Chapter 1 - A New Threat

Disclaimer: I don’t own Bleach. 
Mighty Orihime!
 Chapter One: A New Menace
Ten years after the Vandenreich’s defeat…
 Kurosaki House
               Dawn was breaking in Karakura Town. Inside the house where a certain Substitute Soul Reaper and his family lived, a woman was busy in the kitchen making breakfast. The woman sung a merry tune while she flipped a pancake over, smiling from the sizzle of the bacon. “Ichigo!” she called out. “Kazui! Breakfast is ready!” 

               The sounds of footsteps welcomed Orihime’s ears. As she set plates on the dining room table, her son came around and hugged her. “Morning, mama!” the little boy greeted. 

               “Good morning, my special man,” Orihime warmly replied while hugging her son. As she stood back up she saw Ichigo enter the room and greeted him with a hug and a kiss. “Good morning, Ichigo!” 

               Ichigo embraced his wife and returned the kiss with one of his own. Ten years after defeating Yhwach and the Vandenreich, Ichigo had grown into the image of his father, albeit more handsome and still retaining the looks that Orihime had fallen in love with. Kazui, her son, looked very much like his mother and possessed his parent’s orange hair. 

               Orihime herself had become quite the woman. The mother and wife of the Kurosaki family was taller and her body had all the curves of a seductive woman. The long hair she’d taken pride in had grown longer, wrapped up in a ponytail. Her breasts had grown from birthing Kazui and her figure was more curvaceous. As Yoruichi once described it, “The young schoolgirl had blossomed into a seductive MILF,” much to Orihime’s embarrassment. 

               The family were eating alone in the house. The other three members of the Kurosaki family were out. Isshin had taken Yuzu and Karin with him to a doctors’ convention since both girls were showing interest in becoming nurses. 

               “Mama,” Kazui chirped while eating his pancakes. “I saw Chad’s fight on TV last night.” 

               “Did he win?” 

               Kazui’s heartfelt smile warmed the woman’s heart. “He was so cool! Uncle Chad is so strong!” 

               Most of Orihime’s friends were busy with their own lives. Chad was traveling around the country, working as a pro boxer. Uryu had become a physician like his father and was currently abroad doing work in Europe. 

               “So boys,” she looked over at Ichigo. “Are you all set for your trip?” 

               Ichigo nodded. “Yep. And Rukia and Renji have set everything up. They tell me Ichika is excited to play with Kazui again.” 

               Kazui’s face turned bright red. “Daddy! We’re training! Not playing!” he squealed in embarrassment. 

               Both parents laughed at their son’s bashfulness. Now that Kazui was displaying his Soul Reaper powers, Ichigo and Orihime felt it appropriate for Ichigo to take their son and train him in the Soul Society where he can control his strength. Because he was the son of Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue, there was some question as to how powerful the boy would be, which was why the two parents agreed for Ichigo to train him in the Soul Society for a week to see Kazui’s potential. 

               Finishing his plate, Ichigo looked over at his wife. “Will you be alright being by yourself for the week?” 

               Orihime have him a reassuring nod and smile. “I’ll be just fine. It’s just a week. And if something should happen, I’ll have Kisuke contact you.” 

               Ichigo scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, about that…” 

               “What?” 

               “Kisuke came by yesterday. He said he’d won a week’s vacation at a cruise so he’s taking Yoruichi and the others with him today.” 

               “Oh…” Orihime felt a little sad. All of her friends would be gone for the week. Even Tatsuki and Chizuru were out of town. “Oh well.” She fought down her disappointment and smiled again. “It’ll only be for a week. What’s the harm?” 

               An hour later and Ichigo and Kazui were in their Soul Reaper forms, preparing to go. Orihime gave her son a tight hug before giving Ichigo a goodbye kiss. “And maybe when you get back,” she whispered into his ear, “we can get continue your training,” she winked, making Ichigo blush.
               Ichigo kissed her back. “Something to look forward to.” He drew his shortsword and opened a Senkaimon. 

               “Goodbye, Mama!” Kazui waved before he and his father stepped through the portal. Orihime waved until the portal shut, leaving her alone in the house. “A week alone…” she mumbled to herself before walking away. “Oh well. What could happen in a week?” 

Later that night…

               Orihime hummed quietly as she walked down the sidewalk, careful to stay under the streetlights. She was still working her job at her bakery, which she was glad for since it gave her something to do besides being home alone. “Maybe I’ll call Tatsuki and see how her trip’s going…” she mumbled while taking a shortcut through a park. 

               A cold wind brushed past the woman, making her shiver and hug her arms. Her ears perked as her spiritual senses picked up something. Looking around, she saw nobody present in the park besides her. However, she knew that she wasn’t alone. She was being watched. “Who’s there?!” she called out, her hand going to her hairpins. 

               The orangette’s senses picked up more presences around her. Orihime tensed and took up a stance. With Ichigo and the others gone, she was now the sole guardian of Karakura Town. But while she’d dealt with Hollows by herself in the past, the spiritual pressure she was feeling didn’t seem like she was dealing with a Hollow or Arrancar. 

               Snickering came out of the shadows. “Well now, she’s certainly sharper than we gave credit for…” said a voice. 

               “I told you not to underestimate her,” said another. 

               “Who’s there?!” Orihime demanded. ‘Who are they? Quincy? Fullbringers?’ 

               A third voice made itself known. “Oh, you’ve not met us, ma’am. But you’ve met our kin for sure. A long time ago…” Five shadows came closer to the light Orihime was standing beneath. Orihime could only make out one of the five. A tall man with blonde hair, wearing an orange vest with flames. “You’re the Substitute Soul Reaper’s wife? Where is your husband?” 

               “What do you want with Ichigo?” demanded Orihime in return. “Who or what are you?” 

               The man chuckled to himself. Orihime braced when he reached into his pocket. “Well, it’s quite simple, ma’am.” From his vest pocket he pulled out a Fabergé egg. “We want revenge on Ichigo Kurosaki. As to who we are…” he smirked as he held out the egg. “Zeige Dich: Fafnir.” 

               Orihime gasped when a familiar glyph appeared on the egg. It was something she hadn’t seen in over a dozen years. “You’re…you’re Bounts?!” she exclaimed before the egg suddenly hatched with a burst of bright light. When it faded, a large dragon was standing behind the man. “But…but how? I thought that Kariya and his group were the only Bounts left before they died!” 

               Seeing Orihime’s distressed look made the Bount in question smile. Patting his Doll’s head, the man reached into his pocket again. “Oh, we aren’t the Bounts that you fought against years ago. We’re a new breed that was created ten years ago.” 

               “Ten years?” 

               The Bount pulled out a very familiar pendant. A Quincy cross. “Recognize this?” 

               Once again Orihime gasped in surprise. “But…how? You’re with the Vandenreich? This doesn’t make any sense!” 

               One of the shadows behind the dragon spoke; the voice this time was female. “It’s not that hard to believe. Yhwach wanted more soldiers who could match the Soul Reapers in addition to the Arrancars he pressed into service. During the first invasion, the Sternritters hacked Squad Twelve’s computer and made off with the data about Bounts. They used the distortion they’d caused between the two worlds to provide enough material to create us.” 

               “As she said,” the dragon-wielding Bount said. “We were all biologically created by His Majesty but were never put into action during the war. We’ve been in hiding ever since, growing our strenght and now we’re here to avenge the previous generation of Bounts and Yhwach.” The dragon behind him snorted flames, making Orihime cringe and step back. “Where is Ichigo Kurosaki?” 

               “Not here!” Orihime glared, feeling angry. Everything had been so peaceful in the last ten years and yet now a new threat had shown itself to wreck the peace she and her friends worked so hard to make. And now they were here to kill her husband. “Ichigo is in the Soul Society, where you can’t go!” She remembered that the Bounts could not enter the Soul Society without the aid of a Quincy. And Uryu wasn’t even in the country. 

               “No, but…” the Bount’s smile turned cruel. “Surely Ichigo Kurosaki will come running if something unfortunate happened to his wife.” He pointed at her and gestured to his dragon. “Fafnir. Bring her to me.” 

               “No!” Orihime defiantly shouted. “Santen Kesshun!” She summoned her barrier and blocked the flames, bracing herself from the intense heat. She readied her hairpins again as soon as the flames subsided. “Koten Zanshun!” Tsubaki shot out of her hairpins and buzzed past her barrier. ‘If I destroy his Doll, it’ll destroy him along with it!’ she thought to herself. 

               “Zeige Dich: Oni!” 

               Orihime was blinded by the flames that still surrounded the front of her shield, so she failed to see who summoned the doll, though she did note it was the first voice from before. Tsubaki continued its attack but was interrupted by a tree that suddenly sprung to life, getting in the way. Tsubaki tore through it but it gave Fafnir the time to fly up and avoid the attack.

               “Give it up!” the first voice mocked as Tsubaki returned to her. “You’re outnumbered six to one! Give up now and we’ll let you live as our hostage. Although…” the voice turned deviant. “We’ll be sure to keep you company before your husband comes home…” 

               Though she didn’t want to admit it, the man had a point. She was outnumbered. And if these were indeed Bounts then their powers would be considerable. It took Ichigo and the others everything they had to stop Kariya and his band last time and Orihime was all alone. Though she was stronger, she didn’t want to press her luck since she had no idea what these Bounts were capable of. She had to retreat for now and get help. 

               The leader of the Bounts notice Orihime start to back away. “Thinking of getting help? Don’t bother. Kisuke Urahara won’t be able to save you. We made sure of that.”

               Orihime remembered what Ichigo had told her earlier. “So that cruise…” 

               “Yep. Was us. Something to keep him out of our hair. Now, as my less eloquent friend put it, you’re outnumbered. Surrender and we’ll keep you alive long enough to be bait for your husband.” 

               “No way!” the woman retorted. 

               “As you wish. Your corpse will get his attention regardless. Fafnir.” The dragon, still airborne, charged at the housewife, preparing to smash her with its hard head. 

               “Shiten Kōshun!” 

               The dragon slammed into Orihime’s triangular barrier. Orihime’s technique caused a huge explosion that knocked the dragon backwards. The Bounts braced themselves from the shockwave. When the dust cleared, they saw Orihime was long gone. 

               “Hmm…so she’s cleverer than she looks,” the leader noted, rubbing the stubble on his chin. 

               A young woman, who looked about eighteen, dressed in a Chinese dress crossed her arms. “There’s nowhere for her to go. The Quincy and the Fullbringer are far away. We dealt with Kisuke Urahara and made sure that she can’t call the Soul Society for help. Once she realizes she’s nobody to turn to, she’ll get desperate, Vigo.” 

               “Agreed,” the leader, Vigo, nodded before retuning his Doll back into the egg. “But if Ichigo Kurosaki isn’t here now, then we’ll simply capture her and wait until he returns. Having his wife will make him vulnerable and easier to kill.” He turned to one of the other Bounts. “Kristov.” 

               Illuminated by the light of the dying flames, the third member of the Bounts smirked. The man looked like a punk, with spiky black hair and plenty of piercings and tattoos over his body, complete with black leather clothes. “Don’t worry. Mommy won’t know what hit her. And since we plan to do away with them both and their kid,” his smirk turned evil. “You don’t mind if I try out the goods?” 

               “Do as you wish. Just bring her back.”

               Cackling, the man calmly walked away, heading for a certain residence. 
Meanwhile…
 Urahara Shop
               Orihime knew Kisuke was still gone but she remembered that he always left a spare key under the mat. Throwing the door open, the woman darted inside and headed past the candy racks and entered the main part of Kisuke’s house. “Gotta call Ichigo!” she kept telling herself. If she could contact the Soul Society she could warn her husband and he could return with backup. “Kisuke should have a communicator somewhere…” 

               When she entered Kisuke’s workshop, however, she realized how thorough the Bounts had been. All of Kisuke’s communication devices had been smashed to pieces. “No, no, no!” She picked up one of Kisuke’s cellphones but it refused to turn on. “No!” She hurled it against the wall in a rare display of anger. Leaning back against a table, the orangette took a deep breath and calmed down. “Okay…” she buried her face in her hands and fought back tears. She felt so alone and out of her depth. Whenever she and her friends had fought enemies before, they always did it together, with Ichigo bravely defeating the main threat. Now she had to deal with these Bounts by herself, with no way to get help. 

               Lifting her head up, she wiped the tears and looked over at the piles of boxes Kisuke had along the side of the wall. “Okay, there’s got to be something in here I can use to help me.” She knew that Kisuke had a ton of gadgets. Maybe there was something she could use to help fight the Bounts. She trusted her powers but knew she’d need any advantage. 

               Sadly, most of the boxes contained nothing but broken junk. It was clear that most of the stored projects were failed experiments that Kisuke had not thrown away. But just as Orihime was about to give up and leave, she noticed a small shoebox tucked into the corner. 

               On a piece of tape stuck on the top of the box that read “Karakura Raizer Untested Model”. 

               The name sounded familiar to Orihime. She remembered Tatsuki telling her about the group Kisuke had assembled to fight Hollows in Ichigo’s stead after he left to rescue Orihime. “Well, if it helped them fight an Arrancar…maybe it can help me fight the Bounts.” She opened the top of the box and peered inside. 

               At first she was dismayed to see nothing but small watch and a piece of paper. Picking up the note, she quickly found that it was a series of instructions written in Kisuke’s handwriting. 

               “Ultra Karakura Raizer Suit; untested. When activation switch is turned, the watch will morph wearer into the new Karakura Raizer suit. As designed it will give wearer enhanced strength and speed similar to items developed for Kon and Tatsuki. I’ve incorporated my experimental bio-nano metal into the design for defense. In addition, I’ve modified the suit to include a sword amongst the armaments as a means of offense. Note: Must try and convince Yoruichi to try on. :)” 

               Putting the paper to the side, Orihime strapped the watch to her wrist. “If it was meant for Yoruichi to wear, then it must be powerful. I’m sure it’ll come in handy.” Standing up, Orihime took another deep breath and thought that perhaps there was once person who could help her: Uryu’s father, Ryuken. “The hospital is too far away to go this time at night. I’d better call him.” Remembering she didn’t have her phone and that she couldn’t remember the phone number off the top of her head, she realized she’d have to go back home. “Okay! Let’s go!” she said determinedly with her new accessory strapped to her wrist. 

               As Orihime ran out of the workshop she slammed the door. The burst of air flipped the paper Orihime had been reading over. Had Orihime checked the back, she would have seen Kisuke’s very lewd drawing…

To be continued
 