Back to Seireitei
Chapter1

xxx. xxx.

Author: NijiBask15
Series: Bleach by Tite Kubo
Genre: Action/Romance
Synopsis: ichiXori! orihime becomes a shinigami, and it's fruitcake, cheesecake and lemon. and fluff. they reached anything and everything but the truth.. not a oneshot.
Pairing(s): main ichiXori, implied rukiaXrenji :
Disclaimer: just as much as i love anime-- no, bleach isn't mine.
Warning: Mature themes! (WINK) no hardcore sex as yet though, i can't bring myself to write it -/-
A/N: i actually wrote this when i got kind of bored.. but a good idea sorta got into my head and yeah well, since i hearts; hearts; the ichiXori pairing i might as well get a life to write it. yupp. read it! fruitcake, cheesecake, lemon. don't ask me what the hell that is. and FLUFF. plus it took me practically the whole night.

"Her- powers, nii-sama?"

"Yes. Captain Yamamoto had called me to his office to ask you to invite her to Seireitei personally," The black-haired, pale captain turned away slightly from the paperwork on his desk to look at the small-framed, raven-haired girl still standing tentatively at the door of his quarters. She appeared to be rather anxious about her friend, judging from the look she had had on her face for the past five minutes since he called her in. The exact same features and expression bothered him a bit, for they were exactly the same as that of the Rukia's late sister, Hisana, when she used to go worrying about him when he went for battles.

The same, caring, yet strong, nature that had stolen his heart away light years ago.

"N- nii-sama?"

He whipped out of his trance, slightly annoyed at himself for spacing out like that in front of his little sister. "Yes?"

"..What do they want with Inoue? Why the sudden interest in her powers?"

Now that was direct. Byakuya sighed inwardly as he caught his sister's anxious gaze.

"We plan to make her one of us.. make her a shinigami," the old general had said solemnly, brows furrowing at his question.

"They're going to make her a shinigami, Rukia."

"A- shinigami?!" The soulreaper found herself gaping at the stoic captain in a mixture of disbelief and relief. The last thing she had expected was this.. not that she thought Orihime was weak or anything, but still- she found it rather hard to picture a smiling, ditzy Orihime twirling a leek and dressed in shinigami robes.

Which, on second thoughts, was pretty cute, actually.

"You had better go and retrieve her now. Captain Yamamoto mentioned about seeing her with Kurosaki Ichigo tomorrow," Byakuya said, standing up and making his way towards her- for the door, actually.

"Ichigo?" Rukia's eyes widened slightly at the mention of the orange-haired teen. "Why-"

But Byakuya was already gone, leaving her staring blankly at an empty room for nearly a full minute before realising what she was doing. Sighing, the girl turned and decided to make her way off, hands on her zanpukto and a tiny smile coming to her lips. Coming to think of it, it had been a while since she last saw her friends.

xxx. xxx.

Her pen scratched absently against her paper, sending dark blue all over white as she stared out of the window. Sensei was droning on and on again, as always. Surprisingly, her brains did get her somewhere even without listening in class. That made her brains useful after all. It was just yesterday that Orihime realised that she actually spent most of the time staring out of the window right by her seat in class, listening to people chattering away in the open square downstairs, having their recesses and lunches. It sastified her, made her feel kind of warm and fuzzy on the inside for some odd reason or so.

Or, she would spend the whole lesson tilting her head slightly, looking at him.

Ichigo, the guy who stolen her heart away for seemingly forever. Even when she was a young kid many years back, when Sora had died.. when this certain orange-haired little boy at the clinic had took her hand in his, put his arms around her and comforted her, she had had a strange sensation jolting through her body. Something along the lines of love and trust. Something that had made her feel safe.

Apart from Tatsuki-chan, of course. But it was a different kind of love for Tatsuki, she was like a sister who protected her from sex-crazed female students like Chizuru, who kicked ass when she had been bullied. Orihime couldn't help but smile stupidly to herself for a moment, speaking of how Tatsuki had shoved Keigo so roughly yesterday that the boy had almost kissed Ichigo square on the lips. It had been a really amusing sight to see all of them turn beet red, while she hadn't really helped by laughing at them from the sidelines.

And she wasn't even listening when a certain black-haired girl came up to the door of her classroom and the teacher stopped mid-way in her lesson.

"WE HAVE A NEW TRANSFER STUDENT!" squealed the ochi-sensei excitedly to the class. Orihime broke out of her thoughts, only to see a sweetly pleasant Rukia standing at the door, a Chappy the Rabbit bag slinged over her shoulder. Rukia-

"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime shouted enthusiastically from her seat, exactly at the same time Ichigo went, "Rukia!?" in surprise. The shinigami caught both Chad and Ishida staring at her too.

"Hmm? You two know her?" Went Mizurio, making the both of them turn scarlet when realising what they just did. Rukia cast them, as well as the class, another one of her freakishly sweet smiles.

"Go sit down, Kuchiki-san! Join us for class.." the teacher grinned, waving her hands awkwardly over the empty seats of the classroom. Rukia smiled again, topped with a thank you and a bow. Orihime heard Ichigo groan disgustedly from his seat. For that, Rukia cast him a dirty look and chose to sit beside Orihime instead.

"Yo, Inoue," Rukia said, back to her normal self. The orange-brown haired girl smiled warmly at her friend, though noticing how Tatsuki was frowning slightly a few seats away from her. So she remembered Kuchiki-san after all..

"I'll talk to you later," Rukia said quietly, noticing Tatsuki staring at them too. The rest of the lesson was spent with Orihime staring absently out of the window, though when looking down occasionally, seeing the soul reaper squiggling chappy on her wokrsheet.

xxx. xxx.

"Is there anywhere to talk in private?" Rukia asked, annoyed at the number of students swarming around practically in every corner of the school. Orihime shook her head, while Ichigo simply sighed and leaned his head against the wall, brows furrowed as usual.

"The girls' washroom?" Orihime suggested.

"Hard luck I'm going in there, Inoue," Ichigo said grimly. Orihime blushed shades of red at her own suggestion.

"Yeah, that's true.. why don't we meet up tonight then?" She suggested happily. "My home's open.."

"Yeah, let's just do that," Ichigo said, yawning. Rukia nodded.

"It's settled, then. I'm getting out of here though," she said hastily as she spotted Chizuru walking over. "See you guys."

"Bye," Ichigo and Orihime said in unison. Realising it was the second time they did that in the day, both of them turned a little pink.

"Uh.."

"We'll meet tonight at nine alright," Ichigo said, giving Orihime a warning look as the red-headed bespectacled girl drew nearer. Orihime nodded fervently.

"See you later, Kurosaki-kun."

"Seeya."

And they both dashed off in seperate directions.

xxx. xxx.

Six hours later.

Orange-haired substitute shinigami and high school student rolled over in his bed and found himself lying face-flat on the floor, much to his annoyance. He couldn't belief how wet he was, sweat and all.

Yeah right, king, from your pervese dream? Hollow Ichigo laughed at him inside.

No, I never meant it to be.. Ichigo thought frantically.

Fucking bullshit, king, Hollow Ichigo cackled again. Ichigo sighed and stood up. God damnit..

He couldn't believe that he actually had a dream about Inoue, honestly. Plus it was a sex dream. What the hell had gotten into him?

He had her all pressed up against the wall- her eyes were half-closed and her speech was slurring. He had drugged her and she was only in a semi-conscious state.. he felt so good for her to be under him, all weak and helpless and soft. He loved her touch, her hands that were pressed up against his chest so lovingly.. her smooth, milky skin. From somewhere he popped a chocolate-coated cherry into her mouth, and the way she chewed on it slowly, dreamily, was friggin' erotic. She moaned as he bent down slightly and pressed his lips against her sweet, soft ones.. she murmurmed his name, rummaging her hands all over his body and tugging loose his school tie.. he pulled her sweater over her head and started to unbutton her shirt..

Ichigo shivered slightly at himself as he recounted what he had just dreamt of. No, he was mental, insane, stupid. How could he think of Inoue that way? He didn't even like her..

..or did he?

The whole Hueco Mundo episode seemed hella long ago. Then, Inoue had been taken away from him.. and the last moment before she left for Aizen's territory, she had visited him. Coming to think of it, he didn't even know why she wanted to visit him in the first place. She had healed him fully, restored him back to his normal health in the night. Ichigo sometimes wondered what Inoue really felt deep inside. For somehow, in some manner or so, he knew that she wasn't simply the simple-minded, ditzy and kind girl they all knew her to be. He knew that she, like everyone, had deeper, more complex thoughts then what he and everyone else simply saw on the surface. He knew that even big-hearted people like her could get hurt.

And no, he wasn't some sort of a telephathist and couldn't he most certaily could not read her mind. Plus he probably sucked so much at feelings and Inoue was so hard to guess.. he had made an effort to apologize to her, tell her that he was sorry, but all that she had said was, "it's okay." With a smile. And he had forgotten the whole issue, put aside his feelings, and went on to his daily routine, his life.

Why did it only revolved around him, him alone?

God, he just realised how much of a selfish jerk he was.

Inoue..

Glancing down, Ichigo realised that it was already 8.30pm. He had better go get changed and leave for Inoue's house. If he got there early, he could probably apologize and make it up to her. No, he had to.

xxx. xxx.

They were eating popcorn, chatting cheerily and watching the latest television programme, something of Don Ka'Onji's. More like, laughing their heads of at the screen and doing the Bwahahahas for amusement. Rukia had arrived early for dinner as she realised that she didn't have any money to eat, and surprisingly, Orihime's cooking today was more normal-oriented and nothing quite near to red bean paste, ice-cream and noodles all in one. Rukia had asked Orihime if she just wanted her to tell her about the issue first since it concerned her mainly, but Orihime said it was okay and decided to wait for Ichigo instead.

So they waited and mooched around, and somehow they lay all of the cushions, pillows, blankets and you name it on the floor of Orihime's room and honestly, it made the place a whole lot more cosy and cheery.

Then the bell rang.

"'Must be Kurosaki-kun," Orihime announced and standing up and stretching slightly, she made her way towards the door. Rukia yawned.

Orihime wrenched the door apart, and sure enough, Ichigo stood at the door looking frownier then usual. But, at the sight of her, he managed a smile.

"Hey, Inoue."

"Hi, Kurosaki-kun!"

They paused briefly at the doorway, Ichigo thinking hard on how to apologize but somehow the words wouldn't come, and then Orihime, realising she was blocking Ichigo from entering, turned slightly pink and let him in. Ichigo muttered thanks while she quickly shut the door.

"Rukia's here already? And I thought I was ea-"

"EH! WHAT'S HE DOING ON THE SCREEN!" Ichigo yelled and pointed to the television, where a grinning Don K'onji, (rather cornily at that), was giving his infamous speech about Karakura Reds and what not.

"Shut it, Ichigo," Rukia said sleepily while popping more popcorn into her mouth. Ichigo cursed.

"I didn't come here to see him," he stated as a matter-of-factly.

"Of course you didn't, Orihime wanted to wait for you," Rukia snapped and turning away from the screen, suddenly solemn. "Okay, uh.. let's start."

Orihime sat down and now the three of them were sitting in triangle formation, all of them feeling rather awkward. Orihime found herself get a bit nervous.

Rukia cleared her throat and began.

"Right- this issue mainly concerns Inoue, though Ichigo would be involved too. So I guess I'll just go straight to the point?" Rukia said hopefully. Orihime nodded while a look of clear confusion spanned across Ichigo's chocolate brown eyes.

"Under Captain Yamamoto's orders," Rukia began softly, her eyes casting to her friend sitting anxiously beside her. Damn, the silence from the other two was deafening.

"-Orihime is to become a shinigami."

xxx. xxx.

"Ken-chan, everyone's here!"

Grunt.

"What's up with this meeting, anyways," 11th Division Captain Zaraki Kenpachi grumbled as he made his way into the hall where some of the captains and lieutenants were already waiting. Yachiru giggled.

"Look, Ken-chan! Even baldie is here!" The pink-haired lieutenant exclaimed, pointing at a rather disgruntled Ikkaku, who muttered something along the lines of 'stupid bitch'.

"Attention!" bellowed the General Commander Yamamoto. The shinigami instantly moved into order, standing in their positions. Yamamoto cleared his throat.

"As some of you may already know, we would be having a new shinigami with us soon. She is none other then Inoue Orihime, friend of substitute shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo, from the Human World."

"Isn't that the girl who is as beautiful as me?" Yumichika presently whispered to Ikkaku.

"Tch."

"Ken-chan, that's big-booby!" Yachiru smiled and flailed her hands excitedly.

"Why do we have a need for her?" inquired Toshiro. Matsumoto, beside him, laughed inwardly at her captain. That would always be him- practical, questioning, friends or not. And she clearly remembered the incident where Toshiro had turned shades of red when Orihime simply hugged him goodbye in a friendly sort of way..

"Precisely. Mayuri, would you step forward and show everybody your report of the girl," Yamamoto nodded to the grinning captain who seemed to be pleased by the fact that everyone giving him their fullest attention.

"Basically," Mayuri began, stepping forward and producing a digital chart that formed in the air. A picture of Orihime appeared, full-body, along with much detailed figures and analysis by the sides. "My research as shown that this girl is definitely one with extraordinary powers- in fact, as much as that of the Kurosaki boy, though in a different sense. She had gained her powers, the 6 Hibiscus Flowers, from a Hollow attack as well as from Kurosaki's reiatsu, which indicates her high level of spiritual energy. Furthermore," Mayuri continued, waving his hands and bringing the image of Orihime closer, presently zooming into the structure of her body. "Her powers have been much of an interest to Aizen, for her most interesting ability is that of to reverse dimensions. Aizen had thus found her powers to be useful for the Hogyouku."

"However, that is seemingly not the limit to her abilities. With a more detailed scan of her body, there appears to be a hidden store of reiatsu kept in her- and, by the looks of it, this amount of suppressed reiatsu is in fact so great that it is enough for her to wield a zanpukto, even to release it to the form of 'bankai'. But- this amount of reiatsu can only be unlocked by its originator, which is in fact the Kurosaki kid. In other words, Kurosaki is the key to unlocking her greater abilities, and this can only be done when Orihime fights an even battle with the boy for twenty-six hours straight, both of them at full-strength, and are evenly matched. Thus, Captain Yamamoto sees the need to bring her into Seireitei," Mayuri said all of this very factually, and a smug expression crossed his face when Yamamoto nodded in acknowledgement.

"Thank you, Mayuri-taichou. Now, I have already requested for Kuchiki Rukia to bring both Inoue Orihime and Kurosaki Ichigo into Seireitei, and both of them should arrive along with Rukia by tomorrow morning. For Orihime's special training, I have decided for Ukitake-taichou to take charge of her," Yamomoto nodded to the silver-haired, kind 13th division captain, who bowed slightly in gratitude. "Meanwhile, the both of them would stay in the Kuchiki Residence, whereby they would perhaps be most comfortable, since they appear to know more shinigami there."

"Last but not least, I would like to re-emphasize my point on why Inoue Orihime is to become a shinigami. As all of you probably know, the war with Aizen is not yet over. Orihime's powers are commendable and she would be a good addition to our army if she were to fight along with us. Fortunately, Aizen still does not yet know of her unlocked powers and thus would probably not take the girl captive once more. Also, being in Seireitei for Orihime and Ichigo would be safer then staying in the human world, where the hollows and espada could be reach them more easily. Orihime's stay in Seireitei would be till she unlocks her power and achieves bankai, so I hope that all of you would cooperate to the fullest. Shinigami duties in Karakura Town by Kurosaki Ichigo, Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji would be taken over by Momo Hinamori and Kira Izuru."

Yamamoto appeared to said it very fast; at the end of his entire speech he seemed rather breathless.

Meanwhile, the shinigami were listening in acknowledgement and awe. After all, it wasn't every day that you got such a unique human girl in their midst who was recognized by General Commander Yamamoto to become a shinigami. And finally-

"That is all. You are dismissed."

xxx. xxx.

"I- I'm to become.."

Orihime was speechless. A whole lot of words seemed to be rushing into her head at once, mainly comprising of 'shinigami', 'me', 'what?', 'oh my god', 'kurosaki-kun', and 'soul-society'. She felt her throat run dry and her face grow hot as she caught Ichigo and Rukia's intent gazes on her.

"-a shinigami."

She repeated this to herself slowly, not sure of what to say.

"Um.."

She tried to move, smile, brush it off, say something, but found herself stuttering.

"I-"

"It's okay, Inoue," Rukia broke the tension as she saw Ichigo still gaping at the both of them. "Apparently, nii-sama says that Captain Yamamoto says that you are in fact alot more powerful than you think, so.. yeah. Tomorrow morning you, Ichigo and I would have to leave for Soul Society, so uh I guess you better get ready," she finished, managine a re-assuring smile.

The truth beginning to sink in, and Orihime nodded absently in a daze. This was so the wierdest day of her life. Her? Shinigami? Funny, knowing herself for 15 years, she never actually knew that she had such capabilities.

Oh well.

A/N: Hah, I actually finished this! As in, finish THIS CHAPTER. wuv. it took a hell lot of my time though : well yeah. r&r if you like it, i promise the next chapter will get better! it's all when the cute stuff comes in.. ichiXori stuffs and more romance and action. thanks!! (:
--NijiBask15