Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Need Him ❯ No Place Else ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Title: Need Him
Author: Dolphin_26
Pairings: Grimmjow x Orihime
Summary: Just a quick piece that goes with Ch. 1.A little more in depth look into Orihime’s thoughts.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Bleach or the characters in it. They belong to Tite Kubo.
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Orihime wasn’t as dumb as everyone thought she was. In fact, she was the smartest girl in her class. It was true that she could be clumsy and ditzy at times. Most people took one look at her and wrote her off as an airhead.
But she wasn’t. Her real friends saw her for who she was. Though for some reason none of them seemed to like her cooking.
There was one thing she just simply couldn’t fathom, though. She could not understand why everyone seemed to believe that she loved Ichigo. Yes, he was a great friend/brother. Yes, she wanted to help him but isn’t that what family and friends did? Yes, she spent a lot of time with him (and Chad, and Uryu) but that was because they were her friends and she didn’t have to hide her abilities from them. They didn’t blow her off when she said she’d seen a hollow because they’d seen it too.
So, why was it so hard for people to understand that she didn’t see Ichigo that way?
As soon as the rest of her classmates discovered that he was dating a guy they all rushed to consol her for her apparent loss. Toshiro got a good laugh at Ichigo’s expense when she told him about how the majority of the class snubbed his boyfriend because everyone thought that Ichigo had broken her heart. Orihime just didn’t get how none of them could see how good Toshiro was for Ichigo. In the time since the two males had started going out, there had been a tremendous change in Ichigo. He was actually happy; of course, no one else noticed since they only saw his typical scowl at school. Yet as soon as Ichigo saw Toshiro, Orihime had to fight the urge to start squealing at how cute they were.
Besides, why would Orihime want someone other than her panther?
It was true that she couldn’t tell her other classmates about him, but so what? If someone had told her a few months ago that she would be involved with a hollow, the sixth espada no less, she would’ve carted them to a psychiatry ward immediately. Her panther didn’t match any of her old dreams in any way. He was the total opposite of them. He definitely was not the type of guy any of her classmates could even begin to picture her with.
Oddly enough, it was Toshiro who easily accepted her choice in partner. Thanks to his support, Orihime was able to truly come to terms with everything that had happened to her in Hueco Mundo. The first time she had been left alone after her rescue Orihime fell to pieces. He and Ichigo were the only ones who didn’t smother her.
There were no words she could use to express her heartfelt thanks for their support and for bringing her panther to her. She knew very well how much danger Ichigo had been in when he went to Hueco Mundo the second time. She also knew that Aizen would scour the three worlds trying to find her panther to make him pay for his desertion. They would always be in danger as long as Aizen and his most devoted followers lived.
Yet as she lay beside her panther that night waiting to go to sleep, Orihime didn’t care. Grimmjow had made the choice to leave Aizen to be with her. He left Hueco Mundo for her. He made her feel wanted in ways that no one else had. This powerful male had chosen her as his mate for eternity.
No he wasn’t the most soft spoken of males. Orihime swore he said some of thing he said just to get a rise out her. He wasn’t always gentle. He was definitely not tame. He liked to shock her making her react in ways she’d thought weren’t possible. He refused to let her near the kitchen unless he could see everything she put into the food she was making.
Yet for all of those faults, Orihime could forgive him.
He loved her.
She loved him.
That was all there was to it.
So while everyone else thought she was pining for Ichigo, which was just plain dumb, she would lay in her panther’s strong arms happily. There was no other place she’d rather be.

AN: This originally was intended to be a piece on its own but at the last minute I decided to add this to Need Him.