Chapter 17: A mysterious kindness, Orihime's hero?

Hey guys Here is the next chapter for Piercer of Heaven I'm planning on finishing this story by chapter 20 so please enjoy the last few chapters! Will Ichigo be successful in winning Orihime's heart? Or will he fail his trial to prove himself worthy to her older brother?

Orihime P.O.V

I, I don't understand what's going on...

Today hasn't been like any other day, not one bit.

Normally when I get to school, my indoor shoes have gone missing, or they've been torn to shreds.

But no, they are still in my locker without a scratch on them.

After this I go straight to my classroom. Now usually when I get there, my desk has been tainted with graffiti or been vandalised in some manner.

But once again to my surprise, my desk was clean, sparkling even.

I really am puzzled right now..

Has everybody finally decided to leave me alone?

Pain begins to erupt from my bandaged arm, almost acting as a grim reminder that this was in fact unlikely.

And I'm sitting on my chair right now and there is nothing keeping me off the chair for once.

No pins just a smooth surface so for once I am sitting comfortably.

For once I'm starting to feel like a normal girl again.

But this feeling is unusual to me, what is happening today?

Normal P.O.V

Orihime continued to discover unusual twists and differences to her usual day as the minutes ticked by.

The timid girl had P.E next but when class was over and she went to get changed, her uniform was still there when usually it would be stolen or vandalised.

But to Orihime's surprise, she wasn't in fact the most surprised with these changes.

One sneak glance to her left and a simple eavesdrop, gave Orihime a glimpse of irritation coming from a particular group of girls who notoriously tormented Orihime on a regular basis.

"Natsui what the hell? You threw her uniform in the trash like I told you to, didn't you?!" Chizuru enquired in a frustrated tone.

"Of course, I went to Chizuru, but when I went to hide it from her, her uniform was already gone!" Natsui responded feeling the red-haired girl's sinister aura.

"What the hell is going on today?!" Chizuru complained as she prepared her next attack against the unsuspecting girl.

The lunch bell rang throughout the classroom and Orihime prepared to leave the classroom with her boyfriend to go eat their lunch boxes.

However, to Orihime's disbelief and disappointment, Keith was already gone. She was alone again.

Just as Orihime was preparing to eat her lunch alone in the classroom, an ice-cold sensation shivered down the back of her neck.

Orihime smelt the liquid first, a sweet scent of strawberry raced through her nostrils as the liquid dripped down the back of her shirt.

"Kyaa!" Orihime screamed in response to the icy temperature which made contact with her skin.

Orihime suddenly came face to face with her attackers and fearfully refused to look them in the eyes.

The piercing devil like gaze burrowed its way into Orihime's skull as the short-tempered Chizuru began to stare daggers towards the timid schoolgirl.

"Don't get carried away Orihime! Just because your name means princess, it doesn't make you special! Just look at your stupid precious hair now!" Chizuru responded making the already insecure Orihime begin to tremble and not because of the cold strawberry milkshake that was tipped on to her head.

"That's right! You're not special bitch, just because the new boy likes you, that doesn't mean that you're going to get your fairy tale ending princess!" Natsui stated making the scared girl begin to make her escape.

"Now where do you think you're going?!" Ryo said as she grabbed Orihime by the hair.

"Please stop!" Orihime begged making Ryo increase her grip on her hair.

"Who do you think you are giving me orders?!" Ryo said as she began to pull her back towards the torment circle.

"Leave me alone!" Orihime said as she to her own shock pushed her attacker away and ran towards the bathroom.

Orihime heard cheerful and mocking laughter as she raced towards the nearest restroom so she could find a mirror.

With extreme effort, Orihime drowned her hair with lathered up soap and a cleansing stream of water.

Scrubbing with great effort to remove the milkshake from her hair.

Suddenly, Orihime spotted a lone pair of scissors on the side of the sink.

With hatred filled eyes, Orihime gripped against a huge chunk of her hair, with the scissors wide open.

"It's all because of this hair!" Orihime practically screamed as she prepared to rid herself of this cursed item.

"Well, well, if it isn't Kurosaki." Orihime heard suddenly making her take a break from her unplanned makeover.

The frightened teenager made her way towards the hallway window, to which she witnessed the transfer student surrounded by several thugs.

"Now what the hell do you want?" Ichigo asked as the thugs emitted their blood thirsty aura.

"Who the hell do you think you are huh? Do you think you're some hot shot because your hair colour is different?" the older student enquired as he clenched his fist.

"Are you messing with us punk?! Do you think you're special or something?!" another thug replied as he and the rest of the thugs began to approach Ichigo.

"This again? Now what the hell has my hair got to do with you?!" Ichigo replied getting prepared for a fight.

"Looking at your face is pissing me off!" the thug shouted as he threw a punch at the outnumbered Ichigo.

Ichigo calmly stepped to the side and drove a powerful counter punch into his attacker's gut.

Ichigo's attacker fell to the ground in riving agony as he clutched his stomach.

"Listen up and listen good you bozos, I don't give a damn what you think about my hair! This hair is the only memento I have left of my mother and I'm not changing it for you or anybody else for that matter!" Ichigo yelled Suddenly making Orihime drop her chopping tool, as her eyes were now transfixed on the bully victim.

"Maybe this will change your mind punk?!" another bully said as he threw a punch at Ichigo.

Ichigo once again, calmly took evasive action and delivered a painful counter punch to the victims now throbbing nose.

"You think you're hot shit do you?!" Ichigo's next attacker asked as they charged the individual.

Ichigo was suddenly charged by 5 attackers armed with bats and knuckledusters.

Orihime observed from above feeling afraid for this victim's impending fate.

However, to Orihime's surprise and shock, she wasn't actually looking at a victim at all.

Ichigo effortlessly destroyed his competition in a speed that put observing martial arts combatants to shame.

Splintered wood soared through the sky after the substitute soul reaper effortlessly sliced through the toughened bat with a powerful roundhouse kick.

Ichigo followed up with this demolition with a pain amplified side kick to the bat wielder's chest.

The next attacker armed with iron and ferocity threw a punch at Ichigo.

Unfortunately for the attacker, his punches sliced through nothing but air as Ichigo evaded each strike with the grace of a professional boxer.

A thunderous uppercut connected with the knuckleduster armed attacker sending him crashing into the concrete.

The last three fighters became sloppy through fear as Ichigo effortlessly dispatched attacker after attacker.

A swift chop to the back of the neck was enough to incapacitate Ichigo's next attacker.

Blindly charging in, Ichigo's next victim collapsed to his knees after a swift kick made impact with his rib cage.

The bully fell to his knees like a malfunctioning robot as his legs ceased to function properly.

A bullet punch to the throat caused Ichigo's opponent to collapse onto the surface of the concrete.

"Damn you! I'll kill you!" The supposed leader yelled as he pulled out a retracted box cutter.

Before Orihime could cry out to warn him, Ichigo clasped his toughened palm around the blade.

A stream of warm blood coursed along the length of Ichigo's palm as the blade dug into his skin leaving a small laceration on his hand.

"What the hell are you? Are you some kind of monster?!" the knife wielder asked as Ichigo held him in place unable to budge.

"Compared to the blades I have faced before; this butter knife doesn't even begin to scare me!" Ichigo roared as he snapped the blade clean off its hilt.

"Let that be a lesson to you punks! Don't you dare try to make somebody feel guilty or ashamed with how they look!" Ichigo said

whilst it wasn't specifically directed at Orihime, those words truly began to resonate with the bully victim.

Orihime gazed at herself again in the nearby mirror and did something truly uncharacteristic for herself.

She smiled.

She smiled at the girl staring back at her through her reflection.

Orihime decided that she wouldn't cut her hair just yet. At least not today.

Orihime's already awful day, was about to throw her yet another curveball.

As Orihime prepared to leave school for the day and go home, Keith suddenly approached her with that look on his face.

He wanted something and Orihime wasn't going to dare to say no.

"What's wrong Keith?" Orihime asked secretly concerned about his response.

"Nothing's wrong Hime, I just need a little favour from you that's all." Keith began making Orihime anxious.

"You see Ryo here has got cleaning duty today, but she wants to tag along for karaoke with me and the guys. So I'm going to need you to take care of that for her." Keith said in a very aggressive tone.

"I understand Keith, I'll take care of Ryo's cleaning shift." Orihime said secretly uncomfortable and sad to be replaced so easily.

"Here you missed a spot, you better get something strong to take care of all of this. You see I had an empty canvas, so I got a bit creative." Ryo said as she gestured to Orihime's desk.

Orihime choked back tears not wanting to give her bully the satisfaction that they were successfully wearing her down.

"No problem I'll go to the janitor's office." Orihime said as she raced out of the classroom wanting to get as far away from the pair as possible.

Orihime approached the classroom suddenly coming to a stop when she heard somebody at her desk.

The exhausted girl waited patiently by the door for the graffiti artist to finish their work so she could clean it up afterwards without any trouble.

However, due to a reason unknown to her, Orihime felt a sudden wave of hidden courage rush through her as she peered around the corner of the door.

What she saw was completely out of the ordinary, something she didn't expect to see at all.

"Damn it all, what's with all of this crap on her desk? Do they really have to do this to her every day?" A voice complained as they vigorously scrubbed at the horrible sketches and markings on Orihime's desk.

Orihime felt a little braver sudden feeling a sense of familiarity as she tried to place the voice she could hear.

Another inch away from the outside of the classroom, she spotted him.

The setting sun matched his spiky hair as he tirelessly scrubbed the ink off of Orihime's desk.

"I best get this done quickly; I need to make sure that they haven't taken her shoes again." Ichigo muttered to himself as he repeatedly cleaned Orihime's tainted desk.

Orihime crouched to the floor her hands seemingly glued to her face as the tears began to run down her cheeks.

The abused girl couldn't stop her tears from trickling down her scrunched-up face.

This act of kindness was overwhelming and hit Orihime like a freight train.

The dots were finally beginning to connect, the puzzle pieces were starting to form together to build a beautiful picture.

It was him.

He was the reason that Orihime found her shoes, the reason her desk was clean in the morning and her uniform wasn't stolen from her.

This mysterious man suddenly came into her life.

And Orihime couldn't help but compare him to the knight that saved the princess from the fairy tales she used to read as a child to escape her cruel reality.

Orihime didn't say a word, she just stared at Ichigo Kurosaki as he repeatedly cleaned her desk before she could read the colourful language that was placed on its wooden surface.

"I want to know more about him" Orihime thought as she suddenly became interested in pursuing some kind of connection with this mysterious transfer student.