XxChapter 1: Some TurbulencexX
Dying actually wasn't that bad when she thought about it. It was probably because of how often she was associated with the subject during life. Hell, she'd been to the afterlife herself on many an occasion. It wasn't like she would've been scared otherwise. That just wasn't her personality. Ninenty-two was pretty damn old anyways, so it was bound to happen. But as she passed and left her body, she was at the prime of her youth all over again.
Inoue Orihime was dead, and her soul form was twenty one. Her striking red hair, innocent face, and sizable bust were all in place, as if she'd never aged in the first place. She had always dressed conservatively, so it was to no surprise that she donned an ankle length one piece white dress.
Orihime looked at her physical body, taking in the elderly woman. She died in her sleep, as any senior would wish it. Orihime didn't live her life as many had assumed she would while they were younger. She never got married, and she never had any children. She just kind of stuck around Karakura Town, help and helping until she had nothing else to do. Everybody knew who she was, really. The kids loved her, and the adults respected her. She kept her chipper personality through the years, and many of her close friends would assume that she didn't age at all mentally.
Deciding to get things over with, Orihime left her house and took to the skies, as her soul form would allow her. Standing on air, now that was a handy trick. Damn near every spiritual entity could do it, why not her? And so she learned. She hadn't done it in decades, but old habits die hard, she supposed. With her luck, maybe Rukia-chan would come for her konso. The reiatsu she felt within the hour said otherwise. Hello, nameless shinigami.
"You must have substantial reiatsu for your body to regress upon death." The man stated, sizing up Orihime.
Orihime giggled. "Yeah, I was kinda surprised myself. I was tired of being ninety anyways." She joked.
The man shared in the laugh, but soon got down to business. "Well, you'll have to come with me, miss… Inoue, was it?" He asked, attempting to remember his superior's thoughts on the newly departed.
"Yup! What squad are from?"
"The sixth. Kuchiki-taicho was quite insistent that you were escorted personally through the Dangai. No express trip via konso."
That was surprising, actually. "Byakuya-kun said that? How nice…" Orihime said to herself.
Taking so small note of the familiarity of which she spoke about his captain, she shinigami signaled that it was time to leave. "I am Kudo Ryosuke. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said with a bow.
"Likewise." Orihime responded, bowing as well.
As Ryosuke opened a Senkaimon, he gave Orihime a serious look. "We've just recently begun traveling through the Dangai on a regular schedule. For the past eighty years, the destruction of the Kototsu has made travel a very volatile experience. Urahara Kisuke had developed machines to halt Koryu, but recently the Kototsu regenerated itself. We hadn't assumed it would take so long, but we don't know if things are back to normal yet. Please do not lag behind, and be very mindful of the Kototsu if it decides to show itself. It's not certain that this Kototsu follows the same cleaning schedule as the last, so we're very cautious." He explained.
THAT surprised Orihime. Aizen had destroyed the Kototsu DECADES ago. Had the shinigami really been travelling the Dangai via Urahara's technology for that long? Deciding to mull it over later, she stepped through the gate with Ryosuke. The purple sludge that greeted her never got any prettier, but she had gotten used to it when she was younger.
"Normally…" Ryosuke started. "We would have immediately had to stop and place some of Urahara Kisuke's tools on the wall before proceeding. With the Kototsu back, travel is much quicker, but still volatile. We'd best be quick."
Orihime nodded before picking up her pace. She didn't like the feeling the place was giving off, for some reason. The air felt dense to her, and an extremely dim reiatsu saturated the area. The soon they reached the Soul Society, the better. The two walked in mostly silence, until a loud rumbling was heard behind them.
"Shit! The Kototsu!" Ryosuke yelled. He knew he should've checked the traffic through his Jigokucho. He was too caught up in explaining things to Orihime. If he had been more careful, they would have waited a few minutes before entering. "Run!"
"I know!" Orihime responded, picking up the pace. It wasn't going to do much good, though. Neither she nor Ryosuke had any experience in shunpo-like skills. It was all up to the muscles in their legs at this point, ones that Orihime hadn't used like this in far too long. The Kototsu was going to eat them, and in a last ditch effort, Orihime lifted her hand to where her hairpins usually were. Bingo. Not even the afterlife could keep the Shun Shun Rikka out of her reach.
"Santen Kesshun, I Reject!" She yelled, calling forth her patented shield to collide with the barreling Kototsu.
It was kind of nostalgic, in a way, considering the first time she traveled through the Dangai.
The shield burst almost instantly, causing her to make a very uncharacteristic curse. There was only one thing she could do at this point, and she had little time to do it.
"Goten Kikeshun, I Reject!" She called, creating a pentagon-shaped shell around her, all spirits but Tsubaki present. She reached for Ryosuke, but was too late. The Kototsu swallowed them up and spit them out Dangai in almost an instant.
The "Five God Sacred Link-Return Shield" was meant to form a casing around the person and heal their injuries at the same time. But, when the occupant wasn't injured, Shun'o and Ayame would instead devote their healing prowess to reinforce the shield as it was damage, creating a near impenetrable shell. Not even the Kototsu could break it.
Orihime hit the ground HARD. Make no mistake, the Kototsu wasn't nice when it evicted you from the Dangai. Taking a moment to gather herself, she slowly dissolved her protective casing. She took in her surroundings and noticed that she had indeed made it into the Rukongai safely. But what about Ryosuke?
Searching frantically, Orihime's breath caught when she laid eyes upon the shriveled husk that used to be Kudo Ryosuke. His body was wrinkly, ragged, and stretched out. His body couldn't handle the pressure of the Kototsu expelling them with such force. She wept for the man, not just for his death, but also for her inability to prevent it.
But then it hit her. The only reason he would have ended up like that was because of a time discrepancy caused by the Kototsu. Her question quickly changed from WHERE was she to WHEN was she. She really did have to thank her allies for their usefulness. Nobody had survived anything like this to her knowledge.
She wandered the Rukongai, looking at the various souls who inhabited it. Her attire caught the eyes of many and her looks the eyes of even more. Some wondered what she was doing in this segment of the Rukongai, assuming her to be of a higher district due to her clothing. Others had thought that were less… pure, but this wasn't Zaraki. They wouldn't be doing anything about it.
Orihime approached a male shopkeeper and decided to ask a few questions. "Ano… Where is this?"
The man gave her a pointed look. "You lost, girly? Junrinan's a ways away."
"No, that's not… Just please tell me where I can get into contact with the Seireitei." She asked politely.
The man scoffed. "Definitely lost. The only shinigami you'll find around here are the ones that Aizen brings through every week.
Orihime's face fell considerable. She didn't go forward, she went backwards. Just great. How far though, was the question now. "When's the next time they come through?" She asked.
"You're lucky. Sometime today if my internal clock's right. That man gives me the creeps, to be honest. Claims he's here to pick up shinigami hopefuls, but I never hear from any of them ever again. He's not the most trustworthy lieutenant in my book."
That was a start. Aizen wasn't a captain yet. That gave her a bit of an idea how far she was thrown. From what Shinji had told her about his time in the Gotei 13, that meant… At least sixty years back. The man was already neck deep in his experiments at this point. Did she really want to talk with him, though? He certainly wasn't one of her favorite people, that was for certain.
Orihime spared the man a quick thanks and went on her way. What now? Was she just going to live out life as a citizen of the Rukongai, or were there greater things in store for her? Shinigami Orihime didn't actually sound that bad.
Question was, where to start? And what to do after the fact…
XxChapter EndxX
This is just a tiny idea floating around for me, which is why it's so short. It really won't go anywhere until I hear some feedback, but it's a side project for now. I've almost given up hope on Vampire's Refuge, and am currently finishing up the last chapter of Sir Godot's "Dark Guild Konoha", which I adopted.
This is just a break for the most part. The idea has been with me for weeks, but this was all written in about an hour. Please review, because there's a lot to see if this continues.
Key points include:
Inoue-taicho at some point,
Some sort of change in the Gotei 13's training regiment prompted by her,
An encounter with her past self as a ryoka… (hence the title)
Xeno out, peace.