was giddy with joy, filled up to the brim with joy, she was so happy--she stopped her trail of thought when he said something. She paused for a moment and thought about that question.
"Um...yeah."
She said, scooting off of him. It hurt her slightly, the question. She just sighed and ran a hand through her hair, then buried her eyes into her hands.
'Too soon you tard.'
She told herself. She wouldn't cry, she knew that. She just sat there, unsure of what to do or say now. She just sat, waiting for him to do something.

Zane sat more confused then ever. For the past months Ichigo had showed him very little more then tolerance; and then suddenly she had basically attacked him with passion... and now she was sitting, just looking at her hands and looking like a kicked puppy.

He sat fully up and felt like sighing but held it in; women were confusing. "Are you alright now?" He asked quietly as he scooted slightly closer to her; not quite wanting to bring on another rush of kisses, but wanting to be close enough to wrap an arm about her waist. He finally got there, slid his arm into it's desired place and tilted her head up to look at him with the other. She looked like she was about to cry. Zane's eyebrows scrunched together in concern and all he wanted to do was to make her feel better. He kissed her again, feeling his face re-heat...

Not even 5 minutes had passed and she went from sitting, kissing, sitting again, ON HIS LAP, sitting(about to break down), to sitting with him and kissing him. Her thoughts were flying in her head again and she just let him kiss her. She lightly kissed his cheek back then sat for a moment.

She looked up at him when she realized he was really close to her. She sighed and kissed him once more. This was really helping her stress and cooling her down. Even though it brought more stress, it reduced it at the same time.

((GAH! I had an awesome idea for them when they were all hot n' heavy. It would have been funny too. Be back in half an hour.))

Zane rubbed her back in what he hoped was a comforting fashion. It was what his mother used to do for him when he was in a bad mood and it had always seemed to work for her... so he hoped that it was working for him. He accepted Ichigo's kisses with only a slightly awkward feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was getting more used to with every kiss. "You are okay... right?" He asked, still slightly worried; she still hadn't really answered him yet...

She cleared her throat then took another sip of her coffee.
"Uhm...yeah."
She pushed her hair back out of her face with yet another sigh. She was okay, but still a little hurt by him. Her back tingled under his fingers and she closed her eyes. This was really stress reducing too and it was a great feeling. She yawned, not because she was tired but...just because she felt like it.

Zane rolled his eyes, " 'um yeah'? That's all I'm getting for an answer?" He asked slightly annoyed. "Fine then, I'll change the way I phrased the question," he said looking at her with another quick roll of his eyes, "how are you feeling? What are you feeling? And what exactly just happened?" He asked, hoping he was being blunt enough but not enough to hurt her feelings...