Author's Note: Hey! I've always wondered how different Orihime's experience in Hueco Mundo would have been if it was Grimmjow was in charge of her rather than Ulquiorra. For those of you who want to know, this story takes place right after the arrancar invasion with Grimmjow and the five other arrancar. So essentially at the end of episode 121 as well as around chapter 213 in the manga. Most of this is almost word for word what happens in the series, but you will see where some parts diverge. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach
Her hands stopped shaking long enough for her to fully concentrate on the blood-soaked captain below her, willing herself to concentrate and say a firm Soten Kisshun. She could feel the spiritual pressure in the air significantly drop as the fight against the Arrancar ceased. Only one fight was left, and she could feel the strong spiritual pressure even from her distance away from the fight.
"Kurosaki-kun," Orihime whispered. She closed her eyes momentarily, sending a quick prayer to whatever higher power there was above to spare Ichigo his life. She opened her eyes and looked down at the young captain. The amount of blood made her stomach lurch slightly, but she tried her best to ignore everything except healing his wounds. Matsumoto had refused Orhime's help until her captain was attended to first. The strawberry blonde hovered slightly near the strange glowing encasing that was over her captain and held his hand the entire time in a fierce grip.
"Everything will be alright Hitsugaya taicho, Rangiku-san," Orihime said aloud as the wind blew a few stray locks towards her face.
She finally felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure diminish, not enough to worry her, but she knew the fight was over. A sigh was released from her, her tense muscles relaxing slightly to finish the task at hand.
The enemy's spiritual pressure was intimidating, powerful enough that Orihime began to slightly doubt Ichigo's ability to take his opponent on without the use of his Bankai. She silently reprimanded herself as soon as the thought entered her brain though, disappointed at her lack of faith in her friend. But she knew there was no denying the immense power the enemy had, whoever it was.
Once the white-haired captain was well enough to put on his own bandages, Orihime, Hitsugaya, and Matsumoto relocated to Ichigo's location, the night's events swirling in everyone's minds. They arrived to find Ichigo and Renji near Rukia's limp body. Orihime didn't say a word and readily called out her fairies once more, the yellow glowing light enveloping her dear friend and casting a light on her comrades huddled around her.
She looked at the faces around her, passing over Hitsugaya first who was slightly separated from the huddle and a myriad of bandages on his body. Matsumoto was not too far from her captain, silently watching Rukia's injuries heal. Renji had a fierce look in his eyes, his gaze not wavering from his childhood friend who was on the verge of death. Last, she looked to Ichigo.
The substitute Shinigami openly stared at Rukia with a wide range of emotions; grief, worry, pain, anger, guilt. It was almost painful to just see all the emotions pass through his eyes, and Orihime knew that the petite girl in front of her was the reason for it. She looked away, her chest tightening slightly and focused her attention back to her friend.
Once Orihime finished healing Rukia, she sat to the side of the group,, Renji and Rukia's gigai (who was occupied by Chappy) questioning their healed friend.
"You're better already?" Renji asked in disbelief since his friend was almost dead only moments ago. Chappy let out a rather tearful 'Pyoooooon' as Rukia nodded her head.
"Yeah. It healed at an unbelievable speed." Rukia affirmed to Renji, inspecting her own body where the gaping hole in her chest used to be. "Thank you, Inoue. You keep getting better and better."
Orihime looked back to the now healed girl in surprise, she was not expecting any praise and it made her immediately flustered. "O-oh, that's not true at all," The girl stuttered. "I'm just-"
"Are you healed, Rukia?" Ichigo interrupted. Orihime did not miss the serious and grim expression as he talked to Rukia. Orihime averted her gaze from the boy momentarily. She paid attention to the exchange between Ichigo and Rukia briefly before deciding to take her leave, not wanting to be around the substitute Shinigami much longer.
Grimmjow was pissed that Tousen stopped his fight with the interesting Shinigami. Hell, he was agitated and just itching for another go with the boy, his hair still on end. The Shinigami didn't disappoint him, lashing out with a powerful strike at the end. He could just feel the power surge from the boy as he blocked his strike almost unscathed, which earned a shocked look from the boy. He was ready for more, intent to kill the Shinigami and anyone else who got in his way, but it was cut short.
He didn't outwardly show his dissatisfaction with Tousen, not that the man could see anyways, but he knew he had to calm down before returning to Hueco Mundo. He put a scowl on his face as he stood in the massive room where Aizen sat at the top of an enormous throne.
"Welcome back, Grimmjow," Aizen said calmly from above, looking at Grimmjow as if he were merely an ant at his feet. Grimmjow's scowl stayed in place as he remained silent.
Tousen was angered by Grimmjow's lack of apology and respect, grabbing him by the collar and throwing bullshit around about executing him. Grimmjow broke the blind man's hold on him, laughing at Tousen's explanation of executing him for the sake of Aizen's cause, not the collective. It was never the collective when it came to these defective Shinigami assholes.
Aizen watched passively, not interfering just yet as he was interested in what his subordinate would do. It wasn't until Tousen sliced off Grimmjow's left arm that a small smile reached his lips, growing slightly as the appendage was set on fire with a kido spell. The Espada was livid, letting out a scream of anguish and frustration at the sudden loss. The sixth Espada put his only remaining hand on his katana and rushed Tousen, ready to kill for his lost arm.
"Grimmjow," Aizen said which halted the Espada's movements. "If you attack Kaname right now, I will no longer be able to forgive you." His smile was now gone and replaced with a slight frown.
Grimmjow growled slightly at the former shinigami's statement but sheathed his katana regardless. He walked away from the two men in anger before Aizen called out to him.
"Before you go, there is one last thing I require of you," Aizen stated calmly to the Espada. Grimmjow turned around, annoyance and anger clear on his face. Blood dripped down from the stump of his shoulder where his arm used to be, making small plops onto the ground below. "There is someone I want you to retrieve from the world of living when the time is right."
Grimmjow could care fucking less about kidnapping humans, but he kept his mouth shut and ignored the throbbing pain in his shoulder.
"When I ask you to, I want you to bring a healer to me. Inoue Orihime,"
The espada grunted in reply and left the room, shoulder stinging like a bitch and pride wounded. He committed the name to memory, malice in his eyes as he exited the room.
Orihime was alone at school for the next couple of days, Ichigo, Sado, and Ishida all missing, which left her alone to her thoughts as she walked home.
"Kurosaki-kun didn't come to school again today," Orihime thought out loud to herself. She could sense his reiatsu if she focused hard enough, but if he did not tell anyone his whereabouts, there was no point in trying to track him down. She was just more upset that her friend disappeared without saying anything, not even to Rukia. She mulled over her thoughts some more as the air around her felt heavy.
"Ha! What am I thinking? Enough of this gloomy attitude!" The orange-haired girl said to herself. She shook the depressing thoughts away and made way to her apartment complex, stopping briefly to greet a neighbor. When Orihime was asked if she was alright, the girl looked at her neighbor confused as he explained two suspicious looking people going into her apartment with a weird device. This did not really alarm her, but she just smiled and assured her neighbor everything was alright.
She quickly entered her apartment door and noticed a giant screen resembling a tv clinging to her wall, and moving? She was then told that head captain Yamamoto had information on Aizen's intentions in Hueco Mundo, and honestly, it was frightening to learn that Aizen planned to destroy Karakura in order to obtain a royal key to rule over the afterlife. Even she didn't think this was possible, but there was no underestimating a man like Aizen.
Her day went on uneventfully after the transmission with the head captain ended until she went to Urahara's shop to notice both Renji and Sado-kun training, which meant she could only assume Ichigo was doing the same thing.
When she declared that she wanted to train and get stronger too, Urahara coldly insisted she stay out of the fight, even going as far to point out that Tsubaki was still out of commission and that there was no place for a warrior who could not fight. She forced a smile on her face and ran out of the underground desert, running into Rukia and bawling her eyes out.
Almost three weeks had passed since that incident and she was now in Soul Society with Rukia. Before her departure, she made a few friends on the way when she decided to finally hunt down Ichigo. One being Hachi who was a vizard and had an ability similar to her own Shun Shun Rikka. The other Vizards were polite enough but mainly focused on helping Ichigo tame his inner hollow while her and Hachi discussed their abilities in detail.
She smiled at the thought and was now with Rukia in an empty clearing somewhere in Soul Society. She was having a wonderful day until she felt a shift in the air. Word came that the Arrancar invaded Karakura once more. She stood, startled at the news and ready to accompany Rukia back to the world of the living.
"No," Rukia told Orihime, a hell butterfly already near her, ready for departure. "You know what Urahara said, and until we can find a way to heal Tsubaki I don't want you getting hurt." Rukia looked Orihime and the orange haired girl knew there was no fighting her on this, nodding her head in understanding.
Rukia left, and Orihime was all alone in the clearing. She stood there for a minute weighing her options. She could either sit back and do nothing, hoping that her friends made it out alive, or she could go and help her friends in even just the smallest way possible.
Making up her mind she decided to go back, two Shinigami offering to accompany her once she asked for passage through the senkaimon.
"Thank you for accompanying me, it wasn't really necessary though," Orihime smiled gently at the two Shinigami men.
"Of course we did, Inoue-san. It's protocol at this point. Besides, you are a guest here now, so it would be our pleasure." One man replied politely.
"Oh, in that case, please lead the way." Orihime ran with the two men into the black void. She thought back to her friends and comrades engaging with the Arrancar, now breaking out to full-on sprint, more desperate than ever to aid in the fight.
'I'm on my way, so wait for me Kurosaki-kun, and everyone.'
"Che, this is the fucking girl I was sent to grab?" a voice called out in the dark. Orihime turned around to see a garganta opening behind her, eyes following the unfamiliar voice. "Oi, girl. Are you a fighter?" She could see him now, the garganta fully opening to reveal the man calling out to her.
He was tall with powder blue hair and eyes just as blue that pierced into her soul. She stared intently at the mask fragment on his face that looked like bone of a jaw, teeth separating when he opened his mouth wide enough. What was hard to miss is the hole in the center of his abdomen that she could see right through, but it did not detract from his muscular form. He was attractive, even with the mask and missing portion of his abdomen. Yet, most surprising of all to her was when he turned his body to fully face her. He was missing an arm, his jacket sleeve hanging limply at his side.
Orihime got on the defense as did the two Shinigami men with her. She was shaking, this enemy's reiatsu was strong, so strong that her knees buckled a bit under the pressure of his spiritual pressure. She knew this spiritual pressure from somewhere. But where? Who was he? Then, in an instant she knew why his spiritual pressure was familiar.
"It can't be," Orihimie whispered to herself, finally coming to the realization that this was the same over bearing and deadly spiritual pressure she felt clashing with Ichigo a month ago.
"I'll take that as a no," Grimmjow scowled and stalked toward her, like an animal hunting its prey. "I take it you're the healer then since ya sin't done shit to attack me yet." The two Shinigami men pulled out their katanas, slightly in front of Orihime to defend her. "Well let's get this over with, girl," he finished his sentence and moved at such a fast speed, she didn't even register that he wounded both Shinigami until they were on the ground, blood spraying on her clothes and face. She saw body parts fly across her vision and organs turn to mush. She was frozen on the spot, eyes going wide and her body feeling numb.
He moved once again until he was standing in front of her, eyeing her terror-stricken face. She was just a girl, bustier and curvier than most which appealed slightly to him, but just a girl. Well, maybe "girl" was wrong, because her body was womanly enough. Her form started to shake uncontrollably.
"You're coming with me," Grimmjow said looking down at her, his voice deep and commanding. She finally started into his eyes and was held captive by his electric blue irises. He was so close that if she reached out her hand she would come in contact with the bare skin of his chest.
"Soten Kisshun," she said out loud, her magic enveloping the two fallen Shinigami that were momentarily forgotten. Grimmjow's hand was around her throat in an instant, lifting her off the ground. He had a firm hold, not tight enough to cause her harm, but enough that the pressure kept her in place as she gasped for air. He eyed her magic from the corner of his eye, the two men seeming to slowly return to their original condition.
His eyes widened as he noticed one of the men who was missing an entire section of his leg return to normal, the leg slowly regenerating before his eyes. The other man was growing new organs in the blink of an eye. He glanced back to the girl, no longer upset with the task he was given to retrieve her. If she could heal body parts, hell even destroyed organs, then would she be able to heal his arm? Maybe even the dead?
The girl in his hand did not scream or cry, but she did struggle in his hold and claw at his hand with her blunt nails. Feeling no harm from her futile attempts om his skin due to his strong heirro, his fingers uncurled from her throat slowly and she dropped to the floor on her hands and knees, not leaving a single mark on her pale skin (besides the shinigami's blood). He looked back to the newly formed leg of the Shinigami he just attacked. A feral grin spread across his face and he began laughing hysterically at the new information. She was the answer to his current problem and hell, he was going to take her to Hueco Mundo without much of a fight. It was just too perfect.
He grabbed her by the arm when her healing was finished and the yellow light dissipated, a manic smile on his face. "This job just got a lot better," he said hoisting her over his shoulder and walking through the garganta before she could even get a word in.
Author's Note: Here is my first chapter! I am really enjoying this so far and hopefully it will go somewhere. Please review your thoughts or comments!