Bleach X For Honor: Soul Slayer

Ch. 33

One cannot improve without varying the challenges one must place on themselves. It was this principle that Arata and the Visoreds decided for the best that Ichigo go against more of the Visoreds than just himself and Hiyori.

The Heathmoor-born's eyes darted about as Ichigo and Shinji crossed swords. The teen's reaction time after donning his mask was ever slowly improving and it brought Arata a sense of pride he had not felt before. As the two stopped to rest, he could only stew on the feeling.

'This must have been what Sakura felt when she was training me.'

"Ouch, that hurts" The sudden arrival of Orihime's spiritual pressure alerted Arata. He turned to see Hiyori had returned with the auburn-haired teenager.

"Hey Hachi, I brought the one you wanted." Hiyori called out.

"Orihime?" Ichigo voiced in confusion to her sudden appearance.

"Alright Ichigo, your break is over."

"Hey, wait! Hold on a second. What do you want with-"

He did not finish the sentence as the small Visored sandal-slapped him into a large piece of rock.

'That reeks of all kinds of disrespect.' Arata thought. He had to give the girl credit though; she knew how to hit. He still remembered when she took a piece out of his mask.

Infuriated, Ichigo engaged in heated combat with the red gremlin. While he did that, Arata took a more calm alternative, subtly moving closer to Orihime as Hachi did. He had no doubt the man would not bring any bodily harm to the girl; rather, he was... curious as to what his business was with her.

Orihime gazed up as a large shadow was casted over her and there she saw Hachi's large and imposing figure. She was put off at first, but the juxtaposition of Hachi's soft voice and large anatomy soothed her.

"Hachi is only a nick name. My real name is Hachigen Ushoda. Nice to meet you" he introduced himself.

"Uhh... it's nice to meet you." Orihime replied back. The rotund man was so large that even when he sat he still towered over the girl. And when he began to study her, it made her even more confused. "Um, so... what was it that you wanted to see me about?"

The pink-haired gentleman's response was to lightly pinch her head with a hand that could easily crush her. Arata, for a split second, darted closer to them, but stopped as he reminded himself who Hachi was.

After some momentary panic from Arata and Orihime, Hachi finished his analysis of the object of his curiosity. "Just as I thought: these hairpins are the real form of your power. They're like a zanpakuto. This is truly rare." His statement left the girl in his grip paused. "But this one is chipped. I've been quite curious about it ever since you came here earlier to speak with Ichigo."

"Yes, but I'm afraid I can't fix it because apart of it was shattered." she told him.

This brought Arata to a pause. That didn't quite make sense. With her level of reiatsu and power to heal almost everything, couldn't she mend the damage herself? She did fine healing him and others. Why should the hairpins be any different?

"Well, would you like me to fix it for you?"

The happy gasp that left the girl could be heard despite the distance between them and Arata. "What?! Can you really do that?!"

"Why, of course."

"Oh goody!" cheered Orihime. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"It's nothing, really."

Nothing? Returning someone's power to its former glory was not like passing the soy sauce. Arata lightly nodded in approval.

Hachi then proceeded to heal the broken hair pin using a barrier similar to Orihime's. He then went on to explain what Arata had thought earlier about Orihime's abilities to self repair, further proving her capabilities.