This is an updated version of the fic (as of 6/13/10). The end of the last version was awful and drove me crazy. I hope you all like this ending better. Monsters
Inoue Orihime could change time. She could reverse death itself. Wasn't that a good thing?
Inoue Orihime had always stood out. Her orange hair made her a target. Even with Tatsuki's protection she was a target- different, strange. It was just that no one dared to set her in their sights anymore. When Inoue grew into a beautiful and terribly desirable young woman people stopped caring about her hair color. They cared about her boobs instead. It was unwanted attention, but as least it wasn't as violent as it was before- unless one counted Chizuru's affections.
Basically, Inoue Orihime was used to standing out.
Nothing could have prepared her for the way she was treated now, the way they looked at her.
Kurosaki Ichigo had attained the power of a Gotei Thirteen Taichou at the age of fifteen by sheer force of will, by desperation, by making a headlong dash into a future of battle. Not even Hitsugaya Toushiro or the So-Taichou could boast such a thing. Who would want to be able to?
Kurosaki Ichigo had always stood out. His orange hair made him a target. The only protection he had was what he managed to provide for himself.
For as long as he could remember he could see and talk to spirits. As years passed he could see a wall come up between him and the world. Very few people seemed able to breach that wall- even fewer seemed to want to. At first the list only included the names of family members. Later the list included Tatsuki, Sado, Inoue, Ishida, and (oddly enough) Mizuiro and Keigo.
One miraculous evening Rukia was added to this list and shortly thereafter so were the inhabitants of the Urahara Shoten. Within a month or two much of Seireitei was on his list of 'allies.'
Some time later Ichigo met Kariya, leader of the Bounto. What Kariya told him near the end of their battle stuck with him, though he fervently denied the truth of it. It was true that people would abandon him, in fear of his power, in fear of nothing more than what he was capable of.
Despite being called an idiot rather frequently, the orange-haired boy was very intelligent. Brash, impatient, but intelligent. And certainly not lacking in common sense. You had to at least have common sense to survive the violence he had experienced because of his hair. More than that, common sense was usually essential in battle. Therefore, he knew better than to whole-heartedly trust in Seireitei. Their history didn't inspire much trust. Especially when he learned about the Vaizard and their origins. He couldn't understand. Why did everything not strictly shinigami lack value? Why did everything not shinigami have to be destroyed?
It was a surprise when it happened. He knew it could happen, that Seireitei could turn on him. After all, Ichigo was the only one with five forms; human, shikai, bankai, Vaizard, and segunda etapa. And their fear came without even considering the frightening fact that he had completely bypassed an unreleased sword form as a shinigami. He supposed that he had held onto some hope that they would still see Kurosaki Ichigo the human, the shinigami, their savior, their friend. Instead they saw Kurosaki Ichigo the liability, the half-hollow, the monster.
Inoue Orihime was very trusting, very loving, and very forgiving. She healed and defended her friends and anyone else she could. And they were grateful… most of the time. So she couldn't understand how healing Loly and Menoly would make her a monster in their eyes. She had unusual power sure, but arrancar hadn't exactly been common before Aizen came along. And it wasn't as if the shinigami couldn't heal too- just not as extensively as she could.
So she could sort of reverse time. Why did that make her a monster? She was nice damnitt! Always nice. She could never be a monster. Not even to enemies.
At first, when it was just Aizen's side who viewed her as a threat she supposed she could understand. They were enemies after all and she intended to help defeat Aizen if she could. But when people on her own side, people she had helped, people she considered Nakama turned on her, she was hurt. Hurt and baffled. They could only logically fear her power if they envisioned it used against them. And how could any of them ever believe her capable of such a thing. Soon they began looking at her the way they looked at Kurosaki-kun: as a monster.
Orihime had heard about what Kariya had told Ichigo. When people started to look at them differently Ichigo told her that he had been warned. She'd gotten over her misgivings regarding Ichigo's Vaizard forms. She'd only ever been afraid because she automatically flashed back to the night her brother-turned-hollow had attacked her. She wasn't afraid of him. She was afraid she'd lost him. Still, now understanding, experiencing what he had been going through, she felt guilty for her fear, for any fear she felt towards him. He was Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurosaki-kun, her hero. Fear should never be associated with him. Hero, hero, hero…
Orihime knew of the various genocides in Seireitei's past; the Bounto, the Quincy, the Modsouls, the Vaizard. Who knew how many there had truly been. She knew they didn't have the best record when dealing with new and unusual things. But she never thought she would be amongst those considered dangerous and expendable. She never thought that people -that people she loved, people she'd sacrificed herself for- would see anything other than Inoue Orihime the human girl, the healer, their friend.
Kurosaki Ichigo needed no protection, for the most part. However, Inoue Orihime was vulnerable. Many now viewed her as dangerous, but she was still just a girl of sixteen with only Tsubaki to use defensively. When Ichigo learned what was going to happen to them -the two humans turned monsters- he secretly consulted with her (Tatsuki creating the pretense that they were dating now). They were only sixteen, hardly more than children, but the two of them together could survive. They could survive the plans of Central 46, of the world, if they stuck together and fled.
They weren't actually dating, but they were half in love with each other anyway, so determining to leave together wasn't quite so hard. Ichigo had a family, but they would understand. Orihime had only the friends she shared with Ichigo; Sado, Tatsuki, Ishida… they would all understand. Ichigo and Orihime would be fleeing with the Vaizards in a few days, giving them just enough time to settle their affairs.
Of course a select few shinigami -Rukia, Renji, and Hantarou- who still loved Ichigo and Orihime would understand what they were doing, but they couldn't put their shinigami friends at risk for nothing more than knowledge of their departure. Instead, the two fugitives left letters for friends with Urahara, to be delivered when it was safe. They left with one shared, fake bank account and only a small suitcase of belongings each. This was their new life. A life on the run. A life with the Vaizard. A life with people who understood them, could train them, help them, and would never fear them. The two youngest 'monsters,' and perhaps the most unique of them all, would never be feared for something that wasn't of their choosing. They had wished only for power to protect. It wasn't their fault that that power was so frightening to some.
In the end, Seireitei would regret their decision to exterminate them. That would certainly be seen to. At the moment they were just happy that they'd survived, happy to find others like them, who would accept them. And for now, that was all they needed.