The first time he saw her she was standing on a cliff healing a dragon.
She showed no fear.
She just stared up at the beast as her deep red hair was blown back, and her white gown danced in the wind.
Her hands hovered over a golden shield covering the giant reptile's forearm.
The beast peered down at her and after what seemed like an eternity it was healed, and launched itself up into the sky and flew away.
~.~
The first time he heard her speak he knew that she wasn't someone to make an enemy of.
"Give me all you jewels, woman!"
She stopped and looked over her shoulder to the man holding a knife towards her. He continued to watch from the side of the road. His hand hovering over the hilt of his sword: waiting.
"And what if I have no jewels to give to you, Brun of the Black Caves clan?" Her gray eyes were neutral, but deadly.
Brun sneered and took a threatening step towards her, "All women have jewels, even though not all jewels are treasures."
The thief licked his lips and before his eyes could rove over her body, he was gone in the blink of an eye.
The maiden turned and made her way down the road.
~.~
The first time he meet her she was sitting at a fire staring up at the stars.
"Come sit with me at the fire, warrior of the sword." She calls out to him in his native tongue, but doesn't look to him as she addresses him.
He ponders for a moment but goes to rest and converse with the maiden he has seen from a distance.
He takes his place across from her, the fire is between them but he sees her face clearly.
She is breath taking, and exotic beauty he never would have found back home in Japan.
"What brings you so far from the soil of your fathers?" She asks as she stares up at the stars, looking and peering, it's almost as though she's reading a story that no one else can read; no one human.
He waits for a moment to answer and when her head tilts towards him, he answers.
"There was nothing left on that soil that tied me to it."
"I see," she says and her eyes leave the sky and peer into the fire, and again he believes there is a message being spoken that he cannot grasp.
"It is unfortunate but common for you kind. Despite this I give to you my condolences."
She reaches into the fire and pulls out a stone, it is burning, glowing, seething with heat but her hand does not smoke or become charred. She stands and looks down at him.
"I'm sorry to leave you so soon, but what I was waiting for is done and I now must be on my way."
He nods and she turns to leave.
"Before I go, what is your name?"
He stares at her back and is memorized by the flow of her auburn hair.
"Aizen Sosuke."
She glances over her shoulder and smiles at him.
"I am Freyja."
~.~
Sosuke travels and goes from one village to the next in this foreign country. He defends himself, and sometimes those he can't. He hears stories of her, the most recent one of how she saved a small town from a fire with nothing but a shield.
He travels and travels; travels and travels. He is not searching or exploring.
He simply wonders.
Until one day…
"There will be a man one day that will say, 'Not all men who wander are lost.' Isn't that a beautiful thing, but I don't think that applies to you."
"I'm not lost," He replies. He blinks and she is standing next to him, as an equal.
"Perhaps not physically, but," she reaches and touches his chest, "one doesn't not have to be physically lost to be lost."
Sosuke jerks away and pulls his sword from his sheath.
"Put that away, Sosuke. It will do you no good, this you know," She looks down at him and her eyes glow and he feels his very soul being crushed and subdued.
He blinks and she's gone.
~.~
Freyja traces patterns into his chest and hums a song of her land into the air.
"Will there be child?" he asks.
"No, mortal men do not possess such strong seed for goddesses." She sits up and pulls her hair over one shoulder, and combs her finger through it, humming.
"Then is this why there are many stories of male gods bearing children to mortal women?" He too sits up, but instead he takes her hair from her and starts to braid it.
She looks at him surprised but smiles and lets him continue.
"Yes, male gods will always gain a child from any mortal women they bed. We females don't have to worry about such things." She pulls the animal skin blanket he had obtained towards her and covers them both.
"I see."
She cups his cheeks and rests her head against his chest.
"Perhaps one day you shall have the strength.
~.~
Freyja comes back to him when he is on his death bed back in Japan. He left and never saw her again, until today. She hasn't aged a day and he's jealous. Jealous and saddened.
"Freyja..." He reaches for her and she takes his hand and holds it to her heart.
"Sosuke," she leans in and kisses him.
"What a disgusting sight I must make to you." He never wanted her to see him like this but it seems he couldn't hide this from her no matter how hard he tried.
"Your body was meant to fade in time, but your soul has not. It still burns young and strong."
Freyja places a hand on his old chest and spreads her fingers out. His soul swims and squirms inside his human flesh.
Reaching for her.
"I was unable to obtain the power to be with you." His eyes are heavy and he's not sure how much longer he has. He can hear the crickets singing in the summer heat, and he knows this is how he wants to die; her hand on his chest feeling him, his hand on her heart, and the crickets of his country singing him into the next life.
She smiles and he sees the sun.
His eyes close and everything fades away, but Freyja's voice echoes.
"Hold onto this until we meet again."
A weight is in his hand and when he opens his eyes again he is in Soul Society, and in his hand is a stone, it burns and seethes with heat but his hand does not smoke or char.
~.~
Years pass and he grows. Far beyond all his peers, he grows and he knows that Freyja is waiting for him at the end of his road.
Sosuke keeps the stone near him, waiting.
~.~
The years pass and the stone falls into Kisuke Urahara's hands and he does all he can to get it back. He destroys all that get in his way, but the stone isn't recovered.
Not until years later from the body of one Rukia Kuchiki. He moves to Hueco Mundo and waits.
~.~
The first time he sees her it is through Ulquiorra Cifer's eye and she isn't the same.
She is weak.
She is timid.
She is crippling herself.
She is Freyja trapped in a human shell.
~.~
The Winter War approaches and Sosuke has followed Freyja-no Orihime Inoue's movements since her battle with Yammy and Ulquiorra.
He watches as she grows and slowly he can see the true Freyja shining through.
He sees her slowly become Freyja again. She is fierce in battle and shows no mercy for the warriors he sends her way.
He watches as her 'comrades' grow wary of her. They wonder at her rapid change in battle and he relishes in the mistrust in their eyes.
Sosuke though sees the thorns in his side. The trust between her and her nakama doesn't waver and he wonders who she will choose.
~.~
The smell of blood is heavy in the air and the sound of metal crashing against metal rings loud.
Sosuke faces his many opponents and smirks. He has the upper hand. They know it, he knows it, and the very Earth knows it.
They stare each other down and then they clash.
It is only interrupted by her voice cutting through the wind and sound.
"KOTEN—"
He's in front her before she can finish her chant and the stone is pulled out and Tsubaki collides with it. Sosuke hears Kurosaki Ichigo scream for her.
"INOUE!"
The power is great and amazing.
It is like the day on the road when Brun simply stopped existing.
The day when the village in the mountains returned from the dead.
The day her shield stopped a mountain from crushing him.
He feels Freyja's powers swirl around him and he calls out to her.
His power reaches out and up and matches the maelstrom of energy. They sing, twist, join, unite, and become one in front of everyone.
Once it dies down and everyone is able to see again, their eyes are greeted by the sight of a goddess and a god.
She is not completely Freyja and she is not completely Orihime Inoue.
"Sosuke," she breathes.
And in the blink of an eye everything changes.
~.~
An: Orhime stop giving me ideas for you! 3 I love Aihime. Well, I've been wanting to write a Goddess!Orihime story for awhile now. This came to me when I was thinking about how Aizen knew what Orihime's powers were by just seeing them once. I know Uraharra knew too but he saw her powers more than once so he doesn't count. I just found it funny that he was able to tell what they were from seeing them in action once. Anway, with that in mind and the whole Orhime being a goddess thing floating around I wrote this. The thing is I didn't want her to be Vega. Everyone makes her the Weaving Princess. I decided to make her Freyja from Norse mythology. It seemed more fun. Well, here you go. Who knows! I just might go back to the Freyja!Orihime story and make a mulit-chapter story. I don't know if it'll be Aihime but I would like write Freyja!Orihime again. I encourage everyone out there to make Orihime a goddess stuck in a human body. Toy around with the mythologies out there! Sorry for any mistakes. My eyes just can't see them all.