"How long do you think it will take for them to find a cure for us?" Matsumoto asked as she looked at a large hamburger with delight.
"Since we have both Urahara and Captain Kurotsuchi working on both ends, I don't see why there shouldn't be a cure within the hour. I say at most a day."
"I can't stay a woman for a day." Ichigo growled. "These boobs are getting in my way. How do you live with them?"
"We don't have a choice, you know." Matsumoto said.
"Uh, Kurosaki, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
Orihime whispered something in his ear and he blinked at her for a second. He then nodded a little and they both got up.
"Excuse us for a second."
They left and everyone watched them leave.
"Wonder what they had to go do…"
"She had to use the bathroom." Byakuya said casually.
Everyone stopped as Byakuya drank a little from his milkshake cup and he looked at them.
"What?"
"Nee-sama, that's a little bit of a private matter."
"It's a natural occurrence."
"Okay! What will we be doing now?" Renji asked, trying to move onto another subject.
Matsumoto was about to say something when all of their phones went off in regards to an approaching Hollow. They all used their soul candies and go into uniform, heading toward the Hollow.
"I'm really sorry about this, Kurosaki-chan." Orihime said.
"Well, I can't blame you. It was pretty brave of you to ask me to help you though."
"Was it?"
"Since you're now a guy, it's kind of stereotypical for the guys not to ask for help in things."
"I'll remember that next time."
"I think if you hadn't though you probably would have pissed all over the place."
Orihime laughed a little in embarrassment and finished her business. When she was done she cleared her throat.
"Uh, um… how do I uh…"
Ichigo opened the stall and then blushed.
"Uh… just stuff it back in and find a position that feels comfortable."
Orihime did and figured out what she was going to do when the door burst open.
"Ichigo, Hollow!" he yelled.
Ichigo shook his head as Orihime flushed the toilet and began to wash her hands.
"Will you be alright?"
"I think I'll be okay. Thanks for helping me. That was really weird and I hope we don't have to do that again."
"You and me both. I'll be back."
She nodded and then looked in the mirror. She took in her features and how different they were. She didn't see her brother in her at all, mostly her own features but chiseled out a little more, her hair cut short. She was surprised at her muscle mass and height but she smiled slightly in the mirror and then did gun fingers at her reflection. At least she was halfway decent to look at.
When Orihime got back to the table, she found that the gigais were fighting and had it had lowered into a food fight. The only one now involved seemed to be Byakuya, who was standing to the side.
"You are Kuchiki-sama, right?"
"Yes."
"You didn't leave to go defeat the Hollow?"
"I was sent here because I was too pretty, not because I was looking after the town. There is a Soul Reaper already here for Karakura Town."
Orihime made a face at him since he was the epitome of loyalty and laws. She then looked at the others and sighed.
"Well could you at least help me get them calmed down so that I can take them back with me to my house?"
Byakuya nodded and the two of them worked together to get them calm enough to listen to orders and get on the bus to go back to Orihime's house.
When they finally got home, Orihime sighed and slid down the wall in exhaustion. The phone rang and she picked it up without thinking.
"Hello?"
"Uh… is this the Inoue household?"
"Yes. Who is this?"
"That's what I should be asking you! Where's Orihime?!"
Orihime sat up quickly and realized that Tatsuki was on the phone.
"Oh, uh, yeah, she went out for a little bit. This is her cousin… Yuki…" she said, smacking her forehead at her ridiculous answer.
"Yuki? Orihime's never mentioned a cousin named Yuki before. Are you trying to swindle her out of something? She's too kind hearted to refuse so you're taking advantage of her kindness, aren't you?"
"No, I swear, my name is Yuki and I'm here in town for just a little bit. I just needed a place to stay for about a day. I dropped by completely unexpected and she went out to get some food for me."
Tatsuki was silent for a moment.
"I'm coming over."
She hung up and Orihime groaned, putting her face in her hands.
"What's wrong?" Byakuya asked.
"My friend is coming over here and I'm a man! What am I supposed to do?"
"You could just get Ichigo Kurosaki to replace you. He looks kind of like you."
"Not by much! This is horrible!"
Everyone came back in (through the window of course) and got back into their gigais.
"Nee-sama, why didn't you come?"
"I was not sent here to defeat Hollows."
"What's wrong, Orihime?" Ichigo asked.
"Tatsuki is coming over because I accidentally answered the phone. I told her I was my cousin named Yuki. But I'm here yet I'm not! Kuchiki-sama said that you should play me but you look nothing like me."
"I know, my boobs aren't big enough." He said.
"Ichigo does look like you a little." Matsumoto said. "He just needs to get a kinder face and softer eyes."
"I would mistake you two." Toshiro said.
"You don't pay attention enough, Captain." Renji said.
"What about my hair though?"
"If you put it up like it was the first time we went to the Soul Society then maybe she won't recognize that it's not long." Ishida said.
"Quick, get Kurosaki-chan into some of my clothes and quick! Tatsuki will be here any moment."
Everyone helped to get Ichigo to look the part of Orihime as Orihime tried to coach Ichigo on talking like her.
Tatsuki could feel that something wasn't right as she went up to Orihime's apartment. She'd known Orihime for a while and knew that she would have mentioned at some point if she had a cousin somewhere. Orihime had never mentioned a cousin and so it made Tatsuki suspicious. She knocked on her friend's door and it opened up.
"Oh, Tatsuki-chan, what brings you by?"
Tatsuki immediately put Ichigo in a hold.
"You're not Orihime! You can't fool me!"
"Ow! Dammit! Get her off of me!"
"Bakudo #9: Geki!" Rukia yelled.
A red glow suddenly shown pulsed over Tatsuki and Ichigo got out of her hold.
"Hakufuku." Byakuya said.
Tatsuki looked a little bewildered and then seemed to get dizzy and then fainted onto the ground. Orihime ran to her and looked at Byakuya.
"What did you do to her?"
"Just made her lose consciousness."
"Now what are we going to do? We can't just carry an unconscious girl out here!"
"We'll put her in your bed and make sure that she stays unconscious. When we get back to normal, she can wake up and you can say she slept over or something." Ichigo said.
Orihime bit her fingernails in anticipation of that lie but they led Tatsuki into her room. Ichigo put his hand on Orihime's shoulder.
"It'll be alright, Orihime. Don't worry about it. We'll be back to normal in no time and you can explain any way you want to."
"I hope so… This is so humiliating."
"I think we passed that with the bathroom thing." Ichigo grumbled.
"I got a call from Urahara. Maybe he's already found a way to get you guys back to normal." Rukia said.
"See? No harm done." Ichigo said, smiling at Orihime.
Orihime wasn't really convinced but she was in high hopes that Urahara had some better news on turning back to their old selves.
for the record, i know that ichigo would look nothing like orihime. it was a preposterous idea that everyone knew would probably fail but was worth a try. and byakuya was already pissed about the gigai, he didnt want to add soul candy that was weird to it. plus, he is right, there is already someone assigned to karakura town and he didn't want to interfere with that. what news will urahara bring?
not many chapts left so yay!