Summary
The life of Inoue Orihime is a known part of the Bleach series. We all know that Orihime is a naive girl, filled with weird fantasies and odd eating habits. But, we also know that she cherishes her friends above all else. She strives to become strong to aid them in their battles, but still always being left behind. But, in this story, Orihime has had a different beginning and she's just getting started.
Chapter One – A Different Beginning
It was a rainy day. Inoue Orihime hated rainy days. It reminded her of death and loneliness. She used to love rain, naively thinking that the rain had a way of bridging the sky and earth, but, Orihime came to understand that rain was just that: Rain.
It was Orihime's first day at Karakura High School and she was a bit nervous. A few years ago, when her brother Sora died, Orihime was taken in by her Aunt Minako and raised by her in Kyoto. After her Aunt fell ill Orihime decided it was time to go on her own, and the only other place that felt like home to her was Karakura Town. So, she had planned to finish her senior year at Karakura High.
Being the new girl, she was a bit nervous, but, who wouldn't be? She knew no one and had no interest in having any new friends. She wasn't a cold hearted person, but, she had a feeling that perhaps this wasn't the ideal place for making friends, after what happened to her brother, Orihime had trouble getting close to people. Being here in Karakura made her remember a few things about her childhood that she hadn't thought about in years.
As a baby, Orihime's parents weren't what you'd call normal. They were the worst sort of people, her mother selling her body for money, her good for nothing father drinking day in and day out, hitting her, and her mother and Sora. So, one day Sora took Orihime away and she never saw them again.
Orihime had a secret that she had never told anyone. She could do things, odd things. Once at school she saw a young boy fall down and she felt sad that he was hurt, and there was a flash of golden light and she woke up... the boy was gone, and she had never found out what had happened. Whenever she had ever cut herself, or even fallen down, there was never a drop of blood or even a bruise, almost like she was invincible.
Orihime looked at her watch, not wanting to be too late or too early on her first day, she had ten minutes before the first bell for classes she supposed. Time to check in with the teachers or whatever and get her classes straightened out... what a bother!
Later that morning Orihime was shown into class by the teacher, whom she was told was named Ochi sensei. She was asked to speak her name and something about herself.
"Hi! My name is Inoue Orihime, I just moved here from Kyoto. I am pleased to meet you."
The teacher told her to take a seat and so she did, the rest of the morning was fairly uninteresting, until break. The first of her peers to be brave enough to say hello was a girl with red hair, she was about the same height as Orihime with a fair face and glasses.
"Hi, I'm Chizuru, Nice to meet you Orihime-chan!"
Orihime smiled at the girl and said hello, within a few minutes they were talking like old friends. Another girl, tall and skinny, with small features and wildly messy short black hair joined their conversation, she named herself as Arisawa Tatsuki. She was a member of a dojo and was ranked second at last year's competition.
Other students that Orihime took notice of were in a group away from the other students as if there was something secret about what someone had to say. Tatsuki told her who they were.
One of them was a muscled man, with tanned skin and wavy dark brown hair, he seemed to be a giant, and Tatsuki had said his name was Sado Yastura. Another was a boy with Navy hair and dark blue eyes with glasses, he looked bored with the others conversation and opted to look around the room instead, Ishida Uryuu. A girl was with them, she was short with shoulder length black hair with her bangs sort of falling in her eyes, she looked intelligent and was arguing with the last of the group, Chizuru looked at the girl with... longing, said her name was Kuchiki Rukia. A tall lean boy with short orange hair, with a scowl upon his face arguing back and forth with the girl, Rukia, he had kind brown eyes and a dark demeanor. Orihime could barely hear the whispers of their argument, Tatsuki had said she and the orange haired boy had been best friends in their early childhood up until high school, she called him Kurosaki Ichigo.
Orihime came to the conclusion that this group of Kurosaki's seemed to be kind of off. Opting to talk to each other rather than hang out with the rest of the class, like their own gang. She decided that she was going to stay away from them, thinking that they might be up to no good. She couldn't afford to get into trouble in her senior year, she was a smart girl and she wanted to have a chance at a scholarship, she wasn't looking for trouble.
After school, Orihime walked to her new apartment, she had yet to finish unpacking and was determined to finish it tonight after her homework. A week went by; she was starting to have a routine. Get up, shower, school, homework, shower, sleep. Eating was fit into that schedule at the appropriate times. Orihime loved to cook! It was her favorite thing to do whenever she had the chance.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and Orihime was enjoying the walk to school, when all of a sudden she could hear this screeching noise and the earth trembled a little like a mini earthquake, out of nowhere this person, whom she had never seen before, popped out from behind a bush and jumped to attack the 'creature'. The man had on a black uniform, he had a tanned face and an afro, he was holding a sword and jumped up high to attack swinging his blade down at the monsters head cracking the bone white mask it wore, the monster disintegrated into nothing and the afro man sheathed his sword, one second he was there and then next he disappeared. That was weird. Orihime thought that maybe her imagination was running away with her again, and continued on to school. Only to find that there were some students missing: Ishida, Sado, Kuchiki and Kurosaki were all missing from class.
On the way home, Orihime could see a cat walking right next to her, it fallowed her all the way to her apartment, where just outside her door there was a man wearing 3 inch sandals and a green clothes, topped off with a green and white hat. As Orihime got closer, the man looked up and smiled at her.
"You must be Inoue Orihime! Nice to finally meet you! Come in, come in, there's plenty to talk about!" said the mysterious Getabushi.
"This is my apartment, and I have no idea who you are... leave me alone please." Orihime was not one to lose her temper, but today was just weird.
"I am sorry Inoue-san, where are my manners!" the man exclaimed, "I am Urahara Kisuke, a modest owner of a candy shop. But, I have been keeping my eye on you Inoue-san and I believe you are the key!"
The guy was off of his rocker. Enough said. She could only stare at him.
"Alright, that may have been a ... bad start. Please let us go inside and have tea, I'll explain everything to you, I promise I won't hurt you, I just have something to say, you may decide whether or not I'm crazy after that, okay?" Urahara looked a little desperate.
"Uhm, well, just five minutes okay... tell me what this is about... and how do you know my name." Orihime was a fast thinker, and it seemed to her, that this man, Urahara, had a deep need to say something important, she didn't know what, of course, but she had a feeling it had something to do with the incident she had witnessed this morning. So, she unlocked the door and went inside, holding the door for Urahara, the cat by this time had jumped upon his shoulder and was sitting comfortably.
When she and Urahara had sat down at a small table in the middle of the living room, Orihime began.
"Urahara-san, please tell me how you know my name." Not one to be too patient, she needed to know how he knew her, so that she would know how to keep the crazies away from her.
"A classmate of yours Kuchiki Rukia, she is a... client of mine and has mentioned that everyday your spiritual power has been making itself known. Naturally I have been looking into this-"
"Right, well, I think you're done, Urahara-san I have listened to you and have made my deci-"
"Hold just a minute, Inoue-san, I'm not finished. Please allow me to explain." Urahara seemed to be about a minute from explosion, he looked nervous, and even a little afraid. "I know you think I'm crazy, but, it's not every day that you get to have answers. Tell me, Inoue-san, I know you feel it. A feeling inside of you that sometimes you might lose control, have you ever felt that way, Inoue-san?"
"I- yes. I have felt like that. Are you trying to tell me that you know what it means… that you know what's wrong with me? How do I fix it?" Now she was the one who was pleading.
"Listen; there is nothing wrong with you. You have a power within you that is trying to surface, with some training; we can help you to understand this." Urahara was starting to look relieved.
"Okay, now explain to me why Kuchiki told you about me, what's this had to do with her?" Orihime was starved for answers, which questions to ask first, 'prioritize Hime!'
"You may not believe that there are supernatural beings in this world, but there are. There is a place called Soul Society. People who die, their souls go there. Within Soul Society there is a, what you might call, a military force. They protect souls. They are called Shinigami, or others refer to them as Gods of Death. There are two kinds of souls. Plus and Minus. Plus or Wholes as some call them they are regular souls. But each soul has a chain which hangs from the chest of the person; this is called a chain of fate. Normally, a Shinigami will have helped the Plus soul to move on, but, sometimes they are too late and the Chain of Fate will erode and turn the soul into a monstrous creature that we call Hollow." Urahara paused and looked intently at Orihime, taking his time gauging her reaction to what he had said so far. "Hollows are creatures that may take on an animal like shape, they have bone masks and a screech that could bust your eardrums, but, I think you already knew that didn't you Inoue-san?"
"This morning on my way to school, I saw one of the creatures you speak of, and perhaps I saw a Shinigami too, he was wearing a black kimono and he had a sword. I don't know why anyone else wasn't freaked out by that. The people on the road, walking by like nothing was happening!"
"That's probably because they couldn't see what was happening. Only people with a certain amount of spiritual energy can see Hollows and Shinigami. Most Humans are unable to, except for a few, here and there, some can, some won't say that they can, lest they be put away for the rest of their lives. Others hone their new skills and join the fight against the Hollows. There are many paths that can be taken here, Inoue-san. I want to know which you choose." Urahara finished, looking pleased with himself, but there was a hint of uncertainty there as well. Maybe he was afraid she would say no.
"What are you asking me to do Urahara-san? I don't know how to handle this new information." Orihime was thinking miles a minute.
"Alright, here, take this. My store's address is on it. When you are ready you come and see me. I don't want you to decide now, it really is too much. Take a few days. If you decide to fight with us, we will help you to train yourself, to understand your power, should it choose to manifest itself. I must get back to my shop, Inoue-san, thanks for not kicking me out, and I hope to hear from you."
With that Urahara and the cat walked out the door, Urahara shutting it behind him. The rest of the night was done on auto-pilot unpack this, shower, eat, unpack that, homework, TV, unpack again. This went on and on, Orihime thinking about Urahara's offer. Should she help? Would she be able to? Did she even want to? It was a scary world without adding monsters and people with swords.
Author Notes: Hello, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I had a lot of fun writing it, updates may be sporadic at best, But I will finish this story someday! :) R&R
