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"Ichigo, what is going on?" Orihime asked, although she froze up, and took in a sharp breath. Feeling a chill go down her spine, her hands flew protectively to her baby bump, and she squeezed her eyes shut. The air felt like it was knocked out of her lungs, and she felt cold all over. Recognizing the feeling to be only one person. Her eyes opened to look at Ichigo. "It's him."
Continued on
"It's Aizen," Orihime continued, her eyes opening to see Ichigo was grabbing her bag for her.
"I know," Ichigo replied, starting to put some stuff in the bag, and finally taking a breath. "We are going to Urahara's."
Watching as Ichigo started back to putting an extra few things in the bag for her, Orihime took in a deep breath. Unable to really focus on anything apart from the numbing chill from sensing Aizen, and the feeling of Mina moving around inside of her. She just barely grabbed her phone, before Ichigo had taken her hand to lead her out of the room.
Once downstairs, Ichigo had stopped with Orihime as she had to slip on her shoes. He had knelt down to help her slip them on faster, and he tied them for her.
Isshin had walked out of the kitchen. His arms crossed as he looked at Orihime and Ichigo. "I'll stay here. Yuzu and Karin will be fine. I'll keep them safe."
Orihime hardly heard him as he had moved to her hugged her, and told her to stay safe. The overwhelming feeling of Aizen was the only thing she could focus on. It's him. It's Aizen. I know that feeling anywhere. He's here and he's not going away… What's going to happen?
Urahara's, a little over a half hour later
Having not a single clue as to what was going on, Orihime's eyes left the others who were all talking. Most all of them were in their shinigami form already. Mina's movements were no longer doing enough to settle her mind, as all she could focus on is the growing anxiety inside of herself. Finally when she realized she had spaced out for the second time since leaving the house almost forty five minutes ago, she realized she needed to push past the anxiety. Whistling loudly, just enough to be heard over everyone's talking, and it got everyone's attention easily. "Will someone please tell me what the situation is? Or else I will start crying in the next thirty seconds."
It was quiet for a moment, when Urahara spoke up. "Aizen's on the move. Towards us. Towards you."
The silence after he had finished speaking was uncomfortable. Orihime's hands had remained resting on her baby bump, and she had bit her lip. Processing that this was for real happening, she took a deep breath, and lowered her head. This is it. She repeated that a few times to herself in her head, and then lifted her head back up. "Okay. Now, I need you to tell me what the plan is. Everything. Don't leave anything out. Now is not the time to sugarcoat anything."
That had Urahara nodding, slightly surprised at her seriousness. "We already have others out there fighting right now, and we are going to be joining them shortly," he started, as his eyes focus on Orihime. "You will have a team of four surrounding you at all times. The consistent with be Retsu Unohana."
Which that being said, the healer herself appeared from the back hall, her eyes on Orihime. "Don't you worry Orihime. It is just for precaution."
Orihime nodded shortly, and focused back on Urahara. "And the other three?"
"The other three will switch out, as it will be whoever needs to power up and take a breather from fighting will come and protect you at that moment, but you will always have four around you," Urahara replied honestly, having clearly thought this out. "It's our top priority to keep you safe so you are going with a moving team."
Toshiro cleared his throat, and then started to speak. "We'll be moving to the compound we have around the woods," he said his eyes on Orihime, as he gave a short nod of his head. "You know the one I've taken you to a few times?"
You mean the one we have been training in over the past weeks since I've discovered my new powers? Then yes, yes I do know. But for the sake of not telling the others that… "I think so… The room that could seal my spiritual energy is there, right?"
"Yes, surprised you remember," Toshiro replied back, playing along with her to prevent the others from questioning as to what they had been doing at that place.
"It is best that you stay on the move instead of stay in one place," Urahara started back up speaking, getting Orihime's attention once more. "We will seal your location the best we can. We intend to try the device that we used when you and Ichigo had gone on vacation for his birthday."
"That takes almost a week to set up properly," Orihime shook her head, not thinking that would be useful to them.
Yoruichi nodded back to Orihime. "Yes it does. But that seems to be our only option. We can't keep you in that one room for long. Because Aizen will sense you moving to that building and will start to make his way over there. So we will have a few of us stay out to work on getting that set up. But, even then we aren't sure how well it will work. Your spiritual energy as been growing since you got pregnant, we've all subconsciously realized that. But after that vacation you went on it just seems that it's getting much more noticeable with how big it is. We don't know how well the device will be able to hide your spiritual energy."
"Why can't I just try doing it myself?" Orihime asked, her eyes moving around the others. "You all can hide your spiritual energy. So I can try it, and you guys can help with whatever I can't hide."
"We thought about that," Toshiro said, getting Orihime's eyes back on him. "It just takes a while to learn. And with you needing to keep your blood pressure down, adding the stress of learning a new technique isn't going to help that."
Ichigo was nodding from where he was near Orihime. "It took me a long time Orihime. I'm sure that the device will work just enough-"
"Well maybe I'm better at it than you were," Orihime interrupted, showing slight attitude, as she propped both hands on her hips. "None of us can know, because I've never tried it."
Seeing the oncoming mood swing territory, Ichigo tried to backtrack a little. "I'm not trying to imply that you would not be good at it. We are just crunched for time."
It was quiet then, as they all thought on it. Finally Rukia was the first to speak up. "It's a worth a shot right? I mean, her being able to control her spiritual energy like that could really help us. It might even gives us an advantage if she can do it."
All eyes went to Urahara, and his eyes went to Retsu Unohana. "You need to monitor her. If it's not looking well for her and the baby, then she's going to have to stop.
Retsu nodded, and had her hands tucked away in her kimono. "Of course."
The door slid open again, this time Akira and Rin walked. All ready to start fighting. "Rin is the acting liaison from our people," Akira reported, her eyes on Urahara.
Rin's eyes were focused on Urahara as well. "My team is ready to go. I have a second team already out helping your shinigami on the fighting front."
"Coordinate with Captain Hitsugaya when you leave here, and he'll tell you where to be," Urahara replied, his eyes watching Toshiro nod.
Orihime finally felt Rin's eyes on her, and she walked over to her friend. "Be careful."
Rin smiled at Orihime's worry. Wrapping her arms around Orihime, she kissed the top of the younger woman's head. "Don't worry Orihime. I can hold my own."
"I'm sure you can," Orihime replied, but took a deep breath as she pulled back from their hug. "But I have to say it to make me feel better."
"Don't you worry, I'll be fine," Rin said to reassure Orihime. Her eyes went back to Akira after hugging Orihime "We'll go ahead and go outside, and wait for Captain Hitsugaya when he finishes up in here."
After that, everyone started to finish up getting ready. Orihime found herself being pulled aside by Toshiro. "What is it Toshiro?"
Toshiro had looked around to make sure no one was listening to them. "Don't try anything."
"What do you mean?" Orihime asked, her tone showing innocence.
Rolling his eyes at Orihime's attempt at being clueless, Toshiro's eyes locked with hers. "You know exactly what I mean. What we have been working on together in your training. I don't think you should do that unless it's a last resort and it's for your safety. Especially if I'm not around you. Because no one else knows about it, and if something goes wrong, they won't have as much experience as I do dealing with it."
Frowning with disapproval, Orihime nodded in agreement anyways. "Fine, I won't do anything."
Toshiro watched Orihime's eyes for a moment, and then finally nodded. "Alright, let's go outside."
Once everyone was outside, it was questioned if everyone was ready by Urahara. Everyone had agreed, minus two people. Ichigo had been adjusting his zanpakuto, and his eyes had gone to Orihime after Urahara's question. Staring at her as everything around them grew silent, and then faded. Making it seem like it was just the two of them. His eyes holding onto her grey one's.
Finally, Orihime moved first. Closing the distance between them, she threw her arms around Ichigo. Her head nestled against his neck. They stayed like that for a long moment. "Be careful," she spoke to him finally. Her words sounding slightly muffled to others, but were clear to Ichigo. "Please, please be careful."
"I will," Ichigo replied back to her softly. Feeling like he couldn't hold her close enough. "You protect our little girl."
"I will," Orihime promised softly, pulling back from Ichigo. She felt his hands slide to rest on the sides of her baby bump, and her eyes started to water without warning. Staring at Ichigo in that moment, emotions swirled within her. Her anxiety tugging away, but she had pushed it back. Focusing on just Ichigo in this moment, she stepped back closer to him, and kissed him. In a passionate kiss.
As long and wonderful that kiss was, it only lasted a moment in reality. Because Ichigo had pulled back, pushed Orihime's bangs back out of her face, and kissed the top of her head. Saying nothing more, he turned, and then was gone in a blink of an eye.
Orihime sniffled as a tear finally fell from her eyes. She hadn't wanted to let Ichigo go. She very well knew the risk he was about to go head first into, as it was not their first time in a war with Aizen. Her tears continued to fall down her cheeks, and she stared up at the sky where they had all disappeared to. Her hands resting on her baby bump, and she prayed like hell that everything would be okay.
Six hours later, around noon
Trying to focus and hide her spiritual energy was a lot harder than Orihime first thought. Yes, she assumed it wouldn't be easy. But, at the same time, she didn't think it would be borderline impossible. She cracked open one eye to look around the room again. She had left Urahara's a little under six hours ago. The fighting had been going on, and she had switched her protection team members eight times since leaving Urahara's. Currently she had Toshiro, Uryu, and Yumichika as her other three on the protection team. Retsu being the constant since the beginning.
She kept her eye open until her eye connected with Yumichika's, and she closed her eye quickly. Already able to tell from his sigh that she was about to get reminded once again to pay attention to the task at hand.
"She keeps opening her eyes every five seconds," Yumichika started off, not talking to Orihime, but to Toshiro. "No wonder she hasn't shown any progress, and-"
"Do not talk about me like I can't hear you," Orihime interrupted Yumichika's complaint, her eyes snapping open. A glare directed at the man. "Forgive me that I am slightly distracted by the fact that someone who's been after me for a while now, is outside somewhere trying to get to me. Plus this is someone we have been up against before, so that just brings on more danger. On top of that, my boyfriend is out their fighting in all this mess for me and our unborn daughter! So forgive me for giving a damn about everything that is-"
"Ori-hi-me," Toshiro spoke in a sing song voice, a smirk on his face at Orihime's clear spike up of a mood swing. Looking over to Yumichika he smirked. "How about you go finish up surveying the surroundings of the building? Then the two of you can come back."
Yumichika took one look at Orihime, and started directly towards the door. "No complaint there."
Retsu stood up from where she had been sitting. "I'm going to step out as well, I'll be back in a few minutes."
Orihime turned her eyes on Toshiro as soon as it was just the two of them in the room. Seeing Toshiro's raised eyebrow, she frowned at him. "He started it."
Orihime's statement had Toshiro close to not being able to control his laughter. He had to shake his head and cough to hide it. "Be nice okay?"
"Excuse me?" Orihime countered, her eyes widened. "You are taking his side? I thought we were friends-"
"Orihime," Toshiro once again interrupted her. "Yes, we are friends. But, you need to be focusing all that anger on trying to get your spiritual energy under control. Not on the people who are protecting you."
"I'd rather protect myself," Orihime bit back, an annoyed expression on her face as that had made Toshiro laugh.
Toshiro's laughter continued, and he just shook his head at her. "You are being moody."
"And you are being an asshole," Orihime bit back, her arms crossed over her chest. A glare in her eyes in his direction. Although that soon dropped off her face to be replaced with a much softer frown. Her eyebrows furrowed together, as she shook her head. "I'm sorry. I know you and the others are just trying to help me. I'm just anxious… and frustrated. This whole hiding my spiritual energy is really difficult under these circumstances. I get focused, then all of a sudden I hear something from outside. I feel like I can only focus for a few minutes."
Toshiro's features softened as well, and he sighed. "We understand that you are anxious. We understand that you are worried about Ichigo. But all you need to focus on is your spiritual energy. It's going to be hard, but you'll find a way to do it. I know you will. You always do."
Orihime sighed, and they fell into silence. Feeling Mina moving around relaxed her. Hearing the door open, in came Uryu, Yumichika, and Retsu. Yumichika's eyes on her. "I'm sorry," she apologized to him.
Yumichika nodded once. "It's no big deal-"
"But, I'm not sorry I called you a jackass," Orihime interrupted, her eyes narrowed.
Toshiro raised an eyebrow at Orihime. "You didn't call him a-"
"I did inside my head. Several times," Orihime explained, her eyes leaving Toshiro to go to Yumichika. Narrowing them again, and then closing them.
This brought silence in the room. Uryu's eyes moved over to Toshiro and Yumichika. "What happened while I was patrolling around the building?"
"Well-"
"Nothing happened," Orihime interrupted Toshiro, her eyes remaining closed, as she took a deep breath. Getting her focus back on trying to learn how to hide her spiritual energy. She had only been at it for another five minutes, when she got the urge to have to pee. Mina had moved on her bladder, and seemed to settle in that spot. That had Orihime losing her focus once again, and she sighed. Her eyes opening, and her hands moving to her baby bump.
Uryu noticed Orihime stopping first. "Why did you stop again Orihime?"
"Because I feel like I'm about to die," Orihime replied instantly, her hands rubbed the sides of her bump. Mina seems so content sitting on my bladder.
Before Yumichika, Uryu, or Retsu could speak, Toshiro shook his head at them. "She doesn't mean it literally."
"I don't know about that," Orihime replied, and moved to stand up. Accepting the help Uryu offered her. Once standing all the way up, her eyes went to Toshiro.. "I have to go to the bathroom."
"We don't have time for that, Aizen will get here eventually-"
"I am not asking your permission," Orihime interrupted Yumichika, her hands on her hips. "You have no idea how it feels to have an almost seven pound baby sitting on your bladder! So I suggest you stop telling me what we do and do not have time for! And another thing-"
"Orihime," Toshiro interrupted, taking her by her shoulders to stop her from speaking anymore. Already knowing that most of this was Orihime being under stress, but she was still very much capable of having her mood swings. She already proved that ten minutes ago when she had snapped at Yumichika the first time. His eyes moved from Orihime to Retsu Unohana. "The first team that was with her, did they finish sealing the building?"
Retsu nodded, having sat and relaxed back against one of the walls in the room. "Yes. This whole building is now protecting her from being sensed."
"But at the same time, Aizen knows she's around here because that's where her spiritual energy disappeared," Uryu pointed out. Having noticed how much closer the fighting had been getting over the past six or so hours since Orihime had arrived at this building. "So we only have so much time to remain here, before we are going to have to move her."
"Well even though we are crunched for time, I think it's fine for her to take a short break. She can come back here and continue trying to hide her spiritual energy in a few minutes," Toshiro said, receiving nods from the other three, and then he left the room with Orihime. Walking down the long hallway in silence he finally stopped, and pointed to a door. "That's the bathroom."
"Thank you," Orihime was already moving to the door, and walked inside. After she used the bathroom, she started to wash her hands. As the water was running, she started to rub some soap on her hands. Her eyes on the mirror. The reflection of her baby bump. Then she started talking, not really able to be heard too well over the sound of the running water. "Okay Mina… I think this is taking me so long because I'm anxious. I need someone to calm my nerves." She sighed heavily, and put her hands under the water. "It's the pressure of it all. Knowing that I have no choice but to learn how to do this because it's for my safety and your safety. While your dad is out there fighting, all I can do is this one thing to help. The fact that I haven't done it yet is… Upsetting I guess. I can't help fight because I've got to think of your safety. And Toshiro says I can't use my powers we've been working with unless it's an emergency. It's just frustrating to only be able to do such a small thing, and not even be able to actually do it."
With that said out loud, Orihime felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Turning off the water, she took a deep breath, and watched her reflection. Ichigo told me he would be careful, and in return, I told him I would protect our daughter. That is what I need to do. I need to finish this up, and hide my spiritual energy. That way we can hurry up and get a move on. Now with a little more motivation, Orihime turned and walked out of the bathroom. Her eyes going to Toshiro, who was leaning back against the wall, his hands in his pockets.
They started to walk back, at first in silence, until Toshiro spoke up. "Are you taking moments to relax during all this?"
Orihime laughed at Toshiro's question. "What exactly is relaxing?"
Toshiro didn't find it as amusing as Orihime did. "Orihime, your blood pressure-"
"I'm trying Toshiro," Orihime interrupted him, sighing at him not amused at her attempt to lighten the mood. "What am I supposed to say? I mean, I'm trying to stay calm. Retsu is monitoring me. From what she said I'm doing a good job so far. But talking about it doesn't really help."
Nodding at her more honest answer, Toshiro finally grew a smirk on his face. "Well leave it to you to manage to be calm during an event like this, but stressed out over a pointless test at your school."
"I'm weird," Orihime said, smiling back at Toshiro. "I know that already."
"I think everyone knows that already," Toshiro shot back, still smirking, as he opened the door to go back in the room they had been in before.
Walking back to her spot she had her stuff in, she eased herself back to sitting down. Feeling relaxed this time as she closed her eyes to start up again. Remembering her instructions on how to hide her spiritual energy, she took a breath, and started back at it. A few attempts later, she felt it work for a few seconds. "Okay, I think I did it. But not for very long."
"Okay," Toshiro said, watching as Retsu had stepped in to check Orihime's blood pressure like she had been doing every thirty minutes or so. "You need to practice it a few more times, and once you can solidly hold it, we are going to move you."
Orihime nodded back at Toshiro. "Will do-"
"Orihime, you need to be quiet and relaxed while I check your blood pressure," Retsu reminded her.
Instead of replying back, Orihime remained quiet as Retsu finished up taking her blood pressure. Her eyes flickered up from the ground at the sound of a door opening and closing in the front of the building was heard.
"Yumichika stay here," Toshiro ordered, nodding at the shinigami, then his eyes went to Uryu. "Let's go check it out."
Toshiro and Uryu left the room in silence. Only to return after another minute had gone by. Renji with them this time.
At Orihime now focusing back on hiding her spiritual energy, Toshiro gathered the focus of Retsu. "We are about to change out Retsu."
Renji nodded, and crossed his arms over his chest. "I came in first, and Ikakku and Shuuhei Hisagi are going to come in soon. They stayed to survey the area to make sure everything's checking out outside for us to do the switch out."
"Well she's going to need a few more minutes to practice, and then we should be able to go ahead and move her then," Yumichika said to Renji about Orihime.
Renji nodded, his eyes on Orihime, who wasn't paying them any attention. "Alright, well we need a plan since she's about to be ready to leave," Renji focused back on Toshiro specifically.
Toshiro looked away from Orihime as well. Looking back at the others. "I've already got that covered."
Two hours later
It had been nearly two hours since Orihime and her protection team had moved from the building. Ever since her first successful attempt of hiding her spiritual energy, Orihime found it was almost as easy as knowing how to breathe. It was like second nature to her. Before leaving the building, Toshiro, Uryu, and Yumichika had created a mock of Orihime's spiritual energy. To catch any possible arrancars or hollows around the area off guard, while the real Orihime had left the building in tunnels under the ground. Her spiritual energy hidden.
Since then, they had been moving around every twenty minutes or so. Orihime doing her best to keep up most of the time. And occasionally Renji had carried her in order to gain more distance between them and the fighting. Renji, Ikakku, Shuuhei, and Retsu had remained with Orihime since the switch before she left the building two hours ago. They had originally been doing it to where the protection team would make a switch every forty-five minutes to an hour or so. But, because Orihime was on the move now they didn't want to risk bringing anyone else over, and give away her real location.
"What's the update?" Ikakku asked Shuuhei who had been in contact with someone where the fighting was taking place.
"The arrancars are starting to getting more harsh in attacks," Shuuhei reported, slipping his phone into his pocket. "They are throwing more hollows in to distract our side. I think they are trying to get rid of as many of us as they can in order to find Orihime faster."
"We need to throw them off guard then," Orihime said, getting the others to look at her. "I can release my spiritual energy for a moment to catch them off guard, then we can get the hell out of this area."
Renji right away shook his head in disagreement with Orihime's idea. "I don't think that's a good idea."
Ikakku nodded in agreement with Renji. "That sounds like we are baiting you to Aizen.
"Which if Ichigo were to find out we did that, he would be pissed," Renji added, still shaking his head. "And if this whole thing works out I don't want to die because of your angry boyfriend."
That had Orihime sighing. That's true. He would be mad… "But you were the one saying that you like irritating Ichigo."
"Yes I did say that. But, when it comes to your safety, it's a completely different story," Renji said, already able to tell Orihime was still not giving up on this idea.
"Well if he finds out, we'll just say it was an accident. He doesn't have to know it was on purpose," Orihime propped her hands on her hips, and shrugged her shoulders. "I mean I'm new to this. So it wouldn't be that unbelievable that I would accidentally stop hiding my spiritual energy."
With that said, it was silent between her and the protection team. Shuuhei finally cleared his throat after a moment more of thinking. "We can do it. But, we all need to be prepared to move Orihime the second she hides her spiritual energy again. Far away from this spot."
"I'll be ready either way. Orihime's checking up good on blood pressure and isn't appearing to be having any problems medically to be concerned about," Retsu was the first to agree.
"It's the best idea we've got," Ikakku agreed next. "It might actually give our side an advantage."
Everyone's eyes moved to Renji last. He had been studying Orihime with a close eye. Finally he sighed, and his eyes went to Ikakku. "Get a higher view of the area around us. Try to figure out which direction we can go to after this. Once that's established, we'll do this."
Ikakku nodded, and moved to get higher viewpoint of the area.
Renji turned his head back to Orihime, and held a serious look in his eye. "Release it only for a few seconds. Don't go too long. I'm going to carry you again once it is done. Be ready as soon as you finish for me to pick you up alright?"
"Yeah, okay, just be more careful this time than you were last time," Orihime replied, slightly in complaint. Her eyes travled over towards Ikakku. Waiting for his signal to go ahead and do it. Hopefully this will help give our side an advantage.
Down where the fighting is going on
The sense of Orihime's spiritual energy had Ichigo immediately stopping. Toshiro stopped nearby him. Ichigo just looked in the direction it was coming from. "What the hell? I thought you said that Orihime had her spiritual energy under control when you left her two hours ago?!"
"She did!" Toshiro called back, his eyes focusing more on the reactions of the arrancars, and then came to a realization. "They did it on purpose."
"What?"
The arrancars all seemed to start moving in the direction of where Orihime was sensed, and Rukia was the next to speak up. "What happened?"
"It's a distraction!" Toshiro called back to her.
"Distraction for what?" Akira asked, having finished off a few hollows.
Toshiro hesitated in reply, as he was thinking of a plan in his head. "Okay, so this is the time where you all need to start using your attacks that Aizen and the arrancars haven't seen yet! Move and catch the arrancars off guard! This could be good for us if we do it right!"
There was several replies of agreement, and the others were already moving to pursue the arrancars. Ichigo and Toshiro were the last to go, and Ichigo was searching the area. Having caught sight of Aizen finally. "Toshiro-"
"Go," Toshiro interrupted, knowing exactly what Ichigo was going to ask. He watched Ichigo nod, and start off in Aizen's direction. He better not get himself killed. He started forward towards the arrancars . Finding that Orihime's spiritual energy had disappeared already, and she was nowhere to be found. It made him smirk. This is the advantage we needed. Good thinking Orihime.
Orihime and her protection Team
"It appeared to work in our favor," Shuuhei reported to them. They were up on an overlooking cliff. Hiding their presence. They were watching the fighting, while Orihime stood a bit farther back from the edge of the cliff. Just to be sure no one would see her.
There was fighting all over the place. Some in the air, and some on the ground. Orihime didn't have a complete view from where she was standing, but it was enough to see some of the fighting. Seeing her friends all fighting started to make her nervous. I know you can't really hear me Mina. Because I'm saying all this in my head, and not out loud. But I need to talk to someone… For the past nine and a half hours since I left Urahara's, this has been the first time that we've been so close to the fighting. I just- I- I just want your dad to be okay. That's all I want. This fighting isn't helping reassure me.
Hearing more sounds from the fighting caught her focus back out of her mind. She opened her eyes, and found herself being led away from the area by Renji. The team was relocating to a different spot, then settled again to keep watching the fighting.
Searching around the area for Ichigo, Orihime found that she couldn't see them from where she was. The fact that she couldn't find him was making her anxious. Taking a few steps forward, she found a hand grab her wrist, and her eyes met Renji's.
"Don't go to close to the edge," Renji reminded her, but didn't tell her to step back again.
Orihime nodded, and that got Renji to let go of her wrist. Her eyes went back to the fighting. Continuing her search for Ichigo. It took another moment to finally sight her bright orange haired boyfriend. Sighting him had her smile until she realized who he was fighting. The chill traveling down her spine, had her body screaming that it was Aizen before her mind could even process it. Trying to relax, she focused on Mina moving, and managed to relax herself.
She spent a good fifteen minutes watching Ichigo's fight with Aizen. While they fought, it was apparent they were speaking to each other as well. She had managed to keep herself calm, apart from small moments where Ichigo would get caught in a tight spot. But those were all followed by relief of him getting out of it. However, seeing him once again in tight spot now, her relief never came. Ichigo was hit by one of Aizen's attacks across one side of his abdomen. That sent alarms off in her head. With that chaos happening in her head, she got an idea, and turned to her protection team. "I need to go down there."
"You can't," was Ikakku's and Shuuhei's simultaneous reply.
"It's not a good idea to get involved Orihime," Retsu added.
Renji, however, did not say anything. Just watched Orihime, as she was clearly going to continue speaking.
"You have to let me go down there! It's important! Aizen might really hurt Ichigo!" Orihime snapped, not thinking of anything except helping Ichigo. "I can't just stand here and let the person that I love more than anything in this world get hurt anymore! Now let me go or-"
"Orihime," Renji interrupted her, stepping closer to her, and resting his hand on her shoulder. "If we do this, we have to have a plan. You cannot get yourself injured."
Orihime nodded back at Renji, and her eyes connected with his. "Of course I already have a plan."
"Oh really? Well you should probably share it with the rest of us, so we can protect you," Renji replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
Orihime took a breath, and her thoughts went to her powers. "There is something I need to tell you."
"What?" Renji asked.
"It's about what I've been doing the past few weeks… What Toshiro and I have been doing," Orihime started, taking another deep breath.
Fifteen minutes later
The air picked up around those fighting. At first it wasn't that noticeable. But, it wasn't until the attacks of the arrancars were being affected by the wind strengthening, that everyone noticed that it wasn't normal.
"What's going on?" Rukia questioned.
"The wind is picking up, and it appears to be affecting the arrancars," Uryu replied, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
"But not us…" Chad trailed off looking around.
Toshiro recognized the wind, and understood what was going on. She didn't… He trailed off, and started to look around them. Where is she?
The wind picked up once more, and Orihime finally appeared. Renji was the one who had moved her down from where they had been hiding out. The other three of the protection team around them.
The whole clearing went silent at the appearance of Orihime. Renji had carefully set her to her feet. She smoothed her shirt over her baby bump, and started forward with the team close at her sides. Stopping beside Ichigo, her eyes remained forward to meet Aizen's.
Ichigo's eyes were wide like saucers at Orihime being in the middle of all this now, and no longer hiding.
The protective team backed off, but remained close by. Orihime felt Ichigo's eyes sweep to her, but she kept her eyes connected with Aizen's. Showing she wasn't going to avert her eyes like she would if she were scared. "Aizen."
"Orihime Inoue, how nice of you to finally reveal yourself. Your game of confusing my arrancars with your presence being spread out hasn't been as fun as seeing the real thing," was Aizen's response.
A smirk flew on Orihime's face, and she closed her eyes. "And I must say that it is so nice of you to finally show up yourself today. Instead of sending your pawns to fight for you."
That sent a flare of irritation through Aizen's eyes, but he kept his smirk on his face. "This certainly is quite different the last time we saw each other. Don't you think?"
"I guess. Both times are showing to be similar in how repulsed it makes me to see you in person," Orihime shot back, opening her eyes, still smirking. "Your ability to strategize a situation is on point. Every move that's been made today, you've counterattacked perfectly."
"A complement? I certainly wasn't expecting that," Aizen shot back.
Orihime crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh it was no complement. You can't possibly take credit for it, as you aren't really being fair. Sending in your arrancars to watch the our side weeks prior to this fight. Even appearing yourself once. Just so you would think that you are going to have the upper hand by watching their abilities, and learning how they need to be countered."
Aizen chuckled at her words. "Who says I want to play fair?"
Orihime laughed right back at him. "I think it's been clear to everyone that you have never had any intention aside from playing this dirty since before you arrived," she continued her smirk. "But I think on our side we have a bit more, how should I put this? Higher standards that you. Playing it fair is something that we value… so you shouldn't be surprised to find while you are playing it dirty, we will have to as well."
"Keeping it fair and all," Aizen connected, a smirk still on his face.
"Exactly," Orihime replied, with a nod of her head. "You have been doing well so far… It's quite unfortunate that your so far successful day isn't going to be ending in your favor."
That lit Aizen's eyes up, and his cocky expression grew. "That's quite a powerful statement. All I have to do is get rid of this little army you have, and then all that will be left is you. And you won't be much of a challenge, considering the last time you practically gave yourself to me. How do you suppose that I wont be getting what I want?"
"So far what you have seen from our side is playing it fair, but keeping it clean," Orihime replied, her arms falling to her sides. "You haven't seen us play on your level yet."
Aizen actually laughed. "I've already found that your side has been withholding their real abilities over the time that I've been watching them. I don't see that as playing on my level."
"You honestly think that's all we have to offer?" Orihime asked, making it dead silent, and she closed her eyes again. "What we have shown you is just three aces we've had up our sleeves. Hiding my spiritual energy is one, releasing it to confuse your arrancars is two, and my friends holding back until now their real abilities is three. But when you think about it, there are four aces in a deck of cards, Aizen."
Toshiro had been watching Orihime closely. The way she had moved to stand with her arms by her side, and her head slightly tilted downwards, he knew she was getting ready. It's time.
"What makes you think I won't just counter you? This is my second time fighting with you all. You didn't have much to offer the first time, and so far this time I admit to being slightly impressed by the improvements on your side. But, how can you just stand there and act so confident?" Aizen asked, tempted to raise an eyebrow at how Orihime had seemed to stand much different than she had in previous encounters.
"Because," Orihime started, and then finally she opened her eyes. Her hand raising up, and the wind started going like when her powers first came back to her. "This is not like the last fight where I was the only prize! This time you are messing with my family, and I won't let you hurt them!" She called over to him, and her power picked up. Using her powers, she was able to utilize the wind and push the arrancars back in Aizen's direction.
Toshiro appeared by Ichigo's other side. "Ichigo this will immobilize them, you have a ten second window to take your zanpakuto and take out Aizen with all you've got. Then get Orihime out of the way. I'll go from behind so you'll have time to get her away."
Ichigo, surprised by Orihime's power, nodded his head, and refocused forward. "Right."
It took a moment for Orihime to get to the right spot of immobilizing Aizen and the arrancars. They fought against her power, and she could feel their strength they used to fight her. But, the thought of them breaking free and attacking Ichigo and her friends, was the motivation she needed to overpower them. Finally feeling like she was at the peak of her power, she turned her head, and spoke. "Toshiro."
"Now Ichigo!" Toshiro called, preparing to go in behind Ichigo.
Ichigo moved forward to attack Aizen. As he moved forward he noticed how there was a huge light that started up at first with just Aizen, then it mirrored to the arrancars that Orihime was affecting with this ability too. Creating a high intensity sound as the attack kept mirroring on arrancars. Moving through the light he made his final attack on Aizen, and then turned and went to Orihime. Passing Toshiro as he did.
Then a loud explosion like sound happened. Then everything was quiet in the area. After the smoke cleared, it showed that Aizen and the arrancars were gone. Just bits and pieces left behind. Everyone's eyes slowly moved in the direction of Ichigo and Orihime. Ichigo had his arms wrapped around Orihime to protect her from the blast. Orihime's arms were around her baby bump. Both were turned away from the blast.
When the smoke finally cleared, they both straightened up. Ichigo's arms remained around Orihime, but loosened. Orihime had took a step to turn to look to see if it worked or not. Seeing that Aizen and the arrancars were gone, her eyes went to meet Toshiro's. Connecting with his just before the world spun around her, and darkness consumed her.
At Orihime wobbling, Ichigo tightened his hold on her just as she had went limp. "Orihime!" He exclaimed, lowering her the rest of the way to the ground. Panicked at her falling unconscious like she did.
"Orihime!" Rin exclaimed from where she was.
"What just happened?" Rukia asked, her eyes wide.
"Don't worry," Toshiro spoke up before anyone else could. He moved over to where Orihime and Ichigo were. Putting his zanpakuto back in it's sheath. "She just passed out. It takes a lot of her energy."
Ichigo's eyes went from Orihime to Toshiro. Looking up with the sunlight coming down had an almost dizzying effect on him. "What in the hell just happened?" He asked Toshiro. But the dizzying effect not going away, Ichigo's body weakened, and everything went dark.
Urahara's, three hours later
It was around six that evening, and they were all in one of the back rooms in Urahara's shop. Both Orihime and Ichigo had been unconscious for the past few hours. Most everyone was silent apart from Urahara and the shinigami that were apart of Orihime's protection team last.
"What happened out there?" Urahara asked, his arms crossed over his chest. "Orihime was not supposed to be anywhere close to the fighting."
"It was actually Orihime's idea to go down there," Ikakku started, being the first to actually speak up.
"She wanted to go down there, and apparently already had a plan for what she was about to do," Shuuhei explained further.
Ikakku shook his head at that. "None of us really knew the full extent of what she was doing until we were down there. She was vague on telling us what it fully was. Just that it could be the move that ends it all."
"Did you try to stop her?" Urahara asked, already knowing the answer was going to be no.
"She was determined to do it," Shuuhei answered, trying to avoid saying that none of them really tried that hard to stop her. When that woman is angry, I don't think it would be wise to tell her no that's for sure.
"What Shuuhei said," Ikakku agreed, and then pointed to Renji. "He was so willingly allowing her to go though."
Urahara's eyes went over to Renji, and he raised an eyebrow. "Explain."
Glaring in the direction of Shuuhei and Ikakku, who had dropped the blame practically on his head, Renji sighed. "Look, it's not like Orihime and I are really that good of friends. We just have a mutual understanding on a few things, and for some reason that crazy woman had me convinced to let her go without having to say much. So before we blame me, let's just remember what happens when you say no to her."
Retsu spoke up then to explain. "Orihime had told me that it would be safe for the baby, and swore up and down that she had done it before. So I really had no grounds to disagree. She wouldn't ever put her baby in danger on purpose."
That left Urahara in silence, as thought about what they said. "I guess we'll just have to hear from her what happened."
Once again in silence, this time Renji broke it, as he had a new thought. "She mentioned something about Captain Hitsugaya knowing-"
"Orihime's waking up," Toshiro interrupted them from across the room. Having been one of the few still around where Orihime and Ichigo were. He had been listening in on the whispering of Urahara and the others, but hadn't taken part in the conversation. His focus was on seeing when Orihime would wake up, which was just about now.
Orihime, herself, had heard Toshiro speaking near her. Pushing her eyes to finally open, she found herself looking up at the ceiling of Urahara's back room. One she had been in several times before. Looking towards the windows to see that the sun was close to starting to set, she guessed it was around six or seven. Feeling Mina moving inside of her, brought her attention away from looking out the windows. Her eyes found Toshiro first. "Did it work?"
Nodding at Orihime's question, Toshiro moved closer beside her futon, and knelt down. "It did. Everything went smoothly," he started, offering her assistance to sit up. "Retsu examined you, and she said that you and Mina are doing great."
Orihime groaned lowly at that, as she fully sat up with the help of Toshiro. "I already knew she was fine. Her kicking me is what I woke up to." That had the others laughing, Orihime's eyes moved to her other side. Where she found Ichigo unconscious. Her hand moved quickly to rest on his arm. "Ichigo-"
"Ichigo's okay," Rukia interrupted, having been sitting on her legs towards the end of the two futons that Orihime and Ichigo were on.
Orihime took a deep breath of relief, and her hand lightly sweeping some of the hair off of Ichigo's face. "That's good."
The door to the room sliding open, got everyone's attention. That's where Rin appeared. Her eyes went directly to Orihime. Seeing that she was awake, had put a smile on Rin's face. "I'm glad you are okay."
"Enough about me. I'm just glad that you are okay," Orihime replied back, smiling as Rin walked closer. Seeing that Rin was back in her normal clothes, and had her bag. "How long are you staying?"
"I'll be staying until tomorrow evening," Rin replied, noticing Orihime's expression fall, she smiled, and rested her hand on Orihime's shoulder. "This isn't forever Orihime. I'll be back more often now that I know everything's okay between us."
That brightened up Orihime's expression. "That's good to hear."
Rin straightened up, and her eyes went to Akira, who was standing opposite to her. "You ready?"
"I'm ready," Akira agreed, grabbing her bag and slipping it on her shoulders.
"Wait, where are you going?" Orihime asked, her eyes flickering from Rin to Akira.
"I agreed to mentor her," Rin replied, a twinkle in her eye.
Akira nodded, and propped her hands on her hips. "Yeah she did. So you are going to have to share her. Because it's not everyday that someone of her caliber wants to train me. I've got a smart mouth, and usually I get stuck with mediocre nobodies to train me."
Orihime laughed, and shook her head at Akira. "She's not going to go easy on you, or put up with you being a smart ass."
Rin laughed, rested a hand on Akira's shoulder, and she looked to Orihime. "Don't scare her Orihime. I haven't even gotten a chance to really work with her yet."
"Wait what do you know that I don't know?" Akira asked Orihime, as Rin clearly didn't deny what Orihime was saying.
"Come on," Rin spoke before Orihime could reply to Akira.
Orihime laughed at the sound of Akira questioning Rin as the two left the room. The feeling of a braxton hicks contraction hit her, and she took in a sharp breath. It had her closing her eyes, and resting both of her hands on her baby bump.
"You okay?" Rukia questioned softly.
"I'm fine. Just a braxton hicks contraction," Orihime replied, and she smiled after the feeling passed. Her eyes then swept over to Ichigo when she heard movement from him on his futon.
Ichigo woke up to the feeling of someone's hand on his shoulder. The familiar soft and comforting touch relaxed him almost immediately. Opening his eyes to see Orihime beside him, he smile softly. However, his smile was cut short as he remembered what happened before he passed out. Moving to sit up, his eyes met Orihime's. "What was that? What happened out there?"
"That's something we'd all like to know," Urahara spoke before Orihime could.
Orihime's eyes swept to Toshiro, who nodded at her, and she sighed. "Ever since my powers came back Toshiro and I started to test the limits I had with my powers, because they don't affect the baby. Unlike when I turn into a shinigami. We discovered that I could utilize my powers far beyond what I did the day that I discovered I had them again. We have been working together, and he's been helping me practice using them."
Holding a deep frown on his face, Ichigo questioned her. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"We've been keeping quiet because Orihime wanted to keep it just between the two of us," Toshiro answered first.
Orihime nodded in agreement with Toshiro's answer. "I knew that you wouldn't be happy with it, and you probably wouldn't have let me do it all."
"Even if he's not happy about," Renji started, getting Orihime's eyes on him. "I've got to say you're one hell of a woman Orihime. Aizen's gone because of your help."
"I couldn't have done it without Toshiro's help in training me," Orihime replied back, her cheeks flaring slightly pink at the compliment. Her eyes went back to Ichigo. "And you of course."
"I probably would have overreacted about you training," Ichigo agreed with that, then a frown grew on his face. "Why did you do that? Walk right into the middle of a battle like you did? Sure you knew that you have the abilities you do, but it was still dangerous. What were you thinking?"
At Ichigo slightly raising her voice, Orihime took a breath, and smiled lightly. "I saw you get hurt. All I wanted was for you to be safe. Aizen was threatening that."
Ichigo was quiet after Orihime's response. Finally he reached over for her, and hugged her to him. "I'm the one who's supposed to protect you. You shouldn't have to worry about me."
"Even if you were immortal, you best believe I will always worry and want to protect you," Orihime replied, smiling at the thought. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, just like you wouldn't let anyone hurt me. That's how a relationship works… except our relationship takes it to a bigger extreme than others."
That had everyone laughing. Ichigo stopped his laughter to kiss the top of Orihime's head. "If anything, I understand that completely."
"What exactly can you do with your powers?" Urahara asked Orihime, getting her eyes back on him briefly, before he noticed her eyes go to Toshiro.
"Her case is quite different than most," Toshiro started, his arms crossed over his chest. "Not only does she hold the ability of a shinigami, but she has ability in human form as well. While we knew she had ability in human form before all this, it appears her abilities now are much different than before. She's capable of things that someone in her position shouldn't be able to do, no offense Orihime."
"None taken," Orihime replied, then she started where Toshiro left off. "We discovered that the safest offensive attack I could do was the one I used today to end the fight with Aizen and the arrancars. It immobilizes those I use the attack on. Leaving an opening for another person to deliver a blow to finish off the opponent. Not only that, but once I have multiple enemies immobilized, all it takes is for one of them to get attacked. Then that attack mirrors to the others I have a hold on. Like what happened today. Ichigo's attack to Aizen also affected the arrancars. Toshiro finished off by making sure they would have no chance at surviving."
"Ichigo pretty much took care of getting rid of them all, I just added a small attack to be sure," Toshiro's eyes moved from Orihime to Ichigo. "In our training, I had been the person to deliver the final blow, but Ichigo delivered the final blow this time. And I was just back up since this was the first time Orihime used the attack in an actual fight."
"If that's the safest one you can do, what else can you do?" Ichigo asked Orihime.
That had Orihime take in a breath. "I can do more. A lot more. But, with the interest of Mina and my own safety without having too much training myself, we stuck with this attack because we knew I could handle it…" she trailed off, as she looked to Ichigo. "That's all that needs to be said about it. We have plenty of more opportunity to dive further into the mystery of my powers. But right now I just want a moment to take a breath, and take in that this is all finally going to be put behind us."
"That's reasonable," Urahara agreed, his eyes going to the others in the room. "We can talk about this some other time. I think now is a good time for everyone to go rest up. Ichigo, don't push yourself with that injury you have."
"It's not that bad-"
Orihime clearing her throat interrupted Ichigo from speaking. Her eyes narrowed in his direction.
Ichigo's eyes widened with slight fear at the glare in Orihime's eyes. "Yeah, I'll be careful."
That had the others laughing as they filtered out of the room. Leaving just Orihime and Ichigo. The lights were turned off as well, but the light from the now setting sun was enough to see well.
As soon as the sounds of the others talking and their footsteps grew faint, Ichigo reached over to Orihime. Pulling her close once more, he kissed her, and hugged her to him again.
"What's this for?" Orihime asked, smiling lightly at how nice it felt to have his arms around her.
"I just want to hold you for a moment," Ichigo replied, his voice slightly muffled from where his face was resting in the curve of her neck. He held her like that until he began to feel a pain in his side from his injury. Making him flinch, and he rested a hand on the area.
Orihime, with concern in her eyes, moved one of her hands to his shoulder. "You need to lay down and get some rest. That injury isn't going to heal so easily with you moving around so much."
Ichigo laughed as he eased himself to laying back. "This isn't the first time I've been injured."
"Don't you give me that attitude Ichigo," Orihime laughed, shaking her head at him. "If we are talking about your past times being injured, I am going to bring up how this is also not the first time that you have ignored when you get told to get some rest. Which because you ignore it, you end up injuring yourself worse… So we are playing this my way."
"And what exactly is your way?" Ichigo asked, grinning at Orihime when she crossed her arms.
"It's me telling you to rest, and you don't get a choice in the matter," Orihime told him, a sweet smile in his direction, as she uncrossed her arms to push her hair back out of her face. "Plus, if you don't rest, that's going to hurt my feelings because you didn't listen to me. Do you really want to hurt my feelings?"
"Damn, so you are playing that card?" Ichigo asked, laughing when Orihime nodded. He raised an arm up. "Well I'll be the best patient you've ever seen, and I'll listen to everything the doctor tells me. You can take notes."
"Excuse me?" Orihime asked, smiling as she took his invitation to move closer to him. Moving carefully to lay down on the futon beside Ichigo. His raised arm dropped back down to wrap around her once she had laid down beside him. His other hand pulling his blanket over the both of them. She rested her head lightly on his bicep. "What exactly do you mean by that?"
Smirking, Ichigo lifted his other arm to rest back behind his head, and the other remained still where she was resting her head against his arm. "It means that you don't exactly have room to talk. From what I've seen from you so far, you aren't exactly the type of patient who listens to the doctor."
"That's so not true."
"Is too true," Ichigo replied, slightly childishly, but it made them both laugh. "You are always looking for some way to get the hell out of the hospital before you are supposed to. When you are in the hospital you get really cranky too."
"I do not," Orihime laughed at Ichigo grinning at her. Finally she sighed. "Okay, so I guess we can both agree that we have to work on that."
"Fine, but you can't get hurt right now," Ichigo said, his eyes up on the ceiling. "Because if you do, who's going to nurse me back to health?"
"Okay two things. One, I trip over air so it's pretty inevitable that'll I'll find some way to injure myself. And two," Orihime let her eyes go to Ichigo, a mischievous smile on her face. "I'm sure Renji would just love to take over for me."
"Never in a million years would that be a good idea," Ichigo replied, his eyes back on Orihime as they laughed. Feeling movement against his abdomen kind of hurt his injury, but it made him smile. "I can't believe I haven't already asked this, but how's our baby girl doing?"
"She's perfectly fine," Orihime replied, her hands sliding down to rest on her bump. "She's been a really great listener when I needed someone to talk to today."
Feeling more movement from Mina against his abdomen, Ichigo felt even more relieved at how this all was over. "I'm glad to here it," he said, his eyes moved to look at Orihime now. "I don't think I'll ever be able to really explain how much it means to me that you've protected Mina all this time."
"It's not just me, you protect her too," Orihime pointed out, her eyes meeting Ichigo's.
"I know, but for you… it's different," Ichigo replied, moving his other hand from behind his head to stroke Orihime's hair back from her face. "I try my best to keep you and our daughter safe. But, what you've done, this whole pregnancy is something that I can't compare to. You've carried her these nine months, and have kept her safe through everything we've been through. You are her safe haven, and that's something that means a lot to me."
Orihime smiled, and moved to kiss Ichigo's cheek. "I couldn't do this without you Ichigo, you are my safe haven."
A/N: Okay, I had to get a little cheesy at the last part of the chapter. But, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I wanted to keep mainly with Orihime's POV throughout the whole chapter and the fighting. I think my favorite scene to write was between Orihime and Yumichika and the last scene of this chapter. What was your favorite part of the chapter?
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