Aizen's Reality (Bleach Fanfic)

Of Many Paths

Orihime meant to take the same path as Rukia but found herself distracted by Nel suddenly running after Ichigo despite the fact the substitute shinigami had said the three Arrancar should stay behind She made to go after Kurosaki Ichigo, only to find her shirt suddenly grabbed. She turned to find Nanao looking at her, pushing her glasses up. "Are you always going to rely on the substitute shinigami or are you going to fight your own fights. We decided to head down different paths."

"I'm not any good at fighting, only healing." The girl found herself suddenly twiddling her thumbs. She glanced in the direction Rukia had headed only to realize then she didn't know which path the female had headed down. Her lip puckered up. "I was going to go with Rukia?"

"Why ever for?" Nanao shook her head in disbelief.

"Because it would be so lonely going by myself!" Orihime's placed a hand on her head and let out a laugh. "Plus, I shouldn't be heading off on my own anyways. I think they were hoping I would stay with Nel and her group rather then heading further in."

"Well, I can't just leave you here alone where someone can find you. You might as well head down the same path that I am heading down." Nanao stated. The two female began to walk down the path. She let out a deep sigh. "This path didn't have any trace of reiatsu down it, so there is a chance we won't find anything, or we'll end up finding someone who is able to hide their rieatsu well."

The two females continued down the path at a slow pace. The fukutaicho of the eighth division's face was twisted up into a serious expression. Orihime's brown eyes looked at the woman carefully and she found her own mouth twisted up as she wasn't sure what the woman was thinking.

"I wonder if she thinks I'm as useless as the others think I am. She hasn't said much to me since I've gotten in here. I mean, it isn't as if I am useful in any manner. I'd make a very useful wife for Ichigo. I wonder what he is doing. I wonder if he is eating doughnuts. I wonder if Nel is making doughnuts. Wait, there are no doughnuts here, so what would they be eating."

"Umm... Orihime, are you paying any attention to what is going on here?" Nanao suddenly frowned at the girl.

"Sorry, I was off in my own little world. I wonder what Toshiro-kun is eating." Her mouth twisted up into a frown.

"I don't think we should be worrying about what he is eating right now."

"So then we should be worried about what has done to him. Aizen is supper evil and could have already tortured him to death with laser beam eyes."

"And that has no bases in reality."

"Then that means he must still be all right!" Orihime blurted out.

The other female let out a deep sigh. "Listen to me carefully. The world isn't black and white where you can pick from two different possible outcomes, one being the best and the other the worst. There are a wide range of possibilities out there. While I personally have hope that Hitsugaya Taicho will be brought out alive, I am not holding out that he won't be injured in some manner or some form of psychological torture has been done."

"But..." Orihime twiddled her thumbs. "I want him to come back whole."

"Sometimes we don't get the things we want all the time."

A sudden surge of rieatsu came hurtling at them from a fork in the road. Orihime frowned as soon as she recognized Ichigo's reiatsu. "He's getting hurt."

"Kurosaki Ichigo can take care of himself. We need to focus on finding Hitsugaya Taicho."

The orange haired female let out a deep sigh. "This place is a maze. I could easily find my way to where Ichigo is, but finding Toshiro-kun when we can't feel his reiatsu is problematic."

A sudden rumbling occurred and Nanao glanced up. "Move! The roof is collapsing in!"

Orihime dodged away from the rubble and fell to the ground scrapping her hands. She then let out a deep sigh as she stood up and turned to see that she was no longer with Nanao. "Hello!"

"I'm fine! If possible, try to find your way to Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Yeah, but you said that our priority is finding Toshiro-kun!"

"Yes, but right now you don't have any way of defending yourself from the Espada. Get to him as quickly as possible in order to make sure your safe. You'll be more help when it comes to finding Hitsugaya Taicho that way as well, as there is a high chance that Kurosaki Ichigo will be in need of healing and he is likely the strongest aside from the old shinigami we picked up outside and thus has the biggest chance of getting all of us out of here."

"Then my task is to help out Kurosaki-kun."

"Yes... I don't have any method that will clear away this debris without possibly bringing more down. I'll continue down this other path."

Orihime nodded her head before hurrying down the hallway at a fast pace. She could feel Ichigo's reiatsu along with a rather violent rieatsu. She hurried down the twists and turns before she came to an open area. She could see Ichigo and a blue haired Espada and the injuries they had. "What is going on?"

"Kurosaki, you bastard! I'm going to kill you."

"Kurosaki, we have to go after Toshiro-kun."

"I can't leave him like he is."

"Are you stupid! I'll come after you and tear you limb for limb!"

"Why?" Orihime blinked a couple of times.

"Because he is so smug! He thinks he's better then me!"

"No he doesn't. Ichigo wants to be friends with everyone."

"Stop giving me that crap woman!"

"Why won't you stop yelling! Nel's head hurts." Nel suddenly cried out. "While you two were fighting that other person took that boy away!"

"Toshiro-kun?"

"A white haired person with pwetty green eyes?"

"Yeah!"

Ichigo took a deep sigh. "Grimjow, why do you want to fight me?"

"Because I want to prove which one of us is more powerful!"

"I don't care." The orange haired teen watched as Orihime began to heal his wounds. "It doesn't matter which one of us is more powerful so long as we can protect what we wish to protect."

"That is a laugh." Grimjow glared at him. "I lost my Fraccion back in Karakura Town."

"Then maybe you need to find something new to protect?" Orihime frowned.

Nel peeked over her shoulder. "Nel doesn't think you should heal the big meanie."