So finally after a few months, I'm updating this story. I dunno why it's taken me so long to actually work on this. I guess with everything in my life I didn't make time to update certain stories. So I figured I'd update the drabbles first since they're easier to think of ideas for. But this scene has been stuck in my head so I might as well get it out already XD.


~Someone's POV~

Looking back at things now, it was definitely worth it. Ichigo and Shiro were able to come to some sort of truce. Perhaps it wasn't just Tia's influence either. Maybe they just got tired of fighting over something completely ridiculous. I mean, it was really stupid to fight over who'd be 'King' and who'd be the 'horse'. In certain situations they should switch between the two roles without arguing over it like two little kids fighting over candy. But it's not like I'd know. I don't have a hollow inside me like Tia or Orihime. Ichigo should be glad he has someone else to help him with battles.

I sighed as I thought about this. I had to get to Las Noches and fast. Tia had told me all about the situation when she asked if I'd seen her sister around. Obviously I'd say no because it was true. Then she asked me how things were going in the Soul Society. I told her that things were doing fine. There were the occasional hollows, but everything was fine and calm. With the help of Kisuke, I was able to get through the garganta and I'm now heading towards the battlefield. I just hope I make it in time.


~Tia's POV~

Everything was quiet. Yoruichi was watching the battle between Orihime and Demi. I scratched the back of my head as I tried to think of a way to explain my side of things. Or more like why I'd agree with a hollow.

"Tia-dono, what do you mean? How is his hollow right?" Rukia asked.

Shiro growled. "I have a name y'know! Learn to use it midget!"

Rukia glared at him. "I have a name too! Why are you calling me a midget?"

He shrugged. "I call them as I see them. Besides, King calls you midget without getting yelled at. So I decided to call you that too."

Rukia charged at him but Shiro was able to hold her back by her head. She tried striking him but she was shorter so she couldn't reach. Shiro wore a smirk at her attempts to strike him.

I growled in annoyance but before I could say anything, Rain beat me to it.

"Would you two shut the fuck up? Stop fucking fighting and bitching and let Tia explain dammit! Before I attack both of you myself!"

The two stopped fighting immediately and looked at me. I sighed. This wasn't gonna be easy.

"What Rain means is, you two shouldn't be fighting over something stupid like that. It won't solve anything. And it's pointless as hell. Stop acting childish. You can fight all you want after we get rid of Demi. But if you want to know why I agree with him, then shut up and pay attention."

"Tia-san, what part that Shiro spoke of that you agree with?" Uryu asked me.

"Well, I agree with him when he said that we won't always be there for her."

Ichigo definitely looked at me now. I couldn't tell if he hated me for what I was saying, but I spoke up anyways.

"You see, it's my fault. As the oldest, I took the responsibility of protecting Orihime. When I first saw her as a baby, I felt a strong urge to protect her. I know that it's the older siblings job to protect the siblings born after them, but at the same time, you have to give them space. If all you did was protect them, you're not letting them get stronger. That's why I believe that I deprived her of that right. If I let her fight Demi all on her own now, it will not only prove that she's strong, but that she can hold on her own without being protected or needing assistance."

"That still doesn't change the fact that I swore to her I'd protect her. Tia-san, I never back down from my promises. I-"

"Silence, Ichigo!"

He backed away and shut his mouth when he saw me look at him.

"If you always defend her, she won't be able to get stronger. I understand that there are some situations where you feel like you have no choice but to. But have you ever thought that maybe she didn't want to be protected?"

His eyes widened and I sighed.

"Ichigo, has it ever occurred to you that maybe she'd want to protect you? Have you ever thought that for once she'd love to help fight instead of sitting on the sidelines watching you risk your life for her? Obviously it hasn't. That's why I agree with Shiro when he said that we won't always be there for her. If we always protect her, she's just gonna keep depending on us to be there when she needs us. I don't want my sister to be like that. I know that it's way harder for you to understand since you've done the protecting in my place, but you gotta see it from either mine or Orihime's perspective. I refuse to allow my sister to be like that. She's a strong girl that doesn't always need to be protected and guarded all the time."

"Tia-taichou! Look out behind you!" Renji and Toushirou yelled.

"SANTEN KESSUN!" Just then a orange shield surrounded all of us and absorbed the cero. Orihime and Demi stood right in front of us, their swords locked together.

"My, my, my. Seems like little princess Orihime is stronger than I gave her credit for. Too bad that trick needs concentrating. Which leaves you wide open."

Just then Orihime smirked. "Since when do I have to concentrate to keep my shield up?"

Demi blinked in disbelief. "What?"

She caught Demi off guard and slashed at her arm, causing her to almost drop her zanpakutou on the ground. I noticed everyone staring in disbelief. Well except for Shiro who continued to smirk like a crazy person. Yoruichi was watching carefully with her cat-like eyes. Nel was awed by her strength as she was perched on Grimmjow's shoulder. He was actually smirking too. Probably because he enjoyed this fight. Everyone else was shocked though. But it's to be expected I guess. Rain just sat there, her ears perked up.

I wonder how long it will take before she goes into her bankai.


~Rukia's POV~

Everyone of us were shocked to say the least. Well, not everybody. But about half of us. Maybe more. I was also thinking about Tia-dono's words. Even I realized how protective Ichigo was of Orihime. He was worse than he was with me. I always thought Ichigo could never be that defensive.

I guess he always thought of Hime as someone who absolutely needed to be safe. I did notice how she was at school. She was a bit clumsy, and really cheerful. She was always gentle and kind. Someone who couldn't hurt a fly. But seeing this side of her, made me realize just how much of her I was missing. Even when we were kids, she was super sweet and adorable. She never left my side. Or Tia's. She was even attached to Renji.

She accepted both of us without a second thought.

Hime never cared about where we came from. I mean she cared, but she didn't let that affect our friendship. Whenever people made fun of us, she'd always be there to cheer us up afterwards. She'd always get Tia to beat the crap out of the people who made fun of us.

I was really depressed and frustrated when I killed her though. I hadn't planned on doing that when I went to go stop her. I was trying to get her to wake up from being controlled. But when I watch her fighting now, it made me realize that maybe she wasn't trying to kill us back then.

No, she was trying to reach out to us.


~Ichigo's POV~

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was really devastated. I wanted to kill myself for not thinking about what Orihime wanted. All this time, I did what I thought was best for her. I never even considered her feelings or what she wanted to do. I always thought that she'd need my help. I was fully prepared to be her faithful and loyal bodyguard. Even if I died. If she was alive, I wouldn't care.

But now, I can actually understand her more. I now know what it feels like to watch helplessly from the sidelines while someone you care about is fighting to protect you. I had no idea that Orihime felt this way. Well, I guess I do now. But the fact that my hollow knew more about it than I did. That really irked me the most.

I guess he feels the same way too. Now I don't blame him for trying to take control half the time. I guess I wanted to keep him safe. There was always the slight chance that he could get hurt because I couldn't protect him, and I'd be the one to blame. And no, before you think something else. I'm not gay. Shiro is apart of me. Whether he likes me or not, I don't care about that. But I do need him. Just as he needs me.

As I watch Orihime fight Demi, I came to realize a few things. For one, Orihime is really strong for someone who doesn't like fighting. Secondly, she looks more beautiful than ever before. Thirdly, I truly love her. Without a doubt. I actually know my feelings for her without a second thought.


~Hime's POV~

I don't know why I'm stalling. It's like I'm waiting for the perfect moment to use bankai or something. But I know that I don't want to go right into it. That's not how Tia taught me to fight. Even Yoruichi-san told me that when it came to using bankai, I'd know. But I think there's something holding me back. I just can't think of it yet.

I continued to slash and dodge Demi's blade. When I saw Demi use that cero and point it towards everyone, I knew I had to protect them all. The only problem with that was I was too far away from them to use shunpo. So I couldn't deflect it. That's why I decided to test out my Shun Shun Rikka. I hadn't used them since I was healing Rukia. But they weren't fused with my zanpakutou.

Our swords clashed again and again. I was in the air when I decided to try one of my moves. I was still getting used to using my zanpakutou again. I just hope I can wield her when it came to using bankai.

"Dragon wave!" A wave of white erupted from my zanpakutou and headed towards Demi. Bingo! It actually hit. But the explosion sent me to my feet right in front of Tia and the others. I balanced myself and tried to focus on the fight rather than who was watching.

I sighed and looked at Tia. She was smiling at me. Wow, I guess that means she's proud. Well I knew better though. Tia was always proud of me. Whether it was fighting or schooling, she was always happy. As long as I was happy, she was too.


~Ichigo's POV~

HOLY. FUCK. She was amazingly awesome. Like wow. I was left speechless. Zangetsu fell from my hands but no one really seemed to notice.

Everyone else seemed shocked too. Except for Tia and Shiro. He was actually laughing.

"Wow, who would've known that Hime was amazing? She's so pro when it comes to fighting. She's even better than you King. But then again, she is the leader of the Soul Society for nothing y'know. You shouldn't be that surprised."

Damn, he did have a good point. Obviously she's strong. Otherwise, she wouldn't be the other leader of the Soul Society. I watched as her eyes went to me. I smiled at her and she smiled back. Orihime stayed in front of her shield as it glowed brightly. For some reason she never took it down yet. I wonder why.

"Orihime-san, why is your shield still up?" Momo asked her.

She looked at Momo with a serious look. There was something about how she was holding her zanpakutou, it was like it wasn't over.

"Something's off. Demi's not gone yet. That move was my weakest. There's no way she'd be killed by that one blast."

"Where did she go, Orihime?" Rain asked.

She placed her left hand on her chin, trying to think. She looked up at us. "I'm not really sure. Usually she doesn't hide around like this. And normally I'd be able to sense where she is. Either she's really weak and her spiritual pressure is low, or she has a lot and cloaked it. After all, she does have the same spiritual pressure as me. So she could easily camouflage herself with mine."

"Tch. What a wussy. If she has to hide from you like a coward, how low can she be? In any case, show her whose boss Hime." Shiro said with a smirk.

Orihime continued to look around. "Huh. I guess I misjudged her. After all, she is smarter than me and has more experience. However... If she thinks I'm an IDIOT-" She swung her blade around and stuck Demi right in the stomach. Her eyes were wide. Was it because she was shocked? Or was it because she thought that Orihime was distracted?

"How? How did you know-"

"Where you were?" Orihime finished her sentence for her. "Did you forget that we share the same mind and shadow? Which means, wherever you move," She slashed her again. "I can see. It's also very helpful that I have the moon. The light that the moon casts off helps with reflecting shadows. If you hadn't blown the roof off, you would've caught me off guard."

Demi glared at her as black reiatsu engulfed her. She jumped away and held out her zanpakutou. Kuroryuu shined as her spiritual pressure raised higher. She smirked evilly as she watched all of us.

"I'm gonna make you wish you never pissed me off Orihime-sama. It's time you learned the true meaning of fighting."

Her face turned from a teasing smirk to a serious scowl.

"Bankai!"

Her black spiritual pressure engulfed her as she transformed. This time though, there was a black dragon surrounding Demi. It had red eyes and wings just below the head. The dragon roared loudly and the density of her reiatsu almost made all of us collapse to our knees. The only ones still standing up right were Tia, Rain, Yoruichi, and Orihime. Even Shiro was balancing himself on the white version of Zangetsu.

Toushirou was holding onto Momo as he stabbed his zanpakutou in the ground. Renji was using Zabimaru to block the energy and kept Rukia close to him. Gin was keeping Rangiku-san safe as well. Chad was able to fend off the roar with his new armour he got with the training from Renji. Uryu stood behind his arm before Chad let it fall back to his side. Grimmjow was holding Nel in his arms real tight. Not that she seemed to mind I guess.

I was keeping myself up and Shiro was beside me. I'm glad I didn't have to grab onto him. Both of us were watching Orihime. What I don't understand was she was just standing there. Her hair was blowing in the wind. Her hand clutched Shiroryuu without problems. If anything, she was gripping her zanpakutou tighter than she had to.

Yoruichi-san was standing beside Tia-san. Of course she was standing next to me now and Rain was in front of her. Just sitting like she was before. One thing I don't understand is how they're not surprised by this. Then again, I guess they're just used to it. But how can Shiro be affected by this? He's a hollow like Demi is.

No, Demi isn't a hollow. She's a zanpakutou. But so is Shiro. Or that's what he told me.

"You're gonna teach me what the true meaning of fighting is?" I watched as Orihime smirked. Whoa, now that's a scary look. I hope she doesn't use that on me. Yikes that's scary.

"You don't even know what the true meaning is. All you know is instinct." I noticed how Shiro's eyes widened. Was it because he told me that the true meaning of fighting was instinct?

"Demi, you pathetic. You judge people before you even know them. You assumed that Rukia was a bitch because she killed us a long time ago. But the truth is, she didn't kill us. She saved us."

"Oh? How did she save us? By stabbing us in the heart?" She snarled at Orihime. "Is that how you save somebody Orihime? Tell me right now! How do you save somebody? By being a backstabber? By betraying your friends to protect yourself? Don't joke around with me! You don't understand the loneliness I had to go through. Since the first time you got Shina, all you did was focus on her! You never even acknowledged my existence! Do you even realize how that made me feel?"

She looked back at all of us. Her eyes glued to me and Shiro the longest. I wish I knew what the hell she was thinking right now.

"Y'know what Demi? It shouldn't matter. What happens in the past, stays in the past. It shouldn't even be something you brought up. But if you want me to answer. I did acknowledge your existence. It was you who didn't want to respond. I even tried talking to you when I was sick. But you never said a word. All you did was sit all alone at the top of the tower. I felt every move you made. I know exactly what you want right now. What you want is freedom. You don't want to be part of me anymore. Instead, you want to do what you want to. So in a way, I shouldn't stop you because I'd be doing what Tia thought she did to me. But since you're already in bankai form, I might as well fight you."

She turned around to look at Demi. "You should know that I never wanted things to end this way. But since you don't understand, it looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson."

I felt her spiritual pressure skyrocket like it did before. It feels totally different than last time. That's probably because I had her in my arms at that moment. But now that she's standing in front of me, it feels so.. real. Even Shiro seemed interested. He couldn't take his eyes off the whole battle.

She extended her right arm as Shiroryuu glowed. Her spiritual pressure surrounded her and all you could see was the white and blue swirling together.

"Bankai!"

Just then everything went white.


~ Someone's POV~

I stopped as I entered Las Noches. I felt that incredible spiritual pressure. I smirked. So Orihime finally went into bankai. After she promised not to use it, she still went and broke that promise. Well it wasn't that surprising since she is Tia's sister after all. And when they have to, they end up breaking promises. But sometimes it's better that way.

When it comes down to Orihime, I think of her as a sister. Since after all, I'm an only child. So me and Tia are very close. Despite being lieutenant and captain. But we never treat each other that way. No, we treat each other like friends do. I tried to treat her as my captain, but she kicked my ass for doing so. Even Orihime laughed when she saw us fighting over it.


"Erm, Tia-taichou?"

She glared at me. "What did I tell you Kari?"

"But I-"

"No buts! I told you to treat me like a normal shinigami, not as your captain!"

I blinked at her in confusion. "But why don't you want me to treat you that way? You are my captain!"

She sighed. "I don't want to be seen that way. It makes me feel... important. I want to just be a normal shinigami for once. I don't want to feel different from everyone else. I know it's out of respect and all, but I really hope that one day, I can be treated the same way other shinigami treat each other. Since after all, when shinigami are friends and have the same status, they only call each other by their names. They don't say 'Yoruichi-taichou' or anything. Well I don't. But that's because she said I could just call her by her name. Even she doesn't call me 'Tia-taichou'."

I stuttered, trying to think of something to retort back but Orihime cut me off.

"Y'know you should just call her Tia. It'd make her happy. I'm glad that people don't call me 'Orihime-sama' or anything like that. I actually understand where my sister is coming from. I think it'd drive me nuts. So please Kari-chan? Just call her Tia. It'd make her really happy!" She giggled happily.

I sighed. "Alright fine. Tia?"

"What is it?"

I smiled. "Thank you."

She smirked. "Anytime."


Even thinking about that now of all times, I can honestly say, that was a stupid thing to fight over. With that I laughed and shunpo'd towards Tia and the others.


~Tia's POV~

I laughed. Ichigo and everyone else stared at me with confused looks.

"So you've finally showed up, Kari."

I turned to look at her. Everyone else did too. She was my height. She had light green hair with green eyes. Her shihakusho was dark green and black. I swear, she can pass as Demi to a certain extent.

She smiled at me. "It's been a while, Tia. I can see that Orihime is as strong as ever. Not surprising, after all, her powers didn't really go anywhere. They were sealed within her all this time and now she can finally deal with her inner demons. Just like Ichigo did."

"Ichigo, Shiro, Chad, Uryu, Grimmjow, Nel... This is Kari, my best friend and lieutenant."

Ichigo eyes widened a bit before he understood. "Ah, I see then. That's how she knew who I was. You must have told her about me right?"

I shrugged. "More or less. She was wondering what I was doing with you and I explained to her about your hollow problem. I guess I haven't really explained how Shiro was able to materialize out of Ichigo's inner world have I?"

Kari smirked. "I want to hear about that. You were gonna tell me but I guess you didn't have time to. I want to know now."

I sighed. "Alright fine. It went something like this."


As I watched Ichigo and Shiro go bankai, I realized a few things. One thing was that they moved in synch. Well that's a good thing seeing as you can't work together if you're not on the same page. Secondly, Shiro wanted to do some fooling around instead of getting right to the point. Three, he believed that in order to be the 'King', you needed to have the raw instinct when it came down to fighting. Apparently that was something that Ichigo didn't have.

One thing I also saw was how Shiro said that all Ichigo did was fight with reason. Well that's how I fight and I'm really strong. But then again, Shiro is a male hollow. And he cares about pride and honour and all that crap. Jeez, I'm gonna have to bash his head in to get the message through him.

Just then, Ichigo stabbed Shiro with Zangetsu. Wow. He actually won this fight. Well I wasn't that surprised, but I thought it'd be a tie. They were both on par. But I guess Ichigo had more smarts than Shiro did. Well, whatever I guess.

I jumped into the middle, causing Zangetsu to break in half. Both of them looked at me in shock. I smirked at them.

"Alright boys, I get the picture. I know exactly what the problem is. Now sit down." I pushed both of them so they sat on their asses. Jeez, I swear I'm gonna have to beat them myself.

I sighed. This was gonna be hard but also easy at the same time.

"Now, I get what the real problem is. Hollow, you don't have a name do you?"

He looked at me. "No, I'm just a nameless monster living inside of Ichigo. Kinda pathetic isn't it?"

I sighed. "Yeah, it really is." I placed my hand on my chin, trying to think of a name for him. Just then it hit me.

"I know! Why don't we call you Shiro?"

Both of them looked at me with wide eyes. "S-Shiro? Why Shiro?"

I looked at them with disbelief. I punched him in the arm. "Because you idiot, it's short for Shirosaki Hichigo. See what I did was combine Shiro with Ichigo's last name because 'Kuro' means 'black'. And Ichigo's last name is 'Kurosaki'. The name 'Hichigo' I got from taking the 'H' from the word 'hollow' since your a hollow, and added it to the front of Ichigo's name since you look exactly like Ichigo. It matches perfectly! And I don't think you'd want to be called Hichigo. So Shiro fits better. Plus 'Shiro' means' white'." I smirked.

Ichigo looked at me and then his hollow. "Y'know it does make a perfect fit. I just thought that hollows don't have names. Or at least they don't go by any names. Otherwise if I'd known that, I would've given him a name when I first saw him. I didn't really want to call him Zangetsu cause that's the name of my zanpakutou."

"True, but at the same time, Shiro is apart of you just like Zangetsu. But yeah I guess it makes sense if you didn't want to call him your zanpakutou's name." I shrugged.

"Now there's one more problem that I found. The name was one thing. But there's another issue that needs to be solved before you can fight without any harassment from Shiro."

Ichigo blinked. "What's that?"

I sighed. "You're taking all the power from him and not giving anything back! See Shiro was right with his 'King' and 'Horse' metaphor thing. The 'horse' is the source of the power while the 'King' uses it to fight. What I think would solve your problem is if you let him be the 'king' once in a while. I mean if you have any problems with fights or you just want to relax, let Shiro take control. It's actually not that bad. I do it all the time. My hollow hasn't bugged me in forever because I let her do what she wants. If she pisses me off, then she gets punished. But if she sticks with the rules we have, then there's no problem. I can even teach Shiro how to materialize into this world."

His eyes widened. "Seriously? How can I do that?"

"Well, say your in Ichigo's room and there's a hollow alert. All you have to do is imagine Ichigo's room and then pull yourself out. Basically just focus on Ichigo's surroundings and close your eyes and BAM!" I clapped my hands together causing them to flinch. "You're in this world. And there's no pain like how I dragged you out before." I smiled.

He nodded in understanding. I patted his head.

"Good, glad you understand. Now Ichigo, all you have to do is let Shiro have some time out of your head once in a while and he won't be fighting you. Understand?"

"Yeah, I do Tia-san. Thank you."

I grinned at both of them. "You're welcome... Ichigo. Now come on, let's go check on Kisuke."

They both nodded as we headed upstairs.


I scratched my head. "And that's the whole story. That's how Shiro got here and that's how Ichigo's hollow problem was solved. I know it sounds a bit weird. But that's how it went."

"That makes sense. That's how you solved your hollow problem Tia. And it works so far. There hasn't been problems yet." Kari agreed.

"Yeah, let's just hope Orihime can deal with this on her own though." Yoruichi added.

Everyone turned to look at the fight. Orihime was now in bankai. She was surrounded by Shina, the white dragon. Actually that's Demi's twin sister. The good one mind you. She looked like Demi except she was silvery white. Her wings were below her head like Demi's bankai. Also her eyes were a silvery grey and shone brighter than the moon.

"Everyone, this is what Orihime's bankai looks like. Watch as long as you can, cause this fight won't last much longer."

Everyone was so speechless the only thing you could hear was the sound of blades. Which meant that Orihime had once again, clashed with Demi.

The final battle was underway.

Who was going to win this battle?

Demi...

Or...

Orihime?


A/N: Alright that's where I'll end it. I know I'm evil for another cliffie. But I think that's where it should stop.

Thanks to my friend Sophii I was able to post this. (Since her internet works XD BTW she doesn't have an account on this website nor does she write fanfiction.)

The someone's POV was Kari's POV. I didn't want to give it away by putting her name in there. So I just put someone instead. XD

I hope this could make up for the long wait I made you guys go through. Thank goodness I had no school today otherwise I would've been extremely tired!

But it was worth it.

Yes, Orihime's bankai is different but sort of similar to Toushirou's. It may actually be different. It's up to you I guess. *shrugs*

Anyways, please R&R! This is 10 pages long!! ((Technically 11 because of the Author's note. But if there wasn't one, it'd be 10 pages! XD))

~Tia-Chan~