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I need to make more InuHime art. If you make any, let me know so I can see and spread the love.
Enjoy!
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Auburn Strands and Red Threads #29
Orihime realized her enhanced abilities were not only powerful, but a lot of her basic attacks didn't need her to verbalize any sort of chant or phrase anymore. Instead, she was beginning to understand she needed to have a strong intention about the ability she wanted to happen.
And she needed to make sure she focused when she did so.
When Kisuke instructed Orihime to put up a barrier 300 yards in front of her, she had merely visualized it and was intent on doing so, but she felt the soft whirl of wind as her fairies—Baigon, Hinagiku and Lily—flew to do just that. The barrier that was created resembled a transparent pink rectangle versus her normal triangle, and it connected with the ground and extended at least eight feet up and seven feet wide.
Orihime at least felt comforted that she still played a part in her abilities—even if it was just getting the shape of her barrier right. She had definitely pictured a rectangle for some reason before she could adjust the image in her head. Then again . . . she's never thought of a rectangle before today. Was she really in control of her powers or could she just see what they could do before it happened? Did it really matter if it was a rectangle or a triangle? There was definitely more coverage this way . . .
She tried not to think too hard about it in the moment.
The next instruction Kisuke gave was for her friends: Try to destroy the barrier so Orihime would know what level of strength she would need to defend against.
Kisuke stood a good distance behind everyone so he could observe better. Everyone else stood a good few dozen feet in front of him at staggered intervals with Orihime taking up the rear of her friends. She balled her hands at her sides, licking her lips nervously.
She hoped her intention did not play a part in how durable the barrier was after she had already put one into existence; she was nervous just hearing what was said. Her friends were very strong, so she had already gotten it into her head that she wanted to impress them with her skills. Had she had it her way, Orihime would have improved her new skills first before letting her friends see what she could do, but she was content with knowing they'll see her progress . . .
. . . and hopefully she wouldn't hurt them.
Uryuu struck first. He launched two arrows: the first arrow was with his normal strength, and, after that did nothing to the barrier, Uryuu decided to launch a more powerful arrow—one that would have easily shot through a cluster of Hollows, but the barrier only reverberated from the impact; a loud, low drone rang against everyone's eardrums. This stunned even Orihime.
Chad went next, eagerly. He saw his chance to truly test his strength, so he ran at the barrier with determination. He cocked his arm back, jumped as high as he could, and landed a reverberating punch close to dead center of the barrier. Chad landed in a crouch, his head rattling a bit from the attack, and looked up to see the barrier showed no sign of damage despite the very apparent force he inflicted upon it. He wanted to be impressed, but then he remembered the power that granted Orihime this heightened strength was the same power that was attracting demons.
Chad prepared himself to attack one more time, the air in the room taking on a notable pressure that felt as though it was pushing down on him. He sprinted, jumping in the air once more, and connected a deafening blow to the barrier. The air itself shook, vibrations physically felt by everyone and a thundering rumble hitting against their eardrums; the ground hummed beneath them. Chad landed on his feet unsteadily and looked at the wall. The way it continued to vibrate made him think of a tuning fork.
If demons weren't a factor, he'd be glad Orihime had this new strength.
Ichigo would have gone next, but Uryuu wanted to try one more time. No doubt, after seeing that some impact was possible, Uryuu had a newfound motivation to have some notable impact on the barrier.
He stood in front of it, taking a moment to breathe, and slowly brought his hands up as if holding an invisible bow and arrow. He breathed in slowly, and the weapon started to form bit by illuminating blue bit, forming a bow and arrow that was larger than the one he made previously. The bow was more than twice his body size, and three large arrows of proportionate size formed as well, pulling in more reishi until he finally let his arrows fly. The air momentarily felt like it was pulling everyone towards Uryuu, but it was short lived and the arrows made contact with a thud; everyone's ears felt as though they were stuffed with fast drying cement.
The barrier hummed for a longer moment this time around but showed no other sign of impact.
"I see," Uryuu said as he lowered his arms. He turned back to his friends. "I think your barrier might be absorbing spiritual energy that attacks it, Orihime."
Orihime didn't know what to say, so she nodded.
Kisuke couldn't be more proud of her skills.
Rukia declined going next because she had a feeling she would get much the same result as the other two. Instead, Ichigo prepared to attack next as Rukia took her time walking to the far side opposite the barrier. She wanted to see what it looked like from that side when it was attacked.
"I'm gonna go next," Tsubaki muttered.
Orihime looked towards her shoulder, not feeling when he got there.
"This is boring," he said to himself.
Orihime was going to say something—most likely to ask if he was talking to her directly, but she felt a hand pat down on her head. She looked to her right to see Kisuke step next to her.
"Going pretty well, huh?" he said.
She tilted her head, averting her eyes. "It . . . doesn't really feel that way to me."
Kisuke fell silent. He wasn't expecting that kind of response from her, so it threw him off. He thought she'd be happy to see how well she was doing against her friends. "What's wrong?"
Orihime hummed, contemplating as she watched Ichigo stand as if going to war. "Well . . . I have this immense new power now, and I'm glad to have it because I know it can help people once I learn to control it." She turned her head slightly to look at Kisuke; she was smiling despite fear being all too present in her eyes. "But, um . . . sometimes my powers go off on their own, and if my friends can't break my shield, what if they can't block my attacks?"
Kisuke went numb, both arms almost falling like lead to his sides. His first thought was, "How did I miss this?" which was immediately followed by "Her birthday is soon."
She's never made it to sixteen.
And in that moment, a chill overtook him. Orihime's fear-filled eyes made his stomach drop. He had been focusing too much lately on how there are new variables in this go around that he wasn't paying attention to the variables that always remained the same. Maybe it was a good thing that her sixteenth birthday was coming up.
Maybe it wasn't . . .
Was this finally a good outcome or . . . ?
"That's my cue."
Both Kisuke and Orihime were startled by Tsubaki's gruff voice. They looked towards her left shoulder.
"Getsuga—"
Their heads snapped in Ichigo's direction—catching the thin, trailing black zigzag zipping towards Ichigo's turned back—just as he was preparing to bring his sword down.
"—Tensho!"
And it was as though Tsubaki zipped right through Ichigo.
No sooner had Ichigo brought his sword down, he felt something jolt through his back, and time slowed. He saw his attack increase in size, reaching a monstrous height that startled even him, and then a gruff voice said,
This wouldn't have worked. Let me show you what you're up against.
The jolt ripped through Ichigo's chest, forcing the breath out of him and causing an involuntary step forward. He barely saw the black zigzag before he blinked, but the Getsuga Tensho shrunk, virtually disappearing as though a glitch in reality happened, and suddenly the attack was shooting towards the left—larger and faster than a millisecond ago—and zoomed across the room before colliding with the wall. Ichigo felt slight vibrations under his feet and heard the deafening destruction of the walls as it exploded and crumbled, creating a crater. It was hard to tell how deep it went at the moment.
Ichigo stared in stunned silence for a few seconds before his head snapped back towards the barrier. He remembered Rukia was on the other side of it, but one of Orihime's fairies caught his eye. It was the male one that didn't like to talk—Tsubaki. He was close enough that Ichigo could tell he himself was being glared at, but he wasn't so close that Ichigo could tell if the glare was a natural scowl or actually due to some form of animosity directed at him. Tsubaki said something at Ichigo, but Ichigo wasn't sure if he heard him correctly.
"What the hell just happened?"
Rukia finally caught Ichigo's attention. She had just come from around the barrier and was approaching him. She spotted Tsubaki and gave them both questioning looks. She directed her gaze to Ichigo. "Was that you?"
Ichigo didn't know why he didn't respond right away. He turned to look at Orihime and saw equally terrified looks on both hers and Kisuke's faces. For a moment, he almost felt some form of terror himself.
Part of it was because what the hell kind of power did Orihime have all of a sudden and did she have full control over it?
The other part was because . . . why exactly did Captain Yamamoto find Kisuke to be a threat?
Shippo stayed at camp with everyone else.
They had come across a massive tree with a hole in it, and it seemed like a miracle that was meant for them and them alone. The past two days had been one anxiety-inducing moment after the other, so it was nice to have some form of closure around them.
It was stressful travelling to the southern mountains because the demons became more unpredictable as the group got closer. They could go hours without being bothered by demons despite being surrounded by them, and in the blink of an eye, they're all fighting for their lives.
Oddly enough, the biggest thing stressing Shippo out was the fact that Kagome and Inuyasha did not have the same dynamic anymore. She was still more or less the same to everyone else, but there was a noticeable distance between Inuyasha and Kagome that Shippo couldn't have been the only one to notice. They didn't walk nearly shoulder to shoulder anymore, and there was no bickering between them whatsoever. Kagome had coldness in her voice when she spoke to Inuyasha, and Inuyasha could hardly look her in the eyes these days.
Kagome was even wearing different clothes. Was that to signify the change they were going through?
Shippo wondered if it had to do with Inuyasha's feelings for Orihime.
Shippo pressed his lips together, guilty. He himself wanted to see Orihime again, but that would be rude to Kagome, wouldn't it? Why did Inuyasha have to fall for Orihime, anyway? Why couldn't Kagome have met Orihime first so that they could all be friends? Would Inuyasha still have fallen for Orihime then? And . . . even if Kagome met Orihime first, would Shippo have ever met Orihime?
Shippo shook his head. This wasn't the time to worry about stuff like that. They had to survive right now.
Because of the tension between Kagome and Inuyasha, Shippo found it nerve-wrecking that they all were off to do some serious demon fighting. When have things ever gone well when those two were not on good terms? And why did they have to go where demons were swarming, anyway? Shouldn't they keep collecting shards and let the demons come to them instead?
Maybe . . . Inuyasha's brother will make another appearance.
Shippo shook his head fiercely. "No, no, no, don't be stupid!" he yelled as he ruffled his hair with both hands. "He's just gonna want something in return and we don't have anything this time!"
"Shippo?" Sango poked her head into the opening of the tree. Everyone was preoccupied with getting the camp ready while Shippo was in charge of organizing the herbs they would be using for dinner tonight as well as creating a pile of medicinal plants. "Do you need to take a break?"
"N-no, I'm fine." He began to separate herbs again. "Is Inuyasha back yet? It's been a while."
"Not yet. I'm sure he's on his-" Sango slapped her neck. "Uh . . ." She looked at her hand, noticing a flattened creature. "Wait a minute, aren't you Myoga?"
Shippo jumped to his feet "Myoga?" He ran to Sango and darted up to her shoulder to look as well. "Hey, it is Myoga!"
"G-greetings," the elder flea said, his words sounding painful. "Forgive me, dear Sango. I did not see Kagome around."
Sango turned out the temporary shelter. "Kagome! Miroku! Myoga's here!"
"Huh?" Miroku came from around the giant tree.
"Myoga?" Kagome emerged from the forest, holding more herbs. "When did he get here?"
"I think just now," Sango said as the other two gathered around her to look in her hand as well. Even Kirara gathered at their feet, mewing so they knew she was listening, too.
Myoga inflated once more. "I'll have you know, I've been here the whole time."
"What?" Sango said. "Did you fall asleep on Kirara, again?"
"Wha-? How-? I never-!" Myoga sputtered as he tried to get his words together. Yes, he did fall asleep on Kirara, but he somehow got tangled in Master Inuyasha's hair when the half-demon laid down at some point on the way to the southern mountains. There was no way he was going to let them know that, however. "Don't insult me! I am here as moral support, thank you very much."
"Oh, yeah?" Miroku challenged. "For who?"
"Mind your manners! If you had any respect for your elders and let me speak, you'd know I came here to tell you Master Inuyasha is in grave danger!"
"Tck." Miroku squinted at him. "And you left him again."
"And if I didn't," Myoga snapped, "you'd have no way of knowing that Master Inuyasha was injured by Sesshomaru's beast, who is being controlled by the imp Jakken!"
A jolt went through everyone, questions soon thereafter being hurled at the flea demon. Myoga had to cover his ears in a futile attempt to lessen the volume.
"Where's Inuyasha right now?" Kagome asked urgently, leveling her face as best she could to Myoga's.
Myoga lowered one set of arms. "St-straight forward. There was a battle between Jakken, the beast, Master Inuyasha, and the wolf demon Koga."
"Koga?!" everyone said in unison.
"Why is Koga here?" Shippo asked.
"It was by coincidence really. He had stolen the Staff of Two Heads, and Jakken was hot on his heels when Koga ran into Master Inuyasha! That's when the battle ensued," Myoga said. "But we have to go now!"
"Right." Sango looked down. "Kirara!"
The cat demon roared as she transformed to her larger, more powerful form. Everyone quickly got on her back before Kirara rose in the air, catching the four scents in the distance, and soared that way.
"Wow, that's a lot of shards," Kagome said. Her mouth ran dry as she focused on the energy of the Sacred Jewel. That was way too many shards to go unnoticed by the other demons. "We might be in for some trouble."
"Let's be quick, Kirara!" Sango encouraged.
Kirara roared in agreement, picking up the pace.
No one noticed Myoga fell off and got left behind.
Evening
The fatigue started to set in after the latest attack.
Everyone besides Orihime was panting and appeared physically exhausted. Orihime could only smile awkwardly as her friends looked at her with varying levels of emotion. She couldn't tell if the emotions were more positive than negative at the moment.
Stop the negative.
Orihime's heart jumped. She had a hard time getting used to hearing Tsubaki's voice in her head. She wondered if every one of her fairies could hear her thoughts now . . .
"Very good, everyone!" Kisuke praised. "You're all definitely more powerful than when you saved Rukia. You should be proud of that, at the very least."
"But this crystal power is no joke," Ichigo said, catching his breath. "All we could do is make the thing shake. There wasn't a scratch on it."
Rukia tried to laugh through her ragged breathing. "It's a good thing Orihime is on our side."
"Speaking of Orihime and her powers," Uryuu panted, looking at Ichigo, "what happened when you first attacked? My and Chad's attacks all got absorbed today, but that first attack you did didn't do that."
Ichigo feigned needing time to catch his breath so he could think about what happened—notably how Kisuke and Orihime looked sick when he had turned around to look back at them after the attack happened. That tiny fairy had somehow been able to absorb and then redirect the attack.
And he said . . .
.
"Experience is training."
.
There was a lot Ichigo didn't know how to make sense of today. In the end, he told the truth, minus the fairies odd comment. He didn't know how the fairy named Tsubaki deflected the attack, but that's exactly what happened. Tsubaki had returned to his hair clip form, as well as the others, and now the attention turned to Orihime.
"How does a crystal enhance your powers that much?" Rukia asked.
"Um . . ." Orihime had to force her mind to be present. "I don't really understand it myself, but . . . that's the power of the Shikon Jewel." She paused, feeling nauseous. "M-maybe we should end it here for today. I don't think . . . I feel all that well."
"What's wrong?" Rukia asked, her friends' attention on her solidifying as varying levels of concern crossed their faces.
"It can take a lot out of me," Orihime partially lied. "This new power."
"I can see how it can," Uryuu said. "It's no easy feat for any of us to redirect Ichigo's attack, and something as small as one of your tiny people did it with ease and quickness."
"Are you going to be alright, Orihime?" Chad asked. "I don't mean to fear-monger, but this new power of yours is incredibly strong, and demons are involved. Maybe you shouldn't be staying alone until we can really come up with a solution to deal with all of this."
"That's actually not a bad idea," Kisuke said. "You have to admit, Orihime, weird and dangerous things have been happening lately. Why don't you stay . . ." Kisuke hesitated; certainly not because of Ichigo, "with someone. Or have someone stay with you."
Orihime really wanted to lie down. She didn't want them thinking too heavily about her situation. "I'm okay, really. Nothing bad has happened when I'm home, so . . ." So, hearing the words out loud, she could definitely hear how illogical she was being. If any of her friends were in her position, she herself would probably advocate for them to stay with someone as well. "I would need to go home and get some clothes, so . . ." She peeked at Kisuke. "If it's not too last minute . . ."
"Of course, of course!" Kisuke knew there was really no other option. "I can walk with you to get whatever you need."
o0o0o
The group soon left the Study Chamber and agreed to come back for training the day after tomorrow. After seeing what the jewel had done to increase Orihime's powers and realizing the enemies coming after it would be ten times stronger if they were able to get it, the focus had to be on getting stronger. Learning how to sense demons would have to be secondary until Inuyasha got back since defending themselves and each other would ultimately be what sensing them were for anyway.
When the group reached the front doors, they said their goodbyes to Uryuu, seeing how he lived in a different direction than the group. Chad and Rukia were prepared to leave since they would all be going in the same direction, but Ichigo lingered when he noticed Orihime was falling back because Kisuke was lingering.
"Ready to go, Kisuke?" Ichigo asked.
Kisuke smiled pleasantly. "Not quite. I have to use the little shop keeper's room, but I was seeing you all off first."
"What about you, Orihime?" Ichigo asked.
"I'll wait for Kisuke. I don't want to make him walk alone since he's walking me back anyway."
"Just be safe," Rukia said, opening the door. "Chances are you guys will catch up with us anyway."
"That's true," Orihime said. "It won't be long at all, so you all—"
"Hey!"
Everyone turned to the sharp tone directed at them. Jinta was standing in the doorway of the living room, his usual scowl present.
"This is the longest goodbye I've heard in my life. Hurry it up. You spent all day together."
"Jinta," Kisuke faux-chastised, "you have to be nicer to guest, otherwise, you'll never have people you can spend all day with."
"Tck. Poor me." Jinta turned back into the room.
"What's his problem?" Uryuu muttered.
Kisuke laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "He developed a crush recently and just found out who her family is." He looked at Ichigo briefly, amused. "Quite funny really."
"SHUT UP!" Jinta yelled.
"Anyhoo," Kisuke went on, "it's getting late, children. Hurry home and stay vigilant! You all have phones now, so be sure to text each other when you've made it home safely. And I must remind you all that if any one of you is in danger, you will get an alert."
The group soon separated with Kisuke and Orihime bidding them a safe walk home. They watched until the departing group made it out of the courtyard before closing the door.
Kisuke looked at Orihime and exhaustively smiled, his body relaxing as if he had been tense. "You hungry? I'm hungry. We should order something."
"No pizza!" Jinta yelled.
"Do you want pizza?" Kisuke asked.
Orihime blinked. "Oh, well, Jinta doesn't seem to want . . . Um, did you have to use the restroom?"
"No, not at the moment." He put his arm around Orihime and led her to the kitchen. "To be quite honest with you, Hime, Ichigo is starting to scare me with how protective he's becoming of you." He released her when they reached the kitchen and searched for something in the kitchen drawers.
"Oh . . . Well, he has been more serious since meeting with Captain Yamamoto. Um, maybe even since that night I got hurt and his dad took care of me."
"Yeah." Kisuke pulled out his phone and began to text. "He can be intense sometimes."
"I think . . ." Orihime hesitated, wondering. "I mean . . . His mother did pass when he was very young. Sometimes I wonder . . . if that's where the protectiveness comes from."
Kisuke thought about that as he texted. How many times did he make Ichigo lose his mother by resetting time, and did the many resets have an impact on how Ichigo turned out in this version of the present? Even if no one in the world remembered they were living the same life over and over after so many years, was it possible that it still impacted them?
The thought made Kisuke's stomach twist in knots.
"I'll try not to be so harsh," Kisuke said as he closed his phone. "I think we'll cook tonight. Yoruichi will be here soon to help."
"Are we going to go and get some clothes?" Orihime asked.
"No need, no need. I have—Well, Yoruichi has some clothes here you can borrow for the night. It is getting dark, and even with me with you, it's probably best to stay in for the night." Kisuke paused, considering his actions. "Unless, that's weird and I'm being too controlling."
"Oh, no, that's more than fine! I really didn't want to make you walk all that way just to walk back, so this is a good solution. I just hope Yoruichi-san doesn't mind."
"Just Yoruichi," the woman herself said as she entered the kitchen. "And of course I don't mind." She hugged Orihime tightly before resting her arms around the teen's shoulders. "I have some clothes you might like." She looked at Kisuke. "So, what are we making?"
"Not pizza!" Jinta yelled from the living room.
Yoruichi looked towards the living room door and back. "Is this still about Ichigo's sister?"
Kisuke chuckled. "Yeah."
Orihime blushed instantly. "What?!"
Jinata's footsteps thumped against the floor. "SHUT UP!" he yelled as he burst through the kitchen door, the other three ducking for cover.
Inuyasha awoke, but everything was dark or very blurry. Wind rushed over his whole body, and he felt tired.
Very tired.
o0o0o
Inuyasha didn't open his eyes, but he woke up because his body was being moved roughly by more than two people. Uncomfortable groans escaped from him without him meaning to. Voices were shouting over or at each other, but he couldn't make sense of any of it.
After a while, there was an attempt to place him down gently, but he hit rock hard ground.
More shouting.
He couldn't understand.
Hands were on him again. He was forced to sit up, causing his entire left shoulder to explode in pain. He could hardly yell, and was honestly too tired to do so. He opened his eyes as best he could. There was a flickering, dancing light source coming from somewhere, and figures surrounded him, talking hurriedly and without reason.
Inuyasha's body began to feel warm; he could feel the sweat forming. The pain alternated from dull, insistent stinging to harsh, mind-numbing burning. Someone or something was tightly wrapping his shoulder in some kind of cloth or wildlife.
"Dammit," Inuyasha hissed.
" . . . sorry . . . on, okay?"
He lifted his head. That sounded like Kagome—like she was right next to him. The figures around him were blocking the light source, and his vision was still too dim and fuzzy.
The tightness around his shoulder got tighter. Inuyasha hissed again, his fingers flexing.
"Hold . . . Inuyasha."
Miroku.
" . . . go make sure . . . tonight . . ."
Sango.
"Inuyasha!"
That was right next to his ear. Dammit, Shippo.
" . . . "
What . . . the hell was Koga doing here?
Inuyasha's head rolled to the right. There was a gap in the figures now—Where did Sango go?—and he could now see the fire. Is that why he was sweating so much? Or was it the pain in his arm? Or was it his shoulder? His arm felt numb, but where was the pain coming from again? If the pain would go away, then he could know for sure why he was sweating.
Instant pain relief . . .
Inuyasha stared into the fire, fatigue hitting him hard.
The tightening happened one more time, incredibly hard.
He wasn't breaking his promise. He just needed to sleep for a little bit. He hoped the demons weren't close by because he just needed to sleep.
I'm not breaking my promise, Orihime, he thought as his mind drifted away. I'm not . . .
Night
Orihime slowed her pace as she reached the kitchen. She woke up because she wanted a glass of water, but she thought she felt . . .
Orihime blinked to wake herself up a little more. She hesitated but soon found herself walking towards the front door. She paused when she was in front of it, her heart pounding.
This was a little silly.
Inuyasha, she knew, was not even in the modern time right now. She missed him, sure, she could admit that, but why was she so sure . . . ?
She swallowed, unlocking the front door and opening it slightly. She looked around the courtyard, but it was quiet and she didn't see anything.
"Inuyasha?" she whispered anyway. She waited, listening.
He's not here.
Orihime felt Tsubaki before he appeared in front of her.
"No." Shun'ō appeared, partially standing between Orihime and Tsubaki. "We are not doing this right now."
"You wanted training, right?" Tsubaki said to Orihime. "You're feeling a demon right now."
"Tsubaki—" Shun'ō began.
Orihime perked up without meaning to, taking a few steps outside. "So that is Inuyasha I felt?"
"Not exactly," Lily said as she, too, came forward. Despite her smile, she didn't look her cheerful self. "Um, we only realized this recently, but we think you have a bond with him."
Orihime blushed. "O-okay." She almost jumped when she felt something touch her cheek but quickly realized it was Ayame. Ayame was explaining what happened that night she brought Inuyasha back to life. "Soul . . . bonded?" Orihime paused. "Wait . . . Is that a side-effect of the healing or something?"
Orihime's hair wisped as both Baigon and Hinagiku appeared.
"You were already bonded, Orihime," Baigon said.
Orihime stared, unblinking.
"That is to say," Hinagiku said, "when you brought his soul back, it was already attached to yours."
"It's not that simple," Shun'ō nearly snapped. "Look, Hime, I don't know if these explanations are accurate, but . . . something did look strange that night, but Ayame and I couldn't really understand it at the time. We still don't really understand."
"But you realize their souls are linked now, right?" Lily said.
Shun'ō didn't respond for a second. He looked at Orihime, troubled. "Hime, something happened with your souls that night. I really don't want you to think about what that could mean since we don't even know, but . . . There was a side effect, I guess." He sighed. "Tsubaki . . . can track things now . . . It's kind of like how he used to get more powerful if you had the bloodlust for it, only this time it's just . . . as long as you can sense them, whatever it is, he can find them." He hesitated. "And, um . . . Inuyasha might need your help right now."
Orihime didn't know how to respond, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to form words. She closed the front door behind her and looked at all her fairies, making sure this was not a prank of sorts. "Um . . . What—"
A large shadow swept across the ground as something leisurely flew overhead.
"Don't panic," Lily cautioned.
"But get your phone," Tsubaki said as they all looked up.
Orihime's eyes bulged, her body becoming icy cold.
There was a large creature circling that definitely wasn't a Hollow.