Kenpachi Zaraki

Ichigo and Kenpachi collided into each other's swords. Due to the sharpness of their weapons they maintained their stances after exhausting their Reiatsu. Ichigo's body was the first to give out as a large swath of blood sprayed out, covering Kenpachi, the walls, and the ground.

Ichigo fell to the ground having thought he lost. However, Kenpachi smiled as an even larger amount of blood shot from his wound. Kenpachi heard Ichigo grumble, and so he, too, grumbled back at him, that Ichigo was an idiot. Then Kenpachi fell to the ground full of satisfaction from that battle.

The air was still and the remaining Reiatsu dissipated into the surroundings. Once the hogyoku was no longer in overdrive, Orihime followed Yachiru down to see the two combatants.

"Well, I'll be taking Kenny to go get patched up. See you next time, Jiggles!"

"Ah, Yachiru, I was hoping I could follow you and Captain Zaraki."

"Hmm, okay. Try to keep up, hehe."

However, to Yachiru's surprise, Orihime was quite fast. Once they managed to get a good distance away, Yachiru sent a hell butterfly to notify the captain of the fourth squad.

"Yachiru, I'm kind of proficient in healing, do you mind if I help Captain Zaraki?"

Yachiru pouted and started to think having Orihime follow was a mistake. She felt like this big breasted, orange haired bimbo was trying to steal her Kenny.

"Okay, but no funny business!"

Orihime sighed in relief. She knelt down next to Kenpachi and activated her healing membrane. In order to optimize the healing, she had applied a targeted strategy instead of wasting time on a wide area heal. It was mainly his torso that needed recovery, markedly his shoulders.

Yachiru watched in amazement. She had never seen such an effortless healing technique before. Kenpachi was a very durable person, but having someone like this who could bring him back right after a fight would let him fight again.

"Jiggles, you should join squad eleven! With you around, Kenny can keep fighting again and again!"

"Ugh, what are you going on about, Yachiru."

"Ah, Captain Zaraki, don't move yet. I'm almost finished healing you."

"You're one of the Ryoka. What are you doing healing me instead of Ichigo?"

Orihime smiled and didn't respond right away. After the heal was finished, she dispelled the power and it returned to her wrists.

"Captain Zaraki, don't worry about Ichigo, someone is coming to pick him up and will make him stronger. He's a bit special so he heals really fast on his own. I hope you can help save my friends and Rukia, I promise you'll get even better fights from Ichigo in the future!"

'Sorry Ichigo,' she thought.

"Incredible, not even Unohana can heal this quickly. Now I see what Yashiru was talking about. You're pretty good. How about you stick with me and I'll fight anyone in the way of rescuing the other Ryoka and that Rukia girl."

"Thank you, Captain, my name is Orihime!"

Kenpachi got up and stretched his body. He was satisfied with the healing. He quickly reformed his Zanpakuto with a surge of spiritual power and then began pondering. Ichigo had fought together with his Zanpakuto to gain that huge burst in power.

"Hey, I know its probably too late for this, but how 'bout you tell me your name."

Kenpachi said to his Zanpakuto. However, there was no response. He was feeling dejected and stared up into the sky. Yachiru pulled at his hand.

"Kenny, it's not your fault, you didn't lose. I heard him, he cheated! He said he borrowed his Zanpakuto's power, that's two versus one!"

"Captain, you weren't even using all of your strength. So, you can call this a tie. That just means you can fight more, right?"

Kenpachi looked at the two girls that were cheering him on. Yachiru, who has been with him since he was wandering around getting into fights without direction. And Orihime, who had a great healing ability and was friends with a great fighter. He chuckled and turned around.

"Hop on, lets go gather your friends, so I can attract bigger prey."

Orihime wasn't optimistic about Yachiru's invite to squad eleven. Although her healing was overpowered, the squad favored brute strength over Kido or non-physical techniques. As much as she would like to take a shortcut, her combat style will involve Kido more than anything.

Her plans were simple, yet well thought out. Once Rukia was saved, Aizen was revealed, and Byakuya rekindling the brotherly bond with Rukia, Orihime would swoop in and request to stay with Rukia while at the academy.

Even if she couldn't stay there, she could still visit often and train with Rukia. This would increase her exposure to Byakuya. Meanwhile, the favor from Toshiro would give her two wonderfully compatible squads to join.

Since Kenpachi only cared about battle, Orihime made sure to stay on Yachiru's good side. Every time Kenpachi asked her which direction he should go, Orihime suggested asking Yachiru. Being the center of attention made her very happy and she often praised Orihime's boobs.

Orihime noticed that even though it wasn't nearly as much as a battle, the Reiatsu radiating out from Kenpachi was enough to accelerate the hogyoku. This was literally riding a bus to a higher level. She didn't need to focus on anything except for hanging onto Kenpachi and the occasional banter. Therefore, Orihime decided to chat with the hogyoku.

'Do you have any new ability, hogyoku?'

[Displaying possible abilities:

-Enhance spiritual power

-Enhance Zanpakuto spirit

-Akashic Records (first floor access)

-Hybridization]

'What the hell, Hybridization? I guess that's how Aizen transforms Soul Reapers and Hollow. Hogyoku, does first floor access have any Kido?'

[Requesting Access… Limited: Single-digit Numbered Kido.]

'Oh, lets learn it all.'

The chants and formulas for six Kido spells flooded into her mind. At first the numbering system for Kido seemed very confusing, but in reality, it's fairly simple. The numbers are like a power ranking. If there are missing Kido in between rankings its either because they hadn't been invented yet, or they were lost.

Orihime knew that Kido Masters could modify or invent Kido for their purposes. Only when officially submitted do they get ranked, often just being kept as personal trump cards. One of the goals Orihime had was to create simplified versions of her barrier and healing abilities as Kido. Inventing new Kido seemed like a great way to get famous.

"Hey, what's that Ryoka girl doing on your back, Captain!"

"Hmph, she's with me."

"Orihime Inoue reporting for duty!"

They had run into Ikkaku and Yumichika while wandering around looking for the other Ryoka. They bring news that the Ryoka have all been captured and put in prison. Kenpachi smiles and begins heading towards that direction. Unfortunately, Yachiru is leading them so Orihime realizes it'll take a while.

Eventually, they find the prison and rescue Ganju, Uryu, and Sado. With an increased party of Ryoka, Kenpachi is excited to lure some big fish. Orihime knew this group would eventually attract the attention of Captains Sanjin Komamura and Kaname Tosen, as well as leuitenants Tetsuzaemon Iba and Shuhei Hisagi.

Orihime tries to calculate the time, but it was really unclear when certain events happened due to the way the story was told. Some events weren't shown chronologically but in a way that was more dramatic.

She's fairly certain that Byakuya and Ichigo finish their final fight around the same time Unohana discovers the mortally wounded Hitsugaya and Momo. Therefore, the fight between Kenpachi and the two captains should be happening at the same time that Momo is being lured into Central 46.

Her thoughts are interrupted by a massive Reiatsu that Kenpachi begins releasing.

"Its unbecoming of captains to hide your Reiatsu and sneak around in the shadows."

At that moment, the four enemies mentioned above arrive. After a verbal back and forth between the two groups, Orihime and her friends leave first. Once they are a distance from the battling, Orihime turns to her friends.

"I need to go take care of a mission Yoruichi gave me. You guys head towards the white tower. We'll meet Ichigo there together."

Before they could say anything, she already escaped with Shunpo. Orihime realizes that she is really sporting that main character vibe. Going around and doing things on her own without letting her friends get involved.

Perhaps this is the result of Orihime's original personality. Canonically, she was always someone that hid difficulties from others to take care of them herself. It is not unlikely that this has been affecting her decision making.

For example, in the Arrancar arc, she chose not to trouble her friends and left with Ulquiorra on her own volition.

'Well, my friends being killed is quite a bit of trouble, so I guess that's not a good example. Anyway, all of that is in the past… Or would it be future? But it won't happen because I'm avoiding it, so is it future past… or past future...? My head hurts.'

She stopped thinking of these strange time paradoxes, because Central 46 was ahead of her. As expected by Orihime, there was no one here. Aizen made sure to vacate the area so they could do their shady business.

As she snuck around, she noticed the door to the meeting room was destroyed. This meant that Hitsugaya had already entered, but she was unsure if he went toward the Seijotokyorin. That place was the residence of Central 46, which was declared off limits to everyone during the invasion.

Beelining towards the residence area, she saw Captain Hitsugaya's back as he began charging downstairs. Orihime reveled in her perfect timing. She was glad Yoruichi taught her stealth skills on par with the Soul Society stealth force, otherwise her scheming would have been a disaster.

A few short moments later, Aizen and Gin both left the residence and began making their way towards the execution grounds. Once she felt they were a safe distance away, she used Shunpo consecutively until she entered the residence area. In front of her was a blue and red frozen wonderland.

Orihime quickly summoned her healing power to cover Captain Hitsugaya and Momo. However, just as she was going to check their conditions, ominous footsteps sounded out behind her—Gin Ichimaru.

"Well, looks like a rat has snuck in."