Don't own Bleach.

Shattered Plans III

Orihime's powers manifested the first time the arrancar attacked Karakura. Her shielding and Healing abilities were first, but with some practice she was able to form a couple attacks.

Perhaps out of all of them, she was the most shaken by Ichigo's death- it was like losing Sora all over again. Some days, it just didn't seem real. Like she would get to school and see Ichigo come in with his usual scowl and messy orange hair, only for him not to show.

Tatsuki and Chizuru had both tried to cheer her up in their own way, but she had actually snapped at both of them to leave her alone- it was so rare for her to feel angry that she had no idea that she was capable of doing something like that- and both had retreated, though Tatsuki was more than a little reluctant.

As horrible as it was, Orihime didn't really want Tatsuki to get caught up in the same mess she was in. Tatsuki loved to fight, would have been glad if she could help them, Orihime knew, but she also knew that all Tatsuki would be able to do was sit on the sidelines and watch- or get killed, because she was just an ordinary human able to see spirits and she would be in the way while the others fought. Orihime had actually gotten quite good at dodging around a battle field, shielding those that needed a moment to recover and healing those injured.

Some days, she wished she had had the powers before the attack- she could have saved Ichigo. (another part of her wished she'd always had that power, she could have saved her brother.)

Perhaps that was why she kept going to the clinic to check on the twins, especially Yuzu- she knew what it was like to have the big brother you idolize suddenly absent and no longer there to shelter you. Of course, the twins still had their father, while Orihime had an Aunt and Uncle that she had never been close to.

"Orihime's here, we're going to the store!" Orihime only managed a surprised 'eep' as Yuzu suddenly exited the front door and grabbed her hand. It took about a block before Orihime's mind finally caught up to what had happened and who it was that was practically dragging her down the sidewalk.

"Yuzu-chan, what's wrong?" Orihime finally dug her heels in and got Yuzu to stop and look at her. "Yuzu-chan?" The girl's face was flushed and Orihime realized her eyes were a little red as well. "You can tell me, Yuzu-chan."

"It's stupid, but I just couldn't stay in the house for another minute." Yuzu wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry-"

"No, don't be! Everyone has a bad day once in awhile. It's normal." Orihime passed her a handkerchief. "What do you need to get from the store?" Yuzu blinked up at her in confusion. "When you left, you shouted that we were going to the store- what do you need to get?"

"Oh, I . . . I don't remember." Yuzu blushed. "I've been doing that a lot today."

"Well, if you don't want anything in particular, there's a good bakery just down the street and to the left- they've got fresh mochi and dango everyday."

"That, that sounds really good." Orihime smiled and lead the way.


Yuzu felt a little better now that she was out of the house and eating something sweet. It seemed kind of silly for her to have rushed out like that, but everything had seemed to go wrong and her dad had been busy in the clinic and Karin had gone out with Toshiro to play soccer at the park. She hadn't felt like talking to Matsumoto, either, and had done something she had done many times before without thinking- she went to her brother's room. The visiting Shinigami were either in the guest room, which was actually a couple of the clinic rooms with cots (the guys) or sharing with her and Karin (Matsumoto and Rukia), mostly out of respect to her older brother.

Her brother had always picked up after himself and made sure that his bed was made, so the room was just as he'd left it- with the exception of the school bag that Chad had found and brought to them a day or two afterwards. It had been placed on his desk-chair, and Yuzu had moved to straighten it. That's when she noticed the stain on one corner. It was a brownish red stain, and at first she thought it had come from mud or something, until she noticed a note on the desk.

Ichigo, I couldn't get the blood completely off- you could probably pass it off as mud, but I'll help pay if you decide to get a new bag. –Chad.

She had blanked. On top of all the stupid, minor things that had gone wrong, seeing the stain and realizing it was from her brother's blood was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back- for the first time ever, Yuzu understood why Ichigo and Karin preferred to leave the house when they had a bad day. Instead of being a safe shelter, it had become a painful reminder and she had to get out before she did something (she didn't know what, but it would have been something she didn't want witnesses around to see). She didn't even realize she had grabbed Orihime until the older girl had made her stop.

"Thanks, Orihime-nee-chan, I needed this." Orihime turned to look at her with a gentle smile.

"It's not a problem, Yuzu-chan. I'm here to help if you need it." Yuzu returned the smile, and the sun was beginning to dip down into the west before the two began to head back. The next thing they knew, they were surrounded by four men in white- Arrancars.

"What-?" Yuzu squeaked as Orihime quickly grabbed her by her arm and pulled Yuzu to her side, as if to shield her.

"Inoue Orihime, Kurosaki Yuzu?" The man that spoke had no change in expression whatsoever.

"Y-yes?" Yuzu was mildly surprised at how strong Orihime's grip was as the older girl responded.

"Our lord would like to talk with you."

"And if we'd prefer not to talk with him?" Orihime managed, a lot more bravely than she actually felt. She preferred healing to fighting, any day of the week- but they wanted Yuzu, too, and there was no way she was going to let them take her. Kurosaki-san and Karin-chan wouldn't be able to take losing another family member.

"Well, we'd hate to take you by force, but our lord would really like to meet you both . . . it has to do with Kurosaki Ichigo." Yuzu amazingly didn't feel Orihime's nails when the older girl tightened her grip.

"Nii-san?" Yuzu couldn't stop the hope that laced into her voice. "He's okay?"

"Given a loose definition of the word." Muttered one of the men, but Yuzu didn't pay attention. Her brother's soul- it had been missing and everyone had been doing their best to find it in their spare time . . . her brother was still existing, still trying to get back . . . hope flooded her, and if it hadn't been for Orihime's grip, she would have begged them to take her.

"Our lord will let you visit your brother if you would both come with us now." It took all of Orihime's will power to keep from agreeing right away- a chance to see Ichigo again, a chance to apologize for what happened- and focusing on the fact that they weren't that far from the Kurosaki Clinic and yet no one had come running when they sensed arrancar, except-

"You're arrancar, why didn't I sense you?" – she hadn't sensed them until they had surrounded them.

"There are ways to hide reiatsu without sealing it, Inoue-san. The shinigami will never know we were here. Now, will you come with us? Kurosaki Ichigo is in need of your healing abilities, and I imagine he would be very glad to see you both." The men behind them moved closer, and Orihime glanced down at Yuzu. She couldn't fight and shield at the same time, one of them could grab Yuzu even if the younger girl ran. They would be taken by force, despite the green-eyed arrancar's words to the contrary, if they didn't go willingly. Help wouldn't come until it was too late.

"Stay close to me, Yuzu-chan, I'm sorry." Yuzu nodded, moving closer to the older girl even as Orihime released her grip on the younger girl's arm. "Very well, we'll go with you." I'm so sorry, everyone, but I can't fight and hope to protect Yuzu-chan, please forgive me. Yuzu grabbed Orihime's hand, not really caring how childish it might make her look, not wanting to get separated from the older girl.


Renji and Isshin both raced to the spot where they had felt the garganta form, only to find an empty side walk and no trace of Orihime or Yuzu's reiatsu.

"Dammit, what do we do now?" Renji looked at Isshin, who had gone pale with fury.

"Call everyone, we're meeting at Urahara's in ten minutes." Isshin felt cold- the last time he had felt this much anger was when he realized that it was a hollow that had killed his wife and tried to kill his son- and that the damn thing got away. "I don't care who I have to go through, I'm getting my daughter back." For the first time, Renji felt the pulse of barely controlled reiatsu from Isshin and understood why the man in front of him had made it to be Captain. And quite honestly, he was glad he was the man's ally.

I honestly don't know why people feel the need to bash Orihime's character- it's painfully obvious to me that she's a healer, not a fighter, and can you honestly blame her for living partially in her own world after carrying her brother to a clinic only to see him die?

Note: In manga, Aizen claims that it was from being near the Hogyoko that both Chad and Orihime received their powers, but a lot of people, even in the manga, claim it was being in contact with Ichigo's high reiatsu that changed them. (I should've put this note earlier, when Ikkaku and Chad were talking, but oh well.) Me, I'm going with Ichigo, mostly because it was mentioned a lot that his reiatsu leaked everywhere, even before he gained shinigami powers.