Who Does Ichigo End Up With & Do They Get Married?

Ever since Bleach appeared for the first time, fans have been debating whether the series’ protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki, should have ended up with Rukia Kuchiki or Orihime Inoue. Both these girls have played an essential role in Ichigo’s story within Kubo’s series and they are both exceptionally important to him. But, despite everything else, Kubo intended – from the very beginning – for Ichigo to end up with one of these two, and in this article, we are going to tell you who it is and whether the two end up marrying or not.

Despite his very close relationship with Rukia, Ichigo ends up with Orihime, which is what Kubo intended from the very beginning. Rukia and Ichigo are extremely close friends, closer than anyone in the whole series, but with Rukia being a soul and Ichigo a human, there was no way for them to end up as a couple. On the other hand, Orihime was always there for Ichigo and their relationship was practically certain from the very beginning.

The rest of this article is going to further explore the relationship that Ichigo had with Orihime, as we are going to bring you all the relevant narrative details, as well as how they ended up after the main narrative had been concluded. Be careful, as this article is going to contain several spoilers from the unofficially titled “Hell Arc”.

Who does Ichigo end up with in Bleach?

The question of who Ichigo ends up with has been a perplexing one for a lot of fans, with two factions being formed within the fandom – one of them favored the more natural relationship between Ichigo and Orihime Inoue, whereas the other cheered for Ichigo to end up with Rukia Kuchiki. Although yours truly belongs to the latter clan, I must admit that the IchiHime ship is more natural and the only right one in the end (a relationship between Ichigo and Rukia would demand a lot of explanations) wouldn’t necessarily make sense in the end). But, what was the nature of the relationship between Ichigo and Orihime?

Before awakening her own powers, Orihime barely interacts with Ichigo, even though they are in the same class and both are old friends of Tatsuki. However, from the very moment of her introduction, Orihime’s great interest in Ichigo is sensed, which continues to increase as the plot of the series progresses.

Tatsuki herself seems to be aware of this, and even reveals some facts from Ichigo’s past, which makes her friend feel closer and closer to him. Once Orihime develops spiritual powers and reaches her knowing the existence of the Shinigami, Rukia’s true identity and the substitute work that Ichigo is doing, her admiration for him grows even more, and since she decides to accompany him to Soul Society, their destinies become linked.

It should be noted that Orihime usually imagines Ichigo dressed in different costumes, such as a prince, a Tuxedo, etc. In the Lost Agent Saga, Orihime states that when Ichigo cries she feels a lot of pain. According to Bleach Fan Fiction Wiki, Orihime has been shown to be very perceptive when it comes to Ichigo as she is able to tell what kind of force is pushing him forward.

She has exhibited traits that seem to have some relation to Ichigo, such as the uncanny ability to detect Ichigo by scent and sense of his spiritual pressure, even when masked as the Visored, and awareness of what is happening to him, his mood, feelings of anguish, disappointment, or worry; she also feels pain when she sees Ichigo hurt. All of these examples show just how deep the bond between them is.

Do Ichigo and Orihime end up marrying?

Orihime’s crush on Ichigo eventually turns to love and she reveals it to him before leaving for Hueco Mundo, though Ichigo doesn’t notice as he is asleep. It is evident that she is in love with Ichigo; she has expressed these feelings to Rangiku Matsumoto and Ichigo himself, even though he was asleep at the time, as we have said. But it was a relationship that developed slowly, over time.

Ichigo was always protective of Orihime due to her fragile nature, but Orihime was stronger than she looked and she was also very protective of Ichigo. She did not think twice when she decided to follow him to Soul Society to save Rukia, and Ichigo valued that very much. When Aizen ordered Ulquiorra to bring Orihime to Hueco Mundo, Ichigo did not think twice when he decided to go to Las Noches to rescue her, regardless of the dangers he would face there.

With their shared experiences, the bond with them only grew. Orihime showed great devotion to Ichigo when she found out that he had come to Hueco Mundo to save her, and Ichigo was able to overcome his limits when he needed to save Orihime. It was thanks to her that he both managed to defeat Ulquiorra and return to normal after being fully Hollowfied. This shows that the bond between them was immense, even when they were not a couple.

They, of course, become closer as time passed, especially after Aizen’s defeat and the Fullbringer Arc, when Ichigo was in a tough situation; Orihime – although she was not as important as some other characters during that arc – cared very much for Ichigo at the time and this arc showed us just how much their feelings had deepened over time. She, of course, helped Ichigo and the Gotei 13 fight the Quincy during the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc, which further deepened the emotional bond between her and Ichigo.

Finally, after eleven years of adventures, the relationship has finally settled between Ichigo and Orihime, resulting in the birth of their son, Kazui Kurosaki. The two of them ended up getting married and starting a happy family, as was shown during the unofficially named Hell Arc, which has the potential to become something more, if Tite Kubo actually decided to make everyone happy with more chapters of Bleach in the near future.