Hello. This fic is dedicated to poor Orihime who could not get Ichigo to love her, because, well Ichigo belongs to Rukia! Anyway I feel so bad for Orihime...
It's about Orihime being obsessed with her zanpankutou who looked like Ichigo.
Enjoy!
Orihime stared at the figure in front of her. "K...Kurosaki...kun?"
The person turned to her and smiled. "Yo, Inoe!"
"Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime repeated, stuttering as she stared at him. Why is Ichigo here?
"Kurosaki? Who's that?" He answered, frowning a bit.
He's not Ichigo? But he looked so much like him. So who is he?
"My name is Kuroken, you didn't forget, did you?"
Oh right, it's Kuroken. He looked so much like him. "N...no, I didn't, you just reminded me of someone I know..." Orihime blushed.
This was the first time she saw her zanpankutou in person.
She had been training with Ichigo for the past few years already, and had slowly gained shinigami abilities. Ever since she had gotten her zanpankutou, she had been hearing his voice in her dreams every night, and she had always wanted to see him in person. Kuroken would laugh, telling her to train on her bankai instead, then she could see him.
Now she finally achieved her bankai, and got to see what her zanpankutou look like. He was exactly like Ichigo. With black hair.
"Who do I look like?" Kuroken asked, smiling.
But it's not like Ichigo to smile like this at her. Ichigo always frowned, or look very worried. Anyway, he was always not wearing a happy facial expression when talking to her. Somehow, when he was quarelling with Rukia, his eyes always emitted this happiness, this cheerful expression she had never seen him wore when speaking to her. But why? They were always quarelling, and Orihime never quarelled with him.
"Inoe?" Kuroken waved his hands in front of Orihime, snapping her back to real life. "Are you okay?"
"Y...yeah..." Orihime nodded.
Kuroken folded his arms. "I was expecting you to stare at me with awe, like... Oh my I didn't know you looked like this, you're so handsome! or something. But I get this kind of shock, zoned out expression instead. Am I not handsome enough?"
"No! No!" Orihime shook her head frantically. She didn't mean to zone out, she could not help it! "I...I..."
Kuroken laughed. "It's always so amusing that you are scared off so easily." He patted her head. "You should be proud of yourself, you achieved bankai in such a short period of time! Normal people need decades of training."
Orihime blushed. "T...Thanks..."
Kuroken laughed again. "You're so cute when you blush."
Orihime's face reddened even more. These were the exact words she heard Ichigo saying to Rukia, words that she had always worked hard to get to hear, words that broke her heart when she heard that it belonged to Rukia. Now she heard it, coming out from a person, rather, a zanpankutou that looked like Ichigo. But too bad, it's not the real person...
"You're zoning out again huh. It's not good to lose concentration while training. If you lose your focus I will not show myself to you." Kuroken said.
"What? No! No! I...I won't zone out again! I promise!" Orihime exclaimed, only to find her zanpankutou laughing.
"Well, then get training then." Kuroken said, preparing to go to his sword mode.
"Erm..." Orihime called out, stopping him. Kuroken looked at her with those eyes that resembled Kurosaki's so much. "Erm... I want to train on my Kidou instead..."
"Okay, go on then."
"Could you..." Orihime blushed again. "Could you train with me?" These were the words that she had always wanted to say it to Ichigo, but she would not dare. The shinigami legend's status was too high for her to be training with...
"Sure, how could I reject such a pretty lady's request?" Kuroken smiled. Orihime stared. She never knew Kurosaki's face could be so handsome.
"Let's start with the simple spells first..." Orihime jerked her head away, face flushed.
It has been a few weeks already. Orihime had been training with Kuroken non-stop. No matter how hard the training was, she felt that it was worth it, worth it all to have her zanpankutou by her side all the time.
The way he pronounce her name, the way he talks, the way he frowned in worry when she was in danger, the way his strong arms hold on to her... No matter how much she tried to find faults, Kuroken was perfectly Kurosaki that Orhime had always secretly dreamt of. The perfect man Orihime always wanted. Now she understood why she had been so curious to find out what Kuroken looked like when she heard his voice- his voice was like Ichigo's.
"Inoe." Kuroken called out her name again. "Shouldn't you be resting by now? You have been training a lot lately, it has been three weeks consecutively."
"It's alright, I don't mind." Orihime assured. Being around with Kuroken sure let Orihime forgotten about the reality. And she did not want to return to the reality, and get that reality shock she had been getting all the time.
"Go out and rest for a while, get some fresh air, relax for a bit, okay?" Kuroken suggested, with the same worrying tone Ichigo always add on his voice.
"Okay..." How could she reject someone with a voice like this?
"Inoe, it has been so long since we last saw you! Where were you?" Rukia exclaimed as she saw Orihime walking down the streets.
"Kuchiki-san..." She smiled. It has been a long time since she last saw her friends. Ichigo was, as expected, next to Rukia. "Kurosaki-kun."
"What have you been doing?" Rukia asked, worried.
"I...I'm training..." It wasn't a lie, that was exactly what she was doing, but that was not her intention. Enjoying the presence of Kuroken was as happy as being with Ichigo.
"Working hard, huh?" Rukia smiled encouragingly. "Want to come shopping? We're on our way. Vice-captain Matsumoto is coming along too."
"Okay."
They walked down the streets.
"Ichigo, did you bring your credit card?"
"Hmm? I thought you were bringing it?"
"I though you were bringing it."
"..."
"So you didn't bring your credit card."
"Well, after all I thought you were bringing..."
Punch!
"Ouch!"
"Go back and take it then!"
"No! Why must I take MY credit card? You take your own! I don't want to go bankrupt!"
Kick!
Orihime sighed. They were fighting again. They were always fighting. But Ichigo always seems to like it. Maybe Ichigo liked this kind of violent girls. But well, Kuroken told me the other day that he liked gentle, cute girls like me... Orihime blushed. Maybe Kuroken is a better partner for me than Kurosaki-kun...
"Stop fighting you two!"
The trio turned around.
"Captain Hitsugaya!" "Toushiro!" "Hitsugaya-kun!" Orihime exclaimed. Matsumoto was hugging Hitsugaya, dragging him along.
"Hey, why didn't anybody greet me?" Matsumoto whined.
"We didn't think Hitsugaya-kun would join us!"
"Don't go thinking that I want to go shop with you people. I was forced." Hitsugaya emphasised.
And so, they went to shop together.
Orihime watched as Rukia and Ichigo quarelled. Weird, Kuroken don't quarel... Wait, this is Ichigo, not Kuroken...
After so many weeks away from the real Ichigo, staying with Kuroken, kind of made Orihime forgot how Ichigo used to be. Did Ichigo always quarel this much? Was he always this rude?
"I heard you were training to achieve bankai." Hitsugaya commented, being quiet all the way.
"Yeah." Orihime answered, laughing embarassedly. Hopefully he doesn't ask more.
"Are you successful?"
Oops. What is she going to say? Orihime thought, biting her lips. If she say yes, then they would want to see Kuroken...
"Well?" Hitsugaya asked one more time.
...better tell them the truth I guess... I won't hurt...
"Yeah, kinda."
"Kinda? So you achieved bankai?"
There was a pause. Knew they would ask that. Hope this doesn't get any further...
"I...erm...I...well...Yeah, I did."
Suddenly everyone stopped their conversation. The place was suddenly eeriely quiet as everyone stared at Orihime. "You achieved bankai?"
Orihime stared back at them. Why were they so shocked? "Yeah..."
They looked at each other with a look of consternation.
"Cool, how does it look like?" Matsumoto asked, breaking the silence.
"Well..." Orihime fidgeted, looking at Ichigo. She knew they would ask her that! That's what she had been fearing the most. What should she say, that he looked like Ichigo? That would sound really weird. "I...I'll show you next time."
"I want to see it now!" Matsumoto said as she tried to dig out Orihime's zanpankutou.
"Wait...no! Matsumoto-san..."
Poof!
Kuroken appeared, blinking weirdly as everyone stared at him in shock.
"You called me, Inoe?" He ignored the rest and asked Orihime.
"Erm, well, I'm introducing you to my friends." Orihime said. "Matsumoto-san, Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-kun, Hitsugaya-kun."
Kuroken stared at them. "And why do I need to know them?"
"Well..."
Orihime fidgeted, not knowing what to say. After all, she was not the one who called him out, it was Matsumoto. The whole group stared blankly at Kuroken, mouth agape, probably wondering why he looked so much like Ichigo.
"Kaien!" Rukia was the first one in the group that spoke.
"Who?" Kuroken asked.
It might be instinct, it might be some weird response that usually comes when you're embarrassed, or it might be that fact that Orihime was scared about the way Rukia was looking at Kuroken, anyway, Orihime immediately grabbed Kuroken and ran home.
"Inoe?" Kuroken asked, looking at his master panting after that long dash.
The way Rukia was looking at him... She did not know why but she had a really bad feeling about it.
Now thinking about this, it was almost exactly six years ago that Rukia came into her life, and snatched Ichigo away from her. She was afraid, very afriad that the same thing would happen again, with Kuroken. Kaien, was he someone Rukia loved long ago? Whatever, Orhime did not really care. Kuroken was her zanpankutou, and brought her the happiness she had always wanted. Rukia, she kind of took it away from her six years ago, so she had no right to take away her another source of happiness.
Rukia cannot take him away from me like she did with Kurosaki-kun!
"Inoe, you okay?" Kuroken asked gently.
"Y...yeah..." Orihime nodded.
"What happened?"
Orihime turned and faced Kuroken. His face was looking at her with worry, gentle, and love written all over it. How much had she wished for Ichigo to stare at her like this?
"I...I..." Tears rushed up to her eyes, choking her throat along the way. She ran into Kuroken's chest, crying her eyes out on his shirt, as she felt his arms wrapping around her.
"So that person is someone you loved, but that girl took his heart away, and he no longer likes you?" Kuroken said, confirming.
"Yeah... something like that, but... the truth is..." Orihime fidgeted, snuggling in Kuroken's arms. "I don't think...that he had ever liked me before..." Orihime thought back, as tears welled up in her eyes again. She had loved Ichigo so much, but it was so obvious that Ichigo did not care about her. They had never had a proper conversation before either. Why had she bothered spending her whole life thinking about him? Why had she wasted so much time in her life, having this false hope, when everything would just be taken away so simply by Rukia?
She felt a hand wrapping around her waist.
"It's alright." Kuroken whispered in her ears, wiping her tears that had started to form in her eyes. "It's not like he's the only guy in the whole planet, right?"
"But... He's the one I loved!" Orihime said, as her tears poured down her face again.
Kuroken patted Orihime, soothing her. When she was calmed down, Kuroken offered her a tissue. "You said that I look like him, right?"
"Y...yeah, but his hair is orange."
"Then..." Kuroken looked down. "It should be okay if...I... take over, right?"
"Take over?" Orihime stared at Kuroken.
"Like..." Kuroken blushed. "I can be his substitute. You can love me instead."
Orihime stared at him in disbelief. "But...you are a zanpankutou...!"
"Well, zanpankutou have feelings too." Kuroken said, as he tried to hide his red face. "I actually do like you a lot, Inoe..."
Orihime stared, mouth agape, unable to believe what she was hearing. Those words, those were the exact words she had imagined Ichigo to say to her. She had no idea what to say. It was like a confession. "I..."
"It's okay if you don't want it." Kuroken said immediately. "I know how people feel, it is weird loving a sword spirit. So it's totally okay if you reject. Really." From the facial expression of Kuroken, it was so obvious that he would not find it okay.
"No!" Orihime stopped him frantically. "I like you too!" She blushed when she realised what she had said. "I...I like you a lot too, that's why I had been wanting to train with you all the time, it was to be with you... I like you...too..."
Kuroken's eyes lit up. "Inoe... are you sure? I'm a zanpankutou, you know."
Orihime nodded. It was true. Being with Kuroken was exactly like being with Kurosaki, only with more attention. These past few weeks being with him was the happiest time of her life ever since Ichigo asked Rukia out.
Kuroken smiled. Seeing Kuroken smile made Orihime smile too. They stare at each other like this for sometime.
"Can I..." Kuroken said, face turning a bit red again. "Can I...you know...what do you call the thing that humans always do? The one where they touched their lips together..." Kuroken trailed off, embarrassed.
"Kiss." Orihime laughed, flushing too.
"Yeah." Kuroken laughed too. "Can I...kiss you?"
Orihime felt her heart pumped fast, pumping more blood to her cheeks. Her first kiss... "Sure."
She closed her eyes as Kuroken leaned forward.
The kiss, was unexpectedly good. This might be what Ichigo would taste like too, and she had also been saving her first kiss for Ichigo, but, well, Ichigo belongs to Rukia now.
But Kuroken belongs to me. She smiled as Kuroken stuck his tongue into her mouth.
Ichigo walked to Orihime's house. The rest of the gang was still shopping, but since the group had increased number, with Captain Unohana, Vice-captain Kira, Vice-captain Kotetsu, 3rd seat Kotetsu, Vice-captain Nanao, Vice-captain Hisagi, and even Hinamori. Well, such a big group, they didn't need him anymore.
He stared at the door of Orihime. Orihime had been locking herself up, training. She had been really these few months. The way she stared at him, the way she acted, it was as if she was avoiding him. Something must have been bothering her.
But after she came out today, she seemed much happier. Maybe it was because she finally achieved bankai. Maybe that was what bothering her all these time...
However, as a friend, out of concern, he still find it essential to check on her. The way she acted today was weird too, running off like that, it wasn't like her. Furthermore the bankai made Rukia imagined that it was Kaien when he had thought it looked like Rukia, so he was quite curious about the abilities of her bankai.
He pressed the door bell.
No answer.
Hmm, Orihime was not here? He pushed the door. The door was not locked.
He crept inside, and called out. "Inoe?"
Maybe she was not at home? "Inoe?" He walked further into the room.
"Maybe she's hiding somewhere in her room." Ichigo mused as he pushed open the doors.
"Inoe?" He called out as he peeked inside the room. His eyes widened in shock over the scene he witnessed.
Orihime was kissing...Rukia? No wait, it's her zanpankutou!
Ichigo cringed back in shock, and fell onto the ground due to inability to balance.
"Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime stood up immediately, unwrapping herself away from Kuroken. "Kurosaki-kun, what are you doing here?" Orihime asked, blushing a bit.
"I...erm..." Ichigo stammered. "Excuse me for my...my rude intrusion... I...I'll take my leave now..." Ichigo said hurriedly, rushing out of the house.
He leaned on a wall, panting away. What was that? Rukia, no, that Rukia-look-alike...she was Orihime's zanpankutou! Why is she kissing him? It was weird. So damn weird... It's so wrong...dammit...
"Ichigo?"
Rukia arrived. "Ichigo why are you here? I was looking for you everywhere!"
Ichigo grabbed Rukia and kissed her. The scene he witnessed was so weird and so wrong. He needed to correct it now.
Feeling Rukia in between his arms, he felt much better.
"Does it tire you?"
"Hmm? What?" Orhime asked. It was night time and they were lying on the bed, snuggling together.
"Me staying in bankai form all the time. Does it tire you?" Kuroken said, smoothing Orihime's hair.
"...A bit. But it can last."
"Can it last for a whole night?"
"...I'm not sure..."
"Then I'd better get going then. Don't want to hurt you in the middle of the night because I returned to my normal form due to your exhaustion." Kuroken said, getting up.
Orihime stared at him climbing out of the bed. She didn't want him to leave. "So, see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah." Kuroken smiled. He vanished, and he was on the table in his zanpankutou form.
This was why it's not good to like a zanpankutou; you can never spend a night together. Unless I train up my reiatsu so that I can hold my bankai easily for a whole night. Orihime thought as she set her goals up for tomorrow's training.
The doorbell rang.
Orihime got up to open the door. It was Ichigo. Orihime blushed at what Ichigo witnessed today. It was really embarrassing. She should have remembered to lock the door.
"Hi..." She smiled.
Ichigo did not reply. He just nodded. "Well, Inoe..."
"...yeah?"
"About today, I'm sorry about that... You should lock up the door next time."
Orihime blushed. "Yeah, I will remember."
"Another thing..." Ichigo said, looking uncomfortable.
"Yeah?"
"Inoe... I think you're obssessed..."
Orihime blinked. "Huh? What do you mean Ichigo?"
"Well..." Ichigo frowned. "How to explain this... Well, you see, a shinigami and a zanpankutou are supposed to be like one person, so they are supposed to...you know...be one. I'm afraid, what you are doing...is actually wrong..."
Orihime frowned. "What do you mean, Kurosaki-kun?"
"Well, I think you're obsessed with your zanpankutou. You might need to go for...erm...counselling..."
"I don't want to...I'm perfectly alright." Orihime said stubbornly.
"No, Inoe, it's necessary, I have already helped you arrange, just come with me..."
"Shut up!" Orihime shouted at Ichigo.
Ichigo blinked. Orihime shouting? At him? A phrase no one had ever heard Orihime ever mumbled it before? Orihime must be very agitated. Maybe it was a bad choice to say it that bluntly.
"You're trying to break up me and Kuroken, right?" Orihime accused.
Ichigo blinked. Where did that come from? "No! No! Inoe...What I'm saying is true, it's not right to fall in love with your own sword...there really is a big problem. I've asked around and they said in a situation like this, it's best for you to go through counselling..."
"It's not fair!" Orihime shouted. "You took my happiness away once, and I won't let it happen again!"
"Look carefully, Inoe!" Ichigo grabbed Orihime by the shoulders, in which Orihime tried to struggle out of. "You must be thinking that your zanpankutou look like someone you loved right? But the truth is, it's not!"
Orihime stopped struggling. "What...what do you mean?"
"I mean, your zanpankutou looked like Rukia to me, and looked like me to Rukia, and looked like Momo to Toushiro, and so on. Your zanpankutou looked like the way he is because he was someone you loved, but it's not what he looked like for real!" Seeing Orihime calming down, Ichigo continued. "It must be the ability of your zanpankutou, looking like someone you loved, so that you will fall for him. So snap out of it, Inoe! Don't get obsessed with it! Your own zanpankutou!"
Ichigo stood there, waiting for Orihime to answer.
"Kurosaki...kun..." Tears dripped down on the floor as Orihime realised the truth. "Do you know...what does my zanpankutou looked like?"
Ichigo frowned. Why is Orihime asking him this? "Erm...I don't know...Ishida? Chad?"
"It's you, Kurosaki-kun...I love you..."
Ichigo stared. What? Did he hear right? Orihime loved him? How is this possible? "Oh...I..." He stammered. He had no idea what to say. He had never known that she loved him.
"I know, you can't be with me...so...please...just let me be with Kuroken, I don't care if it's illegal, or wrong, or unhealthy, I just want to be with Kuroken for as long as I can live..."
Ichigo stared at Orihime sadly. "I...I'm sorry, I didn't know..."
"Please, Kurosaki-kun...I loved you, and I will feel happier being with him than watching you and Rukia together...it hurts me..."
"Come on, Inoe, move on, there's always some other guys in the world that's better than..."
"Kurosaki-kun..."
Ichigo hesitated, looking at his friend.
"Please..."
"We can still be friends, Inoe, if you continue this way, you will..."
"Kurosaki-kun... Please, let me at least live happily from now onwards."
Ichigo bit his lips. That's right, it wasn't fair to stop Orihime from trying to get the happiness she had always wanted but was unable to get.
He let loose of Orihime slowly and watched as Orihime closed the door on him, tears flowing uncontrollably.
"You will die...Inoe..." Ichigo said, and for the first time in his life, a tear formed in his eyes.
A person who is obsessed with his zanpankutou, that is, fallen in love or developed a feelings for, the soul of the person will slowly be consumed by the zanpankutou, and the reiatsu will slowly decrease till zero.
In other words, the person will die.
"Kuroken..."
"Yeah? Oh my, why are you crying like this?"
"...It's nothing...I've changed my mind, stay with me all through night, please..."
"...okay..."
End!
Please review. Tell me how to improve this, I know it's not very good...It has been a long time since I have written...
:)