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KUROSAKI ICHIGO. Ichigo is Bleach's main character and he can't remember a face or a name even if his life depended on it. That's probably why, despite being in the same class, he doesn't notice Ishida's existence until the later finally decides to introduce himself. Even then, Ichigo still needs Orihime's help to remember his name.

Ichigo and Ishida's relationship couldn't have had a worse start, especially since one of the first things Ishida says is that he hates all shinigami. Ichigo is more confused than anything and a little pissed off. That's why when Ishida challenges him to a fight, he agrees to it. It all goes out of hands pretty soon, and thus Ichigo and Ishida find themselves in need to fight side by side.

During this, Ichigo finds out about the quincy and the reason of Ishida's anger. Ishida also learns about Ichigo's reasons to become a shinigami and finally realizes that he's been directing his anger to the wrong person, and that he's been acting against his beloved sensei's wishes - which were that shinigami and quincy could fight side by side.

At the end, Ishida even manages to save Ichigo's life and after all is solved, they become friends, even if a bit reluctantly at first. The thing is, Ichigo and Ishida are very much alike and even though they're pretty closed up people, it's clear that they genuinly care about each other.

INOUE ORIHIME. Orihime is actually the only person who knew who Ishida was from the beginning, since she also attends the Handicraft Club, just as he does. They don't seem to be close, but Orihime has been in contact with him long enough to know about his sewing abilities and closed up personality.

It is during the Soul Society Arc when Ishida and Orihime really begin to interact and understand each other. It's funny to watch how they are both so weird in different ways, and still manage to build a close bond by respecting and admiring each other's abilities. Being the great observer that he is, Ishida soon notices all the details that make Orihime the special person she is.

This of course includes the enormous affection she feels for Ichigo and how she will go to any extent to help and protect him. And thus, it's painful to watch just how important is Orihime becoming in Ishida's eyes and how he's determined to protect and care about her even if her heart belongs to someone else - and his feelings may remain one-sided.

YASUTORA SADO. Chad may be the one with the coldest relationship towards Ishida. He sees him as a very complex person, something that makes him the weakest among the group, according to him - and didn't think he'd show up in time for the rescue mission. He was wrong, of course.

Either way, and despite not having such a close friendship with Ishida, he somehow manages to help the quincy out whenever he's been in serious danger. Maybe this is due to his extremely kind personality, or maybe it has something to do with him thinking that Ishida is the weakest among them. It'll be very interesting to watch how their relationship evolves from now on.

KUCHIKI RUKIA. Ishida and Rukia don't really know each other that well. Soon after he enters Ichigo's circle of friends, she's taken back to Soul Society, so they don't really have the time to interact. Either way, Ishida decides to go along Ichigo and the rest to rescue her and begins an intense training in order to do so.

Ishida insists his motives are totally selfish as he just wants to show shinigami the real power of the Quincy. However, knowing Ishida and judging his actions, we can see he's putting all his heart in rescuing Rukia because he somehow thinks of her as a friend now, too.