#how did I end up with so many messages dfkjgdkfgjk

[ichinoue]

Has Ichigo ever had any individual monologues or thoughts about Orihime like he has with Rukia? Has he ever specifically singled her and her importance on his life out? Besides the "I will protect her" moment which I know was absolutely about Orihime. Signed, an Ichiruki who doesn't hate Orihime and likes Ichihime a tad but wants a different take other than from other Ichiruki shippers.

Nope. And I think that was deliberate on Kubo's part.

Because Ichigo's feelings for Orihime were supposed to be hidden, they were supposed to be a secret, a mystery that the reader was meant to figure out over time, rather than being spoon-fed a quick and easy "I love Orihime" monologue. I believe Kubo chose to show, not tell when it came to Ichigo's feelings for Orihime. Which makes for so much better and interesting writing.

It was "safe" to share with the reader Ichigo's thoughts about Rukia (or Chad, or Ishida, or whoever else) in monologues, because his thoughts about her weren't romantic; he could monologue about her being important in his life, because that was absolutely true, but there wasn't anything deeper than that in a romantic sense. There weren't any hidden feelings for her that Kubo risked unveiling if we delved into his thoughts. So there was no fear of spoiling the ending of "who will end up with who?" or feeling the need to pair people up too early once feelings have been confirmed on both sides (and Kubo said he purposely waited until the end to pair the couples up).

We read Ichigo's thoughts about Rukia, and what did we learn? That it was all platonic! He never expressed any feelings of romance in those monologues. His motivations and reasoning were made clear.

While Orihime...? We had *no idea* what he was thinking about when it came to her. Kubo purposely kept it hidden. He could have been thinking anything (😏😉🤫) because we just didn't know. And not knowing left the door wide open for the possibility of him having feelings for her.

We could only make inferences based off of his actions, the way he acted towards her and around her, and pick up on the patterns over time, how it all pointed to his purposely hidden feelings for her.

You can see it in the way his usual prickly disposition softens around her, the way his enemies target her more than anyone else just to get to him, the blind rage when his enemies taunt him about her, his all-out panic when he thinks she's in danger, how flustered he gets when people tease him about her, the depression when he realized she was abducted, the puppy dog eye way he looks at her when he realizes she's okay again.

You see him looking at her with relief whenever she cries and thanks him for being okay after a battle, you see his shoulders sag with guilt as he apologizes for failing to protect her, you see him bowing before her when he makes the vow to protect, grinning as he tells Grimmjow he's not allowed to get hurt anymore because Orihime said so, rising up from the dead for her, getting stronger when she's near him in the gamespace, the rage when Tsukishima calls her on the phone in front of him, the devastation in his eyes when she heals Tsukishima's arm, the trust he feels in asking her to go two-to-one against Yhwach.

You never hear him thinking about any of this--not once. But you don't need to. It all became so obvious over time.

#IchiHime #how did I end up with so many messages dfkjgdkfgjk