Very Honest

Orihime sat on the bed in her room in a daze. It all seemed so real, but felt like it was happening to someone else. However, feeling the missing piece being finally found, she knew it was real. The memory was warped and weathered through time, but the actual events weren't the issue.

Emotions are always stronger than the events that happened. One can remember how they felt at a certain time more strongly than remember the details. The emotions that came flooding into her were debilitating. The feeling of helplessness, inferiority, and guilt.

Although looking at it objectively, her mother's death was not her fault, the emotions of a decade of self-blame were simply too much. Orihime could feel a soothing sensation within the depths of her soul and realized it was her Zanpakuto, now a combination of several powers and the original Orihime's soul.

Orihime smiled slightly and touched her chest. She wasn't alone anymore. These feelings in the past were sealed off by her subconscious mind to protect her. However, that was done in a setting of absolute loneliness. She finally understood what brought her here.

'I can't keep thinking of this as a dream. My reality is not only as valid as my acceptance of that reality. If I chose to ignore what's in front of me, that would be denying the existence of everyone in this world. It would even by denying my existence. And since that is too depressing, I'll strive to believe in myself.'

Drawing her Zanpakuto, Orihime smiled and swore an oath to herself. She was by herself but never alone. She had always envied the Orihime who could leave everyone behind to protect them. The kind of loneliness you put upon yourself is the worst.

She was able to sit through the hardships and believe in Ichigo and friends. Orihime could feel the love and adoration from the depth of her soul, but she was different now. Although she adopted these feelings, her heart had a solid wall around it.

Orihime was capable of liking Ichigo and considering him a good friend, but only that much. While she felt bad, there was three millennia worth of time to sort out her trauma. Right now, Orihime wanted to focus on the future war.

'I guess I can at least do this much as an apology for ignoring your feelings…'

Honestly, Orihime was extremely embarrassed at her actions when she arrived. Instead of dealing with them, she had just been ignoring the issues all together. She let the hogyoku fill her soul with its wonderful powers as the only desire she felt, consciously and subconsciously, was to be herself.

Subtle changes were happening to her body and soul. After a while, she felt comfortable with herself and sighed in relief. Being someone else was fun, but being yourself was the best. She looked at her reflection with the blade of her Zanpakuto and smiled at the brown eyes peering back at her.

'It's kind of ironic, but this is the true me now.'

Before she could resume her materialization training, she felt two high Reiatsu signatures coming from one of the large chambers. Orihime recognized one of them and grinned. Although the original Orihime was confined and didn't dare leave her room, she would not be so easy to monitor.

Orihime figured if Aizen wanted to make use of her, she would give him some trouble. At the very least, she would shake things up around Las Noches. Before, she was ignorant of her suicidal actions. However, this time she was aware of how dangerous her actions were, but they were calculated risks.

When she arrived, Grimmjow and Nnoitra were already fighting. Although Aizen forbade fighting between Espada before the big battle at fake karakura town, he should be interested in the result of the modification.

However, even if she misunderstood his thought process, unless he outright killed Grimmjow, she would still be on the winning end. Given the terrible reputation Nnoitra had, it was likely he would be blamed for the fight. When Orihime arrived, she already sensed two other presences watching.

They were hiding behind barriers, but that didn't stop Orihime's impeccable perception. She had come in with her barrier up as well, and paid attention to the others to see if anyone would notice her. Testing her concealment against Aizen was important for later.

Orihime shook her head then turned to watch the fight.

…

Nnoitra was a very petty and small minded Arrancar. He wouldn't consider the weak worthy of his notice and would randomly slaughter them for the simple reason that they were an eyesore. Additionally, he had no problem with fighting a strong opponent who was weakened or injured.

He also had one major flaw. He hated anyone that treated him kindly. This was due to the fact that, in his mind, they were treating him as someone weak that needed their kindness. The irony is that all these things he hates in others are the attributes he himself possesses.

"Grimmjow, you're too weak to fight me. Be a good boy and crawl back to Aizen's new pet. You two can exchange notes, keke."

"Since you are so scared to lose, just hand over your rank. I wouldn't want to wound you so badly, otherwise that "pet" you disdain may heal you. Heh, actually, I think it would be a good lesson for you."

Grimmjow was done talking and immediately struck out with his hand. He favored using hand-to-hand combat and would only resort to his Zanpakuto occasionally or to initiate his Resurreccion. His movements were a lot smoother and quicker than before. This fighting style is really reminiscent of the explosive strikes of a panther.

Nnoitra initially wanted to just casually dodge or block with his double-crescent moon, oversized weapon, but Grimmjow proved to be a lot quicker than he remembered. The pressure he was feeling forced him to start getting serious. However, due to his nature, he began to slowly go crazy with blood lust.

Once Nnoitra began his round of reckless counter attacks, Grimmjow took a wound to his upper arm. Without care of the consequences, he released his Resurreccion. In the past, he only had the boney tail, arm and leg blades, and sharp claws. Now, however, he had a full suit of flexible boney armor as well as an open-faced helmet with a sleek design.

Grimmjow immediately struck at Nnoitra's chest after transforming and tore a new hole through him. Nnoitra was known for having one of the toughest Hierro amongst all of the Espada, so this really shocked Nnoitra. After kicking Grimmjow away, he too entered his Resurreccion.

Now with additional arms and additional scythe-like blades, the real fighting between the two Espada began. They exchanged many moves, but made sure not to release any Ceros. Although they were open to fighting, which was against Aizen's orders, they dared not begin destroying things by releasing powerful Ceros.

The strength and durability of his new armor caused a huge problem for Nnoitra. Even when he managed to get a slash in, it would just leave a groove in the armor that would soon repair itself. Realizing this, Grimmjow began to attack more recklessly. Almost completely giving up on defense.

Neither of them received any major blow except for the first one from Grimmjow when he transformed. This caused Nnoitra no shortage of frustration. After exchanging several moves with Grimmjow, Nnoitrarealized he was mainly on the defensive. Thus, he completely flipped his fighting style and struck down with all four scythes.

Grimmjow was able to dodge three of the blades but the fourth caught his shoulder. This was not before he managed to cut off one of Nnoitra's arms. Once the blade came up off his shoulder, Grimmjow did a roundhouse kick with the claws of his foot protruding out.

Infused into the kick was a powerful blade of Reiatsu which sliced open Nnoitra's chest. He kneeled to the ground and was about to begin an onslaught when Kaname Tosen appeared between them. He grabbed Grimmjows hand and deflected all of Nnoitra's blades.

"That is enough. The next one to attack will be immediately put into retirement. The result of this match is already obvious."

The tattoo's on Nnoitra's tongue and Grimmjows back flicked and switched numbers. Grimmjow was now the number five Espada over Nnoitra. If not for the warning, Nnoitra may have gone on a rampage from losing rank. He did not think he was weaker but fighting anymore would get him in trouble.

Seeing this, Orihime retreated from the scene and returned to her room. She sat and considered the battle. The main issue was that she couldn't assess his combat potential completely due to limiting factors. However, she would leave that to Tier and Nelliel once Aizen was sealed up like a gift box. A knock on her door interrupted her thinking process, Orihime could tell it was Grimmjow.

She walked over and opened the door to see a still-bloodied Grimmjow. He must have come straight here.

"Patch me up!"

"That's no way to—"

"All right, dammit! I'll listen to you for now, but I will wait until I see who is stronger before I take any drastic actions."