Thread:Omega64/@comment-4503935-20190703001710/@comment-10330822-20191120134617

Yes. The Hogyoku wasn't involved until after Rukia gave her power to Ichigo. Orihime's connection to Ichigo goes long before that. It was mainly that Tsubaki was a mutal friend of both that got them initially connected. Based on what we saw from the flashbacks in the beginning, she met and fell for Ichigo after Sora's death, somewhere between 3 years ago and the current point of the series, so she was somewhere between 12-15. It probably had something to do with how when Sora was injured, he was cared for at the Kurosaki Clinic. Linking Orihime with Ichigo for the first time.