She sat in the corner, guarding herself from the outside world as the signs of fear and anguish streamed down her face. Her heartbeat increased and whimpers echoed throughout her room.
Orihime once again missed school that day. It's been five days since the defeat of Aizen, yet the auburn haired girl had yet to even attempt on going to school. All she could think about was the pain, sorrow, and confusion as the presence of it leaked from every pore on her body.
"What am I worth?" She whimpered into her arms as another tear slid down her cheek. "I couldn't do anything when we went to save Rukia!" Orihime barely choked out as another whimper escaped her lips. "And now…" She sniffled, "I-I still can't do anything! I couldn't protect myself, I couldn't protect my friends!" Orihime buried her head into her knees in a slump. "I dragged them out after I left to protect them, and everyone got hurt, except me!" Another sniffle. "If Rukia was to disappear, everything would be different. Ichigo would have never become a shinigami. Sado and me wouldn't have our powers. But what about me, what if I were to disappear?"
Orihime considered this, and then glared up at the ceiling. "Nothing…." She muttered under he breath.
"Nothing.." she continued in a stronger voice. "I make no part of this. Everything would be for the best if I were to disappear. I'm not important, not for anything, everything would be for the best in everyone's lives if I were to disappear…." Her eyes shut tight, trying to block the next rush of tears about to escape. "….and I just should"
As the words passed her lips, an extreme pressure was pressed on her chest. A scream exhorted through her room as Orihime pushed herself against the wall in pain. Suddenly, something white started to appear from her chest. Orihime stared in awe as the white material collected magically together in front of her, as if a person was being made. After that, en extreme light radiated from the being.
"So, you're just as pathetic as I thought."
Her eyes cracked open at the voice. Orihime's eyes widened at the being, which stood before her.
It was an exact image of herself, wearing the old and forgotten arrancar uniform, but her hair and skin were pure white, as if albino. The scleras of her eyes were black and the cornea was an invigorating yellow.
Her arms were crossed against her chest in a relaxed fashion with an amused yet perturbed look on her face. Her gaze landed on Orihime disgustedly. "Here I am trying to catch up on some sleep on I'm called out by the princess."
Orihime was still sitting in the corner as her eyes met with the pale version of herself. Her aura was extremely similar to the arrancar in Hueco Mundo.
"Who are you?" Orihime asked with as much courage she could muster up from her already fragile body, which wasn't much so every word she muttered was cracked.
The being bellowed a laugh. "Your instinct."
"My…instinct?" Orihime asked.
The being nodded, "I can be compared to Ichigo Kurosaki's hollow. I am your inner power that sometimes takes control of your body." Her pale finger went up to her chin. "I only recently was able to take control of you when you slapped that arrancar."
Orihime was utterly confused. That was her?
"I'm not here to explain what I am, but I'll give you a few notes so you'll quit giving me that stupid look. I am your instincts, I can sometimes take control of your body when your rage hits it's climax. But what ever I do with your body, it's your true intentions, I just bring them to life."
Orihime stood up with little energy to face her instincts as she continued her explanation. "Sort of as a zanpaktoe coordinates to a shinigami, we instincts coordinate to humans who have advanced their soul, as you had done so many times in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo."
There was a moment of silence.
"Ok, enough explaining. I came here because I was tired of the rain in your soul. Your gloomy attitude is making it terrible for all of us."
Orihime widened her eye. "Us?" she questioned.
"Yah." The Instinct remarked. "Me and all your shun shun Rukka. Anyways…" The Instinct slumped her arms down in a relaxed manner. She was the total opposite from Orihime. "I came here to stop the rain."
Another terribly bright light radiated from the Instinct after she voiced those words, Orihime flinched and shielded her eyes from the brightness until she felt her hand in someone's grasp as she was being pulled into the light.
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Once the light deceased, Orihime opened her eyes to what appeared to be a school playground for elementary students. The auburn haired wreck of a teen turned to her side, where stood the instinct. "Where are we?" she asked.
Instead of an immediate answer, the instinct pointed to something in the sand. Orihime's gaze followed to the direction of where she was pointing and widened her eyes.
It was her, when she was 8 years old, crying in the sand with pieces of her hair scattered around the floor. Three children were standing over her, all with a pair of scissors at hand laughing at the young Orihime.
Suddenly, a young raven-haired girl ran towards the group, and with a few quick moves, the three standing kids were now lying on the floor knocked out. The young Orihime looked up from her tears to the girl that just came to her rescue. Her gaze went down to her arms, where she found a cast, that was now ripped in half due to the assortments of punches blown to the already broken bone.
"Are you ok?" The young Orihime asked, wiping away the last bits of her tears. "Yah," replied the other girl, "I'm fi-"
The raven-haired girl fell down her on her knees and cried out in pain coming from her already broken bone.
The teen Orihime turned once again back to her instinct. "What is this? How am I here?" she questioned accusingly.
The albino being sighed, "You said you weren't important…remember? And you wanted to disappear, correct?" she questioned.
Orihime didn't answer.
"Well," continued the instinct, "This is where you first met Tatski. It was also when her arm permanently lost the control of one of her nerves, saving you. That's why Tatski was never able to win 1st place at any of her championships, due to this disability."
"What are you saying?" Orihime questioned. Surprisingly, her voice had a small trace of courage. The instinct was confused as to where this little bit was coming from, but then went back to explaining.
"Now watch what'll happen…" she raised her hand, "If you were to disappear." With a snap of her fingers, the two were now in a bedroom, Orihime knew as Tatski's room. "Look over there." The instinct pointed to a shelf of trophies. "Read what they say."
Orihime complied, and walked over to the shelf.
'Tatski Arisawa. 1st place'
She turned back to the instinct confused and stated, "Tatski never won first place." The albino nodded. "That's correct. But currently, we are in a world where you were never born."
Orihime quickly understood what the instinct was trying to say and lowered her eyes in a sad movement. If she was feeling terrible before, she was feeling worse now. Just being proved correct that one of her friend's life would be better without her.
"Ok, now off to Soul Society."
Those were the last words Orihime heard before another extreme light radiated from the being known as her instinct,
Once again when she was finally able to see, Orihime was indeed in Soul Society, the seretie to be more exact. There they saw the Orihime dressed in a shinigami kimono and Uryu dressed in one as well.
It was nighttime, and Uryu just informed Maki Maki to take Orihime away.
With a snap of the instinct's fingers, time stopped, and the current Orihime looked up at her in confusion. "Let's hear what Uryu is thinking." She replied to the teen's puzzled look. With another snap, time began once more, and Maki Maki took Orihime away. But this time, all you could hear was the sound of Uryu's voice. It was his thoughts;
'If Orihime was here during this fight about to occut, then she would just get in the way and get us both killed. I'm not sure if she'll be ok alone without anyone to protect her, she's just not strong enough. And what if that shinigami tries something on her, how will she protect herself? Well, enough thinking, it's time to fight this soulreaper.'
Orihime almost broke out in tears at the words she heard. With her last bit of energy, she sucked up an extensive amount of air and held it, as if holding back the pain she felt earlier in her room alone.
She was once again proved correct that she was just in her friend's way, and they believed she couldn't protect herself, she was….weak.
"Just holding it back causes the thunderstorms to collect, and once you do let it out, the rain is tripled. So quit causing us all this pain."
The instinct's words echoed through her head. She was even a pain to her own soul residents. Orihime parted her lips to begin speaking again until another light flashed before her eyes, and she found herself standing on a green plain, which was still surrounded by trees. Many bodies were on the ground, dead, and she could see herself standing up with courage.
It was when Ulquiorra and Yami came for the first time to the world of the living. Yami attacked Chad, Tatski was on the ground, barely conscience, Orihime was standing up after her shield shattered from Yami's finger.
All of a sudden, time froze with another snap of the instinct's hands. "Ok, so who's thoughts would you like to hear now?" The being asked, twirling her finger from one person to another, waiting for Orihime to choose.
After a while in silence, the instinct said, "Ok, I'll choose for you. How about…." Her finger twirled to the right, "Ulquiorra!"
Time continued, but you could only hear Ulquiorra's voice.
'She has healing powers. No, that's not it, this is not a healing technique. She's either reversing time or space. Whatever it is, it's not the power to heal, but it's something I have never seen before.'
With another snap of the instinct's fingers, his thoughts were muted, and everything else could be heard.
Suddenly, the being whirled her fingers causing time to speed up, until Ichigo came. "Lets hear Ichigo's thoughts, shall we?" asked the instinct, not really caring whether or not Orihime complied. Time began moving again, but all that could be heard was Ichigo's thoughts, as his sword blocked Yami's hand from Orihime.
'Thank goodness, I got here just in time. Well not really, Chas was attacked, but he could handle a hit like that. Orihime wouldn't though, so if I didn't come when I did, she would surely be dead. What was she thinking, coming out like this when she knows she can't fight, only heal.'
Time froze again. "Interesting ain't it?" the Instinct inquired. "Ichigo complies you as only able to heal, while Ulquiorra knows there's more to it than that."
Orihime spun away from facing the scene and faced her soul resident, tears streaming down her face.
"What are you trying to prove?" She spat at her clone. "I know its better off if I was gone! I know there's so much more to show me on how my friends came to save me! I know it already!"
A chuckled bellowed from the albino form of Orihime. "Ahh Orihime. I'm not planning on showing you anything else including your so-called 'friends.' In fact, I don't even know why you call them that, considering how they think of you."
She walked up to Orihime until she was in arm's reach.
"What I plan on showing you now is something that will open your eyes…hopefully. What's next has nothing to do with your friends. In fact, it's someone you'll least expect. Next we will hear all of someone's thoughts they had of you."
Orihime wiped the tears from her cheeks and choked out, "Who?"
The instinct smiled an evil grin, similar to Hichigo or Grimmjow's.
"You will now hear all the thoughts this person had on you, and this person is….."
The instinct paused, longing to see just how much Orihime wanted to know. The auburn haired teen seemed off in a different world, barely paying attention as she wiped away more tears. But the albino knew that once she said this person's name, she'd start paying attention.
"….Ulquiorra."
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I found my inspiration. Thank you for all your lovely ideas, but I actually thought of this one myself. I always felt bad for Orihime, if I were her, I would too feel as if I was a burden, ans always wanted to explain it in words. Anyways, do you guys like where this is heading? Do you think my writing got better? Please tell me, I'm super happy that I'm back from my writer's block. It's a great feeling.