Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach! As it is, this fic is kinda...years old. I had it on my deviantart account, but just randomly decided to add it here. I'm quite happy to let Kubo Tite keep Bleach (so long as he'll eventually FINISH it) so please don't sue me...

.oOo.

Imagine, if you will, that the fight with Inoue Sora had never been resolved and the Hollow known as Acid Wire was still out there, hungering to have his sister back...

Ichigo and his friends have finally returned from their mission to save Rukia, but the universe has it in for them and won't let them rest even a day.

.oOo.

Ichigo flopped onto his bed, for once not feeling bad about Kon being stuck in just that pill. That silentpill. He needed the peace and-

The phone rang downstairs. He sighed. Well, life as usual. But someone else would get it. Right now, he was just glad to be home, with familiar sights, smells and familiar-

-dread.

That feeling that something, somewhere had just gone horribly, inexplicably wrong. He was sure that if Rukia were there, her cell phone would be going crazy.

Ichigo immediately sat up in bed, staring intently out the window for a brief moment before looking into himself, trying once more to search for reiatsu, like he should be able to. But he was always so terrible at that. It took his concentration and even still it was shaky.

"Ichi-nii!" Karin called from downstairs. "Phone for you!"

"Tell them to call back!" he shouted, frustrated. This wasn't easy for him! "I'm busy!" Again he searched, reaching out with his own huge, unmanageable power to find whatever it was that was wrong; needed his help.

"Ichi-nii!" Karin called again, but before Ichigo could come up with another angry reply, she continued, "He says his name is Ishida Uryuu and it's important! D'you still want him to call you back later?"

Ichigo's eyes snapped open, and then he was bounding out the door and down the stairs, thinking at the same time, Ishida! He'd know what's going on!

He made it to the kitchen phone in record time, startling Karin when he snatched the phone out of her hand when he skidded past, socked feet on kitchen tile. But he managed to stay standing while answering the phone.

"Ishida! What's-"

"Kurosaki! It's Inoue-san! Get to her house now!" Ishida's voice barked over the phone. Then the phone went dead without even waiting for a reply. But Ichigo didn't much care.

Shoving aside that negative little thought about why he and his friends couldn't ever catch a break, Ichigo made a dash back up the stairs, taking them three at a time until he was in his room again. At first he made a grab for his shinigami badge, but the barest second's thought made him pause.

Karin will expect me to do something after that ruckus downstairs. I can't just leave my body up here like I fell asleep.

Spinning around, Ichigo made a grab for Kon's little pill and popped it into his mouth without even wiping it off. Soon as his soul and body were separated, he grabbed Kon by his shoulders and spun him around so they were face-to-face. By now, Kon could certainly tell the difference between Ichigo's everyday scowl and his do-not-mess-with-this-shinigami scowl.

He knew which one he was facing now.

"Kon! Inoue's in trouble! Run outside like something's happened, then stay out of sight of my family until I find you again. And for the love of all that's holy, try to act like ME for once!"

Without waiting for a reply, Ichigo jumped out his window and made a dash across rooftops for Inoue's apartment. He didn't worry about Kon doing what he said; even if it was for all the wrong, most disgusting reasons, Kon liked Inoue and wouldn't argue if it meant helping her.

And he didn't know why he was running around like a madman, he thought he'd be able to take unexpected turns like this after all he'd been through, but a feeling deep inside him said that something was gut-wrenchingly wrong.

He never ran across those rooftops so fast.

Soon he was close enough to feel Inoue's reiatsu very faintly. She must be hurt, and that dark, sinister feeling of a Hollow was present too. It didn't feel particularly powerful, but if Ishida had to ask Ichigo, of all people, for help, then the situation must be bad.

A leap from the last rooftop brought him to a skidding halt in the street in front of Inoue's apartment. Ishida was there, looking up at the rooftop of the building.

"About time you got here, Kurosaki," Ishida muttered in greeting.

"Where's Inoue?" Ichigo demanded instead of getting into a fight with him. "Is she hurt somewhere?"

Ishida was silent as he looked down from the rooftop to Ichigo. What was in his eyes...it scared Ichigo. Proud, haughty Ishida looked shockingly desperate, though he would never say that.

"See for yourself," the Quincy whispered.

"Oh! It's Kurosaki-kun! Did you come to save me?"

That voice...

A cold shudder raced up and down Ichigo's spine at the sound of that voice. Of course it was familiar to him, in good and very bad ways. The tone, speech pattern and lilt were exactly that of Inoue Orihime's, but instead of happy, innocent sweetness coloring it, there was a sinister, deceptive sound to it. It sounded exactly like his own voice had sounded coming out of the mouth of the thing inside of his soul. Exactly like the voice of a Hollow.

The dread he felt before came roaring back as he very slowly looked up at the top of Inoue's apartment building, where Ishida had once again returned his sight.

There, sitting perched on the pointed rooftop, lit glowingly by the moon, was a petite figure with small things flying around her.