These are the first word's I'm typing of the chapter, and I hope to make shorter chapters from now on. Let's hope by the end of this chapter, things go as planned, because chapter nine just ballooned out of it's constraints, but I'm still very pleased with the results of both eight, and nine. As in pleased that I actually finished those monsters that is.

I enjoyed writing chapter nine especially, because of Abdul, and introducing some more AU concepts. I'm a hypocrite for hating most OCs in fanfiction and disliking most AU stories in general (I said 'most', not 'all'), because I like my OCs and I like this story. I know the characters and the story aren't perfect and could definitely use a lot of work though.

This chapter and the next were originally one and have been split in two. They are composed of "sections" similar to chapter seven and nine. I won't tell you the names ahead of time like I did last chapter. Let's just say the name of the first section alone should give you a nice laugh. Anyway, the saga continues!

I don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo does.

Check my profile for updates to the story's status, chapter release dates, etc.

More details and important info in the Author's Note. That is all.

The Lost Shinigami
(Part One)

The Rikka Auxillary Board Meeting

September 10th

5:03 AM. What is the conflict with the Rikka that both Orihime and Chad noticed back in the gaol? ! Why have they taken to the skies with Orihime in tow?

The skin on Orihime's face looked like astronauts' or cosmonauts' when they launched into space. It was currently rippling from the pure G-force of Santen Kesshun's speed as it rocketed into the Hueco Mundo sky like a missile.

"Hey...Hey!...HEY! Hurry up and stop already. What-are you three trying to fly to the moon or something? !" shouted Tsubaki who'd flown up ahead of Ayame and Shun'ō.

"Yeah, why don't you fly up there and find us a nice landing spot," responded Hinagiku, as Santen Kesshun abruptly stopped.

Unfortunately, Orihime hadn't merged into the shield, and the inertia sent her careening through the night sky even higher.

"Are you serious? ! Fly up there and trap her into the shield!" yelled Tsubaki over the yells of the confused girl.

"Don't tell us how to do our job, Tsubaki! Quit yelling for once and everything'll be all right. I would've thought Abdul taught you as much by now," retorted Lily in the top corner of Santen Kesshun as the corner flew up and caught the careening Orihime, causing her to tumble back down near the bottom edge.

"You're not doing any kind of 'job' at all! And don't mention the guy who was actually trying not to cry about getting his arm back. What a loser! His tough guy act doesn't fool me!"

"Um…yeah, that's right because you're actually a real tough guy. Right 'wannabe pirate ripoff?" responded Hinagiku, quoting Abdul in a voice that signified eye-rolling.

"Oh God, you were actually doing great not yapping up until now, so go ahead and get a mouth-patch to match your eye-patch so you can just shut back up. And don't imply I think of myself as some stupid archetype!"

"Um...guys, I'd hate to interrupt, but Orihime's kind of,...yeah," said Shun'ō trailing off before flying up to the altitude with Ayame in tow, looking down at the girl who was lying on the now leveled Santen Kesshun.

She was completely out of it. Her eyes were exaggerated dizzy swirls, and her mouth agape.

"What do we do now?" asked Ayame with concern, looking at her wielder from inside her hood formed from her Rikka appendages.

"I'll tell you what we do! Stop joking around, woman!" yelled Tsubaki kicking Orihime square in the jaw. His tactics may seem obnoxious, but they definitely got the job done.

"Aaoow! Tsu-Tsubaki-kun!" yelled Orihime, jerking up and holding her chin.

"See, she was awake and just fine," responded the offensive Rikka in an unusually docile voice, while ignoring the ongoing whining of his wielder.

In a mere few seconds of her vision becoming less dizzy, she remembered just how the Rikka hijacked her conversation with Abdul and quickly looked around. Her eyes instantly transformed from swirls to doe-like.

"Whoa! W-we're so high up!" she said in astonishment rather than fear. But before any of the Rikka could retort, it was like she was on a mission as she began randomly rolling over to the shield's edge at inhuman speeds to apparently peer over the edge in her juvenile wonder. Given the girl's track record for clumsiness, let's just say this action didn't go over well with the Rikka's anxiety level, and caused more than half of them to dampen their clothes in a spontaneous nervous sweat.

Right when the edge was nearly in the grasp of her left hand, Baigon, in the corner of the shield to the right of her, flew up, causing Orihime to tumble back down towards the shield's center.

Landing on her head and back with a meek grunt, she managed to see Baigon's corner level back down with the rest of the triangular plane.

As she sat up with both hands on the shield behind her for support, she was facing his corner and saw the shield was much more expanded than normal. It's not as if she could see Baigon's face or anything either since he was still in 'flight mode' maintaining his corner of Santen Kesshun. The same went for Lily and Hinagiku.

Sitting up further in criss-cross position and rubbing the back of her bruised head, she saw that floating over the middle of each side and extending from Baigon's corner were Shun'ō on the left and Ayame on the right. Tsubaki was on the opposite side from her, looking smug.

Suddenly Baigon himself broke the silence.

"It's nice to see you've finally awoken, Orihime," stated the articulate and wise male Rikka.

"It's not like we could do this without her Baigon," answered Shun'ō, floating into a fixed position.

"So, you guys ready for this or what?" asked Lily.

"You should ask Orihime-san that question," responded Hinagiku.

"Her answer would be yes...we didn't have to go this far," answered Ayame meekly.

"Why don't we just see for ourselves then?" challenged Tsubaki.

Still rubbing her head, she snapped out of her daze.

"Huh? What are you guys talking abou-" she began before getting thrashed by a powerful gust of wind.

"W-wait a second! Why are we actually so high up anyways? !"

"I'll get right to the point. We need to discuss our relationship. To do that, we needed to get as far away from those two as possible," began Shun'ō without his usual amused tone. "Being up here also means we don't run into any stray hollows on the desert to distract us."

Orihime took note of the Rikka captain's serious tone, and also how he said 'those two'.

"'Discuss...our relationship'?" questioned Orihime inquisitively.

"That's right," he answered simply.

Right then, Orihime noticed the expressions on Shun'ō and Ayame's faces. They were...upset or saddened? Even the Rikka in the corners were giving off uneasy vibes, which reminded her of the time back in their cell when they curiously emanated similar vibes, thus giving her a sudden realization.

"T-that's what this is about!...it's why they brought me up here? What are they trying to do?" she thought in concern.

"Alright Ayame, you're up," stated Shun'ō jolting Orihime out of her thoughts.

"Right," she answered, flying down level with Orihime's face before she threw back her large makeshift-hood revealing a bold expression.

"I...I still remember," she began, shaking off any remaining timidity. "I still remember when you came back from Soul Society. You were so ready to take on the world and to improve yourself. Even came up with great training ideas. But of course, the first arrancar attacks put things in view. 'Why am I thinking I'll be of use by training, when Kurosaki-kun gets stronger by fighting life or death battles? My leisurely way of going about things-merely training-is a joke,' I remember you thinking."

"I never told her that. None of them were even out when I thought that...," observed Orihime in silence.

Ayame swiftly continued, "Then Tsubaki's 'death' made that thought wrap around your mind. We all were sick with grief and didn't know what to do. And you seeing us upset only made things worse for you," she said sadly at the end.

"But you said something back in Yokosuka that mesmerized us. At first awakening us to save Tatsuki-chan, we all helped you out a lot, with Shun'ō taking the lead role, but you said in Yokosuka that you felt you had 'to start contributing and trying to lead' yourself. We're all only 'guides' after all, but you're our wielder, our true leader. That's how we interpreted you saying that, and back during our deepest despair huddled in that sad position in the apartment, you showed that leadership quality.

"While the rest of us were hopeless—no help at all, you alone brought us all back to the park to try and find a piece of Tsubaki to heal him, but when you failed, you sunk even further."

Orihime remembered that lower than low feeling. It was only about six days ago, but it felt much longer. Still, she wondered where Ayame was heading with this as she braced against the powerful gusts of wind.

"But it was only yesterday afternoon that Ushōda-sensei and Kuchiki-san brought you back up and made you happy again. With Kuchiki-san, not only did she help us gain new resolve, but she helped you use everything that was going against you for even more resolve. But even before that, you already knew you'd do whatever it took to get Tsubaki back," continued Ayame.

"O-of course. Even if I'd submitted to Urahara-san's plan, or even never fought alongside Kurosaki-kun, Sado-kun, or Ishida-kun again—if I was completely isolated from the world of hollows and shinigami that Urahara-san himself opened the doors to, I was still getting Tsubaki-kun back!" responded Orihime with conviction.

"Of course," began Shun'ō, speaking up, "you could say that while Kuchiki-san restored our will to actually fight, Hachi gave us the means to do so by restoring Tsubaki and giving us a framework for just how we should go about doing it. We knew we wanted to get stronger, and he gave us a path to walk on. We really owe them both so much," continued Shun'ō.

"Yeah...we really do. After leaving Hachi-sensei, I left Kuchiki-san outside the Visored's warehouse. I refused to look back at her face, and I promised to get stronger. Only then can I see her face again. Actually, back then I was thinking about Kurosaki-kun when I said it, but I mean it for everyone now. Then the next time we meet, Urahara-san, Kuchiki-san, Hachi-sensei, Kurosaki-kun, everyone; when we meet again, I'll be next to you so I won't even see your backs. That way you'll see how much I've grown. I tried giving Tarragó-san a reason for my not wanting to return home, but truthfully I can't show my face in Karakura until I've reached that point!"

Meanwhile, during her thoughts, Shun'ō had still been speaking, but Orihime had still been listening.

"With Tsubaki back, you had finally had a plan alongside a place and purpose, and you were mentally unbeatable You even got Sado-san out of his own slump and made him see things our way. But that's when the hollows appeared just a few hours ago. For the most part, our opponent had a lot of advantages, but our techniques won out in the end. Even still, by the fight's end, we were turning the knob on death's door. Her abilities were so dangerous to us, and that was her downfall. Because her 'Glotón Semilla' ended up tampering with your soul sleep, it opened up a small window of opportunity for you to access your full life force. Actually you had no say or control of the matter; it just exploded as if the poison popped a hole in your soul sleep like a balloon.

"You used that window of opportunity to trap the hollows and use Koten Zanshun-Shō. That alone nearly ripped the seams of your soul. We all felt it. You may not have realized, but If you hadn't finished using that same rush of energy to do Sōten Kisshun, you would've be dead!" continued Shun'ō getting emotional. Ayame simply looked on solemnly.

"I mean even with that being the strongest Sōten Kisshun you've ever done, you still passed out and nearly went comatose! We don't even know what these hollows did to you while you were unconscious! When you summoned us during your sleep in the cell, you were so pale it looked like we were healing a dead body! How do you think that made us feel?" vented the Rikka captain.

"Our 'healing' was so weak all we managed to do was barely wake you up. We didn't even know what happened to you or where you were because we'd been out of commission ourselves! Only after we realized Sado-san was awake and with us did we begin calming down," added Ayame.

Orihime was shocked at these revelations. They'd revealed as much back in the cell, but not with this much detail. They'd been damaged and in the form of warped hairpins, a sign of over-exerting her soul. Same with Ichigo's Zanpakutō after he fought the Menos Grande. All she could do was stare at her Rikka as they continued venting their apparent pent-up emotions.

"You said before that you were 'leisurely' wasting time with training before the arrancar attacks, but ever since then, even after Tsubaki's 'destruction' and your failure to restore him you've stepped up to the plate. Meanwhile, we've still been stuck in our own 'leisurely' phase as simply being mindless vessels for kotodama!" shouted Hinagiku speaking up from behind Orihime in the back left corner of Santen Kesshun.

"Don't you get it? We've completely failed you as Rikka!"

Normally, Orihime would pass this off as Hinagiku's normal over-dramatics, but his sorrow in saying it pierced Orihime's heart and his statement really threw her off.

"What? What are you talking abou-," she was at a loss for words in how to respond.

"We've failed to properly support you in preparing for powerful enemies like arrancar, And nearly dying against a mere normal hollow earlier was much more than a smack to our faces!" further explained Hinagiku.

"...You said before how you were jealous of Rukia...for-for cheering up Kurosaki-ku-I mean Ichigo," began Lily this time in the back-right corner of the shield. Her voice lacked her former spunk and enthusiasm. It was replaced by a voice of a fearful guilty person admitting their crime. The reminder to Orihime of her prior feelings towards the Kuchiki girl unnerved her once more as the pink-haired Rikka continued.

"...Well, how do you think I felt when she cheered you up? !" cried Lily.

Orihime had her head turned around looking at Lily's corner with saucer eyes. Her mind had been effectively blown. She knew more than anyone how wise and sentient the Rikka were. They were wiser than her. But for the Rikka to personally have these individual types of thoughts that so closely mirrored her own?

"I-I was so happy, so happy that you were happy. Your emotions have effect on us after all. Just what did you think that 'depression party' in the apartment we had a couple days ago was all about? !" remarked Lily with a little of her usual wit seeping through. "I was happy that that she completely revived you. I truly was. But I was jealous. Jealous that it was something I couldn't do."

For that moment Orihime felt like she'd heard a recording of her own words. Whether it was intentional on Lily's part or coincidental, Orihime was floored either way as if she were truly seeing herself in each of the Rikka for the first time.

"I felt the same," admitted Ayame meagerly with her hood back on after seeing Lily's braveness. "Even to the point of..of disliking Kuchi...," she trailed off with tears forming in her eyes at channeling the horrible foreign emotions into words.

"It's not just that," started up Shun'ō putting his arms around Ayame. "As great as those two were, adding to what Hinagiku said, even I felt that at least the emotional support should have come from us during the period Tsubaki was gone. Even though we wanted Tsubaki back as bad as you, all we managed to do was bring you down," he continued looking Orihime dead in the face as he calmed down.

"You guys..," thought Orihime tearing up.

"But notice how we're all using past tense. Those were past emotions. There's no resentment. It's like Baigon said before the new trimester of school started, 'there's a difference between relying only on yourself and shouldering your burdens alone, or depending fully on others while not being able to help yourself as opposed to middle solution of being able to support yourself, but still not shouldering burdens all alone.' Clearly you've achieved the latter option, Orihime, with being able to share your burdens and support yourself while if we'd had our way with all our jealousy and insecurities, we would have ended up like the first option. But now that ends now. It's time for us to properly support you ourselves," finished Shun'ō motivationally with his voice almost cracking.

"That's right!" said a voice directly above and behind her. It was Tsubaki floating high above the side that connected Lily and Hinagiku's corners.

"So we're holding you to the promise you made to the Kuchiki woman last night before you went to Hachi's. That 'you would get stronger and surpass anyone, anything and everything that beats you, and improve til' you can take on any challenge on your terms.' Ring any bells?"

As if on cue, the bells sounded off in Orihime's head. "Yeah, I did say that. He changed my wording a little, but that's definitely what I meant," thought Orihime now turned around looking at Tsubaki, sitting down with her back turned to Ayame and the others.

"You say you want to be able to walk with your friends instead of behind them by being able to help out, but once again you're thinking about things the wrong way!* It's time to stop simply aiming to 'be of use' or only 'not being a burden'!," continued Tsubaki.

Hinagiku picked up the tab. "You promised to be strong enough for any challenge but that means you have to not only be able to help out or 'be of use to' the others in any scenario, but also have the ability to be self-sufficient and possibly fight even the strongest enemies by yourself if the situation calls for it."

Orihime listened intently to everyone's words.

"These guys are over-explaining things aren't they. Let me put it simpler terms Orihime. Try following me on this," said Lily, taking the reins.

"Think of yourself as a character in a story. You basically need to be able to switch on demand from the supportive character, to the main character if the time calls for it. And between all of us, the time's been screaming for it. You pretty much took on the role of a protagonist in this 'story' when you went to find Chad, and then the hollows showed up. And of course with them being the first 'antagonists', they were a huge challenge. Especially the one we fought against. And why? Because she used the very same two fighting styles Hachi warned us about! Except she practically had them combined together!"

Hinagiku being sort of a master analyst, jumped on the bandwagon at this. "Exactly! With those thorns that came off her body almost functioning like swords, she had some kind of unique zanjutsu/hand to hand fighting style. That along with her 'Glotón Semilla' abilities, her durability, and high speed movement..or sonído as Tarragó-san has termed it, were our biggest issues."

Despite Orihime's lack of vocal responses throughout this whole conversation, Shun'ō could see her visual responses. She was thinking about everything that was being said, and simply letting the Rikka vent and get everything off their chest. With that understanding, he continued.

"Hinagiku is right about what he said just now and everything he said earlier. The fight was a major wake up call for all of us as Rikka. It's clear you must develop your own fighting styles and techniques to directly counter zanjutsu, hand-to-hand, and high speed movement of any kind while being able to adapt to any unique ability of our opponents. To be specific, we must expand our Rikka techniques even further. Don't you think there have to be more than three kotodamas we can perform? I doubt we automatically reached our maximum kotodama potential right when we awakened. You said it yourself when we got back from Soul Society so there must be more just waiting to be developed.

"But to prepare you in the short-term for more hollows, let alone arrancar, we've agreed that we must break out of our 'leisurely' molds and be more than the 'affectionate floating vessels for kotodama' that we've been up to now. Now, we're taking charge," finished the Rikka captain with renewed enthusiasm.

Orihime was astounded. "They actually thought all this through?" Little did she know, they were just getting started.

"Yeah that's right!" shouted Lily with renewed spunk. "That's why we sort of formed 'committees' for each area we need to get better in, and they sort of connect with our natural ability as Rikka. For example since we were inspired by your creativity, Baigon, Hinagiku and I want to help find even more uses for Santen Kesshun than you've already come up with. From ways to use it in new situations, to countering enemy attacks, to more kidō integration; just leave it to us! It's our turn to help out!

"Yeah, yeah, that's good and all, but we all know what the woman needs to work on is speed," said Tsubaki, turning from looking at Lily to Orihime. "You've improved, but you still lack basic skills! If you even had a fraction the speed that walking knife-factory called a hollow had, then the fight would've been over the moment she first tried attacking you."

Shun'ō just had to interject right there. "Orihime, you asked Tsubaki before if increasing his speed or cutting power would be easier and he told you 'the speed, of course'. As if that were a challenge since then you two have been way too focused on cutting power until you're now actually relying on Shō to increase your speed, but only for the purpose of increasing the cutting power even further. It's time to do like you also said back then. 'To equally increase strength and speed at the same time once you got more advanced'. With that, eventually Tsubaki will reach Shō-level speeds without you even using Shō, while at the same time not sacrificing cutting power. That way Orihime, you can compensate for your own personal lack of any type of high speed movement until you can develop your own. But as of now, consider Tsubaki to also be the 'speed committee', soon to be 'high speed movement committee' along with the 'offensive committee'."

At this Tsubaki began speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. "The same principle for using Koten Zanshun at it's strongest applies to all offensive techniques. The right vitality, mentality and 'killing intent'—or as you like to sugar-coat it woman thanks to Baigon, 'resolve',"** continued Tsubaki almost chuckling under his breath. "Since you use me for Koten Zanshun, I'm gonna further instruct you on having the right mindset when using any type of offensive technique so that you never falter again...like you did against Yammy."

Orihime looked up at Tsubaki who simply had his eyes closed with his arms crossed as he floated among the gusts of wind. He really did have a knack for remembering the names of enemies who had injured him. First Jidanbō's brother and now Yammy. What got her was that he seemed to not care in the least that he was injured or destroyed, but that she had faltered and had been in danger. She began to contemplate on this, but the Rikka weren't even finished yet at all.

Lily cheerily continued to conversation after the pause. "Speaking of what Tsubaki said about lacking basic skills, let's flip it and talk about what two things you're amazing at; first, your near-perfect reiatsu control! But, it's not completely perfect of course. We basically ran out of reiatsu after the fight after all. You don't have a black hole of reiryoku like Ichigo, so you have to conserve every last drop and use the exact minimum amount of energy needed for every technique you use. That way, you can stretch your reiatsu so much further, along with training to increase the actual reiastu you can produce. Second, you're sensing abilities are also something you're amazing at. That's why you can develop it even further and learn to analyze an enemy's spiritual pressure, and reiatsu composition of their attacks on the spot like you already started to do during the spar with Chad. Then you can better counter attacks, thus saving more energy. So in charge of helping you out with this 'energy efficiency and conservation' stuff are Ayame, Hingagiku, and I. We're here for you."

Orihime was effectively overwhelmed. "W-wow…I don't know what to say you guys...you weren't kidding when you said you planned to help out more, but this is so much…wait, Shun'ō...why aren't you on any 'committee'?"

Shun'ō seemed caught off guard as he responded by waving his hand dismissively "O-Oh me? I'm helping with healing with Ayame of course. But with her helping with your energy efficiency already, it carries over into how you use Sōten Kisshun anyways. With the same ideas Lily explained, we need to work on how to efficiently heal injuries. We're in Hueco Mundo, which means hollow related injuries. You had trouble healing Sado-san's wound from the arrancar Yammy's attack, and the winter war will be nothing but arrancar. You already healed Abdul just fine, so your progress is looking nice, but our healing also involves restoring reiatsu to the injured. Abdul didn't get restored to his max because you're not at your max either. We're all still recovering.

"But that's beside the point. Did you see how I advised Tsubaki earlier on speed? Not only am I helping Ayame with healing, but I'm on all the 'committees', including the final one."

"A final one?" thought Orihime. The fact that it was 'final' made it sound important. Like saving the best for last.

"Yes. The 'General Improvement Committee' headed up by Hinagiku, Baigon, and I. With Hinagiku's analytical skill, Baigon's wisdom, and my leadership, we're supervising the general direction of your development with input from the others. But besides basic oversight, just like the Kesshun Rikka were inspired by your creative use of Santen Kesshun, our actual main function is furthering something you yourself started, Orihime."

This intrigued Orihime to no end. Something that's apparently this important to the Rikka was originally her brainchild in the first place?

"What? What is it?" she questioned with pure curiosity.

"Shared consciousness."

With those words, it seemed like the sky stopped blowing and temperature became non-existent.

"So you've noticed it, haven't you? Ayame remembering your exact thoughts earlier, even though you'd never directly told her. All of us always commenting on your thoughts as if you'd said them right to us. Tsubaki somehow knowing everything that happened while he was destroyed, including your plan to train with Sado-san. You asked why he knew, but he didn't know himself. We've always sort of just known everything about you by default, but you never know much about us. That's why you started having us out more, to get 'closer' to us. To understand us more so that you'd get stronger similar to how a shinigami does with their Zanpakutō. But there's more. What about you 'remembering' me telling you that we're not 'apparently all-knowing like a zanpakutō?' I specifically told Ayame that when we were sitting outside of Sado-san's house when you sent us to heal him, but you recalled it like a relative memory!"

Orihime took everything in with stride and surprise on the last point. "Is it really getting stronger? How long ago did I have that memory in my head? Was it all the way back then or just recently when I thought about it back in the cell? It's crazy if I think about it! Shun'ō knew without me telling him that I remembered something he didn't tell me," thought Orihime trying to make a sort of time-line of events in her head of when she could've acquired the memory.

"Then there's something you realized yourself mid-battle. When you had all of us out at the same time, you were suddenly able to keep up with Fátima's speed better as if you had some kind of sixth sense."

"Yeah, I remember. It was after I flew out the river on Santen Kesshun and she followed me and attacked," reminisced Orihime.

"Of course, there's Fátima's seed that she shot into your stomach that rooted itself in your spiritual and physical body. It affected not just you, but all of us. We were flickering unstably from what it was doing to your spiritual power, and we could even feel your cold sweat and your pain as if we were empaths. But you can feel things that happen to us too. Your being able to feel us healing Sado-san that day, even though you were on the other side of town 'speaking' with Sora, the hollow feeling in your stomach you got as soon as Tsubaki was destroyed, and similar feelings to that caused by Aloban's weird brief effect on Tsubaki and momentarily losing the ability to sense Santen Kesshun along with Baigon and the others due to Fátima stabbing it with her tail; bla-bla-bla and it goes on and on."

All the scenes flooded back into the girl's mind as he continued.

"Of course, you would've felt those things especially that third to last part. After Tsubaki was destroyed, we all were kind of 'out of it'. We're all one soul, and we're all connected. It's a complex relationship that would drive Freud insane, but it is what it is and we intend to work together with your help and continue figuring out about ourselves. There's lots to learn, but you already knew that much when we were back in Yokosuka," finished the blonde Rikka.

"The point is Orihime," began Baigon causing Orihime to look at his corner. The male Rikka barely spoke. Even less that Chad used to be, so whenever he spoke, he obviously had something to say.

"You must realize that just like we want you to focus on being more than just 'enough to not be in the way', we're also planning on not being satisfied just setting goals and benchmarks of beating mere hollows or arrancar. We're setting the bar impossibly high, and you will have to work if you want to reach it. Let alone push yourself over it. Because just like your promise to Rukia Kuchiki in a literal sense, we will get strong enough until we can beat 'everything'."

"'Setting the bar high'? I get it now. They felt they 'failed me' and weren't doing their jobs right so now they're trying to push me like a Zanpakutō does their Shinigam-..wait, what does he mean by 'everything'? Well, he sort of was quoting me..shouldn't I know myself?"

Before Orihime could question any further all the Rikka answered one right after the other in serious voices.

"Do you know what that means Orihime? It means you'll be able to defeat hollows," started Baigon.

"Arrancar," said Lily.

"Shinigami," said Ayame.

"Visored," followed Tsubaki.

"Quincies," continued Hinagiku.

"and most importantly," "definitely," "finally," "without a doubt," "lastly,"

Orihime awaited the final word, but it never came, before she violently sweat-dropped.

"...Wait a second, what? ! Who? What else is there? You named everything. Every possible thing-," she continued rambling on. Apparently the Rikka had some sick kick for dramatic pauses something, but they finally interrupted Orihime's confused rant with a assortment simultaneous of answers that nearly made her fall off the shield post-said rant.

"Chad."

"Chad."

"Sado-san."

"Sado-kun."

"Sado."

"Yasutora Sado."

"Eh? !" was all she could get out. She wasn't expecting that answer at all. She'd mainly asked for a 'what' and they named a 'who'. Plus, in the back her mind she noticed almost all the Rikka called him something different. Just what did that say about her relationship with her classmate and friend?

"Don't be blinded, Orihime. Since the day both of you awakened your powers, Chad has at least been your biggest comrade in terms of similar circumstances. You told him that specifically yourself back after we found him training in the river earlier. Now the situations have forced you both to become closer nakama, but in turn, that also makes him your biggest rival," explained Lily matter-of-factly.

Orihime never considered herself the competitive type, but she had to admit that sparring on even grounds with Chad was like nothing she ever felt before. It was much different than sparring with Tatsuki, since the female karateka was more of a teacher than a sparring partner. If the Rikka truly were the manifestation of her inner-most soul, they also then channeled her inner most emotions she had long since forgotten and ignored. That's why it was something about the way Lily said it, that when she did, it just clicked in her mind as inherently true.

Plus it's not like she had any particular desire to fall behind Chad in strength level, but it just didn't seem like a competition to her. She just wanted to be strong.

"I guess if anyone I know can be considered a rival, then it's definitely Sado-kun after all," thought Orihime in contemplation before her face turned into a frown as a particularly bone-chilling gust of wind practically pushed her soul out her body and off the shield, while mercifully freezing her at the same time so she wouldn't have to experience the deadly plummet to the desert.

"S-ss-s-o cold," complained the girl with X's for eyes going into a shivering fetal position. Her school uniform was still wet from the river so it was at the point where it felt like the wind was blowing through her.

"What the? ! You're just now feeling it? What were you doing all this time? Wait, what are you doing walking around here in the school uniform anyway?" asked Tsubaki.

"What is she supposed to do, Tsubaki? Get out her dresser and pick out some cloth-...Wait a second, that's right! The clothes in the bag!" exclaimed Lily.

However, the vastly freezing Orihime was already far ahead of the arguing Rikka, and had already pulled out, and laid out the clothes she had brought with her in the black drawstring bag. They were still incredibly damp from when she'd been kicked into the river by Fátima. Being inside the bag, they never got to dry as much as her school uniform had.

"If I put these on, I'll really ice over," whined Orihime.

"Huh? Don't worry. Sado-san and Abdul are probably wondering where we are, so we're going back down to the desert after this. I guess I never made it really clear when we finished our little discussion. All right. 'Meeting adjourned!' Heh, I've always wanted to say that," said an amused Shun'ō before his demeanor changed to a serious one.

"Plus, I advise you to put those on. I have a feeling that after this, you aren't getting any more breaks or rest," he said warily.

"Yeah, probably not," agreed Orihime getting into a similar mood as the Rikka captain, concentrating about what was about to possibly take place as if she were mentally preparing herself. Quickly she stripped herself of the damp uncomfortable clothing, and prepared to put on the damper, yet comparatively comfy clothes.

"You know, Orihime, there was more than just clothes in that bag. If this really is our last break, then why not take out the-"

"Because I don't need it. I already know all I need right now," interrupted Orihime, but not in a rude way.

"How can you say that? We need to do everything we can t-"

"Because, there's no more time to waste. How about I use it after we find who we're looking for. It'd be better to have it out when they're around, and besides," she said calmly, standing up as her hair rippled violently in the wind.

She paused and closed her eyes as she imagined hollows like the ones they had fought hours ago last night, coming out of kūmons and capturing innocent humans who never see it coming. She saw similar scenes in different places with different people all over the world. She slowly opened her piercing eyes brim with emotion, yet continued to talk calmly.

"To me these hollows have two purposes. To give us answers. And if they don't, to provide as warm-ups for the winter war."

Author's Note:

This chapter is part one of what used to be one big chapter. My beta wisely told me to split it.

* -Tsubaki always explaining how Orihime is going the wrong way about something harks back to chapter 2
** -Tsubaki referencing chapter 2's omake.

General: This is the 'Satellite' mini-arc. I must amend things from the last author's note. As my chapters are now vastly brief and shorter now that we are out of the introductory arc which ended chapter 8, this mini-arc should end somewhere in the 20s if things go right, and is one of a couple of mini-arcs that will make up a the grander arc of 'Pyramid Syndacite'.

Need a visual aid for exactly how Orihime and the Rikka were positioned this chapter? I made a visual aid:

fc05 dot deviantart dot net / fs71/ i / 2012 / 182 / e / c / sk_chapter_10_by_p_and_t-d55jyrr . j p g

This website doesn't allow you to post full URLs. So, remove all the spaces and add a dot where it says 'dot' both after 'fc05' and before 'net' and then you'll have the full URL. The page "p - and - t . deviantart dot com" is also where I will post visual aids and diagrams in the future.

A lot of the 'areas' mentioned last chapter will get further explanations and visual aids when the plot allows me to explain them without spoilers. I promise. But for now let's have a refresher that's more in depth than the last author's note since it's been so long since I updated:

-Piramidión(Spanish for: 'Pyramidion'): A certain location mentioned by Calibol(one of the sentient Gillians in the beginning of last chapter).

-División de Envío: (Spanish for: 'Dispatch Division') Colloquially called 'Dispatch'. You should be able to tell they are basically 'mission control' of this 'base'. Together with all his Gillian under his control, the adjuchas Zoréno is in charge of this area. Of all the Gillian he controls, the "Sentient Gillian" are like officers each with a station and some have their own "Mindless Gillian" subordinates who do the grunt work like creating kūmons and shooting the Negación beams.

-El Centro: (Spanish for 'the center'). Zoréno mentions this area when saying to Calibol how he got a squad sent from here. More will be explained in chapter eleven.

-La Basurinera: (Combined the Spanish words 'la basura'(the trash) and 'incinerador'(incinerator). This is the area Aloban's defeated team were placed as ordered by Zoréno.

-Segunda Cárcel: (Spanish for: 'Second Gaol') A prison that houses captured targets. Orihime, Chad, and Abdul all escaped from this prison together in chapter nine after slaying the warden Xodri Halconero and basically inciting a prison riot.

-'Los Tranquilizantes' is Spanish for The Tranquilizers. It is the name of Aloban's squad that we saw Orihime and Chad fight in chapter eight and the name has relevance, which will again be explained later of course. Their squad number is #336.

Next chapter will introduce some new characters, and a little more explanation of where exactly this is all taking place so stay tuned.

Character Profiles Part 2:

In the first character profile segment in chapter eight, we did a look at the group of hollows known as Los Tranquilizantes. With this chapter, it's high time for another group called the Shun Shun Rikka to all get their appropriate character profiles. As the Rikka are all part of Orihime's soul, their unique sentient personalities are a manifestation and thus an indicator of Orihime in some way, shape or form.

The following also explains all the little sub-groups introduced in the chapter.

Kisshun Duo: These two form Sōten Kisshun together. They are dedicated to improve the efficiency of energy use during healing along with the speed.

-Shun'ō: This blonde top-knotted Rikka is the bona fide captain of the Shun Shun Rikka. Tsubaki thinks he's too soft when actually, subliminally, Shun'ō is the toughest on Orihime. As leader, he is Orihime's "right hand" Rikka and guide by default. He wants to help Orihime develop to take the rightful place as leader as she is the wielder of the Rikka after all. As Captain, he is actually learning as he goes along. And unlike a zanpakutō, he doesn't seem to be omniscient. He's vaguely eccentric and keeps some things mysteriously to himself, but with his subtle wit, and occasional mental wise-cracks, he has the well-balanced personality to keep together the host of rambunctious egos that are the rest of the Rikka.
Committees: 'General Improvement Committee' with Baigon and Hingiku. Shun'ō is automatically on all other committees as an advisor(even though he is not listed on them, he is on there by default since he is the Rikka captain).

-Ayame: Shy and always covered what seems to be her Rikka appendages functioning as a giant hood over her pink dress. Being part of the Shun Shun Rika and thus Orihime's soul, she symbolizes the manifestation of Orihime's shyness, timidness, and self doubt. The latter can be seen as a lack of confidence, however, Ayame conversely symbolizes the key to self-confidence. She is simply manifests a "necessary self-doubt". In other words, a counterbalance to arrogance, and once again a key to humble strength and power. She wished for Orihime to be as strong as possible and actually has one of the most fiery wills on the Rikka team, however low-key it is. Always offering encouraging words and gives good advice from her heart. She is mostly seen and heard speaking with Baigon or Shun'ō, but talks to others as well. She and Lily consider themselves 'special comrades' as they are the only female manifestations among the Rikka. She has a special connection with Tsubaki and can easily talk to Hinagiku about his obscure topics of interest as well. All the Rikka are naturally close really, and as such, all care deeply for Orihime.
Committees: 'Energy Efficiency&Conservation' along with Hinagiku and Lily.

Kesshun Krew aka 'The Wall': The trio that when used together, Orihime uses to make Santen Kesshun. Inspired by Orihime's initiative in the battle against the hollow Fátima Aragón, their focus is manipulating the shield in new and creative ways to better defend Orihime. As well as working specifically on ways to better defend against Zanjutsu, any close-combat, Hohō, or energy attacks(like cero's or kidō) used by any type of enemy or threat. These three are interested in more kidō integration.

-Baigon: Very wise and rational. Calm and straightforward. While Shun'ō is the leader of the Rikka, Baigon is the 'spiritual' figure of the Rikka. While Ayame is the manifestation of a "necessary self-doubt" and humbleness, Baigon represents rationale, a lack of judgmental nature, and "cool-headedness". He is always ready to give Orihime advice and ideas. Silent and righteous. Unquestionable loyalty to Orihime, and extreme pride in the abilities of the Shun Shun Rikka. He believes, but not in an elitist way that they are a top tier unique and special ability unlike hollows or shinigami. The other Rikka have similar sentiments in their own ways. He gets respect from all the Rikka, most notably Tsubaki, but Shun'ō is still the unquestionable leader. And Tsubaki may act the way he does, but he respects all the Rikka. As part of the 'General Improvement Committee', he plays a key part in further developing the 'Shared Consciousness' ability and general oversight of the trajectory of Orihime's development as a whole.
Committees: 'General Improvement Committee' with Shun'ō and Hinagiku.

-Hinagiku: Personality-wise, he is the black-sheep of the Rikka. Academically brilliant. A savant; genius even. Master tactician. Extremely resourceful and logical, but could come off as elitist to some although he's not. He's comically easily offended which may point to some subconscious insecurity. However, he's actually really sweet and awkward. He specializes with coming up with the more technical abilities and moves with expert precision. He has ruthless opinions on course of actions at times if Orihime is threatened or at danger. As Hinagiku, he symbolizes or represents the manifestation of Orihime's logical and resourceful(creative) side. The latter might be why his appearance seems extreme compared to even the other Rikka's appearances. It's merely speculative to if he even has the aforementioned 'subconscious insecurity', but if he does, then that is also linked to Orihime.
Committees: 'General Improvement Committee' with Shun'ō and Baigon.
'Energy Efficiency&Conservation' along with Ayame and Lily.

-Lily: Fiery, hardlined, spunky, and all with a sometimes sarcastic sense of humor. Don't let this these apparent generic archetypes fool you. While Baigon is the 'spiritual' figure of the Rikka, Lily is 'the heart'(don't make jokes just yet readers). By 'heart' it means that she is enthused and supportive, and extremely determined, but unlike the other Rikka, is very much more extroverted with all of these traits. She hates losing(as in when Orihime loses in a battle) and wants to get stronger until they(Orihime and the Rikka collectively) beat everyone they ever lost to, and get stronger to beat anyone else who could come up against them. She's one to set new goals at each milestone. The type of person that would risk her life for Orihime if she could, even though she knows the action would be fruitless. She cares about the actual well-being and mental state of Orihime(as shown in this chapter). Each Rikka will contribute great ideas and concepts for Orihime's development, but Lily is basically over "Reiatsu & Energy Conservation and Efficiency". With all of this, she is like the manifestation of Orihime's "spunk", and the more extreme side of her imagination which makes her similar to Hinagiku in that respect(along with her more extreme appearance). In other words, she can at times seem and act much like her wielder Orihime(minus the ditziness) with the way she speaks so openly with her mind and ideas(imagination). As such, she is very creative which is why she can come up with ideas so easily in the first place.
Committees: 'Energy Efficiency&Conservation' along with Ayame and Hingaku.

Solitary Sharp Shooter: Orihime uses this Rikka to use her sole offensive attack, Koten Zanshun(孤天斬盾meaning: Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield).

-Tsubaki: As the only Rikka out of all the others that deals with offense, he is the manifestation of Orihime's latent emotions, anger, willpower and killing intent if we get specific. Being a key member of the 'Offensive Comitte' along with Shun'ō(by default), Tsubaki coaches offensive mentality and vitality even on a fundamental level. As in how Orihime can have a certain mindset during any sort of offensive attack so that they don't falter and are instead stronger. This applies to Orihime's Hadō kidō development as well. Tsubaki is also on the 'Speed Committee(tentative title)'. This Rikka has a very combative personality. At times his criticism of Orihime may seem harsh, but she doesn't take it the wrong way. She knows it is his way of caring. Like Hinagiku, he is also a pretty decent tactician. While Hinagiku covers overall battle tactics, Tsubaki specializes in offensive tactics.
Committees: 'Offensive' and 'Speed(tentative title)'.

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