Orihime jolted awake. Or rather, she was jolted awake. What might have done that, Orihime couldn't be sure right away as her brain was quite fuzzy and had not yet 'reconnected' with her body. However, that time was greatly reduced when she noticed a few things about her surroundings. Mainly that she seemed to be in a moving vehicle of some kind and that she was not alone inside it.

"You all right there, dearie?" said a middle-aged woman who was dressed all in black and sitting across from Orihime, "Look a bit peaky, if you don't mind my saying so."

When Orihime wasn't able to answer right away, the woman nudged the man sitting next to her and said, "Jethro," to which the man responded by rolling his eyes, unhooking a canteen from his belt and handing it across to Orihime. Unable to think of anything else to do, Orihime unscrewed the top and was about to take a quick sip when another significant lurch from the vehicle nearly sent her sprawling on the floor while the water came flying up into her face and all over her clothes. The water was just the thing to make her fully realize that if this was actually a dream, it was the most realistic one she had ever had.

"Where are we?" Orihime croaked.

Shaking her head good-naturedly, the woman replied, "Couldn't say for sure meself, dearie. Stagecoach left Cherry Springs this morning and we've been ridin' with nary a stop since then, so I reck'n we're no more'n a couple'a hours from White Hollow by now."

Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach, Orihime nevertheless forced herself to swallow hard and then turn to look out at the passing scenery. An endless yellow sea stretched out before her only interrupted by the occasional boulder or even more rare desert vegetation. However, as her eyes and mind continued to adjust to her surroundings, Orihime felt the panic that had been previously welling up inside her gradually begin to subside. It continued on until after a minute or two, Orihime began to wonder why in the world she had ever felt so out of place. While, yes, she couldn't remember exactly why she was taking this journey to White Hollow or much of anything else about her past, Orihime was sure that she was exactly where she was supposed to be. Everything else would come back to her when the time was right.

In true fashion, just as she was settling in to her surroundings, there was another vicious jolt from the coach that actually did send her sprawling onto the floor. The one difference this time was that they didn't continue moving. Muffled voices yelled something incomprehensible, but from their tone, Orihime was fairly certain that this situation was not very good.

That suspicion was confirmed when a rider wearing both a mask over his eyes and a bandanna over his nose pulled up alongside the coach, yanked open the door and without hesitation reached in and dragged Orihime out. Compelled to submit to a force that almost seemed to pull her arm from its socket, Orihime tumbled out of the stagecoach before being hauled up and over the man's saddle. Even if Orihime would have had the wherewithal to struggle with the man the moment he put his hands on her, she would have then stopped the instant she felt something press against her temple.

Another rider came alongside the other and pointed his gun into the stagecoach. Addressing the couple inside, the man's tone was almost as soothing and dangerous as a snake's hiss as he said, "Now, everyone remain perfectly calm. My comrades and I would appreciate your cooperation for a while."

"Boss!" came a voice from in front of the stagecoach.

Orihime looked up as far as she dared to see a man whom she assumed was the driver whip out a double-barreled shotgun and begin to take aim at the man who seemed to be the leader. Before he could get a shot off, the man almost carelessly flicked his gun up and fired. The driver grunted as the bullet ripped through his shoulder while the force of the missile, to Orihime's horror, sent the man tumbling from his perch.

"As I said," said the man as he once again pointed his barrel at the middle-aged couple, this time with a hint of irritation in his tone, "we would appreciate your cooperation...however, we will use force if necessary. Your choice."

The only sound for a minute or so was the soft creaking of harness and saddle leather or the occasional snuffle from a horse. Otherwise, everyone remained perfectly still.

"Very well," said the man in his former silky tone, "In a short while, we will be joined by several others and I expect you all to be on your best behavior, or believe me, you will not reach the end of your journey in one piece."

Turning to the man holding Orihime, the leader said, "Kugo, why don't you allow our approaching friends to get a good look at your unusually attractive hostage? Likely put them in a more of a negotiable mood, wouldn't you say?"

Without a word, Kugo grabbed both of Orihime's wrists with his free hand and then temporarily returned his gun to his holster so that he could pull her up until she was sitting in front of him in the saddle. Then, he wrapped his left arm around her shoulders and neck, not so tight that she couldn't breathe yet firmly enough that she didn't dare try to struggle. Finally, Kugo retrieved his gun and held it steadily against her temple.

Now able to see more than the ground about seven feet below her and the shadows cast there, Orihime saw that the stagecoach was less than a half-mile from a rather steep hill. She also noticed that there was a dust cloud rising from just beyond the hill, so she imagined that they would soon be joined by another group of riders very shortly. While she couldn't be entirely sure, Orihime guessed the new arrivals would be some kind of lawmen...otherwise, the man wouldn't have bothered to take them all hostage.

Keeping his own gun steadily trained on the man and woman, the leader spoke to the third member of the group (who Orihime could now see had been holding the stagecoach horses reigns to keep them from running away), "Moe, go to the other side and make sure our injured friend doesn't have any more heroic urges."

Nodding in understanding, Moe did as he had been ordered. For a brief moment, Orihime saw him pull out his gun and she was about to scream and tell him to stop, to not kill the poor man. Then she saw Moe gesture with his gun and say something about handing it over. A few moments later, Moe reached down and when he sat back in his saddle, Orihime saw that he was holding the driver's shotgun. While the big man still had his arm wrapped around her pretty securely, Orihime felt her breathing begin to ease...until she remembered the quickly approaching riders.

They didn't have to wait much longer before the group of riders crested the hill and started making their way towards the stagecoach. However, the riders did slow down quite a bit when they came close enough to assess the situation. While these men also had bandannas covering their mouths, Orihime realized it was only for the practicality of keeping sand and debris from choking them as they rode because each man pulled it down to reveal their face as they drew closer. The man in the middle seemed to be the leader as when he stopped his horse, the others followed suit.

Sitting forward in his saddle so that he could rest one arm against the saddle horn, the man pushed back his hat to reveal curly brown locks and an eye-patch as he said with a rather easy-going drawl, "Now boys, why'd you wanna go and do something like this? Ya'll just keep racking up the charges and you'll make it hard on the judge to show you any clemency."

Tsukishima was silent for a time before he began to chuckle, shake his head and then erupt into a bout of mirthless laughter as he replied, "Certainly if we cared to receive any sort of clemency this situation would be unnecessary. However, let's not waste anymore time and get straight to the point."

"You're not a murderer, Tsukishima, and neither are your men," the man said with a shake of his head as he adjusted his seat in the saddle, "Let the lady go and come quietly, already."

Nodding his head, Tsukishima replied slowly, "You're right that we're not a murderers...but I do believe the charges include kidnapping or abduction somewhere along the line. So, here's how this is going to play out: you all empty your lead onto the sand, toss your pieces as far as you can and then quietly dismount so we can give your horses a little exercise. That done, we'll be on our way and drop this pretty little thing off when we reach the next town all safe and sound."

While his tone remained light and easy, Orihime saw the man's single eye glint dangerously as he inquired, "And if we choose to take our chances?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Tsukishima replied just as evenly, "You know as well as I that should things become...unpleasant, there's a great possibility that this unfortunate young lady will be seriously hurt or even killed. Not through any intent of ours, of course, but bullets flying and horses running every which way does not make for the safest scenario."

Something clicked in Orihime's brain and her mind began to race. While this man Kugo was holding the gun to her temple and Tsukishima and Moe were still aiming their guns at the others, they actually didn't want to kill anyone. Whatever their reasoning behind their stance, Orihime saw a possible opening. Just before she put her plan into action, her roaming gaze connected with a young man's who was sitting next to the posse leader. Something about his eyes was very familiar and from the way his pupils dilated he seemed to understand that she was about to do something very risky. Next moment, Orihime became boneless while directing her weight to push back against Kugo and then to his elbow that was wrapped around her.

The first part of her plan went just about perfectly as Kugo was completely unprepared for this sudden 'fainting spell' of sorts. Her sudden weight shift caused him to lose his grip momentarily and in the time it took him to try and grab her again, Orihime reached around to grip his arm and pull to try and throw him off balance or even unseat him from the saddle. Again, everything started smoothly enough with Kugo being pulled off his saddle, but what Orihime had failed to take into consideration was that he was still gripping a gun in his other hand. Kugo viciously swung his arm around knocked the gun against the side of her head, stunning Orihime so that she now had no control over her fall from the horse.

In the few moments this scuffle had gone on, Orihime had created enough of a distraction for the law-abiding posse to make their move. While Tsukishima and Moe had turned around when Kugo grunted as he lost his grip, their counterparts kicked their horses forward to confront the criminals. There were brief struggles over the firearms and two shots were fired harmlessly out into the desert before the posse had overwhelmed Tsukishima, Moe and then Kugo.

For her part, it was very fortunate for Orihime that after he knocked her head, Kugo had instinctively grabbed her around the waist before she hit the ground. Hanging limply and feeling very disoriented, Orihime felt her stomach lurch and brain feel woozy when she felt herself being turned over and flipped right side up. Groaning plaintively in protest, Orihime could do no more as she was once again lifted up and held by a strong pair of arms.

Unable to keep herself awake any longer, Orihime slipped once again into unconsciousness.

Author's Note:

Not much to say other than I'm trying to get back into the game of getting these done. Real life has been hard to keep up with, but I'm hoping to carve out some time to get this knocked out efficiently.

Thanks guys for your patience and continued support! You are the reason I decided to come back and not give up on any of my stories, which believe me, was a very appealing option for a time.

P.S. Is it bad that when I first typed this, I was putting 'Kubo' in place of 'Kugo'?