"Grind"

By Nes Mikel

Acknowledgment;

I herby acknowledge that the work of fiction presented here is for my own personal amusement and entertainment purposes alone. Most of the story, characters, place names and other etc stuff in this fiction are copyright Bleach, Kubo Tite, Weekly Shounen Jump, and any others I might have forgot.

For non up-to-date readers, this fiction contains characters and events introduced post Soul Society arc and spoilers up to Chapter 236.

With that said, enjoy.

"Grind"

- Twenty Truths about Inoue Orihime and the Arrancar -

Having been recently turned, Orihime is the youngest among the Arrancar ranks but she is far from the weakest. She actually would have been immediately initiated within the Espada had not all ten spots been filled already.

2.

That problem, however, was soon solved when Ichimaru Gin heard that Luppi had attacked and injured Matsumoto Rangiku with his tentacles when they went down to the real world to kidnap Orihime. Luppi never saw it coming when Gin promptly drew Shinsou from his sheath and decapitated the girlish Arrancar when he bragged about it in front of everyone.

After Gin received a not-too-serious scolding from Aizen, Orihime was then initiated as Espada Numero Sexto (number six) as Luppi's replacement. Her number tattoo is written underneath her left foot.

3.

Grimmjow hates Orihime for being initiated into the Espada. His hatred only intensifies when she helps him grow back his missing arm. Even though he had regained his power, he still was not allowed back within the Espada. The fact that it was she that helped him regain his powers only served to fuel his anger. He knows better than to lash out, however, so instead he sulks and tries to avoid her at all costs.

Unfortunately for him, he soon found out that Orihime had this uncanny ability that enabled her to detect, seek, and comfort sulking from miles away.

As a result, Grimmjow and Orihime are now among the best users of Sonido.

4.

The only reason Aizen chose Orihime over Grimmjow in order to fill in the empty slot left by Luppi was because he thought the number six suited Orihime better. Her powers represented the number six, after all.

For the same reason, Luppi was Espada Numero Octavo (number eight) before his 'promotion' due to the number of his tentacles. Currently, it is Wonderweiss that holds that number.

5.

Although Aizen is glad to have someone he can use as an ace against his enemies in the form of Orihime (he daydreams of the day the ryoka boy learns of her fate), he secretly dislikes her for one reason: he cannot figure out why she became so powerful. While it is true that she has unique powers, her powers alone did not explain the sudden gigantic leap in her spiritual pressure when she was turned into an Arrancar.

Aizen prides himself in knowing everything, and is therefore frustrated when he cannot explain the anomaly that is Orihime.

6.

Ironically, it is Grimmjow that ultimately figures out the real reasons behind Orihime's strength. She secretly confessed to him one day the crush she held on one Kurosaki Ichigo and the jealously she harbored towards one Kuchiki Rukia when Orihime tried for the umpteenth time to attempt a casual conversation with Grimmjow because he was continuously avoiding her. Combined with the guilt she harbors by helping Aizen in his plans, Grimmjow realized that this girl had been repressing this dark emotion for a very long time until Aizen released her emotions by turning her into an Arrancar.

After the conversation, Grimmjow decides that although Orihime may have taken away his spot in the Espada and can be utterly ditzy and annoying sometimes, she is at least better than that arrogant jerk Luppi and starts tolerating her.

7.

Orihime is unique among the Arrancar in the sense that, while other Arrancars do not have any recollections of their past life, she still retains all of her memories when she was still human. She has not told anyone else about this (Grimmjow being the only exception) because her happy memories torture her soul daily.

She sometimes wonders if the other Arracnars were the ones that were better off.

8.

Orihime was never turned into a Hollow. When she was turned into an Arrancar, she skipped that process entirely.

During the kidnapping, Ulquiorra ejected her spirit from her human body and sliced off her chain of fate since only spirits could enter Hueco Mundo. She was then brought in front of Aizen, had the remainder of her chain of fate ripped off from her chest by Yammi, had her hollow hole exposed, and seconds before her plus soul exploded and remade into a Hollow she was immediately trapped inside a forcefield and was Arrancarized via Hougyoku.

As a result, although she carries around a kodachi-sized zanpakutou on her back (similar in size to Gin's), she cannot release the blade since she doesn't have a Hollow form she can revert back into. She considers her Shun Shun Rikka to be her release instead.

This hasty Arrancarization process was the only way Aizen could think of to ensure himself she would not lose her unique powers when she was turned.

9.

Even though Orihime was turned into an Arrancar and became a victim of her own emotions, her Shun Shun Rikka survived and their personalities remained intact. However, she never tells anyone, not even Grimmjow, that her powers have personalities of their own. It is for their safety.

The Shun Shun Rikka do not like the idea that she is helping Aizen, but they also know that Aizen could kill her on a whim if he really wanted to. So when she uses their power for Aizen's sake, they do not protest. Their mission, above all, is to protect Orihime. They would follow her to the depths of hell if they had to.

Heck, they were already at its doorsteps anyway.

10.

Although Orihime was turned into an Arrancar before she had a Hollow form, Orihime does have a broken Hollow mask attached so that it covers the upper left portion of her face. However, she hides it cleverly by covering the entire mask over with her hair. This is intentional, as she is ashamed of how her broken mask looks like.

The broken mask looks terribly similar to the mask her older brother once wore.

11.

Orihime is one of the only two female Arrancars within the Espada ranks. Orihime tries many times to attempt conversation with the other female, but the quiet dark-skinned Arrancar always pushes her away. This, of course, only serves to allow Orihime to try harder. When Orihime finally gets through to her a little and learns of her name, she discovers that she shares the same name as a certain pink-haired Vice Captain in Soul Society.

Since then, much to the horror of the other female Arrancar, Orihime always adds the –chan suffix to her name.

12.

There is a strange coincidence in the fact that the two female Espada's breasts sizes are exactly the same. Ichimaru Gin is the only one thus far that noticed this, and is secretly delighted at how they seemed to be fast becoming friends.

13.

Located slightly above the center of her chest, Orihime's hollow hole is the smallest among the Arrancar – about the size of a 500-yen coin – beating out Ulquiorra who held the previous record. She suspects this is one of the main reasons why Ulquiorra seems to act very cold towards her.

She can't help but giggle to herself every time she thinks about it.

14.

The Espada are generally all partnered up with one other Espada so they can watch out for each other. The only exception to this was Grimmjow and Luppi. They were the ones 'left over' when the pairs were decided among the Espada ranks, and it didn't help that they hated each other to the core. This later became the reason why Grimmjow formed a small follower group he could hang out with instead of Luppi. This annoyed Aizen quite a bit because he wanted his Espada to be a 'perfect team'.

Much to Aizen's relief, their replacements – Orihime and Wonderweiss – seem to get along with each other pretty well.

15.

Orihime and Wonderweiss is, by far, the oddest pair among the Espada ranks. Although at first glace they might seem dysfunctional, they are the pair that gets along with each other the most as they share the common ground of being the two youngest Arrancar. In retrospect, Ulquiorra and Yammi get along with each other the least as they share the common ground of being the two oldest Arrancar.

16.

While Orihime thinks of Wonderweiss as a cute and cuddly little boy, Wonderweiss thinks of Orihime as his mother. He doesn't know why he thinks this way, but he doesn't care, as that's the way he is. He is so fond of Orihime that he considers Orihime more important than his 'father' Aizen and is fiercely more loyal to her. It is therefore that among the Espada, Orihime and Wonderweiss are the only ones who show even the slightest hint of disloyalty towards Aizen. In contrast, Ulquiorra and Yammi are the two most loyal Espadas.

17.

When she was still human, Orihime always thought she had a natural talent to make friends with anybody. After she had been turned into an Arrancar, she thinks that ability of hers had diminished quite severely. She is sad at the fact that she so far only has three friends: Grimmjow, the female Arrancar, and Wonderweiss.

She doesn't realize that that is a grand achievement in itself.

18.

When Grimmjow was told of this, he almost told her that he wasn't her friend. In the end, he didn't disagree with Orihime. To this date he couldn't understand why he didn't.

19.

After Orihime's latest confession, Grimmjow took a moment to himself to observe the impact Orihime had on everyone. Gin was obviously delighted with her, Tousen the bastard seemed to smile sometimes around her (although he kept it well hidden from Orihime), Yammi had that guilty look whenever she was around as he was the one who had painfully pulled off the chain of fate off from her chest, and he could've sworn that even stone-face Ulquiorra's mouth curved a little upwards when she was being talked to by him.

The only one that didn't seem to be affected was Aizen.

It angered him, and again, he couldn't understand why this was so.

20.

Although he would never admit it, Grimmjow does not look forward to the day he faces the shinigami again. He tries his best not to think of the day Orihime will meet face to face with her former friends in the real world. With her human memories still intact, there was a high chance Orihime would betray them all – or worse, betray him.

Orihime on the other hand looks forward to it. She would, in fact, not betray her new friends and instead will fight with them side by side. She is even willing to go as far to try to kill Ichigo and Rukia. She knows she will be killed by either one of them, or possibly both, and no other thought could bring more joy to her hollow heart.

Grimmjow and Orihime shared one regret.

They knew they would never be seeing each other again after the war.

-END-

My first ever Bleach fic. Came out okay I suppose. First time I used the 20 truths format, and I found myself entertained throughout as I wrote this. With the recent developments in Bleach manga and inspired by certain fanart of Arrancar Orihime drawn by Sakura Kaijuu on NarutoForums, I just had to write this. I just love the idea of Orihime turning into an Arrancar. Kubo Tite, I am a man but I would love you forever if you pull it off. Please do! PLEEEEAAASSSEE!

Ahem. For those who were expecting another chapter from my Naruto story Medusa Javelin, so sorry! I'm still working on it, except I've so far rewritten the chapter about four times. It never comes out right… gah.

When I first started writing this, I had no intention of even hinting a Grimmjow x Orihime pairing, but when I was about to wrap it up, I found it strangely appropriate. Goodness, I have one messed up head… Grimmjow x Orihime has to be the unlikeliest pairing ever. Okay, maybe Yammi x Orihime is more unlikely, but you know what I mean. And no, don't get any ideas about that pairing. That's just impossible. Ugh dammit, now the image is stuck in my mind! Damn me!

Kudos goes to Z-K of the NarutoForums for first coming up with the idea that the dark-skinned female Arrancar is the original Yachiru Zaraki Kenpachi mentioned so long ago. Thanks!

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I had writing this.

Ciao!

- Nes Mikel