Rimillove

manga reader.... Bleach Ichihime fan for a long time

[ichihimetrash]

My Ichihime brain has been in overdrive these past few days trying to figure out if they were married before having Kazui and how long before him? Since Orihime gave birth to him at 23, meaning she got pregnant at 22 and Ichigo confessing his feelings when they were about 20 and then him going off to study abroad for a bit, like Ichigo and Orihime weren't physically together that long before having him. Like man, they really did miss each other when Ichigo went off to the UK.

[elyonholic]

「 I'll protect today, the path I've walked all this time. 」 

[zabiume]

i. hug

Rukia must see something in his face, because she immediately points over to a distant part of the ruins.

Ichigo's eyes numbly follow until his eyes catch on a crevasse at the far end of his vision. His muscles are sore, he's bleeding from more places than one, he's exhausted, but for some reason, all of that dissipates the second he sees her. Orihime. Out there, by the edge of the earth, she's sitting on haunches, tending to someone. Her expression betrays her concern, but her brows are furrowed in concentration.

What most people don't know about Orihime's powers is the tremendous amount of skill it takes to puppeteer six different fairies at once. Even three together is a task. Ichigo has watched her weave lines of gold with her hands before, but it never stops amazing him how much is happening all at once. With deft fingertips, she demonstrates how a torn muscle needs to be sewn back together. With another hand, she can keep up a shield of fierce resolve—one that doesn't shatter, or even tremble. She must constantly negotiate with the universe, using her fairies as mediators to communicate with vast quantities of spiritual energy.

She's come so far. There's a fierce pride in his chest at the thought of it, right alongside that age-old fear of losing her. Of her being here one second and gone the next, whisked away from him.

But maybe that fear is an exaggerated one. He'd seen her, right at the end. He'd lain on the ground, drained, watching as—it seemed like—she balanced the universe itself on her shoulders for him. It was fear-inspiring. It was awe-inspiring.

She is awe-inspiring.

At the slightest ripple in the air, Orihime's head perks. She seems to sense him in the vicinity, and her eyes quickly scan her surroundings for confirmation. Furrowed brows, worried eyes.

And then their gazes catch.

Immediately, Orihime springs to her feet. She murmurs something—his name, probably—and Ichigo leaps forward by several paces with the last dash of energy he can muster. Warning bells go off within a part of him, the part that has always been careful and considerate of how to share the same space with her.

But it's a part that melts away rather quickly. Orihime raises her arms on instinct, hanging midway like she doesn't quite know what to do with them.

Ichigo pulls her into the fold of his embrace.

Close, he thinks with a blush. Too close. But deep down, he'd been looking forward to this reunion ever since that last slash of his sword, that entire sprint back here alongside Renji and Uryu. He wanted to tell everyone they won. He wanted to tell Rukia, and Chad and Ganju, and all of Soul Society, and everyone in Hueco Mundo and back home too. And he wanted to tell Orihime, whose first question wouldn't be What happened but—

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," he says roughly, closing his eyes when she runs a feeble hand down his back as if she wants to be sure. A barely-there touch, but he shivers anyway. He's keenly aware of his own hand on her back—her bare, slender back—and it's enough to make him want to spring back. To apologize.

But Orihime squeezes him, and all thought evaporates. He's home.

"Is he...?"

"Yeah."

"I'm so glad," she says warmly, her voice muffled. When she lifts her face, she's got streaks of tears down her cheeks. "I'm so glad. I was so worried it wasn't enough, that I couldn't fight the way you needed me to—!"

"You were enough," he says, before she can even finish that thought. It's always been true, but she searches his eyes for confirmation anyway, her every doubt melting away with complete transparency at whatever she sees on his face. She smiles, and she's so precious he can believe right there why he's never held her this way before.

But today is a day for new things, apparently. They've proven as much, haven't they?

Ichigo laughs lightly and sets a hand on top of her head. "You worry too much, you know that?"

"That's—" Orihime begins to protest, but her pout wavers and trembles before giving into a smile.

They hug again, much more certain this time, much more soft. Orihime tucks her face into his shoulder, her hands small and sure on his back. Ichigo keeps both hands on her arms.

Someone clears their throat emphatically in the background.

Ichigo and Orihime spring apart, embarrassed, and if Ichigo is relieved, it's only because the flush on her cheeks matches the amount of heat he feels in his ears. A line of their friends stare down at them from a higher perch—Rukia, Renji, Chad, Ganju, even Uryu. They're all smiling.

Orihime wipes her eyes, but she's laughing too. Relief settles over the battleground, as gentle and tentative as a dove making its landing.

Ichigo smiles at her. Together, they stare up at their friends, breathing in the joy of their shared victory.

+

ii. kiss

It's a habit Ichigo didn't mean to build, or so she thinks. But it happens anyway. Every now and then, Orihime finds him slumped over his desk, head resting on folded arms. A quick snooze. A tiny nap. She's tried telling him several times to go to their room, or even their couch, but he always grumbles that he'll fall asleep there, really, Orihime, it's fine.

It's the nature of his job, maybe. His work keeps him typing away for long hours at a stretch, without breaks, without the strict division of home and work that she has. Things that are kept apart always seem to blend wherever Ichigo is involved, so she catches him often, napping at his desk.

"You'll hurt your neck like this," she chides sometimes, pressing a soft kiss to the back of said neck. Sometimes she may kiss his head, that mess of orange that she loves so much. Maybe she has her habits too. Kissing Ichigo, actually kissing Ichigo is a universe of its own, complete with the explosion of stars, the collisions of comets, the all-encompassing completeness of a black hole. She melts and loses herself under the danger of his mouth. Sometimes it's nice to have a safe peck, just for herself. To give herself permission to love him in this way, to drape a blanket over his shoulders or laugh silently at his snoring face, now that she actually can.

The temple kisses are her favorite. She has Yuzu to thank for this; gone are the days of bangs, which means foreheads are fair game from all sides now. Sometimes she kisses his cheek too, marveling at his sideburns, noting privately that the years have brought on more of his dad's features than he would like.

Kissing his palm is bittersweet. It reminds her of goodbyes, just as it comforts her that he doesn't keep his fist curled when he rests anymore. Kissing his shoulder is awe-inspiring. What strong shoulders they are.

These are all little things about him that she keeps to herself. Observations that amuse her, soften her, make her reminisce or contemplate. Mundane details that would bore anyone but a partner. A lover.

The magic never lasts too long anyway. By the time she slips into another room and returns, Ichigo is already up again, muttering under his breath about a word, a sentence, a page. That's her cue to return to herself too, but she keeps the momentary warmth buried someplace special.

Or so she thought.

She's in-between tasks one day, just about to finish a glass of water and head to the bathroom to clip her nails when she crosses the study and catches that familiar sight of him, hunched over and resting. Almost on cue, she makes her detour, her footfalls silent as she checks in on him. Sure enough, his brows are relaxed, his mouth is flat, and his face is lit by incoming sunshine from the window. Orihime quietly drags a curtain aside to reduce the intensity of light by half, then bends over to press the softest of kisses to his temple.

She's barely lifted off when he says, "You can kiss me when I'm awake too, you know."

Orihime yelps, startled. His eyes are still closed, but he slowly peeks one open to smile at her. She curls her toes with embarrassment. Of course it was naive to hope the years would have mellowed his battle-ready reflexes down some. Still, she feels silly.

"I'm sorry," she says genuinely. "Did I wake you?"

Ichigo sits up and shakes his head, reaching for her with a hand. Relieved, Orihime takes it and laughs a little at the expectant frown on his face. She bends over to press an aggressively affectionate but brief kiss to his cheek, cupping the other cheek and making an exaggerated noise to embellish it.

Ichigo turns his face and kisses her mouth. Orihime feels her stomach swim with that dizzying sensation again, her lips instinctively parting to make way for his. She runs one hand down his neck, then sets both hands down on his shoulders to brace herself.

When they finally part ways, she feels herself going pleased and pink-cheeked at the life in his eyes, the radiant, knowing smile he gives her.

Maybe she'll take his advice into consideration, every now and then.

It doesn't sound like a bad idea in the slightest.

[zabiume]

i'm sorry, is anyone seeing this???????

[bansept]

So this year we have Ichihime becoming anime canon (in September), we'll probably get news about either Burn the Witch or New Breaths From Hell, we also apparently have the confirmation that Orihime gave birth to Kazui when she was 23 (based on this tweet and while I love the information, I need to see a screenshot from Klub Outside to confirm it, PLEASE)

Also, I did call it out a few years ago, in this post, I love being right

It's a good time to root for Ichihime!

[bansept]

I love how we mostly had no expectations when it came to the adaptation of Ichihime becoming canon, because we all assumed that Kubo wouldn't dive into their relationship too much (he stated Bleach wasn't a romance manga), and rn we have Ichigo carrying Orihime where he would normally have just pulled her to the side, PRINCESS CARRY might I add, we have a cute, longing look from Ichigo in the ending, and the overall appreciation and inclusion of Orihime as a force to be reckoned with...

In the next episodes, we do have additional scenes, we have moments that are even more intimate, so I would absolutely not be surprised if, one way or another, we end up with Ichihime holding hands. Be it because the fight is over, some hidden little moment or a big revelation, hell, when they'll be MARRIED

They're so in love, I can't I love them, this is the best period of my life

[ayu-san12]

IchiHime off-camera😆

[elyonholic]

Orihime Inoue in Bleach TYBW Cour-4 OP

[shunhime]

I had to draw it 😛

[kiiseru]

🌸

[kisses-in-the-void]

They are sooo prettyyyyy.

[ayu-san12]

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥😳

[nora0-1]

And we are back with the final arc after all this time !!

Here is art work of Ichigo & Orihime for the 1st episode of Cour 4 (Ep41) done by @sey___ 🧡

[zabiume]

so, there's a scene in early cour 3 where ichigo tells the group how powerful squad zero is, and orihime comes to the completely valid conclusion that if they're that strong, there's a chance they may be able to take down yhwach themselves. obviously, when they later go up to the soul king palace, ichibei gravely tells ichigo that the fight against yhwach comes down to him, that defeating yhwach is his responsibility and that he's sorry but he's going to be down and out for a good while – as will the rest of squad zero.

orihime is there for this conversation btw, and i think this is interesting because it immediately sets up a dichotomy between her and the rest of soul society. everyone in soul society believes to some degree that ichigo is not only capable but also the world's only hope for taking yhwach down, which is an immense pressure that we've seen ichigo valiantly take up but also buckle under throughout this arc. orihime's first thought, however, wasn't him but the actual soldiers responsible for keeping the soul king safe. orihime doesn't default to ichigo. rather, her entire journey throughout bleach has been to stand strong and – if not support him – then at least not be a burden to him. she wants to be able to pull her own weight, and while she has struggled with that historically, her post-FB transformation reveals a genuine effort towards this goal. where orihime needed uryu to take her up to the tower in las noches, she spends the entirety of tybw ferrying her group (which includes ichigo) around on her shield. ichigo even calls for her to do this, which is significant because ichigo rarely calls upon anyone else's powers – he purely relies on his own. more to come on this front.

i want to note some soul society exceptions here, namely rukia and renji. rukia has told ichigo repeatedly that he needs to rely on his friends ("rely on us, ichigo") and renji, as we know, accompanies ichigo in the final battle due to a promise he made himself to protect ichigo, the one who brought him and rukia together. you also have chad, who has been ichigo's day one since day one, and uryu, who also joins the final battle (alongside aizen). but i think it's important to acknowledge that even though these allies have been "partners" to ichigo, orihime is on a different level for a variety of reasons, the most important being that she was the one ichigo asked. renji insisted on coming, uryu joined in, aizen joined in. but not only did ichigo ask orihime to come, he implied that them fighting together would be an advantage, and he repeatedly called on her to use her shield during pivotal moments of the battle. ichigo may have fought with others by his side, but orihime is the only one he actively asked for – which is huge because again, ichigo has never, ever done this.

and i think this is so perfect on a thematic level because orihime explicitly trained to be battle support for ichigo. while everyone else motivated him to become stronger and conquer the enemy in battle, she motivated herself to become stronger and help him. to reduce his burden and fight for him so he could focus on fighting for everyone else (and for himself). there's a lot of talk about who ichigo's battle partners are, and all the names above have been featured in the conversation. however, all of them are combat-oriented, zanjutsu-oriented fighters who ichigo has realistically and thematically never needed. realistically, their powers don't complement his perfectly. thematically, ichigo has already said that he doesn't care if someone else could fill in his shoes, he's going to fight to the death because he's here and he has the power! what ichigo truly desired was orihime's power – her ability to stall, to heal, to shield. he may have accepted and even used his other allies' powers to his advantage but he certainly never asked for them explicitly.

i think this difference becomes even more clear when you see their first brush with yhawch during the soul king seal fiasco. as ichigo flew into battle, orihime quickly began healing him. i can't imagine how powerful it feels for him to be bruised and sore one second and then immediately cleansed in the next – not having to worry about that at all. nobody else in the history of bleach has directly contributed to his battle effort like this. everyone fought their own enemies, but it was pretty much decided that The Big Enemy was all his. and he had embraced this for the most part, until he faced his biggest enemy yet and he asked her to come with. and it is unbelievable how hard orihime has worked for this. how long she's wanted this. she told ichigo right at the end of the soul society arc that she's sorry she couldn't do it. in hueco mundo, she literally throws up a shield in front of theee espada #4 ulquiorra to protect him. she stood up to grimmjow for him. she beat herself up so much for what happened at the tower, she not only trained for 17 months, she also told ichigo she was working on herself and then proceeded to protect him from ginjou. again, throughout these arcs, all of ichigo's friends have fought their own enemies. what sets orihime apart is that even at her weakest, she was determined to fight ichigo's. of the entire cast, i would say orihime is the one who pushes herself the hardest because she knows ichigo's burden will be the greatest and she's preparing to stand against his opponents. everyone else is preparing for their own battles, but she has always been preparing for the final battle, the one that traditionally falls on him. even though she was by his side before, she had never been able to do it because she had never quite gained fluid confidence in her own ability. but she kept returning, she kept returning and now she's one of a very small group of people who went toe-to-toe with yhwach – and actually lived to tell the tale.

[shunhime]

[86apricotton]

Happy Birthday Ichigo 🎂　框(キョウ)

[ayu-san12]

IchiHime👀