What if ...
The sun started to set in Karakura-Town. A few red shreds of clouds drifted across the sky and the windows were gleaming in the evening sun. The streets were quiet, but here and there an animal darted through the woods, getting ready for the night.
The auburn haired girl pulled her jacket tighter around herself to shield herself from the cool wind that blew through the streets.
Autumn had arrived, the nights were cold and clear and the trees gradually lost their leaves. Abstractedly, she ran her hands over her tiny blue hair clips, which she was given by her brother a long time ago.
She had to think of how things came to be how there are now, how all of this had started, more than a year ago...Kurosaki-kun had met Kuchiki-san and became a Shinigami, and then everything happened so fast that she never really got time to think about it. It seemed so surreal all of a sudden, like a long, confusing dream from which she would not wake up, even as she finally got home now.
She had just come back from Soul Society, where she had trained with Kuchiki-san in order to become stronger, but she felt like she didn't improve at all. She would never be able to assist the others in fights, but would always be the one who needed to be protected.
As she thought of her friends she tried to remind herself of how the recent events must have afflicted all of them, and not only her. The fight against that cerulean haired arrancar came into her mind. Her stomach flipped over when she remembered how he had beaten up Kurosaki-kun. She couldn't help him. Not even with her puny healing abilities.
Her fingers clenched around her hair clips.
It steadily became harder for her to see herself as a respected member of their small group. She felt like she would always stand on the sidelines.
"Orihime, you dreamer" a high voice squeaked into her ear, "stop walking, we're there."
The noise caught her of guard. She had not noticed how her feet had carried her all the way to the front door of her house nor how one of her fairies had materialized. She stopped abruptly.
"Shun'ō! What are you doing? What if someone saw you?" She whispered, and quickly pulled the little creature under her jacket.
"Hey, Orihime! Let me out, you silly girl," the voice rose again from beneath her jacket, "no one can see me, remember?" Shun'ō kicked against Orihime's stomach in his attempt to free himself. The redhead suddenly giggled.
"I'm so sorry, Shun'ō! I always forget." She opened her jacket and the little fairy angrily shot out.
"I have a feeling that you're even more distracted that usually lately. What's wrong?", the small blonde fairy inquired, floating up and down in front of Orihime, hands on her hips and with an anxious look on her face.
"I...eh...", the auburn haired girl mumbled, "I'm just very worried lately ... "
"About whom?"
"You know very well who I mean... He does so much for me and the others. He always gets hurt because he needs to protect someone. And that someone is mostly me. He has voluntarily taken on the hard training with those shady guys, and I ... I am useless. I can never do anything, I will only need be protected. Everyone else is trying to become stronger. Even after training so hard with Kuchiki-san I didn't improve at all. "
Ashamed, she turned her gaze to the floor. Shun'ō laid her hands on Orihime cheeks and lifted her head.
"Come on, don't hang your pretty head little like that. You can do so much more than you expect. After all, you have us, your Shun Shun Rikka." The fairy smiled.
"You're not even aware of how important you are to your friends. They hold you dearer than it may seem. "
The little creature's smile would not falter, even as she directly looked into Orihime's big, sad eyes, which blinked, and then looked away. If only Orihime knew how right Shun'ō was, and that it wasn't only her friends that Orihime had a great value to.
Orihime started rummaging in her bag in search for the door key. She found it, put it in the lock and then suddenly stopped. Something dark seemed to approach her, sending a strange sensation down her spine. Startled, she looked around her and as her eyes fell upon an odd formation of clouds the sky suddenly tore open and within seconds there was a gaping black crack in the red and gold evening sky of Karakura. Orihime narrowed her eyes, while Shun'ō was hiding behind her back, squeaking anxiously. Slowly, almost cautiously, there was a figure emerging from the crack. Then, suddenly, the figure disappeared and then reappeared directly in front of Orihime.
Orihime's eyes widened. She could not move. The overwhelming reiatsu of the man who stood before her made her tremble.
Frightened, the auburn haired girl stared at the him. He was not much taller than her, had a slender, yet fairly muscular body, very pale skin and piercing emerald eyes. His jet-black hair was messy and some strands hung in his face, one of them parting at the bridge of his nose. She noticed that he was wearing something that looked like a broken helmet.
One of his hand clasped around her wrist that still held the key.
"Woman", she was surprised by the deep and calm voice of the man, "you will come with me", he told her. Her eyes widened. "Aizen-sama wants me to take you to him. He says he needs your abilities. "
Orihime gasped. Aizen? The guy in front of her was serving under Aizen, the man who had betrayed Soul Society and hurt so many of her friends? She tried to say something, but she was immediately cut off.
"Do not speak. You have no right to disagree or ask questions. I give you twelve hours. During that time, I give you permission to say goodbye to one person, and one person only. In twelve hours, I will be back here, and should you refuse to come with me or should the person to whom you have said goodbye get to know what you have done, be aware of the consequences. "
Suddenly it seemed as if Orihime and the man were surrounded by mist, the houses disappearing from their view. She noticed that he still held her wrist. Then the fog lifted and revealed a few pictures. Kurosaki-kun, Ishida-kun, Matsumoto-kun, Kuchiki-san. Her friends.
"This is not a request. It is an order." He removed his hand from her wrist.
"This bracelet hides your reiatsu. And no matter what, do not remove it."
Without another word he turned around and disappeared again. The fog lifted completely and Orihime was once more standing alone in front of her door, her whole body shaking. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. Shun'ō had long returned into a part of her hair clips.
Sobbing, the auburn haired girl sat on the floor. With tear swollen eyes, she looked at the bracelet which sparkled innocently in the fading sunlight. She wanted to tear it off and throw away, and yet she did not dare to. Too great was her fear for her friends. Tears continued to drip onto the floor.
She didn't know how long she sat there, in front of her house. After an hour, or maybe it was only a few minutes, she stood up, rubbing her eyes. She had no choice, so she could just as well use the few hours she had left for doing what the arrancar had allowed her to do.
So in that same night, she went to the house of the one person whom she would say good-bye to, and her words still echoed eerily around his room as the sun began to rise: "It is my turn to protect you now. Please...don't come after me."
