1986
Orihime Inoue was a special child.
Canonically, in the original Play, she grew up in an extremely physically abusive home. Her mother was a prostitute that had a horrid habit of taking out her frustrations on Orihime and becoming excessively jealous of Orihime's innocence and youth. Her father was a raging alcoholic that destroyed his liver as much as he destroyed Orihime's ability to healthily cope with violence.
Orihime didn't deal with violence, the threat of her death, or pain in a good manner.
She denied it.
She repressed it.
She ignored it.
People who were cruel or violent to her were not at fault.
They were like her parents.
How could she hate them, when she couldn't hate her parents?
She shut down, in a sense, when surrounded by rage and violence. At times, she could be a strong woman standing up for herself, and other times she found herself unable to move or speak like a helpless child.
She herself never acknowledged the core issue, dismissing herself as too weak.
Dismissing her trauma, her scars, her pain as something unimportant.
Perhaps if she had dealt with it in the original Play, she would have been adjusted enough to do more.
Hard to say, since it never happened.
She could never bring herself to put anger or violence in her actions. Again, she would never, ever admit to herself or others why this was the case. Always so terribly quick to call herself too pathetic, or weak to do anything.
In truth, she was fucking terrified.
Not of the people who attacked her, but of herself.
Only those who grew up in households like hers could truly understand, could truly feel the heart-stopping terror of: What if I become like them?
What if she gave in to her anger and became her father? Became her mother?
What if she indulged in her rage and in the process she hurt those she cared about?
She couldn't—wouldn't—allow that. That was something worse than death, worse than anything life could throw at her. She would rather be beaten, tortured, and murdered than become like them. Her raw, freezing cold, terror overrode everything else in her heart, forever damaging it into a barely pieced together glass ball.
Yelling was not acceptable.
Losing her temper was not acceptable.
Being angry was not acceptable.
Giving in to any of this would destroy her.
So Orihime did not fight back.
But now?
Now she has me.
And she was going to fight back.
(◕▾◕✿)
1989
If I was an optimist who genuinely believed in the good of others I could have given Orihime's parents a second chance. It would be easy to force them into rehab and let them grow into better people in their current lives.
I was not an optimist anymore.
Instead, when Orihime turned three years old—her brother was eight—I confirmed the physical abuse had started up and then I—
Well.
Chop, chop went their heads.
Certainly not the nicest way of dealing with things, but I didn't care about them enough to do it the long way. I could rationalize and say it was for the best, but it really boiled down to apathy and laziness.
Ending lives didn't matter to me, especially since I knew to do so just caused them to pop back up later. Maybe they'd have better luck in the next life. Maybe not.
Did I care?
Nope.
With no other family to turn to, the siblings were about to go into foster care when I stepped in.
And here my long-term plan came into fruition on the physical realm. All those centuries of building up power and wealth made it a simple child's play to forge identification papers for me, along with paperwork naming me as their godmother and consequently taking both of them into my family.
And what a coincidence I happened to have built a house up right next door to where Ichigo would grow up with plenty of space for two children to happily grow up.
Isshin laughed his ass off when I introduced myself as his neighbor. "Does Tōshirō know you adopted human kiddos?"
"Nope."
"You gonna tell him?"
"He'll find out eventually," I dismissed.
He howled with laughter. "Okay, okay, what about Captain Aizen?"
"Meh."
"YOU'RE KILLING ME HAHAHAHAHA. I almost wish I hadn't defected JUST to see their faces. HAHAHAHAHAHA."
"You're too kind, Isshin."
(◕▾◕✿)
Sora was quiet.
A visit to a pediatrician confirmed the physical abuse, malnutrition, and hints of psychological damage.
The first step was setting up a nutrition plan to steadily put him back in a healthier shape. Once he had enough fat and muscle on his bones, getting him into sports—likely karate to encourage self-defense and help increase confidence—would be next.
During all of this, though, was therapy.
I knew well enough that I personally could act as his therapist, but it would be better for him to have more than one person to turn to. He needed another adult he could trust to talk about things he wouldn't want to talk to his guardian about, and vice versa.
It would take years, but I had faith that by the time he was an adult Sora would become well-adjusted and live a happy and healthy life doing whatever he wanted.
Orihime was not quiet.
The abuse had ended early enough that it was hard to say if she would even retain memories of her parents. She was malnourished like her brother, but the physical abuse was not as extensive. I decided against therapy for now, as putting her in therapy that early could result in making her focus on the trauma rather than letting it go.
As a toddler, she was talkative, and she loved it when I held her. On our first day together as a family, I carried her into the house with Sora right at my heels. I showed them the living room, the kitchen, the downstairs guest room, the dining room, and then upstairs we went for the bedrooms.
"This... this is my room?" Sora whispered, staring in disbelief at his well-stocked room. Not really knowing what boys in his generation would want, I hired a decorator with the only focus to Spoil the inner child.
He had a loft bed with rails, a desk and computer underneath it, a couple of small bean bag chairs stationed in front of a TV with game consoles hooked up. A library of video games next to it, two toy boxes filled with toys, and the room was nearly covered with inspirational, sports, and shōnen anime posters.
'DBZ is in every modern world,' I thought, staring at the familiar faces. 'Ahhh... fun times.'
I readjusted my hold on Orihime to gently place a hand on his head. I ignored the subtle flinch in his shoulders. "Yes. All for you. Tomorrow we'll all go clothes shopping, so I'm afraid you'll have to bear with what you have for now."
"This is too much," he said, his voice quivering. "Me? Really? Me?"
There was skepticism, disbelief, and a tiny little shred of hope in his eyes as he looked back up at me.
I smiled as kindly as I could. "Yes, you. All for you. Go ahead and check everything out. I'll get started on dinner."
I excused myself, quietly shutting the door.
For his sake, I pretended not to hear the soft cries of the tiny little boy.
(◕▾◕✿)
I was not tied to the physical realm. I could be in the Then or Later at any point. Time was irrelevant to those who lived as spirits.
I would spend a couple of months in the World of the Living before returning to the Then on in the Soul Society, exactly one minute after my departure to the human realm.
So long as I obeyed the laws of time, and did not abuse that power, I was allowed this small adjustment. Which made things 100% easier, otherwise I would have had to retire early from the Soul Society to raise Orihime.
Or worse, take a sabbatical.
Imagine that bloodshed. Rukia had learned how to handle her teammates pretty well, but I didn't think she'd be able to completely stop Kura and Snuggles if they were bored enough to try and start a war.
(◕▾◕✿)
"Welcome back, Captain!" Rukia greeted me with enthusiasm, a grin on her face. "Were you able to complete your errand?"
"Yes, I was," I said, glancing over at the clock. I had aimed to only have a minute worth of difference, but instead, I ended up an hour off. It had been a while since I last transitioned through time, so a margin of error was excusable. At least it was the same day. I brushed back my hair. "Do I smell a delicious freshly baked pastry?"
Rukia nodded, brightening. "Yes! I tried to make scones."
"Ah! That would certainly explain the smell. Have you finally taken an interest in baking, my dear?" I inquired, heading toward the kitchen, Rukia falling in step behind me.
"I wouldn't call it an interest, per se, but I understand that it's important to have hobbies outside of training to maintain a healthy mind," Rukia said, likely reciting something Shiori had told her. "I've been practicing while you're out."
"I'd love to try some."
(◕▾◕✿)
1991
Raising children wasn't what I would call easy, but after you've done it a few hundred times you kinda know what you're doing.
Sora was a—and I say this with fondness—normal boy. Adjusting to a better life wasn't easy, but it wasn't overly difficult, either. He was a well-intentioned child with poor social skills. Therapy was working well for him, and he was—thankfully!—able to form a healthy bond with his therapist, Doctor June.
After a year of his new life one would have never guessed he was physically abused, affection starved, malnourished husk of a boy. Coming into middle school with a healthy body and mind made a ginormous difference for the boy, and he was able to find confidence in speaking to his classmates.
He even made friends!
From there, it wasn't difficult to persuade him to take self-defense classes, and his life well and truly changed for the better.
The only odd part about him was his denseness.
Honestly, if I didn't know any better I'd say he was setting up to be the ML for a harem—
'Uh oh. Nah. That's unlikely to happen. I'm not in a harem-verse, I won't have to worry about that.'
'Hopefully.'
'Yeesh.'
(Hindsight: I did have to worry about his future harem.)
Orihime, like her brother, took well to her new life. I watched her carefully over the years to spot any signs of PTSD, or consequences of her prior life, but she was a sincerely joyful child. Any little thing could make her smile.
Especially food.
Especially food.
By the time the little princess had aged up to a whopping age five, it was time to start her training.
Again: you do not train human children.
But Orihime was a special case because she was not entirely human anymore.
The story had already played out, and the hogyōku already changed her. The hogyōku was a permanent creation in this story and it existed in the Then, Now, and Later all at once. This, in turn, meant that those who were changed by it—Orihime and Chad—were always changed by it.
As the story repeated itself, however, Orihime and Chad would never learn that. They were ignorant of their powers, and thus they could not use their powers. It had not happened to them (yet), so they believed it could not exist prior.
That was not true.
Once changed by the hogyōku, always changed by the hogyōku.
So Orihime had her abilities now, but they were dormant. They would not initially awaken until it was their time in the story to do so. Unless some old soul happened to know a certain Soul King who wanted a change in the story, and thus told said old soul how to prematurely awaken Orihime's abilities.
And what a dilly dally darn coincidence I was that old soul.
With Orihime's abilities, she had a disproportionate amount of reiatsu to her vitality. She rested at a perfect ratio of 50% spiritual (reiatsu) and 50% physical (vitality) in comparison to the standard human ratio of 90% vitality and 10% reiatsu.
The increase in reiatsu would allow her to adjust to a more... active childhood than normal human children.
Especially once I awakened her abilities, her reiatsu would continue to grow. Do it right and she should have enough reiatsu to make the other captains jealous.
"We're training today," I told her, taking her hand and guiding her to a park.
"Training?" she echoed back cutely, tilting her head in a curious manner.
"Yes," I told her. "See you have these abilities, but you don't know how to use them because you haven't awakened them yet, see?"
"Huh?"
"It gave them to you, and therefore you have them," I tried to explain. "But it didn't give you them until later, so you always believed that you didn't have them until it gave them to you. But once it gave them to you, they're yours to use until your soul has turned to dust. Are you following me?"
She shook her head. "Nope!"
"You have it in the future, and therefore you have it now," I said. "I'm going to help you find it now. For the sake of my armada, you will be useful!"
"I will be useful!" she declared, echoing my words without truly understanding them.
'Ahh, what a cute kid.'
"What's armarara?"
"Armada," I patiently corrected her. "You see, my princess, I have a ship."
"A ship?" the small girl repeatedly cutely, big eyes looking up at me in wonderment.
"Yes, dear. A ship I intend to make sure sets sail. And you, my dear, are on board this ship," I went on. "Do you understand?"
"I'm going to help you sail a ship?" the child tried to guess.
"Yes," I told her with a smile. "Yes, you are. But for now, we train."
"Yay!"
(◕▾◕✿)
A month later
~My dearest, I have found one of the souls you have been searching for,~ Shiori fluttered into existence, her snowy wings beating slowly as she landed delicately on my outstretched finger. ~He is placed far away enough from Yhwach that the Soul King's barrier will not impede me.~
"Can you steal him?" I asked her.
~It will take some effort, but I believe if I place enough of the kaleidoscope around him we can open a portal for him to fall through.~
"Do it," I ordered. "Do you need more sacrificed life to fuel the kaleidoscope?"
~Perhaps a little more. The Soul King's barrier is especially resistant to our spiritual energy.~
"On it," I said, reaching forward and gripping my Evil™ zanpakutō. Shiori left shortly and I headed into the human world.
'Time for some good ol' fashion genocide of the slavers market again,' I thought.
One of the changes made from my appearance was the drastic cut in slavery. I had used slavers as my sacrifices for vitality to feed my Hollow buddies. I had unintentionally become something of a terrifying myth for the human population. A swarm of butterflies meant impending doom for slavers.
It was great.
(◕▾◕✿)
Gremmy Thoumeux was a toddler when he fell through the portal Shiori and the kaleidoscope created. I caught him in my arms, the child's golden eyes widening in surprise.
'Maybe two?' I thought, examining the toddler. He was quickly looking around, taking everything in with sparkling eyes.
Gremmy was an Alice. His Alice was originally awoken by Yhwach, but Yhwach could only ever awaken such a thing if Gremmy was already an Alice.
Alices were souls so sweet and free they were Blessed with a unique ability that would follow them in every life.
The gift to create Wonderland.
Anything Gremmy imagined he could bring into life. Most Alices created their own Wonderland to live in peace. They would venture into different worlds to expand their imagination, but in truth, they much preferred to live with their own creations.
I carefully tucked away one of Gremmy's curly blond hairs.
At some point in the original Story, Gremmy accidentally imagined killing himself, which would leave his brain trapped in a glass jar. Yhwach, envious and scared of Gremmy's limitless powers, kept him confined to restrict his imagination.
Indeed, Gremmy's ability could be terrifying.
He was inherently superior to a fragment of Death, like the Soul King. Under the right growth, he could ascend to a realm that only Alices could ever reach.
'It's been a while since I've raised an Alice,' I thought to myself, adjusting Gremmy in my arms so I could sweetly kiss his forehead.
With a flex of my energy, I teleported to my home in the World of the Living.
"Children," I called out.
Orihime and Sora came into the living room upon hearing my call.
"This," I said, bouncing the toddler Gremmy on my knee, "is your new baby brother, Gremmy."
Their eyes widened. Orihime beamed with pure joy. "He's so cute."
"He is," I agreed. "He's also a little special."
"Like Orihime?" Sora asked.
"Yes," I answered. "He has the opposite ability."
"Opposite?" Orihime echoed.
"Orihime rejects reality—he creates it."
The siblings gasped in delight.
"Man I have the coolest siblings," said Sora, face shining with glee.
I smiled at him. "And they have the kindest older brother."
Sora's face turned red and he shyly looked away.
(◕▾◕✿)
1999
While Ulquiorra nibbled on the croquembouche I held up a sketch of Orihime as a teenager. "You see this lady here?"
Ulquiorra nodded once, staring unblinkingly at the picture with his usual stoic expression. It was a little unsettling seeing such an apathetic face stuff an entire croquembouche in its mouth without blinking, to be honest.
"This girl here is going to make you happy," I told him. "Be that as a friend, companion, lover, or sister... that'll depend on you and her. But the more time you spend with her, the happier you'll be. I promise you."
Ulquiorra carefully accepted the sketch of Orihime.
"Is that person he's supposed to kidnap?" Lilynette asked.
"Yes," I said cheerfully. "She's my daughter."
"Wait—your daughter? What's wrong with her?" Grimmjow asked incredulously.
Lilynette smacked the back of his head. "Nothing! She's probably adorable."
I cooed and ran over to Lilynette, rubbing my face against her cheek. "Aww, I love you so much."
Lilynette shot Grimmjow a smug look. "I love you, too."
Starrk coughed.
"We love you too Starrk."
Ulquiorra coughed.
"Yes, you too honey."
"Fucking pansies," Grimmjow grumbled.
(◕▾◕✿)
Anime/Manga begins in 2001. :') Finally made it.
Answer: Buy food for them
Question: If you were a Shinigami, who would you want to be your captain?
Reviews are love!